Manu's Medley

House of Cards by my favourite author, Mrs. Sudha Murty is the first book I read in 2023. Sudha Murthy is well known amongst Indians, as a famous author, philanthropist, Chairperson of Infosys Foundation (a public charitable trust). She is married to the founder of Infosys N.R.Narayana Murty and is the woman behind the inception of the Multi National Tech Company.  Sudha Murty has written numerous books in Kannada and English languages, with a majority of them translated into the major Indian languages. She has written novels, technical books, travelogues, collection of short stories and non-fiction stories and children books. She has been honoured with many awards and titles for her contribution to literature and philanthropy - Padma Shri, R.K.Narayan's Award for literature, Millenium Mahila Siromani Award and Padma Bhushan are just a few of those. How I taught my grandmother to read and other stories, Three thousand stitches, Wise or Otherwise, Mahashweta, Gently Falls the Baku...

"Keerai amma keerai" (greens vendor's way of telling everyone that he has arrived) is a very familiar sound in the mornings, to almost everyone from Tamil Nadu. The greens vendor usually comes at specific time every morning selling a variety of green leafy vegetables on his bicyle. He brings in bunches of greens - Amaranth (Mola keerai/ thotakura), Indian Mustard leaves (Agathikeerai/ Avisaaku), Drumstick leaves ( Murunga keerai/ Munagaaku), Spinach (Paalak/Paalakura), Fenugreek (Vendhiya keerai/ Menthi kura), Sorrel leaves (Pulichakeerai/ Gongura) etc. Mom makes a healthy and tasty dish with greens at least once or twice a week. While growing up, me and my brother used to help her in plucking and cleaning the leaves, which is a time consuming process. One of the methods how 80's kids were often engaged by parents.  In Canada, we generally get spinach, that too baby spinach which is used in salads here. Obviously recipes made using baby spinach doesn't taste the s...

Has your baby crossed the 6 months milestone already? Days fly by too soon. Isn't it? Your little one is all set to learn something new every day and explore the world. I have heard most moms saying this is the best time for them too, as the baby can start on solids, gradually relieving them from breast feeding, and also they were in a better position physically and a better hang of the baby routine.  On the other hand, the baby is also developing at a great pace working on his physical, emotional, social, gross and fine motor skills. At this age, his sleep time considerably goes down, he is curious to observe the surroundings and learn more. What to expect from a 7-9 months old? Ready to eat pureed/ mashed food Rolls over in both directions Tries to sit up, unassisted Rocks back and forth, attempting to crawl Makes simple sounds Differentiate between familiar and strange faces Tries to respond and imitate others Tries to stand up and walk with assistance Here are few activities (p...

Over the past few years, I have come across many book lovers sharing their reading accomplishments. Some completed 30-40 books in an year, few read 100 books over 12 months and few others could finish 10 books per month. Most surprisingly, I came across a person who finished 500+ books in 2022. With the onset of audio books, people are able to read quite a lot. Somehow, I am not good at audio books and considerably a slow reader. I mostly spend my leisure reading books, apart from writing and vlogging. Similar to last year, this year too I could finish only 9 books, most of which I have already written about in this website. You can check those under "Books" section of the main menu.  This post is a quick recap of all the books I read along with the links to their detailed synopsis on my website. Click on the titles listed below for my detailed write up on each book. A Promised Land - A political memoir written by Barack Obama. It is a 900 page read and undoubtedly it took m...