Apollo God on earth!

He walks like a Badshah surrounded by a group of aspiring and ambitious young doctors and assistants who dream of making a name and a career like their boss who leads them.  The corridors of the hospital come alive seeing this dynamic doctor and the floors of the hospital feel the gentle massage as he walks into his room no 107, considered auspicious.  Patients become impatient on seeing this doctor to have a private consultation  to get rid of their bone related problems!  The four walls of the room brightens up on seeing their master with whom they have built relationship since the past 25 years!  Once in the hospitals, on duty and call, this gentleman is transformed into a personality out there  to serve the patients and to bring some cheer into their lives!

Meet Dr R Gopal Krishnan, Chief Orthopaedic Surgeon of Apollo Hospitals, Chennai who has a string of Degrees and qualifications attached to his name and who is ever happy to be in the operation theatre of the hospital to serve the patients and to relieve them of their miseries!

This "Vaidyanathan" the equivalent of a doctor in sanskrit is never tired of surgeries and has the label of a singing doctor! He is well versed with the film songs right from the 1950s and up to date be it Tamil, Hindi or English!

I had the opportunity of having watched one of his surgeries live and I could brave it as the entire operation theatre came alive with some of the old Kishore Kumar songs played by one of his assistants which kept my thoughts and vision away from the operating table but for RGK, the music was a "non-hired assistant" which helped him better his performance in surgeries day after day and for all these 25 years of glory!

The personality that he is relates to that of a Maharaja and his palace where scores of people come in and go, many come to consult, many come in as house guests and where the burner in the kitchen has never known the definition of " Being cold" ! The house is comparable to "Akshya Patra" where food is provided to one and all.

This story goes back 25 years back when RGK joined Apollo Hospitals, Chennai to join hands with Dr P C Reddy with  a quest to put the hospital prominently in the country's map of health care and to carve a niche for himself. Dr  P C Reddy honoured Dr RKG recently when the hospital celebrated its 25th silver jubilee. The growth of the hospital has its cascading effect on this doctor as well in terms of growth, prosperity and recognition in the field of Medicine.  He is also instrumental in creation of several Orthopaedic consultants personally trained by him who are placed in different hospitals all over the country and finding popularity and footing on their own. He has a long list of young aspirants who have expressed their willingness to work and get trained under him.

 Shoba, his better half gave 100% support both physically and morally in all the efforts that Dr R G K took to shape his career.  There were days in her life when this doctor would go to the hospital and only to return after 3-4 days attending to duties in the hospital to which he was totally dedicated and committed. All these things would not deter Mrs shoba Gopal Krishnan who was always ready to perform the duties of the household without a shrink on her forehead!  Such was the extent of patience and support that she exhibited which allowed and enabled Dr R G K to go after goals that he cherished to become what he is today! The age old saying that behind every successful man is a woman is so apt in this context!

He travelled to Siberia 2 decades back to work with an eminent IInd world war Russian surgeon named Dr Illizarov to master the technique of limb lengthening and demonstrated to the world that Limbs can be grown to certain specified lengths and became a boon for many physically challenged persons who thronged the hospital to find a permanent cure for their problems. sometimes, he jokes saying that he can lengthen only those parts with bones and nothing else!!!

Sometimes, the doctor does get annoyed when people in the house start prescribing ways and methods to overcome a bone related problem to patients, in his abscence, which they might have acquired through knowledge and by being with the doctor all these years! Like the alchoholic spirit, the anger just evoporates in seconds and does not percolate into his mind ever!  This quality of this amazing doctor is worth copying by all means!

A great lover of sports, this doctor devotes at least 2 hours in a day to maintain his physical conditions well.  Squash is the favourite game that he would prefer even when woken up at nights!  The only complaint he has is that Team India never wins when he sits down to watch them playing anywhere?

Archana and anand are the 2 pupils of his eye with his wife shoba occupying his heart! There are scores of others friends and relatives who are very dear to this doctor as well.  He is a great Philanthropist and a reader of books of all sorts that enhances knowledge.  He always advocates that one must go in depth to understand the essence of the subject matter.  He is a true friend, indeed!!!

--
Raju
9840151819

"Give a handful from your plenty"

Multi layer pricing in India

"We sell morning coffee@ Rs 78/- per cup only" was the curt reply from the young girl (wo)manning the coffee counter at the departure hall of Indira gandhi International airport, New Delhi.  My wife countered saying "last evening i bought the same coffee for Rs61/- per cup"! how come the coffee instead of percolating, shoots up within a span of 9 hrs?

we were on a stand by ticket to fly back to chennai from New Delhi on the 22nd and waited till about 10pm with a hope to get seats but were asked to come the next morning  and so began the saga of coffee!  My wife stuck to her advocate style of questioning the girl on the counter and she was never willing to give up on her argument that she sells coffee only @ Rs 78/- per cup in the morning!  My wife took out the receipt for the coffee that she paid the previous evening which stated Rs 61/- and showed it to the young girl and by this time at least 3-4 people had gathered to buy their morning coffee and became curious onlookers!

The young man who was grinding coffee seeds behind the stall jumped in to rescue the girl saying " oh! you want a regular coffee?" My wife was relentless in saying " I never said I want a spl coffee"! The man ordered the young girl to give a regular coffee to my wife @ Rs 61/- which was not different from the other cups of coffee that he made and gave to customers and charged Rs 78/- per cup!! "To each according to his needs and ability to pay" seems to be the Mantra adopted by the vendors who adorn the airport at all the centres in India.

This policy defeats the principles and ideologies of socialism which was the driving force that governed India all these years! The objectives of social distribution will be crushed if there are no regulations and control over the pricing of  products.  At this rate, we should be prepared to pay Rs 2000/- for a cup of coffee and may be 17000 for a pitza or a masal dosa in the near future!!?? The rupee will have no value and there will be no food available even if you have bags full of money to pay?

The government should invoke MRTP act and regulate the market mechanism of pricing.  With common wealth games in sight, it will be worthwhile looking at these anomalies and plugging the loopholes so that we can stand tall amidst the visiting athletes and delegations coming into the country  and give them a strong sense of security.  Otherwise, our brothers and sisters in Delhi and the neighbouring states will do well in stripping the foreigners who come in to watch and enjoy the games and hospitality of our nation! The dailies abroad should not carry the front page saying" They came in suits and left New Delhi in Under wears!!!"

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

Blue film or film Blue? Diwali then and now?

My mother used to wake me up in the shivering winter of Delhi during my school days @2.30 am early in the morning saying" ezhundiru, pakkathu veetula ellam pattasu vedikkaranga"! the translation is wake up my son all the neighbours have started bursting crackers!! The sounds of Red Fort laris and the smell of burnt phosporous was so intoxicating that we used to jump out of our beds even during those cold winters and get ourselves dressed up after a nice oil bath and go out in the street to burst those crackers! My Punjabi neighbours used to grumble and fume about having woken up early in the morning and they would never pardon me for spoiling their sleep at those wee hours. It was the case in all the localities and sreets and it was a known factor that the south Indians celebrate their Diwali early in the morning and the north Indians in the evening establishing a divide in belief even in those days!

These days the government has come down firmly and made it mandatory for people not to burst crackers before 6 am and not after 10 pm ! Added to this is the education in schools which motivates them not to buy and burst crackers since there is an involvement of child labour which is anti-law and secondly, all these contribute to the pollution, which is quite true! The enthusiasm amongst children to fire crackers has come down drastically and no one is interested to indulge in them! Further, the Television channels compete with each other to give their best capsuled programs involving films and other cultural aspects that the children are least interested to get out of their houses and fire crackers.

One of our family friends said that they are going to watch "Blue Film" with their children and I was wonder struck and dumb for a moment only to realise later that there is a Hindi movie titled "Blue" which was being released on Diwali Day!!

The colorful function of our days has changed colors and what we say as colorful does not necessarily mean colorful to our children and what they see as colorful and entertaining may not be to our taste and liking.

I remember my mother sending a plate full of home made south Indian sweets and other savouries to all our surrounding neigbours in Delhi which was reciprocated equally and with warmth with sweets made at their homes and this was a kind of pot-luck party with sweets and eatables of different kinds and tastes! The modern times see more of a blessed kitchen which is always neat and clean with no signs of any preparations as everything is available in shops! Even the exchange of sweets carry the same taste and is not different from what you have in the house.

Having said that, I have to mention about Vada-Malai for the Hindu god Anjaneyar at Hanuman temple on Irwin road, Connaught Place. The parents specially the mother, take a vow of making 108 Vadai and offer it to the god in the form of a garland for some reason or the other for which I have seen my mother toiling the whole day and sweating it out in the kitchen, take bath and get ready for the temple visit with the offerring! We used to take a bus ride from Karol bagh and reach the temple and once the hands of the priests feel the freshness of the Vada-malai or the offerring that is brought, they are full of smiles and apply a big tilak on your fore-head and recite some mantras. you feel very happy, contended and satisfied but unhappy when you see the priest emptying atleast half the vada-malai into their kitty leaving only half the quantity of the offerring for your consumption! I could not miss the priest giving away our offerring as Prasad to many others who offerred some cash to the priests and walked away satisfied to taste the Vadai that they got without any effort! I used to advice my friends to follow this practice of tipping the priests and walk away with the precious Vadai from the malai which someone else would have offerred thus saving them of precious energy and time! The modern days are witnessing a sea of change in the entire system be it religious, cultural or social. I am still longing for the good old days and will we ever see a Deepavali of the 1960s in our life time again?

Koi Lauta de mere Beete huye din... beete huye din woh haye pyare pal chin!!!

Deepavali- celebrations then and now!

This particular festival is undoubtedly the best of all festivals not only because of the new clothings that we used to get from our parents but also due to the fact that we used to enjoy school holidays

very close but far off !

The stand off between the pilots and the crew recently appearing in the media is nothing new! Travelling in the enclosed space for hours together brings certain degree of cordiality amongst the crew and the pilots. At the disembarking stations,both are put in the same hotel with facilities alike which allows the crew either to have a sumptuous lunch or dinner within the allowances. The modern times lure the humans alike who venture out to have fun and in this process, mutual invites are offered and accepted for spending joyous time together. I remember the days early in 70s when there used to be only Indian airlines and the Air India. I happened to know at least half a dozen Indian Airlines Pilots who used to fly the Air Bus from Chennai to Delhi and stay at the Lodhi Hotels. I could never see them in the midst of Air Hostesses or the crew as the divide between the jobs that they held persisted during those times. There used to be mutual respect for each other and the pilots had their place of importance! These days, pilots who are very young join this lucrative job and want to enjoy everything that is normally done by the modern youth which includes going out with the crew to Pubs and other joints to relieve their stress. This leads to familiarity and naturally breeds contempt! In what is said to be the aftermath of such relationships, liberty is taken and the extent is not known either to the young plots or the air Hostesses resulting in such situations where the management is compelled to suspend the pilots and the crew and order enquiry etc.. which suggests an ugly situation not only for the company but even for the families of those involved in such incidents. It will be better if both the parties understand their limits and draw out a Lakshman Rekha for a Happy Co-existence !!

We are also doing such similar mistakes while bringing up our children. Remembering our past and the distance that we had with our parents, we try to be friends with our children and allow them to sit with us and share our company which sometimes include a drinking session as well. This sometimes leads to dangerous situations specially with the boys when such generosities are misused without understanding the limits and becomes a challenge to yourself in many ways. Sometimes, I really ponder as to who is right? our parents- who always had a space in terms of our bringing up or us-in bringing up our children like friends and forced to face grim situation which is an embarrassment sometimes? We are left to ponder over this situation and are at Cross-roads X !!

Falls Tour of Tamil Nadu organised by TTDC

When I read the Advertisement given by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation about the 4 day tour of Water Falls in the state, my happiness crossed boundaries as I was just looking out for such a tour to be with nature and to be myself. I asked at least a few of my DTEA friends if they were interested to join me for this tour. My family members were just not interested to go on this tour in Non-A/c coaches! Though my friends evinced interest none could make it happen due to pre-occupation. I decided to go with the tour all by myself. This tour was by a 20 seat er non-air conditioned bus which set out on 1st October,2009 at 8.30 pm. The drivers of the Bus were expert drivers who knew the routes well. The Bus halted for relief at about 7am while proceeding towards Kumbakarai falls at the foothills of Kodaikanal. The halt was at the roadside and the facilities for toilets were far from satisfactory considering the number of buses and tourists present at the site! The guide was quite fair enough saying that better hotels having good toilet facilities did not allow TTDC to halt at their premises as the tourists would not spend for eating at their outlets! Anyways, the bus proceeded ahead and we reached Kumbakarai and were quite eager to see the falls! It was a bitter disappointment that there was hardly any Falls and all that we could see was small little ponds of water and small stream lets gathering strength to flow! The afternoon heat and the absence of Falls did dampen our spirits but we were hopeful of seeing some better view of water falling from a height at the next destination which was Suruli which was bordering Kerala. The moment we came near the spot, there was a noticeable decrease in temperature and the climate became cooler. Here, we were not disappointed as we could see a lovely water fall and all of decided to get into it and derive pleasure by standing underneath the falls and allow the water to massage your body. It was fun as you will get some ideas from the picture that is appended.
We had our night halt at Madurai at one of the T T D C's hotels. The single room that I had was nothing less than a 3 star hotel suite and it was neat and clean with fresh towels and soaps provided. The only draw back that these TTDC hotels have is that you never know if they would serve you the food that you ordered with the room service? This happened with me too as I fell on my bed like never before and never even woke up to realise that the food that I ordered never came to my room!!

The next morning We set out on our 4 hour trip to Courtallam. Your heart knew no bounds of Joy seeing the mighty Courtallam falls which was a wonderful sight to admire and relish. After a good oil massage of your body which costs Rs 200/-, all of us jumped into the huge crowd already assembled there to take bath at the falls. The water pounded each and every possible place in your body. within minutes, there was no trace of oil on your body and it was such a lovely feeling. We felt so hungry after this 1 hr of bath. Lunch awaited us at the Tamil nadu Hotel and we all ate as if we had just arrived from Ethiopia!!

We proceed to yet another falls near Courtallam popularly know as Papanasam where a holy bath is believed to relieve a person of all his sins and clear the way for his Mukthi or in other words, there will not be a re-birth for the person! The falls though weaker in strength gave us immense pleasure and joy and probably each of us thought that we have attained Moksha or the ultimate?

Next came Mani mutharu which was about 1 1/2 hrs of journey. This is also popular place as the government has built a huge dam to store water. There was security around the area and our group had to register themselves to go further to have a look at the falls. This place was as amazing as the courtallam falls and was surrounded by scenic beauty of nature!

We reached Kanya Kumari around 9pm to halt for the day and rest by night! The 5am darshan of Goddess Kanya Kumari was blissful. Mythology says that Goddess Durga vowed to kill Banasuran, the demon before marrying Lord Shiva who was known to the world as sundareswarar. The marriage could not happen since Goddess was focused on killing the evil-Banasuran and thus the marriage was called off! The food items which were prepared for the occasion was thrown on the sands of the beach and that's probably the reason that even today you find particles that resembles food grains on the beach! The place which is otherwise known for its Sun Rise and the Sun Set and the merging of the mighty Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the ultimate Indian Ocean was overcast with clouds and light drizzle leading to disappointment amongst the tourists who wanted to witness the sun-rise spectacle. On a clear day, one can see the Sun Rising from the East-Bay of Bengal side and setting on the west-the Arabian sea side and people throng to see this spectacle from all corners of the country and elsewhere.

We proceeded to Tiruparappu adjoining the borders with Kerala. After nearly 2 hrs of journey we were absolutely delighted to see a wonderful Falls. The falls had murky water and I was curious to know the reason as all other falls had clear water? After trekking a few hundred yards, I found a river on top of the falls and on either sides people were taking bath and washing their clothes!! no wonder, the water was pale and had been beaten by the in-humane approach! Its the sheer size of the population that is challenging the authority in every sphere which takes away the lustre and beauty of mother nature. Its time that our people are taught about conservation of rivers and its utilities for the future generation to exist. I tried to explain to a few as to why they should not use soaps and other detergents while taking bath specially in rivers and falls lest they should turn "False" in the years to come!

The 20 hour journey back to chennai helped our minds to determine the number of bones that our body comprises! Nevertheless, it was worth the visit and my thanks to the Tamilnadu tourism that they could take me so near to reality and nature.

positive thinking- a fact to learn!

One aspect that was quite disturbing i the on-going champions trophy is the countrywide thinking and prayers that were offerred by the cricket crazy fans for Pakistan to win over australia and India to trounce West Indies by a comfortable margin so as to reach the semi finals and be there so that the T V channels can make their advertisement money and the cricket crazy crowd in India and Pakistan and elsewhere can leave all their day-to-day jobs and responsibilities and sit in front of the idiot box and while away their time!

water on Moon!

Hurray!! yet another planet for we Indians to wash our clothes, take bath in the river(if any found at a later stage!), make dead float, answer the nature's call and a big time business for the politicians to make bottled mineral water to cool your body and mind like MOON!!!

while our scientists and ISRO take pride in announcing the discovery, one feels sad that hardly anything is being done to conserve our existing rivers and save them for the future generations. Most of the rivers specially in Tamil Nadu have gone dry. There are more number of water tankers on the road than the cargo moving trucks and most of them have political connections.

Recently i was fortunate enough to visit Mata Vaishno Devi in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Ban Ganga which used to flow ferociously is reduced as a small stream let in a span of about 30 years and was a saddening sight. The ganges which flowed majestically earlier and had no bounds is also reduced to run anaemically with much reduced flow of water. These factors bring lots of unhappiness and brings in gloom to a Happy mind. Now, the scientists have said finding traces of water on the Moon! I as a human being really wonder if the Moon will also end up with the same fate as that of our holy earth? Hope the Moon authorities ban entry of humans from the earth!

Tamil Nadu- not a cosmopolitan city yet

Chennai & conservatism

e-vani-avittam

I am recollecting the childhood that I spent in Delhi and the days spent in the school.
The month of August used to bring lots of happiness in our minds not only because of the start of cool climate but also the beginning of festivities starting with Avani-Avittam. The school used to declare 2 days of leave for the function. My father used to take me to Jamuna river for the Avani-avittam by a special chartered bus organised by the Bhajana Samaj. The holy, nostalgic dip in the river is really unforgettable. The Pooja or the chanting of veda and the mantras used to take at least 2 hrs and the entire programme used to end at about 1pm after which the 60 seater bus organised by the Bhajana Samaj used to drop us at the Gol-chakkar or popularly known as channa market. Although the walk to my house in satnagar used to take just about 10 minutes, i used to feel highly embarrassed to walk bare-footed with dhoti and angavastram. I wanted to disappear from the sight as all my north Indian friends used to make fun of me asking " Raju, tere ko kya ho gaya? kal tho tum teek the??" It was so difficult to explain to them about this function as it was totally an alien subject for them! I believe it was the same for our siblings and specially the girls who were not allowed to wear any other dress other than Pavadai-davani for each and every function. The school also insisted that the girls wear only Pavadai-davani and nothing else although other schools permitted them to wear salwar-kameez and smart skirts and tops! No doubt, we Madrasis in Delhi always felt low in comparison to the north Indians who were not subjected to such rigorous rituals and rules!!Anyways, after the poja at the Yamuna and once we reach home, my mother would not allow us to enter the house unless she performed Aarthi singing Gowri Kalyanam!!! Most of my punjabi friends used to line up and watch this event amused and i would not know where to look!!! my father used to beam with joy!!
By this time, it would be easily 2.30pm and it was time for an elaborate lunch with vadai and payasam!! my father never missed this opportunity to invite at least 2 families to share this joy and have lunch with us. such was the generosity exhibited during those times and the happiness that arose through this community gathering followed by lunch can not be described!

today, I happened to talk with one of my friends after performing Gayathri Japam. His son has returned from the U.S. The Avani avittam and the Gayathri Japam was performed well-courtesey YouTube!! There was no tension about going out wearing Dhoti and the angavastram which often slipped making you bare-chested!! well, obviously we are not Salman Khan to flaunt our body!!! The Avani-Avittan has become E-vani- Attam!!! The beauty is neither the father compels the son to go with him to perform nor the son misses out on such events as he is able to do the necessary things sitting at home with the help of a computer-Internet!! how times have changed?? Jaane kahan gaye woh din???
woh pooja ke din, woh Yamuna ka pani
woh masti ke din, woh bachpan ki kahani !!!!!

I love those beautiful days of my childhood despite all its odds and wanted to remind my friends who are all from the same pool.

Moral Police

Tamil Nadu can boast and take pride in saying that it has the maximum Engineering colleges which are recognised by the AICTE, the statutory authority. Students throng this centre in quest for higher education that will represent quality in terms of wisdom and knowledge. one of my friend's daughter got admission in one of the faculties in a popular engineering college on the much talked about OMR road in chennai. This is also supposed to be the IT corridor and is expected to develop as a very posh southern colony in south Chennai city with numerous multi-storey ed buildings, posh Malls, theatres etc.. The young girl was in for a rude shock when the students were handed over a printed pamphlet of dos and don ts and warnings if adherence was not up to the desired levels!! one such don ts was that the girls should not wear Jeans pants or a T-shirt as it would probably provoke boys to indulge in wrong doings!! another point was that the hair should not be let loose and instead tied up neatly as a phony-tail preferably with flowers in true sense and letters of our life style! Probably by doing this, the authorities might feel that the girls are disciplined and bound by culture? Another major warning was that no girl or a boy can talk to each other and if any one found guilty of talking can be punished and even dismissed from the college!!! Besides prohibition of cellular phones, the college also allows the girls to go our only on one weekend from the college. The guardian or the parents have to send a fax to the college authorities if they want their daughter to be allowed to go out on any other weekend!! Now, what do you call this?? doesn't it sound like whats going on in Afghanistan?? Why such strict morale policing and is there any law which empowers the college management to frame their own strict rules and regulations?? The girls who joined the college were asked to wear only salwar-kameez and the dupatta pinned on either side of the shoulders for making a photo-id !

Like my friend's daughter, many of those who joined the college were seen repenting about their choice of institution and seen sulking imagining the tough time that they will be forced to withstand for the next 4 years at least?

According to me, college is not only as institution for learning but also a place for exchange of culture, equality and confidence building so as to brave the future. Most of the colleges in Tamil Nadu practices this trend by separating boys from the girls and vice-verse whereby they are forced into a situation of celibacy. This could lead to great mis-understandings specially after the marriage as neither would know how to talk or deal with their respective spouses!! The boy or the girl may try and avoid coming face to face because of their college back ground and this could lead to serious post marital complications leading to increase in number of divorces amongst the newly married?

Its time that our Education Ministry takes a note of this and issue suitable directives to all the institutions in the country not to drive a divide in the gender which may lead to Homo-sexuality or Lesbianism, if not dealt with properly. I reckon college is a place where both the boys and the girls should be allowed to mix freely, exchange views and knowledge. The college should also address a situation when the man gets a job with an MNC bossed by a capable woman to whom he has to report on daily basis. Can the college management prevent such a situation??

Let us accept the reality and realise that co-education leads to absolute confidence in both the boy and the girl alike,helps them to stand up to any situation and to face the challenges of future. This will also lead to better understanding of a person or should I say Human-being??

Sound of Music

I am a Musical man and Music is been my alternate source of Life in its perspective!I hum music all through the day and keep myself oxygenated with this magic!! One negative point that I should also tell in me is that I do not follow the exact set pattern of a song and like to deviate or stray here and there within the ambit of raga or the composition. I like experimenting and this is the reason I hate to sit through a concert unless its a classical recital or Hindustani shastriya Sangeeth. Its only sonu Nigam who has impressed me the most after Kishore Kumar whose concerts I have attended a couple of times at Ravindra rang shala, New Delhi, years back. Of late, Sonu has also started singing differently and has lost his melody. Probably, that's what the youth of today wants, keeping in time?

yesterday, I had been to Land mark, a famous store in Chennai where you get almost everything barring provisions! I thought of devoting some time to see if any new collections of Music have arrived in the classical/devotional section.

In our childhood, Our parents have told us about a few reigning deities and have taught us hymns and slokas worshipping a few deities which were traditional and popularly sung by one and all. I was in for a pleasant surprise when I noticed singers who have sung prayers and hymns on virtually everything that you see on earth besides several renderings on various gods and goddesses. We were warned by our household priests and elders not to recite Gayathri Mantra aloud but to chant it within ourselves with only the lips in motion and here I find gayathri Mantra recited aloud by famous and infamous musicians brought out in C D format for all ears!! I saw a CD on Tulasi mahima, one on river Ganges, one on sun God and all other planets, and several others on different incarnations of Devi, Lord shiva, Lord Vishnu and other gods alike.As it is each and every day of ours is ruled by a particular planet and there are many volumes of Cds in praise of these planets, available in the racks.
There was a CD on Mrityunjaya Mantra and several Cds on all the four Vedas!! We were told that for reciting Vedas, Rudram (Hymn on Lord shiva) etc one has to be very clean in his habits and thoughts and this inculcated a sense of fear in us as children and we never ventured anywhere near these godly things. I remember, as a kid, Devi Mahatmyam used to be read in our house by a priest on last Friday of every month. strict rules were observed on that day which included a compulsory second bath, apply the sacred ash on the forehead etc.. and sit through the proceedings. The only interest which kept me awake was serving of Chakkarai Pongal and vadai at the end of the Pooja!! So much so that all these mantras and shlokas were recited only by authorised priests for specific purpose in the household. These days, its all there in the music shop for a price and one can put it on in the systems at home and not only listen but also make the neighbours listen through increased decibel levels!! Amavasai Tarpanam can be done with the help of a Cd specially made for this purpose.
In short, the necessity of inviting a Brahmin Purohit or a priest for performing these religious rites is greatly reduced ?? The priest or a Brahmin is essentially required for such occassions for giving phala-dhanam in order to reap the benefits of the pooja so conducted and for having guided the religious program.

Very soon in the coming years, one can find Cd's on mantras for walking, jogging, sleeping and who knows, may be to stop you from snoring too?? Expect the unexpected is the undercurrent of this label. Who knows, may be for the ever sincere dog of yours, there could be a Cd on Dog-mantra or the Cat-mantra which can be recited for the well being of the dog or the cat!! Mantra for sitting and Mantra for standing, mantra for friendship mantrta for getting into a college of your choice, Vashiya mantra for the girl or the boy you like etc etc.. and to ward off confusion from all these mantras, there could be a Cd on Mind clarity and so on.....

Even as I enter my Pooja room I stand confused as to which Mantra and slokam should I recite and more confused about the deity to be chosen not to speak of volumes of books printed in Tamil and Sanskrit on various gods!

The Hindu religious heads should throw some light on this subject and make it a lighter study for people like me so that the focus remains intact and there are only a few gods/goddesses on whom these praises can be showered!

This will make praying easier and welcome everyone for more prayers!!

Forum 33

The dilution of article 377 and the nod from the high court not to criminalise those who get attracted to the same sex and indulge in sexual activities with consent has raised many eyebrows beyond imagination and equally welcomed by many enthusiasts who no longer feel the embarrassment to call themselves as belonging to forum 33 as I have christened it!!

This freedom, in a way, may help in bringing down the population of our country which is very much the need of the hour? Years back, during the emergency period, the Late Mr sanjay gandhi advocated Nas Bandhi or the forced vasectomy performed on many young and old alike for which incentives were given! The net result was the Congress (I) lost the elections very badly. Probably, the rejuvenated Congress(I) has found this new way of controlling the population without hurting the sentiments of any community? only time will tell if this scheme or freedom helps in plugging the ever escalating population growth of our great country in order to reap the fruits of economic development?

For the ever loving parents, this is an additional problem of finding a suitable partner for their kith and kins!! Imagine the plight of the parents in finding a suitable match for their wards and what would they say if they had to advertise in the matrimonial columns??!!

The problems do not stop here if the vamsham or the family has to be taken forward or expanded. There will have to be adoptions in case the family needs a Heir. For the heir, whom will he address as father and whom the mother and what will the order when he enrolls in a school?

For the Conservative families, it will be hard to think of welcoming a son-in-law or a son-ET-loss!! The complexity of problems surrounding this mighty freedom to allow Forum 33 will be many and mind-boggling!

Soon parents may find themselves in a quandary if they have to hunt a match for their children and more of problems when they face a situation of seeing the same gender walking hand-in-hand into their house announcing love for each other!!

The world is changing in rocket speed and so are the virtues and Morales! It is better for all those parents to keep themselves physically healthy and mentally tough should they meet any such eventualities in their life so that the shocks are absorbed within- Zor ka jatka Dheere se!!

Expect the unexpected!!

M.P ( mehenga- Pada!)

The recent slapping of a Grameen Bank Manager by an elected Member of Parliament has drawn much criticism and condemnation by one and all. This unruly behaviour of the elected MP is nothing new to our democracy. this has been happening ever since the period of nationalisation of Banks by the then Prime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi who in her enthusiasm to uplift the poor started this gimmick of loan Mela, celebrated with equal enthusiasm by all the 19 nationalised banks in chorus! There used to be one Janardhan Poojary who was a minister in her cabinet and it was his direcive to the chief executives of the nationalised banks to disburse a loan amount of Rs 5000/- to all those applicants who had to buy the application forms from the local/district political head of the particular political party. This form was not printed by the banks. The application forms used to be forwarded by the social welfare board to respective branches and this used to be voulumnous as the manager used to struggle with his deputy or the concerned clerk to expedite the loans as he was answerable to his boss who was, in turn, answerable to his higher ups and ultimately the chairman and the M D of the bank had to face the wrath of Mr Poojary who will pull up the chairman of any bank in front of all the other heads of banks, if they had not met the target set for them in such disbursements! The heads of banks, in order to avoid such embarassments used to push those working down the line to disburse the Poojary Loans(as it came to be known)even without verifying the bonafide and other details about the applicant. The pressure was s much on each and every manager of the branch that he had to disburse as many as 5000 loans within a specified period failing which he will earn the wrath and face transfers to those remote hilly, tribal areas which will be something short of near Death!! The local panchayat heads or the political heads will also knock on your doors early in the morning as soon as the bank opens and hand over a bunch of applications to be disbursed immediately and would often flex his muscles and threaten a transfer if the bank manager asked any queries relatng to the loans. The local political secretary would often comment that the money was the nation's property and why make a fuss giving it to those who did not have any means to earn money! We as bank managers used to insist there would be no cash disbursals and the loan could be disbursed only by way of banker's cheque for which a pro-forma invoice was required. The compliance was immediate and the loans disbursed and people vanished!! It was learnt that out of the total loan of Rs 5000/- disbursed, the beneficiary got only a mere Rs 500/- and the rest was all cornered by the local heads of the political party!! and thus, the loans were never recovered and got written off! In one of the meetings of Poojary held at Bangalore, my colleague chief manager raised his hands to say that his branch has only one loan officer and disbursing 5000 applications within a fortnight may not be possible. This invited the minister's ire and he immediatly asked for the name of the bank and the branch in-charge and told him to look for his transfer orders to a remote place from Bangalore!! within minutes, frantic calls were made from our head office and the poor manager had to earn the wrath of all our executives, left and right. The next day saw about a dozen officers descending on the branch from different parts of the country to process and disburse those 5000 applications within the stipulated time fixed by Mr Poojary, the minister. Poor Manager was transferred to a remote place and made to repent for venting out his honest feelings. The interference of politicians in day to day working of the bank and its branches is not welcome and instead allow the banks to function on its own independently. Let me ask one question to the politicians or the finance ministry as to how many people below the poverty line were uplifted with the Poojary loans given by the nationalised banks in the mid 80s? The answer may not be encouraging as the fruits of the loans never reached the needy. These sort of loans were also given to farmers for agriculture and to various others but the essence is that the loans never reached the deserving poor due to interference by he politicians. The nation should condemn such behaviour of politicians who go to the extent of using muscle power to enrich themselves depriving the poor of their legitimate rights to earn and live. The congress high command should pull up this MP and even ask for his resignation. Let people live with honour and dignity and not fall a prey to the hungry and greedy politicians who are a scar to this society. Being an Ex- Banker, i am unable to digest this inhuman treatment meted out to a fellow Grameen bank manager who is subject to so much of humilation??

feeding stray animals & Birds-humours apart

As a kid who grew up in Delhi, I have seen my mother feed the crows before the domestic consumption of food which has remained an unsolved mystery and puzzle in my mind till date. It is said that crows represent our forefathers and sometimes I shudder to even think that our forefathers wore the look of a crow!! I have seen our south Indian neighbours doing the same almost everyday! In most of the Punjabi households in Delhi, they have at least one sonu or pappu or kaka as their nick names! I have watched my father doing Shradh ceremony for his parents and during this time, me and my sister were just pushed into a room and not allowed to eat anything until the ceremony was over!! At one point of my father went up to the terrace and yelled out "KA-KA" which brought smiles in us signalling that we are going to eat soon and address those musical sounds of enzymes within our stomach waiting to be food ed!!
As the loud yell of KA-KA went up the air, my padosi little boy, my friend, came to the open varandah to look for my dad as the boy was nick named KA-Ka!!!! We tried our best to control our laughter and that was fun!!

The Pooja Park in 15 A block near Ajmalkhan road was the centre of avenue for all religious festivals that the south Indians celebrated every year. It was during one of the festivals a priest conducting the Pooja went into some kind of trance and was yelling Muruga-Muruga.... when one of my sardar friends living in the corner of the park suggested to me as to why we are not giving him Murga when he is wanting it so much?? It took quite a few days to explain to him that it was a divine call and a blessing since I myself did not know the matter so well during those times!!(not that I am well versed now!)

In Chennai, the custom of feeding the crows is so rampant that it is difficult for anyone to sleep after 6 am with the windows open as there is always an army of crows flying around and crowing!! The feeding has rejuvenated the population growth of the crows to such an extent that the crow stares at you from the edge of the kitchen and daring you! I think the time is not far off when the crows will come into your living room and share your meal right on the dining table? Quite a few years back, the Malaysian government invited many enthusiasts to bring as many dead crows possible and be rewarded @RM 10 each! This step was taken after the citizens complained to the authorities of crow droppings all over their cars because of which they were put to hardships!! It will take lot more years for our government to listen to the citizens and their grievances like this.

There are numerous people on the road who feed the stray dogs every day. I am not able to understand this concept as I feel the food could be given to people who can not afford a meal. The stray dogs feeding has gained so much of popularity that every street in the colony has at least half a dozen stray dogs running here and there and sometimes darting towards people who carry some bags thinking it to be food. I have seen persons running in fear when the dogs come charging at them and result in their falling on the roads and carrying pleasant memories of bruises that occurred due to the dog menace! My next door neighbour goes wild when he sees one particular dog answering the nature's call every morning at a specified time only on his gate and in front of his house. It may bring lots of humour to those on lookers but hear of hearts, i must say it is not done. with due respects to all the dog lovers and animal lovers, can I start this debate whether feeding of dogs and crows is necessary for bettering our living conditions?? In what way is this going to help the economy or even those stray animals which are encouraged to increase the population by virtue of abundance in food that they are able to get every day!! I want my friends who read this blog to respond and contribute their thinking? I would beg to apologise to all the dog lovers for being so open in my views. surely, I don't mean to hurt them?

Sikkim

Sikkim is a paradise within India!
Its a good escape from the sweltering summer heat in chennai or for that matter anywhere in India.
People who are reluctant to go to Kashmir can find this place a good alternative.
There is a lake named changu which is frozen all through the year except in the month of may and june.
one can also go to see the chineese border and the army in Nathulla pass.
its a great place to visit and quite economical too!!
you have an air link up bagdogra airport from where you hire a taxi to go to Sikkim. the journey takes about 2 1/2 hours. You cross a river named Teesta which flows mighty powerful like the ganges in Rishikesh! Its a treat to watch nature and the climate keeps you and family in cool tempers! try it out??

Woh Subah Kabhi tho aayegi?(Hope to see light at the end of the tunnel?

This shoe shiner whom we call as Shoe polish wallah has been shining shoes of millions on the side walks of Ajmalkhan road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi ever since 1971 when I used to work in Bank of Maharashtra, Ajmalkhan rd branch. I was shocked beyond imagination when I found this guy polishing or shining shoes of people when i visited Delhi a month back. The only difference is that he used to charge Re 1/- in 1971 whereas he charges Rs10now. This sector is an unorganised one and there is no employment gurantee.

though he does not remember me or any of my then friends working in the Bank, he was much pleased to shine my shoes with lots of enthusiasm and interest. I did tip him a 100 bucks for this job which he has been doing to brighten the appearance of shoes but some thing inside me kept asking if it is a sin to be born Poor?

He has remained stationery in the same area for decades without any change in his life style and will leave this world as a road side shoe shiner. There is nothing that the governments which were in power for nearly 37 years could do to change the life style of this person? Isn't there something wrong with our economic policies or the program of Gharibi Hatao coined by the congress which remains only as a slogan?

The unfortunate thing about this great country is that the dividends of economic development is cornered by a few affluent class and there is no equality in distribution of prosperity. unless we address this grass root problem, the shoe shiners will remain as shoe shiners for ever and ever without seeing the dawn of the propsperous era.