Twenty- five Seven

A palindromic, ambigramic birthday

February 13, 2021

February is a special month for me because it is my birthday month .

This week on Wednesday, 12th February came and went ( as it does every year ) . Now the 12th is my birthday and since this wasn’t a milestone but it seems it was .

That evening daughter No. 1 pointed out that it was a palindrome and I realised I was celebrating a special birthday after all – a palindromic birthday.

Now what is a palindromic birthday ? And , cor that matter , what is a palindrome ?

Well, a palindrome is a word or sentence that reads the same right to left or left to right.

A famous example of a palindrome is

MADAM I’M ADAM .or closer to home MALAYALAM.

I never thought it applied to numbers but it does . So today , when written in DDMMYYYY format becomes 12022021.

And if it is written digitally it becomes an ambigram or a word that reads the same upside down as well .

That’s quite amazing isn’t it ?

And this birthday did turn out to be special.

Firstly, it was restricted only to family.

Secondly, we had dinner at home.

Thirdly, we tried a completely new cuisine from a new restaurant ( SeoulMate) . I normally go for the tried and tested to avoid any disappointment on my birthday but this time I left everything to Daughter No1 who did the ordering and organising and came up with the yummiest food

Fourthly, I didn’t blow out any candles because we had a pie instead of a cake. We tried Shireen Adenwalla’s Banoffee Pie and I must say we weren’t disappointed. But in all honesty, my homemade one is real value for money.

Lastly and most importantly, though this was a ‘quiet’ celebration, it was really quite noisy with my Little Ones carrying on the show . Ms Papaya took us through a quiz, devised entirely by herself . Wow Dinga was the DJ and curated a play list of HIS favourite songs . I must say I was amazed that this 8 year old loves heavy metal and I was taken back to the days when my teenage brother used to pelt our eardrums with his loud music . And Little Po, not to be left behind entertained us with his specially scary made up story and a lovely rendition of ‘Vincent’ and a Malayalam song .

So this palindromic and ambigramic really turned out to be a special birthday after all .

Have any of you had a palindromic birthday? Was it any different?

Well, that’s all from me this week .

Ciao
A Momentous Day

January 21, 2021

I woke up to this message from my school Whatsapp group today.

🙏🏻Today is the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century

🚁Good Morning🏇

My first reaction was “So What?”

But on deeper reflection, I realised that this day would come only once in a Century. As a matter of fact , each day that dawns will come only once in a century. It will come only once in a lifetime.

What is significant about today is the commonality of the number 21.

Indeed this morning is a special morning waking up to the knowledge that the world has one less crazy leader .

Watching the American Presidential Inauguration was perhaps on many people’s agenda – non American like me included . Why was it so important? How did it really matter ?

Well, Metternich, an Austrian politician during Napoleonic times , famously said that when France sneezes, the whole of Europe gets a cold. In today’s world, France has been replaced by the United States of America and when it sneezes, it affects the whole world .

In the post colonial era, the US, which had for years enjoyed years of geographical isolation, became the world leader by virtue of its growth and innovation in all walks of life .

As a major influencer, it played Big Brother to many nations and became a power to reckon with.

With this power, it shaped and influenced the rest of the world . Governments were toppled, new alliances formed and even Nature was affected by its economic and manufacturing policies.

While it is foolish to blame the world’s ills on one nation, it cannot be denied that no one is immune to its influence.

Power is fragile and has to be handled with care. Especially when the power to press a nuclear button vests in someone who is impulsive, whimsical and quite honestly irrational.

During the last US election when I was visiting my daughter, my friends and relatives were most upset when I told them that Indian astrologers had predicted a Republican victory. They were somewhat mollified when I told them the rest of the prediction : that the President would be assassinated soon after

But seeing the violence and uncivil ‘war’ that erupted in the US in 2020 and the absolutely shocking behaviour at Capitol Hill early this month, who knows what would have happened if that prediction had come true?

So even though the inauguration was witnessed ‘virtually’ by most people, it was heartening to see the flags fluttering on a mild winter morning as a new American President promised an administration with a more rational and humane approach to governance .

It is no wonder then, that today is a day of great significance.

What do you think ?

Ciao

p.s. The illustration is from Canva
Let’s go fly a kite

January 15, 2021

Do any of you remember that jaunty song by Julie Andrews in her role as Mary Poppins, Nanny to Jane and Michael Banks? even though I saw that film half a century ago ( yes, now you definitely know I’m old) I still remember the words.

Well, kites normally take to our Indian skies at this time of year – Makar Sankrant, the festival of kites. Not only are the skies blue, but the breezes are stiff and people love watching kites ride the thermals as they colour up the sky.

Sankranthi, a day which marks the beginning of the northward movement of the sun, is one of the few Hindu festivals determined by the Solar calendar rather than the Lunar one.

This is celebrated differently in different parts of India, but from where I come, it is celebrated with kite flying and seasonal sweets and seasonal vegetables.

At this time of year with the winter at its peak, people get together in open spaces or like in my city of Mumbai on top of terrace rooftops. They enjoy soaking in the mild sun, munching on sesame seed and jaggery sweets and of course flying kites

Since last year, however, I find that there are no kites flying outside my house apart from the avian variety. Has our population converted into couch potatoes ? Or have people become aware that kite flying can be dangerous ?

This is because the handmade kites are sent up with a string called manja . Made out of powdered glass and dipped into a starch solution, this thin string rolled around a wooden reel is actually sharp enough to cut down another kite or slice off your head!

Young children who indulge in kite fights are unmindful of the sharp glass coated string tied to the kites, and run on to the streets regardless of traffic. While the birds who fly into a string, literally get beheaded in the kite fights.

Despite fewer kites in the sky, this festival has not totally become extinct. At least the food part is still followed. There is an exchange of sesame sweets ( til ladoos and halwa) which signify a cessation of hostilities with the entreaty that ” please let bygones be bygones and let our interaction be as sweet as this exchange“.

One of the traditions of my community is to mark this festival with a tea party exclusively for women. Apart from the food, the highlight of this event is a goody bag full of seasonal berries, soaked peanuts, a piece of sugar cane and some fresh green gram.

Normally, this is presented to the lady with a dab of vermillion powder and turmeric on her forehead, and a garland of flowers to put in her hair.

Several years’ ago, a cousin revived this tradition with a view to introducing her young grand daughter to this custom.

As the ladies dressed in their dressiest traditional saris munched down the tasty eats and sipped tea and coffee, I wondered why tea time has become something to gulp-on-the-go.

There is something to be said for this elegant form of entertaining where people had all the time in the world to share some gossip over a cup of tea. Isn’t it?