Why most Iyers are ‘not-slim’?

An Iyer by birth and traditions being followed at home, I have met more than enough Iyers to confirm my belief that 75-80% of us are “horizontally-challenged”, or should I just say ‘fat’ without using the politically correct phrase. It wasn’t very difficult to find the pretty evident reason for Iyer-flab. Its not only the special gene which hides in an Indian's body and stores the fat as it comes in but it also is the Iyer's appetite combined with traditions(aka 'reasons to eat' in Iyer lingo!).

Iyers, as a community, believe in ‘pehle pate pooja, fir kaam dooja’. Every occasion: diwali/dussehra or pongal; avani-avatam/skandashshti or krishna jayanti; karthikai or any other day has a specific food item, most of them fried or sweet but all fatty. And if you are thinking, its just on ocaasions, try counting the number of ocaasions/festivals and I am sure the number will be comparable to the number of cricket matches India has lost.

'The Iyer food guide' or 'Eat - The Iyer Way', if written will be the books Iyers will never bother reading because eating is a trait which passes on from parent to child as effortlessly as Rajnikanth catches his cigarrete with his mouth. A minimum of three courses with a 'payasam' (the dessert) round in between the second and third course is the most common sight in lavish food arrangements in any proper joint family, Iyer household and with mamis ever-ready to cook. First course begins with rice with generous helping of ghee, and small amount of dal with Sambaar in tow. Second course is rice and rasam, with chips or papadaam. All this is served with a minimum of four torans/poriyals/kootaans (aka curries). A 'payasam' round (short & sweet) before the third course. Finally, the main course consisting of the famous 'taeer-saadam' (curd rice for the uninitiated).

Christians have the time of Lent, when they give up something for God..meat, alcohol or the likes. Muslims fast during Ramzan. And Ramzan is a whole month. Most North Indian Hindus fast atleast one day a week: for Lord Shiva on Monday, Hanuman on Tuesday, Ganapati on Wednesday, Shirdi Sai on thursday, Santoshi Mata on Friday or Shani bhagwan on saturday. At least they rest on a Sunday(or there might be some fasting for Sun God). 'Iyers and fasting' can never be written in the same sentence (Did I just attempt the impossible??). Even on the amavasya nights, when we think we are fasting, its okay to have 'palahaaram' i.e stuff like dosas, idlis, upma et al.

Anyways, I am not going to change any of that and continue eating food, the iyer-way. And I bet many Iyers will agree. If Popeye was an Iyer, his song would start with something like ...

'I am what I am,

I eat, what I can!

I am Popeye the Iyer man!!'

I cannot agree more when they say, "If you can't fit in the jeans, blame it on the genes" !!

A pre-winter blog hibernation

The work weighs down upon my shoulder. I hope to sneak some time out for updating Thoughts Flux. But hope as I may, it might not happen. Thus, hibernating for a while whilst I do the functional design of some software components (hopefully will do it well). i.e no new posts for a while :(

Advices for free....Advices for free...

Why do you give advices so often,
I accidently ask a wise one.
Smiling wide he tells me; Son,
Advices are free, one or a ton.

He continues as if I had urged him on,
Non-stop he just goes on and on.
Opinions galore, he never does stop,
Give him hints and he still prods on.

For no reason, he squanders advice,
His wisdom has become his biggest vice.
For no reason, he keeps telling one and all,
What all to do, and not take a fall.

The free advisors are pain in the ass,
one chance and they start their class.
Most advices they give are trash,
in the smallest pause, just make a dash.

I beg the gratitious advisors to stop,
don't bore us till we die or drop.
Only when asked, show the wisdom,
or can the crap, you stupid bum.

The speed God kips down

1991-2006

Micheal Schumacher, the name which resounded loud and clear whenever Formula 1 was mentioned, confirms his retirement today. Schumi, as he's named by the media, announces his retirement after a thumping victory on Ferrari home track of Monza, Italy. Schumacher scored his 90th victory and is two points behind the championship leader Alonso at 108 points.

1991, Schumi first set foot on F1 track and now finishes his car-eer(pun intended) with seven championships and one in sight. He had his share of controversies including being questioned during Ayrton Sena's death, penalised for banging Damon Hill deliberately, penalised for stopping during qualifiers hindering Alonso etc.

"Now I just want to concentrate on the last three wins and finish the season in style, hopefully with the championship. We took a big step today," said Schumacher in the pres conference. I wish him all the luck for that.

The almost-eight time world champion of the high octane sport calls it a day while still on top.

Thus, endeth an era.

Ek Nazm...

Falak hai baadalon se bhara hua,
zameen tarasti hain paani ke liye.
Zehen hai lafzon se bhara hua,
ungliya tarasti hai likhne ke liye.

Shayar nahin kar rahein hain shayari,
Shayad hai unper kisi gam ka bhaar.
Sun ney ki aas mein hai duniya saari,
Fir Shayar habib ko kaisey karey inkaar.

Likhna tha sher, likh daali nazm,
Badla nahin kuch, per badal gaya dhang.
Shayari karne ki kabhi lee thee kasam,
Sher se muh modkar kar dee hai bhung.

- Shayar Dinesh 'Indorie' ;)