Before Deepavali arrives, here is my golu.

Golu 2009

Sarawathi Pooja

Marappachis(Wooden dolls) from Kumbakonam, Bride and groom dolls from Chennai.

Step 2:

Meenakshi Kalyanam from a friend who moved back to India

Step 3:

Dasavatharam from Madurai

Step 4:

Ajanta statues from dunno where. But at least they are 25 years old. Rasa leela Krisha set from Bangalore. The temple made by a friend. The people around temple from Coimbatore. The siva lingam and banana made of beads by my grandmom.

Step 5:

Chennapatna (from Bangaloer) dolls depicting villages. Kili Josiyam(Parrot Astrology) in the middle given by a cousin.

On the floor:

Chettiar made by a friend. Grocery items in truffle box. Veggies from Coimbatore and Singapore. The minature wooden animals from my grandmom’s golu. At least 50+ years old. The bead dolls made by my grandmom.  Mr & Mrs Chettiar from Coimbatore. Wooden vessels from Madurai, Maakkal(limestone??) vessels from Thiruvanamalai gifted by UTBTkids, Brass vessels from grandmom’s golu and some from Kumbakonam. The Zen garden incense stick stand gifted by a friend.

I love Kadalai mittai aka chikki aka peanut brittle. This time I brought some from India. It is so funny!

It has “Supper taste” and it is made of “Crounut, Seasum, liquid clucose“, etc. I should use it  “Best before 3 months from packaging“.

Can someone tell me how I can use it 3 months before packaging? All said and done, it did taste good and is still making us laugh hard! Take a look at this for yourself, if you don’t believe me!

Supper taste!

As far as I know, it has 2 meanings. One is in the self-control, modest, humble category and the other is bury as in bury the dead. When I was growing up, one person or the other kept drilling in my head, that a girl needs to dress with அடக்கம், walk with அடக்கம், laugh with அடக்கம், and the likes. As far as I am concerned, it is very important to all human beings. Anyway, that is for another time.

What triggered this post? Was watching Vijay TV at my sister in law’s house and heard Ms.Balabarathi MLA mention this and loved it.

பெண்கள் அடக்கமா இருக்கனும்-னு சொல்றாங்க, ஆனா அடக்கமா இருக்கனும்னா சுடுகாடு தான் போகனும். ஏன்னா, அங்கதான் அடக்கமானவங்க இருக்காங்க!(Loosely translated to, “They say woman needs to be with self-control (adakkam), if you need to see buried  (adakkamana) people, you need to go to the burial ground!”)

Ha Ha Ha!

I am in India now. The flight experience, Antu’s birthday details will follow in another post. There was a solar eclipse this morning! Husband woke up early thanks to my mom and clicked this wonderful picture!

Solar Eclipse

Planning for an India trip this month. Why am I obssessed about getting presents for people especially kids? Why do kids have varied interests and when did they all grow up to have their own likes and dislikes? Why should my dad and mil have 9-10 siblings each? Believe me it is tough shopping with a recovering ankle and why am I obsessed about shopping in person? Why do I have to go to Bangalore and work for 2 weeks? And why did the stupid me suggest that in the first place (knowing fully well that I can’t expense anything including my flight tickets and stay in Bangalore)? Why do I have so many things to do and so little time or why am I not utilizing my time well?  Why? Why? Why?

Saw Ayan this weekend. Caught it in a low quality DVD. Wish had seen the fight sequences in big screen, since that was the only nice thing about this movie. Thamanna, She can’t act, she is not pretty. Lesser said about her the better! Surya looks good. But he should either use his brain or listen to some one who has brain and pick good movies with good storyline.

The first fight sequence reminds us of Casino Royale and one of the Bourne movies. The first half is loosely based on Blood Diamond. The second half is very much based on Maria full of grace. The ending is like Catch me if you can. Can anyone do any more cut/paste?

Edited to Add: Oh! I completely forgot about the villain. Man, some villains are scary and some villains are smart and some are just handsome. This one beats all. He is dumb. Felt like taking him aside, give a tight slap on his face and give him a good hair cut!

Saw Star Trek yesterday. It was a blast. Brought back lovely memories from the black and white days when we used to watch Star Trek in a Valve Texla TV on Sunday morning. The movie has a good mix of action and fun. It was great seeing Leonard Nimoy my favourite character. Zachary Quinto (Heroes Sylar) was wonderful as young Spock.  Overall enjoyed the movie.

Now nursing the swollen feet thanks to the movie outing. But it is worth it.

Saw the movie “Taken” starring Liam Neeson yesterday. It was an action packed Masala OK Movie. The best thing about the movie was that it was just 94 minutes.

If I have to review it in 1 line, I would say it is a not so good Hollywood version of the classic Tamil movie, Mahanadhi (மஹாநதி).