Author: Deeya Nambiar

I believe in taking every day as a learning phase, and exploring my writing skills. I have enjoyed the challenges as a journalist, content writer and college lecturer, and at the moment am living life analysing the extraordinary in the ordinary!

Meta? Aren’t We?

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“Meta”!

The four letter word, a curious case that it seems, have a way with words. Appears to be a detached word, yet it defines existence.

My search for the word began with a few spam mails that had used ‘meta’, repeatedly. Surprisingly, online Merriam-Webster dictionary returned the definition “as river over 620 miles (995 kilometers) NE Colombia flowing into the Orinoco on Venezuela-Colombia boundary”.

While ‘meta’ prefixed words explain the situation as what goes “after” or “beyond” mostly, philosophy accepted the ‘meta’ reality as existence. Well, another dictionary explains it as a term “used to characterise something that is characteristically self-referential,” and is of relevance in art.

A friend, who has been in the field of content writing and marketing, explained it as a means to help you rank your pages in the search engine. “Basically it is the description about the page”. A well described page or content will reflect in every search.

Following the rules of content writing, careful repetition of keywords becomes a habit. A little help and some understanding of the technique, may lead to a page’s success on the search engine.

My passing thoughts seem to be getting jumbled in the process. Meta may be “about” and “beyond”. It may have references in being competitive as well as in human emotions. But isn’t it all about the struggle for existence? Aren’t we “meta” in our day to day living? I wonder.

Toe Rings: Science and Style

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toe ring

My silver pair of toe rings came as a Diwali gift from my husband. They are simple and ordinary, and look elegant on the second toe. Unlike the finger rings my toe rings are left “just enough tight”, allowing it to glide smoothly.

A symbol of married woman, toe rings are essentially a Hindu marriage custom. In most of the Hindu weddings, it is customary for the husband to put the ring on the second toe of his wife’s feet.

Today toe rings are a piece of fashion, a jewellery adorned by young and old alike. The consumer markets have  seen a variety with regard to shapes and designs. From the “plain Jane” to the enameled ones, to the semi-precious stones and the diamonds, the toe rings have also been shaped from metals and non-metals.

Indeed it has become a fashion accessory. But I was drawn to an article from a blog that came as a forward from a friend of mine. It spoke about “the science behind toe rings”.

Here, it has been observed that the toe rings are worn on the second toe of the right and left leg that connect  the “uterus and passes through the heart”. In other words, the rings press certain nerves in the body that “pertain to reproductive system”, keep it healthy and thus, help in conception.

Further, silver is the preferred metal because “being a good conductor, it absorbs the energy from the polar energies from the earth and passes it to the body, thus refreshing whole body system.”

Not once did I think,  “why women wear these toe rings, especially after marriage?” Never bothered to check with my mother about her toe rings. I would like to thank the unknown author for the valuable information.

As for me, I like the feel of the toe rings. It would be better to describe them as an adjusting pair that doesn’t hurt my feet, instead settles down comfortably, according to the shoes that I wear.

Daffodils – The Path of Self-Realisation

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I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils,…..  

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” The poem, ‘The Daffodils’, by the renowned Romantic poet, William Wordsworth, is a mysterious blend of Nature and philosophy.

……I gazed – and gazed – but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

Often, described as the Nature poetry, the daffodils are seen as an object of beauty that showers happiness in solitude. Indeed, for a school going kid, the poem is an excellent tool that subtly encourages visualisation.

Very recently I laid my hands on a collection, ‘Select English Poems’, compiled by A. Parthasarathy, an acclaimed exponent of Vedanta (Vedanta is an ancient Indian philosophy). The Preface to the book states that the select poems convey great human values, and “it ushers you to the goal of Self-realistion.”

And, there was ‘The Daffodils’, a path to spiritual Enlightenment!

According to the spiritual analysis of  ‘The Daffodils’,   “encompasses the three disciplines followed by meditation: karma (action), bhakti (devotion), and jnana (knowledge).

I stop to re-read the poem again. May be, the poet was a spiritual seeker engaged in selfless services, detached from the worldly pleasures, and who experienced Universal love, “the essence of devotion”. May be, his awareness gained him the Universal knowledge of Oneness.

May be, it was his self realisation that filled contentment.

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.

I am left wondering.

French Fries, Irresistible !

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French fries, the irresistible slices, have become a staple in our weekend diet.  Ignoring the calorie counts and the intake of starch, we blink away when holding a plate full of fries.

It is even more fun to watch a child when s/he is offered French fries. They pick them and observe them, before taking small bites. At times, they place a potato fry next to another to measure its height.

Technically speaking, the “French fries are batons of deep fried potatoes.” Here, the potatoes are  cut uniformly into long, but not too thin strips and is seasoned with salt.

My curiosity as to “why it is called French fries” took me on a reading trip down the history lanes. However, the claim on “who introduced the fries” is drawn in people and places, especially Belgium.

Well, to us, the French fries were introduced by a McDonald’s take away. They were “golden on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside”; just as the company has been advertising. Undoubtedly, they have popularised French fries world over.

With the growing number of packed food, frozen French fries come  handy. Nevertheless,  with a little time consuming peeling, cleaning and chopping, the fries can be made at home too. To avoid excess calories, pan frying is recommended.

Agreed, the home-made fries may not be as French as the branded fries. Yet, the wonder in the eyes of the children at having them home-made makes the mothers happy.