My Mom's book

I am happy to announce my Mom's first book on South Indian cooking in Tamil. The book was published in Chennai, India a few weeks back.

Mom told me that the main difference between her book and the other cookery books that she has read is this:

She has taken one vegetable at a time and has given a few recipes using that vegetable, which I thought was a good idea.

APPUSAMI.COM has a recipe from my Mom's book. Please check it out.

The book is on sale in book stores in Chennai.

Publisher's details:

New No.129/3, Old No. 73/3
Kumarappa Street
Nungambakkam
Channai - 600 034
Phone : 044-2823 5821 / 6519 5760
Mobile : 98412 97901
E-mail : shivambokks@yahoo.co.in

My mom also has a blog that she plans to maintain regularly.

Congratulations AR Rahman and SDM crew

Photo courtesy : The WWW

From a young boy who carried his dad's keyboard to renters !! to the proud winner of the Golden Globe award today, Dileep Kumar alias AR. Rahman has come a long way indeed.

I couldn't control my emotions when I saw him winning the Golden Globe award for the best Soundtrack for Slumdog Millionaire.

I felt very proud and happy indeed. I was able to tell my kids...that someone from India is finally knocking at the Oscars!

I am sure ARR / Slumdog Millionaire will win an Oscar this year ! GGs are usually the precursors for Oscars!

As I go to bed I ask myself, what would be the one top song I like from ARR's collection !! Very difficult I must admit.

But my vote would go to 'Thoda Thoda Malarndhadhenna' from Indra.

Congratulations to ARR and everyone who made 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

My prayers and best wishes for an Oscar.

I can't finish without thanking Manirathnam who introduced AR Rahman to the Film world

GV Prakash

I am a hardcore Ilayaraja fan. Possibly because I grew up listening to IR's music. Till date, I consider IR as the king of melodies.

As IR faded away...thanks to AR Rahman, who conquered the tamil music world with his foot tapping numbers, I began to wonder if the Melody of IR would be gone forever.

But Rahman, Vidyasagar and to some extent Deva filled in for melodies. ARR continued..but he was more on the Rhythm side ...and Vidya Sagar, who was a mix gave us some amazing melodies. Deva, whom I respect a lot too..gave some wonderful hits.

IR showed his face every now and then and kept proving that melody still ruled in the Tamil music world !!

Then came Harris Jayaraj who is also impressive..though I feel he repeats himself a lot..!!

Enter GV Prakash...ARRs nephew. A young kid who impressed the tamil music world via 'Ottagatha kattiko'..he began to impress me with his hits.

I feel GVP has a good balance of Melody and Rhythm all thanks to his wonderful keyboard skills, solid knowledge of digital side of modern music and his natural tilt towards good melody.

My most favorite album of GVP is 'Veyyil'. Very impressive. One of my favorite songs in recent times is 'Veyyilodu Vilayadi'. Kailesh Kher, Jassie Gift..what a combo. Wonderful lyrics as well. I also liked 'Uruguthe' and 'Kadhal Neruppin'.

These days, whenever I see an album by GVP I immediately listen to it. And I have to tell you he always impresses me.

Way to go GV Prakash.

University Honda - Davis California

Photo coutesy: The Web

The last few weeks I've been shopping for service for my Honda Civic Hybrid. It was a B13 service.

• Oil, filter change.


• Rotate tires.


• Transmission fluid change.


• Inspection.

The quote I got from various dealerships in a 50 mile range ranged from 200-300 dollars. Finally 'University Honda' in Davis was the one I chose since they quoted 181 dollars.

To my surprise the final bill was 162 dollars !!

Moral of the story - Considering the economy, would be a good idea to shop around for just about anything !! Saving a buck or two would add up !!

Thank you - University Honda. I would give 5 stars for your service and the value for money not to forget the courtesy of your staff.

நெஞ்சு பொறுக்குதில்லையே !

Photo courtesy: The Hindu