The SKR World

The internet is changing our lives one way or the other. Look at our lingo. The change to it has been drastic. Sometimes I wonder if we human will talk in ASCII codes in future. The sentences we speak will look like 10001101000111100101010100010000111101.

We tend to use the internet lingo like cya, ttyl8r (talk to you later), cool changed to kool or kooool, OK abbreviated to k, why to y and the list is unending. Where are we heading to? I wonder. I had to write a formal letter to one of my teachers (he used to take English classes for us) who not aquatinted with the world of internet and computers. I tried typing it on the computer. I am posting the first few lines of that letter

Dear sir,

Wth ur blessin n luv I m doin f9. I hope everythin is f9 thre as well.

I m vry gld to infrm u…………..

I was really scared to see the words on the screen. So I planned to write it down on paper as I was writing to a teacher who taught me English literature. Attempt one on paper was not successful. I just made a ball of it and basket it in the “USE ME” bin. Second attempt was something like rough draft which finally got its shape in 3^rd attempt. I discovered my handwriting was not that smooth as it used to be. Finally I did post the letter with a Rs. Five stamp on envelop. This left me with the thought, will our natural language last for long when so many people in so many chat rooms across the globe are using the internet lingo (which has no rigid grammar) express themselves and its capable enough to provide an efficient medium of communication for the internet literates.

Since then I am trying to type and write English with appropriate syntax and semantics.

This was the first thought that came in my mind after I met the reptile. I was heading towards bank thinking about something that I am not able to recall right now. Suddenly I noticed a snake flicking its tongue just came out of the green bush. The distance was not more than two feet. I backed away and at the same time my heard was pounding. I am not sure which reaction was the first. I saw it was shining as if it just had an oil bath. It was around two or three feet long. I guess there was a proper communication between me and the serpent as it returned to the bush again. After a thanks giving I moved ahead. I don’t know what was it thinking but I saw the snake seeing me from the bush (probably). As I moved ahead I was trying to recall this story by Khuswant Singh and thinking was that a good crisis management or just the luck!!!

Location: SKR's food lab. Cochin
Time: 20:30:00 hrs
Date: 15/Sept/2005

Inspired by my last experiment of not making food that bad I tried my hands on veggies this time. I tried making mom's flavored Aallo bhujiya (Fried Potato) this time.

Experiment time: 15 minutes.

Ingredients
Potato (cut in pieces), Onion (cut in pieces), Garlic (chopped), Green Chilly (small pieces), Chilly Powder, Salt, Turmeric, Oil (Mustard)

Process:
Heat the oil. Fry potato, onion, garlic, green chilly pieces and some turmeric powder. When it’s half cooked add chilly powder and salt according to taste. Fry it for some more time. And eatable Aallu bhujiya is ready.

The food was good but still lacked mom’s flavor. You are different mom. Miss your hand made food.

Happy Onam.

I can hear the bang of crackers outside expressing all the joys and happiness. This is my final year of my studies. I am not sure if I will ever get a chance to visit this place durning Onam.

Near to my house there is a famous Vishnu Temple - Vamanamoorthy Temple (we call it Trikkakara Temple). The temple is related to the Bamana Awatar of Lord Vishnu. The festival of Onam is celebrated with all the grandeur - Decorated elephants, drums, decorations... Everything looks so perfect and divine. They serve 'Onasadya' for two days.

The Food - "Onasadya"
'Onasadya' or the grand feast of Onam consists of tice as its main course with a number of side dishes such as curries, upperies (fried dishes), pappadams (round crisp flour cakes), uppilittathu (pickles), chammanthi (chutney), payasams and prathamans (puddings) arranged in a definite order on a banana leaf laid in a particular way.

The Elephant

Elephants are the most attractive part of Onam celebration. The huge creature loaded with all the decorations. I just wonder how the Mahaut controls the huge creature. I was watching them astonished. One of my friend who was more observant helped me see the intelligence of animals. He made me notice the way they eat. That particular elephant picked up a whole bunch of coconut tree leaves by help of his trunk cleaned it and separated the leaves from the stem. He ate it only after when he was ensured there is no soil on the leaf. I was just amazed.

The People

The people of Kerala, I always found them friendly and very much attached to their culture. If you go and ask them they will explain everything to you with a smile on their face. Especially during Onam I saw the men in “Mundu” and the women in "Kerala Sari". The dress is fabulous. Fascinated by the dress code I tried “Mundu” twice but found it less secure in public places.

Movie: Salam Namaste
Director: Siddharth Raj Anand
Year : 2005
Genre : Comedy / Romance

After reviews of my friends, both positive and negative, I decided to watch this movie and I had fun watching it.

The first half of the movie is Tom and Jerry show you would love it. Saif , architect cum chef , is Mr. Late and works for a restaurant. Preity Zinta is a medical student and a part time RJ in the Salam Namaste Radio station. The movie becomes little dull in the middle.

The movie is all about love and the adjustment that the partners should make. The second half of Salam Namaste reminds me of the English movie “Nine Months” (1995) directed by Chris Columbus. I don’t know if the critics missed this movie.

The songs of this movie are good and you would love the beaches of Australia. Overall the movie is good and worth watching.

Movie: Sleepless in Seattle
Director: Nora Ephron
Year : 1993
Genre: Comedy /Romance /Drama

This is a romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. The plot is an average one and full of all sweet and romantic thoughts.

Tom Hanks is a widower and has a son. The life of Tom Hanks was going fine until one day his son calls up to a late night radio show “Sleepless in Seattle”. Meg Ryan hears this interview of Tom and his son. She fell in love with Tom. Now there are two major issues.

1. Meg Ryan is already engaged and
2. They live in distant places.

After all the incidence and co-incidences they finally meet on the top of Empire State Building.

If you love romantic comedy you must try this out.

Movie: The Dreamcatcher
Director:Lawrence Kasdan
Year : 2003
Genre: Sci-fi/Horror/Thriller

This is story of four friends and their adventure to stop the alien forces. They are gifted with special powers. Moreover they can communicate using their thoughts, some kind of telepathy or something.Initially the movie is slow but as it proceeds one finds more action and horror making the movie interesting.

This is a good movie but consumes a lot of head. Many of the things goes unexplained in the movie especially the character Duddits who is challenged. This character transforms himself into alian species when attacked and gets rid of the predator. How and why... no one knows. The movie gives no clue whether the four friends already had the power or Duddit gave it to them.

The movie is based om the famous novel "The Dreamcatcher" by Steven King. I guess it was difficult for Mr. Lawrence Kasdan to accomodate the full flavour of the novel in the stipulated time limit. So will get more details from the novel itself.

Pokkalam - This is the floral arrangement made in every house in Kerala during Onam. The one in picture was made during Onam celebration in our college.
Photo Credit: Parvathy (pokkalam.jpg)
Post by SKR

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I am a food freek. So there was another attraction for me. The special food that was served as part of celebration. The there were varityof stuffs which included two types of the world famous Paysam. Man that was awesome.

Location: SKR's food lab. Cochin
Time : 21:00:00 hrs
Date : 09/Sept/2005

I am a food freakbut am too lazy to cook. Stuck in a very awkward situation I had to enter my food lab. It was 9 PM and I was very hungry. Had no option but do it myself. I really missed my mom and the associated luxury of having food on the table with no pain.

This was my first time in kitchen with chicken. With so many questions on my mind like, Shall I or not? How will it be? etc I started the cooking. Oil Onion Ginger Garlic.. tried to recall all the necessary ingredients and started to cook. I was not able to locate two of them so continued with the available stuffs.

It was 9:20 PM and my stomach was aching with hunger. Finally this was time to taste/test my experiment. Not bad SKR.. atleast for the first timer. Hahaha

Thanks to mom and her recipe. Hope to better it the next time

This is my first writeup in the bloggers... I am jus tryin to get in habbit of writing some stuffs.... What is bloggin all about.. I often wonder... An open diary or sometjign else... Well i am here to find out answers to my questions.

The best part is I am on vacation.. so hav some time to discover...