Margo Memories

Hubby returned from Chennai yesterday and brought back, among a lot of other things, a dozen Margo soap bars. He left for work at 7:00 this morning and I lazed into the bathroom at 8:00 after throwing a shout at the girls to get up. That's when i smelled the Margo soap and was immediately transported to my grand mother's bathroom!! No no... not time travel. Scientific research suggests that the sense of smell is the strongest memory trigger. My grandma always used Margo (until a few year ago, when she changed loyalty to Dove as per her doctor's advice). And today I could vividly recall the bathroom in my grandma's Vallaba Agraharam home in Triplicane. It had a rickety wooden door with water eating away the bottom. On the left inside corner, there was a rusted but working hand pump, a metal bucket and a palstic mug. And there was that clean smell of Margo.
My grandma rented a portion on the first floor of the home. You would climb the staircase to a veranda. On the right, the veranda led to a long narrow balcony. And on the left there was a hallway that led to our portion. On either side of the hallway, there was a bedroom and a kitchen that was rented by another family.
The hallway opened to another small veranda that housed the hot water boiler. The kitchen and one room were on the right. A left turn at the end would bring you to the bathroom and the toilet. Over all a dark place, but the one room had a skylight!
My cousins and me have spent countless summer days in this home - playing 'kola kolaya mundhirika' and 'oru kodam thanni' in the veranda...taking off dry clothes hung on the terrace, guarding 'vattal and vadams' laid out to dry. In the evenings, my uncle would take buckets of water up to the terrace and splash water all around to cool the sun baked terra cota tiled floor.
The best part would be when all the kids would sit around an adult in front of a big plate full of 'Thayir saadam' - curd rice and a cup of 'vatha kuzhambu'. The adult would place a ball of rice in each of our hands, we would make a small well in it with our thumbs and that would be filled with the 'vatha kuzhambu' and that ball would travel into our mouths. After dinner, we would carry sheets and pillows up to the terrace and sleep on the cool floor, trying a get a spot as close to the skylight as possible to look down at nothing through the opaque glass.
Hubby brought back, not just Margo soap, but all these fond memories... Thanks!

Yes, No, Maybe

I never lie to my kids. At least, not blatantly. Definitely not when I know I will get caught. I use this technique I learned from my uncle who was and is wise beyond his years. Never say 'Yes' or 'No' to anything. Always say 'Maybe'... that way you are never lying.
'Amma, are we going to the beach this weekend?' 'Maybe.'
'Amma, can we have pizza for dinner?' 'Maybe.'
I did not always use 'Maybe'. I improvised.
'Amma, can I have my friends over for a play date?' 'I'll think about it.'

This worked for some time. But then I heard my 6 year old explaining to the 2 year old - 'Oh! when she says 'maybe', it means 'no'!' I realized that I can't continue with this. It was around the same time that I realized that my older one had invented a technique of her own.
'Are you done getting dressed?' - 'Almost'
'Are you done with your homework?' - 'Almost'
She might have just pulled the homework out of her backpack, she might be half way through it and very rarely she might actually be almost done with it. But the answer is always - Almost.
Did you like your lunch? - I think so.
Did you do well on your test? - kind of.

I am trying to be more honest with them nowadays. They are growing up, they can handle the raw truth. If I am too tired to take them to the movies, that is what they will hear. I've asked my older one to give me 'yes' or 'no' answers. Let's see....

I drop her at school.... it 23 degrees.....
'Kanna, please wear your hat during recess...' I shout as she walks away from the car.
'Whatever' - she mumbles.

Quick Math

My parents are here with us, spoiling my daughters rotten and enjoying it thoroughly. About a week after their arrival, one afternoon, my mom was trying all her best to get my younger one to finish her lunch, when my dad announced that he would give her a dollar if she ate her lunch.
She was done in a minute and was thrilled when my dad kept his promise. She hugged him and declared that he was the 'bestest' grandpa in the world. I only had one word for him - 'Beware'.
The next day, she collected another dollar and brought the two dollars that she 'earned' with her when I took her and my dad to the store. As I was driving, she asked me what she could buy with her money. I told her that two dollars will buy her some candy or some hair barrettes, maybe.
'How much will a camera cost?' - she asked. A camera has been on her wish list for a long time.
'A hundred dollars'
'How long is thatha going to stay with us?'

Kudumba Maanam (Family Reputation)

It was two years ago... the Tamil movie Sivaji came to town and we (me and my daughters) were super excited to go see it at the theater. my husband said it would be a waste of his time and our money. we ditched him and went with our friends and had a gala time. About three months later, the 100th day showing of the same movie came to the theaters. And this time around, our nephew (hubby's sister's son) was visiting us from India and we roped him in to see the movie again. Hubby could not refuse and reluctantly agreed to go. That saturday morning as we were having coffee, he said ' I had a dream last night... that you were dancing down the theater aisles during the movie...my nephew is shocked and he tells all about that to my mom and sister'! 'you are not planning to do anything like that... are you?' he asked quietly. News about what i did during the movie the first time must have come trickling down through some of our friends... not much.. just shouting a couple of open threats at the guy who says 'Sivaji must be hanged' or something similar and at suman who taunts Sivaji for being a bus conductor and a few high pitched howls whenever Sivaji uttered a punch dialogue. So that was what was bothering him. I just smiled smugly at him.

We were at the movie finally. At Rajini's first scene on the screen and every time he did something awesome (which was pretty often), i only had to look at my daughters... with all the accuracy that comes only with two weeks of practice, they threw both their hands up in air in front of them and screamed at the top of their lungs 'THALAIVAAAAA'!

Epic(s) Meeting

I told the story of Arjuna being the best archer to my younger daughter. About how he can shoot at the eye of a toy bird (it can't be a real bird... she won't let me continue the story...she will grieve the death of the bird for a day.) by looking at its reflection in a pond. The next day, it was the story of Vishwamitra asking Dasaratha to send Rama and Lakshmana with him to fight the demons so that he can perform his yagna. Dasaratha hesitates to send his young sons and instead offers his army.

Vishwamitra insists on taking the boys with him. She asks me, 'why can't he just take that guy who can shoot at the eye of the bird... did he live far away?'

The antibiotics of life

There was this Tamil movie i saw on DD when i was 12 or 13. Thengai Srinivasan is the hero. He is disease ridden and lying on his death bed with a side table full of medications. Lord Krishna, played by none other than N T Rama Rao is sitting on bed making thengai realise that he is suffering because of all the sins he committed in his life. This is the conversation that goes on....

Krishna: Do you realise why you are suffering like this?
thengai : Why?
Krishna: Because of all the bad things you did in your life...
thengai: I don't believe that.
Krishna: You are taking all these medications...
thengai: So...
Krishna: What is this one here called?
thengai: Erythromycin.
Krishna: Erythro what?
thengai: mycin.
Krishna: This one?
thengai: Zythromycin.
Krishna: Zythro what?
thengai: mycin.
Krishna: And this one?
thengai: Someothermycin.
Krishna: Someother what?
thengai: MYCIN.

And thengai suddenly realises what Krishna is trying to say.
This scene has played in my mind every time i was prescribed antibiotics over the years.
Last week, i was down with pneumonia and the doctor ordered a fresh round of antibiotics - and you know what, this time the mycins were much bigger than i ever remember.

Retort to Top 21 things......

This is the second time someone has sent me this forward. When you get past all the spelling errors, grammatical mistakes and badly formed sentences and finally read the 21 points you realise how ridiculous the whole thing sounds.
Obviously written by a US return osmania university graduate.

Here is what i would have said to the guy who wrote this.

Top 21 things Indians do when they come back to India :

Here are TOP 21:
21. Tries to use credit card in road side hotel.
That's what Madavan does in Anbe Sivam and he did not come back to India, he was in India.

20. Drinks and carries mineral water and always speaks of health conscious.
Of course, to drink tap water and carry mineral water would defeat the purpose of being health conscious.

19. Sprays duo such so that he doesn't need to take bath.
Come on, there are people in chennai who do that on a regular basis. unless, you mean spitting on two people.... wait, there are people in chennai who do that too on a regular basis.

18. Sneezes and says 'Excuse me'.
'That's good manners' - says my daughter

17. Says 'Hey' instead of 'Hi'.
says 'Yogurt' instead says 'Curds'.
Says 'Cab' instead of 'Taxi'.
Says 'Candy' instead of 'Chocolate'.
Says 'Cookie' instead of 'Biscuit'.
Says 'Free Way' instead of 'Highway'.
Says 'got to go' instead of 'Have to go'.
Says 'Oh' instead of 'Zero', (for 704, says Seven Oh FourInstead of Seven Zero Four)
Says 'gas' instead of 'petrol'

So what... add new words to your vocab.

16. Doesn't forget to crib about air pollution. Keeps cribbing every time he steps out.
Both sentences mean the same. this is what air pollution does to your brain.

15. Says all the distances in Miles (Not in Kilo Meters), and counts in Millions. (Not in Lakhs)
What is there to count up to a million?

14. Tries to figure all the prices in Dollars as far as possible (but deep down the heart multiplies by 43 times).
It is the brain that does the multiplication. Poor guy, you've been thinking with your heart.

13. Tries to see the % of fat on the cover of a milk pocket.
Nothing wrong with it. In fact, the Aavin system of color coding the packets according to the fat content is much better for the same reason we have pictures of a man and women on public toilets.

12. When need to say Z (zed), never says Z (Zed), repeats 'Zee' several times, if the other person unable to get, then says X, Y Zee(but never says Zed)
what did you need the spelling for - zoo ??


11. Writes date as MM/DD/YYYY, on watching traditional DD/MM/YYYY, says 'Oh! British Style!!!!'
You've got a keen sense of observation, but you should not be peeking into forms that this guy is filling up.

10. Makes fun of Indian Standard Time and Indian Road Conditions.
Don't you?

9. Even after 2 months, complaints about 'Jet Lag'.
Scientifically, it takes one day to recover from jet lag for every one hour of time difference.
Obviously, this guy was making up reasons to get away from you.

8. Avoids eating more chili (hot) stuff.
what do you mean 'more'? More than what he ate before or more than what your stomach can take?

7. Tries to drink 'Diet Coke', instead of Normal Coke.
Didn't he speak of health conscious in point 20?

6. Tries to complain about any thing in India as if he is experiencing it for the first time.
You could have written just this one sentence.

5. Pronounces 'schedule' as 'skejule', and 'module' as 'Mojule'.
Impressive spelling.


4. Looks speciously towards Hotel/Dhaba food.
You should too.

Few more important
3. From the luggage bag, does not remove the stickers of Airways by which he traveled back to India, even after 4 months of arrival.
That's pure laziness.

2. Takes the cabin luggage bag to short visits in India, tries to roll the bag on Indian Roads.
This gives reason for point no. 10

Ultimate one

1. Tries to begin conversation with 'In US ....' or 'When I was in US...'
When you return from Goodoovancheri, you begin conversation with 'When I was in Goodoovancheri....', don't you?