Quo Vadis?

  Home is where the heart is. That is why you see homes of so many types from steel and glass to plastic sheets and ropes. Homes are emotional to many and is aspirational to some. For a few there is no place like home, no matter how messy, how odd it may seem to another. For some it is a job as they will only build homes that they can never aspire to live in and make do with tin cans on the site. It has been thirty days to the day we moved in to our own house.   This is not our first house; the first house was intended as a tax saver that has gone not as well as it was planned. Also it was a house that we have never stayed in after a decade of owning it. We wanted a house in the area where we lived for many years now as we found it to be comfortable for a number of reasons but was always outside the budget. After many home searches where we could not find a suitable one that could tick all the boxes in our wish list at an acceptable price, this house happened. As wise mast...

  I have been doing Intermittent Fasting (IF) since the end of October 2020, this was at the end of the lockdown and the effects of IF are visible with the weight and inch loss that has happened these past few weeks. I will not explain about IF or its medical effects but I will share what worked for me. In very simple terms during IF the day is divided into an eating period and a fasting period and for obvious reasons the fasting period is longer than the eating period. So the first question for many will be Why fast? The answer is that fasting is a normal human activity and outside the common religious considerations, fasting helps in a few ways that includes detoxification of the body and giving the body enough time to digest the food. Fasting as a religious practice is common to many religions and fasting brings discipline, it also purifies / cleans up the body. Probably why the wise people used fasts in religious practices to encourage moderation before a feast. IF is bas...

This post is about something that polarizes people coming from Tamilnadu. This is the famous pongal. I am not talking about the festival, there are no doubts about it, Pongal is the most important Tamil festival. This post is about the breakfast staple “ven pongal” or kara pongal that is loved and hated equally.  I am on the side that loves it with a caveat. I prefer to eat pongal with sambar and at least coconut chutney, a vadai is a bonus. After all how can you eat just a gooey, almost tasteless mash? So if it is breakfast in a restaurant I go for a pongal vadai combination. This does not seem unusual to many unless I am driving on a road trip. I have seen eyebrows raised when I opt for this combination during a breakfast halt. The infamous after effect of feeling drowsy after a plate somehow does not work for me. I love pongal and I enjoy it on road trips. At home knowing my preferences sambar & chutney are usual with pongal. Pongal is an essential carb loading ...

Lessons from the lock down This series comes to a close with two pieces of writing that have touched me and are a source of inspiration (Excerpts from the poem) If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;… If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same:….; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings, And never breathe a word about your loss:...!" …Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! – Rudyard Kipling Different lines in this poem talked to me at different times and this lock down has been a roller coaster of emotions. If you have not read the poem do look it up. I know that the above poem may have inspired you and eve...

Lessons from the lockdown Change – the only constant in life. We know that change happened, happens and will happen. Our response to change determines how the change affects us.  The lockdown has changed: • a lot of things around us • a lot of things about us • a lot of us • us  When change happens we have the option of: • resisting / fighting change • going along with change • ignoring change If we accept the change, we can: • make small incremental changes • make drastic transformational changes Change can be: • adversity • opportunity All the above options have their own consequences and it is unique to each person. We should therefore not judge the response of another on the basis of our own. Ultimately the question that remains with us – Is change a : • choice • reflex We need to remember that only when change is a choice we own the change and the consequences. To master change: ...

Lessons from the lockdown Anger: (def)  a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility. Anger is a cause of misery, both from the sender and the receiver. Anger can be costly for all parties involved; some direct costs, some consequential costs. There is something called righteous anger – a sense of anger that comes from perceived injustice. It is called righteous because this type of anger is “right anger” to the person who feels it. In the lockdown I have been angry because of various reasons but mostly at what I see around. The media helps to add fuel to the fire at times when I see the injustice of it all. Lack of food, work, shelter for many who are ignored, abandoned and when they die reduced to the footnotes of the newspapers, they become just a statistic with the dignity of their names also denied to them. I am angry because there are some who are either callous or reckless when they go walking in groups disregarding the advisories given by th...

Lessons from the lock down: Gratitude: if you  have roof over your head, food on your table, some money in the bank, a job that you can go back to and are of good health, you have no idea how blessed you are. I realized this in a few days after the lockdown when I saw the people around: the unknown, the unspoken for, the unrecognized and the uncared for, the real India, the people who make and build the nation. I was part of the jolly group of people who celebrated the good times at home and then I saw around me so many people for whom home was a distant mirage. Stories emerged about the way the lock down has been handled and the apparent callous planning that seemed to care only for the privileged ones. By privileged it will be the people who will read posts like this or make videos of their "challenges". For the less privileged, life itself is a privilege that many others are grudging them. I am thankful for all the mercies that I have received, which I have...

The new traffic rules and fines have cause considerable outrage and humour online.  The outrage seems to overshadow the humour as many people are upset with the new fines as they will burn a big hole in many pockets. Many are saying that these fines are unfair and should be scrapped, I disagree here. A fine exists because the person who was fined was simply not fine. Putting that poor joke aside, it is obvious that a fine will only be feared by those who plan to violate the rules. These rules were not made to satisfy anyone’s personal ego but to ensure safety for all. People want to violate these rules and then crib about the fines. In some time people will get used to these fines and things will get normal again because we forget fast. The basic question remains why do people outrage so much? Let me tell you an open secret. The common man in India is largely decent till he gets on a two wheeler and then he sinks to the depths of depravity that is unimaginable. Look around ...

If you were living in Chennai or Madras (if you prefer) when the city went under the massive rains in December 2015 you will understand this post. Waking up to heavy incessant rains overnight the roads were inundated, power had been suspended several hours earlier as safety precaution, mobile towers were down because the generators that kept them running after the power supply was terminated had run down. The absence of power ensured that the humble radio was the only source of information and mercifully the land line worked. We were relatively better off than those whose homes got washed away or some who lost their lives due to a combination of nature’s fury and human incompetence or greed. We were cut off from outside world for a few days but we were well, we managed with what we had and then we ran out of essentials.  When the rain eased off a little I went out in the flooded roads looking for any shop that may be open to stock up on essentials after a search I mana...

Yesterday when I was waiting at the famous SRP tools junction there was a group of transgenders who were asking for alms. I usually look away as they can be a little pushy and it can be quite uncomfortable in trains but this time I saw one person who approached my car asking for alms. I picked out a 10 rupee note and gave it to the person, the person asked me for a 1 rupee coin. I was confused and said I did not have coins. The person asked the others in the group if they had a rupee to give me. I was confused even more when the person said that the rupee is for me. Thoroughly puzzled I found a coin which I handed over. This person bit the coin almost like athletes bite their medals these days and asked to see my wallet.  Then the person put the coin in my wallet and said do not spend this and walked away with a blessing that I should live well. This short interaction disturbed me: -           These people are outcasts and ...

“How can you run 10 kms if you cannot walk 10kms?! ” This incredulous question that had a tinge of anger came from a veteran runner and triathlete of Chennai. He was sad about the demise of his friend and veteran runner who passed away recently. He was visibly upset at the way people were taking up running without thinking about the side effects. Recounting parts of the discussion with him below: If you are planning to run to become fit, lose weight or any other reason you must first start walking. Start by walking slowly then move to a brisk walk. A thumb rule is to be able to have a regular conversation with others during the brisk walk to understand the ideal desirable pace. If you are gasping too much then you should slow down. After consistently walking for two weeks at least the next step will be walk run where you walk for 4 minutes then run for 1 minute,  gradually the walking will reduce and the running will increase till the ideal balance of running 4...

#metoo should not have happened. It happened because finally women spoke up and yet they should not have been pushed to this. Our women have been subject to harassment of all kinds at all places and yet they soldier on. They do this because they are made of a tougher substance than the weak ones who attempt to harass them. Why do men harass women? I know that the safest excuse is the media and the movies, but movies reflect society. So without stepping into the chicken and egg conundrum let me say that children are moulded by their parents and by what they see their parents do. The other day when my father-in-law mouthed an expletive while travelling with the family it took me a lot of self-restraint not to react in the presence of my daughter but therein lies the danger. We do so many things not caring what the children in our family are seeing or hearing. Children growing up in homes where the father abuses or just disrespects the mother can never be expected to respect ...

Some time ago I had posted about the 30 day WCCG challenge , I completed that challenge successfully and intended to take it for another 20 days so that I will have a milestone and some bragging rights but I ended up 4 days short for a grand total of 46 days. While I am delighted that I exceeded the initial milestone I was a little disappointed on missing out the next one despite gamely holding on so far. The benefits of this activity were mentioned in the earlier post but I missed out the key reason for starting the challenge which I will share now. As with all weight loss plans I decided the first step would be to visit various gyms and get their quotes before signing up for one. We were almost convinced by one gym when we decided to step into the next one which appeared to be almost deserted. Then I was mind blown when the person at the front desk gave me a quote of 350000 for 6 months, I will repeat the number in words so that you are not confused – Rupees Three Hundre...

Two is company, three is a crowd but not when you are the “crowd maker”. My walks in the Tower Park Annanagar have given me the chance to observe the many “crowd maker” who dot the park. If you are wondering who is a crowd maker (I made this up), it is that noble soul who offers his / her time and presence to make a couple not a couple. You know with the moral police breathing behind your backs some private time for couples in public places are hard to come by worse if the fear of getting caught by a family member or a relative who will ensure that a little bit of hell is unleashed in the homes of those who get caught. So there you have these noble souls who make the supreme sacrifice of saving their friends with their presence and making a twosome more than that; No! I did not mean a threesome, you dirty minds. How do you identify these crowd makers? Easy they look uncomfortable and bored sitting close but not close enough to hear but not hear the sweet nothings of the tw...

The Monday morning traffic at the signal was shaken out of its slumber by the wail of an ambulance. As the traffic made way for the ambulance I was reminded of the time when I last rode in an ambulance.  It was in the last week of May this year when I rode in an ambulance when we were moving my dad from one hospital to another twice.   Despite the difficult time that I found myself in, I could not stop watching the drivers / support staff in the ambulance. These angels of mercy deserve a lot of our appreciation and our prayers for their roles which are seldom appreciated or thanked enough. It may appear that those driving an ambulance operate from a position of strength; you know a blaring siren, traffic making way sometimes assisted by the traffic cops and most decent people leaving the way clear for the ambulance. Reality is otherwise, the ambulance drivers put their lives at stake each time they go out on the roads in the mission of saving the ones in their care. I...