We've got a puppy!

announced the two kids from upstairs. 'Yeah, I noticed,' I said unenthusiastically. It had greeted me on arrival by trying to lick me and put its dirty paws on my pants. I have two pairs of pants and any creature that comes in the way of delaying washing them is a sworn enemy. 'Adu pairu Daamy.' (Its name is Daamy). Haha that's how they pronounce Tommy in Tamilnadu :-)

Don't take riks saar

That's what the convener of an organic farmers' meeting in Trichy said when I asked him if I could stop over on my overnight journey from Bangalore to Pudukottai. I told him that I would reach very early in the morning and would need a place to stay in till the morning. He said, 'Yen saar riks edukkaringa?' (why do you want to take the risk?). I was wondering what risk was he talking about - after all a Trichy suburb at dawn isn't exactly downtown LA where a bullet intended for a rival gang member may find you blocking it. Then it dawned on me that he was using 'risk' to mean difficulty.