When a child is seen behaving badly and is going off the course beyond the norm, the question/response that is generally aired is"The child has been brought up very badly. The parents are to blame. What were they doing?"However, when a child is shaping up nicely with no major problems or issues, the response almost always is "Such a nice, pleasant and good natured child". All compliments are for the child. And the poor parents who brought him/her to be what he/she is, is nowhere in the pict

Day 6 (contd)Links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 ,Part5 and Part6The first (and the last) stop was Rajamalai wild life sanctuary. The mountain covered with green grasslands is a sight to behold. A spectacular sight !This park was established to protect the endangered Tahr (rare mountain goat). And also  famous for the unique species of flower, Neelakurinji, that blooms once in 12 years.The buses from the base take you only up to a certain point. And from there on, we need to wal

Hi guys !!! How have you all been?This blog is being revived from its dormant state, thanks to Tulika :) I couldn't resist submitting an entry for Tulika's Blogathon-4Our home resonates with several rhymes and songs in both English and Tamil, some very well known , some long forgotten and some new ones ! Apart from the common Tamil ones like 1. Kaakkaa kannukku mai kondaa2. Annai Annai, Azhagar Annai3. Nila, Nila, odi vaa here are some others that are part of our daily routine4. Ammaa inge vaa v

Have you ever tried hanging upside down ? Ever been in that position long enough to observe how the world would look upside down ? The answer may be "No" unless you are a Yoga specialist :). or some other such expert!Kids love to do that, hang upside down! At least for a very short duration going by my minimal observation of the youth on monkey bars at the park and play grounds!T.R Rajesh tries to do just that in the unique book - "Upside Down". He portrays the world  upside down in a v

Me and my Buddy (right from school) C !We had been talking about it for so long. For almost 3 or 4 months, we meant to get together and take our kids out somewhere and be together ! We were not too ambitious. We were not planning on spending the whole day together or something (though it would be wonderful to ). We just wanted to got out in the evening for a couple of hours. Me with Jillu and she with her 2 kids.You might wonder what's the big deal ? I might have wondered too, if I had not been

A note of caution: This is a lengthy post and I have not made any effort to curb it! So go ahead only if you are game!Kannamma, you are growing up so fast that it is totally unbelievable. Where have these past 2 1/4 years gone? Its gone by just like that before we could bat an eyelid.You are acting so grown up these days, Wanting to eat on your own and you do that as well, only its very messy and you got to learn the fine arts. But for now you are doing a great job and we are all proud of you. I

I am not much of a temple going person. But I am not an atheist. I believe that there exists some super natural power that controls all of us and our lives. I just believe that you don't need to go to temple to pray to God. Praying and thinking about God can be done anywhere and everywhere. So my visits to the temple are less and they usually happen because my parents/MIL ask me to or during special occasions. But Thirumala is an exception here. Some how, that GOD, Venky as I call him , always m

I was on the search for an instant recipe for Idly for a very long time! The traditional or the regular idly has to be planned and the dough prepared the previous day which is not really to my convenience. The recently found (actually recently tried- but found long long ago, so long ago....The oats packet cover had the recipe printed and I had safely stored it for so long. I got to try it only yesterday! ) Oats Idly is a god send and I was even more thrilled when my family liked the dish !&

But if only it could be true, then, it would be highly useful and avoid so much anxiety and stress! One, I think, every mother would agree :)The thought is - "If only every mother could be a pediatrician"It struck me last night when Jillu again fell sick, that I should have become a pediatrician (in spite of the fact that I chose Computer Science over Biology in my 11th std just so that I could avoid rat dissection - yeah I really hated it so much :( . You just need to ask my friends about it) j

This dish is something that I very much like and is very easy to make. And it tastes wonderful on a rainy or a chill day or rather any other day for me :)Thanks to all the cooking websites in the net and also recipes from several blogs, this recipe is a combination of several recipes and is my own version of it. Ingredients :Paneer - 200 gmsCapsicum - 1 big sizeOnion - 2 MediumChilli paste - 1 tbspSoya sauce - 1 tbspSalt to tasteAjino moto - a little pinchPreparation time : 20 minsMethod:Cut the