Meandering thoughts - Sita Sreeraman

This year, autumn has been spectacular! The harsh summer has given way to a extended autumn this year and the colour changes to scarlet, yellow, gold, orange have been the most vivid I have seen thus far. I came across this quote from Gretchen Rubin 's blog, whose newsletters I subscribe to and have read her books. "Oh! Old rubbish! Old letters, old clothes, old objects that one does not want to throw away. How well nature has understood that, every year, she must change her leaves, her flowers, her fruit and her vegetables, and make manure out of the mementos of her year!" – The Journal of Jules Renard This quote fits in so neatly with the current themes of my life -  autumn leaves wherever I walk and themes of decluttering/minimalism that are running through me (Marie Kondo books, Mimimalist sites etc).

A tree stays put, it grows roots and stays in one place. Unlike a bird or animal it can't move. In summer, it bears the heat. In winters, it bears the cold. During rains, it welcomes the showers and also bears the thunder and lightning. It has no refuge, no shelter for it cannot move.  Yet, it offers sanctuary, be it heat or cold or rain to many. It's flowers and fruits are a source of joy and nourishment to many! It might not be a traveler yet many a traveler seek refuge under its shade! Whatever happens, it takes it all in - serenely, solemnly, quietly, without judgement.  How like a woman/mother is the tree - nourishing, nurturing, a refuge from the storms of life!

With Amma being here, it is time for Malayalam and Telugu movies with a carnatic/dance theme... making a list to watch. We are partial to Mohanlan and K.Vishwanath, the movies below being mostly either the actor's or the director's... ************ Malayalam movies ***************** Bharatham Pavithram Kamaladalam Kutumba Sametham Thenmavin Kombathu His Highness Abdullah Soorya Gaythri Vanaprastham Agni Sakshi (Shobana, Rajit Kapur) Pranayam Balettan Madambi Mithunam Vadakkumnadhan ************ Telugu movies ***************** Swati Kiranam Sirivennala Saptapadi Shrutilayalu Sankarabharanam Ananda Bhairavi

Today is Father's day in the UK. 'Happy' Father's Day! There are fathers with long faces, sad fathers, angry fathers, disgruntled fathers, upset fathers, fathers to whom their kids can never measure up to, dictatorial fathers - yet I am lucky, my father was a truly 'Happy' person, a content happy person with a lot of belief in his kids and the goodness of humanity in general. (It was always the situation not the person, when things went wrong.) A father with whom we disagreed, had arguments, yet at the end of the day, there were never scars or regrets, the underlying bond of love ran too deep for that, though we never said 'I love you, Appa'. Until his last few years, when Appa became fragile in his health, we had never hugged Appa or even held his hands! A father who was not really a hands-on parent, sometimes we held this against him, Appa you did not scoure  educational opportunities like other fathers, you did not put us in classes, you did no...

It is the end of March now, spring is yet to burst out. We have had an unusual winter with major dips and highs; there were warm days but come February, we have been in a cold snap ( read below zero degrees) and there is yet one more impending one, as I write this! Yet, the air around me now is pregnant, heaving with unborn life, the buds are there in trees and the trees seem to be holding on to them magically- not yet letting them bloom, a few brave early flowers here and there - daffodils, primulas, some brave snails and earthworms making an early appearance. Life seems to be on a fine line, holding on, I can almost hear the millions stirrings around me, all just waiting these few precious degrees of sun's warmth. Life and its myriad possibilities, I often find myself pausing in awe, as I wait for the fecundity of Mother Earth to unfurl in all it's glory. Almost like an inhalation and waiting to exhale, the threshold, almost there but not yet! How long will it hold on bef...

I volunteer at the American Wome's Club, Zurich library once a month. It is interesting, as I run into some many different genres of books as I put them back into the shelves, or check out the books for the library members. And sometimes, I get to chat with the patrons, and they share some lovely tibit of info or other, about a book, event, hobby, class. Whenever we move houses or towns, my husband usually tells me about the local library, it is like a good sales pitch, USP, the library is within walking distance etc.  Some recent books I have read with great joy are: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, How to be good - Nick Hornby among others, books I don't know if I would have picked up myself. These were returns and as I shelve the books, I inevitably read the synopsis at the end and they end up coming home with me. Oh, the Joys Of Reading a good book!

Eggless Cake Recipe:  Baking essentials: 1. Weighing scales 2. A good whisk 3. Baking trays 4. Baking powder( Baking powder is different from baking soda) Ingredients : 1 measure cake flour, 1/2 measure each sugar, butter and milk. About 15-20 g baking powder for 500 g flour. Eg: If you take 200g flour, add 100g sugar, 100g butter and about 100g milk. And about 7g baking powder Making: Weigh each of the contents above, add to a bowl and give a good mix. I add flour, sugar, baking powder first, then melted butter and then milk. A thick well mixed dough(not too watery), ready to pour into the greased baking tray. Grease a baking tray with butter. Pre-heat oven 5 minutes at 175 C. Bake with both the upper and lower heating settings on, around 175. Takes between 15-40 minutes depending on quantity, about 15-20 minutes for 100 g flour. I sometimes add lemon or vanilla essence. Check the essence strength. T he ones from Migros - 4 to 5 drops are sufficient. ...