KN

Ramu has spoken well about KN. 54 years in one organisation must be a sort of a record for any profession. The great thing is that KN has held the respect of not only his employers but also the respect (and affection and admiration) of all his colleagues and subordinates. All of us wish him piece and good health in his retirement.

I agree with Gayathri on chakkai pazham. It must be crisp and not over-ripe to be edible, for me. And I must try out the vazhaipazha-varatti one of these days, though it seems like a lot of work!

KN`S ARTICLE

Many would have read the excellent article of KN in The Hindu of today 29 June 2009, in the Readers` Editor column, in which he has mentioned that this is his last article in Hindu. ( Probably I am too small to show my appreciation!). 54 long years ! This shows how his dedicated work was liked by everyone in Hindu and the fact that he is coming out on his own shows that the dedication is still there as young as a fresher. As I was reading the article, I started getting a feeling that Hindu will stop coming to my house from tomorrow!!
Sometime back, Sri.Kasthuri, took KN personally for checking KN`s hearing and got him a set of hearing aid. Personally, I consider this equal to getting a Padma Sri.
I have no words to show my praise for KN . May God give him good health and mental peace in the days to come!
Ramu

Hey, that fruit topic has got us going! Thanks Akila!

J chittappa, Vivek hates “even LOOKING at” bananas! One kela with our breakfast is a must every day. I do have a salad of cucumber & carrots every day, but it is special on Ekadasi days with the extra fruits in it!

Palaa pazham – it’s got to be just right – crisp & sweet. Even a slight over-ripeness can spoil the texture and taste. The palaa pazham we had bought for sradham did not keep for even a day, S made chakkai varatti out of it that same evening! Rukka athai-athimber, J chittappa-chitti had the fortune to taste it! Sadly, I hate the taste (or smell) of cooked pazham, so left that joy to others!

S is a great one for buying fruits. But he doesn’t buy as much here as he used to in Bombay. Two reasons – kids not here, attitude of the sellers. S gets a kick out of getting a good bargain, & he does not get that satisfaction in Madras, heheh!

If Akila likes- here’s what I do with over ripe bananas – mash them, cook with vellam. Add elaichi, roasted cashew. It should be cooked till all the water goes. Add a little ghee. This is my version of chakkavaratti! Kela-varatti, if you please!

From Ramu

1. Curd rice with "malai pazham" ( ofcourse curd should be good ) for touching is something I love. This used to be a regular item in the menu in CAS`s house and as a school boy, I used to have it daily in their house along with Balu.
2. Nowadays, we read frequently that most of the fruits are adulterated in one way or other. The vendor from whom I buy banana regularly, refuses to give me a particular variety of "pachai pazham" saying it will cause stomach pain, on regular use.
3. No one will dislike "palaa pazham" and we have never really enjoyed it after K.Nagar days. Kappu akka used to buy regularly during season and used to distribute to everyone.Appa also used to buy or sometimes bring from Baachaa appaa`s house and there used to be big session for cutting the fruit, appa leading it and all of us assisting him.
Ramu

Fruits

To hear that someone hates 'even bananas' made me smile. I do not like them much myself. My preference is for mango, papaya, sapota, grapes etc. etc. Gayathri, why wait for Ekadasi to eat salad? We have some everyday, mostly raw vegetables. But this is part of lunch, which comes after a breakfast of cereal and fruit and is followed by dinner, apart from the odd snack!

Fruits

Akila,
Those muffins sure look yummy! Does Vaishnavi not like fresh fruits? Is that why you are trying to camouflage them? Vivek is another fruit hater. He gets nauseous even looking at bananas! Ramya was ok with fruits separately, but never as fruit salad!
As for me I have quite recently discovered that I love pomegranates, green grapes mixed in my curd rice! I welcome Ekadasi days because I make for myself a "Super Salad" with lots of fruits and dates!

The earrings look good. Sad that I am past the age for all that!

J chittappa,, so perseverance paid off! Good you got the cheque!

Gayathri

Sincere apologies and a promise

I am extremely sorry for not being regular in posting to our family blog. As Gayathri akka said, perippa you have taken soo many pains to keep it going now. So, now I promise to be more regular in making posts to our blogs.

Thanks a lot for your wishes on my birthday Perippa.

Now, on our updates.. I have taken a new hobby in trying my hand at making beaded jewellery. Here's the first result.

It is amazingly easy to make. Another area where I am concentrating now is baking. The main idea is to give home made snacks to Vishnavi for school.

So, I baked these banana muffins (eggless). And guess what, Vaishnavi did not even touch it!!! So much for my trying to make her eat fruits and something home-made. Even my last attempt at making apple cinnamon muffins was a big flop as far as Vaishnavi was concerned. I guess I just have to be patient till she develops a taste for fruits.

Hathway

I got the refund from Hathway today. It took some effort, tracing their present phone number and location. Ashok helped. When at last I got through, I find that my cheque is dated 12 May and the company never contacted me about it. I went posthaste and picked up the check. I hope it won't bounce.

Best wishes to Aparna

Best wishes to Aparna on her birthday today, 26 June. Many happy reyurns of the day.
Ramu Sarada

Random thoughts

Yesterday morning we were at Sri Parvathi, what used to be Venkatappa's house, attending a gathering organised by Ashok to flag off his new venture, a place for holding small functions, birthday parties and so on. He has done up the place well and I hope it will be a success. There were many familiar faces from PRS family, including Lakshmi, present owner of the house. Also Padma, Sridhar's wife presently visiting India. She celebrates her birthday today. Our best wishes to her. Malvika has her birthday tomorrow, 23rd June. Best wishes to her too.

Ramakrishnan and Saradam were planning to visit Chennai for a short while, arriving tomorrow, in connection with the sale of the flat in Deepak Apartments. But he has called it off, as he is feeling quite tired. I hope he gets better soon.

Best wishes to Kristin/Kumar, Mani/Bhuvana and Lux/Cheenu on their wedding anniversaries.

Best wishes to Mani-Bhuvana manni & NG-Lux

Best wishes to Mani - Bhuvana manni and NG - Lux, on their wedding day today 22 June. May God give them good health and peaceful life in the days to come.Many happy returns.
Ramu Sarada

Dear Chittappa-s,
Thanks for all the praise!! The 'ice' on my head has helped in cooling down what has otherwise been a terribly hot month!
I really loved every minute of the workshop with Vedavalli(Amma). I had read about the 72 Melaragamalika, but had never heard it sung. It is truly a monumental work, and the most amazing thing is its simplicity & logical progression. But it is a tight-rope walk - the kind of focus we need to sing it - I am sure we can keep Alzheimer's at bay if we try out this one song, hahaha!
I now got hold of a cd where MS has sung this piece. And, my God, what perfection! I am now working on it on my own, with the recording we made during class. Once I am confident, I have decided to hone it on MS' rendering.
I had told Rajam sir about my joining this workshop right at the beginning. But somehow he sort of dismissed it as - bits and pieces of a raga, nothing to rave about. But he never dissuaded me from joining and learning from another Guru. And he was also good enough to attend the function and give away the certificates. So I was doubly blessed.
Gayathri

From Ramu

Jayaramanna has posted the picture from Hindu of 19th June , Gayathri in full concentration in the music class. I saw the picture in The Hindu and showed it to Sarada also. We were talking about Gayathri for sometime, how she keeps herself very busy in so many activities. It is not very easy, I think. We always appreciate her. It is always in a corner of my mind why Gayathri has not become a popular karnatic singer, in spite of her sufficient knowledge and talent!!
Ramu

Music workshop - Gayathri

Here's a picture from today's The Hindu, Friday Review. Gayathri participated in the workshop conducted by Vedavalli on Mahavaidyanatha Iyer's Melaragamalika. See the absorbed learner in the photo above!

Best wishes Kumar Kristin

Best wishes to Kumar and Kristin on their wedding day today 19th June. Wishing them good health and prosperity. Many happy returns.
Ramu Sarada

OUR Family Blog

Dear J Chittappa,
First I guess apologies are due for non-response from most of us in the Blog. You have taken so much pains to create this blog which can connect the entire clan at a click. And you have worked to make it appealing both visually & content-wise. Only when I saw your previous mail did I realise what we might lose if YOU take the backseat. I do hope we will all make an effort to post once in a while at least & not allow this to sink into oblivion.
Sorry, I have no clue abt Hathway. Hope you are able to trace them - it's not just the money, but the callous attitude that makes one seethe.
Gayathri

From Ramu

1. Hathway set top box in our flat is changed to SCV. We had taken set top box in our previous flat just before shifting and it was SCV there. After we shifted, we got the box only after a month since, in the new premises, it was being changed from Hathway to SCV. If we had shifted a little earlier, probably we also will be in the same position as Jayaramanna.
Ramu

Hathway

Does any one know whether Hathway Cable & Datacam still function in Chennai? I had my cable TV cable connection terminated in Febaury 2009 and the company were supposed to refund the deposit of Rs.999 within 45 days. But so far not a whiff from them. I went to their Besant Nagar address yesterday and they are not there. Their various phone numbers now seemingly 'do not exist/are temporarily not being serviced/do not answer'.

How is this for business ethics?

The blog

Looking at the performance of our blog over the last two years, I have come to the conclusion that some changes are warranted. Hereafter, there will be no routine posts FROM ME re. birthdays and other events. Members are welcome to drop in and view the posts whenever they wish and to contribute whatever they would like to.

My contribution for today. Ramesh and Ujwala are visiting with us for a couple of days, mainly to sort out some routine things prior to our move to Brindavan. We are enjoying their company. Mostly we are all home bound, dealing with paper work.

Saradam, Charu and Ramakrishnan are all understood to be indisposed. I hope they will recover fully very soon.

Jayaraman

Birthday greetings

Birthday babies of 9th June - Saradam, Akila and Siddharth. Happy birthday and many happy returns!
Vimala and Jayaraman

Greetings from Ramu

Best wishes to Saradam manni, Sidharth and Akila on their birthday today 09 June.
Wishing them good health and happiness. Many happy returns,
Ramu

Greetings from Ramu

Best wishes to Rajani - Sekar, Ujwala - Ramesh, Neeraja - Anand who celebrated their wedding anniversary in the last few days. Wishing them good health and prosperity. Many happy returns.
I used to have a list of dates and used to send greetings(sometimes) .During shifting in March, I have lost the master list.
Ramu Sarada

Greetings

June is here, already two days gone and I am late in updating the layhout of the blog. Rajani and Sekar had their wedding anniversary yesterday 2 June. Ujwala/Ramesh and Neeraja/Anand celebrate theirs today, 3 June. The family extends to them its heartiest greetings and wishes them many happy returns.

In the side panel, in the item 'dates to remember in June', if there is any omission will members please let me know?

From Ramu

Nice posting from Ramki . Only yesterday I was thinking that Ramki used to sit in the computer after, noon nap ( I saw this when we were there ) and why there is no posts from him. If now the computer is upstairs, he may not check mail daily. Hope Ramki is fully settled down in the new house.
Hope Ujwala`s exhibition was a success. It is nice to hear that she is using her talent well.
Ramu

Greetings and Congrats

In our new house in Kovaipudur, the computer is in Prasad's room upstairs and to some extent this reduces my frequency in looking into the mail. I have just gone thro all the postings by you all and I join in Congratulating Jyotsna and Prashant for their excellent performance and also my greetings to Ujwalaa. I hope the exhibitiion was a great success. Many happy returns to Aishwarya on her birthday. Vivek has joined the Ashram Matriculation School here in Kovaipudur in 8th Standard.
Mowli's demise makes us sad when we think of all the old days and it was a blessing that he did not suffer much in the end.
-Ramakrishnan.