Shrinika Neethi

  This post is the Introduction to a series on Indian/ Bharatiya culture Picture- AI generated If you are an Indian reading this English blog post on your smart device, it is apparent that your grandfather or someone older in your lineage who lived in a remote village decided to upgrade to what they thought was a better life. Such an ambition requires discipline, adaptability, focus, hardwork and perseverance. Just as much as itrequires us to break mental barriers, shed limiting habits and associations, work through setbacks, unlearn and relearn. So, it is the lifestyle and knowledge transfer of our forefathers and their successive generations that ensures we live a ‘pro max’ life with relatively minimal efforts. If we do it right, our children can enjoy the same benefits. This can be clearly understood if one visits their native village and sees the descendants of their grandfather’s peers facing the same challenges that your family faced one or two generations ago. We then feel a...

THOUGHT BUBBLE #1  A bowl full of pomegranate arils peeled and kept ready for consumption is an unfailing indication of love, the depths of which you can scale only when you peel it and see for yourself.🥹🥰 You can be sure that someone is barely tolerating you when they say, " Hey, there are Pomegranates in the fruit basket, you can have them if you want" 😆😆😆😆  ஒரு வட்டா நிறைய மாதுளை முத்துக்களை சாப்பிடத் தயாராக உரித்து வைத்திருப்பது அன்பின் ஒரு தெளிவான அறிகுறியாகும், அதன் ஆழத்தை... அதை நீங்களே உரித்து பார்க்கும்போது மட்டுமே அளவிட முடியும்.🥹🥰 "பழக்கூடையில் மாதுளை இருக்கு, உனக்கு வேணும்னா சாப்பிடு" என்று யாராவது சொன்னால் அவர்கள் உங்களை 'ஒப்புக்கு சாப்பாணி'யாக எண்ணுகிறார்கள் என்பதை நீங்கள் உறுதியாக நம்பலாம். 😆😆😆😆😆

                A large part of the custom tailoring orders undertaken at Composium are for Princess Gowns.  These gowns are made mostly for girls between 7 to 10 years of age. I see passionate mothers who would go to any length to throw the perfect birthday party for their daughters; they would also scout for any length of fabric in their little girl's favourite color to give her the perfect gown.           So, the whole princess experience begins with the mothers bringing their girls to my boutique after school. It is so cute to see the little ones tag along their mothers like ducklings behind Mama duck - without a care in the world chatting away about their day at school. The mother will begin with her grand plans for the girl's birthday, this is precisely the point when these girls will look at my reaction for validation. I pamper them with the mandatory excited expression and say something like, " Oh wo...

 I have collected many tiny memories of my relatives and mine and strung them all together into one fictional story. This 15-minutes-read is set in the late 1980's small town in Tamil Nadu,India.The picture of my father and me is to add some character to the story . The last gulp is the sweetest, thought 5-year-old Babbu as she drank the lemonade freshly squeezed by her ammamma. It was almost nightfall on a Sunday. Babbu had a rollicking weekend at her ammamma’s house playing games like lock-and-key and hide-and-seek with her cousins. It was then time for her to go back to her house which was in the next street. Mother called out to her elder sister who was reading a book sitting on a branch of the guava tree, an advantageous location for when she wanted to snack on her favourite fruit. Babbu, amma and akka bid farewell to everyone and started their 5 minutes’ walk to their home. There was an eerie calm in the atmosphere, the sky was darkening, all the shops in the street wer...

Me bored Boredom was a common feeling in my childhood. At such times, I’ll run off to my ammamma’s house which was walkable distance from my home hoping that a change of place would amuse me. One such afternoon in 1996 when I was 11, going there didn’t help either. I was so bored, so bored, I almost cried. Mindlessly changing channels on the cable TV, I saw an advertisement for Coca Cola, it had just penetrated into smaller cities like Trichy and was aggressively marketing. The drink came in an attractive red, first-of-its-kind tin can that you got to pop open, all the cool white skinned teens in the ad were drinking it and seemingly, having the time of their lives. Anything new in the market, I had to try it; so, I decided to entertain myself by drinking some cola. A coke can costed Rs. 20 and I had 0. What do I do for funds? Ammamma can be my financier, I thought. She was in the dining hall serving lunch to my mama. I put on the sweet-grandchild face and politely requested her to gi...

  This is a continuation of my previous post about everyone in the society being knowledgeable and skillful. Click on the link to read that https://hridayakamala.blogspot.com/2023/08/a-day-in-life-of-boutiquewali-skill.html Siddhayogi Shrimaan Adinarayanan and Matrushree Smriti Rekha Adinarayanan   #education Good education is necessary for people to acquire knowledge and skill. A sizeable portion of our income is spent on our Children’s education; graduates lap up high-paying jobs in different cities to pay off their education loan and hold on to them to afford good education for their children. So, to bring down the costs we first need to spend. To spend, we take a loan. To pay off that loan, we raise the cost of our services and spend further to cope up in a costly society thereby not bringing down the cost. How would it be if timeless education was made price-less? My son studies in one such institution where education is given as charity – VIDYADAANAM. DHARMA GURUKULAM in...