Asha's musings & ramblings

We had a gardener couple working in our condominium. They were senior citizens who went about their work diligently. Recently, the maintenance was outsourced to a different company and so many changes took place. Many inefficient employees were sacked off and new ones were recruited. The old couple also fell victim to this trade off. As always, the complex which has many people with different views started pouring their thoughts on our community portal. Some felt that though old they were the only people who worked sincerely. Some felt, they were old and could not tend to the plants and could not be given hardwork like spading, turning the soil etc( this voice was unfortunately raised by senior citizens). Overall, there was lot of communication back and forth regarding this issue on our site.

Finally, a consensus was reached, where all the residents decided to offer 25rs per flat each month. The money thus collected could be given to the couple like a pension.

But, the self respecting poor old couple refused the amount stating that they were fit and can continue to earn a living for as long as they were productive. They had children who offered them help but they preffered to work and be independent. It is not the case with these couples alone. Many senior citizens themselves don’t want to live with their working children and prefer to be independent. I have seen the senior citizens of my own complex whose children are settled abroad and they prefer to make short visits rather than stay there longer. The average reason is here. Infact, i had made a post about many of them here.

Today in Indian society, the retirement age is fixed at 58 or 60. Government or non-government, nobody employs the old even if they are physically fit and can be productive. While they are young and energetic, they enjoy the benefits of the perks their jobs offer. Some of them may be having the additional perks of a driver, orderly, helper, cook etc. With old age and retirement all these benefits are gone and moreover with most families disintegrating into nuclear families, there is no choice but for the old to be emotionally, physically and financially independent. The irony is when one is old they are in need of all these perks and not when they are young.

According to statistics, the average life span of an Indian is 65 and thanks to medical advancement it is now common for people to live beyond 80 years. Easily, twenty years after retirement. With the rising inflation, they have to take care of themselves with the meager pension or with the retirement benefits for the approximate next 20 years. In case, of any medical emergency it would be a huge financial strain for them. (Insurance takes care only for major hospitalization)

Most of these elders of today’s generation are with single or two children, who are employed in most cases in some other part of the country or world. Even if they stayed in the same house, their child and their spouse would be working, what with most homes having dual incomes and the working children unable to offer emotional support due to work pressures. In some cases, of course they end up as parents for the second time taking care of their grandchildren. There is no proper support system to take care of them. Can’t blame the children either. It is the question of survival and they have their own occupational demands. If they don’t work who will secure their lives?

As long as the elders are physically fit and ready to work, why should the retirement age be fixed? Moreover as long as one works, they are physically and mentally fit. They are also occupied with no time to brood. And for those of them, who are unable to work, there must be recreation centres. I remember my uncle telling me that a community van comes and picks up all the senior citizen (in wood bridge, New Jersey) and they congregate at a recreation centre where the elders speak to each other and indulge in talk therapy, counselling, play bridge, read books, learn new things like networking, creative writing etc., They have time to pursue their hobbies. This could be a huge emotional support for these people while their children are at work. And the children can also be happy while their parents are happy, else the thought of elderly parents feeling bored at home gnaws their mind.

I think like in many advanced countries, for the issueless couples and all those who are ditched by the children or unable to be independent and feel insecure in their old age, we should also be open to the retirement homes concept. Where people of similar age live together and in case of a medical emergency , they don’t have to wait for their son or daughter who is away on a tour to some other corner of the world. These houses which are designed with huge windows and come with all geriatric facilities would be convenient for these people. Every necessity like a market, recreation center, place of worship, doctor’s care are within the reach of elders. In case, of any medical emergency, the huge windows or alarm bell of these homes sounds the community center and they are picked to the nearby health center in no time by the maintenance staff.

In India, retirement homes are picking up in some major cities and tier II cities, but these are mostly habitat for NRI parents. At more affordable or subsidized rates and with basic facilities these should be accessible to most elders and BPL families like the gardener couple. Why not the government allocate time and money and offer senior citizen concessions? After all, we will be reaching there after some years, won’t we? I hope by then, the infrastructure and facilities for senior citizens will be structured and organized.

Don't miss this 1.5 minute movie "Ageing: Beyond old sterotypes" by United nations TV and WHO Check this movie here.

Happy Birthday Madras!! (Aug 22)

An Historical city which has beautifully evolved over 373years deserves to be celebrated. For those of you in Madras aka Chennai, there are beautiful events lined up. Most of you must be busy with your routine work. Break the routine and see if you can priortize Madras day events here and know about the city you live. ( and if possible, share the happenings with me:)

For me, i will spend my day recalling those beautiful moments this city has given me by reading these posts for anything i add will be a repeat of these posts..Madras memories part 1,Madras memories part 2 and My Paradise Mylapore.

It took this longfor me to reach here.After the break down, the company whose car we hired in Mysore arranged for a jeep for us to travel uphill to Bhagamandala. The driver had meanwhile arranged for a jeep from Madikeri. Now to Bhagamandala also called Triveni sangam- This is famous for the union of three rivers Kaveri, Sujyothi and the Kannika. Having a dip here is considered sacred by people who have faith. The significance is that the dip in the holy river will heal you of your various miseries and sins. The water here is supposed to have healing and miraculous powers.

8kms uphill from Bhagamandala is Talacauvery (Talakaveri) – the origin of Dakshin ganga – river Kaveri. Here I must recall my first visit to this place in the oct of 89, when we planned a visit for the Tulasankramana or Kaveri sankramana. It was an all women's gang and a religious visit. My mom and her friends with their children totally numbering 15. From here, if you ascend 350 steps leads you to the brahmagiri peak , you reach a mythological spot where a crow is supposed to have upturned the kamandal of Sage Agastya. There are many legends and stories based on this and the water from the kamandal is supposed to be River Cauvery.(That shall be another post). Atop, Brahmagiri you are in for a breathtaking view of the beautiful valley and the windmills. The entire panorama looks like an airbrushed hallmark scenic greeting card. As you are in awe of the beauty spread below you, suddenly you will be clouded with a white veil for you can see nothing. It turns scary, you would’nt be able to see who’s beside you. It is the drifting mist playing with you hide and seek of the view. There were no viewers gallery then, it must have undergone lot of changes by now.

Descending down to the Talakaveri( head of kaveri), as the name implies it is the source of the river Cauvery. This is one of the most sacred rivers in India. This place is about 1276 metres above sea level. This place also has many beautiful temples with lovely legends . But my post will focus on the highlight of this place, Brahma kundike or Tirth kundike(Pond).

The tirth kundike which is where the water springs on a predetermined time on tula sankramana day( app. october 17th every year)

The big pond and the small shrine adjoining the kundike

Like I said, my first trip was during the Tulasankramana( mid October) of 89. There was a mad rush at this place as this event is as good as a mini kumbh mela. The kundike is a small square about 3X3 in front of a small shrine and adjacent to this is a big tank. The pundits were sitting on either side of the square kundike and performing puja to the water. The water was red due to the vermillion(kunkum) used in the puja and at around the predetermined time of 4.30, suddenly from nowhere there were many small water springs bubbling forth in the small kundike. The red water was replaced with clear fresh water in no time by the gush of the spring. From then on, there was total cacophony among the devotees. It was a magical sight which I still re-run in my memory, visualize and can’t get over. It never occurred to me then as a teenager, i was angry at the jostling crowd and was very bitter.That day, i told myself i would never ever visit an unorganized crowded place like this. But now, I realize this is just what the crowd was waiting for and millions of lives down South are reliant on. For this mini fountains roll down, broadens, cascades and floods over plains and hills and joins many tributaries and is the lifeline of Karnataka and flows into the neighbouring Tamilnadu where too she is the lifeline. She also carves many beautiful riverine Islands, promotes leisure giving raise to many picnic spots, water falls, dams,festivals etc., and she is the reason for the world's ancient engineering marvel and the world's first hydroelectric project. If not for her, the whole of Thanjavur region which is hailed as the granary of South India would have been a barren dry land.

She is called the 'Jeevanadhi' , who throws open an entire civilization, many lifestyles and is the source for many lives ,culture, beliefs and tradition. There are many legends associated with this river and prominent among them is the Coorgi styling of draping saree. I’m not very sure about this story. However, it is said the gushing water moved the pleats of the Kodava women’s sari to the back and hence the pleats are not in the front as the regular Indian sari in Coorgi style.

coorgi women draped in a saree , coorgi style

It is amazing how a small spring flows 700 kms across two states and becomes the lifeline of many people and has been a muse for poets and artists and inspires a government run handicraft store to be named after her. No wonder, she is revered down south like the Ganga.

My next post on an ancient city swallowed by the sea. Would you care to name the city?

Images courtesy: Google

Some years ago, If anybody asked me about an ancient land swallowed by the sea only the mythical Atlantis would be the answer. I can remember this well because I’ve played the computer animated game through out one whole night to finish the many levels at one stretch. But this was until I heard about Poompuhar.

In reality there is an ancient Atlantis in our own backyard by name Poompuhar which I was unaware of till I visited it on a December afternoon some years ago. Yup, I am dusting out another travel tale from my past with an alert that this is a history post. But, I would appreciate if you read this till the end.

300 kms south of Chennai in Nagapattinam district is Poom puhar a major port city which is said to have played a significant role in the maritime history of India. This city was swallowed by a 400 feet tidal wave some 2000 years ago. Now an extension of this city still exists in the form a sleepy fishing village.

This is also the place where the River Kaveri which originated in Talacauvery travels 700 kms and joins the bay and hence the name puhar meaning estuary in tamil. ( also called Kaveri puhum pattinam)

This fishing village was once the capital city of the famous Chola kings. It was rich in maritime trade and the kingdom had trade with Romans and Greeks. This ancient port is recognized in the travelogues of Greek Geographer Ptolemy, Pliny and in Buddha jataka tales.

Apart from the above, many historical literature are replete with mention of this city. Some of them are pali literature, temple inscriptions, tamil epics Cilapadikaram. All these texts describe that this kingdom was once rich in international trade and the kingdom had trade with Romans, Greeks ,China and Thailand. It had huge fleet of ships.

The chola kings like Karikala cholan, Manuneethi chola ruled the city with pride and embellished it in various ways. It was supposed to have been a well planned city , peace reigned, art and culture flourished . The planned city was divided into two well marked divisions where on one side lived the working class like the artisans, merchants, gold smiths, diamond cutters etc., and the other side live the nobles, elite citizens, rich traders and physicians. Besides they had separate quarters for foreigners with whom they had trade associations.

The city has had well laid out gradens. It had two markets one the day market and the other the night bazaar. It had temples for Lord Shiva, Indra, Sun, Moon, Vishnu besides the Buddha stupas and Buddha vihars. The three religions practiced were Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. There were ring wells on the fringes of the city (which are now found by the archaeologists.) and cool, shady trees were lined all along the river banks.

Most of them speak of a great festival called ‘Indra Vizha’ devoted to Lord Indra. Pongal is also said to have originated in this age and place. The text of Cilapadikaram speaks of high level of technology and planning practiced here. Sewage ran underground and new irrigation techniques were used by King Karikalachola. In his time was designed the world’s ancient dam which is still a standing testimony at Trichy. The epic also states that the houses and halls of Poompuhar were built with precious stones and that the merchants were prosperous. Luxury and grandness abounded and art and crafts were at its peak. Traders from all over the world like Roma, Thailand, China and Greece found it such a gracious place that a whole neighbourhood of them lived there permanently.( archaeologists have found greek and roman coins here).

Based on extensive research done by Graham Hancock, A edinburgh born marine archaeologist , Poompuhar could even predate the Sumeria in Mesopotamia which is where civilization is believed to have originated 5000 years ago. According to him,The Poompuhar site was swallowed by the sea 11,000 years ago. He has found some fascinating evidence during an underwater exploration in the area in 2001 which shows that a 400 feet tidal wave at the end of the last ice age swallowed the city. Ancient tamil flood myths also speak of a great kingdom called Kumari kandam.

Prior to Hancock’s findings, even the national institute of Oceanography, Goa has also conducted archaeological investigations. The divers have found horse shoe shaped objects, ring wells along with megalithic black and red wares, brick work structures and many more antiques dating more than 7000 years ago. – all suggesting that an ancient city of Poompuhar must have been submerged in the sea. Unfortunately due to lack of funds the research investigations were abandoned by NIO and moreover the 2004 Tsunami is said to have worsened the situation by adding sediments over the ruins which are under the water.

Further research by another geologist Glen Milne from UK has confirmed Hancock’s views and this research threw up evidences that the submerged poompuhar was far superior than Harappan sites.

It could well be the birth place of modern civilization say some archaeologists.

When my elders in Neyveli ( a place close to Poompuhar) told me about this place and we drove out of Neyveli after visiting many nearby places like picchavaram,Gangai Konda cholapuram I expected to see the remnants of a submerged city which was once the Chola empire. I thought walking over the city, running my fingers over the ruins and caressing the piece of history which once was a chola empire would make me giddy headed, but I found a sleepy fishing village with some catamarans gearing for their fishing journey. There were lot of small shops selling tender coconuts and goli soda and fanta(the locals call it color) and knick knack shops selling wares of sea shells. There was nothing which was left there which could give me a peek into the past and speak about ancient history. If only the ocean waves that gobbled up the city could confess …..

Of course, the TN Governement has tried its best to create an art gallery featuring the murals depicting the Cilappdiakaram story, the story which describes Poompuhar. The whole area is set in a well maintained garden with designed gazebos and statues. I expected some antiques , pieces of ruins, excavations or some tattered sails of the naval fleet but what was displayed were beautiful POP murals from the epic.

There are some shell shaped guest house run by tamilnadu tourism which I found were not well maintained and spoilt with graffiti and dirtied by some tourists or locals. Such a rich piece of land which could speak enormous volumes of history is abandoned. While many countries with 200 years of history market every stone ,ruin, relic, land and exhibit it with pride , I thought I too should shout the news about the 2000 year old history in my blog.

Expect for the museum and shell shaped guest houses, the rest of Poompuhar is a lazy fishing village. Yes, yes just that, a small nondescript fishing village on the east coast of Tamilnadu with fishing nets, beach sand, crabs ,shells and rocky shores(like pondicherry).

And, of course Like the Karnataka handicrafts naming it after River Cauvery, Even Tamilnadu handircrafts has honored this place by naming its handicraft emporium after it and so you will find a Poompuhar, a TN government run handicraft store in major cities. ‘Poompuhar’ meaning beautiful estuary.

Wish the concerned people took measures to promote this place and showcase it to the world. I’ve heard there is a replica of the mythical Atlantis created in the sea world of Dubai. Perhaps we could recreate a Poompuhar and exhibit it to the world along with history brochures for travellers visiting this place. Perhaps then people like me would know there is an Atlantis in our own backyard and pick these souvenirs to know about our heritage and history rather than pick the beach shells and go there to drink 'color' or goli soda.

Many such thoughts cross my mind and i feel proud to have travelled in the same route where the traders of the past and many historical kings must have walked down. It indeed gives me a heady feeling for a moment to know I have walked over an extended piece of ancient history and an ancient part of my culture lie beneath me.

Location: Poompuhar is 300 kms south of Chennai in Tamilnadu's Nagapattinam district

The seven tiered silapdikara (tamil epic) art gallery featuring murals from the epic.

Image courtesy: Google

The air in my city is getting festive. We are just out of the Ramzan festivities and now we are gearing up for the socio cultural and religious Ganesh Utsav. The huge eco friendly ganesha are being booked by the various associations. The ganesh Utsav committee is involved in gathering the children and elders for its various cultural programs. Money is being collected in hundis for this public funded utsavs. All the Indian cities and villages, I’m sure is gearing to welcome the first god of hindu pantheon, Ganeshji. A practicing hindu’s good friend and guide.

Undisputably one of the friendly gods whom you can mould into a cricketer, chessplayer, soccer player, drummer, guitarist and into many avatars now even holding an apple product. So flexible that he is now in the form of stuffed toy and even Mcganesh( imitating McDonald's Ronaldo's pose). He needs no palatial temple to house him,and can simply be found around the bend of the road on a raised pedestal, or any traffic island, or under any tree or any of the junction of three roads.He throws no fuss and is very adaptable ,adjusting, a confidante, a giver and much more.

I too am excited with the festive air for he is one of my favorite god. My association with him dates back to those times when I was around 6 or 7 years . We then lived in a beautiful place here which was the quintessential Bangalore then. My house was surrounded by beautiful places which are now brand names like Lalbagh west gate, The famous eat street Sajjan rao circle( featured in TLC and many food shows like HOMP), the headquarters of the famous ready to eat MTR (Mavalli tiffin room) and the famous traditional market Gandhi bazaar( again in TLC).

I grew up here for a few years playing, listening to and reading stories when things like TV were unheard of. Predominantly most of the stories were mythological and ACK. It was the IBH exhibition at Glass house in Lalbagh which was just a walk from my house that introduced me to Ganeshji stories, the elephant headed god. Appa bought me this ACK for just 2rs( now it cost rs 40) there and thus started the association and after reading the book, I was interested in reading ganesha stories and so he gradually became my special friend. Even today, i love to read Ganeshji stories in Tinkle and other books

The hopeless nostalgic person that I am, I fondly recollect the memories of those sepia toned and simple times, when money was less but happiness was plenty. Choices were few but life was contented and uncomplicated, responsibilities were none but footloose and carefree days were abundant.

So one of those memories is this special friend’s birthday which every year like in most homes we celebrated as Pillaiyar( the tamil name for Ganeshji) chaturthi. We would source all the pooja items from the streets of Gandhibazaar. Accompanied by appa and amma and my little sis we would shop on the streets of this traditional market nearby home.

At home, the wooden stool would be decorated with small plaintain saplings and decorated with festoons and flowers. We then would install the clay idol of Ganesha(not the colored one) decorate him with beautiful wild flowers, serial lights, a toy umbrella called 'pillaiyar kudai'. The puja was performed with variety of wild flowers and darbha grass by appa while amma made all the delicacies like kheer, vada. Neivedyam(bhog) to god was the Kozhakattais(modaks), which amma would give only when I made 108 thorpukaranams (sit ups).

In the afternoon around 3.p.m , we would be dressed in our best and I and my friends would set out to see Ganesha’s in different house in the neighbourhood and ask people "Aunty, ganesha ittidira" ( Meaning "Have you kept Ganesha?" kept in this context meant installed the idol) . People then were not apprehensive to open doors to strangers and would gladly welcome us. We would then shout ‘Ganapathi ki jai” throw the turmeric coated raw rice(akshata) taken with us , collect the 'sihi thindis'(sweets) the various people gave us and the little gifts like hairband, hair clip, bangles etc. Kannadigas also celebrate Ganapati’s mom the previous day called ‘Gowri habba’ which is essentially a ladies festival like karva chauth hence gifts like bangles, clips etc. We would head home in content with all the goodies collection. The general idea is to see 108 ganeshas, but the main intention was the goodies. Perhaps, those days this was a form of socializing and knowing your neighbourhood.

We would also be a participant in the Ganesh utsav functions in the pandals close home. These publicly funded utsavs served as a reason to bring the spirit of unity and oneness among the neighbor hood residents. The cultural programs held in the evening served to showcase the talents of children and I too would sing in those ganesh utsavs. The famous song was of course” gajamukhane ganapathiiye ninage vandane…..”.

In many localities of Bangalore like Vijayanagar where I later shifted, these Ganesh utsavs in Bangalore would almost extend till Kannada Rajyothsava i.e November 1^st which is the day Karnataka was formed .

Finally the immersion, there is no concept of immersion in my dad’s side and the ganesha would be kept in the puja room and the same ganesha would be used for 5 years but I would accompany my friend Sandhya’s house idol. Her father would walk with us up to Lalbagh, While she carried the Ganesha in thelittle basket, I would ring the bell upto Lalbagh kere(lake). At lalbagh kere, there would be many clay figures lowered . some would arrive in customized trucks, some would come in handcarts. Tempos, cycles etc., The clay of the idol would get immersed and form the silt. Now of course, there is a huge noise about pollution, those days we never used much of chemical dyes.

Much has changed now. The fast emerging metro, the various underpass, flyovers have gobbled up many landmark places. The lalbagh kere(lake) has been acquired or is slowly getting phased out by the metro development, so is the traditional market of Gandhi bazaar. The junction road of Vanivilas and kanakapura road where I stayed has become an underpass. Nothing seems to be at ground level now, everything is underground or flying high. Last time i travelled out of the city, my head was held high and eyes were only at the sky. So many buildings touching the sky line. All these have transformed the grounded Garden city Bangalore to an elevated world class global city called Bengaluru. These places exist only in my memories.

Agreed change is inevitable and we have to move on in life.

But.... but...., after all these one thing remains unchanged. The ganesh Utsav celebrations at Basavanagudi APS grounds and National college grounds . This is the 50^th year. Just in case, you happen to be here and are a connoisseur of Good food and music, Be there. Enjoy the 'Aromas of Karnataka' a food festival treating you to the traditional delicacies and this is also the venue Where you will hear to the greats like Ilayaraja, yesudas, Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu nigam, Shaan, Drums sivamani and Vijay Prakash this year. And get blessed in one of the Best and oldest Ganesh Utsav pandals. For program schedule click here.

Meanwhile, we are gearing up for the festivities here in our condominium. Hopefully, my next post will be on an unique temple of Ganesha, infact very very unique.

ETA: Just as i posted this, i hear the song "Give me some sunshine, give me some rain, give me another chance, i want to grow up once again" from 3 idiots. Aptly defines my mood for this post.

During their initial days when infrastructure was not available they have made use of cycles to ferry their rockets. They converted a church into control room, the bishop’s house as office, a bicycle to ferry rockets and naked eyes to track the smoke plume at Thumba in Kerala. They even converted a Toilet into a data receiving centre for their first satellite aryabhata at Bangalore.

The Indian space odyssey has come a long way to launching lunar probes, working on a mars mission and ferrying foreign satellites up for a fee. Today they have successfully launched their 100th mission.

I am extremely proud to have designed some of their outsourced onboard double layered PCB's(between 92-94) for ISTRAC, SAC and VSSC.

That's an arduous journey, ISRO. Two thumbs up to your space odyssey and Congratulations on the milestone.

We were driving past the old Begumpet airport in Hyderabad. This is one of the busiest roads in Hyderabad where we have bumper to bumper traffic during peak hours and racing cars at other times but busy anytime of the day. When our car was idling in the traffic, a hoarding caught my attention near lifestyle store.

The advertisement issued in public interest by greater Hyderabad traffic police was aimed at motorists to wear helmets. It had Lord ganesha holding an helmet and warning as below.

(the above photo is from a social network)

I found the advertisement very educative, innovative and it also brought a smile on my face seeing Ganeshji standing beside a bike with a helmet in the hand. I suddenly, recalled I visited a place in the Thanjavur region long back, where I visited a unique Ganesh ji temple in the Thanjavur region of Tamilnadu. Thought of sharing this journey here.

One of my favorite travel routes is the Thanjavur – trichy belt in Southern Tamilnadu. This district is unique for its agricultural activities since it lies in the deltaic region of the famous River Cauvery. The numerous criss crossed canals and the rivers tributaries which meander around the little villages having emerald green fields(during winter) is a sight to behold. These rivers which irrigate the fertile land give rise to many agricultural lands and so the traditional occupation here is agriculture. These lands yield bountiful crops giving this place the name “ Granary of south india”. This place was the cradle of tamil culture , literature and civilization and many rare historical books in the ancient Saraswathi Mahal library in Thanjavur further authenticate this fact. Despite many invasions and other political turmoils the art, architecture and culture has not suffered much destruction. The people of the Cauvery basin region like Trichy, Thanjavur are supposed to be connoisseurs of art, craft, literature, cuisine and even communication(talking smartly) etc.,All these are attributed to the waterr of river Cauvery. Most of the development in this region is owed to the Chola kings. Chola bronze art today fetches a huge value in the international market.

Do you get the drift, Why am I describing this region and praising the people so much?

Hehehehe....yes, me by origins both from paternal, maternal and marital side belong to this place . Originally my ancestors belong to this region.

So ,this is one of my favorite travel routes. I have’n t visited these places much in my childhood except for a few occasional visits to my aunts place. So, we love connecting our children to these places, whenever opportunity arises. And these opportunities arise often since my husband’s uncle place(Neyveli) and his grandparents place(Lalgudi) are close to this region. Most areas in this region is rich in ancient history and so it becomes a historical tour for my children and they easily connect to it. The river banks are also home to many temple village. These temples are ancient and some predate to thousands of years like the Brihadeeswarar temple. ( World heritage site). You don't have to be religious to visit these ancient temples. But do visit one of them anywhere and you will feel the powerful mystical cosmic power. The idols in ancient temple built according to agama shastra are said to have esoteric power due to lot of chantings than the newly constructed designer temples.

Travelling through these villages in a car is very difficult since most of these are narrow,dusty and muddy roads, but you will discover the fun of a peaceful and tranquil rural life from every small daily happening of the locals . A real treat for urban souls like us used to the glistening malls, bumper to bumper traffic and living in concrete jungle drenched with neon lights.

You have to take a sturdy amby or sumo for these roads which are called “otthai adi padhai” in tamil meaning one way lanes. We had real fun once when we navigated through these muddy roads .The villagers scatter their harvested paddy bounties so that the cars pass through the paddy and gets threshed. We visited many places each of which is rich in ancient history and deserves a post from me. Not all villages are so backward, in fact when I passed through a village called Mudikondan I found people in agraharams( quarter around the temple) speaking in impeccable english although wearing the typical tamil costume of madisar sari(draped like the maharashtrian navsari) and the dhoti clad men. Most of who are retired judges and have held senior positions have made their native as the base for retirement our uncle told.

During one of our visits, we passively helped the local villagers by threshing those paddy harvest by driving past those and after manoevuring those roads fit for rally drivers we reached a place called Thilatharpana puri.

As the name suggests in Sanskrit 'Til' is gingelly, tharpana is the hindu ritual of offering respects to the departed souls and puri is city. Lord Rama is supposed to have offered respects to his father and hence this place is called Thilatharpana puri. The native story goes that Lord Ram offered his respects to his departed father here. Lord Dasharatha is supposed to have attained salvation(mukti) because of this. Hence, the main deity in the temple of Thilatharpana puri is called Muktheeswarar and his consort is called Sornavalli. It was a sleepy temple with not much activity around but every stone and wall had the stamp of antiquity. When we came out of the temple precints, we found a small temple dedicated to the scribe of Mahabharatha – Ganeshji. I would have overlooked him, if not for the name Aadi(first in tamil) vinayagar written in Tamil.

Immediately, we called a local to ascertain if it was ganeshji and why he had a human face. The locals told it was the idol of Lord Ganesha in the human form much before he got his replacement of the elephant head. Also, called Nara Ganapathi. Not many people are aware of this temple and until we reached here neither were we aware of this temple. Nothing much is known either about this temple.Wish historians like William Dalrymple travelled this route to find the hidden history here.Sometimes i feel foreigners are the ones who are more interested in our history and tell us how rich and glorious our past is.

(Photo courtesy: Google image)

There are very few temples with Ganeshji having a human face. This is one of the them. There are many beautiful and ancient temples around here. Till then, I was used to seeing Ganesha in traditonal form and sometimes as a sports man, musician and other avatars with his elephantine head . For the first time, I got to see the Lord with a human face.Many of you know the story how he got his elephant head, for those who don't know. You can read it here.

I love collecting his idols and among my many unique ones are where he is the scribe of mahabharatha in Sage Vyasa's hermitage, a traditional standing ganesha ,a ganesha walking under an umbrella and another 1/2 cm coral Ganesha and a wooden Ganesha festoon.

The middle shelf has a kondapalli creation ganesha as a scribe and the papier mache walking ganeshji with an umbrella is outside.

I'm looking for a pretty big reclining ganesha in papier mache now to adorn my beauty wall between my drawing and dining hall. Something like the one you see below.

The above one which awaits polishing is a redsanders Ganeshji costing 60,000INR at shilparamam. My search is on for a economical one in papier mache. Hope to pick it up at any crafts village soon.

My other posts on Ganeshji are here and here.

We as a family enjoy shopping. For us shopping has been an exploration, education and an experience . When my children were small, we took them to supermarkets to expose them to those exotic fruits and vegetables rather than through those hard bound colored books.

And even now they get educated through the various open air traditional markets, craft fairs, and glitzy malls. These shopping experiences have exposed them to the various cultures at crafts fair, various people at the traditional markets. They have seen smart little children(shop keepers) handling the customers at the traditional markets.

I believe the product range in the super markets help them to make judgement while buying a product and the children exposed to the many advertisements( mostly aimed at them including the income tax ad which asks children to ensure if their parents have paid their taxes) are able to apply their minds and have become decision makers in many families.The exposure to the open air kitchens at the superstore like Ruci and Idoni, Nature basket and the counters of Master chef Australia have inspired them to be junior chefs today.

At home, they are the ones who check the product list and cross check the rates when ever we are back from the supermarket. So shopping for us is a learning experience and we as a family have always enjoyed it( expensive at times). Many a times window shopping through these malls helps us to study the features of the new products in the competitive market too.

Apart from the above markets, we now have an other option the various online shopping sites. Though my husband has bought many electronic gadgets and books through online shopping, I was never comfortable with e-shopping.

But it happened soon when i got an e-voucher to exchange it for a product on flipkart. It was very special and memorable since this e-voucher came through my blog and introduced me to online shopping.

It all happened when Karthik Vijayakumar of Ilovemadras.com left a comment on my blog asking me to write a few articles. I was very glad to share my experiences of my birth town on this site. I never expected anything in return, neither did he offer. But it was a surprise when Karthik sent me a flipkart e-voucher last December.

And my first online shopping experience happened . I browsed through the flipkart shop and clicked on the handblender which was evading me since long. My sleek uncluttered kitchen has many kitchen gadgets modern and traditional. one gadget which i wanted to own since long was the kitchen hand blender and a little sil batta(grinding stone) but never felt the need for this. The whipper in my mixer did its job. But this time, i bought my dream gadget and so this Kitchen hand blender came through my blog and flipkart. I clicked on the product, entered the e-voucher number, address details and the second day it was delivered to my home. As simple as that.

And recently, we shopped online for a physics text book. My daughter's NCERT Physics text was unavailable for more than 45 days in the various NCERT book shops of the city and the booksellers had no clue when the stocks would arrive. Her unit tests were to begin in school. We immediately booked it online and got the books in 2 days time from sapnaonline.com. Today, I enjoy shopping online too. I don't generally shop for mass produced items which we get in malls especially home decor and dresses. It is a pleasure to buy those hand crafted, exclusive items on special online craft and furnishing stores.

So along with the many forms of shopping, i have also comfortably added online shopping to my cart now and thanks to my blog.

This post exclusively for blogadda's contest t "My most memorable online shopping experience" sponsored by Snapdeal.com

When I received this book for review, I thought I did a mistake of picking up a thriller for I am no fan of thrillers or mysteries. Despite some dampeners, this book kept me hooked because of the historical and mythological data. That I prioritized the book amidst a tight personal & professional schedule shows how engrossed i was with the book last week. I must also admit that the book which raced through some places was a drag at many places and broke at the end. No wonder, the author asks us not to flip to the end since this will act as a plot spoiler. Nevertheless, a fascinating book.

India's youngest Linguist and symbolist Anil Varshney bids for an antique base plate of Raja Man Singh in Sotheby's auction and wins the bid. This base plate has grooves for 4 antique seals. The assembling of these seals found at the various ancient excavation sites of India like Kalibangan, Kurukshetra, Dwarka and mathura when fixed on the auctioned base plate gives way to 'The Krishna key'. This key exposes an ancient secret which is Lord Krishna's precious legacy to mankind. This book also makes you feel that Lord Krishna is not a myth and a reality.

Now, over to the story. Anil tries to place these seals in the safe custody of 4 of his close friends just in case anything happens to him. So he entrusts the seals to his friends who are all doctorates in Nuclear science, life science, History and an off shore explorer. The professor in Mythological history Ravi Mohan Saini is the protagonist who meets Anil Varshney before he was killed by a person named Taarak Vakil. Before getting killed , Anil leaves a seal and a cryptic message to Ravi Saini. This message helps him to piece together the four seals on the auctioned base plate which is safely locked in a safe deposit locker.

Anil Varshney is killed with a scalpel and the murderer marks a shloka on the wall with the blood. Ravi mohan Saini is suspected as the killer since he was the last one to visit Anil. Ravi mohan Saini flees the police custody along with his beautiful doctoral student Priya Ratnani. Priya's father Sanjay Ratnani a lawyer helps fight the case of Ravi Saini and is also instrumental in the escape of Ravi and Priya.

From here on begins the race to trace the three seals. The duo try to meet the remaining friends by dodging the police as they travel to Dwarka, Porbandar and Somnath and from here on he splits with Priya. The story takes a twist here and Ravi travels to Mount Kailash and finally ends up at Agra's Taj mahal where he finds the answer to Krishna's key.

The above is the brief of the book which has each chapter beginning with the first person narration of Lord Krishna himself from his life to death and then correlated to the contemporary story line.

What i liked about the book was the exhaustive research done by Ashwin Sanghi. The list of references and acknowledgements behind the book shows the amount of work Sanghi has put into the book. I am tempted to read all those books because of my fascination for Indian history, mythology and heritage.

Many historical and mythological facts backed with scientific reasoning gives you goose bumps and makes you feel blessed that you belong to a proud race - the Indian race. I have always believed our ancestors were a treasure house of information and pioneers in many fields. If the theories and data of this book are authentic then this book has some fascinating facts like much before Oppenheimer, Newton,Einstein, Big bang theory our ancestors like the yogis knew about the theory of relativity, dispersion of light, levitation, atomic energy, nuclear energy etc. It was a revelation to read about the architecture of Taj mahal which was originally supposed to be Raja Man singh's palace. These were the reasons I held on to the book.

Otherwise, i found the book describing too many killings and many of the character sketches like Taarak vakil, Sir Khan and too many sanskrit shlokas etc overly done.

Also, for the amount of research Sanghi has done, he could have proof checked the book with the same zeal. I myself could find two glitches, one is on page 301 where the last para should begin with Radhika and not Priya. and on page 389 where it should read Saini and Radhika( not priya and Radhika)

It was definitely a good read for me but the tempo petered at many places. What held me to the book was the fascinating historical , mythological and the scientific explanation of our culture.

Ashwin sanghi is the author of the best selling Rozabal line and award winning Chanakya's chant. Chanakya's chant - a political thriller is now on the way to be a movie. Ashwin is a Yale graduate and is an entrepreneur by profession but writing historical fiction in thriller genre is his passion and hobby.

ETA: THE AUTHOR HAS ALREADY ACKNOWLEDGED THE GLITCHES OF HIS PROOF READER ON HIS WEBSITE AND HOPES TO RECTIFY THEM WHEN THE BOOK GOES FOR A REPRINT

The Krishna Key
by
Ashwin Sanghi
Published by Westland limited

INR 250

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

I was delighted to receive this mail in my inbox today morning. I had left the link of my previous post (book review) on Ashwin Sanghi's website. The krishna key's author mailed to me back and this is what i received in return. Thank you, Ashwin Sanghi. This one to one connection with your readers, I'm sure will take you very far. Awaiting to see you receive the Booker prize.

This is the mail i wrote to him.

Hi Mr. Sanghi,

Amazed at the way you have weaved the tale of ' the krishna key'. Your research and work on the book is commendable and hope you write many more such books. Incidentally, this is the first book of yours that i have read. The beautiful historical and mythological facts in this books tempts me to pick up your second book chanakyas chant. My review of this book is here.http://www.shreshar.blogspot.in/2012/09/ashwin-sanghis-krishna-key.html

Thank you,

Asha

Dear Asha,

Thank you for writing to me with your very kind comments as well as
your detailed book review. The greatest reward for an author is to
receive appreciation from readers :) It makes the entire effort of
spending years writing a book seem worthwhile.

I am delighted to hear that you enjoyed reading The Krishna Key. It
has always been my effort to bring our rich historical and cultural
heritage to the forefront and comments from readers like you reinforce
my commitment to do so even in the future.

Once again, many thanks for your email. You have my sincere gratitude.

With every good wish,
Warmly,

Ashwin

--
Ashwin Sanghi

Thank you Ashwin Sanghi, i am touched and warmly reciprocate.

Every time there is a festival, my multicultural, multi storeyed community brings vibrancy to our life by celebrating occassions starting with New year to Christmas through Diwali, Ramzan etc.,.And the Ganesh Utsav that went by recently was no exception.

I don't know how many of you agree, but during a recent conversation with my friend who is a CA, we were discussing that it is not just for a monthly salary that we work any more . It is also to hold on to our positions at our competitive work place. So stiff is the competition out there in the world that your mind and body is working over time and stressed. Children are also not spared of these competitive rat race. They too run the race by attending their regular school, tuition and extracurricular classes. In general, none of us have time to stand and stare on regular days. There is only time to smile and say a customary "Hi' or "Hello' as you get off and on the elevator or when you meet them during your morning walk.

At times like these, it is festivals like Ganesh Utsav which helps breaks the monotony of our life and helps us to puff out the stress. These festivals encapsulates the multicultural spirit of our Mini Indian community and these getogethers bonds together the residents of the society and gives us a sense of joint family. We also get a peek of other cultures while holding on to our own. Many residents put up food stalls showcasing their regional cuisine like sabudana vada, holige, appam stew, medu vada, murukku, vada pav, malpua, dabeli, thepla, dal baati, shrikand and many more delicacies like patrode, gol gappa, thekwa,khandvi etc., You name it and you have it. Entrepreneurial women also pitch stalls showcasing their products. Outside vendors and business houses also pitch stalls in our complex.

The children and elders participate and enjoy in the various cultural activities in their ethnic wear. This utsav was a potpourri of colors, cultures and cuisine that is India, ofcourse topped with devotion.

Coming to culture, here is where i experienced the' laddu auction' culture which i was unaware of till i came to Hyderabad many years ago. I am not sure if this is prevalent in Maharashtra or Karnataka where Ganesh Utsav is a socio cultural public festival with secular overtones. But this auction is very popular in AP.

Here Ganesh Utsav is generally a 5 or 11 day affair, the last day before the immersion the modak shaped laddu in the hands of the lord is auctioned. The laddu in the various pandals goes under the hammer fetching lakhs of rupees. It is a belief among the devotees here that this laddu which was held in the hands of the lord for 5-11 days would bring the bid winner happiness and luck in plenty and it is also sown across the agricultural fields for bountiful harvest.

This laddu auction took place on the 5th day in my complex and i missed the event in my complex since it coincided with my daughter's concert in a complex opposite mine. Infact, we missed the event so much that my daughter's heart was more in our complex than on the concert stage. She and my hub rushed to our complex to be a part of the festivities like Ganesh Jhanki (where a pot is tied to two poles with goodies and the devotees have to strike it till the pot breaks) and the immersion that took place later had more than 30 of our residents including the hubby travelling to Hussain Sagar for immersion. These events are such great stress Puffs for our community residents that many of them even take leave to enjoy the utsav. People from other faiths too participate and enjoy the event.It was indeed disappointing to have missed the auction in my complex but perhaps the lord had other plans for us.

( Don't miss the 5kg laddu wrapped with silver warq)

5 days later.......

I was sitting in the front gallery watching the winding of the 10th day celebrations of our opposite multistoreyed complex( same builder). When the huge lord walked out to their main drive way with the laddu in hand. And Guess what?

I got to see the direct relay of the laddu auction from the comforts of my gallery.

The bidding started at 5000rs and ended finally with the winner taking home the lucky and auspicious laddu for 29,000.Our complex laddu was won for Rs15,000.

But these are nothing compared to the costliest laddu this year that happened at the Ameerpet utsav ( a central business district of hyderabad). The laddu auctioned here took the cake. The winning bid was 12.5 lakhs.

While the size of the laddu adorning the palm of the lord is increasing every year, the bidding amount is also growing every year. The laddu is supposed to bring luck and happiness. The bidding is secular in nature in that you have muslim bidders too. This concept was supposed to have started in the year 1994 at the Balapur ganesh utsav and slowly the faith spread every where around AP. Locals say that the auctioning of the laddu was to cover the expenses of maintaining the pandal and transportation costs. But today, the money is used for welfare activities like building schools, hospitals for the poor and meeting the relief fund.

And yes, the winning bidder shares his luck and happiness with others. My co-resident who won our society bidding sent us a share of the luck and happiness in zip lock pouch.

Isn't festivals all about that - sharing, caring, feasting , bonding and enjoying :)

P.S: Last year my son won the quiz contest. This year it was not held due to the summative assesment. but my dot and her friend won the 2nd prize in the junior chef contest. Guess who was the first prize winner ?- a 14 year old boy. The contest had equal amount of teenage boys participating in the chef contest. Way to go, boys!

PPS: I only decided to write about the laddu auction but got carried away and listed the whole utsav. Sometimes we plan something and something else gets executed.

I tried to avoid this post but the mom in me surfed and won over and so this post had to be published.

Alert: A Pompous post

After touring and shopping around the lifestyle exhibition at HITEX, we settled at the eating area. My son went to get his pizza from Domino’s counter while my daughter went to get some parathas. The parathas menu had some interesting fillings and had a lady rolling out them while the men around helped her. I and the hubby were busy observing the people around and suddenly I found my daughter engaged in a conversation with the man handling the paratha counter. The conversation between them looked like they were either arguing with a smile/ familiar to each other. After placing the order my daughter came back to us and told the man at the counter was one of the visiting leadership officer at the camp and who helped my dot and her friends to get the outpass while the commanding officer initially refused to give them the outpass at the camp.

After a while, the man came to our seat and said “ Your daughter is one of the 7 students whom we have chosen as promising leaders of the future at the camp.” Even before we could say something he continued. “As a parent, you pamper and accept the negatives and positives of your child within your home but it is only when they stay outside would a child exhibit her adapting qualities and amongst the 300 odd students, your child was one of the chosen 7 and the last 4 who compered the event on the final closing day. She did a tremendous job" he said. He also added, “we generally don’t issue outpass to these students because they don’t keep up their promise but in your daughter and her friend’s case, I could gather from my experience their genuine plea and request reflected on their face and hence recommended them to the CO”.

It was a mommy moment for me, because the appreciation came from a man who was the faculty of leadership at the Indian school of Business(ISB), Hyderabad. After all only a leader can identify a leader. He is an ex airforce personnel who is also a president medal winner (SD Sharma) and here the man was helping his aunt ( she is a paratha expert who conducts workshops) manage the crowd at the exhibition counter.

Well, why was I joyous? My dot was a very outgoing child and made friends easily with everybody so much so that at any of my husband’s team outings she was awarded the “most friendly and outgoing child”. A very adaptable, adjustable and an undemanding child who has competed and participated in various competitions and stage shows.

Somehwere along as she grew up into her tweens and now in her teens she lost the quality. She became choosy and picky and stopped being familiar and friendly with all. She found comfort in a group and mingled only with a select few. She refused to go on stage for any shows or competitions and has missed many good opportunities. My husband who is a very good confidante of my dot and a very cool person generally does not bother about all these things. But,It bothered me for some time and then I finally accepted it as a part of growing up.

Not that I am an ambitious parent. We are simple and contented people who find joy in little things that life offers us. But when you know your child is capable of excelling in certain areas, that extra push may help. Of course, at the end of the day, we want our children to be happy and content in whatever they do. We don’t want them to run any race against their wishes. Neither do we force anything upon them. We want them to enjoy their childhood and believe in giving them the maximum exposure possible.

So this appreciative comment about my dot made me really happy and I had to record it here.

Is my son any less? No… my next post will mostly be about the mommy moment I had at the parent teacher meeting.

English Vinglish was the most awaited movie in recent times, the comeback movie of the yesteryear actor Sridevi. The storyline of the movie which reflects reality is ably directed by Gauri shinde and fantabulously enacted by the whole cast.

The storyline is simple but handled beautifully. It is laced with a potpourri of human emotions most of which are identifiable in most middle class homes. Infact, the protagonist character is said to be inspired by the director Gauri's own mom.

Sashi Godbole , a middleclass Maharashtrian house wife is also an entrepreneur who sells “laddu” to make her own money. She does not know to speak English and so she is ridiculed by her family. She is the object of humour by her husband ( fantastic acting by Adil hussain) and her children who make fun of her English and have scant regard for her talent and her duti consciousness towards her family.

Meanwhile Sashi is invited by her sis in Manhattan to help her in the wedding plans of her niece. She travels to US alone and how she enrolls herself in a crash course in English with her peers from Spain and France and learns to speak English forms the story line. The finale where she delivers the wedding speech in her niece’s wedding is one of the high moments of the movie. There are many such soft moments with subtle lessons on loyalty, dedication, familial love, perseverance and values of institution like marriage – all these without being preachy.

Like I said in my title, this is not about the movie but the message from the movie. What is about the language of English that enamors many families? Isn’t it a language like any other language. A means of communication, a medium to capture feelings and emotions like love, respect and transact business.

I remember long back when I was moving up the elevator in my block, my neighbour’s kid a 3 year old who was with her dad was crying. When I questioned him about it? He said, she did’nt attend her school interview in English and so he was worried that she might not be admitted in the school. He said “much as I try to speak to her in English, she refuses to respond to me back”. He had been scolding her all along and hence the teary eyed girl.

I am not being judgemental about him here, it is his child and his choice. But why force a 3 year old to speak in English? Won’t she take to the language like a fish to the water when in school. After all she has the whole lot of her life to learn. What is wrong in speaking her mother tongue?

Similarly, I approached a kid who spoke my mother tongue with a line in tamil. The mom proudly said “No Asha, he does’nt speak tamil. He speaks fluent English though”. The child is hardly 2.5 years old.

Today , it is considered trendy in most families to speak in English. Even if the child tries to express in their mother tongue, the parents or grandparents cut short the child and respond to him/her in English.

Isn’t it important for a child to think and learn her mother tongue also?

I agree many of today’s children are born in intercultural families. But then the child has the opportunity to learn dual languages. Isn’t it? Contrary to belief this is not confusing to the child. Statistics claim that learning more languages only makes the brain more engaging, active and the child utilizes a greater percentage of the brain. Multilinguals have a higher performance rate than monolinguals on tests of intelligence, inventiveness and problem solving ability and creativity. Then why restrict them only to English. Let them learn as many languages as possible along with French , Spanish, add your own mother tongue.

I honestly feel English language has its own limitations. The emotions nestled in the deeper crevices of the human mind and heart can seldom be expressed with English. These can be best expressed in your mother tongue/native language. English for me is not an emotional language but a language of business. The rate at which English is given importance today, I doubt if any other language will flourish 50 years hence.

I am not against English language. My own thought process and soliloquies are in English. This is the most spoken language today especially in the field of work. No second thoughts about it. It is just that it feels bad when parents refuse to teach their children or reprimand when they express in their mother tongue and put them on track in English.

Anyways, these are my thoughts. What are yours?

Like a stuck record, I can keep writing about certain things that are dear to me. One such thing dear to me is the navaratri festival. I have fond memories of this festival in my childhood, perhaps the reason why I keep chanting about it :)

Since I have already written much about the festival before, I am not delving into many details about the significance of golu. Golu is the display of dolls down south during navaratri. Today since we are scattered around the world, we make do with whatever dolls we get locally. But in days of yore when the concept was started by Krishnadeva raya(?) or Raja Raja chola(?) the main doll which adorned the golu was the marapacchi toys along with clay dolls. The “marapacchi” toys are wooden dolls made from the Red sanders wood.

The dolls are given to the girl during her wedding which she displays it during the golu in her marital home . From then on she keeps buying new dolls (not necessarily wooden) every year during golu time. The collection grows until the dolls are collected enough to be arranged in odd number of steps. Some dolls are a part of heirloom. Today “marapacchi” shares its space along with Lladro, Mattel, lego, Swarovski and other such international brands.

It is passed from one generation to another. Some elders also say that these were like barbie dolls of yore. Since child marriage was prevalent in olden days, the girls were given these as play toys when they were married. Dolls for a kid , we know are like silent companions with whom we share our secrets and they absorb our emotions. We tuck them under the pillow and talk to them and dress them up and hence they were given during child marriages.

Coming to marapacchi toys, these toys are made from a medicinal wood called Red sanders. These dolls come in pairs like that of "Shiva- parvati" or "Lakshmi- Vishnu". The dolls are dressed in cloth and jewellery before they adorn the golu.Today the tree from which the dolls are made is protected, the toys are made of neem wood or alternative wood.

Whatever be the reason, this wood is one of the most sought after wood and fetches a huge value in the international market today. The red sanders tree is unique to the seshachalam hills of tirupathi or nearby dry tracts of chittoor and is grown nowhere else in the world that the state has applied for a geographical indicator. It is one of the most smuggled good and is in the news often. During the recent international biodivesity meet @ Hyd it was concluded that some foreign countries make a drug to control BP which are patented by them.

This tree has medicinal properties. Revati Shankar a multifaceted media personality ( who acted in Robot as Rajnikanth’s mother) is an authority on the information of native wisdom. She mentioned once on tv that this was used to treat hypertension and most homes in olden days had 2 sets of marapacchi bommai( dolls). One set was used for the display. While the smaller ones were used for extracting the paste by rubbing against a rough surface. This paste when applied externally on heat boils would heal the boil. An infusion of this wood is used in the control of diabetes and the fruit of this tree is used to treat chronic dysentery. It is also used in various skin diseases and to treat headcahe, scorpion sting etc., This doll also served as a medicine and hence found its presence as first aid in most homes of yore. The little dolls with medicinal value served as a teether for teething children.

As if authenticating this info, I recently found them in my husband’s grandparents home at Lalgudi. The huge house was sold last May, since it had no caretaker. Many of the antique toys stocked in the attic were given away. I picked up the marapacchi toys and a few brass toys. I also brought some during my trip to Tirupati. These toys are unique to Tirupati and are today sold in most outlets like the government run handicrafts emporia like Cauvery, Lepakshi, Poompuhar and pudumai of Pondicherry. When decorated in the golu the reddish brown dolls lend an ethnic touch.

The craftsmen around Tirupati who carve these dolls are now using them on the panels of doors and furniture. Demand for these have now risen and since the wood is now protected, the crafts men have started carving using neem wood , mango wood etc.

The decorated dolls displayed in a cousin's wedding held in 2011 which will be displayed in her first golu.

This pic was clicked by me at Tirupati from where i picked two dolls.

this intricately carved door was for sale at shilparamam a crafts village @ Hyderabad

Info source: I have compiled the info about dolls in weddings based on hear say from elders. The news about the protection and GI was taken from 'The hindu'.

That time of the year when the whole country wears a festive look be it the Durgapuja of the East, The ramlila/ ravan dahan / kulu dussehra in the north, the garba dandiya navratras of the west or down south with us the Mysore dussehra or navratri. Call it by any name the essence of the pan indian festival is the same - the triumph of the good over evil by legend or scientifically the seasonal influence on humans and religiously by faith the puja to the female trinity of the hindu pantheon – Durga, lakshmi and saraswati.

One such temple which houses the divine Trinity is at Basar, 200 kms from Hyderabad. People flock to this temple during Navratri .Though the ancient temple has the divine trio, the main deity is Saraswati and hence it is known as the Gnana Saraswati temple at Basar( Basra in telugu). An ancient temple surrounded with GHMC maintained gardens on the banks of River Godavari.

The main deity of Saraswathi who wields the veena is always smeared and decorated with haldi. The haldi is offered as prasadam and whoever partakes this is said to be blessed by the god of wisdom and learning.

The legend has it that after Mahabharata war, Sage Veda Vyasa embarked on a pilgrimage in search of peace. He reached the kumaranchal hills on the banks of River Godavari and meditated on the goddess Saraswati. She appeared in front of the sage and ordered him to place three fistful of sand at three places everyday. So, everyday before meditation, after bath in Godavari he would place three heaps of sand taken from the river . These heaps miraculously transformed into the idols of MAha kali- Mahalakshmi and MAha saraswati due to the mystical power of Sage Ved vyasa.

As he stayed on the place for a long time it was called Vyasapuri which slowly evolved into Vasara and due to the marati influence now it is called Basara or Basar.

The present structure, believed to be built by the Chalukyas has survived the mughal nawab attacks of the Shahi dynasty..

It was my neighbor who mentioned to me about this place. His son was a student of Chukka Ramaiah the Famous IIT guru who trains the children aspiring for the engineering utopia. Most of his students are placed in IIT. He takes his students there on Basant panchami ( saraswati's birthday) to be blessed by the godess . We travelled to this place 10 years back and more recently some 4 years back. The roads are well laid you can complete the 200 kms journey in 3 hours. Though in Adilabad district, it is closer to Nizamabad. The road throws some beautiful sights of vineyards enroute to Basar.

Just like the Visa god which i mentioned here, this place is synonymous with education. You will also find many students getting their pens and pencils blessed by the goddess prior to the exams. The most important festival here is Basant panchami. Parents initiate their children into aksharabhyasa on this day which marks Saraswati's birthday. You will find slates, pens, books etc sold around the temple. The banks of River Godavari which has beautiful log floats turns this pilgrim spot into a picnic spot .

A calm and serene temple on ordinary days worth marking when on a holiday to Hyderabad.

Wiki states that this one of the two saraswati temples in India, the other being in Kashmir. But, I myself have visited three more ancient temples dedicated exclusively to Saraswati, one in sringeri in karnataka , at varkal -45 kms from Hyderabad and the other at koothanur in southernTamilnadu.

Basar temple surrounded with manicured gardens

The main deity in haldi and with the veena in her hand

The log floats in the nearby Godavari

When I saw the latest prompt for the contest from Blogadda, i thought i have already written about this a couple of years back and so did not give much of a thought. I was enjoying the vacation with my children, socializing and soaking the festive season visiting golu at many of friend's place. Just as i was walking back from a friends place last evening with the tamboolam( goody bag) in my hand, I realized I had something to share about the crazy shopping I did for the goody bag gifts last summer.

Here I go, this post exclusively for blogadda’s contest.

When my children were young, one of the most painful pleasures I had to undergo was choosing a gift for my children’s many friends birthday. Painful because most of the times I had to hunt for the right gift at the last moment, pleasure because the brightly wrapped gift pack lights up the face of the child.

It is a known fact that today most children are blessed with the best of books, clothes and toys. So anything you gift them would only duplicate or even quadruplate their collection. It has happened to my own children. I have many such books, toys and board games which I have donated to the toy bank .

Thankfully my children are now in their teens( 13 & 15 now) and so choose the gifts to go with their friend’s wishes or make handmade quilled collages or scrap books for their friends. Recently they gifted their dad a handmade scrap book containing his photos from childhood to now and a MP3 CD containing songs which he heard during his college hostel days ( During their talk sessions they found out his favorite songs in college). This comes in handy when he listens in his car and he said that was the best gift he ever got. Together, they source and create similar handmade gifts for my parents, in-laws, near and dear ones.

The hand made scrap book made with handmade recycled paper( don't miss the frilled golden lace at the base and top)

The first page of the collage containing his solo photos with a poem by her for her dad. the succesive pages photos collaged from our marriage titled jodi no 1, his photos with elders in the family titled blessed by elders and a page exclusively devoted with photos of them with beautiful foot notes.

I have been spared from this crazy act of choosing gifts though a pleasureable one. For my own friends and colleagues, generally many of my like minded friends come together and do group gifting which is pooling the cash and then buying a gift voucher. For very close relatives like cousins we gift cash which is easier and they make their own choice.

But very recently, in the May gone by, my son’s thread ceremony( yagnopaveeth/ poonal) was scheduled. This event is a socio religious event and the event requires preparations as good as a wedding . The venue was fixed close to our native at a beautiful place and we wanted a grand celebration so that we could meet all the elders and youngsters at one place after a long time. It is occasions like this which brings the close knit family and relatives around the world under one roof.

The venue, the caterer, photo –video grapher, purohits and all other arrangements were taken care of by my family elders. But the task of invitations and gift giving fell on me. Invitations were done with the help of my cousin’s husband who owns a printing press. That left me with gifts. I thoroughly enjoyed shopping for the gifts after a long time and I managed to pick up good sarees, dress materials, shirts etc, for the elders and young ones but the task of buying a gift article to go with the tamboolam was what drove me crazy.

Tamboolam is a goody bag or like a party favour which is a tradition of guest hospitality which is followed in south Indian festive occasions like baby shower, house-warming, weddings, thread ceremony or even festivals like the ongoing Navaratri.

It is a token of gratitude and love the host shows to the guest for attending the event and blessing the host( in my case, the son at thread ceremony). It generally consists of betel leaf, arecanut and coconut / grapefruit along with this a gift like a memento.

This gift was what drove me crazy. I shopped from shop to shop in general bazaar, a traditional market in Hyderabad where you find lots of party favors and gifts for goody bags amonst many things. I even asked the shopkeeper “ bhaiya, aisa koi naya cheez dikhao jo dikhnay may accha ho, durable bhi ho aur anokha bhi ho,” and to all this I wanted a stamp of ethnicity on it and so told him “ … aur kuch hyderabadi bhi ho”. After all you get mass produced gifts everywhere and so I wanted something hyderabadi.

They showed me so many items like embellished banjaran draw string bags, hyderabadi lac mirror ware items like pens, key chains, divine collections like miniature lac ganeshji and other icons, Banjara mirror work cell phone pouches, jewelery pouches, lac incense holders, kumkum bharni, dress pouches, card holders, banjaran mirror work purses. I did narrow down on the last one but I found most of them would need card slots to keep their credit cards. This purse would be worthless in utility, though beautiful and ethnic to look at.

Then after getting in and out of many shops, I landed at Karachi bag works. This shop is where I generally shop for my children’s school bags and other bag needs. It also sells trendy ethnic bags and purses. I recently bought my leather wallet here. I asked him the same here “ Bhaiya, aisa koi naya cheez dikhao……….”. He showed me a beautiful rose bag. Which looked like a small multi petalled rose and fits into your palm, when unpetalled this would become a bag. I found this ideal to carry, when you go for walks or just drop it into your handbag.

Now-a - days most shops avoid giving plastic covers or charge extra for the plastic bags. At times like these and , just in case you go for walking, you could buy things , unfold this Rose and carry the shopped things home. An ideal gift, that had utility value and aesthetic value. I have a strawberry bag which I carry for walks and when at home this bag cocoons into the strawberry and dangles from my dining hall curtain hook like a show piece. I was delighted when I get that elusive gift piece. I wanted it in bulk and so told him to pack those and I got it for an excellent rate.

But wait….. my delight bubble lasted only for a while.

Just as he was packing, I took one of the bags and pulled the drawstring and out came the clip in my hands.

OH NO! this is not for rough use. I told him I don’t want such a delicate gift.

And then he suggested something unique, yet he told me it was not hyderabadi like the rose one. I was ok, by now I was tired of finding that gift which met all my criteria and so I had to let go one of those criteria.

He now showed me a bag with good quality material which when folded looked like a purse and when the 3 folds were unfolded it opened up to be a beautiful and colorful shopping bag. It could hold more items than the rose bag. I was maha impressed with this bag. This looked beautiful, useful and compact. Just what I wanted only it did not have the ethnic tag. Never mind, I narrowed on this gift to go with the tamboolam.(goody bag)

Six months have gone by since I gifted those bags, till today I have got many calls from near and dear ones and during the course of conversation, they tell me that was one of the most useful gifts they have got and comes handy when they go out and fits snugly into their handbag.

Well, that is what I want my gifts to speak. Because whenever I buy a gift, I generally don’t pick anything off the shelf. I am a person who goes for something which is unique and has utility value for the recipient. A good gift should be remembered forever and speak about your thoughtfulness, care, affection and gratitude and that perfect gift need not be expensive.

The strawberry bag and the folded elusive bag which sent me on a crazy shopping spree

When unfolded the bag shapes up like this.

This post is a part of the contest at BlogAdda.com in association with Badhai.in

The Hyderabad traffic police were craning the scooty’s and bikes parked in the no parking zone. The vehicles were lifted with a hook onto the back of the truck. The vehicles inside the truck reminded me of a similar scene at Vypeen island in Kerala.

At Ernakulam, when we checked into Bharat tourist homes in Dec'08 we were not tired after travelling a 24 hour journey from Hyderabad. We refreshed ourselves and went to the reception office to book a cab to Cherai beach. The reception guy suggested us to take a boat ferry instead of a cab. We took his advice to make a journey, a journey to discover beautiful sights and reach Cherai.

We took a boat jetty from Ernakulam and reached a place called Vypeen island. We disembarked from the rickety boat jetty and boarded a local bus to reach Cherai. As we sat in the bus and were waiting for it to leave. A similar sight of vehicles like car, motorbikes, cycles and even a minibus carrying passengers drove onto the landing of the big motor jetty using the roll on- roll off(Ro-Ro) concept. . The jetty locked itself and started its journey towards Ernakulam carrying all the vehicles and its owners. Only here the owners of the vehicles willingly drove and parked their vehicles inside the boat jetty unlike hyderabad. It was a very interesting sight to see the vehicles being transhipped. Here it is a means of commuting. Since Ernakulam has many islands around it like Fort Kochi, Vypeen and Willingdon. The people during peak hours to avoid the traffic over bridge find it a easy means of commuting. This transportation is called “Junkar Ferry”.

Similarly when I was travelling through Vypeen island to reach Cherai, the back waters of the Arabian sea formed canals inside the village and the kutcha houses on either side of the palm fringed canals found it easier to use the valloms ( wooden plank boat) than the bridge. Every house had a vallom tied to the palm tree outside it. The sight of the tender coconut and fish laden valloms sailing on the canals made a picture post card sight. Also, this island faces a huge water crisis and so it is a familiar sight to see water pots on the vallom. Potable water is carried here through the back water channel.

I ‘ve heard that many tourists don’t travel this way and instead take the Goshree bridge(by road) to travel to Cherai from Ernakulam. We only had to thank the manager at Bharat travel homes who suggested us this way to reach Cherai instead of taking a cab.

The junkar ferry(see the auto & 2 mini lorry)

vallom laden with coconuts

We had a nice time discovering the country life of these people who commuted with vallom and junkar ferry. When here leave no opportunity to miss the relaxed way of life where many houses go about their daily chores without even glancing at you. They glide in a ferry to their work as if that is the most natural thing to do and i still can't forget the beautiful fishing scenes on my way back. The fishermen fishing with the lanterns in the late dec evening made such a surreal sight . I did capture in my camcorder for posterity but lost them due to my carelessness. A beautiful Island and an unspoilt beach near Ernakulam. Already blogged about it here.

Making or planning a holiday is not a big deal. But to make the holiday and journey a lifetime memory is. One such lifetime memory is from my Ernakulam (kerala) trip.

pics: google

Our travel plans grounded this Dussehra Vacation and we also had no official celebrations this year at home but all these did not deter the spirit. We celebrated our 'home stay' vacation in a different way.

And how?

Shop, eat, celebrate that was the mantra for us this vacation.

For the past 15 days , we had no alarm to wake us up, no hurried curry to make, no rolling rotis at 5.30 in the morning, no waiting school bus at 7 , no worry about the tiffin box menu, no googling socks and books - It was as though the world had stopped for us. For we never saw the sun rise but slept close to sunrise.

We woke up leisurely, read our news papers and went about enjoying life in a slow pace....

They planned the menu for the day and daily they made it a part of their routine to make something new. They did'nt stick to the Pizza, burgers and baking black forest cakes. With age,they had to move ahead, from budding chefs to gourmet gurus and now they had to be Junior master chefs in the making.

And so , together they googled the recipes, cooked Multigrain carrot cake(substituting eggs with Flax seeds),Homemade chocolates and Au gratins.

And they helped me to make multi cuisine like vegetable Sizzlers, Jeera rice, Makhana pulao, Malai koftas, Hyderabadi Biryani and mirch ki salan, appam - stew, pineapple gojju and of course we never forgot our own traditional tanjore cuisine of vathal kozhumbu, Thengai thogaiyal, paringikkai paal kootu, rasam etc.,.

Each day we tried to add variety in our menu, we browsed in the internet, shopped the ingredients and churned out something exotic by tweaking and twisting the original recipe.

They had holiday home work/project time too which doubled as slumber parties where the team mates got together to make a project for the national children science Congress (Koodangalum nuclear project) which begins tomorrow.

For this the menu were Veg sizzler, Pasta Arabiata and the flax seed cake and for an other punjabi friend slumber party, we had Kal Chatti vathal kozhumbu, idli and sambar, Rava dosa and eggless Chocolate Ganache cake . Now of course we impressed the friends so much that they loved the vatthal kozhumbu and want to buy a kal chatti(stone vessel - a heirloom which i cherish).

In the evening, we went our ways, He went to make soccer moves with his friends, She for her cycling and girlie talk time with her friends and I for the golu visits.

We watched movies, our fav serials and shows swapping between cookery, travel, music shows, cartoon and sports shows.

As always bed time is our bonding time- recalling memories by browsing through our old photo albums, narrating their childhood memories and then listening to songs from barfi, aiyaa and the latest hits. In short, this stay at home vacation would make an entry into our memory chip as 'Rishton ka time' of course the skype time completed the family picture.

They hugged, They cuddled, they cajoled, they cried, they kicked, they fought, they sang, they danced . I was a mute spectator admiring their antics, wise cracks* and talks, admonishing their fights sometimes and at most times a referee too .Who ever said "Having one child makes you a parent, having two makes you a referee" - I raise my hand.

Personally for me the most endearing moment were when my dot helped me clean the house, wash the dishes and when my son made me the 'chai', put the clothes for drying and helped me in his own little ways without even being told. ( My maid was on her dussehra vacation).

These little things are what goes to show they love they care.

In short to summarize our vacation was nothing grand and exotic it was simple, sweet, stylish and slow paced like barfi's song "Itni si hasi,itni si kushi...."

We are back to our routine tomorrow charged emotionally and physically. I have added a couple of kilos. But i am sure, I will shed them for I will run the race of fast paced life from tomorrow.

P.S: Sharing with you a wise crack my son made:
A friend who came home asked my 13 year old " How is it S, despite playing in the hot sun you never get tanned, you are so fair"

My son promptly replied "that is because i am not in Congress"

My friend looked askance at me and i relayed the expression to my son.

He replied " I don't make unfair decisions, so I am fair". Got the drift?

And now our vacation menu rolls:

Hommade chocolates in the moulds

All ready to be wrapped

All wrapped and colorful, nothing beats the feeling to make your own chocolates. They had total fun.

Our first attempt at making Sizzler, simply mast said my son and my dot who according to me qualifies to be a master chef Australia judge said " Awesome ma".

Appam - Stew

Malai Kofta curry with multigrain rotis

Pine apple gojju

Will edit to add my vatal kozhumbu pic.

vatal Kozhumbu( a tangy traditional cuisine of southern tamilnadu made with sun dried veggies) in a black stone vessel, pumpkin paal kootu( a gravy made with milk and tender pumpkin) and sundried fried berries( manathakali)

I let a huge sigh of relief today early morning at 3 and thanked god for all the emotional help, i was just waiting for the call. It was a great relief when i heard my hubby from Hyderabad airport.

I felt so restless between oct 28- november 1st when hubby was stranded in a hotel in NYC. Frankenstorm Sandy had brought down the powerlines of NYC and brought life to a standstill there where the routine life of a common man was dependant on power. It cut off all communication lines betweeen my family and my husband . I felt helpless since none of our friends and relatives in the US could also reach him. His office too tried to reach him to reschedule his tickets. Everyone was worried for him. It was so unsettling, i stopped watching any news related to Sandy. I did'nt want any negative reports to affect me.

Everytime i felt some negative thoughts crowding my mind, i looked up to God. I had only faith in god, because when you have faith you know no fear.

Luckily, the second day, some places like Dunkin donuts were restored power. An indian family near his hotel who had come to recharge his mobile went back home to get food like vada pav and khakras .

The hotel had stocked non veg food( we are veggies), fruits and bread. Moreover the hotel depended on coldstorage for its food preservation. From the third day it could provide fruits and outsourced bread.

I was getting restless, It was then i decided i will google to find out when power would be restored at his place. Guess, who came to my aid?

A FB page dedicated to Hurricane Sandy . It gave detailed account with a key mentioning where the power crew were working, where the power was restored, where there was massive outages etc. It also showed the hotel road with a blue dot( maximum outages). And all i did between those days was sit glued in front of the site and watch for the news out there. The news on the site sounded more authentic than the press.

( a smaller version of the power outage map with legends which got updated every 15 minutes)

The site got many stinkers for its slow restoration work and bouquets too. But must appreciate the way, they worked through restoring power by first prioritizing hospitals and removing live wires and solving the root problem. The crew ( the yellow hard hats in the pic) worked through day and night. The site kept updating the news every 15 minutes and cautioned people not to step on wires or do their own tree trimming work. They patiently addressed the stinker mails. They gave priority to sms and requests where medical aid was important. The site also was updating news on the second day that the crews of the neighbouring states were sought for help.

Having said all that and appreciating their effort. It made me wonder, why an advanced country like theirs had such a disorganized disaster management. Having known in advance that Hurricane sandy was going to strike them and it was deadlier than the previous ones, Should'nt an advanced country be well prepared to handle the crisis better. After all, they have even faced Irene last year. The crews were hired from the neighbouring states only after two to three days. Today, as i post this, many friends with independant homes have not been restored power. They are back to the olden days of warming up near fireplaces. Chilly winds have begun there.

Only today i am opening newspapers to read about Nilam and Sandy. How mother nature has made us 'powerless'. Perhaps, the reason why our elders worshipped nature and did'nt play with it.

Whatever said, those days were nightmarish for us, now though it can be dubbed as "life time experience".

I have not studied and don't understand economics or finance but I have interest in the field of economics and banking. This made me pick up Ravi subramanian’s ‘The bankster’ for review. I had read his book “If God was a banker” and was mightly impressed with the book. He had so beautifully narrated in the book how the corporate sectors/banks work. I am sure anybody who works in corporate world would be able to relate to the book where you find people with various colors. Associates who are manipulative, scheming, straight forward, aggressive,assertive, sincere, dedicated with integrity etc.

And so when ‘The Bankster’ offer from blogadda came, I picked up the autographed book offer.

The Bankster by Ravi Subramanian

Published by rupa publications

INR 250

"The Bankster" as the name suggests is the story of a banker and two gangsters. The trio are involved in illegal trading of blood diamonds and arms, money laundering and nuclear power installation politics. How the three work and use the services of a famous bank called Greater Boston Global Bank( GB2) is the story.

There are three stories which run parallely in Angola, Devikulam(Kerala) and Mumbai as bases, they finally converge as one.

The story begins in Angola, where a CIA agent Joseph Braganza trades arms for the famous blood diamonds.

The second story is at Devikulam in Kerala where a retired NRI Krishna menon now runs a homestay & protests against the installation of a nuclear plant in his village. He has lost his only son and DIL in the Chernobyl disaster and so has taken a vow that a similar incident should not occur in Devikulam. Here he is helped by a NGO worker Jayakumar in his anti-nuclear protest rallies.

The big story of the three has its base at Mumbai, The greater boston global Bank. The bank which is known for its integrity suddenly finds its reputation tarnished when a series of its sincere employees are killed in accident and suicide.

A former employee of the bank Karan Punjabi who has now turned journalist finds something fishy about the deaths, investigates and finds out the employees were murdered. He unravels the mystery behind the murders and then out tumbles the scams like money laundering, illegal trading of arms/ diamonds and the relation to nuclear protests, thus uniting all the three plots. The climax has an unpredictable twist. At many places, the investigation reminded me of the CID serial.

What I liked about the book was the simple language used. There were no financial or banking jargon used which would have wanted a non –finance person like me to google the word. In fact, some of the terms like hold instruction were beautifully defined so that a lay person like me could understand. I liked the i-cloud explanation too, a facility of ipad which I was not aware of.

Regarding the characters, I am sure every corporate associate will encounter many Raymonds, Harshitas who are sincere in their work balancing the scheming Zinaidas and Ruthless Tanuja’s. For me the story picked up pace after Harshita’s death in the book. From then on the book became unputdownable that I finished at the stroke of 1 knowing very well that I have to get up at 5 next morning.

What I disliked about the book was the beginning few chapters. The chapters were toggling between The 3 plots and so I found it difficult to connect. Many a times, I went back to read the story especially the Devikulam plot. Similarly, the description of the bank affairs in the book somehow sounded familiar may be because I had read “ If god was a banker”. The description of the sewage pipes connection in the Vienna base was too elaborate like a lesson on plumbing. It could have been simple.

I have a mixed feeling about the language Hinglish used in between the conversations. I found them natural as that is how two colleagues/buddies speak in most Indian work place. At the same time, the dialogues may be difficult to interpret for a person illiterate in Hindi , considering this book is read around the world. I thoroughly enjoyed the Hinglish though.

The narration is so realistic at places that you may start doubting your own bank and your banker friends around you :)

Jokes aside, Pick up the 358 page banking mystery if you like this genre and it is not a financial crime thriller as many have touted it to be. There are no financial jargon that can scare you but a banking thriller with an unpredictable twist in the climax and a racy second half. Wish he had maintained the first half with good pace too. This book is one of the top 10 bestsellers now. (Courtesy: The Hindu)

About the author:

This book is by a banker and finance professional, Ravi Subramanian who began his career in 1993 in Bangalore with the Tatas and IBM and shifted four years later to Chennai, where he worked with ANZ Grindlays Bank. Moving to Delhi, he was with Citibank for five years before shifting his base in 2005 to Mumbai (Shriram Group), where he resides with his bio-technologist wife-turned-banker. He won the golden quill readers choice award for his debut novel "If god was a banker" and he is hailed as the "John Grisham of banking"

This bookreview is a part of blogadda book review program.

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Heaving a huge sigh of relief!

"The Bankster" by Ravi Subramanian