In the past few days India has witnessed the most shocking terror attack in Mumbai. It really makes us wonder whether we can walk on the streets or be in a movie theatre or a restaurant or railway station or our home in India without being blown up into pieces or shot dead. My relatives are also there in Mumbai and by god’s grace they are safe. But it’s really horrifying to know that they are always living in a state of fear and uncertainty , where you cannot tell whether your loved one will come back home from work or school or college to share all that happened in a day and be with you..... Yes,I know life is always uncertain but this state of fear and uncertainty is unbearable. India is now listed among the 20 most dangerous places to visit, where the other countries in the list are Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Thailand, Mexico, Lebanon etc. The most frustrating part of all this is the fact that State Government of Maharashtra was warned of these attacks from March onwards , but still no action was taken towards it. It sounds like a cliché if I say government didn’t do much to help. But now it’s high time they get up and do something to protect our beautiful India.

Recently I stumbled upon this you tube video which talks about the meaning of the word Arangettam (‘Arangettram’)Arangettam??? - different views

I started thinking whether I made a mistake by choosing this title for my very first post (I like to dream that people from all parts of world are reading it ;)…of course there is no harm in dreaming...) Most of the people who doesn’t know the word seem to imagine it as some type of spider or insect or eight legged animal(quite absurd!). All these doubts and this video took me to my beautiful childhood days. I had the privilege to learn dance from a young age since my house is near to the famous Kerala Kalamandalam. It follows the old Gurukul method. I couldn’t attend this system, but was lucky enough to learn dance from very good teachers who graduated from Kalamandalam. In the initial years we study about the different mudras, bhavas (rasa), adavus (basic steps). Once we attain some level of perfection in all these areas, we go ahead and start learning beautiful compositions. After years of study, once the Guru (teacher) feels his/her student is capable of performing for long hours in front of a big audience we get to do our Arangettam. It is the solo debut performance where he/she gets to showcase her talent in front of a big audience for the first time displaying all that she has learned all these years.

I was very lucky to have my Arangettam done at the famous Guruvayoor temple. It’s always very difficult to get bookings there and might take one year to get a slot for one group. We finally got it in April of 1997 and all the students learning under my Guru (teacher), ready for Arangettam, were selected and each allocated with 2/3 performances. I had two performances in BharataNatyam and one in Mohiniyattom. We got to select our costumes and jewellery. I got two beautiful dresses one in yellow with maroon border and one in peacock blue color. Friends and relatives of the young 'dancers' came and every one was busy with one or another - Rehearsals, Make up, arrangements (full of excitement!!!)…That’s when we realized that some other dance group is also given almost same time slot as ours. A big argument started between the two groups. Both the groups had so many students anxiously waiting for their performance in front of a very big audience for the first time.Finally both agreed to cut down on some of their performances. Since I had 3, one was removed from my list (there goes my peacock blue dress!). Still I was happy that I got to wear two different types of attires. ( Mohiniyattom has the most enchanting , beautiful dress according to me...).

After a lot of commotions our dance program started and I finished one of mine (Mohiniyattom) and started getting ready for the next. There was a beautiful spirit and innocence between children as they were helping each other with make up, dress and other things where as some of the elders were pushing their kids to first finish their own make up before helping out others(Guru is busy on stage and back stage is always full of commotion!). My second dance was the last in our program list. Finally when my turn came conflicts started between the two groups again and they decided to start off theirs right then. I was shocked and sad to learn that I won’t be able to perform this one also. On the stage, behind the curtains a big fight ensued between the parents and others. Both sides were not ready to give up at all. I was standing in a corner helpless (all made up and ready!). Finally it seemed to go no where and I couldn’t control myself and started crying (What else can a 14 yr old do?). Some body in the other group saw me crying in one corner in full make up and finally decided to give up and let me do it !(Tears have great powers :D). So after a dramatic stage fight and tears, I finally got to perform my dance with my worn out make up in front of Lord Sri Krishna.

But I stopped dance soon after, as I was going to 10th std (Yes, you are supposed to concentrate for board exams without any other distractions…!!). That was the biggest mistake I ever did. I didn’t get a chance to perform on any other stages there after and that was the end of my classical dance life. If there is another life, I would love to learn classical dance and music as they are precious knowledge one can ever get in their life. According to me, blessed are those who get to learn and perform a lot in the field of Indian classical dance and classical music…..


~Luv
Resh

It all started off like this. “Why don’t you do some thing productive than Orkut and You tube when you have time?”, “How do you spend time at home?”, “Don’t you get bored of sitting at home?” These are some of the questions faced by a person who is on leave and sitting at home in US as dependent. All these questions resulted in my decision to take American driving license. Being a proud owner of an Indian driving license (taken 8 years ago!), I was more than ready to do this. I applied for an appointment and started reading the DMV book earnestly. I got a lot of previous year question papers and realized that they just repeat the same questions in a different order (Sounds like studying for University exam right?). I went to the DMV office like a student ready for exam and after finishing all the formalities took the test. As I suspected, all questions got repeated from previous papers. Still I managed to fail two or three questions, but came out happily with permission to drive along with a licensed driver. Of course the licensed driver being my hubby, I was more than happy.

On the next weekend we decided to start off the driving lessons. Having taken driving license in India after all those ‘H’ and clutch and gear changes this should be a small kid’s job (My stupid thoughts!!!). Brimming with full confidence we started off in a small parking place near to Carlsbad City Library. I was doing a reverse to take the vehicle out of the parking place and to move on to the road. As per the instructions, I put reverse gear and took the vehicle back and next second stepped on the accelerator to zoom ahead. Instead of going forward our car zoomed behind towards the Lexus, a devil in disguise!!(What else can you expect when you are on reverse gear??) . Thinking about our bank account, we called all the gods and our vehicle stopped just 3 inches away from Lexus. My husband had his first heart attack (he doesn’t have a hand brake to control me....totally helpless!!).

Hiding my embarrassment and still thinking of proving myself in front of him, I changed the gear took the leg off from brake and moved ahead. Our car started to move smoothly, except that it was moving at the pace of a snail! Still positive I raised the speed and moved forward. When we were about to reach a stop signal (I didn’t notice of course:)), he asked me to stop the car. In that moments excitement I pressed on accelerator with full force instead of the brake and our car zoomed ahead with pride at the stop signal.. (second heart attack!). My confidence level dropped considerably. Instead of proving myself I am giving him panic attacks. Still we decided to go ahead, and that’s when it happened. Someone frustrated with my pace, shouted from behind our car “Get out of my way you*#@$”. This time I had the heart attack. Everything went blank and I could feel the heat in my face and before any thing happened tears started rolling over my cheeks (yes, I am blessed with very good tear gland!). I decided to stop driving at that moment, but had to move ahead before I get showered with all the 'bad' words in US from the frustrated person behind our car. I somehow managed to do that, but stopped at the nearest possible place and moved into the comfortable passenger seat with a red embarrassed face. That put an end to my driving lessons.


My hubby's precious Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor...Still in one piece(after all my adventures!!).He takes so much pride in this vehicle and sometimes makes me wonder if he loves it more than me!!! After all these incidents and panic attacks, he still wants me to take license before going back to India. I am still thinking ……. (Should I or Should I not?)

(Here is the link for a hilarious clip on what not to do during your driving lessons:D (in malayalam)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggI__8_lw7c)


~Luv
Resh

After an unexpected start in blogging, I got so engrossed with its look, feel and the comments from people reading it, that I forgot about cooking dinner. As I said before it’s quite intoxicating! My husband who had been very encouraging and happy with the thought of me blogging, didn’t seem to be that ‘enthu’ after my first blogging show. To be exact his expression made it clear the meaning of the Malayalam proverb –“vadi koduthu adi vangi" (Somebody plz help me here with the proper proverb for this situation in English!!). I know I can’t blame him as the reason behind this dullness is the thought whether he will be deprived of home cooked food for the coming days because of his wife’s new found interest. Although he gave me looks and actions to let me know that, he is very hungry, I didn’t seem to notice. I also seem to ignore the sounds from my stomach who was trying in its own way to make me aware of dinner time. Finally I came to my senses when my poor hubby gave up his attempts and started heating the Pulissery (whatever was left over in fridge!!) and Bread. Yes…..the side effects of blogging. Finally we ended up having Bread and Pulissery. Now I can hear all the “what’s!” and exclamations from every one reading this. But let me tell you Bread and Pulissery is a great combo, especially when you are very hungry;D. I know it sounds weird, but try it out once and let me know!

Having said about the side effects of blogging, my husband after realizing his mistake has established a golden rule between us for a good healthy, happy family life - Cooking comes first and blogging only after that!!! To justify this, i thought of posting this Mambazha Pulissery recipe. I don’t offer anything new or secret in this recipe (except my love of course:)).For those who are not from Kerala, it is a curry made with ripe mango, coconut and yogurt . It’s an all time favorite of Malayalees with a unique combination of sweet and sour taste.

Ingredients
Ripe Mango – 1 (I used a big one.)
Green chilly – 1 or 2 (slit into four halves. Use according to your spice level).
Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
Red Chilly Powder – 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Water
Curry leaves

Grinding
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Jeera
Green Chilly -1
Yogurt/Curd - 1/2 cup

Seasoning
Mustard seeds
Fenugreek seeds (Uluva)
Curry leaves
Dry Red Chilly

Method

How can i stop myself from entering this attractive blogging world??? Today everyone is in a blogging spree. Yeah..why not? It lets you talk about anything you wish and it will be read by people whom you have never met from different parts of the world, that's quite interesting..isn't it? In fact, blogging for me, is a very nice platform to express our views and thoughts loud in front of a big audience. That sounds almost like public speaking. Most of us may not agree with this point of view.I am a person with lot of stage fear. It always intimidates me to go and speak loudly and confidently in front of a group of people be it 10 or 100.Hence i would like to think of blogging as a public speaking experience which inspires me more to enter into this intoxicating world.

Now coming back to this wish for blogging, initially it was an idea of blogging my dishes. I am not a great cook nor do i have a lot of experience in cooking. But people seem to enjoy some of the dishes prepared by me where as some are utter disasters.But still i love cooking, hence with my hubby's support i thought of starting a cooking blog. Feeling thrilled i started surfing for the cooking blogs to get some ideas. That's when i was taken aback by the vast number of blogs already in place, flourishing in every which way with beautiful skilled photographs captured with DSLRs (which made me wonder if having DSLR is one criteria for a cooking blog!!) and excellent recipes one can ever think of. That put an end to my desire to start the cooking blog. I know i am not being very sporty here. But to be frank,it kind of scared me. But still the wish to blog remained in some corner of my heart. Now that many of my friends started blogging ,my wish to blog which was comfortably hidden some where inside me has resurfaced again.But i dropped the idea of starting the cooking blog and thought of writing one which will open the doors into my little world.I enjoy this idea more. There is no limitation to the topics. But still i want to include cooking posts also to satisfy my love for cooking. With all these thoughts, I have decided to call this blog - My Little World. On that note, I welcome every one into my world and hope you enjoy every bit of it.

I would like to start this blog by devoting a prayer to Lord Ganesha. This is the Gayatri for Lord Vighneshwara,one who removes all vighnas or obstacles.

"OM Ekadantaya Vidmahe
Vakkratundaya Dheemahi
Tanno Danti Prachodayat"