Dress Designers

We (Sumathi & Myself) are the official dress designers for our daughter. But we always disagree on a lot of points. I would always suggest some thing hip like the entire back open / sleeveless, which Sumathi would chide as ridiculous. Yet we still get on with each other and enjoy shopping for Manase. We had to attend a cousin’s wedding, and this being the first wedding after our daughter was born, we unanimously decided that our daughter should wear the time tested “Pattu Pavadai”. For the uninitiated it’s a silk skirt which any self respecting tamil girl child should posses. Sumathi had a small piece of silk along with her for the skirt. So off we went shopping in the pretext of getting a dress material for the top. I got hell a lot of CD’s / few books and Sumathi got herself a top. But that’s an entirely different story.

Now back to the original one. With great pains I had explained to Sumathi with sketches et al the idea in my mind and she too listened with great patience mean while our daughter had great fun with the orange polythene wrapper from the dress shop. ( Yes we are that kind of parents and let her indulge a few times). The next day my wife went to a tailor and half of my crazy ideas were declared impractical by the tailor and turned down. Any way my wife reached for an agreement with her and got it made in a days time. That is the kind of negotiation skills Sumathi has and I can see your jaw drop. Now some eye candy.

Chitra Pournami

As kid I used to be in love with the beach. It has not changed even now. Since Tuesday being a holiday and Chitra Pournami falling on the same day (Full Moon day in the Tamil Month of Chithirai) we decided that we would take Manase to the Beach (her first trip there) and have our dinner there. We roped in my Aunt and cousin. My aunt is very famous in her circles for the mean sambar sadham she cooks.

Cooked some food at home and packed all the stuff like mats, water bottles, napkins, garbage bag etc. Bundled Manase in a Car and off we went to the Besant Nagar Beach. Manase was fasscinated by the sights and sounds of the Beach. We had even got her a white outfit to celebrate the occasion. She was staring at the Ballon vendor / merry go round / corn cord vendor / bajji kadai etc and played for some time. We had dinner sitting under the stars on a moon lit beach, while grandma took care of her.

Her grandpa was overjoyed by the so called picnic with his dear grand daughter. The beach was crowded though. My wife as usual was furiously clicking away in her digital camera as if there was no tomorrow and instructed me to take pictures of her as well. Sigh I do not know when this is going to change. Our honeymoon story deserves a special post. Manase became a little bit cranky and we packed all the stuff in a hurry and headed back home. Once back home she was her normal self cooing and smiling towards us.

Back after a hiatus

I sad been away from the blogging world for quite some time. Wife got Pregnant and delivered a healthy baby girl bang on Deepavali. The best gift I have ever got in my life. We have named her Manase meaning "one with a sound mind". Though it may sound clichéd for sure she is our bundle of joy. I always wanted a girl, not that I would have loved a boy lesser. She is all 6 months old now and has started to crawl and explore the corners of house keeping us on our toes. I got inspired by a lot of mommy / daddy bloggers. We used to discuss about at home and my wife urged me to start blogging again so that we can record our day to day experiences and share with Manase later. My favorite pastime nowadays is dressing up Manase, and shopping for her clothes. I have tried my hands at bathing her quite a few times and she loves it too. But she wails in protest when we dry her with a towel after her bath. I have mastered the art of changing diapers and nappies, giving her cream / oil massages / feeding her etc. But its her mom and grand mom who do it mostly. My in laws stay along with us. So it has been easy so far. Some how she has associated the word tata with going out and always wants to go tata. Had been to my parents place some time back and she did not give any trouble. We took her to Guruvayoor for her annaprasanam (first time rice feeding) ceremony and she took it with gusto. We had dressed her up in a traditional pavadai / chattai for the first time according to her grandpa’s wish. I am contemplating about changing my blog title relating it to Manase. Let us see. And here you get to see my lovely daughter waving at you.



You will get to hear more about Manase's antics in the days to come.

Paiyan Paartha Padalam

One thing which occurs in every man’s life (at least in the place where I grew) is the “Poonu Paarkum Padalam”. To say that I hate it would be the understatement of the year. I simply detest it and consider it the most uncivilized thing on earth. It could be a harrowing experience for the concerned girl. Well by gods grace I did not have to through it. (The true reason being I feared the terrible bajji and sojji that would be served, which I have to consume with a plastic smile pasted on my face)

I was in Singapore at that point of time. My wife had come to our place in Coimbatore along with her parents for “Paiyan Paarkum Padalam”. I heard from reliable sources that she had gobbled down half a dozen idlies, polished it off with a few helpings of Kesari and finally washed down everything with a cup of coffee. She had complimented my folks for the great food. Good Manners you see. :-)

I called up home and she spoke with me for some time. I can vouch that she could give all the criminal lawyers a run for their money with the kind of questioning skills she possesses. She had questioned me right from L.K.G class teacher’s name, (It was Lalitha Miss) to what I had for lunch. She decided that I was the right guy for her after the session :-)

Nothing much has changed now, I still answer to a lot of questions though, the nature of the question has changed. :-)

Republic Day Celebrations

A few weeks back we had republic day celebrations going on at office. Each bay was to be decorated to represent a particular state in India. Our theme was West Bengal.

One good thing about that is, I got to meet a lot of creative people who were bursting with ideas and made friends with them. This was quite helpful as I am new to the organization.

We had constructed a Howrah Bridge, Fisherman in a boat, Fisher woman selling fishes, Chat Stall, Darjeeling Tea Estate, Sunderbans etc. All out of thermo coal, chart paper, crepe paper and paints. We also made a Rangoli of the Calcutta Durga using coloured salt. It was real fun. Given below is a picture of the rangoli.

Spicy Carrot Toast

You would need

2 Medium sized Carrots – Grated.
2 Medium sized Onions – Finely Chopped.
1 Green Chilly – Finely Chopped.
Salt as per tatste.
Chilly Powder – Half a teaspoon.
Turmeric Powder – Quarter teaspoon.
Garam Masala – Half a teaspoon.
Lime – 1.
Cumin Seeds / Jeera - Half a teaspoon.
Cooking Oil – 2 Tea Spoons.
Butter – 50 Gm.
Bread a few slices.

Method

Pour oil in a non stick pan and add cumin Seeds & turmeric Powder.
After the seeds splutter add onions and chilly and fry till lightly done.
Add the carrots and keep them turning once in a while till they are cooked.
Add the chilly powder, garam masala powder and salt.
Cook for some more time on a low flame
Remove from flame and add the juice of lime and coriander and mix well.
Toast the bread slices and butter them if u need. U may skip the butter. It tastes as good.
Take 2 – 3 teaspoons of the carrot mixture and spread it evenly on one slice of bread and cover with another slice. You may cut in into triangles if needed.
Serve Hot.

This would resemble the bread toast that they would serve you in “Bangalore Iyengars Bakery”

You could add some roasted cashew nuts to the carrot mixture if needed

Thoughts

I have read some where people become lonely as they grow up the corporate ladder. I think it is true to a certain extent.

When I joined my first company after finishing college we were a big group. My buddies at college were placed along with me. So we had a great time. We used to make great ruckus. Our project manager used to ponder “Have I hired kids instead of professionals?”

Every Friday we used to go out for lunch and come back after 2 full hours. Plans for that would start from Friday morning and afternoons would be spent on discussing who gobbled up the major part of the dessert that we shared. Those were indeed fun filled days.

I am at a different organization now. The group here is smaller in size and the outings have also shrunk to once in two months or so. Boy, I miss those days.

Gen X Tamizhargal

Pongal was great. Wifey made good sakkarai / venn pongal. As a last minute offer Carrot Halwa was thrown in for free. :-)

In between the time spent shuttling across my aunts / in laws / cousins place, one program caught my interest on Vijay TV. It was program in which Gnani / Kanimozhi / Sujatha shared their views about gen x Tamizh samudhayam

People were picked at random and questioned on the Tamil equivalent of common English words like Dollar / B.A. History / Ticket / Lipstick etc. No one knew the answers. It was really pathetic. I guess Tamil is better preserved in foreign countries like Sri Lanka / Singapore / Malaysia.

They mentioned the current generation has lost all its dreams / aspirations to Silicon Valley and they showed clippings of a few IT Majors. It was true to a certain extent.

Though I did not learn tamizh at school my patti ensured that I knew how to speak/read tamizh properly. I owe all my tamizh knowledge to her. She kindled my interest, and I started off with kumudham / kalki and progressed to Ponniyin Selvan, Chakravathi Thirumagan etc. Right now I am reading Nala Bagam by Thee Ja.