Anuradha Sridharan

Decided to make Poli (Obbattu in Kannada) on the occasion of Ugadi. I placed the recipe book on top of the microwave and started the process. The first line in the recipe said "Soak the bengal gram dhal for some time". I've been cooking for the past three years but I can never remember that Bengal gram dhal is kadalaparuppu. A few minutes went off in looking at the index and confirming that it was indeed kadalaparuppu. Next question came immediately to my mind - What is "some time"? How many hours do I need to soak the dhal? I decided "Let it soak for one hour". Next came the big challenge. The second line was "Take maida or white wheat flour and make it into a smooth dough". Good, I have an option to choose since I didn't have maida at home. I took the wheat flour but it wasn't pure white. Forget it, so what if the colour doesn't match the exact requirements? I made a smooth dough but it became a bit soggy. So I had to allow the...

Statutory warning : You are bound to get confused and your thought processes might undergo a serious change when you read this post. A big question for which I'm searching an answer. I know that the meaning of happiness varies from person to person. But I'm pondering on what happiness means to me. Or what happiness meant to me so far in my life? I'm undergoing a change within myself. My definition for happiness is bound to change. In these past years of my life, my happiness was always dependent on success, achievement, objects or people closer to me. When I eat soan papdi, I feel happy. But if the supply of sugar is stopped through out the world, is my happiness lost? When I stood first in my school, I felt happy. What if there was only one person in this whole world (or two, myself and the one who gave my scores)? Will I still be happy? When I am with people whom I love the most, I feel happy and comfortable. But the golden rule of life is that it has to meet death face t...

Many people have the notion that living in an independent house is always better than an apartment. I agree to this as far as investment benefits are concerned, you definitely get more value for money. But living in an apartment with many families is such a wonderful experience. When I watched Anjali in 1991, my brother and I wished how enjoyable living in an apartment would be, playing with so many kids, running around the apartment in the open space, shouting until the old grannies peep out of their window and stare us etc etc. Circumstances forced us to move to an apartment in 1993. 21 unique families were there to provide us fun, frolic and happiness during our childhood. When we moved in, only a few of them had occupied their flats. It was boring initially but once everyone had occupied, we had a blast. Memorable 9 years of my life. We were around 15 (+/- 5 depending on summer vacation) kids, age varying between 5 and 12 years. I was the eldest, sort of a gang leader. I can't ...

If only you could smell how good I have started to cook If only you could walk how beautiful would be my nearby park If only you could sing how colourful would be this dull evening If only you could touch how relaxed would be my tired body If only you could understand how I miss your hands caressing my hair If only you could talk how strong I can face my challenges If only you could see how my smile can never be permanent If only you could realize how life can be tough without you If only you could hear how far my "I miss you, mom" can reach If only you could live how different my days would be.....

Another master piece by R.K.Narayan I managed to complete. Mind you, this is not as humourous as "Swami and Friends" or "Bachelor of Arts". It is more on the lines of "The English teacher"; sad, gloomy, frustrating and feeling pity for the protogonist Jagan. He is a down-to-earth person with simplistic values in his life, well illustrated by his beliefs on nature's cure for diseases and his ever-releasing book. His son Mali, a completely different person who doesn't believe in college education and wants to become a writer. The mental misunderstanding between the two forms the crux of this little novel. One of the characters I like the most in this story is 'The cousin". There was never a mention of his name, atleast I couldn't figure out. But this cousin always helps Jagan with valuable suggestions and information about Mali. A neatly etched character, I should say. Towards the end, there was a short flashback about how Jagan meets hi...

During my last trip to Chennai, I got to see a pack of cassettes in a CD shop. A collection of my most favourite tamil poet Bharathiyar songs. I was so excited that I bought the pack immediately. Last evening, I played one of those cassettes. The first song was "Theeraada Vilaiyattu Pillai" sung by D.K. Pattammal. What a powerful voice she has ! This song reminded me of my childhood when I used to sing this song in all the music competitions. When I was a baby, my grandmother used to sing this song to put me into sleep. After many years, while I listened to this song yesterday, it gave me a lot of happiness. Bharathi was the one who brought new dimension to Tamil poetry called "Pudhu Kavidhai". His verses are very simple and captivating and most importantly, are not time-bound. "Oodi Vilaiyadu Paapaa" is applicable to every child in this world, even today. His romantic poems based on his wife Kannamma are lovely, the most recent one composed by Rahman ...

Being an ardent Rahman fan, I'm very much disappointed with his latest work "Godfather", definitely on the same league as Ah Aah. Except for the one song "Theeyil Vizhunda" sung by the genius himself, all other songs sound very average. Two songs have been remixed, only to increase the count of songs in this album. The remaining two folk songs "Diwali" and "kamma karaiyil" are worse than the remix songs. The only worthwhile song to listen to is "Theeyil Vizhunda". Rahman has rendered his beautiful pitch variations, very similar to "Santhosha Kanneere" from "Uyire". The rest of the album is below ordinary. Music directors like Yuvan and Harris are doing very well these days. But the sad part is that the genius who took Tamil film music to great heights is performing poorly. His latest in Hindi "Rang De Basanti" was quite good, though not upto his mark. I also liked a couple of his songs in the flop movie...

Aarti was looking tired, with drooping shoulders and a sweating face, carrying a school bag weighing half her weight. "Mummy...where are you?", screamed Aarti. "I am here, my sweety", arrived the reply from the computer room. "I'm very hungry. Give me something to eat", said Aarti in a low tone. "Give me a minute, dear. I've baked a yummy chocolate cake for you. I'll get it", Reena, her mother replied. Washing the dishes in the kitchen, Vidya was staring at the chocolate cake, longing to have a bite. Having heard the footsteps of Reena, Vidya quickly turned around and continued her task at hand. "Are you still washing dishes? How long do you plan to take? Take this list and buy vegetables", shouted Reena. Trembled with fear,her tender palms lost grip of the porcelain cup she was washing and broke into pieces. Reena went furious but she controlled her temper since she saw Aarti coming towards the kitchen having heard the soun...