Sumanas

19/11/2024

Bees came by and settled in. Now, to bee or not to bee is the question. Any answers?

03/09/2024

A note of Thanks!

Started on this tiny pursuit June 15 2023. A podcast series called ‘Simmer & Stir’, learning on the go and figuring it out with great supportive feedback. Have been publishing a podcast at the start / end of a month and mid month, thanks to my dear friends, their friends and guests that have become good friends.

Started out with the intention of comparing skills and processes that are best for great communication and / or a great culinary output— namely, ingredients or flavour profiles and consumer persona , preparation, process, presentation and feedback .

Yes, we’ve been following the framework with loads of flexibility. Very quickly, I realised that while in conversation with people with immense experience and intense passion in what they do or say, detours are not just normal, they make for great value addition that was never on the agenda. So, episodes are now organic conversations that are honest and warm.

Happy to share, it’s happening with natural ease and spontaneity. It’s a conscious decision not to aggressively promote this unless our guests wish to.

Thanking all those that have supported this effort and invested time and thoughts in this initiative. Loads of gratitude and love to all.
Devaniya - India Jigyasa Giri, Hemalatha Nagarajan Kamala Viswanathan Nandakumar Nayar Vasanth G.Benjamin Vinita Sidhartha Venu Gopal Nair

And, coming up in Sept, Rathnakumar Raghunath Baradwaj Rangan

And more across the world of communication, artistry, media and of course, culinary skills.

The upcoming list of guests is pretty interesting too - the idea is to complete, publish and only then, share details. Grateful to all those that have committed time to keep this momentum going.

🙏🙂

Special thanks to varadarajan who connected me to some of these lovely people.

Rajan P who is the tech backbone and ‘producer’ - the reason the podcast happens every month. 🙏

PFB link to episodes. You can choose to reorder, old to new or vice versa.

15/06/2024

While no day goes by without some reference or thought of him, Today is special. Vishak Mahesh’s birthday. Eternally 39. Would have turned 43.

Launching a podcast series on Spotify this evening - something he would have possibly laughed a lot about and had critical input on.

‘Simmer& Stir’ goes on air this evening. It’s about a light hearted exploration with like-minded folks on the commonalities that exist between culinary skills and communication skills with soft skills thrown in too.

We begin the series with ‘Mastery, a journey, not a destination’ - an insightful conversation with Jigyasa Giri , an award winning cookbook author and Kathak Guru.

This podcast will be launched by end of day today.

Hoping to continue the series with conversations and views of experts across various fields and interests who think out of the box and make meaningful connections between seemingly different worlds.

Simmer & Stir commits to cooking up great connections and enriching communication or life skills.

18/05/2024

An old poem resurfaced out of the blue. Once published on Zine5, a great ezine that faded away, this poem brought back a rush of memories and a torrent of thoughts ‘those days’ - when writing was a spontaneous overflow of honest feelings and not contrived, crafted corporate content.

—-

Of Cabbages and Kings: ( a regular column on Zine5)

Meeting and Parting
by Uma


"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances..."
~ Shakespeare~

Sometimes we meet someone and we don't know why.
They pass us by, sharing space for a while, leaving no trace of having been there.

Sometimes we meet someone
Who shares our space and lingers on long after departure.

Sometimes we meet people and wish we had never met.
Sometimes we meet people and wish we had met long ago.

Sometimes people we meet leave indelible marks of the meeting.
Marks that glow in dark hours. Traces of a fragrance that clings.

Sometimes, those that we meet leave scars.
And a wafting cloud of tear gas.
Or ammonia.

Meeting and parting.
Sweet sorrow for sure.

But what cannot be denied
is the fact
That no matter what traces are left
No meeting lacks purpose.

There are lessons to be learnt each time.

No role is an 'extra.'
There is a purpose for each.

No entry is trespass.
It was meant to be.

No exit was a mistake.
That was meant to be too.


Posted by Editor on Wednesday, December 10, 2003

26/04/2024

Many of my friends and family know that I wrote. Wrote frantically and desperately in the wake of a profound loss.

The personal expression helped me find my balance. It was cathartic. It also has been published as a paperback and ebook.

This is not an attempt to leverage personal grief. This is shared, since a Dr of psychotherapy, Pawan Mittal has kindly written the preface. And believes writing and self expression are healing tools.

Sharing, with the hope that others too may realise the healing effect of writing. It need not be great. This isn’t. It’s just sincere.

Sharing here, if any wish to get it.
Anyone wary of online purchases etc, pls contact me. Can share a copy if it will help you.

A Sunlit Path
https://amzn.in/d/d4eDM4J
Paperback.

https://ebooks.bookleafpub.com/product-page/a-sunlit-path

Ebook

A medley of memories, a cauldron of tears a nostalgic path into the beyond

18/11/2023

Happy to share, have created a small space for Sumanas and my other interests to thrive in 2024.

Studio 118 - AUM will be a calm nook in a safe and secure space on the Ground Floor of Vignesh Varshini, my home and office.

Here, I will be available, by prior appointment for the following services -

Sumanas - counselling for children and adults- both personal and professional.

Sessions for -

Communication and Soft skills for both kids and adults.

Flower, Essential oils and Energy healing for those that have faith in such.

Looking forward to building a meaningful community of mutual trust, respect, healing and self-development.

Contact Uma Mahesh - 098409 05598 on WA for details.