Why was I hating it in the first place?

The innocent "Puttu and Kadala curry" turned out to be one example that pointed to me how beliefs can stop me from enjoying simple things in life.

Puttu and Kadala is a traditional breakfast item in Kerala and malayalis relish it. I really do not know why,  but I had developed a bad taste to puttu right early in my childhood (I might have been about 6 years then) when I ate it for the first time at my home. Maybe, at that time I found it too thick and heavy to chew and gulp down, or maybe it was just its looks, or maybe it was offered along with some thing else that I did not like... My mother stopped making puttu at home from then, since I expressed my strong dislike to this item.  Ever since (for decades), I have stayed away from the humble puttu despite getting many opportunities to eat it (outside home).

After a very long gap, the Sunday before last, my wife and my mother decided to make puttu and kadala at home for breakfast, just for a change now that my children also would like an opportunity to taste this delicacy. I decided to give it a try against my strong inner dislike towards this food. I was totally surprised - I really enjoyed eating puttu with the kadala curry - each bite of it. I ate till my stomach was full, relishing it totally. That breakfast turned out to be one of the best breakfasts I had ever had.

I ended up wondering, why did I deprive myself of this simple pleasure all this life - All because of that one strong belief (that "I will never like puttu") that took root in my mind decades ago? Maybe I could have checked it out again a few years later in my childhood, to see if I still disliked it.

All said, puttu and kadala rocks:-)

A festival of groundnuts

We had just been to the "Kadalekkai parishe" (or the groundnut festival), which is an annual festival in Bangalore. Had a great time there. Almost one kilo meter of Bull Temple Road (from near the southern side of Bull Temple to the Ramakrishna Ashram) was decorated with bright lights and it was groundnuts (also called peanuts) wherever you looked ! The street was full of small time vendors selling all varieties of groundnuts, fancy stuff, toys, food, clothes and so on. We could see brisk business happening. Hundreds of thousands of people were moving around enjoying the festival - all age groups. Finding space to walk in the road amongst a sea of people was a challenge, but we enjoyed the time. This 500 year old (I am told it started during Kempe Gowda's time) festival is entirely around groundnuts - with farmers from villages around Bangalore bringing their groundnut produce to the Bull Temple. You get to buy groundnuts (mostly with the shell) of different types - raw ones,  boiled ones, roasted ones, spicy ones, fried ones and more in other snack combinations. You cannot get enough of it. We walked the entire length of the fair soaking in the spirit.

There is sweetness in doing nothing

I saw the movie "Eat pray love" recently and the phrase "the sweetness of doing nothing" in that one caught my attention. When Liz (the main character in the film) is in Italy, an Italian man says, in Italy they enjoy the sweetness of doing nothing.

I think it really makes sense. Doing nothing is also pleasurable and sweet. Enjoying life also means enjoying those moments when we do not seem to be doing anything apparent. We are so much caught up in this game of "doing" - doing something to define our very life, doing something for a specific purpose, doing some meaningful activity (means, one that provides something material) each moment, etc. For many of us, not doing anything is taken as not living life at all - we seem quite uncomfortable at the thought of just being at a point of time without doing any apparent "activity". But, in the end, do we enjoy these activities we "do" and indirectly life? or do we get stressed out in the "doing" and also in the planning of that "doing"?

I am not suggesting that not doing anything means just being lazy. I am just saying that there is pleasure in so called "do nothings" such as, simply sitting in a sea shore and gazing into the horizon for a long time, simply looking at the fishes moving around in a pond, walking in the woods gaping at nature, or simply letting ourselves just "be". According to me, those moments are among the moments that make us feel we are "living" life.

K.S.R.T.C volvo service - comfortable

This Sunday night we traveled from Chennai to Bangalore by the K.S.R.T.C (Karnataka Road transport) Volvo bus (named Airavat). We started at 12 in the night and reached silkboard junction in Bangalore by 5 AM ! It took only 5 hours and the journey was quite comfortable. While traveling with family, I usually prefer the train. But this time I could not get the train tickets (not even the tatkal) and decided to give the bus a try - we were a bit apprehensive.
We made this decision only two days before the journey date. Without wasting further time, went to the website of KSRTC (google for ksrtc) - the ticket booking went through like a breeze in a few seconds. I was lucky; seats were available only in one volvo bus among the 20 Airavat volvo services scheduled for that day.
There were absolutely no hassles while boarding the bus at Chennai. The ride was very pleasant. The bus was in good condition and the KSRTC staff were courteous. The bus reached Bangalore quicker than the typical time taken by the train.
They now have a delighted set of customers in us :-) and I am happy to recommend this Airavat service of KSRTC to others.