Christmas Dinner - 2012.

Memorable pictures of a

cheerful Christmas evening

and a hearty dinner

with family:

Christmas Greetings!

WISH

YOU ALL

A VERY HAPPY,

HAPPY! 

CHRISTMAS!!

Srikanth’s Sixth Vykunta Ekadashi Darshanam of Lord Venkateshwaraswamy at Tirumala.

Srikanth with his friends Venu, Praveen and Ravi at Lord Venkateshwaraswamy Temple Q-complex, Tirumala, on 23rd December morning for Vykunta Ekadashi Darshanam of the Lord. This is (sixth!) six years of Vykunta Ekadashi darshanam of Lord Venkateshwaraswamy at Tirumala for Srikanth and his friends, THANKS to Venu. They also had Vykunta Dwadashi darshanam on 24th December 2012 and returned home today for Christmas.

When will these evils end in India?

GOD! PLEASE PUT SOME SENSE INTO OUR GOVERNMENT, POLITICIANS AND WRONG DOERS IN OUR SOCIETY TO OVERCOME THE PROBLEMS THE PEOPLE OF OUR COUNTRY ARE FACING.

First Of The Three Expected New Babies Has Arrived!

On 26th August 2012, I announced in this column: “Good News! Three New Babies! Are on their way to join our family!” Click on the following link to see the article - http://srisrilara.blogspot.in/2012/08/good-news-three-new-babies-are-on-their.html.

Today I am happy to announce that the first of the three babies has arrived. My nephew, Sridhar and niece-in-law, Swathi are blessed with a baby girl today morning at 6:40 AM at Fernandez Hospital, Hyderabad. We spent some time with them at the hospital. Mother and baby are fine. The baby is very cute. We are all extremely happy. We wish the young parents and the baby all the best. May God bless them richly. 

Don’t worry about Doomsday rumour.

Don’t worry about Doomsday rumour,

That is about 21st December.

Don’t worry about anything,

Even about your heart; till it stops beating!

Long Live facebook in India.

I HATE SUCH POLITICIANS.

Politicians like Mr. MT (Empty), appear regularly on TV. They can never answer questions sincerely, honestly and in a straight forward manner. Discussions are useless with them. They behave just like mad barking dogs.

Corruption, poverty, water and electricity problems and every other problem around us is normal to them. They are never at fault and act like dictators to silence us. I hate them, so I am explaining my views through this note. Long live facebook in India.

Athithi Devo Bhava! - A letter to Mohammad Afzal Guru.

What if you have attacked our Parliament on this day 11 years ago, tried to kill our MPs, killed security personnel and got sentenced to be hanged till you die?

Our brave security forces have captured you to be punished and our Courts have condemned you to be hanged, but as a guest of Indian National Congress that is the Government of India you are Safe and Sound. They have taken good care of you for eleven years, till date. I am sure they will take care of you forever and ever. Do not feel that you are in a Prison, it is a Guest House made for you. Please continue to lead your relaxed and peaceful life with good Medicare, books, music, songs, prayers, exercise, walks and three meals a day, with of course occasional homemade snacks from family and friends.

‘Athithi Devo Bhava’! Have another wonderful year.

-N. Raghu.     

12/12/12 - Celebratory Outing!

The above clipping is of my wife’s status update on facebook, regarding our outing today. The posted text is as follows, followed by photographs:

“Today, 12th December is my birthday according to my School records! But my actual birthday is on 4th December. I am told that my maternal grandmother’s brother, Sri Govindachary Thaatha, coordinated my admission into Kindergarten Class, at St. Anthony’s Girls High School, Secunderabad, and at that time somehow my date of birth got wrongly entered into school records as 12th December.

Today on 12/12/12, to celebrate this interesting date and also my ‘School Records Birthday’ we went on an outing to a scenic place and here are those photographs:

Mrs. N. Lalitha Raghu.”

HAVE A NICE DAY – 12/12/12!

Have A Nice Day – 12/12/12! Today marks a unique moment in time, at 12 minutes and 12 seconds; past noon, the time on Wristwatches, Clocks and all gadgets showing time would read 12/12/12 12:12:12. Many people all over the world are finding a number of ways to celebrate 12/12/12. I hope you have planned one!

We have planned some shopping followed by a celebratory lunch!

I hope the day will be wonderful for all us. 

World Human Rights Day - 10th December 2012.

We are enduring a serious humanitarian crisis brought on by foreign rulers and their uniformed goons and of course few traitors from my homeland. On this day I pray for deliverance from this inhuman environment. 

Bluffers, Deceivers, Rogues, DO NOT PROLONG T-DECISION.

Bitterness of T-people is growing like a deadly monster and their anger like fire. Three years have passed since the announcement of formation of separate Telangana State (9th December 2009) and the uprising of the villains against the decision – the very politicians who supported the formation of Telangana State in two General elections of 2004 and 2009 and have come to power on this plank, and stood by Telangana even up to minutes before the announcement turned into villains and protested the decision. The timid rulers buckled and are proclaiming that discussions are going on to arrive at a solution. Three years! and this drama of false assurances and confusing statements are continuing and there is no change in the misrule and ill-treatment of this area and its people.

The ire of the local people has made the deceiving politicians and their political parties eat dust in every bye-election that took place since 2009, they have lost not only elections but even deposits, what a shame. With general elections in 2014, every political party once again has started giving tall speeches and assurances that they support or have no objection to the formation of Separate Telangana. The people of Telangana now know the true colours of the ever deceiving politicians, if these politicians do not unite and mend their ways to strive and achieve Telangana State, they shall be routed out in the next general elections and hopefully the hypocritical dynastic rule. And maybe then lessons would be learnt and the ensuing new equations and powers will uphold the need and promise of separate Telangana State. 

"Cheema Chintakayalu"

My previous post was on "Gaygulu", a tasty tuber of the Palmyra Palm tree. I mentioned in that article that the availability of "Gaygulu" has become very scarce in the Twin Cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Having written of this, I remembered another childhood favourite of mine – Cheema Chintakayalu also called Seema Chintakayalu, which has become extinct in our city and perhaps in all urban areas. My children have not tasted it so far! Cheema Chinta Chettu is the name of a tree and Cheema Chintakaya or kayalu are the fruits of this tree. The fruit is actually a pod; that contains white sweetish edible pulp over black seeds. The pulp has a very distinct and nice taste, which I have been missing for a very long. At the top of this article, you can see pictures of Cheema Chintakaya trees and of raw and ripe Cheema Chintakaya pods.

Cheema Chintakaya trees are huge thorny trees. The trees grow up to a height of 15 metres and their scientific name is Pithecellobium dulce. Several years ago in my childhood, we had three Cheema Chintakaya Chetlu (trees) in the large compound of the Company Bungalow allotted to my father, at Kothagudem. But after a few years, we got the trees felled as packs of monkeys were causing a lot of nuisance on the trees and in our compound and there was a constant visitation by urchins who pelted stones at the trees to pluck the pods and sneaked into our compound to collect them and even climbed the trees to pluck them. This was difficult to prevent as a Watchman was posted to our house only for the night watch.

In English, the trees are referred to as Madras Thorn and Manila Tamarind and the fruits as Monkey Pod and Black Bead Sweet. And in Hindi, the fruits are known as Jalebi Imli or Ganga Imli and as Tetul in Bengali, Kodukkappuli in Tamil, Vilayati Chinch in Marathi and as Seeme Hunase in Kannada.

As these are wild trees, I am sure people in villages still get to enjoy Cheema Chintakayalu. But here in the cities, we have to live with old memories. This is happening with a number of other wild fruits, vegetables and greens. All tasty and nutritious but in the name of modernity or lack of knowledge the demand is gradually falling and they are vanishing from the cities.

“Gaygulu”

“Gaygulu”, pictures of which you see at the top of this article are edible tuber. Baked, grilled or boiled, they are tasty and very nutritious. Though it is still a very popular snack in rural areas, its availability in Hyderabad has become very scarce. I have grown up tasting it as often as possible. But nowadays, it is not easily available in the city and I am seriously looking for them. And today when I saw them for sale on a pushcart, I pulled over and bought two small bundles of Gaygulu.

Gaygulu is the Telugu name for the tuber which is the fleshy stems attached to the roots of Palmyra Palm trees. I understand that they are popular in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu too and are known there as Panai Kizhangu or Panamkizhangu. If you have not yet tasted Gaygulu, you must try; you will find them interesting and tasty but with a lot of straw that you have to chew and spit out. After all, they are tuber-like Potatoes, and who doesn’t love Potatoes.

You may click on the following link to read my exhaustive article on Palmyra Palm trees, fruits and its various by-products like Gaygulu:

http://srisrilara.blogspot.in/2012/05/summer-reminds-me-of-palmyra-palm.html