Driving like all other skills needs regular practising. Once you lose touch, it takes a while to get back on track. Last Saturday evening, my dear hubby offered to refresh my driving skills after which I realised that I needed to start from scratch! Though I have the Indian driving license, it turned out out to be just for namesake..;( Partly because since I didn't drive car after I passed the test (which is after I passed out of college and started working), so I hardly drove and also our college driving instructor ("Anna" as we call) was too naive to help me passing the driving test without much driving actually!!! I bet ya getting license here in Australia is real hard. One needs to get L, pass the test and then drive with P for 3 years, have a clean record before getting the full license!
We bought our own car last weekend (Toyota Camry - Sedan) and from now on the real ordeal starts. My lovable hubby has agreed to teach me driving during the evening. So hopefully I should be able to drive soon.
That evening when I was trying to drive after a LONG time, I was reminded of those days when we girls in final year in college enrolled for driving class in the mechanical dept in our own institute. Apart from getting good campus placement, we wanted to achieve something more! Our college is fundoo ya..has a driving school too unlike other colleges. "Jia ho NITT" and best part is they made sure most of us got our license!!! They had quite a few batches during both morning and evening. Morning means eeeeaaaarrrrlllllyyyy around 4-5 since there used to be 2-3 sessions then and each needed around 30-45 minutes. So we girls according to the slots available enrolled for both morning and evening sessions. If it were the morning session, we girls made sure that the rest of the goup got up early and were in time for the class. It used to be pitch dark outside then and also cold (talk about climate in Trichy).
Opalites correct me if I am wrong, the practising route started from the sports club or civil dept - left at library - along the other entrance road along SC/Compsci - till the boys hostel intersection - left at Pearl (not sure though, but some boys hostel) - drive till other end - left again at Chemical eng dept - straight to the Mech dept - practise reverse gear near the T.P building/Meta dept. We drove Maruti 800 (white colour, manual car) and a jeep. Many among us felt driving Maruti was easier but I personally felt the jeep was easier. Anyway apart from the car, we were taught to drive 2 wheeler too. We practised on a old Luna like moped on the sports ground near the main entrance.
The driving sessions used to be quite fun. I must admit that the Annas were quite patient and instructed us every time we stopped the car while leaving the clutch or speeded when we were not supposed to! While driving near the boys hostel, the guys walking on the corridor or playing cricket on the backyard would yell out our names. We used to get bit nervous during that part of the drive. We didn't want to drive to the ditch with the guys watching us (insulting ya!!)
With many days of such training, we girls (around 10) appeared for the license test at the RTO, Trichy with our beloved Anna. The RTO office is situated in the outskirts of the city. After finishing the paper work and paying the fee, we proceeded to the actually driving track which was further from the RTO. We girls formed small groups and hopped on to the jeep which we were supposed to drive. The procedure was like each of us took turns are drive the jeep a short distance with the Brake Inspector sitting beside us, Anna and other girls sitting behind. The Brake Inspector must have been in his BEST mood that day, because he let Anna prompt us while changing gears (manual jeep again), applying brake or speeding. Come on ya, we were tensed, don't think we were so dumb! We kept our fingers, toes and everything possible crossed till all our girls did a decent show. Thankfully I was just asked to drive around few turns and not asked to take reverse in which I suck!!!
After we girls test drove, we were asked to wait under shade for a while. Meanwhile Anna collected Rs.100 from each of us and drove the jeep with the Brake Inspector alone leaving us behind under the tree. We all had butterflies in our stomach. Atleast all these days practise should be worth it. GOK what happened, but Anna came smiling saying "You all got your license!" What more could we ask for then! You won't believe but Anna said that he was not so scared before for any other group for getting their license. May be the Rs.100 helped in sanctioning our license! We had to wait for long to get our photos taken and license made. WHATEVER..we all got our license for next 10 years! Yuppy..;-)
On the way back to the college, Anna was kind enough to take photocopies of the license and make duplicate license for general purpose. After returning to the college, we stopped at the Mechanical dept and you won't believe, we all took photos with our Anna for we were so happy that we got our LICENSE!
Hopefully I pass the test here and get the Aussie license too. Watch out for this space for more of my driving adventures!
Have a great week ahead :-)
P.S: Anna: Elder brother
September 21, 2010
September 2, 2010
Sweet Memories of Gokulashtami
அப்பம், வடை, வெண்ணை, முறுக்கு, சீடை,தேரட்டிபால், பாயசம்...Yes it's about my memories associated with Gokulashtami. It's the festival celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna. This was not a holiday during school days. But conveniently it is celebrated in the evening.
Amma is an expert in cooking and needless to say she makes numerous sweets and savouries during such occasions. She usually makes appam, ulundu vadai, seedai (uppu and vellam), murukku, payasam, uppu avil, vellam avil, therattipal (yeah the list is long!). Being a school teacher, she used to come home a bit early on this day and start preparing the dishes. When I get back from school the whole house would be filled with aroma of butter...Ummmm yumm! Akka and I used to lend our hands in preparing for the pooja. The job I liked the best was to keep footprints of Lord Krishna from our house entrance till the pooja room. This is made mixing crushed rice with water. At homes where there are small kids, people would make the kid to step on the rice mixture and walk on the floor. These footprints symbolises baby Krishna entering the devotee's house. They also dress up their children like baby Krishna.
Tulsi leaves are very special offering to Lord Krishna and so are used to do the prayers. Since we have a huge garden at home, we had abundant flowers and leaves to offer. We chantted Vishnu Sahasranamam praying God and offered all the dishes. Once the pooja was done, came the best part..eating the sweets and savouries..he he..;-) This way we used to have fun celebrating Gokulashtami every year.
On Right: My parents were so thoughful to send me the photos of Gokulashtami they celebrated yesterday. Felt so nostalgic...
Many thanks to them..:-)
While I was preparing for the pooja here yesterday, I was reminded of those days at home with parents and sister. After getting guidance from Amma I tried making vadai and appam. Vadai dough was a bit watery so could not make hole in the centre, but appam was a success! Anyway both tasted good...:-) My hubby and I prayed God and offered all the dishes.
Those leaving away from your parents shall very well understand the homesickness especially during occasions or festivals. Nevertheless the technologies nowadays help you overcome that.
(To the technocrats in India, please for God sake don't ban SKYPE too!!!)
I hope you readers also celebrated Gokulashtami and had fun with your family.
P.S: appam, ulundu vadai, seedai (uppu and vellam), murukku, payasam, uppu avil, vellam avil, therattipal: Hard to explain each of them but they are sweets and savouries
Pooja: Prayer
Amma: Mother
Akka: Elder sister
Vishnu Sahasranamam : Holy mantra
Amma is an expert in cooking and needless to say she makes numerous sweets and savouries during such occasions. She usually makes appam, ulundu vadai, seedai (uppu and vellam), murukku, payasam, uppu avil, vellam avil, therattipal (yeah the list is long!). Being a school teacher, she used to come home a bit early on this day and start preparing the dishes. When I get back from school the whole house would be filled with aroma of butter...Ummmm yumm! Akka and I used to lend our hands in preparing for the pooja. The job I liked the best was to keep footprints of Lord Krishna from our house entrance till the pooja room. This is made mixing crushed rice with water. At homes where there are small kids, people would make the kid to step on the rice mixture and walk on the floor. These footprints symbolises baby Krishna entering the devotee's house. They also dress up their children like baby Krishna.
The next part was to make the idol of baby Krishna out of clay. Usually it is made in a crawling posture. Amma did this since I didn't have much skills to do that. The clay idol was then decorated with peacock feather and kept in a small craddle stand.
Tulsi leaves are very special offering to Lord Krishna and so are used to do the prayers. Since we have a huge garden at home, we had abundant flowers and leaves to offer. We chantted Vishnu Sahasranamam praying God and offered all the dishes. Once the pooja was done, came the best part..eating the sweets and savouries..he he..;-) This way we used to have fun celebrating Gokulashtami every year.
On Right: My parents were so thoughful to send me the photos of Gokulashtami they celebrated yesterday. Felt so nostalgic...Many thanks to them..:-)
While I was preparing for the pooja here yesterday, I was reminded of those days at home with parents and sister. After getting guidance from Amma I tried making vadai and appam. Vadai dough was a bit watery so could not make hole in the centre, but appam was a success! Anyway both tasted good...:-) My hubby and I prayed God and offered all the dishes.
Those leaving away from your parents shall very well understand the homesickness especially during occasions or festivals. Nevertheless the technologies nowadays help you overcome that.
(To the technocrats in India, please for God sake don't ban SKYPE too!!!)
I hope you readers also celebrated Gokulashtami and had fun with your family.
P.S: appam, ulundu vadai, seedai (uppu and vellam), murukku, payasam, uppu avil, vellam avil, therattipal: Hard to explain each of them but they are sweets and savouries
Pooja: Prayer
Amma: Mother
Akka: Elder sister
Vishnu Sahasranamam : Holy mantra
July 28, 2010
My sins against gender stereotypes
I know that it has been quite sometime since Banu tagged me. Not that it has vanished from my memory, but I have been waiting for the right-feel-moment to write this post, for I find it pretty interesting. Meanwhile this unknown guilt factor has made me write this post and delay no further.
( Note to self: Need to post a sequel for the housewarming party after taking pictures of the house. )
As per this tag - I need to list at least 10 things that I have ever wanted or done which my gender is not supposed to.
First of all, I am not very comfortable with not-supposed-to-do logic. I feel that this kind of notion is affected and determined by society for the most part of it. Any child by birth doesn't know what he/she is entitled to do and not. It's the people around them who form the boundaries and they need to follow them to lead a hassle free life. I am no feminist and at the same time can't stand male chauvinism. There has always been times when the ques WHYs and WHY NOTs have arisen in my mind and where else other than my blog can be an ideal place to pen them down!
1. Is it possible to practise payyan paakum padalam ?!? he..he..;)
2. Always wanted to stroll alone along the streets late in the night counting the stars, listening to the nocturnal birds and admire night life!
3. Want it to be less-a-burden and more-a-fun opening the wardrobe and choosing clothes to wear in the morning
4. Happy to have inculcated more interest in soccer and F1 car race
5. Wondered how men have conquered the skill of shrinking shopping time to just few min where I end up spending days...please please don't mistake, I still love shopping ;)
6. Wish had more interest in electronic gadgets and politics
7. When I was in school, it was considered not-a-lakshanam for girls to stand near the street corners and talk with friends
8. Wished to get back to hostel well after roll call time (say 10 pm), walk right-royally through the entrance and smirk at the guard
9. Tempted to slap those perverts who lean-pull-push you in the bus under the pretense of over crowd or jolter of the bus
10. If I could give good (in fact massive) piece of my mind to those "Street Romeos" who utter and do all nonsense just to attract you
Well having said all these, I am not unsatisfied even a bit for how I have been brought up and living till this day of my life. Kudos to my family!!!
Now for the fun part - tagging! I am more than eager to read the versions of you guys.
My hubby
Sary
Saandy
Subbu
Saranya
Meenu
Vivek Raj
See you soon :)
P.S: lakshanam: characteristics
payyan paakum padalam: boy seeing/watching ritual instead of the usual girl seeing/watching process when looking for alliance
( Note to self: Need to post a sequel for the housewarming party after taking pictures of the house. )
As per this tag - I need to list at least 10 things that I have ever wanted or done which my gender is not supposed to.
First of all, I am not very comfortable with not-supposed-to-do logic. I feel that this kind of notion is affected and determined by society for the most part of it. Any child by birth doesn't know what he/she is entitled to do and not. It's the people around them who form the boundaries and they need to follow them to lead a hassle free life. I am no feminist and at the same time can't stand male chauvinism. There has always been times when the ques WHYs and WHY NOTs have arisen in my mind and where else other than my blog can be an ideal place to pen them down!1. Is it possible to practise payyan paakum padalam ?!? he..he..;)
2. Always wanted to stroll alone along the streets late in the night counting the stars, listening to the nocturnal birds and admire night life!
3. Want it to be less-a-burden and more-a-fun opening the wardrobe and choosing clothes to wear in the morning
4. Happy to have inculcated more interest in soccer and F1 car race
5. Wondered how men have conquered the skill of shrinking shopping time to just few min where I end up spending days...please please don't mistake, I still love shopping ;)
6. Wish had more interest in electronic gadgets and politics
7. When I was in school, it was considered not-a-lakshanam for girls to stand near the street corners and talk with friends
8. Wished to get back to hostel well after roll call time (say 10 pm), walk right-royally through the entrance and smirk at the guard
9. Tempted to slap those perverts who lean-pull-push you in the bus under the pretense of over crowd or jolter of the bus
10. If I could give good (in fact massive) piece of my mind to those "Street Romeos" who utter and do all nonsense just to attract you
Well having said all these, I am not unsatisfied even a bit for how I have been brought up and living till this day of my life. Kudos to my family!!!
Now for the fun part - tagging! I am more than eager to read the versions of you guys.
My hubby
Sary
Saandy
Subbu
Saranya
Meenu
Vivek Raj
See you soon :)
P.S: lakshanam: characteristics
payyan paakum padalam: boy seeing/watching ritual instead of the usual girl seeing/watching process when looking for alliance
July 8, 2010
Housewarming Party
After a great ordeal my hubby and I have setup the house and it's now fit to visit. On that note we are organising a small house warming party for our friends here this coming Saturday(10th July) from 4 pm onwards. It's basically a potluck and I am very much looking forward to it since this shall be the first potluck we are organising here.
We have kind of sorted out dishes that we shall be serving. I am keeping my fingers, toes everything crossed so that they all come out well. Usually my hubby as been the scapegoat for the dishes I make, but I cannot take that risk with the guests...;) Anyway I shall update you with the photos after the party.
I cordially invite you all for the same and looking forward to see you on Saturday at my place.
Have a nice rest of the week!
We have kind of sorted out dishes that we shall be serving. I am keeping my fingers, toes everything crossed so that they all come out well. Usually my hubby as been the scapegoat for the dishes I make, but I cannot take that risk with the guests...;) Anyway I shall update you with the photos after the party.
I cordially invite you all for the same and looking forward to see you on Saturday at my place.
Have a nice rest of the week!
June 22, 2010
Gruhapravesam
What a weekend was it!!! We both were busy as bee. As you can guess from the title we have shifted to a new rental house from the previous apartment (I get your point..Gruhapravesam is mostly done for once own house, but still we are looking at this as one more step nearer to that!!!). While living in the apartment, we felt the need of a bigger and quieter house and hence the shift.
For those who have shifted before might know how tedious this job is. It needs so much of planning and time management. We had organised the moving for yesterday (Monday) since the movers charged ridiculously lot for the weekends. We were not able to do much of packing during weekdays so we did the major part of it last Saturday and Sunday. Music and football entertained us mainly then.
Yesterday (21st June '10) morning we vacated our earlier apartment and moved to the new house. It has been painted all over and cleaned very well. It's a very spacious and well maintained house. We are in the process of unpacking and have almost finished setting up the kitchen and bathroom stuff. Remaining shall be done gradually.
We are very happy in our new place and cordially invite you all for the gruhapravesam for which the date and time shall be informed very soon. Watch out for this space!
I shall also upload photos of the house once we get rid of the cardboard boxes and butcher papers...lol..;)
Have a nice week.
Cya..:)
For those who have shifted before might know how tedious this job is. It needs so much of planning and time management. We had organised the moving for yesterday (Monday) since the movers charged ridiculously lot for the weekends. We were not able to do much of packing during weekdays so we did the major part of it last Saturday and Sunday. Music and football entertained us mainly then.
Yesterday (21st June '10) morning we vacated our earlier apartment and moved to the new house. It has been painted all over and cleaned very well. It's a very spacious and well maintained house. We are in the process of unpacking and have almost finished setting up the kitchen and bathroom stuff. Remaining shall be done gradually.
We are very happy in our new place and cordially invite you all for the gruhapravesam for which the date and time shall be informed very soon. Watch out for this space!
I shall also upload photos of the house once we get rid of the cardboard boxes and butcher papers...lol..;)
Have a nice week.
Cya..:)
June 18, 2010
WE, the couple turn 1
Anything which occurs for the first time is quite special like 1st birthday, 1st day at school/college/work etc etc. One such red letter day is 1st wedding anniversary. My hubby and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary on 14th last week.
After lunch, we left for city were we had planned to spend the rest of the day. Crown Casino was the first pit stop. Wow what do I say, how do I describe, visiting a casino for the first time, I was enthralled by the crowd, activity and craziness. It was buzzing!!! Majority of games played were slots machine, poker, blackjack, wheel of fortune, roulette, baccarat and casino war. Apart from the games, there were 5 star restaurants, pro poker, free live entertainment, branded shops, cafes, cinema theatres etc etc.
Having come to a casino, I wanted to try my hands on few simple games which didn't need much of thinking and strategy. So I bet a small amount on the wheel of fortune. Not much to my surprise, I lost..;-) But it was real fun to see how people were crazy and spending money like they were worthless!!! To my surprise most of those crazy people were 50+ (esp asians!!!), GOK from where they get to spend SO much money! Anyway I am no way unsatisfied because I have so common-sense and self control. We we just stopped with few tries. We walked through the entire complex and nice time seeing a place so eventful!!!
On 14th, the hubby went to office and I wanted to surprise him by the time he returns. So I made his favourite Pal payasam and also baked a Chocolate Swirl cake. The cake is not too fancy since I used a cake mix. I made him cut the cake and it came out so tasty and moist that both of us could not stop eating..;)
Being a special day we wanted to make it memorable. Since 14th fell on monday and poor hubby had to work due to unavoidable circumstances, we planned to celebrate in advance during the weekend. To start with on Saturday morning we went to Vakrathunda Vinayaka temple to give a religious start. We hadn't been to this temple before since it's quite far and it proved worth the visit.
After lunch, we left for city were we had planned to spend the rest of the day. Crown Casino was the first pit stop. Wow what do I say, how do I describe, visiting a casino for the first time, I was enthralled by the crowd, activity and craziness. It was buzzing!!! Majority of games played were slots machine, poker, blackjack, wheel of fortune, roulette, baccarat and casino war. Apart from the games, there were 5 star restaurants, pro poker, free live entertainment, branded shops, cafes, cinema theatres etc etc.
From there we went to the Langham hotel were we had booked table for a buffet dinner. OMG it was food and food and only food everywhere. I am not exaggerating but the food was so tasty and delicious that we didn't know what to eat and which to leave. Thankfully being a vegetarian I was not disappointed because I made it to the money we paid! After a gluttonous meal, we managed ourselves to get back to the car park and drove home. It was a feast for the senses!!!
On Sunday, as you might guess we woke up a bit late after a godly dinner. We then left for our usual temple, Shiva Vishnu which was quite pleasant. From there we drove to Madras Banyan Tree, an exotic South Indian restaurant for dinner. Needless to say we had a wonderful dinner and called it a day.
On 14th, the hubby went to office and I wanted to surprise him by the time he returns. So I made his favourite Pal payasam and also baked a Chocolate Swirl cake. The cake is not too fancy since I used a cake mix. I made him cut the cake and it came out so tasty and moist that both of us could not stop eating..;) He being the expert of Pal payasam certified my preparation was up to the mark. Hurray!
For dinner I prepared the Stir-fried eggplant with home-made chilli sauce which my hubby asked me to prepare for quite sometime. For me who is not much comfortable cooking non-Indian dishes, it was a success as well.
Thus we had a quite relaxing and also eventful anniversary and needless to say I enjoyed every moment of it. It's a day to remember throughout my lifetime and I shall cherish every moment of it.
Note: Mangalya dharanam: Tying of the nuptial
June 3, 2010
Jam packed June!!!
We have a lot of things coming up this June.
The most important is our 1st Anniversary! It's quite hard for us to believe that we are going to complete our 1st year of married life..hurray..;) Lot of my friends who got married more or less the same time say that 1st year just flies and its TRUE!!! It just feels like I bid good bye to my parents with tears filled eyes at the airport and flew to Melbourne and in a blink it's going to be 1 year..OMG!
Touch wood, we celebrate many more such anniversaries happily...:)
We are in the process of planning our anniversary celebrations and look for a blog once its over.
By the way its on 14th June..;)
Another important task is shifting to a new rental house. We shall be moving to a bigger unit in few weeks time. The house shall be in the same locality, a bit to the south. But it's still near to work, station and market. Needless to say how much of planning goes into this task. Thankfully we haven't gone to that stage which would need 3-4 shuttling of the truck. We have managed to control things we have been buying all this while and hope it's not that tough a job. We are in the process of contacting mini movers and deciding upon buying appliances for our new house (since our present house came with all appliances). All these stuff needs to be done in next 3 weeks.
Besides all this it's FOOTBALL time!!! We need to somehow make time to watch the World Cup matches.
Any guesses who will be this year's champion???
Ufff...this month is gonna be quite eventful and I shall update you guys as and when possible. You all are invited for our House warming function for which I shall drop the details soon..:)
The most important is our 1st Anniversary! It's quite hard for us to believe that we are going to complete our 1st year of married life..hurray..;) Lot of my friends who got married more or less the same time say that 1st year just flies and its TRUE!!! It just feels like I bid good bye to my parents with tears filled eyes at the airport and flew to Melbourne and in a blink it's going to be 1 year..OMG!
Touch wood, we celebrate many more such anniversaries happily...:)
We are in the process of planning our anniversary celebrations and look for a blog once its over.
By the way its on 14th June..;)
Another important task is shifting to a new rental house. We shall be moving to a bigger unit in few weeks time. The house shall be in the same locality, a bit to the south. But it's still near to work, station and market. Needless to say how much of planning goes into this task. Thankfully we haven't gone to that stage which would need 3-4 shuttling of the truck. We have managed to control things we have been buying all this while and hope it's not that tough a job. We are in the process of contacting mini movers and deciding upon buying appliances for our new house (since our present house came with all appliances). All these stuff needs to be done in next 3 weeks.
Besides all this it's FOOTBALL time!!! We need to somehow make time to watch the World Cup matches.
Any guesses who will be this year's champion???
Ufff...this month is gonna be quite eventful and I shall update you guys as and when possible. You all are invited for our House warming function for which I shall drop the details soon..:)
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