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Shedding crocodile tears

Tying mangal slutra is the "culmination" of day's marriage. You may ask me is there a night marriage? Of course, yes!. The "consummation ceremony " is the pinnacle of a marriage. Let's not digress.

Over the last two decades, the brides in this part of the world shed tears at the time of tying knot. No longer the womenfolk are at the receiving end. With the legislation favouring them to the hilt. At least, in South India, section 498A (a dreaded provision) of the IPC is misused. 
then,

Why does bride shed tear?

Probably, is it because she loses her individuality or MAN your independence comes to an end from this moment onwards or Henceforth, a group of people( mainly, groom's siblings,  parents and groom himself) will be coming under her"rule".

But, I like that "dealing"

I understand that there are certain "trades" which cannot be "operational" in public. Particularly, when elders are around over enthused youngsters definetely feel bad.

How to get rid of the elders? And become nouveau riche. First and foremost thing is to pack off the elders to an old age home.( sorry, retirement retreats). Don't get disappointed. This very same elders packed off their elders in the late 70's and 80's. So, they understand the "trade demands" . Times have changed.  Today's elders are equivalent to dhirudhrastra of mahabharatha. Though,  their health may not be good but, the venom inside their body is still potent.
Hence, one should not have qualms towards today's elders.

Throw off the elders, make compromises, carry on with the trade and become nouveau riche.

The height of devotion

The chennai city is known for road side pilliar koils ( lord vinayaka temples) . Each temple should be seen as an employment provider. Atleast, 3 to 4 families are directly and a dozen families indirectly depended on a roadside temple.

Recently, I came across an old man around 80 year old holding a milk sachet and entered one such temple. The old man  asked the priest to perform "paal abhishekam"to the presiding deity . As the priest was performing abhishekam this old man started slapping his chins with both hands. ( as per rituals, the act of slapping one's own chins seen as a sign of reverence before the lord ).

As I witnessed this tamasha I really got amused at the old man.  Living in the twilight years of life, this old
man perceives (still) that god resides only in that idol. So, the opportunity to realise the self is almost lost I wouldn't say completely lost because the realisation can happen at any moment. Otherwise, punarapi jananam, punarapi maranam.......j

Daylight withdraws, darkness envelopes

Tidal waves hitting the arabian coast

Mrugeshwar temple on arabian coast

As twilight engulfs thirukazhukundram

An early morning in kalasa(karnataka)

An evening in Marina beach

The power of swagger

Watch "amaithapadai election" on YouTube

Two contrasting reports

On the one hand, every year chennai book fair attracts huge crowd.  By this, writers,publishers, organisers and of course, readers are happy.

Now, the another report that is reading habit is waning among the children. This is distressing.

One more thing, not all book buyers are " actual readers". The money circulation is quite high. As a result, they don't know what to do with excess cash in hand. Those glossy covers would decorate our drawing room.So, why don't we buy it just for "status" sake. This is the real bottomline behind rise in book sales.

Villages bereft of happiness

The pongal festival is synonymous to villages. But, villages taday are not in a happy mood. Agriculture is struggling.  It is very hard to find labour for farming activities. The labour costs have shot up. Above all,  agriculture has become an unviable one.

Thanks to technology invasion every village is virtually conbected to outer world. Not just good things reach their drawing room, it also bring you "a can of envies".  As village folks are exposed to outer world they want their to pursue other vocation. In other words, they simply ape the urban culture.

Last but not least, you can root out or erase anything. Every village is caste ridden. Suppose community A is majority in numbers in a village that particular community will dominate other communities.

Even a building whitewash  has the potential to invite neighbhor's ire. Just like in international politics, "sanctions" will be imposed on "recalcitrant" member of the village. Ostracising is a common thing in villages for years together.

These days ostracization comes with a " community overtones".
On the whole, the villages presented (projected) in media is not the true reflection of the situation prevailing in our villages.

Stay awake

The main purpose of staying awake during vaikunta ekadasi is to travel inwards. Where is the time to travel? Even while commuting to workplace we can't remain idle either we listen to songs or chit chatting with the co-passengers.

We always honour the word of the rule. We don't honour the spirit( for some of us, a day without "guzzling"will be a hell). The very essence of vaikunta ekadasi is to remain observe consciousness. Because consciousness is enlightenment.
When you are asked to stay awake through the night means just observe, anchor yourself in the unchangeable one.

But, a simpleton would not understand the crux of the matter. He would stay awake through the night, watching movies ( a couple of decades ago, temple authorities used to paste posters stating that there will be a "video show" on vaikunta ekadasi night at some local temple premises.
Remember,that was a VCR era, that too,  VCR would've been a hired one. In those times, owning a VCR was seen a "rich symbol" .Invariably, either sampoorna ramayanam or karnan will be shown year after after on the eve vaikunta ekadasi) indulge himself other than spiritual practice . The next day, dwadasi, our simpleton will be suffering from severe constipation because of "whole-night-vigil" experienced previous night.

I still do not understand the correlation between sampoorna ramayanam and vaikunta ekadasi.

Kadalai urundai (peanut balls) @Rs2/-

I still remember my granny used to buy kadalai urundai for 0.05ps everytime I run an errand for her. This was something 35 years ago. As a typical chennaite, I should say "much water has flowed under the (cooum) bridge". Yes! People eating habits have changed drastically. Today, one kadalai urundai costs Rs.2/-.

The goodies like kadalai urundai ( peanut balls) ellu urundai ( seasame balls) are treated as " by-gone era food items". Though, these "balls" are out of today's snack menu but they are full of nutrients. I've mentioned only one or two "balls" in this blog. Actually, there are so many "balls" in our tradition snack menu. In those days, our elders urged us to take more grains less on carbs.

Sadly, today's generation dislikes in taking these "balls" but, overwhelmingly use the word "balls" in their conversation. After all, they are good at kadalai poduvadhu because it is an art perfectly engineered in our genes.

In life, there are certain things you learn by yourself.

Why this kudiveri?

Before I go into detail let me explain what kudiveri means----drunken rage

New year eve and revelry alwayso go hand in hand. A newly opened pub attracted a large number of  teenagers. A teenage "couple" entered the pub with new year zeal. No sooner they entered the pub they occupied a corner seat. A little later,  they were joined by a man in early thirties.

The trio got drunk.The beer crates got emptied in a very short time. The " man" (who originally accompanied the woman) became unconscious (paavam! Pinju body)

But, the woman left the pub with another "man".As  she was leaving the pub, the DJ of the pub was playing a song from the tamil film aval appadithaan. "uravugal thodarkadhai unnarvugal
sirukadhai. . . .

A lot of things "brew" over the pub gatherings......

Back to 70's

Thane cyclone not only caused extensive damages but it made us to travel three decades backwards. The power supply was disturbed in some parts of the city for more than 12 hours. The brunt of the power-cut was not felt in the daytime. However, night time was horrible. Because you ought to live with swarms of mosquitoes. Moreover, no tv, net.  Even cellphone battery got completely down as a result, you were simply cut off from  the outside world.

Good old trandistor came handy. To my knowledge,  I tuned in to all india radio FM frequencies after a gap of (almost )a decade.  Watching a news channel is different from listening to radio news is entirely different. Initially, I was restless (because life without gadgets was a deprivation) but I started enjoying life without gadgets.

Henceforth, I've decided to enjoy life without any gadgets once in a week.

It formed, It crossed and went off

Rain at this time of the year is unusal. Already tanks and lakes are filled to the brim thanks to copious rain from north east monsoon. The thane threatened the city ultimately it crossed between cuddalore and puducherry. ( thane vandhu thanekarai kadandhu thane senru vittadhu) meaning the cyclone formed by itself, it cross the shores by itself and it departed itself.

North tapers,south grows

This is not the slogan raised by any chauvinist programne. A visit to north chennai shows the development index. Traditionally, north chennai houses big industrial plants. Mainly, the plants represent old brick economy. The constant movement of heavy vehicles have made the roads not fit for any transportation.
Just wear a white shirt and visit the industrial belt. Definitely, your shirt will carry all dirt and grime.
The northern part of the city is desperately crying for improvement in infrastructure.
But, the inhabitants have learnt to live with the current situation. What else one can do?

On the contrary, south chennai is perched on a safe zone. The infrastructure is far superior. This part of the city houses all major software companies.