One of the ancient medieval currencies in Andhra Pradesh, South India, was “Gavvalu ” [shells]. Cowrie shells, which are shells of a mollusc that is widely found in the shallow waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, are the most widely and longest used currency in history. These shells were first used as currency in China. In fact, a cowrie shell originally represented the Chinese character for `money’. Historically, many societies, including many in ancient India, have used cowries as money, and even as recently as the 18th Century, cowries were used widely in many parts of Africa.
Courtesy:The Hindu
This above picture is “chilligavva” written in telugu script.
Telugu is phonetic, so from left to right, its chi+lli+ga+vva .
Hear Chilligavva pronounced..
About Moi!
Globe Trotting
I am a technical writer by profession. In another avatar, I am a mother of a very active 11 year old and a wife of a busy software professional.
I grew up in Mangalore India, 
Mangalore Monument - Sultan Battery
spent a considerable time in Hyderabad India
Hyderabad Monument - Charminar
and now reside in Omaha Nebraska
Omaha City - Aerial View
.
Pictures Courtesy: Wikipedia
Geek in the Making
Designing websites is a passion of mine. Obviously, I designed this site, ground up. I happen to dabble in CSS and XHTML . I am comfortable with C++ and PHP.
What Next? Ruby onRails, here I come, slithering Python Like..
Reading / Writing / Media / Creativity
Besides doing serious stuff like technical writing and coding, I enjoy generic writing. I am both right brained and left brained, and never addle brained :). When I am not designing, I usually read or watch movies or TV shows. If Im feeling creative, I cook.. 
I love humour resplendent with dry sarcastic wit. I love PG Wodehouse.
The Polyglot
I am a polyglot, and can speak Telugu (mother-tongue), Hindi, English, Kannada, Tamil,and a smattering of Tulu. I understand Konkani and Malayalam to a fashion but have no native speaker experience. I can deduce (basic stuff) romance languages (Italian, Spanish, French etc.) and some Hindi based languages/dialects.
What Next ? Chinese/Japanese.. And oh oh Im extremely Garrulous!
Thanks for stopping by!
Want to give a shout-out to me? Interested in getting in touch with me? Use the contact form or write to me at lak@mareddy.com
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comments
i know.. the tee is a favourite of mine, and a great hit whenever i wear it
What a class t-shirt, Lak! I’d definitely opt for the short-cut too. 8 miles a day? No chance.
nice UI, looks nice Laxmi.. oh! i forgot to say HELLO
Sure Rahul!
Thansk for the invite, and yes I shall join..
Lakshmi:
I chanced on your blog through a post one of your posts on [APIWriters]. I have invited you to join my mailing list, TWI.
Hopefully, you’ll join and make a difference.
Best,
Rahul Prabhakar
You are gr8 fun too, enjoyed the lovely comments there, and here…
You must be a loving mom… your blog shows you like to keep yourself very busy… hehehe now I’ve learned this new phrase- “Neeku chilli gavva kooda ivvanu”. Seems funny, can’t get the right pronunciation… But I give you all my gavvallu… You’re worth it. But I’m trying to be a good son. In another avatar, now I’m struggling to express myself more effectively… don’t know but I want to be a filmmaker! Left poetry for programming once, now I’m leaving everything back again (in a way recollecting everything) for this new ‘madness’…
Great site! Nice to get back in touch with you after such a long time.
Love,
Radhika
Lakshmi: After a long time!
You new theme/template/color scheme rocks!
Kim, Thank You for your sweet comment. I really appreciate the same.
Hi Lakshmi
the post about your Mother brought tears to my eyes….you had a beautiful mother and she must be very proud of …..
I tried to comment in the post but the page was cut down the left side…so I have commented here
have a lovely day
Kim xxxx
how come i got nuked (i appear to be a strikethrough on your blogroll)?
Hey David,
Thanks for the feedback. I now have some improvements. Get back to me.
Quickly:
1. Have made the RSS logo orange.
2. Cleaned up the fonts to be consistent.
3. Everything looks more tied in, I think anyway.
Hello Lak,
I’m digging the new template and mods.
One thing I’d recommend is saving your image files ‘for web’. It’ll really cut down on their file size and allow them to load faster.
Your ‘chilligavva’ title at the top seems a little pixellated. Is it 72dpi? Maybe it’s just the way the font is.
I hope all’s well,
David
Hello Lakshmi
I am not sure if you remember me, brother of Satya. I am in lexington KY and was talking to Ragoo and he gave me your website. Nice to know about you after a long time.
reply back, need to catch up on a lot of things
Rama
Hey lak,
Nice art work…looks like your back in action