Saturday, March 30, 2013

EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH PREPARED FOR MY DAUGHTER -TOPIC - NATURE AND MYSELF

Happy to share extracts from the speech that I  prepared for my daugther for her elocution competition at the Church Sunday School. She bagged the second place for this. This was her first rendezvous with public speaking.


Mother Nature is in fact a mother for all of us too. Like the animals, birds, trees and other beings, am also part of nature.Everyday there are numerous children being born into this earth, into the lap of Mother Nature.Each one of these births, come out of nature's longing for itself, a longing to see another good human being, who would preserve and protect it.




When we look around and observe, we see some human promote scientific and technological development. In the process they invade nature and its pristine privacy.But then there are some humans who ensure that nature is always preserved.

Mother Nature teaches us many lessons. One of them is about the strength in meekness.We depend on nature for many things. We build our houses on it, live on it and dump all our waste on it too. Everyday, most of the human feet stamp this earth, while they walk. Nature bears all this so patiently, while still supplying all our needs. In this meekness of nature lies its real strength to give us more and more inspite of all that we take out of it. The Bible says in Mathew (Ch5.V5), " Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth".

The next lesson is on humility. Look at the beautiful paddy fields. The flowering weeds that produce nothing, grow tall and stand out in these fields, displaying their beauty in all pride. In a few days, they are but dead and gone. The paddy grows and when the grains sprout, it stoops down. It is the one that produces worth, but it is also the one that bows down in humility. The Bible says in Luke (Ch18,V14), "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted".

The third lesson is on the difficult path that leads to good. Look at the birds and their little fledglings. Days after the baby is born, the mother pushes it slowly out of the nest, prompting it to fly. The mother knowing the risk, prods the little one, so that it learns to fly quickly. The Almighty also, in a similar way, puts us on a difficult path, many times, for our own good. He always knows what's best for us, although we never realize.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

PUDHINA PARATHA

I found this paratha to be really good for my palate and definitely a great change for me, after being with chappatis for many years :)) I am sure you will like it too. So please give it a try. It goes well with chicken curry, chicken fry or peas masala.

Given below are the steps which I took to go about....rather we took as I was into a supporting role while my wife made her first attempt :))
Next weekend I will be taking an independent jump into this.

Prepare dough from three cups of whole wheat flour.

Heat a small amout of oil (2 teaspoons) in a pan in low flame. Drop a small pinch of black gram into it and allow it to turn pale brown. Slice five small onions, three pods of garlic and one dry red chilly slit or green chilly into pieces and drop them into the pan. Sauté well, until the onion turns pale brown. Drop a small bunch of curry leaves and one small half teaspoon scoop of tamarind. Sauté well again.




Wash and separate a bunch of pudhina (mint) leaves from the main stem and drop it into the pan. Sauté well till the leaves go dull and shrink and gel with the other contents. Add a pinch of salt and sauté again. Taste for salt and continue adding pinches till the right salt level is achieved. This is the best method to avoid excess salt getting in. Switch off the flame and shift the contents into the little jar of a mixer. Beat the contents at good speed for about 5 minutes to get a nice puree.



Empty the contents into the bowl containing the prepared dough and mix well so that the pudhina paste goes in and blends well with the whole wheat dough.


The rest of the procedure is the same. Go ahead and prepare the parathas and enjoy the great taste.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

THE MADRAS ORHODOX CHOIR -PARTS HARMONY



It is a wonderful feeling to realize slowly, the transformation that the Orthodox Church is going through in music and it is very satisfying to be a part of that metamorphosis.



It is great to see the the first of the many outputs come through after a lot of hard work. The bass group had to go through a real grind with Fr.John Samuel everytime he demanded perfection. I believe it was the same situation for the other voice groups too.

THE LOYOLA COLLEGE CHURCH



A dash of tree green and a mix of bluish white clouds give the church steeple a great appearance. I wish that ladder was never there.






 
 

Monday, December 31, 2012

NATURE STILL ATTRACTIVE AFTER DEATH





The snap above is what I took near a place in Anna Nagar, Chennai. The part of the dead tree still looks great, but not the clumsy formation on its left side. When humans create individual things for themselves they forget the overall perspective. It is mostly a selfish move and selfish moves never tend to see how the overall perspective gets affected. That is why the great appearance of this dead tree is not getting complimented by the intervention that is there on the left side, that man has made.



That is where Nature is so superior. Whatever it brings in has its own beauty. Even after its death it continues to fit into a part of the overall beautiful appearance of the natural earth. How it is able to do this is a mystery.


If you compare the two pictures you can see some difference. I actually dabbled with the first snap and spread some more of nature's creation over the buildings, transformer,etc on the left and so it looks so nice and soothing to the eyes.
 
 
 

RELAXED IN HER OWN KINGDOM



NATURE'S WORK OF ART @ DUSK