ood of being a plant in hot and (no rain) happening Chennai. What amazes me is that even though they have sprouted from the seeds of one lime fruit, their leaf patterns are so remarkably different. But then I, for one, shouldn't get that amazed, my siblings and me are quite like that. We are born different and we choose to have many differences. Sigh.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Two of a kind?
These two saplings of lime tree have grown out of their absolute baby stages and enjoying the toddlerh
ood of being a plant in hot and (no rain) happening Chennai. What amazes me is that even though they have sprouted from the seeds of one lime fruit, their leaf patterns are so remarkably different. But then I, for one, shouldn't get that amazed, my siblings and me are quite like that. We are born different and we choose to have many differences. Sigh.
ood of being a plant in hot and (no rain) happening Chennai. What amazes me is that even though they have sprouted from the seeds of one lime fruit, their leaf patterns are so remarkably different. But then I, for one, shouldn't get that amazed, my siblings and me are quite like that. We are born different and we choose to have many differences. Sigh.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Sare jahan se achcha.....
It is a little depressing to read articles such as these telling us that our beloved country ranks 4th in the list of countries that are the most dangerous for women to live in.
Looking at Jayalalitha re-elected in Tamilnadu, Mamata Banerjee making history by ending the 34 years communist rule in West Bengal, Sheila Dikshit heading in delhi, Meira Kumar as the speaker of the lok sabha, Pratibha Patil as the president of the country, Sonia Gandhi as the president of the ruling party etc., you can easily be misled into believing that the nation by and large is taking giant leaps towards being a state were women have a safe and secure standing in the society. The good parts are just a few specks in an ugly mess of gigantic proportions.
Looking at Jayalalitha re-elected in Tamilnadu, Mamata Banerjee making history by ending the 34 years communist rule in West Bengal, Sheila Dikshit heading in delhi, Meira Kumar as the speaker of the lok sabha, Pratibha Patil as the president of the country, Sonia Gandhi as the president of the ruling party etc., you can easily be misled into believing that the nation by and large is taking giant leaps towards being a state were women have a safe and secure standing in the society. The good parts are just a few specks in an ugly mess of gigantic proportions.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Every step you take.....
Had a freakish moment while uploading a photo album on FB. For three of the photos in the album, they suggested a tag which happened to be my cousin's name! I don't know why it felt so strange...... like someone opening the door while I am in a state of undress.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
What a big voice!
Haven't heard anyone sing so beautifully: Ronan Parke in "Britain's got talent" show.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Vacation-III
"Let us try to sketch and paint from a picture, together" said Amma to which RRJ readily agreed as long as it was scheduled after the cricket time. They hunted through various pictures on the net and settled on this rather attractive picture of a butterfly sitting on a yellow flower. The depth of focus in the picture was really low so it was a crystal clear picture of just the butterfly and the flower, the rest in the background was all hazy which made it all the more easier picture to translate to a sketch. Bright mood, bright idea, bright picture.
Amma with her regular art supplies which she carries along for every longish vacation and RRJ with his newly acquired stuff sat together on a table and started off. Every now and then Amma would stop her sketch and peep into RRJ's work and say something like "don't you think this line is a bit sleepy in your sketch but looks like standing in the picture?" or "don't you think that the upper wing should come somewhere up and the lower wing somewhere down?" and a bit later "don't you think the various parts of the butterfly should be connected with each other?" Such was the power of politeness in Amma's critical comments that RRJ actually took them in the right spirit and at the end of the sketching session we had our respective sketches ready, both enormously pleased with our grand success at doing art together and still being friends. The sketching session was concluded on a high note with a high five.
Next day buoyed by the general good feeling the previous art session had generated, both of them looked forward to painting their sketches together as long as it was scheduled after the cricket time. Amma just needed to wash the palette to get rid of the previous colours on it before they could start off. And while washing she narrowed on the right tone for her little lecture emphasizing the importance of patience in painting. When she made it back to the table the paintbrush was
already at work on a study in monochrome, she could see the nice little sketch of a butterfly morph into a grey moth with huge antennas that looked more like trunks of a pair of elephants than anything else. The painting was over and done with in exactly under a minute. Suppressing the shriek of horror required great effort but Amma in a very mature way shifted her focus to do her own painting. Now there is this thing about Amma and that is when she starts painting she tends to float away from the world around her, her mind gets totally absorbed in the details of the painting and the last thing on her mind are rules of good parenting. So immersed was she that she didn't even notice the face peering over her shoulder was rapidly darkening to the shades very similar to the said moth until it pronounced "your painting is looking like a butterfly. Mine is not." Amma landed with a thud and could see that as much as she enjoyed while she was afloat, it wasn't what she had it in mind, good start she manages fine but nice ending she still has to find.
Amma with her regular art supplies which she carries along for every longish vacation and RRJ with his newly acquired stuff sat together on a table and started off. Every now and then Amma would stop her sketch and peep into RRJ's work and say something like "don't you think this line is a bit sleepy in your sketch but looks like standing in the picture?" or "don't you think that the upper wing should come somewhere up and the lower wing somewhere down?" and a bit later "don't you think the various parts of the butterfly should be connected with each other?" Such was the power of politeness in Amma's critical comments that RRJ actually took them in the right spirit and at the end of the sketching session we had our respective sketches ready, both enormously pleased with our grand success at doing art together and still being friends. The sketching session was concluded on a high note with a high five.
Next day buoyed by the general good feeling the previous art session had generated, both of them looked forward to painting their sketches together as long as it was scheduled after the cricket time. Amma just needed to wash the palette to get rid of the previous colours on it before they could start off. And while washing she narrowed on the right tone for her little lecture emphasizing the importance of patience in painting. When she made it back to the table the paintbrush was
already at work on a study in monochrome, she could see the nice little sketch of a butterfly morph into a grey moth with huge antennas that looked more like trunks of a pair of elephants than anything else. The painting was over and done with in exactly under a minute. Suppressing the shriek of horror required great effort but Amma in a very mature way shifted her focus to do her own painting. Now there is this thing about Amma and that is when she starts painting she tends to float away from the world around her, her mind gets totally absorbed in the details of the painting and the last thing on her mind are rules of good parenting. So immersed was she that she didn't even notice the face peering over her shoulder was rapidly darkening to the shades very similar to the said moth until it pronounced "your painting is looking like a butterfly. Mine is not." Amma landed with a thud and could see that as much as she enjoyed while she was afloat, it wasn't what she had it in mind, good start she manages fine but nice ending she still has to find.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Vacation-II
Located on a small hill by the name Gibbet, the house we are staying in is straight out of story books. When 
you look out of the bay windows you see a lush green backyard. In the back drop there are apple trees and a little further there are Tocel woods. The skies have been blue and the clouds have been in just the right numbers that make the picture perfect. The day we arrived, we got a warm welcome form Mallad ducks visiting us in the yard, pretty eager to have a taste of the curry that they got a waft of. Since then we have seen fat squirrels and brown rabbits or are they hare that keep popping in and out of the thicket. And of course a lot of birds: pigeons, finches, black caps and a few other types of birds that keep visiting the yard all day long. No wonder the fox that we spotted strolling amongst the apple trees looked so fluffy, cute and little on the plump side. All this right in the backyard!
A quick walk down the hill takes you to this delightful little pond in the woods which is the home of a ra
ther big clan of ducks and wild geese. While you munch on your lunch wondering how these ugly fluffs of brown floating around can ever transform into the most graceful birds that look almost like work of art floating on water, hours can pass you by. Aah the beauty of an english summer….
Mother and son have been having a cracking time setting pitches in the backyard, sketching and painting together, going for walks by the pond, feeding ducks, learning some music and reading books. If you know us you can surely tell that this is just half the truth, the other half will follow soon…..
you look out of the bay windows you see a lush green backyard. In the back drop there are apple trees and a little further there are Tocel woods. The skies have been blue and the clouds have been in just the right numbers that make the picture perfect. The day we arrived, we got a warm welcome form Mallad ducks visiting us in the yard, pretty eager to have a taste of the curry that they got a waft of. Since then we have seen fat squirrels and brown rabbits or are they hare that keep popping in and out of the thicket. And of course a lot of birds: pigeons, finches, black caps and a few other types of birds that keep visiting the yard all day long. No wonder the fox that we spotted strolling amongst the apple trees looked so fluffy, cute and little on the plump side. All this right in the backyard!A quick walk down the hill takes you to this delightful little pond in the woods which is the home of a ra
ther big clan of ducks and wild geese. While you munch on your lunch wondering how these ugly fluffs of brown floating around can ever transform into the most graceful birds that look almost like work of art floating on water, hours can pass you by. Aah the beauty of an english summer….Mother and son have been having a cracking time setting pitches in the backyard, sketching and painting together, going for walks by the pond, feeding ducks, learning some music and reading books. If you know us you can surely tell that this is just half the truth, the other half will follow soon…..
Friday, June 3, 2011
Vacation-I
A couple of weeks ago, we were cursing our miserable luck and feeling so sorry for ourselves. Wilted by the heat, soaked in humidity and troubled with our sore backs: we were a totally desperate lot. We dealt with our vacation-in-crisis situation with the sense of equanimity that we are rarely capable of, of course interspersed with shorts sessions of yelling and blaming each other. And then all of a sudden, perhaps a planet changed its position, and the hell hole released the last passport. Next, got an email from my father with an excellent website on how to deal with back issues. Reading it I could easily identify my problem and did the appropriate stretching and in a miraculous time span of exactly a day my back was alright! But then it was the turn of british high commission to act pricey. As the said planet fine tuned its position, a week of our well practiced equanimity cum yelling later we got the visas late one evening. Much activities followed and the next evening we were on our way to the airport for our much awaited vacation. Relieved, exhausted but very excited.
As a concept, this vacation is supposed to give us a break from our regular routine in Chennai. Break for me from being a high strung working mom, break for RRJ from being carted around between school and daycare. For RRS, this is supposed to be those few weeks of focused time at work when he doesn't have to worry about school-drop, creche-pickup or any house-work (okay, if we ignore that little bit of dish washing done post dinner). The concept, therefore, provides mother and son with this excellent opportunity to spend a lot of quality time together without any pressures on time. Hmmm…. it sounded so perfect as a concept…..
As a concept, this vacation is supposed to give us a break from our regular routine in Chennai. Break for me from being a high strung working mom, break for RRJ from being carted around between school and daycare. For RRS, this is supposed to be those few weeks of focused time at work when he doesn't have to worry about school-drop, creche-pickup or any house-work (okay, if we ignore that little bit of dish washing done post dinner). The concept, therefore, provides mother and son with this excellent opportunity to spend a lot of quality time together without any pressures on time. Hmmm…. it sounded so perfect as a concept…..
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