Time

Time is relative. I think this is a simple statement. But I understood the meaning of this practically by experience.
I knew there were time difference and how it is Night in western hemisphere , when we are having Day time in India. That was the basic idea I had as a child looking at the Globe.
In my first trip to Malaysia I experienced the two and half hours time difference . I started in the night in India and by the time I reached after traveling just 4 hours it was already morning there. All I felt was just sleepy. I understood why every time my hubby came to India he used to have his break-fast very early in the first few days. Thanks again to time difference since India lagged behind.
It took couple of trips to Malaysia to understand that, the clock was set for their convenience (I don't know the exact reason). The time difference which should have been one and half hours has become two and half hours because of the time they have set. That is the reason the sun rise in KL is at around 7 a.m. and sun set is around 7 p.m.
On my trip to America all count of time was lost and I traveled starting from Malaysia on a Saturday morning and landing on a Saturday evening, even though I had traveled for 22 hours.
The next thing I noticed was, there were some 3 time zones in America and the time difference between the East and West is around 3 hours.
That is when I understood that India also could have had 2 or 3 different time zones, as Assam and Punjab fall in the East and the West. But for our convenience we have Indian Standard Time. Actually Pakistan is half an hour behind us, even though Lahore and Amritsar are just 20 kms apart.

Slowly I got used to the idea of different time within America, and I was hit by another concept. In April one Saturday night I was told all clock was to be set one hour forward. This happened again in last Saturday night of October. Clock was set one hour behind. This they do for day light saving I was told.
This was sort of beyond comprehension to (dumb) me.
This year we were in Anand's place and Anu, Srini were visiting us. Suddenly it was the time(to) change (being last week end) and Saturday night the clock changed and so Sunday morning 8 a.m. became 7 a.m. I called one of my friends over phone thinking it was 8 a.m. decent enough time to call, but understood it was only 7 a.m and the clock had already been set behind one hour. (I was expecting this to happen on Sunday night) . Anu was thrilled as she got one more hour to spend with her brother and so when we started it was 4 p.m. which was actually 5 p.m. the previous day. (Have I confused the readers enough , that is the basic idea you see).
Add to this confusion that while I was at Anand's place in Tuscon, Arizona, he said in that place the time does not change for day light saving. So I need not worry about the clock. But still I had to think about what time it was for Anu who was in a different time zone, as her time had changed.
One of my innovative friends back home who has two children in different time zones in America has set three clocks in her house, one Indian time and the other two the time of their kid's place. I am sure she will be changing the time in the clock((s) twice every year .
Now Srini is giving me another input saying, from next year, they are going to change the dates of day light saving time to March middle and Nov. middle as they want to save more day light so that people could be more productive.
Well all I know now is I am going to lose one Sunday while traveling back to KL as I am starting on a Saturday night flight which will reach KL Monday morning 6 a.m.
Just by traveling 20 hours I will have to compensate the 12 hours gain I had while coming here by losing it now.

Ever Green Tree

It so happens I have been in USA around October quite a few times. Few years back while in North Carolina I started hearing about changing colours of the trees. First I wondered how trees could colors, even though I had seen lovely pictures of trees with orange and red leaves, I had not connected them with any change in colors. Then I understood that during the fall season when the trees shed their leaves, just before falling, they change their color. The color ranges between yellow to red with so many different shades in between. At some time you just see lovely reds and yellows around you when you go outside. I was told all the places in Eastern coast from Boston to North Carolina has this change of color. At that time we went to near by mountain ranges to see the thick trees which had changed color enmasse. This lasts for a week or less and then all the leaves start falling.
This time when I was travelling by train to North Carolina from Baltimore, I could see wonderful trees all in different shades of color. In between I could see some dark green trees defiently standing straight . I could make out they were coniferous trees.
This reminded me of a tree we had in our Railway house in Palghat. We had this very tall tree just in front of the entrance of our house in the lawns of our garden. It looked like a pine tree but I knew it was not a pine tree. Then my father in law who was visiting us told me it is called an ever green tree. There this magestic tree stood all the eight or so years of my living there, giving me some sleepless nights when it leaned dangerously(I thought) towards the house. But it was a beauty to behold and gave a special look to our house which stood out amidst the same model houses in our street. (I wonder what happened to that ever green tree now as it is more than 15 years since I visited Palghat ).
Coming back to the present I could see a lot of Christmas Trees which are also a variety of ever green trees. Now I could understand and appreciate the significance of such type of trees being called ever green trees. Within a month or so from now all those colorful trees will be standing leafless and only with sticks as branches. It is entirely a different sight which is equally if not more beautiful to see those seemingly lifeless trees covered with snow flakes in the winter months.
Now something else came to my mind. I was thinking may be this particular tree, or part of tree was used for decoration during the christmas as it must have looked nice to see a tree full of green and full of leaves amidst leafless trees in the winter when christmas is being celeberated and that is why it became a symbol of christmas and came to be known as christmas tree. I remember reading in Da vinci code that December 25th is not the acutal birthday of Christ but since that day was some festival day of Pagan People (those who were following some other religion those times) the day was adapted to suit the newly converted Chrstians. So the christmas tree is significant because of the season in which christmas is celeberated.
Now I really have a new respect for my good old ever green tree of Palghat and would like to go and check on the tree.

Train Journey in the US of A

I was very excited that I was travelling by train to Raleigh in North Carolina from Baltimore in Mary land. The excitement was understandable because I was taking a long distance train for the first time in all these years of visits to America. As I keep mentioning, the Public Transport system in US of A is not at all good, as everybody seems to be travelling by road in their personal transport what ever the distance.
When I decided to visit Ralleigh, many options were discussed. Srini volunteered to drop me which was nice of him but I felt to drive 12 hours up and down to drop me was not worth the trouble. We had visited the previous week end by car and had spent the week end with Anand and gone back to Baltimore. The distance between the two places is around 360 miles or so which is around 550 kms if my calculation is right.
The next option was to fly and that option was also ruled out as it is a pain to go through all the hassels of check ins, arriving early etc. and of course the cost is also not that attractive.

I said why not Grey Hound. Grey Hounds are big buses which take people across to many cities. Anand who had travelled by Grey hound was vehement in opposing that option. He said the buses are bad and the bus stations are worse and they are (the bus stations) so shady that I should not travel by that alone.

Next was to look upto Amtrack. That is what they call the passenger trains here. I was thinking I can travel by night so that I don't have to sit in the train the whole day. But to my surprise there was no night train at all between these two places. So we chose a train which would start at 10 a.m. and reach at 5 p.m. That was fine with me and we bought the tickets.
The interiors of the train was quite impressive and it was a chair car with lot of leg space and quite comfortable. It was a small train and it was almost full. I had not expected the train to be full as the day I travelled being a working day. So there were quite a few people who had time to spare to waste a whole day travelling.
The journey was very nice as the season being fall I could see lot of trees changing their colors and it was really a beautiful sight. I could do my hand work, read the book I had taken with me and I did have some chit chat with the passenger sitting next to me. It was exactly like a journey by day train back home where you exchange the small detalis about you and your family while gathering the same from your co passenger.
There were quite a bit of jolts , making me wonder about the track conditions, which was remiding me that I am a Railway man's wife who is sensitiveto the jolts. I had noticed while waiting to board the train in the station that some trains were delayed by 2 hours or so, which was put up on the big board. The other thing I noticed was it was a single track , and our train had to wait for other trains which were mainly freight trains to pass in many small stations. The freight trains were a sight to behold as they were so lenghy I just lost count. I am used to this habit of counting the bogies in any goods train when I watch them pass. It was more than 60 or so and the train had some four engines.
The train made stops in many stations and all these stations were small and had an old worldly look, one or two stations were almost on the main road. I could see the passengers being picked up by relatives parking their car on the road just near the train.
The train did have a caffetaria, but since I had taken some food and drink with me I did not bother to check it out.
At around 4.30 the coach attendant announced that we will be in Raleigh in another half an hour. So there was busy phoning time around, as each one of the passengers held their cell phone to call their dear ones to be at station on time. I was no exception, thanks to Srini I also had a cell phone with me.
We all got ready to get down as we could make out we were almost there. Now the train suddenly slowed down and came to a stop. It was amidst some trees and it was just 5 minutes to the arrival time in the station. There was no announcement and after some 15 minutes or so we heard an announcement apologising for the delay and telling us that there is a freight train ahead of us and so we are getting delayed. How long they did not say.
It was almost 45 minutes and still there was no sign of this train moving. So I cornered the Attendant and asked him why this delay and if there was a derailment ahead. He said there was no derailement but the freight train ahead had some technical problem and so they are checking it and he can not say how long it will take. Oh the Trains they are the same every where I thought. Then I called to tell Anand about this freight train ahead having a problem. He said I am just seeing a looooong freight train moving out of the station and so I think in few minutes your train will start. Luckily the train did start after a few minutes and it was just less than 5 minutes ride to the station. I reached after a delay of one hour.
But in spite of this I did enjoy the train ride.

The Lost German Slave Girl

Yeah this is the heading of a book which I read here recently. It is written by John Miller.
According to the cover of the book it is 'The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans'.
This book is really good and the author says he was researching for writing about court cases in the 1840s when he got interested in the court cases involving the above mentioned girl and he has written it as a story.(narrative) which makes a very interesting reading.
The place this has happened is New Orleans which is a State in USA which was recently in news because of the 'Katrina' the strom which played havoc with this city which is situated below sea level.
There were many things which caught my attention , which I had not aware of. In this State there were many Blacks who were not slaves and were free. They were freed by their master or they bought their freedom by paying for it. (working extra hours and thereby earning ). There were lot of intermingling between the races, (not exactly marriage) there by having lot of mixed race children and adults in the population. Even the native Indians could be held as slaves. This lead to lot of white skinned people being slaves. Only pure whites could not be a slave legally.
This book is about a white girl who is supposed to be of German origin. A case is filed that she is a lost German girl who went absconding after landing in New Orleans from Germany. We get to read how there were so many Germans and other immigrants from Europe who also had to suffer a lot and do many kind of jobs , but they could not be held as slaves. (being of white race of course) .
The slave owner argues (his lawyers) that this particular girl is not of German origin but she is of a mixed race, who has definitely African blood, which makes it legal for him to have her as a slave.
I was horrified to read about how even if a mother becomes free, her children born while she was a slave are considered as slaves and are owned by the erstwhile Owner of the mother .
The story has many twists and turns . Thank God within some decades of this legal drama, due to civil war and Abraham Lincon slavery was abolished in 1865.

Civil War

Well I read this book recently and want to write about this book. This is a book titled 'The Civil war'. An Illustrated History by Geoffrey C .Ward with Ric Burns and Ken Burns.
As the title indicates, it is a book about American Civil War. Normally any history book is supposed to induce sleep. But this one is too good and if the history books prescribed in schools are anything like this no one will go to sleep in history class I suppose. I think you need a maturity to understand and appreciate history. That may be one of the reasons for history classes being a bore in school.
This book is illustrated with lot of pictures (photography was just then invented and quite a few photographs were taken at the war sites) and also maps and maps of placement of troops etc. I remember one of my teacher for my history MA telling us that history has to be studied with a background of geography, other wise it will be like it is hanging in mid air. This is so true and I could appreciate this concept while reading this book. These maps made it so realistic and everytime I read I referred to the maps for better understanding.
The main thing which struck me after reading was the great reconcilliation that has taken place after the war between the south which was called confederates and the north which was called the union. There may be some abberations here and there but by and large the reconcilliation and integration is complete.
The whole life style of the southern people changed and slavery which had a sanction of the constitution before the war which was fought for 4 years between 1861 to1865 was completely abolished by the end of the war. Here what I mean by complete abolition is the abolition constitutionally. In reality, it has taken more than 100 years for the blacks to get into direction of the main stream and the process of them joining in the main stream is still going on.
I could see from the book how many who fought on both sides had soft corner for the other side . They all met at the certain site of the wars after 50 years. (civil war is not a single war as it was fought in many many fronts and in many places). The people who had fought with each other and killed each other meet after 50 years as people who are civil to each other and as the citizens of the same country.
Like the author says before the civil war, the united states was mentioned as 'The united states are....' (meaning different states) becomes The United states is..... after the war. The number
of Americans died in this war was much more than the number of Americans died in the two wars put together.
Since anu lives in Baltimore which is just one hour from the capital Washington DC I could appreciate the book much more as I could visualize the many places mentioned in the book. The confederate capital Richmond is just 100 miles from the Union Capital Washington. While driving to North Carolina I could read many signs for places which I could identify with the civil war like Manassas the first place where the first shot was fired in the civil war.
It really made a wonderful reading that I could see a different perspective of America.

Sanitary Commission

I was reading a book about Civil War. I read about the unhygenic conditions prevailed during the war, the wounded and the dead and the unavailability of good water etc. I read about the Santiary Commission which was trying to do its best though it was 1860s and they were not much aware of the connection between the death rate and the unhygenic conditions. ( for example the surgeons using the same instrument for removing the bullets from different patients just after wiping it and things like that).
I had a chat with vasu which was about the apalling condition of Railway coaches even reserved AC coaches which have rats (Yes it was rats we were talking about) in it.
These two lead me to think about the sanitary condition in India and how we just don't give importance to it at all.
It is ok in 19th century if people were not aware of hygene. But it is unpardonable if in 21st century we are not aware of this. We are aware that diseases are spread by mosquitoes, cockroaches and rats. These abound in places which are kept dirty. This is simple truth every one knows.
Coming back to railways previously each coach used to be thouroughly cleaned before taking up a second journey. Now I wonder if it is done at all. The screens put in the AC compartment is so dirty I wish it is done away with. In the station while we waited, we just could not stand still but dance as there were so many mosquitoes around us. We were in the end of platform where there was no fan.
We are hearing so much about the dreaded chickengunia(how ever it is spelled) which is taking its toll and is spread by mosquitoes.
What we need is a separate sanitary team (in all probabalities we will be having one or more department I suppose) which is given the first priority, money and power so that cleaning is done in war footing.
I remember one of my relative who was of my grand father's generation used to be a sanitary inspector, who used to work in rural areas and used to go from village to village. I wonder what work he did but he used to make his wife's life miserable asking her not to do this or that .
We must be having those posts even now who must be issuing certificates to hotels and eateries. The whole cleanliness of public places has to be taken in a serious way and that department should be given sufficient importance and fundings from the Govt. and should not become a punishment postings like archives department. I feel by rediscovering Sanitary Commission or Department some improvement can be seen.

Life Style

Some thing has dawned on me in this trip to America. Every time I visit this place, or in fact when ever I am in KL, I tend to compare it with India and always think when it will be that India could become like these places,, I mean the houses, lay outs, roads, life style etc etc. Finally it dawned on me that given any number of years it is impossible for India to be an America or for that matter America to be India.
Now that I have seen quite a few places in US where anu/srini happen to live I find a common thread to each city and the lay out etc are very similar. You have a very very busy 'downtown' in each city which is nothing but the 'city centre' (which is called 'pusat bandaraya' in KL) where lot of offices are located. These areas are not normally very fit for living in the common sense, as they are crowded and expensive and it is some times considered as not a very safe place to live also. I don't know if 'Manhattan' down town in New York comes in this category, for safe living, as I have heard that to live there is considered a luxury.
Well coming back to the general cities, the cities just have grown in vast expanse around the down town which can be called the suburbs. Each suburb is so big and has wide roads which can be reached either by local roads are by highways. That is each exit of a high way takes to a suburb and you should know which exit to take. Again it should be mentioned here that USA has a very poor public transport system. They have the usual set of stores to buy your groceries and other necessities and being an Indian you get to know the location of Indian store also which has the same set of indian grociers and also rotting vegetables from which you pick up the good ones. (I wonder why they can not throw the rotten ones every night before they close the shop).
I have the experience of living in aparment complexes. Each apartment complex is maintained by a company so everything is in order and you can just go and complain if anything does not work and you have lot of space to park your car and also lot of pathways to go for walks.
In the apartment a net is provided for all the windows and doors of the house so you are protected from insects. (This time in India I could see lot of mosquitoes every where and even while waiting for the train to come in the station and in fact inside the train also. We are discussing how to curtail the mosquito menance in the coimbatore house.) These are just nets which any body can dismantle which are fixed on the outside of the glass doors and windows. But no body bothers to remove them or take them away. But this can never be done in India as it is most unsafe ,for somebody will remove and take away the net and also the glass door is not safe at all. Similarly here the roads are not cleaned every day (in fact I have seen them being cleaned in India and also in KL) but I don't see any plastic or papers littered on the road. It has become a culture with people not to litter. Roads are broad and paved (tarred) till the end of the footpath and neat footpath is laid on many roads and so there is no question of dust and mud. where as in India we pave the roads only in the middle and it is another story that vehicles come over the foot paths if at all there are any foot paths in the narrow streets.
Similarly I can fillup another page writing about the condominiums in Malaysia where about 200 to 300 aparments are in a single complex managed comparitively well and it is a different type of a life style.
If such things have to be done in India first of all the hafazard development which has already taken place without any planning should be destroyed which is just impossible. Houses are built anywhere and everywhere and then roads are built in and around the houses. I only hope at least some more roads are built in India so that cars and vehicles can move.
So I have decided to sit back and enjoy the expanse of America, the condos of KL and also the relative independence I get walking to and fro from my banks and autoriksha stands and other places.

jet lag

Well here I am again travelled from one corner of the Globe to the other. It has sort of become a routine with me to travel once in one or two years like this. I am amazed at the different life style in the different parts. I was in India just a fortnight back and the people, the lay out of houses, the shops the narrow roads, traffic etc., makes me think now it is some other planet. or may be now I am in some other planet. What ever it is I am groggy as I have this jet lag which is making me awake at all odd hours of this place and makes me sleepy the whole day.
From India it was KL which has better roads, better shops but still crowded only. Here in USA the places which ever I have visited so far it is the expanse of space which strikes you first. Though it has lot of cars and traffic and in some places lot of people, each locality is spread out with wide roads and lot of greens and lot of space around you. You will be lost if you don't have any transport and that is why I see cars wizzing past with just one passenger all the time. The shopping is so typical which I have mentioned earlier that it is not the customer's choice, it is the shopkeepers choice that certain things are available in only certain stores and there is no variety in the store. (but there is definitely variety in the merchandise, it is almost nausciating to see so many wares displayed). It takes some time for the mind to adjust to the new surroundings and the only order as far as I am concerned comes from the routine I have at home which is almost same which ever part of globe I am in.

Varalakshmi Pooja

Well yesterday was varalakshmi pooja and I was invited for 'vettilai pakku' by one of my friends and I visited her. There I met many ladies and today morning over the cup of coffee I was updating my hubby dear as to the conversations which took place there. After fully listening to my chatters, he commented did you go to pray or to just talk ' vambu' with other ladies. (point to be noted is this comment came only after I finished the ' vambu ' in full). After getting angry and showing my anger etc etc, his comments did set me into thinking.
All this poojas, and navarathri poojas where the ladies are invited for 'vettilai pakku' has, social and cultural connotation, than any religious meaning. It is an opportunity for people to meet and chat and exchange views ( a dignified way of saying 'vambu') . Each gets an opportunity of showing their musical talents if any by singing off key songs. They get an opportunity to show their artistic or otherwise talents also, in the decorations and settings. (this is especially true in the case of navarathri pooja) They get an opportunity to show their culinary talents also by preparing some tasty dishes. I should not forget to add it becomes an opportunity to show off their new ' sarees' and jewelries.
The greatest advantage of these poojas is the best child hood memories one can have. Each of us have the lovely memories of building a park with lot of sand and lot of scolding from mom for making the whole house full of sand. We used to be so possessive of the dolls exhibited in the navarathri Kolu.
I have a set of brass kid utensils which I display even today, in my kolu with which I used to play once a year just before navarathri started , and it used to be displayed for 10 days and get into the kolu box after wards. I have a set of 'marapachi ' dolls which is handed over to me from my grand mother. All my dolls are waiting in the big Kolu box to be displayed again for a navarathri which I can celebrate in India.
Well so there will be lot of activities going on during these times, and religion and bakthi and prayer will only be by products.

What do you want?

Well I have read so many self help books and heard many people say the best way to lead a good life, is to know 'What you want in life'?
This question appears very simple. Many times I have heard people say first decide what you want out of life? Out of life? Well I asked my self what I want? Honestly to tell the truth I don't know.
If the answer to this question were simple then every body would be leading a good and contended life, but looks like every body's life is becoming more and more complicated more so because they want this, that and more and what not.
Well having asked the question let me try to answer this.
Is it materialistic question that the answer should be I want a House , a car or what ever, but it looks so stupid that every time you see a better model of what ever you want, you lose interest in the one in which you have and aspire for the one which you don't have. So this is not the answer.
Well I can say I want peace of mind and happiness. Well it is too general an answer that I think almost every body wants that.
Well my answer may be specific and if I could just say I would like to go in a particular direction whether career or in home front. But I have reached a certain age where I know many a times, life does take lots of twists and turns and however much you try , you are like the drift of wood which has to take the direction of the water current in which it is floating.
Some times we keep thinking what if? Questions. There are two roads and had we taken the other road what would have happened. But it is always futile question and you will never know the answer as you have already taken a particular road and traveled a long distance. (I remember there was one movie in Tamil '12 B ' where the director tries to answer this question when he shows both the options of the hero taking the two alternate roads, but this can not happen in real life)
What ever we want on daily basis also keeps changing on daily basis. Some time you want to be all active and go out and meet people and be an outdoor person do lot of outdoor activities. But some other times, the same you just don't want to go anywhere but just sit and relax or sit and be moody. But this also is a phase and it just blows over.
Well I resolved the question my self and decided not to answer this question and let it be a question mark always and to take life as it is on every day basis and bottom line is be happy and try not to hurt others and be helpful .

Teachers

Well the natural follow up for the school system has brought me to the topic of Teachers. I have had certain strong views regarding this profession.
The selection of profession especially in India is market driven. What I mean by this is majority choose the field not for the love of the field but the monetary benefits they will get once in that particular field. Of course there are many who chose a field for the love of it, and many more who start loving the field they have chosen. Here I am talking of general majority. This is very clear from the IT field where we see lot of our bright youngsters.
Must be wondering what I am trying to express. Well if the teaching profession was the best paid field I am sure many talented and bright people would chose this field as their profession. It is very important that children/student are exposed to bright teachers. After a certain level one has to learn himself/herself. But guidance and the direction to take is very important and this is where a good teacher will make a lot of difference. The student will be taught to think for themselves and not just mug up few readymade notes.

In ancient India utmost importance was given to teachers who were called gurus. That is why Brahmins were held in high esteem as they were primarily teachers. But all that got screwed up and now it is eroded to being just a mere caste which has false superiority and also which is being put to lot of injustice in the reservation/quota system. That is entirely a different topic not relevant here. There is a sanskrit verse which says the best form of Dhana is vidhya dhana. That can be roughly translated as ' the best service is Teaching others'.
Since highly qualified people take up other lucrative professions, many un interested, and less talented people end up in teaching profession. This is true of many un aided, and Government schools.
In spite of constraints there are many who do well. But if this becomes the best paid service I am sure it will make a difference to a whole generation. In other words if teachers are taken care of well, it will definitely help the society as a whole.

School system

The other day, I happened to over hear a conversation between two young moms . They were discussing about school system. One of them said that the local schools here (Malaysian) are not that good and they don't encourage creativity in young children. The other one said the Australian school system is better where they encourage kids to improve their creative abilities. The other one quipped 'Yeah the Asian school system is bad'.
This sweeping statement about Asian system which inclueds Indian system set me into thinking.
I have some knowledge about the schooling system in US by interacting with Tejas who is here for his holidays. I had been with him while he attended school in USA. I have some basic knowledge about our school system. Of course I know that just by looking at one child I should not get into giving sweeping statements.
But I do have certain points to make .
I know creativity should be encouraged and it is very essential.
But I feel children need to be made to learn certain basic things by rote. For example I feel kids should learn the multiplication tables (upto certain numbers like how we did) by rote. When we learn this while young it will stay with our memory for ever. I have seen some teenaged kids stumble with basic calculations and search for calculator for even simple arithmetic. I don't think learning this by rote will hinder the creativeness in any child.
The second thing about which I strongly feel is about writing. Kids should be made to write a page or two of compostion everyday. I don't say that they should be burdened with lot of home work ala Indian school where they keep writing without even thinking. But writing a page or two will enable the kids to write neatly and faster. If children learn the way of writing English by joining letters (cursive way) it is better. In these days of computer they will have very little writing to do, but it is better not to depend on machines completely.

We have heard that any success story is 90 percent hard work and 10 percent talent. If the importance is given only for the creativity and talent when will the kids learn to do hard work.
I have seen that in America in the lower classes, they let the child do what they want without hindering other kids and the main aim is to see that the child is happy and they don't harm each other.
Well and good. But, parental guidance becomes very important to check if the kids have learnt the basics properly, in this system. I have read reports that many kids in US reach high school without even learning the basics of reading , writing and arithmetic properly. I have also read about Chinese and Indian children doing well in academics in schools. It is imbibed in us that education or studies or what ever you call it, is the most important thing and it is the bread and butter for every one of us. Naturally the Indian parents guide and help their children in academics at least in the lower classes till they understand the importance of studies. I am not saying here every child should become best in academics. I am talking here about learning basics properly even by compulsory methods, like learning by repetition and rote.
Any form of art also requires lot of practice. The children who are let to do what they want become bored very soon with what ever they are doing and tend not to have the patience and hard work which is needed to be successful in any field.
To a certain extent children should be made to do things cumplusorily so that they get into the habit of sitting and doing things consistently for a longer period.
I am reading in news items that many educators from abroad including US are coming and looking at Indian school system. They want to know how there are so many educated , brilliant youngsters in India and how we are achieving it.
I am not saying our school system is the best.
There should be a system, where enough importance is given to creativity as well as learning the basics well in Primary Schools.

Fan syndrome

Well must be wondering reading the title. Well this is to do with the saving of energy!!!!
Well I have experienced that some people are very particular that they should switch off the fan when ever not in use. Good Great savings and Good work. But the syndrome comes into picture when it becomes an obsession and the fan is switched off the moment they get up from bed. It will be normally a hall, where quite a few people (read children) will be sleeping. The Saver will just switch off the fan in spite of so many others still sleeping. May be he or she wants the others also to get the good habit of getting up early.
I never knew that I also had this syndrome till recently. I have this habit of switching off the water heater after taking bath. The switch has been kept outside the bathroom for safety reason. Recently I had a guest at home and assuming that the person has finished taking bath without even thinking consciously I switched off the heater switch , only to find out later that my guest had to have a bath in lukewarm water. I felt very ashamed for my action and I remembered my daughter always telling me not to get worked up about the heater.
That is when it dawned on me that ineed I also have the 'fan syndrome' which I abhor.

Air Travel

Traveling by an airplane was such a big thing when we were young. It used to be sort of Dream to travel by air. It was like traveling to Indra loka with lot of beautiful apsaras in the garb of airhostess.
We have come tooooo far from that myth. After the open sky policy or what ever it is called, air travel has also become a pain like any other mode of transport.
To travel with your leg kept in the minimum space possible for a stretch of 14 hours is something which has to be experienced. That is economy class for you while you travel towards United States of America.
I have traveled by quite a few of the airlines. Malaysian airlines which used to be the best, does give a good service specially in US sector. It has a small TV in each seat with some good entertainment program and also some vedio games to play. Food is not that good.
For South Indian vegetarians, Air India is the best, but where ever you go and when ever you go, you can be sure to see in the board the estimated time of arrival or departure 'unknown'.

I happened to travel in United Airlines. That was the time when it had declared insolvency or what ever. ( I never understand what it is and how they still manage to operate after all the 'hungama'). The crew and the others were so friendly and the captain himself came to ask if each one of us was comfortable. May be they wanted to re assure the passengers who were worried about the 'insolvency' that all is well and we will not be stranded in the mid air.

I did travel by NorthWest next time. My husband was excited and said it is part of some royal KLM or what ever and I would get the best of service. Ha! It turned out to be the worst. I could see the White Supremacy at its best (or was it worst), the airhostess least interested in serving us the basic meals and drinks. I had to go and request for some juice, and was asked to wait there while they were preparing the juice. Good for me as my legs got some exercise and relief from the cramped space between the seats.
Now that the sky has become more open we get airlines which don't serve any thing free and so it is just sit and fly and don't expect any thing. This was with a much publicized Air Asia and it was to Sabha from KL 2 hours flight. The airhostess understood that not to serve anything free means not to smile also. They kept such a morose face that inspite of our running to take a good seat we could notice their moroseness. Yes we did run to get a good seat as this is a no frill airline it was first come first serve basis that there was no seat number and all you had to do is run and take a seat. We noticed another tactic of this airline while booking tickets on line. The tickets are to be booked one way and the onward journey is quite cheap. But return journey is almost double that cost. They know that we have to come back to the mainland what ever the price.
This time I travelled to India by Jet airways. I really liked it as the people around were very genuinely friendly and smiling, not the customory smile of other airlines people ( inwardly cursing us for travelling by their airline and thereby adding to their work load). Again jet airways being an indian based airline the vegetarian food was very enjoyable.
While in India I had to travel to Mumbai. I was told not to travel by Deccan Airways as I was told it is highly unreliable. I traveled by air sahara and it was almost like jet airways and good. True to what I heard I was told the day I traveled, the Deccan Airways was some 7 hours or so delayed.
I was really shocked to see the crowd in the mumbai domestic airport. It was like any busy bus station. Any way good that more and more people are able to travel to their destination faster.
In USA many times air travel is cheaper than train travel and they just serve some juice or bottled drink even in a five hour domestic journey. They look the other way when we struggle to keep our hand luggage in the upper compartment.
Add to this list Singapore Airlines and Indian Airlines which are both ok and so so.(This is how I feel)

Reservation

I have been reading a lot about the agitations going on regarding the quota system. I have a very simple suggestion for this about which I don't seem to have read any where.
The quota system (reservations) should be given for only one generation. If one of the parents have availed the quota facility, the next generation should be competing with the general pool. This should be made a rule.
This way more number of people who actually need this reservations can avail them. The people who avail these benefits are by and large people who are already in the higher economic strata of society by virtue of their parents being in good postion. The very purpose of reservations , which is to bring the down trodden to upper echolon of society is lost because of this.
Weightage should be given to students who come from the rural schools. They need the encouragement as they don't have the facilites which the urban students get while preparing for exams or even for job interviews.
When economic backwardness is kept as the criteria for reservations it will not be effective. I have seen in my school days many a well to do children applying for 'free ship' (fees waiver) by giving false certificates for their parent's income.
If the reservation is not extended to the second generation, then one fine day the entire population of back ward community would be covered.
I am sure the powerful community leaders will be the last to encourage such a measure as their interest is last entirely.

Phnom Penh

We reached Phnom Penh from Siem Reap by flight. The first thing I noticed was the improvement made in the airport complex. It was just a small hall during my last visit. Now it has two floors with an ethinic frontage of sloped tiled roof. I just could not help comparing with our sad airport at bangalore.
The capital city is just any other dirty, over crowded city with lot of unruly traffic and haphazard development. I could see lot of new bunglow type houses with big gates and barbed wire fencing. I just remembered what our Bengali friend once commented seeing the private houses in Jullundar in the late seventies. 'vulgur display of wealth'.
Our guide here was much quieter compared to our earlier guide. We could make out that both our guides were quite concerned about their country as the new government has many people who were part of the old regime of polpot.
Pol pot regime was a reign of terror. He took over the Govt. around 1975. He was a communist supported by china. He made all the educated people doctor, teachers, engineers and so on to leave the capital and asked them to till the lands. He believed that all should be farmers and no body should be educated at all! One whole generation did not receive any education at all. Many of the educated were killed simply because they were educated and many families were killed, even if one member was suspected to be a supporter of old regime. No body suspected the horror which was to come and it all came suddenly, out of the blue and almost one third population was killed by him.
People were asked to move to country side and were told they can return in a week or so but they did not know they were never to return to their homes. Many died in the hardships of the community farming and also starvation as all the produce went to the govt.
After his reign ended around late seventies or early eighties, by the support of vietnam, (they tried to exploit them is entirely a different story) it took years for the normalcy to return to the country.
We could make out , that guilty have been just allowed to go scot free. Now there is a tribunal formed but the witnesses are few and far and the govt. is not wanting to give any support to bring the guilty to the international court.
Pol pot hid in the jungles and died a natural death in 1998 and was never brought to trial for the atrocities he committed on his own people
We were taken to Toul Sleng genocidal museum , a high school turned to a torture and interrogation centre during the regime. This I had seen earlier also. Here they have kept the rooms and other things as it was , and we could see lot of devices used to torture the people. Each one brought to this centre was photographed after they were brought here. As the photographs were not destroyed it has been displayed. We can see small children and old people also and we can make out that they were not aware of the fate which was awaiting them.
Some snaps as to the condition of the prisoners when the vietnamese came here also has been taken by them and it is pathetic to see the condition of the prisoners to say the least.
Only six people survived in this centre.
Last time I saw a place where they had found mass grave and the skulls of the victims were kept in a glass 'stupa' like structure. There was a book written about this mass killings 'killing field'.(I am not sure of the title) A movie also was taken based on this book.
Now people are worried that this part of their history is being brushed under the carpet and they very much want the next generation to know what had happened to the people.
Now the country is ruled by a coalation govt. The country had a king by name 'Naroddham' and he fled the country when polpot took over. He has retired now and his son is in politics and part of the coalation govt and another son has taken over as King who is just a figure head.
We saw the king's palace and museum. The palace was very much like the Bangkok palace in Thailand but I remembered Satya emphasising again and again that the culture was transferred from Khemer to Thai and not vice versa.
We visited a museum and a Buddhist temple and also a market where we had to bargain but they never got upset but kept smiling and if the price was very low they refused to sell.
While leaving for the airport there was a traffic jam and some diversion which left us worried about our reaching the airport on time.
At last we reached the airport.
The impression I got after seeing and hearing about the horrors, is that Human beings as a Species can go to the zenith of glory and also to the other extreme of reaching the nadir. We feel the universe was created for us and we tend to exploit nature, other species and even our own species.
I hope Combodia which has such abundant natural resources, big rivers which look almost like sea and fertile land , recreates its past glory and develops into a lovely nation.

Angkor 3

Well on day 2 we did visit some other sites which were in ruins (of course) and went to the local market. We could see some apsara figures, the Bayon king figures and even lot of ganesha made in wood, metal and stone. We did some shopping of titbits and we were told to bargain upto 40 percent. Here every body understands english and have communicative skills and with their small calculator it was easy to bargain. Of course no need to mention that the trade was strictly in american dollars. I wonder if even in USA so much transaction is done in dollar bills.( As it is just plastic or internet transaction there)
Well today being day 3 we were heading towards the outskirts of the city about 30 to 40 kms away from the city. One of our friends was very particular about this visit as we were to visit the sahastra linga site.
First on our way we stopped at the site Banteay Srei. (On our way, we saw many more structures and just took pictures as we did not have time.) This is also built in sand stone but here the sand stone has a red hue and has wonderful carvings much better than the angkor group. It has intricate designs which reminded me very much of Belur and Halebidu temples near bangalore. (I have decided to revisit belur and halebidu). This is also in ruins of course.
This was a temple dedicated to siva with a shrine for vishnu and brahma also. But there are no shrines now. We could see the figures of siva and parvathi on nandi the umamaheswara posture, unfortunately the parvati's head is cut. we could see, indra on iravata, the vali sugriva fight, narasimha killing hiranyakasipu and many more carvings. This has only one level.
The scenery is wonderful with big trees, on both sides of road and lot of cashew trees on the way. Our guide was telling us how polpot after his fall was hiding in the forest near here and how this place was full of land mines after the vietnam war ended in the end of seventies. He said there were like 2 mines for each combodians living. Luckily thanks to the organization which Princess Diana took a lot of interest in and other organizations, now almost all of the mines have been removed.
We reached the base of the Kulen mountain. We had to climb up the mountain to a place Kbal Spean where the thousand lingas are found. The guide said it is just half an hours climb. But for some of us it was more than that and the terrain at some places was really tough. We did manage to climb to the top and there initially it was a dissapointment to see the small area in which the lingas are found. Water flows over the lingas which are carved out of the rocks and during rainy season the whole lot of lingas are sumberged in water which could be seen (he said) if there is sunlight. But for us being dry season only little water was flowing over the lingas and we could see carvings on the side rocks of vishnu in his sleeping posture with lakshmi near his foot and also brahma on a lotus from his navel. there was uma maheswara also carved nearby. The visnu with lakshmi was sort of a repetitive theme which could be found on rocks nearby near the stream some five or six of them. Our guide was explaining vishnu with his leg massage lady lakshmi. (there are lot of massage and leg massage centres in Siem Reap). There is a little water fall also. This symbolically represents the Meru mountain and river ganga. So we all had the water sprinkled (prokshana) on our head. To some Australian visitors, one of our friends showed the carvings as otherwise it is not very conspicuous to a normal visitor without a guide.
Getting down was much more tough though it was faster. We had lunch in the base of the hill which was set in a beautiful surrounding just simple tiled roof hall. It had a wonderful orchard which had mangoes just hanging fives and sixes in a bunch and jack fruits all around us. Our guide was so hospitable he wanted us to taste their delicacy. So he had bought gluttonous rice on the way and made them cook it, and had bought some local mangoes. you are too eat the cooked gluttonous rice with the mangoes which is the dessert. It is entirely a different story that we could not wait for the normal rice to arrive as we were hungry and had the gluttonous rice with our great podis and ate mangoes separately. Of course I did try the gluttonous rice with mangoes and it did taste nice. He had bought ' nongu' also on the way and gave it for dessert. One thing is in every restuarant they give fresh cut fruits as dessert. pineapple is also very tasty there. It was pouring very heavily while we were having lunch and lucky that we climbed down before the rain.
We returned to angkor area again and saw another huge complex Preah Khan which was built by jayavarman VII in memory of his father. It is supposed that it was sort of an university or place of higher education at his time. Here we could see some 200 years old mahagony trees.
The next one we saw was Ta Prohm built for queen mother by the same king. This one the building is just interwined with trees, and roots. They have just kept it so that we could understand how the other buildings also were before restoration. This building restoration is being done by the archeological survey of India. We met few officers and when they asked our opinion we said some how the interwining of the trees and the buildings has such a charm which makes it look one of the most beautiful structures in the whole of our tour. So at least some of them have to be kept as it is. They said there plan is some what same as the UNO guidelines also specify this.
In the evening we went to a cultural show in a hotel, where we saw dance performance by group. There was apsara dance and some folk dances also. Just like our kolattam, they did almost with same rythm and movements, dance with polished coconut shells .
Our tour of Angkor was complete and we set out for phnom penh with heavy heart.

Angkor 2

On the day 2 we visited many temples. The whole site is maintained by world heritage and the entrance fee is collected. We have to give our photos (if we don't have they click the picture there) and a photo id pass is given to each individual which is checked at every site on entry. One day, Three day and a Week's pass is given on payment. (in US dollar) the money goes to combodian company. No body is allowed to be in the site after 7 p.m. Angkor Thom is the city which has four gates inside which lots of temples have been built. Yes all of them are temples built by the Kamboja kings who practiced hinduism and later buddhism. We can see pictures and stories from every epic stories of hindu mythology and it is really overwhelming to hear the Combodian guide pronouncing the names of the mythological characters and asking us if it right! You see apsara every where in all the buildings. The four entrances to Angkor Thom have huge structure with four faces, which they have found is the face of the King Jayavarman VII. The whole records have been lost as they were in palm leaves and they are reconstructing the history using the stone carvings and also some travel documents recorded by chinese traveller(s)!
The entry to the city is through the gate which has the four faces. It is quite wide as to allow the elephants to go inside in the olden days so our bus had no problem going through it. Each gate n/s/e/w has in front of it the big naga structure the serpent vasuki which is used in the churning of the milk of ocean in our mythology. One side we can see the devas and the other side of the entrance the asuras holding the 7 headed serpent. The heads of many of these demons and devatas have been cut and we are told they have been taken for private and other collections.
This vasuki structure appears to be the theme of modern Siem Reap as we see these in the latest structures also.
Two important sites are to be mentioned. one was the temple with the four faces of the king which is called as Bayon temple complex. Though it is all in ruins it is overwhelming to see the benign face smiling at us from every direction and level possible. It appears there are more than 200 faces in that structure.
The second one is the Angkor Wat which is the world famous structure. This has three compartments for the Hindu trinity God brahma , vishnu and siva. Even now we can see a big statue of vishnu. Inside wall of this building is carved with lot of mythological stories where we could recognise, siva, rama, ravana, skanda, krishna and many many more of our mythological characters .
The building has five distinct stupas which are carved like the closed lots petals.
This building has multiple structures and it has buddhist shrine in the highest level and prayers are being offered even now.
Combodia is a buddhist country now majority of the population being buddhists.
The structures are built with sand stone. It is quite tough to climb up all the levels as the steps are narrow and broken in parts. But we did go to the highest level.
The whole culture and the technology of temple building was probably transferred from South India when the traders used to come to old kamboja for trading purposes. Those days they had to travel in the sea with the help of wind and they could go in the direction in which the wind blew. It used to take 6 months for the wind to change direction and they could start back the homeward journey only at that time. So it is asssumed that they had to stay in kamboja for the whole period (max six months) and that is how the buildings are so distinctly Indian.
The artisans might have come to South India and learnt the style of the buildings. But it is distinctly angkor though it has so much of Indianness. For four five centuries this place practiced hinduism.

Tunle Sap lake

On the day one of our trip to Ankhor we were taken on a boat ride on the Tunle sap lake. We had arrived at Siem Reap at 12 noon and after lunch we set out for the ride. I had heard so much about the temple ruins and the Ankhor wat and other temples, I wanted to see them and I was wondering what is there to see in a lake.
We were taken to a canal in a bus. We had to travel on a very muddy and uneven road. We were transferred to a motor boat. A small boy was helping the driver of the boat in navigating the boat using a long oar. We were asked to be careful, keep our hands inside as there were other boats which were manoeuvring in the other direction very near our boat.
The guide was talking non stop about the old kings and the new political kings while I was wondering about the whereabouts of the lake.
Suddenly there appeared a huge lake dotted with lot of stationery swaying boats.
The guide told us that this is a special lake, which makes the direction of a river change. I simply could not comprehend. Then he explained. This lake which we were visiting in the dry season is fed by the waters of the river Mekong which flows from the base of Himalayas (Tibet) to the capital Phnom penh. During rainy season which starts in May and continues for 6 months the level of this lake increases and some where in October due to the increase in the level the water reverses and the Mekong river goes back from here to Phnom Penh.
The roads on which we rode in the bus which were lined with trees including mango trees on both sides, will be completely submerged in water during rainy season when the water level increases upto 9 meters that is well above those trees. The trees come out unscathed after the water recedes.
Lots of fish are brought into the lake from the Mekong and the fish find a good breeding place in the submerged trees . Hence the abundance of fresh water fish here is one of the highest in the world.
Once the water starts receding the whole area is so fertile that they grow the rice crop by just sprinkling the seeds without the need for ploughing or even replanting.
We could find two colonies or group of boat houses in the lake. The guide saod that one side i viet namese and the other combodians. We could see lot of boats with rooms with curtains, kitchen and even small gardens. We even saw a pig pen attached to a boat with few pigs in it!
Natural question was what will happen to the houses in these waters when the water level increases. He said the houses are either boats or they are built on bamboos which are tied together. So these people move their houses as the water level increases are decreases. Then only we noticed that virtually the boats were on leash tied to some stick like arrangement lest they move away in the wind. He said the lake will fillup the whole area upto the base of the hill which we could see a little distant away and the people will move there houses accordingly. We could see some shops also selling some items for the people living there.
We were taken to a shop which had a viewing platform as well as shops with local artefacts. This also had a small crocodile and a fish farm!
The guide had told us not to encourage beggars as they are trained to beg and are not sent to schools. We saw a little boy tagging along in our boat begging with tears in his eyes. when the boat picked up speed to our astonishment he jumped from the boat and we could see his head pop up in a little distance away.
Survival! Kids learning to swim in water automatically , as we learn to walk. It is hard to imagine living one's whole life in water where you keep shifting your house every now and then.
This was just a slum in a big lake. But the seasonal changes, which the guide explained and the guides narration made the visit a worthwhile visit.
I would like to visit this place in rainy season and see the area as our guide mentioned it is unrecognizable and this place needs two sets of maps one for dry season and one for rainy season.
I find it so difficult to understand the concept of changing direction of the river I would like to physically see the river changing the direction and moving the other way.

Angkor 1

I am back from a trip to Angkor. It is indeed a wonderful experience to see the (ruins) anceint Hindu culture in a South Eastern Country so far away from India.
It all started two months back when a friend of mine told me they are going on a trip to Angkor and Phonm Penh in Combodia. I had visited Combodia Phnom Penh about 8 years back but at that time did not have time to visit Angkor. We were 17 in our group 5 of them children, and the average age of the elders in our group was roughly 60!!
We took a flight from KL to Siem Reap the city where the Angkor site is found. We were met by a guide at the airport whose name was 'satya', a very pleasant gentle man. I was surprised to see the street leading out of the airport lined with lovely hotels on both sides. I had heard in my last visit that in the Angkor area facilities are not much. I was amazed at the improvement. We were put up in a nice hotel in the centre of the city which looks as though it just lives for the sake of the vast number of tourists. It is a bubbling small city which has an Indian restuarant too. Though there is a local currency whole transaction is made in US dollars only. So we all had lot of small denomination like 1 and 5 dollar bills as we did not want to get back the change in the local currency and it might be too heavy ! to carry as one dollar is some 5000 local currency.
Since majority in our group were vegetarian we had told repeatedly we need some vegetarian food. We did get different varieties each day some leaf and vegetable, but managed with some 'podi' which we had carried with us. We did get rice every where and we got some yogurt from the super market also. Since food was included in the package everything was arranged and we got to eat in the Indian restuarant for one day lunch.
Angkor had a great Khmer civilization empire beginning roughly around 8th century AD till 14th century which saw the peak in 12th century when the king Jayavarman VII built big temples and buddhist shrines. Many other kings also contributed to the building spree in the Angkor.
The kingdom ended as it was over run by the neighbouring Siam (Thailand) and the capital shifted to more safe Phonm Penh . All these things got lost to mankind due to the buildings covered and ruined by tropical forest and vandalism by greedy men but luckily restoration started from the middle of last century by French who were occupying the country. But some of the artifacts were taken (stolen? ala Kohinoor) by French and we were told some of them are displayed at the famous Louvre museum in Paris. Combodia got independence in 1953 and the restoration work continued. But unfortunately during the terror regime of the tyrant polpot all work stopped for 10 years and now the restoration work is progressing in leaps and bounds thanks to the site being declared as a world heritage.
we were told by the guide that in ancient times, there were three great civilization in Asia, India in south asia, China in the East and Combodia or Kambhoja as it was called, in the south East Asia.
Indeed it does seem it is true when one completes the tour of the anciet ruins in the Angkor area.

Nama Sankeerthanam

The evenings of last week were spent in listening to the Namasankeerthanam program organized in connection with the Ramanavami utsavam.
I am always fascinated by stories and used to love katha kalakshepam (hari katha) as a youngster. This namasankeerthanam was new to me and thought it will be a story telling session. My hubby loves carnatic music and we found out the program was more of music and a little bit of story telling.
Any way it was enjoyable. It was by one Mr. Udaiyalur kalyanaraman accompanied by another singer, a harmonist and a mrindagist.
The music value of the program was really very classic. He was able to sing in sanskrit (ashtapathis) , tamil , telugu and kannada (purandaradasa). He could campare the ideas of poets like Tyagaraja, purandaradasa, narayana thirtha who have expressed the same ideas of bakthi in different languages through their music.
I never knew that this bajanai had a sampradayam. That is a particular way of performing.
So I was surprised that there was a seeta kalyanam day when people brought sweets, paruppu thengai, etc etc which is normally part of any tamil brahmin wedding.
One of the days some of the audiences joined in mild steps of dancing and ladies joined in kummi in the background of perfect rythemic music. and there was a kolatam also, each assigned to certain songs. It was sort of funny to see senior citizens dancing and singing. The Bagavathar insisted on each person joining the bajans and was often singing simple bajans so that all could join and tap or clap with the rythm.
There was food for every body after the namasankeerthana every night.
All this lead me to thinking. Is this is one way of Bakthi being spread in the form of audience participation so that people will not get bored. Is this one way of maintaining the traditions of the rituals like marriage rituals.
I was questioning myself is it some sort of entertainment which was needed in the villages where each person whether he is good at music or dance to participate and let his /her hair down in the name of bakthi.
The bajans was reaching a cresendo often with all singing in unison hare rama hare rama. This did remind me of the Rajnish Ashram where people were singing (or was it shouting) in the top of their voice.
The Bagavadhar was saying that this bajanais normally start in the night and sometime continue throughout the night.
My grandmother used to say that when they were children they used to be awake whole night on krishna jayanthi and used to participate in kummi , kolatam and some small skits. some expression of art?
Though this raised a lots of questions in me, the point is I did enjoy the evenings and liked the rendering of the keerthanas and his telling the meanings of those keerthanas.
Such traditions I feel should be continued.

language

When I first came to Malaysia seeing the boards on the roads I used to laugh, seeing their spellings. Since it was all Roman alphabets I could read them, and thought these people were weak in spellings and used to laugh at spellings like 'klinik'(clinic) , 'bas' (bus), 'doktor'(doctor)etc.
It took me some time to understand that they have adopted the roman script for their language and they write their words phonetically and all these days what I was reading was not english but bhasa malayu the local language. Slowly I understood that c is 'cha' and k is ka and ' i' is ee and so on.
At one time I thought it is a easy way of learning a language. I was thinking if only we could read all the indian language with roman script learning will be easy . Many of the tamils who don't know the 'deva nagari' script and many of the north indians who don't know the tamil, telugu etc script can learn the other language easily.
Now suddenly it dawned on me because of the roman script of bhasa malayu, when I try to spell many english words I am getting confused. Now also , I see lot of boards on road and try to pronounce them and decipher them with a bhasa malayu dictionary. The result is when it comes to queen's language I am faltering. (Not that I was very strong in that language before.)
So I came to a conclusion that our languages are good as they are and any body trying to learn it let them learn the script also . Another thing I did was went and bought an english dictionary. (our big dictionary is back at home in India) . I am still not comfortable using a dictionary in the net.

some tv programs

We have here a facility to watch some movies in the tv by paying a certain amount 9.99 Ringets in a particular channel. They show some 9 movies again and again at different times for a whole month and we can watch them. This is one of the advantage of set top box I suppose.
After knowing that June R a tamil movie will be shown this april , immediately I subscribed for the channel over phone. The additional attraction was The Emperor's journey.
About June R I had read quite a bit of write ups in magzines before release itself. It had a very good cast also. Jyotika, Saritha, Kushboo. To add to all this the movie was directed by a woman, some Revathi Verma. So with great expectations, I made my hubby also sit for it the first time they showed on April 1st. It became such an april foolish thing to do.
It was not as good as it was promised and I felt it was an incomplete film. May be the movie was short, but that is not what I mean. I felt it was abruptly ended.
The same kind of experience I got when I went and saw a movie by name'viswa thulasi' a movie again highly hyped by the magzines ( I read basically ananda vikatan, kalki and kumudam which are three decent tamil magzines ) Again a good star cast of mamooty and nandita das and a woman director. I saw that in the local theatre. There also I had the same abrupt ending feeling. I don't think audience will want to pay their hard earned money to see such movies where the director wants to show their talent rather than entertain the audience.
May be I am not used to such kind of movies, or may be the high expectations made me get this disappointment. Here I should mention movies like 'kannathil muthamital', and 'aszagi'. I enjoyed those two movies and they were also sort of off beat movies.
A great relief was ' The emperor's journey' and I wonder how it could have been taken in such a lovely way and how it could be told as a story. It is about the Penguins in the antarctica . It is indeed a wonderful movie.

Maintenance

More than creating or aquiring new things , one has to understand it is important to maintain anything we aquire. It is true of any private or public possessions.
I have seen in the local malls, or airport or even railway station, people cleaning not only the floors but also the hand rails and also the glass doors and partitions with a cloth very meticulously. No wonder the airport appears brand new.
Many of us feel once we aquire something or build something the work is over. That is why many of the things does not work properly after some time and breaks down.
This reminds me of an incident. Hubby and me were waiting for our train in the Egmore platform. Suddenly we heard a very disturbing noise. We saw a railway employee dragging a six wheel empty trolley. The small tyres in the six wheels had worn out and hence the noise. It would have taken a few minutes and very little expense to put some tyres in the wheels if only any body had cared . No body in charge bothered and it was causing such noise pollution and harming many ear drums.
Simple things like the silver lamp which we light every day needs good maintenance. One of my friends was commenting that her silver lamp always is just black. I found out that the reason for Syamala manni's lamp being so bright is that she is cleaning it twice a week regularly and polishing it with 'vibuthi'. maintenance!
Any proud car owner will talk for hours about car maintenance I suppose.

Sentosa

We all had been to Singapore. I have been to Sentosa island there many times and each time I have spent time there in a set pattern. Each time we go there , we see some of the important attractions like, underwater world, climb up the merlion, watch the dolfin show, go to butter fly park or go to some other attraction and finally come and sit in the muscial, laser show fountain. That used to be the routine. All these attraction entrance fee costs are quite high.
This time it was really different. I am amazed at Singapore how they keep on improving things where generally one feels that there is no scope for improvement. I saw notice in singapore embassy here in KL, which said if your tourist guide book of Singapore is more than one year old please throw it away as it won't be valid any more as there are so many new things around. I thought they were bragging but it appears it is true.
when I first went to sentosa about 10 years back, we could reach the island only by steamer or the rope way. Recently they have constructed a road and sentosa can be reached by buses and cars. This time we went in our car and entrace fee of 2 singapore dollar is taken for each individua). The transport inside the island from one attraction to the other is free so we could park our car in the parking lot and take the ride in the sentosa transport.
This time we just spent time in the beach, playing flying disc, and cycling the double cycle, watching the sunset and spending time for ourselves instead of rushing from one attraction to the other.
One of the new addition was Sentosa Luge which was like gocarting. We had to reach a high place in a rope way and while coming down each will come in a gocart (on a curved sloping road) which is very simple to operate. I was quite scared as I am not used to driving any vehicle (only I am used to driving people crazy). But after Anand's cajoling or forcing I did come down in the gocart which they call as luge. It was enjoyable. Tejas was the one who enjoyed maximum and was happy that he could come down faster than his grand pa and grand ma.
Indeed I could see Singapore in a new perspective, and for once my trip to Singapore was complete without visiting the 'mustafa' in little India.

kinabalu

Malaysia has two States in the East which is separated by the main land Malaysia (which is called West Malaysia ) by Sea and takes around two and half hours by flight to reach there. These two states are Sabha and Sarawak and are in Borneo Island. These two are big states of Malaysia and have unspoilt equotorial tropical forest.
I had visited Kuching which is the capital of Sarawak two years back with my hubby and was lucky to see the biggest flower in the world 'Raffelasia' . We had to travel to interior forest and climb for half an hour to see the flower. The flowering is monitared by the forst department. The flower takes 8 months to bloom and it stays as bloomed flower for just two days. We were lucky that a flower was blooming the day we went.
Now this time we all went to the other state Sabha. The capital is Kota kinabalu. I found Kuching much more cleaner but, Kota kinabalu attaracts more tourists as there are many tourist attractions , like water rafting, scuba diving and mountain climbing etc. It has one of the highest mount of south east asia 'mount kinabalu'.
Anu and Anand went for rafting and I was told it was level 4 which means the rapids were quite rough. I had thought it was level 2. But they did enjoy it and said it was an experience. Anu said whether she would like to get the experience once more is questionable.
Next day Vinu also joined and they all went to the Kinabalu park for climbing . It is compulsory that climbers take a guide and they fixed up all this with a local tourist agent. They climbed to the height of 3300 metres the previous day and stayed over night in the camp site there. Next day early morning Anand and Vinu did the summit which is 4095 metres high. They climbed from the kinabalu park which is around 2 hours drive from Kota kinabalu and I went with Tejas to recieve them. They said the Orchids and other flora in that place is out of the world. I wonder if I can do the first part of 3300 metres. They said more than climbing the coming down is much more difficult though it is faster . By and large the tourist guide and the tourist agent a lady were very very friendly. She had arranged the guide, staying etc for them in the kinabalu park and also the guides for the rafting . She herself drove them to the park the previous day and next day took me there to bring them back. She told me she was the owner of her tourist/ travel company.
I might return to kinabalu to try the climbing.

Economics of Household

I have been thinking about writing this for quite some time. But am not sure how to put it. This may be a hafazard article jumping here and there. This is all about economics of house hold as I see from my point of view.
We have to spend within our means then we can live comfortably is the motto.
You save money so that you spend your retirment comfortably.
How much to save is the question.
My view is if you are earning 100rs. save 20rs. well that is great.
But when you are earning 1000rs. don't try to save on percentage basis that is 200rs. On the other hand don't save only 20rs. Find a via media and save a little more and spend a little more.

You can buy some property while young say house so that you can repay what ever loan you take. But this also you have to think properly. You can not just lose your today for the sake of tomorrow.
When I was young, I did not want to go for a house loan. I thought because of the loan, I might start thinking whether to give a cup of coffee to a guest who has come on a visit. This is what I call losing your present. This is just an example there may be umpteen examples which a loan might put a hindrance to.
I never go in for any instalment purchases. Even though you start enjoying the benefit of the product from day one of first instalment, the interest and hidden costs, even though they say zero percent blah blah adds up to quite a sum . It is better to wait and keep the instalment money in bank and then buy the product. This is especially true for products which are not utility items and which can be done without till you have saved the money.
But some house loans etc especially in India is beneficial for tax saving purposes. In that case the pros and cons have to be weighed and the benefits, repayment capacity, etc have to be properly calculated and then one can go ahead with the loan.
It is very very important to write the accounts every month. You will know where your money is going. It might look silly to write what we are spending. But when you look at your accounts in the month end, you will be surprised to see expenses which otherwise would never have been noticed.
Personally, I always feel it is very good to invest in gold, not in the sentimental way. Buy some jewels not the one with stone and intricate designs. If you are buying for investment purpose, buy gold ornaments with designs which use minimum wastage. Use it happily and when ever you need the money without any qualms just sell it to raise capital. This way you have the satisfaction of using the jewels also. This many may not agree but again, I find it very useful.

One should never be a compulsive buyer. I have seen the urge to buy things when we see them in shop is just too much to resist. some times we do buy and wonder later why we bought it at all. To out do the urge the best solution is you just tell yourself to go around the shopping area and come back again and then buy. once you are out and when you come second time I have found out, many times the urge is gone and you understand that you don't need that thing at all.
The maximum expense we make in modern days I feel is on clothes. We tend to buy them left right and centre and end up with pile of clothes in the house. since modern day clothes last longer because of good quality, you see clothes every where in the house. my hubby always says that my house becomes a mess because of the clothes I buy and he says our house will be neat the day you stop buying heaps of clothes. (I think) I have learnt some lessons and do not buy much clothes.
One another best way to save money is to stop wastage. We tend to waste so many things starting from electricity, water, food, groceries, and what not. Just by being not lazy and switch off the fan not needed will help you save. I don't mean to say switch off the fan the moment you get up irrespective of any other person sleeping in the room!!
I have seen people who had retired with lot of benefits, suddenly in problem when they fall sick, as medical expenses are quite high today. even tests cost you quite a lot.
Of course the medicare and other medical insurance is catching up in India, but still one has to have some savings to take care of medical expenses as the cost increases as age increases.

One important thing is money should not make you lose your interest in life. Life is to be lived is very important and if we just concentrate on creating wealth you end up not living your life at all.
But one should understand that for everything bottomline is money and surely while earning well it is better to save judiciously.

silly childhood

Some mention by Vinu in his mail about an incident has inspired me to write this.
Well this is about a lakhsa deepotsvam at a local temple which my friend Saroja and myself went with my little brother Gopi and her little sister Radha. (They must have been around 4 to 5 years of age). It was crowded like any usual fare, and suddenly we wanted to go and lit the diyas. We asked the kids to sit in a place and went to the diyas. When we came back after 10 minutes hey and presto there was no Radha or no Gopi. We panicked, and we started crying profusely. Then some body suggested public address system which was used to render some music. So the whole, maidan was reverborating with Radha, Gopi where ever you are come here in kannada. Mean while we both started praying to God and bargaining with Him as to what all we will do and will not do once we get back our siblings. We were roaming here and there when suddenly we saw Saroja's elder sister. She was surprised to see us crying and the announcement. She chided us as to what the hungama was about. When we were perplexed she said Gopi and Radha are back home long back and you are here searching for them. It never occured to us that we should go home (which was about half a kilo meter from the temple ) and see if they had gone home.
We got good scoldings from our moms and our siblings got the same from us is a different story.
Even now when I visit the 'mallikarujuna' temple I just smile

India trip

I am back from India. It was a nice trip personally.
I have some observations to make.
When I landed in Bangalore, it was not like going home, as I am always used to going by train and the restlessness which used to start when the train reached krishnarajapuram and started its snails pace (it was an express till then and used to become a passenger stopping at all sundry stations) was absent.
The roads in bangalore have become worse to say the least. This I noticed in national high way from trichi to palani also, which previously used to be a smooth ride. This was due to rains I understand but wonder when they will repair it.
The traffic in Bangalore has reached a nadir. I wonder when the whole city will come to a stand still. Our driver commented, that we might go and come back from tirupathi again, by the time we could reach home, in the city's traffic, once we reached the city limits. It might have been an exaggeration but it was a chaiotic traffic.

Chennai, when I alighted in the Rly. station in the early morning the visibility was almost zero. It was not even 'boghi' festival. I was told that for few days chennai was witnessing this fog, which I had heard about only in Delhi when vinu used to go back after his christmas holidays to Pilani. The result, for the prepaid auto we were charged 90rs. instead of the usual 70rs. One thing which is a blessing in Blore which has not changed is the auto fares and the good drivers.
We had a good darshan at palani and a new addition is the rope way (sky way). We went by it and the scenery was breathtaking from the carriages!(what is it called) They could have got a nice ones like Genting, what they have the rusted iron carriages which are not even painted brightly. The helpers or what ever they are called lock them mannualy and open then with a key . Maybe we have more man power.
We had a wonderful darshan in Tirupathi and thanks to the computer and the webcam, we could book our darshan time from blore it self. The climb was also nice with lovely shelter throughout and nice coffee shops and knick knacks and what not available on the way to the temple town. We were told the crowd was very very negligible and so we could have darshans on both days and our queue time of darshan was less than an hour for 50rs and 100 rs tickets. At one point I thought there may be a stampede as they let in too many people but while nearing the sanctum sanctorium the crowd was thinned out. Though we could have darshan for only a couple of seconds or may be one or two minutes, it was worth it because of our faith. It is a miracle that they manage day in and day out such a large gathering with such ease and I was satisfied with the darshan as hordes of people were waiting for their turn.
One thing which was lovely through out was the food we had in different restuarants. The annapoorna in coimbatore was nice and so also the arya bhavan in dindugal, and palani and the best was the kamat yatri nivas in hoskote on the way back to bangalore.
The fruits and vegetables in Bangalore Gandhi bazar was excellent with north indian gajar to mattar and mocchkkai and what not. The pomegranate was of the best variety which used to be available only in Delhi and was known as kabul variety. The cost was quite high but the quality of the products were really good.
So with mixed feeling I came back only to read in samachar the day I landed here that the airport authority employees were on strike and there was delay in all the international flights and utter confusion in the airports. I thanked God that the strike did not start the previous day.

Grand Parents

Vasu's post about sathabisekam has inspired me to go down the memory lane.
The first satabisekam I attended was of my great grand parents in our village. (my mother's grand parents) I was 8 years old and I remember my great grand parents were really old. Now a days 80 year olds do look much younger! My dad (was the only one) had a camera and we had some few black and white snaps with our great grand parent's vague picture amid smoke. That was my first visit to our village and I remember taking lot of 'elnirs'.
Later after my great grand mom passed away my ggfather came to live with my grand parents. He could never recognnise or remember our names and always used to call me 'karuppayee'or 'olakkayee', may be the names of some farm helpers from his village. This used to make my brother laugh so much and tease me to tears. my grand mother(his daughter in law) never used to talk to him and we were the mediators when my grand father went out for work.

The next sathabisekam was of my own grand parents (father's parents). This was when I was 11 years old. These two were much smarter and the function was held in the local choultry in Bangalore. (where I got married 8 years later). All the grand children were given 10rs. each and I had made a wire bag myself with that money and used it as my school bag. My grand mom liked the bag and wanted one for her which I made and gave her. ( she had kept it with her and used it for another 4 years till her death.) This grand mother wanted to use shampoo which I think had just been introduced in the market and was afraid to use it. So I helped her in shampooing her hair and I think she was thrilled though I don't remember her expressing it.

The next one was to my maternal grand parents who were very very close to all of us. As my mom was the only daughter all the seven of us siblings were the world to them. This was in 1983 and we all joined in organizing it, and was done in chennai with major contribution in organizing by my brother at chennai. We had lost our father by then and my mother was very happy that we all were doing this to her parents. By then I had understood the serenity of the occasion and what it means to live and see a thousand moons (which is what is said about significance of the sathabisekam)
Fortunate are those children who are blessed to celeberate the sathabisekam of their elders, which brings happiness all around.

pasar malam

This word pasar malam always brings little smile to me. The first time I heard this, was from one of my husband's collegue's wife whom I had gone to visit in KL. It was evening time and she suddenly said Hum pasarmalam karenge. I did not understand what she was wanting to do. I said fine. Then she took me to an evening bazaar, the puzzled me got an answer from my hubby later that pasar malam is nothing but an evening market.(pasar is bazar in malay and malam is evening).
Over the years I have learnt to appreciate and like the 'pasar malam' concept and I don't do a pasar malam but I do shop in this market. This is an evening market which is once a week affair, in different locations. Each location has a specific pasar malam day rather evening. The shops are temporary, set in a street (quite busy streets) on the platforms, with battery operated proper lights and tents like shops. You can get flowers, vegetables, fruits, meat and fish and any other non vegetarian items, cooked foods, both veg and non veg, ready made dresses, toys, utensils, knick knacks and what not. The shopkeepers bring their wares in vans and some times sell them from their van also. Each slot is earmarked and numbered the shop keepers pay money to the majlis or the corporation/municipality. Once the market is closed in the night around 10.30/ 11 p.m., the majlis cleans the whole area and the next morning there won't be any trace of the wares or kachadas generated by the shops and the street will be as usual busy buzzing with traffic . The beauty is even while the market is going on cars will be moving in the streets in a snail's pace.
The vegetables and fruits which I buy every week from the pasar malam is fresh and cheap compared to any other shops or super markets, which sell them. We get many times special vegetables which you don't see in the normal markets.
The concept of old santhai or shanty has been modified for the modern day needs and it is done week after week with perfect professionalism where people in mercedes come and buy the things, the place is left as clean as it was before, after the market is over.
We normally buy our urgent needs from our local pasar pagi that is weekly morning market from near by morning sunday market and for our special items, we go quite a distance once a week for our purchase.
This is indeed one of the unique things in malaysia.

Language

I have lot of nice memories about my college days and till today I am maintaining good friendship with my college friends. But this blog is not about those things.
When I sit and think about myself in those days, I feel I was very immature and silly compared to todays kids.
I distintly remember the days when the great language war was raging in tamil nadu. That was in late 60s. There was a big strike in Tamil nadu and it was called hindi agitation which helped DMK to come to power. The hatred was so much that a small time college student was able to defeat a big wig like Kamaraj in State election.
It had small repercussion in Bangalore also. There were lot of speeches supporting kannada, one's mother tongue and sanskrit! also. It was sort of anti hindi and ani english too.

Having brought up in karnataka, (bangalore) and tamil being my mother tongue I always had dual loyalty and love? so to say. Every summer holidays spent in Madras used to drag me into arguments with friends over there, supporting kannada and karnataka. I used to argue so vociferously that my grand ma used to scold me for being so boyish!
Back in Bangalore with my school friends some of whom used to childishly rag me for being a tamilian , it used to be a vociferous argument again but this time supporting tamil and tamilnadu.
Coming back to the agitation, we were so charged up, we refused to answer the roll call in english. Some of my friends answered in kannada and some others answered in sanskrit which I remember distinctly saying 'asmi boh' and I answerd saying 'irukken ayya' (which has been refined these days to 'ullen ayya').
Come to think of it, all those things were just emotional outbursts without thinking properly, just talking and doing things for the sake of doing them. It was all just superfluous ideas without actually going through the topics and things in depth.
Now at this age I can understand that language is for communication and each language has its own sweet ness and it is indeed a blessing to know many languages and to read the literature in each language with its naunces is indeed a great thing.
I wish I had such an understanding at that age and had some mentor who could have talked to us without instigating us with more raw emotions, and taught us how to look at life with a calmness.
Or is it a privelege only age can bring.
About today's kids I do feel they know what they want from life which we especially, I did not know. Some might call today's kids selfish, but if each one is to persue his life without harming others, this world will be a better place to live.