Be Happy, Along with Me!

Tringgggg..The interval bell rang at school. It was 10.10 AM and Suraj reached out to his snack box in the lunch bag. Within a matter of seconds, all his friends thronged his desk and sat around him. Almost the entire section of 4th std A section was around Suraj's desk. He carefully opened the snack box and began distributing what he had brought for the day. Suraj's snacks were famous in his entire class and he was proud about it. Every evening he would return home to his grandmother to praise her and tell her how the snacks she makes were liked by everyone. Everyone were literally fighting to have a share during the interval time. Suraj's parents were working and hence did not have the time to prepare any home made snacks . But, Suraj's grandma Seethamma made delicious and fresh snacks everyday. She was in her late 70s. She knew the recipes for age old authentic healthy snack items such as red rice murukku, ulundhu urundai, kadala mittaai, etc. Till an year ear...

It was the first day at school. Children were walking in with mixed emotions. Vihaan also walked in with the same puzzled expression on his face like most kids. By the time he reached his classroom, he had realised that for the next few months, this place would be his 'hang out spot' during the day. He looked around to see if he could find some like minded friends with whom he could make his days ahead more interesting. But every other kid was busy with his or her own emotions on first day of school. The first few months at school, Vihaan was not very enthusiastic. He hadn't found a friend yet. Then came that day which he didn't imagine would be the most unforgettable day of his life. 'She' came in to school. She was too little, as much as him, infact much younger. But he admired her just at first sight. The person who brought her to school, found Vihaan to be a smart boy and hence told him that she would be his friend in school hereafter and he will have to ta...

Ting Ting Ting Ting!!!! If you hear those bells ringing close to midnight, you automatically recognise who it is. The kulfi vandi with a blue container covered with a red cloth on top. A young skinny fellow pedalling away on the street. He never calls out because the bell says it all. Kulfi has always been a night person. Like how we always have the curiosity and excitement to explore the city in the midnight, did you know that kulfi had its own desires too? A huge icecream factory owned by a business giant. Workers were toiling day and night to churn out the best ice creams. It was scorching summer and sales was also hot. Deep inside the factory, the ice creams had their own kingdom. Cup ice, cone ice, stick ice, candy ice, casatta, ball ice, everyone had their own leaders. There were gangs of friends too. One day, all the ice cream friends were sitting and chatting away to glory. Almost every type of ice had seen how the city buzzed with activity during the day. They had seen th...

Behind every successful man, there is a woman.. and behind every successful woman there is .... A list of thousand people to say 'thank you' to. We, women, start and end our lives with a vote of thanks all the time. So much so that we are thankful to someone for each moment we live. As a child who grows up, there are definitely a thousand people to be thankful to..But once we reach womanhood, we still carry that vote of thanks with us. I was able to get married to a good guy, thanks to my parents who found him. You don't say it was because you were smart on your own to choose a guy like him. You don't acknowledge your own efforts of finding out about the guy and his background or understanding him after lots of conversations. I am thankful to my husband who runs the family financially and that is why I am able to stay at home and take care of the kids. You don't recognize the passion you have for being a stay at home mother , the patience you have in engaging t...

Have you ever thought of how the different variants of the simple idly came about to existence? Well, I wanted to run my mind on a wild imagination trail and see if I could spin a story about how it happened. Here goes my attempt.. Once upon a time, in the village of Ulundhurpettai, lived Mrs. Khushboo Idli And Mr.Thalluvandi Idli. They were happily married and had two kids named vellai idli and kutti idli. Vellai idli,6 years old was very naughty. He always invited the wrath of his mom with his mischievous activities whereas kutti idli,2 years old was a silent fellow. One day, the idli family decided to take a walk alongside the banks of Sambar river. As usual the naughty vellai idli was too excited and as he saw a puddle of molagapodi on the way, he jumped straight into it and started playing. Appa idli and amma idli knew they won't be able to control vellai idli fellow so they let him be and settled for a short nap. Meanwhile kutty idli was exploring something close to the ri...

You don't have to go too far in life to learn that joy lies in small things. The power of a small seed to come out of its shell and grow into bright leaves overflowing with nutrition is nature's miracle indeed. I am happy that I could experience this miracle through the myHarvest gift box. The myHarvest gift box has been conceptualised by Archana Stalin whom I became friends with recently, thanks to social networking and like mindedness. This dedicated startup woman is pumped with bountiful energy. She is currently on a mission to spread the spirit of nurturing one's own home gardens in order to achieve a sustainable lifestyle. I recently bought a Paruppu Keerai(greens) myHarvest gift box from her. My daughter and I couldn't wait to open it and get started off. I want my child to nurture a green thumb as she grows up and what better way than doing it with greens that she can include in her diet as well. The myHarvest box contains a plastic pot,  well nourished soil, ...

The grass is always greener on the other side,they say. May be true, maybe not.. As a working mom, I have hundreds, no, actually thousands of thoughts running on my mind throughout the day. Most of them are about 'How I wish..How I wish.." . Well, maybe a stay at home mom is also thinking in similar lines from home.. so, what all are those wishes that spring up now and then in a working mom's mind? As she drives to office, she sees a young mom carrying her child on her hip an walking on the road..She thinks "How I wish I could do that walk with my little one everyday!" As she drives down a little further, she sees another mom holding her child's hand,and walking him to school with his school bag hanging from her shoulder. She thinks "perhaps, kutty chellam also would love to walk to school like that with me.." As she reaches office, as usual with a  ten to fifteen minutes delay, she thinks "I wonder if the breakfast I fed her today was eno...