Bonded to Brand

Are you bonded to the branded ...

To many branded consumer goods like clothes watches shoes handbags jewellery are fashion statements .
Its like a declaration of ones tastes to the world and goes beyond utility.
Theres nothing wrong if one could afford to spend on brands .
To many brands arent a compulsion either because they cant afford it or they may have no passion for it .
I think iam in second category
This does not mean I dont buy brands I do if i like them and consider them as better quality but iam not obsessed with flaunting labels
A calvin klien suit with a hugo boss shirt carrying a st laurent office bag of the finest leather pointed milano shoes glimmering on my feet and a Rolex watch to boot with a fine mont blanc peeping from my waistcoat and an air of confidence exuding from my Ralph lauren silk shirt and the Armani sprayed on its cuff .
No I am fine without any of them for one it would pinch the miser in my soul for another I would just be what Iam wearing all these .
But then I do posess one brand of my own
My smile and all it costs is happiness .

quackery

India is one country where anything goes rather anything that is delivered with drama and panache are believed by the millions of gullible but at same time any advice coming from the trained and professional who knows what he is talking about is doubted .

so we find numerous charlatans acting as swamis to deliver nirvana ,evangelists who cure by touch ,and quacks who treat anything in the world but when qualified doctors ask people to take immunization for their kids they listen to mullahs who tell them not to !!
.
I had been reading an FB status where the merits of celibacy were discussed thread bare ,
majority of them in the post who posed as experts knew nothing but ramblings of what they heard or read from others who knew nothing ,old texts were quoted and imaginary energy was graphically portrayed travelling up from the locked navels into the head and the body then getting suffused with energy so much so that nirvana was instantaneous .

Good imagination
maybe true too ,but these people tell it as if they had seen it all and experienced it as they have no need to prove anything
they can get away with their creativity and the best part is the number of nodding gullible who take it like it was Buddhas sermon .
As if the answer for their quest for superpower status lie in their testicles and the whole secret is all about blocked semen !

i just cant stand these kind of gumption where in the name of science people just ramble on their pet theories and not only get away with it but also influence some poor sod who will bottle up all his releases and one fine day may burst it like a pregnant pustule !! to the discomfiture of his near and dear

People please enjoy your life with limitations
be it food or sex ,
live a healthy life,
its not by denial but by acceptance we get satisfaction
and for Gods sake dont fall hook line and sinker for every fable by every con man

CHO

Many of those not having lived in tamilnadu would not have heard of Cho Ramaswamy and most of them who did would not be those who havent heard of him .
The first impression of Cho with his trademark alien completely shaved scalp protruding exopthalmic eyes and wearing trademark kaki always would be one of intelligence .
Cho radiated intelligence 
Be it by being a good lawyer ,screenplaywriter,actor,comedian,satirist,journalist,editor,director,producer,thinker,spiritualist,theatre personality Cho as he was fondly called was a bundle of talents and posessed an intellect as sharp as as a Sheffield knife .
The best part of Cho to me was his satire
This man was the king of satire
Yes ..was because he just passed away at 82 years .
The very flat cool way he cracked his jokes with a benign smile made his victims squirm in discomfort and stunned to silence .
Amongst his targets the quintissental tamil politician with dark glasses flowing shoulder scarfs and starched white dhoties with retinue of cretinous followers were his favourite he delighted on pulling the legs of these vacant zeros who squirmed in helpless anger as the brilliant lawyer covered himself from litigation or repartee by his intellect .
His sarcasm was highly cerebral and was to the point delivered with panache with the timing of an actor .
His plays were political punch machines where his victims were turned into helpless clowns 
Cho had a special intrest in tamil politics he just couldnt keep his cool over the archetypical tamil politico with trademark dark glasses and streaming dhotis and flung shawls and delighted in turning them to imbeciles of the finest order not very far from thier natural selfs but they could hardly retort as his deliveries were so sharp and to the target and being a lawyer so cleverly put to make his victims legally and socially helpless objects of fun for the populace .
He was so cool in delivering those epitephts that the only response would be raucous laughter .
His journal Tuglaq has been a text book of sarcasm for decades which are never understood by those who dont read tamil 
I remember picking up back volumes of the magazine from a neighbour after summer holidays and a kerala trip one couldnt miss weekly Tuglaq named after mohammed bin Tuglaq the maverick sultan who Cho used often to spread his fun .he even created a famous play and film on Tuglaq .
Chos plays in later years were definitely more intresting than his films in his younger days , though even in films his way of presenting it was unique 
one could feel his disdain in his dialogues at his sorry state of living with less intellectually empowered humans though in a very funny sense !
Cho was the father of sarcasm 
Most of his fun making was back handed and never direct and there were blockheads who missed the whole point .
So he was hardly the run of the mill tamil comedian slipping on banana leaves but a highly educated very sharp intellctual ,gifted to profess his ideas with satire and sarcasm
The world will miss him 
I will for sure .

The Rose Milk

Thanks to the Hindu for the picture 

Madras today's Chennai was always known for its sultry humidity ,imagine if one could get a glass of cool milk flavored by rose syrup there it would be ambrosia itself .

So was the rose milk sold by the famous Kalathi and sons which was a small newspaper mart in East mada street corner near Kapaleeswarar temple the downtown of Mylapore itself .

Even after five decades I find kalathi continues with the same popularity of course the original owners have handed it over to their sons and nephews ,

The rose milk of kalathi was made of pure milk with no additives and rose syrup and powdered ice and churned well ,those days I remember the ice used to be in saw dust laden sacks as Refrigerators were yet to make an appearance and the owner himself would take a big rock like piece of ice and put it in a sack and hit it with a hammer like handle and then put the crushed pieces into the glass and give it a quick whisk with his spoon and hand over the glass of rose milk ,it used to cost 25 paise and today too it isnt very costly it is fifteen rupees for a glass of paradise .

As the cool milk flavored in rose touched out tongue myriad sensations would well up and the icy coldness would spread a pleasant chill into our souls and all the stress and heat would seep off ,it would taste till the last drop the same .

which is why the rose milk was so popular ,actors like Sivaji Ganesan were regular visitors and fans ,the nearby R R Sabha was a well known theater for live dramas and most drama personalities were also aficionados ,

once when I was in eight standard I think I  had gone to a drama with a friend and found Nagesh the well known comedian who came as a guest for the day walking out with AP Nagarajan the very famous director ,

we watched them sending their car off telling the driver 

we want a walk and we will reach home ,

there was literally no one in the streets and we followed them to the shop ,they were very surprised at Nagesh who was very popular then ,they did not have a rose milk but bought a cigarette which Nagesh lighten with cinematic elegance looking at us children following him later he whistled for  an auto and they both went off .

I found an article in the Hindu on this shop 

It had a phone number and I called up the owner and told him of my nostalgia for his rose milk he was thrilled to hear it though he wasn't born when I had taken  rose milk from his shop .

So when you go to Chennai dont forget to take a rose milk from Kalathi stores in East mada street Mylapore 

For details, contact Pushparaj at 9840919797.

So in honor of Kalathi and sons I made a rose milk which wasnt bad at all