I wrote this blog much earlier but could not finish it for one reason or the other. Here it is completed and ready for your reading pleasure.
******
I got talking to a supervisor in a hotel recently.
He was in a mood to tell his lifestory to me so I heard it out. It was interesting though in the beginning I was apprehensive of spending so much time.
He came from a village 20 years ago in search of a hotel job and settled down for good.
He was one among a group of 4 teenage friends who had failed their 10 standard exams and knew not how to spend their free time in the village.
A villager who was working at a Chennai hotel had come visiting their village, happened to see them hanging around, wasting their time and asked them whether they were interested in taking up a hotel job. They all jumped at the idea and came with him to the city.
They were introduced to the personnel manager of a star hotel, who in turn took them to the housekeeping department. Hotels are always short of room boys so they were taken in as temporary contract workers. They were trained in every kind of manual labor at site. Before the first month got over, 3 of them took to their heels not able to take the hard work, restrictions and strict supervision anymore. The 4th one had too many responsibilities back home and had no other choice but to stick it out though with a lot of reluctance.
He described what his work was in those initial years.
He was to clean the drivers’ toilets.
After he learnt the ropes, he was given upkeep of public areas like garden, swimming pool, lobby, etc.
3 years later he graduated to do guest rooms under the strict guidance of a senior room boy from whom he learnt a lot. After an year he started doing the guest rooms on his own. By that time his salary also had improved and he was able to send enough for the family to build a small house in the village.
He went to the village after a long gap and felt the respect and affection of villagers who saw him as a hero returning back victorious after a battle. Only he knew what struggles he had undergone to resist temptations of running away from his job like his friends.
He met his 3 friends and they were not doing so well in the village. Actually each one felt they could have stayed back like him and done well for themselves and their families. But they had run away, afraid of hard work and harsher conditions.
Later he moved to better jobs to settle down as a supervisor in an international hotel in Chennai with a good pay. He is married and has two kids. He is educating both his kids in convent schools as he feels the importance of the English language having picked up enough to interact with many international guests. He was saying rather proudly that his daughter scores the highest in English in her class.
He then asked me to see the Tamil movie ‘Angaadi Theru’ which is almost like his own story of struggles.
He said he cried a lot seeing that movie. Though I am no regular watcher of movies for the past so many years now, I watched it and felt how the storyline must have touched the lives and struggles of many lower level working population who have to stay huddled together on rooftops of complexes where they work with not many facilities to boast of. But life goes on for them too. For them this life is better than the one they led back home. They are heroes when they visit their villages. Their grooming is stylish, their dress is stylish, they display certain culture and daring and they have seen the city life. They become role models for success in their villages. This gives them a high.
The only thing which makes all of us committed to something in life is to be looked upon as a successful person by our own. This is the motivation which drives all of us not to chuck up a job even under the harshest of work conditions.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi
Friday, October 22, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Making Of Ericcha Koottu
The past ten days of festival did have its fallouts in terms of various kinds of dishes beginning with sambar, koottu, mor kozhambu, rasam, poriyal, avial, etc., left over in small quantities over a period of time. Stored in the fridge safely though.
My mom was asking me to make an ericcha koottu out of all those leftovers for today.
The best vessel for such purpose was at hand - our new kalchatty.
She was telling me about how the leftovers from a big lunch on festivals or occassions, was emptied into the kalchatti and allowed to simmer away for hours in those days.
It would be mixture of just about all the dishes without adding anything, not even salt, as all the dishes would contain their own set of spices and ingredients like salt, coconut paste, spices, oil, etc. This was called 'ericcha koottu' where ericcha in Tamil means to 'heat' and koottu would mean 'a mixture of'.
So you got a new dish just by combining all you have as leftovers and re-heating them all up in a thick bottomed vessel, preferably a kalchatti/kal chatty. With time it would thicken without getting burnt in the bottom.
Usually the next day would be rest day for the women of the house.
Plain rice and the ericcha koottu would taste divine after a heavy feast.
This was perhaps done for the following reasons:
To take a much needed rest the next day after a function or festival which usually involved long hours at the kitchen in preparing several courses for lunch and dinner.
The leftovers were never wasted nor thrown away. Heating all the leftovers din't require any special talent. Moreover re-heating would ensure that all those dishes never got spoilt because those were the days when refrigerators were unheard of. Heating each dish separately never made any sense due to maybe small quantities of leftovers. Combining them all would give a good quantity enough to feed an entire family.
Distribution of leftovers was not considered good except to give it off to beggars who would come visiting homes for food on a regular basis in those days. Then there were unwritten rules about when to feed such people. They were never given food before the guests and hosts ate. They were never fed after sunset either. They were given food only after the last of the guests had left.
With so many restraints no wonder some clever housewife thought of this way to re-use so many dishes to save her energy and time the next day instead of wasting so much food on one hand and preparing fresh food all over again, on the other.
The 'ericcha Kootu' is a 'recycled' tasty food!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
My mom was asking me to make an ericcha koottu out of all those leftovers for today.
The best vessel for such purpose was at hand - our new kalchatty.
She was telling me about how the leftovers from a big lunch on festivals or occassions, was emptied into the kalchatti and allowed to simmer away for hours in those days.
It would be mixture of just about all the dishes without adding anything, not even salt, as all the dishes would contain their own set of spices and ingredients like salt, coconut paste, spices, oil, etc. This was called 'ericcha koottu' where ericcha in Tamil means to 'heat' and koottu would mean 'a mixture of'.
So you got a new dish just by combining all you have as leftovers and re-heating them all up in a thick bottomed vessel, preferably a kalchatti/kal chatty. With time it would thicken without getting burnt in the bottom.
Usually the next day would be rest day for the women of the house.
Plain rice and the ericcha koottu would taste divine after a heavy feast.
This was perhaps done for the following reasons:
To take a much needed rest the next day after a function or festival which usually involved long hours at the kitchen in preparing several courses for lunch and dinner.
The leftovers were never wasted nor thrown away. Heating all the leftovers din't require any special talent. Moreover re-heating would ensure that all those dishes never got spoilt because those were the days when refrigerators were unheard of. Heating each dish separately never made any sense due to maybe small quantities of leftovers. Combining them all would give a good quantity enough to feed an entire family.
Distribution of leftovers was not considered good except to give it off to beggars who would come visiting homes for food on a regular basis in those days. Then there were unwritten rules about when to feed such people. They were never given food before the guests and hosts ate. They were never fed after sunset either. They were given food only after the last of the guests had left.
With so many restraints no wonder some clever housewife thought of this way to re-use so many dishes to save her energy and time the next day instead of wasting so much food on one hand and preparing fresh food all over again, on the other.
The 'ericcha Kootu' is a 'recycled' tasty food!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Responsible Boy
This boy aged 21 years is a very distant relative of mine.
He studied well enough through out school and college in Chennai.
His family has been in a financial mess for the past 20 years so they all had to depend on their maternal uncles for each and everything in India. His uncles would repatriate amounts to support their family and agreed to finance his study abroad once he was accepted at some university.
Once he finished his engineering last year, he applied to a university in Texas for his M.Sc. and got accepted. It is a 2 year course but could be finished in 1.5 years too.
This boy struggled with preparing food on his own. Struggled with a non-cooperative (a foreigner) room mate who would not bother about any team work for upkeeping their shared accommodation.
Most of his time was spent at the university. Many tempted him to go out and enjoy weekends and special holidays. But he was determined to finish his course within 1 year and get on with finding a job soon. His philosophy was to work very hard in the present as there was always time to enjoy once he passed his exams and landed some job.
He din't just confine himself to his usual subjects and courses. He enrolled himself in 7 different computer courses as he wanted to learn anything in computers. He din't have that opportunity in India while doing his engineering graduation. He must have had to work really hard.
He was able to finish all the courses including the computer related ones too inside of 1 year!
His is a story every parent would dream of for their own kids.
Why did he take computer courses all of a sudden?
It seems, he checked out the campus interviews which were taking place when he just joined his M.Sc. course last year. He came to know that companies were happy to engage people who had computer language and applications skill.
Therefore, he took those computer courses to stand a better chance to land himself a job in USA sooner than later.
During the past one year he had to be admitted in the hospital's ICU for frozen feet, fever, etc., because he din't either have money or time to buy those winter shoes. Most times he went without proper food too which is bad but he has managed to cross all these expected obstacles in an alien land all by himself.
After successfully finishing off all his courses, he started applying to companies nearby. He got selected in an upstart IT company in Texas, which was willing to pay him $95,000p.a. Then came a call from Microsoft, Seattle.
Microsoft flew him to and fro for the interview. The interview went on for 7 hours. He was offered a job with an initial pay of $83,000p.a.
After thinking a lot, he decided to join Microsoft for reasons of job security.
He is overjoyed and so is his family. His family is relieved and very happy.
His single minded focus to work hard in the present and postpone all his temptations to enjoy outings, surfing the net for hours, etc., at the cost of his course work has finally paid off.
Time is the essence and this boy has understood the importance of time.
Focus and time management are two things which all of us need to concentrate on if we take up any project.
We may come across many ups and downs yet we have to keep on at it until we finish what we have taken up.
We can save money, we can accumulate materials things in our cupboards. Unfortunately we can never open a savings bank account for time and spend it later.
Now this young boy can relax and enjoy life from now on without worrying too much about finances anymore.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi.
He studied well enough through out school and college in Chennai.
His family has been in a financial mess for the past 20 years so they all had to depend on their maternal uncles for each and everything in India. His uncles would repatriate amounts to support their family and agreed to finance his study abroad once he was accepted at some university.
Once he finished his engineering last year, he applied to a university in Texas for his M.Sc. and got accepted. It is a 2 year course but could be finished in 1.5 years too.
This boy struggled with preparing food on his own. Struggled with a non-cooperative (a foreigner) room mate who would not bother about any team work for upkeeping their shared accommodation.
Most of his time was spent at the university. Many tempted him to go out and enjoy weekends and special holidays. But he was determined to finish his course within 1 year and get on with finding a job soon. His philosophy was to work very hard in the present as there was always time to enjoy once he passed his exams and landed some job.
He din't just confine himself to his usual subjects and courses. He enrolled himself in 7 different computer courses as he wanted to learn anything in computers. He din't have that opportunity in India while doing his engineering graduation. He must have had to work really hard.
He was able to finish all the courses including the computer related ones too inside of 1 year!
His is a story every parent would dream of for their own kids.
Why did he take computer courses all of a sudden?
It seems, he checked out the campus interviews which were taking place when he just joined his M.Sc. course last year. He came to know that companies were happy to engage people who had computer language and applications skill.
Therefore, he took those computer courses to stand a better chance to land himself a job in USA sooner than later.
During the past one year he had to be admitted in the hospital's ICU for frozen feet, fever, etc., because he din't either have money or time to buy those winter shoes. Most times he went without proper food too which is bad but he has managed to cross all these expected obstacles in an alien land all by himself.
After successfully finishing off all his courses, he started applying to companies nearby. He got selected in an upstart IT company in Texas, which was willing to pay him $95,000p.a. Then came a call from Microsoft, Seattle.
Microsoft flew him to and fro for the interview. The interview went on for 7 hours. He was offered a job with an initial pay of $83,000p.a.
After thinking a lot, he decided to join Microsoft for reasons of job security.
He is overjoyed and so is his family. His family is relieved and very happy.
His single minded focus to work hard in the present and postpone all his temptations to enjoy outings, surfing the net for hours, etc., at the cost of his course work has finally paid off.
Time is the essence and this boy has understood the importance of time.
Focus and time management are two things which all of us need to concentrate on if we take up any project.
We may come across many ups and downs yet we have to keep on at it until we finish what we have taken up.
We can save money, we can accumulate materials things in our cupboards. Unfortunately we can never open a savings bank account for time and spend it later.
Now this young boy can relax and enjoy life from now on without worrying too much about finances anymore.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
The Tale Of An Old Ladies' Cycle
Since the past 10 months an old ladies' cycle has been parked inside our compound. All of us used to pass by wondering to whom it could belong, but none had the inclination nor the time to question, so it stood there braving the sun's heat and several downpours. It was locked. It had punctured tyres and the brake system had given way.
Once our complex became clean with a fresh coat of paint, this cycle was an eye-sore. So an elderly couple who walk around inside our compound began urging me to dispose it off to some raddiwala or better still donate it to their servant maid's daughter who is learning to cycle from the past couple of months.
As I am the secretary of the flats' association, I asked around whether it belonged to any of them. I got answers from all except one family (who had two little boys, the lady would never step outside her home leave alone ride a bike and her husband rode a motorbike). Also they were away for a couple of days when the pressure to dispose it off mounted too much to bear anymore. I am busy too with my work yet I could have waited for them to come back, called and enquired with them too and then disposed it off. I cursed myself for not doing that. But I had the presence of mind to make it a conditional gift.
I decided that the young school-going girl who comes to sweep our stairs and compound should be preferred over an individual's maid servant. I informed those present and asked the girl's mother to take it away, repair it and use it but with one condition, should anyone come and claim it later as their, then they should be ready to part with it. They agreed to my condition and took it away. Got it repaired. The girl seemed so happy and would ride the bicycle to school and to the shops nearby to buy things for her mother. A week passed this way.
The family whose cycle it was, noticed its absence and wanted it back at any cost since it was not theirs either, but belonged to the lady's sister who got it as a gift from her late father. Though all these months it was gathering dust and never used even once, yet now, she desperately wanted to use it to go to the library nearby, etc.
I was pained as it involved getting it back through constant follow ups with the girl's mother. The girl just refused to come to work in our complex fearing our reminders to hand back the cycle which she had come to enjoy riding so much. Could understand her feelings too as she is a very young girl and how difficult it must be to part with a gift even if it were to be a conditional one.
I had to assure this girl that I shall see about purchasing another one for her if she returned this one to us. The affected family also joined me in saying they will also contribute towards purchase of a second hand cycle for her.
She kept dodging for 3 days but today she reluctantly got it back. I was overjoyed that one part of my job got over.
The other part is to search for a good second hand ladies' cycle from some local source and gift it to this poor girl.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi
Once our complex became clean with a fresh coat of paint, this cycle was an eye-sore. So an elderly couple who walk around inside our compound began urging me to dispose it off to some raddiwala or better still donate it to their servant maid's daughter who is learning to cycle from the past couple of months.
As I am the secretary of the flats' association, I asked around whether it belonged to any of them. I got answers from all except one family (who had two little boys, the lady would never step outside her home leave alone ride a bike and her husband rode a motorbike). Also they were away for a couple of days when the pressure to dispose it off mounted too much to bear anymore. I am busy too with my work yet I could have waited for them to come back, called and enquired with them too and then disposed it off. I cursed myself for not doing that. But I had the presence of mind to make it a conditional gift.
I decided that the young school-going girl who comes to sweep our stairs and compound should be preferred over an individual's maid servant. I informed those present and asked the girl's mother to take it away, repair it and use it but with one condition, should anyone come and claim it later as their, then they should be ready to part with it. They agreed to my condition and took it away. Got it repaired. The girl seemed so happy and would ride the bicycle to school and to the shops nearby to buy things for her mother. A week passed this way.
The family whose cycle it was, noticed its absence and wanted it back at any cost since it was not theirs either, but belonged to the lady's sister who got it as a gift from her late father. Though all these months it was gathering dust and never used even once, yet now, she desperately wanted to use it to go to the library nearby, etc.
I was pained as it involved getting it back through constant follow ups with the girl's mother. The girl just refused to come to work in our complex fearing our reminders to hand back the cycle which she had come to enjoy riding so much. Could understand her feelings too as she is a very young girl and how difficult it must be to part with a gift even if it were to be a conditional one.
I had to assure this girl that I shall see about purchasing another one for her if she returned this one to us. The affected family also joined me in saying they will also contribute towards purchase of a second hand cycle for her.
She kept dodging for 3 days but today she reluctantly got it back. I was overjoyed that one part of my job got over.
The other part is to search for a good second hand ladies' cycle from some local source and gift it to this poor girl.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Golu Kondattam And The Media Frenzy In Chennai
Golu kondattam is the new fad since the past couple of years.
Our local weekly, the Adyar Times started this trend.
A team from this weekly newspaper would go visiting houses which display the navrathri dolls during this ten-day festival period and award the best kept ones with prizes and of course publish photos of the doll arrangements and the women who arranged them. There has been a competition among Adyarites to show off their best dolls since these past few years.
This year a bigger player, viz., The Hindu, in collaboration with many sponsors of prizes, have come visiting all over Chennai after short-listing applications to a sizeable 50, with great difficulty as reported in their daily newspaper.
Many families have spent good amounts on buying new dolls, selecting good themes, decorating their golus creatively with the help of all members contributing to the efforts. Many elderly ladies had a field day showing off their possesions handed down to them from their mothers and grandmothers.
The 1st prize winner was one such elderly lady who displayed dolls in three rooms and proudly said that was just a 'part' of her entire collection.
I recall those days when a certain Mrs.Rajam Murthy from Hyderabad - she is the wife of the famed Auditor (Samanda)Murthy of Murthy & Co, Hyderabad - displaying her golu. You may ask, 'So what?' All the dolls on display would be made, yes I repeat, hand 'made' by her!! What an artist. What creativity. I have yet to see anything matching her effort in this anywhere so far. She would work for a whole year except during rainy season with a theme, sculpted her works with paper pulps, plaster of paris, add fenugreek, crushed tamarind seeds to preserve them for posterity.
Each doll would involve a whole lot of process and she would sit to mould each piece and paint with so much care. Each piece would be a work of art. Mostly all her pieces would be theme based on stories from Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc.
Yet she had so much patience to be at it for many years together.
All this besides taking care of a huge joint family and her own children numbering 8.
She had the full support and patronage of her husband.
There would not be anyone who would want to miss seeing her golu in Hyderabad, whether invited or not!
She donated a hand painted screen which serves as a backdrop to this day in the festivities held during Ramanavami celebrations at Keyes Girls' High School, Secunderabad.
I rang up my cousin to get more details on Rajam maami just now before I could publish this post. Here goes some more details.
She is no more. She passed away this year at age 92. May her soul rest in peace. But her works of art live on. The family has dedicated an entire floor to exhibit her dolls of all kinds with appropriate lights in a permanant way.
I always felt I should write about this great artist and sculptor and I did, but that never got published in the earstwhile weekly called the Eves' Weekly in the
1980s.
When I requested some pictures she obliged me by coming over to hand the same to me at home. That was like an honor for me that she found time to come home.
I felt so sad that my article about her in those days din't see light.
But now I am trying to do justice by writing in my blog and dedicating it as a tribute to her immense creativity but sadly after she's no more. Better late than never. It was dasera and the golu kondattam that triggered this blog about the great artist.
By the way their house is on Basheerbagh, near Lady Hydri Club and next to a small Kali temple, if at all one is interested in seeing the range of hand made dolls on a permanant display while at Hyderabad.
Happy Dasera to all of you. May the goddess bless you to be victorious in all your endeavours.
I have the Lalitha Saharanamam to recite for tonight.
Until next.
Mahalakshmi.
Our local weekly, the Adyar Times started this trend.
A team from this weekly newspaper would go visiting houses which display the navrathri dolls during this ten-day festival period and award the best kept ones with prizes and of course publish photos of the doll arrangements and the women who arranged them. There has been a competition among Adyarites to show off their best dolls since these past few years.
This year a bigger player, viz., The Hindu, in collaboration with many sponsors of prizes, have come visiting all over Chennai after short-listing applications to a sizeable 50, with great difficulty as reported in their daily newspaper.
Many families have spent good amounts on buying new dolls, selecting good themes, decorating their golus creatively with the help of all members contributing to the efforts. Many elderly ladies had a field day showing off their possesions handed down to them from their mothers and grandmothers.
The 1st prize winner was one such elderly lady who displayed dolls in three rooms and proudly said that was just a 'part' of her entire collection.
I recall those days when a certain Mrs.Rajam Murthy from Hyderabad - she is the wife of the famed Auditor (Samanda)Murthy of Murthy & Co, Hyderabad - displaying her golu. You may ask, 'So what?' All the dolls on display would be made, yes I repeat, hand 'made' by her!! What an artist. What creativity. I have yet to see anything matching her effort in this anywhere so far. She would work for a whole year except during rainy season with a theme, sculpted her works with paper pulps, plaster of paris, add fenugreek, crushed tamarind seeds to preserve them for posterity.
Each doll would involve a whole lot of process and she would sit to mould each piece and paint with so much care. Each piece would be a work of art. Mostly all her pieces would be theme based on stories from Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc.
Yet she had so much patience to be at it for many years together.
All this besides taking care of a huge joint family and her own children numbering 8.
She had the full support and patronage of her husband.
There would not be anyone who would want to miss seeing her golu in Hyderabad, whether invited or not!
She donated a hand painted screen which serves as a backdrop to this day in the festivities held during Ramanavami celebrations at Keyes Girls' High School, Secunderabad.
I rang up my cousin to get more details on Rajam maami just now before I could publish this post. Here goes some more details.
She is no more. She passed away this year at age 92. May her soul rest in peace. But her works of art live on. The family has dedicated an entire floor to exhibit her dolls of all kinds with appropriate lights in a permanant way.
I always felt I should write about this great artist and sculptor and I did, but that never got published in the earstwhile weekly called the Eves' Weekly in the
1980s.
When I requested some pictures she obliged me by coming over to hand the same to me at home. That was like an honor for me that she found time to come home.
I felt so sad that my article about her in those days din't see light.
But now I am trying to do justice by writing in my blog and dedicating it as a tribute to her immense creativity but sadly after she's no more. Better late than never. It was dasera and the golu kondattam that triggered this blog about the great artist.
By the way their house is on Basheerbagh, near Lady Hydri Club and next to a small Kali temple, if at all one is interested in seeing the range of hand made dolls on a permanant display while at Hyderabad.
Happy Dasera to all of you. May the goddess bless you to be victorious in all your endeavours.
I have the Lalitha Saharanamam to recite for tonight.
Until next.
Mahalakshmi.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Overcoming Pain or Sickness!
For the past few days I have had to put up with a bad cold and slight fever.
But I cannot lie down in bed to rest as that's not my style. I just go about my routines like cooking, eating lightly though and going to office, etc.
There is terrible pain in the throat but that hardly prevents me from reciting the Lalitha Sahasranamam during these festival days of navratri. I just silently pray without straining my voice.
I also spend time reading magazines which are delivered at my door step every alternate day so that my mind does not dwell too much on pain or sickness. I read 2 magazines and feel a bit alright now - enough to write this blog.
I remember my paternal aunt, whom we called Baby athai. She has been my role model whenever I have not felt well. In fact my father himself never used to lie down when he had pain or was sick.
Baby athai once was in such great pain after removing her wisdom tooth that she decided to take me and my younger sister along with her to the movie 'Phir Wohi Dil Laaya Hoon' starring Joy Mukherjee and Asha Paresh running at Royal or Dilshad talkies in Hyderabad. Oh what lovely and melodious songs were there in this movie. It was a treat to hear the great Rafi Saab and Asha Bhonsle sing so many beautiful songs and who can forget the evergreen music of our O.P.Nayyar saab.
We all sat at the theatre but I would steal a glance at Baby athai to see if she was in pain. She may have been, but all that she would give away was to hold a cloth on that side of her face and no noise of any kind would come out of her. She would buy us the popcorn and ice-creams but she would refrain from having them herself.
What a way to forget her pain I wondered but it must have left a deep mark on my psyche. I am able to tide over my own pain and aches by diverting my mind off it but I don't go to the movies to do that. Instead I forget myself by reading the latest magazines.
There is a remedy for pain besides taking those prescribed medicines!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
But I cannot lie down in bed to rest as that's not my style. I just go about my routines like cooking, eating lightly though and going to office, etc.
There is terrible pain in the throat but that hardly prevents me from reciting the Lalitha Sahasranamam during these festival days of navratri. I just silently pray without straining my voice.
I also spend time reading magazines which are delivered at my door step every alternate day so that my mind does not dwell too much on pain or sickness. I read 2 magazines and feel a bit alright now - enough to write this blog.
I remember my paternal aunt, whom we called Baby athai. She has been my role model whenever I have not felt well. In fact my father himself never used to lie down when he had pain or was sick.
Baby athai once was in such great pain after removing her wisdom tooth that she decided to take me and my younger sister along with her to the movie 'Phir Wohi Dil Laaya Hoon' starring Joy Mukherjee and Asha Paresh running at Royal or Dilshad talkies in Hyderabad. Oh what lovely and melodious songs were there in this movie. It was a treat to hear the great Rafi Saab and Asha Bhonsle sing so many beautiful songs and who can forget the evergreen music of our O.P.Nayyar saab.
We all sat at the theatre but I would steal a glance at Baby athai to see if she was in pain. She may have been, but all that she would give away was to hold a cloth on that side of her face and no noise of any kind would come out of her. She would buy us the popcorn and ice-creams but she would refrain from having them herself.
What a way to forget her pain I wondered but it must have left a deep mark on my psyche. I am able to tide over my own pain and aches by diverting my mind off it but I don't go to the movies to do that. Instead I forget myself by reading the latest magazines.
There is a remedy for pain besides taking those prescribed medicines!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Singaara Chennai
About 15 years ago our lane was unwalkable after a light drizzle.
The garbage would be overflowing. Rarely would the municipal lorries come to clear it.
Rains would make it even worse to navigate roads everywhere.
Cows, dogs, crows would fight for leftovers in plastic bags near the dump.
Dogs and crows would use ingenous techniques to pry open a tightly knotted plastic bag to look for some edibles.
I remember reading in the newspapers about Mayor Stalin's, (Kalaingar's son) offical visit to Singapore. From then on, he has strived to make a difference to Chennai. He took upon himself and declared to make Chennai into Singaara Chennai.
First he worked to get the garbage cleared through a private agency which saw positive results in many key areas. New garbage with automatic clearing systems in lorries were seen for the first time in this part of the world.
That was a very good attempt at cleaning up the city. He did initiate a lot of drives such as this one to make the city a better place to live.
Our street got cleaned up regularly.
The cows disappeared though the dogs and crows continue their search for food from half empty fibre glass garbage bins now.
Of course, he has graduated to the post of deputy chief minister from a Mayor yet the good work seems to carried on by the present incumbent Mayor Subramanian which is mention worthy.
Chennai needs lung space and public parks are springing up everywhere possible which is a very good initiative.
Another commendable positive action is to remove encroachments from the roadside.
If pursued to its end without succumbing to any kind of pressure whatsoever from anyone, it should free all our roads.
The message should be to have a place for everything and not allow a place for everything, everywhere and anywhere!
Of course there are things remaining to be done but the process has well begun and constant follow ups are taking place.
I personally see a bright future for this young leader, as his actions are loud and clear. Anything for the betterment of the city is most welcome by the public.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi.
The garbage would be overflowing. Rarely would the municipal lorries come to clear it.
Rains would make it even worse to navigate roads everywhere.
Cows, dogs, crows would fight for leftovers in plastic bags near the dump.
Dogs and crows would use ingenous techniques to pry open a tightly knotted plastic bag to look for some edibles.
I remember reading in the newspapers about Mayor Stalin's, (Kalaingar's son) offical visit to Singapore. From then on, he has strived to make a difference to Chennai. He took upon himself and declared to make Chennai into Singaara Chennai.
First he worked to get the garbage cleared through a private agency which saw positive results in many key areas. New garbage with automatic clearing systems in lorries were seen for the first time in this part of the world.
That was a very good attempt at cleaning up the city. He did initiate a lot of drives such as this one to make the city a better place to live.
Our street got cleaned up regularly.
The cows disappeared though the dogs and crows continue their search for food from half empty fibre glass garbage bins now.
Of course, he has graduated to the post of deputy chief minister from a Mayor yet the good work seems to carried on by the present incumbent Mayor Subramanian which is mention worthy.
Chennai needs lung space and public parks are springing up everywhere possible which is a very good initiative.
Another commendable positive action is to remove encroachments from the roadside.
If pursued to its end without succumbing to any kind of pressure whatsoever from anyone, it should free all our roads.
The message should be to have a place for everything and not allow a place for everything, everywhere and anywhere!
Of course there are things remaining to be done but the process has well begun and constant follow ups are taking place.
I personally see a bright future for this young leader, as his actions are loud and clear. Anything for the betterment of the city is most welcome by the public.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi.
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