Cricket thoughts

Being married to a cricket crazy guy from Chennai, I am used to having the latest test series being watched, dissected and debated, either be it between India and England, Australia and South Africa or even Bangladesh and West Indies. With both our boys also jumping into the cricket bandwagon we are all set for the winter action. How convenient then that there are three computer screens at home where all three series can be watched simultaneously without missing a moment of action whether it be in Dhaka, Adelaide or Mumbai!
Clearly, the biggest disappointment this week was the wimpy display by the Indian team in the face of a real challenge from the English bowlers in Mumbai. Their lack of spirit was in clear contrast to another team that also battled against great odds in their second innings- South Africa. Their courage and determination to force a draw against an aggressive Australian attack was a stark contrast to the Indian debacle.
Yesterday : Watching Sachin depart disappointingly yet again this time, my son wants to know why I still consider him to be one of the greatest. Good question. Considering his recent form one would be hard pressed to come up with any logical explanation. But my feelings are not entirely logical because whenever I watch him play, I am only reminded of the sixteen year old who fearlessly faced the pace of the likes of Wasim Akram. I try explaining this to my son. He listens although he still looks skeptical. I describe how Sachin burst upon the international scene with the freshness and courage of his teenage years. A phenomenon never been seen before. The thrill and joy of watching him tear apart even the most aggressive bowling attacks, even while seeming somewhat vulnerable with his tiny stature is forever etched in my memory. He has grown and matured since then, but the beauty of his cover drive was just the same when he was sixteen. I think my son is still unconvinced although he doesn't entirely dismiss my view.
Today : Out of the blue my son asks, "Why is it that some people are born to do certain things so perfectly?".
I want to know more. "Such as?"
"Sachin, I guess... how is that fair to everyone else when someone has such enormous talent they are born with?"
Another good question. Will need to ponder that one some more... 

Have you touched a human brain?

A hundred more second grade kids in Cupertino will answer a resounding "YES" to this question today! We (Sri and I) did a basic presentation on the human brain and sensory functions for all the second graders at Eaton Elementary School yesterday as a part of their annual Enrichment Day activities. For this show we had promised to bring in human brain specimens and thanks to the Science Education Partnership program at UCSF the kids weren't disappointed. We were able to check out two adult human brain specimens from their collection for this presentation. In addition, we also brought in slide viewers with slides of neurons, and had a couple of ideas for group games that would get them talking about some of our body's sensory functions. 

Excitement was running high among the kids and group after group came into the classroom with high expectation of seeing and touching a human brain. Expressions ranging from "wow" to "yuck" to "it's squishy" to "this is so cool" were all to be found as the kids put on gloves and felt the preserved human brain specimens. Some kids couldn't wait to get their hands on the specimens but some others were initially hesitant. By the end of the day there wasn't a single child who hadn't felt and touched the specimens. Curiosity won over any fear or revulsion. The questions and conversations that the kids had also covered a wide range from the most frequent "Where did this brain come from?" to discussing what would happen if you fell of a bike and hit your head. We heard some stories of what happened to so and so when they had an accident or hit their head from kids who clearly enjoyed narrating them, to others who wanted to be reassured that no one got their brains taken out without their permission and that these brain specimens came from dead people! For even some of the teachers and parent helpers, seeing a human brain was a first!

The group games were also a big hit. One game involved having you and your partner trace a letter on each other's back and trying to recognize it solely based on the sense of touch. This game was a lot of fun and perhaps a bit ticklish for some! The second game had one child in a blindfold trying to locate his friends around him based on which direction he can hear them calling out to him. They were hugely entertained and it was quite a riot!

The biggest reward for all our efforts were the looks of wonder and excitement on the kids's faces...

Pumpkin muffins

Like most Indians, I knew nothing about baking when I first came to the US. I had always enjoyed my bread and my cookies, but thought of baking as very esoteric until a dear friend of mine walked me through a brownie-out-of-a-box baking session on a cold wintry Chicago evening two decades ago, and I have been hooked ever since. The same friend also shared many of her family recipes with me - one such being her mother's recipe for pumpkin muffins. I made these tonight and and were really delicious. I tweaked the original recipe just a little so that there is more whole wheat flour and slightly less sugar, but the result is still yummy. Here's the modified recipe-

Flour 3.5 cups

Sugar 2.5 cups

Salt 1 tsp

Baking powder 0.5 tsp

Baking soda 2 tsp

Eggs 4 (beaten) - substitute with Egg replacer for a vegan version

Cinnamon 1.5 tsp

Cloves 0.75 tsp

Nutmeg 0.75 tsp

Canned pumpkin 2 cups

Oil 2/3 cup

Water 2/3 water

Nuts and/or dark chocolate chips 1 cup (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix all ingredients. Pour into muffin cups (can also make pumpkin bread by pouring into 2 greased loaf pans). Bake 25-35 mins (depending on size) at 350 F.

Enjoy the warm smells of the spices that fill your home as your muffins bake!

Flu, books and movies

Catching the flu is never fun, but as I discovered, it doesn't have to be all bad. Being too sick to cook and clean meant that I had all this time to read books and actually catch a movie or two on where else, but YouTube, while propped up comfortably with pillows in my bed. The first book I read was "Rose of Sebastopol" a romantic period novel set during the Crimean War. It was a rather dull book which I almost quit halfway but managed to finish nevertheless. The next one was much better, "DeKok and The Mask of Death" by Baantjer, another police procedural from the DeKok series. Having read other books in this series before, I knew what to expect. While not exactly known for high action and breathtaking suspense, Baantjer's slow deliberate style has a charm of its own. Although I still wish he had a better sense of humor. There was yet another book I read in the past couple of weeks that I don't even seem to remember anymore. Hmm... what does that say about the book.... maybe it will come back to me later. Okay then, on to the movies. I just realized that all of the movies I watched in the past week or so have been in Malayalam. I guess I've been going through this phase of nostalgia about "god's own country" where I spend a considerable part of my childhood and simply also because I just love hearing Malayalam. It has always seemed to me that even though Malayalam films largely follow the stereotype of Indian movie melodramas, the acting tends to less cliched and more realistic. The ones I watched were from the late 80's and early 90's (the so called golden period of Malayalam movies), namely Bharatham, Kilukkam and Chithram. All free and on YouTube (what would I do without YouTube?). These are all Mohanlal starrers and from what I can tell, he really gained his megastar status during that period from these and several more films . It is easy to see how. Pretty much all these movies had excellent music (thanks to that magical combination of Kaithapram (lyrics) Raveendran (music) Yesudas (vocals) and Mohanlal had an opportunity to show his versatility through diverse lead roles in these different films. Of the three, I enjoyed Kilukkam the best, especially the first half, which was a total laugh riot. The second half was unfortunately the mandatory tearjerker/melodramatic bit. I would still really recommend this movie just for the superb first half. Chithram has a light first half with plenty of laughs and just when you start enjoying the music and the comedy you realize that something isn't quite right and soon you find out why in what turns out to be a very intense and atypical end to the movie. I enjoyed Bharatham too, only because it is a movie about a Carnatic musician, and of course, it has lovely music of the Yesudas Carnatic music style. As a lover of pure classical Carnatic music, I can't say I care much for Yesudas singing Carnatic music, there are so many others who do that so much better than him, but when it comes to the filmy variety of classical songs, he is king. Apart from the music, Bharatham is a very intense movie and Mohanlal appears to really enjoy playing the role of the musician, something that comes across in his other movies as well. So, all in all, a good "Lalettan" marathon, and an average as far as the book reading. Cheers!