About Me

Hi, I am a person with an interest in many areas and am always on the lookout for something new.  I have realized that there is no dearth of knowledge and there is so much to learn.

I have been happily married for 31 years and am leading a very contented life of a homemaker.  I have found a true friend in my husband.  I look to him for guidance and we never make any decision alone.  He always encourages me to explore new dimensions in life.  His work makes him travel extensively and I accompany him some times. This travel helps enhance my learning and also my outlook towards life.  

I have two wonderful and great children. My daughter, Pallavi (PJ) is pursuing medicine and son Aditya (Adi) is a software engineer. I used to teach them when they were young but they have now become my teachers and I listen with great pride when they tell me or suggest what I should be doing. They both are a great source of encouragement for me and I adore them both.  I could not have asked for better children and for that I am very thankful to God.  

My parents were my first teachers and I have absorbed a few of their qualities. My father a surgeon, whom I greatly admire, left for his heavenly abode when I was quite young. Babba, I still miss you.

Cooking was something which came naturally to me from my mother who even at the age of 80 gives me ideas for creating a new dish and collects recipes ! She is very talented and I don't think I can ever come up to her standards. Maa you are a superwoman!

Ahh, why am I writing this blog and what am I going to post in it? 

My blog would cover a range of topics.  I love travelling and I am going to write on things which have enhanced my knowledge.  Then, I seriously hate throwing things away and get a sense of satisfaction by recycling them.  Many of the posts might be making use of things which we would normally throw away.

I enjoy cooking and love to experiment with food.  But, I honestly hate to do the usual day to day cooking ! When my children left for their university education, I started learning painting. You would be seeing a lot of those paintings in my projects.

Having been a teacher, my inclination is to impart my learning to others even though my husband says I am too bossy when I do that!  I feel knowledge is all sharing and we learn everyday from this exchange. That is the purpose of writing this blog.

Earlier, I would be ashamed of asking questions thinking that people would find me stupid but now, I am ready with a blast of questions.  I have questions for every situation!  My husband some times says, " I am so afraid of your questions.  You ask questions which I can't think even exist !"

Through this blog, I am going to answer some of those questions and I hope you would find it interesting. 

Dragonflies of Vietnam !

As I entered the hotel room in Hanoi, I noticed a painted bamboo dragonfly balanced on the tip of a pyramid!
How did the hotel staff do it? I picked it up and put it back. It wobbled and balanced itself beautifully on it again.  "I must find out about these beauties." I said to myself. I found that these are special individually handmade bamboo dragonflies made in Vietnam.

Why dragonflies? No one could really answer my question and then I searched the internet and found that there are at least 14-15 varieties of these winged beauties in Vietnam.  They are rampant and can be seen specially near the water bodies.  They are also associated with the myth that they were once dragons and so are held in high esteem and associated with prosperity and good luck in this region.

At first these winged insects look very simple but the specialty of these bamboo dragonflies is their ability to balance themselves over the tip of a pencil or finger.

                      balancing on the tip of finger                                                             on the tip of pen !                                                             

The making of a dragonfly involves a lot of precision and calibration.  The bamboo is first peeled and the body is made. This material needs to be slightly thick and sturdy enough to be able to take the weight of wings yet be light enough to balance on a fingertip.   The wings are made of a slightly thinner part of bamboo.  Small holes are drilled in the body and wings glued in.  The glue is then left to dry.

Now, is the test time. The dragonfly is supposed to balance on a chopstick. If not, then it is scraped here and there till it balances.  Each dragonfly is individually checked for this precision. The dragonflies are then painted in different colors and allowed to dry.

                              painted dragonflies                                                         My art  :)                                                                   

I saw many designed ones also in the shops, that gave me the idea of doing some by myself.  I got a few plain ones and painted them. The colors started getting wiped off from the dragonflies once they dried so I had to seal the pattern with an acrylic sealer.  They are for the time being intact and seem to be doing quite well !