Anda naalum vandhidatho?

April 13, 2011 - Tamil Nadu Assembly election to be held.  And each party is trying to make use of the Indian mentality - OSI; it is not an abbreviation of anything, it is a simple TAMIL(?) word, ஓசி.  And they are gifting Mixer grinder, grinder, refrigerator, laptop etc.  But mind you, my fellow country men,  They are not talking about the power cuts that will deter us from using these gadgets.  They are not talking about a free basic education that will enable everyone to use a laptop.  There are many important infrastructure issues such as laying roads, power and water scarcity, non-standardized education systems, education fee structures and more importantly corruption.  எலுமிச்சம்பழதிலேர்ந்து எலி பாஷாணம் வரைக்கும் ஊழலோ ஊழல்.  But who wants to talk about these?  The gathering at their public addressing applauds for their rubbish talks.  Sometimes I feel India is very much cursed  than Japan.  Why can't there be a tsunami to flush off all these politicians?  At least Chennai is a coast, I wish Delhi gets shifted near Chennai or any other coast as Vadivelu claims in a film so that it gets hit easily by a violent tsunami.  

I do not know the details of Anna Hazare and dont know where was he all these days.  Many many thanks to him and those who support him.  It was good of Aamir Khan to have written to the PM in this regard; I am yet to understand the Lokpal Bill that Hazare and his group of activists are fighting for.  But I have a long time dream on how the rulers of India should be.  Read on:

1. Anyone who is contesting for elections should have had a minimum education of 15 years, in Indian terms  an undergraduate. 
2. All those that contest should have served the country through Army/Navy/Air Force / Police / ICS or similar departments for a minimum of 3 years.
3. EC has the authority to disqualify a contestant (may be already existing?)
4. Only those that file IT returns every year and with clean records can contest
5. Government will take care of the day-to-day expenses of the MLAs and MPs and the other rulers such as Governors and CMs but their salary will be on term basis and strictly on performance and feedback from the people of the constituency. No performance, no salary.
6. Only one person from a group of kith and kin will be able to hold a ministry across central and state
7. No person will be able to contest from his native place or from the area where majority of the people living in the area belong to the the same community as that of the contestant.(I am sorry but India can never ever get rid of caste system)
8. No contestant should have ever been convicted in a court.
9. No contestant should have ever been charged with crimes against women and children.

 I know it will only remain as a dream forever...

Three cheers to Dhoni's men

Well, the world cup fever is all gone!  Every Indian (I count only those that are cricket fans here) is so happy and proud not only for the team lifting the WC but also for making all the knock-out matches so thrilling and entertaining.  Thanks to the ICC group for keeping these matches day-night as I could only watch them after 10 pm IST.  

I had personally lost interest in following cricket soon after few of the Indian team members caught in match-fixing and also when the team's performance was really not up-to-the mark.  Dhoni was getting popular then with his batting and hair styles.  Remember seeing hoardings of his Mysore Sandal soap commercials  in the Central station when hubby and I boarded a train to Munnar.  If at all I liked 'that' kind of a hair style, it was only Dhoni's.  This time when I saw him on the TV, I was shocked to see that he had shed that extra hair and also his batting performance( He scored only singles in most of the matches). Does not matter, he proved that he is the MAN, he is the CAPTAIN on April 2nd, a date that the Indians will not forget for sometime from now.  

When it was 30 required from 30 balls my blood pressure was sure high as the credit history of our men's mental strength is very poor but when Yuvraj and Dhoni each sent the ball to the ropes, it was very evident that Dhoni's men were going to lift the WC.  I read all reviews - the one on the front page, many many on the sports column on the penultimate page of The Hindu and I missed to note one thing everywhere.  Every Indian  knew India will be the champions of 2011 around the 46th over but  what was so enthralling was the six that came from Dhoni on the last ball - I felt it was the best gift that the skipper gave to his men and the country.  I am sure the spectators at Wankhede would have witnessed the best hit of the day!

PS: Very happy that this post comes in April, the month I started my blog last year.  Sometimes I wonder "yaarume illatha kadayila tea aathareno" but Thanks to Major Sir, Krishna, Renga and others who encourage me to keep writing.  Please do continue to visit here and leave your comments :)

Today...

Friday 9:00 PM:

"You can come in to the Hospital now"  I hung up the phone and lit up the lights, did a namaskaram to the God, kept 1.25 rupees (dont know why, I was an obedient daughter then) to be dropped in the Thayumanavar temple and was ready to leave after pranams to in-laws.

10:00 PM

We reached the Hospital and entered via the emergency entry as it was well past 10 pm.  The staff nurse took us to LDR (labour and Delivery Room) 11.  We discussed if 11 was a lucky number :)).  A nurse who resembled yesteryear actor Sharmilee (not to be confused with baby shaamilee) set up the IV line for Pitocin, the induction medicine.  I thought of my mom and got the courage to face everything that was going to follow. The contractions and baby's heartbeat were monitored every 2 hours by the staff nurse.  By this time, MIL and hubby were snoring.  I was not able to sleep and was thinking of so many things.

Saturday 4 AM:

The nurse who was ready to go home wished me good luck and said "I will not be in tomorrow I hope you deliver before I come on Sunday."  My monitors started to show contractions.

11 AM:

Contractions were not closer to each other.  I went to the restroom and noted that my water started to leak.  I alarmed the nurse and was advised not to move then on.  And all this while I was only given ice cubes. Contractions started to get closer and sharper.  The Doctor who was supposed to supervise my case reported to duty and she visited and checked me and said I was not dilating more than 2 cm at that point.

4 PM:

4 cm dilation.  Dr performed membrane rupture around 5 pm.  The water gusted out.  She said she can wait until Sunday morning around 6 am to see if things happen naturally.

8 PM:

No more dilation.  Dr suggested to go for C-section.  By this time, MIL went home. I called up my eldest sister and asked her what to do.  She suggested to take the Dr's direction.  Hubby and I requested to wait for 1 more hour.  We waited for 10 long days, cant we wait for 1 more hour?

9 PM:

It was decided to go ahead with C-section.

"Do you want him to be born on 7th or 8th?  And we have to get him out before 2 AM as the clocks will get adjusted an hour forward."

"We want him on the 8th as it is already the 8th in India, and we definitely want him to be out by 2 AM"

11.45 PM:

I was ready to be taken to the OT.  Hubby was waiting for MIL to come to the hospital.  And there he was, with a mask on his face and a head cover.

Sunday 00:15 AM

"Is he out?"  I asked the anesthetist who was trying to suck (with a tube) the thing that I disgorged.  "No, not yet"

00:30 AM

Heard the softest cry of HIM.  He was BORN, we heard the second cry.  "He is a big boy"  the Dr exclaimed.  And I saw his image just over the curtain like sheet that covered my sight to the rest of my body. I turned my face to hubby and asked him "How is he?"  there was no strength but a lot of enthusiasm in that voice.

From that moment life has changed a lot, and is still changing and highly demanding. And he is TWO today.  H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y  dear!

Dream

My siblings and I plan and execute an identity theft & robbery.  All of my siblings escaped from the place and when I tried to flee, there was an autowala outside the gate.  I hear somebody's footsteps and give an SOS sort of SMS to my siblings and ...

I woke up from my dreadful dream.  Perhaps my brain is doing mix-n-match with "The Saint" movie that I watched last week and my upcoming Chennai visit and my meeting with my siblings.   

Everything is ready for the travel and Chinnu and I will be departing Pittsburgh tomorrow at noon.  I am really scared for the diaper-change part of the travel as he does not co-operate for this matter.

DH and I have been wanting to watch "Yuddham Sei" for a few days but could not do.  Lets see if we are able to watch it by tonight. If not, he is going to watch when I am not here :))

The journey of the soul (per Hinduism, per my understanding)

*** Thanks to my father and my siblings who keep enlightening me on subjects like these ***

I read a blog post and that had prompted me to write on this topic.

My mother passed away almost 2 years ago. The religious rites performed for the 13 days post her death brought in lots of discussions on the journey of a soul as per our religion.  There was a quick lecture on Garudapuranam highlights as well on the 13th day.   This is what I gathered -

When a soul leaves a human body(death in other words) it goes to the kingdom of Yama(the God of Dharma) to get a verification done (remember we heard stories of people reviving after being dead).  Once the verification is done, it gets back to the place where it was living and sobs as its dear-ones mourn over the death of the so-and-so person and it also feels bad to shed its body and to leave them. (elders say that this is the reason the cremation has to be done ASAP).  The religious rites are performed from the second day through the twelfth day and the 13th day being SUBHAM i.e. to count only the good things and move on with normal life.

Different people follow different cultural adaptations with respect to performing these last rites.  I am only giving what was being observed in my community.  On the 13th day, the soul leaves to Pithru loka (the world of ancestors) and it goes through various stages depending on its good/bad traits; Hindus call this as punyam/pavam. The family left behind observes monthly shrardha (shradhdha means sincerity, shrardha is the offering of pinda (a special meal) to the departed soul offered with utmost sincerity) apart from performing the same on the 27th day and 45th day (called oona-masika - I dont know the meaning though) The shrardha pinda is offered to Crows which are believed to be the form of pithrus or ancestors.  After the completion of 5th monthly shrardha and before the 6th monthly shrardha a cow with a calf is offered to somebody(generally to temples) and this is called Gho (cow) Dhana (offering).  My father explained to me that the soul on its journey in the pithru loka has to cross a river and this crossing is hindered by many factors.  The Gho Dhana process helps the soul get through this stage with ease.  Then continues the remaining monthly shrardhas and Aapdheeka, the first year's shrardha (on the day of the death in terms of lunar calendar) is performed.  Only after this the soul goes through the swargha/naraka (paradise/hell) phase and is either ready for rebirth or salvation or mukthi (easy to write here :-) ) For a soul to attain salvation it has to have a nil balance of both papa/punya (bad/good).  As long as there is a balance on one of these, rebirth is certain to undergo the repercussions of the good/bad.  The family performs annual shrardha as a routine.

Why does the family have to keep performing the shrardha and offer the pinda (to three previous generations) every year? And how does its effect reach the soul?  My gut feeling is that performing the shrardha is a form of thanksgiving.  The answer to the second question is through the pithru devathas who act as agents.  Sometimes we feel very happy for no particular cause - it may be because of the shrardha performed for our soul by someone (in the lineage of a previous birth).  Also, offering the pinda is only for the previous three generations; if A is performing shrardha for his dad, he also offers the pinda to A's grandfather and great grandfather (if both are dead).  When A dies, A's son will perform the shrardha and the offering will be made to A, A's father and A's grandfather.  May be by this time, A's great grandfather would have taken another birth or attained salvation.

Some people believe that the soul retains its memory when it is in the mother's womb but the memory is flushed out when it is born. While on the earth, the soul does not retain the memories of its kith and kin from one birth to another.  What a gift?  Else Karunanidhi will have to have the entire assembly seats for his bloodline and there will be perunidhi, sirunidhi and all sorts of nidhi's ruling the kollywood of course with English names for their production companies. 

The belief per Hinduism is that when a soul is relieved of the body before the stipulated time(age) it wanders without the body until the remaining time is elapsed. For some reason I do not believe in the existence of ghosts.  I too do not know why some people were able to recollect the memories from previous births (as reported by newspapers) - this may be because God wants us to develop a belief in all these!!!

இங்கிவனை யான் பெறவே...

You tube-ல்  ஒரு வீடியோ லிங்க் கிடைத்தது.  அதனுடய விளைவே இந்த போஸ்ட்.

"மாசானாம் மார்கசீர்ஷோ அஹம்"  (மாதங்களில் நான் மார்கழியாக இருக்கிறேன்) என்று கண்ணனாலும், "மாதங்களில் அவள் மார்கழி" என்று கண்ணதாசனாலும் பெருமை பெற்றது மார்கழி மாதம் (அவதார புருஷனுக்கு பிடிச்ச மாசத்தில தான் நான் பிறந்தது - என்ன கூட 'அவதாரம்' னு தான் சொல்லுவாங்கன்றது வேற விஷயம்).

அப்பாவின் அதிகாலை பூஜை, பார்த்தசாரதி கோவிலில் ஒலிபரப்பும்  MLV யின் திருப்பாவை, தெரு பெண்களின் கோல மீட்டிங் என்று காலை தொடங்கி மாலையில் கச்சேரி, பகல் பத்து / இராப்பத்து என்று அரை இறுதி விடுமுறை இன்பமாய் கழியும்.

தாத்பர்யம் என்ன என்பது தெரியவில்லை, ஆனால் பகல் பத்து என்பது வைகுண்ட ஏகாதசிக்கு முதல் பத்து நாட்கள் கொண்டாடப்படும், இராப்பத்து என்பது ஏகாதசிக்கு பிந்தைய பத்து நாட்கள் கொண்டாடப்படும்.  அதனால் எப்படியும் மார்கழியில் இந்த உற்சவம் வரும்.  பகல் பத்தில் பார்த்தசாரதி உற்சவர் திருவீதி (மாட வீதி ன்னு சொல்லுவாங்க) உலா வருவார்.  இராப்பத்தில் கோவிலுக்குள்ளேயே உலா வருவார்.   ஒரு ஒரு நாள் ஒரு ஒரு அலங்காரம் - நாளொரு மேனி பொழுதொரு வண்ணம்.  காண கண் கோடி வேண்டும்.     நாதஸ்வரக்காரர் டேப் ரிக்கார்டர் மாதிரி திரும்பத் திரும்ப 'எந்தரோ மஹானுபாவுலு', 'அலை பாயுதே', 'வெங்கடாசல நிலயம்', 'பாவமுலோன', 'சாமஜ வர கமனா', 'குறை ஒன்றும் இல்லை' தான் வாசிப்பார் - ஆனால் கேட்டுக்கொண்டே இருக்கலாம், அந்த சூழ்நிலை அப்படி.

உலாவின் இறுதியில் உற்சவர் நாட்டியம் ஆடியபடி மண்டபத்தில் சேவை தருவார். அவர் ஆடும்போது பின்னிசையாக வெஸ்டர்ண் ட்யூனில் நாதஸ்வரம் ஒலிக்கும். ('காடு திறந்தே கிடக்கின்றது' பாட்டில் வருமே ஒரு பிட்) அந்த அனுபவம் சொல்லி விளங்காதது.  அந்நியன் படத்தில் வருவது போல் நரம்பெல்லாம் முறுக்கி மூளையில் ஏதோ ஒன்று ஆகும் - விவரிக்க இயலாத ஓர் உணர்வு.  

மேற்படி நாட்டியம் முடிந்து மண்டபத்தில் எழுந்தருளிய பின் நாம் அந்த திவ்ய மூர்த்தியை மிக அருகில் சென்று தரிசிக்கலாம்.  அப்போது நாதஸ்வரம் 'குறை ஒன்றும் இல்லை' என்று நம் மனதில் இருப்பதை அப்படியே பறை சாற்றும்.

இதோ அந்த வீடியோ.  பச்சை கலரில் ஒரு கதவு பார்ப்பீர்கள் - அந்த வலப்புறக் கதவு பக்கத்தில் நின்றால் அருமையான வ்யூ கிடைக்கும். மறுபடி எப்போது அந்த பாக்கியம் கிட்டுமோ தெரியவில்லை.

 

The God of small things

Appa: A
Son: blink...
Appa: B
Son: C..Dhi
Appa: E
Son:Eff
Appa: hmm
Son:G
Appa: hmm
Son(in a finishing tone): Nunn... (i.e. ten)
Son: Yeeeeah........(with clapping hands)

why does a week have just one Sunday?

Wanna go to yesterday?

I am extremely poor in Geography and I regret for being so, too.  I got to know of this piece of information from a little extra googling after watching "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" show.  

Well, the fact is that at a closest space, US and Russia are only 2.5 miles apart.  We can imagine to go to tomorrow and get back to yesterday if there are no Cross-Border issues; how sweet!!

The distance between Little Diomede, an Island in Alaska, USA and the Big Diomede, an Island belonging to Russia is just 2.5 miles. The two islands are situated within the U.S.-Russian maritime border.  During winter, when the water body (Bering Strait) surrounding the area freezes, it is possible to walk between the two islands – from America to Russia and vice versa.  And we can juggle between today and tomorrow or today and yesterday.