Sesame seed allergy

" One Man's food is another's poison"

Today I researched about Sesame seed allergy on net. I have been allergic to sesame seeds right from my childhood and initially my parents didnt realise that it was an allergy.. Immediately after ingesting a food with sesame seeds in it, vomiting would be the result. So I avoid sesame altogether..I never realised until coming to Canada that its one of the most common food allergens.. In canada, its one of the 9 most common food allergens, possibly because of its increasing use in the diet..
A person experiencing an allergic reaction may experience symptoms like vomiting, rashes, shortness of breath, swelling of tongue, cheek, lips, experience dizziness, become pale or faint and in severe cases, even death may result due to choking.

As for me, I have symptoms like vomiting, slight swelling of my tongue and i become pale and have shortness of breath.. oh wow! thats quite a list. Now coming to the treatment, there is no existing treatment for allergies except complete avoidance and ofcourse carrying a Epinephrine which is available as an auto injector like EpiPen.

So I miss all foods like Pretzels, Bagels and most breads..And whenever i go to a restaurant, I make sure that I ask them if there is sesame seeds in the food..Sometimes, i forget to and end up regretting that I forgot..So Ellurundais and all those Ellu specialities r not for me...Signing off for today

Deepavali in Canada

Deepavali is the Festival of lights. Here in Calgary, its not much of a buzz. Back in India, the day starts with a sure buzz..I remember the days when we used to get up early in the morning, around 4-5 a.m and have oil bath, wear new clothes, pray and then start bursting crackers.. It used to be a competition to see who bursts their crackers first.. Always my dad used to start with a Pusvaanam- the flower pot sparkler from which a whole lot used to come like a fountain of stars.. All around when so called flower pots are lit, the area gets ethereally lit and it sure gives a magical feeling.. Then we proceeded with the small crackers and then keep the atom bomb cracker, lakshmi vedi etc etc.. The thousand vaalas crackers were definitely a hit..

The other day when we were reminiscing about Deepavali, one of our friends explained clearly how they used to pool the marunthu from the crackers together and then light it up..It was a good team effort with boys waiting for other boys to come and give their share and then light up the whole thing with a big bang..Deepavali was definitely not complete without Rockets .. We used to light up this particular cracker by keeping it in a bottle and then lighting it up..Then for the ladies of the house and the young comes the sparklers..They are fun to hold in the hand..

Then when we got back inside the house, Mum used to feed us all those savouries and sweets starting with Deepavali Marunthu for digestion.. There were lots of dishes made during the time complete with payasam and vada. wow!! Mouthwatering!! This was followed by a short nap after which there is bursting of crackers again in the evening..

So Deepavali was loads of fun.It still is, what with the new dresses and oil bath minus the crackers here, but the usual round of calling friends to ask"Gangasnaanam aacha?" still goes on..
Eatables are also done but to a smaller scale...Its definitely a plus that we have all these Diwali get togethers and programs in the Mandir for Deepavali..

As to what have I made for Deepavali this year, I started off with Carrot Halwa and some namkhin and then the meal was vendakai (okra)sambar, thakkali(tomato) rasam, Aviyal( Veg Curry), Curd Rice and last but not the least, Icecream..

Happy Deepavali to Everyone!!

Sneezing and God Bless you!!

The article which i read the other day was about sneezing. There are many interesting facts about sneezing.

Do u know why people say "Bless you" when somebody sneezes? It seems in 6th century when Half the population of Europe was killed by Black Plague, sneezing was one of the symptoms of the disease. So if somebody sneezes, people started saying "Bless you" in the hope that the person who sneezes would not succumb to the Plague.

It seems that the myth "Opening your eyes when sneezing will make your eyes pop out " is just a myth. Blood pressure behind the eyes may slightly increase when we sneeze, but that pressure is not capable of dislodging the eyeballs..Many people have the ability to keep their eyes open when sneezing..their eyes certainly dont pop out!!

But one other myth that controlling a sneeze might damage your hearing is not a myth, but the absolute truth.. When sneezing, you are expelling air at the rate of 100 miles/hr. So when we try to control the sneeze by pinching the nose etc, the air gets redirected via the eustachian tube to the ear drum and middle ear which might cause significant hearing loss..

That was interesting, wasnt it!!

Buzz words

Many may wonder what a buzz word is! Its nothing but a word used in common usage either as a jargon or as fun. I have been a regular subscriber of buzzwhack.com and it gives the most extensive set of buzzwords one can ever imagine. There are even "Most Dreadful Buzzwords" and "Most fun Buzzwords"..If its a dreadful jargon, then it comes under Most Dreadful. One of them given is "mission-critical" I loved the way they described this word..It goes as follows,"Another sign that too many people in Business today read Tom Clancy..What's wrong with the word "essential?"

Among the most fun words comes "Clockroaches" and "Bobble heading" Clockroaches are the employees who spend most of their day watching the clock.. and Bobbleheading is mass nodding of heads to whatever the boss says in a meeting... Many more are there in this website and u can have fun reading them..

Read something new this week!!

I happened to read a book on geological wonders of Alberta and on it i happened to see something called sinkholes.. Its given as occuring in Wood Buffalo National Park. That got me searching about sinkholes and saw quite a few webpages on the same. Truly frightening point to note is sinkholes can be man made too, i mean made by man due to blunders by man.. For e.g. In pennysylvania, it seems the underground sewage system is so bad that there are lots of formations of sinkholes.. That got me thinking.. If in such a advanced country,the sewage system is outdated,what about sewage systems in India where they dont replace at all.. Whats the possibility of a sinkhole forming right in the middle of very own Mount Rd in Chennai? Thats definitely a possibility..But possibly the terrain is so tenacious that it withstands human blunders too?? still wondering!!

Navarathri

Today is the 4th day of Navarathri. Every year we keep golu and I have been doing it even when i was in Malaysia and now in Canada too.. Navarathri brings so many wonderful memories of childhood days when my patti used to keep golu in a grand scale and my mom and aunt used to help her with it.. It was lots of fun dressing up and going out with my friend to the houses of all the neighbours in the street and see their golu. Once we step in, they will say," Chinna ponnu,kattayam pattu paadithaan ahanum- small girls should surely sing" Then we will sing some song or other and then look at the golu and our little stomachs will get filled by sundal from all the mami's houses.. Then my patti will ask me which golu was the best and go to see their golu.. We used to do Kolattam ( a form of dandiya) too during the time.. Then we used to go the temple and see the various golus kept at the temple.. The place where i lived was Tirunelveli and its in the southern part of Tamilnadu, India. On the 10th day, Vijayadasami was celebrated as a major festival and nearly 10 goddesses come together as oorvalam-procession and gather at a common ground. We used to go and do pooja to all the goddesses one by one and see arathi at all the chariots.. I think this festival still goes on there..

Now coming back my golu, this year my golu seems to be pretty big , thanks to my mom, chithi and mami who shopped for all the dolls.. I just had to ask for 1 or 2 and they bought a good collection.. So this time, I have 7 steps and pretty good with all lights and I have made a temple and theppakulam and also a wildlife park.. I also made a farmhouse and animals and also some fields..and a themepark.. I think its come out pretty good..

And yeah, as usual,like every year,I have invited people over in the weekend. Here are some pics of this year's golu..

First day at blogging!!

When i was seeing some websites on the net, well, i came across some well written blogs..why dont i do some blogging too thought ME and here i am! To start with, i am having some problems writing,is it because its been a long time since i finished college? When i was in college back in India, I used to write loong letters to everyone of my friends, it was gr8 fun to receive letters and write letters when in hostel.. I remember, we even used to have competitions among our roomies to see who received the maximum letters per week, consistently one of my other roomies surpassed me..!! Wondering if she still continues writing..As for me, its been very long since i wrote one of those loonng letters.. Sometimes i feel email doesnt work that well when compared to letters. Isnt that so?
Oh my gosh! I started writing without knowing what to write and here i am rambling..