postcard from my life...

After working on the lamps till 4 in the morning, we realised that we did not have a paper cutter. so last evening we had been to the City Centre Mall to get the necessary supplies... Now our lamps are almost done.. believe me the lamps look quite amazing. we are indeed pleased with our efforts and enthusiasm... will post the pictures tomorrow night. some preparations are still to be done. will take care of them in the morning...  good night and wish you all a very happy  Diwali !!

after an years stay in Chennai...

I now understand that "a" attached to any English word qualifies for a question mark... and the letter "h" appearing in most Tamil names is silent...

I have learnt that too many women wearing yellow on Fridays is not a mere coincidence but a superstition.. and that women in cargos with strings of jasmine tucked into their hair is not odd fusion but an attempt at preserving age-old-customs....

I have learnt to accept and enjoy rains in November...

I have started to follow conversations in Tamil which include few English words...

I know the roads to and from the Silk stores in Thyagaraya Nagar (T.Nagar) and with confidence can haggle with the auto-drivers the rates... I can even give them directions when needed just to make sure that they know I am not a stranger to Chennai.

And these days I even appreciate the Tamil breakfasts of idli, dosa, pongal with sambhar and coconut-chutney and sometimes miss the coconut and spices when on holiday..... 

Yet in spite of my one years experience here, I haven't managed to master the proportions for a good cup of Tamil coffee. the not-so-sweet-not-so-bitter perfect brown coffee that they serve in the Tamil-households or cater at Hot-chips. So on days like this when its incessantly raining outside, I feel a little elated when i get my  sugar-milk-decoction proportions right !

[sip, sip...] hmm...thats what you call perfection ! a perfect start to the weekend....

I hope all of you also had a good start. Have a perfect weekend !

Acceptance .....

The other day as we walked past a narrow over-populated lane in Chennai

a friend asked  "what is it you see in their faces ?"

I replied "acceptance..."

It was apparently just the word that he had been looking for....   

for the shop-keepers, the flower-vendors, the street-kids who dotted that narrow lane did not look unhappy. neither did they seem to be complacent (as is often portrayed by the tourists-photographers or the film-makers).... for clearly their living conditions weren't the best... but over the generations they seemed to have learnt that denial or self-pity will not change the picture for them. neither will it help to be a rebel... for in our country (and possibly in most countries) rebels are always harshly suppressed... so they had adjusted to their surroundings, learnt to survive through frugality, learnt to accept life as has been catered to them and wear a moderate smile whenever asked to do so by a photographer  for his frame or a film-maker for his fame......

[i wish i had a camera that day... but i didn't. so i googled and put up the image which was closest to what we had seen in that narrow lane in Chennai that day]