July 2006

Even though we take lot of photos, this is only the second time we took portraits of the kids in a studio.

Do you know Oracle?

I bet you didn't know this Oracle. This Oracle can link any actor, even the obscure in any world language to any other actor, another obsure or well known by a handful of movies. Here is an example of couple of known names:

Link Kamal Hassan with Cameron Diaz:

The Oracle says: Cameron Diaz has a kamal hassan number of 3.

Cameron Diaz was in Mask, The (1994) with Nils Allen Stewart
Nils Allen Stewart was in Rishtey (2002) with Amrish Puri
Amrish Puri was in Mumbai Express (2005) with Kamal Hassan

Koushik Read and Show

We were at Sridhar's place Saturday. Koushik was waiting eagerly to do his first ever Read and Show. It was such a proud moment to see him read fluently. He read all the 32 pages of a Nemo book. I managed to capture some of it in the video. (Sorry about the picture quality, I forgot to take pictures and extracted these out of the video.)

Koushik Reading...

This is what he read...

Ammu bugging him...

The audience...

Congratulations Koushik and Happy reading all your life :-)

அம்மு பல்

Ammu got her first set of teeth a month back, finally we got a picture.

Drinking bugs?

I am stupefied again by the food processing industry. They can't find better than crushed beetles, correct, crushed bugs for 'Natural Red coloring'. So if your juice or smoothie or yogurt reads, 'Natural flavors and ingredients' read closely. If it says, 'cochineal extract (color)' or 'carmine', it is bug squeeze.

BTW, only last year FDA mandated it be labeled as 'cochineal extract'. Before then, it was just 'natural red coloring'. Guess why FDA wanted the change? It was because of 'reports of severe allergic reactions'. Surely there can't be any other reason such as not wanting to drink insect body fragments, right.

FDA mandate
Article

This is from FDA:

Cochineal is a dye made from dried and ground female bodies of the scale insect Dactylopius coccus costa (Coccus cacti L.). Powdered cochineal is dark purplish red. The chief coloring principle in cochineal is carminic acid, a hydroxyanthraquinone linked to a glucose unit. Cochineal contains approximately 10 percent carminic acid; the remainder consists of insect body fragments.

... popsicle labeled as colored with carmine

... ruby redgrapefruit juice with carmine

... custard-style strawberry-banana yogurt containing carmine

 Shan R Shanmuganathan said...

Found one more article.

WSJ Article

October 11, 2006 8:27 AM

Srinidhi repeatedly surprises us with his memory. In this young age, he remembers what happened 6 months and a year back. An example today. I was joking to him that I was going to school with him. He chuckled and said, "Appa, you don't go to school, you go to IBM, and they have lollipop there." I didn't understand at first, and then Veena reminded me, last time I took him to IBM was in March, he was not even 3. We went to pick up the Disney tickets from IBM Club. And he remembered the secretary gave him a lollipop!

 JM said...

Slightly irrelevant comment...

Sir, i was just browsing through you pics gallery and... wordless... wow!!! looking at the pics, i can imagine how much you and and your family would have toiled for you to be here...

hats off to you and your family

remember these thirukurals..

Eendra pozhudhum perithuvakkum than maganai sanron ena ketta thai!

and one more pura nanuru

eendru purantharuthal annaiyin kadane,
Sanron akkuthal thanthayin kadane... and it goes on...

I am into training and people development, missing reading all these lines... and i know for a fact, my kids would not even know them...

I feel in the quest of acquiring something, we loose somethings which we once cherished... like you've mentioned " happy days than when i made $100.000....

Hats off to you!

October 10, 2006 11:27 PM

 Shan R Shanmuganathan said...

Thanks Jay for those wonderful comment. Yes, I wouldn't be where I am without my family toil and the sacrifices. I owe everything to my parents and siblings.

I understand your yearning about missing the things we grew up with and that the next generation won't get to enjoy the same things. When I was a bachelor, I had this romantic idea about exposing my children to most of what I grew up with. Over time, I came to realize, I can pass on the values, but not the specifics. As long as we pass the fundamental values, they will come across and discover and grow with things they value and that will mean a lot to them. They will cherish those with an yearning to pass them to their children. And the cycle repeats. This is what Kannadasan said,

மாறுதல் என்பது மானிடத் தத்துவம்
மாறும் பொருளே மகத்துவம் பெறும்
மாறாதிருத்தல்... (மறந்துப் போச்சே :-))

October 12, 2006 9:51 AM

USS North Carolina

It is hard to miss Battleship USS North Carolina berthed near downtown Wilmigton when driving through that area. On our previous trips, we never got around to visit her. We finally made it this Labor Day.

It is awe inspiring to walk the deck of a battelship and walk in to the guns, engine room etc. Knowing this mighty ship was built more than 65 years ago, I can only imagine the battleships of today.

In this picture, you can see the Stripes she earned. You can also see a Japanse flag (old) for each of the nine Japansese controlled island she helped capture, Japanses ship that she sank and the 24 Japanese aircrafts that were shot down by her.

Old MacDonald had a What?

Old MacDonald is Srinidhi's favourite Rhyme, the next one is Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill.

He made up this extension to Old MacDonald yesterday:

...
In that farm he had a scissor E.I.E.I.O.
A 'Cut Cut' here and a 'Cut Cut' there...

In his barnyard he had a Switch E.I.E.I.O.
A 'Light On' here and a 'Light Off' there...

In that farm he had a Ammu Baby E.I.E.I.O.
A 'Baby Cry' here and 'Baby Cry' there...

 JM said...

Welcome back shan....

October 09, 2006 12:57 AM

 Shan R Shanmuganathan said...

Thanks Jay. Yes, I am hoping to keep it up this time.

October 09, 2006 2:19 PM