Anuradha Sridharan

After writing about my garden in my grandpa's house, I feel I should write about my little pot garden in my terrace. Thanks to my hubby's interest, we have been into gardening as a hobby for a while now. Since we are not the professionals, we really don't know how to take good care of our plants. My sincere hubby pours water everyday and spreads manure soil once in a while. But that doesn't seem to be enough. Luckily, we got to know a gardener who visited last weekend, changed the soil ("repotting" in his terms) and put some new seeds. Though his charges were high, we were quite satisfied to see our garden after his efforts. Now after a span of four days, while I was watering the plants and I see those cute, tiny plants which seem to peep out of the soil to see the outside world, my joy knew no bounds. I started to count these saplings and I prayed that they should grow properly. Sometimes, these little things that happen to us add a lot of joy and make our d...

I want to write something interesting, something worthwhile, something to cherish. Words, reflections of my feelings, of my thoughts, of my life. I ponder, I wonder, I crib, I laugh. This is my space, free to express free to write free to chat.

Ravenclaw....Not Gryffindor, at the same time not Slytherin as well. It was an interesting way to figure out my house. I'm intelligent (yeah, yeah...no more a Tuby!), capable (God didn't know which particular talent to bestow upon me, so he gave me everything) and witty. Looking at the scores, I'm pretty much a mixed bag of qualities. Now, can someone please give me a ticket to Hogwarts Express. It's high time I start my first year before Harry, Ron and Hermione pass out of the school. Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into? Your in-depth results are: Ravenclaw - 12 Gryffindor - 11 Hufflepuff - 10 Slytherin - 8

It might come as a surprise or a shock to a few people if I say that I haven't watched Friends serial until last Saturday. I got a chance to watch a few of them in DVDs and I enjoyed so much that I laughed continuously for 3 hours. The expressions were just amazing. Being a passionate toastmaster, I could easily relate to the importance of body language and how it can impact the audience. I especially liked the character of Chandler. His dialogue delivery and timings were superb. My friend Biju was comparing me to Phoebe, a stupid tuby she is. Oh, the part where she tried to impress her boy friend's parents was so stupid but enjoyable. The best part was the way they fight for Ross and Rachel's daughter, Emma. Adding to my wish list - to watch all the episodes. "Friends" - very interesting to watch with friends. :-)

The title intrigued me, and noting that the author is Ruskin Bond made me pick this title from a local library. I haven't read his novels before but have read his short stories and I thorougly enjoyed them. This novel is about the protogonist who moves from a small town to the capital in pursuit of his dreams of becoming a writer. How he becomes friends with the young boy,Suraj and the barber is another interesting plot. The narration of Ruskin Bond seems to captivate me a lot , in terms of the way he explains the town, the streets, the distant fields, rains etc. He makes you picturize the entire town in minute detail. A very key resemblance to that of R.K. Narayan's. Though it wasn't very gripping, it was a good read for a couple of hours. I plan to read other titles of Ruskin Bond. Any suggestions?

A small house in the far end of the plot, with a nice, little garden in it's front, showcasing flowering plants like jasmine, december, kanakambaram (what's the English word?), huge fruit bearing trees like banana, mango and guava (white and pink varieties) etc. The whole street could smell the fragrance of curry leaves and eucalyptus. No one bought curry leaves from the shops. They plucked it from our little garden. Can you believe that a drumstick plucked from that garden costs 25 paise? (I checked out in Foodworld yesterday - 2 drumsticks cost 5 rupees, Inflation ! I suppose). Our evening tiffin was always served on fresh, green badam leaves. 15 years later, there is no trace of jasmine or december plants. The shoulders of banana trees are drooping. I can see only the trunk of the drumstick tree but no trace of the vegetable. The curry leaves are dried out. The guava and eucalyptus trees are gone. The house is not the same. The garden is no longer there. That's my gran...