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FDFS  ( First Day First Show) I know I am recycling this post , some of the contents in this post  appeared some time ago. Consider this the revised edition. Because  today is  12/12 . For most Madrasis it is an auspicious day ... as auspicious as Deepavali or Pongal Actually more auspicious than Deeavali or Pongal. Click on the video to experience the festivities at the Albert theatre in Chennai. For a detailed account click here and  read on. They say it is not like what it used to be in the good old days . This is how it was in Madras of the good old days. Summer vacations were never complete without watching the latest Rajinikanth release in  Kapali  or  Kamadhenu  theatre.   Paatti   (Grandmother) would wait for us grandchildren to arrive  so that she could take us for the Rajanikanth movie that had just been released. In other times of the year ,  Paatti   wou...

UNUSUAL OCCUPATIONS – Seller of small things It is a Thursday morning.  Rush hour traffic and the bus stop is about 200 meters away on the main road shielded by the houses and apartments in the leafy residential neighbourhood.  The neighbourhood is buzzing with harried mothers leaving their little ones at the day care, the school buses picking up the older ones for school, the software programmers leaving for their day job to catch the  public transport for their commute, the girl at the till in the supermarket rushing to work, the construction workers working in the nearby construction site arriving on a tractor, the security guard at the mall getting back from work after the night shift. At this intersection of the tree lined  residential neighbourhood where the maddening traffic is still about 200 meters away on the main road  Selvam parks his cart on Thursday mornings . The wares displayed on his cart are a colourful  array of small things....

Today, October 16, is  Blog Action Day . Founded in 2007, Blog Action Day brings together bloggers from different countries, interests and languages to blog about one important global topic on the same day. Past topics have included Water, Climate Change, Poverty, Food, Power of We and Human Rights, with over 25,000 blogs taking part since 2007. This year’s topic is : INEQUALITY.  As the yellow bus drove away carrying school children of the same age crisply ironed school  uniforms and neatly polished school shoes, these set of children slowly walked their way across to reach their school on time. INEQUALITY exists. However education is the  hope  that will bridge the wide gap to achieve social equality.    I am participating in 31days of five minute free write This post is also part of Write tribe pro blogger October Series 

It happens only in India Some things just bring a smile on your face ... The local  kannada slang  - swalpa Adjust maadi' ( why do'nt to adjust a little) is a strict no-no for these strictly vegetarian house owners. This post is a part of 31 days of five minute Free write This post is also a part of Write tribe - pro blogger October series  

Work What a prompt to start the work week with.  Monday morning blues ... No I am not going into what a drudgery it is getting to be.  ( Ah .. I know there are colleagues who follow my blog and I know I have a responsibility to keep a cheerful disposition at work) So here I go with a resolution for this work week.   At work , this week I will ensure that I do   A ittle bit of what is urgent but not important, A little bit of what is important but not urgent A little bit for me to enjoy       A little bit for others to Enjoy And make my workplace  better place for me and everyone to be in.     This post is part of the 31 days of Five minute Free  write   This post is also my submission for the Write Tribe Pro blogger - October series

Rest A brisk swim at the swimming pool A warm bath after a good oil massage, A sumptuous meal of rice, sambar and curry  The fragrance of jasmine flowers wafting by... The comfort of my bed with books strewn all around... Drooping down with the book hung over the table lamp  Waking up to a fragrant mint and ginger tea... Slowly sipping the Tea, watching the afternoon drizzle A restful afternoon Nap is what Sundays are meant for...  The rest and its after effects is what gives the strength to take on the week ahead   This post is submitted as part of the Five minute Free wrtie where the for Topic for Sunday is Rest  This is my submission for the Write Tribe Pro blogger - October series 

The world is more Indian than you think It was a farmer’s market at Hounslow, a suburb in London. The sale was drawing  to a close at 5.00 pm and the British farmer was eager to sell off his stock before the close of the day.  An Indian, a software programmer, possibly  fresh off the boat,  camping in UK for a short assignment , comes asking for ‘ Lady’s finger ’ . Lady’s finger , a British import was not native to India before the British arrived.  Even today it is part of the ‘English vegetables’ like tomatoes, potatoes and carrots.  In India they are not cooked  in a home on a day when it is paying its annual respects to its dead ancestors called Shrardh . Those of us born well after the Indian Independence and who were educated in convent educational institutions set up during the British Era grew up learning Lady’s finger and not its American equivalent  Okra , we knew Brinjal and not the American Aubergine or e...

Shine Waking up to the Sunshine in its myraids colours just at the onset of dawn on a grey overcast day. This post is submitted for the Thursday photo challenge where the theme is shine This post is submitted for Five minute free write  This post is also a part of Write Tribe Problogger 

Care  It is only a tiny seed that randomly sprouted in the pot. But it is precious.   It’s ancestor came home in November as a part of the baggage of seeds and saplings picked up at the government guest house in Belur. While many saplings never survived, these magenta and orange balsam seeds  sprouted and spread colour and joy in our little balcony garden.   Of the many saplings that flowered none really yielded seeds. It looked like the living memories from Belur would become extinct.  That is when one plant started flowering and looked like yielding seeds.  It was a recipient of lot of care and affection that we nourished it, gathered its seeds and propogated the next generation of Balsam saplings. Here is one of them.  I care for it, watch it grow every morning and evening. When you care for another living being, its gives it back multifold.  This is when words do not matter.  Be...

Join Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a nation wide initiative in India to make India, particularly Indian cities a cleaner place to live in, within the next five years.  We need local communities to join and take constructive steps to tackle the situation of cleanliness of the public spaces in the neighbourhood. The basic civic sense of seggregating garbage at source so that it can be disposed responsibly is a discipline that needs to be drilled in our psyche to tackle this problem. If you live in India please join hands in enrolling with your local community to form citizen circles in your neighbourhood to tackle this problem and to do your bit in keeping your neighbourhood clean. Here is an invite that can garner your local community to participate in this initiative.       Ministry Of Urban Development (Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan) Ministr...

SAY ... If you are happy and feeling good ... Say Say ... I am Happy. If you feel love for your near and dear ... say . Say ... I Love you. If you feel Gratitude for all the good things that have come to you... Say Say ... Thank you. If you feel used and exploited ... Say Say...Stop it. If you are feeling sick and Tired ... Say Say ...Give me  a break If you are feeling miserable and guilty ... Say  Say ... I am sorry Say it .. today and now For you will never know when it might be too late.   

Go ... visit a new place every year Go... befriend someone whom you have’nt met before Go... Drive  a different route this weekend Go... pick up a book at random Go... bring a smile in someone’s life today Go... do something. Go..Get a life    This post is part of Five minute free writes ...   I am participating in Write Tribe Pro blogger - October 

KNOW She just knew. There was no vocabulary to describe it. There was no precedence in recorded history known. She knew it because her instinct told her so. She knew it because she felt it and perceived it. And yet could not describe it in words, because there was no vocabulary that could describe it. Knowing is not always tangible. Even if it cannot be put in words, described with an example, backed with evidence or tagged as a pattern, it is still a fact. A fact that is not yet widely known, discovered or acknowledged by the world.        This post is part of Five minute free writes ...    I am participating in Write Tribe Pro blogger - October 

STUCK  Deluge of emails, meaningless meetings and zombied existence. I am not complaining.  It pays my bills and takes care of my mortgage. But every once in a while I cannot help when that inner spirit rears its head and asks me .... Being stuck in a rut  ... is it worth wasting a lifetime just so you pay your mortgage !!!           This post is part of the 31days five minute free write.   Today's prompt is STUCK .  I am participating in Write Tribe - pro blogger October challenge 

Together The flower and the Honey bee Submitted for the Thursday challenge where the theme is  Together I am participating in the NaBloPoMo October 2014  I am participating in the Write Tribe Pro Blogger October 2014

UNUSUAL OCCUPATIONS - The Flower seller  As a 5 year old girl, Nethra would come back from school and spend the evening helping her mother at the makeshift shack where her mother sold flower garlands to the devotees who thronged the adjacent Shanishwara temple. On Saturdays,  the auspicious day for Lord Shanishwara the footfall of devotees would be particularly high and Nethra would help doing small errands for her mother helping with the customers at the flower stall.   The footfall at the temple was dwindling because of frenzy of roadworks that cut off the approach to the temple for all the regular devotees who would come on foot or alight at the nearby bus stand.  It was a shack that her mother had set up to do business for as long as Nethra could remember.   Construction work for the flyover bridge that would cut across the railway track and build an approach road to the other side of town was in full swing.  In anticipation of the flyover b...