Pigeon sob story

According to Hindu traditions cows are feared and revered, hence fed on a daily basis. And boy, these crows must one hell of a digestive system cause they eat up everything you leave for them. Any pious Hindu would know why to fear a crow, primarily because he is the vehicle of Shaani or the planet Saturn, as being malefic. So to offend the crow would be to offend his master. Why is the crow revered, for it is considered to represent one's ancestor who have passed on. But this blog is not about the crows, but pigeons.

Pigeons, pigeons, fun to feed them at Khabootar khana at matunga or Dadar or even outside Mahalakshmi Temple or even enjoy when all of them take flight at the slightest sudden movement. But it is the poop that I cannot handle, I don't think there is anyone who can handle any kind of animal or bird or insect poop. coming back to pigeons.My beautiful house, greenery all around obviously loads of birds. The crows are there cawing incessantly if you miss their meal time, the occasional kingfisher, red crested bulbul and all kinds of strange bird and then there is the pigeon.Do I have anything the pigeon, no not till an year ago. Wondering what happened? Here is what happened.

I was living alone for about a year, besides the usual serious responsibilities one important task that every resident of my area, I am sure, never fails to do, is closing all the windows before leaving the house. To stop the pigeons from coming in, and if they come in and there is none to shoo them out, their day is made your worst nightmare just begins. I experienced the latter. Crows don't come in , neither do the sparrows nor the Bulbuls, nor the kingfishers, hawks,kites, BUT, the pigeons feel very welcome when they find a crack to enter your house. They wriggle and contract their body to somehow fit into the gap all the hard work pays. They way I am complaining one might think maybe a troop of pigeons wander into the house, then that is worthy of complaining. Alas it is almost always one or two of them. Mostly honeymooners or those back from their honeymoon looking to start a family. So one evening I walked into my bedroom after a reaaaly hard day's work and what do I see my bedroom had been turned into a bedroom suite for two mannerless pigeons who did everything in the same room. Mostly pooping,I think, there was pigeon poop on my books,bed spread, bed, TV, music system, cupboards, windowsill, window sliding doors, door, floor, on the fan, tube light and there was one satiated pigeon plonked on top of the cupboard, probably waiting for the partner to return, for another round of "you know what". All this because I left the sliding doors open a wee bit for air circulation, only thing going around was my head. This is the cause for negative feelings for bird and since then me and pigeons doon't get along. Now anytime I spot a pigeon, shooing is my task.

But those birds simply love my house. They simply can't let go. Since then many pigeons visit my place for food, water from my plants and to my horror I discovered for a delivery room. Having  managed to shoo away the soon to be parents, momentarily, I heaved sight of relief, only to find an egg nestled in my Oregano (omum in tamil, ova in marathi & ajwain in hindi) pot next morning. Above all on near the egg was a very possessive agitated mommy. Irritated, I was surprised at the creatures' never give attitude. This bring me to another annoying habit of their, going round and around while making a weird sound. Often I wonder don't they ever feel giddy going round in circles and what purpose does it serve. Maybe the one with most circles in his log gets the girl. I was worried about how to water my plant without hurting the egg or hurting myself. Many are not gonna like what I am about to share, what I would appreciate is a solution. So, when mom was away I gently moved the egg into another pot and placed it where mom knew the egg to be. Later when I went back to see how the new arrangement had worked out, a sad mommy was looking for her egg. The egg was missing, it had not toppled out of the new pot, Maybe a crow feasted on it. I shed a tear in secret and apologized to the mom. Again a few days later when I found an egg in the same place, I put it in a pot in a safe spot, this time no fault of mine, mom managed to push the egg out of the new home and ...Finally the third time around I decided to leave the egg and mom alone, as if making up to them I decided to record this gestation and birth, only to be cheated by death again. The egg just disappeared.

With tears in my eyes I told mom (Mine & pigeon) that, maybe, these unborn Pigeons were some kind Ashtavasus living a curse only to freed even before birth. Very sad, no everyday I hope to find an egg that would grow to be a pigeon in my balcony. Meanwhile any suggestions how I could help these poor birds find a safe place to lay eggs and tend to the young one.

7th Sense or Common Sense

7aum Arivu (7th sense), is a recent Tamil film starring Suriya & Shruti Hasan. Being a fan of Suriya, or rather the kind of films he has been doing since his film Nanda, I wanted to see this one too. Another reason being martial arts. I picked up this titbit that the movie revolves around martial arts. I love martial arts, more as  away of life, if only I had my way, I would been a monk (definitely not affiliated to any religion) in some far off mountain practicing martial arts. But when I saw it my excitement went for a toss, cause martial arts features in the film for about an hour in all rest is masala, but Suriya manages masala also pretty well. In all, only an hour or so of the film interested me, that is the first 45 minutes (mainly dealing with Bodhi dharma) or so and the last 10 minutes. 

Film plot:The female lead, a genetics PhD aspirant working on  her project arrives on the premise that with a little external help latent genetic traits in humans can resurface. For eg, descendants of a scholar or a artist, unaware, have the qualities of their distant relative in them. These qualities can be brought to the forefront and can be put to good use. In this film the protagonist is the descendant of a man today known as Bodhi Dharma in India and as Dhamo in China. Surprisingly not many knew of this chap, at least till the release of this film, including me. Our ever friendly neighbour "the dragon country" is about to declare a bio war on India by unleashing a deadly virus and this can be stopped only by the descendant of Bodhidharma, which they ( male & female leads) manage to do by the end.

So, what is special about this Bodhi Dharma or Dhamo? This film refers to him as a Pallava prince who excelled in Indian martial arts (kalaripayattu), hypnotism, academics, traditional Indian medicine,especially Ayurveda and much more. His quest takes him to a village in China where he is initially considered the evil spirit who brought a fatal disease inflicted upon the people. He uses is knowledge of Ayurveda to free the village of the disease. Soon he single - handedly  protects the village from looters using his martial arts skill only to be welcomed by the villagers to stay in the village. They also begin to learn martial arts from him. This today is known as Shaolin.Years later, he decides to return to India, the villagers decide to kill him not  wanting to lose their guardian angel. So our good fellow decides to fulfill their wish and consumes the poisoned food he is offered. He is buried in the village and immortalized. I do not know far the information in the film is authentic one can always check out  these links: Bodhidharma on Wikipedia &/or 7th Sense in The Hindu (slams the director for giving wrong info).

My point, the film ends with a message, which is, instead of labeling our practices as religious if we explain the scientific reason behind it the younger generation will accept it willingly, the inability of the past generations to explain why, what, how, when has resulted in the in loss knowledge, languages,  tomes, practices, ideals, ideas and many more.For example: We lost the patent to turmeric as an antiseptic to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, while we have been using it as an antiseptic for ages.

I completely agree with the director with regards to the message he tried to give, if we continue to force and impose stuff on our people without explanation we end being losers. Then when in future when somebody comes returns our stuff in a new package with a fancy we go gaga over it not knowing in realty it is ours, except we failed to preserve it and promote it. I the first step is to be proud of our diversity. Somebody once said, "if  I cannot speak another man's language, how can I expect him/her to speak mine". One cannot master everything but we can at least try to appreciate and not depreciate.

Green Ganpati 2011

Always been a great fan of Bappa (Ganpati, Ganesh, the elephant headed god) and Ganesh Chaturthi is a grand celebration in Mumbai and at home too. Though  not elaborate like many families but we have little Bappa and he stays for a few days, returns to his abode only to return next year. For me more than the religious aspect the preparations behind the celebration, large scale or small is more fascinating.

Let's take the Ganpati celebration in the area were I stay, my first memory of Sarvajanik Ganesh festival, Chedda Nagar Ganpati celebration, though I don't remember the year, but once I actually sat in the middle of the road to watch the latest film the organizers were screening as part of the celebrations. That was just a part of it for I remember it was an huge affair. What catches my attention is all the guys I see standing near Mohan's Pan shop come together and put in hours of hard work planning, fund raising  and organizing the setup of our Ganpati. it is difficult to do something like this especially after a hard day's work, however these guys manage to put up a  great show manage to put a great show every year.

At home , for years, Ganpati celebrations began a few days before the actual date when Grandpa (Mom's dad) and I armed with a makeshift shovel (almost always a broken metal ladle enough to scoop soil) would set out to collect soil. The old man made Ganpati at home, for long we had green Bappa at home, even before people started talking about ECO FRIENDLY GANPATIS. Not an artist  he always  managed to come up with a decent looking Bappa. At least Bappa did not have any complains about his looks, for he had Tur dal (pigeon pea) for eyes and white strips to show ash markings (Vibuthi) on his forehead and again a white strip to show one tusk. Completely a green Bappa, he was.  

So this year in the memory of this sweet old man who was my grandpops I decided to make a green Bappa just like he did when he was around and see the pics to see what I made. Though not big I was happy with my work so was mom and I bet Bappa was happy too, I hope. This Eco friendly Bappa is made of mud scrapped off an yam (sooran) which mom got a week before Ganesh Chaturthi, she always cleans it before storing it and when I saw her scrape off the wet mud off the yam I decided we are gonna use that mud to make her Bappa and voila, here he is for all to see. I decided to have an orange Bappa, inspiration being one of the Astha Vinayak Bappas. It wasn't difficult, one just has to imagine and Bappa manifests himself in your conscience/mind and your hands work, that's how it happened with me. I have used mustard seeds for eyes.  



Learning Continues... (Baking workshop)

I have always been a foodie, I guess. Cause from what mom says about when I was little, feeding time was no less than a world war. So now every time My friends and I meet it is always some place with good food. There is this one friend who is my partner in crime when it comes to food. We met at previous work place  where I was the course coordinator for Travel & tourism and she was the course coordinator for Hotel Management course, soon we became good friends. So imagine my excitement when I got to taste chocolates, cakes, ice creams, kinds of mousses and pastries, those days, alas shall never return, now etched in my memory forever. By this time though I was aware of cuisines and tastes, I got an in depth knowledge of the art of cooking. One person I missed during these interesting discussion with friends on cooking is my "Kiran thatha", Kiran is the name of apartment building where my paternal grandparents lived, so he was referred to by that name. he was a great cook, wow, avial, was his specialty and I was his favourite critic and fan. he had a style of his own. He cooked with love, maybe that was his way of getting back at life and its difficulties. So during my teens having spent a lot of time with him I learnt a lot about cooking and more about preparing for cooking and the ingredients. The other person who has influenced my cooking is my maternal grandmom, she began cooking for a huge family at a very young age. This continued even after marriage, so with time her cooking improved and her fame spread. Especially her Rasam, also known as "Mulligatawny". She continued to cook even after she moved in with my parents. So as she advanced in age I began helping and grasped the nuances of south Indian cooking to some extent, but never to her class. And when she passed away I got the opportunity to try my hand at cooking. having tried full fledged cooking my appreciation for and the art of cooking has grown immensely.

That's grandpa & me cooking, I think making crispy dosas. Man, his dosas were crispier than crisp can be.

My cooking was restricted to typical south Indian dishes, those for regular meals and during festivals I graduated to savouries, which I am really proud of. Confident that the food I make is palatable I wanted to try my hand in something else. That opportunity came knocking at my door in the form of a week long bakery course. I was thrilled and enrolled myself. It was fun. I kneaded the dough, saw edible yeast for the first time in my life, used the egg beater for the first time in my life, greased a croissant and gobbled up caked and cookies and pastries like there is no tomorrow. I did not know that we always adda little salt in sweet cookies. I learnt the cut & turn method kneadign dough. here are some pictures. This session happened at SNDT Women's University, NML, Mumbai, organised by the Hotel Management Department.

Black Forest cake

Croissants

Strawberry Cake

To blog or not to blog.

May the forces shower all their choicest blessing on those who gave the world  "the art of blogging". I am referring to the positive side of blogging, like everything else it also has a negative side. That we shall deal with elsewhere. For now, the pleasure of blogging, which does not necessarily mean actually posting blogs, but also just reading and adding comments (positive, is always encouraging to the writer). Why do I say so, cause there are some really good bloggers out there, and man, do they write or DO THEY WRITE? As it is I am a reader, I can read anything even if it is a brochure, or  a handout. Like the great Byomkesh Bakshi (a fictional detective in Bengali literature created by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay) opined"most spectacular pieces of news in a newspaper lay hidden not under the headlines, but in the advertisements". I had heard about blogging and tried discussing it with, but to no vain. So when I first came across blogs, luckily good ones, though I don't remember which one, it caught my attention. Soon I was fascinated with the concept of blogs and the stuff I often found in them. That's how my tryst with blogs began.  Primarily reading them. Maybe 5 years after my first accidental encounter with blogs I have started blogging myself. About what, nothing, anything, everything, something...

As student we surf the net for a lot of reasons, besides reference stuff. Yes, I have borrowed from the net, but, was always careful to add it in the footnote. I was thrilled when I found a whole plethora of info pertaining to my subjects so easily. Often I forgot what I was doing and would spend hours reading these ideas and thoughts of complete strangers as if talking to them. At least it is better than hanging around chat rooms looking for cheap pleasure :))) Ahem! I fell in love with the travel blogs specially, cause more than often they spoke about the unseen, hidden gems that do not feature and they themselves stumbled upon them accidentally. The wonder that opens up is treat for one's eyes and mind.Yes, others do refer to the usual palace, museum but even they are an interesting read. 

As a teacher one is always looking for new ways to augment one's knowledge and make learning an interesting experience for the student. In the past few years education has developed by leaps and bounds and students expect the teacher to be like the latest tablet in the market. This is where blogs helped me a lot, educators all over the world have the same problems and it becomes easier when shared and many solutions appear. The skills, technology, methods, researches, ideas, suggestions, books available in the market, CD, films, so much is available to the modern teacher, blogging is just one of ways for the world teacher community to stay connected.Not just teachers, I am sure many other professionals have connected thanks to the blogs.

I am sure many a amateur writers shy of showing their work have used blogs to show the world their literary prowess. So much can be said said about blogging, and for every positive comment there is a negative comment, which is only fair. But as far as I am concerned blogs are a good way of sharing with the world.

Ladies Only.

Anybody who has been to Mumbai knows about the "BEST" buses are the 2nd best mode of public transport in Mumbai after the local trains. I personally think buses are the best way getting to know the city, for these buses navigate into the remotest corners of the city that many are not even aware of. I used to jump into a bus and float around the city getting to know it better, that is before the grueling traffic jams started or the never ending process of constructing bridges, flyovers, sky walks, undergrounds, metros and what  not began.

Earlier it used to like hop into the bus sit wherever you want except for the seats reserved for senior citizens or the handicapped. Which is only right. Gradually with growing awareness (don't know if it is the right word) or the guilt over over having treated women badly over the years, few seats were reserved especially for women. Isn't it surprising, it the largest democracy women, need reservation in a bus, imagine what happens in everyday life. So as of today, 6 double seats (12) are reserved for women besides, senior citizens, and the handicapped. As it is women in India have had to fight for their rights and be excepted as equals to men, and the fight continues for many. The irony is, men seem to think that the women are now to use only those 12 seats reserved for them and not sit anywhere. Men seem to think that besides the designated seats the rest of the bus reserved for them.There signs indicating seats reserved for women even then they go and sit there and when asked to move they fight, bicker, argue, taunt, comment and lech at women who defy them. What they fail to understand is it is their inability to respect women and offer them a seat, even if it is a 80 year old lady struggling to a foot hold in that swaying bus which has prompted the system to take this step of reserving seats for women. 

I accept that all men are not jerks, some promptly get up when women walk in, while some others get up when their folly is pointed out, but these guys are new to the city or it just happened by mistake. What bugs is when haughty guys look at you as if saying you are young why can't stand? The cutest part is, it is the older men especially those in their 70's & 80's who actually give their seats to women and not the younger guys. This happened couple of times with me, where get into the bus all hassled & harrowed after a wrestling match to get into the and getting out of it alive. But, I let them sit, they don't have to be chivalrous at this stage in their life, it is only really nice of them. 

Why is it difficult for men in India to accept that women are as human as they are, yes we a different, but that is true of guys too. No 2 men are alike. Why can't they just let women be?

I think this entry of mine has turned into a women's lib piece, though that was not the intention. It is just that I wanted to put it down in writing.A woman in India, even in a city like Mumbai, especially in a city like Mumbai, has fight battles everyday. She is expected to excel in everything, it is these few minutes of journey by train or bus, the breeze in her face she feels happy. But even that is taken away now with reserved seats on the bus, cause every woman wants to be the first to get to the ladies' seat or else it is long journey on your feet.

Mobil(zation)e

For sometime now I have been wanting to change my Mobile phone, at present I have a Nokia 5130 music express. I was thrilled when I got 5130 cause it had the served most my needs, staying connected and most importantly music. It has a great sound output. I have had it for sometime now and it has seen a lot of ups & downs, if not battered it is 4 steps away from battered. Also it hangs, out of the blue. Off late it has happened repeatedly, that's when I decided to change my handset. 

When it comes to technology, it has always been difficult for me to decide. Not that I don't understand technology, it's just that I want the best within my set budget. My yardsticks to picking the right phone, worth the moolah I'm paying, updated technology and serves my purpose of staying connected and entertainment. I don't want to pick a piece simply because everybody has one or cause it is the "in thing".  Also there is the problem of brand loyalty, Nokia has been in the family for long and I still can't let go of it. After much deliberations I have zeroed in on 3 options. How did it get down to 3? On discussions with the people I think are tech savvy, I realized one has to have 3G, QWERTY, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, GPRS, expandable memory amongst other things. So I have to decide between Nokia E72, Samsung Galaxy & Blackberry curve (8520, 8530). Recently somebody told me Carbon handsets are also good, so are HTC handsets. It's been over a month now and I still can't decide which one to pick. Somebody, anybody help...

P S: I have a liking for the color black and and aversion to touch screens, so phones which are completely touch screen are a BIG NO.

Blackberry Curve 8530

Blackberry Curve 8520

Nokia E72 Copper

Samsung Galaxy Pro

Two weddings and one misunderstanding.

Weddings can be fun especially if it is somebody else getting married. One can just sit and enjoy all the boom crash bang happening around while enjoying all the starters and juice doing the rounds. Been to two weddings in three days.

The first wedding, the groom is a distant cousin, let's call him a cousin, cause if I get into tracing my relation I think I am a distant aunt. The two families ( the groom's & mine) have known each other for long. So couldn't miss this reception, actually I was looking forward to it. So mom & I took off in a rick and always we argued about the directions and finally got their. Mom's was her at her socializing best. Three rounds of socializing to be precise. How? This is how it works, she walks in and instantly begins to look for familiar faces and zooms off in their direction, with her big bright eyes and a pearly whites flashing she is bound to hit bull's eye. Following this I loose her for about an hour, cause I don't follow her around. Then suddenly from nowhere I am called for and have her attention for sometime. Taking advantage of this I managed to get over with the mandatory "meet the couple" on the stage, followed by another round of socializing while I sit it out. Then we head for the dinning area where begins the third round of socializing and believe me it is never the same people. Now the sequence is not always the same, for eg, after the first round we, sometimes hit the dinning hall and come back and have a third round. A lot of socializing happened and on the whole it was a pleasant experience.

I was now looking forward to the next wedding that I had to attend. I would be meeting friends back from college  after a long time. So I set of for the wedding early on hopping to spend time with these friends. Alas it was not to be so. My train was delayed by an hour so everything subsequent got delayed. Nevertheless was happy to be there. Was having a ball reminiscing about college days. All was well till this person sauntered in, somebody my friends & I know back from college. It has been a longtime since I met this other guest (blast from the past), also we weren't very paly back in college. Frankly I wasn't even expecting that guest here. What is the point here? Damn, people have the capacity to pick a fight over anything. This blast from the past picks a fight with my friend, because I did not say a stupid " Hi". It was a mighty awkward situation. What the ....? Huge "EGO" was speaking I guess, but it kinda shook me up for a minute and I did not know what to say? Though I did voice my displeasure and wanted to run out of there but couldn't do as it would hurt my friend, a dear friend. I hope this little "incident" affect the too many relations.

I call this past 3 days as a " Two weddings and a misunderstanding". I was looking forward to having a great time in these weddings and to some extent I did enjoy both but this " awkward situation" kinda sucked the fun out of everything. It has left a "bahhh" feeling inside of me. Kind of a question mark situation.

What was the fight abt?

Had a huge fight with mom over the usual topic of not getting married. As always, I was accused of not wanting to get married, I was told my expectations are too high, that I was being stubborn and rigid.My profile on a matrimony website was not right. What the ...? Is it wrong to expect your life after marriage to be different from what is before. Is it wrong if I tell people that I enjoy an occasional vodka and yes, I have been to a Hukka Bar. I am not announcing this from rooftops. Just a casual mention. Does that make me a bad person, or a bad woman. I am not the ideal naive Indian woman, I like what I like and know my limits. I prefer jeans, kurtis and sneakers to the Saree and jewellery. Yes, I am more comfortable in a Chudidar/salwar- Kurta, is that blasphemy. If yes, hang me. Balls. Stop telling me what to do. It is this freaking society that scares the shit out of parents who accept their as they are, but there is this occasional panic attack when a friendly acquaintance tells them about their child. Gawd, what is it with the world?