Take A Break

Hum apne bhagwaan ko bhi kehte hain basuriwaala.......

2011-08-11T18:03:00.003+09:00

Today morning, I woke up with a line from a song on my lips. It was a long forgotten song and I have no clue why it came to me today. It did not take me much time to remember which song it was. It was a line from the song " I love my India" from the 1997 hindi movie "Pardes". So after finishing my chores in the morning, I sat down to watch the song on Youtube......... The song made me so nostalgic and I wanted to watch the movie. I guess the movie was a commercial hit and it had beautiful, soulful songs. I used to love its songs during my college days and took pain in learning each of them by heart for the essence of poetry in the songs. The title of the post is a line from the "I love my India" song and for reasons unknown to me, I love that line. Also, while watching the movie, I realized Independence day is just 4 days later and felt sad that my daughter has no clue about it and cannot even sing "Jana-Gana-Mana".

The songs and the movie as a whole got me thinking, how far movies have come these days from the good old days!! It is claimed that the present audience expect such "contemporary" movies. It is obvious that most of the present movie songs(there may be exceptions) have no poetry essence and the meaning of the song itself is best left unsaid. There are not many movies made these days for audiences like me, for whom the movies of 1990s and 2000s still hold a charm. Instead such audiences are laughed at and ridiculed for their choice. I wonder if the current audience is really so "modern" and "advanced" so as to not like simple and pure movies which don't leave you disturbed at the end. But if the excessive violence, nudity and so called bold themes in the present day movies forces one to change the channel when an elderly or a young kid walks in to the room, I guess we really are not so modern and advanced after all.

I need to work on teaching "Jana-Gana-Mana" to my 5 year old at least before next Independence day!!

Tanabata(The Star Festival)

2009-07-13T20:29:00.016+09:00

Tanabata (七夕) or The Star Festival is a Japanese festival which has its origins from China. It is celebrated on the 7th of July and the reading for the Kanji 七夕 itself means the evening of the 7th. There are more than one myths associated with this festival but the most popular story goes this way.

"Orihime(Weaving Princess) who is the star "VEGA" used to work very hard weaving beautiful clothes near the banks of the heavenly river Amanogawa which is the "MILKY WAY". She once met Hikoboshi(The Cow Herder) who is the star "ALTAIR" who lived on the other side of Amanogawa and they fell in love instantly and shortly after married. Once married, Orihime stopped weaving clothes and Hikoboshi let his cows stray. The Sky King, Orihime's father was angered by their neglect to each other's duties and separated them and forced them to live on either sides of Amanogawa. Orihime was heart broken and wished that she could meet her husband. Her father took pity on her and granted her a wish that she could meet Hikoboshi once in a year on the evening of 7th July. When they were to meet on the first year, they could not cross the river as there was no bridge. They sought help from some Magpies, who spread their wings and made a bridge for the lovers to meet. "

On Tanabata, people decorate bamboo branches with colourful decorations and also hang strips of paper with wishes written on them. It is believed that your wishes will come true if you pray to these two stars on 7th July. There's another catch to it though :) If 7th of July happens to be a rainy day, the magpies cannot come out and hence the lovers cannot meet and have to wait for another whole year to meet again. And for us mortals it would mean that, if it rains on 7th July, no wishes are going to be granted.

Me and my friends here (Sn,V and Su) had the wish of trying out the Japanese Kimono from a long time. There are lot of places which rent out Kimono, but the rates are in tens of thousands of YEN and we weren't ready to spend more than a thousand yen :) Though we were not aware of this "Wish granting festival", our wish was granted anyways. An all ladies group led by Y-san, have a service for foreigners on the 2nd Saturday of every month, where we can try out the Japanese Kimono for just 500 yen!!! So, on Saturday July 11th we went to the Atsuta Lifelong Learning Center in Nagoya and tried out the Kimono. The group intended to celebrate the Star Festival on that day so that they could impart knowledge to foreigners like us about this interesting piece of Japanese culture. So all of us made some decorative pieces with coloured paper(this form of art is known as Origami) and wrote down wishes on strips of paper to decorate our bamboo branches (Sasa). Then there was a small tea ceremony where we tasted the "bitter" green tea and some snacks!! It was an educative and interesting experience which we thoroughly enjoyed!!

Although I know that July is the rainiest month of all in Japan, I hope against hope that, every year July 7th remains a NON RAINY day in Japan !!

Lilies in Chikusa Park

2009-06-19T13:47:00.009+09:00

Summer is finally here!! The lush green trees lit up by the bright sun, flowers in all hues and colours, pretty butterflies flitting among the flowers, arrival of the summer fruits, people dressed in short sleeved Tees, Capris and Skirts, the sweat, the tan........... oh I love summer !! I have never been this happy ever just for a change in the season. The reason - I was so tired and frustrated of worrying about dressing in layers and layers of clothing to fight the cold in autumn and winter. The winter to me, seemed so long that I even had a sinking feeling sometimes, that probaby spring and summer might never come!! But as they say, "What goes around, comes around" and so has summer :) My daughter too has been waiting for summer!! Ask her why, and she says " In summer I can drink juices and eat Ice cream" And for my hubby, Summer has always been his favorite season for more than one reason!!

This summer in Japan is even better because I have found some Indian friends. Until two months ago, I never thought I would even see an Indian around in Nagoya and today we are a group of 8 !! I never thought I will ever talk in Kannada and Tamil and Hindi on the streets of Japan :) "S" introduced me to all the others and I cant thank her enough. Couple of days ago, had a get together at my place and after an awesome lunch went to the nearby Chikusa Park to see the lilies in full bloom. None of us could stop clicking !! A picture speaks more than a thousand words, it is said............. and these pictures speak as to why I love summer !!

I hope this summer lasts long!!

Freedom!!

2009-05-11T12:52:00.002+09:00

Read a line on someone's Tshirt yesterday :
"Freedom is not free.................. In fact you have to be really RICH "
Initially I thought ................ Oh how true !! Later wondered if riches can actually make someone free? I guess not !!

Happy Happy!!

2009-02-16T10:28:00.002+09:00

Feeling very happy from yesterday afternoon. I cleared my JLPT Level 3 with 71%. Not a great score(the cut off to pass is 60%) , but with a preparation of only 20 days I am glad I could make it!! Thanks to my hubby dearest and A-san, now I can call myself a JLPT Level 3 ;-)

Its Birthday Time!!

2009-01-24T13:46:00.003+09:00

Yes, my daughter turned 3 yesterday!! And the feeling hasn’t sunk in for me yet. It seems like just weeks ago we celebrated her 2nd birthday and just a few months ago she was born :). It seems as if time has just shrunk. We just had a small party at home with a few of my Japanese friends, her only friend K and her favorite dog, Non chan!! In fact we had two small parties………one along with friends and one after my hubby dearest returned from office with his colleague. Both low key affairs, but my daughter enjoyed it thoroughly, after all she got to cut two cakes. I enjoyed it too because my daughter was happy and also because I love cooking for occasions (please do not read as “I cook occasionally”). It was fun having my Japanese friends over. My hubby probably would have enjoyed it better if not for his cold and fever :( The menu for the snack party was Hot Indian Milk Tea, Vegetable Bajjis, a dish made out of sweet potato(because Japanese love sweet potato), gulab jamun, Homemade Mango Ice-cream and of course The Cake. And dinner was Vegetable Pulao with Raitha and the second cake. Cakes are expensive here and due to the global economy crisis which has led to reduced expenditure, I got two sponge cakes from the store and decorated it myself. My first attempt at decoration, without any equipment and no prior knowledge about it. Here are the pictures………. The one with the candle was the second cake and the one with Hello Kitty was the first cake ;-)

"Markazhi poove" - My Suprabhatham

2009-01-15T12:30:00.005+09:00

During my working days as a software engineer, I used to listen to this song every morning like we Hindus listen to the Venkatesha Suprabhatham. Since I used to stay very far from office I used to take the 6:30am bus from my home and reach office by 7:45am. Our campus used to be at its best at that time of the day especially during the winter months. My walk from the bus bay to my building in the campus through the early morning mist, watching the dew drops on the lawn, the musical sound of the birds and the greenery all around me used to have an instant calming effect on me and make me feel fresh for the whole day. As soon as I reach my cubicle I used to play this song softly and listen to it repeatedly until my colleagues arrive at 8 am. I used to drown in the scintillating soft music and the lyrics of the song and feel rejuvenated and fresh to start my work for the day.

The song is from the Tamil movie May Maadham released in 1994 with Vineeth and Sonali Kulkarni playing the lead. I don't like the movie particularly, but I love this one song. It is picturised in a place like Ooty or Ooty itself, with Sonali Kulkarni walking through the early morning misty, green mountains. The girl is in her late teens and belongs to an upper class, high status society and is protected a lot by her rich father. This song is about her yearnings to lead a normal life. She desires to break free of all the restrictions imposed on her and see happiness in the simple things in life. She wants to sleep on the lap of the Markazhi flowers as sleep evades her in her luxurious bed ; She wants to smell the flowers, hop on the grass, walk alone in the dark and drink tea from the street side shop, walk on the banks of the river Kaveri, walk barefoot on the sands of the beach and on a rainy day she wants to feel the warmth of raindrops on her skin!! The song used to remind me in the start of every new day about the simple things I am blessed with, especially my independence, instead of complaining about the bigger things that I don't possess.

Somewhere down the years, the fast life got the better of me and I completely forgot not only about this song but also about music and poetry. There was a time, when I used to love to listen to the soft old Hindi songs, Malayalam and Tamil songs with wonderful lyrics and always be on the look out for songs with good lyrics. But its almost 4 years now that I stopped listening to this song or any other songs. It started off with the restrictions I used to have at the client's workplace. After I quit my job, there were no restrictions, but being a first time mother I had no time for music or rather I did not make time for it. I have been spending my time worrying about anything and everything and never found the time to sit back and relax. That's the reason why I stopped blogging too ;-) Yesterday, when my hubby dearest was humming this song, I suddenly realised how much I have missed it and from 8am today morning until now the song is playing in a loop on my laptop. Not that I can make up for the 4 years of my music less life in one day but its a start anyways..........

If you are interested (it would help if you can understand Tamil), listen to this song here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXUGZfzP0Ao

A weekend getaway........ Day 1

2008-10-08T11:15:00.020+09:00

I know I am blogging after a long long time, but this getaway is worth blogging. For various reasons of course............... Let me start with the history first( Oh yes, this weekend getaway has a history of more than a year old!!!)

Me and my friend R have been planning to meet with our families for lunch or dinner in a restaurant or at my place from the past 1.5 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But it has never happened, thanks to all the weddings and miscellaneous functions R keeps attending or other mundane chores she has to finish during the weekend since she is working. Doesn't mean I am free all the weekends but I am most of the weekdays ;-) And so, two weeks ago, while talking over the phone about the October 2nd holiday and how by taking the day off on Oct 3rd(friday) we could convert it to a long 4 day weekend, an idea struck us both. Why not go out somewhere together?

We started making plans without even letting our husbands get a clue. First we thought of going to Kabini but it was too expensive for a weekend trip, then contemplating about many other places, decided on MYSORE!!!!!!!!!! When we spoke to the husbands, mine said he could not take friday off. So after a lot of brainstorming, we decided we would leave on saturday and come back by sunday night( No way, we were cancelling this time;-) ) We wanted to stay at Infosys guest house in Mysore, but it was not available. And many other hotels we checked were completely booked or so they claimed and we finally got a reservation in Ginger Hotel in Mysore. We decided to drive to Mysore in our respective cars. R's sis D and my bro P and sis Pr were to join us in the trip. Me and R finally going somewhere out with our hubbies and kids is the first reason why this trip is worth blogging ;-)

The second reason is the place itself. MYSORE, the cultural capital of Karnataka, only around 160kms from Bangalore and I had NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN MYSORE though I am a permanent resident of Bangalore from the past 20 years. Sigh :(( Well, my mom claims that when I was a child of just 2 years of age, we had been there, which I dont remember. And then again, when my husband had to report to his training in Mysore just one week after our marriage and I was still on my wedding leave, I had accompanied him and stayed there for five days (Monday to Friday). But I was confined to our hotel room for four days and went out only one night after 7pm to see the palace from outside the gate and walked through the roads around it.

So, we decided we will leave on saturday early morning from Bangalore and on Sunday morning we would leave mysore and on the way back to Bangalore, visit Shivanasamudra falls and Talakkad. On friday night, as it happens before any trip, I got cold feet and hadn't even packed until 11pm :( The day before any travel is very tiring (even if the travel is for a day) and I get very nervous and even think of calling off the trip :(( But somehow, managed to get a hold on myself and we left home by 6:10am on saturday.

We were to meet R's family at Bidadi and both of our cars reached there simultaneously at 7:10am. We were in Srirangapatna by 8:15am and since we were well ahead of the schedule decided to stop over. And then we realised our car had a flat tyre. R's driver helped us change the tyre and we were all set to visit the temple. We saw Tipu's death place from our car and then visited the Ranganathaswamy temple. After offering our prayers, we went to a nearby park and had our breakfast which was COLD idlis with sambar and coconut chutney which I had carried. My daughter Pre and R's daughter M got along well and enjoyed their breakfast thoroughly.

Then we started our journey to Mysore. Superb roads, picturesque farms and fields all way through made the drive wonderful. But then, it started raining. Well, even the rain gods were surprised that me and R finally made it happen I guess. The check in time at the hotel was 12 noon and so we decided to go to the Mysore Zoo first if the rains stopped. Thankfully, the rains stopped and we made it to the zoo, for the benefit of the kids ;-) There was a huge crowd at the zoo and did not take us long to become a part of it. M and Pre enjoyed the zoo but Pre got bored of it soon and wanted to see only the Wolf and no other animal. M enjoyed it for sure, but she too was in search of the Ostrich ;-) My hubby P and R's hubby V, both of them "ANTI-ZOO" -ists were very busy looking out for the exit from the time they entered the zoo. D, Pr and P along with me and R and the kids enjoyed it initially but after a kilometer's walk, we too wanted to see the exit ;-) The zoo is good, maintained well and some rare animals in there, but its too too big!!!! Any of you visiting , please do take the buggy ride since we regretted not doing so.

From the zoo we went directly to the hotel to freshen up and have our lunch. The Ginger hotel was a pleasant surprise. It was not very huge, but well maintained and had an air of sophistication about it. Their punchline said "Help yourself" which meant there were no room boys to carry your luggage or room service, which in turn meant you could save on TIPS. But otherwise the staff were friendly and well behaved. The dining area had the feel of a food court in a mall or an airport and the lunch buffet was good. All the rooms had wall mounted LCD TVs!!!! Wow......... It was another thing that none of us had the time to utilise this facility. M and Pre were so excited about the auto door and kept running to it to see it open and close automatically ;-) Simple joys of childhood!!!!!

Post lunch, we visited the Mysore Palace known for its grandeur and its ornately decorated rooms. The intricacy of the carvings on the doors and the motifs on the walls and ceilings had us spellbound. The paintings were good but the one painting by Ravivarma was a class apart from the rest.........It seemed like the people in the painting would just walk out of the frame, it was so REAL !! Pre spent the entire palace journey sleeping on P's and Pr's shoulder and M wanted to be constantly carried by R. There is also a museum which stocks the things used by the royal family. If you are short of time, you could give this a miss, I would say.

The palace is illuminated on public holidays and sundays and on all ten days of the Dasara Festival. Since it is the Dasara period, the illumination was about to begin. There was a stage set up for some cultural programme. The concert of a mandolin expert(am unable to remember his name) was about to begin and by sheer luck we got a seat within the restricted area and were seated comfortably. Just as the Mandolin concert was about to begin, there was an important announcement which made our hearts skip a beat ;-)

The golden boy Abhinav Bindra and the Bronze medallist Vijender Kumar were to arrive any moment at the Mysore palace and they were to be honoured by the State Government. Yeah yeah, now you know why I cant remember the mandolin expert's name( my sincere apologies to him) Another bronze medallist, Sushil Kumar could not make it since he was unwell and his brothers were coming on his behalf. The illumination which happens at 7pm always was delayed until they arrive and would be done the moment they are on the stage. Of course they deserve such respect!!! When they arrived amidst cheers of all the onlookers whose hearts filled with pride and respect for their heroes, I am sure some girls swooned ;-) Trust me on this, not only do they have it in them to make a nation proud, but their looks are worth dying for and D was ready to get into prison for security breaching. After a 2 minute speech thanking everybody, they left the palace making our trip to Mysore worth every penny. And we left to our hotel for a nice buffet dinner and a peaceful and good night's sleep ;-)

Just like that...............

2008-03-11T23:46:00.000+09:00

Its been a long long time.................... more than a year actually that I "blogged". Its been so long that when I read my previous posts, I felt I was reading someone else's blog, a stranger's experiences which seemed similar to mine. Could it be me who had worded my experiences and had the courage to publish it too. Or was it my alter ego who could write........because as I decided to rejuvenate my blog and sat down to put my thoughts across I feel like a kid from primary school who is in the initial stages of learning new words.

Let me hope my long lost alter ego surfaces soon because I enjoyed reliving my memories from the past while going through the previous posts.

The Japanese Doll festival

2007-02-27T12:44:00.000+09:00

If you are a South Indian and know about the Navarathri Golu, it will be a pleasant surprise to know that Japanese have "Golu" too. I was surprised when I heard about it and wanted to see it. The invitation from my japanese friend Tomoe-san to see it in her home came as a blessing. When I saw it, I was amazed at the similarities between the two cultures.

The Japanese call it the "Hina Matsuri"- Hina is the name of the empress doll and matsuri means festival - and is celebrated on March 3rd. It is celebrated by families who have girl children for the future happiness of their daughters and so the english name for the festival is Girl's Day. The Hina-ningyou or the Hina-dolls are displayed on a tier of stairs and the number of stairs is generally odd(1,3,5,7) similar to what we have in South India.

At my friends' home they had 3 stairs. The replica of the emperor O-Dairi sama and the empress O-Hina sama in royal court costumes occupy the topmost stair. The dolls on the next stair are the three ladies who serve "sake" to the imperial couple and they are called the "san-nin kanjo". My friends told me that, actually, the complete arrangement would also consist of five court musicians below the san-nin kanjo called the "go-nin bayashi". This festival also marks the beginning of spring. The light called "bonbori" and peach blossoms called "momo no hana" form an integral part of the decoration.

I learnt from my friends that the empress wears twelve kimonos though I am not sure of the significance. The display of dolls begin by mid February and ends on March 3rd. I was impressed seeing the arrangement and could not help marvel at the delicate features of the dolls which showcased the perfection Japanese are known worldwide for. As tradition goes, the grandaparents buy the Hina ningyou for a girl's first Hina matsuri and so Tomoe-san's parents had bought the doll set for their granddaughter,Kaho chan, shelling out a whopping 300 thousand Yen which would be equivalent to 1.2 lakh Indian Rupees. This aspect is different than our golus because, our dolls would not cost us more than a few thousand rupees.

One of my friends also sang a song about Hina matsuri which goes like this....

Akari o tsukemashou bonbori ni (Let's light the lanterns)
明かりをつけましょう　ぼんぼりに

Ohana o agemashou momo no hana (Let's set peach flowers)
お花をあげましょう　桃の花

Go-nin bayashi no fue taiko (Five court musicians are playing flutes and drums)
五人ばやしの　笛太鼓

Kyo wa tanoshii Hinamatsuri (Today is a joyful Dolls' Festival)
今日は楽しいひな祭り

In Japan, during this season, we see the O-Dairi sama and O-Hina sama everywhere and I too received a tapestry containing their pictures from my friends for the happiness of my daughter ;-) I was told that I am not to display it after March 3rd. Even my friends would take off their doll display after March 3rd because of an old superstition (yes,the japanese have superstitions too!!) that it will be difficult marrying off the daughters if the display lasts beyond March 3rd.
Happy Hina Matsuri!!

Chhod aaye hum woh galiyaan

2007-02-27T08:58:00.000+09:00

"We have left those roads behind"!! This is not the first time though!!
No points for guessing.......... we moved from Nagoya, thanks to the transferable IT profession that my hubby is in. If huge pay packets and better life style is what IT jobs offer, uncertain, non permanent nomad's life comes free with it.

We are now residents of a furnished one room apartment in one of the residential areas in Chiba and Nagoya is pretty far from here. I miss our huge apartment on the 6th floor back there, the balcony, the huge tatami bedroom, the overall familiarity of the surroundings, the Chikusa park and most important of all, I miss my friends back in Nagoya. Preksha also misses these things I guess, because she seems to be clinging to me most of the time. She cant see the cars speeding by from the balcony because we stay in the first floor now. I particularly havent liked the new place except for the fact that Tokyo DisneyLand is just a 20 minute train journey from here.

The last couple of weeks had been very taxing, packing, cleaning, sending parcels.......lots of stuff to be taken care of. We sold all our stuff back in Nagoya since we are planning to MOVE AGAIN!! But this time we will be going back to our home, Bangalore. Thats the only thing that makes me happy about this move, because this way we are getting closer to going back ;-) Just a month to go and then here we come Bangalore!!!!!!!!!!!

The moonlit night

2006-12-11T17:30:00.000+09:00

I wonder if there is anybody in this world who doesnt like to watch a clear night sky with the silvery moon and the twinkling stars? The reasons for the liking might be different ofcourse. Yesterday night, we went to sleep watching the moonlight........ Sounds romantic, Isnt it ?

One of the sides of our hall and the master bedroom has glass doors which opens to a common balcony. Yesterday, just as we were getting ready to sleep after putting my daughter to sleep, me and my hubby noticed a small ball of light through the curtains. My hubby asked me if I could see the moon through the curtains and I was ashamed for not realising that it was the MOON. So we opened the curtains and lied down on our bed watching the moon. The night sky was very clear with so many stars, bright and dull, big and small. It wasnt a full moon day, but the light from the moon was so bright that we could see each other's faces without the night lamp.

Any number of generations would come and go, but moon will be an inspiration to the technology geek and the poet alike. As I said, they might have their own reasons. Like, while my hubby is watching the moon, he is thinking about the science behind it......how far the moon is from the earth, how much more farther the stars are .........and so on. But such thoughts never cross my mind when I am looking at the moon. For me, watching the moon is soothing to my eyes and heart, the moonlit face of my hubby, romantic ;-). While looking at the moon, I have a feeling that somebody elder, like my late grandfather, is watching over us and I feel safer. I am not sure how long I watched the moon before I drifted to peaceful sleep with a smile on my lips. While talking about the moon, I remember one of the poems we had in school called "SILVER" written by Walter de la Mare........

Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy coat the white breasts peep
Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws, and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.

The Koyo Story.....

2006-12-04T15:39:00.000+09:00

For those who dont know what Koyo is, "Koyo" is a Japanese word and means "The autumn colours". And I have been waiting from last year to see the autumn colours in Japan. I missed it last year because I returned to India for my delivery just as autumn started in Japan. But was very sure that this year there was no reason I would miss it. But this year too,I missed it ..........almost.

We had earlier decided to visit "Korankei", a place famous for viewing autumn colours and located not very far away from Nagoya. The colours there was supposed to be at their best during the last week of November. So we had decided to visit Korankei on Nov 25th, a Saturday. On Sunday, Nov 26th we were supposed to attend an Indian get together, our first one. But as the proverb goes "Man proposes and god disposes", our plans were disposed.

The reason was autumn itself or the Rotavirus that generally strikes in late autumn or winter and kids and infants are the ones usually affected. Poor Prekshu was infected by Rotavirus and started vomitting on 19th. She had severe diarrhea and wouldnt drink the electrolyte fluid given by the doctor. The choosy fussy eater, like her mom, did not like the taste of the sweetened water. She got dehydrated and looked so pale that it broke my heart to even look at her and I spent most of my time sulking. Finally on friday, Nov 24th she was given IV fluids and I can never forget that day in my life. It was so hard on me to see my darling baby being poked with needle and lying on the bed crying constantly. But it had to be done and Prekshu looked a lot better when it was over.

So, we called off our trip to Korankei and also the Indian get together. But I wanted to see Koyo and so after a lot of research on the net we decided to visit Jakkoin Inuyama since the webpages claimed that the koyo there lasted until Dec 10th. So on 2nd Dec, a saturday again, we visited Jakkoin Inuyama.

We reached Inuyama with no high hopes, we were prepared for the worst. We hired a taxi from the station to Jakkoin and the taxi driver's comments were disappointing. According to him, it was late to see the autumn colours and told us later that it was still beautiful after he heard our sigh of disappointment. The sight on the way that led to Jakkoin was a proof to what the driver had to say..........it was late........we could see only withered trees. When we reached Jakkoin, we realised that we had to climb almost 1000 stairs to reach the top and get the view. I was already in one of my worst moods..........climb 1000 stairs carrying Prekshu , to see what? Withered trees? My poor hubby had to carry all the luggage and Prekshu's stroller. But while climbing the stairs we realised, it wasnt that bad after all. There were nice colours if not excellent ones. I would not call the view from the top as breathtaking, but it was good. We could atleast claim that we saw Koyo, a little late, but it was still beautiful. We met a Pakistani family and it was nice to hear hindi mixed with urdu, the kind spoken in old hindi classics. An old japanese gentleman , accompanied by a young and beautiful japanese girl approached us because they recognised that we were from India. We were shocked to learn that the old gentleman was a professor in sanskrit and Indian Philosophy and the girl was his student and he knew a lot about West Bengal. We spent some time at the top taking pictures and started our descent. The descent was easier than the ascent and we finally returned home in a better state of mind than we had left home with. My hubby promised me that next year, if we were still in Japan, we would surely see the autumn colours at its best. I only hope god does not dispose it next year.

Little world

2006-11-22T09:48:00.000+09:00

No, I am not talking about the size of this beautiful world where we live in. Little World is one of the major attractions at Inuyama and we had been there last weekend........finally. We have been planning to visit Inuyama from past one month but have been postponing it due to our laziness and greed for those extra hours of sleep during the weekend. After a lot of blame game, me and my husband came to a consensus of making it to Inuyama on saturday, the 12th. But the rain god had other plans. To our dismay, saturday was supposed to be a rainy day. We deserved the disappointment, as we hadnt bothered to check the weather forecast before planning, though we live in a country where weather forecasts almost never go wrong. So we decided to go the next day, if weather was good. My hubby's colleague Lakshmi was also supposed to join us. Thankfully, it was great weather on Sunday. We reached Nagoya station to take a train to Inuyama at 10:45 though the time we had earlier decided was 9:45. The start was not very good and so I had no high expectations about the rest of the day or the place.

We reached Inuyama (which literally translates to Dog Mountain and am not very sure of the history behind the name) at around 11:45 and got an english pamphlet which listed the major attractions to be visited. I had already checked the internet earlier and decided to visit the Inuyama Castle and Meiji Mura Open air museum. On checking the pamphlet we decided to visit "Little World" first. Change of plan again, sure the day was going to be bad.... I decided. Also it was so cold and windy at Inuyama and it was just 12pm. To add on to my worries, Preksha was so clingy and would not even go to her dad or sit in her stroller. After a 20-25 minute bus ride we reached Little World.

Little World is a park which houses the building styles from around 20 different countries in actual size. At each country's location, there are craft shops, a restaurant which serves that country's food and a costume counter where visitors can try out the costume of that country and get their pictures clicked. The first houses we visited were of Japan's Okinawa and Hokkaido and then going through Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, France, Italy, Germany, Peru and many more , we finished our walk at the Indian house. Though cold and windy, it was a bright day and the autumn colours were just beginning. We could see some trees in light yellow and light hues of red along the path. It made a perfect weather and location to take pictures and my hubby was the happiest of all as it was the first time he was photographing outdoors with his new digital camera. Preksha's mood had also improved and I got enough time to do all the girl talk with Lakshmi who was also thoroughly enjoying the day. Me and Lakshmi tried out the Peruvian attire which was a white top and a white skirt with laces and a wide brim hat with flowers around it and kept my hubby busy as he had to click so many pictures of the two Peruvians. We had spaghetti and margerita pizza at the Italian restaurant and continued our walk along the path lined with trees in green, yellow and red.

The Indian house was a surprise because the building there was that of Kerala and being from Kerala we were so happy and amazed at the perfection with which things were depicted. There were sign boards in yellow with malayalam and English written on it along the path (like the ones we see along the highways in India) and the house was almost perfect. The hall had a photo of Lord Krishna, a calendar from some jewellery shop, many black and white photographs and so many other things which was typical of old houses I have seen in kerala. There were snaps of people wearing the mala(to Shabarimala) which is typical of the photos I have seen in most of the houses in Kerala. They even had a BPL TV and the bulbs were all of PHILIPS. The kitchen had exactly the kind of things I have seen in all my aunts' and uncles' houses in Kerala. There was an electric post outside the house, exactly like the one we see in India. The restaurant also looked like one of those you see on the highways in Kerala but the food was north indian though, with the menu having naan and north indian sabzis. There was a costume counter which was crowded with japanese women and others alike to try out the Indian saree. The costume was complete with bangles and bindi and the women seemed to be enjoying wearing the bright sarees. They were walking around so effortlessly with the saree on, that it had me thinking of those days in college when, walking with a saree on was always a challenge.

It was 4pm by then and we did not have time to visit any other place we had planned earlier. But none of us had any regrets about it because we had had our share of fun. It had also started getting colder and Preksha seemed so tired because of the cold.... so we decided to return. We got into the bus saying bye to Little World but my hubby and me had decided that we will go back there in another week's time to see the autumn colours in its full swing. I had earlier read a bad review about Little world on the net and I am planning to post a counter review soon. If any of you ever happen to visit Inuyama, Little World is a place to visit for sure.

Soft Chapathis and Spicy Chicken Curry

2006-10-30T15:22:00.000+09:00

Thats a yummy combination...........And my husband just loves it. So do I. And on friday my japanese friends whom I meet in the park everyday had a chance to taste my chapathis and chicken curry.

One of the most popular Indian food in Japan is the "naan" which is nowhere close to the naan we get in India. Its twice as thicker and twice as large than the naan we get back home. And most of the japanese love it. The other Indian food popular in Japan is what they call the "curry". Curry is a non vegetarian curry cooked with either chicken or beef with lot of spices and masalas used mostly in India. The japanese version of the curry is not as spicy as the Indian version but tastes very close to it, according to my husband. I havent yet got an opportunity to taste the japanese curry. My japanese friends told me that they love the Indian naan and the Indian curry. They did not know about chapathi though. So I decided I will make chapathi and chicken curry for them.

So,on friday afternoon after my daughter went to sleep I started off with the chicken curry all the while praying for it to turn out good. My worry was that I might end up spoiling the reputation of Indian curry. The chicken curry was ready in an hour. I had cleared one obstacle and the next one was even bigger. Making the chapathi dough soft has always been a challenge to me and as the quantity becomes larger, the challenge gets even bigger. But to my surprise, the dough turned out to be softer than I have ever made in the past few months. Once I finished cooking, I packed the curry in 6 small boxes and two chapathis each in 6 big boxes. I was expecting 5 people to turn up and had one extra set as backup.

Preksha and me went to the park in the evening at our usual time and there were 6 people in the group ;-) Nervously I handed each one of them their boxes and received so many thanks and bows from the ever hospitable japanese that I was overwhelmed. I came back home thinking that I have to spend two days without any feedback about my cooking as I dont go to the park on saturdays and sundays. But, on friday night, I received an email from one of them who is the translator for me as she speaks wonderful English. I call her "sensei" meaning "teacher" as she teaches me a few words of japanese everyday. I read her mail thrice, for I was so happy that they were all so impressed by the hot and spicy Indian chicken curry and the soft chapathis which taste better than the naan according to her. Today being monday, I went to the park as usual and was very glad to hear from the others too their comments about the food. Also my "sensei" gave me a gift - Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. Now, they all want the recipe for the chicken curry. I am not a very bad cook after all ;-)

A Rainy Day in Japan

2006-10-05T15:52:00.000+09:00

Its another rainy day here and I have come to hate such days. Its just 5pm and the lights are already on. The sober weather seems to put off my mood too. The clothes on the line havent dried. And worst of all, me and my daughter are going to miss the evening walk to the park, yet again. Thats something we look forward to everyday, or atleast I look forward to. My 8 month old prefers the main road with the fast cars screeching on the concrete roads and huge lights of casinos blinking , to the more laid down and darker park.

There was a time though when I used to love rainy days. A time when I used to make excuses to get out of home and drench in the bangalore rain. A time when I loved the feeling of rain water running down my cheeks. A time when I used to love to see water drip from the curls on my forehead. The rains that used to start with the smell of mud and leave with the entire city washed of its impurities and greener. The rains then also meant the inevitable power cut which meant no TV and in turn gave us the time to sit on the balcony with family and sip a cup of hot coffee and munch hot bajjis.There was no worry that I could not go out and meet people because there were so many people around me, at home!! I remember I used to love to sit there on the balcony and look at people on the road rushing to get shelter from the rain. Some on bikes with their raincoats, and some drenching since they did not expect the rains. Some walking with umbrellas and how I used to love to look at the different kinds of umbrellas in different colours and be disappointed if the majority carried black umbrellas. All these seems like a distant past now though it was just 6 years ago. Just 6 years???

Here in japan, there are no impurities to be washed away by the rain and the city always looks green, rain or no rain. And umbrellas are a thing of fashion here and you can see them in all the wonderful colours of the rainbow and more. But there are no people drenching as they didnt expect the rains, since the weather forecast is the world's best. There is no smell of mud, because there is no mud on the roads. There is a balcony and I am good at making coffee and bajjis, but my 8 month old cannot eat bajjis or drink coffee, and my husband would not return from office until its dinner time, and my parents and my brother and sister are thousands of miles away. But I guess I need to take solace in the fact that life has changed in the past 6 years and my family too would be cursing the rains now, as my brother,my dad and my sister would get stuck in the traffic jam caused by the overflowing potholes and my mother would not enjoy coffee and bajjis alone.

My daughter says "Enough of taking a break, Can I have my solids for the evening please!!"

I own a piece of blog in this vast world wide web!!

2006-10-05T08:58:00.000+09:00

I finally created my blog after a lot of thought and somehow overcoming the apprehensions of my thoughts being made public. And yes, I named it "Take a Break", in the sense that I can blog only when I get a break. Break from what??? From the chores of being a mother of an 8 month old!!