Tea Tale

The music of the meekly splashing waves against the stilts of the water bungalow, the red-orange ball of fire resigning for the day, the school of fish merrily prancing in the warm waters of the Indian ocean - ah! What a sight! What an experience. Together they sat on the wooden deck, sipping on their tea - freshly brewed Ceylone tea - Dilmah tea. She loved the taste- savoring every drop. She dint know if it was his presence, the ambience or the tea. She dint care. She was at peace. "We must buy it when we stop over at Colombo" she said, and true to her words, she bought 3 boxes of it, Ceylone Supreme and Ginger Green tea. She looked forward to drinking it, cherishing it and reliving the moments of bliss that the island had offered. Little did she know that Lady Luck had something else in store. She reached ARId-ZONe and there was no sign of her bag or her well packed, carefully wrapped Dilmah boxes. She was understandably upset and annoyed. Eventually, she got over it. Then one day, she said to him "I wish my bag dint go missing. I could have sipped on some Dilmah" and she continued to chitter-chatter about unimportant things. A week later she received a package. She opened it with utmost curiosity. She loved surprises- so she was sure she was going to love this. When she opened it, she had a wide big smile and lightly moistened eyes. There she saw were 3 big boxes of Dilmah tea - Ceylone supreme and Ginger Green tea. She realized it then - it wasn't the tea or the ambience :).

What's in a thali?

"So, how's married life?", asks the gal pal.

"Nothing different at all. Just an extra piece of jewellery around my neck.", I say.

"Oh- you still wear your thali?" she asks.

"hmm...ya, Why not?", I think.

The thali, a.k.a mangalsutra is a symbol of married Indian women - a chain worn around the neck. I have always wondered why the maamis go ballistic over the yellow thread. Now that I am married, I am even more curious. Most of my married girl friends do not wear it for one or more of the following reasons:

• Top most reason - Fashion - It doesn't go well with the halter necks and the tube tops! They also compare wearing one to fashion disasters that include wearing T-shirt and Jeans along with Big Bindis, Plaited Hair and Malligai Poo (Jasmine Flowers)
• Long, heavy and plain inconvenient - Especially while sleeping. It coils around the neck, ears and forehead.
• "I dont have to wear the thali to display reverence to my husband".
• "I dont have to wear it to prove my affinity towards Tamil culture".

....and so on.

I know for a fact that most of the "modern day women" wear it on occasions - when a maami invites them over for Varalakshmi nombu or Golu, or when they head to a temple or attend weddings. Other than that, it lies coiled in jewel boxes. So why the hypocrisy?

What is the true significance of the thali? It is absurd to assume that the thali protects the husband. It is after all a piece of precious metal. Why do tamil movies thrive on the thali sentiment? Is it really that important to women?

It is possible, that in the past it was tied by the man to symbolize his "ownership" over the lady. To symbolize that he is her protector and that he is committed to take care of her. It probably was also meant to be a sign for other men to stay away from her and let them know that she's taken. But times have changed and none of these assumptions make much sense anymore. So why do women still attribute so much significance to it?

For the records, I do wear mine. I have two of them actually. The more traditional 22 carat gold kodi with the gundu manis and the thulasi maadams. And then the more sleek gold chain with a single tiny thulasi maadam on it. It hardly looks like one, but my in-laws thoughtfully presented it to me, so that I could wear it everyday without having to forgo fashion or comfort! And so I wear it because it honestly doesn't bother me. More so because it keeps the parents happy. I used to switch between the bigger and smaller one depending on whether I headed out to the gym or a fancy dine out place. And then I found the whole process ridiculous and cumbersome. So now I just wear the simpler of the two and I hardly notice it anymore.

I do respect Tamil culture, but not necessarily subscribe to all of its jing-bangs. So for instance, I do not wear a bindi when I wear jeans or any western outfit, because I think it doesn't really go well with it. But I do for sure if I am clad in any Indian attire. My mom's voice usually reaches high frequencies when I am back home in Chennai and it is 6 pm and "velakku ethare neram" and I prance around sans the "Pottu". It usually raises a "Enna archu idu? Sayangalam velakethra neram, poi moonja alambindu nethikittukko" from her. But the same amma doesn't mind it much when she's in foreign land either.

So why are we really striving to stick on to these acts? Do they mean anything at all in today's world? Would you men mind it if your wife dint wear a bindi or her thali? Do these symbols really help her gaurd against other men? I wonder...

Small Things Challenge

Tiny Drops of water make the ocean. For all those who want to do their bit to those in need, please visit:

http://www.smallthingschallenge.com/

It is organized by Intel and I can assure you that your contribution will reach the right hands.

Thanks,
Archana

Salim-Sulaiman - ^C ^V

So we know Bollywood composers are famous for being "inspired" by others' music. But here's another kind. Use one tune across multiple movies with the same Panju theme! Duh!

Check this one out:
Beginning of Song "Haule Haule" from RNBDJ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9xUxd-S9pY

And then this one from Singh is King:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIflk3EzoK4&feature=related - @ 5:48.

Cmon ppl!!

The etymology of "loosu pattani"

My tamizh aint the best. I concur. But it isn't too bad either. I think it must the Dubai effect. As a child, I grew up in the Middle East - away from Chennai and its lingo. I did formally learn the language in primary school. But spoken tamil has always been a bit of a problem - at least the world makes it seem so. Whatever I learnt, I learnt from amma. But some how nobody ridicules her. I end up bearing the brunt of it all. I sometimes wonder why. Mostly I ignore. I think it is because of the way my brain processes it. Perhaps I think in English and then translate my thoughts in to Tamil and by the time it actually makes it out of my mouth it sounds like the "Junoon" tamil or something like that. I also like to coin words - which really dont make much sense as such, but they do have context. So then there's "loosaandi bulbul", "vetti peas", "ulu ula" etc. And then there's loosu pattani. I've been asked on several occasions to offer a sane explanation as to what it actually means.

So here goes:

Loosu Pattani: (Adj) Literal Meaning - Crazy Peas. Contextual Meaning - It can be used pretty much anywhere. Mostly coined to affectionately abuse friends.

The word caught on and I got christened "Pattani". So that's that.

So then there's this blog that was named by one pattani! And then there was a tamilgrounds account that was given the same name by another one. Recently during a bizarre conversation with my sis-in-law's fiance Anand, I was pretty amused to find out that half of America's Tamil population had perhaps used this account for viewing Kollywood's movies during summer of '05. It was supposed to be a "top secret" account created only for the viewing pleasure of 8 souls who had split $10/month out of their poor grad school pockets to catch up on all the Tam movies they had missed since they'd stepped in to the US of A a year ago. But of course secrets are always meant to be shared- and so there were tam students in California and New Jersey and Ohio and Florida that logged in to loosu pattani and watched all they could and ofcourse they never knew who it was or what it meant.

So Anand knew "pattani" even before he knew me! And now I am curious. I'd really want to know how many people really used this acc. If you were one of those who did, then leave me a comment. I think you owe us one! :)

The poet that I was...

It was one of those quiet evenings (from what I vaguely remember) and I was listening to some melodious Rafi's pieces on "Coney" tape. I have no idea what came over me and well here's the result of one of those zany creative moments.
Btw this one is dated December 4, 2000.

unki yaad mein..

subah mein suraj , raath ki jhilmil sithare..

aaj kal lagthe hain thode aur bhi pyaaren

phoolon ki gulshan, hawa ki hulchul

na jaane kyon meethi hai har pal

bhool tho nahi sakthi hun us din ko main panchi

usi ka asar hai muj par , ki aaj mein badli ithni

chulbuli bhavrein jaise , shararath bachi jaisi

baathein aur vaadein karthi , ab na jaane yeh badlaav kaisi

kator samajthi thi apne aapko

pyaar ki kaabil kabhi nahin

is kator dil ko bhi phigal diya hai

ab khud ko kho diya hun kahi

dil jhoom utthi hai, unhe dekhkar

unki woh aankhen, unki woh muskurahat

nazar se nazar milkar dho shabdh kahna

isi se hotha hai man mein gabrahat

dimag kahtha na , man kahtha hai kah dena

ab tho na rah sakthi aapke bina

bathein tho karthi hun unse

pagli jaisi duhrathi hun sab kuch

man ki bathein kahne se darthi

diwana hai yeh mohabbath sach much

dar hai mujhe us pal ki

jab denge mere pyaar ki jawab woh

na kah dethe , tho maan lo

ek aur kshan nahi jeena hai mujko

kya karoon panchi ? main kya kahoon?

Kya ab aasi hi haalath hogi

Pyaar,ishq,mohabbath

Kya inke jawaab waqth hi deghi ??

PS: I'd really appreciate if people would ignore the Ka, Ki and Ke "ki" maathras!
And thx shank for hunting down this one for me! :)

Happy 2009 !

May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise.

Have a fantastic 2009!

-Archana