Liebstered again

I am a glutton for awards and every time I get some kind soul awarding me something, it gives me a rush. Of course, a part of it is because it happens so infrequently but a bigger part is the warm feeling that it gives you to realize that, somewhere in the world, there is someone who actually likes something of you. This time there are two lovely people – Ash and Menachery – who have awarded me the Liebster.

The Liebster is one award that gives me mixed feelings. Of course there is the aforesaid warmth of getting the award but the fact that it is given to people with less than 200 followers makes it seem less like an award and more like a consolation. In the initial days of blogging you do not expect to have followers anyway but as you age as a blogger and still fail in getting followers the shoe does start to pinch. I have a sneaking feeling that in my dotage with my hands trembling with Parkinsons and with inch-thick glasses I shall be peering at my blog and still be seeing the 100 odd followers I have now – if I have not lost all of them by then – and then eagerly await to be consoled by the Liebster.

What is worse is finding 11 people to give the award to – and all of them need to have less than 200 followers. You go a-hunting for them and find that all the people you know have been veritable Pied Pipers with half the population following them. You blow a couple more feeble notes on your pipe and look around piteously for a following – only to find that the few who have joined your train out of pity are looking around for a convenient way to disappear without hurting you too badly.

I have to apologize for not picking those 11 bloggers to pass on the award. It has been more than a week and my hunt for awardees has netted me a lot of people who made me envy their followers and a lot of others who have just put up their acceptance posts for the Liebster that someone else has awarded them. Being the obsessive kind, I find myself unable to get going on anything else till I complete this post – thus I am putting up the post without completing all the formalities.

I am supposed to put up 11 facts about myself. I can only redirect people to the series of posts here, where they will find enough facts about me to make them feel that sourness rise in their gullets whenever they even spot my gravatar for the next month.

Now I shall get to answering the 2 x 11 questions that I have been asked. First Menachery’s questions:

1. What is the craziest thing you have done to increase your Blog followers?

What have I not done? The problem is that none of them succeeded or I would not have been awarded the Liebster and would not be answering this question!

2. What is the best story/poem/post you have written so far?

Looks to me like it is a toss-up between ‘Yesterdays and Tomorrows’ and ‘The Gates of Hell’ as far as stories are concerned. The most popular, however, seems to be “TheSilent World’.

3. Who is your favorite follower?

You must be the person who asked the newbie heroine who her favorite hero was! I’ll give the same answer – all the followers who I have and who I will have are my favorite followers!

4. One comment on your Blog that made you Rofl

Hmm! There was this one comment that I deleted. It was on my post for the Sunsilk contest – ‘Straighten up or die’. The contest asked for crazy ideas to straighten hair and, on my post, one of that vast tribe of ‘Anonymous’ commented that it was a lame post and I ought to have written about what I actually did to straighten my hair in the days I had hair. What made it funny was that this ‘lame’ post went on to win one of the runners-up awards! That is when I ROFLed!

5. Do you feel a compulsive need to keep updating your Blog?

Well! I am compulsively lazy – so I actually have to compel myself to update my blog periodically!

6. Funniest Post you ever read

I normally find almost all of Debajyoti’s posts or Rickie’s posts very funny. Too difficult for me to pick one! (Among the other things that happens when I read their posts is that I find it funny that I think of my posts as funny!)

7. Do you feel that certain comments are just to patronize you, or rather to get you to comment on their post. How do you deal with it.

Raw nerve, there! I actually put up an entire post – On Criticism on Blogs – on just this topic. Nowadays I find that deleting is easier on my nerves.

8. If you had a magic lamp, what would you wish for , on your Blog

Only one wish? I make very modest demands – how about my blog becoming the No.1 destination in the world for Internet readers?

9. What is/was your dream profession?

I am living my dream – I always wanted to be retired and, now, I am!

10. If you had to snuggle up all by yourself, with a book, which one would it be, and why.

The complete collection of P.G. Wodehouse’s stories, I suppose. I like laughing!

11. If you had to publish your Blog,, what would you name the book?

I think I have a nice enough name for my blog to suit the book – Life is like this! You can write anything in the book and if someone asks you how it suits the book, you can put on an injured expression and say, “But Life is also like this”

Now Ash’s questions

1.Which is your favorite book and why ?

Asked and answered – P.G.Wodehouse’s complete collection. Makes me laugh and I like laughing.

2.What is the one thing you would rescue from your burning house, assuming no one is inside ?
I am Libran! By the time I decide what is best to save I’d probably burn along with the house and all my possessions.

3.Which is the most discomforting movie you have seen ?

I watch movies on TV. With remote in hand it is unlikely I stay on the channel long enough for any movie to discomfort me! I like my comfort!

4.What is the one social issue you can take out time for ?

Hmm! To be entirely truthful, I do not think anything will get me out of my home. I can always write posts or Like social causes!

5.Are you happy more when you are writing or when you view your finished work ?

I actually like the thinking process when I nearly completely plan out what I will write. After that it seems so much like work that I keep postponing the actual writing.

6.Why do you blog ?

Good question! (That’s what teachers say to students when they do not know the answer!) I suppose it is because I have the fallacious notion that I can write I suppose!

7.If you had taken a different fork in life, what would you have been ?

Still what I am – retired - from a different profession, maybe!

8.Which is that one experience you wish to have before you die ?

Do I really have to – die, I mean! Is there no Presidential pardon or something? Mmm! Maybe see my book in the best-sellers list once at least. I keep telling people that I am a man of modest ambitions.

9.Are you more comfortable in the company of others or being alone ?

You know what – it all depends! When I am alone I think I am comfortable in the company of others and when I am in company I think I love being alone. When I am drunk, I love wherever I am!

10.Which do you think is the biggest malady plaguing the nation now ?

The selfish act and do not talk; the unselfish talk and do not act!

11.Why would you attend a bloggers meet or would you rather not?

I love blogger meets – when it gives me time to interact with other bloggers. Bloggers are people too you know and people are fun to be with!

I apologize once again for not passing on the awards. I find that I am becoming more and more averse to work the longer I stay retired and it is, indeed, a lot of work to sift through bloggers and pick 11. I know Ash and Menachery have done just that and I respect them for it but I cry mercy!

Indian Sculpture: The Samavediswarar Temple

When one talks of Indian Sculpture – and South Indian Sculpture in particular – the top tourist destination that springs into the mind is, probably, the Pallava sculptures at Mahabalipuram and, secondarily, the Kailashanatha temple at Kanchi. One may then cast an eye at the Chalukyan Sculptures in Aihole/Pattadakal/Badami or the Hoysala sculptures at Belur-Halebidu in Karnataka. Hampi of the Nayakas may also attract attention.

Yet South India is rich in innumerable temples dotting the landscape with a veritable treasure trove of sculptures waiting to be explored. It is, probably, this plenitude that seems to make the local populace totally indifferent to the artistic richness that lies amidst them. This indifference has, in turn, contributed to neglect and, thus, not only do these various temples housing sculptural marvels remain obscure but the sculptures also tend to be ruined by neglect.

In fact, the sculptural heritage of the Cholas and Pandyas is almost totally ignored – the major Chola and Pandya temples being visited mainly as grand temples or places of pilgrimage rather than for their sculptural heritage. Talk of the Cholas and the only thing of artistic merit that springs to the mind are the Chola bronzes. Yet, it is in their times that exquisite sculpting in miniature panels arguably reached their zenith. The panels of the latter age – the Hoysalas and Nayaks – do have lovely detail but they are normally larger and, thus, arguably do not give the same impression of intricacy that the Chola panels portray.

During my visit to Srirangam to explore the sculptural heritage of South India, I had the opportunity to visit a small temple – The Samavedishwarar temple in Tirumangalam near Lalgudi. This temple set in serene surroundings is an exemplar of the early Chola (8^th to 10^th Century AD) temple.

Take a look at the sculpture of the ‘Bikshadana’ in one of the niches.

 This is a portrayal of the Sankaranarayana in another niche.

 

Vishnu and Lakshmi in one of the pillar panels.

 

There was this lovely Ramayana series of miniature panels. You can see the Kabanda episode from the Ramayana in the miniature below. This was just above the basement and the sculptor does not seem to be afflicted by the so-called ‘chalta hai’ attitude considering his attention to detail in this miniature which is not in the most noticeable of positions.

 

That visit to the temple was one of the most rewarding experiences for me in this trip. You can get a virtual tour of the trip in the photographs of Arvind Venkataraman here, whose photographs have been used by me in this post as well.

More information of cultural interest may be seen here

Guest Post for Akanksha Dureja

Every now and then, by some strange masochistic instinct, one of the very popular fellow-bloggers chooses to inflict my writing on their blogs. Or, maybe, it is out of the kindness of their hearts that they decide to bring my blog to the notice of people who, otherwise, would be quite happy to be ignorant of my existence.

This time it is Akanksha Dureja of Direct Dil Se who has extended that hand of friendship. I have attempted one of my ‘humor’ posts on her blog. She has been embarrassingly laudatory of my writing in her introduction (Never mind, Akanksha, I like being embarrassed this way!) and I wish that the half of what she said of me were really true.

The link to that post in her blog is here.

Rasikas - Chennai’s Classical Music Extravaganza

If the musicians keep the knowledge alive, it is the discerning audience – rasikas – who keep them on their toes as well as give them the informed feedback that is so necessary for any artist to thrive. I, unfortunately, make up the crowd for the musician but am no further help. I have the greatest regard for the cognoscenti and, if I am taking digs at them in this piece, rest assured that they are most respectful digs.

The Sabha audience comes in various types. I shall ignore the young couples walking in to the free concerts to do their dating in the A/c confines of the hall. They are more like people who have strayed in – though not by mistake – and, thus, do not deserve mention in a ‘serious’ dissertation such as this.

The one thing that you need to know is that each rendering of a piece is not to be listened to in rapt silence. There are various sections to each piece after which applause is mandatory even if muted. After four years, I am able to anticipate the end of the section and start applauding along with the cognoscenti instead of having to wait for the applause to start and joining in, in order to appear knowledgeable.

What I have not yet mastered – and never shall – is to utter those words ‘Balae’ and ‘Baesh’ every now and then when the musician has, apparently, touched some intricate part of the raga. To me it all sounds the same – melodious, yes, but nothing particular at that point in time compared to any other – and I am unable to understand why others felt impelled to vocalize their appreciation. It is not even like they all appreciate the same part. Different people seem to take to different portions making it all the more difficult to understand. Sometimes I have been tempted to add in a few ‘Balae’s and “Baesh”es of my own – the only thing stopping me is the possibility that I may do it when the musician is merely clearing his throat.

There are those rapt rasikas who can only vocalize “Tch!Tch!Tch” and move their fingers like palm fronds trembling gently in the breeze. There are those who can hardly refrain from addressing the perfect stranger sitting next to them and inviting him to join in their appreciation. There are those who fling their hands in gay abandon when the ecstasy hits them.

For me, the worst sort of rasikas to sit near is the quiz competition group. In Carnatic concerts, the raga of the composition is not necessarily disclosed at the beginning. So, when the alapana is going on, the quiz competition groups start guessing the raga. There is invariably a quiz master – who can be identified by the smug look on his face – and his judgment is resorted to by all the members. The buzz can become so loud that the musician is practically drowned out by them. I am awaiting the day that an app is devised to identify the raga from the beginning of the alapana putting paid to this nuisance. They would, probably legitimately, be angry that their pleasure has been robbed. After all, it is a point of view as to whether the concert is a soulful experience or a variant of the Brittania Quiz contest.

I forget the failed musicians – by whom I mean those who believe that their vocation is music and they had been lead astray into other areas of work. These are the chaps who maintain the beat with claps like pistol shots or sing along with the musician or hum along with the violinist. I thought I had met the worst of them till the day came when this guy drummed on both sides of his chair, sang, hummed and stamped his feet. Why, he was a one-man-orchestra and poor T.N.Seshagopalan could not compete with him that day.

The Sabha-hoppers are inevitable in the season. They sample a bit of this in one Sabha, rush away to sample a bit of that in the other and, probably, sing the mangalam at home. Since I am the sort who can’t even stand surfing channels on TV it is understandable that I am unable to fathom the pleasure that sabha-hopping gives them.

All in all, the Music Season gives you a grand exposure to a fascinating and vibrant sub-culture in our midst. To me, all the rasikas are worth their weight in gold since it is their interest that is still keeping these wonderful creative arts thriving.

Sabha Canteens - Chennai’s Classical Music Extravaganza

If ever there was a win-win-win situation in the world it is this marriage of the sabhas and those who run the sabha canteens during the music season. December, in the Hindu tradition, is not an auspicious time for weddings. Thus, the caterers who handle the cooking for weddings are normally bereft of orders in this period. It is these caterers – and the crème de la crème of them – who take on the job of providing food during the music season.

Most major sabhas have an all day schedule. It is, thus, inevitable that they need the services of the caterers to keep their audiences happy with food and beverages. The caterers, in their turn, not only find a market but also use this period for a practical advertisement of their capabilities thereby paving the way for future orders.

And the audience? The audience gets sumptuous food at very affordable prices, gets to relish dishes not normally served in hotels and also, maybe, finds the right caterer for future weddings. To my knowledge, this is the only advertisement that provides value to the customer as much as to the producer.

There is a huge section of Chennai dwellers whose only knowledge of the Music season is where to go for food. In fact, quite a few people come to the sabhas only to eat or pack up food and totally ignore the rest of what happens at that time. All that they are concerned about is whether ‘Mountbatten’ Mani Iyer’s meals were better than ‘Padmanabha’ or whether Narada Gana Sabha had Gnanambika for this season or not.

Do you smell a bit of envy there? If you did I must laud your nostrils! Thanks to a fractured right hand, I could hardly try out these delicacies in this season – eating with my left hand off plantain leaves not being my forte – so, you can hardly blame me for the vituperation against those who were fortunate enough to be able to relish the food.

For the out-of-towner December can be a great culinary experience in addition to being a great cultural experience. And, believe me, Chennai in December may not be truly as hot as you fear it will be.

Sabhas - Chennai’s Classical Music Extravaganza

It is a tough ask to learn the nuances of Indian classical music in order to throw your weight around as an expert. Far easier to pick up the incidental knowledge surrounding the Music season and put on airs. About the first set of incidental knowledge one needs to acquire is the location of the Sabhas, the schedule of concerts as well as when and how to buy the tickets for the concerts.

Even the Chennai dweller may well fail to recognize some of the sabhas since they tend to masquerade as school or college auditoriums till the Music season arrives and they throw off the camouflage and bloom into centers of culture. A huge cluster of these Sabhas are present in the Mylapore and T-Nagar areas, which have been my normal haunts during the season.

One can hardly fail to notice the Music Academy – one of the few non-masquerading sabhas – at the intersection of Cathedral Road and TTK road or the Naradha Gana Sabha on TTK road. The Mylapore Fine Arts opposite Vivekananda College and the Brahma Gana Sabha on Luz Church road are just round the corner from the Narada Gana Sabha. Chennai’s oldest Sabha is the Parthasarathy Swami sabha – if I am right – for which you travel down Cathedral road beyond the Music Academy and take the right at the next flyover. The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium near the Kapalishwarar temple also hosts concerts – even free ones during the end-November period. Rani Seethai Hall near Gemini and Kalaignar Arangam in the same vicinity have also taken to music in the season. T-Nagar is another area rich with concert halls. Vani Mahal, Sri Krishnagana Sabha, Bharat Kalachar, Nungambakkam Fine Arts, German Hall – a whole host of choices await the music lover.

You could choose to buy the season tickets for a sabha or two or you could choose to buy the tickets as and when you feel free to attend a concert. To the best of my knowledge, almost all the sabhas sell advance tickets for all concerts. The Music Academy, however, sells tickets only in the morning of the day of the concert or just before the concert starts. The Narada Gana Sabha starts selling tickets from the day before the concert – again in the morning or just before the concert. Both these halls, however, hold two programs in the evening – starting 4-4.30 PM – and the ticket is valid for both programs unless otherwise stated. Incidentally, the tickets can come as cheap as Rs.100/=  and, thus, is not really a huge drain on your exchequer.

If you merely want to check out the music – without incurring the expense of the tickets – you can try out the afternoon concerts in most sabhas where aspiring singers give free concerts. No need to sneer at those concerts – the current hot star, Abhishek Raghuram, was not too long ago singing in the afternoon. Some singers get the prime slot in lesser-known sabhas while still singing in the noon slots at major sabhas.

In addition, the Music Academy also has yesteryear stars singing in the morning 9.15 AM slot for free. If you want to hear a T.N. Seshagopalan, Nedunuri Krishnamurti, Vedavalli, Bombay Sisters or T.N. Krishnan for free, this may be the slot for you. The cognoscenti also flock to the lec-dems in the sabhas but most of them are more like post-doctoral courses requiring a very strong base in the arts.

Concert schedules are put up outside the concerned halls. Nowadays, they are available on the Internet and, I believe, there are even apps that help you schedule your concerts. How about a carnatic music concert this season, Chennaiites, instead of another visit to the multiplex?

Chennai’s Classical Music Extravaganza

Chennai is probably at its coolest in December and, thus, it is great for me that the Chennai’s largest cultural festival is scheduled then. The Classical Music and Dance festival starts somewhere near the end of November, peaks during the latter half of December and ends in January.

Connoisseurs of any art look down their noses at the people who claim to appreciate the art on the I-know-what-I-like basis and, probably rightly so, since that normally connotes I-don’t-know-anything-about-the-art. I, unfortunately, belong to that ubiquitous category. Despite four years of listening to Carnatic music, I still cannot make out one raga from the other. It is, however, true that the performances enthrall me.

A Carnatic music concert normally starts with short songs (Do not think I do this to make the terms understandable – it is just that I, myself, have no real knowledge of the appropriate terms to apply). As the concert progresses, the initial alapana (the Tha-Dha-Ri-Na-Na or open-throated humming, if you will) gets longer, the lyrical parts remain about the same and the swarasanchara (sa-ri-ga etc.) gets longer as well.

A typical concert – the prime time variety – normally lasts about two-and-a-half to three hours. The centerpieces of the concert – there are normally two – consist of detailed rendering of the raga in the alapana by the vocalist, followed by the violinist; rendering of the lyrics - with one line picked out for detailed exposition in various phrases of the raga called the Neraval and a swarasanchara. If the vocalist chooses one piece to be a Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi (RTP, for the cognoscenti), the lyrics are replaced largely by the Thanam (Aa-nam-tha-tha-nam etc. Normally the usage is of Aa, Tha and Nam – the latter two being the reason why it is called the Thanam) with a mere 2-4 line pallavi sung as lyrics with the Neraval done of the same lines.

The RTP actually shows off the musician’s creativity. When the normal Kritis are sung, the composer has detailed the manner it which it is to be sung and, thus, the musician showcases his creativity only the alapana and the swarasanchara. In the RTP, the musician explores the raga through the entire piece. Sometimes the RTP is also done as a ragamalika – sung in multiple ragas – and the dexterity of the musician in shifting from one raga to the other seamlessly is on view. Almost invariably, the RTP is the piece in which the thani-avartanam (thani, for the cognoscenti) – the solo by the percussionists with the vocalist, violinist and the audience just keeping the beat – is played. Where no RTP is rendered, one of the two long pieces is chosen for the thani. After that the concert tails off in a series of smaller compositions – the thukkadas, thillanas, abhangs, bhajans – till the mangalam is sung signaling the end of the concert.

I have always wondered at the fortitude with which the musicians sit through the entire period without taking a break. The audience, however, walks in and out as it pleases. The thani, unfortunately, seems to be the signal for dinner/coffee and the percussionists give of their best to an audience that vanishes into the canteen for food. Given the structure of the concert – where there are no intermissions – it is inevitable that some part of the concert is likely to be selected by the audience for a break and the tradition appears to be the thani as evidenced by the fact that it is played in the first of the long pieces when the concert starts at around 6-6,30 PM and in the second if it starts at 4-4.30 PM thus ensuring that it happens around the normal dinner time for the audience.

A Carnatic concert is a blissful experience for me and I have not found my inability to make out the nuances any hindrance to my joy in listening. In addition, however, it is an impressive sight to see at least one part of Society where achievement in the chosen area of expertise takes on an importance well above the monetary benefits.

Indian music is deeply rooted in Classical music – Carnatic or Hindustani – and almost all the movie songs that have stood the test of time are based on ragas. A tradition the needs keeping alive and it is a heartening sight to see so many young musicians vying to make their place in the sun in this arena.

And then there were none

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 36; the thirty-fifth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is "and then there were none"

“That looks wonderful”, said Ajay eying the frosted beer bottles greedily and licking his lips. I mean he actually licked his lips.

I know we are all accustomed to using such phrases metaphorically but Ajay seemed to believe that the actions described in books had to be enacted. Accounts for the fact that he is yet to find a girl-friend though he was in the final year of his engineering, I suppose. Girls do like to be considered attractive but what girl would like a man literally drooling all over her?

“Good! You have enough! We can make a night of it”, said the artist of our group. Sanjeev had none of the dithery absent-mindedness of the artist stereotype which showed in the decisiveness with which he opened a bottle and poured the contents into his glass.

“Where is Rajiv? Stuck in some meeting as usual?” asked Sridhar as he hastened to fill his glass. Now this one was a nerdy caricature of the IT man to look at but a veritable vacuum cleaner when it came to drinking.

Rajiv came stamping in. “Pour me one guys! I need one to get rid of the stink of your streets, Vinod. The garbage collection in your area is the pits!”

“What can we do, Rajiv? We have been to the municipality often enough but nothing much seems to happen”, I said.

“That’s the problem with the middle class. Always the someone-should-do-something-about-it syndrome” said Rajiv.

“Yeah! True! No matter how much you gag as you walk the streets, you will not do a thing about cleaning it up”. By the realistic gagging accompanying the statement, a blind man could have recognized Ajay.

“Actually, this street looks great for a modern art painting. If only you did not need to slip and slither on all sorts of waste”

“Guys! I am going for my second one” Sridhar said, in line with his single-minded pursuit of mopping up the beer.

“Say, guys! If you are all serious, we could ourselves do something about this mess. Ajay! Can you get a couple of friends over from college to help?”

“I…I…Say, is it 9 PM already? My parents must be getting worried. I gotta go. See you guys”

Shell-shocked was not the word for it. Hitherto whatever had floated on top of the beer with Ajay, it certainly had not been filial piety.

“Sanjeev! You have that newspaper friend, do you not?”

“Who? Hey…I forgot. My son has a maths exam. Got to coach him. Bye” That from the man who has to put in torturous mental effort while adding two and two and still manages to get four only one time out of ten! There was one kid who would radically reinvent mathematics for the future generations, if he was getting coached by Sanjeev.

“Rajeev…”

“Shit! You know Vandana does not much like these sessions of ours.”

I had always known it but I had not known that he knew it too – at least, it had not shown in his behavior till date.

“Got to keep peace in the family”, he said and left – and then there were none.

P.S: I must bookmark this experience. It will come in handy the next time I seem on the verge of running out of booze!

If you liked this you may like to check out the index of other posts of this genre or read a selection of similar posts.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Introduced By: The Fool, Participation Count: 09

A Facebook Page yet!

It was not too far back that I had wept copious tears about being unable to comprehend Facebook. Nothing much has improved since then in terms of my abilities to handle it. I, however, have been perforce dragged into using the medium as far as I am able to do it.

The funny thing about Facebook is that you need to have that invincible belief that any passing thought in your mind is of seminal relevance to the rest of the world. I have always suffered from an inferiority complex in this regard. That, effectively, means that I cannot post things like "There is a bird tweeting (not on Twitter) outside my window. Cho Chweet" and other such information that my friends are dying to hear.

I could, of course, spout a maxim every other hour and have the world rave at my extraordinary wisdom. The problem, however, is that I have a sneaking suspicion that my bid to sound like Confucius would only end up making me sound confused. (It may be true but I do not need to advertise the fact, do I?)

One-liners, perhaps, would be the way forward for me. Unfortunately, what purports to be humor in my make-up leans towards verbosity and not terseness. Brevity is certainly not the soul of my wit. As a consequence, when I put up any message on Facebook, people ignore it as though it never was.

What then forced me to create a page on Facebook for my blog? I have been given to understand that people prefer looking up posts from Facebook because (a) it puts all that they want to see in one place - on their FB page and (b) it allows them to 'Like' without even bothering to read. The latter behavior is certainly not something that I am enthusiastic about - but then there may be times when a friend is too busy to show solidarity by reading and may prefer an easier option. Of course, there is always the danger that it may turn out like most spouses - exchanging pecks on the cheek on busy days initially and ending up doing it all the time till the marriage counselor or divorce lawyer gets into the act.

As for me, there is now the additional challenge of posting on this page as well. I think that, in addition to my new posts, I shall try to put up the best of my very old posts that most do not even know of - with the solemn assurance that I shall not fall into the trap of admiring each and every one of my posts.

So there it is - my Facebook page for this blog is accessible from the link below. Like it if you prefer updates from my blog on your FB Newsfeed.

Life is like This