Pongal Festival at home

Pongal celebrations had been a grand one all these years in my life time here at my home. But this year, parents and grand parents went to Chennai for brother's home. As grandma and dad are both not well, the whole family was not able to travel back to Cuddalore to enjoy the festive celebrations.

So, we were at loss of the grandeur and me, wife and two kids were the only people this time here in Cuddalore to celebrate the Pongal festival.

All these years, there would be grandma who would have been keeping an eye on the traditional earthen stove. This stove is fired with twigs and fire wood. Often we encounter mistakes in maintaining a uniform flame and she intervenes to correct our mistakes.

The mistakes would be

1. We would have pushed too much twigs into the stove and snuff out the flame, resulting in too much smoke engulfing out of the stove.

2. People around would be suffering from soaring eyes due to the smoke. Folks (me or brother) behind the stove usually go away from the spot to escape the burning sensation.
 
3. Grandma would intervene and correct the system of the firewood inside the stove and shortly the fire engulfs, snuffing out our worries.

4. Sometimes  we push in too much twigs and the fire would be blowing in too fiercely and grandma intervenes to maintain uniformity.

So much of these years, we were in for a surprise and challenges in maintaining fire in this stove. At the end we enjoy at the sight of the boiling Paal (Milk) Pongal gushing out of the utensil.

This year was the first time ever in my life in which there is no one to guide us through. I was cooking alone in this challenging earthen stove. Wife was tied up with other chores to keep the festive going through. After setting up the placement of the system, she left. My kids helped in getting the fire wood and twigs nearer to the stove.

So, with a little dose of fear I sat in front of this stove. It was sheer luck that the whole process went on well. I kept to my idea of pushing twigs of small size at uniform intervals into the stove. So, the flame did not get off as well as not to grow much fiercly.

After some 15 minutes the Pongal boiled out and pushed the steel plate off and gave us some ecstatic  interesting moments.

A Pongal enjoyed well !
This too is a first time responsible experience which has come out well.

Happy Pongal!!

Photographer was my elder kid Suriya
Camera : FujiFilm F770EXR

Racing Smashes - Created at Home

My son Suriya has a pair of toy race cars and he often creates an accident situation with his play and catches that in the digital camera in the form of a video. But, today he came up with a different idea. To make it in the form of a picture.
First he asked me for the camera which I readily obliged. Then he was experimenting the two toy cars and making one of the car be on the floor and another in his hand as if it hits in an angle. He took some five clicks with the cars at different angles and got satisfied with one of the shot.
Then he involved me in his experiment. He asked me to transfer the pic into computer and delete the info other than the two cars. I used paint brush utility, erased the spots with the eraser utility and got a result like the one below.

He then asked me to take the below photo from the archives in the computer. This was the MRF arch at the Madras Motor Race Track situated at Irungattukottai in Chennai. The pic was clicked couple of years when I went for the MRF Racing event. This comes up as screen saver in the home computer at times. 

So far, I was not clear on the idea he was having in his mind, but, was responding to his demands and giving him the results with the Paint Brush utility on the home computer.
Finally he asked me to create a scenario in which his cars would appear as if it had smashed at the race track exactly below the arch.
At this point, I became more than impressed with his idea. So, continued with pasting the toy car picture onto the race track picture and doing miniscule cut & paste jobs to match the texture around.

The end result was so fantastic. At first I was in the mood to hit the bed and take a good sleep. But, his wonderful idea made me to sit back at the computer and record such an innovative work by him at this age of just 7 years.

My colleague Mohan Babu's wedding reception

Yeah, its another gala time at friend's wedding reception.
What - Its Mohan Babu weds Kavitha
Their wedding had happened at Jayamkondam on 27 Jan and the reception took place at Alagappa Thirumana Mandapam on the evening of 28 Jan in Cuddalore.


Its my family with the mapillai kudumbam.


This is Palani and family. Palani has to his credits the wonderful party maker. A wow to him.


The purchase team of my company with the mapillai. In the photo are Gnanavel and Venkatesh.


The Engineering team with the mapillai..


Hey beauty
What is your name?
Abhi
What is your father's name?
Venkatesh Kumar
What is your mother's name?
Mahadevi


It seems somebody has asked mapillai Do you know Veera Pandia Kattabomman?



We had a hard time to make our mapillai to smile before the camera.

Palani took some successful efforts in bringing some smile on mapillai's face
Yes
Believe me Mapillai is smiling :(<

Then my camera changed hands to my 3.5 year old son. The following two snaps were taken by my son Surya


Surya clicked Palani & family.
Is the secret behind the extra smile, my tiny tot manning the camera?


This is Kumaresan and Saritha, A more smile.