Packaging Air is Profitable!

Been to an exhibition sponsored by Inside Outside and Dignity Foundation at the Chennai Trade Centre, Nandambakkam.

There were several products on display and sale. Furniture, Bath fittings, Tiles, Homes, Insurance schemes, kitchen tools, eatables, food, etc.

Among them the stalls selling tandoori hot plates, roasted masala peanuts, crackers, etc. where eatables were freshly prepared at the stall itself and kept for the crowd to taste and buy. Needless to say these stalls were over-crowded with people. A set of 12 packs of roasted crackers were priced at Rs.120/- but were offered for a special discounted price of Rs.60/-. Almost everyone bought a dozen for Rs.60/-. The packs looked puffed up and could easily hold 100gms. of those ready-to-eat crackers. Once home we opened a pack each. Air escaped and when we peeped deep down we found just 25gms of it at the bottom! What a marketing strategy!!

Same goes for the famous Pepsico brand of 'Lays' Potato wafers. These packets are puffed with air like inflated balloons and there is so little of the potato chips at the bottom, its impossible to stop with just one pack.

A co-traveler showed us how cleverly Zandu balm (a pain balm for headaches, etc) was packaged. There was this tiny container within the usual bigger container bottle. The tiny one was filled with a quantity of the balm which was sufficient for only a few rubs but the container looked bigger.

These are just a few examples. I am sure there will be many more of such kind.

Air costs money too and we all thought it was absolutely free.

Mahalakshmi.

My Maternal Aunt's Centenary Birthday

My mother had two elder sisters. We called both our maternal aunts 'perima' as both were elder to our mother.

We used to prefix their names and called mother's eldest sister as 'school perima' because she was a school teacher by profession and another elder sister as 'aaspatri perima' because she was the head matron at the Government Hospital, Secunderabad. Aaspatri in Tamil means hospital.

It is school perima's birthday today (9th September).
School perima was very close to our family as she was to other relatives. She had married and was childless. She had to leave her matrimonial home due to some unavoidable circumstances. She was educated up to 10th Standard in those days.

My grandfather was a visionary even in the late 1920s. He wished to see his daughters financially independent and did everything possible to make them so.

He took my school perima to Benares to educate her further. She passed some exams in Hindi from the Benares University and joined as a teacher in the Keyes Girls' High School, Secunderabad. She worked for a record 3 and odd decades until she retired. She was a very dedicated teacher. She used to take special classes for the weaker students during lunch hours so that they could somehow pass their exams and these classes were for free.

Her methods of teaching arithmatic was quite unique in those days. She would bring leaves, twigs, burnt match sticks, dry tamarind seeds into the class room to teach students addition, division, fractions, subtraction by actual demonstrations.

Apart from all this she was a kind and humble human being. It was rare for her to say negative things about others. She would mention any positive trait even of the people who used to criticize her relentlessly. She was our own Mother Theresa.

After her retirement, she settled down with my eldest sister's family at Kalpakkam to help looking after my sister's young children while my sister pursued her career actively as an engineer. Hers was a selfless act. No conditions were attached to any help that she offered others. She would account for every single paisa and never kept anything for herself when entrusted with money for household expenses. She got her pension and had that rare self-pride in not touching other's money for whatever reason. On the other hand she used to help others with her money.

I could go on and on about her life of sacrifice for all our families. So many incidents of sacrifice come to my mind that I could write a whole book on her life. She has earned our love and respect for eternity and occupies a very, very special place in our hearts. We salute her and always remember her each day for something or the other.

This is her centenary birth year. She died at a ripe old age 87 years. A life well lived for herself as well as in the service of others.

Perima, wherever you are, you still lead us on the right path to this day. You were a living example of the joy we get in helping others unconditionally.

May your soul continue to guide and bless us.

Mahalakshmi.

Dilemma Either Way

We hear about lot of young people not getting jobs for long.
This leads to certain situations at home and outside.

People at home do not tolerate unemployed youngsters.
To avoid taunts, they go out which also attracts unpleasant comments about how irresponsibly they are roaming around wasting their time.
Most would like to stay at home to avoid comments from outsiders but cannot bear to put up with comments from within the family.
Either way its a dilemma for them not knowing which way to turn, which way to go, how best to respond to embarrassing queries from all and sundry.
Dilemma until they find a job. The spirit is to keep trying until one succeeds. There is always light at the end of the tunnel or should we say there is always light after dark!

That reminds me of the father-son-donkey story.
Father and son once set to the market towing their donkey along.
People walking by comment that the boy could ride the donkey instead of walking.
Down the lane some comment about the donkey's load.
Some time later, another passerby comments why both father and son should not ride the donkey.
Others laugh and pity the donkey and suggest that the poor donkey should be carried by the father and son instead of carrying them!
Until they reach the market they go through all this.
Who's right we will never know. But we know one thing for sure.
People will comment any which way. Do your thing as best as you feel is right for you.
Do not take comments to heart but do learn from them as there may be something to learn out of it.

Mahalakshmi.

TV Remote and Control

How does a TV remote connect with control?

From very long time I have been observing families watching TV together.
There are many channels on offer and each one loves to watch his choice of channel. But they all get to watch only a certain channel at certain times of the day or night.

You can easily guess who's in control if you see who holds the remote in hand. He gets to control what others will see!

That was in the past. Now are days when all houses have 2 TV sets and our house is no exception to this phenomenon.

We both (husband and I)enjoy music competitions like Super Singer 3 on Vijay TV, the Japanese channel NHK is beyond compare in program quality and topics covered like nature, food, Japanese architecture, travel, inventions, business ideas, etc. The KBC, a Korean channel which used to air serials like 'Emperor of the Sea' and a very popular serial 'Flowers Over Boys' which kept us spell bound for story content and visuals and then there were true stories about life of immigrants, food, travel, etc. both these were hanked out unceremoniously not so long time back by Sun Direct. It was not so easy not to watch these two channels for sheer content alone and so full of knowledge about so many things of interest. These two channels never aired advertisements in between.

But my aged mother loves to watch her favorite serials on Sun TV at the same time. So we had to buy another set with a dedicated set top box so that she can watch what she likes.

There will come a time when there will be as many TV sets in a house as there are members just so that all of them can have total control over their TV remote!

Mahalakshmi

Windows & Ventilation At Satara

Satara near Pune in Maharashtra is a wonderful place nestled among the western ghats(range of mountains).

One thing that struck me at Satara were the windows fixed everywhere. Most of them were of the sliding types.

There were double railings. The inner rail was fitted with sliding glass panes. The outer had lesser number of sliding frames of fine mesh panes. If one were to open the glass window, the mesh window would move into place as a cover from the second railing automatically! No portion would be left open! Fine Mesh will allow a good cover as well as enough air traffic!

Even at a height of 12 feet (just below the ceiling), the walls had a lengthy 6" gap running from one end to the other. A 12 feet wall's 6" gap would then have 4 divisions in which 3 glass strips of 3' each and 1 mesh strip of 3' would be fitted into metal frames and fixed. On the opposite wall 1 strip of mesh and 3 glass strips would be fitted to allow for cross ventilation as well as to let in light.

Not an insect entered our place unless the door was kept open.

When I enquired with the owner about such window types, he said due to hilly region all around, snakes were too many as were rodents though he hurriedly added that they have never harmed humans so far.

Such window types would effectively keep them out even while letting in light and air. This seemed to be a wonderful way to deal with such local problems. Invention is indeed the mother of necessity!

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi

Saabu Vada At Satara

We decided to have tea at a decent looking hotel near the Natraj flyover.

The waiter came with 4 cups of hot steaming masala chai which was refreshing. He asked us if we would have anything else. We said no and were about to move out when I noticed him serving some fat odd looking vadas in a plate. I asked him what it was and was told it was the saabu vada which is a special during the month of Shravana for those who fast (vrat).

I promptly ordered for a plate of those for each of us. They were piping hot and came with a bowl of sweet curd. These deep fried vadas were made of saabudana, mildly salted with just a few green chilli bits, some green corriander and cummin seeds. They were heavenly to taste. Crisp outer and soft inner core and big in size. 3 of them could easily fill the stomach.

I din't ask for the recipe but could guess it was a special saabudaana (jevvarisi in Tamil) which was used for these vadas.

Some tastes linger and this was one of them.

Mahalakshmi.

Food For Thought

Yesterday a lady had come with some problem and wanted my counselling.

First the problem:
Lady is a widow. Has a married daughter who has delivered a baby recently.
Facilities at the lady's home were inadequate for post child birth care.
Lady's mother, a retired pensioner, lives all by herself in a rented house. The mother asked them to move into her house for a couple of months.
It is a custom in India to take care of the mother and child for the initial 3 month period.

Lady said her own mother is not treating her properly ever since they moved into her house temporarily. She is tortured with temper tantrums and has no rest, has to slog the whole day looking after the baby, her weak daughter plus what surprised her the most was her mother who has turned so demanding, rude and has asked them out! Unable to bear this any longer she has started looking for an alternate accommodation for 2 months but decided to come to me for help and advice anyway.

Seemingly these appear to be unconnected but I asked some leading questions and got the answers from the lady as the session progressed.

Q: Who spends, how much and for what.
A: Lady bears half of all household expenses while the other half is passed on to her pensioner mother.
(I said, "Bingo! This is where everything went wrong for you"!!).

Break up should have been 2/3rds of expenses for the lady and her daughter and 1/3rd for the lady's mother and not 50-50 (leaving the new born out of all this).

Q: Who pays the rent?
A: The pensioner mother is paying the rent. I was trying to point this out saying her mother's burden then was more than 50%.

Lady is financially weak, but has a job. Her daughter is also working and must be getting maternal leave with salary. The son-in-law is also earning. Lady has borrowed some money for the delivery and post delivery expenses.

My solution for this problem was as follows:
During such times getting a decent shelter with security is a big deal.
Mother has offered a place to stay which is itself an act of kindness.
If she were to hunt for a house now, she would have to shell out rents plus the caution deposit.
Think over these facts and from today itself refuse to pass on any share in the expenses to your mother. Tell her you love her too much to even think of burdening her with bills.
Express your love and gratitude to your mother for offering help when you and your daughter needed it the most.
By this the elderly person will feel the affection and the atmosphere will turn positive for everyone. No more temper tantrums.
The daughter is watching all this.
Set a good example to your daughter as your own time to face a similar situation is round the corner.
It is through such practical and positive actions that we become role models for our nexgen.

Lady got upset when she heard the solution to this problem.
This is an example of how and why problems crop up.
There is so much joy in giving and doing for our own as well as for others.

Money will come and money will go but pleasant memories, good times, timely help, unconditional love and affection stay on forever. Unfortunately, these are the hardest to come by! That's the whole truth.

Mahalakshmi