Badri's A level exam results were declared a few weeks ago. He got an A* in Computer Science and a d in English (AS). He was unfazed and had not "expected" or "not expected" any grade. And there the matter rested for a few days. But Sonati and I were not easy about this.

He had "studied" even le...

On Monday, Arunachalam, who was working for us on the Upper field, returned from lunch and (quite casually) asked me, "Did you let someone cut down your Porcha-maram?" Judging by his casualness, I assumed that it was some small tree. And in the heat, I had no interest in going and looking at the s...

Boys, trees and we have In the last fifteen years, grown At Thekambattu.

When we moved here, fifteen years ago, phoning Salem was an event: One had to book a trunk call from Karumandurai. Hot on our heels, STD came to Karumandurai. And now as everyone who visits us now knows, Karumandurai boasts of four (or is it five?) cell phone towers.

Call us old-fashioned if you w...

Since there has been a lot of back and forth about our lemons, on Facebook, on our blog and in e-mails to us, we thought we should clarify/consolidate, and carry on the conversation.

If a solution was required to our personal lemon problem, then e-commerce or organic marmalade would have provided...

To take it to the limit, Sonati and I decided to try and hawk our lemons in the shandy at Karumandurai. So we set off on the TVS with our bagful of lemons (and some lemon juice to drink), found a corner of the road, and set up the bag on the seat of the TVS. I started calling out "Paththu rubai-ku ...

This happened at the height of the drought (Varun's diary entry is for 25 March), and it still gives me the heebie-jeebies to think about it; but here is Varun's Stream-of-Consciousness:

I was in the Hippo Rock. I thought I saw smoke on the south-east corner of the bore-well tier. I went down an...

The title credit for this post goes to Pankaj, who has made a great film on much the same issues called Apna Aloo Bazaar Becha. The rant credits go to me and the insight credits to Sonati. 

Yesterday, it came viscerally home to Sonati and me that the Economy Rules OK! 

We have always sympathis...

The decision was final. The die was cast. We were going to sell some of our lemons. And today is the day.

After finishing some of the morning's work, with a bag slung on my shoulder, I purposefully headed towards the lemon trees.

First uphill, to those newly fruiting ones, near the machang....

In a sort of Future Shock mode, stories tumbled over one another, around Aadi 18, a couple of weeks ago.

On Friday morning, Perumal came for work, and said that he would have to visit his kaadu, once in a while during the day. Shanthi had gone off to Melthukuli: A relative of hers, a boy study...

Some scenes stick in our minds long after they have happened. For Sonati and me, one such is what happened one night in June or July 2000. It is as if we are outside somewhere looking on at Sunder and Sonati doing something in a frenzy. And if you ask me how long this "moment" lasted, I would only...

This is a story where one needs a few photos or a video clip or better still, the boys doing it in mime, but my writing and a drawing by Sonati will have to suffice. I was telling Kumar and Rajeshwari this story in Madras, when I realised that many of you would not have heard it.

When we moved to...

Since this Lok Sabha election has generated so much heat, so many posts, so much debate, here is our two bits' worth:

Today, when I went shopping to Karumandurai, I could feel the holiday; or rather the morning after. Very few bikes, almost no men around, none of the tea shops making tea, let alon...

The universe is made up of not only atoms, but also stories. And, so here is one more, for some of you who have been asking; "for those who came in late". It will be a thoddara kadhai (serialised story, in Tamil), and go back and forth in time, spawning more stories as it goes along. So, if you wo...

When our large-guava tree was fruiting last month, we had a procession of small (and not-so-small) boys and girls from Thekambattu and Valagapattu, coming here "to see us", to ask for medicine for coughs and colds for themselves, for their grandmothers... And going away with guavas.

Soon enough, t...

4 in the morning of the 15th of January: I start the pump and let it fill the upper tank for 10 minutes. Then I go to turn the Gate valve down so as to fill the drinking water. And No water flows!

I turn off the pump and return to bed, and toss and turn as various scenarios occur to me: It must be...

C candles are burning bright

You are C years old- Is that right?

Older and wiser, a year at a time

Now, how on earth do I make that rhyme?

B was last year, B for Bye!

D is next year when Teenage says Hi!

"The past is dead, the future unborn"

Now, where in the present has Varuna gone?...

This one was a by-election necessitated by the death of our sitting MLA a few months ago. It seemed as if the whole of Tamil Nadu had turned up for the tamasha, since it was the only election in the state.

There was a party functionary (AIADMK) camped in Valagapattu, who showed up with two Valagap...

Govindraj's son Sam has joined a boarding school in Shevaroypet, some 40 km from here, starting this June. He is about 10 years old. This is a Christian school, so everything is free for Sam, since Govindraj is a Christian: education, clothes, books, food. (There are Hindu versions of such schools w...

Varun and I returned home yesterday. As we got off the 10.30 bus, we were met by people asking about Sonati's health, and commiserating with us about the break-in. Everyone was most amused by Thatha's line which I quoted "Veetu-la onnum illai-innu avan ethavathu pottu-tu poirka-poraan: paaru " (Se...