Chaos at home

There is some repair work going on inside our home, because of which we are forced to totally vacate 2 rooms of the house for the workers to work there. So now the living space left for us is the hall and a kitchen. And that hall also looks like this. (Look at this picture of the state of our hall today).

Poor mom!! She has just a couch to sit, read or even lie down!

In short, my home today looks like a platform in a railway station with so many people loitering around, with so much of dust, with so much of stuff piled up in one place and more so to see my mom lying down in the couch at one corner. This reminds me of the night I spent with my friends in the Amritsar railway station a year ago. Cannot forget that crazy night and fun filled times we had together. My heart yearns for more such moments!

This post is from a corner of this hall !

Out of the blue!

Nothing can match the standard of lyrics and the music of songs from old, black and white tamil movies, for sure. However, in the recent years, there have been some nice songs that touched my heart. And most of them have been from Bollywood. Songs like khwaja mere khwaja, Kal ho na ho, Maula mere, Noor-e-khuda etc. I have generally seen that most hindi movies have one such touching song with rich lyrics and soul-touching music. When on one end, I have enjoyed it, I always used to wonder, 'Why there are not that many such songs in Tamil movies today?!' Honestly, I have not felt so touched with any song in tamil, like the ones from bollywood, I have mentioned here.

However, this song which I came across recently touched my heart so much. Click the link to listen to it. Ennena seidhom ingae from the movie 'Mayakkam Enna'

Did not expect such a song from a 'Danush-type movie'!!!!!!!

Relationships......

WHAT KEEPS A RELATIONSHIP STRONG ARE:

1. TRUST
2. COMMUNICATION
3. INTIMACY
4. A SENSE OF HUMOR
5. SHARING TASKS
6. SOME GETAWAY TIME WITHOUT BUSINESS OR CHILDREN
7. DAILY EXCHANGES (meal, shared activity, hug, call, touch....)
8. SHARING COMMON GOALS AND INTERESTS
9. GIVING EACH OTHER SPACE TO GROW WITHOUT FEELING INSECURE
10. GIVING EACH OTHER A SENSE OF BELONGING AND ASSURANCES OF COMMITMENT


How many ever times I read this, I feel so good. When I see any two people with such strong relationship, I feel great and inspired. That tells me that it is not just theory, but can be practiced.

Main nahin maakhan kayo........

I love this Surdas bhajan "Main nahin makhan khayo"!
When Yashoda Maa catches Little Krishna red-handed, when he is stealing butter, she asks Krishna, "why did you steal the butter and eat?", Krishna says, "Maiya Main nahin Maakhan Khayo...." (Maa, I did not eat the butter) and little Krishna establishes that he did not eat the butter.
He justifies his point by giving explanations:
First he says,
1) I return after grazing the cows only late in evening, where is the time for eating Butter?
When Maa does not agree to this argument, he says
2) I am such a small boy, I have small hands, and you have hung the butter at such high place, how can I take and eat butter from there?
When Maa does not agree to this also,
3)He says, the Gopis are keen in complaining about Him to her and so they deliberately applied butter on his face so that he is caught.
Then, he tries other smart tactics....
4)Little krishna tries to flatter his Maa by his sweet words.
Now also Yashoda Maa is unhappy.
5)So now, Little Krishna shows a little anger and says "tomorrow onwards I will not go for grazing the cows"
Then also when Maa shows anger,
6)He says something which no mother can listen...He says "You are my step-mother, which is why you are blaming me like this."

Now, Maa is unable to listen to such big words just for a butter, so she says, "Kanhaiya, Te nahin maakhan kayo" (Krishna, you did not eat the butter.)

Now that Maa has accepted and Krishna won the argument, He again now says, "Maiya...Mai ne hi Maakhan kayo." (Maa, I only ate the butter).
Surdas ji's play with words (Main Nahin & Mai Ne Hi) is the speciality of this bhajan!

Listen to this bhajan rendered by Anup jalota: Surdas bhajan- Main nahin maakhan kayo

Sometimes HIS ways are so strange that, first He makes you deny certain thing, then He makes you agree with the same thing that too by making you give up your arguments, ego etc. Then He again tells you, "Oh, forget it, you don't have to agree to it"and makes you deny it again!!!!" STRANGE ARE HIS WAYS! But I strongly believe there are strong and valid reasons to HIS ways. 

Malarum ninaivugal!

I had to drop my mother in the temple and go to Ganapathi nagar yesterday. I went through Vibhuthi street. Sometimes, it is really amazing that a road, a board can just rekindle the past so much. As I crossed the 'Parthasarathy hotel' and the house next to it, memories poured in. I wanted to stop and take a photo of it with my mobile camera, for this blog. But vehicles behind were honking. So had to move on.

But those were days which I don't think will ever come back in life. Days when I studied with my brother together the whole day, where we charted out plans for the day, for the week and for the semester.......! How hard we worked, but still with so much joy. Oh, nostalgic!

Happy Teachers day!

September 5 of every year is a remarkable day, I never forget. It is a day, when I take time to thank all those who chiselled me to whatever I am today - MY TEACHERS!

The most important teacher and the best one I want to thank today is MY LIFE, MY EXPERIENCE! I have never seen a better teacher than her. Why Her, why not Him? Well, I have a reason to give my EXPERIENCE a feminine gender. That's because I mostly relate the EXPERIENCE to my MOTHER,because

-She makes sure I remember her wherever I go, whether she scolds me or she hugs me.
-Her thought gives me pleasant feelings, most of the times.
-She teaches me even the simplest thing of life.
And most importantly, 
-She teaches me, many times, the harsh way, because, she wants me to learn it, come what may and that's it!(and she knows those lessons stay longer than the sweet ones.)

I had wonderful experiences in the past years, and, especially in the recent years, when, my learning curve had been the steepest. I have interacted with so many people around, which in turn, has helped me understand my own self in a better way.

When I came across a silent person, I realized, how talkative I am!
& when I met a talkative person, I realized how much time I waste!

When I spoke with an argumentative person, I realized, what a critic I am!
& when some one criticized me, I realized how sensitive I am!

When I interacted with intelligent people, I realized how dumb I am!
& when I met dumb people, I realized how lucky I am!

When I met boastful people, I realized how simple I am,
 but when I met the real simple people, I realized how 'small' I am!

When I dashed with an angry person, I realized how arrogant I am!
& when I came across an arrogant person, I realized how impatient I am!

When I spent time with my friends and kins, I realized what a loving person I am,
but, When I met the real loving one, I was ashamed to know how selfish I am!

The lesson goes on....It never ends and is never going to..!

I am enjoying the lessons! Sometimes , I learn them quickly, sometimes I take a lot of time, sometimes I keep struggling with the hope that I will learn it soon and sometimes I am adamant not to learn it.  But, Life and experience are not that lenient teachers who will excuse me if I am lazy to take the lessons....So I know they are not going to let me move ahead until I learn it !

HAPPY TEACHERS DAY DEAR LIFE! KEEP MENTOR-ING ME LIKE THIS FOREVER!

My vote for alcohol prohibition!

A call from the wife of a young man, whom we know very well for a long time, has disturbed me a little. He has come up in his life with financial help from some elders in the society and most importantly through his sincerity and hardwork. But he has not yet reached any great heights. He is just in the steps to success. He still has the small struggles of life and I have always thought he has been gracefully handling it. Now this lady calls us one night and complains that her husband drinks alcohol with his friends often and she is scared! Her panicky complaint stopped suddenly and then the phone was switched off for the rest of the night! We could easily guess what must have happened there. We were shocked because this person was from a very poor background a decade ago, who would not even take tea / coffee unnecessarily. Even if we offered he would refuse. We have always seen him as a teetotaller! But this call shook me! Why does he not realize that this could ruin his life. His children are small, they are yet to complete their education and live their life. How can he be so irresponsible!

As a neuroscience graduate, I know the neurobiology behind alcoholism. It would start ruling a person. Its difficult to control (although not impossible). Now if he is going to lose all the money at the TASMAC, how is he going to run his family...and his business itself depends on being alert and sane! How will he do that carefully??!

Tamilnadu is a state that has a history of a very long term alcohol prohibition. It is said to have had prohibition from 1937-1971!  Whoever had been key to legalising alcohol again is solely responsible for ruining so many families!!!Once indiscipline creeps in, we all know how difficult it is to set it right again.And now that there is TASMAC, a government company that has monopoly over alcohol sales, the government is fetching lot of revenue from it.

If a nation is going to depend on its running on the revenue collected by ruining so many lives, what kind of nation is it!! I don't see it as anything different from a  mother selling her daughter off for lot of money, to run her family in a better way?Will this ever change? Will there be a prohibition again?

This is just a useless outburst that is an outcome of seeing a well-disciplined boy's family in the ladder of success, destroying themselves knowingly! Although I know it is a futile rambling, I also do not know what to do!!

But I am an insignificant person, who can still say, "I do not know what to do?" But how can some famous writers be so dumb.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The-underage-optimist/entry/saying-cheers-in-gujarat
When I read this article, I could not disagree more. When he says, there is no point in a law which everybody breaks, I am startled! There are people who break the law and do prostitution, there are people who break the law and indulge in drug abuse. So are you saying that all these should be legalised to prevent people from breaking law. Don't you think a simple man who earns his daily wages, will go for it only when there is availability readily and he is someone who will not fight through to fetch it at any cost. Law breakers are generally those wealthy lot, who can spend money to fetch it and enjoy! If you can't do some good to the society with your writing, its acceptable. But please do not create waves that will negatively impact the society. There are lots of people who respect your writing and so kindly try to use this huge responsibility properly!

I know for sure that this young man am talking about would not have become an alcoholic, if it was not readily available! And, I am sure, every Indian would have witnessed a story like this....a family like this!

I vote for complete prohibition of alcohol!

NB: This is not any kind of campaigning. It is just about my views!