PSLE Week 41 Update

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And then there were none!!

We’re done and dusted with the PSLE exams…It’s been 40 stressful weeks from the time school started till this day, but we persevered and now we are done. What’s left is to now worry about the results, although there’s no real use of worrying about the results. What’s done can’t be undone and so no use worrying about it.

Monday was the Mother Tongue aka Hindi exam. I was so worried the whole morning, especially for BB, for whom this is the weakest subject. GG is not too bad, but still is not where I would ideally like her to be. When they got home, GG said the paper was ok, some parts were easy, others not so much. BB said everything was difficult. The Facebook group I frequent had parents commenting that their children found it easy. I got more and more worried, but then by the end of the day, decided to “Let it Go”

The last paper was Science and both GG & BB woke up feeling happy that this was the last paper. I was feeling quite confident about the exams as Science is both BB & GG’s strongest subject. When they came home, they were shouting with joy – “Freedom, Freedom”!! They said Booklet A was relatively easy while Booklet B was challenging. Hopefully they’ve thought over the answers and written them…

I took them to the library to borrow books and did a spot of shopping as a treat after the exams…

Anyways no thinking about it atleast till about a week before the results are declared!!

In My Hands Today…

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Killed at the Whim of a Hat (Jimm Juree #1) – Colin Cotterill

Set in present day rural Thailand, Jimm Juree was a crime reporter for the Chiang Mai Daily Mail with a somewhat eccentric family—a mother who might be drifting mentally; a grandfather—a retired cop—who rarely talks; a younger brother obsessed with body-building, and a transgendered, former beauty pageant queen, former older brother. When Jimm is forced to follow her family to a rural village on the coast of Southern Thailand, she’s convinced her career—maybe her life—is over. So when a van containing the skeletal remains of two hippies, one of them wearing a hat, is inexplicably unearthed in a local farmer’s field, Jimm is thrilled. Shortly thereafter an abbot at a local Buddhist temple is viciously murdered, with the temple’s monk and nun the only suspects. Suddenly Jimm’s new life becomes somewhat more promising—and a lot more deadly. And if Jimm is to make the most of this opportunity, and unravel the mysteries that underlie these inexplicable events, it will take luck, perseverance, and the help of her entire family.

Recipes: Mor Keerai aka Greens in Youghurt

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Another very typical tambram recipe is this spinach recipe. You can make this using any greens, and though the look of the dish is not that special (at least mine didn’t look very photogenic), the end result is a very tasty dish, which goes equally well with rice or with any Indian bread.

Mor Keerai

IMG_4683Ingredients:

  • 3-4 heaped cups of chopped and washed greens
  • 1 cup yoghurt which is whisked and smooth
  • 1/3 to ½ cup grated coconut
  • 3-4 red chillies
  • 1-2 tsps cumin seeds
  • 1 tbsp Oil or ghee for seasoning
  • 1 tsp Mustard seeds
  • 3-4 red chillies
  • 1 tsp urad dal
  • A pinch of asafetida

Method:

  • Wash the greens well, making sure that all dirt is washed away.
  • In a pan, put the washed greens with a little water and let it cook.
  • In the meantime, using a bit of the yoghurt, grind the coconut, cumin seeds, green chillies into a smooth paste.
  • Once the greens have cooked, using a potato smasher or stick blender, mash it or blend it coarsely. Then add the coconut paste, yoghurt and salt to taste.
    Let it boil for 5-10 mins and switch off the gas
  • In a smaller pan, heat the ghee or oil and when warm, put the mustard seeds. When the splutter, add the urad dal, red chillies and asafetida powder. Once the urad dal starts to brown, remove from the gas and pour over the cooked spinach.

IMG_4680Delicious Mor Keerai is ready to eat. Serve with rice and rasam as a kootu (make it thicker then) or over rice (make it thinner)

In My Hands Today…

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The Granta Book of India – Granta: The Magazine of New Writing, Ian Jack

Granta has long been known for the quality of its travel writing. The 1980s were the culmination of a golden age, when writers including Paul Theroux and Bruce Chatwin, James Hamilton-Paterson and James Fenton set out to document life in largely unfamiliar territory, bringing back tales of the beautiful, the extraordinary and the unexpected. By the mid 1990s, travel writing seemed to change, as a younger generation of writeres that appeared in the magazine made journeys for more complex and often personal reasons. Decca Aitkenhead reported on sex tourism in Thailand, and Wendell Steavenson moved to Iraq as foreign correspondent. What all these pieces have in common is a sense of engagement with the places they describe, and a belief that whether we are in Birmingham or Belarus, there is always something new to be discovered.

Tween/Teen Angst: An Episode

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As BB & GG are completing a phase in life and moving on to Secondary school, this brings to my mind that they are not children anymore. They are on the brink of being teens, mini adults, complete with the tears and tantrums that go with it.

Last week on Friday, as we were celebrating being halfway down to the end of the PSLE exams, my helper told both of them that the day after their exams end, they need to start clearing their rooms and putting away books and toys. They should also go through unwanted books and toys and sort them into two piles – to throw and to donate. GG looked up and said she can’t do that as she is going for a movie with a friend. Well, this was news to me and I said so!

That started a flood of tears and shouts about how she is not a baby anymore and that I don’t allow her to go out on her own to see movies with her friends. Actually, that is not 100% true. I have allowed her to go out twice with her friends, once though with an adult present. But it’s this ‘new’ friend that I am a bit leery about. For some reason, based on the Whatsapp conversations I’ve seen between her and GG and the limited interactions I’ve had with that girl, my mind tingles and I feel something off-kilter! I’ve learnt to listen to my intuition and so decided to be firm here. My helper also said she didn’t like the girl and also that she felt something off….

After a lot of tantrums and crying, GG gave in when I explained my reasons. But she still is most probably going to get her way. She has now decided to go see a movie with two friends from Hindi school. I’ve told her, I need to see evidence of parental consent from both girls before I allow. Also I will send BB as well so that both can then come home together after the movie!

BB & GG have a list of movies they want to see – after this above movie, they have another movie this week with their tuiton teacher and one with us also!

Well, they’ve finished their big exams and deserve this bit of fun and games before they start a new life journey.

As a parent, I need to start adjusting to the fact that they are growing up and I need to loosen the apron strings —- a lot more than I am comfortable with 😦