The Workings of an Overactive Mind

                 Its Sunday night & I'm sulking around the house thinking of the week ahead, planning the menu in my head and basically picking up fights with my boys(PV & Varun). All i wanted to do was cry that my weekend got over. So as a pick me up I was watching Youtube in the TV & was browsing randomly.    I came across Nee's Kitchen Mango Rice & started watching due to the riot of colors. By the time she was sauteing the mango mixture PV was drooling at the mixture and of course the mortor & pestle. Then he started dropping hints about making it at home. Anu, Namma ithe vettule panrathuku antha Ammi kal illala(For us to make this at home, we dont have the mortar-pestle right). Note the word Namma(us) here. We'll deal with that in a separate blog.     Luckily for him I had some mango lying around & I made the recipe on Monday for lunch. Something to look for...

    The first book of this author that I read was 'The Palace of Illusions' which was Mahabarat in the views of Draupadi. It shed a new light to all the characters in the original epic. And also made me feel the pain of Draupadi.     This book is Ramayan from the views of Sita. I had never read Ramayan though I know bits & pieces of the epic. This book really captures a true & unbalanced narration. We all praise Lord Ram for his dharma & his pious belief in duty. But as a husband & life partner to Sita and as a father to Lav & Kush he was unjust to punish them without cause. Each time Sita was tested I cried for her & at the end of the book I was bawling my heart out. But through all the difficult times though there was anger Sita's love for Ram never wavered. Though she realizes that "Love is found in its purest form on this imperfect earth between mothers and young children, because there's nothing they want except to ma...

Book 5: Rusty by Ruskin Bond        A few years ago I got to read a book of this author & from then Im a huge fan of his works. His books are for children mostly but they have so much message & frankly anybody can read them. This book is about the childhood of the author himself. His life with his grandfather was so adventurous & laugh out loud funny. But nearing the end the author will make you cry for the little boy. The book was so engaging, entertaining, thought provoking & I would give a 5/5. Book 6: Saraswati's Intelligence        I don't know if I like this book or not. It is a good read but unfortunately it resembles Game of Thrones & the White Walkers too much. The part about the various Hindu God were good but a bit dry at some places. When I started reading the book I was in a dark place with respect to my faith in God. But this book gave me a good boost of positive energy. Overall I would give...

      The summer is so hot & cruel in Chennai. Scorching Sun, unbearable heat & never ending water scarcity led to the one ultimate destination the TV in our room with me watching endless movies & series on weekend & after office. PV & I use the other rooms only when necessary. We watch atleast 5 movies on the weekend alone thanks to Amazon Prime, Hotstar & Netflix. Instead of taking the book challenge, I could have taken movie challenge. (BTW I have completed 20 books so far)      One such evening out of boredom I started watching 'Naachiyaar' in Prime. Only during the title card did I know that the movie was directed by Bala. Now i prepared my mind to expect a dark story. Boy I was wrong!!! The movie stars Jyothika as Naachiyar a strict, honest & short-tempered police officer who tries to find a minor rape victim 'Arasi' who is now full 9 months pregnant. The person suspected is again a minor boy 'Kaathu' portray...

            Mango is not just a fruit its an emotion. My love for mangoes either raw or the juicy ripe fruit has no bounds. For Varun's 1st birthday I baked a Mango Cake. Every year when we travel from Chennai to Ngl I used to drool at all the mango farms & literally beg PV to get them directly from the farm. But so far I have not been lucky. He's not a easy person to convince & doesn't do anything in an impulse.       My friend in college taught me the trick of mixing Jaggery + sambar powder. This combo is so addictive as it has sweet, sour, taut, spicy everything wrapped in one mouthful. Before marriage I spent a year in native & in Nagercoil there are 2 mango seasons. One in Summer & the other in December. We had a few trees in our farm & one among them was the Neelam variety(Kili mooku/Thothapuri). Whenever my mom sees mango she makes pickles out of them. I fought with her & refuse...

    We had a dog called Pepsi. She came to our home when I was 8 years old. She was a gentle soul who loved car drives, cuddles in bed with us & very very fond & protective of my brother. She had a flaw. She hated little kids & bald men. Her son was Ruby & he used to love beaches so much. When I was in 12th std on the day of my final exams Pepsi passed away.     I was not able to be without dogs & got Sweety. This poor soul suffered from seizures & her teeth stood out in all directions. She gave birth to only one pup & that was Chikku. Pepsi's grandson. He inherited the best of family traits.     He is very fond of me as I was always cuddling him as the pup. He was very fond of kids. Especially my niece Rini. He used to follow her around & when she was upto some mischief he used to bark & alert us. He used to drink from Rini's bottle after she slept & cuddle next to her.     Whe...

        I speak Tamil very fluently but when it comes to reading Tamil, especially literature I stumble & fair miserably. Till i was in Xth standard the day before my Tamil II exams, I used to go to my Aunt who was a Tamil professor to learn from her. When my results came & I scored 90 marks in Tamil she was shell shocked. She blamed the correction methodology for me getting high marks. In her evaluation i would have only scored 60. Believe me this is not a fashion statement or something I'm proud about. There is a world of tamil literature I'm missing because of this serious flaw. I search for English translations of tamil works. The ones I really enjoyed so much are Ponniyin Selvan series & books by Perumal Murugan.     When you read his works, you'll be subjected to see our beautiful state in a different eye. His books have always left me feeling strong emotions & makes me question the tolerability of everyone around m...