Thaikkanavudan Saavinaiththazhuviya, Santhanappezhaigale... Ingu
Koovidum Yengalin Kural Mozhi Ketkutha?
the opening line of the Maaveerar Paadal, sung by Nathan of 4th year undergrad on the occasion of Maaveerar Thinam or 'Hero's Day' last month here in Carleton. Nathan is the best singer in CUTSA and he does give the songs he sings an emotional twist. As he was singing, the hundred odd people gathered in the Azreili Theatre in Carleton University from various parts of Ottawa climbed up to the stage one by one and paid their respects to the potraits of some famous LTTE men killed in battle.
He was followed by some other singers, few of whom did an ode to V. Prabhakaran. And then was a skit, performed by 4 students, where they played the roles of various deceased LTTE soldiers justifying their actions to Chitragupta in Hell. All along, I could see passions and nationalism running high. After the performances, the Chief Guest of the day (yes! there was one!) came on to give a speech. His name was Ganesh- a middle aged guy, educated in appearance. Ganesh is among the growing number of active Tamil politicians in Canada whose role is increasing in policy-making here. He started off by thanking the students to have called him and soon plunged into a tirade against the incumbent Conservative government. His outrage is understandable- only in 2006 did the Canadian government ban LTTE as a terrorist organization.
He described how the Tamil diaspora in Australia and Europe was actively working- and succeeding- in changing the popular opinions toward LTTE in these countries and urged the students to use their skills to do the same in Canada. The Canadian government is to be acquainted with the idea of how 'virtuous' the Tigers are and how 'cruel' the Sri Lankan state is, he said. He and his co workers are campaigning for the Liberal party in the coming provincial and eventually the parliamentary elections 3 years from now. He also spoke about how, the Tamil students can enter in Canada's industrial work force and work toward 'destroying' Sri Lankan economy, resulting in a lesser defense expenditure by the government there and in turn, giving LTTE an upper hand in the ethnic conflict.
All this while, I was taking some pictures around, and trying to make some sense of his heavy Ceylonese accent. Even the little of what I understood of his speech raised the hair on the back of my neck. And from the reactions of my friends, here, I was baffled that they actually believe each and every word of his. I look back to see many middle aged and even old folk sitting there with sober expressions. Most of those definitely have seen the horrors of '83 riots. No wonder they want some revenge. But what about these students sitting with me? They have grown up knowing very well that LTTE has done equally great damage to the people of Sri Lanka. Then why do they choose to take sides(notwithstanding the fact that LTTE seems to be the only real voice of the Tamils) and give themselves to nationalist irrationality? Why can't they see something which is so obvious to me? Anybody in my shoes would have got the same thought initially. But it starts getting clearer as I go deeper into their childhood and my own.
Development of rationality depends a lot, not only on the kind of teachers and schools we go to, but also on the kind of environment we are subjected to outside classrooms. We learn the most from our friends. Imagine studying in a school not knowing when the building across the road is blasted into pieces. And the violent reactions to those incidents needs no mention. For children of different ethnic groups, in constant conflict, studying in the same school must truly be an uncomfortable experience. Then the only place where they can learn their past and present without any guilty conscious would be their homes, where their parents would feed them with narrowminded nationalism. Lack of peer to peer interaction all but kills individual and competitive thinking. The same can be said about Muslim kids in communally volatile regions in India like Gujarat.
We, on the other hand, had the good fortune of being born in a politically stable nation yearning for economic development. More so is the good fortune of being raised in an intellectually well evolved environment(if not due to the teachers, at least due to peers) of the south- especially Chennai. This 350 year old city- far from the conflicts of the borders- has the legacy of being the forerunner of scientific rationale since the introduction of modern education. Of course, Bengal started the awakening, but it was Madras which has been carrying the torch of enlightenment since then. Chennai is probably the only city in the nation where one can find a bulk of middle class intelligentsia who seek more than mere material pleasures from life and strive for intellectual development. Not Hyderabad, not Bangalore, but Chennai. And all that is quite apparent looking at the unrivalled contribution from her children to science, cinema, music, journalism, economy, politics and what not. By growing up here, well, developing a broadminded world view is but the most likely outcome.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Friday, December 15, 2006
'Oh my Devil!'
We use the phrase 'God knows' to imply, NO ONE knows.
'God forbid' is used to refer to an unpleasant event which is very UNLIKELY to be prevented.
'God speed' clearly means some kind of speed or swiftness NO ONE can achieve.
The exclamatory remarks, 'Oh my God!', 'Shit!' and 'F***!' can be used interchangeably.
So are we all intrinsically atheists? ;)
'God forbid' is used to refer to an unpleasant event which is very UNLIKELY to be prevented.
'God speed' clearly means some kind of speed or swiftness NO ONE can achieve.
The exclamatory remarks, 'Oh my God!', 'Shit!' and 'F***!' can be used interchangeably.
So are we all intrinsically atheists? ;)
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Return to the Dark Ages
It sounds scary. But definitely a sad truth of our day supported by overwhelming evidence.
End of 21st century- May be a return to the times when it was the norm to either wait for the disease to subside or wait for death?
Creationists: What more proof do you want?
End of 21st century- May be a return to the times when it was the norm to either wait for the disease to subside or wait for death?
Creationists: What more proof do you want?
Monday, November 20, 2006
My Brain- AWGN!
Earlier this week, I made a funny observation. I get really pissed off if my pen runs out of ink when I'm writing something important. That's one of the reasons why I lived on other people's stationery for major part of my under grad life (some self consoling justification for my frugal existence !!). In an attempt to turn a new leaf, I decided to do this- I put 3 pens in my bag and every morning, I would pick one at random and use them. I thought all the three pens cannot obviously run out of ink the very same day. On Tuesday during my Linear Systems class, the pen I was using went dry. Then I took another one from my bag to find the same response. Holding my breath, I took the last one out and to my shock, even that ran out of ink!!!
After the class (of course, I borrowed one from my neighbour for the rest of the class as usual!) as I was going back to my office, I was trying to figure out if this was sheer bad luck or if there is an explanation for this. And I found that ideally, according to the way I was using the pens, the probability of all the three pens running out of ink the same day is one !!! To put it in simple terms, lets assume each pen has enough ink to last for 30 days. So no matter how I use them, I cannot use all of them put together for more than 90 days. So, if my selection of pens everyday is completely random (that is every pen has equal chance of being chosen each day), then on the 90th day(assuming 90 is a fairly huge number for statistical purpose), I would have already used each pen for about 30 days. And hence they would ditch me together.
Moral of the story-
1. I'm capable of creating ideal noise in my decisions!
2. Miserliness is a virtue that never fails!
After the class (of course, I borrowed one from my neighbour for the rest of the class as usual!) as I was going back to my office, I was trying to figure out if this was sheer bad luck or if there is an explanation for this. And I found that ideally, according to the way I was using the pens, the probability of all the three pens running out of ink the same day is one !!! To put it in simple terms, lets assume each pen has enough ink to last for 30 days. So no matter how I use them, I cannot use all of them put together for more than 90 days. So, if my selection of pens everyday is completely random (that is every pen has equal chance of being chosen each day), then on the 90th day(assuming 90 is a fairly huge number for statistical purpose), I would have already used each pen for about 30 days. And hence they would ditch me together.
Moral of the story-
1. I'm capable of creating ideal noise in my decisions!
2. Miserliness is a virtue that never fails!
20 Years too late...
Last week, the Canadian Government set off the public enquiry commission into the Kanishka bombing trial of 1985. There was a half an hour documentary on the national CBC news network. It started off my showing last years 20th anniversary gathering at the coast of Ireland when grieving family and friends came to pay their homage to the 329 lives lost in that ill fated air craft over the Atlantic(this report was interrupted occasionally by the ghastly 1985 videos of Irish seamen picking up frozen bodies of children smeared in aviation fuel from the sea). It was the first time, when the families got the high profile political attention they wanted for so long. The then liberal prime minister Paul Martin said this on the occasion, "Make no mistake. The plane might have been Air India's. It might have crashed off the Irish coast. But in so many ways, this is a Canadian tragedy". He and the then opposition leader (now prime minister) Stefan Harper promised the families that a public commission will soon be set up to enquire into the most notorious and ill-handled criminal prosecution that lasted for 20 long years without any real conviction.
This realization is pretty late. When this disaster(the most devastating terrorist attack involving an air plane, prior to September 11) happened, the Canadian government didn't even consider that this was their problem. This height of ignorance is shown by the fact that the then Canadian prime minister called up Rajiv Gandhi to express his condolences while almost ALL the passengers who were killed were Canadian citizens. May be they just thought that a few brown people in India and a few brown people in Canada were fighting with each other. A businessman from Mumbai named Sanjay Lazar, who lost his entire family in the tragedy told the reporter, "Try telling this to those 329 people out there buried in the seas. They are waiting for answers. So are we". May be they won't get the justice any more. At least they deserve an explanation about what went wrong in the costliest trial in Canadian judicial history.
Only one person named Inderjit Reyat, an electronics engineer, has been found guilty for two counts of man slaughter- the 2 baggage handlers killed in Narita airport in Japan the same day- on the plea that he did in fact help the perpetrators make the time bomb. The prime suspects and also the leader of the Sikh militant group Babar Khalsa, Talwinder Singh Parmar based in Vancouver, were not found guilty on all counts. The reason being the controversial destruction of evidence and killing of witnesses in the name of "policy" by the CSIS. The families, one by one, were allowed to speak in public on the inception of the enquiry commission. They all recounted the horror they faced 21 years back, which is still fresh in their minds. The head of the commission, a former judge was silent for most of the time except when one of the ladies who lost her two daughters in the plane finished talking and thanked the judge as she left when he remarked, "You don't have to thank me for that. You are here by right. You deserve this opportunity to speak."
When I type "Kanishka" in the search engine in the Internet, the website takes me to the great Kushan emperor of the same name who ruled India during the early part of the last millenia. There is a parallel between these two Kanishkas- both have a tormented and bloody history behind them. Now that I try to figure out where it all started, the level of human stupidity involved perplexes me- Sikh nationalists make a place of worship their base and conduct terrorist activities targeting innocent civilians, Indira Gandhi storms the temple and crushes them, a pro-Khalistaan Sikh assassinates her, Congress goons massacre thousands of Sikh families in northern India and finally the Sikh militants in Canada kill 329 people by blowing up an aircraft. So who won? Apparently no one. Most of the time, people who did not have any thing to do with these conflicts got killed. Sons grew up without knowing their mothers, fathers spent the rest of their old age in the memory of their daughters- all because they booked their tickets in the wrong time.
This realization is pretty late. When this disaster(the most devastating terrorist attack involving an air plane, prior to September 11) happened, the Canadian government didn't even consider that this was their problem. This height of ignorance is shown by the fact that the then Canadian prime minister called up Rajiv Gandhi to express his condolences while almost ALL the passengers who were killed were Canadian citizens. May be they just thought that a few brown people in India and a few brown people in Canada were fighting with each other. A businessman from Mumbai named Sanjay Lazar, who lost his entire family in the tragedy told the reporter, "Try telling this to those 329 people out there buried in the seas. They are waiting for answers. So are we". May be they won't get the justice any more. At least they deserve an explanation about what went wrong in the costliest trial in Canadian judicial history.
Only one person named Inderjit Reyat, an electronics engineer, has been found guilty for two counts of man slaughter- the 2 baggage handlers killed in Narita airport in Japan the same day- on the plea that he did in fact help the perpetrators make the time bomb. The prime suspects and also the leader of the Sikh militant group Babar Khalsa, Talwinder Singh Parmar based in Vancouver, were not found guilty on all counts. The reason being the controversial destruction of evidence and killing of witnesses in the name of "policy" by the CSIS. The families, one by one, were allowed to speak in public on the inception of the enquiry commission. They all recounted the horror they faced 21 years back, which is still fresh in their minds. The head of the commission, a former judge was silent for most of the time except when one of the ladies who lost her two daughters in the plane finished talking and thanked the judge as she left when he remarked, "You don't have to thank me for that. You are here by right. You deserve this opportunity to speak."
When I type "Kanishka" in the search engine in the Internet, the website takes me to the great Kushan emperor of the same name who ruled India during the early part of the last millenia. There is a parallel between these two Kanishkas- both have a tormented and bloody history behind them. Now that I try to figure out where it all started, the level of human stupidity involved perplexes me- Sikh nationalists make a place of worship their base and conduct terrorist activities targeting innocent civilians, Indira Gandhi storms the temple and crushes them, a pro-Khalistaan Sikh assassinates her, Congress goons massacre thousands of Sikh families in northern India and finally the Sikh militants in Canada kill 329 people by blowing up an aircraft. So who won? Apparently no one. Most of the time, people who did not have any thing to do with these conflicts got killed. Sons grew up without knowing their mothers, fathers spent the rest of their old age in the memory of their daughters- all because they booked their tickets in the wrong time.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Growing up... growing old!
Tuesday, I was chatting with priya and suddenly I typed something involuntarily (monkey at work)... which, I found made sense, later when i scrolled back to see it.
mars: i think thats wat is growing up all about... giving up on the world :))
For example, all of us in India were, at some point or the other, taught about Gandhi and his principles in our schools. And depending on how well the teacher teaches them, they inspire everyone of us to various levels. But when we entered college and started dealing with real world problems, we realised how difficult they are in practice. And we give up (or rather, give in, to the world). Of course, me and priya were dicussing something entirely different but I guess this applies to everything in personal and professional life. To most of what we held dearly as a child, we become indifferent ( to put it euphemistically, "stoic") as we grow. We start our lives with zeal and enthusiasm and think we can handle anything and that success is simple. Over time, we learn that it's ok to loose and we let go.
So can we define maturity as, "Learning to give up and still not feel bad about it"... ?
mars: i think thats wat is growing up all about... giving up on the world :))
For example, all of us in India were, at some point or the other, taught about Gandhi and his principles in our schools. And depending on how well the teacher teaches them, they inspire everyone of us to various levels. But when we entered college and started dealing with real world problems, we realised how difficult they are in practice. And we give up (or rather, give in, to the world). Of course, me and priya were dicussing something entirely different but I guess this applies to everything in personal and professional life. To most of what we held dearly as a child, we become indifferent ( to put it euphemistically, "stoic") as we grow. We start our lives with zeal and enthusiasm and think we can handle anything and that success is simple. Over time, we learn that it's ok to loose and we let go.
So can we define maturity as, "Learning to give up and still not feel bad about it"... ?
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Fall Back!
Last night I had an extra hour of sleep when the whole North American continent changed its clocks back by an hour at 2 AM. And I really needed that sleep. The previous night out at lab was good but tiring. Watched a couple of movies, did some report and slept for about 2 hours. And the next morning at 6 AM I was off to house only to return back after 4 hours to finish the report. The bread I had in the break fast was spoilt I guess which made me a little sick by the end of the day. So much for grad life.
From today I move from Eastern Daylight-savings Time (EDT) to Eastern Standard Time (EST) or winter time. This system of day light savings was introduced to save electricity. In summers, higher latitudes like Canada and US have sun sets as late at 9 PM. So to make use of this sunlight and reduce dependance on electricity, they switch forward by one hour in Spring. This gives more evening hours and lesser dark working hours. Of course this system doesn't make sense for equitable tropics like India where the difference in Day time between summer and winter is very much. Still India used daylight savings during Indo-Pak and Indo-China wars in '62, '64 and '71. Not to save electricity, but to make people switch of their lights and go to bed early so that hostile war planes do not spot cities.
Today I embraced grad life in its crudest form- went to Gurudwara and packed a whole basket of chapatis(my staple diet now- free food). Made a whole big vessel of sambar to last for the entire week. As the climate gets colder, going home itself is a big pain, leave alone cooking after that. And today I could see the signs of what Canadian winters are capable of. When we went for the usual grocery shopping in the morning, storm like winds almost blew me off my feet as I struggled to carry all the stuff. It feels like -8 degrees though its quite close to zero. For the whole week, Ottawa has storm warnings.
More on environment, the incumbent conservative federal government, released the Clean Air (Air Pure, in french) act last week to reduce green house emissions to 2000 levels by 2050. Canada along with US contribute to almost 70% of all CO2. And green house problem is the biggest prick in Canadian politics. Of course, though each successive government promises to meet the requirements of Kyoto protocol, practically they admit its very very tough to do without any drastic implications on economy (Kyoto requires emissions to reduce to 1993 levels). There is a new method developed by scientists in Univ of Calgary where they pump in CO2 deep into the ground. Petroleum companies are quite interested in this because they can use this injection of pressurized gas into the ground to raise the level of crude oil reserves (oru kallile rendu maanga). But this is still in its testing phase as there are many risks involved, even a tiny leak can cause massive earthquakes.
Now to last weeks frosh party organized by Tamizh Student Association. It was conducted in a rented Hall outside the university. I was invited to sing which I did. They also organized all the usual fun games associated with these parties like musical chairs and eating contests. Technically being a fresher, I was forced into these competitions. When I was standing there on the stage playing those games, for the first time I realised the magnitude of my own age. I was just too old for all this. I have spent 4 years in college having fun and I have been through all these stages. Being forced back into the same old situation was kind of awkward. The creepy feeling of being a mature adult got into me! And yes, adult life is boring. My only solace was that most of the people there in that party, though under grads, were much older than me.
Then came the thing I was there for- food! They served puttu and kaththurikka poriyal ordered all the way from Toronto. After dinner we were sitting there chatting when commotion started. Guys, obviously drunk, stormed into the hall and picked up fight with the board members of the organization. Filthy verbal duels (incidental, all in Tamizh... while most of the compering during the party was in English... mother tongue is sure has a specific place in our conversations!) soon gave way to physical fights. The president of the association- a guy named Satish- showed some maturity and put an end to the mess and dispersed the gathering. To be honest, I was terrified to my guts seeing all the this. Prakash obviously sensed it. Holding my hand he asked, "Yenna Aravinth... bayandhuttingla? Indha maari Chennaila nadakkadha?". I just stared back at him not able to believe he even asked me that question after all this.
"Ithu ellam inga romba sagajam", he continued. "Naanga pudhusa vanthappo innum mosama irundhadhu, ippo konjam paravayillai". He dropped me in his car back home and on the way he was recounting the episodes during the previous frosh parties when some times police had to be called to intervene. All these fights had roots in the association politics. He ended by saying, "Tamizhan yenge irundhaalum anga pirachchanai varum! Yena namakkullaye, ottruma illai".
The next day when I narrated this incident to Gurpreet, he was stupefied, "I thought only we Punjabis drink and fight" !!!
From today I move from Eastern Daylight-savings Time (EDT) to Eastern Standard Time (EST) or winter time. This system of day light savings was introduced to save electricity. In summers, higher latitudes like Canada and US have sun sets as late at 9 PM. So to make use of this sunlight and reduce dependance on electricity, they switch forward by one hour in Spring. This gives more evening hours and lesser dark working hours. Of course this system doesn't make sense for equitable tropics like India where the difference in Day time between summer and winter is very much. Still India used daylight savings during Indo-Pak and Indo-China wars in '62, '64 and '71. Not to save electricity, but to make people switch of their lights and go to bed early so that hostile war planes do not spot cities.
Today I embraced grad life in its crudest form- went to Gurudwara and packed a whole basket of chapatis(my staple diet now- free food). Made a whole big vessel of sambar to last for the entire week. As the climate gets colder, going home itself is a big pain, leave alone cooking after that. And today I could see the signs of what Canadian winters are capable of. When we went for the usual grocery shopping in the morning, storm like winds almost blew me off my feet as I struggled to carry all the stuff. It feels like -8 degrees though its quite close to zero. For the whole week, Ottawa has storm warnings.
More on environment, the incumbent conservative federal government, released the Clean Air (Air Pure, in french) act last week to reduce green house emissions to 2000 levels by 2050. Canada along with US contribute to almost 70% of all CO2. And green house problem is the biggest prick in Canadian politics. Of course, though each successive government promises to meet the requirements of Kyoto protocol, practically they admit its very very tough to do without any drastic implications on economy (Kyoto requires emissions to reduce to 1993 levels). There is a new method developed by scientists in Univ of Calgary where they pump in CO2 deep into the ground. Petroleum companies are quite interested in this because they can use this injection of pressurized gas into the ground to raise the level of crude oil reserves (oru kallile rendu maanga). But this is still in its testing phase as there are many risks involved, even a tiny leak can cause massive earthquakes.
Now to last weeks frosh party organized by Tamizh Student Association. It was conducted in a rented Hall outside the university. I was invited to sing which I did. They also organized all the usual fun games associated with these parties like musical chairs and eating contests. Technically being a fresher, I was forced into these competitions. When I was standing there on the stage playing those games, for the first time I realised the magnitude of my own age. I was just too old for all this. I have spent 4 years in college having fun and I have been through all these stages. Being forced back into the same old situation was kind of awkward. The creepy feeling of being a mature adult got into me! And yes, adult life is boring. My only solace was that most of the people there in that party, though under grads, were much older than me.
Then came the thing I was there for- food! They served puttu and kaththurikka poriyal ordered all the way from Toronto. After dinner we were sitting there chatting when commotion started. Guys, obviously drunk, stormed into the hall and picked up fight with the board members of the organization. Filthy verbal duels (incidental, all in Tamizh... while most of the compering during the party was in English... mother tongue is sure has a specific place in our conversations!) soon gave way to physical fights. The president of the association- a guy named Satish- showed some maturity and put an end to the mess and dispersed the gathering. To be honest, I was terrified to my guts seeing all the this. Prakash obviously sensed it. Holding my hand he asked, "Yenna Aravinth... bayandhuttingla? Indha maari Chennaila nadakkadha?". I just stared back at him not able to believe he even asked me that question after all this.
"Ithu ellam inga romba sagajam", he continued. "Naanga pudhusa vanthappo innum mosama irundhadhu, ippo konjam paravayillai". He dropped me in his car back home and on the way he was recounting the episodes during the previous frosh parties when some times police had to be called to intervene. All these fights had roots in the association politics. He ended by saying, "Tamizhan yenge irundhaalum anga pirachchanai varum! Yena namakkullaye, ottruma illai".
The next day when I narrated this incident to Gurpreet, he was stupefied, "I thought only we Punjabis drink and fight" !!!
Ghost of Christmas '84
Gurpreet and Harjot took me to the Gurudwara of Ottawa for Langar (it is the traditional feast organized by the authorities of Gurudwaras everywhere. Volunteers, day and night, cook chappathis and dhal for visitors, travellers and devotees. In India, it is organized everyday. For obvious reasons, it is conducted only on sundays in Ottawa). After the usual 5 min prayer, we went into the dining hall (the reason we were there!). I was eating on the floor right under a huge banner which was screaming in large bold font- "LONG LIVE KHALISTAN OUR HOMELAND".
I look around and see really old folk limping around helping with the serving and cleaning of food. Most of them have been here since the darkest days of their life. After I was done, I went around to see the photos and paintings on the walls there. I could see a couple of life size portraits of Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale- the military and the spiritual leader of the Khalistan Liberation Army way back in the 70's. There were the photos of the other prominent members of the Liberation Army with the same quote inscribed under each one of them - "XXX attained martyrdom at the hands of the Tyrant Indian Army in 1984". At the end of the long row photos was one of a woman shown to be visibly assaulted and a newspaper clipping dating to some time in November 1984. Something was written in Punjabi which I asked Harjot to translate for me- "This woman, XXX was raped and murdered by the Hindu Government Police and her whole family was wiped out. These are but a few of the atrocities committed by the Government of India".
Most of the people who were present in the Hall with me at that time were directly or indirectly the victims of the anti-Sikh pogroms administered by the Nehru-Gandhi family loyalists in Delhi. They had been there, seen it. It sends a chill into my spine to even consider being a a victim of government organized violence- I mean, how on earth could anyone escape the carnage if both the police and the goons are on the same side? And may, for a moment, even make the hatred for "Hindus" among these folk seem justified. But is it?
Canada has done its part well in this world of eternal conflict. Sticking to its policy of multicultural coexistence, it has served home for many a flock of refugees- Sri Lankan Tamils, Palestines and Lebanese, Sikhs and the list goes on. But it has gone too far on its commitment toward tolerance to allow extremist propaganda rule its soil. I'm not saying this because I'm a practising Hindu. I would say the same about most of the Hindu temples in Toronto which serve pamphlets of Prabhakaran's speeches to the visitors. Providing refuge to troubled folk is one thing, harbouring extremism is another. No wonder many banned terrorist groups around the world have built a strong financial base in here. The silver lining is that the incumbent conservative government in the Parliament led by Prime Minister Stefen Harper has cracked down on many active operating terrorist cells and confiscated their resources (okay... for once I agree conservatives are right even if they have more notorious reasons like racism inspiring them to to this!). And not surprisingly, most of my Tamil friends hate this government.
This kind of propaganda, which I'm more or less used to seeing now a days, made me ponder into an even more fundamental question- about relevance of religion itself. Canadians (in general, the westerners) are known to be the most intolerant people. In spite of all the nice greetings and pleasant talk like "Hi"s, "Bye"s, "Good Afternoon"s and "Thank you"s, these people love their cats and dogs more than they love their siblings. Parents even after 80 are on their own. Silly things like one person's stuff getting into another person's desk in an office creates the most ugly arguments. The average time a graduate student spends working on his PhD thesis is TWICE the average life of a marriage (no wonder advisor-compatibility is more crucial than spouse-compatibility here!). How on earth, then, are they able to exist peacefully with so much diversity (in terms of religion, culture, ethnicity, language etc) around them? May be because their intolerance is "well directed". Meaning whenever they get angry, they get angry at individuals and not at the religion that those individuals represent (of course, all that has changed since 9/11).
The situation is quite the opposite in India. People go great distances to save marriages, I wouldn't mind my friends borrowing my stuff even without asking me and we respect people more than animals. Yet, we are being hypocrites when we claim that we have "unity in diversity". No community in India can boast of being clean of blood stain.
Religion was the reason behind 1984. Religion was the reason behind the Gujarat riots. Religion instigated the perpetrators of 9/11. Religion is guilty of 1993 Mumbai blasts and what followed it. Religion is stopping the schools in America from teaching Evolution. Religion is standing in way of life saving stem cell research. Religion tore a nation apart and a Religious fanatic assassinated a great soul in 1948. All this for what? A super human sitting above in the skies whom no one has ever seen or heard? Or are we completely out of our minds? When some one, say a Muslim, assaults my family and, if I'm an average Indian Hindu, I would go looking for ANY other muslim family (preferably women and children as they are the easier targets) to assault them back. In a more saner and rational world, I would have looked for the PERPETRATOR and try to bring him to justice, or in case where law fails, I would probably administer the punishment myself on HIM depending on the level of my maturity. It is amazing to see how easily we associate a whole religion with the actions of an individual. How easily the Gurudwara here associates "Hindu" with all the crimes committed against them.
May be religion made some sense say 10000 years back when it brought the cave man out of the forests and made him profess civil life, in fear some supreme authority above him. But today, religion is driving us toward the same madness it once shunned. It is driving us back into the caves. It is high time when we stopped acting as spoilt children claiming to act according to the directions of a "Holy Father" and started behaving as responsible adults. Its time we kept religion in its place- inside our houses.
Probably instead of teaching our kids how Jesus died for the Jews or how Lord Rama killed Ravana, if we teach them how great men like Issac Newton and Charles Darwin sacrificed their lives to give some meaning to our own existence, this world would have been a much safer and better place to live.
I look around and see really old folk limping around helping with the serving and cleaning of food. Most of them have been here since the darkest days of their life. After I was done, I went around to see the photos and paintings on the walls there. I could see a couple of life size portraits of Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale- the military and the spiritual leader of the Khalistan Liberation Army way back in the 70's. There were the photos of the other prominent members of the Liberation Army with the same quote inscribed under each one of them - "XXX attained martyrdom at the hands of the Tyrant Indian Army in 1984". At the end of the long row photos was one of a woman shown to be visibly assaulted and a newspaper clipping dating to some time in November 1984. Something was written in Punjabi which I asked Harjot to translate for me- "This woman, XXX was raped and murdered by the Hindu Government Police and her whole family was wiped out. These are but a few of the atrocities committed by the Government of India".
Most of the people who were present in the Hall with me at that time were directly or indirectly the victims of the anti-Sikh pogroms administered by the Nehru-Gandhi family loyalists in Delhi. They had been there, seen it. It sends a chill into my spine to even consider being a a victim of government organized violence- I mean, how on earth could anyone escape the carnage if both the police and the goons are on the same side? And may, for a moment, even make the hatred for "Hindus" among these folk seem justified. But is it?
Canada has done its part well in this world of eternal conflict. Sticking to its policy of multicultural coexistence, it has served home for many a flock of refugees- Sri Lankan Tamils, Palestines and Lebanese, Sikhs and the list goes on. But it has gone too far on its commitment toward tolerance to allow extremist propaganda rule its soil. I'm not saying this because I'm a practising Hindu. I would say the same about most of the Hindu temples in Toronto which serve pamphlets of Prabhakaran's speeches to the visitors. Providing refuge to troubled folk is one thing, harbouring extremism is another. No wonder many banned terrorist groups around the world have built a strong financial base in here. The silver lining is that the incumbent conservative government in the Parliament led by Prime Minister Stefen Harper has cracked down on many active operating terrorist cells and confiscated their resources (okay... for once I agree conservatives are right even if they have more notorious reasons like racism inspiring them to to this!). And not surprisingly, most of my Tamil friends hate this government.
This kind of propaganda, which I'm more or less used to seeing now a days, made me ponder into an even more fundamental question- about relevance of religion itself. Canadians (in general, the westerners) are known to be the most intolerant people. In spite of all the nice greetings and pleasant talk like "Hi"s, "Bye"s, "Good Afternoon"s and "Thank you"s, these people love their cats and dogs more than they love their siblings. Parents even after 80 are on their own. Silly things like one person's stuff getting into another person's desk in an office creates the most ugly arguments. The average time a graduate student spends working on his PhD thesis is TWICE the average life of a marriage (no wonder advisor-compatibility is more crucial than spouse-compatibility here!). How on earth, then, are they able to exist peacefully with so much diversity (in terms of religion, culture, ethnicity, language etc) around them? May be because their intolerance is "well directed". Meaning whenever they get angry, they get angry at individuals and not at the religion that those individuals represent (of course, all that has changed since 9/11).
The situation is quite the opposite in India. People go great distances to save marriages, I wouldn't mind my friends borrowing my stuff even without asking me and we respect people more than animals. Yet, we are being hypocrites when we claim that we have "unity in diversity". No community in India can boast of being clean of blood stain.
Religion was the reason behind 1984. Religion was the reason behind the Gujarat riots. Religion instigated the perpetrators of 9/11. Religion is guilty of 1993 Mumbai blasts and what followed it. Religion is stopping the schools in America from teaching Evolution. Religion is standing in way of life saving stem cell research. Religion tore a nation apart and a Religious fanatic assassinated a great soul in 1948. All this for what? A super human sitting above in the skies whom no one has ever seen or heard? Or are we completely out of our minds? When some one, say a Muslim, assaults my family and, if I'm an average Indian Hindu, I would go looking for ANY other muslim family (preferably women and children as they are the easier targets) to assault them back. In a more saner and rational world, I would have looked for the PERPETRATOR and try to bring him to justice, or in case where law fails, I would probably administer the punishment myself on HIM depending on the level of my maturity. It is amazing to see how easily we associate a whole religion with the actions of an individual. How easily the Gurudwara here associates "Hindu" with all the crimes committed against them.
May be religion made some sense say 10000 years back when it brought the cave man out of the forests and made him profess civil life, in fear some supreme authority above him. But today, religion is driving us toward the same madness it once shunned. It is driving us back into the caves. It is high time when we stopped acting as spoilt children claiming to act according to the directions of a "Holy Father" and started behaving as responsible adults. Its time we kept religion in its place- inside our houses.
Probably instead of teaching our kids how Jesus died for the Jews or how Lord Rama killed Ravana, if we teach them how great men like Issac Newton and Charles Darwin sacrificed their lives to give some meaning to our own existence, this world would have been a much safer and better place to live.
Friday, October 06, 2006
A Refugee's Diary
Last weekend was quite hectic. Saturday we went to a movie named "Aani Vaer" running in a near by theatre. Almost the whole of Tamil diaspora in Ottawa had come to see this one day show. I had some prior idea that this movie dealt with the ethnic conflict in Srilanka. Nevertheless I was in for a shock- this 2 hours venture was one of the biggest and the most intense propaganda I have ever viewed on large screen.
This is the story of a journalist from Chennai who goes to Jaffna to document the human rights violations. And she happens to meet a doctor named Nanda in an LTTE medical camp. Recorded true incidents of the army atrocities on the Tamil community have been recreated with the protagonists' story in the background. But that's what it is. The other side of the issue hasn't even been discussed. Infact, in the whole movie only once the word "LTTE" is heard. The director, who is an Indian, claims that this movie was conceived to arouse the Indian Tamils to the burning issues in the island nation. But he has gone too far depicting the government as fascist regime and LTTE as an angel. Nevertheless, like most other Srilankan Tamils here, my friends here go by the word of the propaganda.
After we finished the movie, was the Saraswati pooja in a big classroom in the university organised by the Tamil Student Association here. figures of Amman, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Pillayar were placed in front of the black board and we kept our books infront of it on a table. The function started with Saraswati invocation and then pooja rites were performed. Then was dinner time and we had Chakkara Pongal, Vadai and Sundal (all after a very long time!), after which it was cultural programmes.
It was almost 8 PM by the time it all ended and I needed a lift back home. My friends from materials class offered. But they had to finish some assignment before that so I waited in their lab as they were doing their work. Boopalan, one of them, (name changed) and I started talking about the movie we watched the afternoon. He told me that all those gory incidents had in fact taken place while he was in Ceylon, albeit were chronologically inconsistent with reality. He narrated his family's history(all conversation in Tamil), which I'm penning down here in his own words...
"My parents moved to Colombo with my elder sister soon after I was born. But I stayed back in Jaffna with my grand mom. In 1982, my dad got offers to work in Dubai and he left leaving my sister and my mom alone in Colombo. Me and my grand ma used to visit them every year. But after the war broke out in 1983, I stayed back in Jaffna for while and then moved to Colombo to live with my mom in 1986.
My mom used to tell me the stories of what they went through during the riots of 83. There was one day when this Sinhali mob was scanning our area. My mom and my sister lived in an apartment. They took refuge in the opposite flat where a Sinhala family lived. When the mob knocked the door, my mom was hiding under the bed, and the man of the house brushed them off saying there are no Tamils in this locality. I was too young then to understand anything she said.
After I moved to Colombo, I joined this Christian Missionary school there. Within Colombo there is no problem between us and the Sinhaleese. In fact in our school Sinhala:Tamil ratio was about 6 to 2. We coexisted without any problem. But yes, sporadically there would be some suicide bombings in Colombo and the situation would get tense. I remember once, when we were playing cricket in our school ground, the tigers hit the national bank across the road. That was my first bomb blast. Soon after these blasts, there would be frantic phone calls all over the city with everyone enquiring the safety of their friends and family. But after 5 hours or so, every one would be back to business. It has become more or less the norm of the city. We have learnt to live with them.
But we had our share of fun. I remember how we used to mass bunk classes for the annual cricket tournament. Our teacher was a Tamil and the principal a Sinhala priest. We were sort of in good terms with the principal. So whenever our teacher punished us for bunking classes, the principal used to let us go that would start a fight between them and we used to have fun watching it!
We also had a gang of friends at home. We used to play hell lot of cricket in a huge ground near my house during our O-level (12th Std) year. On the other side of the house was the house of a Sinhala girl who was also in my class. Whenever our match got loud and ugly, her father used to come out and complain that his daughter is not able to study. One of my friends was really fluent in Sinhala and he used to throw back, telling him that even we were in O-level and still we come out to play and don't study all day like your book worm daughter. If she wants peace, let her go some where else to study.
There were times when the ball used to land in their house and the old man wouldn't return it.The next day, we used to buy a huge box of balls, place it on his compound wall, take out one ball at a time and stand in front of his house so that he can see them! That guy was always pissed at us. My mom however used to beg me not to fight with neighbours. Probably because she was living without my dad, she wanted to be in peace with everyone around there and not attract problems. The week before the final exams, that old man cursed us, "None of you brats are going to pass this year!". We wrote our exams, and the results came. Most of my friends passed wit ha an 'A' average. Some friends got 'B' grade. We all went to the old man's house with our grade sheets and shoved it to him,
We (in Sinhala): "We got 'A' average, what did your daughter get?"
The Old man: "'C' average".
We: "You know something... if you had let your daughter play cricket, she would have fared better than that"
And we left. He later remarked to my mom, "these are nice chaps you know..."
To be frank my grade wasn't that good. But then I still could have secured admission in Colombo. But I didn't want that. Neither did my dad. There was just too much of harassment in there. Everyone in Srilanka is given a Photo Identity card and a police address proof. We have to carry it where ever we go and still, the police used to stop us and accuse us of being terrorists. They would give lame reasons like 'your photo doesn't resemble your face' etc. When my sister got married, they had to face lot of issues. It was that some of the college mates of my maama had joined the LTTE. And so the police used to knock their doors in odd hours and ask them questions. My maama couldn't take it anymore and he found a job in Toronto and left with my sister. After that, the police started coming to our place and started questioning my dad. I remember vividly, during my O levels, the police came home at 3 in the morning and started shouting at us. This constable came into my room where I was studying and asked me where my sister was. I told him they have moved to Toronto. Then he shook me threatening of dire consequences if I lied.
My father called me one day and told me, "You leave this country. Go to Canada to your sister. I'll join you later". And that was that. I packed my bags and left Colombo for good. Now, it is my duty to join some firm soon after I finish my final year, earn enough money and sponsor my parents to immigrate. That's the least I can do for them."
There is nothing to question the authenticity of the above story. There IS a huge problem there. And yes, Tamils are at the receiving end. But giving that as an excuse for counter-violence is by no means justifiable. Boopalan and all his compatriots here regularly read TamilNet news and consider the LTTE's propaganda as God's own truth. Boopalan told me how one of Prabhakaran's editorial in TamilNet justifies Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, "Rajiv Gandhi wanted to exploit the LTTE's causes so that he can extend India's influence beyond its borders. In fact, the atrocities that we saw today in the movie was also committed by the IPKF's soldiers. LTTE wanted some revenge".
To say that LTTE is the true representative of their grievances is a gross misjudgement. May be they were justified back in 70's when all the peaceful Gandhian agitations organized by the Tamil leaders were met by hostile reaction from the government. May be force was the only thing that brought the government to table and made it even consider that this is an issue. But the tigers lost their relevance there. What can explain suicide bombings in Colombo? What can explain the hypocritical stand of the LTTE in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, where they don't officially accept involvement, but justify it in TamilNet? And god forbid what can explain massacre of the other Tamil groups in 1987 by the LTTE under the banner 'uniting all the Tamils under one roof'?
What ever the answers for the above questions, I learnt one important lesson from Saturday- When people immigrate out of India they give reasons that India is inefficient, poor, illiterate and corrupted... but we still have a choice to go back home. These unfortunate souls don't.
This is the story of a journalist from Chennai who goes to Jaffna to document the human rights violations. And she happens to meet a doctor named Nanda in an LTTE medical camp. Recorded true incidents of the army atrocities on the Tamil community have been recreated with the protagonists' story in the background. But that's what it is. The other side of the issue hasn't even been discussed. Infact, in the whole movie only once the word "LTTE" is heard. The director, who is an Indian, claims that this movie was conceived to arouse the Indian Tamils to the burning issues in the island nation. But he has gone too far depicting the government as fascist regime and LTTE as an angel. Nevertheless, like most other Srilankan Tamils here, my friends here go by the word of the propaganda.
After we finished the movie, was the Saraswati pooja in a big classroom in the university organised by the Tamil Student Association here. figures of Amman, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Pillayar were placed in front of the black board and we kept our books infront of it on a table. The function started with Saraswati invocation and then pooja rites were performed. Then was dinner time and we had Chakkara Pongal, Vadai and Sundal (all after a very long time!), after which it was cultural programmes.
It was almost 8 PM by the time it all ended and I needed a lift back home. My friends from materials class offered. But they had to finish some assignment before that so I waited in their lab as they were doing their work. Boopalan, one of them, (name changed) and I started talking about the movie we watched the afternoon. He told me that all those gory incidents had in fact taken place while he was in Ceylon, albeit were chronologically inconsistent with reality. He narrated his family's history(all conversation in Tamil), which I'm penning down here in his own words...
"My parents moved to Colombo with my elder sister soon after I was born. But I stayed back in Jaffna with my grand mom. In 1982, my dad got offers to work in Dubai and he left leaving my sister and my mom alone in Colombo. Me and my grand ma used to visit them every year. But after the war broke out in 1983, I stayed back in Jaffna for while and then moved to Colombo to live with my mom in 1986.
My mom used to tell me the stories of what they went through during the riots of 83. There was one day when this Sinhali mob was scanning our area. My mom and my sister lived in an apartment. They took refuge in the opposite flat where a Sinhala family lived. When the mob knocked the door, my mom was hiding under the bed, and the man of the house brushed them off saying there are no Tamils in this locality. I was too young then to understand anything she said.
After I moved to Colombo, I joined this Christian Missionary school there. Within Colombo there is no problem between us and the Sinhaleese. In fact in our school Sinhala:Tamil ratio was about 6 to 2. We coexisted without any problem. But yes, sporadically there would be some suicide bombings in Colombo and the situation would get tense. I remember once, when we were playing cricket in our school ground, the tigers hit the national bank across the road. That was my first bomb blast. Soon after these blasts, there would be frantic phone calls all over the city with everyone enquiring the safety of their friends and family. But after 5 hours or so, every one would be back to business. It has become more or less the norm of the city. We have learnt to live with them.
But we had our share of fun. I remember how we used to mass bunk classes for the annual cricket tournament. Our teacher was a Tamil and the principal a Sinhala priest. We were sort of in good terms with the principal. So whenever our teacher punished us for bunking classes, the principal used to let us go that would start a fight between them and we used to have fun watching it!
We also had a gang of friends at home. We used to play hell lot of cricket in a huge ground near my house during our O-level (12th Std) year. On the other side of the house was the house of a Sinhala girl who was also in my class. Whenever our match got loud and ugly, her father used to come out and complain that his daughter is not able to study. One of my friends was really fluent in Sinhala and he used to throw back, telling him that even we were in O-level and still we come out to play and don't study all day like your book worm daughter. If she wants peace, let her go some where else to study.
There were times when the ball used to land in their house and the old man wouldn't return it.The next day, we used to buy a huge box of balls, place it on his compound wall, take out one ball at a time and stand in front of his house so that he can see them! That guy was always pissed at us. My mom however used to beg me not to fight with neighbours. Probably because she was living without my dad, she wanted to be in peace with everyone around there and not attract problems. The week before the final exams, that old man cursed us, "None of you brats are going to pass this year!". We wrote our exams, and the results came. Most of my friends passed wit ha an 'A' average. Some friends got 'B' grade. We all went to the old man's house with our grade sheets and shoved it to him,
We (in Sinhala): "We got 'A' average, what did your daughter get?"
The Old man: "'C' average".
We: "You know something... if you had let your daughter play cricket, she would have fared better than that"
And we left. He later remarked to my mom, "these are nice chaps you know..."
To be frank my grade wasn't that good. But then I still could have secured admission in Colombo. But I didn't want that. Neither did my dad. There was just too much of harassment in there. Everyone in Srilanka is given a Photo Identity card and a police address proof. We have to carry it where ever we go and still, the police used to stop us and accuse us of being terrorists. They would give lame reasons like 'your photo doesn't resemble your face' etc. When my sister got married, they had to face lot of issues. It was that some of the college mates of my maama had joined the LTTE. And so the police used to knock their doors in odd hours and ask them questions. My maama couldn't take it anymore and he found a job in Toronto and left with my sister. After that, the police started coming to our place and started questioning my dad. I remember vividly, during my O levels, the police came home at 3 in the morning and started shouting at us. This constable came into my room where I was studying and asked me where my sister was. I told him they have moved to Toronto. Then he shook me threatening of dire consequences if I lied.
My father called me one day and told me, "You leave this country. Go to Canada to your sister. I'll join you later". And that was that. I packed my bags and left Colombo for good. Now, it is my duty to join some firm soon after I finish my final year, earn enough money and sponsor my parents to immigrate. That's the least I can do for them."
There is nothing to question the authenticity of the above story. There IS a huge problem there. And yes, Tamils are at the receiving end. But giving that as an excuse for counter-violence is by no means justifiable. Boopalan and all his compatriots here regularly read TamilNet news and consider the LTTE's propaganda as God's own truth. Boopalan told me how one of Prabhakaran's editorial in TamilNet justifies Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, "Rajiv Gandhi wanted to exploit the LTTE's causes so that he can extend India's influence beyond its borders. In fact, the atrocities that we saw today in the movie was also committed by the IPKF's soldiers. LTTE wanted some revenge".
To say that LTTE is the true representative of their grievances is a gross misjudgement. May be they were justified back in 70's when all the peaceful Gandhian agitations organized by the Tamil leaders were met by hostile reaction from the government. May be force was the only thing that brought the government to table and made it even consider that this is an issue. But the tigers lost their relevance there. What can explain suicide bombings in Colombo? What can explain the hypocritical stand of the LTTE in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, where they don't officially accept involvement, but justify it in TamilNet? And god forbid what can explain massacre of the other Tamil groups in 1987 by the LTTE under the banner 'uniting all the Tamils under one roof'?
What ever the answers for the above questions, I learnt one important lesson from Saturday- When people immigrate out of India they give reasons that India is inefficient, poor, illiterate and corrupted... but we still have a choice to go back home. These unfortunate souls don't.
Monday, September 25, 2006
My first Class... as a Teacher!
Just few minutes back, I finished watching "Jillunu Oru Kaadhal" on Arumika's computer. It was not bad. A. R. Rehman's music as usual is very good. I came to college at about 2 o clock after getting up pretty late. Actually I got some time to sleep peacefully last night after one very tiring week.
Yesterday I conducted the very first quiz for the under grads. Friday is my day to conduct quizzes and unfortunately the very first quiz was on Friday and I was completely inexperienced to begin with. We PA TAs had a meeting on thursday on how to conduct quizzes and that helped a bit. Our supervising TA, a PhD named Mohd. Arsalan from Karachi, Pak, guided me through this uncertain time and was very helpful. Friday morning I had to come a bit early (7:30) to get the photocopies of the question paper done at the Department Office.
At 8:30 I stepped into my first class to find a fairly low turn out (3 as against a roll of 15). But people started walking in as the session proceeded. Welcome to Canadian classroom- everything is pretty informal! Student come in go out, eat, drink and sleep in the classroom as they wish. Students come in all sizes and shapes. Guys come to class in Bermudas, Vests, hair dyed in the craziest colors humanly imaginable, boys wearing earings at every possible place on their bodies except their ears... and the list goes on. We were told at the TA orientation at the begining of the term that all this behaviour "must not be taken as a mark of disrespect". Well, the thought on how the faculty would react if WE had done such things back in Anna University was amusing.
Since this was the first session, no student bothered to do the assignment they were supposed to do (PA sessions are about clearing doubts in asignments and conducting quiz). So I had to work out each problem in tha ssignment for them. But I was surprised at their enthusiasm when I started working on problems. I guess that was partly because of their lack of aptitude. For a college level, I found these students had serioulsy low mathematical skills as compared to those in India. They need help even for elementary Integration and simplification of expressions. But I was happy atleast they had an urge to learn these things. I was not complaining... these students regard us like Professors! First impression is the best impression they say. So I made sure I didn't make any mistake on board. Also, I tried to set the test very simple (Arsalan had asked me to expect all this), yet giving some work for their brain. And I guess I did a good job at it. Over all, my first formal teaching experience was good.
I came back home early because a furnace company guy was coming home to inspect our heater and I had to be at home for that. After he left, I sat down to mark the answer sheets. I was happy to find some 5 of my students getting 10/10. But a couple of guys got only 5/10 and I was pretty much unhappy about that, more so after I had worked so hard that morning to teach them. But I think this is a part of every teachers life.
Today morning, the Weather Network (the 24 X 7 news channel which gives only and ONLY weather news at local, national and internatiional level. We depend on it for all the forecasts and watch it every morning before leaving for college. Their forecasts tell us what kind of clothing we need to take that day. Some times I'm surprised how these news readers maintain their mental stability while narrating the same old things about climate the whole day!) announced that today is the end of Summer and Fall begins. Well, I don't remember experiencing any real summer all these days either. But then we expect the coming weeks to get very very cold. I hope Miss Mary (Mr. Nihal's friend) brings me the blankets soon enough. The thin grey blanket I brought from India is increasingly proving to be insufficient. Every night I get into the bed, I find the whole mattress and the sheet very cold.
The classes are going good. Especially my Materials class. We had been working on Schrodinger's Electron wave equation for the last two weeks and I have started understanding a lot of concepts about Quantum theory I never understood in India. Though we don't do a lot of mathematics in that class (actually no physicist ever does!), we are being taught everything intutively.
I got to meet a guy named Parthiban from Rajapaalayam early this week. He had done his UG here and is continuing with his masters in Systems Engineering. I think Arumika and Parthiban are the only two known Indian Tamils here.
Since last week I have been drinking Black Tea every morning. The reason is more economic than anything else- milk is just too costly here. On cold mornings such as these, hot tea soon after getting up from bed is really refreshing
I came today to finish off what remains of my assignment and also to watch this movie. During weekends no one usually comes ot the lab and we can come here and watch movies, listen to music and do voice chat (Though today Gurpreet is in the lab... listening to Kishore Kumar!). Tomorrow I'll be going to the temple (free food!).
Yesterday I conducted the very first quiz for the under grads. Friday is my day to conduct quizzes and unfortunately the very first quiz was on Friday and I was completely inexperienced to begin with. We PA TAs had a meeting on thursday on how to conduct quizzes and that helped a bit. Our supervising TA, a PhD named Mohd. Arsalan from Karachi, Pak, guided me through this uncertain time and was very helpful. Friday morning I had to come a bit early (7:30) to get the photocopies of the question paper done at the Department Office.
At 8:30 I stepped into my first class to find a fairly low turn out (3 as against a roll of 15). But people started walking in as the session proceeded. Welcome to Canadian classroom- everything is pretty informal! Student come in go out, eat, drink and sleep in the classroom as they wish. Students come in all sizes and shapes. Guys come to class in Bermudas, Vests, hair dyed in the craziest colors humanly imaginable, boys wearing earings at every possible place on their bodies except their ears... and the list goes on. We were told at the TA orientation at the begining of the term that all this behaviour "must not be taken as a mark of disrespect". Well, the thought on how the faculty would react if WE had done such things back in Anna University was amusing.
Since this was the first session, no student bothered to do the assignment they were supposed to do (PA sessions are about clearing doubts in asignments and conducting quiz). So I had to work out each problem in tha ssignment for them. But I was surprised at their enthusiasm when I started working on problems. I guess that was partly because of their lack of aptitude. For a college level, I found these students had serioulsy low mathematical skills as compared to those in India. They need help even for elementary Integration and simplification of expressions. But I was happy atleast they had an urge to learn these things. I was not complaining... these students regard us like Professors! First impression is the best impression they say. So I made sure I didn't make any mistake on board. Also, I tried to set the test very simple (Arsalan had asked me to expect all this), yet giving some work for their brain. And I guess I did a good job at it. Over all, my first formal teaching experience was good.
I came back home early because a furnace company guy was coming home to inspect our heater and I had to be at home for that. After he left, I sat down to mark the answer sheets. I was happy to find some 5 of my students getting 10/10. But a couple of guys got only 5/10 and I was pretty much unhappy about that, more so after I had worked so hard that morning to teach them. But I think this is a part of every teachers life.
Today morning, the Weather Network (the 24 X 7 news channel which gives only and ONLY weather news at local, national and internatiional level. We depend on it for all the forecasts and watch it every morning before leaving for college. Their forecasts tell us what kind of clothing we need to take that day. Some times I'm surprised how these news readers maintain their mental stability while narrating the same old things about climate the whole day!) announced that today is the end of Summer and Fall begins. Well, I don't remember experiencing any real summer all these days either. But then we expect the coming weeks to get very very cold. I hope Miss Mary (Mr. Nihal's friend) brings me the blankets soon enough. The thin grey blanket I brought from India is increasingly proving to be insufficient. Every night I get into the bed, I find the whole mattress and the sheet very cold.
The classes are going good. Especially my Materials class. We had been working on Schrodinger's Electron wave equation for the last two weeks and I have started understanding a lot of concepts about Quantum theory I never understood in India. Though we don't do a lot of mathematics in that class (actually no physicist ever does!), we are being taught everything intutively.
I got to meet a guy named Parthiban from Rajapaalayam early this week. He had done his UG here and is continuing with his masters in Systems Engineering. I think Arumika and Parthiban are the only two known Indian Tamils here.
Since last week I have been drinking Black Tea every morning. The reason is more economic than anything else- milk is just too costly here. On cold mornings such as these, hot tea soon after getting up from bed is really refreshing
I came today to finish off what remains of my assignment and also to watch this movie. During weekends no one usually comes ot the lab and we can come here and watch movies, listen to music and do voice chat (Though today Gurpreet is in the lab... listening to Kishore Kumar!). Tomorrow I'll be going to the temple (free food!).
Getting Cold... Getting Used To
Sun shone today after a week of rain and its really good. Finally. the temperature touched the 20 degree mark.
This week was very very busy.
First I got my TA duties assigned. The instructor for this second year under grad course (Basic Circuits and Signals) is a Prof named Tom Ray. He is a pretty nice guy and I doubt he will exploit me. We are an army of about 10 TAs for some 200+ students. So each will be incharge for some 25 students. We had a meeting earlier this week about sharing of responsibilities. I had a choice of either becoming in charge for lab or taking care of Problem Analysis sessions and organizing weekly quizzes. I took Problem Analysis (PA) because Lab means I have to run around to each student clearing bugs in circuits and stuff. I have to come every Monday and Friday at 8:30 in the morning for this session starting from next Friday. My duties include grading the weekly quiz and making sure all students do their assignments. Yet, I had to supervise the first intoductory lab session yesterday morning which was about teaching the students soldering (because the lab TAs haven't been assigned yet). I had a pretty good first class and I believe I communicated the process to my students well. I had some problem with my Chineese students though. I'm not being racist, but I have observed that Chineese students' english is extremely pathetic in general. They ask me some doubt and I have to ask them again and again the same thing to understand what they mean. And each time, they re-phrase it , making the comprehension worse and worse! But I think I'll soon start to get used to their tongue.
I attended my first Materials audit course on Thursday. The class was terrific. The prof (named Tom Smy) is teaching directly from Feynmans lectures on Quantum Physics and its very very interesting. And there in the class, I met some 4th year undergrads from SriLanka. Finally, some one here spoke to me in Tamil! Of course their dialect is completely different. They introduce me to their friends like this :
"Yivar Peyar Aerevinth... Yivar Yindhiya Lirunthu Vanthirikkiraar" !!
They are really friendly people. One of the guy's name is Prakash, there is one Dileeban and one Satya ( I haven't met any Prabhakaran or Nalini yet !!) . They told me that there are over 200 Srilankan students in Carleton! Few of them came here with their families after the expulsion of 1995, but most of them are here only since 2001. Their plan is to come here to do under grad, get a job, and then sponsor their parents back in Colombo and bring them here as permanent residents. Most of them are native of Jaffna.
Even fall (autumn) hasn't arrived yet and already the temperatures have dropped to 8 and 7 degrees in the night! And whenever it does get above the 15 degree threshold by God's grace and I start breathing easy, people here switch on the AC, because its just too hot for them! The colours of the leaves have started changing and soon next month, the whole city will turn Bright red from green and there will be a riot of colours all over.
Some maintenance company guys came home today to inspect the heaters at home. There is a huge boiler and a furnace in every home in Ottawa which heats the house all through the winter. People usually switch it on at the end of October and turn it off only at the end of April when the winter gets over. It needs cleaning every September before the onset of winter. The guy told Mr. Shahadat that he needs to replace the furnace because there are some cracks. And Shahadat is working on it. Winters get pretty nasty here during February when there is freezing rain - rains drops frozen during their descent. That makes roads and pavements very slippery. And also, since days become extremely short then (4 PM sunset against 8 Pm sunset currently), many people go into depression because of lack of light! The cure for this psychiatric syndrome it seems is exposure to a table lamp!
One of Mr. Nihal's friend today dropped by my place and gave me a huge study table and a lamp. Its really great and has helped clear all the mess in my room (i just used to keep books and bag on floor).
I'm reading The Hindu e paper regularly. Mainly because the local and even the national dailies here are very much like the stupid Tamil magazines in chennai- mostly Page 3 stuff. A
This week was very very busy.
First I got my TA duties assigned. The instructor for this second year under grad course (Basic Circuits and Signals) is a Prof named Tom Ray. He is a pretty nice guy and I doubt he will exploit me. We are an army of about 10 TAs for some 200+ students. So each will be incharge for some 25 students. We had a meeting earlier this week about sharing of responsibilities. I had a choice of either becoming in charge for lab or taking care of Problem Analysis sessions and organizing weekly quizzes. I took Problem Analysis (PA) because Lab means I have to run around to each student clearing bugs in circuits and stuff. I have to come every Monday and Friday at 8:30 in the morning for this session starting from next Friday. My duties include grading the weekly quiz and making sure all students do their assignments. Yet, I had to supervise the first intoductory lab session yesterday morning which was about teaching the students soldering (because the lab TAs haven't been assigned yet). I had a pretty good first class and I believe I communicated the process to my students well. I had some problem with my Chineese students though. I'm not being racist, but I have observed that Chineese students' english is extremely pathetic in general. They ask me some doubt and I have to ask them again and again the same thing to understand what they mean. And each time, they re-phrase it , making the comprehension worse and worse! But I think I'll soon start to get used to their tongue.
I attended my first Materials audit course on Thursday. The class was terrific. The prof (named Tom Smy) is teaching directly from Feynmans lectures on Quantum Physics and its very very interesting. And there in the class, I met some 4th year undergrads from SriLanka. Finally, some one here spoke to me in Tamil! Of course their dialect is completely different. They introduce me to their friends like this :
"Yivar Peyar Aerevinth... Yivar Yindhiya Lirunthu Vanthirikkiraar" !!
They are really friendly people. One of the guy's name is Prakash, there is one Dileeban and one Satya ( I haven't met any Prabhakaran or Nalini yet !!) . They told me that there are over 200 Srilankan students in Carleton! Few of them came here with their families after the expulsion of 1995, but most of them are here only since 2001. Their plan is to come here to do under grad, get a job, and then sponsor their parents back in Colombo and bring them here as permanent residents. Most of them are native of Jaffna.
Even fall (autumn) hasn't arrived yet and already the temperatures have dropped to 8 and 7 degrees in the night! And whenever it does get above the 15 degree threshold by God's grace and I start breathing easy, people here switch on the AC, because its just too hot for them! The colours of the leaves have started changing and soon next month, the whole city will turn Bright red from green and there will be a riot of colours all over.
Some maintenance company guys came home today to inspect the heaters at home. There is a huge boiler and a furnace in every home in Ottawa which heats the house all through the winter. People usually switch it on at the end of October and turn it off only at the end of April when the winter gets over. It needs cleaning every September before the onset of winter. The guy told Mr. Shahadat that he needs to replace the furnace because there are some cracks. And Shahadat is working on it. Winters get pretty nasty here during February when there is freezing rain - rains drops frozen during their descent. That makes roads and pavements very slippery. And also, since days become extremely short then (4 PM sunset against 8 Pm sunset currently), many people go into depression because of lack of light! The cure for this psychiatric syndrome it seems is exposure to a table lamp!
One of Mr. Nihal's friend today dropped by my place and gave me a huge study table and a lamp. Its really great and has helped clear all the mess in my room (i just used to keep books and bag on floor).
I'm reading The Hindu e paper regularly. Mainly because the local and even the national dailies here are very much like the stupid Tamil magazines in chennai- mostly Page 3 stuff. A
First Week in Grad School
The week was sort of hectic. I ventured out into to the downtown a couple of times. The canadian war museum is worth mentioning.
We submitted the first assignment to ram achar and he suggested some changes and has asked us to meet him again tomorrow (tuesday). On thursday I had my first class.
The TA orientations were really good esp the general one where we had case studies on how to deal with under grad issues when grading and clearing their doubts. Its a challenge 100 times more than India to deal with UG people. Because in this part of the globe, college education is just a luxury and leisure affair. Most of the people don't even come here for jobs... all they want is to experience University life and socialize. Compare this with the govt colleges of India where only the cream of a state or the country is selected for the UG programs and every one is serious about t heir studies. Most people here don't even go to Grad school.
Most probably I will not teach- TAs here mostly do grading work and clear doubts and take tutorials. Nevertheles, it would be a great experience for a career in academics.
We submitted the first assignment to ram achar and he suggested some changes and has asked us to meet him again tomorrow (tuesday). On thursday I had my first class.
The TA orientations were really good esp the general one where we had case studies on how to deal with under grad issues when grading and clearing their doubts. Its a challenge 100 times more than India to deal with UG people. Because in this part of the globe, college education is just a luxury and leisure affair. Most of the people don't even come here for jobs... all they want is to experience University life and socialize. Compare this with the govt colleges of India where only the cream of a state or the country is selected for the UG programs and every one is serious about t heir studies. Most people here don't even go to Grad school.
Most probably I will not teach- TAs here mostly do grading work and clear doubts and take tutorials. Nevertheles, it would be a great experience for a career in academics.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
From the Warmest Place on Earth
This is the true account of my travel to the North-Western Hemisphere and my first impressions of Canada and Ottawa.
23rd August, 9:30 PM
I arrived at the Anna International Terminal only to find I'm the earliest among the 3. MK arrived shortly and after some wait, KG came at 945 (he had, as you might have guessed, promised 915). Reddy anna had come to seeoff KG. My family, my extended family AND my dad's colleagues came for my send off (you know some times popularity is difficult to handle).
The ban on visitors' entry, which came into effect after Mumbai TRAIN blasts, was lifted soon after the London AIR-scare. I wasn't complaining though. My parents, bro, patti and uncle came inside to talk to me till I went inside for immigration. The check-in guy told me the hand item which is usually allowed in addition to the hand luggage is prohibited after the Heathrow episode. I had to put my Intel bag into my travel back pack to convince him and though it weighed 10 kilos after that, he din't mind. MK had to check in one hand bag (which was done for free) becaue he couldn't squeeze one in the other.
After bidding my parents adieu, we went in for immigration and security check. There were 2 loooooooooong queues. We were confused as to which one is ours. A lady in sleeveless looking at our blank faces offered to help and told u any queue is fine. We stood behind her. I needed to take out my passport so showed my sweater at KG and said, "konjam pudichchikonga..."
KG: (with a dirty smile on his face) yedha?
I looked at him, and then the girl ... Hmmm... this is going to be a looooooong journey!
Since KG entered the airport a bit late, we couldn't get consecutive seats. Only me and MK were together. And as luck would have it, it was the very last seat of the plane. Hmmm... this is going to be one looooong bumpy ride! On a brighter side, I got the window seat. I fell asleep immediately and missed the dinner which was served. KG, of course, hogged.
When I got up, the sun was at the horizon and man how bright the rays were from that altitude! MK and KG came around shortly. KG and MK swapped places. I chatted with KG over the breakfast which was good hot pongal. KG was now and then gaping at the german air hostess who, he said, looked like Monica Belouky. The descent at Frankfurt was cool with splendid views down... cities and towns are planned with human settlements separated by vast tracts of green pastures and woods - lands which would otherwise be converted into engineering colleges in India. We landed at Frankfurt at 1000 hrs local time. The climate was pleasant with gushes of cold wind every now and then.
The airport is huge and beautiful. We went to the gate where our Air Canada flight was waiting. After the security check, we boarded te plane. This time, KG and MK got seats next to each other while I was next to a window seat.
I picked up Canada's national daily "Globe and Mail" and was shocked to see the lead story "Four Tamil Students arrested in Ontario while smuggling weapons to LTTE"... Oh... thats a good start in a new country...
They showed Ice Age 2 and X Men on the flight. My neighbour was a middle aged stocky man in shorts. I learnt that Allen was a psychiatrist in Calgary (Oh yeah... soon MK or Suren or La Chappel will see this guy). He graduated from Cambridge and was born and brought up in Johanesburg. He told me about the conditions which arise out of lack of sunlight in winters in Canada. This syndrome, which results in depression, is cured by exposing the patients to a table lamp 20 mins a day! Allen asked me where am I headed for and said , "Ottawa"
Allen: Pardon?
Me: Ottawa.
He was silent for a while and then exclaimed "Oh! You mean 'Auto-wa' !" (the spelling has been altered to accomodate the pronounciation)
Oh... I must remember that one!
KG, meanwhile, was having his own share of fun. Now, our Ma Kanna was having problem cutting his cheese pizza, and guess who did it for him? A 81 year old patti sitting next to him!
We entered the Terminal 1 at Toronto and after a very long wait at the Immigration at Port of Entry, went out to identify our baggaes and re check them. We bought some calling cards and called back home. I My flight to Ottawa wa leaving in an hour and so I left immediately bidding KG and Mk good bye. Of course I remembered to collect the gift KG had for me- a book on science and philosophy... you know, the things we psychos usually discuss.
It was a window seat again for me and a chineese girl was siting next to it. I stood next to her and she looked at me and asked, "Do you want to go inside?"
Me : Yes.
And in a flash, she just crounched and jumped over and stood on her seat and said, "Hop in!"
Stupefied, I went into my seat. A punjabi guy came and sat next to her. He was about my age and was wearing a college t shirt. I had a feeling that he might also headed for Carleton but I didn't mind asking him. I burried my head into my book occasionally looking out of the window. The journey was short- Toronto and Ottawa are like Bangalore and Chennai.
At the Ottawa Terminal, I was welcomed by Mr Nihal- an associate of my uncle back in Chennai. He is a Sinhalee who is now settled in Ottawa. It seems he had served as secretary to Sri Lankan Finance Ministry long time back (good to have a diplomatic welcome into a country!). He drove me to the accomodation I had booked. The land lord of the town house, Mr Shahadat welcomed us in and inspected my room to be. Shahadat told me he is expecting another student to arrive shortly. Nevertheless the bell rang and I was surprised to find the same punjabi guy at my door step!!!
He was Harjot Singh, the guy I had met in orkut TWO MONTHS back and to whom I had passed on Shahadat's contact details on request. But I had no idea he had actually booked the same town house as mine. And I certainly had no idea that we would travel in the same flight, forget about being in the very next seat! We see each other in the flight, he gets a feeling that I'm Arvind but doesn't ask me because I'm busy reading a book, he is then received at the air port by his acquaintance and I, by mine and then we converge at the town house surprised to find each other... Look at the odds to that!
After we came over our funny little episode, Harjot left to return the next day with his stuff. I moved into the room immediately though. Mr. Nihal soon left after he was convinced I was in the right hands. Mr. Shahadat, is from Dhaka and a staff at the business school in Carleton. The town house is really good, neat, furnished and with a well equipped kitchen. There are 3 rooms on the first floor. Me and Harjot took one each. The last one will be taken by Gurpreet Singh who arrives on Sep 8th from Bangalore for PhD under Ram Achar. My room is relatively small but adequate. I was too tired and just slept off.
The jet lag persisted the next day. I got up pretty early and had sandwich breakfast. Harjot arrived in the afternoon and Shahadat took us to the University in his car and showed us around. I had an appointment with Ram Achar at 3 and he took us to the Graduate Office and got some formalities done prior to my registration. He took us to the CAD lab and showed us our offices and introduced us to the students there. After a briefing about our course work, we headed back home. Later in the evening we went to a couple of grocery stores nearby and Shahadat took us on a tour of the beautiful neighbourhood. People in Canada are very friendly, polite and accomodative. People stick to traffic rules, give way, and show a hell lot of courtesy to the pedestrians. All cultures have been accepted here with a very open heart and there is absolutely no racism or crime here- the Stranger in Black inside me finally smiled after 20 years!!! ;)
Shahadat is a really nice and help ful guy and has made us feel home in here right away. He lets u use his stuff and gave me a sweater to use.
Shahadat and Harjot cooked delicious Rajma and Rice for the dinner. Saturday went eventless and we spent the day mostly at home.
It rained today morning which made it really chill down here. Some 16 degrees. At 11, Ram Achar came over to our place and picked me and Harjot up for the Vinayaka Chathurthi function at his place. There was a small Indian community attending the function and we had great South Indian lunch. We were chatting with Ram Achar's freinds over it. They are from diferent domains, from banking to Ottawa Electricity Board, and were really nice to us and gave us some winter tips. Professor's wife packed us some Idlis and Bisi Bella Bath for home!
On my request, Shahadat drove us to the Temple near by. Its a very huge one like the Birla Temple in Hyderabad. Shahadat keeps recounting his experience as a new student in Ottawa and is always praise for the city, "This city is not so fast but is fast enough... no crime, no hassles. People are very welcoming. It is ideal to raise a family"
Half way around the globe, I can feel my mom's stomach turning!
23rd August, 9:30 PM
I arrived at the Anna International Terminal only to find I'm the earliest among the 3. MK arrived shortly and after some wait, KG came at 945 (he had, as you might have guessed, promised 915). Reddy anna had come to seeoff KG. My family, my extended family AND my dad's colleagues came for my send off (you know some times popularity is difficult to handle).
The ban on visitors' entry, which came into effect after Mumbai TRAIN blasts, was lifted soon after the London AIR-scare. I wasn't complaining though. My parents, bro, patti and uncle came inside to talk to me till I went inside for immigration. The check-in guy told me the hand item which is usually allowed in addition to the hand luggage is prohibited after the Heathrow episode. I had to put my Intel bag into my travel back pack to convince him and though it weighed 10 kilos after that, he din't mind. MK had to check in one hand bag (which was done for free) becaue he couldn't squeeze one in the other.
After bidding my parents adieu, we went in for immigration and security check. There were 2 loooooooooong queues. We were confused as to which one is ours. A lady in sleeveless looking at our blank faces offered to help and told u any queue is fine. We stood behind her. I needed to take out my passport so showed my sweater at KG and said, "konjam pudichchikonga..."
KG: (with a dirty smile on his face) yedha?
I looked at him, and then the girl ... Hmmm... this is going to be a looooooong journey!
Since KG entered the airport a bit late, we couldn't get consecutive seats. Only me and MK were together. And as luck would have it, it was the very last seat of the plane. Hmmm... this is going to be one looooong bumpy ride! On a brighter side, I got the window seat. I fell asleep immediately and missed the dinner which was served. KG, of course, hogged.
When I got up, the sun was at the horizon and man how bright the rays were from that altitude! MK and KG came around shortly. KG and MK swapped places. I chatted with KG over the breakfast which was good hot pongal. KG was now and then gaping at the german air hostess who, he said, looked like Monica Belouky. The descent at Frankfurt was cool with splendid views down... cities and towns are planned with human settlements separated by vast tracts of green pastures and woods - lands which would otherwise be converted into engineering colleges in India. We landed at Frankfurt at 1000 hrs local time. The climate was pleasant with gushes of cold wind every now and then.
The airport is huge and beautiful. We went to the gate where our Air Canada flight was waiting. After the security check, we boarded te plane. This time, KG and MK got seats next to each other while I was next to a window seat.
I picked up Canada's national daily "Globe and Mail" and was shocked to see the lead story "Four Tamil Students arrested in Ontario while smuggling weapons to LTTE"... Oh... thats a good start in a new country...
They showed Ice Age 2 and X Men on the flight. My neighbour was a middle aged stocky man in shorts. I learnt that Allen was a psychiatrist in Calgary (Oh yeah... soon MK or Suren or La Chappel will see this guy). He graduated from Cambridge and was born and brought up in Johanesburg. He told me about the conditions which arise out of lack of sunlight in winters in Canada. This syndrome, which results in depression, is cured by exposing the patients to a table lamp 20 mins a day! Allen asked me where am I headed for and said , "Ottawa"
Allen: Pardon?
Me: Ottawa.
He was silent for a while and then exclaimed "Oh! You mean 'Auto-wa' !" (the spelling has been altered to accomodate the pronounciation)
Oh... I must remember that one!
KG, meanwhile, was having his own share of fun. Now, our Ma Kanna was having problem cutting his cheese pizza, and guess who did it for him? A 81 year old patti sitting next to him!
We entered the Terminal 1 at Toronto and after a very long wait at the Immigration at Port of Entry, went out to identify our baggaes and re check them. We bought some calling cards and called back home. I My flight to Ottawa wa leaving in an hour and so I left immediately bidding KG and Mk good bye. Of course I remembered to collect the gift KG had for me- a book on science and philosophy... you know, the things we psychos usually discuss.
It was a window seat again for me and a chineese girl was siting next to it. I stood next to her and she looked at me and asked, "Do you want to go inside?"
Me : Yes.
And in a flash, she just crounched and jumped over and stood on her seat and said, "Hop in!"
Stupefied, I went into my seat. A punjabi guy came and sat next to her. He was about my age and was wearing a college t shirt. I had a feeling that he might also headed for Carleton but I didn't mind asking him. I burried my head into my book occasionally looking out of the window. The journey was short- Toronto and Ottawa are like Bangalore and Chennai.
At the Ottawa Terminal, I was welcomed by Mr Nihal- an associate of my uncle back in Chennai. He is a Sinhalee who is now settled in Ottawa. It seems he had served as secretary to Sri Lankan Finance Ministry long time back (good to have a diplomatic welcome into a country!). He drove me to the accomodation I had booked. The land lord of the town house, Mr Shahadat welcomed us in and inspected my room to be. Shahadat told me he is expecting another student to arrive shortly. Nevertheless the bell rang and I was surprised to find the same punjabi guy at my door step!!!
He was Harjot Singh, the guy I had met in orkut TWO MONTHS back and to whom I had passed on Shahadat's contact details on request. But I had no idea he had actually booked the same town house as mine. And I certainly had no idea that we would travel in the same flight, forget about being in the very next seat! We see each other in the flight, he gets a feeling that I'm Arvind but doesn't ask me because I'm busy reading a book, he is then received at the air port by his acquaintance and I, by mine and then we converge at the town house surprised to find each other... Look at the odds to that!
After we came over our funny little episode, Harjot left to return the next day with his stuff. I moved into the room immediately though. Mr. Nihal soon left after he was convinced I was in the right hands. Mr. Shahadat, is from Dhaka and a staff at the business school in Carleton. The town house is really good, neat, furnished and with a well equipped kitchen. There are 3 rooms on the first floor. Me and Harjot took one each. The last one will be taken by Gurpreet Singh who arrives on Sep 8th from Bangalore for PhD under Ram Achar. My room is relatively small but adequate. I was too tired and just slept off.
The jet lag persisted the next day. I got up pretty early and had sandwich breakfast. Harjot arrived in the afternoon and Shahadat took us to the University in his car and showed us around. I had an appointment with Ram Achar at 3 and he took us to the Graduate Office and got some formalities done prior to my registration. He took us to the CAD lab and showed us our offices and introduced us to the students there. After a briefing about our course work, we headed back home. Later in the evening we went to a couple of grocery stores nearby and Shahadat took us on a tour of the beautiful neighbourhood. People in Canada are very friendly, polite and accomodative. People stick to traffic rules, give way, and show a hell lot of courtesy to the pedestrians. All cultures have been accepted here with a very open heart and there is absolutely no racism or crime here- the Stranger in Black inside me finally smiled after 20 years!!! ;)
Shahadat is a really nice and help ful guy and has made us feel home in here right away. He lets u use his stuff and gave me a sweater to use.
Shahadat and Harjot cooked delicious Rajma and Rice for the dinner. Saturday went eventless and we spent the day mostly at home.
It rained today morning which made it really chill down here. Some 16 degrees. At 11, Ram Achar came over to our place and picked me and Harjot up for the Vinayaka Chathurthi function at his place. There was a small Indian community attending the function and we had great South Indian lunch. We were chatting with Ram Achar's freinds over it. They are from diferent domains, from banking to Ottawa Electricity Board, and were really nice to us and gave us some winter tips. Professor's wife packed us some Idlis and Bisi Bella Bath for home!
On my request, Shahadat drove us to the Temple near by. Its a very huge one like the Birla Temple in Hyderabad. Shahadat keeps recounting his experience as a new student in Ottawa and is always praise for the city, "This city is not so fast but is fast enough... no crime, no hassles. People are very welcoming. It is ideal to raise a family"
Half way around the globe, I can feel my mom's stomach turning!
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Conservatives Vs Conservatives
The scourge of Tamil Nadu
One lasting effect of the Second World War on politics of the countries all over the world was to divide political parties into 2 broad classes- conservatives and liberals. The fanatical nationalist movement in European countries especially in Germany created an set of ideals which advocated narrow minded patriotism. These ideals could be put to practice anywhere and could be translated to any culture and hence such groups emerged everywhere forming similar (and hence opposing ) factions. Through the war and the period of cold war that followed, this class was usually opposed to the socialist parties of the respective countries and hence were given the name "Right Wing", as opposed to "Left Wing" (The term "Left" itself does not have any communist basis, it just means "radical". Since the communist movement was some thing of a sea change compared to the existing capitalist hegemony).
Ever since, political groups have almost always identified themselves either as Right or Left at least by principle- Republicans and Democrats in US, Conservative and Labour (or now, Liberal Party) in UK, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats in Germany, Christian and Democrats of Italy, Republicans and Socialists of France and so on- and these groups confront each other in elections based on principles which can be more or less be categorized as "conservative" or "liberal".
India has had a strange history as far as this kind of grouping is concerned. The freedom struggle was led by the Congress Party which heavily borrowed from Marxist ideals especially under the leadership of Nehru and it worked with CPI in the national movement. Soon after Independence, however, as the Communist parties competed with Congress in elections, the nation moved a bit toward the 'right' and the economy was termed to be 'mixed'. And hence, Congress became the largest 'centre' party of the world. In the 70s, the Janata Party movement gained momentum and Hindutva Ideology as we know it today was born which advocated a Hindu nation. This emergence of extreme conservatives led Congress to move back toward 'left' and hence today it can better categorized as 'centre-left'. These neo conservatives in the form of the Sangh Parivar, with their involvement in scores of communal disturbances in the nation since independence and with their 'commercial' advertising of political agendas, have indeed have formed a sort of strong Right Wing in the country. We have redefined Right and Left in our own indegenious way- In India, consevatives are those who preach religion on the political arena and liberals are those who are secular. Regional parties in all states also have come to classify themselves on this basis and ally themselves with parties at centre with similar ideology.
All states but one. Try as much, I have not been able to find any basis of such classification in Tamil Nadu. There just doesn't seem to be any principle or characteristic, based on which one can distinguish between DMK and ADMK. Both parties carry out the same kind of political campaigning and propaganda which depends on arousing the feeling of regional and linguistic fanatism among people, both parties have a common history in the Dravidian movement and both parties, when in power, perform the duties of moral policing. Based on the Indian definition, hence, can we term both the factions as conservatives?
This puts us in a funny situation doesn't it? That these two parties actually have no real ground on which they can contest elections. The high rate of incumbency in the state ascertains this fact. Since there is no real ideology, people in the end have no real inclination toward any party and hence keep electing the opposition everytime hoping for some change. We have a perfect statistical paradise with mathematical precision in this state- every election is like throwing an unbiased coin. And perfect randomness in ensemble means each toss should give alternate results each time for a fairly long period. And it DOES happen here!!! One can easily postulate that if things remain the same for next thousand years, and that the elections results for those thousand years are plotted, they would very closely resemble the output of a pseudo random bit sequence generator they use in CDMA receivers!
It all started in 1912. Indologists discovered that the grammatical and phonetical structures of the languages north and south of the Vindhyas are strikingly different. This led to speculation that people of the south are a different race, Dravidian ("Dravida" = South in Sanskrit), which probably existed before Aryans arrived. The discovery of ruins of a magnificient urban civilization at Mohen-jo-daro gave rise to an even more controversial idea- that it was the Dravidians who started this civilization and that the invading Aryans burnt their houses down and drove them south. Early indologists, Max Muller being the prominent, termed this phenomenon as Aryan Invasion Theory. These ideas inspired the contemporary intelligensia of Tamil Nadu and filled them with pride about their own legacy. The flip side- it divided people.
Periyar started the Dravidian movement with legitimate interests of putting the superstitions and caste based attrocities prevailing in the society to an end. His struggle was indispensable in removing the Brahmin tyranny and creating equal oppurtunities for all in the state. But the very rationalism he advocated was infested with the highly irrational idea that 2 different races existed in the country, that the Brahmins in the state were unwelcome Aryan immigrants and hence should be expelled and that the North Indians were 'barbaric' Aryans who displaced 'civilized' Dravidians. What was supposed to be a completely academic debate was fought on the political arena. While his strive to reform the Tamil alphabet, and get it declared as classical language is commendable, his opposition to teaching of Hindi in schools was unwarranted. In a country like India divided by languages and cultures, the concept of national language is the only thing which can bind it as a nation. The other southern states were relatively untouched by these movements and have assimilated Hindi very well over the time. Periyar's claim for a separate 'Dravida Nadu' and his boycott of Hindi, which was carried on by his followers, has created a vast cultural gap between the state and the rest of the country which exists even today.
Mitochondrial-DNA analysis has today proven beyond doubt that the darkest south indian is no more closely related to his nearest African ancestor than his fairest counterpart. There is no separete race in this country. The dark complexion issue which is usually quoted is but a mere adaptation to life closer to the equator. This should have been obvious even during Periyar's time, even without DNA studies- 5000 years of coexistence cannot leave a trace of separate races in any country. Intermixing is a very rational process. Infact, South Indians have historically been the best preservers of Vedic Traditions while the North had been under the influence of Buddhism and Islam. His conservative campaign created a vast number of people ignorant of the national language and intolerant of other cultures and languages. It created regional fanatics.
DMK which formed on the ruins of Periyars movement took the Dravidian cause further and eventually became popular on the basis of a lie- probably a democratic version of Hitlers Aryan propaganda. After ADMK split from DMK, they ended up as the only dominant parties of the state. Having nothing to say against each other in principle, they swapped alliances and used nothing but populist measures to oust each other. What else can explain the Left and Right wingers at the centre switching loyalties between the two parties almost EVERY single election for about a decade? There seems to be only politics of convenience in TN, no politics of ideology.
When a northie hears the word 'chennai' he hears it as 'culture'. But it also brings to his mind the intolerance of people here. Winston Churchill said, "Even conservatives have to change with times if they want to remain relevant". This mess, though created by fanatic politics, can only be cleaned by a new generation of liberal rationals. Its time to open up.
One lasting effect of the Second World War on politics of the countries all over the world was to divide political parties into 2 broad classes- conservatives and liberals. The fanatical nationalist movement in European countries especially in Germany created an set of ideals which advocated narrow minded patriotism. These ideals could be put to practice anywhere and could be translated to any culture and hence such groups emerged everywhere forming similar (and hence opposing ) factions. Through the war and the period of cold war that followed, this class was usually opposed to the socialist parties of the respective countries and hence were given the name "Right Wing", as opposed to "Left Wing" (The term "Left" itself does not have any communist basis, it just means "radical". Since the communist movement was some thing of a sea change compared to the existing capitalist hegemony).
Ever since, political groups have almost always identified themselves either as Right or Left at least by principle- Republicans and Democrats in US, Conservative and Labour (or now, Liberal Party) in UK, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats in Germany, Christian and Democrats of Italy, Republicans and Socialists of France and so on- and these groups confront each other in elections based on principles which can be more or less be categorized as "conservative" or "liberal".
India has had a strange history as far as this kind of grouping is concerned. The freedom struggle was led by the Congress Party which heavily borrowed from Marxist ideals especially under the leadership of Nehru and it worked with CPI in the national movement. Soon after Independence, however, as the Communist parties competed with Congress in elections, the nation moved a bit toward the 'right' and the economy was termed to be 'mixed'. And hence, Congress became the largest 'centre' party of the world. In the 70s, the Janata Party movement gained momentum and Hindutva Ideology as we know it today was born which advocated a Hindu nation. This emergence of extreme conservatives led Congress to move back toward 'left' and hence today it can better categorized as 'centre-left'. These neo conservatives in the form of the Sangh Parivar, with their involvement in scores of communal disturbances in the nation since independence and with their 'commercial' advertising of political agendas, have indeed have formed a sort of strong Right Wing in the country. We have redefined Right and Left in our own indegenious way- In India, consevatives are those who preach religion on the political arena and liberals are those who are secular. Regional parties in all states also have come to classify themselves on this basis and ally themselves with parties at centre with similar ideology.
All states but one. Try as much, I have not been able to find any basis of such classification in Tamil Nadu. There just doesn't seem to be any principle or characteristic, based on which one can distinguish between DMK and ADMK. Both parties carry out the same kind of political campaigning and propaganda which depends on arousing the feeling of regional and linguistic fanatism among people, both parties have a common history in the Dravidian movement and both parties, when in power, perform the duties of moral policing. Based on the Indian definition, hence, can we term both the factions as conservatives?
This puts us in a funny situation doesn't it? That these two parties actually have no real ground on which they can contest elections. The high rate of incumbency in the state ascertains this fact. Since there is no real ideology, people in the end have no real inclination toward any party and hence keep electing the opposition everytime hoping for some change. We have a perfect statistical paradise with mathematical precision in this state- every election is like throwing an unbiased coin. And perfect randomness in ensemble means each toss should give alternate results each time for a fairly long period. And it DOES happen here!!! One can easily postulate that if things remain the same for next thousand years, and that the elections results for those thousand years are plotted, they would very closely resemble the output of a pseudo random bit sequence generator they use in CDMA receivers!
It all started in 1912. Indologists discovered that the grammatical and phonetical structures of the languages north and south of the Vindhyas are strikingly different. This led to speculation that people of the south are a different race, Dravidian ("Dravida" = South in Sanskrit), which probably existed before Aryans arrived. The discovery of ruins of a magnificient urban civilization at Mohen-jo-daro gave rise to an even more controversial idea- that it was the Dravidians who started this civilization and that the invading Aryans burnt their houses down and drove them south. Early indologists, Max Muller being the prominent, termed this phenomenon as Aryan Invasion Theory. These ideas inspired the contemporary intelligensia of Tamil Nadu and filled them with pride about their own legacy. The flip side- it divided people.
Periyar started the Dravidian movement with legitimate interests of putting the superstitions and caste based attrocities prevailing in the society to an end. His struggle was indispensable in removing the Brahmin tyranny and creating equal oppurtunities for all in the state. But the very rationalism he advocated was infested with the highly irrational idea that 2 different races existed in the country, that the Brahmins in the state were unwelcome Aryan immigrants and hence should be expelled and that the North Indians were 'barbaric' Aryans who displaced 'civilized' Dravidians. What was supposed to be a completely academic debate was fought on the political arena. While his strive to reform the Tamil alphabet, and get it declared as classical language is commendable, his opposition to teaching of Hindi in schools was unwarranted. In a country like India divided by languages and cultures, the concept of national language is the only thing which can bind it as a nation. The other southern states were relatively untouched by these movements and have assimilated Hindi very well over the time. Periyar's claim for a separate 'Dravida Nadu' and his boycott of Hindi, which was carried on by his followers, has created a vast cultural gap between the state and the rest of the country which exists even today.
Mitochondrial-DNA analysis has today proven beyond doubt that the darkest south indian is no more closely related to his nearest African ancestor than his fairest counterpart. There is no separete race in this country. The dark complexion issue which is usually quoted is but a mere adaptation to life closer to the equator. This should have been obvious even during Periyar's time, even without DNA studies- 5000 years of coexistence cannot leave a trace of separate races in any country. Intermixing is a very rational process. Infact, South Indians have historically been the best preservers of Vedic Traditions while the North had been under the influence of Buddhism and Islam. His conservative campaign created a vast number of people ignorant of the national language and intolerant of other cultures and languages. It created regional fanatics.
DMK which formed on the ruins of Periyars movement took the Dravidian cause further and eventually became popular on the basis of a lie- probably a democratic version of Hitlers Aryan propaganda. After ADMK split from DMK, they ended up as the only dominant parties of the state. Having nothing to say against each other in principle, they swapped alliances and used nothing but populist measures to oust each other. What else can explain the Left and Right wingers at the centre switching loyalties between the two parties almost EVERY single election for about a decade? There seems to be only politics of convenience in TN, no politics of ideology.
When a northie hears the word 'chennai' he hears it as 'culture'. But it also brings to his mind the intolerance of people here. Winston Churchill said, "Even conservatives have to change with times if they want to remain relevant". This mess, though created by fanatic politics, can only be cleaned by a new generation of liberal rationals. Its time to open up.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Stranger In Black
This post was intended to be my very first when I started blogging, but I guess ideas don't come to us by will. One must learn to identify and grab them as and when they sporadically get ignited in our minds... probably that's the difference between great writers and us.
I had been to Shanka's place for lunch few weeks back. I had to get some passport sized photos done urgently and so gave the negative for print in a digital photoshop near his place and collected the photos while leaving for home.
Me and Shanka went on Seeku's scooter, me driving. While returning home, I stopped at a T-Section leading to his street looking at the signal going red.
Shanka: Dei... yenda niruththune?
Me: signal da...
Shanka: Dei!!!! enna da... ithukkellaam poi niruththure... naa intha signallai eppovome mathichchadhilliye da...
Me: machaan... athukku naanum niruththaama ponuma da?
Shanka: Dei!!! (getting restless over the wait) enna da nee...
...
I remember watching this movie 'Anniyan' about this time last year with some friends at Egmore ( I don't recall who exactly, but I remember Priya and Marun coming with me ). I've always admired Shankar ( don't get any wrong ideas people... I mean the director here... not shanka ) for packaging movies dealing with sensitive social issues, with glitz and glamour making it reachable to a wide Indian audience. This technique of his, which he has mastered over the years of his stay in the Film Industry, makes his movies more acceptable than those of Mani Ratnam's in the B and C centers. Of course, he alternates his masterpieces with boring, often-nauseating ventures, which has only glitz sans any worthwhile storyline or concept ('Kaadhalan', 'Jeans'... yuck!).
So... why am I writing this piece on Anniyan one whole year after its releasing?... No, this is not a movie review as such. This post deals more with what the movie actually represented and how stark the contrast is the ground reality in India, which is kind of a summing up of my observations of people around me over the past one year set against this movie's underlying theory.
Like all other Shankar movies showcasing problems of the country, this one targets a particular group of our society. Only that this time the group is very very large... 'Indian' showed us how administrators ought to be, 'Muthalvan' showed us how legislature ought to be. 'Anniyan' showed us how common people ought be. Like most of the previous ventures ('Gentleman', 'Indian'...), the solution he offers in this movie too is impractical, unethical and illegal.
The protagonist, Ambi, is a good man amidst filth. He represents that one honest person for every thousand 'normal' people of India. Unhappy incidents during childhood, an outcome of a chain reaction of negligence on the part of a wide range of people belonging to all the strata of the society, bring about his sister's premature death and that instills in him zeal to pursue his responsibilities as a citizen with utmost devotion. This obsession-like adherence to rules shapes him into a honest barrister.
Nevertheless, the complacency and selfishness prevalent in our society injures his mindset and the wounds slowly shape into another personality living inside the same body. This new face is not as merciful as Ambi who believes that even legal action must not contain corporeal punishment. Rather, 'Anniyan' proclaims himself to be the Judgment Maker of the souls and invokes the castigations of Hell, as recorded by Garuda Purana of the Vaishnavite school of thought. Hints of inspiration from the Morgan Freeman starrer 'Seven' are visible here. That thriller was a gory narration of an catholic fanatic who executes people for committing the seven deadly sins proscribed by the Bible. Anniyan is more of a national consciousness affair than any religious propaganda, where the significance of adherence to rules for national development is highlighted. The movie has scenes adopted from many other Hollywood movies and books, as it is usually the case with Shankar. But the Indianization of the episodes is impeccable and that's where Shankar shines. And at the end of the day you need to give it to him- accusing people AND IN THE PROCESS getting their acclaim is no small deal. The movie was a blockbuster.
But are the very people who made it a success actually moved by it, leave alone inspired? The movie cries out the fundamental truth of our society, which we have long taken for granted- we have become experts in accusing the system for all our woes and have forgotten to look into our mistakes. We have been committing mistakes and breaking laws for so many generations that today, we do it involuntarily without any sense of guilt. It is in our genes now.
Last monday, when we were waiting the long wait for IDP at the RTO in mount, Moksham asked me, "What do you think da, The government of Independent India could have done better these 50 years?"
Me: I guess theres something wrong on both sides. We have lost our right to blame them. We expect a lot of things from them but never respect the laws they make.
Sham: But our laws don't make sense
Me: Like?... take for example traffic regulations... how many times do you think you ve stopped before the Stop Line? and how many times have you waited for the waiting countdown to actually go to zero and the appearing of the green signal before starting your vehicle? Don't tell me Traffic rules don't make sense, its almost the same followed in every country
Sham: Well, I see no one watching over us there. Yes, if the maama (policeman) is present I mind the line...
Me: So there it is... you have no regard for the rules as such, you think you have a license to break rules wherever the enforcement is weak.
And isn't it so? Our sense of duty, wherever it is seen, is a mere offspring of the fear of stringent enforcement rather than any actual moral responsibility toward the system of things. The same people would follow the traffic rules with obedience if they were in the US. We follow rules not because our conscience tells us to, but because there are grave consequences of not doing the same. And since most of the petty rule breaking in India goes scot-free, our sense of right and wrong goes for a trip to the moon.
Forerunners of civilization predicted this complacency and thus forged Garuda Puraana like philosophies in every culture and religion known to man to instill in people, fear of breaking rules, which can easily go unnoticed. It is this notion- that there is a place called Hell where every instance of crossing the line is being accounted for and that justice will prevail eventually immaterial of how small or big the crime is- which maintains order and sanity and keeps the fabric of the society from disintegrating.
The Tambaram Sanatorium railway gate is notorious for opening for only short intervals with long waiting times in between. And pedestrians and two-wheeler riders alike have been using this as a reason for walking under the gate whenever it is closed for ages. Since it was built about a year ago, I have been probably the only regular user of the Sanatorium Subway(barring the fruit vendors who use it as godown). Most people prefer jumping over the tractions than taking the pain of walking down the subway. About six months back, after some accidents being reported along the railway crossing, red coloured chains were hung beneath the gate to prevent people from crossing over underneath it. With in a few weeks, the chains were broken down by the people beyond recognition and the authorities gave up. What difference does those few extra seconds of walking down the subway or few extra minutes of waiting for the gate to open make when compared to risking life? Somewhere, sometime, somebody gets killed while crossing and that will cause people to become 'extra' careful for a few days and then everything comes back to 'normal' till some one else gets killed again. Sometimes it pains me to ask myself how many deaths are needed to teach the people the simple procedure of using a manned railway crossing?
The above account of a railway crossing was but just one of the zillions of instances of complacency on our part. It still amazes me how trivial it seems for most to cross the gate or for that matter disregard a traffic signal while these things can make or break life. Immaterial of how well the nation scales in IT enabled services and semiconductors, without the basic etiquettes of existence 2020 is just a utopian dream.
Anniyan is not Tamil Cinema's all time greatest movie. It may not even be Shankar's best. Yet, it was a brave statement. It mirrored our society and cried out our inefficacies. It told us that there is an Ambi in every one of us whom we have forgotten. It also told us that there is an Anniyan out there who hasn't forgotten our mistakes.
I had been to Shanka's place for lunch few weeks back. I had to get some passport sized photos done urgently and so gave the negative for print in a digital photoshop near his place and collected the photos while leaving for home.
Me and Shanka went on Seeku's scooter, me driving. While returning home, I stopped at a T-Section leading to his street looking at the signal going red.
Shanka: Dei... yenda niruththune?
Me: signal da...
Shanka: Dei!!!! enna da... ithukkellaam poi niruththure... naa intha signallai eppovome mathichchadhilliye da...
Me: machaan... athukku naanum niruththaama ponuma da?
Shanka: Dei!!! (getting restless over the wait) enna da nee...
...
I remember watching this movie 'Anniyan' about this time last year with some friends at Egmore ( I don't recall who exactly, but I remember Priya and Marun coming with me ). I've always admired Shankar ( don't get any wrong ideas people... I mean the director here... not shanka ) for packaging movies dealing with sensitive social issues, with glitz and glamour making it reachable to a wide Indian audience. This technique of his, which he has mastered over the years of his stay in the Film Industry, makes his movies more acceptable than those of Mani Ratnam's in the B and C centers. Of course, he alternates his masterpieces with boring, often-nauseating ventures, which has only glitz sans any worthwhile storyline or concept ('Kaadhalan', 'Jeans'... yuck!).
So... why am I writing this piece on Anniyan one whole year after its releasing?... No, this is not a movie review as such. This post deals more with what the movie actually represented and how stark the contrast is the ground reality in India, which is kind of a summing up of my observations of people around me over the past one year set against this movie's underlying theory.
Like all other Shankar movies showcasing problems of the country, this one targets a particular group of our society. Only that this time the group is very very large... 'Indian' showed us how administrators ought to be, 'Muthalvan' showed us how legislature ought to be. 'Anniyan' showed us how common people ought be. Like most of the previous ventures ('Gentleman', 'Indian'...), the solution he offers in this movie too is impractical, unethical and illegal.
The protagonist, Ambi, is a good man amidst filth. He represents that one honest person for every thousand 'normal' people of India. Unhappy incidents during childhood, an outcome of a chain reaction of negligence on the part of a wide range of people belonging to all the strata of the society, bring about his sister's premature death and that instills in him zeal to pursue his responsibilities as a citizen with utmost devotion. This obsession-like adherence to rules shapes him into a honest barrister.
Nevertheless, the complacency and selfishness prevalent in our society injures his mindset and the wounds slowly shape into another personality living inside the same body. This new face is not as merciful as Ambi who believes that even legal action must not contain corporeal punishment. Rather, 'Anniyan' proclaims himself to be the Judgment Maker of the souls and invokes the castigations of Hell, as recorded by Garuda Purana of the Vaishnavite school of thought. Hints of inspiration from the Morgan Freeman starrer 'Seven' are visible here. That thriller was a gory narration of an catholic fanatic who executes people for committing the seven deadly sins proscribed by the Bible. Anniyan is more of a national consciousness affair than any religious propaganda, where the significance of adherence to rules for national development is highlighted. The movie has scenes adopted from many other Hollywood movies and books, as it is usually the case with Shankar. But the Indianization of the episodes is impeccable and that's where Shankar shines. And at the end of the day you need to give it to him- accusing people AND IN THE PROCESS getting their acclaim is no small deal. The movie was a blockbuster.
But are the very people who made it a success actually moved by it, leave alone inspired? The movie cries out the fundamental truth of our society, which we have long taken for granted- we have become experts in accusing the system for all our woes and have forgotten to look into our mistakes. We have been committing mistakes and breaking laws for so many generations that today, we do it involuntarily without any sense of guilt. It is in our genes now.
Last monday, when we were waiting the long wait for IDP at the RTO in mount, Moksham asked me, "What do you think da, The government of Independent India could have done better these 50 years?"
Me: I guess theres something wrong on both sides. We have lost our right to blame them. We expect a lot of things from them but never respect the laws they make.
Sham: But our laws don't make sense
Me: Like?... take for example traffic regulations... how many times do you think you ve stopped before the Stop Line? and how many times have you waited for the waiting countdown to actually go to zero and the appearing of the green signal before starting your vehicle? Don't tell me Traffic rules don't make sense, its almost the same followed in every country
Sham: Well, I see no one watching over us there. Yes, if the maama (policeman) is present I mind the line...
Me: So there it is... you have no regard for the rules as such, you think you have a license to break rules wherever the enforcement is weak.
And isn't it so? Our sense of duty, wherever it is seen, is a mere offspring of the fear of stringent enforcement rather than any actual moral responsibility toward the system of things. The same people would follow the traffic rules with obedience if they were in the US. We follow rules not because our conscience tells us to, but because there are grave consequences of not doing the same. And since most of the petty rule breaking in India goes scot-free, our sense of right and wrong goes for a trip to the moon.
Forerunners of civilization predicted this complacency and thus forged Garuda Puraana like philosophies in every culture and religion known to man to instill in people, fear of breaking rules, which can easily go unnoticed. It is this notion- that there is a place called Hell where every instance of crossing the line is being accounted for and that justice will prevail eventually immaterial of how small or big the crime is- which maintains order and sanity and keeps the fabric of the society from disintegrating.
The Tambaram Sanatorium railway gate is notorious for opening for only short intervals with long waiting times in between. And pedestrians and two-wheeler riders alike have been using this as a reason for walking under the gate whenever it is closed for ages. Since it was built about a year ago, I have been probably the only regular user of the Sanatorium Subway(barring the fruit vendors who use it as godown). Most people prefer jumping over the tractions than taking the pain of walking down the subway. About six months back, after some accidents being reported along the railway crossing, red coloured chains were hung beneath the gate to prevent people from crossing over underneath it. With in a few weeks, the chains were broken down by the people beyond recognition and the authorities gave up. What difference does those few extra seconds of walking down the subway or few extra minutes of waiting for the gate to open make when compared to risking life? Somewhere, sometime, somebody gets killed while crossing and that will cause people to become 'extra' careful for a few days and then everything comes back to 'normal' till some one else gets killed again. Sometimes it pains me to ask myself how many deaths are needed to teach the people the simple procedure of using a manned railway crossing?
The above account of a railway crossing was but just one of the zillions of instances of complacency on our part. It still amazes me how trivial it seems for most to cross the gate or for that matter disregard a traffic signal while these things can make or break life. Immaterial of how well the nation scales in IT enabled services and semiconductors, without the basic etiquettes of existence 2020 is just a utopian dream.
Anniyan is not Tamil Cinema's all time greatest movie. It may not even be Shankar's best. Yet, it was a brave statement. It mirrored our society and cried out our inefficacies. It told us that there is an Ambi in every one of us whom we have forgotten. It also told us that there is an Anniyan out there who hasn't forgotten our mistakes.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Sorcerers or ‘Soccer’ers?
This post kind of summarizes the events of this World Cup. Wait!!! No, this has absolutely NOTHING to do with football. Actually I must make it clear here that I'm pretty much a zero in football (Yes, we used to play it with great zeal in school, but I never cared to watch it on TV). Infact, the last match I watched before this World Cup was the finals of the 2002 WC. I didn't know that a man named Ronaldo existed before that.
Rather, this post relives the legend of how this WC turned few ordinary men into wizzards... how few mortals (read my classmates) discovered the power of divination within them... the power to tell the future! This post attempts to recount the innumerable predictions made by the guys of ECE, 2006 batch... And how NONE of them actually came true!
Sorcercer #1
Now what is a better media than blogging to tell the world your predictions. It all started with Asif's "Everybody is talking about the World Cup" ( http://asiftherock.blogspot.com/ ). And talking they did. Though Asif refrained from making any explicit prediction of the results in his post and was mostly discussing the strengths and weaknesses of various teams, he did hint a support for the world wide 'Brazil will Win' syndrome. He dismissed France in "Why don't they change formations" as having poor strategy and that very team with the same strategy made it to the final!
Sorcercer #2
Then comes, of course, our very own, 'The Dark Lord' alias 'Sirius Black' alias 'Siriusly Silver' alias Dijango Maama. This 'Disgruntled English Fan' ( http://siriuslysilver.blogspot.com/ ) constitutes those in this country who still loyally serve our old colonial masters. His devotion and deep 'love' for ManU players can be no less exemplified than Asif's post on this nerd ( http://asiftherock.blogspot.com/2006/01/so-today-lets-look-at-my-buddy-ilango.html ) hehe! None of the teams in his "Order of Favorites" crossed the quaterfinals, and the "Woeful French...Again" AGAIN came close to claiming the honours. His "Go Three Lions!" soon became "Unconvincing Three Lions". Poor chap had a pathetic World Cup this time around. And as it always happens, his passions are often met with hostility by my classmates. Everyone hated England to begin with ( "They are overrated"- Asif ). I sometimes have a feeling people hate England just because Kilango likes it. Its this obsession with which he worships the sportspersons he likes that puts off most people. Everyone was celebrating the day England was out of the WC campaign. And Jango din't come online for a few days... I was worried if Jango, under a fit of passion, did the unthinkable! No one was complaining though, when I expressed this concern to my friends...
Me: "Dei, its been 3 days since I saw him online... you reckon he committed a suicide or something?"
Everyone else: "We hope he does that!"
Poor Jango almost always ends up as a "Black" Sheep. Then finally he was back with the post "Henry is No Saint!" which was but a mere offspring of his frustation and agitation at the world cup results.
Sorcercer #3
Next in the list of sorcerers is the Eternally-Fickle-Minded-Jerk, Kalyanaraaman. Now Kalyan is not exactly a blogger, but then he doesn't need a blog to let the world know what he thinks... His big loud mouth, which goes an extra mile in ranting, does it for him. During ABK's treat in Hot Chips, he proclaimed, "Dei, Brazil thokkanumna Ronaldovukku bedhi varanum, Ronaldinovukku vaanthi varanum, Adrianovukku jaundice varanum" (For Brazil to loose, Ranaldo must suffer from Diahorrea, Ronaldino from Nausea and Adriano from Jaundice)... apparam?... Kakavukku Kakavalippu varanuma?. Hmmm... I'm sure that after they went back to Brazil after the defeat in the Quaterfinals, the whole team WOULD have infact got Diahorrea watching the videos of their own games.
Sorcercer #4
A step toward sensibility was VAC. His "Heart says England... Mind says Brazil" ( http://thayir-sadham.blogspot.com/ ) gave away his "Go England Go!" mind set while acknowledging the power of the former World Champions. Unfortunately, neither his heart nor his mind gave him company beyond the quaterfinal! Later he acknowledged England's pathetic state in the post mortem "God Din't Save the Queen, Murray Did".
Sorcercer #5
One afternoon in the Lab...
Me: "Don't you think tonight's quaterfinal between Argentina and Germany will be pretty close... I mean both of them are playing great"
Kiran: "Dei, isn't it obvious? Argentina will win da"
And not so obviously, the hosts partied home that night. End of the road for the South Americans.
I must mention here that a respite from all these prophecies came in the form of Vivek's light hearted post "Football, England and a Bet" ( http://viveksniche.blogspot.com/ ) which narrates a funny account of how his ignorance of the game almost lost him a bet to his brother.
What I have understood, from my watching these WC matches, is that soccer is pretty much a random game with almost always, the stakes being 50-50 or something close to that. You can almost everytime draw straws between the teams. With no natural elements aiding or frustating the players (like pitch and weather in cricket), and the very tempo of the game being quite high, the game is left to the mercy of a chance rush of adernaline and a very rare display of genius even among the very great geniuses. And since the game has incurred a very defensive mindset over the years (unlike the flamboyance with which it was played in the 80s and 70s), most of the games this WC ended at 1-0s or 1-1s at full time which demand penalty shoot outs which, in turn, only increase the randomness.
And now... the greatest Sorcerer of all!
And then the night of the Finals came. Everyone was chanting "France, France, France.."... Orkut profiles, messenger statuses... almost everything on the internet was flooded with messages predicting a definite French Cup. Being online before a match is a tough time, especially if its the Finals. People just don't stop asking "Hey who do you think will win da?". I was wise enough by now not to make any statement. But my brother (who was as pathetic as me in football before this WC ) was relentless and kept messaging me asking whom am I supporting. Tired of his pestering, I uttered my ONLY prediction for World Cup 2006 Germany...
" I DONT know who will win... but I think there will be atleast one moment of great passion on ground and atleast one interesting Red Card"
... they say Lord Saneeswarar resides in my tongue. An what a red card it was! That raised hand of the refree pushed an illustrious career into oblivion. A rare moment in the history of football when you get to see a street fight during a match! Zidane fans, please don't be mad at me. Human actions are supposedly controlled by Lord Indra, not Saneeswarar!
And by the way, the French lost the match to Italians, and yes, again a penalty shoot out decided the result.
Now tell me folks... who will make a better Nostradamus... me or the self-proclaimed soccer-sorcerers of my class?
PS: Even Nostradamus got it all wrong! He predicted a Spanish win: "In the sixth year the Spaniards will bring the Holy Grail from the battle fields of Central Europe".
Rather, this post relives the legend of how this WC turned few ordinary men into wizzards... how few mortals (read my classmates) discovered the power of divination within them... the power to tell the future! This post attempts to recount the innumerable predictions made by the guys of ECE, 2006 batch... And how NONE of them actually came true!
Sorcercer #1
Now what is a better media than blogging to tell the world your predictions. It all started with Asif's "Everybody is talking about the World Cup" ( http://asiftherock.blogspot.com/ ). And talking they did. Though Asif refrained from making any explicit prediction of the results in his post and was mostly discussing the strengths and weaknesses of various teams, he did hint a support for the world wide 'Brazil will Win' syndrome. He dismissed France in "Why don't they change formations" as having poor strategy and that very team with the same strategy made it to the final!
Sorcercer #2
Then comes, of course, our very own, 'The Dark Lord' alias 'Sirius Black' alias 'Siriusly Silver' alias Dijango Maama. This 'Disgruntled English Fan' ( http://siriuslysilver.blogspot.com/ ) constitutes those in this country who still loyally serve our old colonial masters. His devotion and deep 'love' for ManU players can be no less exemplified than Asif's post on this nerd ( http://asiftherock.blogspot.com/2006/01/so-today-lets-look-at-my-buddy-ilango.html ) hehe! None of the teams in his "Order of Favorites" crossed the quaterfinals, and the "Woeful French...Again" AGAIN came close to claiming the honours. His "Go Three Lions!" soon became "Unconvincing Three Lions". Poor chap had a pathetic World Cup this time around. And as it always happens, his passions are often met with hostility by my classmates. Everyone hated England to begin with ( "They are overrated"- Asif ). I sometimes have a feeling people hate England just because Kilango likes it. Its this obsession with which he worships the sportspersons he likes that puts off most people. Everyone was celebrating the day England was out of the WC campaign. And Jango din't come online for a few days... I was worried if Jango, under a fit of passion, did the unthinkable! No one was complaining though, when I expressed this concern to my friends...
Me: "Dei, its been 3 days since I saw him online... you reckon he committed a suicide or something?"
Everyone else: "We hope he does that!"
Poor Jango almost always ends up as a "Black" Sheep. Then finally he was back with the post "Henry is No Saint!" which was but a mere offspring of his frustation and agitation at the world cup results.
Sorcercer #3
Next in the list of sorcerers is the Eternally-Fickle-Minded-Jerk, Kalyanaraaman. Now Kalyan is not exactly a blogger, but then he doesn't need a blog to let the world know what he thinks... His big loud mouth, which goes an extra mile in ranting, does it for him. During ABK's treat in Hot Chips, he proclaimed, "Dei, Brazil thokkanumna Ronaldovukku bedhi varanum, Ronaldinovukku vaanthi varanum, Adrianovukku jaundice varanum" (For Brazil to loose, Ranaldo must suffer from Diahorrea, Ronaldino from Nausea and Adriano from Jaundice)... apparam?... Kakavukku Kakavalippu varanuma?. Hmmm... I'm sure that after they went back to Brazil after the defeat in the Quaterfinals, the whole team WOULD have infact got Diahorrea watching the videos of their own games.
Sorcercer #4
A step toward sensibility was VAC. His "Heart says England... Mind says Brazil" ( http://thayir-sadham.blogspot.com/ ) gave away his "Go England Go!" mind set while acknowledging the power of the former World Champions. Unfortunately, neither his heart nor his mind gave him company beyond the quaterfinal! Later he acknowledged England's pathetic state in the post mortem "God Din't Save the Queen, Murray Did".
Sorcercer #5
One afternoon in the Lab...
Me: "Don't you think tonight's quaterfinal between Argentina and Germany will be pretty close... I mean both of them are playing great"
Kiran: "Dei, isn't it obvious? Argentina will win da"
And not so obviously, the hosts partied home that night. End of the road for the South Americans.
I must mention here that a respite from all these prophecies came in the form of Vivek's light hearted post "Football, England and a Bet" ( http://viveksniche.blogspot.com/ ) which narrates a funny account of how his ignorance of the game almost lost him a bet to his brother.
What I have understood, from my watching these WC matches, is that soccer is pretty much a random game with almost always, the stakes being 50-50 or something close to that. You can almost everytime draw straws between the teams. With no natural elements aiding or frustating the players (like pitch and weather in cricket), and the very tempo of the game being quite high, the game is left to the mercy of a chance rush of adernaline and a very rare display of genius even among the very great geniuses. And since the game has incurred a very defensive mindset over the years (unlike the flamboyance with which it was played in the 80s and 70s), most of the games this WC ended at 1-0s or 1-1s at full time which demand penalty shoot outs which, in turn, only increase the randomness.
And now... the greatest Sorcerer of all!
And then the night of the Finals came. Everyone was chanting "France, France, France.."... Orkut profiles, messenger statuses... almost everything on the internet was flooded with messages predicting a definite French Cup. Being online before a match is a tough time, especially if its the Finals. People just don't stop asking "Hey who do you think will win da?". I was wise enough by now not to make any statement. But my brother (who was as pathetic as me in football before this WC ) was relentless and kept messaging me asking whom am I supporting. Tired of his pestering, I uttered my ONLY prediction for World Cup 2006 Germany...
" I DONT know who will win... but I think there will be atleast one moment of great passion on ground and atleast one interesting Red Card"
... they say Lord Saneeswarar resides in my tongue. An what a red card it was! That raised hand of the refree pushed an illustrious career into oblivion. A rare moment in the history of football when you get to see a street fight during a match! Zidane fans, please don't be mad at me. Human actions are supposedly controlled by Lord Indra, not Saneeswarar!
And by the way, the French lost the match to Italians, and yes, again a penalty shoot out decided the result.
Now tell me folks... who will make a better Nostradamus... me or the self-proclaimed soccer-sorcerers of my class?
PS: Even Nostradamus got it all wrong! He predicted a Spanish win: "In the sixth year the Spaniards will bring the Holy Grail from the battle fields of Central Europe".
Saturday, July 15, 2006
The Land of Divine Nectar
The Great Kodai Trip, Day 4: Mystic Madurai
Day 4: Tuesday, 23rd May, 7:30 AM, Jilu's House
I opened my eyes to the bright madurai morning. that sleep did good to me. there was no more turning of the stomach or any uneasiness. infact i was hungry. i went into the large front room to find everyone fast asleep. they were obviously partying late into the night.
jilu's mom was happy to see me walking around and speaking more than a sentence! she made me a hot cup of tea after which i went about my routine. i called up home and informed mom about my condition the previous night. she asked me to replenish water and salts at regular intervals as a safety precaution. slowly everyone starting coming around. a plan was made- to visit the Meenaxi temple and then ma kannan's place. we needed to move out as early as 10 o clock to keep schedule.
we took a bus to the Periyar stop near the temple after which it was a 10 mins walk in the hot sun. we were all terribly thirsty by the time we entered the south western corner of the quadrangle surrounding the temple. we relished cool fruit juices at a stall near by.
this is the view encompassing both the south and the west tower.
Madurai, Meenaxi and Tamil
the history of madurai is as old as tamil itself. it was the seat of power of the Pandyas, one of the 3 dynasties which ruled the south from the prehistoric times to the late medieval. they were confined to the southern half of modern tamil nadu for most of the time in history. after about 3 centuries of exile (1000 to 1200 AD) in srilanka, when they were driven out by the rising Chola empire under Raja Raja Chola, they found a new resurgence under Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan and reached their peak in the 13th century when they ruled from the banks of Godavari in the north to central Ceylon in the south. after that, Delhi sultanate, Madurai Nawabs and then the English East India Company came in succession.
legend has it that king kulasekaran, one of the most ancient rulers of the pandiyan dynasty, buit the grand meenaxi temple and a lotus shaped city around it. lord shiva danced on its creation and divine nectar flowed from his locks and poured on the city. thus the name "madhurapuri" which means the Land of Divine Nectar. some times, it is also referred to as 'Then' (south) Madurai, the 'Vada' (north) Madurai being Mathura.Tamil literature found its salvation in the city as recorded by the Sangam history.
Darshanam
I bought some archanai materials before entering the south tower. we were greeted by a spectacular model of the whole temple jus few yards into the entrance.
the temple has 12 gopurams in all- 4 entrances, the 2 golden shrines of meenaxi and sundareshwar, 4 internal gopurams surrounding Shiva's shrine and 2 surrounding meenaxi's. the entrance towers have a whopping 1124 figures engraved into each of them!
the huge man-made lake near the southern tower has a huge golden lotus in the middle. visitors are supposed to wash their legs here before they proceed.
we soon reached the shrine of the main deity and stood behind a long "special" darshan queue. thankfully it moved rather fast. sham, either 'sick of crowd' or being male chauvnist (he he...) prefered to stay out of the shrine and went on to explore the rest of the temple, vivek gave him company. i performed the archanai rites and we sat for a while in the quadrangle surrounding the shrine.
Historical Interpretation of Mythology
scores legends revolve around the meenaxi temple which is dedicated to the wedding between Princess Meenaxi and Lord Shiva. this wedding- of a warrior princess born with three breasts (possible initial demonification of the existent mother goddess worship), who goes to fight Shiva in the Himalayas and in the process becomes human and feminine, and then the ceremony being presided over by the 'dark skinned' brother of meenaxi- can be viewed as a symbolic marriage between the cultures of the patriarch aryans who came from central asia represented by Lord Shiva and that of the pre-vedic mother goddess worshippers.
these pre-existent tribes, who are believed to have migrated from the fertile crescent of Africa about 10000 years back, are the supposed fore runners of the dravidian language which later evolved into modern tamil and telugu with the influx of sanskrit and prakrit. the Fish ensign of the Pandiyas itself is a characteristic of many ancient proto-saharan tribes. even the name 'meenaxi' means "fish-eyed goddess". the worship of the goddess of fertility later spread to the northern india and became as essential part of faith all over the nation. this confluence hastened the evolution of the "sanathana dharma" or the Hindu religion as it is known today.
Sundareshwar
on the way from to Sundareshwar shrine, we found the abode of the Mukkuruni Viayagar. A huge larger than life image of Pillayar, which was believed to have been discovered by some traders travelling to a neighbouring kingdom.
we then proceeded to the Lord's shrine. the idol here, which is believed to have been dug out of the temple lake, is the usual silver clad "Nataraja" but with a difference. while the Lord of Chithambaram lifts his left leg in air while suuporting himself on his right leg on the Arakkan depicting a pose in the Thandava Dance, here its just the opposite. as we stood in the queue, Jillu told us about the legend that talks about a devout Pandiyan king who spoke to Lord Shiva during his prayers,
"You always stand on your right leg. It pains my heart to think that it hurts you. Why don't you change the legs?"
And lo! Shiva indeed changed the pose the other way round! this change of legs is the trademark of this temple among all the religious sites in the state.
after the darshanam, we set out to explore the huge hall in front of the entrance of the Sundareshwar shrine. it was ladden with the finest examples of medieval tamil art. to start with, at the door way, an optical illusion created with 5 torsos and one head of a monkey. looking at each tosro with the head gives u a feeling there are separate monkeys! then, there was this mythical creature called "Yazhi", as told by our guide jillu whose body was made up of many different animals.
then there were two idols of Shiva and Goddess Kali standing in identical dance postures- stretching their legs and placing it flat on their heads. jillu told us the story behind this strange sculpture. once, Lord Shiva and his Consort Parvathy decided to compete against each other in dance. Parvathy was able to do every move that Shiva made. finally, Shiva gave his death punch by bending his leg and placing on his head. stretching legs like this was considered indecent for a woman, hence Parvathy ceased to be a woman and took the form of Bhadra Kali, the goddess of death, and performed this act.
we also saw life size images of 'half-vishnu-half-shiva' and the 'ardhanaareeshwaran'. then there was this famous picture postcard sculpture of the Meenaxi Marriage ceremony. Lord Vishnu placing the hand of Meenaxi over the hand of Lord Sundareshwar. this sculpture captures the legend of the usually gory looking warrior Lord Shiva who turned handsome (and hence the name, 'Sundareshwar') with the arrival of Lord Vishnu. the facial expressions are well depicted here, with Vishnu looking Happy, Meenaxi blushing and Sundareshwar epitomizing man hood.
Vaigai
we left the shrine and headed for the aayiram kaal mandapam, when jillu narrated the story of how the river vaigai came about. for the meenakshi wedding, there were scores of relatives representing meenakshi's family while only Gundotharan came from Shiva's side. people ridiculed Shiva saying that they had prepared meals for 1000 people expecting a large following for him. Enraged, Sundareshwar kindles a fire in Gundotharan's stomach and he is plagued by monstruous hunger. he soon gobbles up the food made for a thousand people and still asks for more. then he devours the raw rice and vegetables and all the water available in the kingdom and still remains hungry. people get scared of his seemingly unsatiable glutton and realising the power of the Lord, ask for his forgiveness and plead him to satisfy Gundotharan.
Shiva consents and turns to Gundotharan and says "Kai Vai" (place your hand) gesturing him to kneel down to drink. as he bows down in front of him stretching his arms, water flows down Shiva's head and falls on his palm. Gundotharan drinks the water and the fire in his stomach is extinguished. the water which trickled down his palm formed a river. the phrase "kai vai" was reversed and was bestowed upon this river as the name "Vaigai". since it flowed down Shiva's locks like the Ganges, Vaigai is also known as Southern Ganga.
as we neared the mandapam, we stumbled upon an Aanjineya figure engraved into a pillar. this image was recently rumored to have grown in size!
Aayiram Kaal Mandapam
Next we proceeded to the famous Meenakshi Temple Museum or the Aayiram Kaal (1000 pillared) Mandapam. this was built much later in the 16th century. in addition to 990 odd pillars, this madapam houses some great sculptures from the same period. we met sham here. and he was not alone... there was a Hungarian Lady Tourist looking at the sculptures with him! our Mr. Know-All seemed to have offered her a free lecture on what he knew about the history of the temple. while he played guide, we set out to explore the place and take some snaps.
The Prophecy
we decided to leave at about 12 in the afternoon and as we headed for the exit, an old lady, an astrologer, stopped us and offered to tell our future! vijay decided to try it just for the fun of it. we all sat down, she looked at his palm and then asked vijay to throw seven sea shells on the floor. this was repeated a couple of times. looking at the pattern, she kept giving general remarks about his past and future. after some "you are intelligent and peaceful " (yawn...) and "you have the signs of travel to foreign lands" (yeah yeah...every body in india go to foriegn these days) ... she made a more specific statement "you are unusually lucky in what ever you strive to do"... (huh?, god knows what was running through vijay's mind when she said that... given that he was fresh from an emotional turmoil back in the college ;) !!!!
The Tale of a Jerk and two Wives
then sham tried to give it a shot. and after the usual crap, she said, "if you were married at 19, you would have had 2 wives (everyone on the floor!), else you will be married to a single lady of a foreign land at the age of 23!!!!!!!!( everyone rolling on the floor)". by the time we left, we were more sure about the former!!! though sham thought otherwise (which means some unfortunate american woman in Rutgers will commit suicide in 2 years).
after she was finished, she looked at me and said "intha kannaadi potta thambikku jotsiyam paakkanum!"
Hell NO! "er.... no thank you..."
we left the temple and were terribly thirsty. on the way to the bustop, we stopped at a cool bar and had 'Jigarthanda' the traditional thirst quencher of madurai. it was mix of milk, curd, ice cream, some javvarisi, some sherbet and just melted in our mouths. i had two of it.
Foot Ball
we reached home at 2:30 and given we were pretty wasted out, we decided to drop the plan to visit kannan's place. jillu brought some cds but no one was interested in watching a movie and soon after the lunch, everyone was snoring. at some 4 o clock in the evening, everyone was up and we decided to play football in the near by ground. jillu's pal since childhood, rakesh arrived with some other friends and we split up into two teams.
i was in jilu's team. most of us had the best exercise in years that day. but not without casualities... seeku tried to take the ball head on with his foot and bent his toe in the process! it was about 6:30 when we decided to stop and headed back home after taking a team photo...
we got ready for the 11 o clock train. it was time to take the final group photos of the trip. director sham timed his camera to cover everyone in the group.
lights... camera....
action!
The Last Voyage
we bid jillu's parents adieu and left for the station. we had plenty of time there and so chatted over a cup of tea about life, acads, where everyone was headed etc...
and then we boarded the train and bid jillu good bye. me, ravi, sham and seeku were soon ensued in an argument over the state of private schools in india which became rather loud (god save the passengers in the next cabin!).
late in the night, we decided to sleep. the Great Kodai Trip finally came to an end and 5 tired men made their way back to chennai.
Wednessday, 24th May, 9:00 AM: the train reached Tambaram junction. me, sham and ravi got down. while vijay and seeku stayed back to get down at egmore. we went our separate ways. i reached home at about 9:45 and dropped down to sleep with images of the woods and meenakshi flashing across my mind....
And they lived Happily (?) ever after...
Vivek: joined American Megatrends in Thorappaakkam, Chennai, in June. After a few hitches in the begining, settled well into his new job
Ravi: poor chap's miseries dint end with the trip. some infection in the train gave him Rat Fever (alias Leptospirosis)- a rare condition believed to be existent only in a few districts of Tamil Nadu in India. it weakens one's immune system and that triggers off further complications. in fact, at one point Ravi suffered from malaria, typhoid and rat fever simultaneously! was hospitalised for about three weeks. Rat Fever's only cure is Penicillin. and for those who are allergic to penicillin, things may go pretty bad as they are put in a awful situation wherein, both the disease and its cure are fatal. I couldn't thank god more when i heard from his parents that Ravi was, in fact, NOT allergic to penicillin. all's well that ends well... he recovered gradually and then joined Conexant Systems, Hyderabad in the end of May. he is still weak and on a strict diet. my brother has promised to take care of him as long as he is in Hyderabad.
Seeku: went on to win Intel India Student Research competition along with Kiran. is all set to join ME, Communications at IISc.
Sham: went on another trip, soon after, with school friends to shimla. continues to laze around his dwelling place. will leave india this August to join Rutgers with TA .
Vijay: the lonely lover put his sorry tale behind in chennai and left for Delhi to join Indian Institute of Foreign Trade for an MBA.
Jillu: kept roaming around all over tamil nadu visiting friends. came to chennai recently and visited my place before appearing for US VISA interview. made it. will leave for Ohio State University in September with Fellowship.
Mars: this idiot attended IISc and IITM MS interviews. got selected in both. will join Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada this September with Aid. awaits VISA result.
Shanka: went into hiding for a while. got selected into IIT M. will join ASU this August along with Harish. Last heard, he planned a trip to Goa (!!!) with school friends and... yes you guessed it right, cancelled the trip the night before the journey.
Day 4: Tuesday, 23rd May, 7:30 AM, Jilu's House
I opened my eyes to the bright madurai morning. that sleep did good to me. there was no more turning of the stomach or any uneasiness. infact i was hungry. i went into the large front room to find everyone fast asleep. they were obviously partying late into the night.
jilu's mom was happy to see me walking around and speaking more than a sentence! she made me a hot cup of tea after which i went about my routine. i called up home and informed mom about my condition the previous night. she asked me to replenish water and salts at regular intervals as a safety precaution. slowly everyone starting coming around. a plan was made- to visit the Meenaxi temple and then ma kannan's place. we needed to move out as early as 10 o clock to keep schedule.
we took a bus to the Periyar stop near the temple after which it was a 10 mins walk in the hot sun. we were all terribly thirsty by the time we entered the south western corner of the quadrangle surrounding the temple. we relished cool fruit juices at a stall near by.
this is the view encompassing both the south and the west tower.
Madurai, Meenaxi and Tamil
the history of madurai is as old as tamil itself. it was the seat of power of the Pandyas, one of the 3 dynasties which ruled the south from the prehistoric times to the late medieval. they were confined to the southern half of modern tamil nadu for most of the time in history. after about 3 centuries of exile (1000 to 1200 AD) in srilanka, when they were driven out by the rising Chola empire under Raja Raja Chola, they found a new resurgence under Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan and reached their peak in the 13th century when they ruled from the banks of Godavari in the north to central Ceylon in the south. after that, Delhi sultanate, Madurai Nawabs and then the English East India Company came in succession.
legend has it that king kulasekaran, one of the most ancient rulers of the pandiyan dynasty, buit the grand meenaxi temple and a lotus shaped city around it. lord shiva danced on its creation and divine nectar flowed from his locks and poured on the city. thus the name "madhurapuri" which means the Land of Divine Nectar. some times, it is also referred to as 'Then' (south) Madurai, the 'Vada' (north) Madurai being Mathura.Tamil literature found its salvation in the city as recorded by the Sangam history.
Darshanam
I bought some archanai materials before entering the south tower. we were greeted by a spectacular model of the whole temple jus few yards into the entrance.
the temple has 12 gopurams in all- 4 entrances, the 2 golden shrines of meenaxi and sundareshwar, 4 internal gopurams surrounding Shiva's shrine and 2 surrounding meenaxi's. the entrance towers have a whopping 1124 figures engraved into each of them!
the huge man-made lake near the southern tower has a huge golden lotus in the middle. visitors are supposed to wash their legs here before they proceed.
we soon reached the shrine of the main deity and stood behind a long "special" darshan queue. thankfully it moved rather fast. sham, either 'sick of crowd' or being male chauvnist (he he...) prefered to stay out of the shrine and went on to explore the rest of the temple, vivek gave him company. i performed the archanai rites and we sat for a while in the quadrangle surrounding the shrine.
Historical Interpretation of Mythology
scores legends revolve around the meenaxi temple which is dedicated to the wedding between Princess Meenaxi and Lord Shiva. this wedding- of a warrior princess born with three breasts (possible initial demonification of the existent mother goddess worship), who goes to fight Shiva in the Himalayas and in the process becomes human and feminine, and then the ceremony being presided over by the 'dark skinned' brother of meenaxi- can be viewed as a symbolic marriage between the cultures of the patriarch aryans who came from central asia represented by Lord Shiva and that of the pre-vedic mother goddess worshippers.
these pre-existent tribes, who are believed to have migrated from the fertile crescent of Africa about 10000 years back, are the supposed fore runners of the dravidian language which later evolved into modern tamil and telugu with the influx of sanskrit and prakrit. the Fish ensign of the Pandiyas itself is a characteristic of many ancient proto-saharan tribes. even the name 'meenaxi' means "fish-eyed goddess". the worship of the goddess of fertility later spread to the northern india and became as essential part of faith all over the nation. this confluence hastened the evolution of the "sanathana dharma" or the Hindu religion as it is known today.
Sundareshwar
on the way from to Sundareshwar shrine, we found the abode of the Mukkuruni Viayagar. A huge larger than life image of Pillayar, which was believed to have been discovered by some traders travelling to a neighbouring kingdom.
we then proceeded to the Lord's shrine. the idol here, which is believed to have been dug out of the temple lake, is the usual silver clad "Nataraja" but with a difference. while the Lord of Chithambaram lifts his left leg in air while suuporting himself on his right leg on the Arakkan depicting a pose in the Thandava Dance, here its just the opposite. as we stood in the queue, Jillu told us about the legend that talks about a devout Pandiyan king who spoke to Lord Shiva during his prayers,
"You always stand on your right leg. It pains my heart to think that it hurts you. Why don't you change the legs?"
And lo! Shiva indeed changed the pose the other way round! this change of legs is the trademark of this temple among all the religious sites in the state.
after the darshanam, we set out to explore the huge hall in front of the entrance of the Sundareshwar shrine. it was ladden with the finest examples of medieval tamil art. to start with, at the door way, an optical illusion created with 5 torsos and one head of a monkey. looking at each tosro with the head gives u a feeling there are separate monkeys! then, there was this mythical creature called "Yazhi", as told by our guide jillu whose body was made up of many different animals.
then there were two idols of Shiva and Goddess Kali standing in identical dance postures- stretching their legs and placing it flat on their heads. jillu told us the story behind this strange sculpture. once, Lord Shiva and his Consort Parvathy decided to compete against each other in dance. Parvathy was able to do every move that Shiva made. finally, Shiva gave his death punch by bending his leg and placing on his head. stretching legs like this was considered indecent for a woman, hence Parvathy ceased to be a woman and took the form of Bhadra Kali, the goddess of death, and performed this act.
we also saw life size images of 'half-vishnu-half-shiva' and the 'ardhanaareeshwaran'. then there was this famous picture postcard sculpture of the Meenaxi Marriage ceremony. Lord Vishnu placing the hand of Meenaxi over the hand of Lord Sundareshwar. this sculpture captures the legend of the usually gory looking warrior Lord Shiva who turned handsome (and hence the name, 'Sundareshwar') with the arrival of Lord Vishnu. the facial expressions are well depicted here, with Vishnu looking Happy, Meenaxi blushing and Sundareshwar epitomizing man hood.
Vaigai
we left the shrine and headed for the aayiram kaal mandapam, when jillu narrated the story of how the river vaigai came about. for the meenakshi wedding, there were scores of relatives representing meenakshi's family while only Gundotharan came from Shiva's side. people ridiculed Shiva saying that they had prepared meals for 1000 people expecting a large following for him. Enraged, Sundareshwar kindles a fire in Gundotharan's stomach and he is plagued by monstruous hunger. he soon gobbles up the food made for a thousand people and still asks for more. then he devours the raw rice and vegetables and all the water available in the kingdom and still remains hungry. people get scared of his seemingly unsatiable glutton and realising the power of the Lord, ask for his forgiveness and plead him to satisfy Gundotharan.
Shiva consents and turns to Gundotharan and says "Kai Vai" (place your hand) gesturing him to kneel down to drink. as he bows down in front of him stretching his arms, water flows down Shiva's head and falls on his palm. Gundotharan drinks the water and the fire in his stomach is extinguished. the water which trickled down his palm formed a river. the phrase "kai vai" was reversed and was bestowed upon this river as the name "Vaigai". since it flowed down Shiva's locks like the Ganges, Vaigai is also known as Southern Ganga.
as we neared the mandapam, we stumbled upon an Aanjineya figure engraved into a pillar. this image was recently rumored to have grown in size!
Aayiram Kaal Mandapam
Next we proceeded to the famous Meenakshi Temple Museum or the Aayiram Kaal (1000 pillared) Mandapam. this was built much later in the 16th century. in addition to 990 odd pillars, this madapam houses some great sculptures from the same period. we met sham here. and he was not alone... there was a Hungarian Lady Tourist looking at the sculptures with him! our Mr. Know-All seemed to have offered her a free lecture on what he knew about the history of the temple. while he played guide, we set out to explore the place and take some snaps.
The Prophecy
we decided to leave at about 12 in the afternoon and as we headed for the exit, an old lady, an astrologer, stopped us and offered to tell our future! vijay decided to try it just for the fun of it. we all sat down, she looked at his palm and then asked vijay to throw seven sea shells on the floor. this was repeated a couple of times. looking at the pattern, she kept giving general remarks about his past and future. after some "you are intelligent and peaceful " (yawn...) and "you have the signs of travel to foreign lands" (yeah yeah...every body in india go to foriegn these days) ... she made a more specific statement "you are unusually lucky in what ever you strive to do"... (huh?, god knows what was running through vijay's mind when she said that... given that he was fresh from an emotional turmoil back in the college ;) !!!!
The Tale of a Jerk and two Wives
then sham tried to give it a shot. and after the usual crap, she said, "if you were married at 19, you would have had 2 wives (everyone on the floor!), else you will be married to a single lady of a foreign land at the age of 23!!!!!!!!( everyone rolling on the floor)". by the time we left, we were more sure about the former!!! though sham thought otherwise (which means some unfortunate american woman in Rutgers will commit suicide in 2 years).
after she was finished, she looked at me and said "intha kannaadi potta thambikku jotsiyam paakkanum!"
Hell NO! "er.... no thank you..."
we left the temple and were terribly thirsty. on the way to the bustop, we stopped at a cool bar and had 'Jigarthanda' the traditional thirst quencher of madurai. it was mix of milk, curd, ice cream, some javvarisi, some sherbet and just melted in our mouths. i had two of it.
Foot Ball
we reached home at 2:30 and given we were pretty wasted out, we decided to drop the plan to visit kannan's place. jillu brought some cds but no one was interested in watching a movie and soon after the lunch, everyone was snoring. at some 4 o clock in the evening, everyone was up and we decided to play football in the near by ground. jillu's pal since childhood, rakesh arrived with some other friends and we split up into two teams.
i was in jilu's team. most of us had the best exercise in years that day. but not without casualities... seeku tried to take the ball head on with his foot and bent his toe in the process! it was about 6:30 when we decided to stop and headed back home after taking a team photo...
we got ready for the 11 o clock train. it was time to take the final group photos of the trip. director sham timed his camera to cover everyone in the group.
lights... camera....
action!
The Last Voyage
we bid jillu's parents adieu and left for the station. we had plenty of time there and so chatted over a cup of tea about life, acads, where everyone was headed etc...
and then we boarded the train and bid jillu good bye. me, ravi, sham and seeku were soon ensued in an argument over the state of private schools in india which became rather loud (god save the passengers in the next cabin!).
late in the night, we decided to sleep. the Great Kodai Trip finally came to an end and 5 tired men made their way back to chennai.Wednessday, 24th May, 9:00 AM: the train reached Tambaram junction. me, sham and ravi got down. while vijay and seeku stayed back to get down at egmore. we went our separate ways. i reached home at about 9:45 and dropped down to sleep with images of the woods and meenakshi flashing across my mind....
And they lived Happily (?) ever after...
Vivek: joined American Megatrends in Thorappaakkam, Chennai, in June. After a few hitches in the begining, settled well into his new job
Ravi: poor chap's miseries dint end with the trip. some infection in the train gave him Rat Fever (alias Leptospirosis)- a rare condition believed to be existent only in a few districts of Tamil Nadu in India. it weakens one's immune system and that triggers off further complications. in fact, at one point Ravi suffered from malaria, typhoid and rat fever simultaneously! was hospitalised for about three weeks. Rat Fever's only cure is Penicillin. and for those who are allergic to penicillin, things may go pretty bad as they are put in a awful situation wherein, both the disease and its cure are fatal. I couldn't thank god more when i heard from his parents that Ravi was, in fact, NOT allergic to penicillin. all's well that ends well... he recovered gradually and then joined Conexant Systems, Hyderabad in the end of May. he is still weak and on a strict diet. my brother has promised to take care of him as long as he is in Hyderabad.
Seeku: went on to win Intel India Student Research competition along with Kiran. is all set to join ME, Communications at IISc.
Sham: went on another trip, soon after, with school friends to shimla. continues to laze around his dwelling place. will leave india this August to join Rutgers with TA .
Vijay: the lonely lover put his sorry tale behind in chennai and left for Delhi to join Indian Institute of Foreign Trade for an MBA.
Jillu: kept roaming around all over tamil nadu visiting friends. came to chennai recently and visited my place before appearing for US VISA interview. made it. will leave for Ohio State University in September with Fellowship.
Mars: this idiot attended IISc and IITM MS interviews. got selected in both. will join Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada this September with Aid. awaits VISA result.
Shanka: went into hiding for a while. got selected into IIT M. will join ASU this August along with Harish. Last heard, he planned a trip to Goa (!!!) with school friends and... yes you guessed it right, cancelled the trip the night before the journey.
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