joshi shrilekha
I m writer
Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind - A Book Review. I have heard about Sapiens – A brief history of humankind book from one of the 100 relatives groups in WhatsApp. One of the topics was the evolution of Indian Hinduism. I was like with handcuffs at the corner yearning to par with the relatives on this difficult subject. The discussion became very interesting with a couple of critical points. No sooner, I spotted a colleague with the same book and learned the good reviews. Everyone has learned different myths about the evolution of the humankind. It is unbelievable to read how the agricultural revolution is considered as history’s biggest fraud. Agriculture investment is supposed to be the best weapon against hunger and poverty for billions.
This line has stuck in my mind – “Follow your heart is a double agent that usually takes its instructions from the dominant myths of the day”. It looks similar to the old Hindu saying how we live in the dreams of Lord Vishnu. That is not yet worst and bewitching topic of the cognitive revolution. P.S. Have you heard of Shakarpale - Indian Biscuits of Maharashtra? These were never my favorite things to eat. I have never cherished eating Shankarpale.
First thing about them was their different name (Shankar in Marathi Means – Shiva ) and Pale means small vessel so there was no connection between Shiva and the Small Vessel and the sweet. I was never enthusiastic about the whole thing because may be Aaji or Aai used to make it mostly during Diwali and it was just one of the savouries that they used to make so my attention was diverted to other tasty things like Chakli ( Murukku), Chivda, my favorite for 35 years 🙂 I think I was born to love Flattened Rice and all the recipes made out of it. More on my love of flattened rice later. So, this odd named savoury called Shankarpale were never in my list of favourites until somebody presented me with a very crunchy, mushy and sweet version of it. I was spellbound to eat those small pieces of a wonderful snack which could be relished with a cup of tea or coffee especially in the afternoon.
P.S. Kumudavalli - As Fresh As Flowers - The 5 AM Mommy. Dressed in a simple cotton saree with a huge bindi on her forehead carrying a round cane basket of flowers going for a door delivery of flower garlands Kumudavalli is all there to enchant you. She is soft spoken but there is a kind of strength in her walk. As she crosses signals and busy roads, she is sure that her basket of flowers will be empty by the end of the day. Sometimes you would also see her chewing her favorite beeda but that too not very often. Every evening 6.30 to 7.00 she would start from her home walk all the way to Mylapore to deliver flowers. Flowers are her life. You can get all types of flowers from her. Kumudavalli has no marketing, no social media. On Saturdays, which is called as a Lord Vishnu’s day in Tamil Nadu, she would bring suitable flowers to Lord Vishnu and loads of Tulasi. Along with all the matching flowers she would put a gajra of either mogra, chameli, jai or jui,kunda and the likes.
Freedom from Unhealthy Habit - Hum Fit to India Fit - The 5 AM Mommy. Freedom is subjective in every aspect of our life. As we go ahead and make vows to make ourselves fit along with many celebrities on the eve of Independence Day, we need to really identify what is that one unhealthy habit which is taking toll on our body. Identifying that first will help us take further steps towards fitness. What is the definition of unhealthy? Well, anything which is not in coordination with your body is unhealthy. Today, we are going to emphasize on sitting. An average human being spends around 7 hours of sitting during the day which is way above the guidelines specified by World Health Organization. Sedentary lifestyle has been told to be the root cause of many health related problems. What can you do about it? Move every thirty minutes from your place to another place if you are working at the office. Bad sitting posture can be improved by getting a proper ergonomic chair.
If you are working from home, sitting on the floor with back straight helps. No Sugar Challenge - An Experience and A Lesson. It is ok to fail, many people have told me but I seldom have failed in my many many pursuits if I ignore the surprise math test in 11std. Failure to do something does not feel great, it feels sad to not to have accomplished something. No sugar challenge started when me and my colleague Vignesh who is a sports person were discussing about how no sugar has helped him. He was talking about refined sugar and how completely stopping it helped him. I was impressed and thought let me start it at once. Next day I woke up to banana as always and some time later I tried having the no sugar tea. She was surprised because I am the one against all possible fad diets and fad rules about food. Her coffee is out of the world but having it with no sugar was 🙁 never mind.
I am not a foodie and I do not crave for sweets too but still people felt like I am depriving myself from my free will of having sweets. Around 10 days of no sugar I started feeling as follows: Bhav - A Show by Shobana - An Experience, The 5 AM Mommy. I was already late, it was Wednesday and the traffic on TTK road was killing. Me and Ms.K were in an auto. The Autowala was making all the efforts to make us reach on time. Of course I had told him that it was Shobana’s show that I am attending. Slowly, we crossed all the signals and came to Music Academy signal, it took an eternity for that signal to show us GREEN and finally we were at the doorstep of a different world which was about to be created by Shobana and her crew. Practically, words fall short while describing the feeling which one has attending any live show. Have been seeing many posters of her show “Krishna” from last so many years as the Gokulashtami nears.
Bhav had a different concept. For the art to take the center stage in your heart, you just have to let go. We entered Music Academy and the show was already on..A beautiful lady in pink costume dancing at the center stage on the song sung by the Maestro Abhishek Raghuram. Movie Review - The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society. World War II, the struggle of Jews under the claws of German Army. Everywhere there was bloodshed and the small City of Guernsey was not exception.
Here is a movie review of a movie ” The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” Last week was not as great. I fell down and twisted my ankle, had severe neck and head pain. Already in the pain, I was helpless and rested. One such evening and I came across this wonderful movie of Lily James ( Cinderella fame). The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Based on the backdrop of World War II, the novel is written by Mary Ann Shaffer; Annie Barrows, believe me I am not yet an avid reader so, I did not know this book too.
Surfing on Netflix is not bad as they say, it just gets you movies of different genres at your fingertip and nothing is more addictive than that. Four neighbours Mrs. In the meanwhile, you have Juliet Ashton, a writer from London, who has a typical life of a writer but she has a quest of something new and better. Krishnammal - Her Majestic Being - The 5 AM Mommy. I saw her first during my first visit to Chennai and fell in love with her. Her Pillai style Madisar usually green, maroon with a matching blouse, with a signature KumKum on the forehead brought in all the beauty. She was amazingly beautiful but looked gorgeous on Friday as she brightened her skin using some Manjal or Haldi. Grey hair tied in a bun always I mean always adorned with flowers. This was Krishnammal whom we fondly called “Aachi”.
Aachi married Thatha when she was in teens. From her village she came to a city called Madras. Back then, Thatha was working in a temple at Nungambakkam. How lucky Thatha was to have such a dutiful wife. She was diligent in her chores. All her recipes are gems, food made at Aachi’s home would give run to any five star hotel food or for that matter Aru Suvai’s food (no offense to Aru Suvai 🙂 ) ( Aru Suvai are the Famous Caterers in Chennai) may be as Aachi would pour all her heart in the food that she would make. P.S. Left Doubters Behind with Pinkathon - The 5 AM Mommy. I have been obese all my life. The brief duration that I was my ideal weight lasted around 2 years during my hostel stay and the other time when I was suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome ( IBS). In the hostel, I was super malnourished and was homesick. I never quite liked food made in a mess and a couple of times I had to rush back home with gastritis during 4-year tenure.
After marriage and delivery and 2.5 years of breastfeeding, I wanted to shed some weight and landed myself in trouble because of the foolish diet food which was sold by a famous gym in the city. I followed that diet for around 1 year and lost a right amount of weight, only to find that I was in this vicious cycle of stomach pain, diarrhoea and vomits. . ( weight loss can also happen with diseases, and you can lose those last 10 pounds to diarrhoea too) but in an acutely malnourished body which used to give up often. A bit of more HIIT and you may injure your knee, heels and so on. But Pinkathon was different! A Place With Promising Future - The 5 AM Mommy. A place where you get to know what is the real PEACE. A place where you get to see “happy faces”.
A place where you see kindness, compassion, discipline and the power of prayers. A place where you see all smiles and no frowns. The moment I entered the Sriperumbudur Premise of Society for Educational and Economic development (SEED), I was overwhelmed by the warm welcome of nearly fifty children (Age 5-10 years). And when they saw my 1.25 months old, well, everyone wanted to lift the baby in their own hands. No wonder many did, with the expertise of a pro! After all the lives they have lived , they have mastered the art of loving others, taking care of others and living life with no complains.
The teachers cum guardians received us and I felt the warmth of the place at that very moment. A quick introduction of the children and teacher followed. They quickly made us move to the new attraction in the projector room. Indeed life teaches in several ways. What you can do for them? (opp.) Is Something Bothering You? - The 5 AM Mommy. Such a direct and straight question isn’t it? In the changing times, things that bother us are many more than things that make us happy. If you just sit and relax, your mind quickly revolves around stuff which you did not like for that day or for that week. In fact, there would be thousand other good things that must have happened to you in due course but our mind concentrates on the stuff which we did not like.
When something is really bothering us we are seldom at peace. The other day I met one of my friend in the market. Here there are two things at play, first is her restless mind which is focussing on stuff which was bothering her for a long time. Whatever was bothering her was stopping her from looking beyond that particular aspect. Venting out is perfectly fine but when it bothers beyond venting there is always a solution “Ask yourself, will this issue bother me 5 years down the line?”
Now a day, I don’t remember what was bothering me a week ago Is something bothering you? How I lost 5 KG In A Week - GM Diet - A Dieter's Perspective. GM Diet (General Motors diet) GM Diet, while some of you might be knowing about this, some may be totally unaware. Many people must be even wondering,” Wow, that sounds great! When did General Motor (An automotive giant) venture into the food industry”? Some may be frowning on the very mention of the diet (as expected)!
And many must be really patient enough to read now further about it! Diet, exercise, weight loss are some of the trending words of today’s generation. Despite its name, GM diet is nowhere related to the General Motors as confirmed by its spokesperson. But this is the real story when I tried out this diet in the year, yes 2009!
That time it was a craze to follow this diet which ensured a loss of 5-10 kgs in a week’s time. Wow! The diet plan for 7 days! Day 1:- The first day is all about “Fruits”. We have to understand that the diet plan is aimed to reduce weight so avoiding certain fruits could be beneficial. Include watermelon, musk melon for their hydrating properties. Yes! Sacred Games - The Most Streamed Crime Thriller NetFlix Series. Introduction Sacred Games a Crime Thriller Netflix series is out. Violence, Sex, Crime, and Drama have been the specialties of Netflix and the shows such as House of Cards, Suits, Lust Stories ( An Indian Series) are some examples.
I have not read the book by Vikram Chandra but have seen movies from the two directors Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane so what was in the store could be predicted. Conquering the Maximum City The story is of a wannabe Mumbai Don Ganesh Gaitonde played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Looking simple and grounded from his attire, Gaitonde’s rise in the criminal world of Bombay during 80s and 90s is no less dramatic.
From the cold-blooded murder at a very small age to more than 100 that he commits as a revenge, Gaitonde uses politics of religion, violence, sexual abuse, and crime to become the DON of erstwhile Bombay. The Battleground Sartaj Singh a dutiful police officer who is far less than ruthless is played by Saif Ali Khan. Sinner’s Delight. Foods Dogs Crave But Should Never Eat - Canine Nutrition Basics. With an overwhelming response to the last guest post, Ishmeet is back to give us some information on Canine Nutrition.
We are happy and grateful to host him on “The 5 AM Mommy”. Who can resist those big brown eyes and cute doggie grin? Can a little reward from the table really hurt your dog? Well, that depends on what it is and what’s in it. A nacho chip with salsa can cause your dog some real problems. In fact, there’s a lot of “people food” your dog should never eat. Cooked Chicken Bones- Cooked chicken bones can be very dangerous for dogs to eat. Alcohol Beer, liquor, wine, foods containing alcohol — none of it’s good. Onions Onions – in all forms – powdered, raw, cooked, or dehydrated — can destroy a dog’s red blood cells, leading to anemia. Chocolate Most people know that chocolate is bad for dogs.
Salt It’s not a good idea to share salty foods like chips or pretzels with your dog. Sugar Caffeine Caffeine in large enough quantities can be fatal. Fat Trimmings. Once Upon Some Stories - An Account of a storytelling session. Stories are a daily part of our life. We tell our families after returning from work nothing but stories. Stories of how it was a breathtaking event to catch/miss the bus, how we have convinced a client of the services we render or how we have solved a problem at workplace. Love stories, patriotic stories, mythological stories or the historical stories each genre holds a special place in our heart.I am all ears when I hear three golden words “once upon a time’. What does your usual Sunday look like? Well, mine is full of home chores and a little bit of prep for the week ahead.
How mundane! You must be thinking.. but that is pretty much a life of every woman around the world. “Busy Nothing” is a word which is coined by Jane Austen centuries before. It still fits my schedule many times. Transcending to the places mentioned in the book is the general protocol of reading any book. While telling us the stories she used to create simple rhymes which were easy to remember. Fuel Up Your workouts - Pre Workouts You Should Eat. Home Workouts For New Mummas - The 5 AM Mommy. Increase Your Stamina With 5 Simple Steps - The 5 AM Mommy. Doing Nothing - The Art Of Doing Nothing - La Dolce Far Niente. Vacation - South India, Trichy, Srirangam, Temples. Quest for Flexibility - Sun Salutations - The 5 AM Mommy. Summer Memories - Summer Stories To Make you Nostalgic. Indoor plants - Beginner's Guide to Grow Indoor Plants. Local and Seasonal Food Traditional Recipes - Grandma Way.
Quick school snack recipes to pack for your kids - back to school. Nightly Self Care Routine For Busy Moms - To Avoid Stress. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine - An Honest Book Review. Kala - Rajini Mania For One and All - A Homebound review. Disney Princesses - Reimagined as Working Women. Mindful Eating - Unlearning and Relearning - Good Food Habits.
Bring back the clay -Earthenware in the kitchen. How much screen time is too much? Ask you phone - The 5 AM Mommy. Shopping Hacks for Busy Moms - The 5 AM Mommy. How much screen time is too much? Ask you phone - The 5 AM Mommy. Myths of Dog Food By Canine Nutritionist Ishmit Chandiok. List of Terrible Food Combinations - A Doctor's Perspective. The Story of Biryani - Each one has its story.