Don't Se it to Sang Jin

Early morning sun streams in…the nose wakes up to assailing smells and the soundscape is unmistakable. In the midst of the din, the luring, full-throated cry of the ‘chaaaaai’ stands out. Who hasn’t experienced this unique Indian energy on an overnight train journey?
Taj Mahal tea bags are now conveniently stuffed in the vendor’s coat pocket. Racing against time, he fishes out a paper cup, pours a hot mix of water, milk and sugar and pops one of the bags in it. And rushes on. At best, a hygienic cup of something, at worst, an insult to tea. On the other hand, the romance of the platform chaiwalla emanates as much from the hiss of his stove as the aroma of boiling tea leaves…
To sift-or is it strain-facts from romance-
Tea is the most widely consumed beverage next to water, enjoyed world over for its sensory stimulation. This low calorie beverage is produced from the tender leaves of the evergreen plant Camellia sinensis. Of the plant foods, tea is the cheapest, pleasant and refreshing beverage possessing nutritional and pharmacological properties.
Besides, Tea also has history and geography ….For more than 4700 years since it was discovered by the legendary Chinese emperor Shennong, its health benefits have been written about. The Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing claimed its taste and stimulative properties were useful for treating tumors, abscesses, bladder ailments, lethargy, among other conditions. There is archeological evidence that suggests that tea has been consumed for almost 5000 years, with India and China being two of the first countries to cultivate it. Green tea has been used as traditional medicine in areas such as India, China, Japan and Thailand to help everything from controlling bleeding and helping heal wounds to regulating body temperature, blood sugar and promoting digestion. The Kissa Yojoki, or Book of Tea, written by Zen priest Eisai in 1191, describes how drinking green tea can have a positive effect on the five vital organs, especially the heart. The book discusses tea's medicinal qualities, which include easing the effects of alcohol, acting as a stimulant, curing blotchiness, quenching thirst, eliminating indigestion, curing beriberi disease, preventing fatigue, and improving urinary and brain function.
Tea is grown in thousands of tea estates around the world, resulting in thousands of flavourful variations. Each tea takes its name from the district in which it is grown, and each district is known for producing tea with unique flavour and character. Tea is also chategorised by grades, determined by the particle size of finished tea. Smaller grade dust teas are used in tea bags while the larger leafy grades can be found in packaged loose tea.
Tea is colour defined too. White, black, green and oolong.Black tea undergoes a fermentation process as part of production. Green tea is not fermented while oolong is half way between the two. Flavours are qualified as strong, well-rounded, malty, delicate and full bodied, depending on their place of cultivation and method of processing.
Tea is an all-natural and environmentally reliable product from a renewable source. It is a refreshing beverage that contains no sodium, fat, carbonation, or sugar. It is virtually calorie-free with the synergistic effects of the unique combination of a large number of constituents contributing to the goodness of tea. Brewed tea contains Vitamin C,
Vitamin K, and
B Vitamins, which could provide 5 - 6% of a person’s Required Daily Allowance (RDA),
Fluoride at 3 – 5% of RDA, and
minerals such as, Potassium, Zinc and Manganese at 1 –5% of RDA. Tea is rich in polyphenols that are 200 times more powerful than Vitamin E in neutralizing free radicals.
Recent research has given not only given Tea a clean chit but The American Health Foundation has endorsed the traditional oriental therapeutic confidence reposed in Tea. From lowering cholesterol to keeping sugar under check, to preventing dental cavities and improving bone mineral density, tea is no doubt riding an all time high as the tasteful panacea to ageing.
For the Chinese, drinking tea is naturally a refreshing and purifying experience that clears the mind. It helps to rid the mind of wicked thoughts and to gain peacefulness, defining the spirit and philosophical ideas of the East. Some wise celebrity figures like to drink tea to pursue the perfection of enjoyment. The Chinese tea ceremony focuses on the tea, and not the ritual, and is a way of keeping the mind in balance. Tea promotes friendship and harmony.
Tea must surely be a precious beverage-every aspect of it is classified and defined. From 3 types of bitterness-(Se is a rough bitterness for example) of which only one is deemed ‘heavenly’ by the Chinese, to the right choice of cup to brew tea in…’Choose the right cup to brew your tea. Say, a white cup for Tie Guan Tin to show against the background, a glass for green Dragon Well to dance around and you will be able to enjoy your Chinese tea to the fullest.’
The Indian Kullad or clay cup specially designed for a cup of hot tea. Its sturdy earthiness adds to the flavour. Talking of flavour, Jasmine tea has a unique flavour. Flowers and tea are "mated" in machines that control temperature and humidity. It takes four hours or so for the tea to absorb the fragrance and flavour of the Jasmine blossoms, and for the highest grades, this process may be repeated as many as seven times.
Delicacy associated with tea extends to other areas: who has not heard of the Japanese tea ceremony? But did we know that Kimono, calligraphy, flower arranging, ceramics and incense and a wide range of other disciplines go with the Japanese Tea Ceremony? Even to participate as a guest in a formal tea ceremony requires knowledge of the prescribed gestures and phrases expected of guests, the proper way to take tea and sweets, and general deportment in the tea room.
The Indian chai is its boisterous cousin-the three to four tea breaks in the average Indian worker’s life no doubt ably destress him; accompanied by spicy snacks and itself spiced with a variety of condiments: cardamom, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, tulsi…boiled and reboiled in the fiercely hissing stoves of roadside eateries to the 100% inflated value when served in five star graceful ambience…
How strong is a cup of tea? Some people drink a cup of tea to go to sleep, others to keep awake. Some drink tea to calm their nerves, others for a lift. How can the same beverage possess such opposing qualities? Precisely because tea -- unlike coffee -- can produce both these effects upon the body, it is viewed as a wonder drink. Tea and coffee both contain the stimulating substance caffeine, but only tea contains both caffeine and tannin. The presence of these chemical compounds together in tea leaves allows tea to act as a calming or exciting agent. Isn’t that interesting? Once boiling water is poured onto tea leaves, in the first two minutes all the caffeine in the leaves is drawn out. At this point tea is at its most stimulating. Only during the next minute win tannin gradually be drawn out of the tea leaves. This will not only cancel out the effects of the caffeine but after five minutes will actually make a relaxing, calming tea.
While a whole host of factors go into deciding the personality of a cup of tea, the basic method is to put a teaspoon of tea in a cup and cover it with just enough hot water, neither too hot nor cold. Let it brew for three minutes. Then add water up to 70-80% of the cup and drink before it goes cold. Milk, sugar or honey should be added after the brew is strained.
Time to settle for my cup of cha…I may not yet know my Yat Pau Cha or possess a GaiWan for perfect tea-bliss, but I have surely learnt that I should not overbrew my tea so it gets Se because Se tea definitely won't Sang Jin*.
*"Stimulates Saliva". Saliva cells activated and working. To feel saliva flowing into the mouth is a wonderful feeling. Also, it is the best way to quench your thirst.
(Source-Dr rajalakshmi and Internet)

Indecent question?

‘Indecent question’, chides my friend. I am taken aback. After all she had lured me into the trap by announcing her daughter’s confirmation at the new job. With bubbling empathy I had asked ‘what’s the salary?’ And got the drubbing.
Why is it wrong to ask what her salary is? I am not asking how many sovereigns of gold she possesses. Or whether she had planned both her children. Or what brand of panties she wears. Given her love of the gab, she will sooner or later divulge those facts!
Sets me thinking though about the potential or quotient of indecency of questions.

In descending order of indecency, ‘who are you?’ would perhaps top the list. Though ‘how old are you?’ is the acknowledged Star of Indecent Questions. The Beaters around Bushes would go jobless if ‘what do you want?’ shed its indecency. While the ‘where’, ‘why’ and ‘when’ questions have escaped social ostracism, it is the ‘how many’ and ‘how much’ which keeps the planet going-wise or unwise, clockwise or anticlockwise.

See the price sticker provocatively scratched on the packet of gifted embroidered hankies. Is it an added incentive for me to guess its right price? Or consider it priceless? Does a price tag double as a Worthiness Tag? (of the giver, receiver AND the object) Indecency notwithstanding, we humans seem hopelessly mired into numbers and wired to statistics-of the vital kind and otherwise. The urge to quantify is inborn. ‘Lots of love’ is perhaps fine but ‘loads of money’ or ‘pots of gold’ cannot escape the human(e) wish to know not only the number of pots, but also their vital stats.(Small pots, medium or XL).‘key in your vital stats’ read a recent article, ‘and order online perfectly fitting garments’. Likewise, good social fitting needs appropriate vital stats of social status.

Some breathe in numbers like oxygen, some oxide info with numbers, some send all information through a number detector to create mental algorithms(‘he must have spent at least twenty lakhs for his daughter’s wedding’; …). If the speed of light can be calculated to the tenth decimal place and if scientists can state the exact age of a grasshopper fossil, why is it indecent to know the age of the youthful looking woman? The value of Pi may never haunt the average human being but his mind can draw admirable bar graphs… If NASA says a space tourism package costs $ millions, why is wrong to ask how much the young couple spent to go to Goa on their honeymoon? If intelligence can be tagged in IQs, is it wrong to know how much marks x or y got? If knowing the GDP of my country is general knowledge, why not know that of my neighbours, who anyways matter just more in my small world? If it is fashionable to know how much a superstar demands per film, why is it wrong to know what the ENT surgeon downstairs (who has just bought the swankiest car) makes per month? If the internet can reveal in the highest traditions of transparency the financial workings of a MNC, why is it a crime to know how another household runs? I am glad the chanawalla round the bend has no qualms about revealing his meager income per day; or the friendly Mumbai taxi driver who is not offended when I ask him how much he earns in a month. He even tells me how much he sends to his family back in Lucknow. I feel better connected to a certain layer of the society I live in.

Nowhere else, it seems to me, are numbers so punched about as in cricket. Every move seems to be a record of sorts, a first in some way or other…the latest to this hugely number sport is fancy betting...of course the climax comes when the indecently-or is it obscenely-huge prize cheque is displayed for the world to gasp at…

Media thrives on the number game. From the number of hours an elephant mates to the American baby’s average size/number of burps in the first 45 days, isn’t information punctuated and substantiated by numbers? ’75 sovereigns of gold robbed from college lecturer’s house’ seems perfect to read. (How the hell could a lecturer amass SO much gold?) ‘Right-handed people live nine years longer than left-handed people’ informs one weboid.( change hands if you can) ‘5 year old girl runs 29.4 kms in 170 minutes on February 25th’‘In 1998, Sony sold 700 000 camcorders that had the technology to see through people’s clothes’.

Owning such an amazing invention may be beyond the means of most of us (you need to earn in six digits and have a solid bank balance for that), but wanting to see through other lives through numbers is often irresistible-mostly harmlessly so. (it should be legalized I feel)

Hmmm….isn’t the world one giant measuring tape? Or perhaps a huge weighing balance?A massive Russian Roulette? One big grandfather clock-gone digital? Did I say digital? Of course…number splitting competes favorably with hair splitting now! ‘long ago there lived a king’ would no longer fascinate kids. Nor would ‘and they lived happily ever after’…when it is common knowledge that stars die (with precise data), how could a prince and princess live forever? They would want precise dates.‘the yonder’ is beyond wonder now, what with probes scratching Mars to precision in milligrams in nanoseconds.

What then makes questions indecent? 5 days and 4 hours 35 minutes of analyzing the question tells me that questions, when born have infant-like innocence. It is when ‘why’, ‘why not’, ‘when’, ‘where’ and ‘how’ tag themselves to the questions that indecency sets in-dyed in one’s own prejudices. Simple linear information acquires angles…man is a 90% angular being did you say?

Ask with grace, imbibe with goodwill and process with respect…how is that?

Or conversely, disclose with discretion and share freely...

There comes my friend with a triumphant smile. ‘My daughter got her first salary cheque’…some decency please!!!

Not victims, not martyrs

Not victims
Not martyrs
But makers of their destinies
with
gumption and vision-
chartering new domains,
new maps of excellence;
fighting battles-legal,
societal..
searching within the self
for motivation
looking beyond Self
to take others along…
flowing as a stream
in the mainstream
with
mobility of thoughts
mobility as mission
and
nobility of deed

Not victims
Not martyrs
But carvers of destinies

we shared their travails
and our hearts tugged
we shared their convictions
and our spirits rose
we feted them
and we felt crowned…

My first movie review-Mozhi

A Tamil film? Me? Watch? -let alone review?

My greatest fear was that I would fall asleep half way through…lesser fears included dances and songs, melodrama, ‘comic relief’, a mirage of mature emotions, caricatured characters and a big zero of a story!

I emerged fully awake after almost three hours-in fact with new ideas and questions buzzing within me.

Hats off to the ‘Mozhi’ team!

Handsome boy sees pretty girl. Plummets in love. Necessity being mother of invention and learning, develops insight and devises methods to win her over. Girl resists; boy persists. Help comes from friends and relatives. And they tie the knot.

It isn’t as simple as that of course. Nor as mundane. Pulsing music, healthful laughter and a crisscross of warm relationships substantiate the story line. A cute granny like yours or mine, the ubiquitous watchman who keeps the pulse of the building where the characters live, an ‘out-of-the-world’ professor, the little Pomeranian, a bumbling, bungling building secretary and an impulsive music fan add to the seasoning while Karthik the hero and Archana, the heroine are ably seconded by their best friends Viji and Sheela who pair off with ease.

It isn’t as simple as that either. Nor as mundane. When the much smitten Karthik understands that Archana is hearing-speech impaired, he is not crest-fallen. Nor non-plussed. Nor condescending. In fact, matching Archana’s brisk jogging and lively doggie, is her crisp, self-sufficient personality and it is Karthik who has to jog his thinking to match it. He discovers that a soundless world need not be sad, that music can be a language as much as gestures or silence and that it is unnecessary to append a working voicebox to a person who does not have one. Archana, for her part, learns to understand music through vibrations and to appreciate Karthik’s love through her friends’ efforts and example.

While all elements fuse in harmony, and it is a relief that the comic-relief does not jar, the ‘Sorry’ song/dance feels a little childish and out of place. We may condone it considering that song/dance sequences are perhaps a reflex for mainstream movies and actors. The scene where the professor is shaken out of his imaginary world triggers our tears as much as Karthik’s and the loudness of it falls well in place. The hero’s magnanimity, either inborn or love-borne, is well show-cased, perhaps a little overly so, with his donation to the school and the little hearing impaired girl selling flowers.

The heroine’s vehement reaction to the hero’s imagination of her voice brings a question…she may feel complete within her without a voice but is it a crime for another to complete his image of her with the attributes he is accustomed to or inspired with? Also are complexities of thoughts adequately expressed in the sign ‘mozhi’ between Karthik and Archana?
Soundscape is such an integral part of life. From the hum of air conditioners to the blare of vehicles…the hero’s effort to experience soundlessness is interesting.

Mozhi comes as a good breezy story but as well as an awareness creating medium. The choice of well known actors and good publicity adds to the effect.

Director Radha Mohan’s chance enrolment in Ability Foundation’s sign language crash course sowed the seed for Mozhi. Credit goes to the teacher who conveyed the plenitude of the sign language to him. Enough to make him conceive a full length, not ‘off-beat’ or ‘art’ movie but a ‘regular’ ‘commercial’ one with the popular stars. The director says that the story came to him with the image of the lead actors. Jyotika does full justice to her role with her very expressive eyes, her artist hands and her winning smile. Prithviraj, as Karthik, doesn’t lag behind in dispensing his charms . Prakash Raj as his bungling buddy and Swarnamalya as Jyotika’s friend and confidante are easier to fathom.
Seeing the stars in flesh and blood half way through the film was memorable. This film offered a different, refreshing experience to them, they said. Mozhi comes as a fitting, fulfilling finale to Jyotika’s acting career.
The enthusiasm of the stars to learn the sign language and to use their talents to emote soundlessly is creditable. More credit goes to our very own admirable Vijaya Bhaskaran(whose diehard fan I am) who trained the actors in sign language.

Why ‘Mozhi’( language)? It could well be christened ‘mozhi venduma?’( is language necessary?)

PS: The music part escapes me.

Windows

Window open
Shut window
Window maximised
Minimised window
Single window counter
Window on the world
Launch window
Window shopping
A window during the week end
Window dressing
Window seat
Window ledge…

Life…
a series of windows
In space
In time
In thoughts
In deeds….
Glimpses within frames.
Bits of reality
Bytes of actuality
Bouts of validity
Possibility…

Routine thoughts

If a thought process about something as routine as Routine can be dedicated to someone, I would do it to my father. A stay in my parental home is punctuated by his routine. Rhythmic footsteps at 4.30 am sharp, walking from 6 am to 6. 45 am, summer, winter or rain; at 8 am sharp emerging footsteps from the bathroom, washed clothes in hand, at 8.30 at the breakfast table, at the same place, with the same pieces of crockery…and so the day progresses. His routine includes catnaps while reading the newspaper and keeping an eye and ear open for my mother’s well being including giving her tablets, encouragement, a joint peep into current affairs over breakfast and presiding over the Family Parliament after the 5 pm biscuits.

My father is 95 years old.

The only change that has occurred is that from brisk walks outdoors, he walks within the house, in tiny cautious steps, with the help of a walker. His intellect has retained its stride though. It is not as if he always led a staid, rigid limited life. As a busy government official he traveled frequently. He bathed in trains at the same time, walked in whichever city he was…Routine and discipline, he would say, go hand in hand, and together they have sustained him, physically, mentally and emotionally through failing eyesight and hearing.

I remember my grandmother’s routine: it was as if each moment had a purity and personality of its own, the before-bath part of the day textured differently from the after-bath part. Lunch had sanctity, and she relaxed after that. Evening likewise. I can almost smell the fragrance of the incense stick lit with the lamp at the same time, the serenity that enveloped the house with her chants…. dramatically narrated bedtime epics cozily summed up the day’s routine-the grandmother’s and the little child’s.
Little child…wonder what a child’s routine today would be like today. A packed day, with packed snacks, packed lunch and series of classes, competitions…like packets of fast food, the day parceled in packages. And I guess the present day grandmother, in case she does catch an occasional glimpse of her grandchild’s life, would be herself caught in the web …
Doing the same thing at the same time can be termed robotic. Lack of imagination, creativity or just plain old laziness find solace in routine. Nature probably devised the biological clock so that the planet wouldn’t go haywire with purposelessness. Variety in species with varying routines created eco-balance. From polar bears to seeds, to mosquitoes, to desert flowers…each with a routine of its own, a rhythm. Sprout, shoot, flower, entice, reproduce, bring up young, follow instincts….a nice code. Wonder what nature would have thought up for man if he were to obediently follow her code too? A creature among others, living in harmony with his surroundings?...

A little tough on the imagination, given that man tirelessly aims to add variety to spice up life with inventions.

Games between spouses can be part of routine. A friend married for 30 years says she and her husband play carom every evening exactly at 7. Another old couple played cards just before bedtime. Or the walking couple…or a daily telephonic talk with a child or a daily visit to an old parent…a good morning , good night sms…same words perhaps, same contents and yet, as a friend put it, there is comfort in it. Perhaps we all have deep within us the insecurity of an autistic child for whom the daily rhythm is all important to find a foothold in life.
Rhythm…
Routine as Rhythm can turn into Routine as Ritual- or rituals as routine. All of them have in common a lilting accent. If routine designs the day for some, rituals give shape and meaning to life for others. Like a well-fitting garment on the body. How tight or loose is well-fitting is of course each one’s personal idea. Complacency and habit are the lesser or looser or lazier cousins of routine. Time-tables and schedules are its rogue siblings-meeting schedules disrupted, trains running behind schedules…remember the thrill of a cancelled ‘PT’ period or the sheer bliss of an answered prayer in the form of a maths test period suddenly declared null and void? Discipline and Duty would go hand in glove with Routine. Among the better known Routine devotees would be Adi Shankaracharya. For the spiritually innocent, he equates sincerely done daily duties with worship.
There are those who doze off (noisily) in the midst of their silent meditation; there are those who meditate silently in the midst of their noisy routine. Routine, in fact, is like a multi-layered ice cream or cake. It can have interesting combos like ‘sweeping-listening to music-sketching a new recipe in the mind’ or ‘sewing-reviewing yesterday’s events-deciding what is important in life’ or ‘bathing-creating a new tune-measuring one’s efficiency’. An astronaut, on a prolonged space mission, taking walks in space need not feel spaced out-to have a down to earth feel, he/she has only to devise a healthful routine. Back on earth, there is nothing like a brisk morning walk, on familiar terrain, to excite the grey cells and discover solutions to elusive problems of the previous night.
Getting children to tow the Routine line may need a deft maneuver or two. I used to celebrate a weekly ‘rules break day’ with my children until they accepted raw carrots and eye exercices as part of life under me.
Routine the adjective can sound deceptively boring. A routine medical exam can expose clogged arteries, a routine security drill can unearth a potential blastful bomb while an ignored routine spring cleaning could favor termites and terrorists alike.‘why was the routine fire safety drill ignored’ is post-inferno fireworks.
Another trail of thought would be that even the smallest task, however ordinary, should be done for its own sake, with perfection, and not as a decoy for hidden agenda. Breathe with awareness, clean with dedication and chant with devotion. The dusty connection to the nooks and corners of the house are as valuable as the visceral connection to one’s innards while breathing or the spiritual link to the higher realm of existence while chanting. …
What exactly provides the strength in a well routined life? Perhaps the ability to draw comfort from the certainty of a well defined way of life and from there to explore the new? Going back in thoughts to my father, he continues to be as intrepid a thinker at 95 as he was way back, and I suspect Routine has empowered him with heightened self-confidence and a sense of stability, walker notwithstanding. Like being anchored yet sailing. Perhaps he just mulls over the Union Budget or ponders over the wonders of genetic engineering while walking. ‘I can’t afford weakened eyesight’ he may be telling himself, ‘whom can I call for a solution?’ and successfully finding solutions has been his life long mission.
Even as I glance at the clock with trepidation-it is walking time in three minutes-I decide to elaborate that trail of thought during the 5 th round of my walk….after the routine conversation with my liver and lungs.