Learning Sourashtra

Recently I got a couple of comments on my old post - Sourashtra - An Introduction

Many people had requested for online resources to read/write Sourashtra.

I am sorry I was not able to respond to all those comments earlier.

This is the wikipedia link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saurashtra_language

The youtube channel to learn the language - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfwyLbLjpTmwjmSMVIkMVHQ

If you want to just learn to speak - the easiest way is to find a real Sourashtrian and learn from him/her.. :-).. assuming you knew about this language only after meeting one in person.

As pointed out by Mr. Subramanian in the comments, I am updating the links here:

Visit the Face Book Group - SourashtraBhasha - to know more about sourashtra language.

You can also visit 

• http://sourashtraonline.com/ 
• http://www.sourashtrabhasha.org/
• subramanian-obula.blogspot.in

For any clarification send e mail to subramanian.obula@gmail.com

I'm Back .. Again!!!

Ok... The previous post was a false alarm.

This time I hope I can post more often.

It is more than a month since the new year began. Still, it is not late to start a resolution.
Today I take up a resolution that I will share my thoughts and knowledge (in addition to my rants n reminiscences, of course!) I have gained in all these years of hibernation from blogging.

Let me start with a tip on something I do on (almost) a daily basis - Cooking.
This one is for all those newbies to the kitchen/ newly wed girls who need to make rasam or kuzhambu daily.

The base for rasam/kuzhambu is the tamarind water. Moms n grandmoms would argue that it is not a big deal to make tamarind water - just soak a lemon ball size in water.

Using just one small ladle of tamarind paste is so much easier n a precious time saver.
By tamarind paste, I mean the one made at home.

• Just take 100-150 gm of tamarind in a pressure cooker, pour water such that the tamarind is fully submerged in it and cook till one whistle on high flame and 1-2 whistles on low flame. 
• Cool it, remove the seeds(if any) and grind it to a paste. Add a little water while grinding if the paste is too thick.
• Pass the paste through a strainer and store the fine paste in a stainless steel box in the refrigerator.

There seems to be an additional step before storing the processed paste and that is to bring this paste to a boil and cool it. Without following this particular last step, the paste I make lasts 1-2 months in the fridge.

Depending on your need, u can process as much paste as u want.
But in my experience, storing for more than 2 months tends to make it stale/ taste funny. So make just enough to last upto 1 month.
Also, storing in airtight plastic boxes stales the paste sooner.

Making tamarind paste at home

• reduces cooking time and does not compromise on taste
• reduces wastage of tamarind
• saves expenses on tamarind - 500 gms of tamarind will last upto 5-6 months depending on your usage.

I'm Back!

Hmm.. after 4 years.. back to blogging. Not sure how often I can post.

Anyways, wanted to revamp my dull looking blog. And in the process, lost all the gadgets I had in my earlier template .. :-(

Main aur meri Tanhayi

My two roomies with whom I shared a good rapport have taken transfer to Chennai. Some would believe it is ‘coz they were so troubled with me around that they escaped to Chennai. And many others (including me) know that what some believe is not true.

Well, with other roomies too busy in their own cozy worlds, me and my ‘tanhayi’ are left to each other, once again.

So many tales, anecdotes, trains of thoughts…left unsaid, none find their way out of me, and instead, all find their ways to their graves in the very cradle they were born in.

There’s nobody around to listen to my PJs, to see me literally ROTFL till tears come in my eyes at the ‘situational jokes’, which only I seem to sense and start laughing along with me. Believe it or not…once, everyone in my room was laughing for more than 2 hours, just by seeing me laugh, without even knowing why I was laughing.

Sigh! Those were the good times…

Now, who do I tell what I dreamt the previous night (I dream every night)?Who will listen to my gyan on body language and psychology? Gone are those long discussions on our future, our career, our ambitions, our dreams and our lives after some years.

One would now often find me smiling to myself, of course when I’m alone in my room, thinking of the things that happened that day, my first impressions on some person I saw on road, some funny incident that happened to me or some one else we know; wanting to tell someone about all these things and when I realize that nobody is around to hear all of that, I sigh and erase all those doodlings from the blackboard of my mind.

Come soon, 2007!!! Looks like only you can give me some company, at least for a year ;-).

Who am I?

I feel so detached from my life and from myself.

The image I see in the mirror seems like a stranger to me. Even my own name sounds kinda familiar but at the same time alien enough to ask myself whose name is it?

Sometimes, I even ask myself what my name is and come to a conclusion, after a lot of reasoning, that since people around me call me Deepa and my identity cards also show the same name, I must be this person called Deepa. I find myself walking along with my physical form and see myself do things as if I am watching someone else.

It seems like I, Deepa (the identity) and the walking, talking, living form are 3 different entities, each on a different plane of existence.

Who or what am I?

Am I merely a soul stuck in this mortal form which is trudging along in this life as one of the seven births in the form of a human being?

I find myself wandering in this materialistic world without an ambition of my own or any purpose which is convincing enough to bring myself to “live” and not simply exist.

I wake up in the morning only to spend a few moments thinking of what I am doing here and what I should be doing, once the hard reality bangs me right on my head.

I feel like a lost soul which is loitering around waiting to complete some unfinished business without any idea of what that ‘unfinished business’ is.

The days are just passing by with the hope of the times when I would be living a life full of things that I am passionate about (now, a research needs to be done on what I am passionate about) and thinking of the times in my past when I was blue and laughing at it with this thought, attached with a sense of accomplishment -“eppidi iruntha naan, ippidi aayittaen!”

Is this just a passing phase or some kind of seasonal depression or do I really need to find who I am and the purpose of my living to live a meaningful life?

I really have no idea.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

This time, again, I was in Chennai to celebrate my birthday, last weekend.

The day was just like any other day, with the only difference that I got more calls than the number of calls put together in a whole year. In fact, my birthday is the only day when people call me. And I am thankful for that. At least they remember that someone called Deepa does exist in this world.

The crowning glory was that I was on roaming and the conversations were getting longer than usual ‘coz there was a lot to talk and get updates on things happening with each other.

My landline was out of order, as usual. My mom went to the office and my dad had some work outside, so I couldn’t give their number to receive the calls.

And everyone promised that they would call later. I’m still waiting for their calls. Hope they will remember to fulfill their promise before my birthday next year.

I was toying with the idea of postponing my Chennai trip considering the fact that it was raining heavily last week and also the forecast had predicted rains till Monday. But then, I thought lets take the risk - getting drenched in rain, catching cold and things like that. Mother Nature was very kind to me and kept the day time comparatively sunny and rain free, though I didn’t go out anywhere fearing sudden showers n messy roads.

And right when I was getting ready to leave, the Rain Gods starting shedding their precious tears, bidding me adieu… at least that’s how I consoled myself.

On Monday, I reached Bangalore by 4.45 a.m. only to find that the prepaid auto counter was closed. The auto drivers were having their own way asking 3 times the actual fare.

A few people like me were waiting in the queue, hoping the counter would open anytime.

Some auto drivers were even enacting a small drama, their style:
Driver 1: Hey, don’t you know the prepaid counter won’t open today?
Driver 2: Oh no! I didn’t know that…

Somehow I managed to get an auto and reached my PG around 5.15 a.m. Since the gate was locked, I had to call up Aunty to open the gate. Surprisingly, the auto driver waited and left only after someone came at the gate to open it.

I was confused if it was indeed a kind gesture on his part or was he trying to check if I really stayed there. Ghor Kalyug! Even if people were really good, we tend to suspect their intentions. I guess it is because such things are too good to be true these days.

There was another surprise waiting for me in my room. My roomies gifted me with a beautiful watch and a cute little pen stand with a teddy hugging it tightly. I have placed the teddy stand on my desk at office. I found it as the perfect place to keep my good old mobile.

And the watch… hope my good times have started!!!

Weekends

Weekends have become more significant than being merely 2 days of a week.

Every Monday you get mails saying that there are 5 more days to go for the weekend to come again. And every Friday morning greets you with happy faces in your office beaming with rays of “Thank God it is Friday”.

When I think of it, Saturdays and Sundays were never so important before in my life. Now, they are the only days when I get to connect with my soul which was left far behind in the fast and hectic pace of work life and also some time for myself.

Questions like “So… what’s the plan for the weekend?” and “How was your weekend?” have become so common like “How are you?” “How’s life?”

My husband takes up most of my time during the week days and I get little or no time at all to be with my boyfriend .That’s the reason why the weekends are so special to me.

And now that my office is shifted to Whitefield, my day begins at 5 a.m. and ‘should ‘end by 10p.m else I would miss my only source of transportation to my place of work.

Everything in my life apart from my job gets crammed up in those 48 hrs.( 32 waking hrs. to be precise)-shopping, movies, meeting friends, music classes...phew!

And the sad part is that these two days are the only times in the entire week which pass by you faster than a lightning. Before you know it, you wake up on a Monday morning and are on your way to the office again, dreaming of the next weekend.


Note:
My husband-my job :(
My boyfriend-my blog :)