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 HOW TO THINK IN ENGLISH.

            "How can I speak English? What should I do to improve my vocabulary? Can only native speakers speak English?"

            We have come across such statements a million times and when I was asked a question on Quora , https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-think-in-English-instead-of-Hindi?__nsrc__=4
it provoked me to writing this article today.

            I have always told my students that thinking in English is mandatory to get a good command over the language and when I saw this question 'How'? I decided to write it out here in my own blog.

            This has to be cultivated young.

            Speak to your children in simple English. When you read English stories to children, never explain the story to the child in your mother tongue. There must be a natural assumption of the child's ability to comprehend English [even when you know he can't].

            If you see boredom on the child's face you can make a couple of sentences in your mother tongue but must revert to English as quickly as possible. This is for a child who is less than two. You must take efforts to simplify it as much as possible in English using action.

            For children who are above than two, mother tongue must never be used for explanations. [Even the occasional concession given for an infant cannot be given] .

            Actions can be used but words must carefully be selected in simple English and voice modulation and actions should entrance the young minds.

            Reading, exposure to good English and efforts to speak in English as much as possible are the only ways to help a person think in English. Once the habit is cultivated, it would stand in good stead all through his life.

            Having said that, how can an adult learn to think in English? Is it not too late? This is the most difficult part because as we all know habit dies hard.

            The person starts with a natural disadvantage of a lapse of fifteen or twenty years but motivation and diligence should do the trick.

            There is no substitute to reading.

As an adult, I would suggest that you make reading a compulsion for yourself. If you find it difficult to understand advanced English, do not worry. Read fairy tales, short stories, magazines, jokes anything insignificant.

            While you read, just read. Do not keep translating the sentences mentally. Let the picture unfold in front of your eyes. The stories should be at a much junior level than your age so that you won't labor hard to comprehend them. Only when there is difficulty to comprehend in English, you would revert to your mother tongue.

            You can gradually advance to senior books. Don't be ashamed if you are to be seen with an elementary book.'No one can disrespect you or demean you without your consent’. You are learning and would do what has to be done.

            Secondly, watch television channels that use Standard English, and try to comprehend that. Watch News channels. Try to understand the news in English.

            While discussing favorite topics with your friends do it in English and choose friends who are equally motivated.

            You may like to extoll the dance of Hritik Roshan, go 'gaga 'over the style of Rajinikant, have a hearty laugh over the current political scenario; whatever it is, do it in English. They are after all your friends. They won't mind ,especially if they are like-minded. It can be for a few minutes but it has to be done on a daily basis. Do not do this practice in front of others who would undermine your self-confidence.

            Start this today and time would do the rest.

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art queen: Tribute to Advocate Vasudevan

art queen: Tribute to Advocate Vasudevan

Movie review of Missiyamma

                                                     Missiyamma

     This is a real classic old Tamil movie, charming in its simplicity and quaint humor.

The hero is veteran actor Gemini Ganesan, a dashing young man, a handsome hero with curly hair and extremely decent behavior.

      It is an extremely simple story where Actress Savithri plays the role of an educated Christian girl who is looking for employment.  Her name is Mary and Gemini Ganesan is an educated youngster who is also on the look out for a job. Savithri is troubled by the amorous advances of M.N.Nambiyar who has lent money to her poor father and is asking her hand in lieu of the loan paid. Savithri is desperate to escape his clutches; there is an advertisement in the papers where a wealthy Zamindar is looking for a married couple to work as teachers in his school. They have one daughter Jamuna and it is also reported that their eldest daughter had been lost in a crowd when she was young.

Gemini Ganesan suggests that they pose as husband and wife and on account of her desperation Savithri agrees and they travel to the village. The rest of the film is full of scenes where the rich man and his wife interact with the couple under the assumption that they are married.Savithri is also forced to act as a Hindu because she is now married to Gemini Ganesan.They jump to the conclusion she is pregnant and the old couple fuss over her when she reports to be sick.  .Savithri gets totally worked up because the situation is getting beyond her control.

     Slowly she falls in love with Gemini Ganesan and she repays her father’s debt to M.N.Nambiyar who gets hold of her present whereabouts and comes after her, troubling her. But he is beaten and sent away. Finally it also is revealed that Savithri is the long lost daughter who had been found and brought up by the poor Christian gentleman. All is well and the film ends on a happy note with the romantic couple getting united.

     The film is an all- time classic and would appeal to all generations. There are few songs in classical ragas and the situational comedy is something not to be missed. The scene in which the hero and heroine tell spontaneous lies to each other with the intention of eliminating competition because they vie for the same job is hilarious.

     The additional frosting is the presence of K.A.Thangavelu and the audience would be in splits in the scene where Savithri teaches him music.

     Songs are lilting and the song ‘Pazhaga theriya venum’ in Mohanam is a treat...

It is an extremely humorous song because it is a   counter attack on women soon after Savithri counsels her student Jamuna about the fickleness of men in her song ‘therinhdu kollanum pengal’.

     Rangarao is the rich man and is majestic as usual. Thangavelu is his young brother in-law who is also the detective solving the mystery of the missing daughter.

Home Remedies

All of us fall sick sometime or the other. It is only the ninety year and eighty year olds who are blessed with a wonderful constitution and did not face the need to go to a doctor off and on. However, we an easily resort to some age old home remedies for some minor ailments.

Cold-- you can easily battle a cold with steam inhalation at home. Keep gargling with warm saline water and this prevents infection in one’s throat. . Drinking soup with plenty of pepper, crushed garlic and salt also helps in diluting the phlegm in the chest and soothes the throat.

Stomach upsets- Make a decoction with ajwain and cumin seeds and drink this twice if there is a rumbling sound in your stomach. Swallowing fenugreek seeds or drinking buttermilk with fenugreek seed powder also helps in treating colic.

Take a cup of very hot rice, mash it and have it with buttermilk seasoned with dried ginger powder. This is an effective remedy against diarrhea. Sago powder made into a porridge using buttermilk also helps in this ailment. Keep drinking plenty of water ;add a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of sugar to one litre of water and drink this every now and then.This will prevent dehydration.

Headache-- Boil water with two or three cloves in it and drink this hot. Steaming hot tea made with ginger also helps treat a headache. Powder half a teaspoonful of pepper, a pinch of dried ginger, a half an inch long cinnamon stick, one clove and add this to a large glass of boiling tea and have it hot. This also helps relieve headache.Make a paste of dried ginger and apply this on your forehead. It will burn severely but the headache will be gone.

Rasam

Rasam --Long live allrasams-

A Tribute to southIndian rasam and heartfelt thanks to mothers and grandmothers who have trainedtheir children in making this rasam.

Who inventedSouth Indian rasam? Whoever it was, he deserves a Nobel Prize. What can this NobelPrize be for? Perhaps we can christen it as a Nobel Prize for the best providerof a sense of wellbeing.

This southIndian rasam is one of the best dishes of South India.We have a mind boggling variety of this rasam. India is known for its differentcommunities and castes. Here too this rasam is made in different ways and hasbeen given two names.The Brahmin Iyengar community call it “Sathamudhu”probably a combined word of saaru[juice ] and Amudham[nectar] or saaru andamudhu[food]. Whatever the etymology is or the origin is, this is an unbeatabledish of South India, next perhaps only to thestaple all time favorite idly and Dosa. All the others call it uniformly ‘rasam’and this is the most popular name that has stuck here.

We can start withthe simplest form of dhal rasam where a delicious thin soup is made out of dhalwater, a bit of tamarind and salt, rasam powder and a pinch of asafetida. A little teaspoon of mustard fried in ghee makes your day.

Next we have combinations made out of the same base where we can add tomato paste, tomato juice, cut tomatoes .Just chop fresh green coriander into very small bits and add this to the rasam when it foams on the top of the vessel. Keep a teaspoonful of ghee in another big spoon [this is called iluppaikarandi specially designed for this purpose.] and heat it up and add a spoonful of mustard seeds and kariveppilai to this. When the seeds have spluttered add it to the hot rasam and immediately close it with a lid. The delicious flavor of the rasam[normally a well made rasam boiling in the kitchen teases the nostrils and makes the mouthsof guests water even when they are sitting faraway inthe hall] Closing it with a lid immediately after the rasam is prepared , ensuresthat the flavor is retained even after a few hours..This is our famous tomato rasam and do not be surprised if North Indian friends as for a second helping of this famous ‘soup’.This rasam tastes ideal when it is prepared in a eeya sombu[a vessel made out of lead] and though there are contradictory views about the hazards of consuming rasam made in lead vessels, ninety year old healthy and fit grandfathers and grandmothers do swear by it.

I have just described two simple rasams, a dhal rasam and a tomato rasam... Then we have Poricha rasam, [cumin seeds] rasam, hotpepper rasam, garlic rasam, Mysore rasam and many more. A very high award should go to the inventor of pepper rasam[milagu rasam] which is literally and figuratively a hot favorite of manypeople especially when they are down with fever. So we can call it medicinal rasam. If only a few pearls of garlic are added to the rasam the antibiotic effect is more fulfilled than ever.

Just serve yourself a hot bowl of rice and add this rasam to it and eat hot. Cold and fever would vanish into thin air.