Some Quotes and excerpts I enjoyed

While reading, I used to note down passages that impressed me and some of the writing and quotes are shared below:

1. Sandal tree, as if to prove how sweet to conquer hate by love, perfumes the axe that lays it low.
2. Half open doors are always half closed doors. But, fully opened doors are never fully closed.
3. The trouble with not having a goal is that you spend your life running up and down the field and  never score.
4. I complained because I had no shoes , until I saw one with no feet.
5. You are not matured, until you expect the unexpected.
6. Bad temper, real or contrived, serves as a No Trespassing sign.
7. If God be with you, who can be against you.
8. Beware of what you want, for you will get it - Emerson
9. So many Gods, so many creeds , so many paths that wind and wind while just the art of being kind is all that the sad world needs.
10. Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.
11. Oh God, please save me from my friends. I will deal with my enemies myself.
12. Do the thing that you fear and the death of fear is certain - Emerson
13. Abuse that is not answered is like a food rejected by the guest which reverts to the host- Buddha
14. So little done, so much to do - Cecil Rhodes
15. Dream is not what you see in sleep. It is the things which does not let you sleep- Dr Kalam
16. Arrow goes forward only after pulling in backwards. Bullet goes forward only after pressing the trigger backward. Such that, every human being will be happy only after facing difficulties in their life path. So, don't be afraid to face your difficulties- they will push you forward
17. The absence of noise is not the presence of peace.
18. Character is what you are in the dark - Lord John Whorfin
19. Someone please give me back the days that have passed away.
20. It is better to deserve honours and not have them rather than to have them and not to deserve them.
21. When God leads you to the edge of the cliff, trust Him fully and let go. Only one of two things will happen. Either He will catch you when you fall or He will teach you to fly.
22. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you and then you Win - Gandhiji
23. If God answers your prayer, He is increasing your faith. If He delays , He is increasing your patience. If He does not answer, He knows you can handle it.
24. I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone- Bill Cosby
25. Boats are safer in harbour. But, that's not what they are built for.

Idiot Box?

Television, branded as an Idiot Box, more out of the contents and number of hours spent with it some years ago, is an interesting invention. There were days, some decades ago, when people were proud to be having a Radio at home and keep glued to it hearing running commentaries on important occasions. Then came the transistors, which was viewed suspiciously when it was spewing the same news and songs without any wired connections. I could vividly recollect days when our young boys group used to surround a radio giving running commentaries on cricket matches particularly during Pongal holidays , when India will be playing against visiting cricket teams in Chennai, then Madras. The voice of Ananda Rao commenting " As he comes in and bowls to Pataudi, he gently attempts to glance and misses which is collected by the wicket keeper....". In between critical deliveries, there will be a bout of static disturbances which will drown the voice and that will be the most dreaded moment of the match, as Replays were not in vogue those days !

In such medieval ages, Television was an innovative piece never even dreamed of at Chennai. I could recollect the introduction of TV in Chennai on the 15th August of 1975, when we were unfortunate to look at the assassination of the then Prime Minister of Bangla Desh , Mujibur Rahman. I watched along with a huge crowd outside a retail shop selling TVs and we were all so fascinated by TV that the sadness of the news was lost. Even in 2010, I can still see the crowd outside retail shops but this time they were more fascinated by Cricket than the TV!.

In those days, rather years, the programmes were tightly controlled and had a mixture of News, dramas, film songs and very little serials. After 9 PM , the TV will be hijacked by serials, programmes in Hindi when half the population will turn the set off, sheerly due to the lack of language awareness than any other reasons. In between the programme Managers would squeeze in 45 minutes for regional songs on Fridays and one should see to believe the excitement that this will create. The whole of population will wait throughout the week for this 45 minutes programme ! I had the genius to derive the better of this situation when I figured out that this is the best time to visit doctors and dentists when there will be no patients and even the roads would at times be deserted !! The Sunday evenings will be occupied by Tamil movies and the households will be waiting very patiently for this programme and all lights will be switched off to give a theatrical effect !

Some of my early memories with this box are:

• Going to the co-owner's house to see the song and dance with my friend
• India Vs West Indies cricket match at the opposite school. Someone had a business acumen to collect one rupee  and the school hall was full. Bedi spun the Windies out of the match and we all felt the amount was worth !

The frustrated audience in its appetite for a more and variety of programmes than the 30 minutes of song and dance and weekly films, branded this great invention as Idiot box and they were overjoyed when one more channel was introduced. Then came the cable TV concept which gave the audience a handful of regional channels with filmy programmes at all times. This was the day when the viewership of India turned firmly on its head. The recent decade saw a flurry of television brands with more than a handful of channels, a La Carte programmes and it is now mind boggling to receive 200+ channels 24 by 7. This facility has given me the luxury of watching some programmes of my choice even at 3 AM, on some days. The current bouquet offers such varieties in science, fictions, music, sports , news, religion etc., that TV has become a very active companion for those who could afford to spend sometime with it.

I am prompted to post this when I happened to spend some of these channels in the recent months and I am really thrilled that we have so much to look forward to. Some of the programmes I happened to see were very informative and also thought provoking. I am amazed at the improvements that have been made and easily we can categorize that TV and Internet are two of the inventions that have changed the world in terms of content, communication, knowledge spread, entertainment etc.,

As we used to hear , beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, TV is also a media that has to be carefully devoured by the viewer. I am sure there are more good to it than the bad that was seen in those days. I strongly feel that it is time that this branding of " Idiot Box" needs to be revisited.

Some books and authors who inspired me !

I do not exactly remember as to when I started serious reading, but off hand I can recollect many of the books and authors- meaning they had made some telling impact on me through their writings. Some of these are: Mahathma Gandhi, Dominic Lapierre & Larry Collins, Arthur Hailey, Irwing Wallace, Sydney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer- to name some !

My earliest readings were those of Gandhiji from "My Experiments with Truth"- I read this in the summer of 1975, when I just finished my graduation. The writings were so impressive and worth repeated references that I made a note of the gist in my scrapbook of collections (I have written about this habit of mine in this blog separately).

Freedom at Midnight by Dominic Lapierre and Larry Collins gave a brilliant insight into the Indian freedom struggle and thereafter. What was more admirable was that , it was a book written by two authors who were not Indians ! Some of the anecdotes given there like Vallabhai patel continuing his peroration despite being informed about his wife's demise, the last moments of Gandhiji, about Krishna Menon's personality, Mountbatton and Jinnah.... left a lasting impression and beckoned me for repeated references to this book.

Arthur Hailey- an author I stumbled upon on the recommendations of one of my learned friends Murugan, is a delight to read. He narrates a story around a chosen line of activity and when one finishes reading any of the books, the reader will be left with a definite addition of in depth knowledge of the same. Some of his great writings could be seen in Airport, Final Diagnosis, Hotel, Money Changers, Wheels, Overload and Flight into Danger (co-authored). The areas of focus in these books are Airlines, Hospital, Hotel , Banks, Automobile and Power sector. I learnt a lot about these industries after reading these books. In fact, I have read some of these books more than a dozen times !!

Irwing Wallace- another great author on the lines of Arthur Hailey. Some of his delights are Seven Minutes & Prize. Both are gems, in my opinion. The legal arguments in Seven Minutes are read to be believed- a great storyteller. Prize, a book on Nobel prize is a voluminous one and so intricately describes all minutest details of the Nobel prize activities that it took him 20 years to conceive and deliver the book !! This has been described in another book "Making of one novel" by Wallace himself !! This book explains the plans and pains in writing this novel and incidentally has captured the practices of other popular writers too !!

Sydney Sheldon- Most of his book demand the best attention of the reader- You will not leave the book until you have finished reading it. His Range of Angels is a brilliant story of a young lawyer driven by circumstances and  his If Tomorrow comes is a crime fiction which has a gripping story.

Jeffrey Archer- An amazing author with a nose for details. Books such as Kane and Abel  and Prodigal Daughter are a delight to read. 

I have just recollected whatever that came into my mind- which means these impressed me a lot. Let me update , if I could recollect more !!!!

I have included only the English books and let me have a separate posting for Tamil books.

Takeaways from Reading

From time I could recall, it has been my habit to note down points while reading a book. It could be quotes that inspire me , activities worthy of emulation, good points that could be reused for the benefit of readers- but one common thread is these are points that definitely impressed me. My scrapbook of collections date back to 1976, when I was involved in aggressive reading and when I look at the dog-eared notebook, I am very nostalgic of those days !

I could vividly recall pulling out my scrap book while I was reading "The writing of a Novel" By Irwing Wallace. There, Wallace describes the 20 years of effort that went into the making of his famous book "Prize", which is a lexicon of all acts related to Nobel Prize, gently tied around a storyline. I was very impressed by the struggles he underwent to get into the writing groove, as to how a writer locked himself in a room, how many hours each of the authors spent and it was so very impressive, I felt that these needs to be captured and thus my idea of the scrapbook was formalized.

From then on, it became a habit and I automatically started looking at extracting points that appeal to me. This gave birth to a collection of such gems like " The cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable people" (From the "Roses in December" - Biography of M.C.Chagla).  The habit continued resulting in accumulations from " Experiments with Truth" by Mahathma Gandhi, Freedom at Midnight, "Consolations" by Swami Ramakrishnanda,  Krishna Menon's biography, "Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale, books by Kuldip Nayyar, M.O. Mathai, Kaifi Azmi and the list trails on... My 100 odd pages of scrap book is full of reminiscent diamonds about which I can rightfully be proud of . When I am able to enjoy such collection after 30 years, I felt the compulsive need to share the benefit of this habit with others and so decided to post this in my blog.

Recently, I felt the need to look for this scrap book when I was reading Robin Sharma's "Who will cry, when you die"- the book was so full of collectibles that I cannot live without sharing it, I felt.

I recommend this as an affordable habit and elsewhere in this blog, I will also attempt to provide glimpses of the collections. Such thoughts, I feel is the takeaway one can have from readings.

Munnar Escapade -2010

The yearly outing for 2010 could not be finalized until the very last weeks, due to various constraints. But, once decided as Munnar, it turned out to be a fantastic one. The arrangements by Embassy Travels of Chennai turned out to be very good, in that we were received by their contacts at the Cochin Airport very promptly. Earlier the travel to Cochin by the early morning flight of the 1st June was very refreshing.

After a vile breakfast , where we had Idaly (!) , we proceeded to the much publicised Athirampally falls where films like புன்னகை மன்னன், ராவணன் were shot. May be due to high expectations, the realistic scenario of the falls was not that impressive though it promised that during the heavy rainfall, it will be a sight to behold. After some delightful waterfalls on the way, we reached Munnar by the fading lights of the day and stayed at the impressive Greenridge Hotel.

Munnar is a place , which was exactly what we were looking at: pleasant weather - not very cold but pleasant to roam about, not many places to wander and get tired but handful of places to visit which could be ideally distributed across the three days of stay and lot of free time to spend time with the family. The best part of the trip, the hours to always cherish and re-live are the evenings we spent at the small balcony of the hotel room, facing out to a small hillock, fully green scenarios and the slowly enveloping cold clouds. The evenings were made memorable by the choicest songs (we had earlier carefully selected), coming out of the Nokia Express music with the extra speaker provided by Karthik. The evenings , chats, discussions were amazing and worth miles of trekking. If a tired family, always running around through the week looking forward to the weekend but ultimately finds the weekend always flying past want to spend some quality time together, away from the din and bustle, Munnar is the ideal hideout !

The days were carefully planned to be spent across Rajamalai , echo point, natural tea gardens, Tata Tea museum and some walkarounds. At Rajamalai, one should not miss out on the வரை ஆடு , a type of goat which is found only in Australia , other than this place. The specialty of this goat is it will climb steep rocks without much ado.

We also saw the சோட்டானிக்கரை பகவதி அம்மன் temple on the way back and wound up the trip in five days between the 1st and 5th of June, 2010.

ரசித்த தமிழ்க் கவிதைகள்

ஆண்டு 1982 என்று நினைக்கிறேன் . என் சஹாக்களுக்கெல்லாம் தமிழ்க் கவிதை மேல் ஒரு ஈர்ப்பு வந்தது. என் நண்பன் ராஜா கல்யாணத்துக்கு மதுரை சென்ற பொழுது , இலக்கியப் பண்ணை என்ற புத்தகக் கடையில் நல்ல மேய்ச்சல். அந்த நாட்களிலிருந்து நான் ரசித்த சில துணுக்குகள், கவிதைகள் இதோ:

1. விழிகள் நட்சத்திரங்களை வருடினாலும் , விரல்கள் என்னவோ ஜன்னல் கம்பிகளோடுதான் - மு. மேத்தா
2. பொருட்பாலுக்காக காமத்துப்பாலை விற்கிறேன். அதற்க்காக அறத்துப்பால் ஏன் அழுது புலம்புகிறது.
3. கருப்பு வளையல் கையுடன் குனிந்து வளைந்து பெருக்கிப்போனாள். வாசல் சுத்தமாச்சு, மனசு குப்பையாச்சு.
4. கனவுகளை நான் வெறுக்கிறேன் அவை எத்தனை அழகாக இருந்தாலும் . நிழல்களின் ஒப்பந்தங்களை விட நிஜங்களின் போராட்டமே எனக்குப் பிடிக்கும்.
5. காலந்தோறும் காத்துக்கிடந்தாலும் முசுக்கட்டை பட்டாகிறது . கனகாம்பரமும் டிசம்பர் பூக்களும் என்னவாகும் - சக்திகனல்
6. என்னை நீ புரிந்து கொள்ளவில்லையென்றால் , வேறு யார் புரிந்து கொள்ளக் கூடும்? என்னை நீ புரிந்து கொள்ளவில்லையென்றால் , வேறு யார் புரிந்து கொண்டுதான் என்ன? - மீரா
7. என் இதயத் தோட்டத்தில் ரோஜாக்களை பயிரிட்டேன் . அறுவடை செய்ய உன்னை அழைத்தேன் . அரிவாளோடு நீ வந்த பிறகுதான் என் தவறு எனக்குப் புரிந்தது - மு. மேத்தா
8. ஆயிரம் கனவுகள் காண்கிறேன் ... அனந்த கோடி கற்பனைகளை வளர்த்துக் கொள்கிறேன் .. இவையெல்லாம் நடக்கிற காரியமா? சாத்தியப் படுமா? ஞாலத்தில் விரும்பியது நண்ணுமோ என்றேன் . நாலிலே ஒன்றிரண்டு பலித்திடலாம் என்றார்- மஹா கவி பாரதியார்.
9.  பிறப்பில் வருவது யாதெனக் கேட்டேன் - பிறந்து பார் என இறைவன் பணித்தான்  .  இறப்பில் வருவது யாதெனக் கேட்டேன் - இறந்து பார் என இறைவன் பணித்தான். அனுபவித்தே அறிவது யாதெனில், ஆண்டவனே நீ ஏன் எனக்கேட்டேன். ஆண்டவன் சற்றே அருகினில் வந்து அனுபவம் என்பதே நான் தான் என்றான் - பாலகுமாரன்

- இன்னும் எழுத ஆசை - வ(ள) ரும்

Paying back - a forgotten trait?

Few weeks back I happened to see a senior colleague of mine after more than a decade. The man was identified by the same enthusiasm in words and unique actions and we were mutually overjoyed to meet after such a long gap. After exchanging the usual pleasantries, he was obviously curious to know about my position and after hearing me said that he was really happy at my growth. The words were more seen in his eyes rather than coming out of his mouth.

At that point, I noticed a sadness- a melancholy in his voice – like a violin strung at the backdrop. Though I could sense that he was not exactly happy, I didn’t want to pry further. To put him more at ease, I asked about his son, about whom he always talked proudly and in a typical south Indian way, he had once remarked that “he is all in my life”. The moment I enquired, he came down in torrents as to how he is not with them, how he has purchased a house without even telling the parents and how he has not even spoken to them for the past so many months. In the present day circumstances, some of the above are perfectly expected activities, though not justifiable, but what made me sad is to think as to how this man has struggled to bring him up. His acts were not in the usual way of an Indian father supporting his son. This son had specific problems in that he could not speak and hear from birth. The parental couple nurtured him, took pains to get him a very decent job and to top it all get married to a girl with similar challenges. I am aware of the extreme pains he underwent to make his son come up all the way.

What do you think is the motive of this father? Was he aiming to eat out of his son in his old age? For your information this father had enough property to support his son , even if he had chosen to sit at home. All they brought him was his self esteem and taught him to walk like a normal man, head high. After undergoing all these struggles, if the son does not reciprocate – not with money- but with some simple lovable gestures- what else you expect the father to do but to come out in torrents at the drop of the hat! This elderly couple, both past 70, is now living alone, without the physical comforts of the son, who was once “everything in their life”.

My dear sons of such similar parents- are you listening? What is it that you are going to achieve by hurting your poor parents? Have you ever thought of the goal of your life? Instead just for a change think about the goals of this father and see how futile they have become. I am not shedding tears for this old couple but for the coming generations of such sons and daughters. Of course, your parents are going to be delighted when you come up in life, get educated and grab a plum job. After some years get married to a wealthy or earning girl, buy a house and look forward to your son/daughter coming up. Son, welcome to the stage where your father was few decades before- be wiser. Your parents do not expect your Draft/Money Order/ Western Union couriers! All they expect you is to massage their aching and tired feet, accompany him to the doctor when he has that uneasiness, your wife preparing her the morning cup of coffee when the limbs are cracking under the age and someone to talk to .

Remember, we go with the same empty hands that we came with but we can make a difference- we can go smiling , while we entered this world crying! Life is only this much- let us try to repay these contributions, even if you think they are small!

Dawn, a Boon ?

I am used to getting up early in the morning right from my school days and the habit has stuck with me. I am not sure whether it is good or bad, but I seem to enjoy and reap the benefits.

Well, what are the benefits I am talking about ? You can do all things that you wanted to do but somehow never found time to do ! Before the world wakes up, you can catch up with your work and be some hours ahead.

Way back in 70s , during my college days, I used to get up at 4 AM and by 5.30 peep out of my balcony for a whiff of fresh air. I could still remember the scene. The majestic nearby temple tower, the early morning prayer coming out of a nearby mosque speaker, vendors yelling for milk ..... it was wonderful.

For the current day needs, no worries on catching up early morning flights (still remember the chilly 3 AM wake up in Sydney).

When I browsed through my scrap book of collections, I came across some quotes:
"Early morning hath gold in its mouth"- Wellington.
"One key to success is to have lunch at the time when most of the people have breakfast" - Robert Brault.
Robin Sharma too has some few good observations on early mornings:

He speaks about the "Five O' clock Club" to control your day rather than letting the day control you.
Winning the "battle of bed" and putting the "mind over the mattress", he says, will provide you with at least one quiet hour for yourself during the most crucial part of the your day viz., the Beginning.
I enjoy getting up early- why don't you try and get some enjoyment in life :-)
Incidentally this post was conceived one rainy early morning of July 2010 !

Updated on 22-July-2010:

After writing the above post, I happened to hear the great Hari katha exponent Shri Sundara Kumar and I was surprised and happy to hear him repeat two of the above points. This goes to reaffirm to myself that my thinking is on the right lines. The learned Hari Katha exponent went on to add that it is enshrined in the sastras that those who sleep during dawn & or dusk run the risk of being afflicted with the greatest of Doshas viz., the Bramahathi dosha. This dosha is supposed to be the worst of all doshas in that, it is at the end of the dosha list and there is very little chance of the afflicted person getting rid of this. So, readers be aware and pass it on to those whom you care for !!