RANDOM THOUGHTS

Satyanaarayana Pooja  It somehow seems strange that we as Indians value our culture , tradition and religious beliefs more when we are abroad than when we are at home in India . For reasons which we all are well aware this difference is all the more pronounced if one happens to be from Tamilnadu . With both my son and daughter having by virtue of their job made it their home at various locations across the globe , i have been fortunate enough to celebrate "  at home functions "  with them at these locations . Be it a place like Manali , Leeds , London , Regina or Toronto or be it a festival like Diwali , Vinayaka Chaturthy , Saraswati Pooja , Navaratri to name just a few or the more elaborate ones like the Grihapravesam , Seemantham or the newborn one s naming ceremony , the attention to detail is mind boggling . It is in no way different to the ones performed back home . Bala Vikas , Soora Samhaaram , Gokulashtami , Veda Parayanam are a regular feature in almos...

WHEN IS IT THE RIGHT TIME TO START PACKING FOR A TRIP  Above is a post on the WhatsApp group which was forwarded  to me recently . I am just about knocking on the doors of the 70 s. I am probably getting on in age with a mindset probably very much different from those of this generation .  The pertinent question is whether too much is being made up of the Genaration Gap . What was my father like in his heydays . What changes do I perceive in myself as a teenager , middle aged man and now as a decidedly elder person . This I guess is a nuanced feeling which changes as one gets on in age . What appears a bit too pro-active as a  teenager becomes a necessary course of action as one gets on in age . However much , try as we might , ageing especially of the mind despite all pretenses to the contrary is a process which mankind has  yet to conquer. So , enjoy your youth and while you are at it please also remember that each passing day  bring...

  EXACTLY A YEAR BACK ON THIS VERY  DAY  My return journey experience on the 12 th of November by the Etihad Air1ways flight from Toronto to Chennai via Abu Dhabi was in no way better than my experience on the outward journey . ( Please refer my BLOGPOST 69 ) . Now, don't get me wrong , it had nothing to do with the Etihad Airways as such but to two totally unrelated matters which came into play  . First was this Winters Early Snowfall in Ontario , Canada Toronto had a burst of early snowfall and  a record 14 cms of snowfall on the 11 th of November. It  was the heaviest recorded in the last 8 years for the month of  November for a day  . The periodic cleaning of the runways and the mandatory cleaning of the aircraft wings with an extremely high pressure water spray caused a delay of almost an hour . This is something which is unavoidable and under the circumstances  there is probably very little that anyone could  do to avoid the sa...

Today is the penultimate day of my Canada VI visit . Though it has been similar in many ways to my earlier 5 visits , there have been few stand out features during the current  visit . REGINA 1) The onward journey itself was a chequered one with the Chennai - Abu Dhabi - Toronto being altered to Chennai - Abu Dhabi - Brussels - Toronto due to delay in connecting flights . Except for the extra long of travel involved , Etihad Airways  took steps to make it as pleasant as possible . 2 ) My grandchildren being a year older now made the visit even more memorable with their antics and playfulness . It was a learning experience for both me and them . 3 ) The first day of school for the year for my Grandson and Granddaughter at Regina was an event in itself , the School itself in a picture perfect location with all the facilities available . 4 ) The visit to the Regina Exhibition and the various rides on gravity defying spins were scarry and lifetime experiences . Montmart...

    THIS DAY EXACTLY A YEAR BACK  It is not everyday that a person from the Tropical Climes of Agasthiarpatty in India gets to witness a Snowfall or Flurry as they call it in these parts of the Canada  and US. It is indeed an unique experience and the first one to happen at Ajax in Toronto for me. My only previous experience of a snowfall have been at Regina  in Canada . It is almost a sheet of white on everything that your eyes can chance upon , be it the roads, houses , apartment blocks or cars parked on the roads . Mercifully , with the heating equipments that they have , it is almost normal inside the house . Its effect is most palpable as soon as you open the double shielded heavy duty glass doors that they have here . A slight opening of the door would be enough to freeze one unless he or she is suitably clothed .

Knee and Joint pain affect us all in our middle ages or thereabouts . A reknowned Doctor in Delhi has come forward with a simple excercise to cure the same . A Video highlighting the same is attached . For the benifit of those who do not follow the instructions in Hindi , i have also provided a write up in English . This is a suggested excercise by a reputed Doctor in Delhi for the cure of chronic knee and associated pains . Both the husband and wife , who are overweight lead a very stressed lifestyle being very reknowned members of the legal profession with hardly a minute passing by without a call on their mobiles . Being patients with a chronic knee pain they were suggested with elaborate medical proceedures which may involve a knee replacement itself . They came to this Doctor on the recommendation of a fellow Doctor . The excercise itself as shown in the video in 2 stages  is fairly simple . The point to be noted in the male version is that both , the knees and ank...

          MAKE IN INDIA TO A ALL NEW LEVEL Our friend here has taken  the " MAKE IN INDIA " concept to an all new level . His presence of mind and thinking needs to be appreciated . The fear of our footwear getting pilfered is always at the back of our mind while on a visit to a sacred place or a Kalyana Mandapam , I am sure this  is an experience which we have all been through and nevertheless feel ashamed to admit . This man has in an inimitable style and found a temporary solution to this ever present problem on hand . I wish someone with a similar streak of inventiveness will find a way for the safe storage of the Helmets . Two Wheeler riders find it rather inconvenient to carry the unwieldy helmet in one hand and do the long shopping list which the lady of the house  has given you with very specific inputs to be wary of the cost , colour , weight , tenderness , hardness , raw , ripe or over ripe , mrp , expiry date and suc...

THE ALL NEW HOME THEATER Kharagpur , Agasthiarpatty or Toronto As one grew older , the experience of watching a Movie or Cinema as it was then called in the  olden days has changed a lot . The silent movie era was over by the time I as a kid was taken to the " Talkies " as the Theaters screening the movies were then referred to . The " Bombay , Minerva and Milony " Talkies in Kharagpur , W Bengal are  places which still ring a chord for the many happy hours spent in the company of Shammi Kapoor ,Joy Mukherjee , Rajendra Kumar , Dev Anand not to forget Sadhana , Asha Parekh , Sharmila Tagore , Saira Banu and ofcourse the skimply clad Helen . Those were the days of 35 mm , Black and White movies and Cinemascope and Coloured movies were  still a fair  distance away . Cycle was the sole mode of transport and a fair distance had to be covered to reach the matinee show starting at 2.45 pm . EK KAA DO , EK KAA DO  was a shout we always feared and dreaded as...

My Blogposts over the last few months may sound as if I am against anything and everything Indian . That my friends is not the intention . I am very much aware that we are light years ahead in many areas and they have no perceivable chance of ever  reaching us in these fields. My intention is to highlight the areas where we can do even better . For the good or bad , Canada and US have the system of Retirement Homes where the aged find space in the evening of their lives .Mark you , a sizable amount has to be spent to live in these abodes . One such facility is the New Green Falls Rivera at Regina just in front of my Daughters house at Regina . This is a super luxury home for the aged . The compound wall of this complex extending upto 200 mts on each side got constructed by 4  workers in just 8 hours . The equipment/tools used for the same was amazing . The video of the site before and after the completion of work is attached below .