அலையே !

Author: Aarthi@Paperandme / Labels:


அலையே! ஓயா அலையே!
நீ யாருக்கு சொந்தம்?
உன்னை மெல்ல எழுப்பும் கடலுக்கா?
வரவேற்று அடைக்கலம் தரும் கரைக்கா?
கால் நனைத்து மகிழும் எனக்கா?

மனிதா! புதிர் கொண்ட மனிதா!
கடலிடம், என்னை மெல்ல எழுப்பசொல்லி,
கரையிடம், எனக்கு அடைக்கலம் தரச்சொல்லி,
என்னை இயற்றியவனுக்கே நான் சொந்தம்!

Taste Teleports!

Author: Aarthi@Paperandme / Labels:


             In a party, we often hear people saying this dish reminds me of my mother’s so and so recipe. Yes, like many other events, taste is also saved in our brain as a memory. I spent most of my childhood days in central India. So I can say that most of my first tastes have been basically north Indian. When I see a cup of shrikhand or dhokla in the Indian Restaurant or fresh singada in the Indian grocery shop, I would get excited and my husband won’t even know why, because he being a typical South Indian didn’t even hear those names before.
              This summer our neighbor brought back mangoes from India. They shared a few with us. We do get mangoes here but these were not just any mangoes. These were Dusheri mangoes. As always, I got excited and asked my husband, ‘These are the variety I told you about. Do you remember?’ and as always he didn’t remember. I even told my mother, ‘See I am getting Dusheri mangoes in Kuwait!’. I haven’t even seen them since I was 10 years old. That would be more than 15years ago. Now these Dusheri mangoes are small and have to be eaten in a special way. You shouldn’t cut the mangoes. That will not bring out the taste. One has to squeeze the mango nicely and then cut open a small portion of the top and sip on the juice. The very next day the mangoes were ripe and ready to eat. As I squeezed the pulp and sipped the mango, I was teleported to my childhood days. I was excited like a kid who gets to taste mangoes for the first time this summer. It definitely didn’t stop there. I taught my kid and he enjoyed it too. It is amazing how an old childhood taste can make your day even after 15 years.I guess that is how memories work.

Time flies by..

Author: Aarthi@Paperandme / Labels:

When I went to India on vacation, I told myself that I will post at least once from there. But for me planning never works in India. After coming back I needed some time to get my life back to normal. So I took a break without realizing that it would take me another two months to even come here and post this. Well, expect the unexpected when you have a 3years old confined to the house first because the neighbor’s kid had chicken pox then because he somehow caught it and to top it all we have a peak summer with frequent dust storms. I can hear you(through telepathy of course) “Is that all?”. Actually there is one more and it is sort of the most dreaded one for me. Unlike many other bloggers, I feel that I do a lot of thinking before I post something. I am going to try and overcome this hesitant nature in future. That’s all for now and hoping to post regularly so as to get nice comments from you.

The Month of Love

Author: Aarthi@Paperandme /

This is February. The month of love. Many people love this month for many reasons. Some love it for it is not hot in February. Some love it for the winter is beginning to depart. Some love it for the spring is about to arrive. Some other(especially the working class people) love it for there are lesser working days. Some love it for it is the month of love. Some even wait the whole year just for this month to express their love. Some love it for the surprise gifts they receive this month. Some use this as an excuse to add flavor to their lives. For people living in Kuwait this month has the whole last week off. They celebrate theirs National day(Feb 25) and Liberation day(Feb 26) in this month.  But there is a totally different reason for why I love this month. It was in February that God gifted me with my bundle of joy. Yes my son, Sanjit, was born on February 24th. I still can't believe that it has been 3 years since he was born. It feels just like the day before yesterday when I heard his first cry while I was half drowsy due to the local anaesthesia that I received before my C-section. It feels just like yesterday when we celebrated his 1st Birthday. He was so excited to see all the guests at our home that he was toddling around from one to the other. His second birthday was simple but he was happy telling everyone he met that it was his birthday today. This year, he has learned from his playschool that birthday is associated with a party.Well, party or not, its still his special day and I will be all the more happy to make his day special. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear chella kutty.. May God bless u with all ur wishes..

Valentine Fever

Author: Aarthi@Paperandme / Labels: ,

Year after year i have seen people protest against celebrating valentine's day. I still am not able to figure out why they do this, that too year after year. Though their protests doesn't seems to have any effect on those who celebrate valentine's day as if it is their only chance to express their love. So what is the use of protesting. Oh yes. You get a special mention in the news that evening. A smart way of getting attention. If you are really interested in protesting then you can do so by not celebrating it. That way you are not disturbing others, also, precious news minutes will be used for other actually important news.
In my own way, i feel that days like these can be used as an excuse to add flavour to your life. I know we have our own festivals to celebrate but then this can be an informal festival wherein you don't have to get up early, take head bath, clean your house, cook food without even checking the taste, then offer to the Gods and then finally go ahead with other celebrations. Trust me festivals are fun from kids point of view. Even the husbands get a day off to enjoy the festival. But for housewives it is like doing overtime. I am not complaining. I do enjoy cooking for festivals. After all, they come only once in a while, but to think of it, how nice it would be when you are made to feel special or you make others feel how special they are to you with a pleasant surprise. Now wouldn't that make you happy in a special way? It is for this reason i love all these special days. My mother knows that i love her but a special something on Mother's Day would make her day and knowing that i made her day will make my day too.
It doesn't matter what the gift is or how much the gift is? What matters is that you thought about me while selecting/making that gift/surprise. It shows how much effort you had taken to make the day special for me.
You may say that Birthdays are there for the same purpose but that comes only once a year. Don't you want more from your life?
 Coming back to valentine's day, what is it with chocolates and flowers? I surely agree that they are pleasant gifts but doesn't everybody get the same things for their love. Come on think of something different. Something out of the box. Watch an all time favorite movie together. Gift a CD with the old songs you both loved so much. Cook together. Come on. Go ahead and get to work at making the day for your loved one.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY.

நிலவாய் நீ..

Author: Aarthi@Paperandme / Labels:

 கடவுளிடம் வேண்டினேன்
அம்மாவாசை வேண்டாமென்றும்
இருநிலவு வேண்டுமென்றும்
அவனும் தந்தான், இரண்டாம் நிலவை
பூமிக்கு அல்ல, எனக்கு மட்டும்.

Bright Year ahead!!!

Author: Aarthi@Paperandme / Labels:

       I know its a bit late to post the New Year Resolutions, anyways, i still have 350 days to follow. Every year i make resolutions but hardly follow them. But this year i have decided to announce it on my blog so that in due course of time friends and family will remind me about it. So the resolutions for the year 2011 are here.
 1.  Practice my yoga routine 5 days a week. I started Yoga in December 2010 and continued for three weeks at a stretch. I even received complements from a few friends. Then as it always happens i became lazy and add winter to it you guessed it right. Well i am going to restart my Yoga routine and i won't stop till i get that super slim status for which many of my clothes are waiting for.
2.  Next comes my blog. I resolve to keep this newly found interest alive by posting atleast once every month. Now this will happen smoothly if not for the social networks, which consume most of my online time. So instead of complaining about the social networks i intend to train my mind to bother little about others and more about its contribution to the passion. Here again i need friends to nugde me now and then(Oops! here comes the social network again). Well then i guess i should learn to balance both. Help me God from the influence of the overpowering FB.
3.  My kid S will be 3 years old next month. So he is all set to leave the nest and take the first flight around. It is high time that i find a job seriously. I am already afraid that my technical knowledge is dying out for i have been dormant for almost 4 years now. Hope to join the work force atleast this year. Wish me luck.
      Other plans for this year include trying out new recipes with my husband (or rather help him because when it comes to trying something new he is the Chef and i am the poor assistant), find opportunities and idea to work on my photography skills(@V:stop laughing), a nice vacation to a beautiful destination in India, spending my free time usefully like for my hobbies i.e. crafts, quilling, etc.(this is possible now as S has transformed from an annoying kind to an assisting kind), and much, much more.
How well i keep up my resolutions, well, wait till 31st December 2011 to find that out.
Happy and Prosperous New Year to all.