About the author Sudha Somanathan: My sister Sudha Somanathan works as an Ophthalmologist in the National Health Services in UK. She has recently been dabbling in writing a series of Facebook posts she refers to as the ‘Random Ramblings’! She is a very talented writer and I have been constantly needling her to start a blog of her own but she tells me she does not have the time! She has asked me to give her guest writer space on my blog which I am more than happy to oblige her with. I am publishing the first 4 of her write-ups in this post; some are thoughtful while others might make you chuckle- but all of them are extremely enjoyable!
Looking after our Blue planet is so topical at the moment, hence sharing a few changes I am attempting and hope you will add your efforts as individuals to this post:
- reducing at least one car journey every week
- reducing single use plastic- have replaced several cleaning products and also gone back to good old bar of soap and shampoo, chucked out all wipes
- trying to ensure not ALL my fruit and veg is flown in from other end of planet
- setting the thermostat to 19-20
Random ramblings #2
I woke up today thinking of my teachers. We learn from so many people during our journey, but a few definitely influence us more than others.
Margaret Davidraj- my biology teacher. She would breeze into the classroom full of energy and enthusiasm. I don’t remember her ever looking at a textbook in class; she didn’t need one. Never a dull moment in her class!
Lalitha Venkatraman- my maths teacher. Totally opposite personality, calm and seemingly serious and so focussed. If there was a language of numbers, she would definitely be the one to speak it.
Kausalya Ramaswami- a gentle and very talented musician from whom I learnt for a short period of 4 years during my teens. She didn’t succeed in making a singer out of me but surely instilled a life-long love for Carnatic music.
Finally, Mike Quinlan- undoubtedly, mentor for my career in the UK. Patient, knowledgeable and ever ready to teach and guide!
Hope wherever they are, my teachers know I think of them with immense gratitude.
Random ramblings #3
“Well here and wish the same from you”- this is probably the closest translation for “ஷேமம். ஷேமத்திற்கு பதில் போடவும்.”- this delightful sentence with which all letters in mine and probably millions of other Tamil families, began!
I love it for all the warmth, affection, and positive vibe it conveys, which is not conveyed to its full effect in the English translation as is sadly the truth with most translations!
Anyways, things must change, and we must all adapt. So we may have lost the art of letter writing and have stopped posting greeting cards but then have gained (??!!) e-cards, text speak and of course the ubiquitous emojis!!!! And who knows, we may soon start ‘speaking’ in these wretched emojis too.
Random ramblings #4
It all started with LOL… which for a long time, I thought was ‘love you loads’!! And then came ROFL… pretty dramatic if you are actually rolling on the floor but hey, who’s to say you can’t, in the digital world!!! Since then I have come across some pretty whacky ones- FOMO- apparently, it’s the fear of missing out which we are all suffering from and hence the incessant urge to keep up with the virtual world! And another one which I hope I can keep away from – MTFBWY! leave you guys to figure this one out 😊
Acronyms apart, the English language has been enriched by a large number of neologisms too!
Chillax- a fairly simple and self-explanatory one,
staycation- which apparently is having a vacation at home,
busy bragging: a global malaise to constantly moan about our (self-inflicted) schedules and think of it as a mark of social status!!
But my personal favourite is the word ‘zen’. Now to understand this, you need to sit down with your favourite drink and your favourite piece of music, and the meaning will be unravelled:)
So Happy new year to all, have a Zen 2020, and don’t forget to update yourself with the ever-expanding lingo and slang of social media, if you want to keep up your ‘Tweet cred’!!