Cucumber

A very common vegetable that is ever used in Coastal Karnataka.Though it found elsewhere the distinct taste is usually missing.It is popular because of it's keeping quality.When I was young we had no electricity and we used to store this for months together suspended using dried covering of banana stem.(ಬಾಳೆ ನಾರು) Usually this vegetable is cooked as sambar along with drumstick.

Okra

This is popularly called "ladies finger" in India,though I don't know why,Okra as it is really called in English.this particular variety is native of coastal Karnataka.I have not seen this particular variety elsewhere is less slimy.Known as Bhindi in Hindi and ಬೆಂಡೆ  in Kannada

Indian dill

This is another popular Indian green leafy vegetables.In Kannada it is called sabbasige soppu.(ಸಬ್ಬಸಿಗೆ)

Joke

A wealthy family commissioned an author to write its history, but stipulated that he would have to soft-pedal the fact that an uncle had ended a life of crime in the electric chair.

They were delighted by how the author coped: "Uncle William occupied a chair of applied electronics in a leading government institution. He was held to the post by the closest of ties and his death came as a real shock." 

Weigh option

'We were not rich.we had enough to sustain us.My father was a businessman in a small town which he is even now and so am I.
There were no servants at home and we are four siblings.Apart from us there were about 15 servants working at our small mill and we had to feed them too.
We were school going children then,I am talking about the seventies.And mom had to prepare us and send us to school in time.
There were no maids at home,no piped water in the kitchen,no washing machine,no grinder,no kitchen appliances to speak of.
My mother managed all.She did everything-waking the children in the morning,arranging everything including water to bathe as we had no water heaters in the bath,feed them and send them to school.After that the process of taking care of the servants started.She had to feed them in the afternoon, there were fifteen of them mind you!
And when we returned from school she had to feed us all, and on top of it she was the one who looked after our progress in the school as dad used to be busy with his work.
She is in her seventies now and very healthy.'
Consider the present scenario,we have two maids,have all the possible kitchen appliances,piped water,washing machine and what not.
But things do not work as it used to back then.Many a times we find it difficult to look after the progress of our children,we have only two!'
A friend of mine who is in his forties recounted the tale of his family,how things were 25 yrs.ago, not in the nineteenth century .
See what has happened today.We have everything,but almost all the work is done by machines.Earlier we used to walk to school or to work.Today we do not walk anywhere.
There are some small things which we can ourselves do, like doing some washing or cleaning our clothes on week ends,washing our cars,cleaning our rooms at least once or twice in a month,do some things like carrying our files to the boss ourselves in the place of a subordinate staff,carrying our own provisions home,helping the spouse in whatever way we can........
No,we do not do it.
When the family doctor,if you have one,says you have high blood pressure or diabetes then we realize the need to exercise and join a gym or a club.Even then we take a car to reach the place,the distance which if you walked every morning will be exercise enough.
(Does any of us realize the cause of many disorders like hypertension,back ache,obesity,diabetes are indirectly   caused by lack of proper exercise early in life?)
Had you done that to begin with you would have probably been healthy after all!
Why are we so dependent on hired labor or machines which, if we avoid using, except in exceptional need,all the problems will not arise at all.Or may at least be postponed until our old age.
Do we hear the bell tolling?