Tamilnadu - Thanga Tamil nadu Sir!

Medical Seats Reserved:

Finally, counseling for single window admissions to Tamilnadu professional courses have begun. 96% of the MBBS seats are bagged by students belong to reserved community and forward community students were able to get very less number of seats. Does it mean, reserved community people have become competitive enough, so that reservation for some communities in the reserved quota could be scrapped and put them in general quota? That was the original idea of Dr. Ambedkar when he proposed the theory of reservation. I understand the need for such system for our country and I certainly back up reservation scheme.

However, the scenario here is very different. The apparent development of other castes is very illusionary as we see a lot of people are still not getting the level of education they deserve. The eye of the problem is people who are really backward are not benefited because people who are socially and economically well advanced claim the benefits. Let us imagine a reserved class student, whose parents are professionals like engineers, doctors, collectors etc. still claims he is backward and tries to fit into the quota where as real backward rural students are denied their opportunities as their seats are taken away by wealthy urban students.

Now, it is evident at least some sections of reserved quota people are competent enough to be put under open quota. Yes, I am saying something like creamy layer concept or reservation schema that takes these factors into account.
a) Social Backwardness
b) Economical status
c) If any of the parents are already benefited by the scheme before.
However, I am less hopeful of meaningful changes in our country that is good for our countrymen. After all in democracy only the heads are counted not the brains, that too ours is a pseudo democracy where politicians reap benefits by raking up people emotionally not intellectually.

Aadi thapasu kudutha aapu:

On the lighter side, let us see how “shani peyarchi” affected a “gurukal” of a famous temple called “Sankaran koil” in tirunelveli district.

Sankaran Koil temple is famous for function during this month of “aadi” called as “aadi thapasu”. As told by puranas, Mother goddess undertook a penance in this very place,during month of “aadi”, to convince Shiva and Vishnu to manifest as “shanakaranarayana”. This event is celebrated as “aadi tapasu” in a grand manner each year. This year some ministers of HRCE dept and collectors too attented the function.

Our poojari, let us name him “Ramasami gurukal” was a naive innocent person. Ramasami without knowing who is a “Big person” and who is a “Small person”, gave prasadams to all those officials and bureaucrats. Next day you know what he got? A suspension order!

Reason was, district collector was paid respect ahead of the minister and that calls for suspension of poojari!. Poor gurukal, might have thought everyone else is small in front of god and all must have looked same to him. I said to myself “Anga thaan nikkiran sani”.

"வெள்ளத்தனைய மலர் நீட்டம் மாந்தர்தம்
உள்ளத் தனையது உயர்வு"

Story time...

One small story:

This story is from Mahabharatham. Pandavas were defeated in the dice game by vice sakuni and they had to spend twelve years in “Vana Vasam” (living in forest) and one more year in “Agnyatha Vaasam” which is living in city with their identity concealed. They approached lord Krishna to help them in their time of difficulty. Sri Krishna advised arjuna to do penance in the forest to gain extra powers as he saw an imminent war in the end of their ordeal. Arjuna asked Krishna to suggest a place where they could live happily and also his penance would be successful. Krishna told him to get that information by meditating upon Lord Shiva. After few days, Arjuna came back to Krishna and told that he had vision of lord Shiva in human form with one hand on his mouth shut and another on crotch, while he was meditating. He pleaded Krishna to explain message of lord Shiva. Krishna told “One can live peacefully anywhere as long as his mouth and genitals are under ones control is the message of the Lord”.

(Note: This story is found in vyasa’s Mahabharatham as per Cho.)

Unanswered Question?

Paul Brunton is author of a book called “Search in Secret India” which is about “Yogis” and “Gurus” whom he met in India during his visit to this holy land in 1930s. As per the book, once he was spending a couple of months in ramana ashramam and interacted with many “sadhus”. Once he was explaining the scientific advancements that were taking place in west to a highly regarded sadhu Ramaiah. Paul Brunton told him about the motor car which was making impact in people’s lives then. Sadhu Ramaiah asked him “You say we can travel faster in a motor car. But I really don’t know why one has to travel that fast?”

Apart from all other reasons we can think of for the need to travel fast, people might have found it fascinating then, because traveling slow was boring to them. There might come a day when people might get fed up with this fast paced life and might find traveling by bullock cart or voyaging in a steam powered ship fascinating. “Manam oru kurangu, manitha manam oru kurangu”. (Mind is a monkey).

தத்து(வ) பித்து (அ) புரிதல்

புரிதல்
நான் சொன்னது என் வார்த்தைகள்
நீங்கள் கேட்பது உங்கள் வார்த்தைகள்

நான் எழுதுவது என் எண்ணங்கள்
நீங்கள் படிப்பது உங்கள் எண்ணங்கள்

என் இருப்பிடதிலிருந்து நான் பார்க்கிறேன்
உங்கள் இருப்பிடதிலிருந்து நீங்கள் பார்க்கிறீர்கள்

ஆகையால் சொல்கிறேன்,
நாம் பேச வேண்டிய மொழி அன்பு
அதை சொல்ல வேண்டிய வழி மெளனம்.

சொல்லாமலே!

நான் நீண்ட பயணம் போகிறேன் என்று
வழியனுப்ப வந்த பொழுது
நீ விழியில் விழிகொண்டு காதல் தேடினாய்
அது நமக்கு தெரியும்

ஆனால் நீ ஏமாற்றத்துடன் கைகுலுக்கி
விடை கொடுத்து சென்ற பின்
நீ திரும்பி பார்க்க வேண்டும் என்று
நான் எனக்குள் அழுதது
உனக்கு இதுவரை தெரியாது!

முரண்

வெய்யிலில் செருப்பில்லா சிறுவன்
A.C. கார் அம்மணிக்கு
விற்றுக் கொண்டிருந்தான்
ஐஸ்!!

In response to PK's Request

PK has requested me to provide the meaning for the songs in Thiruvasagam CD.
There was a G.U. Pope who hadtranslated thiruvasagam in english.

However, I am providing the list of songs to look for.

1. Hymn XLV.- yathirai pathu Poovar senni Mannan
This song is called yathirai pathu, because manikavasagar is urgin "adiyars" to go and seek refuge at lord Shiva's Feet.
"Nirpaar Nirka, nilla ulagil nillom ini naam selvome", which would make even a normal man, who leads a ver worldly life, to give up everything and join the party who are on "Yathirai". Thats why It is called so. A casual inspection on the lyrics will make one realise the kinda "yathirai" the party is making. They are going to "Siva padham".

2. HYMN 1 (civapurANam) Polla vinaiyen
Very famous Siva puranam. Does one need any introduction to this song?

3. Hymn X- tiruk kOttumpi poo eru konum purantharanum

A "thumbi ", Dragon Fly, is sent as messenger to express gratitude of manikavasagar to Lord Shiva. Mostly songs are about magnanimity of lord shiva for HIS grace despite inadequecy and shortcomings of his devotion.


4.Hymn XXXVII- piditha pathu umbarkadkarase

It is about his steadfastness of his devotion and its benefits. The song's main theme is one has to hold Lord's feet strongly and should not think of anything else.

5. HYMN IX - thiruppoRcuNNam (Ananthamanolayam) muthu natraamam
It is about "adiyars" singing and dancing in ecstasy.

6. Hymn XXXV- achchap pathu Putril vaazh aravum anjen.
Main theme of this song is manikavasagar has no fears of anything but people who don't accept lord shiva. He cautions devotees to maintain a distance from such non-beleivers.




Hope this Helps.

News Reporting – some serious questions!

Rule of Law!
Two weeks ago there was a news making rounds in Indian media. A Muslim woman was raped by her father-in-law. The local Islamic body had passed a verdict that the lady should start considering her husband as her own son and her father in law as her husband. I have many questions in this incident. Leave alone the “vikramadhithan – Vethal” sikkal in the case. I found the following things interesting.
1) No political party condemned the verdict.
2) Nobody seems to have approached the court.
3) Some people were talking once again about uniform civil code. I thought rape was a criminal issue and no civil laws apply. Even local Muslim bodies do not have any constitutional rights to pass judgment on it.

While, I was thinking on these lines, some other reports said the earlier reports were false and nobody was raped. So the papers made money by reporting both ways and they never bothered to report anything accurate or they have no interest in bringing any atrocities to light, which must be their foremost duty.

Questions never answered!
Once again, something based on old reports. In politics we have seen very often leaders trade charges before they form alliance and shower praises on each other. We are least surprised by those. However, few days ago, Sunil Gavaskar, had told to media that the reason for Jhon Wright leaving Indian team was that some players were abusive to him. Interestingly there were no follow ups. However, except for Ganguly, the media is very favorable to other cricket players and project them as our role models. It looks like it is not totally true.

Charges Dismissed – No enquiries required!
Talking about trading charges, every one knows ambani brothers traded a lot of charges. Especially anil was talking about some malpractices regarding reliance share markets. These charges were of very serious nature and involved crores of share holder’s money. I don’t know much details about them, atleast from reports I thought so. I think an honest central government should have initiated investigation based on the reports. Instead, Mr.Chidhabaram has unilaterally announced no such investigations are required as they have patched up. Vaazhga Jana Nayagam! Valarga Naadu!

Guest Column - an email received.

Recently I received this email from my cousin sridhar.
His reaquest and reasons to buy original thiruvasagam CDs.
Please kindly go through this message.
____________________________________________________________
Dear Muthukumar,
I would like to tell you more details about how hard
it was for making this noble project.
I have been visiting a forum which was one of the
prominent location that had visitors from various
locations who now have been active members of bringing
this TiS (Thiruvaasagam in Symphony) into reality.
Tis-USA is founded for this very reason.  One of the
main persons of this foundation is Dr.Sankar Kumar.
He is a regular visitor of that forum.
Right from the time the idea was mooted I came to know
about this project thru that forum.  For the past 2.5
years I have been hearing about this project.
IR (ILayaraaja), we all know, has not released his
symphony which he did in Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
(RPO) London a decade back.  A lot of reasons for that
are told - ranging from his personal confusion(my
guess) to critic of Western classical music didnt
accept that to big music producing & marketing
companies like had deserted him.
This TiS is a noble venture for which IR didnt want to
face the same fate.  In addition to that he himself
has said that, in olden days even though the wealthy
and king could themselves have contributed  100% and
built a temple, they never did it on their own.  They
wanted contribution (even monetary) from all, the
logic is let the punyam go to everyone.  As IR himself
said that it is a noble one he too wanted public
contribution.
IR got this idea of giving a Oratario format for
thiruvaasagam sometime during his visits to
thiruvaNNaamalai some three years back (oratario is a
western classical music form wherein sacred hymns are
tuned, sung by people and chorus with symphonic
orchestra playing).
Tamil mayyam is a chennai based foundation spearheaded
by Rev. Fr. Jagath Gasper.  The foundation's main aim
is to promote the treasures of thamizh to the world.
It was the wish of HIM that IR's idea came to know to
Tamil mayyam.  Tamil Mayyam was immediately ready to
do.  It is not so easy.  The money involved is going
to be in crores.  The mayyam had nothing in its hand
except a paltry sum.  IR and mayyam started to go
ahead leaving everything to HIS hands.  This time Dr.
Sankar Kumar, Sridhar Seetharaman, Sridhar
Balasubramanian and many such people who are in the US
were also ready to contribute both in paying from
their hand as well as collect from people.  Tis-USA
was also formed.  They contacted their friends,
appealed thru many forums including IR yahoo groups,
and the forum I too visit.  Many contributed whatever
small amount they could.  At the same time many had
expressed their doubt that this album too will not see
its light.  Time rolled; some expressed their dissent
of the way, what they felt, things were not clear
about what, how much money was contributed and what is
happening to that as they dont see the outcome to be
released in near future.
IR and mayyam had their priorities clear - they want
the best of the resources of the world to be utilized
to the first showcase of our treasure to the world.
So it means it needs a lot of money.  But contribution
from public was not flowing as much and as fast as
expected.  So Fr Jagath, Dr SK and many had borrowed
loans, pledged their properties to raise the amount
which are in 10s of lakhs of rupees, as the more the
delay in generating money the more will be the trouble
and pressure.
After so much of pressure, so much of negative
feeling, so much of doubts, above all lot of
outstanding debts they could fund for the project and
complete the album.
Then came next hurdle.  From what I believe,
negotiation with some biggies for marketing the album
was not fruitful.  Finally, somehow they found the
people to market this product, after 2.5 years of
trouble with outstanding debts the album is released
now.
I hear that the album is hit among the people and at
the same time also sad to hear that illegal copies
(mp3 etc) are being floated in net to share amongst
friends.  The official US price is fixed at $15 for
the CD and $20 for the premium CD and distributed by
tis-usa, DVD online and others.  Some people do bulk
order in India ship them here and want to sell it in
$5 to $10 illegally and want to make quick money.  One
thing it shows how popular this noble venture has
become but at the sametime we also have to note that
this way of distribution does not help those good
hearted people of mayyam, tis-usa and many who have
toiled a lot to bring it to us.  We should give
respect to this noble project by way of listening to
it by buying the legal copies.
It is not a cinema album.  Many people including IR
have melted themselves for this noble cause.  So let
us also, as consumers, contribute towards this by
buying the legal copies, urging our friends to buy
only legal copies and asking those who traffic illegal
copies to stop and discourage them.
May I request you to spread this message amongst your
friends.
Thanks
Sridhar
 

Education - Some Ancient thoughts!

Based on a zen story
A youngster was back from his training under a great master. He had spent nearly 12 years in his school. His father asked him “Did you get anything new from your master that you did not have before?” The son replied “No, Not at all”. The father asked “then what did you learn in these 12 years?” Son said “I learnt that no one can give you anything new that you did not have it already”. Father was pleased with his son.

From Vedantha
Maithreyi asked sage yagnyavalkiya “What happens to ones hard earned academic knowledge when one dies? Will it be carried over to next janma?” Sage said “No, it won’t, it burns down with the mortal body”.

Caveat: I could not find the original text of it. I must have read it somewhere. Please google for “Brihadaranyaka Upanishad” to know who are maithreyi and sage yagnyavalkiya.

Sanskrit “Subhashithani”

Na chor haryyam, cha na raj haryyam
Na bhratri bhajyam, na bharkari
Vyaye krte vardhate ave nityam
Vidya dhan sarva dhan pradhanam

Neither the thief can steal it, nor can the king take it
Neither divided amongst brothers, nor too heavy to carry
The more you expend it, the more it increases
Knowledge is the prime wealth

Vidya dadati vinayam,
vinaya dadati paatrataam,
paatratva dhanamaapnoti,
dhanat dharmam tatatsukham.

Education gives Humility; Humility gives Character; from character one gets wealth; from wealth one gets righteous (dharmam) life; from righteousness gets happiness.

Thirukural
Ennenba enai ezhuthenba ivirandum
Kanenba Vazhum uyirku.

Mathematics and Literature are the two eyes for human beings.