Licensed to Peep ?

Our land never runs short of hot topics and every  cross section of the society contributes its mite in keeping this flame alive. People vie with each other and we see a rare unity in this. Some of these start with a mild spark such as Koodangulam, Sachin's ton, Betting in Cricket, Doping in sports, Age row in Army etc.,  and then peak over a period f time. There are some which erupt like Mount Etna and make people sit up. A cursory glance at the day's newspaper will reveal a lot. Some such are the recent incidents of 2G, N D Tiwari's act & conviction,  teen stabbing a teacher in school and the most shocking of these surfaced few days back- Our elected representatives in the legislature caught red handed watching objectionable and obscene matters when the legislature was in session.

Over the past few days, ever since this erupted as a scandal, one could read any number  of comments on this act- some were outright condemning , some not satisfied with their resignation but also require them to be jailed, some wants them to be barred for a specific period, some going to the extent of their being punished with hanging and  some even calling for the ouster of the government.. The outburst  brings to the fore two things : Existence of freedom of speech  and the non-reluctance of people to come out openly and call a spade a spade, without fear or fervor.

After the initial euphoria died, there were voices that rose to play the Devil's advocate. There were  some open blog posts in leading newspapers ranging from  "what wrong they have done",  "Why should people indulge in moral policing", "Honestly tell us how many of the commoners are not doing this", "People who see such film shots are not necessarily bad" , "Is there any law which says that people should not watch things inside the Assembly" ……..  I am numbed not only by many of these comments  but by the audacity in trying to justify this act.  Is it the price we pay for the hard fought freedom of speech and expression?  I neither know the existence or non existence of rules preventing such acts either inside the assembly or in public places nor willing to judge whether they are really as bad as the ones who does such acts in the privacy or not yet caught in the act; So, I am not competent to question or debate or castigate these as bad comments.

But, as a common man, I have some queries. Will these advocates mull over and then decide whether this is to be deprecated  or not:

• Have these people been elected to watch such film shots when the Assembly is in session or discuss and fight for people's rights?
• Are these aware of the cost of an Assembly session, which they were frittering away?
• If they really feel that there is nothing wrong with such acts, at the next election campaign will they announce openly that  they will indulge in such acts as they are not declared illegal.
• Are these film shots more important than the topic of the discussion which was happening at that time - hoisting of the Pakistan flag in Bijapur District?
• If watching porn clips is not an offense, will these people do this in the drawing rooms of their  own home?
• If it is not unlawful,  if a group of people watch such movies in a corner of the majestic circle in Bengaluru , will the Police act against them or not?
• What will be their reaction, if the mobile phone of their son/daughter contain such film strips?
• If so, have  we elected some with a license to peep into the privacy of others from  a public place?
• Have we erred in electing such peeping toms or will do it again , given a chance?

Just because, you have freedom to write and there is an avenue to express , one cannot express anything. I feel under such free environment the writer has greater responsibility than the one indulging in such acts. It is this misplaced understanding of the freedom, that is going to be a bigger challenge in the days to come.

Whatever be the judgement , dear legislators, please don’t tell others that you have been elected to represent me !

Handy Links

Of late due to my wider reading, I browse more and come across many interesting websites. Some are just worth browsing through and there are many, which deserve to be marked favorites for periodical visits as there are regular updates.

Interesting thing about reading is that what you have read becomes more interesting, when you discuss the topic and content, analyze the pros and cons of a topic and you feel more satisfied if you share such good updates and information with people whom you identify yourselves with and care for. This perhaps explains why so many mails are being forwarded across , particularly in offices in such a way that the mail maintenance group issues exclusive requests to avoid forwards during festive season, as this could create avoidable mail traffic and hinder business critical communications. It would be  a worthwhile exercise if someone really does an analysis on how much of mails an employee read in a day are non-official !

Let me pull myself back from the distraction - For my own easy references, I used to create a spreadsheet  with links and that is still coming in handy for me. This is better than a favorite list , which creates some dependencies and geographical constraints, when you are on travel.

This morning, I came across a link, which lead me to a very interesting website and my passion for sharing this jumped up. I propose to share such interesting links, right here, in this blog, as and when I come across one. It is to be noted that these are links that interested 'me' or found enjoyable by me - they could be on English or Tamil, they could be on religion or could be on books or weather. If this interests the visitors to my blog too, then I consider it a bonus and will be delighted.

Needless to add that, there is going to be dynamical updates, as the list will be based on my reading experience. It will not be out of place to express my gratitude to some of my friends, who shared some good links with me, that are also included here.

My list of interesting/ impressive/enjoyable/ informative Websites are:

http://balhanuman.wordpress.com/

http://www.forwarddefensive.com/cricket/

http://www.katturai.com/

http://www.rtitoday.com/rtihome.php

http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/?o=a

http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/India/News_and_Media/Newspapers/?o=a

http://www.aljazeera.com/

http://cybersimman.wordpress.com/

http://bigb.bigadda.com/

http://www.athishaonline.com/

Updated on 10-Mar-2012

As promised, I am sharing some more links that captivated me:

http://www.atomic-clock.org.uk/world-time.php

http://adamkhoooverview.blogspot.com/p/secrets-of-self-made-millionaires.html

http://search-banks.blogspot.com/2008/06/contents-public-sector-banks-private.html

http://chinmayisripada.blogspot.com/

http://dondu.blogspot.com/

http://www.pichaikaaran.com/

http://www.thaamiraa.com/

http://ramamoorthygopi.blogspot.com/

http://paanipoorisridhar.blogspot.com/

http://ramscricket.blogspot.in/

குருவி

ஒரு காலத்தில் சில அரிசி மணிகளை முற்றத்தில் போட்டு , குருவிகள் அதை கொத்தி தின்பதை வேடிக்கை காட்டியே குழந்தைகளுக்கு தாய்மார்கள் சோறூட்டுவார்கள். குருவி என்றாலே ஞாபகத்துக்கு வருவது, பாரதி தான். இப்பல்லாம் , குருவிகளையே பார்க்க முடிவதில்லை . சுற்றுச் சூழ்நிலை என்கிறார்கள். சிலர் செல் போனுக்காக போடப்பட்ட டவரிலிருந்து வரும் கதிர்  வீச்சால் என்கிறார்கள். மொத்தத்தில் அவைகளைக் காணோம்.

சமீபத்தில் குருவிகளுக்கு புதிய விளக்கம் கொடுக்கிறார்கள். ஒரு இடத்திலிருந்து இன்னொருஇடத்துக்கு தேவைப்பட்டவற்றை கொண்டு செல்வது. கொஞ்ச வருடங்களுக்கு முன்னால், இந்தியாவிலிருந்து அண்மையில் உள்ள சில வெளிநாடுகளுக்கு பொருட்களை எடுத்துச் செல்பவர்களையும் இப்படித்தான் அழைத்தார்கள்.

நான் பேச வந்த குருவி இனங்கள் வேறு! தினமும் விடிகாலையில் வாக்கிங் போகும்போது பல வகைப்பட்டவர்களைப் பார்க்கிறேன். சிலர் பிள்ளை, பெண்களை கார் ஓட்ட கற்றுக் கொடுக்கும் இடத்துக்கு கூட்டி வருவார்கள். சிலர் அவசரமாக பிள்ளைகளை கல்லூரி பஸ்சுக்கு முன் சர் என்று கொண்டு வந்து இறக்குவார்கள். சில தாய்மார்கள், பிள்ளைகள் கிரிக்கேட் மட்டை சகிதமாக விளையாட்டு மைதானம் நோக்கி பயணித்துக் கொண்டிருப்பார்கள். புண்ணிய தினங்களில் சாஸ்த்ரிகள் பறந்து கொண்டிருப்பர்கள். இதன் நடுவில் பேப்பர் போடுபவர்கள் , லைப்ரரி புத்தகம் போடும் பையன்கள் - எல்லோரும் ஏதோ ஒரு வேலையாக, ஒரு குறிக்கோளுடன் பறந்து, பறந்து மக்களையோ, சாமான்களையோ இடம் இடம் விட்டு இடம் பெயர்க்கிறார்கள். கவலையோடும் கடமையோடும் பறக்கும் இவர்களும்  குருவிகளை ஞாபகப் படுத்துகிறார்கள் ! 

Alma Mater

Last weekend my attention was drawn to an advertisement about a spiritual fair, being held at a college in Chennai. Two things interested me - one I was inquisitive about what a spiritual fair could offer, what sort of stalls will be there and what are the talking points. Somehow, I was very sure that no religion will be sold there and hence the inquisitiveness.

The fair had a fair share of crowd being a Sunday and the last day of the event.  There were stalls selling religious books, cassettes (yes cassettes!) , VCDs, DVDs, chains made of rudraksha beads and name something related to Bhakthi or devotion…. they were there. There were even stalls for famous hill temple such as Thirupathi and hints on how to get quick dharshans. Then there were directions on how to learn Sanskrit in a week, and any number of stalls for Meditation,  yoga and nature cures. Of all the stalls numbering 100, honestly I did not feel like buying anything, but it was good to go through them, as some useful information were also available on Seva Sangams.

The other main point of interest was the venue, which was  D.G.Vaishnav College- my alma mater. The college I studied for 3 years, I was stepping into after nearly 37 years, though I made some brief visits in between.  This time I was very curious to know how my old class room looked like- whether it is still there or has gone under the remodeling of the campus. How the Gandhi park appeared, the place full of trees and shade where we spent much time listening to radio commentaries of cricket matches and lunch. The HOD room, outside which I had spent time waiting to take some choicest Mathematics books, which were not placed at the general library.

The third floor was there but not the contents and structure of  the old room! The staff and the HOD room were shifted to a different corner and wore a different look. The Gandhi park with its tress were missing, possibly replaced by other concrete structures I could see. But, as I stepped hesitantly into the third floor and walked towards the room which the Mathematics students occupied for most of the entire three years, the good old grand gallery , called "G3" was there - intact with its ancient splendor. I went into the empty Sunday gallery and fondly caressed the first bench, where I sat for the  duration of the course. Thoughts of my good old friends Raghavan, Ramaujam & Murali came flooding and I was overwhelmed with emotion. The classroom also had another special place of interest in my mind, as it was here that I sat as a student to hear the teachings of my brother, who was the professor, with not a soul knowing about my relationship with him,  for a year! I scooped up the nostalgia through some snaps in my cell phone and left the campus wondering will there be any other college in the city, with a huge Lilly pond, at its entrance. The beautiful statue of Lord Krishna at the entrance was there where it was and made me realize the reasons for continued charm of this place !

Certain things in life never fade from your memory and I realize our Alma Mater tops the list.

Sail with the Wind

Few days back, I was at one of the best book stores in Chennai, 'Landmark' at the Citi Centre! I always love visiting this place- due to its ambience, clean environment and an utopian lifestyle promises. Somehow, due to passion , the visits always start at the books section  and before I could think about the next stop shop, it's almost two hours and having been satiated with enough of books and music, I had always left the mall at that stage. This visit was not like the usual one, as I had planned my visit only for this shop!

There was a surfeit of books to window browse (a new terminology?)  and I was quiet impressed with the new releases from Kiran Bedi, Chetan Bhagat, Clarke and the variety of subjects were mind boggling.  This time, I determined to buy some books if I land up at the right one and when I almost zeroed in on one, I was stopped dead on track, after one look at the price. When I checked another title, the same was the case. I was then wondering, how come when a person who had come with a fair bit of decent budget is unable to buy , what will an enthusiast with a shoe string budget do?  When I was discussing this with my friend, he said it is good that I did not buy that , as the copies are easily available on the internet.  I was bemused !

Once we used to buy pre recorded cassettes of film songs, have the selected songs recorded at music shops with blank cassettes brought from Singapore.  Then came the ACDs and MP3 CDs sold cheap at all bazaars. With the  advent of websites where any song could be downloaded with quality, for next to nothing, the numbering days of the pre recorded cassettes and CDs , were there on the wall for all to see!

Is the book industry also going the same way? When I saw a 'pirated' copy of the book "Who moved my Cheese" selling at Rs 50/- right on the main arteries of Chennai, I was told that a free eBook is available on the internet ! I came across liberal minded friends on popular networking sites, who make it a point to publish only badly copied , but readable, versions of many popular writers in Tamil.

Well! when the technology advances,  in comes the accompanying share of woes too. Despite all the regulations and an alert law enforcing agency, little advancement seems to have been made in preventing piracy. DVDs are available right on the first day of the release of a movie. Recently, a song was forced to be officially released, as it had already been leaked into the grey market! Any book could be had on the platforms of Chennai  or Bangalore for a song. Tell me who will buy a book , when its copies are available for a paltry price at will? Unless, he is one who loves the smell of fresh pages of newly printed book and I know of some who use book as sedative, when  they will start dozing before you complete counting ten!

I do empathize with the book publishers and film makers.It should be heart breaking for a producer whose efforts for years go down the drain with a single illegally copied DVD. I had read people like Irwing Wallace had spent 20 years to write one book on Nobel prize, named "Prize'. Such 'humongous efforts going  waste is a heart break' is an understatement. But, it's also  time relevant industries wake up instead of helplessly fretting and fuming . While the law enforcers are  out on their job to curb and nab, let us move towards the user  and price it affordably and reasonably.  We can no more stick to the  moth eaten path adamantly and still complain about the evils.  When there is an advancement in technology, the same is also misused to have pirates floating everywhere. It is time to sail with the wind. Make it affordable for people to buy legally and this is bound to reduce illegal editions. Nowadays, people are not hesitating  to pay a price for quality and this should be used to the advantage . We cannot afford to be anachronistic by insisting on listening to Radio and tape recorders when most advanced digitally recorded music available, virtually for a song.

Let us think differently and make both the readers' and booksellers'  life easy!

To honor our national heroes or paid hangover time?

With myriad things happening, it is really a challenge to keep track of all of them, however sincere we wish to.  Gone are the days, when the elders of the town assemble under the banyan tree every evening and discuss about the events of the day, things to do, common issues, remembrances etc., Now, with the parents finding no time for the children and the children reflecting the same , these have become wishes.

Even today, there are some events /days which we would have liked to remember but it slips our memory only for us to regret later. However, there are some we cannot afford to lose sight of and it is with that purpose only these are marked as Red Letter Days, in the respective calendars. 

For instance, for all the efforts and strains taken by them, it is only imperative that we remember our parents atleast for a day and spend few hours in their honor. Though prescribed in different ways according to their belief, this is happening across all religions, caste and creed. Forgetting our own parents and forefathers is considered an unpardonable sin in some sects, while there are some which handles it lightly and call it as your duty to return the favor.

Similarly, there are many who would have fought for the cause of the nation pledging their all, sacrificing their youth and life for the country. Whatever benefits we enjoy now, including expression of thoughts in this way without any obstruction, have been got after fierce resistance from oppressive regimes & rulers from time to time. While we reap all the benefits, enjoy the freedom of speech, right to so many things such as education, information what is that we have done to those who fought for these? It is history that the families of many such fighters are languishing in abject poverty. 

One will realize the hardship and sacrifice, if we think as to how many from the current generation will be willing to give up their job, family and comforts to fight such oppression, amidst our current 'busy' schedules?  Such unselfish sacrifices too are to be honored , if not higher, but on par with your yearly ritualistic fervor for your parents. It is for remembering and honoring such martyrs  that the country has chosen some days to be observed & celebrated as Independence Day , Republic Day etc.,

Under this background, it is rather surprising to read  from today's Times of India that  "Indians celebrate Republic Day not because they love the country….. they celebrate mainly because it's a holiday", from a popular Indian film maker. While the veracity and the substantiation of this dubious claim needs to be validated, one could not help feel offended by such off the cuff remarks from popular personalities, whose words are likely to have an impact on the younger generation and could also hurt the sentiments of others. True, it is a national holiday, but this has been declared so only to facilitate the public to allocate some time to think about and honor those who deserve. In the absence of this facility, it would be unrealistic to expect people to ward off  their official chores and focus on history, though they may like to do it. The foresight of our leaders has to be appreciated here, in allocating time and gently pushing the public to reminisces the historical memories.

One should not forget the national activities on such days. The government displays its strength, its growth over the year-  financially, culturally, militarily, in sports etc., This creates an opportunity for our rural brethren to have a review of the progress , as they have to till their land day in and day out in order to provide the affordable rich in town with rice, wheat and other essentials. The leading performers are also honored in full view of their compatriots and  contemporaries. This could enthuse and induce the youth to join the coveted defense services to serve the cause of the nation. Spare a moment for those who are awarded posthumously. Normally, the widow receives the award with tears while her children watch in awe and pride about their father's contribution, in the service of the nation.

As such, it is advisable to observe such days with the national fervor, encourage the youth  with valiant  and  gallant stories of our illustrious sons of the soil. Let us not address the minority who head to the bar on the eve of such national holidays and most importantly , one need to think twice before painting all with the same brush !

Nose for News

Read with interest Times of India  news about Vijay Shekhar collecting newspapers of events across the world in the past 20 years. I am happy that this has been noticed and also mentioned as a news item- hats off, yes not only to the collector but also to the news reporter. To appreciate this habit, one should first realize how difficult it is to have this interesting hobby, as one should not only have lots of passion but also a nose for major events across the globe.

I got addicted to capturing news ever since I started preparing for some competitive examinations in 1976. Over a period of time, even after these milestones have rolled over, I got stuck with looking for major events and also started preserving anything available about the event- be it in Newspaper or in periodicals.

I think the first of these started with the famous Cricket World Cup in 1983, when I followed through the event and collected all the Sportstar weekly, which was famous at that time for its clear pictures. When India won the cup, somewhat surprisingly, I went around Mylapore and collected whatever magazines , periodicals & Newspapers that carried the news. To top it all, I also created a thick bound volume of this collection, with Kapil Dev holding aloft the World cup, adorning the cover. After some years I passed it on to my brothers' sons and recently it came to back me. I am surprised that even now I am keen to read them again and am  too happy to keep it in my showcase.

Similar memorable collections I have are on :

1984 - Assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi

1991- Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi - special issue

1994- Kapil Dev's world record of 432 wickets

1997- Introduction of MRTS at Mylapore

1998 - France triumph at World Cup Football

         Sportstar special on Don Bradman

1999- Kumble's 10 wicket world record

         Australia winning World cup

2000- Special Issue of India Today on its 25th year completion

2001- Sep 11 attacks - India Today, TIME, Newsweek

         Sachin reaching 10000 runs

         Laxman's epic 281 at Kolkatta

         India's triumph at Eden Garden, coming from behind

         Sachin's demolotion of Shane Warne, Steve Waugh's handling the ball

         Stock Market crash - Indian Today issue

2003 - Australia winning world cup

2004- Shewag's 300 at Multan

         Historic win over Pakistan

2006- Special Issue of India Today on its 30th year completion

2007- Junior Vikatan - 25th Year Issue

         India's T20 World Cup championship

         Viswanathan Anand , World Champ crown

2011- World Cup Triumph

No doubt, a unique hobby, driven by passion. Like a Diary, whose pages could always be flipped through , whenever we want.