Look Inward

How to show empathy for others? Where were we before we born? Where will we be after our death? If one ponder over these questions we will naturally show empathy.

Did you ever experience the joyness when some results came favourable to you?

Did you ever experience the depression when you heard some results were unfavourable to you?

During those times, It was necessary to stay calm and watch the happenings that was taking place around us.

As you think deeply without taking sides you would experience that this is completely happening due to supreme intervention.

The MASTERS says don't go overboard or depressed.

There are things which can be controlled by you. In the same way, there are many which cannot be controlled by you.

Consolidate those things which are controlled by you. Leave the rest, to almighty. But try whole heartedly don't expect results.

You are just here to perform karma and you are not the decider .This is what is called nishkarma yoga said in the Gita.

Once you add interest to you job or in other words, you expect favour from your karma you will land up in trouble.

Own your car

The launch of Nano car, in the times of economic downturn, would send a positive signal to the beleagured automobile industry. With millions in India would soon become the "car owners".

In the course of time, these new owners would soon find owning a car is easier than "maintaining" a car.

For the optimum results, "lubricate" the car at regular intervals do not lend your "car" to somebody as that step would back fire.

To illustrate my point let me quote a story from Devi Bhagawatham :
Devguru Brahaspadi is an erudite person. Always engrossed in academics,debates and research .As a result, he didn't "discharge" his duties as a good "husband" to his wife.

THE RESULT: She eloped with chandran(Brahaspadi's disciple) . In order to redeem her from the clutches of chandran he almost entered into a street brawl with his disciple. But,it was too late. She gave birth to a child. That child is none other than BUDHAN.

Now, you all know the cryptic message hidden in the story. Owning a "vehicle is easier than "maintaining.

wastes haste and no tastes

Two WASTES came together and got married in a HASTE what do they have in common TASTES.
In DISH TV ad shah rukh khan says indians are known for having santhust mentality they don't have the killer instinct for "thoda wish karo".

giv me more:yeh aag kab bhujhegi

The Bhagawad gita says one's character can be determined by the one's food habit.
The characters are divided into three forms. Rjas, tamas and sattvic.
Rajas: always aggressive , restless vaccilating nature destroying the tranquility of others.
Tamas: indolent, always thinking about mean activity, over inclined to sex plays etc.
Sattvic: very suave, peace liking character focusing on supreme power.

The indian mythology speaks about polyandrous and polygamous relationships in detail.

In ramayana, lakshman never saw his BHABHI's face. He only addressed her by looking at her meti(an ornament worn on second toe of the leg that shows that the lady is married one).

In Mahabharatha, after winning draupadi arjuna took her to his home. Without seeing the gift won by her son kunti asked her son arjuna to share the gift among the brothers of pandavas hence, draupadi had five husbands( here my intention is not to sully the draupadi's character remember, draupadi represents goddess kali in one of her penance she had asked for a husband with five noble qualities . The almighty said all noble qualities cannot be found in one man as a result , she had to marry five different men to fulfil her wishes)

Even today, DEVAR marrying BHABHI or sharing BHABHI is common in parts of punjab or Haryana (atleast, this can be accepted because they treat it as their custom but in almost every community all over India this is an unwritten code )

When Draupadi came to know that karan was the eldest son of kunti her reaction was " I wish I had him in my husbands list". The yearning is not for physical pleasure but she yearned it for karan's character i.e. his benevolence.


In a religious text a woman is equated to fire. When ghee is poured into fire ghee loses its identity and fire gets strengthened not only ghee be it any object the fire consumes it thoroughly.

In the same breadth, woman cannot remain with single man. this is her metabolic nature. that's why in india (womenfolk were asked to lead a austere life to suppress the FIRE tendency)

The one man one woman concept we derived it from the Britishers. Asking woman to lead an austere lifeshould be seen as a suppressing women's freedom. By allowing let loose would bring in INITIAL problem.

Recently, I came across a report that in UK mothers are going for DNA test for the unborn child because they were unable to distinguish from whom they got conceived boss or husband (for promotion sake, one night stand is okay afterall, the ultimate beneficiary is the family)

When entertainment was rationed contd.....

The Doordarshan madras was started in 1975. The proliferation of television took place only during 1982 Delhi asiad games. The first time in India co lour telecast was made into a reality to make the game a successful one.

The audience in Tamil Nadu were more interested in Oliyum Oliyum, theeraimalar( clippings fropm the tamil films),sunday movie and occasionally weekly drama. The interesting story about Oliyum Oliyum was a life convict in the cental prison in madras(now chennai) escaped from the prison when the guarding guards of the prison were glued to the TV sets. Every friday evening traffic in madras would come to a grinding halt. Such was the impact created by the programme.

By the way, I didn't mention about the content of the programme.......Film songs.
The people of Tamil Nadu have the habit of searching their political leaders in cinema houses. Hence, there was no surprise why a film songs were heart-touching .

The audience simply crave for new release songs because Doorsdarshan had the habit of telecasting sum unknown (only known to producer and director) film songs taking the audience to the "gallows".

Just for a six or seven songs (sometimes the songs are stopped abruptly to make way for regional bulletin) the people had an unimaginable tolerance to watch all advertisements before the programme. The school students used to count those adverisements. The following day they used to mimic those advertisements jingles in school to "captivate" the fellow ones (particularly, girls).

Experiencing it

A man came to meet lord Buddha and asked him a question Does god exist? No. replied Buddha. then the man went off.

Another man asked the same question for which Buddha reply was yes!

Third person asked the same question this time Buddha remained silent and smiled at him. The visitor just prostrated before him and went off.

After a while, one of his disciples asked Buddha why he gave three different answers for the same question.

Lord replied
"The first person was a firm believer of god and he needed an endorsement from me(because Buddha never advocated god's existence in his teachings) Suppose had I gave an affirmative answer he would have pulverized my teachings instead, I wanted him to experience the truth."

The second person was a disbeliever he wanted to consolidated his belief in other words, he needed a support so that I didn't give him the expected answer"

The third person was neither believer nor dis believer but an explorer that's why
I simply smiled at him . My smile conveyed a message that let him experience it himself.

God realization cannot be made on belief it can be acheived through experience alone.

shed some weight

How to beat the recession? and stay fit. Take a "KUTHUU" CD play it loudly start dancing for 30 minutes never mind about your neighbhours.

In this way, you can save the money giving it for local gym and stop housemaid to visit your home do all your household jobs yourself you can save that for your investments.

By doing one's household one can burn out unwanted calories it is not necessary that you can burn out your calories only at gym.

Avoid taking junk foods. Never have stomach-filled food as that would pose serious health problems . Better have half filled stomach so that you can remain slim and trim.

Unpredictable world

The world in which we live is always transistionary in nature. We always look for permanancy in the work we do. Actually, we think exactly opposite to the nature . look at this volcano which erupted under sea. So far, we only saw volcano erupting above the surface.And we have been told by our geography teachers that this 75% of the globe is surrounded by water.

Now, how come the volcano erupted under the water . I have been told by my sailor friends many mountains (sometimes, even taller than Mt.Everest ) have been submerged by the oceans.

when entertainment was rationed

The television came to india in 1956. With the government controlled media the public were deprived of entertainment . In that era, licence was required to own a television set. Not many channels were available for watching.

The weekend movie was a superhit show no matter how bad the film was since, there was no competition the advertisers had no other option but to buy the slots available in the Doordarshan.

After 1980's the government expanded the television reach to the rural areas. Many transmitters were installed in the border areas and many more areas were brought under coverage.

There was no filmi based programmes except chitrahaar and chitramala. Particularly, chitramala featured multi-lingual songs people used to crave for their regional song.
If their regional song was not played during that week the audience realy felt sick . The feeling of being sick will be more if a person stays outside his home state.

The national channel used to telecast week-end regional films with subtitles in English that too, attracted huge audience .

The chitrahaar was a money spinner as far as Doordarshan was concerned because of slew of advertisements preceeded the actual programme.

Yet, those days were wonderful because the entertainment was kept under leash . Today the situation is really piquant with the 24 hour channels keeping abuzz the yearning for the entertainment is completely lost. Oh dear! we really miss those wonderful days???? of GOOD OLD DOORDARSHAN.

Blowing hot and cold

The second edition of IPL II has caught in the bad weather. with many venues have been rescheduled citing security reasons and the general elections . Generally the sports too, have suffered due to recessionary trends in the industry.

In UK, the football clubs have asked for bailout package. In the recently concluded Australian open all players came together to thank the sponsors for the event.

The worst hit is NBA where the sponsors are reluctant to put their money for sponsorship.

The sports and industries are interlinked they both support them in tandem. In my opinion, the organisers should have given a thought in advance since everbody knew that this is an election year providing security will not be an easy task.

The worst hit will be the advertisers and the broadcasters with millions of dollars will go in drains the industry, which is already facing recession the pull out of IPL II will be seen as rubbing salt in the wound.

ICL, IPL rival, safely shelved the project citing lack of sponsors. And it is yet to pay the overseas players for its last edition.

Accomplishing goals

To accomlish any goal we need assistance from various quarters. The goal setting cannot be envisioned without the team efforts. The support from others is quintessential for goal realisation otherwise, it will remain a mirage.

The supreme power brahma had set a goal for living creatres(not just mankind) in order to realise that goal the help poured in from different quarters humans, asuras, devas, fauna and even gods of other departments.

I am talking about "operation churning of mid-sea" the serpent vasuki was used as a churning rope to churn out the mountain mandara,the churner. On the one side, devas were pulling on the other side, asuras were pulling.

In that process, serpent vasuki spewed out a very dangerous venom as that would extinct the living creatures on earth . Sensing the condition lord brahma asked the services of the lord shiva to save the living creatures.

As the churning process was proceeding the mountain mandara tilted towards one side that made the churning process a very difficult task so the lord vishnu was pressed into service by way of taking kurma avatar in the form of giving buttress to the tilted mountain.

At last, the elixir was drilled out with the cooperation of the entire team. This really shows every goal requires inputs.

Here, Lord brahma acted as a cheif executive Officer. He had delgated his authority to his subordinates and they stuck to their tasks. In the end, the goal was accomplished.

Marshaling the senior citizens

March is the best time to visit tirupati was the belief I had before 15th of this month. On monday, my friend handed out a tour chart to visit the temple town.The average age of my team was 65 (while calculating the average age even my age was included) then think of the oldest tourist of our group.

It has become a practice of my friend to hand over all perisus (senior citizen) to me. When it comes to college tour particularly, ladies college he will never call me up. so far so bad. The ladies remain an anathema in my lexicon Oh god! please clarify me .

The reason behind choosing the march as the favourite month for visiting tirupati was based on board exams across thecountry. As i said earlier, that norm was dashed after seeing the milling crowd standing over 8 hours in the ques.

Immediately, an idea came up in my mind to by pass the que and join all perisu in the physically challenged group. Yes! there is a seperate que for persons above the age of 75 and heart ailment patients , physically challenged persons can go through this que to have a darshan of Mr.Venki. Each perisu can be accompanied by an assistant. In our case, i was the sole assistant to all these perisus.

In my entire lifetime , this darshan was the quickest darshan i've ever had. We stood in the que for not more than 20 minutes. As we were approaching the sanctum santorum the devotees in the other ques were venting their jealousy.

On the whole, it was a nice trip but marshalling these senior citizens you need a loads of patience as they would not turn up in time.

Bharat shines

70% of India's population living in the rural areas.A type of an illusion is created in the media that everything in this country is hunky-dory. Still, farmer suicides are unabated in western India.

India ranks first in the poverty index overtaking some of the worst African countries with thousands of thousands of children die due to malnutrition (paradoxically, India also ranks 1st as the diabetic capital of the world) on the one side the Government exhorts for nutrition and conducting program mes for the masses to cut down food intake on the other,truly ! India is a funny place.

The last 17 years of liberalization have helped thousands of families to come out of the poverty. But, still the hinterland remain untouched. Hence, a holistic approach should be evolved to embrace rural areas in the next wave of economic liberalization so that one can proudly India shining oops! sorry Bharat shining

Tread carefully

In case, you encounter a wild animal inside the forest area. Don't stare at its eyes as that would aggravate its rage.

Apply the same analogy at home when you entered into a heated argument with your wife don't stare at her eyes (Remember, the very same eyes were adulated by you before marriage)menfolk always like the following dictum '' ignorance is bliss''.

Made for each other

This is what we call give and take in life. The grandpa in this ad kindles my nostalagia about our grandpas, who were always at loggerheads with our grandmas but they continued their relationships inspite of their differences.

The grandpa knows very well that he will never win an arguement with grandma (for that matter, no man can beat his wife in an arguement admit them they are invincible). Sometimes you pretend that you are ignorant. In other words, you allow your spouse to show him/her superiority over you. This is what I call '' match-fixing''. There is always a happy moment when you see your beloved get exited .

But today, unfortunately the relationships have taken a beating . It is not clear whom to blame for sabotaging the relationships. Probably today's generation is more luckier than the rajas and ranis of yesterdayers. We all lead comfortable life only shortcoming is that our neighbhor enjoys it too which we cannot tolerate.

We want all comforts in this birth itself as if we believe KAL HO NAA HO! After hitting the middle age one should think that how many birthdays are we going to celebrate? or is there any birthday left for us? If we do it sincerely I'm sure we will definetly imbibe give and take policy.

Change is required

The test cricket requires an overhaul. The purists may claim that there should not be any tinkering in this format of the game. The specatator patronage is dwindling. Nobody has the time to watch a five day game. Moreover, the game is favouring the batsmen heavily and there is a dearth of quality bowlers which makes the game a drab. Some fine tuning is required to keep the test cricket afloat.

1. let there be a five day game however an introduction of points on day to day basis would make the game more interesting. The final series win should be based on number of points won by the each team.

2.Introduction of negative points on the batting side would mitigate the slow scoring tactics . The fixation of minimum number of runs to be scored should be set for each session failing to meet the minimum requirement would deprive the team point.

3.The team batting second should not be allowed to overtake the overs the team batted first had taken to set the target by doing so, the batsmen would accelarate the scoring runs.Moreover,the team batting second should not be allowed to exceed the number of wickets lost by the team batting first. However, the waiver should be given in case of a declaration or when the number of wickets fallen below 4.

4.The bowlers should give a free hand in delievering bouncers since the game is heavily tilted towards the batsman.

5.In a series, different types of pitches ought to be prepared(for example, 1st test batsman favouring pitch, 2ndtest bowlers favouring pitch this process of preparing pitches should be selected on the basis of a lot) so that an even approach can be maintained.

6. There should not be any loss of play hours because of poor light condition . The test matches should be conducted in a venue which has the artificial light facilities.

7.In case of play loss due to rain (if it exceeds more than 3 days)the remaining days should be converted into 60 overs one day game.

Does size really matter?

Don't get browbeaten by your adversaries move. Take them "head-on" . Then you will find they will run away from your path. No matter how big are they? Just give your jolt .

Try to listen to others

A good leader is one who distribute credit to team members . In the case of failure, he owns up. ''Success has many fathers while failure is an orphan''

As someone said rightly when you are a leader you always feel loneliness at the top.Because you ought to lead from the front. You ought to motivate yourself and you cannot expect motivation from external sources.

A leadership can come in two ways. An autocratic leadership which doesn't listen to others In other words, it is a thumb rule there is no two way communication the order used to percolate from the top. No subordinates involvement in decision making as a result, you get perfunctory performance from your subordinates.

A democratic leadership( Even in this way of communication the thumb rule plays covertly because the leaders are threatened by their immediate juniors) atleast, in this type of lewadership there is a way of listening to others viewpoint. When you take all major decisions there will be a situation where you don't know whether you are on the right path.

By invoking democratic principles,you are allowed to practice role revisionary methods . Under this method, for a few moments you play the role of a subordinate you look at your '' own decisions'' from the subordinate angle. you get a chance to weigh your decisions.

Role revisionary practice is not only useful for organisations it can be used in our domestic life too. After all, we are guided by our obstinateness.

36-18-33 @age50

On hearing this B MI, any woman crossing 30 would definitely have jealousy . NO BOT OX TREATMENT, No silicon implant (yet looking prim " ooh lalaaa") fulfilling the parameters of an "evergreen figure". Here I am not talking about any image rejig of a pop star. I am talking about the doll Barbie.

The doll makers drew inspiration from "Bild Lily" , a German doll manufacturer. The doll was named after the manufacturer's daughter Barbara. This doll became a "must have" possession for the last five decades.The average age of doll users comes around 40.

The doll drew flak from American Psychiatry Association for vulgar display of doll as it would have an effect on children mind. By seeing the "Structure" of barbie doll the users became anorexic as a result,their health got affected. Many Islamic countries have banned the sale of this dolls citing the clothing does not confirm to Islamic scriptures. The impact of Barbie doll created a pressure on males, as they wanted to look pretty to be associated with a girl like Barbie and this syndrome is called ken syndrome. However,there is no substantive evidence to this syndrome.


COME ON BARBIE! LET'S GO PARTY.

An Early morning in chennai

Traditionally speaking people in this part of the globe sleep very early and rise up early too. Of late, the tradition is given for a toss thanks to BPO's across the city. Madurai, a town in the southern part of the state , known for sleepless town due to continuous activities going around Meenakshi temple, has lost its position to Chennai, state capital.

The newspaper vendors are the first to occupy the city streets with dispatching van offloads the newspaper bundles in the wee hours. One must look at the dexterity at which they assemble the separate bundle into a perfect newspaper its amazing ! they are second only to the dabbawallahs of Mumbai in terms of their sorting process.Whether it is rain or shine they make sure you get a copy of your newspaper at your dining table before dawn. In the recent past, the local advertisers prefer sending their pamphelts through newspapers to reach their target audience so one could see a lot of local advertisers carrying bundles negotiating with the vendors for dispatching them. Of course,the vendors charge for their "services". Some newspapers have discouraged this practice but monitoring them personally is almost impossible.

There was a time in Chennai,when households preferred taking fresh buffalo milk straight from the cattle owners for their "filter" coffee.The cattle owners, on their part, bring a buffalo tether them in front of the house (possibly a lamp post)and "milk " them . An inmate of the house (probably an elderly person would inspect the milking process just to be sure that milkman does not mix water). The chennai milkmen are known for their notority in mixing large amount of water with milk. But, after an order from the chennai corporation the cattle breeders had to move out of the city hence,those scenes are missing today.

The hotels and tea stalls are ready at the crack of dawn. The visitors to hotels are welcomed with fragrance from incense sticks and nadaswaram concert blaring out from the FM channels.

Auto drivers outside the Railway station make a beeline to "capture" their passengers. Likewise, the passengers going out of city to catch early morning flights or trains would involve in high pitch voice battle with autodrivers over the fares.Sometimes, air travel would look cheaper than autotravel in Chennai. In the whole of India, autodrivers in chennai have earned a bad name because of their fleecing practice.

It i finish this blog without mentioning about temples than I am doing a disservice to the city where I live. The temples in chennai "wake up" around 5.00 a.m. To reach the fully fit status the temple works would start at 4.00 a.m. On either side of the road, which leads to the temple, is decorated with flower shops. Where you find marigold,jasmine, rose kadambham( a mixture ofvarious flowers) and marikozhunthu (a kind of green to enrich the fragrance)

But, there aresome temples theyn normaly wake up at 7.00 a.m. It is depend upon the relationship between the presiding deity and the priest.

This day that year..........

On this day March 7, 1952 Yogananda paramahamsa attained samadhi . His book " Autobiography of a yogi is still ranked as the bestseller. The book has been translated in twenty five languages

He was the first saint to introduce yoga to westerners. Kriya yoga, a technique passed on to him through his Guru Yukteswar . Actually, Mahaavatar baba taught kriya yoga to Lahiri mahasaya who , in turn taught to Yukteswar.

His philosophy on self-realization "Self-realization is the knowing in all parts of body, mind, and soul that you are now in possession of the kingdom of God; that you do not have to pray that it come to you; that God’s omnipresence is your omnipresence; and that all that you need to do is improve your knowing".

An ashram called Yogoda satsang society of India founded by him in 1917.

The Mahabharatha could have been averted

Had three things been followed the war could have been averted.
1.Arjuna's gaandib should have been broken because he was very much attached to bow. with that bow he had the habit of swearing upon this and that.


2.Draupati head should have been tonsured because every time when there was a glimmering chance of peace been enforced she showed her long hair to pandavas and mentioned about the humiliation she had meted out at the hands of dhusshashan.

3.Lord Krishna should have been tied because the lord had the clairvoyant p[ower he could have the averted the crisis by his divine power.

The three agendas were put forward by the sahadeva to the lord krishna. Interestingly, of the three agendas, sahadeva told Lord Krishna no.3 agenda was easier than the rest of the others.

For which Lord krishna asked sahadeva how he could do it? By asking it , lord Krishna took vishwarupam .

Sahadeva simply closed his eyes and imagined the lord krishna as a child and he tied the child with this devotion by doing so,the lord standing before sahadeva hands were tied. The Lord was pleased with the sahadeva's devotion and asked him to release from the bondage.

FROM BLOT TO BLOSSOM Contd......

In the earlier chapter , we saw how ratnakar was transformed into sage valmiki . Likewise, there is a psalm in the bible which says " condemn the sin not the sinner".

This had happened in Jesus Christ life when an adulterous woman was stoned by the villagers.Jesus Christ came to her rescue and condemned the sinful act of that woman. But, he didn't condemn the woman.Just how sage narada played instrumental in transforming the ratnakar life,when the whole world had shunned him.

It shows great persons don't differentiate between good and bad. As per karmic theory, the purpose of taking birth is to jettison the baggage of sins.

In the eyes of creator, nothing is detestable. Can they be included in the ordinary life? My answer would be depending upon the individual's preference. My answer would be use them for social uplift.

When you pluck a rose from the garden does anyone give a thought about the manure used for cultivation of the rose plant? Likewise, these personalities should be used for the social betterment.

Ok Ok this philosophy may sound outlandish. All good things are good only if they are found in print. But, when it comes to practical life we are caught in the web.

Blot to Blossom

The Human beings have the tendency to avoid certain people. We always take sides in associating with the people. Without foregone conclusion our mind fails to comprehend the dynamics of the nature. The entire universe takes sides either good or bad.
THINK A man was admonished by the society later that man became an all time great whose name is still uttered with much reverence even today. Yes! I am talking about the great poet and sage valmiki. Before he acquired the name of valmiki he was known as rathnakara a cruel person known for committing dacoity, murders and other such things.

It was sage narada who transformed this cruel personality into a sage. The dacoit Ratnakara was initiated Rama Japa by the sage narada .Ratnakara couldn't chant the japa properly he simply said "mara mara" but, he had the conviction to realize the supreme soul(later he realized the brahmam) with that single determination he went on to write 240000 verses on lord ram life which is otherwise known as Ramayana. People Like you and me tend to avoid such personalities but seers have the abilities to bring out the potential to the world.

God save us

God save the hapless menfolk from these species.Sister,we are really paavam. The sister in the scene has reached this stage because of her "roaming-free" nature now, she wants to set right her record . No !sister Escapeeeeeee.........

More Idllis........

Sometime ago I blogged about idly features. Recently, I came across an article which said that the food item idly was found in the sangam period (as I mentioned it). they were using urad dal but only different the idlies were not steamed. The concept of steaming came from Indonesia. Because in those days, the then Tamil Nadu was an important trade centre in the world map.

A gap of 30 years

The film "meendum kokila" was made in 1980. The tradition goes like this from the boy side the family makes a visit to see the girl's family . While on a visit, the enquire about family background, status and they also conduct some tests to find out whether they see any convergence between two families. They even ask girl to sing (because by remaining silent one may not know whether the girl is a dumb or not this is done to dispel that doubt ) and they even ask the girl to dance( this is done with a view to test whether the girl is a physically challenged or not).

By comparing the two foot ages above one could see the sea change in arranged marriage concept. The girls have transformed themselves.

IT IS A EVER CHANGING WORLD THERE IS ONE THING WHICH CANNOT BE CHANGED THAT IS CHANGE.