Dandruff wars

I am waging a Dandruff War right now!!! It runs in the family I think . Now that I am on the wrong side of 40, I have been enumerating all the family ailments and eruptions I can look forward it.:) from my mother's side - a little facial hair (ooh, it hasn't happened..but we never know ..in the twinkling of an eye these things can happen) , definitely a pleasing bout of arthritis at some point, and swaying arms ( oh! as kids we used to swish our grandma's arm around - while she shouted chuma ere tamil for Be still.Now I am going to be swished around unless my father's genes kicks in ( he has bony,muscular arms) .From my father's side it could well be leucoderma( ooh) though some of my uncles showed no signs of it. My father too effectively cured himself by getting some Sidda ( branch of ayeurvidic ) medicine after writing to and fro to several people. I must get that recipe just in case...(no signs as yet but as I was saying..) So, coming back from these Bright Milestones that I can look forward to ..here 's the current war Dandruff..
I read somewhere that Gore likened the war on terrorism to war on dandruff..what does that mean..it is here to stay..or stop itching..
Anyway I always look for solutions ...so here's some homemade remedies
Mix two tablespoons of cosmetic vinegar and six tablespoons of hot water. Dab with cotton into the scalp, parting the hair with a comb apply all over the scalp. Preferably it should be used at bed time. Tie a scarf over the hair to avoid staining the pillow. Next morning wash the hair with shampoo. After the hair is thoroughly cleansed pour over as a last rinse a mixture of three tablespoons of cosmetic vinegar and one cup of hot water. Then dry the hair thoroughly. This should be done twice a week for three months.

Other Home Remedies for Dandruff
Dandruff treatment using Fenugreek SeedsThe use of fenugreek seeds is one of the most important remedies in the treatment of dandruff. Two tablespoons of these seeds should be soaked overnight in water and ground into a fine paste in the morning. This paste should be applied all over the scalp and left for half an hour. The hair should then be washed thoroughly with soap-nut (ritha) solution or shikakai.
Dandruff treatment using LimeThe use of a teaspoon of fresh lime juice for the last rinse, while washing the hair, is another useful remedy. This not only leaves the hair glowing but also removes stickiness and prevents dandruff.
Dandruff treatment using Green Gram PowderA valuable prescription for removal of dandruff is the use of green gram powder. The hair should be washed twice a week with two tablespoons of this powder mixed with half a cup of curd.
Dandruff treatment using BeetBeets have been found useful in dandruff. Both tops and roots should be boiled in water and this water should be massaged into the scalp with the finger tips every night. White beet is better for this purpose.
Dandruff treatment using Snake GourdThe juice of snake gourd has been found beneficial in the prevention and treatment of dandruff. The juice should be rubbed over the scalp for this purpose.
Dandruff treatment using Other RemediesDandruff can be removed by massaging the hair for half an hour with curd which has been kept in the open for three days, or with a few drops of lime juice mixed with amla juice every night, before going to bed. Another measure which helps to counteract dandruff is to dilute cider vinegar with an equal quantity of water and dab this on to the hair with cotton wool inbetween shampooing. Cider vinegar added to the final rinsing water after shampooing also helps to disperse dandruff.

Problem stem-med effectively

We are all member s of the same body...!! if the heart says to the body I can't function, then the marrow takes over...!!!

NEWS

Country ahead in stem cell research, say scientists

Ahmedabad, January 5: While scientists around the world debate the ethical issues surrounding use of stem cells for medical treatment, India has already taken lead in this direction and has conducted the world’s biggest and most successful adult stem cell experiment, say scientists.
Dr D Balasubramaniam, director of Hyderabad’s L V Prasad Eye Institute, who is in Ahmedabad to attend the 92nd Indian Science Congress, says, ‘‘The LV Prasad Eye Institute has been into adult stem cell research for the last six years and doctors at the hospital have successfully reconstructed over 160 damaged retinas using stem cells.’’
Scientists have been successful in taking adult stem cells from the limbus of the eye and using them to reconstruct the damaged outer surface of the eye, he says.
Dr Balasubramaniam also claims this is the largest and the most successful stem cell trials in the world.
Similar efforts using stem cells for treating cardiac ailments are being carried out at Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore.
Dr Aloke Srivastava from CMC, also here for the Congress says, “The institute is currenlty engaged in trials wherein stem cells from patient’s bone marrow are taken and injected into the damaged portion of his heart. After implant these adult bone marrow cells take over the function of heart muscles.”
Dr Deepika Mohanty, director of Institute of Immuno-Haematology in Mumbai says, “While ethical issues surround the use of embryonic stem cells, we have found a way out and are currently engaged in research on stem cells obtained from the umbilical cord. The umbilical cord blood stem cells have emerged as an ethical and safe option to embryonic stem cells research. And we are also looking at establishing umbilical cord banks in Mumbai and other parts of the country.”
The subject has excited researchers across the world after they knew how to differentiate these stem cells (embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells) into a variety of other cells in the human body.
Doctors soon started believing that these ‘blank cells’ can be developed into cells of the heart, brain, skin and bones and go a long way in finding cures for many serious diseases.
“There is the ethical issue of raising expectations of patients when we ourselves are uncertain of the results with stem cells. We do not want to go around claiming that the technique is perfected unless we get positive and replicable results in clinical trails,” said Dr Willam Wijns who heads the stem cell research programme in Belgium.
But according to Dr Balasubramaniam the issue is not disturbing scientists here. “There are no ethical issues in the work. We have proved that it works.”

It seems instead of using embryonic stem cell ( which involves foetuses and is the centre of the controversy) , multipotent or adult stem cells can be used to regenerate lost or impaired adult tissue. This is definite + for stem cell research and India has scored admirably in this respect - Hip Hip hurray!

Talking of neices

My first Neice is the cherubic,charming, cho chweet Mahima... born to my oldest brother Premkumar ( two years my senior and married to Amrita's sister Anju) . She recently sent me these beautiful pics of her. She was a cuddly cute baby just a short while ago and now she towers over all of us at age 13. She is bright and beautiful and very lovely. When she came with her mom last year... we were breathless... the baby was gone and in its place was a lovely girl with trinklets and flipflops and straw hat and all. Her mom and she had come after 5 years ..and the transformation was startling to say the least.. For Mahima India was intense all of a sudden..she was soooo full of questions...why the crowds everywhere etc..The best part was her mom and I while shopping in and out the vast shopping area would suddenly quite unconsciously cross the road to the store opposite...and looking around wouldnt find Mahima..where was she and then we would see her still on theopposite side... unable to cross through the zig zag maze of assorted traffic here. I had to recross the road and hold her hand and cross the road..Yes indeed the traffic here is a total mish mash of cars,trucks, cycles, scooters, bullock cart,autos etc and to the uninitiated quite confusing.

Mahima loved the dosas here - the crisp thin paper like crepes... and Mariamma our cook was her best friend. She loved making these dosas for Mahima. Mariamma by the way is so huge she can hardly walk or stand for long. Also she has the unrivalled knack of breaking every second chair she sits on. She would come to the kitchen and plonk herself down on the chair and there with a bong/more of a bang come to think of it ,she would go down ..with one of the chairs, its leg broken. They say Practice makes Perfect. InMariamma's case it was v.true. Fortunately for us, her husband was a carpentar. So his spare time was spent mending his wife's broken chairs.Now she has been advised to sit only on sofas. Anyway she was very skilled in making dosas ..which she sat and made with great joy esp for her friend Mahima. Also the coconut vendor had a fondness for Mahima.He would arrive a little after the crack of dawn , his cart piled with coconuts and with great flourish of his scythe chop the top of the coconut for the refreshing drink.

Reminiscences

I cant believe it ..my small baby brother had a baby... I remember when I was 10 yrs old (way,way, way back)my older brother (2yrs my senior) and I studying in a school close to the Hospital in Byculla ,Mumbai,India raced to the Hospital during the lunch break to get a glimpse of our new born brother.. He was born on August 14th the day before Indian Independance day.. and the Hospital was decorated with the tricolor Indian flags and the kitchen supplied payasaam an Indian delicacy served at special occasions , made from vermicelli and rice and milk with sugar and cardamon etc..so it was a double celebration for us. Between 10-15 yrs we doted our brother carrying him around everywhere and listening to all his talk -- out of the mouth of babes they say.. how true-- here our some. When he was 5 years old he had a friend who lived upstairs called Vidya (Istill remember) Vishwnathan and they used to go to school togeher. Either Vidya was in our house or he (Anand) in their house - they even bathed together( imagine! ) Anyway my brother was very attached to my mother and One day after his bath when she was wiping his little head , he hugged my mother and said ' we will always be together' so my mother replied "till your married then you will be with your wife" He was crestfallen and told my mother "I will marry you" . My mother laughed and said " you cant marry your own mother" Then he was sad again, thought for a while and came up with a solution and said ' then can I marry Vidya's mother"We burst out laughing... we told the story to Vidya's mother ..and she replied mischievously,when I get tired of my husband I will marry this little brat.

Another funny thing I remember we were having a religious meeting in our house and were getting ready for it...and my mother told my brother-- the Chairman is going to come and he turned his head and said" who is a chairman? the one who puts the chairs?" ha ha how apt...he understood Jesus humility even then,.....

Honk! Baby is here

Words Of love to the newborn-

1.There is always someone who loves you more than ever

2. Believe in yourself

Thoughts on Birth of the New baBy


Say I love You as often as you can

Give lots of kisses

The Baby arrives

What a day it has been!! My younger brother Anand ( ten years my junior) 's wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl late last night around 9.45pm...she is about 3.95 Kgs quite fair by indian standards and very beautiful--jet black hair and pink fingers and toes..We were so excited when the telephone rang and my brother informed us of the birth..we dressed hurriedly and left merrily and the little wonder was a bundle of joy to perceive. My brother held her so close and bonded so beautifully that when the nurses came to take her for her BCG shots, he wouldn't let go and said he would get her himself.The young nurses giggled and smiled warmly . It so good for fathers to bond to their children..it has to happen earlier itself. I was reminded of how good Our God is in how wonderfully we are made..thank God we are His workmanship . There is nothing like the wonder of a newborn..

Stephen's College - the Indian Idol

I expected to be rained in with comments on my last post.... .The reason the whole thing came up is because there is nation wide debate here in India ( In Indian TV version of 60 minutes, X factor etc ) about a prestigious College in Delhi , St Stephen's College reserving 40% seats to Christians 10% to Dalit Christians and 10% for sports etc.. and only the remaining 40% to general public on merit basis.So now unfortunately for the general public the cut off percentage of marks is very high like 97% for commerce students and 99% for science students( I cant believe it - how the scoring system is these days -- during our time the topper got 70% marks) Anyway, a prominent speaker in these TV shows is one Mr.Arun Shourie who is well known politician, writer,economist with World Bank, in India 's planning commission etc.. he has written a book on missionaries in India.Shourie says the great preoccupation of Indian Christians and missionaries is to get a great harvest of souls and they have a hatred for Hindus.He speaks of Macaulay- Macaulay's notorious minute instituting English as the medium of instruction in India, says Shourie, ."was laced with utter contempt for India, in particular for Hinduism, for our languages and literature: of course, Macaulay did n6t know any of those languages... his ideas about Hinduism had been formed from the calumny of missionaries .... But the breezy, sweeping damnation-- even a century and a half later, the imperialist swagger takes one's breath away."

Shourie quotes from a recent issue of the Texas-based magazine Gospel for Asia: "The Indian sub-continent with one billion people, is a living example of what happens when Satan rules the entire culture... India is one vast purgatory in which millions of people .... are literally living a cosmic lie! Could Satan have devised a more perfect system for causing misery?"In the central section of the book, "The Division of Labour"-- among the British administrators, missionaries, and European Indologists--.Shouire cites extensively from historical documents to establish that these three groups colluded in essential agreement that "India is a den of ignorance, inequity and falsehood; the principal cause of this state of affairs is Hinduism; Hinduism is kept going by the Brahmins; as the people are in such suffering, and also because Jesus in his parting words has bound us to do so, it is a duty to deliver them to Christianity; for this, it is Hinduism which has to be vanquished."

Is this fair to the missionaries? one asks. What about the numerous schools, colleges, and hospitals the missionaries established in India? Did they have a hidden agenda? Yes, says Shourie quoting from Gandhiji's Collected Works. In Gandhiji's discussions with missionaries, they acknowledged that "the institutions and services are indeed incidental, that the aim is to gather a fuller harvest of converts for the Church." Ironically , Mr.Arun Shourie is an alumni of St,Stephen 's College, which is at the centre of this cauldron of debate..

So if conversion is the motive for these Christian educational Institutions.. why this hulabulla about reservations and a massive protest by the Hindu majority to get a seat in these Institutions!!The Principal of St,Stephen's College rightly stated" it is not about reservations for Christians or Hindus ,,but about Social Justice..an educational institute must be the messenger of such change... the marginalised, the minority have to get justice too.." I rememeber many instances in my early years as a young Ph.D In India going through much discrimination as a Christian... I was ridiculed and criticized for not wanting to bow to instruments during a puja session .. some of those instruments were even broken.. ofcourse now I would have dealt with that differently...but at that time I did bear several injuries as a minority in India..I think Hindus have equal if not more evangelistic zeal than christians... a freedom of religion bill is long awaited in India.Lets hope someone gets Arun Shourie to work and pass that bill.

Friendship and faith

I have at last touched base with one of my good old friends from US....Dawn Griesbach . I had met her 18 years ago in US where i post doc..ed but later when she migrated to Scotland in '90 we kept in touch for sometime, then lost touch and then years later I met her briefly in 2000 when I was in US on a short visit ..but we have a lot of great memories that go way back...Dawn is a ardent mountaineer , she has climbed all the munroes of Scotland - i suspect that the mountains of Scotland made her a permanent settler there. We hiked a lot in US when we were together in Philadelphia - she a stubborn 10mile hiker, I a reluctant one , always 10 paces behind her like a hindu bride. I loved view points - places that looked outward to the wide spaces , she couldn't care less only loved walking through the lush, mountainous land . Also she knew gardening like noone did- preparing her own compost etc. I learnt making cream cheese, baked chicken, manna burgers from her among other things...I cant wait to catch up with her..that also brought a lot of thoughts of the faith
.. we did a lot of bible studies together..The way I understand my faith now is a lot different than the earlier years esp when I was India.I wondered why? I grew up in a Christian home and according to me the worst way to understand the Bible is through religious eyes/ we received Christ multiple times ...yes like vaccination for the stomach flu , because unfortunately we christians have reduced the beauty of the scriptures to a few choice words and phrases. Secretly i had many of the doubts the Hindus have..why was Jesus born without sin such a big thing.. Oh yes sure His sinless sacrifice redeemed the world... whatever that meant... It was many years later that I understood it as ...there has to be a standard -- say the Garden of Eden before sin was the standard -- how does one have access to that standard without violating the standard itself...it would be through the sacrifice (costly) of a pure and blameless life.. If there is no standard , then anyone can access it anytime - the sacrifice of Jesus was not required. But because God the Father had a standard for humanity - if the standard was violated ..a price had to be paid... by one sinless .. Then in States when I visited places like Boston - where the great forefathers like John Adams lived and saw the many roles they had- baker, printer, constitution framer, leader etc..I had some inkling into this great standard for humanity.. here were true men of substance... without sin (or sin forgiven) a lot of good things can be accomplished and enjoyed in this world.. So then I started to think perhaps Jesus Christ is relevant to US because there we are closer to God's high (achievable) standard...material and emotional and social prosperity was what God desired. For a time I thought Christ may be irrelevant to India..then the picture of the shepherds being the first one to hear the angels sing and announce the coming of Christ came to my mind ..if you look closely shepherds were lowly yet they were professional, minding their sheep and steeped in their cultures( they had community life and culture ).. The angels didnt come to the temple of God and herald Christ - no because I am convinced that without good community you cannot understand the Gospel unless you have sinned terribly and the spirit of God convicts you..there are sins and there are sins..I mean deadly sins and other sins...but only when we look at the high standard of God -- who God was ( as we are created in His image) can we understand all have sinned .. without GOd'sstandard we cannot understand that.. so back to my previous argument...is God's standard relevant to India... Thankfully you see God intended 2000 years of OT before NT ... was, if one slaps you on one cheek .. turn the other one possible in OT ? No, so also not possible India. If someone slaps you on one cheek in India you slap him right back,,, it is what a good person should do...can I hear the brick bats... it is only when you achieve a certain standard you treat others differently than what you have been treated... but we christians tend to put the NT before the OT.( the cart before the horse/donkey) So yes I think Christ is relevant to India provided good Indian culture is maintained.. like good education, family bonds, good Indian food etc.. then we understand scripture better ( not IMHO through religious eyes). But then when you think of the deadly sins only the blood of Christ can cleanse..(it runs deeper that the waters of the Ganges)so in that sense He is much more relevant or equally relevant in India ...so since a person who is forgiven of his past sins and has repented has greater access to doing a lot more in life and enjoy it too ... in that sense to make India prosperous, Christ is the Answer. What do You think?

Chennai gets toilet savvy!!!

When I first came back to India from US, getting toilet paper was a big thing.. I had got so accustomed to the toilet paper that to think how by and large most Indians cleaned up after their ablutions was disgusting.. Yet for the larger portion of my youth and young adult life, that is what I even I did..OOH.Since we lived in the suburbs getting toilet paper was a big thing... only the posh shops in downtown Chennai , a good hour and a half from where I lived, carried the paper, that to once in a while It was a luxury of all luxuries. True, Indians make a great distinction between their left hands and right hands-- the former to clean their poos and the latter for the more worthwhile activities like writing and eating etc. The right hand knows what the left hand does and keeps away from it...Anyway when I was in Mumbai two years later after my return from US , I found the Mumbaites had made a great advancement in that area..No not toilet paper but a middle ground between left hand and toilet paper... a bottom cleaning shower... Yes Yes it is located close to the toilet bowl and has a pipe that ends in a tiny but powerful shower head. You press the leverage close to your bottom and wow a forceful jet of water cleans you up thoroughly..I was impressed. Now with the passage of a few more years, I find that middle class homes in Chennai have installed the jet system as well...
In the US I remember the technicians in the lab.. I mean the American ones used to love to tease us about the Indian toilet habits and we Indians would desperately try to change the topic..Anyway it is a disgusting topic to dwell on and with India getting into the'jet' age (ha!Ha!) that topic is forever closed I think

India's first woman President

India is all poised to have its first woman President...there was great debate about it on the TV channels..Well I thought if we cant cow down ( punintended) the West in other matters atleast on this one let us.. Before Hilary Clinton takes the oath I think Pratibha Patil will. Karan Singh the other main contender for the post has gone on record and said,"sometimes it is not enough to have the right man for the job,you need the right woman" All the powerful men described her as a nice woman , but I am afraid it was not said as a compliment but more as it takes more than a nice woman to do the President's job.The most important task she has accomplished in recent times is not passing the anti-conversion bill ..which is a great boon for Christians here...but I wish they would pass the freedom of religion bill. But this is goood having a woman President -a first for Indian History!Now the world will get to see among things...hopefully the fashionable six yards of beautiful Indian silk as befitting Indian Women Presidents.

On a different note, after what seemed as eons of scorching piercing heat wave, the heavens have relented and opened up ..It is raining cats and dogs here..I love that smell of hot baked earth drenched by forcefull rain...Nature is really going beserk here...thunder ,lightening and the trees swaying feversishly...

We are attacked by watermelons!!!!

How does Chennai cope with the heat? Water melons...Scores of watermelons have invaded the city ..almost all the high ways and byways are sidewalked with water melons ! I looked up its vitamin content - wow it is loaded..here goes

Food Value of watermelons Nutrient Amount vitamin C 14.59 mg vitamin A 556.32 I.U. vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) 0.22 mg vitamin B1 (thiamin) 0.12 mg potassium 176.32 mg magnesium 16.72 mg
Medicinal Uses & benefits
1. They are wonderful diuretic agents. They are of great value in diseases like jaundice, typhoid and nephritis. 2. Protection against Macular Degeneration. 3. Watermelon contains high concentrations , an antioxidant that may help reduce the risks of cancer and other diseases. 4. Watermelon is fat free, nutritionally low in calories and considered an ideal diet food, and is high in energy, making it a great energy boost!

Having a relaxing time

It is siesta time for me now... a week of relaxation and rest.. I finally finished my grant writing ... I am going to see a lot of movies, drink lassi and watermelon juice and visit my aunts and uncles. Also any time soon ,June 18 is the date, my nephew/niece will be born!! I am so excited...i missed being there when my older brother's kids were born...butI am glad I am there when my younger brother's little bundle arrives... When my neighbors grand child was born, my neighbor a retired professor in Tamil tied a huge cloth made hammock from the ceiling and used to rock the little one to sleep singing tamil folk songs. I recommended it to my sister-in-law but she was of the opinion that the kid may get used to it and as she works as teacher, the servant at home may overdo the rocking part ...is rocking a baby to sleep very essential for inculcating a sense of safety and security? let me know

women in science

It is finished... the three month marathon grant writing is finally concluded...I submitted two 30 page each documents this morning and a load just slipped off my shoulders. I hope I finally see myself evolving into a seasoned grant writer.. While I was blog-hopping at the science hemisphere-- I came across several blogs that showed how anti-woman the science world was.. every woman seemed to have hit a glass ceiling at some point or other..That reminded me... in 1994 when I was post-doc..ing in US, my mentor a no-nonsense science gladiator - yes very much woman .. told me when I mentioned of my expertise in the transcription ( related to expression of genes) field .. that all the men in that field where sexist- at a time when I barely knew the meaning of that word. Really? hmm, i pondered thinking of all the wise, polite great men scientists I had met.. all very helpfull, courteous and full of wise advice...

I arched my trimmed eyebrows at her .. are you sure ( my expression wore in ethnic style) .. Yes yes she said and in her tall boots stomped out.. Now I test that hypothesis will all those wise, chatty , helpful men upon reading my grant turn to 'women hating' orges these women make them out ot be.. . I am ever hopeful that it would not be so..

Phew.. I can see the finish line

I am the very tip of the iceberg....in my grant writing ...Two days from now on June 12 Tuesday I submit it .. I wanted to finish it off this week end but apparently the grants.gov has gone off the website for infrastructural changes....( a pinch on the cheeks by Big Sam to us ..nervous types , who want to submit well before the last day) and will be back on only on MonJune 11. Pray everything goes smoothly....

Since I am swirling in the cold waters of the scientific littany ..my grey cells are in a state of freeze as far as relishing the savories of day to day life goes ..chit chatting and LOL ... so for now I leave you to mediate on the iceberg.. for all you silent pygmies out in the woods ..watching but not commenting...:):):):):):):):

The Mouse is here to stay.

I am on the verge ...I quiver frightfully at the very edge... of submitting my third grant for this half of the year and the mouse has welded itself to the palm of my hand all this season ..if anyone out there knows some brilliant hand exercises, do oblige ..it needs urgent servicing...Now for the next five years be it grant writing or experiments in the lab, the mouse is here to stay. All my last three grants are on mouse models.. so after almost a decade of tissue culturing ,I am back to my Ph.D muse, the mouse.

That reminded in true indian filmy style .. an interesting flashback... I was doing my Ph.D at the then Cancer Research Institute ,Parel, Mumbai ,India ...now it is the pompus ACTREC lying like silent monster on the outskirts of Mumbai... and my project was on epidermal carcinogenesis as studied in the mouse model. This required for the most part ..painting the skin(not with painter's brush but with syringe and 28gauge needle) with different carcinogens and waiting and watching little cancers mushroom on the back of the white swiss mice. We had to sacrifice ..yes the humane way, by pinching its cervical cord and pulling its tail ...one swift movement ( not the inhumane way I have seen in US .. unanaestized mouse guillotined..ohhh gory,gory ) . When I was new, I was not very sure of holding the mouse and pinning him down by the cervix.. so invariably on most occasions, the little fur would squeeze himself through my wabbling finegers and bound through the glass jar s , down the bench and out into the corridors of the Institute with me and my lab mate ( another newcomer like me) in hot pursuit. The major part of the day would be taken up thus.. trying to corner the escaped white mouse. It tooks several months to master the art of clasping its neck before it wriggled out and later when months turned to years.. I was indeed an expert in this dark skill of life, and I would be chit-chatting with a colleague in uninterrupted, earnest conversation ,complete with laugh and giggles,as I would be if I were tearing lettuce for a salad and chatting with a friend simultaneously, while all the time with the seasoned grace of a master executioner , I was pinning the little blisters by the neck and pulling their tails, killing them by the dozen without so much as a glance at the luckless creatures ..

Summer Reading

Summer Reading

While growing up in Mumbai, summer holidays was usually spent rummaging through the bookcases of my equally bookish friends..collecting a handful and settling down in a darkened room with a ice-cold glass of lassi (buttermilk- for recipe refer next blog of Amrita.. yesugarden.blogspot.com) . My father worked for the Railways so all the apartments were similar-and so all the bookcases were open wooden cupboards built into the wall and going way down..Invariably that was the same floor space for the sofa set s and as most of the homes displayed curios like minature Taj Mahal and marble fish and peacocks from marble mountains and trophies of kids .. the books usually occupied the lower shelves and were often hidden from view by the backrest of the sofas. So I have had this childhood memory of retrieving hidden treasure from behind sofas ...piling them up and reading them..It was a common joke then that we found our books in our friends bookcases and vice versa.. we read perry mason, arthur hailey, Alistair maclean.Ken Follet and of course PG Wodehouse.. The latter a lifelong favorite ,never gone stale always adding the right zest to life... I recently read two good ones ..Pigs have wings and Full Moon ...blew away the tedious part of grant writing..all this made possible by the opening of a small lending library bang opposite my home in K.K. Nagar. It is called Sri Kumaran lending library and has all adventure, suspense, romantic, historical novels and most importantly PG Wodehouses..Mumbai used to have plenty of these small libraries wedged between paan(tobacco chewing) shops and textiles stores spilling over its dilapidated walls with books...they dotted almost every street nook much like a Starbuck store these days..I thought Madras would never sprout one ...and in the last 7 years I had to travel an hour to get to the British Council Library or American Library to get a handful of books...But now the landscape seem to be changing...a library close to home... who could ask for more