Blogged for one year!

Wow! 

I don't know what to say. *Nervous chuckles* Usually, I blogged pages and pages but now I am blank. Is it an achievement? Is it an autobiography? or Is it something else? Whomever reading my blog out there I hope I am not annoying you with the rants of my life. And I hope my blogs are always uplifting and enjoyable to read. It might not be a great piece of literature or knowledge. But I can assure you it is something special and a part of who I am. 

Thank you! (P.S. The only relevant thing I could thing of.) 

My first blog was named "The Life of mine" I don't remember exactly when I created it, probably during first year of my under-graduate class I guess. I blogged the same stuff I do in this blog. After I posted my first post in it, I got scared. Scared of who might read it,  scared of judgmental views, scared of wasting other's time by writing purposeless blogs about my life incidents, and lots more scary stuff. "Teenage" was indeed a time to get lots of pessimistic thoughts especially for me. So, within 24 hours, I deleted that blog. I gave up blogging. Nothing changed, same old routine life persisted.

December, 2015 - It's amazing how certain unexpected things especially floods and boredom can stimulate you to do something. That's how the journey of "Being Sunayana" began. December Floods at Chennai gave me the immense strength to do what we enjoy doing and live the life like there is no tomorrow. I was not scared anymore or afraid to tell the world about who I am and what is happening around me. Boredom is also an equivalent powerful intangible thing too. It can make humans to do amazing and crazy things depends on the individual. It made me start a blog which I was afraid to do. And helped me to discover myself through weave of words and thoughts.

But secretly hoping not to get anymore drastic calamities in future. Bear with my blogging atrocities because I ain't quitting. And I hope you guys also follow or at least spend some time on things that makes you smile, laugh, happy and alive.

Until, then will be back soon with another blog post.

Stay happy and healthy. 

Just a random flower painting by me.
(I guess, Boredom does makes you do things)

Things and their prominence

From my childhood, I was always attached more to inanimate objects than people. I used to play with things, sometimes it gets broken and I try to repair it and eventually get scolded for it. Also I could not get the heart to throw them away as trash which the adults deem it to be useless and broken. At a very young age I thought each thing has a purpose and can be utilized if we put our creativity and imagination into it. I still do. Whenever I visit shops as a kid, I always get tempted to touch every thing decked on the shelves. I get so fascinated and curious to know what each product can do and how. I wish such enthusiastic curiosity was still alive in many of us who moved on from our true innocent self that we possessed when we were kids. We used to be brave enough to explore and exploit everything we saw. Eventually life happened, we leveled up and unlocked new challenges.

For me each thing I own has a great significant meaning behind it and I believe everyone has one special thing with them that is so close to them too. Certain things reminds us of a memory, certain things makes us feel happy, certain things helps us cope with life or even a part of our life and reasons for the things we own can be a long list. For me one of such thing is my laptop. We are inseparable duo. Actually, I like my laptop better when there is good wifi signal. But still I learnt how much it means to me only when it got broken recently. I kept it on the chair and went to college. When I came back home, I took out my laptop out of it's bag, saw a crack on the screen and when I turned it on it gave me a plain blank white light all over the display. The torture of seeing your laptop not working anymore is horrific to know. 

When it happened, I was not in my sane self. My routine got crashed and I could not submit any College assignments properly which is a big deal for me. I consider myself an Introvert and I tend to be scared to ask help from friends. Even a midget amount of help makes me feel like I am taking advantage of that person who is helping me. I could never be satisfied by a work that was not done by me which was related or referred to me. So, I got sick with cold for a while. Whenever something happens to something so much dear to me, I tend to fall sick and depressed. I felt like a warrior at a war whose weapon got broken. My weapon to survive my life was my laptop. So, it took me a long while to sink in the thought that my laptop got broken and I really need to get it repaired. 

After many days and few powerful inputs from my mom I prepared to get it repaired. Usually for any small malfunctions we used to go to the shop which sold us this laptop I own. But they treated us like some nomadic people rather than customers and that place is situated far away from my home. My mom suggested she saw a laptop service center near my home and I was doubtful about her memory. I asked her whether she saw mobile shop or really a shop which services laptops. She was determined and that's how the journey of my laptop began. We walked together. Passed through a heavily crowded temple where the devotees are so dedicated they don't want to enter the temple premises but to block the footpath present in the temple entrance. How devotional and considerate of them. So, we passed through this and arrived at the shop my mom mentioned. I could interpret it was a mobile sales shop but my mom was persistent.

We entered and asked whether they service laptops. Turns out they don't and guess what they do. They sell mobiles. But the shopkeeper mentioned there is a laptop service center in the basement of the building. It turns out to be the shop which I frequently visit to get xerox, print out and spiral binding. So, I gave him my laptop and I was not having the courage or knowledge to describe the exact problem. So, He checks it out and tells us that it can be repaired. We were so happy until he said that would cost us around 4000 rupees. We came back home. Also there is demonetization happening in India which made my case even worse. To get money from banks and ATM there is a huge queue and hell lot of waiting time. My mom saw me suffering without laptop and she did went out to get money from the bank the next day. Mothers are the best and I am so gifted to have her in my life. The next day, we went again and gave the laptop for servicing and left in a rush. I can't bear the thought of leaving my laptop in the hands of anyone other than me. It means a lot to to me.

After that day I was informed that my Laptop got repaired. I dressed up, took cash from mom and rushed as soon as possible. My brother accompanied me this time. I saw my laptop and asked him did he put a new screen and he replied yes ma'am with a judgmental look. It was like as if my laptop has recovered and discharged from it's ICU. We paid him 4300 rupees and I demanded  for a bill. He made us wait to get a bill which he was making from scratch. But it was worth it. It took me a day to use it again. As if it was some sort of fragile piece of art. My laptop is the best thing that happened to my life so far and it remains to be my best buddy till date. Some things are valuable to us and people realize it when they are on the verge of losing it. It's nice to have that something in our life that rejuvenates us to live. 

Finale of October'16

October must be one weird month. It started off very differently and ended with lots of elements of life. In my previous blog, I mentioned about how it started, now will be providing you with the details of it's climax. Till 25th October I was having a combination of study holidays and exams. I always try to study as late as possible because of my horrendous memory. I might be a victim to amnesia or I might be hallucinating about it whatsoever this method has always been working out for me. So, after 25th I was having semester holidays and Deepavali holidays. 

Oct 26, 2016: Beginning of holidays

Finally, exams got over and I wanted to relax a bit so slept for a long time and woke up late. I woke up to see too many messages in my phone. I might have slight symptoms of Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) towards messages. I tend to check all the messages without fail. It seems my department assigned my class to finish a survey about soaps and shampoos. That too 5 filled surveys in both category which means I had to sacrifice my precious day by dedicating myself to fill the survey and request other people to fill it and send it back to my class leader. Now that's what I got in the name of holiday. But, certain duties even though it is useless for us to do; we need to fulfill it and forgo our holiday spirits. I couldn't believe survey filling can consume a whole day.

Oct 27, 2016: Bus ticket booking

Second day of the holidays. I thought to myself no more work and responsibilities, lets enjoy it to the fullest. But life has it's own will to destroy our peace of mind. I got immediate another task for the day. *Poof* The so called second holiday was gone with the wind within minutes. Life can be demanding at times.

My aunt who is an elder sister to my mom came to India from U.S. to visit my grandma who resides at my native place. So, my mom also wanted to pay a visit to them. So, she asked me to accompany her to book a ticket. We walked near the bus stop and took a bus to C.M.B.T. (Chennai Moffusil Bus Terminal) in Koyembedu. It is known as the biggest bus terminal in Asia according to Internet sources.  We arrive at C.M.B.T. and walk towards the ticket booking center. Due to fast approaching Deepavali festival, Tamil Nadu government has added additional buses for the public convenience to visit their hometowns which I presume. My native is in Andhra which means an other state of India so the ticket booking booth was far away from the entrance. We walked and saw couple of help desks that has been set up temporarily, buses that is routed to different places some of which I have never heard of before, and finally we reach our booth.

The kiosk was a filthy room that was opposite to a toilet. A lady was seated inside that cubicle who provides Information and tickets regarding Andhra Pradesh Government Buses. She was seen through a hole provided in a grimy glass window secured by equally grimy metal bars. It was extremely inconvenient for my mom to converse with her to book a ticket. But eventually we booked a ticket after my mom interrogated her with lots of possible and impossible questions. We finished our ticket booking and were walking back to the entrance and suddenly my mom reminded of us being alone and hungry while she is away and wanted to buy some biscuits. She spotted a store and started interrogating that vendor about the rates and prices of the biscuits. I am a person who hates spending money unnecessarily and if I really wanted something; I do a hefty amount of thought processing before really purchasing anything. Meanwhile, my mother is completely opposite to me. She buys immediately if she wishes to buy something without giving it a thought..

Later, she was not satisfied by the choices in the store and left. I felt terrible for the guy who responded all the questions to my mom and she just left without buying anything. When I told her about her behaviour she just denied it by saying its his duty to serve customers and our choice to whether purchase or not. Most of the parents, especially my mom has a way of making flawless legit points. Then, she got reminded of something again and I was already drowsy from lack of sleep and wanted to go home as soon as possible. She forgot to book her return ticket to Chennai. We walked again to the same kiosk and went through same ticket booking process again. We finally accomplished booking our tickets and took a bus home.

I still had some more time of the day to spend meaningfully. So, I watched few episodes of Korean dramas and read a book. My advice to you all: Spend each ounce of time towards what interests you. Never spend your time on boring activities because wasted time can never be regained. At the same time stop worrying about wasting time and be grateful for what our life has to offer.

Oct 28, 2016: Mom vanishes from home

My mom kept on reminding me what to do and what not to do while she was away. She prepared extra amounts of food and told us to eat it whenever we were hungry. She took her luggage and was stating she was going. We said bye. She came again and repeated the same for a few times and we got annoyed and said just go and reach the bus stop on time. She made an on purpose faux frown and went off. My brother and I were immediately got glued to our gadgets. The day for some reason felt relaxing at first but was never ending. Usually my mom is a constant chatterbox in better terms she's a garrulous person. She never stops nagging and always find ways to express all the faults in the world with the people who are dear to her. Life usually goes a bit fast forward when she's in the house. That moment we felt what happens in her absence. Its probably nothing but something that make us to feel a bit missing without the presence of a particular thing.

Oct 29, 2016: Very important day

It's the day my brother was born and its the day the auspicious festival Deepavali was celebrated in the year 2016. Some say it is Diwali, some say it is Deepavali, but I assume most of the people like me says it's a beautiful holiday. Morning was filled with cracker sounds which I strongly detest. Many of us know it is festival of lights not sounds. My dad wanted us to be well fed while my mom was away and asked us for our breakfast choices and I said I was not hungry and he didn't even gave a thought to my opinion. I have a habit of eating less in the morning and more in the evening. But for some reason my family can't understand my body's hunger timings and ends up feeding me more or starving me more at times. Meanwhile, my brother has this amazing talent of tolerating people. He just blurted out "anything is fine".

That's how I ended up eating two large dosas, one oily poori and a bangle sized vada. Accompanied by coconut chutney, tomato chutney, sambhar and a potato side dish. I ate all those just because my dad was insistent and was watching over us finish eating all the foods he proudly bought to fulfill my hunger-less stomach. Everyone who knows me very well knows how meticulously I eat. I am well known for my eating styles and habits. I was both appreciated and criticized for my eating decisions by everyone I knew till now. Everyone are different and people just can't accept a person having a different eating pattern.

Usually the TV channels show good choice of films to watch. This time films shown were boring and repeated ones. My phone buzzed with Deepavali wishes. I was wishing them back. I got something even special on this day - The cold. I got sick and was sneezing more than the times I was breathing. We ate noodles for lunch. Anything warm can make a cold person be at ease. The warm soupy instant noodles soothed me for a while. Later, I scribbled some patterns with chalk pieces in the name of kolam on the floor. Then, I finished a series of Korean drama and it became night. We were watching discreetly at the fireworks which the tenants were bursting.

Mom arrives and starts talking about her arrival confusion. I did miss her nagging but sometimes I hope she realizes the preciousness of silence.

Oct 30, 2016: Usual routine holiday

Mom was back. My aunt gifted us with lots of goodies. We ate foreign biscuits and chocolates. Mom started her work of annoying us with her blabber. We distracted ourselves with the help of Internet. The day ended but my cold didn't.

Oct 31, 2016: Sleep deprived and lots more worse stuff

I was carefree and sleeping in the bed without any worries other than my cold. I am woken up by my mom. I saw glass shattered all over the hall, broken cupboard and a my brother with his bleeding wrists. I immediately brush my teeth, change my clothes and rush over to a medical shop. There was another customer who came prior to me and was taking her own time to decide what to purchase. So, I started looking upon all the medicines and other things arranged in the shop. She leaves and I blurt out what I need in lightning speed. The cashier/store representative got confused and I repeated each item slowly. She showed the things I needed and started tapping buttons of the keyboard to prepare the bill. I paid, took the things that I purchased and left as quickly as possible.

My mom dabbed a chunk of cotton with the antiseptic liquid and rubbed it over my brother's bruises. She made sure to advice him constantly with each rub. Then his bruises were covered with band aids. Till this moment I was clueless about what was going on. When I asked about it, My mom started crying. She cries rarely and started telling philosophy with regards to parenting. The reason was my brother missed his college bus and came home. He had an important test on that day and was ready to bunk it. This made my mom angry and to yell at him. Eventually he wanted my mom to stop talking and tried to hit the wall. Instead his arm hits the glass panel of the cupboard nearby and that explains how the hall was looking like a crime scene in the morning. My mom made an enquiry with his college faculty and made him to go to college by other buses. He was reluctant at first but agreed eventually. I was sent along with him to make sure he gets into a bus.

I came back home which was having power cut. How unpredictable life can be? Any irrelevant incident can become relevantly influential towards our life. I took headphones, my phone and headed towards the bamboo swing that is hung at the entrance of the house. I Listened to radio, passed time by swinging and waited for the current to comeback.

That's how October 2016 ended for me!

Start of October'16

October has always been a memorable month for me. I consider it as the festive month of India and it is even more memorable for me personally as my own brother was born in this month. The month when I came to know that I am no longer a single child and I needed to take care of this another human when I myself not yet done discovering about me. Being the older kid in the house has its own perks and burdens. For me I don’t remember much perks but the burdens are unforgettable. I am grateful that he gave me company to play with, to gossip with and all but sometimes I wonder how life would have been if I was a single kid or a kid with a sister. I guess we will never know.

This year’s October has been memorable for the stuff I have never done before in my life. I had attended and worked for the conference conducted by my department. I wrote two articles which got published in the department magazine and got circulated during the conference to the delegates. It’s amusing how life can turn out to be. Even though I did some amazing things, as a human I did mistakes too. I am having holidays for Dussehra which is celebrated for 10 days for the Hindu goddess Durga. I was told to come to college to collect my hall ticket on 13^th (Thursday) and I kept my alarm to ring on Wednesday. It turns out to be 12^th (Wednesday) and a holiday due to Muharram.

You can guess how funny my morning would have been today. I woke sincerely to the alarm, saw the clock and thought to myself I still have some time to get ready and wasn’t prepared enough to part my way from the comfort of the bed.  I had horrible internet connection but needed some reason to stay where I am. I read some random book about scientology and dianetics. I got drowsy because of the complicated terms the author wrote in 1951. Then, I rubbed my palms together and kept them on my face to wake myself from its warmth. I got ready and left home to catch my bus. Something felt odd today; I thought maybe it is because I left home by 8 AM instead of the usual time. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as genius as my intuition and didn’t realise what was going on.

I was walking to reach my bus stop. I saw bunch of cows in the street. They were splurging on the vegetables kept in the hotel bench and few people were shooing them. What would you expect them to do when we lay cement on the place where their food grows? In another street, I saw a goat sleeping with great serenity and looking at it makes my day during the walk. I stood near the traffic signal pole, waited for it to display green light and then crossed the road. Something suspicious of this traffic signal it makes any common individual to cross the road with exemplary speed. Then I passed by another street, where the houses looks luxurious and the place is too calm to be normal. I saw a pug and made a funny face at it. It just stared back at me out of boredom I guess. That precious stare never makes me to frown. I reached the bus stop and was waiting for the bus to come. There is another dog kept as a pet in a house opposite to the bus stop I was waiting at. It kept tilting its head both sides and was adorable to look at.

The bus arrives and I got squashed by the plethora of commuters. While standing in a crowded bus you need to be expert in precise stillness and I consider it as utmost requirement for a safe journey. Also you need the patience to tolerate people, sweat, weather, sudden brakes and much more. So, after the feat of travelling in that bus, I reach my destination. I walk towards my college to be stopped by the watchmen. He says the college is not working today and I am arguing with him to prove my point that my faculty has informed my class to pick their hall tickets today. I call my teacher to prove my point but turns out I made a mistake of coming to college 24 hours earlier. I said sorry for annoying or disturbing the watchmen. I call my mom and she started yelling at me and I also added more fuel to it by arguing (justifying) with her. If I checked calendar today all this wouldn’t have happened. So, my advice to whomever reading this, even though you hate calendars or just pure lazy to give a glance at it; please check it out at least once a day. It can save you from lots of troubles.

I took a bus to reach home. Luckily my mom got tired and didn’t spoke much about what happened. I went to bed and started doing a random watercolour painting as I didn't had internet and nothing interesting to watch in the television.

I thought of drawing a dragonfly in shades of black but it looked more like a corpse of an insect. Then, I drew a simple flower nearby the dragonfly.

The dragonfly (corpse) and the flower.

Then I tried to draw blue eyes, in the process I changed my mind to convert it into blue beads, then I thought of making it into a fish pond. I showed it to my dad and he said “Awesome, is it a sky?” I started with something, ended up with something and it is viewed as totally something else. I guess my paintings are more useful for stuff like Rorschach ink blot test than artistic purpose.

The fish pond 

After doing the so-called painting, I slept for a long time and it is the Best therapy in the world. 

Later, I went out to water the plants and spotted a gorgeous black butterfly with white spots in its wings. I failed to literally catch it but was able to capture its beauty as a picture. 

The black and white spotted butterfly.

Remember, Life goes on! It is our choice to make the most out of it. Even if it gives the sweetest happiness or bitter sadness.

Happy Dussehra, Muharram and an Optimistic October!!

Festive special: Onam!

Onam is a keralite festival. It has a great mythological story behind its celebrations and some interesting activities involved. I am not a malayali but in my college every year during Onam we wear a traditional Onam saree and take loads of pictures with fellow classmates and try as much as possible to make the lecturer not to take any usual classes. So, that’s the type of celebration we have on this festive occasion.

My day began with the saree draping session. It was a white cotton saree and with simple golden border and small designs was made on it using embroidery with various shades of colourful threads. With the help of my mom and my eager enthusiasm we succeeded in the draping part until it fell apart. My mom hates to do same work twice. She was in the verge of becoming grumpy but still she carefully draped the saree again. I was happy that the activity (the art of draping a saree) which sometimes takes Indian women more than 5 minutes to forever was over for me.

Then it was time to the second challenge, the horror of walking in a saree. I am not a regular user of sarees. So, it felt like I was walking by wearing a burrito or a shawarma. I daily walk to bus stop of 1km distance and it was becoming late for me to catch the right bus on time and I had to rush. But the draped cloth was making sure I was walking as slow as possible. Like each footstep per second. But I tried to stroll as fast as I could and reached the bus stop. I didn’t get a seat in the bus I took. In normal attire itself there is a 100 possible ways to get hurt while standing in a moving bus, but to make my probability of getting hurt even more I was not wearing my usual clothes. Thankfully I managed not getting hurt with lots of cringes especially at the turns and speed bumps.

I got down from the bus and reached my college. Sarees are like headphones, both need to be adjusted often. I am a bit too conscious about revealing my body to the outer world other than myself. But turns out many girls of my age are like that when they wear saree. We check whether we look fat or anorexic? Is the folds aligned correctly? Is someone mentally judging us because we did a fashion blunder? And so on. After all this, the next challenging task for me was to reach my class which is in 5^th floor. By the time I reached 1^st floor in that saree I wore half my breakfast energy got expended.

I reached the 5^th floor and saw my classmates looking pretty and feminine in their sarees. We took some pictures of ourselves. Then, the horror started. First hour was started with Accounts subject. I absolutely hate anything with numbers and have a mild form of memory loss towards anything associated with numbers like maths, cash, time, date, etc. Only few of my classmates were present and we were half asleep when my lecturer started her accounts lullaby. Post graduation life is a serious business I guess. Whenever each student entered the class we were staring at her to see how she paired it up with the blouse, what sort of accessories she used, what make up style she did and so on. Seeing this, lecturer was staring blankly at our faces I guess she got the idea that we were super distracted. But lecturers always act like lecturers. She proceeded to teach and we proceeded to sleep.

After that we were requested to attend an event about music and dance competition in the auditorium. We all went there, saw bunch of people sitting on the stage one with mridangam, one with violin, a few with mike set up parallel to their faces. It was similar to katcheri set up. They sang devotional songs. Then the dance performance started. We discussed about their selection of songs, dance moves, their team execution and all. Then it was time for speeches and announced about the chief guest, who was an eminent carnatic singer with many accolades. She also spoke about her life, career path and passion. She later sang a few lines of the Tamil song “Kaatrinile varum geetham” as a tribute to M.S. Subbalakshmi who was also a great singer. That song and its lyrics have a way to intoxicate its listeners.

Then again went back to our classes and started taking photos. I was hungry and started to eat lemon rice my mom made for my lunch. It’s funny how people can flawlessly smile to a non-animate object like camera than to the living person next to them. It does makes sense that it captures their memories, moments and it remains with them forever as long as they wish to keep it. But it made me thinking millennial youth is spending more time with their technological buddies than the actual person being with them. So, many things around them are missed, in this process. But I was enjoying the moment to see their funny poses, their funny (horrible) singing, Funny dancing and many more which might not be the same if something I wish for happens.

Suddenly my Head of the department barges into the class and asks “where is the rest of the class?” She took attendance, a senior came and informed her something and she used a swear word (sh*t). She gave a completely out of box punishment to the people who weren’t inside the classroom. She told them to interview the teachers and students in the college who are wearing an Onam saree in terms of styling, beauty and many other ways where in reality no teacher appreciates to be asked these questions. But they did go, interviewed and accomplished to know that they need to take the interviewee’s photograph and do a Presentation on it tomorrow. I was glad I was inside the classroom and away from this unpredictable trouble.

Then, another lecturer came who always tries to make us happy. She gave bunch of good compliments to others and said I look completely different in a good way I guess. Later, another lecturer came who teaches us Organisational behaviour. She is a malayali, and we made sure we don’t let her take class. We asked her what is Onam is all about? And she gave us this broad smile which looked sarcastic in my point of view. Then, she made a Malayali girl in my class to answer that question. She mentioned they don’t celebrate Onam extravagantly. She said they do this sadhya which is a festive meal served in a banana leaf with a variety of foods served with rice, Pookalam or flower Kolams which are done using flower petals in different designs on the floor, and that’s all she knows. My lecturer gave the same sarcastic smile back at her and told us about the reason and story why they celebrate it.

The story goes on like this. There was a King named Mahabali. My classmate pronounced it back as mahabalu (means big bear in Hindi) and we laughed. That king was an asura but was good king. Asuras supposed to be the villain or the evil people. But Mahabali turned out to be a genuine king. He ruled heaven and earth. All the gods saw him as a threat and wanted to annihilate him. Mahabali has a weakness to help anyone who asks for his help. So lord Vishnu goes in the form of a Brahmin named Vamana and asks for a favour. Mahabali’s guru tells him not to agree as it feels suspicious but he agrees to help.

Vamana asks for land equal to the three paces of his feet. Vamana grew big, First footstep was all over the earth, second footstep was on all of heaven and there was still one territory left Mahabali owed Vamana. Mahabali requested Vamana to keep his third step on his head as he does not have any more land left. Vamana keeps his third feet on his head and sends Mahabali to the underworld. But due to his genuine sincerity Vamana grants his wish to visit his people for 10 days and these are the days which are celebrated as Onam. Then she correlated some organisation behaviour theories with the deities of different geographical regions and the Onam mythology story she mentioned. (For proper story use Wikipedia this is just a story which my lecturer knows)

After that, same vicious circle followed, I had to catch a bus in saree and walk as fast as possible to reach home. Surprisingly there was no scorching sun and the weather was good. But I was eager to remove the saree and wear my comfy clothes. Later I felt like cooking something but whenever I cook it never turns out well. So I saw some recipes which are quick with fewer ingredients. I got inspired and did a 2 –Ingredient dessert. I took dried bits of coconut and was hitting it with a mortar and pestle at first to get it into fine pieces. This usually works for spices but not for dried coconut pieces I guess. Like I said even though I did 3 Year Degree in Food Science I am poor at cooking but good at experimenting.

I told my mom what happened and she told me to use a blender. I have seen her giving the blender jars for repair for using it with certain ingredients and I was hesitant to use and spoil the Equipment. Life is incomplete without being able to take risks I guess. So, I blended few chunks of dried coconut pieces and added deseeded dates into it and blended again. The dessert is finished. I usually hate the sharp sweetness of dates but the coconut bits helps to adjust it. It tasted good until my mom suggested to add ghee to it which suppressed the true flavours of the coconut and dates. But still it was quick and easy dessert and my hunger was fulfilled.

The dessert - Date 'n' coconut stuff!

That’s how I celebrated Onam and Happy Onam! 

Horrible way to spend weekend!

Every college life is unfulfilled without assignments. Some assignments can be interesting but some are awfully tiring. Recently my class was split into four groups to organize an event to learn about event management. We had been planning, visualizing, rehearsing and working on our event assignment for a while. Social media apps can be a headache especially the group created always fights in the chat instead of discussing. Especially, the super annoying voice message option. My group thought of meeting near my college to finish or have some progress in our event assignment. One of my group members told me she will pick me up at a specific place. 

So, I was waiting at the place my friend mentioned for her to pick me up. I got bored and I leaned on to a black wall of a closed shop and waiting for my friend's call to know that she has arrived at the spot. I took headphones and was listening to radio. Some random guy who looked a bit illiterate started accusing me of standing in the middle of the footpath and was having the facial expression as if he has seen some offender. Logic wise I was far away from footpath and literally standing at the premises of a closed shop. No one had a problem suddenly this random guy passed some lewd comments on me and went off before I could talk. Irony was a traffic police officer was right in front of me and was least bothered about what is happening to the people around him. 

I was glad that was not some sort of molestation, rape or any other such incident. But I felt mentally naked by allowing that random guy's accusations enter into my head and spoil the day. If I did nothing wrong why should I be worried and feel sad? Lots of questions buzzed in my head. A mere senseless comment made me to consider not stepping outside the house again. I wondered how many women around the world being affected by this? Suddenly my friend came and picked me up. We spoke about the event details and I forgot about that horrible incident. The event which we were doing was about post wedding reception. We were preparing props, decor, songs, dance moves, skit, and much more. We all became tired and thought of going home as important things are finished. The place was drizzling with raindrops. 

We were also assigned to bring sponsorship for my department's Intercollegiate and Conference for which deadline was Monday. I was worried I didn't get any sponsors yet so I went out with my friend to explore and grab at least one sponsor. We roamed throughout the offices of nungambakkam and came to the conclusion that on Saturday most people won't be present at offices and many are not interested in sponsoring to people who are not in their target segment. I was sad, tired, and sleepy and was in a hurry to return back to my friend who told me she will drop me near my home. While crossing the road, a bike Tyre went over my toes of my feet. The signal was red and that bike should have stopped but due to his negligence I may have been dead yesterday (27/08/2016). I was in statue mode, my friend who was beside me dragged me out of the place and we were walking again normally. We said our good bye and I reached home safely. 

I always tell whatever incidents happening in my life to my mom even though I clearly know she broadcasts about it and even exaggerates about it with others. I told how in the morning that guy emotionally and mentally screwed me and how I escaped a Hip replacement surgery in the evening. She started telling me idiots are there but I should have been more careful. And she told about this to my dad immediately and I regretted telling about it to my mom. My dad who did not listened to the whole story started accusing me that I should not obstruct footpaths and cross carefully. I cried. I cried till my eyes became dry and red. I was sad that no one was there for us to express our grief without being judged. 

Independence day!

August 15th 1947, India's independence day! Every Indian kid is saturated with this info from childhood. The most horrifying dialogue for some or hilarious one for me is from our national pledge "All Indians are my brothers and sisters" for some reason it sounds funny for me. 

During my school days, we hope for it to be an holiday but our parents and the school people made us to attend the event relating to the independence celebrations. Irony is there is no freedom to not attend the event which celebrates our freedom. We dress up, pin the tiny tricolour paper flag to our uniform, stand in rows and columns according to the class we belong to under the beautiful scorching sunshine waiting for the chief guest to magically appear soon. During the wait there is this unexplained joy of gossiping with our peers which I guess us millennials crave a lot more than nowadays tech addicted children. 

When the chief guest finally arrives, there is this great faux cheerful vibe and epic long speeches which reminds us it is just same old  lecture in different surroundings. The flag is hoisted by the chief guest, rose petals fall on the ground, crows scream, sunlight still roasting our skins and finally the speech by chief guest ends. We get to sit on the floor to watch cultural events performed by our schoolmates. There will be dance, music, dramas and even karate. Even though teachers shush us we still cheer whenever our besties perform on the stage. That pure innocence of our childhood to cheer for our friends is nothing compared to any philosophical quote I have seen so far. 

Then after all the events gets over, its time for vote of thanks. We need to get up from our sitting cross legged for a long time and blood gushes through the legs as soon as we get up. Some get slight pains, some get up flawlessly, some struggle to get up and I get weird snapping sounds like when fingers are folded and snapped to get a relief and also I get that sensation of standing over million pins underneath my heel. After vote of thanks, the national anthem is played in the speakers. Some listen patiently, some prove their singing skills, and I lip sync to the song with an expression of a professional actress. The most favorite moment of events for a kid like me was the chocolate given after the end of the event. So, that's the routine/drill followed during independence day throughout my school days. 

This year it was different for me. 

I wore a light green kurta paired with blue jeans, orange infused with white coloured earrings and a small palm sized black sling bag. I walked towards the bus stop and if you had read my previous blogs you must be knowing the fate of mine with buses. I was about to cross the road and my precious bus went by crossing far away from me in front of my eyes. The feel of eternal waiting for another bus to come is a pitiable thing to do. Especially for a person (me) who can't sit in one place and do nothing for more than an hour. I waited for a while, bunch of school kids were beside me dressed up in white and playing and giggling with each other. I saw a person taking his dog for a walk, the dog was adorable by the way. But still however I try to distract myself from the idea of waiting for long was not working out. I started fidgeting my fingers as if I am playing some musical instrument. Thank god the wait lasted for 15 minutes and i got into a bus. It was free of crowds, I got seated, the breeze passed inside the bus and felt like a luxury. 

The bus was as slow as possible. I reached late and did this fast walking on the pathway. Suddenly when i have to cross the road, an auto stops in front of me. Inside the auto was my friend, her mom and her sister. She told me to hop on and we went straight to college. Happiness are these small gestures that makes us believe in humanity. We waved our good byes to her mom and sister and did the rhythmic speed walking to the college entrance. Already we are using our hal-sleepy, tired bodies to walk fast and the students who are in charge of the event instructing us to walk even more faster and go inside, its late. The reasonable thing is to give a tired or annoyed look but something about this friendship that made us to laugh till we reached the gate.

We split to stand towards the our respective class queues. The chief  guest arrives and good thing about my college is they make everything short and sweet. I believed that would happen until i discovered that the chief guest is a living Wikipedia in human form. She talked, talked for so long that we started talking with our peers. The speech ended, a few girls sang patriotic songs, a girl orated about independence in Hindi and vote of thanks was done. The best part was that we were also invited for alumni meet on the same day. I met with my classmates, took pictures, went to our UG department faculty, ate the complimentary breakfast and the meet was over. That's it? So, we planned of making our reunion more memorable. 

We walked, discussed where to go and were confused where to go. After a long roaming and brainstorming, we thought of going to semozhi poonga. It is this spacious green park in Chennai. So, we take an auto and reach this park. We take tickets for us and I take pictures of the place. They were walking and i was stopping by to take picture of the flora. I am a big nature admirer. Finally they sat in a place where we talk about our past, present and future plans. It was making me feel old and young at the same time. Then we walked towards the kids play area and each of us sat in swings and talked. Some went to buy something to eat and drink. Some of us thought of making a trip to somewhere outside Chennai as a group. And some were running out of time to reach their homes. I was enjoying the swing. Maybe this is how freedom feels like. It was one memorable Independence day.

Swinging with my besties!

My first marathon!

My college conducted a marathon named "Pennkalvirun" which means Girl education run in Tamil. This initiative was to support and to bring awareness for educating girl child. The event was scheduled at Island grounds, Chennai at 6:00 am. This place is famous for the annual Tamil Nadu government exhibitions/fair to which my family visits from my childhood. My reporting time mentioned by my college faculty was 5:30 am.  It usually takes 1 hour to reach the place from my home. So, I woke up early and prepped myself ready to leave. My dad took photos of me in my marathon attire.

My marathon shirt

I stepped outside the house, It was like being in a horror movie without background music. There was no sight of sun or moon or even stars in the sky. It was pitch black. The streets were quiet but filled with street dogs. Some of the dogs to which my dad used to give biscuits whenever he sees them came near the gate wagging their tails and sticking their tongues outside to greet us I assume. We rode in a bike to reach the destination. The places passed by during the ride were unusual yet familiar. 

We spoke about how free the roads were, was the marathon really happening, should I really sacrifice my precious early morning sleep for a run which I haven't tried before, and many more intriguing things. We reached marina and in few meters we be will reaching the start point of the marathon but no sign to prove that there is a marathon happening. Finally saw a girl wearing the same shirt and entering the entrance gate which assured us that it was not a hoax. My dad parked his vehicle and we slowly walked towards the stage. Only few people came till then, Meanwhile my dad and I took pictures.  

The stage

The stage was set, the place was empty, sky was dark and I was bored. I waited for my friends to arrive, till then my dad was stuck up with me.

The start point 

I took pictures for a while until my friend called me. She came with her dad and our dads greeted each other and left. We spoke and revolved our heads like antenna to spot and welcome the familiar faces from our college. We got calls from our friends to know how to reach the venue? The event started from a greeting by a person with a mike on the stage. Later a group of girls sang some songs and the marathon for 10 KM was started. We stood near the start point and our principal waved the flag to indicate "go!" for the 10 Km Marathon.

At Napier bridge, Look at the sun rise behind me!

We did a mixture of brisk walking and running. I took pictures of whatever fascinated me. My friend got tired as soon as we reached our first lap and she said she will take rest at the venue. We passed through the iconic Napier bridge, then passed some old buildings, Anna Square bus stop and finally World's second largest beach - The marina. The route was to run from Island grounds to lighthouse and again run back to the island grounds. 

I was enjoying stepping forward along with the breeze which felt empowering to the self. Occasionally we halted at the hydration points to re-hydrate ourselves. My friend got muscle pain and wanted to walk instead of running but I felt a bit slow at some point of time. So I told my running pal that I will be leaving her side and  go faster and let's meet at the light house. But by the time I reached the light house I did not had the patience to wait for her so proceeded to take U-Turn as per the route and ran.

I ran and did slow walk whenever necessary. I kept on telling one! two! with each step touching the floor which improved my pace. The challenging part was not the distance but not to dodge anyone while running. I ran to see amazing glistening waters of the beach, to see the spectacular view in front of me, to meet my friend who is waiting for me at the venue, to not quit  in the middle of the marathon, to beat the odds, and for the cause - Educating the girl child. After a long brisk stoll and running I reached the finishing point. I finished 10 km withing 1 hour. Surprisingly I did not felt any muscle pains even though this was my first marathon. 
  

I was suprised that I finished the task. I took the medal for participation and breakfast provided by the event crew. I was given idly, sambar, 200ml flavoured drink, kesari and vada. I was not hungry at all and didn't wanted to waste the food so i gave back the idly and sambhar to them. I first ate this orange coloured sweet kesari which was delicious. Then ate vada and drink. I regained enough energy I needed. The winners were announce and we clapped for them. And that's how the marathon ended.

Me with my medal!
Oh yeah! I ran with my chappal which I found to be very much comfortable. Just because people suggesting us to wear sport shoes or do something for our well being doesn't always mean it will be suitable for us. Do or wear whichever you are comfortable with.

The stuff I got for my 10 km Achievement!

It was nice being a part of something and enjoying ourselves. No matter what happens in life just keep moving forward and be exuberant!

Some views I got to see while I ran:

Cooking with the unknown berry!

On Saturday i.e. 16 July 2016, I was having a pleasant carefree day. Until I saw a unknown small berries lying on a plate kept on the table. As you can see in the picture below, It was grape sized , wrinkled with perfect blend of red shades on it's skin. I asked my mom what it is? She said it was called vaakaya in Telugu and used to make pickles. 

That weird brown spots on my hand is mehendi.

It tasted like combination of amla/gooseberry and strawberry. My mom said she will be using the unripe ones for the pickle and throws off the ripen ones. But I did not want ripe ones to get thrown away so I decided to make a jam out of it. I once made mixed fruit jam. I guess I can experiment a little with this unknown berry sized fruit. I searched for recipes online but could not find much about it. Scientifically it is called as Carissa carandas and in English it is called cranberries. The fruit is rich in Iron and Vitamin C. Mature fruit harvested for pickles. It also contains pectin; So suitable to make jams, jelly, syrup and chutneys. (Info found from wikipedia ) 

I just took a recipe for karonda jam and began my work. When I cut it into halves, there was a green oval seed which I scraped off using the edge of the knife.

After, the mise en place of the berries, my palms were stained red. 

I guess it can also be used as best alternative for Artificial red food colouring!

So, I simmered the berries in water for 10 minutes until they became soft and permeated into the water.

Then, I filtered the mucilage, skin and pulp of the berries using a sieve to get it's extract. The extract was looking like vermilion or very bright red colour. 

I know it looks like a big magenta blob but the truth is that's how the extract colour looked.

Then, I added required amount of sugar to the extract in a saucepan. The sugar crystals mesmerizingly dissolved into the red extract.

 I heated this mixture and stirred continuously until the liquid gets a darker shade of red and more viscous. 

And I cooked till I got the right stage of consistency and wine red colour. I waited for a while until the bubbles were ceased and poured it into a clean glass jar. Later, kept this jar for refrigeration.

The jam turned out to be delicious because of the tartness of the fruit and sweetness of sugar  which harmoniously complimented each other. The Beautiful red colour remained the same. The spreadability was good. I guess sometimes doing the new things in life can be rewarding experience. In my case cooking with this unknown berry (Now known) rewarded me a delicious jam. Keep on exploring new things in life, you will either gain from it or learn from it.

Kitty Surprise!

Recently I started going to college again for my PG course. Same old bus stop agonies, fresh start vibes, new colleagues, and a bunch of college events. After all this one fine day after college, I came to home with headache due to the hefty amount of thought processing happened in the classes. I rang the bell as usual for my family to unlock the gate. My brother came to the porch in a discreet manner as if their is some sort of monster hiding behind me. I gave him the tiredest look possible in the world. My mind was like "open the damn gate" I asked him why he is acting weird all of a sudden? Then he was like "there was a kitten that came to this place in the morning." Wow! A kitten. Last time when a kitten came to my house my mom said throw it out of this house and my dad hit the floor with a scale to get rid of the cat. The next morning I saw a skull of that cat with a drooling stray dog beside it. Well, Life can be horrifying at times.

So, I made it a pact not to make my parents to know about this kitten whom I have not acquainted with yet. My brother and I searched for a while. We heard meow sounds in irregular intervals. After while I gave up and started watering plants. Suddenly my brother finds the cat in it's hiding place. I saw a cute creature which was literally looking like a replica of fuzzy palm size fur ball. It was scared and was running with it's tiny paws as quick as possible from our sight. After a while we caught it and took pictures. It liked to get finger rubs below it's neck and somehow rolls over with it's tiny paws up. We played with it for a while until my mom saw us. Oh no! We told her everything about the kitten. She told us to take and put the cat far away from the house. But it looked so young, active and adorable - I didn't felt like letting it go and haven't got the permission to keep it. I hate this dilemma.

I let it go on the floor. The kitten meowed for a while and slept off, I kept a small bowl of water beside it. Then I went back to finish whatever work I had to do for the day. The kitten helped me to relieve my tension. Anyways, After a while at the night, I went outside to check the status of the kitten. It was awake and was roaming around the place. I guess it got used to us and came near to us. I sat on the floor with my index finger pointing on it's head and slowly stroking on it's fur. It started rubbing it's head and body against my hand which is suspended above it. I kept my index finger and middle finger on the floor and rest of the finger folded. I kept on moving these two fingers similar to walking. The kitten chased my hand whenever i did that. It also loved to bite my feet occasionally. I was not sure what to do with the kitten in the future. I just wanted it to live a better life.

The weird moment was when a fat white cat was sitting comfortably and watching us instead of taking the kitten with it. I wanted to bring the kitten towards this white cat but it escaped by the time i did it. The next morning my mom informs me my dad took it away from the house. This time he kept it in his shop. But after college ended I heard of the news it went missing. My parents said someone must have taken it to their home as a pet. I hope it is doing fine and having the life it wished for. I love the fact even though animals are less intelligent than humans they know how to calm our nerves. Life is all about the small surprises like this kitten.