Clive Avenue

Clive Avenue

We have this talk in our family once every two years when one of the cousins working in the U.S.A. comes down for a customary 4 week trip to india. (They use every alternate year's leave to visit "home" and the other years to take a vacation in Europe or some tourist destination). They do miss home,the food, the people, the festivals, the language, the concerts but when asked if they want to return for good they are not sure. They worry about the "Quality of life" - the work culture, the discriminations,the traffic, the power cuts, difficulties...

Dreams come true.

Dreams come true.

As a five year old if he had been asked what he would have wanted to do on his 25th birthday, he would have said " I want to be in some cricketing nation like west Indies, preferably spending time with...

give them your love but not your thoughts

give them your love but not your thoughts

Last month when I spoke to her parents, we spoke of her as the "little one".-"How's the little one?" I asked-"oh as playful as ever. We still do not know when she will get serious about her studies or anything" replied her mother.- "It is alright" I said indulgently, for this is a child I had known from birth and loved like my own. I said, "let her take her time to grow up. There is always the time to take life seriously."And you can imagine the scene among her family and friends when the "child" decided to get married at 19 to someone who seemed...

Weekend in Pondy

Weekend in Pondy

Spent the weekend in Pondicherry. Could not help being charmed by the architecture and the odd blend of French and Tamil culture and the peace that one felt as soon as one was inside the Ashram. All this...

finger licking, lip smacking satisfaction

finger licking, lip smacking satisfaction

Are you,like me, put off by the sheer number of implements placed on a dinner table at formal parties or high class restaurants? Do you lose your appetite when you are forbidden to eat with your fingers? Are you from a culture that believes in tasting food and expressing appreciation of it audibly and visibly? Do you crave to lick your fingers after a nice spicy meal?Then you will love this delicious piece from "The importance of Living by Lin Yutang:"The Chinese idea of happiness is,as I have noted elsewhere, being "warm, well filled, dark and...

Honoroble to fail than to cheat

Honoroble to fail than to cheat

When I list the values and principles that are most important to me even today, I realise that most of them were formed in my adoloscence. These were not given as abstract ideals to be followed but one saw them in the personality of people one interacted with - mostly the teachers and friends in high school and close family members. I look around and find that today schools have become more like very efficient training grounds in the various fields of knowledge;Caught in this hectic process,overloaded teachers have no time to concentrate on character...