Adi and Singampalli Habits

A list of habits I observed Adi exhibiting: He is an incredibly fast reader, is always excited when the latest issue of Tinkle arrives in the mailbox, finishes any new book reading non-stop till it is completed, is a fan of the Sunday cartoon pages, endlessly discusses the books he reads to the minute trivia, is very argumentative, is very preachy on virtues, wiggles his foot when idle and can't keep him mouth shut.

Up to you folks to figure out who he got those traits from :-)

Finally Online

My favorite quarterly magazine Bhoomi is available online now. Their topics range from food & health, agriculture, crafts & sustainable living, climate change. Apart from the hard hitting content, their quality of English is also very good, which makes for entertaining reading.

The site:

http://www.bhoomimagazine.org/

Some samples:

http://www.bhoomimagazine.org/food-health/item/8-annadana-the-gift-of-food/8-annadana-the-gift-of-food

http://www.bhoomimagazine.org/food-health/item/35-what-every-indian-should-know-about-agriculture/35-what-every-indian-should-know-about-agriculture

http://www.bhoomimagazine.org/magazine/current-issue/item/46-zero-waste/46-zero-waste

Actually, all the articles are worth reading and debating.

Locked Out

I was mowing the lawn in the backyard and Adi and IS went out to get some food. So, they locked the backyard door, front door and garage door.

Fortunately, there is a way out from the backyard, but no way into the house. So went to the neightbor's and used their phone to call IS back.

Upshot of mowing the lawn in the cold, sinusitis.

wanted telugu teacher

wanted some one urgently to teach CONTEMPORARY telugu.Iam unable to understand telugu cinema songs and names of telugu children.

HP Quiz

Like the horcruxes, my HP posts keep on coming. Came across this fairly gettable quiz on Kweezzz (a Twitter based Indian quiz group). Riddikulus to all you boggarts who don't attempt this quiz!

Q1- Harry Potter, Hugo Weasley, Alfred Cattermole and Ariana Dumbledore all had_______

Q2: I was the reason for Harry Potter's 1st brush with the Ministry & I nearly got him expelled too. But I'm not as bad as I claim to be.

Q3: Groaning & clanking in the astronomy tower is my favourite pastime, or so, Sir Nick thinks. Harry once impersonated me to scare Peeves.

Q4: I once helped Harry Potter in a quest. Brave though I'm, was foolish to let in a wrong person & was promptly fired. I love fighting.

Q5 There is nothing you can hide from me. Face me and I'll know the thing which you crave for. Desire for or rim

Q6: My name anagrams to "Help the dirty PoA" but I did not help him escape from the Azkaban, at least willingly. 

Q7: I'm not a vitch. I'm not that famous quidditch player which Ron mentioned to Harry, though I have some connection with another player.

Q8: My mother thinks that I'm like my uncle. The uncle in question once helped my father escape from his uncle. Who am I?

Q9: He realised this special power when he met me. I will always be thankful to him for setting me free & letting me visit Brazil. Who am I?

Q10:The more you try to escape, the more difficult it will be. You don't need wood to ward me off, remembering that you are a witch will do!

Q10:The more you try to escape, the more difficult it will be. You don't need wood to ward me off, remembering that you are a witch will do!

Q11: Not all can see me. Those who can, do not consider it as a gift & those who can't do not wish to. Very useful to people like Hermoine

Q12: I’m not a cloth shop you might very well mistake me for. You can find me next to that gadgets shop which muggles swarm all the time.

Q13: If Cedric: Cho, Krum: Hermoinee, Harry: Parvati, Fleur:?

Q14: If Harry: Cho, Neville: Hermoinee, then Ron: ?

Q15 I helped Voldemort in his resurrection. I should have not trusted his most coward servant. Clue: I was Sirius's senior at Hogwarts

HP-7: What is missing?

My 2 cents: Even though the movie more or less followed the book, it never engaged as the book did. One reason is Daniel Radcliffe- who seems to be doing worse as an actor as every movie passes. For someone on the run and in a lot of trouble, he looks too much like a well fed squat elf. There is an almost ascetic quality to the search for the deathly hallows, and Harry looks too sleek to reap the rewards of the search.

Another reason  is the boring predictability of the movie. Since everyone has read the book, the director should have  realized the book in a way that catches the imagination- panaromic shots of mountains, seas etc is not a substitute.

But the action is good.

By now, I am sure several Singampallis have seen the movie. So what is the consensus?

Singampalli Sarcasm

Me and ma generally have a long tete-a-tete post lunch/dinner. Typically the topics will be around fun happenings of past and present of family and of course "Jagartalus" :). Today we happened to talk about how sarcastic Singampallis are, which I find very funny.

The conversation started with how mama garu used to pass sarcastic comments for some misses from ma's side. Like - he always wanted to have a glass of water next to him while having meals. And knowing ma, she would have hardly missed it. But if she will miss it, the comment from mama garu will "Kaapraniki vachina appatti nunchi chustunnaanu ..you dont put water when food is served!!". :)

It will be very easy to know that taata-gaaru is watching news on tv even if you are in other room, because he will be grinding his teeth and banging the table with his fist and grumbling over the subject. :-) Ma says that what is the point in breaking ones hand over such matters when no one is around to hear :) .

She mentioned that how all the babais were good at making funny comments and keeping interesting names for people. This one really made me laugh so hard that I got tears in my eyes :). It seems there used to be a fat lady around our house in Kavali, she was stout. She was so bulky that one couldn't even see her neck, and obviously thats how babais came up with a name "Neck-less". Poor lady wouldn't have ever come to know what they really meant :)

Gopal babai is handsome-"est" man of the family, other babais had given him names like "Andhagaadu" & "Shoku-purshu". I need not explain why those names! It seems he used to take good amount of time for his beauty baths & some times will make taata garu also to wait in the queue, obviously this wont stop him from saying "Jalakalaata..chaalu...come out!!"

I would say the baton has been passed from one generation to other successfully, but the I guess it is getting mellowed down as it goes to the next generation. Krups gets irritated at people who drive recklessly on the roads and he calls all of them as "Peanut brains" :) But it still doesn't beat tata-garu!! :)

Stem Cell Storage

Question to the doctors and parents in the family: Nowadays one hears about the advisability of stem cell  storage of one's children. Apparently this will come in useful in recovering from degenerative diseases. And apparently, the tooth is also a source of stem cells- so there are agencies offering to store the kid's teeth, when they fall as the kid grows up.

Is this just a fad or is it really advisable?

Laptop mania!!

Hello everybody,
It's thanksgiving time...its deal(s) time.
I want to get myself a nice laptop, with
1. i7 or i5 processor
2. 300-500 gb memory
3. 4gb ram (extendible upto 8gb)
4. i grade microsoft word papers, so i should be able to run windows on it..
5. good wireless LAN
I am not crazy about apple(just because it costs a 1000$).

I could think of only these specifications...are there others to consider?
Please suggest good laptops with the specifications...

Why dont we hear from Krupa & Sunny now a days?

A few recollections!

Do you know, Singampalli manavaallu (Krupa's childhood slang)! That bird watching is very interesting- if you don't, must have this experience once. Krupa,  the senior, is verily interested in this nice time-pass and he can identify many species now.

Once, I also accompanied him to share that thrill. It was early morning-the right time to behold varied species- busily engaged in their own way. Despite the chilliness of the weather, I enjoyed it. Three others also joined us- regulars in the bird watching team.

We observed a lion safari area over a hill from a watch tower, with binocs. Of course it is far away from the tower, yet my usual fear is that the lions may jump over the fence and attack the passers by. It is a reserved forest area. When we were watching over the birds, standing beside the road, the guards warned us not to venture there walking.

"my usual fear is that they may jump over the fence and attack the passers by"

There is also a big rocky area with rain water logged in small pits here and there on it. We saw some birds there, perching  and splashing the water. Thickly grown trees are there a few yards ahead giving shelter to a number of noisy aves.

A little bird it is- but nicely drawing the honey from the flowers with its long thin beak. It is a Sun bird. Really sometimes, I feel how wonderful God's creation is, when I capture these beauties in Nature. What computer brain he should have to provide us with all these countless wonders in this world, humanly impossible. Even though the birds dont have thinking capacity, they also have got family ties in their own way. How much pain they have to take to feed their off-springs, holding food with their little beaks. How restless they should feel when an enemy comes to attack them.

Have you ever seen how skilfully a Weaver bird builds its nest? What about a Tailor bird- despite its bird brain, can cut the leaves and build its nest. We saw Drongos- black birds with tail-ends bifurcated. Oh! Kingfishers, you know, very expertly catches the fish in a split second.

Next, we came across a lotus pond. Again, so many huge trees. We noticed some owls there. See, if they scent that somebody is watching, they quickly escape into the thickets. Of course, somehow our eyes caught hold of them. Even though they are scary, I think they are timid.

I could see a Pied Bush Chat with black back but white underneath. Little birds hopping here and there for food, with tails upright- they are none other than Indian Robins!

We saw another species, blackish color, with hood over, beak-red, called Red-Whiskered Bulbul. There are also Bee-Eaters, skilfully catching bees and insects in the air.

That is all for that day!

-Written by Bhargavi Devi (typed verbatim by Krupakar)

HBD

Happy Birthday SRN and Manasa!

Rains in Kavali

The November feature--usually we see this in November.
You need not draw water from the well. Just dip the bucket and fill it.

The motor in the well is almost being kissed by water.