Meandering thoughts - Sita Sreeraman

One of my friends was exclaiming the other day that these are exciting times and the choices available today from careers to products is amazing! And lamented how all these choices makes decisions so complicated. I agreed with her, thinking of all the times I bought something only to exchange it for something better. And also feeling at times totally lost(mind completely blank, not to be confused with nirvana or self-realization) when I had to buy something as simple as a soap. Should I get a a mild/moisturizing/exfoliating/glowing/ relaxing/invigorating/calming/organic one with Lavender, rose, chamomile, wine, apple, cinnamon, pear, grape-fruit etc fragrances or fragrance free, for oily, regular, mixed skin type, enriched with Vitamins, Minerals as a Soap bar, gel or liquid wash? So,to save time and make myself feel more in control, the decision making super-woman that I am, I decided to close my eyes and picked something. It felt so good, I had mastered the art of shopping and was ba...

I was in Madras in August this year and my mother-in-law mentioned that windows need to be kept shut as a monkey and its parivaram were doing the rounds. I managed to see the family one day in the trees around the apartment. I was reminded of the monkey menace when we lived in Cement Nagar. There were several parivarams of the Rheusus monkey in the area, each family dominated by a rouge male. We had 2 coconut trees, a mango tree, a sapota tree, a custard apple tree and a Badam tree in our garden. So we were prime targets and there were quite a few antics. The monkeys would take great pleasure in drinking all elaneers(tender coconuts) - we would realize the coconuts were all empty & wasted only when they started falling off one by one. And then they would strip the coconut flowers one by one, so no coconuts that season. They would try doing the same with the mango tree and of course as the badam, mango and sapota ripened, they would have a gala time! Of course, we soon procured a bi...

Harini, my lovely niece was about 6 or 7 years old, when one day she came home and told us how her class-mate Neha was mean to her. In an attempt to cheer her up, and hoping that she would find it funny, I told her a joke about Neha. Well, it was a straight lift from the character Kutchu(from my class 2 & 3 English). Kutchu was known for being dumb. So Kutchu became Neha in the jokes. The first one went like this: Neha's grand-mother was ill and the Doctor prescribed a medicine. The medicine came as a tonic and among the other things listed on the bottle's cover were the words - SHAKE WELL. Neha reads this and since she thinks 'I am an expert, I know everything' (that like in the movies, is Neha's byline) and goes about giving her grand-mother a wee good shake before giving her the medicine. Of course, the parents intervene and give Neha a good slapping. And Neha's paati is called 'Shaker Paati' from then on. And it was a super-duper hit! Harini love...

When I was in India, all my papers fitted into 2 files - one contained school certificates, the other contained the Pass Book, Cheque Book. All my clothes came colour co-ordinated; as Salwar Kameez sets or as a Saree& Blouse, I did not really need to spend time on them except for the mix and match ones. All clothes were made basically for one season - with average temperatures about 28 degrees. If the temperature got lower than these, I would add a sweater or a nice shawl! Shoes were also designed for one season in mind. Jewellery was basically in gold and could be used to accessorize any salwar/saree one wore. The rules of dressing was just one - modesty! You can wear the salwar kameez to the temple, wedding, concert, school, office and the same goes for pretty much any other dress. Fast forward now - I moved to London 3 years ago. I have learnt that papers are important, they are proof and basically needed for everything from library membership, gym memberships to Visa processing...

After my trip to India, spending time with Appa, Amma and in Madras, I began to feel I was overly materialistic, always hoarding and shopping. I made up my mind that on return to London, I would get down to basics, only buying what was needed. Contentment would be my new watch-word! I also decided to take stock of my situation - basically checking out what all I own. I would retain waht I could use, give away some and bin the rest. So I made a list: 1. Papers 2. Books 3. Clothes 4. Cosmetics 5. Accessories - ear-rings and chains 6. Stationary 7. Medicine Cabinet 8. CDs 9. Kitchen grocery 10. Kitchen Utensils 11. Cleaning Supplies The whole sorting exercise looked like Himalayas with each activity looming as a peak to be scaled. There was an odd bit of a curioisty though to see how it would all turn out! After some amount of procrastination, when I would duck whenever I saw the list, I decided to start with the easy ones - the Grocery and Utensils. I made a list of the grocery supplies ...

BBC4 had a 'Whale Evening' last evening - they had a series of programs the whole evening about whales. And it was just so amazing! The idea was to promote awareness of these great animals and also highlight how man is driving these wonderful mammals to extinction by wholesale hunting a couple of hundred years ago for whale oil and for meat, and the continuing hunting today, pollution and military operations. Thse animals communicate by sonar and military sonar interferes with these cauing breaching and hence death. NASA continues to use whale oil as a lubricant in space-ships even today. They are yet to find a man-made substitute! I was specially moved by the program on Gray Wahles. Super-moms as the anchor of the program called these creatures, these are truly amazing. These mammals travel 6000 miles to and fro each year(yes, 12000 miles every year) from the lagoons of the Baja Peninsula near Mexico, all the way to Bering Sea in the Arctic. They travel at a speed of 3 miles a...

Thatha's Devasham this year came on 21 Sep. As has been the tradition, all our parents are meeting in Trikkur. It has been 17 years since Thatha passed away. Thatha passed away in Sep 2001 at the age of 92. I remember Appa coming home early one morning from Kalyanam Chitappa's house and was just so emotional and could not say anything. We knew then that Thatha had passed away. T.R. Paramehswara Iyer as my dear Thatha was called, was an erudite Sama Vedic scholar. He was privately tutioned in English and other subjects. His English as I still recall from his lovely letters to us, is still the best. He was a very generous man. He woke up at 3:30 a.m. every morning and chanted slokas until 6:00 a.m.. Then he would spend time in the lovely garden he had created, collecting flowers for his daily Siva Poojai. He would then have coffee and an oil bath and then sit down for the Poojai which would go on until 1 p.m. After that came lunch and a short siesta, followed by writing letters, ...