Doordarshan again...But From Another Angle!

I had done a series on Doordarshan, sometime back here.  Many people liked it.  I came across this video yesterday.  It is interesting.   It is a collection of old advertisements.  Have a look:



First, you see the old Doordarshan logo, which brings a smile on our face!  Old and leisurely days!  The whole family would sit in front of the TV and watch programmes, discussing about the story together.

The first advertisement is about Nataraj pencils.  I have used them and then my sons too!

Next is about Vicks tablets.  'Gale me kich kich' became famous.  Young Jayanth Kripalani looks nice! I like the young girl too!

Then comes the 'intelligent' lady, Lalithaji! We used to say, 'she thinks of herself as Lalithaji' if somebody said they knew everything! 'Surf ki khareedari me hi samjhdaari hai'...Lalithaji would touch her dimaag (brain/head) and utter this sentence!

'Goldspot Zing thing' was also famous in those days.  Then came Fanta....all those are gone!

'Surf Ultra'...'dhoodte rehe jawoge' became famous!

'Utterly butterly delicious' ....Amul is still going strong!

Then comes 'Lijjath paapad'.  I don't see any advertisement now...but it is still famous.

The famous Vivian Richards' hip dance in 'Vimal' advertisement.  I don't see much 'Vimal' nowadays!

Even now, I love 'Limca'! Very very young Salman Khan can be seen here!

'Buland Bharath ki Buland tasveer...hamara Bajaj'...We had a Bajaj at home for many years!

All advertisements of Fevicol were interesting...!

'Cadburry's dairy milk'...at all ages, we have a child inside us...the ad shows this...very interesting!

'I love you Rasna'...I remember not buying this often because it didn't have real fruit! But the ad was famous!

Liril soap...I think everybody admired the bikini clad girl! She was a happy girl... I read somewhere that she died very young.

'Washing powder Nirma', even now I am singing alongwith the ad.  The tune is so catchy! Sangeetha Bijlani (current wife of Azharuddin) became a familiar face!

Any of you remember 'The Didi show'?  It might be boring to watch now, but it was famous in those days!

Sorry, the video is not clear, but the happy memories are! Do you remember any old ad?

An Important Place To Visit If You Are In Chennai - Anna Centenary Library

Anna Centenary Library, Chennai

I and my niece visited this famous library in Chennai, yesterday.  This was built two years back and we used to watch it coming up very often whenever we crossed the road (Kotturpuram).  But somehow we missed to visit though we used to talk of visiting often.

Now, after Jayalalitha took over the government, we again started discussing of visiting because she threatened to make it into a children's hospital (news here).  The earlier Chief Minister had taken lot of pains to build this library according to international standard.  Thank god, the court has stayed Jayalalitha's move.

All these days, we were thinking that the library will be mostly full of Tamil books. We are wrong.  Please have a look at what wikipedia says about this library:

Built on 8 acres of land, the 9 floor library building houses a total area of 333,140 sq. ft. and has a capacity to accommodate 1.2 million books.  The library has planned to adopt an integrated library management system that includes automated issue and return of books, user smarkcards, access controls, Radio Frequencey Identification technology and self-check counters.  The library is designed to accommodate a total of 1,250 persons, an auditorium of 10,000 sq.ft. with aseating cpacity of 1,280 and an amphitheatre on the terrace that can accommodate more than 800 persons and two concerence halls with capacities of 151 and 30 persons are some of the facilities available.  A dedicated children's section, spread over 15,000 sq.ft. has a fun-filled theme-based reading area with multimedia kits and story books.  The library also boasts a high-tech section for the visually-impaired, with TALKING BOOKS and BRAILLE displays.

Their website gives more information here.  I will just write about my experience.  I was really surprised at the  varieties of books they have and the cleanliness/neatness with which they are maintaining the library.  We felt as if we are entering a library abroad. They don't allow anything inside...no camera, no hand bag (only purse), nothing else.  We can take a water bottle which should be left at the entrance of every hall. We could make 6 floors (just a glance) yesterday.  I saw very old books on Christianity, Sikhism etc. They looked like rare books. They are bound and catalogued nicely.

The Braille section has got many books.  I saw the alphabets in braille for the first time.  The link says that they have talking books too.

I loved the children's section.  Have a look at this:

Since we were not allowed to take pictures, I had to google for them (thanks google!).  You can see an artificial tree and children sitting under it and read.  Some parents were reading for their kids.  The section has got cartoon characters too.  The books vary from fiction to mythology.  Every book is kept in order.   Every section had helping staff who were very polite which is very rare here, in our place.  I saw a lady trying to take picture from her mobile.  The staff went near her and patted on her shoulder and said 'no'.  That is all! Many are there to help us find books.

I loved the reading area spread out near the glass wall of the halls.  We can sit and read in natural lighting.  They have provided tables also if you want to jot down something.  I saw many people reading, which looked for a long time, sitting at the same place!

The place is not congested anywhere.  the bookshelves are spread with lots of places in between.

I remembered my children asking me to take time for selecting books in our lending library, when they were kids, so that they can finish off reading some comics free of cost.  This library is a boon for children like them.  You can sit there from morning to evening comfortably and read books free of cost.  I saw the 'French Loaf' outlet too in one floor! The Rs.46 cake was good!

After giving us so much facility they don't charge you even entrance fee! Great, Mr.Karunanidhi, our ex-Chief Minister.  If our current CM, Ms. Jayalalitha continues to run this library like it is done now, let us say, 'She is also great'!

Edited to add after 2 hours: Membership cards will be made available in another couple of months.  At present we can sit there and read!
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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

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