Change of Name

Yes, I did it. I changed the name of the blog from Dream Spaces to "My clutter , My life"

The reason being, I was told by a good , well meaning , Twitter friend that " dream Spaces" sounds like a real estate blog.:-)

I agreed with him, since the Google search was showing many places for renting!

Hope you will , all , bear with me , and accept this new title with the same enthusiasm, or with a little more enthusiasm.

Keep visiting and post your good suggestions/comments.

Road rage-neighbour

Road rage is the in thing nowadays. I know to call it in-thing is not right. But,I see it all over the roads. In Hyderabad, the traffic is world famous, with no regard for red lights, or safety of other users. Jiske jee me aya vaise chalayenghe. Sab chalta hai. Poor traffic police guys, they do try to challan, for helmets, for light jumping, but how much they can do?

The more the cars, the more the cab drivers, the more the upstart owners of flashy cars, the more “marad” label on the sleeves-guys , show–offs who wants to show who the boss is ,( only on the road,) who are always wanting to be first ( go ahead first ), the more the headache for law abiding road users.

This is not limited to roads alone. The show-off driving can be taken to any extreme. While driving a scooter , guys will press accelerator, and whatever else to show they can speed, they can whrrrrroooom and they are the boss! Imagine them own a car:Itt is headache-time for all around.

Why? I do not understand, God, they have to show off to others, at others’ peril?

This page was in draft for the last two days, as I wanted my reaction to settle down before publishing.

We live in a cul-de sac, with only 4 bungalows on the road. The other side is a big wall. It is a serene road, and a pleasant one. Sadly, for the past year or so, we have a neighbour, who is not, simply , not, for this neighbourhood. He is loud in everyway, his wife will be screaming at her kid, the kid will be screaming at the maids,his co-players , his mother,all on the calm road .

The guys’s car will blare music even when it is parked, and worst of all , his use of horn is hysterical. When he makes a U turn into our lane ( all quiet lanes) his horn will announce his arrival minutes before. He needs to announce his homecoming in whatever style, at whatever time of the day/night, however late, thus disturbing the people who might be asleep.

To top it all, he takes the car in reverse every day with a maximum speed , without horn! He does not care who is in front of him. He will reverse, and he hit one of our workers, mixing cement on the road side , sending him running for his life, and throwing his tools in the air. We were all stunned to speak, he simply accelerated and was out of our colony in a jiffy.
What was appalling, he did not wait to see , whether the worker was hurt, whether he needs to apologise to us( his close neighbours). We were almost boiling with anger and wanted to seek redressal. When he showed up on the road next morning, my husband had to confront him , and all he said was a gruff” Ok, Sorry”. That‘s all.

Needless to say, he continues, honking and reversing in high speed.

Last evening, once again, he did that , and in the bargain, he simply bull-dozed our scooter parked, near our gate, away from the road. Eye witness say, he simply sped away, and after thought came back to keep the scooter back on the stand, and sped away again.

The eye witnesses called my husband, who was shocked to see the scooter damaged! As usual a lot of time went in calming ourselves down, and getting our BP normal, after which I went ahead and called his wife. She was apologetic, “ I will tell him” that is all she said. Does she not know her husband drives like a maniac? He does it always!

So far the maniac driver has not appeared to apologise. Why would he, he does it as a matter of routine, so he wouldn’t be sorry!
What we did to deserve such idiotic human being, educated, rich, uncouth , person in a decent neighbourhood?. Why is he like that?

I am peeved, I prayed to God to give me peace from this guy.

Reading habits, skip, end.

Book reading habit is pretty addictive. Once you start reading, it becomes difficult to disengage from the book and pay attention to what happens in the real world around you. For me, this habit (bad?) goes back to decades.

In our house, my older sister was an avid reader,of what she could manage to obtain. Luckily we studied in a good school, with a good library. But the main reading started off with magazines , like Vikatan, Kalki, Kumudam, kalaimagal, sudesamittiran, ( big pages),Pesumpadam ( not literary enough) , and those wonderful serials in them. I used to be a go between for her book friends and sneak into those magazines once in a while. After we were reasonably older, we all used to read books, with a stiff competition of who is going to read first. While eating lunch/dinner, we used to sit on the floor and keep the book on the lap. Mom used to get mad with a sharp" keep Saraswathi away from Anaapurni". When I used to visit friends’ houses, I used to be the one to look for books and beg them to lend me some!

College was heaven. I had a good friend who was proficient in English and only English. She introduced me to Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I was completely bowled over, and there it started. I tried to read as many books as possible from the library, with the help of my friend , who would decide what I should read next. She knew I was handicapped with the language and was genuinely interested that I should read right books.

There was no stopping since then. I have read in buses, trains, planes, bus stops, rly. Stations and hospitals, office , sea shores, hotel lobbies, airports, and while cooking too if the books was too good. Once I start, I used to read on into the night and go for work the next day bleary eyed. If the book was touching I would cry my heart out too. Even now, though, tears flow a little slowly .

This followed me after marriage too, and I used to find some ways of sneaking in a book , after every one finished their dinner. This was irksome to dear hubby who though the idea of reading and eating was strange. " Cockroach daale tho bhi kha lethi" was his usual quote. Considering that he was the one who used to buy me books by the dozen and addict me to English fiction!When babies came, I used to put them to sleep with me reading a book, and comforting them on my lap.

A discovery that warmed my heart in due course , was, that my son, turned to be like me! He loves books, and is very proud and possessive of his collection. I hate to admit it, but he introduced me to many authors, whom I have not heard of, most of them wonderful ones. (Aha, proud mom). And he also has the habit of reading at the dining table! ( In the genes).

Another habit of mine which irked my family was,my skipping pages. I can’t read big pages after pages of descriptive stuff. I am an impatient reader, and I need to know what the author is hinting at. That was a silly of me; I missed many classics due to this, and later sat through and read them. (Exception - War and Peace). I don't really feel that it diminishes my interest in the book. I have this urge to read the plot and figure it out soon, and in case of mysteries/thrillers, I had to know the ending. I will go through entire books again.P.D.James is the only exception.

My family used to dread asking me about the plot, lest I spoil their enjoyment, by spilling out the details. I can't bear suspense. Same is the case with movies too. In the case of suspense movies, I need to read the plot first and find out almost everything, and then see the movie. I used to upset my husband, by blurting out the ending.

Meanwhile, I found this piece where skipping is justified! http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/jan/05/skipping-parts-of-books-robert-mccrum

More on books later.

Pet Peeve of the Day (2)

Commenting on blogs that I like is an important part of my blogging experience. I feel one has to appreciate other blogger's point of view. Sometimes one has to differ with their views too. So, I comment seriously on many blogs, and enjoy doing it. Most of the bloggers acknowledge it and some don't. I also welcome more comments on my blog. It helps to improve my blogging skills.

If you are posting frequent comments , I am sure you would have come across problems in word verification. One has to use all one's viewing skills to see what the word verification really says. I came across similar views on this interesting blog recently. http://betsyfromtennessee.blogspot.in/

She says:
//On another very troubling subject, I am very very upset at what Blogger has done now with Word Verification. I cannot read the gobbly-goop they are now using. I have never used WORD VERIFICATION on my blog --and have had NO TROUBLE. Blogger has a great spam-filter...

To tell you the truth, I have enough trouble getting to all of my commenters' blogs ---and now, with the new Word Verification, I just cannot do it. If you choose to continue to use Word Verification on your blog, I will probably quit leaving comments. I just cannot do it... Sorry!!

My good friend, Theresa (Texwisgirl) wrote an excellent post last night about this... IF you want more information, please read her post (click HERE)... OR ---if you need help getting rid of the Word Verification, contact me (betsyadams@mac.com) and I'll help you. Thanks so much!!!//

In case you want to try these out, do so and please leave a comment about your views.

Berlin Goes Nuts Over Rare Palm Fruit | Growing From Seeds

Berlin Goes Nuts Over Rare Palm Fruit | Growing From Seeds

I have never seen a fruit like this! /Have you? Please share it.

Re-post

After I saw Mr.Subramanian's comment, I checked out another blog

http://www.arkive.org/coco-de-mer/lodoicea-maldivica/
which give a photographs of the plant and more facts! Amazing.

And more amazing facts Coco-de-Mer or Double Coconut,

or Coco Fesse or Seychelles nut
at http://www.seabean.com/guide/Lodoicea_maldivica/

It is exclusively guarded at Seychelles, export is strictly regulated!



And some interesting view(?) about the nut here http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/coco-de-mer-palm-tree-130080

Pet Peeve of the day (1)

Some days , life flows smoothly. the milkman arrives on time, the domestic helper is smiling, the paper is on the doorstep by 7 a.m. , husband is all smiling, great news from children ,no irritating sales persons, no unnecessary door bells, and husband is not at home throughout out the day! Hey, all 8 hours of freedom to do what one wants. It can not get more ideal than this for a blissful time in the silent house.

But, during the first week, it is nightmare time. Living in an independent house , suburban area and having a big dog has is own advantages and many disadvantages. The privacy is fine, the unnecessary visitors are cordoned off, and dog barks at the drop of a bell/coconut/horn. The Garbage collector will come anytime during first week, since he needs to collect his monthly charges form 200 odd houses. The cable guy will also ring the bell/ scream for attention, during anytime of the day. The paper man, the laundryman, and others, keep one busy in the first week.

The stressing visit is from the Meter reading person form our dear APCPCDCL. The system of visiting each house and rolling the bill out of his machine is an event for the first week.

Here are the must do's:

1.We need to keep the compound gate opened, and access to the meter possible. Having a dog is nightmare at that time.

2.In case , the gate is not opened, he will simply ditch your house.

3. If he ditches yours , next month your bill will be double, Consequently , your reading may enhance to the next slab and bill will be exorbitant.

4.It is not that every month the same person comes. Hahaha.. Our department is too smart for that.

They send dept. personnel once, and the next month , another private company person comes for reading your meter.(alternate)

5.The consumers do not know when he will be pleased to visit the colony. There has never been a fixed day for this highly important activity.

6.Any day between first and tenth, and anytime during the day.

7.In case the owners are all working people, they had it. Every time, the neighbors have to be bothered.

8.If you are not able to be around, and get to know that the reading activity is finished for your areas, you need to go to the office and inform.

9.It takes a while for the office guy to even notice you- then they assure that by tenth someone will come for the billing.

10.Once again, you wait, for the arrival of the billing personnel.

This gives a lot of tension to the house owner. But who cares?

Why can't the Department announce the date son which this exercise is undertaken so that the consumers are aware of the date and time?

Or I can shift to an Apartment and forget about independent house/dog/ trees/garden! Or I need to make lots of money to post a Durwan outside my small house.( he may go for smoke /Chai/paan with the neighborly domestic workers ).

Thinking....

Hope to solve this pet peeve soon.