Light of the Lamp

Hi pals,                   How are you feeling yourself post-Diwali? Ready to relax and unwind for the rest of the year? Have you all planned to be at resorts or any comfort places to energize those tired nerves? Anyway, advanced Happy Holidays!!                             Its been a little busy for sometime, still I've been planning this post for a long time. This time, it is an area which I've never ventured before- BOOK REVIEW!! I am not that good in writing detailed reviews, especially about books, as half of the details do not stay in my mind after I close a book. But, after reading two books recently, I felt compelled to write something about them. No, they are not the books launched recently, but the old ones. Nowadays, it has become a fashion to launch the book of the first timers in some five-star hotels or famous book shops. If we open our newspapers, we can s...

Hi friends,                   I am back after a pause for more than a month wanting to write something on the eve of Diwali. Diwali is a festival of lights, victory of good over evil, welcoming Goddess Lakshmi and so on. What do families do during Diwali? Make or buy goodies, new clothes, light the lamps, and of course, no Diwali is ever complete without bursting those tons of fire crackers.                                           When we burst these crackers along with our families, how many of us will remember that a fire accident took place in Sivakasi fireworks factory just two months back? Almost every year, some fire accident takes place in that factory which burns some human lives. This time, more of onlookers were involved in the accident. These people rushed into the factory thinking that an explosion had taken place and ...

Hey buddies,                       For a long time, I have always been amazed by the variety of birds that exist in our planet. I have made a brief mention in one of my posts that one of my favorite pass time is bird watching. But with increased urbanization and deforestation, lots of bird species are becoming extinct thus tilting the balance of our ecosystem. If, we, city-dwellers want to sight more birds, we will have to travel far away from the concrete jungles and be at a place with lots of trees and lakes.                                                 I have drawn and painted birds in the past using water colors and oil paints by borrowing someone else's photos. I have enjoyed recreating every feather and other features of the birds and would like to do more. This painting is the follow-up of ou...

Hello once again,                           It's been more than one & half years since I began my blogging, and I have to say, it has been a wonderful journey for me so far. My husband encouraged me to start a blog, and I thought it will not go past  2-3 posts and will sit idle. I am a relatively late entrant into the blogging world, and though I filled my profile details, I did not start writing for sometime, not knowing how to enter each post!! But, one day, I did start, and after that, there is no turning back!!! As some of you would have noticed, my space does not stick to any particular topic, and so, it is sometimes on social issues, or on travel,  artwork or anything different. Many of the topics are unplanned and written more out of instinct. I would like to thank all of you for the support and encouragement you have given me and I feel humbled. I will want to continue writing more and hope it ...

Hello,             About some days back, I went to my cousin's place which is a few Kms from my home to pick a parcel sent by my parents from my hometown. I took an auto and reached there. My relative was surprised to see that I went there alone. After getting back, she enquired me whether I reached home safely. I was  a bit amused, but I could understand and appreciate her concern. In our country, though it is not a taboo for a woman travelling alone here & there and for work reasons, given the rising crime rate and sexual harassment against her, the safety in public places is still a distant dream. Barring a few percentage of women in cities who use their own car or any other vehicle to commute, many women see to it that they are home before it gets dark and especially if they are alone.                                           ...

Hi all,          How are you keeping??? How's the weather treating you?? For Indian friends, how did the Independence day (August 15 ) pass off? Was it just another holiday or did any of you do some introspection as to what we are doing for our country rather than what the country is doing for you??? (Famous words of JFK). Last year, around this time, the social activist Anna Hazare almost brought the country together with his fight against the corruption and tried to hasten the passing of the still awaited Jan Lokpal Bill. The UPA Govt seemed to pass the Bill, but still managed to not pass it effectively. Meanwhile, the fight against the corruption lost its steam, and, though Anna Hazare fasted over and again, the public and the media did not seem to care. After a break, the social activist is turning to be a political activist and we seem to be quick to form opinions. Is n't it easy to blame that Anna Hazare should not have got into politics to fight against...

Hello everybody,                            How many of you have suddenly become patriotic? I mean, not because another August 15 is approaching, but because of the ongoing Olympics in London. When our players perform in any event, we all forget our differences and fervently pray for him/her to reach final and win a medal.                                                        I do not want to proceed on the pessimistic note that only 4 or 5 medals were won and it's such a dismal show for the country of 1.2 billion and, especially, with our super power neighbour  China topping the chart. For all those naysayers, we have to remember that there was a time when our country did NOT even enter the medal tally in successive Olympics (1984, 1988, 1992). Yes, it was an absolute ZE...

Hi friends,                 The month of June is supposed to bring the southwest monsoons synonymous with the school reopening. But, if anybody is following anything, they can see that the rain gods are failing to shower us liberally up to now. If there are no rains, water problem is going to be acute, more power shortages, agricultural crises etc. Oh, Tans en, please bring back those rain showers with your magical voice in megh malhar raag. We are all starved for those cloudy, gloomy, hot pakoda-tea days.                       We do not require a Tansen to tell us that music of any form has profound effect on our lives. Music transcends boundaries, languages, and acts as a therapy for the troubled souls and physical aches. As one who has learnt carnatic music from my childhood, (a common practice for tamil girls to learn carnatic music in our community) I have grown up to appreciate m...

This post has been contributed by my dad, S. Muthukrishna Iyer,(a retired ISRO engineer)  who himself is an expert cook and handles all the kitchen items ( like coconut scraper, kitchen knives, wet grinder) effortlessly, even though, he is in his sixties. Hi friends,                   Coconut and chirava ( coconut scraper) are inseparable as coconut and malayali. For Keralites,  a curry or a delicacy is not complete without coconut being part of it in one form or other.                                                                                    The above photo is the one my daughter sent.                                   ...