Originals, Adaptations, Remix - All for Tulika Blogathon-4

Hi guys !!!

How have you all been?This blog is being revived from its dormant state, thanks to Tulika :)

I couldn't resist submitting an entry for Tulika's Blogathon-4

Our home resonates with several rhymes and songs in both English and Tamil, some very well known , some long forgotten and some new ones !

Apart from the common Tamil ones like

1. Kaakkaa kannukku mai kondaa

2. Annai Annai, Azhagar Annai

3. Nila, Nila, odi vaa

here are some others that are part of our daily routine

Upside Down !

Have you ever tried hanging upside down ? Ever been in that position long enough to observe how the world would look upside down ? The answer may be "No" unless you are a Yoga specialist :). or some other such expert!

Kids love to do that, hang upside down! At least for a very short duration going by my minimal observation of the youth on monkey bars at the park and play grounds!

Award Time !

Its been a long time since this blog got any attention from its owner, what with the owner being too occupied with 'n' number of things and also managing a highly active toddler !

But somethings cannot be ignored and this is one !

AJCL has awarded me the Blogger Buddy Award !!!! and this is my first Award :). 

Thank you, AJCL.  I am so glad to have known you and am just waiting to meet you guys :).

And I pass on the award to

CG, ssstoryteller, Varun's Mom, L_R, Pattu's Mom, Swetha

And what's more, Jillu has got an award as well ! The Beautiful Blogger Award !!! To know more abt it, view this page :)

Wow !!! Thank you Tulika !

I am thrilled and I cant believe it ! 

I have won a prize book from Tulika for review !!! OK, OK. Winning is an exaggeration and the most in-appropriate word :). I participated in the first Tulika blogathon and Tulika has been extremely generous in deciding to give all the participants of the first blogathon a book for review !!! You can read my contribution to the blogathon here.

Thank you, Tulika ! :)

Its been a long time since I won any prize and even a participation award (esp if its a book) gives me a very warm feeling :) 

I am excited and eagerly waiting for the book!

Watch this space for the upcoming review as well !

Forms of Language - Tulika Blogathon

My 2 cents for the Tulika's blogathon topic

How different are the written and spoken forms of your first language? If you want children to become familiar with their first language, which form would you look for in children's books - formal or informal? Why? 

(click on the topic to take you to the details)

How different are the written and spoken forms of your first language?

I speak Tamil. I read Tamil and I can write in Tamil as well. And yes, my mother tongue is Tamizh. The last time I wrote in Tamil was 6 months back, a letter to my MIL. This is after a gap of (cant count the number of years) very many long years. My MIL was very happy and she complemented me on my Tamil. I think she was surprised both by my letter and the fact that I wrote fairly good Tamil.

But can I claim to be an expert in Tamil ? No way. I cannot understand the classics in its purest form. I might need guidance to understand the same. Tamizh is a beautiful language with its own set of intricacies and complexity. The written/classical form is so much different from the spoken form. In fact the spoken form also varies based on several factors. The Tamizh language has so many dialects based on the 

- Region - You should just compare the language spoken in Madurai, Tanjavur , Chennai, Tirunelveli etc. Each would have its own distinct flavor

- Caste - The chettinads, Brahmins, Goundar etc have their own way of speaking

-  Immigrants - Telugu Naikars, Naidus, Palagat Brahmins etc

and then there might be many others which I am not aware of. A person arriving from down South to Chennai may take considerable time to even understand the "Madrasi" lingo. I am not even sure if an ordinary tamizh speaking teenager today watches movies of P. U. Chinnappa and M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar , he/she can even understand the dialogues. Thats how far we have come from the original form of the language.

Which brings us to the point that none of these are exactly the same as the formal version of the language. Modernization has played a role in language development as well.

If you want children to become familiar with their first language, which form would you look for in children books - formal or informal? Why?

We speak only Tamizh at home and I definitely want my kid to learn tamizh and be fluent (in all forms) in it as well. In my opinion, the children books for beginners should be colloquial so that their interest is aroused in reading Tamizh books. Lots of kids and even adults these days stick to English only because the difference is not so marked between both the forms. Interest would wane if they see a completely different set of words from what is used in daily life. And then slowly start introducing the formal words along with the in formal with the help of picture illustrations so that kids can co-relate easily. Bilingual books also go a long way in improving the kids vocabulary.

Also, Audio -Visuals is another option because seeing first helps kids in registering and then co-relating with the audio becomes very easier.

I have several of Tulika books and others at home. The picture illustrations are brilliant in Tulika books making the kids easily co-relate and understand. The stories are also about everyday normal things that one would see at home and use instead of some far away happenings which the kids might not be able to relate.

I am yet to buy one of those famous bilingual Tulika books which I plan to do so very soon. Thank you Tulika and I hope we get more and more such fun filled, color filled books for our kids to read and enjoy.

Disclaimer : These are just my thoughts on the various forms the language has evolved and how it stands today. The intent is not to criticize or offend anyone.

My first Tag !!!

Thank you Sat :) and here it goes!

And to read Jillu's version of it, click here

1. What is your current obsession?

Don't think I am obsessed with anything .

2. What are you wearing today?

My usual attire.. churidhaar

3. What’s for dinner?
Need to plan the menu. May be Dosa.

4. What’s the last thing you bought?
Coconut water

5. What are you listening to right now?
The hum, drum, sound eminating from my PC.. need to fix it. I think there's some problem

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
A very simple and humble human being with no "airs". I envy his sense of humor and timely cracks and retorts. A lovely guy and a great friend. It is very difficult to find such a person in today's world.

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
India, Chennai, Mandaveli...

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?
Cotton clothes and coconut water

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Back in time, to when I met my hubby first

10. Which language do you want to learn?
I am thinking too much abt it, so nothing in particular. But I have always wanted to be fluent in several languages. So anything would do.

11. What’s your favourite quote?
Time and Tide waits for none

12. Who do you want to meet right now?
This is "my" exclusive time and I prefer it to be that way

13. What is your favourite colour?
Brown (The dark chocolate brown)

14. Give us 3 styling tips that work for you.
Style ?? me ?? Nope..wrong question :). I think we just need to be comfy with what we are

15. What is your dream job?
I quit my job remember ? Right now, its being a mother

16. What’s your favorite magazine?
Dont read magazines much. No favorites

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
A grill sandwich maker and the rest splurge on books and CDs for jillu

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
A wrong question to me again :)

19. Is exercise a part of your daily routine? If so, what kind of exercise is it?
Its part of my daily dream/wish list :(. I left my habbit of walking and yoga. Need to resume both.

20. What kind of haircut do you prefer?
A straight, no frills, haircut

21. What are you going to do after this?
Head to the store to buy some blank DVDs

22. What are your favourite movies?
Not much into movies these days. But favs are old timers - "Kadhalikka Neramillai", "Baama Vijayam", "ROja", "Annaamalai", "Mannan", "Mozhi"

23. What inspires you?
When I see people who manage their time well and manage to do quite a lot over and above the normal stuff, I really want to be like them.

24. What do your friends call you most commonly?
Lavanya, Lavs

25. Would you prefer coffee or tea?
Tea, anyday, but not dip tea, mind you

26. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
I tend to be quiet. Think about what can be done to resolve things. Or if its just normal stuff, then try to shrug it away as a one-off.

27. What makes you go wild?
When people are not fair minded, when people pinpoint mistakes but hardly think about whether they do the same themselves, when people are not principled but they think they can judge you.

28. Which other blogs do you love visiting?
All those in my blogroll :)

29. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
Ice cream / Thiratti pal (Milk halwa) and Son Papdi

30. How many tabs are turned on in ur browser right now?
3

31. Favorite Season?
Chennai la season ku option yedhu ?

32. If I come to your house now, what would u cook for me?
Since its afternoon time, Tiffin and coffee (or tea if you prefer)

33. What is the right way to avoid people who purposefully hurt you?
Why are they hurting me ? should try to find the root cause.

34. What are you afraid of the most?
Losing my loved ones (Oh, yaah, a horrible fear :( )

35. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
Where has my bindhi gone?

36. What brings a smile on your face instantly??
My darling little daughter, Jillu

37. A word that you say a lot?
Jillu..

38. What would you do if you were made President of India for one day?
Mudhalvan style aa ? I think I will go with Sat here...Sack all the politicians and then bring in KING's rule once again to see INDIA flourish

39. What is that one thing that keeps you going.
Hope and the anticipation of a better tomorrow

40. Whats one thing that you used to love that you left
Reading books. I can't say I have left it, but the frequency is just gone. Before, you cannot find me without a book. Now, its hardly 1 or 2 books in 3 or 4 months. pathetic :(

41. What would be your reaction, if you come to know that today is the last day of your life
Shock. Panic. Helplessness. Rush to the execute the "Long-term" to-do-list that i never seem to get around to.

42. What are your hobbies?

Reading books, listening to music 

Rules for those who are tagged:

Respond and rework – answer these questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own, and add one more question to the list. Then tag others :)

I tag
AJCL
Swetha
Lifeunderthesky
LIFE_REFACTORED

I am not sure if you have already been tagged on this. If not, pick it up when you find time friends...

At a loss for words

Well, I am having trouble blogging non-Jillu stuff. It cannot be called as a writer's block, for I absolutely am no writer :). Just a beginner struggling to find my way, or rather my words.

What to blog about? I know there are thousand and one things to blog about, but nothing comes to my mind yet. Even if I think of something to write, (having a couple of drafts is proof enough for that), I am not able to work around the topic and get it into any presentable shape. When I read it, it seemed so bad and nothing like the other so nice, lovely, so well written blogs that I read.

Some weeks back, in my car driving class, a fellow student was a 80+ years old woman and she was doing a wonderful job. I was really admiring her and her commitment at this age of wanting to learn and having the energy to enroll into a class and going through with it as well. What a way to live and how much she loves life to do that. I should learn from her, for due to various reasons, I am yet to complete the learning and still cannot drive on my own. I wanted to make this a blog post but could not go beyond a few words.

And, I was searching for my specs the other day and could not find it. I was desperately searching for it, for I cannot go to work without that and was calling my MIL as well to find out if I had left it there when I had been there the previous day. When I was searching, the immediate thought that struck me was that how nice it would be if we had a CTRL+F (Find) feature in real life so as to easily locate anything. I really missed the CTRL+F feature then. You won't believe me, but I have been thinking of ways of writing this for the past 2 days, but somehow it never happened. My first thought was to pen it as it is. Then, I thought, no, let me try out a 55 fiction out of this topic. I thought and thought and thought, I thought on the train journey to office, thought whenever my mind was idle, but nothing came out of it. Then  I thought, OK, let me try out a 55 fiction on some other topic. Again,with the same results.

So here I am, having decided to write something, writing about what to write. Hahaha..