Sami the Mindful Scribbler

 Some of us aren't really good at saying no to anyone, and a few of us are choosy enough🙂. Within your friends' , workspace you can say no, but not to the outside world, in day-to-day places. And today, such an incident happened. Today, my friend and I went to a hotel. Our initial plan was to go to a snacks corner, as we both had very little time. We both had another important work, so within that short time we wanted to have something that would be filling. But we were quite hesitant to pick that snack corner because we already had one bad food experience there. Still, that was the only option we had in that place. Also, it would take very little time to prepare, so we could eat and get back to the work we had. Near that spot there was a hotel. But as we all know, hotels do take some time to prepare the food. We had just half an hour. We were standing near the hotel wondering whether we should go in or no. Then there was a server who was wearing their brand T-shirt, insistin...

 Today it's going to be double the words. I mean, you could find two blogs for today, as I wanted to write about two important events that happened. One made me think, and another made me realise and decide to act accordingly hereafter. We have been dealing with Preface to Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth for the last few days. I must say, all the classes on this have been very interesting, and time just flies away quickly when we are engaged in it. With his works, the era saw a paradigm shift. Earlier, poetry was something sophisticated, complicated, and rich enough to be understood only by a few. But he promoted a shift:  From thought to feelings, From complexity to simplicity, From imitation to originality. The last point deserves special attention. While talking about originality, we were discussing different domains and how originality functions within them. Then the conversation moved to the education system, and we said, “ The education system takes away originality.” O...

 Today I'm going to write about something I observed and realised when I went to my hometown, which is in Tuticorin. This time we got to go to two to three villages where we had a family function. I kept documenting the place, and suddenly I saw a few windmills. I thought to capture that as well. Those windmills were standing in between and at the end of the agricultural fields. So automatically the fields too came into the frame. While recording it, my mother said,  "Ellam kanji poi iruku, ethum green ah ila video la."  (Everything looks dried up… there’s nothing green in the video).  At that moment I was hit by the reality. Though I could glorify village life in a 1-minute video, at the end this is the reality. It is no longer the greenery-filled vision we often see in films. We come to villages with certain expectations, to take pictures, and post them on social media. But the reality in most places looks very different. Maybe with AI one could add greenery to the...

 Thai Kizhavi is a Tamil comedy drama written and directed by debutant Sivakumar Murugesan and produced by Sivakarthikeyan .  With Radhika Sarathkumar , the other actors — Singam Puli, Arul Doss, Bala Saravanan, Munishkanth, Ilavarasu, George Maryan, Muthukumar, and Raichal Rabecca — play pivotal roles, along with several supporting actors, some of them from the very village itself. The casting itself is a big plus for this film, adding rural depth perfectly. Music is by Nivas K. Prasanna , and it is beautifully blended with the film’s subject. To put the story in short it’s about an old lady, Pavunuthayi , who is a strong and independent woman in a rural village. She is tough, rigid, and often intimidating. As a moneylender, she strictly collects her dues, which makes the villagers fear her. She has three sons and one daughter. Suddenly, one day she falls sick, becomes paralyzed, and is on her deathbed. Except for her daughter, no one in the family really takes any effort...

 I had been continuously unwell, then we went to our hometown, and after coming back home, I fell sick again. Today, I finally stepped into the kitchen. Since my mom wasn’t feeling well, I thought I would do something special. The initial plan was to buy idly from the shop while the rest of us had dosa. I wanted to make tomato chutney because I’m good at making it — and honestly, I’m not a great fan of coconut chutney. The moment I stepped into the kitchen, my mom said, “I kneaded some chapati dough in the evening, maybe we can make poori.” I was like, let me prepare poori. But tomato chutney isn’t really a good combo (jodi😁) with poori. So, not through a matrimony service but through Samitha’s mind, I matched tomato egg thokku with poori. Omg, it’s a deadly combo — everyone should try it! I myself cut the onions, tomatoes, and green chilies. If anyone wants the recipe, here it is 🤍😄: First, depending on the number of family members, chop the vegetables mentioned above. Then tak...

The last two days,  though tiring, were fun.  We, as friends spent some quality time. I doubted the time, but our company with each other proved it wrong as we kept joking, throwing mokka jokes, bringing them back even though those jokes were dead. Time was never fast, As we had many slow  and steady conversations. Going back to childhood, slowly to the bits of trauma — what we remember, what we try to forget. Then to the most important phase, the college life. Since the first meeting of us to the silly fights till now, everything was talked about, shared, reminisced. Going back to the gutters feels like home. Eating lays along with rice feels like your long-distance friend’s presence. Laughing until tears roll down and make the floor slippery🤣, stomach begging us to stop so it could get some rest from those loud laughs. And at last, feeling like we have wasted the whole day, later realising we didn't waste it, just lived and loved.