MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013!!! Do our kids know Santa more than Jesus?

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013!!!

#Merry Christmas everyone!


Santa Claus is a kind man. He loves to distribute toys. He has been doing it for years because he loves to make little boys and girls happy and cheer them up.

Our parents love to give us presents especially toys that we would love to play with.

Christmas songs are great to hear. It makes us want to sing and dance and spread joy and love to everyone.

Renuions at this time of the year is emotional and every parent loves their children to come home and have a delicious Christmas dinner as a family. Everyone loves to be together with their families.

Christmas cakes, trees, decorations, cards, parties, gifts and everything else in red and green is fabulous and cheerful.

Amidst all these, let us not forget the real deal about Christmas...

His name is Jesus Christ!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life!"
John 3:16.

Do our kids know Santa more than Jesus? Do they know that God gifted the world with Jesus and made all believers partakers in the Kingdom of Heaven?

If not, then we must not lose direction of our Christmas duty bestowed upon us. While we share our presents, cards and cakes, we surely must share the season's true love, joy and hope which is Jesus Christ!

Merry Christmas everyone!

English to Malayalam Translator

This game was one of the games played during ‘Happy Hour’. I have already mentioned about ‘Happy Hour’ in my previous blog post. So let me explain to you about this game.



The Cultural Committee had requested me to host this game which I happily agreed to. Of course I did ask them to make sure someone was standing along with me just in case I needed help. So I had a co host with me on one side and a time keeper at the other side. Well, I was happy to host this game at the beginning, but as the game slowly progressed I regretted my decision to host it. Because the game was such a hit and huge fun to play, that had I not been the host, I too would have certainly participated in it whether I would win or lose.

The game was really so fun that apart from the participants, almost everyone in the audience had their say in it. In fact at the end of the game, they all even made me participate but as I was the host I was not eligible for the prize. Yet I played it because it was such an interesting and fun game. Literally everyone present in the cafeteria was laughing their lungs out! In the end we had two winners and they were given instant prizes.



Objective



The objective of the game is to translate or reply, to questions asked in English, back only in Malayalam. For those of you who are aliens, Malayalam is the language of Kerala, a southern state of India whose inhabitants are known as ‘Malayalees’ or ‘Keralites’ or more popularly as ‘Mallus’. Anyway, as per this game, I would ask the participants certain questions starting from their personal background to topics such as sports and pollution. The reply is to be given only in complete Malayalam sentences without even one English word. If they utter a word in English then they are out of the game and the next participant comes in.



The time limit given for each contestant is 2 minutes. Of course this is too little time to actually bring a real competitive game but as this event is taking place during working hours we have to stick to the time limits so that the game is over within the stipulated time and we can get back to our work. Coming back to the game, when a question is put forward, the reply must not have a delay of more than 2 seconds. Also, no replies will be accepted if it is given in one word answers. And that is where the challenge lies. You must reply to every question in full sentences only.



It’s a fact!



Generally, even though we belong to Kerala, most of us always speak in Malayalam with at least one word in English. And we are so used to it now that it has become widely accepted among almost every youth in Kerala. What happens is that the more we speak in this manner, the more we tend to actually forget how the word is really spoken in Malayalam. It’s true that nowadays, it is compulsory to speak in English in schools and at workplaces especially in MNC’s as we do most of the business in international standards and with foreigners. So such problems can be marginally highlighted when these kind of fun games are played. It’s not that we don’t like to speak these words in Malayalam, but our lifestyle has now compelled us to stop speaking 100 % fluently in Malayalam while relying on English for some words, a situation which, alarmingly, will slowly be renaming the Malayalam language to ‘Manglish’- a combination of both Malayalam and English.



8 Enthusiastic Participants



Anyway, this game had 8 participants who were very active and enthusiastic to win. The first winner was a highly explosive and ready-to-fire male whose farewell was just given to him as he was leaving from the company. Heh, the phrase I used does not describe him physically (skinny dude who's slightly improving a bit...), it's his communicative English and attitude I was referring to.... :) The second winner was a female who was as polite as she could be and as smart as we couldn’t even imagine. However, there was another contestant who was on the verge of winning and that with such a brilliant performance but in the end she committed one tiny error and that too just 2 seconds before the time limit. Otherwise she it would have really been a convincing win for her.



You deserve it Audience!!!



But most of all, it was the audience who also deserve equal appreciation because the whole time it was the joy and excitement on their faces that really filled the entire atmosphere. An encouraging force! They were so much into the game that the thrill of the entire event was evident on their faces. Many of them also gave their feedback saying that they would love to see such interactive games/sessions being conducted in future. “So Cultural Committee, we are keeping our fingers crossed..... :)”



The Time Keeper



And in the end some of my colleagues persuaded me to take the challenge as well. I agreed. My Co host started shooting questions at me to which I answered in Malayalam. Then all of a sudden questions started coming to me from the audience as well. Again I was replying in Malayalam itself. In the middle I understood that my 2 minutes were up and in fact the game was still continuing on. I asked the time keeper and she said that there was no time limit for me. This means that they would stop only when I lose. Man, how mad I was with her- Bad Time Keeper!! So the game went on and I just wasn’t giving up.



‘Sameyam ayennu’ kutty pareyunnu: ‘Time’s up’ says the girl!



Finally a popular colleague in our office stood up and said that it’s enough and times up as we all had to get back to work. So I translated that sentence too and the game was over and I won. Unfortunately I was not eligible for the prize as I was the host for the game. So the prizes were awarded to the winners and everyone went on their way with big smiles on their faces and many funny moments to cherish.


You can view the video which our special cameraman captured in my mob cam during the event. Enjoy!

Do you want to hear about the FOOD FEEDBACK?

Hi,

Thank you for the offer. As requested, here is my feedback:


1. French Fries: Well, the stuff was very dark brown in color (meaning it was fried more than normal). Also the oil from it was so fresh n full that had we drained it out, we would have so much oil with us that we could have started our own fast food joint. So I think it should be called Indian Fries and not French Fries and hence I really don’t think that our guests from the UK would have enjoyed it.

2. Potato Chips: There were two types of chips- one was normal and without masala while the other one had the ‘Chilly Factor’ (Masala flavor)! The common factor among both was not the ‘Crisp Factor’ but the ‘Chill factor’ (cold and soft)! Probably it was crispy after its preparation, but by the time it got here, climate must have taken over thus transforming them to wet and soggy chips. Anyway, though I feel that the normal type tasted better in my mouth, I still don’t feel that it would taste good in their mouths.

3. Garlic Bread: I have heard of the Gingerbread Man taking over the city in comics and cartoons, but today I realized that the Garlic bread Man is the number one competition to the Gingerbread Man, because he just took over my appetite in one bite! And I don’t think that our guests from UK prefer anyone taking over their appetite. So this is also a definite ‘NO’!

4. VEGETABLE SANDWICHES: Again two types of sandwiches existed here. The Normal and the Grilled. The normal one made me feel really normal, and I don’t wanna make my guests feel normal you know- not good hospitality! But at the end of the day, the grilled sandwich was a lifesaver! It tasted okay and had good amount of cheese as well.


SUGGESTIONS:


1. Burgers are a very good option.
2. Sausages to keep them going strong.
3. Olive pickle to tickle their taste buds.
4. And fresh fruit salad (fresh implying no brown color fruit pieces!)to keep a smile on their face!



Looking forward to more food testing in future!


Thanks and regards,
Sunny

UK guests with Indian food at home!!!

Hello everyone! Today we’re gonna have some fun with food testing! How many of you have served as a human available for food testing in some kind of laboratories? No? You haven’t? Well maybe you may have tested food for your friends or family members?

ARRIVAL OF GUESTS

Anyway let me explain our scenario over here: Few of our Managers are arriving from the UK office to visit us. Certain responsible persons are interested in making their stay a very comfortable and memorable one. Every arrangement has been made for their travel and accommodation. They expect the UK guests to eat and feel at home here in India. Nothing wrong about that you say? Well, what happens when you make all the arrangements but forget about the food part?...Ohhhh, now you got something to say!

SPICY OPTIONS…

India is well known for its spice rich gravy and Kerala for its thick Brown Rice, Porotta, Kappa and spicy Fish curry. As for the English, India is a country famous for its chikunguniya, malaria, viral fever and bird flu. So if you are in the Management and you sincerely want the English to feel at home, then the first thing you should do is ask them in advance what is the menu they would like to have so that arrangements can be made much prior to their arrival on the purchase and preparation of such menus. And after they have arrived you can provide them our exotic Indian dishes as a secondary option. That is called making them feel at home! They get their dishes first just like in their home in UK!

DUMPING

So what is the result you get when this basic strategy is overlooked and you end up with just few hours remaining before you greet your UK guests and you gotta get the food ready to make them feel at home? This is where these people come up with last minute options such as time wasting food testing steps. They ordered different types of junk food from the nearest fast food outlets and requested few employees to taste it and opine whether the English guests would like them or not. I mean for a usual junk food eating Indian, these foods were amazing! But when we put on the English shoes, trust me this is not the type of food you want to eat as you suddenly give importance to all the rules in the cooking book and ensure that your English guests are satisfied- less or no oil, good fry, less salt, etc:-. Sometimes I wonder why the same people who give us Indians food by breaking all these rules in the cook book work their heart out to provide the same food for foreigners by complying with all the rules. I have heard of Dumping- exporting best quality while retaining the rejected quality for the local market. I wonder what’s happening here man! So here is the small feedback I gave after testing the food. At least my honesty saved our British guests from a terrible stomach upset! An International Favor!