My interest in Tarot card readings started when my sister gifted me a set, while on a visit to Chicago in 1991. She knew my interest and passion for the occult from a young age.
It was fun to self-learn. An opportunity to attend a workshop in Chennai in 2001 by Shri K.B.Gopalakrishnan was an eye-opener of sorts. I re-learnt the basics. I learnt the basics of Vedic Astrology from short term courses conducted by him.
Since then I have been learning and practicing simultaneously. Constantly keep reading up on techniques which will help me hone my skills.
Today he had invited me for session and as usual I rushed to be present. We shared our knowledge. Discussed some charts without revealing particulars of the seekers.
Since his office is near the ancient shiva temple at Vadapalani, Chennai, we visited and prayed.
Went to the office to round off for the day by chanting the navagraha mantras. It was bliss and so peaceful to end the session in such a nice way. We all felt the peace within and parted ways to head back home.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi
Showing posts with label Learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Learning. Show all posts
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Modaks Or Kozhakattais for Ganesha Chaturthi
Today we performed puja to lord Ganesha, the celestial remover of obstacles.
Morning found me busy preparing the modaks or kozhakattais. When I was making the jaggery filling for the outer cover of the processed rice dough, I was reminded of the Chinese momos. The fillings are different, though always vegetarian. The covering is different. The shape is almost the same and the process of steaming is also very similar.
I called out to my mother to help me with making the rice cups so that we could fill in the jaggery/grated coconut mix and steam them all at one go.
There was some rice dough left so we made small marble size balls and steamed them too. This item is known as ammini kozhakattai. This is slightly salted and spiced up with a seasoning of mustard seeds, curry leaves, grated coconut and either cut green or red chillies.
My mom was mentioning how she learnt all her cooking from just helping around her elderly in-laws' side of relatives in the kitchen. She would be made to grind batter for idli, dosa, vadai, adai and endless masalas for sambar, pachidis, etc. Then deep frying was her department. Usually it would be the ghee/nai appams, appalams, vadais.
She shared with me an insight I thought I should share with you all. Her sister-in-law took charge of the kitchen for big functions where at least 40 relatives would eat the feast.
So sister-in-law's kitchen was always equipped with a special set of vessels for the purpose. This set would be called the onnukkul-onnu which roughly translates into one-in another.
this was the most interesting set consisting of 7 vessels which can be stacked one inside the other. Therefore, 7 different sizes or measures would be kept as a benchmark to prepare items for 40 people.
The biggest one would hold the rice, the next would hold the sambar, the next would hold the mor kozhambu or kadi which is a curd based dish, the next would be for the rasam, the next one would be for the sweet pachadi, the next would be for the curd pachadi and the last and smallest one would be for lightly salted cooked dal which is a must-serve item for such big occasssions.
Of course, there would be many more items like the deep fried vadas, papads, the pickles, payasam or sweet.
This set was a standard measure to feed 40 people.
I always wonder at the ingenuitu of people from the ancient times. We learn a lot if we get a chance to participate or involve ourselves in such activities. And there is so much joy in such gatherings.
The cause may be different but it is like having a party alright!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Morning found me busy preparing the modaks or kozhakattais. When I was making the jaggery filling for the outer cover of the processed rice dough, I was reminded of the Chinese momos. The fillings are different, though always vegetarian. The covering is different. The shape is almost the same and the process of steaming is also very similar.
I called out to my mother to help me with making the rice cups so that we could fill in the jaggery/grated coconut mix and steam them all at one go.
There was some rice dough left so we made small marble size balls and steamed them too. This item is known as ammini kozhakattai. This is slightly salted and spiced up with a seasoning of mustard seeds, curry leaves, grated coconut and either cut green or red chillies.
My mom was mentioning how she learnt all her cooking from just helping around her elderly in-laws' side of relatives in the kitchen. She would be made to grind batter for idli, dosa, vadai, adai and endless masalas for sambar, pachidis, etc. Then deep frying was her department. Usually it would be the ghee/nai appams, appalams, vadais.
She shared with me an insight I thought I should share with you all. Her sister-in-law took charge of the kitchen for big functions where at least 40 relatives would eat the feast.
So sister-in-law's kitchen was always equipped with a special set of vessels for the purpose. This set would be called the onnukkul-onnu which roughly translates into one-in another.
this was the most interesting set consisting of 7 vessels which can be stacked one inside the other. Therefore, 7 different sizes or measures would be kept as a benchmark to prepare items for 40 people.
The biggest one would hold the rice, the next would hold the sambar, the next would hold the mor kozhambu or kadi which is a curd based dish, the next would be for the rasam, the next one would be for the sweet pachadi, the next would be for the curd pachadi and the last and smallest one would be for lightly salted cooked dal which is a must-serve item for such big occasssions.
Of course, there would be many more items like the deep fried vadas, papads, the pickles, payasam or sweet.
This set was a standard measure to feed 40 people.
I always wonder at the ingenuitu of people from the ancient times. We learn a lot if we get a chance to participate or involve ourselves in such activities. And there is so much joy in such gatherings.
The cause may be different but it is like having a party alright!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Monday, May 3, 2010
Stress in life
Dear Friends!
We all have stress. We have to face it all the time in our lives right from we are this high in childhood.
It is mild and perhaps we have support from our near and dear ones in our childhood so we manage it somehow.
Into our teens we see it in a different way. Stress due to poor marks scored at the school exams, peer pressure for some things and how we deal with it, friends whom we discover are not really our friends! All this plus those embarrassing questions from our parents who want to know what's happening in our lives outside home.
For some a love failure or a crush could make matters even worse.
But it is friends again who support us and we somehow sail through these years without health issues.
Then its college time. This is the most difficult of all in many people's lives. There's lot more exposure to others from many places than the same friends we have been seeing at school for a long time since childhood - of course, it depends on whether we have studied at the same school for 14 long years!
At office we face another set of people and we are lucky if we have good humans as our superiors rather than those who feel threatened at every shake of their chair to mean that we are up to grab it!
In the efforts to prove ourselves worthy of our jobs we learn, re-learn, unlearn many things at work. We make mistakes, get pulled up, never make mistakes, get pulled up, work hard, but never get praised, never work hard but feel we ought to be praised for attempting to attend office :D
Some bosses put up and some don't suffer upstarts or juniors kindly.
Through all this we learn big and small things which mold and shape our lives.
We are not what we were 10 years back, well even 10 hours back if a massive event had occurred to change our lives forever!
So what does all these things tell us? Life has its ups and downs. How can we wish only the happy events to take place all the time in our lives. How can we also be depressed and bogged down only with bad events all our lives. Is it not then in our own hands to try to make our lives better by taking whatever positive steps we can to damage-control our mistakes, be ready to learn from our mistakes and try to lead a calm and peaceful life.
Stress can be dealt at every turning point in our lives by keeping our balance in happy as well as not-so-happy times. This does not mean we should savor in the happiness an event brings. Not just cling to it all the time is the secret of letting it go. This letting go after a while is to be applied to both happy and sad events. Let go means not simply trying to forget but to learn to move on with more maturity and strength. To get up and move on with the set of goals we have before us. If goals are too long to reach, it makes sense in breaking them into smaller segments so that the length of time does not bog us down which could result in our losing what little interest we started the work with.
Finally, the best way to de-stress is to talk to someone close who is not judgmental about us, or chant some routine mantras repeatedly until we can divert our minds in a more positive way and meditation is another excellent form to overcome our disturbed minds.
In these modern times it may be hard to find friends who have time to lend an ear to our problems but chanting and meditation can be practiced to good effect to put our lives back in order!
Cheers!
Happy chanting.
Mahalakshmi
We all have stress. We have to face it all the time in our lives right from we are this high in childhood.
It is mild and perhaps we have support from our near and dear ones in our childhood so we manage it somehow.
Into our teens we see it in a different way. Stress due to poor marks scored at the school exams, peer pressure for some things and how we deal with it, friends whom we discover are not really our friends! All this plus those embarrassing questions from our parents who want to know what's happening in our lives outside home.
For some a love failure or a crush could make matters even worse.
But it is friends again who support us and we somehow sail through these years without health issues.
Then its college time. This is the most difficult of all in many people's lives. There's lot more exposure to others from many places than the same friends we have been seeing at school for a long time since childhood - of course, it depends on whether we have studied at the same school for 14 long years!
At office we face another set of people and we are lucky if we have good humans as our superiors rather than those who feel threatened at every shake of their chair to mean that we are up to grab it!
In the efforts to prove ourselves worthy of our jobs we learn, re-learn, unlearn many things at work. We make mistakes, get pulled up, never make mistakes, get pulled up, work hard, but never get praised, never work hard but feel we ought to be praised for attempting to attend office :D
Some bosses put up and some don't suffer upstarts or juniors kindly.
Through all this we learn big and small things which mold and shape our lives.
We are not what we were 10 years back, well even 10 hours back if a massive event had occurred to change our lives forever!
So what does all these things tell us? Life has its ups and downs. How can we wish only the happy events to take place all the time in our lives. How can we also be depressed and bogged down only with bad events all our lives. Is it not then in our own hands to try to make our lives better by taking whatever positive steps we can to damage-control our mistakes, be ready to learn from our mistakes and try to lead a calm and peaceful life.
Stress can be dealt at every turning point in our lives by keeping our balance in happy as well as not-so-happy times. This does not mean we should savor in the happiness an event brings. Not just cling to it all the time is the secret of letting it go. This letting go after a while is to be applied to both happy and sad events. Let go means not simply trying to forget but to learn to move on with more maturity and strength. To get up and move on with the set of goals we have before us. If goals are too long to reach, it makes sense in breaking them into smaller segments so that the length of time does not bog us down which could result in our losing what little interest we started the work with.
Finally, the best way to de-stress is to talk to someone close who is not judgmental about us, or chant some routine mantras repeatedly until we can divert our minds in a more positive way and meditation is another excellent form to overcome our disturbed minds.
In these modern times it may be hard to find friends who have time to lend an ear to our problems but chanting and meditation can be practiced to good effect to put our lives back in order!
Cheers!
Happy chanting.
Mahalakshmi
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Turning Points in Life
Dear readers!
Among the many turning points in my interesting life, one was whether to plunge into business for myself in the year mid-1996. Until this time i was working with companies on and off.
On and off meant being able to be there for my sons who were young and at school. These were very personal decisions and no one forced me on these moves.
When the time came to start our own business so that me and my husband could take up projects and work from home we were jittery. Initially the idea was so scary and many well wishers were cautioning us about such a risk.
Then one fine day I saw a couple with two young kids put up a temporary tent on the road just outside our old home to lay roads! They were nomads, they dint know what permanence was in terms of work, a permanent roof over their heads and so many other things associated with living life securely. Yet they seemed to take it all in their stride.
When a laborer was so confident about his ability to earn and fend for his family why not us who are somewhat better than these folks was my thought.
After that there was no turning back at all. We set up our business and ran it well for more than a decade.
A small, seemingly insignificant incident does trigger you to take that so-called risk and that becomes a turning point in your life. But it did teach me was to take measured steps and undertake what we both could really handle and to be happy with whatever we got out of it. We did so well in the first few years that we had to take in 8 more people to help us out with our project work. We learnt some very valuable lessons and had the pleasure of meeting many different kinds of people. It was a good exposure to be our own bosses!!
God bless us all in every step of the way.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Among the many turning points in my interesting life, one was whether to plunge into business for myself in the year mid-1996. Until this time i was working with companies on and off.
On and off meant being able to be there for my sons who were young and at school. These were very personal decisions and no one forced me on these moves.
When the time came to start our own business so that me and my husband could take up projects and work from home we were jittery. Initially the idea was so scary and many well wishers were cautioning us about such a risk.
Then one fine day I saw a couple with two young kids put up a temporary tent on the road just outside our old home to lay roads! They were nomads, they dint know what permanence was in terms of work, a permanent roof over their heads and so many other things associated with living life securely. Yet they seemed to take it all in their stride.
When a laborer was so confident about his ability to earn and fend for his family why not us who are somewhat better than these folks was my thought.
After that there was no turning back at all. We set up our business and ran it well for more than a decade.
A small, seemingly insignificant incident does trigger you to take that so-called risk and that becomes a turning point in your life. But it did teach me was to take measured steps and undertake what we both could really handle and to be happy with whatever we got out of it. We did so well in the first few years that we had to take in 8 more people to help us out with our project work. We learnt some very valuable lessons and had the pleasure of meeting many different kinds of people. It was a good exposure to be our own bosses!!
God bless us all in every step of the way.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
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