Taste of Original Works!!!

Guys, I have been reading books for quiet some time and now have started concentrating on non-fictions. Pleasure of reading original works is amazing. For example, “The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith (The father of Economics).

Reason being we know how important Economics is, however given the paucity of time, we don’t concentrate on the original or the fundamental theory behind the present day beliefs to appreciate it. But when we do it, the feeling is great!

Experience it, it is nice. Believe me!

Damn! My house is not clean!

Damn! My house is not clean!

I was screaming on the other day. My house is not clean! My house is not clean!

I was shouting on the street! No one cared!

Frustrated that no one was helping, I came into the house and continued to tell that my house is not clean! As though a miracle would happen and someone would clean my house for me, to my satisfaction!

No one was coming! Finally, I had to take the broom and mop to clean it up – it will take a while to finish the work because….my house is not small!

 It is the 7th largest in the world. It has more than 1 billion people living in it. India!

This may not just be a thought in H.O.T.  but would become ……

Sethu Project!

I appreciate that every Government wants to be secular. However in the name of secularism or technology or science or logical reasoning, questioning the fundamental belief of one religious sect is not acceptable [existence of bridge built by Ram]. I am not asking them to worship the Gods but a mere courtesy to respect others belief! 

In the name of technology progress why to shatter people’s belief. Can’t they listen and act properly? There are studies which show this Sethu project may not be feasible; why can’t they act on that? What are the alternate routes they have looked into? 

 My humble request to the concerned, respect others feelings and beliefs.  This is an earnest request because ‘Veterans’ are ruling the state and they have accomplished lot of things. They have brought lot of improvements into the system. TN is growing and they take care of common man. I don’t want this project to be a black mark for them by spoiling and destroying the beliefs of the people. 

 Will they listen?

Snape’s selfless nature!

Many of us were lured by Harry Potter and the characters in the series for variety of reasons. One that stands out is the character called ‘Snape’.

All through the series Snape was portrayed as a bad guy or in Potter language a death eater. Even when Dumbledore makes Snape his confidant, we were not in a position to believe that he would live up to his expectations.

Snape not only lived upto his expectations but gave his life in the process. The quality which makes me look upon Snape with admiration was his nature of not to look for recognition, praise or reward for what he was doing.

Snape was cursed, hated and loathed for his actions and his acrimonious nature was hated even more. Though he hated Harry for some reason or other, his word to Dumbledore and his own reasons to protect Harry lead him to sacrifice his life.

For quiet some time, I have been wondering if there could be anything or anybody who is selfless and does not care about the recognition or reward for their action. Got an answer – Snape!

I guess being selfless would bring peace of mind! If not while living; at the least at the time we go other world!

Just a thought in H.O.T!

The AutoJunky!

Introducing THE AUTOJUNKY! 

I would like to introduce you all to THE AUTOJUNKY – Sriram (a) Srinath.

I have noticed that kids carry lot of passion or say they want to become a pilot, doctor etc etc., and later forget about it. However this guys interest never got abated.

He has channeled his passion in the correct directions and to start with has been regularly contributing to top automobile magazines in the form of letters giving his opinions.

His latest letter or idea about Tata 1 lakh car was awarded the Star letter status by overdrive. I can keep writing about his passion but it would be great if you can get a take of his ideas at http://rumblingv8.wordpress.com & http://wheelsofram.blogspot.com 

Cheers!

A creeper’s attitude

When we were kids in school, our teacher taught us about different kinds of plants – creepers and trees were some of them. A creeper is one which has all the qualities of a tree but has to creep on to something to grow tall. This article is about such attitude in humans – A creeper’s attitude i.e. lack of self-reliance!

Now-a-days, we are looking for the AWE in the eyes of people who hear where we work – it could be Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Infy, Intel, Honda, Microsoft, Northrop etc. This is not only with whom you work but also what clothes we were, what watch we wear for the evening party and the list goes on – instead of what we are from inside! This has become the trend.

We have started attaching so much importance to the brands with whom we are associated with, that over a period of time we have lost the one important thing called ‘I’ or the individuality. [We are not we are through associations – period]

We hesitate to be an individual and don’t want to show those qualities. The herd mentality is too heavily etched in our mind. We want to be perceived to be someone based on association and we don’t want to be perceived as what we are!

Where has this lead to? No reliance on the SELF, no awareness about oneself, too much of dependency and Beggar’s Attitude. We seek something we like, we beg for it and we don’t earn it with our worthiness for it!

[We want a luxurious life (we cry for a Dollar job or a soul selling job), we want a great career growth (we beg for the booming project in the company) - we want a great night after a tough day (we beg the spouse!) just kidding – we want to win the love of a girl or a guy (we beg and plead or even worse!)]

One of the important reasons for this Creeper’s attitude & Beggar’s attitude is that we have been trained or CONDITIONED by the society to be reactive to the environment and not be the environment on our own. If we learn to be the environment on our own, in my opinion one would see much greater heights!

People, we are TREES from within and we can stand tall on our own and don’t have to depend on other things to LIVE ON. We are not CREEPERS!

Sri Ramanuja Siddhantham – Part 1

 The following points are only an excerpt from a speech about Jeevathmas & Paramathma. I have given only the crux of the same (I have used English where ever possible)

 

Ø      There are two major classifications when it comes to Atman a) Jeevathma       b) Paramathma

Ø      According to Sri Ramanuja – Paramathma is Lord Shri Vishnu & Mahalakshmi

Ø      Jeevathma also carry the some of the properties of paramathma like they are wise, there are immortal. When compared to Paramathma they are small like an atom (says Sri Ramanuja).

Ø      Great sages have decided after much deliberation that the number of Jeevathmas cannot be ascertained not only by them but also even by Paramathma.

Ø      As per the Sastras, there are three types of Jeevathmas a) Patthar (Pat-thar) b) Mukthar (Muk-thar) and c) Nithya Suri

 

PATTHAR: [pat-thar]

Ø      Patthar jeevathmas are those who enjoy or suffer based on their karma.

Ø      Patthar jeevathmas reside in Brahma (not Brahman), Sivan, Indran, Suryan, Chandran, 33 crore devas, asuras, rishi, humans, animals, insects, plants & trees and act as per their karma.     

MUKTHAR: [muk-thar]

Ø      Mukthar jeevathmas are those who come to realize that they have been bound by their acts of karma(suffering / enjoying). Also, they realize that they want to attain the Paramathma’s state and get release from the cycle.

Ø      Mukthar jeevathmas not only realize but also ACT on the right path and attain the desired state.

Ø      We as Patthar jeevathmas should take Mukthars as role models.

Nithya Suri: [Nithya-suri]

Ø      Nithya Suris are those who are in Sri Vaikunta and enjoy the same benefits as the Paramathma.

Ø      They had also undergone the same process as other jeevathmas but who is a higher state which had released them from the cycle of karma.

      

Ø      Apart from the above, there are three more VASTHOOS [vas-thoos] to explained. They are     Prakruthi (pra-kru-thi), Time and Suthaa Sathuvam

Prakruthi:

 

Ø      Prakruthi is the vasthoo (thing) from which Sky, air, fire, water & earth (these are also VASTHOOS) were born or came out off.

Ø      There would be a time when even brahma logam would get destroyed.

Ø      At this time, those jeevathmas which did not get mokzha would stick to the Prakruthi (like gold dust on a wax). This Prakruthi with jeevathmas is called Thamas (tha-mas).

Ø      Some part of this prakruthi is called ‘Mahaath’ (ma-haath). Some part of ‘Mahaath’ is called ‘Ahanghgaaram’ (ahung-gaaram).

Ø      One part of this ‘Ahanghgaaram’ forms into Eleven ‘Indriyams’ (in-dri-yam) like eyes, ears, nose etc.,

Ø      From the other part, in the following were born (in the same order) – Aakash à Air à Fire à Water à  Pruthvi……(there are 24 such ‘Thathuvangal’)

 

Ø      Using these twenty four ‘Thathuvangal’ and based on the karma of Jeevathmas form & figure is created for them. 

Ø      Jeevathmas are put into this form & figure (which we refer to as ‘I’). It is said Paramathma also enters this form and saves the jeevathma!

 

Suttha Satthuvam: [suth-tha sath-thuvam]

 

Ø      The above Vasthoo has only ‘Sathva’ mindset and it has no traits of ‘Rajas’ and ‘Thamas’.

Ø      This is seen in the Nithya Suris and other Patthars who attained Mokzha.

Ø      Suttha Sathuvam is not in this world and is there only in Vaikunta. Only Kaalam is there in both this world & Vaikunta.

 

Kaalam (time): [Kaa-lam]

 

Ø      Kaalam is a function of Kzhanam, Nazhikai, Muhoortham, Night, Day, Date, Pakkzham, Month, Ruthu, Ayanam, Year and many more.

Ø      Kaalam is there in both this world & Vaikunta.

 

——Contd in Part 2

 

Mangalore & Bangalore Trip

  

As I told earlier the gang grew by a member –
Aswath. The time was Jan 2006 and the period had become more hectic than ever! Like Ghajini Mohamad, we had attacked CAT / GMAT and had miserable results. We were really tired of writing exams after exams with no positive result! We felt our minds needs to be refreshed for fresh round of attack, so planned
Goa – Kannan was after this
Goa idea like hound-dog! Later we settled for Munnar, Kerala – here my beloved friend Bala played his role and we could not make it. So we settled for another alternative Mangalore & Bangalore!  

We reached
Bangalore early in the morning by 430hrs. The travel from Chennai was really pleasant because of the KSRTC’s Volvo – awesome hospitality! Bala was the organizer of hotels & transport in
Bangalore. A horrible surprise was awaiting us; we alighted from the bus & called Bala – bloody hell he was happily sleeping & didn’t pick up the call. Cursing him we got into a hotel opposite to Majestic terminus. Because of my ability to sleep anywhere comfortable, I did not feel like sleeping in the hotel. The other two slept like a log of wood!

 

I wanted to visit my sister’s family in Rajaji Nagar and get back to hotel for
Bangalore tour with the guys! I got ready and left the hotel by 530hrs. Though the area was popular it was a maze of concrete. Auto driver & I found it difficult to find the place – after 6 years I was going to
Bangalore. Finally I found the house & it was a great relief – Imagine I began the day without a coffee, was just waiting to have one!

 

It was 615hrs when I entered the house and had the most wanted thing – COFFEE! Wow! Narasus Coffee na Narasus Coffee thaan! Sister was preparing tiffin for the school going kids – Raj (11^th) & Sanju (7^th). I like the kitchen in her house (as it is only warm place!) and had the usual chat. As I had to join the guys back in hotel I could have only a small bite (5 chapatis, 2 Rasgullas, 1 Coffee and some biscuits) and left the place thanking her. (Man, the break fast was too good – felt like having more but for want of time!)

 

Got back to hotel by 745hrs, Kannan & Asu were getting ready for break fast. As they wanted company joined them for breakfast (Kamat restaurant’s pongal was too good). We roamed around
Bangalore till 1400hrs and took Qualis to leave for Mangalore. Bala maintained his ‘Bala Standard Time’ and we left by 1700hrs instead of 1500hrs.

 

This time we loaded enough of eatables to keep us (I didn’t eat much!) occupied. Qualis gave us enough room to crawl, fight & sleep. Bala was acting as the local guide and did a great job! Except for him, we three had no clue of Kanada – Atleast I &
Aswath had a passable hindi but Kannan….(ssshhh…he doesn’t know hindi) he he

 

  We had booked our place in Summer Sands, Ullal, Mangalore – a beautiful place. The journey to Mangalore was exciting & enjoyable. We were going through ghat section and the road was not so good after TUMKUR – Bala told us that we cannot have good food after this place, I was happy enough to take up the opportunity.

We had the regular dosas and idlies. A special idli made out-off rava. Everyone liked the item and had plenty of it – we or rather
Aswath didn’t know the consequences! We started again and the driver handled the twists & turns very adeptly. As we were handling twists & turns,
Aswath stomach started to play tricks on him – natural calamity + other complications – haha, told him to keep a check on Rava idlies! Who listens to advice?!

 

We reached Summer Sands by 0000hrs the next day and was pleasantly surprised to see the size of the rooms / house. It was awesome & very huge and well furnished. The hospitality even at that time of hour was pleasant. We took rest for the night and planned to wake up early to see the sun rise!

 

When others were thrilled to see a huge place, Bala on the other hand was happy to have the TV for himself! I do not know what’s there in a TV at 0100 or 0200 hrs in the morning! Haha!

 

We woke up by 0600hrs and started to enjoy the resort’s hospitality. Everything about the place was very good and we did not come out of the resort place for the next two days.

 

We were either in the beach or swimming pool or reading novel under the shade of palm trees!

 

The whole trip was very eventful & enjoyable. Really very nice to has such friends!

 

Soon will write about other trips & tours!
South Africa, Kenya & UAE!

 

 

Timid Boy!

This photo brings back wonderful memories of a mischievous boy (an imp!).Until this moment (even after 20+ years) I am the proud person to hold on to the title of ‘THE MOST INNOVATIVE MISCHEVIOUS KID’ in our family Have I changed a bit now?! Don’t know!

The people in the photo competed for the title but in vain Let me see if any one in future can make me timid!

While writing this piece, loads and loads of memories are coming back – I am happy that I enjoyed my childhood!

Tamil New Year

Happy Tamizh New Year  to all of you!!!

Love,

Srivaths