Going Bananas

We have a very small (10ft in length and about a little less than a foot in width) green area in our house. And it has proved itself to be a very fertile patch (Kala Tikka, touch wood!). When we moved into the house, there were a few plants, and one among them was a plantain plant. After we moved in, this plantain plant grew into an adult, multiplied and gave rise to another 2, 2 became 4, then 8 and then we stopped counting..Since they all grew in a cluster, MIL opined that we cut some trees to make way for one tree to give out its "vaazhaithaar". Though I was eager to get a vaazhaithaar and home-grown vaazhaipazhams , the thought of cutting away a few trees didnt go well into me and at all times when discussion came about cutting the trees came up, I either deferred or remained silent or sometimes have told not to do so, or probably we could wait and watch..

The wait wasnt longer, before when the vazhaithaar appeared and one fine day when MIL came home after her regular morning walk, told : "vaazhai kolai pottu iurrku". Joyously I ran outside to check the "kolai" and mentally affirmed myself that "Yes, ask and you shall receive" ,"People might say hundred different things, but if something were to happen, it definitely will", "Yay, our land is fertile and so will I be too:-)" etc..

Row after row, the bananas started showing up, and the flower started withering away as and when a new row of banana showed up, the bananas started growing too, but at some point, they stopped growing..I was very hopeful that feeding it with more water or giving it more time will help, but didnt. When we had to raise our compound wall and this tree which was on its way to giving us bananas was leaning against the wall and the mason said it was mandatory that this tree be removed..I pleaded with him, gave him all possible options in which he could get the job done without causing harm to the tree and finally, he obliged. But, the "thaaar" did not grow into a young adult.

Shortly after this, another tree was on its way to giving out bananas, like the previous tree, this also showed promise, only to be cut away by some stranger.


Now, a third tree has given us this banana, and we have stored it in a not-so-air-tight sack and we are expecting it to ripen. Will update once we have our home-grown-organic banana ready to be consumed. Till then, I'm crossing my fingers that they will ripen and will you also please?

5 things I would like to try ..

This tag has been doing its rounds in the blogosphere, I'm taking this tag upon myself and doing it..This tag has come at the right time, for I've just now started (atleast in thought) thinking about living the life I've been blessed with instead of whining or waiting for the miracle to happen.

Here they go:

1) I want to learn to drive, a car that is. Having learnt to drive a two wheeler at the tender age of 13, I've driven a TVS50 with  5 people in it..Yes , I'm not kidding, but 5 of them including me. The rest 4 were kinda kidoos, in the age group 7-9. I've dreamt of owning a car, and driving to office myslef in it. I did go to the driving school and have a driving license, but never got around practising driving and I'm scared of the 4 wheeler. I want to get rid of this fear and be able to comfortable zip around in the city.

2) I have a desire to learn some from of painting, fabric, glass, anything ..I would liek to develop interest in painting. I've always scored low in Biology at school, thanks to my drawing skills..My bio teacher has ridiculed me many times for the wonderful drawing I've produced on record sheets in the 10th Std. since then, an impression that I cannot draw or paint or involve myself in arts and crafts have gone deep down inside me and over a period of time, I have even stopped admiring good paintings for it will bring about a kind of depression in me that I cannot even draw a simple diagram effectively. Now, I want to roll my sleeves and give it a try..I want to change what I'm thinking of myself. I want to learn some form of painting.

3) Knitting: I want to be able to knit little socks, sweaters for my little one to-be. The love and affection that one can feel on wearing a clothing made by a loved one simply cannot be described.I would shower such love and affection to my lil one.

4) Learn to swim. During undergrad days, I had the opportunity to learn for a mere 100 bucks for a semester. I didnt utilise that for the tan (oh, was I that skin/complexion conscious then?), for the unshaved arms and legs, for having to wear swim suit, for the various stories I've heard about the swimming teacher and looking back now, I'm feeling how silly these reasons are. However, better late than never, hence plan to enrol for a swimming class.

5) Exercise: Though I excercise whenever I feel like it, I would liek to be a regular in doing yoga and especially do it with full concenteration. I've hardly been able to concenterate on the yogasanas that I do. I would like to involve and enjoy myself while doing yoga and do it regularly.

Will update as and when I achieve some sort of a milestone in any of these.

Happy Friday and Have a Good Weekend ahead!

Why am I a sucker for

happy endings? Are you one too? Read "Sands of Time" over the long weekend and as I was nearing the end, something at the back of my mind kept hoping and wanting for Jaime to marry Megan, for Rubio to marry Lucia and for Ricardo to be wedded to Graciela...Secretly, I aslo wished if the novel would extend and narate events from their marriage, their kids, their growing up, the no adults becoming old etc..Probably , I'd watched too much of Soundarya-Ashwin's wedding which made me want more and more wedding events..

         

                           

Yes, I crave for happy endings, I long to see light at the end of the tunnel, both in real life and in fiction, I dream about "And they lived happily ever after" ..I know who would not want to have a happy, coola nd peaceful life..If you are a sucker for happy endings , happy beginnings and everything wonderful in between, do drop a comment..

A Friend in a need..

is a freind indeed..

This age old saying hold true even today and it will hold true for many many light years to come.
It requires a seperate post to tell how our friendship was formed and how I was quite reluctant to be friends with B and how B continues to extend his unfilching support at all times to me inspite of me ignoring him.
                   

                                                   


B, I'm glad that we are friends..The flood gates opened today when B and I went for a tea break and I count my blessings for having an awesome well wisher in you. It feels good to know that I'm cared for inspite of the grinding routines that you have. It feels good to talk all the jumbled thoughts that criss-cross every second in the mind..It definitely feels good when someone echoes my thoughts, and it feels double good when I hear an idea/suggestion/opinion different from mine so that I get to open my mind and receive it and ponder about it..(Otherwise, if it doesnt come from anyone,  I keep thinking that the decision that I make is the right and best one). It is quite a blessing when someone patiently listens to all that I want to vent out and try to boost my faith and fill me with optimism. Thank you B ,I'm sure all our prayeers are going to be answered very soon.

After a long time

watched a movie..almost fully ..JayamKondaan

Have watched a part of the first part sometime ago and found it boring..But, the rest of the movie which I happened to watch y'day seemed interesting..Atleast, I sat through it..Usually, these days, I loose patience while watching any of these Kollywood/Bollywood movies..Similar stories, withe the same old mix of masala,songs,fight..So, its been really long since I sat through a movie completely.Heres to new beginnings in this front too..

Everthing Positive

Just after I clicked on "publish post" of the previous post I'd written, I continued blog-hopping and this time, it was to one of my favourite bloggers, Preeti Shenoy of http://justamotheroftwo.blogspot.com/.
In there, I saw :
                        Thoughts have a power. Ideas have a power. Believe and you shall achieve.

Thank you Preethi for sharing the story of Graham Miles (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1306332/Man-Locked-syndrome-makes-amazing-recovery.html) . Yes, I'm going to be positive all the time..Atleast, I'm going to try. I've taken this oath many many times off-late, but still, its quite a challenge to be optimistic always, correct? However, it is also not a wrong thing to take this oath many times. Atleast, these oaths can serve as check points. Yes, I'm going to think, dream, visualise only good stuff. Here's to good, new and positive beginnings..Cheers!

In search of...

I'm a blog addict. There, I said it . I have spent many many hours on the net blog hopping, especially to moomy blogs . While I enjoy reading the antics that kids do, the writing skills, creativity that these mommy bloggers posses, somewhere deep within, I 'm searching..I'm seraching for those who had a hard time to have their lil bundle of joy, but then, all their hardships in this endeavour had happy endings..Yes, it's very very difficult being positive all the time 24/7 and many times, I'm in the look out for happy-ending stories, drawing inspiration , hope and confidence from them. I'm in the look out for some optimistic sign that fills me with some amount of positivity (at least for that moment). Anyone who has had miscarraiges, who had to undergo test after test only to find that all tests are normal, anyone who has waited month after month hoping this cycle the pregnancy will click will understand the need for some assurance, grip, a hold-on..
I do have a lot of posts in my head which I plan to write down one after another, but why am I writing this one all of a sudden? Because, I came across a blog site and started reading it, and when in the forst few posts, there was no mention of a baby , but the writing conveyed that the person belonged to Chennai, a Tamilian, married for long, I started reading further and somewhere down the line, found that this lady is a proud mother of a gorgeous baby boy and is now planning to have a second one(may you succeed sooner), but, something triggered me to go further down the archives. I figured that she had the baby after many years of marriage. In the meantime, I'd arrived at her first post. Why did I do this? What am I searching for?  I'm searching for someone or something that can boost up my optimism, restore my faith when it ebbs. Today is one such day where I've been travelling from optimism to negativity, back and forth, not knowing where to kep my faith on. I sincerely hope and pray this is just a passing phase and I emerge out of this successfully.

New addition and New beginnings

We had a new addition to our family on 27th June 2010 and since then, he has wrapped us around him and we have forgotten what it was like before he came to be with us. SB and I literally hunted the city to find a suitable and best cradle for him, we bought lots of clothes for him, we played with him in the wee hours of the night, we made sure he is safe , doesnt fall down inadvertently, we fed him well, and in effect, we totally forgot what we did before his entry. Thank you Almighty for having blessed us , Thank you Pod, for having agreed to come to us. Here is a his pic:

Yes, if an Ipod can cause such an impact in our lives, have no words to describe all the joys that our cute lil baby will bring in.  Junior SB, cant wait to see you and have you in our lives. Please come soon, dearest..

P.S: Above, when I say " what we did before his entry", I mean how did we time-pass earlier? I know both SB and I read, we nap , watch TV, surf the net, go out , but still , the question arises..

Eid Mubarak and Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi

The newspaper says that it is very rare that these two festivals fall on the same day and this year, these two festivals fall today. Let us wish this year brings in prosperity to each and every one of us.
While growing up, I remember my star birthday also coinciding with Vinayaka Chathurthi, that means double fun and celebration. Appa and I (and sometimes sis too) used to go to the market the morning of Ganesh Chathurthi with a palagai (on which mom would have put ezhai kolam), buy a clay Ganesha, scout for a Pillayar Kodai throughout the market (It was difficult to spot shops selling pillayar kodai in our town), buy the other stuff in the list Amma would have given, and do a careful ride back home (careful, because the clay in the pillayar should not rub off on Appa's shirt). We would then decorate the Lord aith the arugampul maalai, another maalai whose name doesn't come to my mind now, and once the neivethyams are ready, Appa would do a pooja of the Lord and then we would sit for the feast that Amma would have toiled upon since the early hours of morning. A holiday is incomplete without a nice siesta after a sumptuous lunch.
Now, post marriage, I get to help Mil in the kitchen in preparing Kozhakattais (both sweet and salt), appam, vadai, payasam in addition to the regular meal. This year, we brought home clay made Lord Ganesha and SB performed the pooja. We made all the above stuff for neivedhyam and offered our prayers to the Almighty.
Being with my brother during Eid in 2006, I also got to know the rituals that are followed during the holy month of Ramadaan and got to taste the Sevvaaiya that is prepared on Eid.
Lord Vinayaka, as we all know, is the Lord who clears obstacles in anything and everything. Thats the reason why He is worshipped first in every pooja or homam in the hindu culture. May the Lord remove all obstacles and bless us abundantly this year.
Also would like to wish our car a very Happy Birthday. SB bought this car on the day of Lord's birthday in 2003 and I would like to thank our car which has served us all these years and is a part of our familty too. TI, you have kept us safe and sound under your roof and I'm grateful to the Lord and to you.