The abode of PATIENCE:

We have seen millions of people speaking about women empowerment. This is not one among them; it is the way how a woman handles people, emotions, complexity around her and balances life.

The conventional thought about Indian women is that they are downtrodden in comparison with the so called developed countries. But all the women have come across similar problems in life. They have also confronted innumerable suffering which can be quoted under male chauvinism. This orientation has overturned in many foreign countries, but has its malodorousness is still showing its impact on this society. Most of the customs followed these days mimic the ancient practices which do not apply to the current situation. Though male child is wanted by all, female is the one being most pampered and it is for the love and affection she spreads all around this world. God must have mused in depth before he created a woman.

In our country, the old customs and practices have been considered as the backbone of or culture, which is to be agreed entirely. But as the poet Mahakavi Bharathi sowed his rebellious thoughts into the women at that early stage, we have attained so much of freedom from tortures in the name of customs. As Shakespeare said, “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players” I think women play different roles that poses various challenges through their life. Being a kid, matures as a teenager to face the world, marrying a stranger and building a good relation with him and his family, she must have screeched for an injection but she prepares herself to bear 56 dels of pain more than a normal man can bear to deliver a child. Getting her favorites by jus a wink to her dad, now becomes a Himalayan task. Hesitation to ask her better half, a trouble that her new relations should not misapprehend her words and actions. She must have enjoyed the luxury to that of a princess, the next stage of her life will expect her to be the real form of patience and fortitude. Should eat the left over without wasting them, take care of the house mates before taking care of herself, should eat only after serving food to everyone, should sacrifice her freedom individuality, her dreams for the sake of her family and her kids. Why do people expect all these from her? She is capable of balancing her dreams and goals on one hand with family on the other side. All that she needs is the love and affection from her family.

But though getting away from parents might bring pain for the time, it l help her to overcome a bigger separation at a later stage. Facing new challenges will absolutely make women the strongest, but first the setting out will be difficult. Every girl has to come across these stages to manage anything that disturbs her off springs. Anyways still there are many things that can be changed, mainly with the support of the generation to the upcoming next. Keep going women. You will make the world go around with your love and patience.

சில நேரங்களில் சில மனிதர்கள்

This might ping you to be a title of a famous movie. Yup! Its true. A movie from a great cine sculpture K.Balachandar. I never used to like his movies as most of it would deal with controversial section of a man’s life. Though it might be controversial, that is the ultimate truth that has been a part of everyone’s life. Now am not going to deal with any kind of controversy but about people at different times. People have different shades and that’s why there are so many different people. But people don’t stay the same as they were. People find a set of actions to be comfortable, that becomes a part of them and is being called a mannerism. But the same changes if one comes across a different set of actions from their loved ones.

We are very much green during our school days, unaware of the real world, thinking that all are good. But once when we step out of school, we see many more people, many more new things that fascinates us to be so, to imitate them, etc. We spend most of our times with our friends, enjoy, freak out and have fun. But when a spark comes between two hearts, it must be carefully doused into water or else it would blow out as a huge fire and might burn the relationship. There is no relation without these sparks, as these teaches people how to handle it to mould the relationship. There would have been many instances when we would have carefully dealt with it escaping the hurt. We relish in the relation and there comes a point of time when we have to part with our own ways. We leave with a hand shake promising to sustain the relation with the same intensity all through. It might seem possible in the beginning but which is practically the mist difficult one.

Once we part we find a new way for us, new environment, and new set of people, new principles and ideologies gained from our surroundings. We find the change in our mentality, the way we see each and every creation and situation in this world. We are parted from our dear ones through distance and time lag. We lose in touch with our close friends, and can’t demand the same importance as before coz each of us have got our own set of new life, new priorities, new relations to maintain, new promises to keep up. It may seem to you that a blaming all for these changes. It is not possible, if I have to, whom should I blame? You? or Me? or this World? This is life…. We have seen the change within ourselves, have been molded by wounds given by time and medicated by time itself. We have to keep ourselves on the go, but never hesitate to look back and cherish the beautiful past which has helped you to be the one today.

The longest ECLIPSE of the century:

Occurrence: The eclipse has different perspective with respect to science and mythology. Eclipses are scientifically interesting because they allow a rare glimpse of the cooler corona, glowing gases near the sun’s surface and solar flares, which are normally not visible due to the brightness of the sun. To state it in simple way, the full moon gets between the earth and sun. If this is the sole reason, you might expect solar eclipse to happen once a month. But unfortunately it is not so as the moon’s orbit is tilted 5⁰ tilted to the earth’s orbit. So this geometry lines up twice a year to make the solar eclipse.

Dated June 22’09: This particular eclipse which occurred on 22^nd of June ‘09 is considered to be the longest one which lasted for 6 minutes and 39 seconds. India is one among the few places to witness the eclipse in totality. One of the best views of the complete eclipse appeared to be in the town of Varanasi, on the banks of Ganges River, sacred to devout Hindus. Thousands had been there to take the holy dip as ablution of their sins. Students, Scientists had gathered at Tregna, an Indian village as it was predicted to have the clearest view of eclipse. But the thick clouds and overnight rains ad played the spoilsport to breakdown the enthusiasts. Other places in India to witness the eclipse were Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. Chennai witnessed partial eclipse of 62%.

The longest stretch of eclipse was witnessed over the Pacific which lasted for 6 minutes and 39 seconds. This wont overreach till 2132 as this has been recorded as the longest one since 1991

This is the most beautiful part of an eclipse, the formation of a diamond ring. The second one is the total eclipse witnessed.

Eclipse the Myth:

1.Hindu Mythology: India subscribed to the idea that a monster ate the sun during an eclipse and the beast even had his own name and identity. The story of Rahu, who had a tail like a comet and a head like a dragon, appears in many of the ancient Hindu scriptures. Rahu became jealous when he discovered the gods drinking the nectar of eternal life. So he went about disguising himself and began to drink it as well.

But the sun and moon saw him and summoned the god Vishnu, who quickly cut off the creature's head. The body crashed to earth, creating mountains and islands, but Rahu's head survived and rose to the sky. In an eternal quest for revenge, he ate the sun and moon, causing an eclipse.

2.American mythology: For native Americans was the theme of sibling rivalry. There was the turbulent relationship between the sun goddess, Malina, and her moon brother, Annigan. One night the two adolescents were romping around in the dark when he suddenly became sexually aroused and raped his sister. In her anger she fled to the sky where he lustfully chased after her. When he finally managed to catch up with her there was a dramatic eclipse.

These two mythologies are the contradictory ones, others like, Chinese and Babylonians has the same storyline of Indian mythology.

People follow their own ways to overcome the bad effects as they believe. In that way, In India people may immerse themselves in water up to their necks; believing this act of worship will help the Sun and Moon defend themselves against the dragon. In Japan, the custom is to cover wells during an eclipse to prevent poison from dropping into them from the darkened sky. And as recently as the last century, the Chinese Imperial Navy fired its ceremonial guns during an eclipse to scare off the invisible dragon.

Though it is commendable response from people to throw away the superstitions and witness the eclipse of the century, there are a few people who still go with those believes. A few are here:

1. Don’t drink water or consume food as it would impair the digestive system.

Science: There is no evidence to support this.

2. Pregnant women should not be exposed to the eclipse and should be confined in a dark room as the rays would create some birth marks and might cause some ill-effects on the baby.

Science: As per the study conducted no visible effects were recorded.

3. Everyone should have head bath to ward off evil spirits.

Science: It is only an article of faith and followed as a conduct of cleanliness.

4. Snakes and insects invade the house during the eclipse.

Science: Studies are still underway.

This being a reason for people to shun away from the sun, there are a few others who make it into their business. Jet line airways in India had arranged for a charter flight to witness the eclipse. Many people had geared up to watch it close by and felt a great sense of satisfaction of their life time.

TAKING ON DEATH:

You might wonder at this statement. This has become a part of everyday life. People have become gallant warriors who can’t be paralleled by any of the emperors of the past. Still perplexed???

It is about the reckless driving of almost every citizen here. I was on my way back home after a tiresome shopping at T Nagar. I was a passenger of a share-auto who was only money minded and a racer in fact.  People are preoccupied while driving, thinking about their targets to be achieved at workplace. They show their force, and speediness while driving. People always start at the neck of the moment, forgetting their head wear most of the times.

I think they must be a victim of selective memory loss. They must have learnt about the traffic rules and would have obeyed it to the fullest to acquire the license. But how come they ignore the red lights at the signal to speed away. I wonder what would be the need for such an urgency risking their lives and others at the road??  The most atrocious behavior was noticed by me during the travel. At the four way junction, the red light had just glowed leaving way for the others from the left to cross. A few vehicles passed the line even after the red’s glow. In order to stop them the police man interfered with a red light in his hand. Still only the right most vehicles stopped for the policeman’s order. My auto driver sped the previous vehicles by the left side. Two things are to be noted here: first is the disobedience of the police’s order and second: a vehicle is not allowed to overtake by left side. Overtaking from behind by right hand side is only allowed in our country as vehicles are right driven. The most pathetic situation was that of the officer’s. He was helpless as he was disobeyed and he would be the one responsible for any mishap at the specific junction. Why is this urge for a rash and foolhardy drive?

These racing drives are to be practiced on well laid and smooth maintained roads, to develop such capability and not in 40ft roads congested with parking and pedestrians walking on the roads due to the lack of a pedestal.  People are acting too smart to cross the divider by jumping across it, physically, with cycles and bikes, felling lazy to come around a certain distance.  The roads are being dug by various departments like EB, PWD, to carry on their work. They finish their work and wind up without correcting the pits made by them and just patching them with cheapest elements that dissolve with a very short rain.

As it is said usually, “the safety while travelling is not in our hands but also the by passers”. At this situation it won’t work out. People should be quick enough to overcome any harm that may occur at the time of travelling. As most of the pedestrians are not senior citizens, they can cope up with the promptness and alacrity to survive. But it is really miserable for the senior citizens who suffer because of these reckless drivers. People think it is thrill to break the rule. But not in this case. Even though the road is empty, people should obey the signals at the junction and fell proud about their act. The traffic in metropolitans is ever increasing due to the incoming population who come here for survival. Even though government lays as many fly over’s to control and regulate the traffic, mere self discipline of obeying the traffic rules alone can help out this situation. Please obey the traffic rules and advise your dear ones. Let us live this life to the fullest and need not fight against death just to travel from one place to another. “JAI HIND”.

Terrorism end at the neighborhood:

The 26 year old war has come to an end with the killing of LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabakaran. His death is still under the suspect of shot dead or suicide. The Lankan government declared the end of war, releasing the videos of the chief’s corpse. On one side this has provided a great sigh of relief for the natives and they also celebrated their victory over terrorism by enjoying with their fellow citizens at the streets. But on the other side there arises an unanswered question about the rise of the tigers again. This organization has been in existence for the past 26 years and has got tremendous amount of supporters all over the world. This support was the sole reason for their development to fight against a nation’s army. The consistent flow of funds and movements in support has been in the being al over the world. A live example is the political party in Tamil Nadu which is in support of the Lankan Tamil.  The rise of communal attack here on the hearing of the LTTE chief’s death is yet another example.

Though the path opted by the chief, Prabakaran was wrong, his motive was to gain equal rights for Tamils in the foreign land. He has used his skills to build up an entire defense set up required for an independent nation. He had built all three fundamental forces of defense namely army, air force and navy. He had been an able administrator for having built up a small nation for himself within another country. He lost many opportunities to get back his peaceful living by violating the peace talks a several times. The final peace talk attempted by Norwegians’ was also dismissed. This led to the final assault by the Lankan army.

NEIGHBOUR IN FIRE !!!

Election affairs are getting hotter and hotter everyday. The leaders are busy quetching about their opposition parties. The parties waiting to conquer the nation’s wealth for their own and creating negative situations for their welfare are the common ones here, pulling down each others legs in order to win the favourism from the people.  This time, Indian election has gained international significance, as countries like china, US are eager to know the state of affairs today. One of the main reasons for this significance is the inter-national issues which will find their way from the forthcoming government.

A note worthy of those is the Lankan issue which has been burning through 26 years. When did this civil war begin???

It was in 1983, this civil war started fuming out for the creation of independent state. Who are they? Why are they fighting for an independent state? Even before the British’s rule, few tamilians migrated to Sri Lanka for employment. They were employed in rubber plantations. After the independence (1948) from the English, the government makes Sinhala as the language of the state and the tamilians felt marginalized. They demanded for a state in north and east of the island. The LTTE initially carried out campaign against the state attacking policemen and Tamil politicians who attempted a dialogue with the government.  Though peace talks between LTTE and government began, it soon failed. India’s involvement began just to project itself as regional power and also due to the worries about the India’s own Tamils. India became more actively involved in 1980, dropping food parcels while Lankan government was on the verge of defeating the LTTE in support to the rebels. Soon peace talks were held between the Indian-Sri Lankan government and many concessions were made including the official status for Tamil language. Though many groups like TULF, Tamil United Liberation Front accepted, LTTE refused to accept it. Later India’s indulgence in the civil war met severe opposition. So India withdrew from Lankan issue. According to me, this Indian involvement is to project our power and we have no rights to enter into other country’s internal affairs. If we poke into this issue, what about the Indians staying in Singapore, Malaysia and other neighboring countries? But the peace talks mediated by Indian government to deliver a peaceful life for tamilians in srilanka is worth an applaud. Organizations like LTTE, TULF started as an organization to fight for equality of Indians there, but LTTE’s urge to gain equality turned out to a negative motive of conquering the sate for them. They gathered children of the civilians to make up their army. This led to a bad impression about the srilankan Tamils. In reality, the civilians demanded peaceful state as per the negotiations of srilankan government, but LTTE project themselves as a representative of Tamils. Even now when the government has cornered them within 2kms, they use the civilians to protect themselves. That is why the civilians come to India as refugees for a peace filled life. The common people who are not involved have the sufferers all these 26 years.

At this juncture promising for a compromise by LTTE is just like finding a loop hole. Enough of blood shed, hue and cry, young generation being sent to fight in warfare at the age of playing with toys, innocents being caught between the government and the rebels losing their lives, peace for no fault of theirs.

At present, the attack of army at this final stage has led to escape of 77,000 Tamil civilians from the areas held by Tamil tigers. As per the words of Lankan army men, “We are not targeting the civilians. The rebels are causing civilian causalities”-this show that the civilians are used as the Tamil tiger rebel’s protective shield. The peace talks and envoys sent by other countries were disregarded by rebels, violating the negotiations a thousand times.

We can make up rallies, human chain, etc., as a mark of protest against the civilian killing in srilanka. But even today the peace can be brought back in that land by only two possibilities. First is the surrender of the rebels or second, execution of the rebels by army. The Lankan government should take necessary actions to stop the killing of civilians, in the name of attacking the rebels. They must be given equal rights on par with the citizens of srilanka. 

ARE WE LOSING THE TASTE OF CULTURE??

 Change is the only permanence in this universe. It can also be explained as the first step of evolution.  Change is responsible for the development of the next generation. Whenever we refer to the Next-G, i.e.., the next generation, it should be a civilized and progressed one from the current one. As we all know, “Too much of anything is good for nothing”, applies very well to the next-g if growth proceeds in this exorbitant downtrend.

Though there are many fields to consider, the major affected ones are the health and the culture. Culture, is the value of the society. This has deteriorated to a great extent since the invasion of white men. Aping the west will improve our standard of living on par with developed countries, no doubt in it. But the loosening of our roots from our culture will destroy the mother civilization. India is called as the land of sanctity, with reference to the epics and puranas which went on during the time immemorial. Aping the western culture has become the mode of day-to-day life. Change in the attire could be accepted to a certain extent as our business environment demands the culture of the west. But the adolescence getting carried away by these traditions of aliens lets the loosening of our roots. The reason for the influence is the media which portrays the other culture as the way of life. Children think beyond their age group, knowledge of certain things which should not be known to them at their age leads to the urge to explore it. The dressing kind in these days, exposure to cosmetics at a very young age which is an impact of media is not a good sign. The proper guidance from their parents will help them know the right and wrong. The lack of time spent by the parents with their wards makes them look for a companion beyond their home. Here the media plays a role in inculcating the practices beyond their age and necessity. For example, falling into infatuation or getting addicted to ill habits such as smoke and drinks proves this. Infatuation is mistaken as love at the age when they are unaware about themselves and also life. Smoke and drinks are used by the English to accustom with their temperature conditions. This deterioration is getting worse at the schooling age. As heard from my teacher, the excessive exposure to media spoils their habits, behavior at school and also their respect for elders. This difference was found by her within a short span of three years. This will show the role and impact created by the media in day-to-day life.

In order to instill the values of tradition and culture, children can be made to study the epics and understand the moral of living, even from various scriptures on how to lead a disciplined way of life. This can be done by their parents, by spending their time with their children, teaching them the values from their young age. Some parents may justify by saying they are earning for their child’s betterment. But only their presence will lead to the real betterment of the child. Living as an example will help children learn these values better than teaching theoretically. Media should be used as a source to improve our knowledge in the right direction.

The other field of deterioration is health. These days, children rarely get time to play as we played or as our parents did. Though they play, playing in the soil will give them immunity to survive the micro-organisms from the environment, which has almost become nil. The food habits which are again due to the aping of the west, we suffer various kinds of illness. An increase in the amount of fat intake and the lack of physical activity is the major reason for the well known illness of the day-Obesity. Proper environment for a safe and peaceful life is also getting extinct due to pollution and an enormous increase in population. Through population exploitation cannot be reverted, a proper management of the resources to avoid pollution and to save it for future will help us build a better life-style. The awareness on physical fitness must be taught to children by indulging them in yoga, which has its roots in or country will help for their betterment both physically and mentally. Even healthier life can be attained by sticking our culture. To build a better future we have to prepare ourselves to teach them, here are a few online help for it.

As told by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, “The child of today is the citizen of tomorrow”. So we shall join together to know the values of our culture and take an oath to build a better future.

A few sites to enlighten about our culture and traditional values:

• This site explains about good parenting values.
  

http://www.indianchild.com/culture%20_1.htm

• This site gives us the values of Indian culture and various traditions followed in various religions.
  

http://www.indianmirror.com/culture/cul1.html

• This one is about the art forms, traditions and invaluable monuments of our country
  

http://www.indiancultureonline.com/