Pongal Celebrations at school

Sorry I have become so so lazy these days to write, then type the posts. This is the reason for my blog’s silence of late.

It has been a festival  month and full of enjoyment & fun. Right from  Amma’s Birthday on 22^nd December, the celebrations continue till date.  From Dec 23^rd the school closed for Christmas holidays and even after the school reopened at 2^nd January 2015, the celebration mood didn’t fade away.  As we had Pongal celebrations in our school, so busy practicing for Pongal kolam, Rangoli, learning to make Sakkara Pongal (sweetened Jaggery Rice), first ten days went by in a jiffy. But I still have to learn to cook in a Mann Aduppu ….

On 13^th January we had our Pongal celebrations at school. We all dressed up in a South Indian traditional Pavadai Dhavani  & I love that attire very much. From 6^th standard onwards for every Pongal & Diwali, I used to buy a Pavadai Dhavani. We enjoyed our pongal celebrations at school. It was all fun to celebrate with my friends and teachers. Our Class boys won price for the Sakkara Pongal preparation. Hats off to you Friends. 

Thank you Teachers for giving us this wonderful time to make us learn few new things to do on our own. 

I will update this post with photos soon. 

Happy Birthday Ma....

Happy 40th Birthday Amma....

I was awake till twelve yesterday (22nd Dec at the wee hours ...) to wish her .."Happy Birthday Ma... Can't believe you are 41 ma... Have a lovely day dear ... "

She thanked me & asked me to go to bed for I have Geography exam this morning.

Thatha & Patti have come from Chidambaram to be with us on Amma's Birthday. Many of her friends... KG friends, School friends, Childhood Friends, College friends, seniors, juniors, cousins, wishing her till now ... As usual we had our dinner at Abirami & desserts at Richy Rich ( not for amma, as she does not prefer Icecreams...).

This is just a small Blog post to mark Amma's Milestone Birthday (40th).. I wanted to post more... but couldn't as I have exam tomorrow & I have to go to sleep atleast by 12 today.

A TRIBUTE TO MY BELOVED GREAT-GRANDFATHER

This is a tribute to my beloved Great-Grandfather & my mother's Grandfather Srinivasan, fondly called as Seenu Thatha.

Seenu Thatha passed away peacefully on 16 September 2014, by 6 pm, at Coimbatore at the age of 86+. 

We never expected this as he was active till recently & down with cold few weeks back... The infection slowly subsided after taking antibiotics. But those antibiotics intake gave the side effects of Jaundice, which was revealed only by blood test. Otherwise he had his own normal appetite. No nausea, vomiting or any other symptoms... 

He was on his own till 13 September 2014. He had a follow up check up on 13th September at one of the city's best hospital, where he got his treatment. Only then he was diagnosed with Jaundice, as the side effects of the antibiotics he was prescribed. Immediately he was admitted as inpatient & treatment continued. He had conscious till 16th Sep noon & spoke to my grandmother (Viji Patti), my grandmother's younger sister (Sundari Paatti) & my grandmother's younger brother (Sama Thatha). He asked them to take him to house. He didn't like his stay in the hospital. But soon he was unconscious &  in the next few hours, he left us all. Death embraced him very quickly. 

Till last month, he washed his clothes all by himself & never let others do this for him... He won't use the washing machine too... would use only his hands to wash. His dhoti & shirt always sparkle like anything... He then used to put starch to his dhoti & press on his own. 

It is only just 7 months since we met him.. Its only few days before our visit, he fell down while washing his clothes and got hurt on his forehead and nose... I have to point out here that he prefers to do all his work by himself and let not others do for him... On 16 January 2014, we were with him talking, chatting, laughing... He was such a wonderful narrator... told me so many real life stories, his experiences & his childhood, early lives & so on ...   We enjoyed the days spent with him.

Sure we are going to miss you Thatha ... 

I already wrote posts of so many of our travelogs from December 2013 to May 2014... But all are saved in the drafts...  yet to be posted... one of such posts include A VISIT TO MY GREAT -GRANDDAD'S PLACE. I really made a big mistake of not posting it immediately... Let me post one after another in the coming days, whenever I get some time. 

As we don't have TV, My only entertainment other than reading books is writing blogs. I enjoy writing... a day's happenings, a movie review, a post about a story I read recently, the places we travelled & so many other minute small things that give happiness to me.

Will post one or two of my travelogs this week... Till then a big wave to you all...

THRILLING TERRIFIC TEEN

My earlier post.... was that of all those happenings of Today... 9th Nov 2013 at my School.

But This Evening changed every thing.... from my gloomy mood to exciting happy mood.... 100% change ... HOW ALL THESE HAPPENED?....

I think you...readers could not guess what had happened within one hour... yeah within just one hour of my return from school... I came home by 5.25 pm from school.

Parents asked me to get ready for an evening outings (ofcourse this happens when there is no heavy school works these days).... we just used to stroll around the beach... or window shopping every stores in Nehru street... or just go round the pondicherry streets right from railway station road to Kottakuppam bazaar road... & today I was told that we are going to have our dinner at Hotel Abirami or Surguru.

I got ready in a jiffy as it was a much wanted outing (longing for this outing for quite a long time... as I had lots of school works these days)...

Amma & I wanted to give a surprise to Appa & wore the same kurti bought few days back in W.

After getting ready I searched for appa... he was not there... I asked amma... she said, he was busy in a call... might be he would have gone somewhere nearby... & would come soon. We waited for another 10 minutes. No sign of his coming. Amma called him... he asked us to come by an auto to a place (he told amma it seems... I could not guess). So we started.

After few minutes, we got down in front of "Bread Basket", which is located in Saint Terese Street. I was surprised... "What for we have come here... I don't know... We have never came here..."

While climbing the steps (just 4 to 5)... I saw appa... Amma opened the door & we went inside... I was surprised to see Viga & Mrittika along with Shruti there. I said... Hey... Mrittu & Viga... But by that time amma was talking to them... & asking them why didn't Varsha come yet...

By then I saw a Beautiful cake in the adjacent table.... AN EGGLESS BUTTERSCOTCH CAKE  WITH A GIRL WITH A LONG BLACK HAIR TOUCHING THE LAWN, SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF IT, READING A STORY BOOK & FEW OTHER BOOKS WERE SCATTERED AROUND HER. ... aaahhhh.... Just Awesome.... I was really really happy.... & Could not express how I felt on seeing all these in words.... JUST... JUST... a wonderful feel it was....  SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY... 3 days before...

A Surprise Party with My Friends...I'm on Cloud Nine....  Thank You Mom & Dad.

After Cake cutting... We all had fun... But Fatema was absent today & Shaalini could not attend the party.

For this party Amma & Appa searched for a good baker other than Hot breads to make Marzipan cake..... At last they found Bread Basket... They are awesome...

The Eggless cake was so spongy.... & tasted divine. ummmmmmm... YUMMY...

Morning mess .... settled now.... My friends are really my friends... They might have understood me... or even in near future they would definitely understand me...

We Chatted... Played ... Enjoyed our Evening... 

I'm Full of the Joys of Spring at the moment... 

Everything we had right from the Cake, Gobi 65, Pizzas& Sandwiches were too good & yummy. Pasta is more Cheesy... & Bland... Also Vanilla & Butterscotch Icecreams were nice. But Strawberry Icecream had ice crystals....

We spoke... played... had fun ... I don't want this to end...

Hey... Look at my face... I GRIN LIKE A CHESHIRE CAT... Isn't it?

Wish this day to get continued... But its far behind the time ... So one by one left...

WHAT A DAY IT WAS.... ???!!! 

WITH MIXED MOODS....

Morning MY HEART SANK.... & Evening MY JOY KNEW NO BOUNDS.....

Thank You Amma & Appa for this surprise teen advance birthday party...... 

Thank You So Much Friends for this Evening. 

Never Cool Enough

Today I had a mixed moods....

MORNING ... At School... OMG.... All these past four days of my work & our play practice ended like anything... It's a great disappointment for me....

Normally I never cry at school over petty things .... But Today I didn't had my lunch.... I cried for so long a time.... :-( ...

Everytime while I read MATILDA by Roald Dahl....
I would think that he would have written something which makes the reader to learn some lessons... Plays and Pranks should be there to make our lives more colourful and enjoyable. But everything should be under a control & to be limited to a certain extent.

But in Matilda, Matilda played pranks on whoever teases her.... She enjoyed doing pranks & taking revenge.

So I changed her character to....
A very good, lovely, studious girl, who listens to her friendly teacher & lovable principal & controls her anger & also end her pranks. At last, she finds happiness only in helping each and every one who teased her and also helps every single person, who is in need of it.

I wrote the dialogues for the changed story of Matilda and our teacher asked us to perform for 10 minutes. All the characters, such as Mechanic Father (Monish Raam,), Mother (Shaalini), Teacher (Mrittika), Principal (Appasamy), Brother (Mihir), Librarian (Varsha), Neighbour (Krishna), Appasamy as a parrot (he lends his voice) were decided & all of them asked me to perform as Matilda. I agreed.

We practiced yesterday. But could not make every single one to be serious. More of playing than practicing for our play.

But today.... For every single thing, one of my friends shouted like anything and he used unparliamentary words... might be those words sounds me unparliamentary... For them... many Cinemas , heroes, comedians use those words without any shame... but whenever I hear those kind of words... I always lose my cool... I never used to those words... that too in an angry shouting voice... I could not bear...

I repeatedly asked him not to behave like that... but he kept on doing that again and again... at last I said...Enough is enough .... He asked me twice whether I'm coming for the play... as they said they have changed the play from Matilda to Christmas Carol.

I really lost my patience and hurt really very very bad. I kept quiet. Didn't utter any single word. Normally Whenever I lose my cool, I would shout... I don't want this to happen these days and didn't open my mouth. THEY ALL LEFT ME FOR CHRISTMAS CAROL PRACTICE.

There were only 6 girls including me in my class. But no one stood by me that time... Really could not understand... I was left alone. Is asking not to treat others bad, or asking not to talk bad in anyway is wrong???!!! Hurt & felt really bad...

I went to the library and read books... but cried when I was alone in the class. Even when they returned back to class... no one including my 4 friends (Fatema was absent today) spoke to me...

Am I Wrong in anyway?
To me ... I could not bear those mocking actions, pointing fingers & hands while speaking in anger or shouting, also those unbearable words that has become common these days...

I could not change them ... also I could not change me to bear all those nonsenses... using unrefined words and degrading one might be common for others but not for me. I'm not for it... I could not imagine such a scene... I thought all the girls were my friends and they would support me & would give strength to me... But they too have kicked me out for no valid reason.

One thing Amma used to say...

" The world would be full of all wanted and unwanted, positive & negative characters... We have to take only the positive behaviours & habits to our heart. Merely for the sake of others if we follow bad things, our value system & culture would be questioned. It would spoil our reputation totally. Beware of Negatives....

Even a single person have some positives & some negatives in him. Even we might have... but the negatives should be kept under control & always one should try to avoid those characters that wakeup once in a while. When we keep on practicing this regularly, only then our character would get shaped & we would definetely become a lovable & a perfect & a well groomed person with superb culture & character ". 


What hurts me more is ... Even my friends could not understand me.

After narrating the whole episode this evening, Amma & Appa told me... " Don't worry dear... Your friends would definitely understand you. Might be they don't have left with ample time this afternoon for any discussion. They might knew that you are no wrong & would surely speak to you tomorrow. Leave everything to the Divine & be cool. Elango thatha & Viji patti came. So go inside & have fun with them".

Yes ... They are my close friends.... They would surely understand me....

Thank you so much for your words my dear parents. It gives strength to me.

Let me hope for the best. 

GANESH CHATURTHI WISHES !!!

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to you all !!!

Usually we used to buy Ganesha only by Morning. But this year, I wanted to paint him. So I asked appa to get me a Ganesha yesterday itself & painted him with bright green silk dhoti  with red jari border & red silk Jari butta Angavasthra.

Also painted his Crown & Jewels with gold , red & green colours in place of stones.

Thought of giving him a royal touch by sticking Kundan Stones instead of paint in his crown & jewels. But being sunday yesterday, I could not find any Kundan stones available shops open. I have orange, blue kundans. But thought that they won't be attractive. So I just used poster colours & glitter outliner for the crown & jewels.

I painted Mooshik with Dark Grey & left the Peedam ( in which Ganesha Sits) as such in the clay colour, as I thought it would be natural.

Here is Our Ganesha.... Before Pooja... His eyes are yet to open....

Just Before Pooja, his eyes were set & Sacred thread were worn. Here's Our Ganesha after Pooja....

Have a Wonderful Festival Time.

Won YOUNG CHEF -- SECOND PRIZE

Hey.... I won the YOUNG CHEF 2nd Title on 17th May 2013, at Nandambakkam Trade Centre.

The Competition was sponsored by Gold Winner and the Media partners were Chutti TV & Chutti Vikatan.

The Theme for the Competition was veg Starters.

It all happened just like that.

We went to Chennai the day before (16th May 2013).... While browsing the Newspaper the next morning, Chithi asked us to visit the Chennai Trade Centre, as they have organised Kids Only -The Carnival there.... Later she read out the events in that Ad.... I shouted Let me participate in the Young Chef Competition.... She said amma to register my name.... Amma tried calling ... no one picked up the phone...

Later I went to play with Sathvi.... We totally forgot the whole episode..... By 11.30 am, amma remembered this event again and called the person incharge of this to know more about this event. The person incharge told amma that its about "Veg Starters' ... Have to bring all the ingredients except oil, vessels & stove, as they would give it there and asked amma to bring a little amount of oil for safer side. She asked us to come by 3 pm sharp.

Its almost 12pm... Amma said its almost time up & we have to decide on the recipe... & based on that we have to procure ingredients ... lets leave this event ... I was totally upset on hearing this.... I said let me give a try ma.... Also It was Chithi who encouraged me & said "Hey Bharu... Let her do... I know she could do it perfectly well... & there is more than 2 hours.... If she is interested... Let her try this... She could sure win a prize... even if she couldn't... this would definitely give her a great experience... & exposure... Hey Shrima.. You can do it dear"...

Chithi immediately took care of the healthy part of it & suggested her own new recipe... HEALTH FRITTERS....

Here is the link for Health Fritters... http://www.nithubala.com/2013/05/health-fritters.html

Then we procured all the things we needed to make Health Fritters... Its almost 1 pm by this time & Chithi asked me to grate all the veggies ( Carrot, Beet), made me boil the Potato, & make paneer. She & Amma packed the Salt, Kashmiri Chilli Powder, Garam Masala, Pepper powder, Oats, Health Powder ( Saththu Maavu), Wheat Bread, & veggies in separate boxes & one bowl to mix all the ingredients.

She taught me how to make this Fritters once & asked me to do on my own. I tried my hand... It came out well. All in a jiffy.

Its 2.45 pm.... almost time to start & we started from Chithi's House & reached the trade centre on time & got our tickets & entered the venue.,..

Ha.... My first experience in a cookery competition... Excited... But Cool....

Amma was as usual a bit nervous.... looked as if she was participating in this event.... I laughed at her for getting tensed up... She wants everything to be perfect & also she took every small thing seriously & would work hard to achieve... :-p ... I used make fun of her personality.... Fun & Enjoyment is the one she really likes the most... but only after achievement.... ha... haa.... haa...

I registered my name & there they said that the preparation time is just 15 minutes... I was already prepared for that... after waiting for more than an hour & a half finally came my turn.... I went & Amma helped me arrange things in the cooking table... She kept all the ingredients & I took one by one & said what it is & what it is used for.... Also simultaneously prepared the recipe for frying...

The Judge was Mr. Ashok Kumar, NDTV Fame, Chief Executive Chef of Hotel Aloft, Sholinganallur, Chennai & the person who compered the program was ShriLekha.

Both Mr. Ashok & Shrilekha asked so many questions while I was cooking right from the start... for what you are using health powder... what for oats.... isn't Paneer full of cholesterol.... why wheat bread ... why not white bread.... why ...what... how.... ??? I answered all their questions with right answers.... Amma stood just by my side & I did all the mixing making a thick dough kind of mix.... balled it... made into slightly thick flattened one.... pour oil in the kadai (they provided induction stove... as I was used to cook in the gas stove... Amma helped me reduce the heat in induction stove...)... fried... while frying Judge asked me why don't I shallow fry it... I said as it is Gold Winner... it is of less cholesterol... it tastes really good in deep frying without cholesterol.... He smiled at me...


Shrilekha Mam asked me whether I cook independently at home... I said Yes... From 4th std onwards I used to make tea on my own & from 5th std onwards I used to cook easy items such as Dhal, Rasam, Noodles, dosas, sandwiches, rotis, etc... I also said I was inspired by my chithi, as she learnt cooking on her own when she was in 6th... My mom learnt it while she was in 8th.... My patti (Viji) is one of the best cooks I have ever known....

I arranged all the fried Health Fritters in a plate & garnished with coriander leaves & Tomato sauce. Then gave it to the Judge Mr.Ashok Kumar of Aloft Hotels & asked him to taste the fritters.

He tasted it & said Its Superb & Nice ... Ms.Shrilekha asked him how is it... He said SHRIMA IS VERY CONFIDENT.... NEVER SOUGHT ANY HELP FROM HER MOTHER.... DID ALL BY HERSELF.... ITS NICE....

He asked Amma " does she cook at home?" Amma said " Yes... at times.... when I'm a bit down... she would cook...making me sit.... Some Sundays will be hers... Try all sort of recipes worldwide... like Banana Spaghetti.... Strawberry Spaghetti.... Variety of noodles... sandwiches... Sometimes Mealmaker 65 too... " ;-) ...

He said to amma... " She is very Confident.... without any fear she answered all the tricky questions with proper answers... Superb.... She deserves.... Lets see" ....

We waited there for another one hour.... or so....  Finally it was time to announce the prizes....

I waited anxiously with butterflies in my stomach.... yeah.... there.... they announced my name for winning 2nd place.... Haaaaaaaaaa... I won..... YOUNG CHEF 2nd TITLE.... WOW.... Awesome moment.... you could see the happiness in my eyes in the photo below.... Superb Moment.....

Thank You Mr.Ashok Kumar. Your words of appreciation encourage me to explore more & more in cooking Sir... Thank you.... 

BIG BAZAAR GIFT VOUCHER

Wonderful Experience ....  Just Loved it..... 

Thanks Every One....