Book Review: Monsoon Diary

This is one review that was long overdue. "Monsoon Diary" was in my to-read list from the time Sabs mentioned it revolved around Kerala and its food. So it was an absolute  delight when I received it from Leo as a part of secret Santa.

The book is autobiographical -  author's story  from the time she is a toddler to well  into her 20s intertwined with food associated at each age.  Starting with choru-unnal(A Malyalee hindu custom of initiating an infant into solid food) to injipulli(A sweet and sour ginger pickle) to fusion food, end of each chapter has the recipe for the delicacy.

The first few chapters can as well be the story of any other child growing up in parts of Kerala and that's where I began losing the interest - I could have as well penned those chapters! But the latter part of the book when she flies off to USA for higher education is where the book gets interesting - the coming of age of an young Indian girl !

What though makes this book extra special for me is the unexpected meeting with the author herself as I was reading the book. She bowled me over with her simplicity and is somebody who has  absolutely no-airs about her .... Was a pleasure meeting you Shobha Narayan!

I would recommend this book especially for non Kerala readers -it  gives a simplistic glimpse into our food and lives.....


This review is a part of WT fest - Day 4. 

11 Things Every Woman Should Write Down.....

There's no better way to celebrate the rich, full life you've lived so far—and the big, bright future ahead—than telling your story!

The ever diligent Shilpa (Yo that's the word I associate with you, Shilpa) has tagged me in her post to complete this very interesting list complied by Oprah  -  11 Things Every Woman Should Write Down Before the Year Ends!

Go on, read my story so far...

1. What Younger You Would Like About Present You

For having a 'life' .. a life beyond the every day rut of living. A life revolving around books, friends, blogging - how these simple things make a huge difference to the quality of life!  Another facet I am truly proud of is the fact that I am somebody many would think twice before picking a squabble with!

2. The Watched/Read It List

Courtesy Goodreads, today I have the complete  list of books I have read through the year and a even bigger list of "to-read" books. Go on, visit my page to see what's on my bookshelf this year! Though I have managed to read only 34 of the 50 books I signed up for, it was a beautiful journey of books this year!

As for movies, I already have a list of movies I am hoping to watch the coming year !

3. The Mistake You Never Want to Make 

A mistake I was very close to making, but then as usual the fate had the last laugh! To bring a child to the world for sake of society and not cause you want to bring a child into the world. I see many couples popping out a child within a year or so of marriage - its almost as if producing a child is the one and only obligation in marriage! No child really deserves it.....

The irony though is that today I am more than ready to welcome a child into our life but we have been having no luck in conceiving one :-/

4. Your Ideal Outfit

Am sitting at home writing this post in my comfy PJs ... indeed my ideal outfit ;). But on a serious note, I would love to have more of western formal attire in my wardrobe - well blame my 'personal shoppers' (read my sis n Sabs) for the lack of it :-P

5. A Deep, Dark—Shhh—Secret

Let it remain that way huh ;)

6. The Most Unexpected Compliment You Ever Got

This must be somewhere in grade eight or so. Nobody until then had ever complimented me for my "looks" - instead in their foolishness had made me an awkward and conscious teenager. So it was a pleasant surprise when my class teacher signed my autograph book complimenting me on my radiant smile . I still remember the exact words she wrote! Haa the difference a simple compliment makes to a teenagers psyche

7. That One Quote

When life hands you a lemon make lemonade (or better still get some tequila!).

8. The Best Surprise You've Ever Had

Must be indeed the peter pan of my life - my husband. He truly lives up to the adage "Like father, Like Husband" ;). What more can a daddy's gal want... especially considering I  married him a couple of months after I lost my daddy!

9. Your True Happiness 

Lies in the small things in life....

 The simple pleasures of reading a good book, watching a good movie, of traveling, of rustling up a good meal together and of good times! By no standards do we lead a fancy life - I dream of traveling around the world, of a better home, of a decent bank balance and a complete family. But as my peter pan says "It's the journey, not the destination, that really matters"!

10. Your Favorite Failure

For having ditched the damn software engineer job. Funnily I was good at it, but always knew at the back of my mind that it's not what I want to do! Today my job doesn't pay me half as much as a programming job would have -  but  I know, I have made a change for good! Though honestly there are times I regret it -  for the extra penny it would have paid along with the foreign assignments!I Am still optimistic that time will erase this teeny-weeny regret a day soon!

11. An Amendment to the Bucket List

Ho the slacker in me would love to slash out a few items in my bucket list - to read and write Malayalam(my mother tongue), to give driving another shot among other things - but lets leave the list as is for now - shall we?

An interesting questionnaire rt. I will tag Cory who originally shared this list with us.... I am sure she will have a v interesting story to share with all of us!

With this, I bid 2013 a warm adios and welcome 2014 which am hoping is a more happier and fruitful year......

The Green Fingers!

Every once in a while, I rue my lack of green fingers! No plant (not even a money-plant) has survived under my TLC! But I have a trooper of a friend who despite the bout of failures gifted me a Tulsi sapling nurtured by her mom.

Maybe cause of aunty’s green fingers, this sapling soon grew tall, bushy – though the lack of new flower buds even after weeks disheartened me!

So imagine my surprise, when today I was unexpectedly greeted with the sight of my Tulsi brimming with flower buds :-D. A small achievement but something am definitely delighted about!

This post is in response to the 100 word prompt "Every Once In A While" on WT.... A "Shady" post for my fav "shady" gal who contributed this prompt ;)

My savior in her small balcony that she has converted into a mini forest now :)

The tool for....

... Mainstreaming the marginalized gender officially!

I was pleasantly surprised to see the option of "Transgender" under the "Gender" column in UID(Aadhaar) form! Maybe the first step in acceting them as a part of our society...

Linking this to May Photo a day contest for the prompt "tool"(what this form is of course the tool for data collection of UID ;) )

PS: This post is brainchild of Sabs.

Keep the 'Change"!

.... N that's exactly what hubbs n sabs are upto in this pic...

Look closely ~~ they are exchanging notes on their respective coin collections n even bartering a few! Now now how many of u know people who in their 30s still harbor these hobbies!! Here's BTW a deco of sabs coin collection... I will save hubbs for another day, another contest!

Linking this to may Photo a day contest for the prompt 'Change'

At the Radhi-Waala....

Jus when u feel that there is too much 'commercialization' happening around, comes along a friend who will rummage the Radhi-waala n dig out some lovely discarded books! Her finds in this dingy basement shop(n tht explains the poor pic quality) have included 'The Complete Works of Khalil Gibran', 'World Is Flat', 'Life of Pi', 'Connect The Dots', 'India Unbound' ........


 Maybe she's one of those shining lights who reaffirms my faith in the existence of a non-materialist world in a largely 'monetary' world.

Linking this to May Photo A Day Contest for the tag Light(I know I am incorrigible!)

In my mailbox ...

Today in our mailbox was a courier with the latest Jeffery Archer book "Best Kept Secret" autographed by the author! This parcel was for Phenomenon  - a prize for winning a local radio quiz competition :)

The pics have been clicked by urs truly but collage is  courtesy Sabs :)

 This is part of May photo a day contest for the prompt "mailbox"

All I Need is.......

......Will let the pic do the talking!

This curio by the way was bought by Sabs cause supposedly the stance of this lady reminded her of me! Nee it doesn't represent maternal love or such jazz ... her interpretation of the expression  is "of a mother who is bored lugging around the baby n cant wait fro him-her to grow up" :-O Now u tell em with friends like this, who needs enemies ;)

Linking this to May Photo A Day Challenge for the prompt - Need!

The star(s) of the day...

Pic Courtesy Sabs!

My sis celebrated her first marriage anniversary yesterday n here am still wondering when did my litt sis grow up so much ;). Here is wishing both of many many many happy year n  happier memories.......

Linking this to May Photo a Day challenge for the prompt - "Star".

Rules Of Kitchen!

I like the 5th rule the best ;) Clicked at a Hotel Management Institute in Bangalore.

Linking this to the prompt of "Paper" as part of May Photo a day challenge!

Xie Xie Xiang!

Nee I hv not gone nuts."Xie Xie" is supposedly "Thank You" in Chinese! This titbit is courtesy Sabs who has spent over a year in China. She came up with this post when I ate her brains for a "X post". So over to her for rest of the post .

Guess who's the celebrity in the pic :-P

"Xie Xie" was perhaps the first of the Chinese words I learnt to pronounce correctly with the right intonation and expression...bow gently and say ‘Shi-eh Shi-eh’ without a pause, really fast so it flows. Imagine that you are the vent weight of a pressure cooker that has given the first two half whistles :-D - yeah, now the ‘shi-eh shi-eh’ sounds right. Well jokes aside, I think nothing can be more beautiful than the word ‘thanks’ and that too said with an added effort. Interestingly they say thanks to you for taking their cab, buying their wares or for paying the due for their service(N not other way round!)

Chinese words and names can be tongue twisters to the unfamiliar. My students at the Anhui University found an easy way out, by adopting ‘English’ names...what amused me was the creativity in choosing their assumed names- butterfly, dragonfly, book, mayflower, Meg Ryan, David Beckham, coco cola...and what not. I used to tell them to go back to their Chinese names but many of them found it uncool ! On the contrary, I was keen on choosing an assumed Chinese name for myself and from a list kindly made by my students, I narrowed down on dongmei (winter plum), Xiang(Fragrant\To-soar) and yinghua(cherry flower), planning to use them someday as pseudonyms.

So XieXie Xiang for this post.

Linking this to AtoZChallenge - X is for XieXie Xiang

@Vensa

"Vensa" - The apartment were we own a flat that we have made our home for more than three years now.

Pic during a Diwali Celeb!

Narrowing down on an apartment was perhaps the easiest or rather the fastest decision we ever took in our life...perhaps faster than choosing the flavour of ice cream. We accompany friends to see a flat that they were speculating on...hubbs falls in love with the huge corridors as we walk in saying they are ideal to put TT tables and the rest as they say is history :) Needless to say we booked a flat here even before our zapped friends did :-D

Looking back, Vensa has never given us a reason to regret our decision.It may simply be cause this place stands for what we essentially are – no-frills - read no swimming pool, no jogging track, no club house -  we have never had cookery competitions or fashion shows like the apartments around.K err I agree it must be the most staid, non-happening place :-P.

But Ho what we lack in Infra, we more make up with the variety in people - the boring corporate types, adventure seekers, the health conscious types who motivate u to move ur ass - the more ambitious ones even stealing out the gym equipments to their houses, the dignified and quiet elderly types who stay with their children, the boisterous ones who behave like the apartment is also part of their ancestral property, the retired elderly who are now a bit cranky and feeling displaced in the new set up, few wannabees, dreamers, desperate housewives,possessive husbands  n My- Husband-my-lord types, the Amway- herbal life ambassadors who will have no qualms telling u first thing in morn that u are 10 kgs overweight just to sell their products!

what makes Vensa special thou for me are friends who are more than just neighbours, they are family...people I  blindly leave my home or cars or kids(Well when I have them!) with.  Friends you can go door knocking in the middle of the night with no second thots, friends who will drop everything n accompany you just to be your pillar of support!

Linking this to A2Z Challenge - V is for Vensa

PS: This post was ghost-written by my best friend n neighbor - Sabs. N she made a desperate effort to write it in my style - she did a commendable job I should say :)

Thankful.....

... Is how I felt at the end of the day yesterday!

Yesterday(Apr 22) was my B'day (That's ur cue to go ahead n wish me :-P). The day started on a ominous note with the news of Husbands 85 year old grand mom being hospitalized! This coming close on the heels of uncles death made my mind go into a overdrive n  jump into worst of conclusions :-/. Everytime the phone rings, I would literally have butterflies in my stomach. Goes without saying that my Bday was the last thing on my mind...

Late eve, slowly things turned around with the news that grandmother was in no mortal danger! Haa the sigh of relief when I heard her voice on phone.

What made the day complete thou are  friends n family who took the effort to go the extra mile to ensure that  my frown is not upside down! From a friend who on knowing that I hv no plans for dinner took the effort to whip up a spl chicken curry for yours truly to another one who managed to sneak in a small cake right under my nose - simply cause they knew that bday is incomplete for me without the mandatory cake cutting n a grand dinner! Not to forget the friend who was my agony-aunt thru the day - haa the pleasure of having somebody who will hear u out n reassure u that things will tide over. Of course there was the gift galore - From books to dresses to 2 wrist watches  (Each meeting my specs of Big dial to the 'T'). 

The best thou was reserved for the last - my 8 year old niece who's still not got over the death of the man in her life - calls me almost post 10 in the night n literally whispers her b'day msg into my ear! Must be the best B'day wish I received this year :)

Definitely a day to be thankful for - To God, to friends, to Family, to destiny for making my day :)

Linking this to A2Z Challenge - T is for Thankful!

Wheres ur spine?.

Did you read this article on TOI - Bangalore edition? This was the culmination(or is it the beginning) of the Spine poetry group I spoke of here.....

A weekend thts full of books, food, Friends ought to be fun! But wht took the enjoyment to all together another level(for me) was this event saw so many people living their dreams(or atleast getting a step closer) ......

From a friend who went a step closer in realizing her dream of owning a book-shop someday (Volunteering for the event involved arranging n re-arranging the books) - The sigh of satisfaction on her face was priceless!

.....To a friend who took the first concrete step in setting up her own baking business one day - all the oohs n aahs the cakes-cutlets enthused is all the encouragement she needed(or so I think :-))

....To hubs, who gets a kick out of feeding people n having them relish it!

....To husbands who surprisingly rallied around to understand their wife's aspirations

N most of all to dearest Sabs who almost single-handedly conceptualized n implemented this entire event!!! N i truly hope that this event is jus the first of many she will go onto do in future...

Maybe my spine lies not in these poems, not in this job - but maybe in these people n books who see you thru this messy business of life :-)

PS: I hv been trying to write this post now for a few days with no Luck! It was sabs who once again came to my rescue with her idea of bringing in the "friends n dreams" angle to this post :-)

Book Review: Toto Chan - The Little Girl at the Window

In school, White Uniform was synonymous with sports. Come every sat each of us would come attired in immaculate white and the day would kick off with a  round of "exercises".

Pic courtesy Wiki!

Come to think of it thou - playing any "Sport" will involve certain amount of getting your hands dirty(literally!). So err - aint white the most illogical choice of color simply cause it gets dirty easily! Wouldn't Khaki or maybe a uniform made of "jeans" be a more appropriate choice? Makes sense rt

This let me acknowledge is no brainwave of mine - this was a principle adopted by a school in Japan somewhere as early as 1940s. The children in the school were encouraged to come in NOT-Sunday-bests to school cause the principal believed that the last thing a child should worry about is getting their clothes dirty as they go about the business of learning - playing! This is jus one small snippet in the book "Toto Chan - The Little Girl at the Window" - A book compiled by a student passed out from this school.

It makes a v interesting read - A book I v firmly believe should be read by every teacher, every parent...

PS:  if I hapen to read a book this year based on jus your reco and I happen to LOVE it - then u entitled for gift of some kind from yours truly! This one was again a reco by sabs- N she definitely got gifted for this :). So go on recommend a book that you think I will enjoy 

Book Review: The White Tiger.

"White Tiger" by Arvind Adiga  is been on bestseller list for sometime now ~~ so yea hv oft head of it but never happ to pick it up. But when Sabs dropped a copy at home the other day, I decided to gve it a shot.

The book is abt a driver turned murderer turned a enterprising business man. The man starts his life from one of the many "darkest"(in all senses) villages in India where his enthusiasm to study is nipped in the bud and his chances to succeed in life are next to nil! But thanks to some street-smartness n luck, he ends up in Delhi as a driver. Soon poverty, "city-life" converts this simpleton of a man to to a murderer and then a business man.

Now thou I hv spent almost all my life in India, the socio - economic in Indian villages was truly a shocker to me.

The story in itself doe snot have too many twists and turns.The beauty of the book lies in its detailing ~~ But errr the painful detail with which certain scenes were described literally made me feel like puking(Imagine a whole two-three lines describing the car owners farting habits  - yikes!).

There are people I know who have loved it but nee not yours truly!

A sat afternoon at home.......

I remember mentioning in a post, that it was only v recently that I knew my mother was a v avid reader. Yea the hours she consumed daily reading newspapers and Malayalam magazines should have given me a hint!  I guess moving to hyd a few decades ago where Malayalam novels arent easy to find made her quit the habit and never look back at it.

It so transpired, that the other day I was at a book store close to office accompanied by Sabs. This bookstore("DC Books" if u want to know) stocks a enviable collection of Malayalam books too. So on a whim, I decided to pick a new novels for mum. With sabs in tow, I was rest assured to make the correct choices! The books we ended up picking(v skeptically I should add - cause I hv no clue what genre my mom Will love) were these:

From L-R Book 1 is a take on Mahabharata from Karna's view(v similar to "palace of Illusions" am guessing), Book 2 - the acclaimed "My Story" by Kamala Das (simply cause her ancestral home was literally a stones throw away from my mothers place n so there was a general associated curiosity), Book3- translation of "Unaccustomed Earth"!

As expected, she pooh-poohed it declaring that she should be reading "Spiritual books" now n not some jumbo-mumbo fiction! But dint I know her betta...... The v next day as soon as all of us stepped out of the house she curled up with her copy of "My Story" and dint budge until she read the last page (:-P)!

Err the only side-effect of it was that we had to take along some take-away for her lunch as was too engrossed in the book to bother to cook(!!!)

Books, Books N More Books!

Less than 72 hrs in 2013 n look at my book haul for the year .... each of them a personal fav, been on my reading list for ages n the best part - getting my hands on this booty was a unexpected surprise :-D

The first n last in the stack is what I hv been itching to get my hands on the most! 

The last 4 in the stack is courtesy my darling sis from her office library. The next one is a gift from Sabs ~~ who is on a mission to get me acquainted with India writer(Am I loving it or what ~~ I guess the reading list can speak for itself). 

The first one "Ancient Promises" ~~ this books has been eluding me for soo long now. On 1st Jan after meeting a friend - happened to hop onto a second hand book store on a whim n guess what I returned back with :-D. Now this I say is the perfect start to 2013.

2013 Beckons.......

Cause I don want this space to be as despondent a "Mayan Doomsday site"(Ho my frnd Sabs used this v term term to describe it!) as we welcome a new year, I will leave u with a pic of the X-mas celeb at home(pic as well as the cake is courtey hubbs)

Here is wishing all of us a V happy New year n hoping that this year gives us more chances to smile, to be happy n fill us with hope!

Ho 2013, Plz be nicer to me.....

Spine Poetry....

.....seems to be the latest rage on FB! For those of u who hv been hiding under a rock, its basically "books arranged in  clusters so the spines(read book title) could be read like a sentence\poem". Here hv a glimpse of the pic n u will know what am talking of.....

This one is courtesy Sabs ~~ A classical example of "Spine Poetry"

The White Tiger
eats,shoots & leaves
in search of a distant voice.

N here is another - This one is courtesy hubbs. Need I say its one of ma favs too :-P

Yea yea its courtesy these two tht I for once wasn't caught napping under the rock :). Would you ike to join in too - If so you may choose to jump onto this FB group - "Where's Your Spine Poetry?" Imagine poring over the books in ur collection, arranging-rearranging them till the 'play of titles' fall in place... sounds definetely like fun rt :)