I Am Going To Miss These Things...I

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It is always human nature...when we have things, we will not give too much importance to them.  Once we know that we are going to get away from them, then the nagging ache starts in our heart...slowly!

I had already written about our plans of shifting from our independent house to a flat here.  I have done a couple of posts on the flowers in my garden here. The day is nearing and I have started getting the 'missing/leaving anguish' now.  I will miss plucking the flowers in the morning with my cats following me around and watering the plants in the evening. We have a gardener coming once a week to clean the area from dry leaves and water the plants properly...washing the plants/leaves from dust and do other gardening jobs.  I was very particular about planting mostly plants of flowers with fragrance.  We are in the outskirts, so we don't have drainage facilities, yet.  The storm water drain is used by all, as a drainage for waste water from houses.  I will post a picture in the end.  It is too dirty.  It stinks.  So to contain that stink, the flowers help a lot. And one more thing, we get lots of butterflies and some small birds visiting us because of the blooming flowers, which is great to watch throughout the day!

This sudden attack of nostalgia was triggered by this article in 'The Hindu' about a book review on Madurai Mallippoo by Mrs. Uma Kannan.  I have got many varieties of mallippoo/jasmine flowers, but the fragrance of madurai mallippoo is exceptional.  Just 2 small flowers are enough to give fragrance, not only to the pooja room but to the entire hall in our house.  I have got some 4 plants of these flowers on all sides of our house.  The petals are unique...they are broad unlike the other types of mallippoo and look very beautiful at night...like lights with the dark background of the green leaves.

Now, let me quote some information from Mrs. Uma Kannan's book:


One of the oldest flowers cultivated by man and believed to have aphrodisiac qualities, the jasmine, is the subject of this first-ever full-length speciality book. There are several books on other flowers as they make perfect gift books but none on jasmine. And particularly, the Madurai jasmine, which is world famous and gave the Temple town the epithet of jasmine capital of India.

When marriage brought her to Madurai four decades ago, she saw how the city revelled in an abundance of jasmine. Even the lone Indian Airlines flight to Chennai from Madurai in the 1970s was known as “Malli Special” and carried more jasmine baskets than passengers.

Every year in Madurai alone, 9,557 tonnes of malligai are produced annually from 1,220 hectares. It is also cultivated in Virudhunagar, Theni, Dindiul and Sivaganga. What makes the Madurai malligai extra special? Its fragrance lasts for 36 hours as it is grown on laterite and reddish soils. Its petals are thicker and help the flower to retain moisture and delay withering. It blooms only after 6 p.m. and stays fresh longer and leaves no odour once it withers. It is greenish white in colour when it is manually plucked from the plant early morning. After a few hours it turns milky white and then a shiny creamy white during the evening.

It is a charming tribute to the sacred ‘satwik’ flower that has a unique link with Madurai dating back to 300 B.C., or even earlier.


Madurai malli is protected by Geographical Indication mark.

I am proud to have this flower at home...I hope the plants survive for more years! My pooja room will have its fragrance forever.

One more special flower is the Paarijaatha flower.  I had planted this plant nearly 15 years back in my backyard.  But 8 years back, when we painted our house, the painter washed the paint bucket and poured it near the roots of this plant.  I tried my best to remove it but no, within two days, the plant died.  I myself dug two feet mud from that place, put fresh red mud with coconut coirs etc. and planted again and again, but no, nothing survived.  After 8 years, a lone plant, grew in some other inconvenient place to pluck them, started growing and blooming! I am very happy to see the flowers and again its fragrance is spreading in the front yard of our garden.  This is Lord Krishna's favourite flower.  The story is here.  This flower and other parts of the plants are used in Ayurvedic medicine.

These fragrant flowers helped me live in this house,  in spite of the stench of the ditch, just in front of our gate, all these years. But, on second thought, I don't want to spoil the beauty of this page with lovely flowers by posting the dirty picture!  This and the road dust are the main reason which have pushed us away from this beautiful house and garden.

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A Day Of Positive News!

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Whenever we open a newspaper, we are used to reading news about murders, accidents, RAPE, burglary etc.  We are so used to it that we just give just a glance to them.  We have become very insensitive to the misery of other people.  We never think that these types of news hurt the affected individuals...for us, they are just 'other people'. As far as nothing hurts us or our relatives or close friends personally, they are just news.  Even the rape of 5-6 year olds have become just 'news' because they have started pouring out every day from some part of our country.  Somehow I felt happy to read this paper of 9th May, '13, with so many positive news!  Thought of celebrating it with you!

BJP loses southern foothold to congress!

I am not a fan of any of our political parties at present.  As I keep on saying all the time, we don't have a good leader, at least a reasonably good leader in any party, at present! 'The defeat of the BJP in the only South Indian State where it had managed to establish a solid presence marks a stunning reversal for a party that has tried hard to grow beyond the Hindi-speaking areas of the country'! I don't think that Congress has won because people think that they are better politicians but because they are fed up with the infighting and corrupt politicians of the BJP!

One lakh Mangroves in Adyar Creek soon!

Chennai, even South Chennai is losing age old trees for broadening roads, building bridges AND for building flats in a dangerously fast pace.  I am happy to know that some area of our city is going to be green in the future!

Nochi Plants along river banks to check mosquito menace!

Until 15 days back, I used to sit here, in front of my laptop with a 'hunter bat' (electronic mosquito hitting bat) while typing posts! Now, the heat is 'affecting them' I think.  They don't bother us...this will last for another month, maximum.   Once the temperature comes down, their battalion will get active! Our Corporation is taking some positive step without using chemicals which will be harmful to us also, to curb mosquito menace!

Click and cultivate - the internet shows the way!

This sounds like a good idea! Internet has occupied in so many areas.  This news might help the farmers to be happy in their business...we might get more food to eat...the speed at which the farmers are moving to the cities because of the difficulties they face because of natural calamities and real estate builders, greedy industrialists, this gives hope for a better future!

She braves grinding hardships, argues, wins case!

The illiterate woman who runs a grinding machine in a small village had the guts to come to Chennai court, argue her case and WIN it too! Read it, you will be happy to know that our Court solves cases in a jiffy, sometimes! I am happy for Maheshwari!

State says 'no' to chewable tobacco!

This might be a good step taken by our AMMA!  I might be wrong, but I feel that I see more of the migrated workers using paan than the local workers.  They chew paan all the time and spit everywhere! I remember once a man spitting on me when I was walking near a bus in Mathura, when I went there on a tour! I am very allergic to paan chewing people, esp. after this incidence!

The science of dosa making!

This news might not help individuals but I admire the way this person, K.Mohan, a final year Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering student from SRM University keeps on inventing innovative machines...he is a recipient of six national awards  and several state awards.  He first started inventing when he was in class VII...it started with a herbal mosquito repellent.   He is such a simple looking person with lots of brains and guts! Read the link please.

I am a happy person and a positive person today after reading so many good news in the paper...just hope that everyday will be like this!


Click on the titles of the news to read from the links of the newspaper please!

GOOD DAY!

Wordless Wednesday!

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India Is Really Unique - Here Is A Temple For People To Help Settle Down Abroad!

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Hawai jahaaz Gurudwara (Airplane Temple, Daoba, Punjab). I wonder why the two peacocks are there on both sides of the plane! Some reason should be there!

I came across this news now...this seems to be a very old temple, but had not heard about this until now!

Yes, I know that 90% of the youngsters nowadays want to go abroad for studies first and settle down there later! My two sons had gone abroad, one is settled down there and one has come back.  Most of the children feel that the job satisfaction is a rare thing here.  But I see that many youngsters are getting good jobs here nowadays and love to be with friends and relatives living near to their family and so come back home. Though this fraction is not much, yet! Mostly girls love to stay/come back here in many cases, to be near their family.  Some girls who have not tasted the difficulties of running a home there without domestic help etc., which we are not used to, from childhood, still dream of 'living abroad'.   I have met some people who had lived there in the US and the UK, come back with families in a group, after some years, stay in an area together, make themselves comfortable with all the facilities they had over there plus the domestic helps and live happily.  Their friendships continue here too.  They get jobs in good companies here with their experience, some continue to work for the same companies here and seems to be happy, living here now.  The grown up children take some time to settle down though! Some families feel that living abroad is best since the nagging problems from relatives will be less! They can tolerate them once in two, three years for a month or so!

I have read that mostly the Punjabis and Gujarathis dream of going to the US and Europe in our country than the youngsters of other States.  I remember my son's school principal saying that a huge group of their school students are in California, for many decades now! They never feel that they are out of India, she said!  My son seems to be happy, living there!

Now, let me come to the topic of this post now!  This Hawaai Jahaaz Gurudwara, in Punjab, is famous for devotees visiting them to pray for their dream of settling down abroad!  We have got temples here for every wish...whether it is for getting good marks in school/colleges, for getting good life partner, for any ailments, for having a child (sometimes male child!), for building a small or dream house, for getting good jobs, etc. etc.  Once we get our wishes to our satisfaction, we go to the concerned temple and offer money or do mundan, etc.  But, this temple is unique! Here, people donate small planes and pray that they should fly abroad soon...get visa without problem, mainly!

This Sikh temple for Baba Nihal Singh is a very old temple/gurudwara and this tradition is followed by many for many years now.  This village, Daoba's families have many youngsters living abroad and this makes people believe in this tradition!

Here is the excerpt from the article:

The gurudwara is most famous among Punjabi youths, who are anxious to immigrate to places like the UK, United States, and Canada, and believe that a prayer can help them significantly speed up their visa and other procedures. Satwinder Singh, a 21-year-old college graduate from a nearby village, says, “I have just put in my application for a visa to go to the UK and am here to ensure my passage by making an offering of an aeroplane.” Surinder Kaur, another devotee, says, “My son was trying hard to go to Canada but was denied a visa. A friend suggested we offer the replica of an aeroplane at the gurudwara and it worked and he is now in Toronto.” So popular has this temple become that it is referred to as the “Hawai Jahaz Gurudwara” (Airplane temple). Several hundreds of airplane models are offered here and the temple often runs out of space to house them all. The shrine management has now come up with the solution of distributing the toys to children. “At least the children can play with them. We cannot stop people from offering them. In the end what matters is the faith with which you pray,”says head priest Bhai Manjit Singh.

I loved the last line in this article: No wonder this temple is believed to possess a power even greater than that of  immigration officials.

Don't you think that our country is really unique?!



Picture and article courtesy HERE


EDITED TO ADD ON 30.4.13: My blogger friend Mr.SG has given information about a  VISA temple near Hyderabad, in the comment section! Here is the link of the visa temple! This temple has no hundi, doesn't accept money or no VIP treatments for any visitor.  This is unique, indeed!

Holidays, Holidays, Holidays...

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I am hearing for the past half an hour, a small girl crying 'please pa, please pa...' from an apartment at the back of our house.  Both of us, I and my husband, are feeling restless and feel like going and telling the parents of the girl not to punish her like this...the girl is left at their balcony and the door is closed. She must be around 7 or 8 years old. I don't hear anyother child's sound in their house.  The girl must be bored and so, must have done something to seek attention.

Another next door neighbour's children are playing the whole day from morning to night.  Their relative's children must have come and sometimes they fight with each other and the elders shout back at them.  We just laugh and enjoy the sound because our house was like this when my children were small, during the school holidays!

My children used to play carrom the whole day and we too were joining them and then cards! Sometimes scrabble! Yes, my nieces used to come and stay with us during most of the holidays.  I used to cook the whole day.  Take them for a movie, which was a must during the holidays.  One day to the beach, here in Chennai! Then go to other relatives' houses together and enjoy! My main job was cooking...paav bhaaji, paani poori (I used to make even the poories at home!), samosas, different types of parathas, cakes, ice creams etc.  God, they used to eat so much!

When we were in Hosur, we used to have cricket matches in our colony playgrounds, during holidays, between teams from other colonies.  Elders' match and youngsters' match! It was fun! My younger son was always in the playground...I had to search for him in three playgrounds inside our colony after 6.30 p.m., most of the days! I had to push my elder son out to play! Contrast! Even if he played, it was not an active game.   One day, he came from school and said that he played football match in his school.  My husband asked him 'in which place'...he said 'I was a Goalie'! My husband started laughing! Our current Goalie (cat) was like him when she was small! Other kittens used to play actively when she was a kitten and this one used to watch them, lazily! So, she was named 'Goalie'!

When the children were in school, I used to take them to Udupi, to my native place, during annual holidays.  Unlike now, they used to love going to the Krishna temple, pull the temple car etc. and enjoyed doing it! One of my aunt lived in a village and so the children enjoyed roaming the fields, admiring the vegetable garden etc.

Once they grew up i.e. when they reached 15-16, they started feeling bored with all these routines.  They started sitting with a book or sometimes go out to friends' houses.  Well, they were reading books earlier too, but slowly, the serious reading time went up!

The next stage was dieting! They were refusing to eat oily foods...the outdoor games had nearly stopped.  The younger son, esp. used to play in the school and outside too, until then.  T.V. watching started consuming more time! They were not watching serials though...mostly cartoons or English movies...light movies.  The serious movies came later!

I see many of the parents send their children to some sort of summer camps now during holidays.  During school days, they are sent to some tuition classes.  Some lucky ones who enjoy games, are sent to table tennis or badminton classes. Otherwise, tuition, home work, TV...no other outdoor recreation. I feel sorry for them.  Going to other relatives' houses are also becoming less and less.  Everybody is busy.  No time to entertain others' children.  So the 'one child' homes mostly go out to some hill station or something for a week or so and the holidays are over. We can't blame them too.

Now, my sons and most of the children in our family (nieces etc.), are grown up and married...we miss those 'busy' days.  Those days will never come again.  So, enjoy the company of children as much as possible!  We can also remember those happy days and they too will never forget them when they grow older!

Edited to add (21.4.13): I forgot to add the story telling session in our house! My mother and sister in law were very good story tellers! I am not! When they told stories to the children...my sons, nieces, all of us elders used to sit around and enjoy the stories even though we heard them again and again! Mine was not a joint family but everyone came and stayed in our house often.  My in-laws were dead before my marriage.  Now, one of my niece says that because I, her maami, entertained her during the school holidays, she is planning to entertain her nieces and nephews also like me.  She too sends her daughter to her sis in law's house during holidays at least for a couple of days.  She says that her daughter will learn to mingle with other children in this way.  When there were more children, all of them were sleeping in the hall on just plain mats with some bed sheets.  At their own homes they will have rooms and beds.  I felt the children enjoyed chatting till late at nights, playing word games, names of capitals etc. at night.  Even now, my nieces who are grown ups, come to stay with me for at least one night, just for old time's sake.  I am so happy about it.  Now to my son's favourite song:




Picture courtesy: Google

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