மொழி

Went to this movie this weekend. The movie exceeded well over my expectations .The dialogs were neat and entertaining.Hats off to the dialog writer!. Songs are also good in the movie. I especially liked the first song and the unique voice of the singer is simply superb. Last but not the least My favorite Jo's performance is beautiful. As this is her last movie, I will miss her performance

One more added to my collection

What's in a name?

This story reminded me of an interesting event in my life..thought I should write it here

When I first heard my husband's name from my father as a prospective bridegroom , I told my father that I don't like the name. I also told him that I cannot even think about creating a nick name out of it.My father promptly discarded my silly comment stating that "பையன் தான் பார்க்க முடியும் பெயரெல்லாம் ஒரு விஷயம் கிடையாது." Now I feel how silly It would have been If I took the name seriously

Have a look at this

Usually I don't like giving Links as Posts, but this one is worth mentioning.
My team lead's cousin and his friend are crossing the Atlantic ocean by rowing.
Every one thinks its both crazy and dangerous to just row across the ocean. They are half way through, They actually started on January 7th

So I thought I would post their website link here as a tribute and let my world know about them :-)
http://www.haute-mer.org/

The Bad Worse and Ugly

Bad
I ran another 4 mile without practice this time and it felt like a punishment...Cursed myself for doing that without practice

Worse
I tried to do pizza and it was a disaster, totally taste less, Ordering pizza is better :-)

Ugly
I have written about my hate towards drawing, but still after seeing a painted tea pot at one of my friend's home I wanted to try it out...So I pestered Param, and bought few colors from Michaels arts and crafts stores and tried my hand..Looks like the handy work of my niece :-)

What a weekend it was!

It has been more than a month since I found anything interesting to blog. Life was busy and usual until this weekend. All the fun started on Thursday when my husband’s friends visited us. It is one of the best weekends I have had here in USA in the last 1 1/2 years !

I prepared home food for the guests - dosa, potato curry & rasam, adai, idli/thakkali kichadi, bread/omlet and even my husband prepared chicken one day for his friends. In effect, I tried to play host like my mom (but I realised I am light years behind her when it comes to playing host). Hope everyone enjoyed my cooking.

All of us had tons of good time played cards with set of 9 people, eating out, chinese chequers and just plain talking about anything that is nothing :-)

We played the card game "Bluff"and whenever my husband played for some body else, they happen to lose in the game :-p Then we started playing Chinese checkers it was an engaging game. With everyone playing both offensive and defensive/block strategies and all the small talk while the game was on really got everyone excited.

On the whole, a memorable weekend and good to meet a bunch of new & nice folks. Would love to do this again.

Isn't it beautiful?

Brooklyn bridge, NewYork.
Photo by Param using Canon Powershot A80.

வெட்டி செய்தி

போன வாரம் நான் officeku late.நொந்துகிட்டே உள்ளே நுழைஞ்சேன்.உள்ளே நுழைஞ்சக்கபறம் தான் எதையோ விட்டுட்டு வந்துட்டேனு தெரிஞ்சுது.. என்னோட Laptop தான்..அப்பறம் என்ன என்னோட Hero sir அன்னைக்குப்பார்த்து working from home, so உடனே நம்ம heroine (அட அது நான் தான்) call பண்ணவுடன் கொடுத்துட்டு போனார். ..வாழ்க்கையில் இதுலாம் சகஜமப்பா!!!

Oo la la I finished it

I finished the 5 mile (8 Km) holiday run at Central Park, NY in 1 hr and 14 minutes. The entire event was a great experience from me. Me and Param woke up at 5:30 AM on Saturday morning with the help of 3 alarms :-) We caught the 6:55 AM bus to NY City. I was looking for all excuses I can use if I could not complete the 5 Mile run :)

We reached the NYRR.org office at 8 AM and collected our bib (number), participant tshirt, and timing chip and waited for Myriam & her parents (55, 60 yr old) to join us. It was 45 deg F and quite windy making it a chilly winter morning @ central park (race venue). But it was a fantastic morning with bright sun. Soon everybody joined us as we walked towards the race start after attaching the timing chip to our shoes.

I was surprised to see the 6000 odd people ready to run near the start line ranging from 6- 70 year olds. The race started at 9:35 AM and we started running. Myriam (my team lead) and Param were running alongside me. The first mile was cheerful with thousands of people running along with you. I even saw a couple running with the husband pushing their baby stroller with large wheels (i will call that a jogging baby-strolley).

All of them inspired me to keep going. I am not a runner before this run, so completing 5 miles by itself is a big task for me. My team lead & Param encouraged me throughout the race to keep going. After completing mile 1 in 20 min, I was desperately looking for mile 2 which came at 33 min as there was lesser crowd running alongside. Then we reached mile 3 in 45 min and I was desperately gasping for more air. The pain on my rib cage (probably my lungs sending me signals to catch more air) kept increasing right after mile 1 and was near its peak at mile 3. I couldn't go further and decided to walk for 30 seconds after reaching mile 3. Mile 3 came after an upgrade (slope) and I was glad I reached mile 3. After my 30 sec speed walk, I again started running towards mile 4 and I reached there at 60 min. Now both my legs and ribcage were complaining. Param & Myriam were still running besides me and told me that we were almost there. I kept going towards mile 5 asking them every 2min whether we were there at the finish line :-) But the feeling after completing the race is nothing short of delightful :-) It is interesting to note that around 5000 people finished the race. Here is how I did in the run. I now know I can do better and still a long way to go before I can run a marathon ;-)

After completing the run, we started looking for Myriam's parents who we thought might have aborted the run halfway. But I was stunned to see them walking towards the finish line at 1:40 min. Myriam ran towards them and joined them to again head back towards the finish line. She must have been really proud and happy to see her parents finishing the 5 mile.

Overall its a great experience. Me & Param headed towards home and our legs were really sore. We took rest the whole of saturday and here we are on Sunday wondering whether we should go for a jog in the park. I for one sure wish to keep going.

And now I can proudly tell my kids (in future) that I once ran 5 mile in Central Park.

How to run a marathon in 4 weeks?!

Well thats what I am trying to find.

Just at the blink of an eye , I decided to run one of those marathon (originally 4 miles) races in NY city (organized by NYRR.org). I know it is a big hurdle for me to cross...My husband seeing my enthu told he also wanted to do it..

To start with, we ran to a park which was 1 mile from our home..I could not even run few blocks from my house...That was the day I realized that I am not really very fit compared to the thousands of those who will run this marathon. . I decided to work on it.

On the week following my first outing, I started jogging slowly and I took 4 breaks during my run of 2 miles. My husband was doing those miles without much effort compared to me.
But the good news is now I can run 2 miles..

So what? I thought I would run 2 miles and walk the other 2miles of the race :-)

This week an email came from the NYRR announcing that they changed the race distance to 5 miles ! Oh my god, I donno how I am going to do that.

My husband came up with a chart. Increase 0.25 miles to the distance I run everyday till 1st dec. Either I walk or run, I need to do it.

So thats a commitment I am making to myself. Hope I can do it.

Guessed it almost right

I have the “Mouna raagam” theme song as my ring tone..One of my colleagues told me that he liked the tune a lot and he asked me if it is from 80's, autumn season and is it about a melodramatic scene in a movie. The interesting part is he is a a French nationale who hasn't seen mouna raagam.

Under the Tuscan Sun

I recently watched this movie.A very nice but very slow movie. No big heroes, No catchy story line, but very nice performance of all artists in the film.The heroine after a bitter divorce would go on a tour of Italy, gets fascinated by a house in Italy, buys it and renovates it and her life also gets better. A simple story well enacted. The picturesque town in Italy was shown beautifully.

After seeing the movie and also after hearing the stories from my lead about France,I would love to see these countries soon.

From Shanthi

Hello ppl,
This is Shanthi @ Loga's blog... For people who donno me - I am Loga's friend. We were working together when she was in India. I have come for a vacation to US. And right now I am in Loga's place.

I had some sort of thoughts in my mind like - how is it going to be in her place. I don't know Param much and it is not easy for me to get along with guys easily. Also i don't feel comfortable staying with these couples.

But right from day one things have been different. Param came to pick me up as Loga didn't get a ride from her office. Wasn't i disappointed that Loga didn't come to airport ? But I decided that I should talk well to Param.We had a good chat and i should admit that I just hate the ppl at his office - they expect the onsite co-ordinator to be available in all throughout the day in all the time zones ?

I didn't eat well when I was in Ohio in the previous week. When we reached home there was kind of a surprise.... Loga was making Veggie puffs ! Then there was this veggie paratha and then Panneer butter (or cream ; ) ) masala (?). Hey it was awesome (still in ohio shanthi?).
I generally avoid heavy dinners (naangallaam paal choru chakarai pottu saapdra kudumbam u see :D )

We talked non-stop (naan thoonga poganumnu sonnaenaa paathukongalaen - naandhaan paesa
yaaraavadhu kidaichaa aruthu thalliruvaeney!!) We talked so much !! (not much gossip u see). But was amazed hearing her ask abt some not so important ppl (enakku appodhaan appadiellaam sila paer officela irukkaanganney thonuchu!)

The next days plan was for New York. The dressing up for the fashion city (nagallaam pant pottu palakkam illaadhavanga u see!), bus travel, ilangai dosai (ofcourse - the dosi podravar and her meesai - when all the guys i know took of their mush - this man was straight saying (without words) that we are from asian country u see), the caricatures etc etc...

I will not forget the taxis in New york.

Loga don't worry that we missed Statue of Liberty and twin towers (seri seri sollamaley irundhurukkalaamla naan unakku nyabagam paduthuradhukku badhilaa ?).We are going for sure to both the places and a real New york sky ride (in a chopper) and the famous lion king show (enga managerkku puriyanum that shanthi deserves to earn in dollars and spend in dollarsnu!)

I did get a lot of comfortness and talked out my heart and really felt at home !!!

The cooking I did for her (and the cooking i missed to do for her), the TV shows i saw (and the DVDs i missed to see), the juices i drank (and the water i avoided drinking and drank atlast and abt to get cold!)... hey theres lot more to stay. Let me stop here.

Illai illai one last thing - Ennoda samayal eppadinnu comment adi Loga....
And i am so happy that u guys are really doing gr8 here : )))))))))))))))))))

Love,
Shanthi.

After a break

After a 2 months break, I am back.
I did not mean to take a break for this long, but something or the other was coming up and I did not have interest to write it ...
How did the last 2 months go...Not so good, Not so bad...Celebrated my first year anniversary, Played soft ball for the first time ,Lost 5 Kgs, My friend came to visit me,Diwali went on fine,tried to do Mysore bagu and thanks to this recipe at right time, I did Ribbon pakoda ..
But now, I am planning to write regularly and Here i come ...
Ciao

Bharatanatyam

One of my passions in life is dance....esp Bharatanatyam..

In my 4th std, one fine day I told my Dad I wanted to study Bharatanatyam. He took me to Kalai Kaveri, the school for cultural arts at Trichy...

I have felt and still feel its one of the few places where I feel happy just being there. It is a big campus with trees all around . You can hear music everywhere and see students dancing. Class rooms designed like huts,love birds, students playing veena and miruthangam, a small lovely chapel inside... much different than a regular black board, rows of benches classrooms.

Apart from dance, punctuality and orderliness were given great importance by teachers. I learnt a whole lot of manners from this school. I craved for Sunday classes where we used to dance under trees and recited slogams....

I studied there for 4 years and though this art could not be learnt in 4 years, I learnt the basics thoroughly...And every day I spent in the school was wonderful ...Every day in the class, we learnt dance with utmost devotion..

One of the fond memories of these days was with my mom. She used to wait for me with my dance uniform and snacks at the dance school everyday while I had to finish my regular school classes and rush for my evening dance classes. We did this five days a week for 4 years and we used to always have this mother-daughter talk while returning back...Just chatting with her all the way back is wonderful if I think about it now.

But after leaving trichy I did not get a chance to continue my quest with Bharatanatyam as I got caught into the higher classes rat-race. Dance slipped out of my routine just like that and would resurface only few days a year in the form of college hostel day parties, office parties etc - not bharathanatyam ;-) Now I am thinking about getting back on my quest for dance.

இப்பயாவது நியாபகம் வந்துச்சே?

Sometimes I feel strange when people react like this "இப்பயாவது நியாபகம் வந்துச்சே?"...This is one of the questions I often encounter when I call my relatives after a long time...Its only a matter of time who asks the question first...Even I can ask the same..Atleast I did call them...Why can't they simply be happy that somebody takes pain to call them?

I always try to maintain relationships, but once in a while when I don't do it, people open their mouth just to find fault in us...A week back when I and my relative had a long conversation, He also felt the same....He was jus telling"Why the hell people find fault in others when we take pains to meet everybody in family gatherings?..I often feel "Not attend the function and jus get a bad name" is far better than "going to functions and still getting hurt"..Only then I understood Its not me but others in my family feel the same, though none of us have the courage to open up even among family members...How strange ??
This conversation made me again realize that "None of us is perfect" and we just have to get along!!

Tagged

All about me :)

I am thinking of whether to switch on the air cooler or not

I said I would nag less and am trying it

I want to be more bolder

I wish I could remember different software versions of phones in market

I miss bhel puri from Adyar ananda bhavan

I hear sound of chimes

I wonder if I write atleast above average

I regret when I hurt somebody

I am more talkative than Param

I dance with my friends

I sing horribly

I cry when someone is harsh to me

I write silly nothings

I confuse right and left turns while driving reverse

I need a coffee right now

I should learn german soon

I finish by saying "OK What to post next?"

July Weekend

Day 1
Raga/ Manju had reached NJ . We had Pongal for b.fast and after a hr ride in bus, we reached Battery Park to take the ferry to Statue of Liberty..engum parthalum kootamm....naamaa kutchi iceii kaila vaichutu....angey ingey parthuturuntha ..intha kodumayana aasai vanthuchu...enna athunu kekkringala?...ithuthaaann


aprama oru valiya, we were at the island to see the lady liberty.... ....

When we returned from Statue of Liberty Island, we walked thru Wall St.,and the next place of interest was the Empire state building.......It was like 4th or 5th time for Param as guide...So now at the top of 86th floor, seeing the city again....Now it comes நம்ம ஊரு kadi, There was picture comparing the heights of various tall buildings, and a person was saying ..."நான் effel tower building la ஏறிருக்கேன், cn tower buildingla ஏறிருக்கேன்..இன்னும் ஒன்னு தான் மிச்சம்" and I was so mean and Ithought of telling"naan effel tower buildinglarunthu oru aalai thaliruken, naan cn towerlarunthu thaali irukken,ippo enna panalamnu" ..aana vantha oorla adivanga vendamenu vituten
We were hungry..so our next stop was saravana bhavan, bayangra kootam, we waited for another 45 mts, here comes the biggest sothappal, the waiter forgot my order , and when we re-ordered , he recommended us to rather cancel it owing to crowd and a possible wait time of 1/2 hr....It was really very bad of them to act this way....


So Whats next?...the place everybdoy likes to go if they are in NY..None other than Times square....So after roaming @ times square, its time to return back to home for the next day trip to Niagra....But, enga sothanaikku bus was 2.5 hours late....
Day-2
We headed towards Nigara...It was a 7hr drive...So after taking few breaks , We were at the city of mists - Niagra....So after having not-so-good-food throughout the day, we were at Kohinoor Indian restaurant..Believe me ppl, the food was so-so and service was the worst....
Pushing all these things away, we walked towards the falls...We were at the perfect time to see the fireworks...But namma luck eppadi ...appathhan malai chonu paiyya arambichuruchu....so we were not able to enjoi it....
Day-3

We were brisk and first stop was Maid of Mist...I was excited to the core...We were at the deck in the corner and got to view the falls up close..We were fully drenched (even with a rain poncho)...and I was visibily excited :-)


Next we decided to do a helicopter ride around the falls..It was a long walk and a pleasant day and we were ready for our first helicopter ride..We the rookies, flew around and over the falls, the view was simply awesome....I thought, they would take more closer to falls,but weren't ...konjam disappontment, but stilll happy

The next one was the Cave of Winds....We got the tickets and after a long queue for around 1 hour, we took the elevator to the base of the falls...Once we reached the base, we walked along the tunnel and reached outside to the base of the falls. It was a breath taking view as if water is falling from sky. Got drenched again, but enjoied every drop...



And Worth to mention, was Indian stalls everywhere...Jus Like eatouts at Streets, Lot of Indian stalls...So after having lunch at one of the stalls- Hear the menu- Dahi Puri, Pav Bhajji, Tomato and Peas oothappam, Chilly Oothappam, Masala dosai, Dosai.....
With revived enthu after lunch, we headed towards the most thrilling part of the tour-Jet boat ride along rapids....Its a class-5 rapid(class-1 being the lowest risk and class-6 being the most dangerous)..After having a security briefing and signing a disclaimer form, we were all set with life vests and rubber boots. When the jet boat started the instructor asked us to wear the seatbelt . We were all looking for it, but Oh man, there was no seat belt....



And the ride started taking a 360 degree turn ..and we were towards the Devil's hole....We went across the rapids four to five times, jet boat cutting through the rapids and pumping all water on us.Oh man that was the most thrilling thing I have ever done in my life !!! So after this adventorous sail, we were back to Goat Island (Terrapin Point) at Niagra falls to view the huge Horse Shoe falls. To our luck there were 2 fireworks (15 min each) and we were right on time to enjoy them.

Day-4 We started back to our home This is one of my memorable trips in life :)

Life

Time is 6:40..Bright outside..Trees moving in wind...Nice breeze out..Sky is clear and bright...Windows open....DPH song playing...Sinkla vessels-calling-me-to-clean-them(I don't want to do it now)....Enjoiing thanimai....Life is beautiful !!

Your beautiful moments please....

Tagged - 10 things I miss of Mom’s cooking Meme

I was tagged by Shankari chithi and here it goes

1. Aaavi parakkkum Idli and milagai podi- My mom is known for her soft idlis..

2. Chappati and side dish- The chappatis made by her is so soft .......Yummy ...

3.Bhel puri.

4. Aapam and thengai paal

5. Butter biscuit in different shapes like star, round, half moon....

6.Poli- Every diwali, she used to make it....Its like a favourite of everybody at home and also our neighbours.

7.Sodhi and potato fry.

8.thaalicha moor- When she has no mood to cook, she used to do this...

9. Ribbon pakoda...

10.maangai thokku

The list will go on...but lemme stop it.....I m feeling hungry now...oooh, I need to cook.....