Bhangaya Kala

Making of Kala. This is not about any movie whereas it’s a real short story from my office.

In my office the house keeping staffs will have different costumes depending on the work they execute.

Red colour for those who work in the toilet area and Black overcoat with tie for those who work in the pantry area. Floor supervisor will have different to distinguish.

Kishore a guy from other side of Vindhyas mountain with Red Tshirt costume has been working for a year now. Meticulous Guy. Often I admire his attitude towards his task, with minimum supervision he on his own ensures not only cleanliness but also during spare time takes up other tasks that uplifts the place. Be it polishing of Tap or the mirror, name any he will do it on his own. Seldom these people are observed or motivated in our always-engaged schedule.

This week I saw a guy in pantry area filling up the coffee vending machine who was alike Kishore but the costume was different. With a microscopic stare realized that it was same Kishore with black overcoat and tie. With a bit of astonishment started a conversation with him and came to know that he was promoted which did not surprise me. The guy deserves this elevation. My only piece of advise to him was not to sojourn with this elevation and stop proclaiming “ From where to Here” instead he should ponder about “From Here to There”.

During my conversation, the stress was on the aspect of "Kahan se Yahaan nei….Yahaan se Vahaan"….Only thing he should fix is his Vahaan with a timeline to reach. He moved away with a ray of optimism in his eyes that gave a confidence to me that I will soon see this guy in a different costume.

Would like to share another experience encountered during recent train journey from Bangalore to Chennai. A couple along with two kids were travelling and I happened to be their co-passenger. The permissive parents were able to handle the hyperactive kids for an hour. Later on with more energy flowing from kids the couple had no option but to change the style that oriented towards Authoritarian. I was thoroughly enjoying every bit of the drama and at times relate my personal experience with Ananya's mischeifs during her infancy.

When any one of the kids shoe touches me, then either of the parent will start shouting at the kids. “ Uncle mela kaal touch aguthu paaru” “Uncle la disturb pannatha” etc… That touch of shoe has never disturbed my deep sleep but I will woke up due to the yelling from either of them. I did share my thoughts with the parents that the kids never troubled me when compared to their yelling. In fact to some extent I enjoyed all those mischief.

This paved way for some exquisite thoughts to deliberate. 

How easily an external stimuli makes changes to our nature as a grown up but not for those kids. In this case me acting as a stimulus to change the nature of parents from indulgent. Kids are always natural and never heed the surroundings. These hypocritical acts of adults not only shows a dirty picture but also flags off health hazards internally. Ending the episode with a wish, that either we should be always kids or carry the innocent heart when we grow. Both are next to impossible. 

MAIDEN GIRIVALAM @ Tiruvannamalai

The month of February 2018 was remarkable for me, I was able to check out couple of big tickets from my to-do list. Tiruvannamalai Giri Pradakshina was staying on the top among the first 3 items of the list.

During a recent conversation, a person wanted to have a discussion on this place and I had to stop the conversation and told him that I will not be able to comment since I have not experienced. That person expressed his surprise since he knows I travel a lot and have not been to this place. Response was I would be able to only if HE desires/commands.

What better day could I ask for in sowing that thought into me, Masi (11th month of Tamil calendar) and a combination of Magha star and Full moon day. Being a mid-day of a week, doubts of getting approved leave was hovering the entire day, considering the communication from my Boss that this week was important due to people visiting from other geographies. There were couple of meeting with those folks that needed my participation and presence.

I put up this request to Mahaperiva and sought his help to pick me out of this agony. Usually for an unplanned leave or permission, I will select from a bunch of tarot cards that consist of untruth stories built around health of family members. Exceptionally this time the thought of providing the true reason erupted and told my Boss the real reason. Without any word it was approved to my astonishment with an order it will be for a day alone and subsequently booked my bus ticket prior to few hours of travel. I was shocked to witness the pace at which the things were falling in place and helping me. Some folks in office wanted to join which I did not reciprocate since I want it all alone and do the Pradakshina in silence. According to scriptures, the walk around the Hill should be conducted at a slow pace either in silence, thoughts on to the Hill of Fire or one could sing and listen to songs of HIM

I was told the crowd on this particular day would be humongous and hence sought an aid from a person who stays in that town which was declined gently due to his travel plans. I have to fall back on Mahaperiva again to sort the things out and with his blessing started around 23.00 hrs from Bangalore.

Reached there around 3.30 in the morning and was checking with people around Rajagopuram who had completed the circumambulation on the route. With that help started around 4.00 am all alone with stillness in mind and emitting HIS name. Till Ramana Ashram I was alone and slowly crowd gathered and two women who were walking along were playing audio of Thiruvasagam from their phone. During the interval between two verses it was filled with “ Jaya Jaya Shankara Hara Hara Shankara”. In that pitch dark and deep silence that was loud and clear message from Periva.

Sri Bhagvan Ramanar told “The greatness of this Giri Pradakshina has been described at length in ‘Arunachala Puranam’. To go round this hill is good. The word ‘Pradakshina’ has a typical meaning. The letter ‘Pra’ stands for removal of all kinds of sins; ‘da’ stands for fulfilling the desires; ‘kshi’ stands for freedom from future births; ‘na’ stands for giving deliverance through Jnana.” Really, it is difficult to describe the pleasure and the happiness one gets by this Pradakshina. The body gets tired, the sense organs lose their strength and all the activities of the body become absorbed within. It is possible thus to forget oneself and get into a state of meditation. As one continues to walk, the body automatically gets harmonized as in the Asana state. The body therefore becomes improved in health. Besides this, there are several varieties of medicinal herbs on the hill. The air that passes over those herbs is good for the lungs”.

Completed the Girivallam in 3 hours and with a skeptic thought in mind of standing in a long serpentine queue entered the Rajagopuram. To my wonder completed the darshan in less than an hour and was waiting for Urchavar to start the theerthavari procession towards Pallikondanpattu. The pinnacle of Masi Magha is this event “ Theerthavari”. The procession started around 10.00 am towards that village which is not far. This event happens at a place 6 kms away from Tiruvannamalai called “ Pallikonda Pattu”. I was not able to keep the pace of the procession after the tiring Girivallam so hired an Auto and reached the place before the arrival of Urchavar. Pooja was performed by temple authorities at a small mandapam constructed on the riverbanks after immersion of idol.

Each temple has its own myth of celebrating Masi Makam, in the case of Arunachaleswar Temple, the legend for Masi Makam is related to King Vallalan and Lord Shiva. King Vallalan of Tiruvannamalai was an ardent devotee of the Lord, and he had no child. He felt very bad that there is no descendants to perform his last rites and Shradh ceremonies. Lord Shiva in all his compassion appeared in front of the King in the form of a small lad and assured him that He would take the personal responsibility of performing his last rites and the Shradha ceremonies every year. To fulfill His word, the Lord appeared on the day when the king departed on the day of Masi Magam and performed the last rites of the King. The Lord also assured that those individuals who take a holy dip on this day will attain liberation with His blessings. . The promise is still remembered in Tiruvannamalai and each year King Vallalan’s funeral is re-enacted to commemorate the event. This was a grandeur event.

In a concluding verse on King Vallalan in the Arunachala Puranam we could trace this event that Lord Siva undertakes to perform King Vallalan’s funeral rites for him, a task which is normally performed by the son of the deceased Lord Shiva also blessed the king by saying that whoever bathes in the sea during Masi Magam will merge with him and will get ‘mukthi.’

With tired physical body but fully charged internally and with a bit of heavy heart started my return journey to Bangalore and reached around 16.00 hrs. If someone would have told the previous day around the same time that next day will be a memorable one I would have laughed at their ignorance.   For more pictures click here - Pictures and Videos

This surprise element of life could be termed as “Destiny” and I effusively accept this with AVAN ARULALE AVAN THAL VANAGI

Dasama Varsikotsava (10th Anniversary)

Recently with the help and support of friends and relatives was able to perform Ganapathi Homam and Abishegam for Prakasa Ganapthy on Feb 25th Sunday. Several questions and doubts on performing the rituals by me now(year 2018), when the association with this temple got severed 18 years ago. I normally do not trade off my actions, as HE knows the intentions behind my actions.

Being the 10th death anniversary of my father, I was pondering on how to make this a special year so that his soul is pleased apart from the routine yearly shradham. Immediately this thought came as I felt that there can’t be better action to please him. I do not want to feed my ego by performing on my own so alms were sought so that it will be a combined effort of all.

Before proceeding, I should provide some lineage on the relationship between us. It was a typical Indian heritage where many sons idolize their father till the age of teen and with the arrival of adolescent the differences start. With the advent of my pubescent age, we both were simply polar in our thoughts that resulted in cold war most of the times. These mutinies is due to the act of seeking a self-identity that paved way for rough weather. In some families, however this revolt turns to be a lifelong disconnect whereas fortunately it was not in my case. We both cherished each other with a third person and never embraced each other directly. He shared my professional and personal victories with others (in my absence) with pride and similarly I shared his triumphs when he is not present.

My father’s association with this temple dates back to year 1987, it was built with public money inside our flat premises in T.Nagar. The Ganapthy was named after our street “Prakasa” means bright. Irrespective of his work shift hours, he used to perform daily, monthly and yearly rituals till year 2000 without any fail. Year 2000 we moved out to a different house due to space constraints. The relationship between my father and Ganapathy was evident when he returned to the flat in year 2008 and within few months succumbed to severe cardiac arrest just in front of the temple and respired his last breathe before starting to meet his maker.

As a mark of respect to his devotion and sincerity, I wanted this event before his tenth anniversary to please both(Ganapthy and him). Ganapthy is craving to have a feast for the last 10 years that was fulfilled on this occassion. Would like to personally thank each of the members who convened for this occasion and those who supported physically and financially to make this dream come true.

PHOTOS AND VIDEO CLICK HERE

Would like to end with a quote from my favorite author valluvar under “Makatperu”

மகன்தந்தைக்கு ஆற்றும் உதவி இவன்தந்தை
என்நோற்றான் கொல்எனும் சொல். 

The duty of the son ( children ) to father ( parents ) is to make others to wonder, What penance the father ( parents ) had done to beget him(them). Children by the virtue of their behavior, attitude, and knowledge should make others to wonder. 

தந்தை மகற்காற்று நன்றி அவையத்து
முந்தி இருப்பச் செயல் 

The duty of the parents is to bring up their children in such a way that they sit in the front row in any assembly of wise. To achieve this, the children should be given right education. Apart from the formal education, children should be trained to live within the law and ethical parameters, spend within the prescribed norms etc., 

My father not only told me how to live; He lived and made me to watch his living.

Veda Rakshanam - First Update

First, a BIG THANKS for all those who supported us. It was good response from 60 odd people and finally we embargoed when the list reached 56 people considering the date we committed.

It was a nice blend of not only the amount of Rs 100 and Rs 200, we also had good fusion of people contributing Monthly, Half yearly, Annually. There were people who contributed more than Rs 1200 and Rs 2400 as an annual amount, with their agreement moved the excess annual contribution to Capital Reserve Account. The Capital reserve will be parked aside and will be used for some special expenses of patasalas.

The collection constitutes a monthly amount of Rs 9200 and Rs 26,400 as capital. I will send the second month reminder to those who are contributing monthly. Will share the receipt of first month as soon as we receive.

As updated earlier, there was a change in Patasala from Pondichery and the amount increased to Rs 10,000 per month (Shortfall of Rs 800 was pulled from capital)

The first month cheque was presented after getting the blessing of HH Bala Periva from Srimatam on 13th Feb 2018. The day had Pradhosam, Sivarathri and Janma Nakshatram of HH Bala Periva, what else we could order to start this venture. Along with the cheque the covering letter and list of people who contributed was attached for Periva blessing. (Please find both attached)

CLICK HERE FOR LIST OF CONTRIBUTION

CLICK HERE FOR THE LETTER

The contribution will benefit Sri Pratyaksha Charitable Trust who are leading 5 residential patasalas under their umbrella. All the Patasalas inoculate spiritual and academic education to Vidhayarthis.

 
1.Vaikhanasa Patasala. Syllabus are Archaka Nithya Karmanushtanam, Thiruvardhanam, Brahmotsavam, Mahasamprokshanam, Kumbhabhishekam, Prayaschitha vidhanam. This is being taught from a school in Avadi Chennai.

2.Sampradaya Patasala. The main objective of Sampradaya is to educate young women who cherish our tradition, it also combines mainstream education by offering a University degree along with training in various vocations, languages, music, fine arts, handicrafts, childcare, yoga and other relevant subjects.Syllabus include Valmiki Ramayana, Acharya Stotras(Bhaja Govindam), Panchanga Pathatanam, Pooja Vidhanam, Music & Instruments, Making of Pooja Dravyas like Kum Kumam, Akshata, Naivedya, Practical Home Remedies (Kashayam etc.), Tailoring, Arts & Crafts. This is being operated from Tirupati AP.

3. Jyotishya Smartha Patasala, from Karvet Nagar near Puttur. Syllabus taught are Nithya Vidhi (Sandhya vandhanam, Agni hotram & Brahmayagnam). Aapasthamba sutrokta panchadasha karma, Nakshatreshti, Mahanyasa, Rudrapadha, Navagraha makha, Udakashanthi Prayogaha., Aabdeeka prayogaha. Katakas , Aarayanka mantra bhaga, Sanskrit Language development Course, Mridhangam and Yoga Classes.

4. Nadhaswaram Patasala, this one operates out of Nallatoor for boys and Karvet Nagar for girls. The subjects taught here are Nadaswaram, Dhol, Mulika Vaidhyam, Rangoli and garland making.

5. Samskrutha Patasala.This is unique when compared to others where vidhyarthis are inculcated spiritual education alongside academic studies from CBSE rest of the above are from State Board education. This Bangalore based Patasala has been designed on the lines of the ancient Ghatikasthanams it offers specalised training in Sanskrit, Vedic Studies, Namasankirthanam and Music. It has has a central dining hall and a separate Dhyana Hall, Vidyarthis also use this space for special congregations, Homams and during festivities that include Upakarma, Jayanthi Celebrations of the Acharyas.

Veda Samrakshanam

Periva Saranam...

On Jan 4th 2018 we initiated our first communication seeking contribution towards “Veda Rakshanam”. All these days we were planning and working on this and able to reach the final stages.
The idea was initiated by Mrs Padmini Chandrasekaran( my Cousin) and we have sent WhatsApp messages and have got good response from like-minded people. Thanks for your response and based on that we have arrived an amount that can be passed on to a Veda Patasala every month.

Before proceeding further would like to answer one question that was common across all of them who responded “ Why only Rs 100 or Rs 200? Why not more? I can afford to do more, can I?"

You could find the reason in the heading Veda Rakshanam in Deivanthin Kural. He states 

“I am asking you to give me one “sampathi daan”. Everyone should study Vedas daily and make your children do it – let this be on one side. It is no doubt an important duty. There is another work much more important than this. You should help to run Veda Patashalas continuously uninterrupted. For this purpose, you should give financial help both to students and the teachers. Further, you should establish many more schools to teach the Vedas, to teach their meaning and to conduct tests on those subjects. During the period of studies, the students should be given stipends. On passing examination, suitable prizes depending on marks obtained, should be given. Veda can exist only if you do so. For all these, funds are necessary. Every month, on the day of your birth star, put one rupee* in a Savings Box, remembering me (am I not asking you to give?). On your birthday, add another five rupees**. At the end of the year, send the accumulated amount to Veda Rakshana Nidhi Trust., You are spending a lot, You pay taxes, This is the tax I levy on you. For me you have to pay a rupee a month. Thus, if everyone does this, just like the saying “many drops of water make an ocean”, Veda Rakshana Nidhi Trust will become self-sufficient”.

"வேத ரக்ஷணத்தை அடுத்த சந்ததிக்கு ஜீவிய கர்மமாக, ஆயுட்காலப் பணியாக வைக்க முடியாவிட்டால் கூடப்போகிறது. எட்டு வயசிலிருந்து ஆரம்பித்து அப்புறம் பத்து வருஷங்களுக்கு தினம் ஒரு மணி இளம்பிள்ளைகளுக்கு வேத மந்திரங்களிலும் பிரயோகங்களிலும் வகுப்பு நடத்தப் பேட்டைக்கு பேட்டை கூட்டுறவு அடிப்படையில் ஏற்பாடு பண்ணுங்கள் என்கிறேன். இதுதான் எனக்கு வாஸ்தவமான கனகாபிஷேகம், உத்ஸவம் எல்லாம்.

நானும் ஒரு “ஸம்பத்தி தானம்” கேட்கிறேன். அவரவரும் அத்யயனம் செய்து, தங்கள் பிள்ளைக்கும் செய்விக்க வேண்டும் என்பது ஒரு பக்கம் இருக்கட்டும். இது அவசியம் செய்ய வேண்டியதுதான். அதைவிட அவசியமாக முதலில் செய்ய வேண்டிய காரியம் ஒன்று உண்டு; அதாவது, இப்போது மூச்சைப் பிடித்துக் கொண்டு நடந்து வருகிற வேத பாடசாலைகள் மூடிப்போகாமல் அவற்றைத் தொடர்ந்து நடைபெறப் பண்ண வேண்டும். இதற்காக வித்யார்த்திகள் (மாணவர்கள்) அத்யாபகர்கள் (ஆசிரியர்கள்) இருவருக்கும் நிதி உதவி செய்ய வேண்டும். இன்னும் பல பாடசாலைகளை வைத்து வேத மூலத்தை சொல்லிக் கொடுப்பது, அப்புறம் அதன் அர்த்தத்தை – வேத பாஷ்யத்தை – சொல்லிக் கொடுப்பது, இவற்றில் பரீட்சை வைப்பது ஆகிய காரியங்களைச் செய்ய வேண்டும். படிக்கிற காலத்தில் வித்தியார்த்திக்கு ஸ்டைஃபண்ட் (உபகாரச் சம்பளம்) கொடுக்க வேண்டும். பரீட்சையில் பாஸ் பண்ணியவுடன் மார்க்கைப் பொறுத்துக் கணிசமான சம்பாவனை செய்ய வேண்டும். இப்படியெல்லாம் செய்தால்தான் வேதம் இருக்கும். இதற்கெல்லாம் மூலதனம் வேண்டும்.

அதாவது ஒவ்வொருவரும் மாஸா மாஸம் தங்கள் ஜன்ம நக்ஷத்திரத்தன்று என்னை நினைத்துக் கொண்டு (நான் தானே கொடுக்கச் சொல்லிக் கேட்கிறேன்!) ஒரு ரூபாயை ஒரு உண்டியில் போட்டுவிட வேண்டும். ஒரு வருஷம் ஆனதும் இந்த 12 ரூபாயை வேத ரக்ஷண நிதிக்கு அனுப்பிவிட வேண்டும். எத்தனையோ செலவு செய்கிறீர்கள். வரிகள் (tax) கொடுக்கிறீர்கள். இது நான் போட்டிருக்கிற டாக்ஸ். மாஸம் ஒரு ரூபாய் எனக்காகக் கொடுக்க வேண்டும். எல்லோரும் அப்படிச் செய்தால் பல துளி பெறு வெள்ளம் என்று வேத ரக்ஷணத்துக்கும் பெரிய பலம் கிடைக்கும்.
We have substituted Re 1 to Rs 5 and considering a family of 3 or 4 does the savings for 12 stars in a year and 1 birthday we roughly get Rs 200 to Rs 240.

On Jan14th 2018 being Pradhosam, we did visit Sri Matam and got directions. The contributions will flow to Sri Pratyaksha Charitable Trust(Will share details on what they do later)

Let us assure that funds collected will be accounted with highest transparency and responsibility. We have pooled in Mr. Ganapathy Subramaniam an experienced person to help us in this journey. We three will be the point of contact and reachable through call or whatsapp for any details.

Mrs Padmini Chandrasekaran – 9884613369 - Bangalore
Ganesh Babu C – 9600006173 – Bangalore
Mr Ganapathy Subramaniam – 9789847448 – Chennai

All three of us have other commitments and want to make this as easy to manage. Hence suggesting the few below points

1. Please transfer the amount to the below mentioned bank account. This account is newly opened and will be used for this cause only.

Account Name - Ganapathy Subramaniam, Account Number - 37950100003694, Bank of Baroda Kamaraj Nagar, Tiruvanmiyur, Chennai 600 041, IFSC code - BARB0THICHE

2. While transferring please mention your name in the description and drop a message with your amount to record the contribution received

3. Most of you use online banking and in case if you don’t have please message me to provide an alternate solution

4. You can contribute every month or half yearly or annual.( For example Rs 100/200 every month, Rs600/1200 every 6 months, Rs 1200/Rs2400 every year)

5. We have committed to provide our first contribution during first week of February’18 and hence will have January 30th 2018 as the end date to accept contribution.

Thanks for reading this long message. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thanks for participating in this drive. Periyava will bless all of us for even thinking about helping a veda patasala and imagine if we participate in an event like this.


Jaya Jaya Shankara Hara Hara Shankara

North Karnataka

Would like to start with a quote of a famous American writer Mark Twain“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

As said by Twain I do not want to sit in Bangalore and spare the holidays watching TV programs rather check out long pending wish list. Unlike 2016 the year 2017 has the privilege of having more long weekends and one among them associated with our Independence day. I was fortunate to pick this early in the month of May when Indigo Airlines floated an offer that was almost the price of 3AC train ticket to Mangalore.

Almost all planning including hotels and places to visit are all done by June. In-congruent to my previous travel this one had lot of anxieties till the date of travel and the cancellation made by one of the hotelier created more fuss among all of us.

As mentioned earlier building an enthusiasm to keep the interest high is important especially with kids but this time Prathiba too was excited reason being meeting her school friend Shalini after 2 decades. Of course Ananya got excited with Jog falls and beach.

Initial plan was to start from Kukke and reach Gokarna on the last day of the schedule but has to change the entire plan on the eleventh hour that was exactly opposite to the original which means to start at Gokarna and end at Kukke. Major issue associated with this big change was cancellation of rooms and re-booking to the revised dates and thankfully I was able to overcome this hurdle.

From Mangalore started early morning and reached Honnavar around Saturday noon driving through the western coastline. Gave a sweet surprise to the front desk and requested him to change the dates, initially the request was declined later accepted. After our lunch and a trivial rest started towards Jog falls which is east of Honnavar and later to Apsarkonda beach to glimpse the sunset. Reason for choosing Honnavar is that it is midpoint to Day 1 and Day 2 places.

Day 2 early morning started to Gokarna which lies north of Honnavar and from there to Idagunji on the way to Murudeshwar which is south of Honnavar. Spent a good amount of time in Murudeshwar and post lunch headed towards Kollur. 

Lack of knowledge along with the misguidance of the Jeep driver spoiled meeting plan of Prathiba and Shalini. We are supposed to reach Shalini house late evening but the Kodachadri was the culprit in spoiling the plans. Kodachadri is a place some 20 Kms from Kollur that has to be either trekked or travel by Jeep. Last 10 Kms will take 1 hour of Jeep ride that will break all bones from neck to lower spine sometimes you could see something popping out of your mouth that could be your liver or stomach, tough ride.



On the top you have Adi Mookambigai temple and the place where Adi Shankra did his meditation which needs one hour walk from the place where the Jeep drops and return to Kollur 1 hour. We did wrong estimate of this 3 hours and 2 hours of darshan time in Kollur temple ate the friends's meeting time. Reached their beautiful house near Udupi late night, and Prathiba and Shalini made use of the available time to recollect their old memories.

Day 3 – After a good breakfast from Shalini house headed towards Udupi temple, being Janmastami the queue was flowing to several streets which was expected. Since they have special darshan was able to complete the darshan in an hour. Sringeri was our next destination that was completed as per plan before noon closure and had a wonderful lunch. Finally reached Horanadu in the evening and again surprise to the hotelier for an unscheduled check in but it was accepted.

Day 4 – very early started to Dharmastla and from Kuke Subramanya where again big serpentine queue being Adi Kirthigai. In both the places made use of special darshan to buy invaluable time. Reached managlore and from there 40 Mins to Bangalore by Indigo.

Some of the key learning or highlights of this trip

I normally use booking.com for hotel reservation reason being there is no upfront payment required. Since I booked in June got a good deal and on the day of travel called the hotel to come to know that they have given it to someone else, could be they got better deal considering the heavy demand. Henceforth need to call hotel and confirm a month in advance and pay some nominal amount as advance so that we are at peace.

Due to personal emergency need to make a lot of changes as mentioned above that had lot of anxieties in our minds which created tension and when we realized that the plan change helped us to be on special days like on Janmastami at Udupi and Aadi Kirthigai at Subramanya erased the pain and also availability of rooms was at ease than expected.

As part of the planning got a travels contact who belongs to Tamil Nadu and this helped in communication all through the period.

Normally there won’t be any fuss for food from any of us and these travels will help you get accustomed to any food. Typical to this region the food was extraordinary and in Mangalore the evening snacks was rated as 5/5 by each one of us.

Best period to visit these places are post monsoon, August to December to enjoy the greenery of western Ghats and to avoid the humid climate during other months.

Unlike other tourist places especially temple parking area we will normally find someone collecting parking charges and these people will be locals from the ruling political party. I never paid any parking charges and the toll charges was less than Rs 200 for all days (mostly near Mangalore).

This travel helped me to test the strength of Jio and Airtel, clearly Airtel was winner but Jio never let me down.

If you are planning to make a trip to these places and any guidance required please feel free to mail me at gbramy16@hotmail.com

Click this link for pictures PHOTOS

Snippet - துணுக்குகள் 03 / 17

After nearly a gap of 2 months my renaissance towards sharing my learning/reading/experience erupted, this impediment was due to my steadfastness to my routine schedule. Need to catch up a lot and starting with something that has been flashing for some time.

LATITUDE Vs GOOGLE MAPS

During last week of March 2017, Google unveiled a new feature to its popular Maps app where users can share their locations with friends and contacts in real time.

Yes! Google Maps users will now be able to quickly let friends know if they are running late for meeting and if you are wondering why Google never thought of this earlier then you are wrong. In fact they came up with this idea in the year 2009. The pillar of this great company is its innovation and that too light year ahead of its competitors in bringing innovation to its products.

In 2009 when Smartphone were still at infancy stage Google introduced this Latitude app. At that time this app drew privacy concerns and several articles were published highlighting the risks by enabling this app.

After 8 years they brought this back to public after working on the feedback received on the privacy meanwhile the world has also changed since 2009 when they first tried this. Now more people are in social media when compared to that period in spite of the unaddressed inherent risk associated with the status updates we provide in these social media.

In this particular instance I personally feel there are more benefits of sharing location if you can take care of privacy risk by sharing the information only with known people. For instance allowing parents to keep track of their wards in this highly threatening environment will be welcomed whereas that husbands/wife who party outside without knowledge of his/her spouse will still be hesitant to install this wonderful app.

Whether we make use of this app or not is a personal requirement to each of us. But a key thing to observe is that, let us turn back and take stock of exactly what we gave up some years back and if it is good time to embrace now we shouldn’t be waiting to adopt. It might turn out to be a life changing hug.

RPA and AI - Phobia

If you are associated with IT or ITES industry the buzzword that will obviously encircle you is RPA or AI. When Robotic Process Automation or Artificial Intelligence are talked about then people immediately start picturing about tiny robots that look like humans that renders some activity. Agree to some extent but in reality it is different.

Each day AI surrounds us in all activities we do, be it while browsing internet where it guides you to certain pages or some relevant pages are flashed based on your recent searches. Most of us presume that manufacturing industries are the early adopters of AIs but personally I feel it dates back to evolution of wheels. Necessity is the mother of invention.

AI is no more a “nice to have” choice, it has become integral part of process innovation and cost optimization, which will bring tangible business benefits. Choice is when and where you want to start from?

These innovations can’t be adopted overnight, this needs adoption by organization and its people without any fear.

Ever since RPA/AI came into limelight there has been fear that machines will take over humans. Imagine if the same thought had erupted in the past during the invention of wheel then evolution of human would not have progressed. The way we work is going to change and role we played is going to evolve. Personally I feel that role of humans cannot vanish and it is going to evolve further. Technology cannot take over whereas humans can take over and make better use of it. Having said that, definitely we will have challenges facing this evolution and the foremost one that comes to my mind is how we are going to handle this in designing the curriculum for school or colleges. Though in the past we have made changes to curriculum but this time the magnitude and pace of changes are different to relax.

This reminds me of Philip Kotler’s quote “If you will remain in same business you are in now in next 5 years, you will not exist in the business”, which means you have to be on the wheels of innovation at fairly decent pace so that you are not left out of the race.

21st Century Meerabai - Azerbaijan to Andhra

I was fortunate to read this story in one of the magazine that made my eyes wet and hence thought of sharing the condensed version as part of my blog.

Before proceeding and to get an idea of this blog, would recommend to watch this short video of 6 mins that will help you to correlate the article.

This is an amazing love story from the land of Azerbaijan erstwhile part of USSR and now an independent country. The love story is between Lord Krishna and Ms.Sevanam a 70 year old lady from Azerbaijan.

Click the below picture for Video

I would request you to believe in destiny and rebirth, yes to me this lady was destined in her previous birth and this destiny brought a copy of a Russian translated version of Bhagavad Gita to her place. Someone was distributing this and she got a copy and started to read. In her first reading she got dissolved by the content. Curious to get more knowledge she followed the address in the book that lead her to a local ISKCON temple in Baku the capital of that country.

On her visit to the ISKON temple in Baku, she met a devotee who was giving lecture on Gita. There was an urgent call for the devotee and he excused the class and when returned he was astonished to see Ms Sevanam was providing the lecture on Gita with much more clarity and passion. Though this was the beginning she slowly got engaged into other activities like participating in Kirtana, Bhagavad Gita class etc.,

One fine day she decided to sell her property as her kids were grown and was able to sell in quick time. She requested the temple authorities to accept the proceeds from the property and provide her a small room in the temple premises till her end. After much deliberation it was accepted by temple authorities and from then on it was serving the temple, Chanting and Singing was the duties of Sevanam in the ISKON temple of Azerbaijan.

Some of the positive things I found in that book about this lady are

1. Not only the thoughts were positive but her action and words are full of love
2. Love was towards both god and fellow human being who visited the temple.
3. She used to give small gifts to selected people and would inform them that it was an order by Kirishna. That was her love.
4. She treated Lord Krishna as a kid, had a small cot for him in her room and even toys for him to play. Among them a significant toy was a battery operated toy car and she would seat Krishna in that car and operate the remote and enjoy the ride made by Krishna.
5. She used to feed Krishna similar to how we feed our kids

She had a personal relationship with Krishna and I would call her a Meerabai of Azerbaijan.

Now the turning point in her life was through the above video. She happened to watch this movie and in that an ancient temple of Lord Narashima will be shown, the deity in this temple can be approached if we pass through a chest deep water with bats hanging over your head.

Voice in that video will narrate that since the temple is situated midst of a jungle the priest would come weekly once to perform rituals due to the hardship in reaching the temple. As soon as she heard this in the video she wanted to be in this temple and perform daily rituals, her immediate shout was “Krishna My Krishna is suffering in his land”. Imagine is it feasible for a normal person, then how can it be for a 74 year old lady?

People around her gave terrified views about India and the ISKON people suggested to worship Radhe Krishna so that the 74 year old lady stays back and prevented from any adversity.

In spite of all these arguments she found her way to Andhra Pradesh, nothing stopped this lady in reaching the village. She approached the priest in that village for help to reach the temple that is 5 kms into the forest and the same was obliged by him. Sevanam told him that Lord Krishna wanted her to serve Narashima hence she travelled all the way to India.

Along with her she carried only the idols in her suitcases with couple of clothes, from a developed country she landed in a forest where there was no potable water and electricity. The priest who accompanied her thought she will return back on witnessing the reality but as soon as they reached the cave she lost in admiration.

She requested the priest to build a small tent so that she can live near the cave. Tent was built with temporary materials and she was left alone but the priest on reaching the village spread the news about this Grandma to the people. Curious to see her people started to visit the temple and our Sevanam transformed into a Saint.

The transformation happened to the entire place and she was invited for wedding and new born functions to bless. She also started to perform abhishega to the deity, news spread to far off places and people throng the temple to see this lady and hence priest started coming daily and daily rituals are back.

Now it is the turn of local newspaper to publish an article and then came Governer of Andhra Pradesh with his family to seek blessing of both Lord and Sevanam. On seeing the condition of the place he took personal responsibility of collecting money and built road, water connection, marble steps etc., now it is one of the celebrated temple of Lord Narashima in AP.

Years went and on a Dvadhishi morning people came in as usual to the temple and to the house of Sevanam where they witnessed that she was on her feet embracing Krishna in one hand and Gita under her arms. People thought she was sleeping and no movement for some time created doubts and when checked she had left the body and the Soul joined HIM. Readers might be aware of the significance of death on a Dvadhisi day and how sacred it is?

Earlier in the article I called her Meera of 21st century hope you too agree now…

Snippet - துணுக்குகள் 02 / 17

Varavu Ettana Pathanna Selavu Pathanna Ettana 

Made a small change to Kannadasan’s song from Bhama Vijayam that perfectly fits this situation. Income is Ten whereas expense is Eight annas.

On any given day I am for Namo’s Demo. But the major flaw was in its planning and too flexible in making amendments to combat those who found avenue to sneak through.

One such flexibility made during that period was suspension of toll collection on all national highways. The exemption was made to avoid inconvenience to commuters due to inadequate smaller denominations. By this act it was evident that the vision to foresee future issues was definitely missed.

Some of the following figures will raise our eyebrows

• Average daily toll collection is 70 to 75 crores per day on national highways
• Roughly there are around 320 toll plazas 

For both the operators in the public & private partnership, the Estimated Revenue leakage was Rs 1212 crores for the period Nov 9th to Dec 2nd 

To boost the confidence of these private investors so that in future they stay invested it has been proposed to pay Rs 922 crores to these institutions as a relief measure and balance Rs 290 crores will be borne by NHAI and ultimately written off.

The current contract with these private players has clearly laid out such calculation in case of decisions like these by Government, but NHAI is not venturing into those since it is cumbersome process and might lead to litigation. Hence this onetime compensation.

NHAI has already requested finance ministry seeking funds for the compensation and we all know from where the money will be funded by finance ministry.

• Indirectly net revenue from this Demo operation gets reduced by this amount or
• Additional Tax or Cess for Income tax payers.

Unfortunately people and Government think that tolls are taxes but they are charges for those users who use the roads. Millions of people like me who have not used the exemption during that period will also contribute is the mocking truth and alas can laugh at this situation, nothing else can be done.

ReNEWable Energy

Any Innovation in the energy sector is a blessing to our natural resources and paves way for this world to be a better place to live.

In that context in 2016 a phenomenal breakthrough was made by a French Company Newwind, generating energy from wind. I could understand the perplexity about what is new in wind energy, yes this is brand new.

There is no need for monstrous and noisy turbines that require good amount of wind to generate energy. In this new one we can use a turbine at our backyard and it resembles like a tree with tiny silent blades that could produce energy from breeze, yes I meant breeze that can be as low as 7Km/h speed.

The base frame is made of steel and the turbine sheet called “Aeroleaf” is made of Plastic and 72 such turbines will be placed in a tree. The story of this invention is quiet interesting, When Jerome was relaxing in his Garden on a windless day he observed the leaves on the trees are moving in-spite of the stillness around. He exclaimed there is energy and wanted to harvest it and came this wind tree.

France has already built 2000 such farms and planning to build another 8000 since it believes this as a clean alternative to the current sources.

Initial investment will be around $20,000 and will be able to recoup in one year if the average speed of the wind is 12Kmh. More than recouping the cost it should be considered as natural resources saver.

Energy savings from one tree is equivalent to 1905 Lbs of coal or 3.2 tons of carbon di oxide for the same amount of energy output. One tree can supply power to 15 street lamps of 50W or 1000 sq ft low consumption office or 83% of one household consumption.

Message to Minister of Urban development Mr Venkaiah Naidu to spend some time on these developments that is happening in conjunction with Mr Piyush Goyal instead spending a day near a coffin.

Actually these should be made mandatory to the IT parks and to huge residential apartments to generate power for lighting the common area. Another advantage is that in case if there is no power these people will use Diesel to generate power to light the common areas which could be saved.

Mere having the target as a banner in your webpage will not help Mr Goyal, we need to keep our eyes and ears open and always explore.

Snippet - துணுக்குகள் 01 / 17

I have been persuading myself to include snippet as part of my Blog, with this started my first edition for 2017 though not as part of my 2017 resolution whereas the resolution is to find a suitable Tamil name for each header hence the name "துணுக்குகள்". 

Actually Snippet implies small and interesting news or information, I will try to pick some major that gets unnoticed by most of us since we are tied down with our routine busy schedule. 

X replaces E

Last year it was NEET (National eligibility & Entrance test) for medical college aspirants and now it is NEXT (National Exit Test) for those who leave medical colleges.

After a hard tussle of 5 1/2 years irrespective of further education or practice medical students need to finish NEXT. The logical reason quoted by Indian Medical council is that NEXT will standardize and improve the quality of medical education and help to benchmark which means this will equate a student from X university to that of Y university.

Personally I am not able to understand the logic, IMC (Indian Medical Council) accepts that there is no standardization in the education. Ideal solution should be

• Standardize  the syllabus across the nation
• Ensure  that quality faculty and infrastructure  are available in all colleges

Instead of IMC taking responsibility it is shedding and transferring it to students in the name of standardization.I could foresee only one result, student’s NEXT score will be used by medical colleges to attract more ignorant people and become billionaires from millionaires by these business tycoons.

CESS follows Insurance Premium

Railways want to create a safety fund of 1 lakh crore and requested Finance ministry to sponsor 93% from its budget. However it has been agreed at 25% so for the deficit a cess will be levied from passengers.  I believe this is an outcome of the recent derailments that happened. Normally in our CAPA (Corrective Action & Preventive Action) we quote negligence as the reason for most of the transaction errors. Similarly these people have a common reason for the safety failure “Inadequate Fund”.

We have to wait and watch how this fund creation impacts on the number of accidents. We need to THANK the person who mooted this proposal, reason being this is not part of another CESS in Income tax. It would have been if Finance Ministry accepted the 93% proposal.

Recently the Insurance premium was included as part of the ticket and we all know who gets benefited. Soon we can expect water charges considering the scarcity of water or these educated brats will find an avenue to increase revenue.

IOC Vs IOA Vs Sports Ministry

Like the 5 circles that represent Olympics,Politics and Sports are always tangled together and the intrusion of former is inevitable. But in this country alone we can witness the filthy part due to the invasion of politicians. 

Currency not only plays a pivotal role in electing the General Sectary of a Political party but also in electing President of IOA (Indian Olympic Association).

Suresh Kalmadi’s and Abhay Chautala’s election as life president of IOA clearly indicates how money plays its role in sports. This subject was brought into the agenda of IOA AGM as a last item to maintain its secrecy and got elected. As per the norms a person convicted cannot be elected but in this case how an exception was taken is unclear. 

Obliviously Sports Ministry headed by rival party of Kalmadi will react and they have taken a resolution not to fund IOA until the decision is reversed. Out of the two one is defiant that he will step down if IOC( International Olympic Committee) asks him to whereas Kalmadi refused the position  till he is cleared from CWG games issue.

Let us keep our fingers crossed on IOC decision.Undeniably this impacts our next Olympic preparation if this is stretched beyond some months.