Thorn in my Heel Years later after I got married, had a kid, I prayed to lord Murugan to fast for days doing prayers, wearing holy beads on neck, being bare foot with a small black shawl on shoulders. Seeing me transformed everyone were agape. Some really cared to ask how I walk barefooted on the roads of Chennai when it is raining all the way. All I had to tell was a small story. A new place, new search for home, a heart filled with happiness of bagging a new job. I was at cloud nine after getting placed in a reputed Chennai based IT MNC as recruiter for a talent acquisition team. A small bit of mine ached to leave my hometown Kancheepuram. It was exciting to move and experience this phase of life all alone without parents. I couldn’t ask for more when I with my 5 friends found a lavish 3 BHK home in the heart of Mamallapuram for only INR 10,000 per month as rent. It was pure luck. Any day, for such a flat, the nominal rent was INR 40,000 per month. The house owners were old people wh...
The Hair-loom My grandpa Ramakrishnan had a floor mill. The mill had a Shikakai (seeka) grinder as well. Dried Shikakai, Amla, Ritha, hibiscus etc. were ground together for washing our hair. Those days people seldom used shampoos. This powder was part of every household in the KGF town. Every Sunday morning was a hair bath day. Panjamani Atthai* or Panjattey worked in our floor mill and washed our hair every Sunday with seeka. Being the youngest, I was the first in queue followed by Rohini akka* (Chittappa’s daughter), Madhangi akka (Gowri Atthai’s daughter) and Selvi akka (Mathi Atthai’s daughter). After a long hair wash with sneezes and burning eyes, the hair was rolled up in bun with thin towel. Next, it got fumed with Sambrani smoke. Then, I drank kashayam* as shikakai cools the body and I caught cold easily. All of us sat in a row to get a small plait on our head crown leaving the rest of the hair free called as thenneer jada*. It resembled the flow of a water s...
Title : Sethji Author : Shobhaa De Published : 2012 Read on: 15 th Nov, 20 The book blazes the lives of socialites – politician, businessmen and people from film industry by torching their spiteful souls whose lust and power greed runs flip-flop on a threadbare marital relationship. It’s a tragic satire, a realistic fiction, an irony which highlights to what extent a life could droop to achieve the ultimate heights perceived. The story builds with description of characters associated with Sethji intertwined with Kautilya’s Arthashastra. In Hindi, Seth means a rich person and Ji is added to symbolize respect. The second most important character which portrays a bigger role than Sethji is his daughter-in-law (Bahu in Hindi). At times, it seems that the story is more about the bahu. Kautilya or Chanakya or Vishnugupta authored ancient Indian political treatise. The lifestyles, thought process and hypocrisy of each character is brilliantly elaborated which gives...
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