Value and money

(Taken from
Stories for Parents, Children and Grandchildren by Paulo Coelho)

Ciccone German tells the story of a man who, thanks to his enormous wealth and infinite ambition, decided to buy everything he possibly could. Once he had filled his many houses with clothes, furniture, cars and jewels, the man decided to buy still more things.

He bought ethics and morality, and thus was born corruption.

He bought solidarity and generosity, and indifference came into being.

He bought justice and its laws, bringing impunity into the world.

He bought love and feelings, and the result was pain and remorse.

The most powerful man in the world bought all the material goods he wanted to possess and all the values he wanted to master. Then one day, drunk on so much power, he decided to buy himself.

Despite all his money, he could not do it.

At that precise moment, there was born in the consciousness of the Earth the only thing on which no one can put a price - self-worth.

Days fly too fast..

It has been blissful days without the urge to check on the emails or blogs... The days are flying too fast and we have been on the road mostly. The rains also seems to have gathered strength finally.

The one thing I miss are the online newspapers. Only when you are at the mercy of one or two printed editions do you realize how much one is addicted to the online news.

Spent 2 days in Cochin and had good fun at Veega land. Yes.. Cochin is a shopper's paradise if you can forget the cramped roads.

Went uptill Mysore too and the place has changed a lot. Could not decide if the city is moving uphill or downhill. Hopefully uphill but Brindavan garden has lost all its charm though it is still filled with tourists.

Had a wonderful time at Wayanad and the place is heaven. Hopefully we will leave it thus!

Will be on the road again before we board the plane.

Another Monsoon

Another monsoon awaits us and I hear that the final “venal mazha” or the Summer rains are now pouring down. This time they have predicted the monsoon to arrive earlier. The monsoon seems to have turned out to be a like a choosy lady these days! Anyway, as long as she continues her much awaited visits, it is fine.

Finished shopping and we only need to cram the bags as usual.

The other day we visited “Platform”, a shop for hardware. Somehow I liked the concept, else who would want to spend shopping time in a hardware shop!

I am not sure if they have this kind of a showroom in India. (The Platform concept was launched by Saint Gobain (SG), Europe’s leading manufacturer and distributor of building materials, in 1998. It has since then become the fastest growing business within SG’s €20 Billion-Distribution Division with a network of more than 70 stores in 10 European and South American markets.)

At “Platform” those who are building a house will get to see every item that will go into it. There are also all kinds of tools; to buy and also for hire. The foldable ladder looked very handy. We went there since the almost 20 year old Union door lock back home is showing signs of ageing and Hubby wanted to shift it from the front door (demoted I guess!). The penchant for Union Lock is still there but we found that the price has moved up too high. We settled for another lock and found that there are many good locks from India too. Since we may find no time to go lock searching in India, we settled for UK locks. No point in buying an Indian product for India from Kuwait.

We also ended up buying a few knick knacks for the bathrooms and also some handy tools. The bathroom fittings are good and those who want to spend more money can wander into a separate show room of “Aquamondo” where they have displayed a few beautifully fitted bathrooms. I clicked a few photographs outside the shop.




We wound up that day’s shopping with a sumptuous Arabic meal from a local restaurant.

For another 5 years...

This election did in the end turn out to be exciting! At least it beat every analyst’s prediction and the voters have yet again proved that they have a mind of their own. Woo them, bribe them, threaten them and even shame them but in the end they will patiently wait to let the ink be stamped upon their fingers.

I am happy how it turned out in my own state Kerala. The arrogant leaders may now please listen to their CM or else the voters will never ever give you victory. Sure the money is there but without power how sweet can it be?

Yes, the voters have selected the “lesser evil”. This election has yet again proved that Indians have their heart in the right place and that hope is not all lost. I only pray that arrogance will not set in but the Congress will take this as an opportunity to amend their ways. Let this result give MM Singh the confidence to lead the country.

But it is sad to note that Rahul is taking all the credit. He gets to have the cake and eat it too!

Tomorrow it is voting day here in Kuwait, while it is the vote counting day in India. Hubby is all set to wake up early, while I am hoping his excitement wont catch up with me. I still remember those days as children when my Father's excitement would catch up with the entire house hold. In those TV less days, the radio was the only source. My parents and in-laws have voted this year too and have been voting faithfully every election day. The other day while speaking to a girl on the phone, she suddenly asked me from which state I came from. When I told her my state, she said she is from West Bengal and it is their voting day. This is the first time she has missed her voting rights since she just came to Kuwait. I could sense her disappointment.

Yes, we are all waiting and whoever comes to power, do they really have anything diferent to offer for the coming years? Is there going to be any CHANGE?

Biodegradable dish ware..

...sounds sophisticated?

....trendy?

..... a new entrant?





It is nothing else but the palm leaves (sheaths) that have been used since ages for various purposes in parts of India and I believe in most Asian countries. It is from the Areca Palm or the Betel tree as it is widely known in India whose nuts are used by betel/pan chewers. In Malayalam the sheath is known as “pala”. The same material is also used to make those umbrella like hats used by farmers that are now almost extinct. As children we used to sit on the palm leaves and be dragged along and even toppled! It was pure fun.


But it is this photo feature on Time that caught my attention and I was amused by the trendy name being given to it. Most of us have used the plantain leaves for our “sadhyas” and for those yummy “pothi choru” during train journeys. I have seen even these sheaths being used for such purposes but it now delights me to know that mass production of it is taking place (I read that it has been there since year 2006) in India and picnic goers in US will now use these instead of plastic plates.

Wonder why we in India discarded these for the plastic plates.