A to Z Challenge - Day 6 - Food.

As a foodie, what else would I choose for this alphabet other than food?

That thing which makes me happy round the clock. The one which me turns me on whenever am down.

Right from my morning filter coffee to that banana after the dinner, I relish each and every bite of my everyday meal. Being brought up in an orthodox brahmin family, am always an ardent fan of curd rice and vadu maangai. During my school days, I used to long for Sundays not for the holiday but for the Sunday meal at my home. For that divine combo of vathakozhambu and spicy potato curry. 

My love for food increased when I stayed in hostel during my UG. I even started craving for Idly upma which was hated by me earlier. I would frame a long menu stating what to cook and what not to cook while visiting my home for vacation. I won't be leaving my hometown without feeding my tastebuds the very own Iruttu kadai alwa. Chocolate lava fantasy would loose while comparing it to Thirunelveli alwa. Trust me!

My love for the cuisines other than the south Indian cuisine started during the final months of my  UG. The days when we used to have pizzas every weekend. Thanks to dominos for their friday offer! And those were the days I started enjoying road-side chats. Pani poori to be specific! 

I started exploring for the best dishes in every cuisine. Though I tried various dishes, Briyani seemed to the king of foods. How can a foodie hate this heavenly dish! I am sure that Briyani is being stolen from the god's own lunch box. 

My love for food increased even more when I started to cook. I usually make out dishes with an unusual flavor by combining two or more cuisine style.

Be it a pulao, north-indian gravies, noodles, sandwich,desserts or even a simple curd rice, there would be an extraordinary taste in my cooking. Each and every food has its own flavour. 

Enjoy every sip and bite of your everyday meal as you won't be getting the same taste and aroma,the next time!

A to Z Challenge - Day 5 - Ego..!

#E #PO

Ego - Your real foe!
The worst character that you possess,
Which makes your life a mess.
People are sovereign and cut apart.
Resulting in their love to dart.
Your head-weight gets increased,
Where in your happiness gets totally ceased.
Your mind often thinks 'Why should I?"
That eventually leads to permanent goodbye.
Plenty of lovely memories are now in vain,
Missing those would give you a great pain.
Numerous fights, disputes and a lot tears,
Broken relationship for many years,
That would never give you cheers.
Nay, Why to have this self-pride?
Life is an enthusiastic roller coaster ride.
Ego - Let it go!!

A to Z Challenge - Day 4 - Dream...

This is a story about my friend who literally dreamt of her wedding

It was during the mid of December. Vidya was on the way back from her office. She was stuck in a traffic signal. A board outside a temple nearby caught her attention . "Andal Kalyanam" by Vishaka Hari, it said and the event was scheduled that evening.The moment she saw the board, she got down in the next bus-stop and started walking towards that temple. Right from her childhood,she was always a fanatic for Vishaka Hari and her hari kathas. Though an iyer by birth, Vidya was fascinated with the customs that an iyengar would follow. She was devoted to Vishnu more than Shiva. She even considered a pic in which she was dressed as Andal during her school days as precious as a diamond . Her endless love for Vaishnavism made her enjoy the event like anything. 
Her joy knew no bounds when the singer described the marriage sequence of Andal and Rangamannar. She literally was in tears while listening to the verses "Vaaranam aiyram soola valam seiydhu naranan nambi nadankindran en edhir. Poorana por kudam vaithu puram engum. Thoranam naata kanaa kanden thozhi naan" Once the event got over, she met Vishaka Hari and got her blessings.
After returning home that night she was visualising each and every event of Andal Kalyanam. "Maithunan nambi madhusoodhan vandhu ennai, kai thalam pattra kanaa kanden thozhi naan" her lips were murmuring continuously. Lingered by these thoughts, she went to bed.
It was around 4:45 am the next day. Vidya had a dream. In which she was dressed up like Andal in Madisar. As she recited those verses, she saw someone with Manglasutra in his hands wearing a yellow dhoti,silk anga vasthiram and thiruman in his forehead. She was shocked and dumbfounded when she recognised his face. That was her colleague,Vijay. One of her close friends. A typical Vadagalai iyengar. She woke up with that big shock and was wondering about it. The moment she convinced herself it was just a dream, her mobile rang. That was her dad. And their conversation went as
Vidya: Good morning appa.
Dad: Good morning Kanna. Today marks the beginning of the month Margazhi. Andal's dream came true during this period. Yours would come true too. Pray sincerely to Bhagwan and do saharsranama parayanam.
It was a bigger shock to her. Having her mind occupied with these thoughts and a confused look in her face she went to her office. Unlike other days, Vijay was standing at the door and greeting her with a smiling face. 
She told him about the incidents which took place that morning. As he heard that, Vijay burst out with a thundering laughter. Vidya was depressed and worried about her dream. He started convincing her that was just a dream. She was relieved for a while. The next moment he told her that, if she agrees, he would speak about their future to her parents. This was even more bigger shock to her. 
After a while, Vijay spoke to her dad about the dream she had and also he did express about his love for her. There were some negative response from the parents' side as a result of this iyer-iyengar collaboration in the beginning. Later on both the families agreed to their childrens' wish whole heartedly. They got married in a few days and lived happily ever after!!

A to Z Challenge - Day 3 - Chennai Life.!

Being a south tamilian girl, I was always fascinated by the infrastructure in metropolitan cities. It was during my 9th grade, when we made our first visit to Madras (as was known to me by this name then) for attending  my relative's marriage. As it was a typical family trip, we went to some temples. I went back to my hometown with all those pleasing memories.
My next visit to Chennai was during my pre-final year to attend a tech-fest at IIT-M. That was my first outing with friends. We named it as outing :P . Once our event got over, we went to a mall, as I never had been to one. "Express Avenue" the mural read. I was totally awestruck by its infrastructure. My friends made fun of my so called nervousness for using the escalator. I was never used to it either. Being carried away by a lot of  stuff, I made up my mind to settle in this "Detroit city"
A year and a half passed by. It was during my final year of engineering. After getting placed in a renowned software company, I was asked my preference of location. What else would my mind think of other than  this city which attracted me like anything. Without having a second thought, I made the choice of preference as follows:
1.Chennai
2.Trivandrum (as it is close to my hometown)
3.Bangalore (to have some beautiful sight seeing  *wink*)
I was on cloud nine when I saw the job location in my joining letter. "Karapakkam,OMR,Chennai" it read.
Right from my day 1, I was always excited to explore this splendid city. Though it seemed new to me at the beginning , I started feeling at home as days passed. The most tricky part was the bus routes, which confused me like anything.
Once I went to Tambaram station as my friend had told me to wait there.I rang him and said that I have reached. He in turn asked me which part of Tambaram I was.I seriously didn't know there was something called East Tambaram and West Tambaram till then. And whenever I asked about some routes to him in the next few months, he used to say 'the place where u stood that day blinking like an idiot' instead of saying East Tambaram!
I never stayed in my hostel during the weekends. I used to roam around places and do shopping all by myself. I felt very happy to see this transition in me.

Then,
Me to co-passenger (in bus) : Guru Nanak stop vandha konjam soldreengla?
She: Na anga dhan eranguven.
Now, (an incident that happened yesterday)
Co-passenger: MMDA stop epo ma varum?
Me: Enkooda erangikonga. Nanum anga daan ponum.

I really feel elevated to find a home away from home. My love towards Chennai started increasing day by day and that I have started to roam more. Since I believe in
"The best practices are self learnt"

A to Z Challenge - Day 2 - Bioinformatics!!

#B #ES

The reason why I chose this topic for the day is the below conversation between me and my HR manager

HR: So, you're an engineering graduate right?

Me: Yes. B.Tech 

HR: Thats good. Under which programme?

Me: Bioinformatics.

HR: Err!! Please come again.

Me: Bio-inf-or-mat-ics.

HR: Cool! Am hearing it for the first time.

So I wish to give some glimpse about my undergraduate programme with which I spent my 4 long years.

                       

     ​As far as Bioinformatics is concerned, it's like a continuous learning, unlearning and relearning journey. It's like a premeditated piling up of haystacks knowing that the larger the haystack you accumulate the higher is the likelihood to find signs of the needle existence therein but the more is the work in quest of that needle.

​As technology increases, we get more and more data. Just like cell phones are measuring our visual world everywhere and can help catch the Boston bombers, advances in DNA sequencing, protein and metabolite profiling give us more and more information that we must keep up with. It's a fun ride!

​Since it is a rapidly developing  field,the advancements also grows in a faster pace. 

​​The discipline of bioinformatics which uses computer technology to provide answers for the biological questions has been expanded in the scope and utility for the past decade.Increasing number of research groups  have led to the establishment of a supercomputing facility within a hospital.Such computational power is being used for the mapping of genes and the study of human disease. 

 Thanks to innovations in high-throughput measurement technologies and information technologies, genome-wide analysis is becoming available in a broad range of research fields from DNA sequences, gene and protein expressions, protein structures and interactions. In fact, the number of research targets has increased by more than two orders in recent. The scope and speed of research activities are expanding and the field of bioinformatics is playing an important role. 

Bioinformaticians make this quote a point blank!

"Advancement only comes with habitually doing more than you are asked.”

A to Z challenge - Day 1 - A R Rahman..!

This is my first A-Z challenge #A

                  I would like to start this with the one with which my everyday starts. Music - One's best companion even during the worst times. Music is my everything. It makes me happy round the clock, throughout the calendar. Yet, my day starts with a particular musician's work. Allah Rakha Rahman - the real legend!
                 Be it his version of Suprabatham or his golden melodies or even his heavy fast beats, this "Mozart of madras", never fails to entertain us! This 50 year old man has the ability to win every single heart. Right from bairns to gramps. Love has no language borders. So does his music. Its always a pure bliss to render our ears to his compositions in his own voice
                 "Mustafa Mustafa" from "Kadhal desam" , "Vellai pookal" from "Kannathil muthamittal", His very own "Maa! Tujse salaam" even the last two verses of "Malargal ketean" from " Ok Kanmani" gives a divine feel..
                  He's not only a pioneer in his own field but also a man of humbleness. The Oscar laureate, impressed everyone through his acceptance speech by expressing his gratitude towards the Almighty. Rahman makes music out of silence. His music is truly universal as he is able to connect with the global audience which others fail to do. This music wizard has been persevering since Roja days when he made his debut as a music director. He doesn't work to be in the limelight. He works for his own satisfaction.
                  He not only says but also proves that, " The idea of music is to liberate the listener and lead him to a frame where he feels he is elevated "
                  Precisely, ARR is better than the best!

#ET

It started with a friend request..!! - Part 2

I still remember the feeling I felt when I first started talking to you...
Thousands of butterflies flying inside my stomach.A mixed feeling of nervousness,gratification,self-indulgence,permissiveness and so on...

Yet I didn't have those feelings while hitting "Add as Friend" button like any other girls. Coz, the moment I saw you I made up my mind about you being my guy. So,without having any second thought,the request was sent.And I was accepted forthwith. Perhaps as your friend :-P

Each and every picture of yours was literally liked by me. I never felt like talking to a stranger then. I felt like I knew you since ages. After being fascinated by your stupendous looks, I was carried away your congenial behavior. I just loved the "textationship" between us. And I was even more rejoiced when I heard your radical,astounding voice for the first time.. 

This activity of texting you round the clock was added to my daily routine. You were in my deeds irrespective of what I did.Your texts were formal at the beginning,yet our contradictory thoughts towards everything bridged the gap between us. Though you were miles apart from me,I always felt your presence near me.And yes, we were texting till the hell froze!!Something in my heart was pulling me a little that day and I was never been like this before.!!

To be continued...