The Two Facets of Sixty !!

Sobha Palladian is a wonderful place!

It has a wonderful mix of people across all ages.

Starting from infants and yet-to-be-born infants to 93 year old veterans!!

And there would be more senior citizens than juniors under 18 years!

And amongst the SrCz’s we have a good number of defense folks who have seen action in the battlefields, corporate honchos who have played war games in the boardrooms, and many ‘Pros’ who have fought against market forces, competition and managed intricate political designs to succeed and get to where they have reached.

And now all of them are happily settled in Sobha Palladian!!

And if  you could compare what they were in their ‘hey-days’ to what they are today, it would be a very interesting study.

My life is one such case study.

I crossed 60 four years back.

And I have changed quite a bit.

Between 22 to 59 years, that’s 37 years, I worked in a corporate.

Chasing numbers, living (surviving) from one quarter to the next, year after year.

I have seen much action. Been there, Done that! Many times.

It had been a furious rat race. And many times I have been in the lead pack.

And that meant I was one fat & mean rat!!

And in my eagerness to win and win it all, I have done many unpleasant things. Some out of sheer desperation and some for that sadistic pleasure of beating the S%*! out of the adversary!

At times I have been ruthless, arrogant, unforgiving, impatient  and a self important snob!

And my lifestyle played along with this attitude. Working hard & playing hard.

Smoking more than a pack a day, I have also gone overboard over my coffee and drinks.. Until the docs found dark patches in my lungs. And gave me a choice between the red-pill and the green-pill (Matrix style)

By the way have you tried that beer made from Basmati? TOIT used to serve some years back.

And that does not mean I have not done my bit of  good deeds.

I have done more than my share of hiring promising freshmen, coaching them and nurturing their careers. And I am proud that many of them today head big companies and country businesses. I have helped out large number of customers in tight situations, bending company guidelines  and relaxing warranty policies  and a few of CSR activities as well.

And I have equally taken pleasure in trampling people’s toes,  driving hard bargains, beating the h@!! out of competition with guerrilla marketing, under-cutting deals, poaching channel partners etc etc etc..

And now, when I look back at all these misdemeanors, I feel sad.

What if I had not done those unpleasant  things.

I am sure I would have still survived.  Maybe I would have missed a couple of opportunities.  But that would not have made me any poorer.

Nor would I have gone  hungry any day.

And as I get older, subconsciously I seem to be making amends to some of those misdirected actions. Maybe  to atone myself ? Prayashchit ??

And  so I have changed !!

 And here I am generously borrowing from a wonderful  Whats App message that has been doing the rounds for quite some time. Unfortunately I do not know who is the original author so that I could give him/her the due credit and ask permission to use the material.  You may recognize some of what I say …

  

I am no longer all that important. I am not at the center of the universe and the world does not rest on my shoulders anymore !

I have stopped bargaining with vegetables & fruits vendors. A few Rupees more is not going to burn a hole in my pocket but might mean a lot more to them. But I do bargain for a fair price to bring down the price of that croton plant and the ceramic pot from the astronomical price quoted. And I may pay a little more depending on the way these folks behave & bargain.

I do not insist on getting the odd change from Auto and Tax drivers. Thankfully Paytm has solved most of this challenge now.

The other day I could not find a five rupee coin  nor a ten rupee note. So I gave a 50/- rupee note to the  pathetic & disheveled beggar woman outside the temple. The surprised look of delight and the shower of blessings I got in return were priceless!

I stopped telling my 90 year dad that he had  already narrated that story many times. After all, the story makes him walk down the memory lane & re-live his past. And I am happy for him.

I do not correct people even when I know they are wrong. Why spoil their fun or their beliefs. If they are happy and it does not hurt me, its peace!

I give compliments freely & generously. And I give all feedback ratings  a perfect 10!

While I do point out any deficiencies clearly and raise it up to the managers, my final score is always a 10. I believe detailed and qualitative feedback are more useful for improvement than numbers for a bar chart.

I do not bother about my clothes combination anymore. Blue jeans and white shirts/ kurta make up most of my wardrobe. A crease or a stain on my shirt/pant does not upset me anymore.

And I have happily given away most of my blazers and suits and my collection of Laptop cum overnight strolley bags. And most of them to Nepali cowkidaars and security guards from north east, when they go back to visit their families . 

I can never imagine doing this 10 years back !

And my collections watches and pens and those fancy raw silk & pure cotton ties.

Once upon a time I would meticulously keep track & gloat over them and lovingly clean/polish/press them every few months. Now they are just scattered in my closet in some corner and I am not bothered even if a few are missing.

And I have surprised a few of my relatives’s kids by presenting them one of my fancy watches or pens . And I would hand then a 500 rupee note telling them to buy a new original refill or a battery cell.

 I do not need them now. I have all the time in the world and all my writing is on my PC MS Word  set to Calibri 16 font size!!

  

I remain cool when someone jumps the queue at the checkout counter.

And I no longer throw an abuse or curse at the impatient and ill-tempered Call-center cab drivers when they sit on their horns and try to overtake me from the left. ‘Wonder why he Is so eager to reach his FINAL destination so soon’, is my only observation.

I answer all kids questions patiently. I have been asked “when is library open ?’ a hundred times. And I am happy to answer in details each time.

Yes, I am changing.

I've learnt to live each day as if it's the last. And one day it will be my last. And until that day every hour is a present!!

I am doing what makes me (Jayanthi included) happy. After all, I am responsible for my happiness, and I owe it to me.

And I must call up all my near and remote relatives and make time to visit all those ones who are in town and nearby.

Yes, I must make up for all those lost times and opportunities!

Krish..

Two Movies You Must Watch !!!

Last week, Jayanthi along with a group of her SP friends (all giggling teenagers@heart), went out for a movie. 12 noon Matnee show.

And I was abandoned, home alone. With half a tumbler of milk to make my own tea. And 4 sad looking (bought out) dosas stacked inside the microwave.. And a small katori of dangerous looking red chutney.

And the calm serene environment inside my home created the right ambiance for me to fire up my computer and type out this post.

Happy Reading !!

Two films I saw recently on Amazon Prime.

And I strongly recommend them for  the very same reasons that they did not become box office starrers nor get top 5 star ratings and raving reviews.

Dhunki: A 2019 Gujarati film starring Pratik Gandhi and Deeksha Joshi.

The Wedding Guest: A 2018 English film starring Dev Patel and Radhika Apte & produced in UK/USA.

Reasons :  They do not have superstar casts and were not backed by huge promos. So they were not aggressively sold. And they still survived to make a decent ROI.

There was no masala or hit songs or fancy foreign locale shootings either.

TWG is in English - So more than 85% of the target audience that loves Hindi or other regional languages was lost.

Dhunki is in Gujarati with English subtitle – and obviously for similar reasons.

Both movies are good to watch – not because they are great in any way, But because they are so ordinary and easygoing (mediocre may be a harsh term)  that they will have a soothing  effect on you.

Imagine you had a a hectic day @ office – an exhausting business negotiation, or  a firefighting situation or an intense counselling session with a difficult employee. And you want to reformat yourself.

You can go to a pub and sozzle yourself. That will help suppress your  feelings, like a steroid , but will not cleanse & relieve you of your  stress . And you get a nasty hangover as well.

Or you can go home and get irritable and pick up a fight with your family – Not advisable.

Or have a quite dinner, nestle up in your den with a chilled glass of your favorite and watch these two  movies back to back !

And I can assure you that you will soon feel peace, de-stressed and maybe even end up in a peaceful slumber and wake up the next day fresh as a daisy!!

Alternately if you are retired and bored of watching action packed thrillers on NetFlix or those Horror ones on  Hot Star, then these two movies will be a refreshing change.

Both will detox you, and leave your mind sober & peaceful. Much like an annual mental pilgrimage to Tirupathi or Vaishno Devi.

Or else imagine your partner is on a long tour, and the maid does not turn up, and predictably the power goes off.  Your day heads south. And  on top of this you go for that dreaded dentist appointment,. And you return back all psyched up. What do you do?

Just mix a tall glass of chilled lemonade on the rocks, add a shot of Bombay Sapphire Gin if you will. Curl up into your favorite bean bag and switch on these two movies back to back !!

Guaranteed solace and peace rolled into one!!

And with that I end my promo pitch and get to the review.

Dhunki story revolves around two sober software engineers,  Nikunj and Shreya in a startup company.

So obviously  you do not expect Nikunj to fight 5 local goondas single handed. Nor does he punch the big fat  one and launch him up 10 feet into the air and see him roll midair and fall back to the ground in slow motion.

And Nikunuj is married to Ankita (Kaushambi Bhat) even before the movie starts. So there is no college scenes, no skirmishes and ego clashes before love ultimately blossoms.

And while Nikunj”s profession is Software QA, his passion is Cooking!  And very soon you see him quitting his job and starting is own food catering business. And its USP : good healthy food supported  by an easy to use on-line ordering App!!

And Nikunj is struggling with his startup (nothing unusual). So he has little time to attend to friends' birthday parties, participate in group dances like those in Karan Johar’s films,  or take part in quawali contests.

And his other colleague, Shreya – ditto.

Except that she has the additional burden of managing her possessive & high maintenance fiance’.

So no sugar, no salt , no spice ! No Onion no Garlic either!!

You are served a Gujarati version of a plain diabetic Jain meal at best.

And this movie rolls on for 135 mins  at a very leisurely pace. And you can almost predict what will happen next  and obviously the story gets centered around work life balance and cash flow challenges and chasing potential investors for funding . And haven’t we seen that so many times ??

There are some mild background  songs. And Thankfully NO slapstick comedy or forced suspense, nor unwanted action and fight sequences  to spice up the mildly boring  story-line. And I must give credit to all the actors and directors for they somehow just manage to keep you awake and sufficiently interested so that you do not switch off.

And the 135 min, you spend in a mild trance that soothes your frayed nerves, brings down your pressure, calms your pulse rate takes you to a level on Neo Bliss.

Nice sober acting by all and particularly Kaushambi’s expression and her subdued smile are great to watch!!

And what happens in the end. A happy ending or a uncertain suspense ?

Does it really matter ??

The Wedding Guest is dubbed as an Action Thriller.

I only saw some mild action, a hint of suspense and definitely zero thrill element. Never once did my pulse rise nor did I get on to the edge of my sofa.

An interesting story of a hired professional Jay (played by Dev Patel) , who kidnaps a Pakistani girl Sameera (played by Radhika Apte) from her house on the eve of her wedding. And she is smuggled into Amritsar at the behest of her lover  so that they can elope and drop off from the radar of all their families. Apparently the lover boy and the girl both grew up in London and planned to marry ….  until the girl’s family decided otherwise.

And even the best of plans fail. A security guard gets killed during the snatch and scram operation and the kidnap cum killing makes headlines both in the Pakistani and Indian media. And basically s*&t hits the fan!

Lover boy chickens out and wants to dump the girl back into Pakistan and run. The hired pro does not want to baby sit an unwanted bride any longer and the story takes an interesting turn.

Not for long. The lover boy gets killed in a fight  and the story-line gets thinner and thinner as the pro and the girl travel by road from Jaipur to Goa . And the plot maintains just the bare minimum stickiness level  so that your eyeballs do not drop off the screen.
And as one can understand, the Stockholm syndrome takes over and there are some intimate scenes between the kidnapper and the kidnapee.

Again this movie has no intentions of giving a great social message nor does it have any lofty ambition of wining an Oscar!

It just manages to continuously transition your attention from one slow-moving scene to another and it does a great job at this.  And your mind is blank , body comfortably slouched into the sofa corner and the second refill of your favorite erases all traces of your day’s stressed out memories.

Dev and Radhika are at their mature best. And they carry the story throughout with not  much support from anything else. Good direction , good clipped British accent and no extra baggage.

And during  the last section of the movie, Radhika Apte, very briefly , but boldly flashes certain parts of her anatomy.

Interesting & nice,  especially for a pair of  64-year old eyes to see!!

And if you ask me what happens finally…

Does it really matter ???

And if you are really particular, Chk it out for yourself!!!

Krish..

Onam @ Sobha Palladian

Onam is an annual Harvest festival in Kerala  

According to legends, the festival is celebrated to commemorate King Mahabali, whose spirit is said to visit Kerala at the time of Onam. This year’s Onam began on 1 Sept and ended on Friday 13 Sept.

We celebrated our third Onam at Sobha Plalladian on Sunday, 15^th Sept 2019.

And each year the celebrations have seen a quantum leap in terms of the participants, their energy levels and the enthusiasm of the entire residents here!

The quality and the professional level of execution of the events have been exceptional. The baseline has been set high , starting with the Republic day event at the start of this year, and into the Independence day celebrations last month.

One can only wonder if there is still opportunity for things to get any better. And I will not be surprised next time.

One thing I must mention..

 All the events so far have been dominated by the children and the women folks. The chorus songs, the wonderful dances – Onam, Dandiya & Christmas to name a few, the fancy-dress performances during R Day & I Day. And the skits during Ganesh Chathurthi.

Even during the Halloween evening where our Men could possibly outperform their fairer partners and their kids, their involvement was significantly missing. I saw only one lonely pirate caught up by a clutch of witches, while the entire colony and the top floor of Block 1 especially swarmed with evil looking witches, Banshees,Payees and little devils and super-brats running all over playing trick or treat!

And only during Holi did I see a few young men dance around and shake their legs.  Maybe because they had one too many? And at the SP music club I did see the emergence of our own local Kishore Da, Rafi and Mukesh.

It’s time for our men folks to get more active and let loose their inhibitions. And they can surely create some good opportunities as well. We have quite a few athletic bodies, some well-toned muscles and maybe a dozen or so '6-pack abs' that can be flaunted!!

So how about a Mr Sobha Palladian contest??

I can get sponsorships from Rupa underwear and Lux Cozi banian!

Check out these potential and eager contestants flexing their calf muscles!!!

Or a John Travolta/Elvis Prestlley or a MJ Night ??

Good news. Diny announced that next year Venki and Arjun have agreed to lead the Onam Puli kali Tiger Dance. Here is a preview of what you can expect.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://www.hlimg.com/images/events/738X538/hwfugruw_1537856618e.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.hellotravel.com/events/onam-pulikali-tiger-dance&docid=2NXeXFtVTDkQ5M&tbnid=HY71NMyz-rPfuM:&vet=1&w=738&h=399&hl=en-IN&source=sh/x/im

Watch out ladies! The big boys are coming!!

Back to ONAM.

Preparations started 3 weeks ahead – the dance practice. For Thiruvathirai Kali!

Even my wife Jayanthi got reluctantly pulled into it. And for the first few practice sessions she admitted she had no idea which way her legs and hands were swinging .  However the consistent coaching, and encouragement of Choreographer Nivedita,  and her motivating calls kept her going .

‘Aunty, intha gumbal ley neenga enna wrong panna kooda onnu theriathu!” – even if you make a mistake, you will not get noticed in this melee! – and that was enough to boost Jayanthi’s confidence !!

And the final result: a superb performance -nothing less than spectacular!

Two sets of dancers – the young ‘Pink’ group who danced like those professional troupes performing in a Karan Johar’s film song choreographed by Saroj Khan.  And the Young @ Heart Challengers the ‘Green’ group that kept up gracefully in pace and tempo of the song.

It was wonderful WOW moment for all of us to watch. And there was the classical Onam off white sari offset by bright tops and ornate gold borders.  And those bright red ‘Alta’ painted palms set off the festive mood!!

Check out these wonderful ladies– brightly donning their war paints and armed with Alta!! 

Poo Kolum :

The morning started with making of the traditional Poo Kolum – Rangoli with flower petals. A wonderful tapestry of natural bright colours adorning our Clubhouse foyer. Prashiba and her earnest team started off at 8.30AM.

Shredding flowers to get those bright coloured fresh petals ..

So bright and beautiful..

Poo kolam in the making .. 

L to R: Kalai, Sridevi,  Prashiba,  Vinaya, Shreya, Aprajita, Anusha.

And finally, A wonderful poetry written with petals!

Hats off to Prashiba, the chief architect.

And they got some much-needed help from our Bachha paltan (Kids army) as well. Anandita, Ahana, Mihika, Aarushi & Elisha.

And They also made their own creation too! – pretty good for a first attempt!!

Decorating the Fountain area for that great background.

And the excited kids all smartly dressed up..

All ready for action!!

Nivedita giving last minute instructions to the young performers.

And action started when our MC (Master of Ceremonies) Diny took over the mike.

“The second half of the year is filled with festivities… To start with we have the Krishna Janmashtami. This festival celebrates the birth of Krishna, the 8th avatar of Vishnu. Dance, drama, night vigil, fasting, dahi handi, are all part of the Janmashtami celebrations. And how can we miss Raas Lila, which in essence is the devotion of Gopis and Radha towards Krishna in the form of dance.

Here we have our little tiny tots aged 2-4, Kahaan, Ashvika, Agastya, Meera, Samar, Gautham and Varnika performing Raas Lila for us… 

Enjoy the enchanting performance…

Check out Krishna and Radha in their traditional best Brindavan attire!!

And they danced merrily to the lively ‘Radha kaise na Jale’ number from Lagaan.

 Madhuban mey kanahiya kisi Gopi se miley…..

And the audience turnout was at its peak. Everyone came to watch, and many armed with their cameras and phones and they stood all over ready to click !! 

From 5 year old girls to 93 year old defence & industry veterans!!

And enthusiastic hubbys perched on a ledge waiting to catch their wives in action!!

  

And then the stage rocked

The earth shook

The loudspeakers blasted out ..

And then the kids rolled in !! 

Diny : Ganesh Chaturthi with all the festivities was celebrated in Palladian last week.

Now, hold your breath for a dance performance by our very talented kids of Palladian celebrating Ganesha in all grandeur. We have Aarna, Saachi, Gauri, Akaisha, Zaynah, Mansi, Diya, Dyuthi, Riya, Ayush, Adrish, Vishwak, Bibaas and Virat bringing Ganesha celebrations as a feast to your eyes.

Be ready to roar with your claps and whistles….

The kid’s performance, as expected stole our hearts! Such bursts of energy, Young hands and legs swinging in coordination and keeping with the fast beat.

 

Check out those wonderful expressions!!

 

And the intensity with which they danced.

And the grand finale.  Ganapathy Bappa Moreya !!!

And this ‘pro’ group is well poised to win the India has talents contest!!!

 

Thiruvathurai Kali  !!  

Thiruvathirakali or Kaikottikaliis is a unique dance performed in Kerala on the auspicious day of Thiruvathira, the birthday of Lord Shiva. It is performed by women who seek blessings for eternal marital bliss. As per Hindu mythology, this dance is what brought Kamadeva (God of Love) back to life when he had been burnt to ashes by Lord Shiva's fury.

The graceful movements of the dance are both enchanting and elegant. The white saris with colourful borders along with fresh jasmines adorning their hair make for a wonderful sight. Fidelity and the power of female energy are the crux of this ancient practice. (Ref: Kerala Tourism.)

 Diny:  Kaikotti means to clap hands, Kali means to play.

Here we are presenting to you, Thiruvadirakali with a twist, as a dance off between the older and younger generation Palladian ladies. We have Jayanthi, Jayashree, Sangeetha, Chandra, Pratibha, Mohana, Gayatri, Nalini and Sudha and Anuradha who has graciously accepted to lead them as Team Green vs Swetha, Vijetha, Vini, Prasheeba, Freeda, Dhanu, Sruthi, Nikitha, Supriya, Niveditha, Yojana and Vinaya representing Team Pink.

Sit back and enjoy the captivating performance… 

 

Meet the family that made all this action happen.

Mom, Mohana (middle), sons Sundar(left) & Venkat(right): Daughter in laws, Nivedita & Supriya: And grandkids ,  Chanakya & Dyuthi !!

While Mohana danced to the tunes of her daughter in law, it was Nivedita who made all action happen. Nivedita was the main choreographer for all dance sequences (Saroj Khan & Farah Khan rolled in one)..

She taught all the steps to the kids, spent endless hours making them dance in coordination – coaxing, encouraging and driving this unruly young group  to gear up and deliver such a stupendous performance . She designed the costumes and selected the songs as well.

And she encouraged and egged the senior folks to participate and taught them to dance without inhibition and fear.

And she directed the dance sequences for the younger elegant ladies and taught them perfection and grace!!

And all the family members enthusiastically joined in the performances.

And on the day before the show, the entire family was working late into the night making the props  - the golden colored dholaks , the cymbals and other props that was used in the dance sequences.

A Mega THANK YOU folks!!  We are lucky to have such a wonderful family amongst us!!

Onam Sadya – Fine dining Kerala style!!

For some folks who have read my last year’s blog, pl bear with me for some repetition..

Onam Sadya is very unlike a fine dining in a Five Star.

While the quality and variety of food competes with the world’s finest cuisines, the style and ambience are radically different.

For traditional Sadya, you squat on the floor. (Thankfully our cultural committee provided us steel tables and plastic chairs. Much appreciated !!)

There are no silver ware / no stone ware / nor fine china.

One large Banana leaf – Ashtey!!

No spoons, no knives. Use your god given hands folks!!

And you might have to use both hands dexterously. Right hand to eat and the left, to manage the flow of piping hot rasam and other fluids on your leaf by alternately lifting the various edges of your banana leaf. And if you are not quick enough, you run the risk of that piping hot gooey stuff rushing straight into you and on to some sensitive part of your body. And you do not want that – you bet (speaking from my experience).

Thankfully nowadays our modern caterers have made these dishes ‘non-keralite’ friendly. For example, the traditional Avial that comes with vegetables floating in spicy and hot coconut milk gravy now gets served as a lump of mixed vegetable. 

And the cooking is less chilly and spicy, served at ‘baby-bath’ warm temperatures and with manageable viscosity!  And even the sweet Ada Pradaman is diabetic friendly!!

And the traditional warm Jeeraga Vellum (Jeera water) served in tall tumblers is replaced by a small sealed plastic water bottle!

But the Onam Sadya dining style and experience remains fully intact.

You do not leisurely partake a Sadya meal, slowly eating, striking up conversation with your friends between mouthfuls and occasionally sipping wine between the various courses of your meal.

No such things happen here.

You gorge food!

And eat really fast!!

And keeping in pace with the never-ending stream of fresh dishes and refills coming from your left.

And you have just 20 minutes to pump your stomach with as much as it can hold and a little more depending on the elasticity of your stomach lining.

Because the next batch of hungry folks are breathing down your neck, waiting for you to clear the table space.

And if that was not enough, there is bananas and Paan to follow.

And for the next three hours you are completely knocked out on your comfortable bed with a  soft pillow and your digestive system leisurely converts those 3500 cals. into pure fat.

And that means burning an extra 600 cals. per day for the next 6 days. Doable !!

And if you have a vague idea of exactly what you ate, here is the list of dishes that went down into your stomach .

I am sure you can recollect some of these tastes. 

Salt, Pickle are the first ones to come.

Upperi: The one thing everyone loves the most - banana chips.

Sharkara Varatti: The sweeter version of banana chips. Made of jaggery,

Puli Inji: A must have for Onam, Inji curry is ginger, tamarind and jaggery. In most malayali households, this is the first thing that is prepared in the days leading to the 10th day of Onam.

Avial: Mixed vegetables with grated coconut and made in coconut oil and milk. Man, this is one tasty mixed vegetable dish you'll ever have. 

Ellisheri: A yummy dish made with pumpkin, red beans and a generous amount of grated coconut.

Pulissery: Made with curd and a choice of vegetable ranging from pumpkin to cucumber and topped with a gracious amount of grated coconut.

Kaalan: A signature dish made with yogurt, yam or raw banana or of course our favourite, grated coconut

Olan: Ash gourd and red beans splashed with a generous amount authentic coconut milk.

Mangalore cucumber Kichadi: Spicy yogurt with vegetable like okra, cucumber Add it to your rice and parippu, and see how you lick your fingers in the end. 

Pineapple Pachadi: A delicious yogurt-based curry made with either pineapple or bitter gourd and, of course, grated coconut.

Rice (white & red), Dhal, ghee,

Sambhar: An essential dish of the Onam Sadhya, Sambhar is cooked with every vegetable there is from beans to potatoes to yam. Everything goes in to making this wonderful dish

Rasam : Spicy tamarind soup, sprinkled with a generous amount of curry leaves, mustard and tomatoes. Drink it up in the end for digestion or just add it with your sambhar and rice.

 Kootu Curry: Raw bananas and black chana with grated coconut made into a dry curry.

 Palada Pradhaman:  The last dish that is served- a sweet dish made with milk, dry fruits and rice ada. The sweetness is just perfect to balance all the spices. 

Ada pradhaman:  Onam celebration feels incomplete without a bowl of ada pradhaman. Rice ada, a typical Kerala food item made from rice, jaggery and coconut milk are key ingredients in making this delicious dish and are the reasons for its signature tropical coconut taste

And after you finish your meal and walk out of the dining hall there is Beetle leaf, banana!!

A round of applause to the cultural committee for pulling off yet another spectacular event. Thank you, folks, for such a wonderful Sunday morning!

And special thanks to Manoj, Prashiba, Jovial, Kalai and their families and of course Srini and Jayashree. Pardon me if I have missed out a few more.

Manoj, thanks for arranging the Sadya lunch and capturing all the action thru your lens.  SP Onam 2019 :  https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNob1XrsE6DLpEmUliMkcIAUZLFTgUgUyLQdMs8xKFaDAUuFot4brYKDeuCVV5rkw?key=N01LMWowazVJVXBFQXMxTVFITXFyc3lkcVU1Rnhn

And to all the volunteers who so enthusiastically pitched in to get things organised.

And not to mention the little ones, the young kids, the ladies and the senior ones as well. You all have been just amazing!! You Rock !!

And now I look forward to next year Onam 2020.

And the men folks here have taken up the challenge against the ladies.

And here are a set of eager folks who have signed up for the puli kali  (tiger dance) performance   next year!!

Cheers,

Krish..