50 shades older: Time to gin and bear it, babumoshai

This was the article in ToI yesterday. The very famous writer is narrating her own experience about turning 50 or achieving the half century.

A few of my friends like me also shifted their gears recently from full time to part time working options. We all are old school and hence first completed the full time job at hand, relived from it and then took own sweet time to hunt for possible new opportunities on our own terms. People around, the loved once were not patient enough to understand and consistently not only asked many questions "what next?" but also labeled them with unnecessary terms and phrases. Why? Who are you?

Completely on different note, as I am from computer science background, I understand that "data is the new currency" and that too labeled data play its own important role. Right? Labels are important, proved.

The newspaper dream

Our Respected Dr. APJ saw one dream, based on his visits abroad, regarding newspaper design. We attempted to fulfil his dream by successfully completing one project. He always wished to have the first page of every newspaper in our country full of motivational news from all over the world. We applied NLP, classification, and other techniques and achieved it.

As there are separate pages dedicated to sports (the last one or two), for international news, for editorial write-ups, and for jobs too, then why not a single page or two for all news related to deaths, accidents, mishaps, etc. with due respect? A person like me may not read that page at all, especially at the beginning of my awesome day. Rather, I may not visit that page at all, as the newspaper team will never know how many readers read that page in hard copy form. No one. And like me, there would be many who would prefer to do so.

I am requesting all newspapers to think about and act on it, please. I will appreciate that deeply.

डावी बाजू

माझी मुलं जेव्हा लहान होती, शाळकरी वयातील आणि सगळं खायला लागली होती, चव समजायला लागली होती किंबहुना शिंग फुटली होती तेव्हा हॉटेल मधे गेलो कि फक्त स्टार्टर्स आणि डेसर्टस ह्यावर ताव मारायची. अधलं - मधलं अजिबात शिवायची देखील नाहीत. 

महाराष्ट्रियन खाद्य संस्कृती नुसार माझ्या मते डावी बाजू ताटातली हिला अनन्य साधारण महत्व आहे. वैविध्य प्रकारच्या चटण्या (ओल्या आणि कोरड्या), कोशिंबिरी, वाटली डाळ (फोडणीची, परतलेली, कच्ची, आंब्याची), लोणची, तक्कु अहाहा च. त्या शिवाय पंगत असली तर पापड, कुरडया, सांडगे, भजे, वडे, आणि त्यानंतर गोडाचे प्रकार. भन्नाटच. अधलं - मधलं अजिबात नकोच. ह्याच्यावरच ताव मारावा वाटतो मला. आत्ता समजलं माझ्या मुलांमधे हे गूण कुठून आलेत ते. 

आमच्या नागपूरची खासियत सांगते. साग्रसंगीत पानात सगळं वाढलं असलं तरी देखील काही ठिकाणी मस्त लाल तिखट आणि त्यावर कच्च तेल (गोडेतेल) वाढायची प्रथा आहे.  मीठ तर असतंच त्यामुळे अगदीच कोणाला पदार्थ अळणी भासले तर हे असलं / अस्सल तिखट मीठ लावून यथेच्छ जेवता येतं, ताव मारता येतो. माझ्या घरी हिरवी भाजी, पातळ भाजी असली जेवणात कि आई तिखट तेलाची फोडणी करूनच बसायची जेवायला. आणि सांगायलाच नक्को कि मी तिच्याच पंगतीला. त्यामुळे त्या पौष्टिक भाजी भाकरी ची लज्जत आणखीनच वाढायची, काही पटीनं हो. त्यात जर डावी बाजू हिरव्या मिरच्या किंवा लाल मिरच्यांच्या ठेच्यानी सजली असेल तर विचारूच नका. आई शप्पथ. 

नंतर माझं वास्तव दक्षिणेकडे होतं काही काळ तेव्हा दाक्षिणात्य चटण्यांची / चटण्यांनी बहार आणली. कोरड्या आणि ओल्या, कित्ती ते प्रकार, खावे / चाखावे तेवढे नवलच. प्रत्येक पदार्थाच्या प्रकाराप्रमाणे चटणी बदल, माझ्या सारख्या तिखट्ट खवय्याला अजून काय पाहिजे. अगदी उपम्यासोबत देखील चटणी वाढतात.  

माझ्या आईकडची अजून एक पद्धत आज प्रकर्षाने आठवली आणि त्याचे महत्व कळले / उमगले, न्याहारीच्या पदार्थांसोबत किंवा पदार्थांवर ती कमीतकमी दोन किंवा तीन प्रकारची शेव पेरायची. क्या बात है. ते इतकं जगावेगळं लागायचं सांगते. म्हणजे आधीच आईच्या हातचे पदार्थ, ते देखील पहिल्या वाफेचे आणि त्यात "चेरी ऑन केक", असली तिखट मटकी + बेसन + रतलामी शेव. बासच. 

तोंडी लावण्याचे जे काही पदार्थ असतात आणि हि प्रथा किंवा हि गोष्ट ज्याच्या कुणाच्या सुपीक डोक्यातून आली आहे त्यांना माझा शिरसाष्टांग नमस्कारच. 

आज सकाळी सकाळी उपम्यासोबत झणझणीत चटणी खातांना मी माझ्या लहानपणीची, नागपूरची सहल करून आले, फेरफटका मारून आले. 'सुख म्हणजे नक्की काय असतं' ह्याचा अनुभव मी पुन्हा एकदा घेतला / उपभोगला आज, अगदी म्हणजे अगदी मनापासून. 

माझ्या संगणक क्षेत्रात देखील एक प्रथा आहे "add on" ची, तिचा उगम समजला आज मला इतक्या वर्षांनंतर हो. "add on" ची सुरवात करणारा, किंवा ह्या संकल्पनेची सुरवात करणारा नक्कीच महाराष्ट्रियन आणि त्यातल्या त्यात नागपूरकर असणार हे अगदी नक्कीच. 

Sketched thali

 During my recent trip to Bengaluru, I met one of my besties. We planned our meeting, and she gave me two options. We planned to reconnect over lunch. The first option was going to one of the famous a la carte restaurants, and the other one was a thali place. She insisted on the first one so that we would be able to order food of our choice. And I opted for the second one; rather, I preferred the thali, as the restaurant people must have already given a thought while designing the complete meal, which might be based on the day of the week, time, occasion (those were Diwali days), and the complete combo (which goes well with what, etc.). So if someone or the team has already done so much homework for you, then why not? It's so encouraging and respectful, according to me. Why eat always of our choice, cherish someone else's picks too, and feel the difference. My main aim was to talk, talk, talk. There were lots of things to share, discuss, and gossip about. I never wanted to focus on ordering stuff. Finally, being my bestie, she liked my way of looking at the other side, and we thoroughly enjoyed each other's company with the solicitously sketched thali for us, as if only for us.

Habuild

 One of my bestest friends inspired me to take the 21-day yoga challenge posed by Habuild. And of course I did that. Fortunately, the challenge started on the very next day of our discussion. Building the daily habit of yoga was the sole moto behind this challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed the different perspectives on yoga researched and presented by an IITan.

Neck moments with concentration on breathing is one of the initial warm-ups in yoga sessions. Up-down, sideways movements of the neck were the same. But the third step is to try and touch the right ear to the right shoulder, and the same with the left too. In this step, generally, novices in yoga tend to bring their respective shoulders up. Due to this, the entire crux is lost and brings no benefits either because of wrong deeds or posture. I've been interested in yoga for a long time, and I have attended numerous workshops. But this IITan asked all the attendees to look up with their respective ear to the ceiling only. He also insisted on not trying to touch the shoulder at all. Tilting the neck and looking up is more important, according to him. Wow, because of this another side of the same pose, the postures remained intact and perfect without even focusing on the shoulder. I absolutely loved this way of looking at things. Superb indeed. I remember him daily during my yoga practice. Isn't it a perfect way to build habits?

Astonished with a query

While I was opting for voluntary retirement, many of my colleagues and loved ones were coming and meeting me. They were worried about how I would utilize the time in hand, as for the last 27 years I have had extremely busy schedules. And I was loving the concern. The moment I finally retired and people, friends, relatives, etc.—came to know slowly about it, the common question posed to me was: How am I and will I manage my finances and expenses? Initially, when the first one or two people asked me this question, I was ok with it, but when the query became common, I was taken aback. How come they were all asking me the same question? An individual should only work for money until the end, is it?. There is nothing beyond money?. Especially for middle-class Indian families where cooking, housework, kids, and other things matter a lot. I never expected this question from the closed once though, hence I was more hurt not only with the question but also with the comments, the words showing that I am kind of useless now.

Hmmmmm, a good start for the new generation of gals. So all girls only focus on earning money and enjoying their lives. That's it, nothing else. Good for making things crystal clear now.

Housewife, a short film

 Now that I have a lot of time in my hands and I really love to watch short films, I recently enjoyed a housewife named short film. I enjoyed this for two reasons: first, it was visible that the film was made by novice students from a media background. Two is: in that film, the housewife, the mother, the lady of the house, and the pillar of the house is blessed with two school-going kids. As always, before the kids wake up every morning, the mom is ready with their breakfast and tiffins too. While making food for kids, she is capturing the moments and turning them into videos for her channel. She is kind of very famous in an online medium, and her channel is also liked by many as she is posting very simple, daily recipes every day—well, almost. People get to see how to maintain variety for the entire week for kids and the healthy options. To record her videos, to do multitasking and to cook with lots of enjoyment, she is getting up pretty early, getting ready in a presentable manner, and earning money too, in turn. Wow, hats off to her. No wonder she is the pillar of strength and motivation not only for her house but for her viewers too. There is so much to learn from her. There is no need to take out separate time to record videos, as early morning is the best and quietest time to record, with a charged-up energy level after a good night's sleep and proper planning of which recipe to share with viewers the next day. Superb learning, indeed. Thanks to the entire team who made this short film. Wow.