Flavours of the summer

The queen of fruits, my most favorite, summer special! No points if you have already guessed it right. I'm talking about mangoes. Yesterday, I tasted a delicious, juicy mango for the first time this summer. Doctors and dieticians suggest taking fruits rather than fruit juices. I completely agree with them. To enjoy the taste to the fullest, I suggest that you follow these steps - Cut a mango into three slices, with the centre slice being the seed. Start eating the two big slices. Don't worry if the juice drips down on your palms. God has given something special called a tongue to lick the trickling juice. Then finish off the pulp from the seed with no trace of pulp left. Heaven! One kg of normal mangoes - Rs.50, one kg of Alphonso mangoes - Rs.130, the relishing experience - priceless! Mangoes taste awesome with plain curd rice as well.

Summer time is also special for other reasons; water melons and musk melons, refreshing tender coconut water, noongu (don't know the English word. This is taken from palmyra tree and looks like litchi), spicy butter milk, endless glasses of fresh lime juices etc. The weekend special was chilled Apple lassi although I'm not really a big fan of lassi. After taking a sip in the sultry afternoon, I felt so refreshed. The only thing that I miss terribly is the summer vacation. All I can do is read this post of mine and feel nostalgic. I'm so jealous of my little cousins now.

The longest break

from the blogging world! It's been almost a month since I rambled something in this space. Every morning (during my journey to work), I think that I should write about this and that but the minute I reach office, all such thoughts and plans vanish. Work continues through out the day and I ask myself during my return journey from work why I didn't pen down my thoughts. I get the urge to open my laptop in the cab and start pouring the words on notepad before the next day begins and the same cycle continues. I also realize that I haven't completed reading a single book in the past three months. Again, the longest break in my reading. I do have my career goals and ambitions but in order to pursue them, do I need to sacrifice my interests and hobbies?

It was a busy March and many things have happened in the past few weeks. Some happy moments, some sad and I'm not in a mood to write about any of them. I just hope that I come back to my usual self soon. Most importantly, I don't want my interests to take a back seat. I need to take a look at my dusty bookshelf, read a book, try out a few new recipes, update my photos on flickr, start a photo blog (a long pending idea), update my reading list, write for Sunday scribblings, plan for the next weekend getaway etc etc. The list is endless. All I have to do is squeeze in 30 minutes everyday to work on these items.

PS : I saw the cover of Harry Potter and the Deathly hallows, the last in the series. Can't wait to get hold of the book. July 21st, how far are you?

Dawned

It's a Saturday night. You have already had a nice afternoon nap for two hours. Your friend who was chatting with you has gone back home. You have surfed through channels enough. You are in no mood to watch an awards ceremony in Sony Max. Your dusty book shelf is not alluring. Your hubby seems to be experimenting with kubuntu installation on the home PC. What do you do? Why not watch a movie in a cable channel which you haven't watched at all? After all, you are intrigued by the "loosu penne" song. So what if the movie has passed the intermission stage?

I did watch the latter half of the movie "Vallavan" and a new realization has dawned on me. I feel I have understood the eternal truth. The truth that there couldn't be a worse movie ever made in the history of world cinema. Thanks, Mr.Simbu for helping me realize this fact. I'm so grateful to you. I really admire the guts in you to make such a crappy movie and on top of that, showing a placard in the end "to be continued". What a confidence you have in yourself and the viewers that they will come and watch your second part of the movie if you ever find a producer again!

Reema Sen as a school girl is in itself indigestible and her maturish, threatening voice(God knows who dubbed for her!) is totally absurd. I have only seen Simbu imitating Rajni but in this movie, he is imitating Vijay's mannerisms and has copied the typical background score you get to hear in a Vijay movie. The threatening scenes between Simbu and Reema Sen are simply hilarious. They have succeeded in making a comedy movie if that was their intention. The hero's friends and the heroine keep shouting "Valla" again and again (Or is it "Palla"?). I can't imagine how the first half would have progressed. As my brother suggested, 'From now on, I'll start to appreciate even the bad movies because the worst has come and gone".

Am in the driver's seat

Yipppeee....cleared my learner's license test today after flunking once. I feel so relieved as though I've cleared CAT. Most of the questions were scenario based. It's not enough to just remember the traffic signs and signals. This test not only tests your traffic knowledge but also tests your English reasoning skills. Can you believe there were options like "50:50", "little similar", "somewhat similar" etc? You need to make sense out of such ambiguous questions, eliminate two options and choose the right answer. I hope the driving license test will be better and they don't ask me to draw a 11 on the road.

Seriously, do drivers follow the traffic rules such as "Do not overtake from the left; Leave a 2 second gap between the vehicle in front of you; when pedestrians cross the road, wait until everyone crosses the road; when the red light is blinking, stop the vehicle, see if any other vehicle is approaching from the opposite end and then proceed; The vehicle that arrived first in a junction takes the precedence; if an auto driver says he cannot take you to a specific place, then he can be fined Rs.100" ? I can't imagine how Bangalore roads would look if everyone follows the rules.

One thing I hate so much is the fact that the impatient two wheelers who cannot wait for the traffic signal step onto the uneven pedestrian path and honk at you as though as you are walking in the middle of the road. Wish I could just slap them left and right. Where are people supposed to walk then? I don't understand why people rush through so much. What are they going to benefit?

ரோஜா நாள்

என் வீட்டு ரோஜா
இன்று பூத்தது
பூக்களின் ராணி
இன்று மலர்ந்தது

ஒரு மொட்டு
அது இன்று
முழுப்பூவிற்கு
வழி விட்டது
விநாயகரின்
பாதம் சேர்ந்தது

மலர்ந்து சிவந்த
இதழ்கள்
காலை நேர வெட்கமோ?
புன்சிரிப்பில்
கொள்ளை கொள்ளும் அழகோ?
புது வாசம்
வீசும் மணமோ?

உன்னை படம்
பிடித்தது என் கண்கள்
உன்னை ஏந்தியது
என் கரங்கள்

கண்களும் மலர்ந்தன
உன்னால்
கன்னங்களும் சிவந்தன
உன்னால்

நீ இன்றைய
நாளை முழுமையாக்கினாய்
நன்றி கூறும்
என் மனதை நிறைவாக்கினாய்

A rough translation in English

The day of rose

A rose in my garden
blossomed today
The queen of flowers
bloomed this day

A bud
gave way to
a flower
decorating the feet
of Lord Ganesha

the bloomed,
reddish lips
Is it the morning blush?
Is it the breathtaking beauty?
Is it the fresh fragrance?

Your picture
in my eyes
Your presence
in my hands

My eyes
bloomed as well
My cheeks
blushed as well

You completed
my just begun day
You filled
my grateful mind