A Visit To Kairali, An Ayurvedic Health Resort.

Some of my friends had visited Baba Ramdev's ayurvedic treatment centres, where they stayed for a couple of weeks, got rejuvenated and came back.  My cousin said that it was very good.  Ramdev's centre is in Haryana which is too far off for us.  So, when we heard about this Kairali Ayurvedic Health Resort at Palakkad, near Coimbatore, we thought we will visit this place, first, just to have a look at the place.    We stayed there for 2 nights and enjoyed the village type atmosphere.  No traffic, so no air pollution, no sound pollution, clean air and good ayurvedically prepared food in their canteen.  They have got their own vegetable garden and use those vegetables in the canteen.

The latest amenities also were there like A/C and TV! So, I think we, city people, will be able to stay there for long.  Free yoga class was there and I did my yoga in the open with the other guests.  Went for a long walk with my husband early in the morning. It was very peaceful.  My son was happily reading some book, lying in a hammock tied among trees in daytime.  The staff members were very polite so, there was no tension anywhere. Good, experienced ayurvedic doctors take care of the treatments.  They have got walking tracks, swimming pool, tennis court etc. too.

Now, to some pictures of the houses where guests stayed for treatments.  Each and every house was in different shape (according to vastu, it seems)!

We saw names for all the houses like Moolam, uttaraadam, pooyam etc. The name of the stars.

This brick is porus.  I have seen these bricks used for building compound walls in Mangalore.  Here, they  have built houses with these!

Typical village look!

Look at the lock...so beautiful!

We used to sit here and chat...though just for 2 evenings!

Inside the house

The inside walking path

Dining room.  The vegetarian food was simple and  very tasty

We enjoyed our stay there.  It was just the three of us, I, my husband and our son.  We had a lot to talk to without any outside disturbance or work pressure.  Sat in the outside veranda and chatted a lot, watching butterflies and snails and some birds! It was a nice pleasant experience! 

Somebody Said That I Won't Cross 63 Years!

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Until now, I have never shown any of our family members' horoscopes to any astrologer. I don't believe in astrology, I tell myself! When did I come across astrology...well, this is also a kind of astrology! One old lady with a brass stick with silver designs came into our colony shouting, 'jothidam paarkkarathu, jothidam paarkkarathu', means roughly, 'do you want to know your future?'.  She keeps the stick in our palm and starts telling the predictions in a singing tone! I must have been studying in 7th or 8th.  It was school holidays.  So some of my neighbours called her for fun and asked for predictions.  She started in a sing song tone and told some interesting (it should be!) predictions! Everybody was happy and she got her money! While leaving, she turned to me and said, 'onnai oru raja veleelerndu kudiraila vanthu thookkindu povan! Avan unga janam illai!' means, one King will come by horseback and take you away...he is not from your community! All of us laughed! But later on, my husband who is a Tamilian (I am a Kannadiga...this information is for the new readers!), who was quite tall with big mustache came and married me off!  My horoscope or my husband's was not taken out for checking if we suite each other, which normally is the custom. My parents and his relatives just checked the gotra (people from the same gotra should not marry each other...they are supposed to be brother and sister!) and married us off! We are living happily ever after!

This prediction also was given off handedly, without asking for, by a man.  He said that I will live upto 63 years! Later on one more person said nearly the same.  Now, we have to wait and check this information...another 3 years are there! One 'face reading man' asked my husband to listen to his wife and that will bring goodness to the family! He is not following the advice fully, though!

My sister and sister in law always go after astrologers.  Once my sister went to one for asking for predictions for my brother.  My children were around 13-14 years.  He predicts via sozhi (cauri shells).  My sister just for fun asked him about my sons' future! I was watching with a big smile on my face (I don't believe in all these things!).  He said that we have got 'naaga dosha'  and we have to do sarpa samskara (His house has got a snake temple!) or Ashlesha Bali, i.e. doing shraddha for dead snakes. They draw a picture of a snake and offer rice balls with all the relevant mantras.  He also said that the children will have health problem and their eduction will be disrupted. I was just laughing all the way home.  But it happened in the later years.  I went to Kukke Subrahmanya temple and did Aashlesha bali.  I don't want to say openly that I believe in these things, but when it is concerned with the children we go to any length.  Even now we go to that temple often to offer prayers.  The children are doing well now. Amitabh, Sachin and many VIPs also visit this temple often!

My friend went to Vaiththeeswaran temple to read 'oalaich chuvadi' for her children.  She is a Maharashtrian. Still she went to this temple and checked the future of her children and did some poojas.     This temple is an ancient temple. She laughs now when talking about it.

My chikkappa (my mother's sister's husband) knows numerology and palmistry. He combines both and predicts our future.  Whatever he has said has happened in my life.  So I believe in him. I have not yet shown the horoscopes to anybody...that is a relief. This might become like an addiction! But when we become desperate  and in trouble, we tend to do all these things, whether we believe in them or not.  What do you think?


Cartoon courtesy: Google

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You...Crafty!

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Baby elephant!

I started blogging from 2004...but just wrote a few posts and stopped. Then started to write again from 2008 and have not stopped.  I got some good friends through this hobby of mine and am very happy about it.  Some came closer too.  I take a long time to open up to friendship nowadays. Age?!

Suddenly one day a girl named Crafty Shines wrote to me asking is she can call me Sandhyamma because she liked to call me like that.  I said OK.  Until then, she had commented in few of my posts and I did the same to her posts.  I had not seen her picture and she had not seen mine.  I don't display my picture in any social network.  Still, we, sort of, became very close to each other via a very few emails itself.  And now, suddenly she asked for my address and sent these precious goodies! I knew that she is very good in this art but I never expected to have my favourite elephant in this art.  You need lot of time to do the calculations for these tiny beautiful dolls and she is a working girl!  Buying things from shops and sending as gifts is different and taking the time and effort to do these things and sending means a lot to me!

She knew that I love elephants and remembered to do the baby elephant for me! These things are precious to me and are going to be with me always Crafty! My son took the pictures as soon I got the package.  He is also very happy for me...seeing me so happy! This is the first time I am getting a gift like this!

Have a look at the things I got from her:

Beautiful key chains

Lovely tea coasters

All put together

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((HUGGGGGS))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Two Movies' Review!

I have never watched two movies in 3 days in my life until now...I watched a Tamil movie, 'Kaadalil sodappuvathu yeppadi', on Sunday and a Hindi movie, 'Kahaani', today, i.e. Tuesday! I liked the Tamil one a lot and the Hindi movie just 'one time watch' movie!

Let me tell you about today's movie first...Kahaani.  It had rave reviews everywhere.  This is totally a Vidya Baalan movie.  The hero, or the male main character, Parambrata Chatterjee, a new face also has acted very well.                       

The story goes like this: Vidya Balan, a Tamil girl married to a Bengali, both software engineers, live in London.  The husband comes to India, (Kolkata), on an assignment and goes missing.  He was keeping contact with her for about two weeks, speaks to her continuously, then no contact at all.  Vidya Baalan,  7 months pregnant now (film name Vidya Bagchi which was pronounced as Bidya Bagchi by Kolkatans), comes to Kolkata in search of him and how much trouble she gets into, is the story.  To give colour, she comes during the famous Dusshera festival of Kolkata!  This is a 100%,  thriller.

I liked the way, Parambrata Chatterjee, a police officer who helps Vidya in her search, gets attracted to her though it is shown subtly, was not elaborated, which I liked a lot.   Vidya Baalan, everybody knows now, is a very good actress and has done very well here too. The director of the movie is Sujoy Ghosh.  But for a Hindi movie, this is a good thriller.

This is not going to be an unforgettable movie. Music is just OK.  But I liked this song of Amitabh, a Bengali song (Robindra sangeeth?) which was played in the end, a lot. Music directors,  Vishal and Shekhar have done well here:



The movie I watched on Sunday was a Tamil one, 'Kaadalil sodappuvathu yeppadi' .  I loved this movie.  The hero of the movie is Siddharth who acted in 'Rang de Basanthi' .  His acting is superb here, in this movie.  The actress, I am seeing her for the first time, Amla Paul also has done her role very well. The story is a simple one.  The hero tells us how he bungled in his love affair.  He tells about his friends' experience also in their affairs.  The whole theatre was laughing for each and every sentence/dialogue.  This is a simple movie but taken interestingly.  Sometimes I felt as if my dialogue with my husband was repeated there! We have fights like these at home! If you follow Tamil very well, don't miss it.  I noticed repeat crowd since the dialogues were shouted before they came in the screen!

Both hero and heroine did not have much make up also.  They were looking very homely and natural which is very rare in our movies! I knew that Siddharth was a good actor but Amala Pal also has acted well here, it was not looking like acting at all! This is being re-made in Hindi too, I read somewhere.  Ranbir Kapoor would suit well for Siddharth's role!

The director of the movie is R.Balaji.  This is his debut movie.  You can know more about him from my blogger friend, Kanagu's review of this movie here.  In fact I went to this movie because of his recommendation!

Have a look at this video sample and you will love it:

P.S.: For once, both are clean movies. We can watch with the family, one thriller and one romance! Both films are box office hits! (Wrote this morning of 18th April, '12)
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Images courtesy: Google
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