Friday, 13 April 2012

Nandhana Varusham - Tamizh Varusha Pirappu

Yes today is the first day of the tamil new year Nandhana.

இனிய தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள்

Is it necessary to take oath only on English new year?

No. So I have decided to reduce/quit anger whereever and whenever possible and be a calm person as far as possible.

Self motivation is the best tool in the world

All the Best Vinod!!!!!!! :-)

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

Kashmir to Kanyakumari (Kashmir mudhal Kumari varai)

One of my close friend Giri (Dr.T.V.Seshagiri) & Co is going to cycle the entire Kashmir to Kanyakumari stretch(3600 Kms) as part of Sanjeevini trust's awareness campaign. This cycling activity is to raise awareness about the health benefits of physical activity and sports and to raise awareness that simple lifestyle changes can have significant health benefits including prevention of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease. They are planning to cover the entire stretch in about 35 days starting on 27th September 2011. Wow... big fete isn't it?

All the best Giri & Co to complete this huge task successfully.

Well, this event was planned a couple of years ago and I was also in the list of peoples who will be cycling. If not for the entire stretch, I had my own plans to do it at least for a couple of weeks. But now things have changed and I am travelling to India in August, so not possible to be in the group.

Will keep updating more about this trip of Giri & Co on my blog.

Thursday, 2 June 2011

The Great Dividing Line of Success

The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in five words:
I did not have time
-Franklin Field

Thursday, 11 November 2010

Coffee with Anu - Kamalhaasan (Deepavali Special)

After a long time we watched Coffee with Anu because the guest was Kamal. It was nicely presented and was different because the interview was mostly focussed on the young age Kamal. We all know he is an atheist, and he has publicaly given his opinions about the existince of God. On this interview towards the end the topic came on atheism and he was mentioning about Vinayakar chathurthi and further comments were strong enough to condemn. I know he has guts to talk on anything. But he should have thought for a second about the day this show will be telecased before answering this question and how this is going to affect the sentiments of the people. It is the producers and directors responsibility as well. They should have avoided these type of questions. It is not necessary that whenever Kamal is being inteviewd he has to be questioned on atheism. And the strange thing is I have not seen any objections from any section of people. Is it because that was Kamal's interview or is it because he has just mentioned on Hinduism?

Thursday, 4 November 2010

கங்கா ஸ்நானம் ஆச்சா

தீபாவளி திருநாள்
அதிகாலை எழுந்து

நன்னீர் ஆடி

புத்தாடை உடுத்தி

தீபம் ஏற்றி

இனிப்பு பரிமாறி

பட்டாசு கொளுத்தி

கொண்டாடும் இன் நன்னாளில்

அனைவருக்கும் எங்கள் உள்ளம் கனிந்த தீபாவளி நல் வாழ்த்துகள்.

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Navaratri (Golu) 2010


Our sixth Navaratri in Birmingham. (எங்க ஆத்து கொலு)

As usual this year also we had a great navaratri. As the photo explains, there were lots of new dolls(bommai) added to our golu (thanks to Raji atthai for sending those by post and thanks to the postal guys for handling the same with care). The hightlight for this year was two new sets of Dasavatharam, Narthana Krishnar, Veeraraghava perumal and a big kalyana set. This year Vedhika has grown big to understand as what is going on in the house and she was instumental in having a zoo.

It is just 40days after Veebha has delivered Vedanth, but she was decisive in having this year's golu as well in a grand manner. Vedhika was dressed up differently on each of the nine days with great enthusiasm. Veebha and Vedhika went to almost all our friends house to invite them.(எங்க ஆத்துல கொலு வெச்சுருகோம் , come and take vetla pak - Vedhika's version of personal invite). Vedhika did invite some of her classmates as well to this years golu.


All our friends visited our golu and Vedhika offered tamboolam to everyone who had visited and some nice gifts to the little ones.

Maama and Maami (Veebha's appa and amma) were with us this year and they really enjoyed Vedhika's dressups and our navaratri. All the guests were serverd with nine different sundals prepared by Maami on all the nine days.

Vedhika had a very busy day on this Vijayadasami. She has officialy started her Education(Akshabyasam by Maama at home),Classical Music (taught by Mrs.Vijayashree Sriram) and Bharathanatiyam (taught by Mrs.Smita Deshpande).

Once again Veebha and Vedhika has done it. Hope Vedanth joins
them in the coming years with right spirit.

Thursday, 14 October 2010

Are we following things blindly?

Is it good to follow the traditions even if it does not suit us?

I do not think so... you should be happy about what you are doing in the day to day life... and if you think it is not going to bring something fruitful by doing so, stop doing it and start being practical. (i want to stress here that the traditions will not harm us in any way and i am not against traditionalism, but make sure that it helps you)

"please do not follow things blindly"

Most of us have adapted to the mordern world and doing all sort of mordern things available in the world, which is reality.

I want to stress here once more, I am not against follwoing rituals or the daily routine what we follow which is proven to be good... but I do not want to do something as mentioned in the below story.

A short story about blind followers.

A great Buddhist master had a cat, which was his true passion in life. So, during meditation classes, he kept the cat by his side in order to make the most of his company. One morning, the master who was already quite old – passed away. His most adept disciple took his place. As a tribute to the memory of their old instructor, the new master decided to allow the cat to continue attending the meditation classes.
Days passed, some disciples from the neighboring monasteries, traveling through those parts, discovered that, in one of the region’s most renowned temples, a cat took part in the meditation sessions. The story began to spread.
Some years passed. The cat died, but the students at the monastery were so used to its presence, they soon found another cat and trained it and made it sit with them during the meditation practices. Meanwhile, other temples began introducing cat in their meditation sessions. All started doing cat meditation, they believed the cat was truly responsible for the fame and excellence of their old teacher, and in doing so forgot that the old master was a fine instructor.
A generation passed, thesis was developed, which were even accepted by the academic community – that, cats have the ability to increase human concentration, and eliminate negative energy. And so, for a whole century, the cat was considered an essential part of Buddhist studies in that region.
Until a master appeared who was allergic to animal hair, and decided to remove the cat from his daily exercises with the students. There was a fierce negative reaction – but the master insisted. Since he was an excellent instructor, the students continued to make the same scholarly progress, in spite of the absence of the cat. Little by little, the monasteries, which were already tired of having to feed so many cats, began eliminating the cat from the classes. In twenty years time, new revolutionary theories began to appear, with very convincing titles such as “The Importance of Meditation without a Cat”. Another century passed, and the cat withdrew completely from the meditation rituals in that region.