A washing with whiteness for the season

The white washers were two women of the neighbourhood  and they were came in with a  balancing hook to white wash our home.

A preliminary sack of white lime was got with the sticking fevicol and royal blue to add a blue ting.


  A few buckets of water to mix , the women went to work with our utility man Palaniswami, whom i had written about some time back, a man of all seasons, to help them .

Up they went on to the rungs of the ladder and , it was so nice to see the whitening come on to the dirty walls, as they broomed it with the liquid lime .

Chewing the pan in between to keep them active, the women gossiped and by evening the simple home was made pious and pure of its walls.

Internal Medicine - tickling oneself to health

There had been a lot of thoughts about internal medicine, from a study of all ailments other than the dermatology, to some medical formulations for the internal use only, and some other puzzling diseases.

Now with an understanding of fasting and other alternative systems , one gets to feel the body has a capacity to produce its own set of medical formulations to set itself to health, with some easy triggering methods.

Strange, such a lovely term, bringing on a thought wave to health care.

masalaed beans curry for the margali winter

Sitting lazily,gossiping and peeling the beans of the season can be a wonderful time of togetherness, for those who do not have the betel pan chewing habit of romancing.

This is the season of this variety of beans, that floods the market, and each home has its own way of preparing them .

We had them peeled and soaked over night to decap them, the next morning

We had the spicy gravy type of the curry made,with all the masala powders blended together, and made in the traditional pot,it goes great with rice,with no left overs for the evening or the next day .

Would Moody elevators take one to ground floor depressions

In the villages one would always find cases of poisoning, or  self immolation, many run practices to save the patients to survive another episode.

These days of caution and less chances of that type of suicide, the multi-pill swallowing jumping from high places, or hanging has become commoner.

With the depressions coming on early it looks like the medicines them selves could bring on the nature of suicidal thoughts.

Who would have the time to get over the depressions with group discussions, music,dance and more methods.

The world is getting to be more depressive these days,for some.

May the ones who are experienced with this share their thoughts.

Bend a little, stretch a little and breathe in a lot

Sunday mornings can some times be an active one like this morning.

The  neighborhood kids came in wanting to show of their skills they had acquired during the week at school.

Looks like the kids did have a rehearsal some where for the way it worked out.

It started with one kid singing a song, and another teaming up with one of the gang for another song.

One girl wanted to show her skill at asanas, she stretched and pulled and crossed and held, but that was exactly what she did and within moments she was at a pose and all the others followed the example.

I guess we are beyond the age of such liberties.

We were the silent appreciative audience to them.

Ridge gourd to the rescue

Ridge gourd is a tasty creeper vegetable.

Many an ailment these days could be gotten over with the help of the creeper vegetables ,and the alkalinity in them .

It is a pick at the vegetable market, but could easily been given a bitter vegetable ,some allow us to make a cross check at the purchase it self, to prevent a battle at home with the lady.

The vegetable is washed and the ridges removed with a shaver for this kind, then it is neatly cut and all the ingredients of  turmeric, curry powder, garlic , onions , coriander powder and tomatoes are gotten ready, the dish is an easy kind provided u have the support of the lady of the home,for the final touches,of the salt to taste and the chillie to spice.

The clay pot and the wodden laddle add to the feel of the cooking.

Breaking a fast tenderly

The over night fast of 10 odd  hours is  broken with such harsh food, that sometimes the body could get thrown to nausea, and a dump site.

What better alternative could it be than the tender coconut water and the soft white fleshy coconut.

What ever the fast, either of the political kind, the religious , or the therapeutic, the best way to finish it would be with the tender coconut water.

They say if god could have a choice of only one creation , that would be  nutritious, safe and self fulfilling it would be the coconut.

Talking often of  the coconuts could not be sufficient as it is not available at all places and even if it is , it gets taken for granted that we can drink it some other time, well three cheers to the now affordable tender coconut water.

May it always stay.

A gossip about the thatched roof idly shop.

There are many wake up alarms or call, but this one  which catches  many here" soodana  idly sambaaarr", is a sure awakener.

The long sleepers, would prefer this to the hot  beverages, the school children would prefer this to the other dishes made at home by the family maid or mom.

The stuffy child on the hip of the granny or mom being showed the crow and other distractions to make it eat would also prefer the  idlies.

As for me the best b fast would be this for the time of availability at  7.30 am
to the waiting lady at home after an earlier porridge of sprouted malt .

This idly kadai lady and her husband take up orders for functions and sudden guests at home, her thatched roof shack attracts many to their door step for a gossip and eat out.

East merges with the west through a sandwich

The old adage of east is east and west is west and the two shall never meet is gone, with better communication and transport and a blend in the cuisine and more cultural acceptance.

This morning the marketing brought home carrot,beans and potatoes and curry leaves, tomatoes of yesterday was taken in with the small onions .

 The spices and curry powders were cross checked with the lady and ,after the washing and chopping , in  went  the vegetables  to  the clay pot , after roasting the onions and curry leaves.

Enough water was added and the ingredients were left to boil with enough salt to taste.

The lovely odor brought smiles to my lady and  the spread of butter and the brown bread made a lovely b fast for the morning.

( pathuley inna  kooda  idly vangikalam)

(translated  it means - if it is not sufficient u can always buy  idlies)

Chewing these will not get u a tail

The village market is just a spread of a few items for a small house hold, a few hours in the morning.

Around 7am one can find the village damsels walk towards the daily market of local vendors, selling their farm goods.

Curry leaves to palm full of beans for a price of a few rupees, the ladies finger, carrot, beans.
With the mind making plans for the b fast,lunch and dinner, quick purchases are made, very sure the wares will be there for the morrow too,fresh, one does not have to think of the space available in the refrigerator.

I was hurrying away, having just bought some aval,  when my eyes caught the old lady selling keerai,now the local coriander variety is gone, looks like the genetic engineering techniques are already in the vogue in hiding.

A wish at the Begenning of the end

It was just another week end , and was getting to dusk, the chillness in the air was just setting in, the evening cases were on the wane, and with little interruption the neighbor hood children trooped in.

They had selected a topic them selves of writing the hard words, a site was goggled and the difficult words were being copied and written by themselves, they wanted to be better than their classmates in the vocabulary , may be!.

With no cause , one child blurted out, the world is going to end and i want to be born to my own Mom, with not a second lost another child said , i want to go to the same school, another followed with the same speed, i want my own sisters and brother, the final was  thrown at me, we want u to be our friend , but with one change,  we want u in our age .

What a compliment. With maturity and innocence.

Models on the way

The morning catches the parents all hurrying to get their wards off to school with the uniform of the day,
some have  two or three shades.

This gets the kids all happy and warm for a send off every day , tatataing their parents and others before they leave.

 There are never any kids sobbing to school these days as every day seems more like a picnic collections off to a lovely spot for a freak out, with lovely colors.

If it is a birthday , full  design of ones wish.

Not forgetting some odd one like me who enjoys the whole show .

Battery cell torch light

Antique torch which brought to light paths , but kept mysteries a mystery.

It had lived with my mom, being taken for all the excursions and over night stays.

 A constant bedside companion all her life, it had practically no life , yet gave itself all with its shine and her path.

I do not know where to place it, for what it was to my mom.

Delicacies for Deevali

It is the season of light, sound, and sweets.

This time it is all love and affection from cousins and their preparations, simple village delicacies made with country brown sugar, all in pictures, taste it with your eyes and let it melt in the mouth.

Birthday gathering

It was my lady's b day , and the street neighborhood kids decided to celebrate,
word was passed around and ,things that they wanted was listed by one of the bright kids.

They had decided to meet at  7 pm, finishing the tutions and home work by that time.

The wall clock did not seem to move in their homes and many had started arriving by 6 itself , asking me if it was alright to be earlier.

Things were moving with such enthusiasm that i agreed, between some plumbing work that had the water tank dry, and the plumber arriving when the electricity was shut for another two hours..

 Nothing was going to stop the celebrations the kids and i decided.

I took the few  kids who has arrived early to one of the department shops, and asked them what they wanted, each one was pointing his or her finger at bright coloured paper wrappings of the worst kind, well each one got what they wanted ,

The next stop was the chips kadai, and then the  bakery.

Then when all had gathered at my clinic next door, we all paraded  to meet the beauty of the day.

One girl presented , a bindi packet and flowers and we all sang  " happy b day  to her".

We then got the kids arranged and then shared the eatables of confectioneries and chips and other things and  they sang, yelled and  trooped to make the day a bright one for the lady .

Ohh yes she sang too.

Sprouted malt powder- with no preservatives

A parent had come bringing with her,  her child of 9 th class, after some time the discussion was what in the tinned powders that cost so much of money , tapping the keys i opened up the ingredients list of that product, and the child said , it looks like our whole chemistry lab is in there!

Well that is the combination of all the stuff that is added to the products.

A local patient is preparing  a malted powder with a blend of all the locally available cereals and pulses and sprouted what ever can be sprouted and with addition of a few spices, and no preservatives , she packs them to sell it at an affordable price.

It goes well with sea salt or with jaggery , and with innovations one could make even payasam with it.

A physician plays the role of a nurse

We physicians who only see a patient and is finished with the prescription , never get to care for a patient, and now with the illness of my lady and a fracture of the femur, am getting to care for my lady with simple things, now all moments of movements are so precious.

It is not that we are insensitive to our patients , but our concern for them is forgotten or too shallow, now playing this role , i find it has much depth, and though it is my wife, i think it would be the same if it was for any patient in general.

With this understanding and awareness, i think the role of a nurse if that of compassion courage and passion for the work, that keeps them going.

Looks like we have things to learn from them , than just giving injections and dressing wounds.

Bed side Bonfire

The winter is just starting, and the tiled roof home which can be lovely for summer, can be chilling for this season, our down temperature is not much , only around 18 degrees c at night, but our cold bearing system is that low.

All the blankets, the shawls and the cardigans , the socks and the gloves are still not sufficient for the likes of us.
At such times what comes to the open is the heater.

This was hinted by a cousin a long time back, and he says he even takes it with him at times to Tirupathy on his family trip there in the chilly months, with the kids and grand kids.

A wrong number to the right person

I have a habit of ringing up my patients , just to know how they are getting along or are they drifting away.

It was one of those evenings and i had tapped a number and waited for the voice on the other side, and when it did , it was different, i enquired if it was Murugesan, which Murugesan? it enquired, well Ellampillai i said, well this is Swami, came back the reply

Good Lord looks like i made a connection to heaven..

It was a number i have not wrung for a longgg time, but that friend has turned into a  mystic  now.

Laughter was shared like the old times,  for the present , and more things ..  for the future.

Sometimes diaries can get to  make contacts with the  right person, with the wrong lines.

Marks to book a page

I was once horrified when i noticed a reader fold the edge of the page he was reading  as a book mark.

I do not know if he would do it if it was his own collection of titles.

I would certainly not share any of my books with such page cruel readers,if i ever got to see one.

We had been to a thanks giving function of a medical representative, arranged by his two daughters working at highly professional levels of an English tutor and a chartered accountant, after all the ritualistic  talks and sharing of hearts, they passed around book marks, along with the take away gifts of sweets and a dinner.

Reading habits of our kind have certainly changed with the new age electronic pages on line.

Like all changes this is happening too, but there is nothing like the feel of a  book in the hand and its effect on our hearts and mind.

An inspiration from a yogin

It was a week filled with activity , it started with an introduction explaining about the heritage of our Indian yoga system and how we are in the land and still not aware of the treasures of the mystical system.

Swami Kailashnaath, with his sweet flowing words and cute smile took us along with the work shop of prayers,yogic breathing and postures, guiding us with his participation.

He had come all the way from Palani, invited here by some benevolent citizens.

Each morning we assembled at 6 am, and the routine practices went on till 8 .30 am .
For those who could not make it in the mornings, evening timings were offered from 6 pm till 9 pm.

He made it a class of no paper and pen and all practicals.

Lessons learnt from animals, and how we could benefit from them, breathing patterns , and techniques to avoid the diseases of the modern world , all leading to a fit body to do what ever we need to or in search of,  through the body.

We were initiated into the system formally at the penultimate day at 4 .30 am.

He wound up, answering  our stupid questions with his intelligence  and compassion, encouraging us to carry on with the practices that have been shared.

A deck of murukkus

Friday is a local market day, where one could get any thing that is normally needed for the whole of the weeks living from veggies, fruits, broom,  bamboo baskets,linen and even snacks.

There is a village close by across the Salem Coimbatore highway called Attayampatti, it may be famous for many things,but to us it is murukkus.

It is made with rice and other cereals, made into a pasty dough and using metallic instruments with a small gap,the paste is deep fried with flowery designs in oil.

The local cinema shops get them,for their viewers, and it the snack for many homes with puffed rice and  ground nuts.

I showed this picture to a neighbour hood child, she squealed  " santhai murukkus".

Lessons from Children

Sundays are happy times for kids, and torture times for parents,so a programme arranged to get the kids out  for a day with packed lunch is an agreeable situation for the parents and squealy moments for children.

A week back was one such Sunday , we managed to convince a dozen parents to send the children, but the  bottom line number of attendees was a mystery till the start, and even later.

There are many times when we think that  we can share our experience with the kids, but we always end up learning new and innovative things from them.

The rest in pictures.

Yellow river turns red

The ten commandments is a movie that if seen, lasts for a life time within, the impressions  are non erasable.

It was the first movie i had seen in my primary school, the movies are always selected by a roman catholic, called Brother Basilio, and all if not most had always been winners at the academy or at Oscars.

The picture of the yellow river now running red reminded me of Moses making the Nile turn red.

May be it is the wrath of a Moses there or a dumping of the chemicals from upstream , what ever the cause, "the yellow river runs red" says the head lines.  

Observe and Accept

Observe and Accept rather than Research and Develop.

In the scientific world there is a term ,research and development.

It simply means to see again and better it, the way things are approached now follows this system, in all ways of life.

There is arrogance and alteration of the original in these methods

It is more so in the modern system of medicine, where newer diseases are being noticed all across the world.

Ding the other sciences, with healing methods, if we see nature and its ways of handling things , observing and accepting would bring on a great humble way of healing troubled bodies and hurt minds.

Festoons for fun

It was a time for fun and frolic, and the kids had the occasion , all that mattered was the place, that was always available at our work station.

The balloons were purchased and the festoons of shining plastics ,coloured papers were got with the twine .

A boy s birthday was selected and the balloons were blown and saved the previous evening, safely hidden in the glass cupboard, to see no one played away with them .

The kids arrived at  5 pm quickly washed after school, the festoons were arranged to their wishes and balloons  put up at the  available hooks or nails, or at the palms at the entrance.

All done  the  birthday boy arrived and we all sang  for his health, happiness,long life, and more.

The favourite songs were downloaded on you tube, the kids were given all the liberty to do what they liked and that was the only fault when the kids pulled down the festoons and burst  the balloons.

They danced and screamed and yelled and created all the havoc that they could not at school or at their homes.

Some one must have remembered the pyramid climbing , so  there they were bending and climbing, to reach the top.

Fun and  more fun it was for  all.

The magical world of illusions

It was another chance to see a magic show organised by the rural society of doctors for the centenary meet at Chennys hotel  Salem

After the felicitations to the elder doctors of the rural areas, the magician was given the stage and with an assistant he went to work and laid the table .

With the switch on of the music he  moved his arms and fingers, and there he was literally pulling out  playing cards from thin air, they seemed have been placed just in front of him, and he was pulling them out and making them smaller and smaller and finally had a stack out of his small mouth .

Good lord when did that get into his mouth !!!!

The Chinese rings were wonderful with his deft swift hands,
getting them one into another and slipping them out and forming the Olympic rings and out singly.

We  were shown some electric bulbs of so small size, and then placed in one ear and then removed from the other ear and from his mouth and bottom and into the ear and out of the other again.

He asked if any one wanted to learn how to trick the audience and learn the trade, there were a few hands going up, and i was not one one of them .

The ropes the kerchiefs and the news paper tricks were all too wonderful, and the balloon he swallowed, we all literally asked him what happened to the balloon,he said it will pass away tomorrow.

There was no doubts as to who enjoyed the show the most,and which side the applause came the loudest.

The front row is always the best seat, with the other kids who all watched with me with equal wonder.

Sun dried veggie curry

The Indian heat helps us to sun dry what ever we want to save for the rainy day,unlike the freeze drying of the other lands.

I remember those days when we could find meat stringed and cued and hanging out to dry in the sun, to be later used for a quick dish of curry for the sudden guest or family.

Yesterday we had a dried and saved brinjals bought  from a vendor , to make the curry ,normally we only use this to be cooked in oil and relished with the curd rice, i had given a hint that it could be lovely as a dish with tamarind, and wow that is how it was made in a mud pot and it goes great with rice.

Best after next two days,while it ferments, but would it get to be saved till then !

Kadalai poriyoda oru podi nadai ( a graceful walk with puffed rice and ground nuts)

Some relation seems to be there with the swaying of the arms and the steps, and a movement of the jaws.

If we do not sway, a step is not possible, and when the sway and the step are in unison, one must have something to chat or eat, so that leaves us with a simple solution.

It is very difficult to get the mind quiet , and so different methods are discovered to silence it, and so many have set them selves difficult body tasks,  and others things of complex movements to get the mind stream lined, and so came on the walk around hillocks during the full moon.

The paths are littered with attractions , and this puffed rice with ground nuts is one.

Any thing is ok to get the message across.

Unsafe safes for easy liquidity

At village functions, markets sell these clay hundials, as they are called, fully covered pots with a small gap on the top to put money savings into it, and to use them when we need it for an emergency or a calculated event, with easy liquidity of breaking.

Many big time managers i am sure started out at these home banks at their younger days, and also our industrialists, with  large manufacturing units with the help of bankers, or their own savings, and all who plan for the future spending.

Saving for the future must start early , than spending with the sure knowledge, that  there would be some one to offer a loan for our spending.

May we encourage savings.

A market in our bank

It was just another Tuesday morning , gathering our pass books we ventured into our bank this morning, to find the entrance full of slippers like it is at marriage halls or temples.

We were forewarned that the bank is full and there is no standing space, we entered the banking hall, and there it was full  and over flowing, not knowing what was the event, i slowly but hesitatingly enquired a teller to be told the public was here to collect their pensions.

The public normally got their old age pensions at their home through the passing postman, but it seems some one has been complaining that the postal people are taking away a portion of their money, so now the banks have got added work, and  the banking folks have to move away or search for other sectors to do their banking.

 If this is going to go on every month, some one is going to get very angry, or there is going to be a strike.

Something drastic has to happen to bye pass this government scheme through the bank, for the welfare of the workers in the bank.

We are with the bankers.