jayantiblogshere

 Idli Dosa Vada Sambar !!! A Madrasi was / is someone who could be constantly mocked at for his /her stubborn obsession with Idli-dosa-vada-sambar. Not without reason. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.  Hotel Saravana Bhavan does roaring business not in the 20 odd outlets in chennai, but more so in its 43 branches outside India.  If one ever analysed the customer profile of their overseas branches you would know why I say this. Although this is a highly under researched  area in the matters of Culinary Adaptations,  it would be safe to hypothesise that a Madrasi’s  tastebuds are not very adapatable to cuisines with external influence. Prolonged exposure to alien culinary influences have forced many a Madrasi to flee for survival and take the next ship / boat / flight/ Train/ bus / bullock cart back home to a staple of idli-dosa-pongal-vada-sambar.  A certain Srinivasan Ramanujam, whose brilliance and obsession with figures (o...

FDFS  ( First Day First Show) I know i am recyclcing this post ... that 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 a diwali or pongal Click on the video to expereince the festivities. For a detailed account click here and  read on. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/141212/entertainment-kollywood/article/fan-frenzy-builds They say it is not like what it used to be in the good old days . This is how it was in Madras in 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   would settle for nothing less than the first day first ...

Eh... Madrasi ! Chapter one : The Eternal Summer ... It  is a city I love to hate.  It was always a city I loved to hate. I am not sure about it any more though. Chennai – then called Madras was where we were packed off for our summer vacations.  The very next day after the annual exams, Appa would see us off at the Railway station and the 24 to 36 hour long  train journey  in the second class sleeper to Madras would begin.  He would join us for a weekly holiday  later during the month. Madras was where my parents were born.  Madras was where my parents grew up.  It was for them their annual homecoming to affirm their roots.  As children we did not have much of a choice in where we get to spend our summer vacation.   And summers they were.  Madras was, is and will always be known for its summer. The eternal summer. The sultry, sticky and humid weather that is hot, hotter and the hottest at the best of time...

Sky blues... Insisting on a window seat when boarding a flight Watching Mega Cities look tiny and tidy from that height Its traffic looks like a sparkling row of red and golden necklace in the night. But the best of views from the skies is clearly when it is broad daylight  ... Here are some of the snaps taken over the French Italian Alps enroute Rome aboard an Alitalia flight.  This picture taken almost seven yeas ago, is etched in my memory as possibly one of the best views from the clear blue skies of the snow covered Alps beneath ...   Submitted for the Thursday Challenge where the theme this week is BLUE

Tea leaves readings As a first generation immigrant, his father owned a Tea shop.  When he was a young boy he would help his father, when he would leave the shop in his care from time to time.   It was a city that was at the cusp of becoming a buzzing metropolis. The myriad of people whom he observed  over the years at the tea shop left  a rich  understanding of human behaviour imprinted in him. Years later, it was his accurate sense of instinct and his ability to judge people, situations and reactions that marked him out from other people around him. His point was simple. If you are tuned into your instincts and observe and register  everything around you, however trivial and disconnected they may seen at that time,  you  will learn to decipher the patterns and see beyond the obvious .   This post is written for  100 Words on Saturday Prompt   for Write Tribe  on the quote ...

It takes all kinds to make the world. Kew gardens is a wonderful treat for plant lovers and those serious about conversation of Biodiversity. Here are some from their Orchid collection taken in Feb 2012. Submitted for the Thursday Challenge where the theme for this week is garden.