World Space Radio- out of breathe!

World Space Radio- out of breathe!

It is quite saddening to learn from today's newspapers about World Space shutting down its shutters owing to bankruptcy! I have been advocating this channel to all my friends and relatives and have at least 2 subscriptions operating in my house itself.

one would ponder the reason for its decision to close shop not only in India but all over the world.

When I subscribed to this channel about 3 years back, I had written a mail to their customer service as to why did they spend a whooping 5 crores (as I hear and gather)of Indian rupees on A R Rehman by asking him to lend his voice for the promotion of their satellite radio. I am yet to get any reply for this question.

As said in the papers the satellite company has nearly 4.5 lacs subscribers and its not small by any count? No other corporate has come forward to buy this company so far. If only the company had desisted from squandering money for unwarranted starry advertisements and spending huge chunk of money, the channel would have survived and would have had surplus to reduce the subscription and passed it on to the subscribers! anyways, it is not prudent business done by the radio channel who have just squandered away money for unproductive causes resulting in bankruptcy of the company! there is a good old saying in Hindi "aam dhanni attanni, Kharcha ruppaiah"! This is what was being followed by the company! The subscribers will have to wait if the brand Ambassador A R Rehman comes to their rescue as he has been advocating "so much to listen"? Alternatively, the company can ask A R Rehman to run the show as he has been the first and foremost beneficiary cutting a huge chunk of revenue from the Radio channel by advertising for them?

Ultimately, I will miss out on Jhankar, Farishta and many other channels which keeps me amused in the morning hours while i get ready to go to work.

Sitar vadhan @ Gandhi Nagar club

Pandit Janardhan Mitta, disciple of the great sitar exponent Pandit Ravi shankar treated us to an enchanting musical evening on Friday, 4th December, 2009 at the conference Hall. The programme was well attended by all those members who had interests in Hindustani classical music and was well appreciated. Pandit Mitta explained the subtle difference in the Swara sthanams and highlighted the parallels between Carnatic and the Hindustani classical music. The mastero explained and traced back the origin of Sitar to about 700 years back and invented by the great Urdu poet and musician Amir Khusro who brought Hindustani classical from the Indus Valley into India! The instrument which had only 7 strings to start with is now flowered with an additional 13 strings right below the parental 7 strings to give more resonance to the music that is produced.

Pandit captivated the audience by playing several ragas and carefully chose those which also have the touch and stamp of carnatic music so that the participating audience were at ease recognising the ragas that he played and understanding them. The fingers of the pandit on the Sitar seemed to be talking to the strings so affectionately that it appeared that they were conversing and agreeing to produce the best music ever to be heard!

The highlight of the programme was a mixture of raga Darvari with Malkhons which took the hearts and minds of the audience to sublime levels! the power of music is so much that it brings everyone to a common platform from where one can not imagine anything but Music! Yes, Music is divine!

The audience left the venue hoping for many more of such concerts in the club.

Marina Beach

My friends from Muscat were enthusiastic to go for a walk and stroll on the sands of Marina, last evening. I agreed quite reluctantly as I did not carry a very good impression about the Beach which I visited quite a few years back as there were so many encroachments all over the Beach combined with beggars who would not allow you to go for a walk peacefully!

Surprisingly, the entire scenario was changed as I got myself treated both visually and physically as what I saw was something comparable to that of any beach in the U S?  The entire stretch of Marina was neatly paved for walkers with granite platforms on either side for people to sit and relax and breathe fresh Oxygen in abundance.

Scores of people were walking and I could not see even a single person begging or pestering you for alms! The ugly encroachments all over the Beach were gone except a few which were doing business. Overall, the Beach presented a heavenly look and I and my friends from Muscat enjoyed walking on the beach side.  Pleasant memories are being carried and a decision has been made to visit the beach side whenever time permits for a god walk and rejuvenation!

My friends had all praise for this lovely looking beach which is ranked the second longest beach in the world for all its cleanliness and beauty.  I must register a word of praise for the Chennai Corporation Mayor and the support and backing given by the Deputy C M for what the Beach looks today! 

School Culture

A strong blow on the back from the behind, you see a monster in your teacher scolding you, catching our ears"Kali payale! Punjabi passangaloda Pesaraya?". As a school going young boy, you do not know what to answer the Teacher as you have not done anything wrong by speaking to a Punjabi guy on the road who is known to you so  well as you know your classmates! Broadly, all the north Indian boys were called Punjabis and reciprocally they called all south Indians as Madrasis . Yes, I still remember our vice-principal Sri Ramakrishnan sir who was also given a farewell name by the school boys as "velakkennai"! He also lived in the same area that I lived and was seen everywhere in and around Karol Bagh wherever i ventured to meet my friends! The constant fear of getting spotted by this sir talking to anyone other than a madrasi was haunting and became a hopeless tension to such an extent that i started pestering my parents to shift from Karol bagh.  This could not be done as the house that i lived in was bought by my father in the year 1957 and there was no way that we could leave the house and go elsewhere? The street or the mohalla where i lived had a mix of people from Punjab, U P, Bengal and other places and naturally, they were all friends who played with me and came to be part of me, later in  life! Fearing punishment from the teacher, many of my school mates desisted from making any friends outside our community.  This had direct impact on many of my  friends as they did not know where to put Ka and ki in Hindi resulting in corections each time they chose to speak in Hindi!!
The reality of Life is totally different and Hindi has assumed so much importance that it makes your life easy wherever you go?  We have realised the importance of having friends from different communities for a peaceful co-existence! I, somehow, wriggled myself out of this knot to make lots of friends other than the south Indians and I am thankful to God for giving me such lovely, wonderful friends in Punjabis, madrasis UPites, Bengalis, Maharashtrians, gujaratis and other communities.  United we stand and divided we fall ! This oneness is the cause for a stronger India for all times to come.  Jai Hind !!

Kasi Yatra

All of us have witnessed the Kasi yatra that was performed as a ritual during our marriages which was more of fun and enjoyment and we all went through it in a lighter vein in expectation of a bigger reward at the end of the show! As time passes by and years roll on, we are at cross roads many times, unable to take decisions and stand confused recounting all that we have done in the past? Did we do the right thing or not is a common question that challenges all individuals in its own way and its a related theory, always!

my good friend Varanasi Srinivasan who used to work for the American Embassy in New Delhi and presently in Washington D C is the son of(Late) Kasi Vishwanatha Sastrigal who is also known as Swamimalai Vishwanatha Sastrigal often used to highlight the living in Varanasi and advise me the importance of doing Pitru Karma in Varanasi and the adjoining holy centres in Allahabad and Gaya.
At the back of my mind, these words lay cemented and there was an urge within me to go to these places and do the karma rituals as prescribed in our shahstras. You may call it a blessing when my wife agreed to this idea and got enthused with this programme. I decided to take my mother who is 82 years old along with us and she readily agreed despite her age and limitations! The power of Kashi is so enormous that it infuses energy into any body willing to undertake the journey.

We decided to undertake this trip and chalked out our itenery. As per ritual rules, we went to Rameshwaram on the 29th october, 2009 by Rameshwaram Express and reached the destination on the 30th early morning. A very heavy downpour greeted us. We checked into Sringeri Sankara Mutt where the Manager one Mr Narayanan helped us do the sankalpam. After this we had the holy bath at the Sea and collected sand from the sea shore and came back to the temple to have Bath in all the 22 sacred wells situated right inside the premises of the temple. The amazing fact is that all these wells are natural springs. The tastes of the water drawn from these wells are totally different! Followed by this ritual of taking holy bath, we performed srardham involving 5 priests. At the end of the rituals, we are directed to make 3 Sand Lingams representing Sethu Madhavan, Bindu Madhavan and Veni Madhavan. After the Puja, we immerse the lingams of sethu and Bindu Madhavan and carefully store the sand representng Veni Madhavan in a plastic box for continuing the rituals. We had a nice Darshan of the Lord in his Lingam form which is one of the 12 Jyothirlingams and considered Swayambu ! We boarded the evening train from Rameshwaram and reached Chennai the next morning. Our flight tickets to Delhi and Varanasi were booked in advance for the 3rd November, 2009. The early morning flight from Chennai took us to our final destination @1.30pm. There was a person with a car to receive us at the airport and it was comfortable to reach the house of Varanasi Krishna murthy ganapadigal in the after noon. As the whole family was known to me since the past 45 years through my friend Srinivasan, we had the fortune of staying with the family!

Sri Ramana son of Sri Krishnamurthy ganapadigal took us on a boat ride on the ganges to see Ganga Aarthi which was performed with so much of devotion and religious fervour! The entire programme was for about an hour during which time, atleast 50 boats joined us with tourists and pilgrims from other ghats in the hly city of Varanasi. The joyous event of Ganga Aarthi left a deep impression in our hears and minds for ever! We also had the opportunity to visit Kashi Vishwanathar temple where we performed Ganga abhishekam to the Lingam with our own hands! We were in ecstasy to find ourselves blessed and closer to the Lord with this ritual. Incidentaly, this Lingam is one of the 12 jyothirlingams and considered very sacred. A visit to Anna poorni Matha temple increased our joy which knew no bounds.

Kachouri and paani poori of Benares is something that is not to be missed and so we decided to have a go at these in one of the reputed shops. The taste of Kachouri and Paani Poori was fantastic and more so as it was the water from the holy ganges!

4th november, 2009:we got ready to go to allahabad to take bath in the Triveni Sangam. We started at around 7 am from Varanasi and reached Allahabad at around 10am. There is a Sankara Mutt established by the Kanchi peetam to help pilgrims who arrive here to perform religious rituals. After the Sankalpam, we proceeded to Ganges from where a boat was hired and took us to the sangam whcih is considered to be very holy as there is a union of 3 rivers, the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi. The color of the 2 rivers that of ganga and Yamuna are green and brown in color which merge and one can spot patches of green water and brown water in the river. the third river is Saraswathi which is invisible and is said to be flowing as under current along with Ganga and Yamuna. There are wooden platforms built and the pilgrims are helped to alight from the boat and get down from the platform to take the holy dip in the Sangam!We immersed the sand brought from Rameshwaram in the sangam and took a Holy dip. Hundreds of pilgrims take this holy dip and there is always crowd that can be compared to that of Dadar station in Mumbai.

After this holy dip, you get back to the house of Sri.and perform Srardham for your fore-fathers and ancestors by invoking the blessings from agni, the god of fire. the rital goes on till about 3pm and you are ready to crash the moment you drive back to Kashi and reach home.

We were asked to be ready at 6.30 am the next day for doing sankalpam and rituals associated with our Pitru Karma. Pandit Krishnamurthy Ganapadigal had invited about 40 veda-purohitas from all over Benares to recite all the 4 vedas and the entire atmosphere was filled with Veda-goshams which lifted your soul to sublime levels of happiness! We have never heard or seen so many pundits reciting Vedas and offerring diving blessings to my family in our life time!

The Homam- Srardham followed this ritual and gave us immense happiness and pleasure. Ofcourse, I had breathing problems associated with the smoke that forms a part of this ritual but then, when you think about the noble deed that you are doing to our fore-fathers and ancestors, these problems appear trivial?

We had to travel to 5 ghats by boat and perform Srardham by offerring Rice balls also called Pindam Pradhanam. The interesting aspect is that as we travel, our ardhanginis are made to cook these Rice right on the boat and it wll be ready as soon as we reach the next ghat where we are supposed to take bath and offer it.
the rituals ended with a grand thanks giving to Goddess ganga and its called Ganga Pooja!
The mother river is worshipped and thanked for the existence of human race and their protection by her ever copious flow. I was gently reminded of the song "Ram teri ganga meyli ho gayi, paapiyon ke paap dhote dhote"! how true and what magnanimity the holy mother Ganga has?

On the 4th day, 6th November, 2009 you get ready to go to Gaya which is in the state of Bihar and is about 260kms from Varanasi by road. The highways are good and one can drive at a god speed. we reached Bodh Gaya which is about 15 kms from Gaya where we had booked a hotel to stay overnight. the next morning, we drove to Gaya where again a south Indian Brahmin Priest was present to guid us in our ritual performance. We went to the Phalguni river side and started our rituals of a Gaya Srardham. Gaya srardham assumes great importance in a man's life since this is the only place where you can offer food not only to your ancestors but also to any one and everyone who have left their foot-prints in making of your life! This is the most sacred place where even your pets are remembered with love and dedication and food offerred to them! it is said that the persons to whom you offer food from your heart with sincerity, descend themselves to take the offerrings with their own hand and leave their blessings for ever. When the priest explains the tatparya of this ritual while you are performing, there are great moments of tears jerking from the eyes and sometimes flows when you understand the importance of your deed that you are performing to help enable your ancestors achieve Moksha loka and invoke their blessings!
The offerrings of rice balls are placed at the feet of Lord Maha Vishnu in the temple premises which is popularly known as Vishnu Padam.


There is a place in Gaya called akshaya vatam meaning "Ever Green Tree" which is said to be exisitant from the Ramayana Yugam. Sita Devi is supposed to have blessed this tree as this pupil tree was the only one which stood as a witness to Sita devi when she narated as to how Dasaratha had come and eaten from her hand when Rama and Lakshman had gone to arrange for articles to perform Srardham for Dasaratha into the jungles! Mythology says that during those times, people used to descend in their original form to accept the offerrings made to them during Srardham! The journey back to Varanasi was little tiring and we reached around 8.30 pm.

The final day was the conclusion of this holy yatra. We had to perform a Dhampathi Puja to conclude our holy trip and followed by a grand Samaradhanai- a feast for as many as 25 people!
The trip to Kasi is considered complete only with the Darshan and visit to the temples of Kala Bhairav from where Kasi charadu is procured and tied in the wrist. Chozhi amman, Kasi Visalakshi, Sankata vimochana Hanuman, Bindu Madhavar are the temples of importance and a must.

Our flight to Delhi was at 3.15pm and we had to take the connecting flight to chennai at 9.15 pm.

The Kasi yatra would stand complete with the Abhishekam of ganga water on Lord ramanatha swamy at Rameshwaram. We boarded the train to Rameshwaram on the 10th and reached on the 11th early morning. We stayed at hotel T T D C which was quite a comfortable room with basic facilities. As we queued up to have a darshan of the lord and perform abhishekam, a stranger who was right behind us and reciting rudra Prasna in sanskrit turned ut to be a scholar teaching in a sanskrit college in Varanasi! It appeared that Lord Kashi Vishwanath himself had sent a representative to Rameshwaram to be with us and guide us through the rituals. We were in ecstasy when the Abhishekam was performed with Sri Madan Mohan Mishra ji reciting Rudra Prasna right from behind and into our ears. the joy was heavenly and left our eyes moist with no words to express! After the Pooja, a lady with her children from Karnataka wanted to perform a Dhampati pooja and honoured us by elevating our status to that of Blessers! We were very happy and elated with this incident. We visited some important temples nearby and travelled upto Dhanushkoti which was totally submerged in the devastating cyclong that happened in 1964 and washed away the Pamban bridge too! The receded water and the remains of structures including that of the old Rameshwaram station which emerged after being submerged for several years gave a testimony to the devastating cyclone that brought fury and consumed scores of lives. we boarded a train back to chennai the same evening and returned on the 12th.

As per rituals, we had a grand samaradhanai on the 14th at home and did ganga Pooja followed by a regular "elai Potta saappadu"- feast which was well attended by about 20 people!

We announced our entry into the normal world of Loukikam-this material world!

Heart of hearts, there is an inner urge to be besides the Holy mother-ganges and are eagerly looking for an opportunity to visit Varanasi at the soonest!

Hara Hara Maha Dev!!
"Anna poorne sada Poorne sankara Prana Vallabhe
gyana varagya sidhyartham biksham dehita Parvati
mata cha parvati devi pita devo Maheshwarah
Bandhavam siva bhaktam cha swadesho bhuvanatrayam"

Cruelty to animals- bull fight in Udaipur, Rajastan

The morning news story about the bulls fight in Rajastan following a 300 year old tradition is absolutely shocking and saddening too. More so when the channel reports that the bulls were tied around their ankles and made to fight despite tiredness and fatigue, and watched by mute policemen on duty who stand there doing nothing!

The traditions that are followed in India are different in each state and so are the rituals and habits of the people. The police men who are recruited follow different cultures and beliefs and are totally unaware of customs and practices that are adopted in different regions and probably is the reason for their standing as dumb spectators to various rituals that are followed in every state even if it meant danger to precious lives of young and old alike.

As a Banker, I remember the first lesson that was taught to me as a 19 year old that Banking had two inseperable ways. one is the practice and the other is the Law of Banking! I was observing that one could not run a bank if he strictly adhered to the laws and vice-versa. Hence there was a need to balance both these acts to turn out a fine performance!

The Home Ministry in India could formulate common codes for practice by the entire police force in the country and educate them on what is the Law and differentiate the same with the practice.
Most of the policemen and the security are unaware of the Law and go by the traditions and practice adopted by different people of different culture and watch it silently and thinking good about it. It is time that there is a policy of uniformity and balance in thinking and the police force should be advised to adopt the policy of the law of the land and uphold them. This will ease most of the problems faced by the society. Each police or the security personnel would also elevate himself as a Judge in a given situation and act according to Law and contribute his best for the betterment of society at large?

The SPCA should take up this issue with the government in formulating uniform policy and to educate the men in Khaki to act according to Law and not go by their Hearts!!

Tackling Maoists/Naxalites

Nepal was considered as one of the most peaceful countries in the world. The great Himalayan mountains attracted numerous tourists from all over the globe and the country thrived on mainly tourism. The famous Pashupathinath temple attracted several million Hindus from everywhere and the tiny Kingdom was, no doubt, a paradise on earth. The kingdom suddenly witnessed turmoil and the king was shown the doors of exit and the elected government overthrown by the Maoists who enjoyed support from our neighbour China who gave them enough arms and ammunitions to rebel and conquer the little kingdom. Our own CPI (M) gave enormous support to the Maoists and the leaders Yetchury and Karat were shuttling between Nepal and India to mediate which pin pointed their closeness with the rebel Maoists. There were media reports about Purulia arms dropping quite a few years back. The central government did very little to investigate the truth or probably preferred to keep silent as the focus of disturbance was outside our country? Now, the Maoists are here within our own state and targetting innocent policemen, journalists and the people by trigerring blasts, blowing railway tracks etc.. resulting in loss of precious inncoent lives. The Rajdhani Train accident that occurred a few years back claimed the life of my own brother-in-law who was just 37 years is also one of the crimes engineered by these rebels. The next potential place for these Maoists is kerala which is also dominated by the Marxists and the centre, beware!

The rebel leaders are openly challenging the home minister to reign them and the government is just helpless and is only appealing to them to come for negotiations. The PM is clever in handing over the dangerous Home portfoilo to PC who only knows ways to tax people and improve the cash flow to the exchequer! He is, for the first time, getting to know the behavioural pattern of fellow Indians outside his home state and is realising the heat that is turned on him. All these years the ministers from the South India were always given coveted ministries such as Tourism, finance,shipping,telecom etc which were smooth and money spinning in their own ways! The PM has done well in exposing these men from the south so that these Dravidian parties think twice before bargaining for ministerial posts!!

The only way to tackle these menace is to put West Bengal and the Kerala under President's rule and monitor movements of Maoists and naxalites alike. Put up large capital intensive industries in these places and generate employment so that the youth do not face unemployment or poverty and take up arms for their struggle? Build infra structure and connect them to the main stream.

Besides, the government should bring ina suitable consitutional amenndment that there shall not be any other flag fluttering in the country except the National flag be it on top of the building or in schools or colleges or on the roofs of cars and buses or for that matter everywhere! This will inculcate a sense of patriotism in the hearts and minds of the people across the country and bring in pride to call ourselves Indians first and last?

These suggestions may not fully solve the problems but could help the government in solving if incorporated or considered amongst various other solutions!

Jai Hind