Twinkle, twinkle...Mysore Pak!

Playing with shapes, what do you see first?

The first stanza of this 19th century poem is beautiful. The sheet music is available on Wikifonia, a site for musicians to publish and collaborate! I just stumbled on it. The concept is novel with lot of scope, should you register. 

Visit www.wikifonia.org

Inspired by numerous variations, since its first publication, I made the following 6 lines to be sung after the first stanza of the original poem that the diamonds hold (see the text within the image). The 3rd and 4th lines are of the same tune, sung in harmony or with seconds.

Carl Sagan once said,

“We are made of star stuff”

Should you happen to think like this,

Isn’t death a beautiful kiss!

“Starfish in the sky!”

Up above the dust so high.

Thanks to Google & Picasa I could do the basic fixes and effects to create the “Starfish in the sky” for this blogpost! Incidentally “Starfish in the sky” happens to be the opening line of the song composed by Joji in San Antonio as a 4-year old! Sky is the limit to one's height of imagination.

Coming back to the point, one can savor the diamonds, Mysore Pak, a timeless birthday sweet that took shape, but not on his star birthday! It was on 4/9. Imagine multiples of these floating on a starlit sky.

Ahoy! Sixty one diamonds! How many stars would that make?

What’s on your mind?

What is on Anna’s wall, my Dad’s!

Well, do you see the white-wall on the wall?  Yes. It is social networking - Always Live and Alive! 

I firmly believe that social networking skills are heritably wired and if required, one could take a lesson or two from my Dad by just being with him!

A self-made witty person, he has always been ahead of his time, extremely modern in thinking, clear diction, and a high-tech Guru full of ideas, an avid tennis champion of the yesteryears. He is still an avid cricket fan, loves sports, a born singer with a strong voice and flair for writing! Amazing talent that can be traced back to his roots in Kotayyam where he grew up in a musical family!

Amazingly, Manni, my Mom, to match him and his needs in every aspect, is a natural musician with the most melodious voice ever! For her, singing has always been a way of life, being raised in a family that breathes MusicAir! The time after sunset and before dinner, during my holidays in Trivandrum, as a child, used to be filled with lilting Veenai-Voice of my grandmother and uncle’s mridangam and then ours. For Manni, music is synonymous with cooking! It was therefore music, music and more music that filled not only Karamanai streets but also rocked our beds gently in Marredpally! While my mother sang more often, interestingly, these days, my Dad has taken his call and sings to us after perfecting a song!

This prized photo with his grand daughter, taken last year, speaks volumes of his dapper demeanor, grace, and love for people, sport and most importantly writing on the wall! Which he does everyday and lets everybody know what exactly is on his mind. While you too can write on his wall, which needs no invitation, I am eagerly waiting to connect the coming festive season!

Anna’s collection and fondness for branded T’s, Harvard Grandparent, FIFA etc and of hats is unmatched. I got this white one from a Bora boutique in Trimulgherry, in a nondescript lane. He wore this cap on Diwali last year when Joji visited.

Probably he saved the more decorative one for Ramzan!

Ahoy Sixty One!!!

I made this eggless cake in our microwave for Appa on Krishnashtami! It is my first one baked on our new Whirlpool in the convection mode! It didn't start off as a cake, or as anything at all for that matter. I was simply bored and feeling a little low so my sub-conscious mind decided to play 'house-house' while I mixed various ingredients, ruthlessly using the mixer-grinder while my father made an attempt at a peaceful nap. So as I picked ingredients I decided to make chocolate cream/ganache that I would layer with biscuits and ice-cream for dessert. Since I didn't want the mixing to end I added corn flour and decided to see what happens when that goes into the microwave-oven for 6 minutes at a temperature I don't remember. When it came out I was surprised to see it had hardened to a molten state...yummy crumbs! So I sprinkled sugar powder infused with  cocoa powder on top. The result- a beautiful cake-like substance that hardened the minute my mother tried to cut it. It could have ben a cake, it could have been a giant biscuit. But it stayed midway and that's where it stayed till it gained plenty of sympathy votes by all who gave it respect as an edible something. Well it was pretty good as a tea-cake! It was delicious...just not the right texture! However, the right present for Appa's Star-Birthday! Happy 61st from all of us! 

Appa's US travels

I I have enjoyed travelling in the US. Here is a sampling of all the places I have been to. California....the mountains, the ocean and everything in between!

From Appa's California Trip Aug 2010

From Appa's California Trip Aug 2010

From Appa's California Trip Aug 2010

From Appa's California Trip Aug 2010

From Huntington Library Appa Preeti & Cymon August 2010

From Getty Villa Malibu & Santa Monica Pier August 2010 Holzschuhs & Gopals!

From Getty Villa Malibu & Santa Monica Pier August 2010 Holzschuhs & Gopals!

On an earlier trip, I visited Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana! Lush forests, swampy lakes and vast blue skies.

From Appa's 2007 US trip

From Appa's 2007 US trip

From Appa's 2007 US trip

From Appa's 2007 US trip

From Appa's 2007 US trip

From Appa's 2007 US trip

From Appa's 2007 US trip

From Appa's 2007 US trip

Math and Music - with some digression

My visit to the Land of Plenty and Prosperity 13 years ago, in San Antonio, considered to be the 9^th largest city in the USA, has been very enriching in many ways. My flexible hours of working enabled me to watch my small kids learn and grow to Music and with Music of all genres while she post-docked to hard and soft metal in her lab. We had the big boom box given by my wife’s sister who was in Austin at that time. Being just 4, Joji went to pre-Kinder at Glen Oaks Elementary School which was for a few hours each day. Preeti studied in Pat Neff Middle School and being an 8^th grader, she had full day school. Both dabbled in a lot of KTFM 102.7, from the boom box – fit for a theatre, sang all the possible songs they heard and learnt at the school choir and interestingly, Preeti sang and played practically all the tunes she knew on the Diano-Piano that we got for Joji from San Marcos. My sister-in-law once remarked to my wife: Why don’t you send Preeti for Piano lessons since she is so good? It did not take much time for my wife to put her thoughts into action. She had just started to drive the Honda Accord that I bought couple of months after our move to San Antonio, for a mere $3000-00. Ever since, escorting kids to after-school activities was hassle-free and driving was enjoyable too!

Preeti commended for her mathematical and musical aptitude in school as well, quickly enough got selected to sing for the Region Choir! Her foray into music was further propelled when she went to Taft’s High School for a year and joined the school choir while continuing to take piano lessons after school. Joji on the other hand, sang all the nursery rhymes learnt at The Tabernacles (Secunderabad) and Glen Oaks. She picked up Spanish quickly and sang Spanish songs taught at school. My wife is still amazed as to how a 4-year old could sing adult songs, heard over the radio, with great fervor and emotion. So it was Yamaha School of Music for the 5-year-old until our return to India in December 1997. Music has since then been ceaseless, seamless and an integral part of our life! We get nostalgic listening to the two compact discs of the Christmas program that thrills us to this day and a valued treasure in our chest!

While this is just one face of the diamond, the other phase of my life began soon after our return. Coping, caring and getting back to brass tacks took a while but as resilient humans, we survived spiritedly despite drop in haemoglobin levels of my three girls!  I found good piano teachers, thanks to my wife’s Dad who introduced us to Piano Mathews. There is no turning back since then and life has cascaded beautifully with ups and downs of musical notes from the Piano quickly complemented by violin strains from wee fingers.

This is an important milestone with LIVE Musical conversations!

There are numerous articles in addition to one in 1998 that showed that children, who learned piano at an early age, were able to better memorize. Is there a connection between the two “M’s”? Does one look for that consciously? My wife does not think so. Just follow your natural ability and passion with inputs from your local environs. Enjoy the purity of thought or idea. Hone your skills and talent is her general word of advice to the youngsters. She thinks that people with a musical bent of mind also have a deep fascination for natural beauty, discovery of truth and fascination of the vast expanse of our universe – the Cosmos!

During our house move last year, she located a printout of a very old email from her friend, in San Antonio, who wrote about Galileo in response to the last sentence of the above paragraph of her email. Galileo’s Dad was a violinist. Apparently, the mathematicians at that time were Pythagoreans who believed that prime numbers ruled the Universe and that tonal quality had to be based on prime numbers. Her friend also wrote that Galileo’s father considered Pythagorean harmony as some kind of heavy metal rock group and had a strong dislike for mathematicians. It seems that he forbade his son from becoming one and ensured that he become a musician.

Galileo watched his Dad spending hours to get the tonal quality and harmony from his violin by weighting his violin strings and laying them across the bow. He would add to the weight as he plucked the strings. Galileo would often sneak to seek his passion for math. You may know that several discoveries were made during his lifetime from these early observations! Galileo used the same method to prove to himself that two objects of different weight and equal size would reach the ground at the same time. 

“By weighting violin strings and placing them across a sloping board (a track so to speak), he made himself a high-tech instrument. He had an ear for a perfect beat, and thus he rolled his ball down the track and positioned the violin strings perfectly so that the balls made a bloop to his beat. Then he measured the distance between the strings and found that acceleration increased exponentially and that the balls rolled equally down the track. All this without a stopwatch! Thus Galileo was ready for his photo opportunity on the Tower of Pizza”.

Such is the humor of her friend at San Antiono who cared to write in great detail! My wife reconnected with her, thanks to facebook. Her friend being an avid reader of physics books wished she were in India to experience the apex of the leonids in December 1998. Obviously people at San Antonio would have missed the grand spectacle as it was under a ‘cloudbank’ for over a week at that time. Probably 25 inches of rain during this period of one month compensated for the denial of this view to the Texans in San Antonio. My three girls were lucky enough to witness this from our terrace at Durga Vihar! I joined them a little later and by then it was daylight!

These days one can go to the WWW for spectacular shows of the cosmos, real-time videos included. But can anything compensate for a live show, the cosmic shampoo, Live Music and the Math Olympiad? 

Can something that gives joy be such an ordeal? Implications of the Highest Mathematical or Musical Order! Care to comment?!

Vedic Chitra Shala, Koti - My growth curve! At Exponential phase!

Paplu and Puppy Live - Display picture at Chitra Shala
for several years

~10 months old! My Mom's love!

Double-breasted Botha! That is me! Do I look familiar?

I was stylish at 13!

                                                          Calangute Beach at Goa, Skinny 17

And now Solid Sixty - Going strong!

Pictures of my childhood days in Koti are to be treasured for the Next-Gen!

This studio (Chitra Shala) at Koti had my pictures up for display for several years!

Chitra Shala has live pets that include cats and this pup just loved being with me!

I was bonny, blithe and a happy child!

 Pyar se log mujhe Paplu kehte hai!

Abhi bi!

Fun-loving Four at Mumbai - 4/3/11

Gateway of India
L-R   Pradeep, Faiz, Daulatram and Me

The historic Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai
L-R    Faiz, Me, Daulatram and  Pradeep






















We had a blast for two days!! yeh Hyderabad loga ki tehzeeb hai, Hau!
You are most welcome to join us on our next trip to Pune in September!!

For the road, Vazhaithandu vadai!!

The weather in Hyderabad is Gorgeous right now with a capital ‘G’, I mean Hyderabad’s Green terrain and 3 beautiful roses in our roof garden of mostly Tulsi plants, thanks to the daily rain! 

Being rainy, meri Choti eagerly asked her mother to make the proverbial Potato Bajji or Onion pakoda while she was dicing Vazhaipoo and tender Vazhaithandu into tiny bits, being the menu for tomorrow! The absence of aloo in the pantry eventually made her ask, “Amma, can you make bajji out of the uncut vazhaithandu discs? At this point of time most of it was chopped and only 6 discs were left uncut. Almost instantly, her mom decided to make Vazhai  thandu pakodi which eventually transformed into crispy golden vadais!

This is how recipes are born! When you bond with family! Especially when at the other end of the globe, My badi Beti and Damaad are about to venture into the Outer Banks of North Carolina to test the waters for us. She would indeed be very pleased to have a few of these delicious vadais ‘For the Road’ today!

For the uninitiated, Vazhakkai (raw banana), Vazhaipoo (banana inflorescence) and Vazhaithandu (stem of the banana plant) are all edible delicacies of the South. The mention of these delicacies is enough to make her mouth water and she is indeed very joyous while patting out the vadais into hot oil! It instantly tugs her Kerala roots! You could see her priceless expression while she spoke about this recipe to her parents!

The recipe, according to her is simple and can be done in a flash! 

Ingredients for those interested in a tasty-bite on a rainy day are as follows:

200 gms Besan, 50 gms of cornflour, 50 gms of rice flour, 2 large handfuls of diced Vazhaithandu, 1 large diced onion, two garden-green/red chilies slit and cut, coriander cut finely, a brief rain of hing, salt to taste, rain of juice from half a lemon. Blend all the ingredients well to the right consistency while the oil is getting heated. 

Deep fry! Sit back and enjoy with a steaming hot cup of tea !!

* Photo credit: Ritu Gopal

You get back what you give! With love from Shanghai!

WA gift* from Pearls of wisdom!

'WLU'... .. .. ... ! 

We love you too dear!

Do not fear,

For you are near,

In our hearts, minds,

In the image clear!

Ever joyful!

Our hearts are full!

Brimming with Love,

Changing with seasons!

For no rhyme or reason.

Question not,

Look into your future,

Beyond nature and nurture,

Your dreams floating in the Universe,

Beyond the umbrella gleams!

Gleams like The Cosmic mirage!

Your silver strokes and notes,

A silky image, 

Worth a billion Yuan?

Priceless, 

Yes. Not worthless,

Life comes full circle,

Oh! Brahms!
 Barely one, She shrieks with delight,

To the tune of dance # 5

While her tender digits bloom and grow,

Bloom to the joyous Mazurkas!

*Framed again! Priceless digital gift!! Not for sale!

By the Colorado River - December 1996

I shall always cherish memories of my visit to Grand Canyon!! 

It was biting cold and yet pleasant. My 4-year old, with wee gloves, sports shoes and blue jacket had to be sheltered in the car while we walked around to glimpse into the abyss and zenith beyond! It was beauty of a different kind, feel and dimension. We were struck with awe! 

These pictures were sent to us. A 'quote'  of 1997, by the girls' aunt, behind the photo, was noticed and laid up for view.  This is now a treasured gift.. given for our sweet 27th! 

Thank you my girls in Dallas, Habshiguda and Richmond. Yeh Daulat Hamesha hamara hai !!

Treasure from Vijaya's Archives!!

See below a quote which was on her desk at work for years and posted here with a hope to preserve that through this blog!!

A digital image of an oil painting on paper.. also from her Archives!! so carefully preserved. You can see it from the edges.. her roots .. palm fronds swaying gently in the breeze....Upon reflection into the yesteryears, the proverbial quote...

                                 … by Carl Sagan

"If we look at the universe in the large, we find something astonishing. First of all, we find a universe that is exceptionally beautiful, intricately and subtly constructed. Whether our appreciation of the universe is because we are a part of that universe – whether, no matter how the universe were put together, we would have found it beautiful – is a proposition to which I do not pretend to have an answer. But there is no question that the elegance of the universe is one of its most remarkable properties. At the same time, there is no question that there are cataclysms and catastrophes occurring regularly in the universe and on the most awesome scale. There are, for example, quasar explosions which probably decimate the nuclei of galaxies. It seems likely that every time a quasar explodes more than a million worlds are obliterated and countless forms of life, some of them intelligent, are utterly destroyed. This is not the traditional benign universe of conventional religiosity in the West, constructed for the benefit of living and especially of human beings. Indeed, the very scale of the universe – more than a hundred billion galaxies, each containing more than a hundred billion stars – speaks to us of the inconsequentiality of human events in the cosmic context. We see a universe that does not exclude a traditional Western or Eastern god, but that does not require one either”

Preserve the quote, the Universe, the painting, freeze that memory, the breeze....

From Bank Street to Marredpally!! Down memory lane...

The fact that I kept this photo all these years speaks volumes of a place full of integrity. Click on it for a larger view.  Yes indeed, The State Bank of Hyderabad of which I was a part and those memories shall remain with me forever!!

We, particularly at the Shanti nagar branch, set our own rules only to add depth and meaning to our customers. Such was the unity amongst my colleagues. Often we pitched in money to satisfy our customers and did not look at the consequences or rulebooks. 

We knew how to deal with our managers and vice versa. We knew how to count cash literally and metaphorically! As a consequence of being good Samaritans, the bank prospered and customer count increased manifold. We were extremely popular for our deeds that were the consequence of our collective and united actions! 

Now most of these customers are my friends for life!  This is the real world – real social networking!! Trustworthy down-to-earth pals! Dost hai Bai!

You will see me standing in the back row, a flashy tie. Despite being a Hyderabadi, I liked to dress well and knew when to dress formally. Being easy going, I had a large following of friends who would chill out and not worry about the consequences of having confided in me. Well, I am totally innocuous despite my pride of being a Mulki. 

Well, my wife, also a Mulki, treasures this photo not because I was the Group leader during my banking career, but because she lived down this lane in Marredpally years back when I did not even know that one day she would eventually be mine! 

The staff training centre used to be a beautiful place. The architecture of houses in Marredpally, the lovely lawns and trees are vivid in my memory. The house was adjacent to the New Club where her Dad used to play Tennis with Jaisimha and other pals. Most of them are stardust now but have left their legacy for Indian cricket! 

She is as attached to Marredpally as I am to Sultan Bazar. The irony of it is that as soon as she was out of this famous planned locality i.e. Marredpally (also known as Nehru Nagar) alias Indus valley, I too decided to quit the bank in order to embark upon the humble beginnings of my childhood buddy! That certainly requires to be posted as a separate blog!!

Coffee is synonymous with The Hindu!

A very special brew indeed, my morning cup of cheer!

I have a new protocol, even more stringent than it earlier was.

1. Buy Krishna coffee in Kingsway (i.e. ask for freshly-roasted peaberry with 10% chicory in multiples of 200gms). Chicory more than this is just not acceptable. Store the brown paper coffee packets wrapped up in a polythene bag at -20 deg Cand use one packet at a time. This preserves the flavours of coffee.

2. Put decoction the previous night using the steel coffee-filter. Add 5-7 heaped teaspoons of the ground coffee powder into the upper column and press it with the steel press.

3. Pour boiling hot water from a height, as far as the arm can go up, over the steel press to fill it to the brim and position it even if it scalds your finger. Cover with the steel lid but not completely, as this can create a vacuum. Gently tap with the lid, tak, tak, if the first drops take long to exit into the lower collection chamber.

4. Ask me for that cup of cheer :), that requires a delicate mixing of the decoction, milk and veneer.

No more steel tumblers, except for her - she prefers a kutti steel glass. Of late, she converted to coffee; such is the irresistible aroma when I make it just right with all that aathufying to get that froth without the davara-glass! The Mug-Vaal pathiram aathufying is probably as far apart as my arms can get and with that extra dash of sugar for myself, my morning is Bindaaz with this first cup making my 5-km walking in Kakatiyanagar all the more enjoyable!

This coffee-drinking habit is a sharp contrast to my Hyderabadi culture that I nurture despite being raised as a Tam-Brahm, speaking Hyderabadi-Tamizh or as she puts it, Koti-bashai, in the gullies of Sultan Bazar where I grew up and imbibed my Dad's habit of reading The Hindu.  For a while, I would even distribute the newspaper.

Reading The Hindu, my Bible, also has a protocol. 

Look for a vantage seat in the living room with sunlight streaming down your back. Pick up the newspaper on the left hand - and 2nd cup of frothy Dikashan-Kapi, in a white mug, on the right hand and read on.... 

I give full credit to what I am today to my daily 'Bible'.

,

Facebook..Safe Hai?

Hau! Safe-eich hai, lekin kyo kitiki hamesha kulla rakhna? Likna, kuch zaroori hai kya,

Aapke Deewar par?

Ye, Hyderabad ki Tehzeeb Nai Hai Bai, mai jaatu ghar ko!

I have a group of close friends who speak my language, friends from yesteryears and friends forever. We did not need facebook to connect! We spoke only one language. We were out of touch for long but somehow managed to meet and continue to meet regularly at our favorite places, ate Biryani. . . The link I guess is my 'Wealth' of humour.. Doulat who is inimitable! One of the best standup comedians of Hyderabad who also has great appreciation for Urdu poetry and ghazals!

Recently he was at my place for a celebration at night where he spontaneously sprang up a surprise and gave a 30' show of pure, unadulterated Hyderabadi real life humor. His natural humor, appreciation for the Bhajan, piano chords, the magical notes of the violin and ghazal rendered by my dear ones made our day... We forgot to Tango and serve the Mango, to celebrate the arrival of my Damaad and Badi Beti from LA and choti from Dilli!

Humor is part of the Hyderabadi culture I guess. If you wish to get yourself crackling up, you know probably where to find me... Either in Gunrock, Shakti Kutir, Fateh-Maidan or Nizam club. True to the Nawabi culture of this city, meri ghar ki deviyan not allowed here! Hameh purey bachelore milke mazaa karna hai!

When I reach home, I find my Deviyan taking turns on Facebook looking at Hazaar Deeware!

Dewaar bandkar aao beti! Bada Mama bulare. Koti Thata aur Koti Pati ko dekne ko thaiyar hojao.

Rainbow around the sun!!

It was bright and sunny at Gunrock. My little queen was trying to reach me at midday from her college on 28th July! Barely 11 am, I was wondering why she would call me at such an odd hour. Well, I followed her instructions and what I saw when I looked up, stirred a nice feeling inside me... The rainbow all around the sun, right over my head! Similarly, she alerted her mother to view this grand spectacle!

Interestingly, Hyderabadis had this rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of this celestial celebration! once in a lifetime experience!! Hyderabad, thank you for this grandeur !!