Nagesh: the name synonymous with tamil film comedy

The actor nagesh passed away this morning who had enthralled the tamil audience with his comedies for over five decades . He featured in more than 1000 films to his credit. He co-starred with almost three generations of actors right from MGR ,Shivaji, Kamal Rajini, Vijay and Ajith. He was not only a comedian but also a character artiste some of the best known films were neer kumizhi, edhir neechal, server sundaram . His sheer presence along with some of the biggies of Tamil film world added an extra flavour to the film. for example, the patchai vilaku the way he shouldered shivaji's performance.

This lanky comedian drew inspiration or can I say shared the shades of hollywood comedian Jerry Lewis. Actually, it was k.Balachandar who brought out many vistas of nagesh . I really enjoyed his performance in apoorva sahodargal, mounam samadham(the way he taunted his assistant" oye! palghat" brahmin ) because a comedian can bring out more villainy to the role through his sense of humor and he did it with an ease and aplomb.

Who could forget the role of dharmi in thiruvilaiadal or vaithi in thilana moganaambal . The way he portrayed the horror story to t.s.balaiah(in th film kadhakika nerm illai) could evoke laughter even now. Nagesh acted in telugu, kannada and malayalam movies. His last film was dasaavatharam. The actor Kamal hasan utilised his services very deftly. In "magalir mattum " Nagesh donned the role of a corpse without mincing any words he captivated the audience no other person could ever come closer to that performance.one can even say nagesh was director's actor he delivered what a director expected of him.

It is unfortunate the central government didn't recognize his service . At least, now the government should institute a national award for comedians, which should be named after him.

51bn jobs scar(c)e.........don't worry be happy

As the recession hits the globe it creates havoc to everyone of us. At the world economic forum, Davos , it was stated whopping 51bn jobs to be vanished by the end of 2009. In the month of January alone, US job market has witnessed decline of 80,000 jobs . The issuing of pink slip has become a norm of the day(probably one should start up an unit to manufacture pink slips to survive in this economic meltdown)
Many feared that this is the worst recession in our living time after the 1929 crash. The ramifications of this meltdown are disastrous. The developing world is no longer insular from this factor. Already, outsourcing industry in India is facing the brunt of the slowdown many BPO's have laid off their employees. At parvasi meeting a state minister said "his state doesn't want anymore investment in IT sector ".The ongoing recession would affect individuals, society and globally.
INDIVIDUALS : more job cuts means more families are pushed to poverty. the health sector would be the hardest hit because of poor money circulation they may not be able to meet raising medical expenses. Another aspect, as reported by UN in its report said the children will be affected by malnutrition because of raising costs. The job cuts doesn't stop there as it is going to push many families to file insolvency . The crisis in developing world are slightly differ from developed world as far as India is concerned it is domestically driven market. However, the indian market would face the crisis in the form of credit card bust which could happen anytime already credit card agencies are feeling the pressure of meeting the ''target''. The suicide cases are going up(no matter,whether you are an educated or not). Many divorce cases will be filed in the courts to get relieved of "secured" husbands(because in the eyes of girls job is a secured one all ''true love'' towards spouse will get "exposed" thanks to the recession).
SOCIETY: In the recent times, bank robberies have escalated in the US. The offenders are not the habitual ones but the ones who had lost their jobs recently.The issue of food stamps would increase (food stamps are issued to low-income groups who cannot afford to buy products the project is supported by the federal government a similar thing one can see by way of opening gruel centres''-- kanji thotti'' in tamil nadu during the times of drought) In the Gulf, many real estate projects have been shelved and the expats are laid off as a result, the foreign remittance to the developing countries would face the music. The arrival of expats would create a lot of problems already beleaguered lab our market.
GLOBALLY: the financial meltdown would affect the countries to spend on welfare activities of the state. The problems like terrorism, revolts would get a fillip. the total anachy will prevail. The US administration would take its off from Afghanistan and Iraq to concentrate on domestic problems that would embolden the desperadoes to indulge in misadventures. No region can escape from the current financial fiasco.As it would take atleast two or three years to recover from the mess. Till such time start practicing Bobby Mcferrin song ''don't worry be happy''.

When did u laugh whole heartedly? Remember.......

The human beings are gifted with laughter. Whereas, the animals cannot boast of it . As a child, we all laugh without any inhibitions however, we tend to conceal the laughter as we grow older. The more one get away from the nature the more one going to suffer. Always keeping a poker face would not help one's life. The psychologists consider the laughter as a relief theory. We just use 13 muscles for laughter whereas we use 47 muscles for frowning. when it comes to sense of humor menfolk reacts far better than womenfolk. The women tend to react to a joke a little slower. That's why a lot of comedians are seen in the tinsel world. The women are hardly donning the roles of comediennes.

1. 100 times similing is equal to 10 minutes of exercise.
2. In sanskrit, laughter is described as a hasya yoga.
3. Physicians consider it as an inner jogging. it really relieves your pain and help in secretion of endorphin.
4. A good laughter increases your immune system.
5. If you are a calorie conscious person laughter will come handy as it burns a calorie a minute .

I t is pathetic to state that human beings are reducing their humor taste because of material pursuit. Of course, one has to pursue mundane things but not at the cost of one's health. When we were babies nobody taught us how to laugh? But, one could see laughter clubs in cities parks they teach us how to laugh this only shows how have we alienated from the nature. No matter how worst the difficulties are? we should laugh at the difficulty this is based on the principle of "offense is the best defense" . By adopting this posture even difficulties have a second thought of "attacking" us.

If one look at the images of Hindu gods and goddesses one could find they all give a smiling face. the reason being life is full of difficulties but sufferings are optional . To get to that optional stage, laughter is quintessence of human life. Even sages, have their suffix names as ananda for example, Vivekananda, chinmayananda, paramaananda etc. ananda means happiness so have laughter in your life. Some make derision laughter at your pathetic state for them I can say only one thing the end would justify who really had a last laugh.

Who could be held responsible for mahabharatha?

In the late 80's , when doordarshan telecast mahabharat the entire nation would come to a grinding halt (Barring Tamil Nadu) such was the interest the serial had generated among the public. The time machine in the form of wheel appeared on the left side of the screen informs the generation after generation about the great story of mahabharata as it was the only eyewitness to the entire incidents. STORY: King shantanu was hunting in the forest he came across a damsel called Gangadevi (river ganga). It was love-at-first-sight. Without any hesitation the king proposed her. Before accepting his proposal (as in the most cases, woman never accept the gentle proposal from man ) Ganga made her demands Her demand was "never to question her behaviour after the marriage , if any attempt to question her, she would walk out of the wedlock". (If such a situation prevails today menfolk would be the happiest creatures on earth) . Not giving a second thought , the king accepted her demands . After the marriage, she bore 7 babies all of them were thrown into the river immediately after the birth. This made the king to feel uncomfortable while she was about to throw the 8th baby into the river the king pleaded with ganga not to do so. This act of king was considered as an act of breach of marriage. She walked out of marriage. The 7th baby was none other than devavrath (Bhishma). The estrangement of ganga didn't make the king to write "paradise lost" he fell in love with satyavati( she belonged to fisher folk class) H e proposed her. on her part, she too placed demands which the king had accepted (This man seemed to yield to woman demands just like a weather cock. surely, he would win the India's broad minded husbands contest). Her demand was "the child born out of their wedlock should inherit the throne not the devavrath(who was actually the heir apparent). Ironically this marriage was solemnized by the son devavrath. In exchange, devavrath vowed that he would remain a bachelor throughout his life time. This vow made by the devavrath really sown the seeds of kurushetra battle. Had he inherited the throne the battle would not have happened. ANALYSIS: Look at the character involved in this story. Ganga, known for free flowing nature. It was impossible to rein her in a format. On the other hand, King shantanu has the penchant for women . He could go to any extent of having a comfortable life even at the cost of his son. It was because of shantanu's character that the future kuru clan had to suffer . Never make a commitment unless you have the mettle to tide over any situations. Just because king shantanu wanted to marry the satyavati he promised her that his son devavrath would not inherit the throne. On the part of devavrath, he wanted to see his father happy so accepted the demands and vowed he would remain a vanguard of hastinapur and would never marry in his lifetime . One small wrong step could have an impact of colossal loss. The story of mahabharatha should not be seen as a mythology as it gives an insight into humanity. the mahabharatha story is all about craftiness, revenge, love, devotion, righteousness, benevolence etc. In other words, the story dabbles with human emotions. No other fiction could even come closer to this story till date.

Weekly shandy: A whole family affair

Right from the days of the civilization the human being have mastered the art of trade and merchandise. In those days, trade was confined to barter system "exchange of goods" without monetary value attached to it. As the importance of currency grown among the mass, the trade had taken a new dimension. Moreover, the markets, were not organised the produce mainly of agricultural ones were traded at weekly shandy. Even today, some villages organise weekly shandy to enable the locals to buy whatever they want. these markets organised at an open ground drawing farmers from the surrounding places to sell their products. A visit to this market always considered as a family affair. Here one would not find CCTVs, no bar code, no security check, the business is as usual the buyers can bargain and settle for a good buy.

You name the product , you get it in fact, you pay less for a product (unlike, an organized market where MRP is mentioned) and the goods are fresh from the production places since, they are brought by the producers or manufactures themselves.

Involvement of human element is so high in this type of transactions. Just compare this your experience in a supermarket where the human factor is almost nil. As you will be watched by the security staff obtrusively. The human factor is palpable all those who attend this market are not buyers and sellers. Some come for "window shopping"( one may ask as the market is held in an open fireld where is the question of "window") . the teenagers(of both sexes) get attracted to this Jamboree.wherever you come across a milling crowd you could find the road-side-romeos. Several Tamil films have cashed in on this factor. The comedians of today's kolloywood spin many stories around this market scenario and they are proving to be a great hit. All in all, I would say, shopping is definitely a different experience which you would not experience in a shopping mall or elsewhere.

Kamakhya devi Temple

This temple is situated on the top of the neelachala hills. The tradition of Assam is known for tantric practice. The presiding deity kamakhya devi. The other deities of this temple are Ganesha, Bhuvaneswari, Bhairavi, Dhumavati , Lakshmi and Saraswati and chinnamasta . The temple was rebuilt in 16th century by the king NaraNarayana.


STORY OF THE PLACE: After the daksha yagna, Lord Shiva was unable to bear the separation of Shakthi he started rudra tandava carrying the body of shakthi. The Lord Vishnu used his chakra to tear the body in order to bring down the rudra tandava . The severed pieces of the body fell across the region. The place at which these body pieces fell became shakthi peethams. Likewise, the shakthi's yoni is believed to have fallen where kamakhya temple stands today (Yoni represents the reproductive organ). That's why the presiding deity of this temple do not have an idol.It is represented by a yoni carved out from a bedrock and it is covered by a water spring . The yoni is smeared with vermilion (kumkum) .o


THE VISITORS: This place attracts a lot of sadhus and tantrics. Ambubashi festival is held every year in the month of June. The temple is closed for three days( during this closure it is believed that the goddess kamakhya menstruates) and on fourth day the temple will be opened for devotees. Another important festival is navarathri .

A visit to the book fair

The present generation is losing the habit of book reading. The libraries at the schools and colleges manifest the state of affairs . They are very much worried about the academic performance rather than "understanding the purpose of living". The advent of Internet made the things from bad to worse. Now, everybody is seeking information through net searching the right book in a library is a tedious matter. The people tend to forget that the in formations available on the net are not 100% accurate. Even Wikipedia has acknowledged this phenomenon.

The joy of reading a book is like a new chapter in one's life is blossomed. You get a new insight actually, it elevate us from just acquiring knowledge to the wisdom state. During the crisis, your friends, relatives acquaintances would leave you in lurch but a book as a companion would dispel all those short comings.

In chennai, 35th chennai book fair recently got over . Year after year the number of stalls were just going up. The atmosphere was simply superb. In the world of bibliophiles, a visit to this annual affair has become a part of life. The various publication houses had put up stalls ranging from management, media houses, spiritual mission, alternative medicine therapists, etc. all under one roof. The books purchased at the fair gives you a discount of 10%. The organizers were overwhelmed at the patronage given by the chennaities . As i said earlier, that reading habits on the slide among the younger generation after this visit I must retract those words. But, a word of caution if you see deeply the purchase pattern of visitors to the fair again suggested that almost 90% of them opted for academic books.
This fair not only housed book stalls every evening a new book got launched. There was an interaction session with the authors. The fair also conducted short films exhibitions, discourses.

The connoisseurs were not left behind in the book fair. A separate enclosure was made to test the visitors taste buds. You had food items from across the country be it sweets, savior, idli vada dosa etc. As you come out of the restaurant , one could see a stall which conducted sugar test free (to warn you what you 've eaten) and there was a blood donation camp going on next to the restaurant. All these activities were going on inside the campus.

Outside the campus, a size that was equal to the size of the book fair , book display were put up for hand-me-down books(in other words, second-hand books) those who couldn't afford the books of high values can satiate by just buying these books even pirated version were seen on this display. There was no seperate stalls they were displayed on the pavement.In real times, these pavement shops helps the buyers one could easily find out the rarest of the rare books on this shops.
In the end, I would like to say what exercise is to body likewise, reading book is to mind.

Its all how u listen

The students created an absolute confusion inside the class room. They deliberately bunked the class meant for their board exam. Thus leading to the frustration among the teaching staff. In order to "pep up" the class atmosphere and enforce a discipline the teachers had a brainstorming. Ultimately, they came up with the idea.
They informed the students that there will be a class on sex.......... before completing the sentence the students started dancing , shouting etc. On D-Day, the class had a full attendance the students were maintaining pin drop silence. ( The atmosphere suggested that the dogs awaiting a meaty feast)
At the inaugural session a sanyasi was asked to handle the class. The students got surprised " why a renounced person came to talk on a carnal pleasure". The sanyasi proceeded with the topic why one should refrain from having sex. He elucidated with mythological references and asked the students to maintain a celibate state . At the end of the session, students got agitated thinking that the sanyasi can only talk in that style.
Then came the sexologist . This time the students expected some "steamy" experiences to be shared by the Doctor. Some even anticipated "audio-video demonstration". On the contrary, he talked about how not to have sex and its ill-effects on immoral sex. He was talking ST D's elaborately creating a psychosis on the minds of the students about sex. This time students got angry with the administration what really happened why they were to made to get "screwed up" by attending this "preachy" session?
This time the principal came (presumably, the concluding session) he warned about the immoral behavior among the students community and he talked about how one could lose their future for a few moments of pleasure. He listed out the punishments and fine . He even cited penal provision of the law and ended the session.Literally, the students lost their cool and dared the principal to ask a few questions. One student asked" you said there will be a class on sex". No, principal said. "We only said there will be a sex education class but you pupils didn't allow us to complete the sentence". That's why it is said to practice patience to become a successful one in life. Listen first then put forward your ideas just jumping the gun won't really solve the problems.

P V Narasimha Rao : A silent Revolutionary

In the year 1991, India faced a severe balance of payment crisis had effective actions not been taken the country would have faced a bankruptcy. Earlier, the country had to pledge its gold in the Bank of England to face off the immediate BOP crisis. The country's was on election mode. Untimely demise of the prime ministerial candidate of the Congress party made the country to feel the political vacuum.The Congress party , which ruled the country for the most part of independent India, had suddenly become a rudderless party. The party made a significant total in the hustings thanks to sympathy wave created as a result of Rajiv's death. The party was well short of half -way mark. It was a piquant situation for the party to be headed by the someone outside the Nehru-Gandhi clan.
pamulaparti venkata narasimha rao(PVN) was called in to rescue the country and the party. Known to be a trusted confidante of Nehru-Gandhi family. Having served as Cheif Minister of Andhra Pradhesh, and in home and external affairs portfolio it seemed he was a natural choice for the post of Prime Minister. The immediate concern of his new ministry was to bail out the country from the economic debacle. He made out of turn appointment in his ministry by asking ex-RBI Governor Manmohan singh as his Finance Minister . He made economic Liberalization (which was seen as a 180 degree turn ) from the nehruvian policies . Of course, he faced resistance from the party because of shrewd practice of realpolitik he silenced his critics. His tenure was full of scandals, riots, civil unrests. But , the credit should be given to establishing diplomatic relations with the Isreal (however, there were informal engagements going on with that state since, 1969) He brought the Punjab 's insurgency to an end which was plaguing the state for more than a decade. One may question his handling of Babri Masjid demolition during his tenure . In reality, after that incident BJP ruled states were put under president rule after a year they lost at the polls because the demolition made the issue a non-issue .

In 1993, the indian stock market faced the multi crore scam years after the mundra scandal of Nehru era. Rao's punchline to the media about the scam was "Law will take its own course". Heading a minority government was not an easy job. The chanakya in him brought out plans and counter plans to tide over the situation. In other words, he used every ploy in the books of crook to keep the government in power.

One should believe in destiny when the 1991 polls were going on Rao was not even contesting he almost took retirtement from the active politics. But, fate thought otherwise. When he was made Prime Minister he had to contest by-poll from Nandyal . He was also the first Prime Minister from the south of Vindhyas. His arch rival, telugu desam party did not put up a rival candidate
to honour the "telugu biddha" . He won the eletions with a huge margin of 5,00,000 lakhs votes .

Rao was a cartoonist delight as always his caricature came out with "purse" mouth. Even, his political adversaries called him "mauni baba" as if he represented the tacit turn society .

During his tenure,he had carried out all spade works to conduct the nuclear test but could not carry out due to US pressure .When there was a power transfer after the 1996 polls he said to BJP's prime ministerial candidate , Atal Bihari Vajpayee,"Bomb is ready you can go ahead".

Rao could speak several languages telugu, english,hindi, kannada, marathi, urdu at ease just like a native speaker . He was also conversant in persian,spanish , frenchetc.

He acheived a rare distinction of the first Prime minister to complete the full tenure outside the Nehru-gandhi family.

Tale of three wives

Three of my friends got married around same time five years ago. Last week, I went to their houses to extend my invitation card for my house warming function at kanchipuram. First , I went to my doctor friend house. He has a nursing home cum house in a posh locality of the city. I knocked at his house .The servant opened the door and said "you can see the doctor at the ICU wing" . I was waiting at the veranda imagining that he was on the routine rounds. After waiting for half an hour I moved towards ICU section to my surprise he was not on the rounds he was admitted to the ICU .AS I pushed open the door (a fluorescent lamp was flickering) hey ram! what happened man . nagu it's all because of marriage. actually, his marriage was against the wishes of his parents to put it simply , his marriage was a love marriage. He proceeded "Nagu, u know pretty well before marriage, Each day I used to send 100 text messages to my girl friend(his wife) with ILU message(I LOVE U) the same girl has pushed me to this stage now i am in the ICU. "By the way , nagu are you married ? he asked. No. I said. "Take a second opinion on marriage" he said and lost his consciousness(since he is in the profession of medicine he used the medical terminology "second opinion") . Before leaving the ICU an electrician barged into the room and said "loose connection sir" . I just looked at the lamp above and my friend's face both gave the same reply i.e. No hope. As I came out of the hospital, my perception towards marriage got hurt but, not dented.
My next destination to my friend house at ambattur. He is a businessman always has a liking for flamboyance. Known for owning luxurious cars , gizmos, spending lavishly spending at bars. All these qualities were before marriage. The moment I opened the door I was shocked for a second time in a day (probably, I must check a doctor to test my BP) the house wore a sombre look. There was no car, the house didn't have the white wash for years together. I approached the gardener sitting on the garden cutting grass manually, I asked for my friend once again I was shell shocked " it was not gardener it was my friend" hey raghu, I never thought that you will be in this state tell me what happened to your business " I said. NAGS, that was once upon a time probably before marriage to make you understand then I was a crorepati Now, I am devoting venkatajalapathy to reach that stage all my properties were transferred into my wife's name".further he said" Nagu, always conduct a due diligence before marriage otherwise, your position will be like that of mine".He murmured " what is the use of due diligence if something is written on your fate no power can change it". I just placed my invitation card and consoled him. As i came out of his house my perception towards marriage got little shaky ,even now, not dented.
After seeing two friends, I was little confused should I visit my third friend's house or not will his life be indifferent or something "remarkable". Somehow, I managed myself went to his house. Again shocked, this time it was positive energy flowing in my body. His wife was obeying his orders it seemed he was enjoying every moment of life. (The scene reminds me of a lion/tiger obeys the orders of a ring master in a circus) The people may question why i equated friend's wife to a lion/tiger because my friend is an animal psychologist. On entering his house " nagi, I know what must be going through your mind do you think I treat animals only at my clinic nay! then you are wrong I also treat "animal" at my home too!" he said. I know your marriage plans before getting married you better go through the thesis I have written on animal's behavior. The thesis titled" How to tame wild animals" was extended to me. I just collected it . Before departing from his house " wherever you find animal in the book you replace it with the word "wife" so that you will enjoy the reading" he said. As i came out of his house I heard a song from the film singaravelan "sonna padi kelu makkar punnadhe nee ennudaiah aalu edunjal punaadhe". After this visit my perception towards my marriage got little bolder.

Slum tourism on anvil

Incredible India(athulya bharat) is the tag line given to the Indian Tourism Development Corporation. We have various types of tourism like Eco-tourism, marine tourism,coastal tourism, rural tourism urbane tourism spiritual tourism etc.
The movie, slumdog milionaire is getting closer to win the oscar awards.Though the movie is not a bollywood movie but ingredients are fulfilled by the Indians. Hence, one could argue the portyal of the Indian poverty and their problems in a bad taste. The music composer,A.R. Rahman won award for his music in slum dog millionaire. The story is about a boy from a slum in an Indian metropolis makes his way to win on a quiz contest(Kaun banega crorepati). It is always nice to hear a story of rags to riches because we all toil in our life to come up in our life.But, do we really help those who are struggling to come up in his/her life? actually, they don't need our sympathy after all, they all need our empathy. Do we really deliver empathy? in reality, we place all sorts of impediments on their path to success .

Now coming back to movie, every time a movie from India is showcased to western audience we exhibit our negative sides, by doing so, we get their applause. In this slum dog millionaire, an urchin life is depicted and squalid conditions around which millions of Indians are having their livelihood. Is this way we project ourselves to the world audience? We have sown the dream of becoming a super power by the year 2020. Does any would-be super power project itself in such a fashion? Even in earlier films like salaam Bombay, city of joy , lagaan we showcased either our slums or poverty. Otherwise, we try to exhibit the violence against women be it Bandit queen, Fire, Water kind of films. It seems the filmmakers of the west or the home-grown ones always dabble it in the negative format so that they could be hailed as ''intellectuals'' by the media.We are yet to recover from the colonial hangover.

To become a super-power we all should keep the following in our minds '' One should command respect,one should not demand it''.

Evey adverse condition provides an opportunity .The BAPUS at the government can formulate a package tour like one day at dharavi or one night at sonagachi so that visitors can feel the "real" India. One man's hardship is always considered as another man's joy. There is always a little bit of voyeurism in everyone of us. The western world always considers India as a land of snake charmers , land of ebony fever, floods,famine and above all, Indians have a poor toilet habits. A shrewd administration can cash in on all negative points by converting our ''open latrine '' practice into a bio-friendly nature saying this method actually helps in enriching soil.(you know something human waste is used as a manure for the cultivation of potatos,carrots and tubers). When a power station at san antonio in the US is powered by Human Waste why not project our practice as an Eco- friendly one? Next time when you munch potato chip don't give a thought to the manure used or when you take a carrot juice never think of its place where it was cultivated.

After reading this one would get a thought about rephrasing the tourism motto can I say it is '' INCORRIGIBLE INDIA''.

The entire system is based on "trust"

The culture plays a very important role in the development of the society. The collapse of the banking industry in the US says one thing extending of credit to sub-prime category led to the system crumbling. On the contrary, the south asian countries are doing fantastically in the credit management by lending money to the sub-sub-prime category by way of microcredit. the recovery rate of microcredit is 98% . Moreover, the system is so simple as the borrowers are from economically under priveleged class. This process doesn't require any paperwork as it is done purely based on trust. No collateral is required no lawyer is required as no document is required to be signed. Muhammed Yunus, father of micro finance , started this venture in the late 1980's . The conventional banking system is out of reach for the large chunk of the population as a result the poverty plagued the population. The main aim of the micro finance is to make extending credit to everyone. It should be regrded as a matter of Human right.Grameen Bank, a product of Muhammed Yunus, started for this category of people. Bangladesh was the first country to give mobile phones to beggar s to market the product .
In south asian countreies,taking credit is considered as an extra burden failure to repay the debts will attract isolation from the society. In order to avoid such a situation people in this part of the world repay the debts promptly. In the western countries living in credit is the way of life. Filing insolvency is regarded as a fashion . At the time of financial collapse, the developed nations should look into this microfinance product seriously. In India, many nationalised Banks have taken this concept in their portfolios. The system works like this any five member form a self help group approach a bank for a financial assistance the bank lend the money to the group with the initial amount of Rs15,000/-. The group leader will be responsible for the repayment of loan. Timely repayment will augument the credit limit of the group. The Reserve Bank of India has issued a notification any non-repayment of loan should not be regarded as NPA. This system is gaining momentum in the rural areas.

When a cardinal rule is flouted.......it's a mess

In the eighties and early nineties the grocery shops had the habit of extending credit to its customers. The owner of the shop do not extend to the newcomer. H e has to be vouched by the existing "good" customer. Even then, the owner of the shop would not get satisfied he would send one of the helpers to "inspect" (Ghar ki haal) the house to test their credit worthiness. The prompt and timely payment ensures credit limit gets extended. Any sign of dilly-dallying curtails the credit limit. This is the situation of an ordinary grocery shop.
Look at the nation which had extended credit to the habitual defaulters in pursue of buying homes. For this practice, Two nodal agencies of the state stood guarantee for the loans disbursed. Actually, these institutions went to the extent of disbursing NINJA loans (NO INCOME,NO JOB &ASSET) as a result, the entire economy taken a beating. The individuals associated with this practice were not ill literates , they were MBA'S, financial wizards (compare this blokes with our grocery shop owners) they just tossed every rule in the books of credit extension.

The country which strives on "TOMMORROW'S INCOME" OBIVOUSLY, differ from the country which benefits from yesterday's saving. The country which made hue and cry about excessive government controls does the same at its own backyard when its very house is set on fire. The sector after sector seeks govrernment bail out package. Its an ironical world.

When there was no matrimonial site.........

The other day I was reading a book on Osho literature. Osho was answering queries raised by his devotees. A particular query was raised about the Lord Krishna's marriage and his role in his sister's marriage. Lord Krishna abducted Rukmani to get married. He even played instrumental in his sister's marriage(SUBHADRA) as he had helped Arjuna to elope with his sister(aisa saala kaahan milaega).

Osho's reply was it is not right to compare today's world with that era. In those days, arranged marriages and horoscope matching were irrelevant. To prove one's masculinity, man would abduct the girl with her permission even girls of that era accepted such abductions. Suppose, a girl was not abducted it was considered as a slur. Even today, girls like the "comments" made by the guys sitting on the parapet of the wall of course, they would not accept it openly but they like these comments discreetly. Every girl likes to be taunted every man likes to make aggressive move this is nothing but natural phenomenon.

Its time for me to make arrangements for my elopement helo! any krishna out there to help me out......

Make a mountain out of a mole hill

The human beings have the habit of peeping into others lives. No matter they want to "feed" with one gossip or another. If you look closely they find "mirch masala " in other lives. I know many by-lanes of mylapore and triplicane in chennai city, particularly the aggrahaharams are known for gossip factories. The old ladies just make or break the person's character with their tongue lashing. Almost everyone , no matter their social status have the curiosity to look into others. Some may pose like Mr.CLEAN but they gather all gossips from their spouse. They normally do not indulge in such activities directly because it affects their personality.

The two important gossips that play havoc in human's life.
Financial related matters.
Human relations matters.
FINANCIAL RELATED MATTERS
"You know your next door Mr.X lost his job because of EMBEZZLEMENT says one mami". No.No. Actually, Mr.X. had a "keep" in his office when this thing brought was to light he was fired from the office "says another mami. (this is how financial related maters can be turmed into a human related matters). The fact of the matter surrounding is Mr.X has started his own manufacturing unit in the outskirts of the city. But, these mamis played "basketball" on Mr.X LIFE. very dangerous mamis indeed.
HUMAN RELATED MATTERS
Who slept with whom is the crux of the issue. Yellow journalisim provides this kind of issues making public to get their "graduation" . For example, the boys meets the girl is the simple meeting but to our gossip-mongering blokes it is more than simple meeting they add all spices like boy was seen at medical shop buying some contraceptive pills, immediately another gentleman would say no.no.... girl already had several relationships before this boy. The girl has a child studying in an ooty convent this information was considered as a scoop says a citizen-journo. This talks not only damages the reputation but also lowers our esteem in the society. Sometimes , half fed gossip makes some of us to suffer insomnia. The syndrome pushes us to any extremes to gather the (untold)half information we don't mind chatting to "gate crasher" once, the info is collected we shut off the "connection".
We all think (presume) our affairs are kept under the carpet as if noboby is gossiping about our affairs. This positioning only substantiate our stance that we are "living in fool's paradise". Shall we say ignorance is bliss.

Different India indifferent acts

We have different Indias within this INDIAN NATION. Namely, cultural india, uncultured india, intellect india , urban india, rural india , violent india , peaceful india etc.... Let us EXAMINE two indias to see how different in their lifestyle: 1. INDIA WHINING SECTOR

1. LOCATION: Intersection of an arterial road . SCENE: A complete Indian citizen unmindful of lying on the road with his clothes barely covers his necessities REASON: He is under the influence of country-made-liquor as he is not in a position to buy foreign made products.
2. LOCATION: A dark alley SCENE: Three or four teen agers sitting under a poorly lit municipal lamp sniffing gum petrol to get to the "high" world. REASON: poverty, abusing parents juvenile crime etc..
3. LOCATION: A shanty hutment GENDER: Woman ACTIVITY: sex trade REASON: Poverty to help the aged parents or to help the disabled siblings.

INDIA SHINING SECTOR

1. LOCATION: Just outside the flashy pub SCENE: Unable to distinguish his girl friend and others girl friend enters into a brawl bruising the nose lying unconsciously on the pavement REASON: Work load , just to show-off.
2. LOCATION: Again a flashy pub. SCENE:attending a rave party by the children of the elite class representing vibrant India of tomorrow REASON: to beat the solitude because their parents are away in safeguarding their "future".
3. LOCATION: A sea resort. Scene: "Customer satisfaction" GENDER: Woman ACTIVITY: cast-couching REASON: To clinch the "deal" at any cost , to maintain the status, to "shoulder" the husband's burden. (which wife, Whose husband that is a different story altogether)
   

If we analyze the problem plaguing the Indians they are almost identical . Nevertheless they lead their lives as per their wishes activities wise you will not see major differences between whining and shining sectors. All one could say as of now, INDIA DIM"MING".

To comprehend the incomprehensible

The farmers in the state of Maharastra commit suicide due to usury prevalent in that region. It is quite understandable that it is because of ill literacy associated with them .Moreover, state run cooperative societies do not come to their rescue. This is the condition of rural india.

Let us focus urban India a middle aged upmarket, tech-savvy sophisticated man pushes his family members to get killed before he commits suicide. He has the secured life , wife, children, bank balance . Above all, degree from prestigious university what pushed him to take this extreme step in his life . Surely, there must be something wrong in the way of life . Yes! greedy and avarice are the prime reasons. We will discuss further on this matter in my later blogs.

aSATYAMave jayathe

If king Dhirudhurastra had strong willed he would have averted the collapse of his empire in front of his eyes.This week the India INC. faced the dhirudhurastra of corporate world facing his empire crumbling. Both Dhirudhurastra are blind in their approach . Both had unbridled penchant for their sons. As a result, both had invited doomsday at their will.

These days it is very difficult to pass a good certificate to anybody . Today's mentor could turn out to be tommorow's tor"mentor".

Thirukazhukunram: A Mukti Stal

This sleepy small town is situated around 60 kms from chennai ,12 kms from chengalpattu and 17 kms from mahabalipuram. Pakshi theertham (Sanskrit) is the name given to this place. The place draws a thin crowd each day as the importance of this place has not been preached by the media. Unike Thiruvannamalai, which got the importance among the mass by the films like annamalai, arunachalam.Thirukazhukunram needs media publicity. Sanctity wise, this place is second to none as it is also called Dakshina Kailasam. The presiding deity is called vedagereeswarar (LORD OF KNOWLEDGE HILLS) and his consort is called thirpurasundari(literal translation is MISS UNIVERSE) trilok comprises of bhulok--earth, aakaasha----space, devlok-----celestial world as the godess has been acclaimed as beauty in all these lokha she is named as thiripurasundari.

Coming back to stala purana , there are two temples in this town at foothills the deity is called bakthavalaeswarar the same deity also perched atop the hills as vedagereeswarar. there are four hillocks surrounding the temple and the temple is situated in one of the hillocks.
The four hillocks represent each veda namely, rig,yajur,sama and atharvana . The stala vriksha (tree associated with the temple) is banana tree. The girivalam (cir ambulation) is performed on purnima every month the radius of this cir ambulation is around 5kms.

The story behind pakshi theertham goes back like this Due to the curse by the lord shiva two brahmaputras were taken to the shape of eagles and they would get the mukti(salvatio0n)at the end of the kali yuga till such time they would have to repent in the form of eagles. Every day two eagles comes to the temple around noon time (It is believed that they start their journey from benares in the morning they have the lunch at thirukazhukunram before heading towards rameshwaram in the evening and then they return to chidambaram for the night stay ) Before taking lunch they circle the temple two times and they are provided with chakkra pongal(jaggery rice) Of late, the arrival of eagles have been stopped because of ecological imbalance.
There is another unique incident associated with the this place is " conch comes out from a temple tank". One can see such coonchs at the temple office.This happens once in every twelve years synchronized with the planet Jupiter enters the kanni rasi(virgo) Around same time , the town wears a festive look of celebrating "lakshadeepam" the entire town every household and every establishment is illuminated with earthen lamps. The importance of this place is found in several ta mil hymns. A must visit for a solace searching person definitely the almighty showers you with that one.

How secure we are?

Of the 195 countries of the world ,192 are members of the united nation. Generally, we believe "might is right" dictum. To show off our mighty(ness) accumulation of arms invasion of other countries are regarded as the signs of "powerful" nations. There are four countries which do not have the security forces to defend their people. they are Iceland, Andorra,Monaco and Liechtenstein . All four countries are wealthy nations having a peaceful existence. Look at the sub continent India spends roughly 2.5% of its GDP towards Military expenditure yet citizens of this country feel unsafe. One could argue the geo politico reasons yes I agree.
Secured life should be sought within oneself if it is searched outside one has to feel like Indians in India. The other countries could make a derision on those four countries for not having "secured set up". For which I am again going to say the cliche its all mindset.
The more we talk of security we ultimately land in unsecured zone. Let the nature take its own course. Don't we see the difference between the fall from a 2nd staircase and the fall from the 40th floor?Of course, exceptions are there to testify but exception do not play major part of human life.

Snippets from arthasashtra

This treatise was written by kautilya during the maghadha rule of pataliputra. In this book he has given an insight into the state administration. This speaks about real politik.

1. Always have a close eye on our "friendly" nations . In the world of diplomacy nothing is sure. When pandit Nehru blindly befriended china by following panchsheel .He was snubbed by the Chinese masters. When people revolution took place in china, it was evicted from the permanent membership , that membership was offered to India by other permanent members Nehru declined it citing the reason not at the displeasure of china. Now, India is trying its level best to get the permanent membership which is being thwarted by the Chinese. Not only that China considers India as a "potential nuisance" as a result it even plays regional card to bar India from entering ASE AN league.
2. Whenever there is a dip in the revenue collections to the state exchequer create new god and construct new temples. Kautilya says people have the herd mentality one should capitalise on that for the welfare of the state. In the recent times, we do see such mentality in the 70's when santoshi mata films were released people started talking about santoshi maa ..santoshi maa... after sometime it fizzled out.
3. Try to "entice" the disgruntled individuals , groups from the enemy camp. the reason behind it as they could be used as a "source " in the later times. In ramayana, Lord ram was about to launch an attack on Ravana .Ravanna's brother Vibhishana changed camp to lord Rama. Lord Ram knew that vibhishana was bitten by "power bug" so in order to acheive his ascendancy to the throne vibhishana thought it would be better for him to side with Lord Ram. In the modern times, we see cultural attache in every attache they actually do this to "buy" the disgruntled elements. Bombard them with wine,women and other worldly matters.
   
4. Use reformed convicts service. Make them to establish their asharam at the outskirts of the cities to monitor the activities of the those who act against the state. It is based on the principle "diamond cuts diamond" . How a wild elephnat is domesticated ? by using the services of a domesticated elephant.
   

Everything is transient

The sage bharadwaj had a disciple to whom he taught everything about human life in spite of that there seemed to be a vacuum in the mind of the disciple about the life. The sage intuitively understood the student's predicament he came to the conclusion there was no use of teaching theoritically so he asked his student to go to another sage living in a different place. The student reached the said place and found out that the place did not look like an ashram , on the contrary, he found a palace. Once he entered the palace, he came to know it was King janak palace(King janak is known as karma yogi since he discharged his duties without any attachment ) When the student entered the palace he saw the king was enjoying the dance and music. He got bewildered for a moment about the king's behaviour. on seeing the student's arrival to the court , the King said that he would teach the life lesson tommorrow without even asking the student for what purpose he came to his court.(The great sages have the power of clairvoyance) The student was accomodated in a luxury room the hospitatlity was at the highest . The next morning king came to his room and asked him did he sleep well? the student said" there was no shortcoming in the facilities but how could I sleep when a big sword was swaying above the head tied to a tiny thread suspended from the ceiling that made me to stay awoke through the night". The king said now you have understood thelife lesson . the life is full of uncertainities death can happen anytime,anywhere no body could say anything. Further he said , this time too, about his last evening enjoyment of dance and music, without the student asking any question about it . The king said" i did enjoy the dance and music with a thought in my mind that death could occur anytime,anywhere . So my dear young man , never have an attachment to the earthly matters remain like a lotus in the water.
When a question was posed to Sri Ramkrishna Paramahamsa about negotiating mundane life with spiritual life he said" treat yourself as a servant in a rich man's house you have the accessbility to car and other gadgets at the bottom of the heart you are also aware that these things do not belong to you then you can discharge the duties without grief.

The mixture of HE and SHE

"There is little bit of pakistani in every indian and there is little bit of indian in every pakistani". This statement was made by Pakistan's president Asif ALl Zardari .This write-up has nothing to do with politics. The underlying meaning of the statement was we both share same ancestors. As the noted writer, Salman Rushdie rightly titled his book "MIDNIGHT CHILDREN". Now, the question is are men and women different in the eyes of god?. No. In the eyes of creator, Both are equal. Actually, you can see a feminine force in every man and vice-versa. Nobody behaves uniformly at every stage. To elucidate my point let me quote an example which I consider timely- suited. The husband has just received pink slip from the office he is crest fallen he thinks that the doomsday has arrived with this mindset he reaches home and cries about the unpromising future. (This brings about the feminine force in a man) At this juncture, wife infuse confidence "come on darling, you have immense talent don't consider this as a failure take it as an experience".(This brings about the masculine force in a woman) . Based on this analogy only hindus worship shiv lingam. There is no sakthi without sivam and vice versa.But, the members of other faiths make deragatory remarks about the practice. What we can say, Father forgive them, they Know not what they do...........