One of my Signature Dishes, which is highly rated! – Fruit & Nut Bread Pudding.

The attached pictures are of the Fruit & Nut Bread Pudding I just made. The purpose of this post is not only to inform that this Signature Dish of mine is very popular among my family and friends; but that this time I made it with lot of help from my granddaughter, Ch. Sudhiksha…thanks to her. She helped me throughout the preparation. As I buttered each side of a bread slice and cut it into triangles, she picked them up and  carefully laid them in layers in the baking dish, spreading fruit and nut perfectly on each layer. You can see this in the attached photographs. She also helped me in preparation of Milk-Butter-Sugar-Egg mixture with all special ingredients like Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Bay leaf, Vanilla and so on. I appreciate her interest and enthusiasm to learn and help, thanks to her. This time everyone appreciated her too.   

Today is International Mother Language Day – 21st February 2015.

International Mother Language Day is an observance held annually on 21st February worldwide to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was first announced by UNESCO on 17th November 1999. Its observance was also formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution establishing 2008 as the International Year of Languages.

International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since 2000 February to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. The date represents the day in 1952 when students from different educational institutes such as Dhaka University, Jagannath University, Dhaka Medical College were demonstrating for recognition of their language, Bengali, as one of the two national languages of the then Pakistan, when many were shot and killed by police in Dhaka - the present capital of Bangladesh.

It is estimated that there are 6,500 spoken languages in the world. Of these 13 are the most populous languages like Mandarin, English and Hindi. Around 2,000 of the world languages have less than 1,000 speakers and many are facing a similar fate.

Coming to my mother tongue Telugu, there are many Telugu people who cannot write or read Telugu. There are some who cannot even speak Telugu. However strong the reasons might be for this situation, it does not sound good.

English is a very important and a must language in today’s world and naturally our society has taken to it very seriously and our education system is mostly in English. Mastery in English will certainly help in ones career and in our society which speaks different languages and English serves as a common language to connect them. But to preserve our roots, culture and the language of our parents we must learn and respect our mother tongue. While amidst our family and relatives where there is no need to speak in English we must speak in our mother tongue. Some parents consider it stylish and posh to speak in English even within the family and among relatives. They even force their babies to utter their first words in English and continue to speak only in English, deliberately avoiding mother tongue. I think this is not necessary, mother tongue spoken mostly in the family, helps children in learning other languages faster and better. Like us, our children will also learn English much more effectively if they continue to develop their mother tongue at the same time, so they can become bilingual and as they grow multilingual…like us.

‘Lingashtakam and Mangala Harathi’ by Ch. Sudhiksha and her friends on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri Festival.

The above videos are of my granddaughter, Ch. Sudhiksha and her friends rendering Lingashtakam and Mangala Harathi on 17th February 2015, on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri Festival and Laksha Deepothsavam at Ramalayam Temple, Jawahar Nagar, Secunderabad. And the Video and photographs at the end of this article are of Ch. Sudhiksha and her friends rendering five Keerthanas and one Mangala Harathi during Navarathri Festivites at the same Ramalayam Temple, on 26th September 2014.

Children love music and to sing, we must definitely encourage this interest. Teaching Classical Music to children is very important. It plays a very big role in the development of a child. The guidelines and decorum of Classical Music discipline children and make them practice and strive for excellence. And learning Music also improves various skills like thinking, language, motor coordination and understanding emotions.

All said and done, they obtain divine blessing and they entertain us and the world, spread joy all around and win everyone’s admiration for themselves, their teachers and their parents’.

Happy Valentine’s Day Celebration! – 2015.

We had a nice evening today, on the occasion of Valentine’s Day. It was a very happy occasion that lasted until well after dinner. Every one enjoyed the party as you can see in the attached pictures.

Celebrations make life more enjoyable and fun. Apart from our very own religious and traditional celebrations round the year, there are birthdays, national holidays, other religions festivals, family get-togethers and many commemorative days of foreign origin that we get to enjoy. For example Mother’s Day, Women’s Day and Valentine’s Day are all adding up to our own festivals for girls and women like Rakhi Pournami. Many such celebrations spread love and affection and give as a special opportunity to express our thanks. Celebrations are very important and without them we cannot enjoy life fully.

I do not know whether any other country has so much to celebrate. In the past even without foreign influence India had much to celebrate. It is said that we had a festival in India somewhere or the other, every day of the year, 365 days in a year! For instance there was a celebration on the day of commencing ploughing, on the occasion of procuring new implements or equipment, one for planting day, one for weeding and then for harvesting. Many are now neglected or forgotten or observed without much enthusiasm. But thanks to newer occasions we get to celebrate (additionally), so that we can enjoy, express our love, affection and gratitude to those so close to us.