A day's experience with the systems and procedures in India

Ufffff......It was in July that I shifted my residence from a godown...err... sorry, a bachelor's accomadation in Choolaimedu to Middle class residential area of Nanganallur, Chennai.
And I was supposed to get: Gas connection, New address proof for this residence, Change my Landline Telephone connection to this address and get Ration card to this address... Sorry I forgot the following too... Change address in Bank accounts, PAN Card oh.... a lot more.

Getting a gas connection literally S*CK*D....
I went to the Prathana Gas agency near Madipakkam Koot Road.
Enquired for getting a gas connection:
She told write your address. They ll come for verification.
Step 1: Writing your address

We waited. We both were working and the house will remain locked during the working hours.
The verification guy came and called. I said we will not be available in working hours.  After a few days, one of our relatives thankfully stayed a few days at home and they helped by being available at the time of the prime minister... sorry.. the verification guy's arrival.

Step 2: Make yourself available irrespective of your office or any trivial thing of that sort when the guy comes for verification.

Unfortunately, we were using a cylinder at the time of his arrival and so he asked how it came there and if we were already using why register. (come on man... How do we eat if we wait for your damn connec****tion). We wrote a letter pleading (begging) that we were using our relative's connection and its not ours.

Step 3: Be careful that you dont use any cylinder at the time of verification guy's arrival. If you were using, u should be able to provide whose cylinder it is and get their signature also.

(Long sigh)

That guy gave a  slip for verification (made of Gold??)

Like a weak little humble all believing goat, I took the slip and went to the same old agency. That building looked more familiar. I gave the address proff, ID proof and that golden slip. I was told that a letter will be delivered to me and I was asked to bring that letter to that office. We waited patiently for a month.

Step 4: Take that golden slip, with address proof and ID proof. Be ready to get the scronful look if you dont have a ration card or voter's id for the address proof. I submitter HR letter from my office.

Step 5: WAIT and BE PATIENT

Step 6: Check if 3 and a half months has passed from Step 4.

Step 7: If the answer to step 6 is yes and still you didnt get any platinum letter from them, call and check what happened to your registration papers amidst their busy heap of golden documents. If the answer is No, refer Step 5 two times.

A single sheet was received after 3 and a half months. It took 4 days for me to take it to their office and ask what to do with that paper platinum. They said bring Rs.6500 for two cylinders. That divinity at the counter opened her lips and uttered that final boon, I thought. Happily I came home.

Took leave of office today i.e., 8th December 2011 for this duty of getting a gas connection and few other important duties. Went there and asked for it. I said I did not want a stove. She looked at me and then said, we will come for verification. ( Me, the poor fellow was not informed, why and what for is the verification)

I just came home and wrote this blog. (Big sigh)

Step 8: Refer Step 5

Coming to EB:

I parked the bike in a shade of a tree and went up there with all the required things. Waited. Waited. I thought the Queue will move. I waited. No it didnt move. I waited. No it didnt work. There were five counters. But only two were open. The other three were closed with daily sheet calendars with Lord Muruga showing his smiling face and Abhaya Hastha. I took it to be the need of the hour. and I waited.

Long sigh.

Not even one person moved. Fed up. I came home to make the online payment to EB.
And till now, I am refreshing the EB page.

God knows if I had made the payment even at this second.
Thanks to our systems and Procedures.

Ooooffff......... Retiring.

My blogperience

My first post was in April 2010. Right from it, I have posted a few posts.
Mostly to keep logs of what I think and What I do and to find people with similar interest and also to quench the thirst of writing in public.

But sadly, its not upto my mark. I wanted my blog to be filled with a lot of visits, discussions, comments and to create a big public awareness and a meeting spot for cultural discussions, spiritual discussions and sometimes a hangout point for a bored youth. Too much eh?  Yeah...It should be....

But where is my blog now? Its just a nanomicron in the cloud.
What should I do to make my blog a hub?

1.Be thematic. But before that find what is my theme? It could be travel, It could be people etc. A blog should be a one stop for one particular thing
2.Be creative. In words, In design, In flow. Be Crisp.
3.Be-lieve that my blog can become popular because there are more people in the world looking out what they need.
4.Send links to as many as possible. Advertisement works. Cant rely on google all the time to direct to my blog.
5.Key words are the key.

Following these one can make a blog popular. The journey begins......

Why??

1.Travelling to my native makes me excited. But not with high decibel sound service show offs mourning their lost love in a public bus. Especially when there could be one or two with head aches or would be happily travelling to their own happy destinations, Vaazve maayam playing in that China handset makes me hell impatient. Why?

2. I visited a temple this weekend. Many happy children were playing along. One mother asked a child: He is also (pointing to another kid) of your age. Look at him. How dutiful and knowledged he is? Why couldnt you be so?

And then the mother came along in front of the God and knelt before him and took the Mangala haarathi and left with him quietly to take prasaadham.

Why parents compare and bring about inferiority complex?? Why couldnt they treat two lives equal? If they believe in the so called God, aren't all the lives his products? Can then the same so called God make a mistake? If answer is yes, why pray him?

Don't they connect?

1.Margazhi month - early morning - fog - chill condensed oxygen - rangoli - female brain - network - sikku kolam: It makes sense to me

2.Peepul tree - always a ganesh - upanayanam - peepul branch - naagar idols - intertwined naagas - ida and pingala - kundalini - naagar chaturthi - aadi maasam - separation of young newly married couples: Hidden connections revealed

3.Srirangam - 7 prakaarams - 7 chakras - body - temple - meru structure - meru dhanda: supreme connections

4.Dan Brown - Angels and Demons - Illuminati - 5 symbols - Pancha bootha - pagans - Hindus: The lost connection

Tamizh.....

சிந்திக்க வைக்கும் வரிகள்...... Facebook இல் கண்டது.

Andhili, Arakandanalloor

A solitary road diverges from the Villupuram - Thirukkovilur main road near Arakandanallur police station..
This road will take you to a place called Andhili, a small village... sorry... I would rather call it a hamlet....

A slow and silent river (South Pennar), few hills here and there on its banks... Two small shrines on two of those hills... Greenish paddy fields all around with plenty of water thru the canals cut out from the river... Big Banyan and Peepul Trees... innocent village people... What more do you want on earth??

This is in peak summer...so the river is dry... By October, this place will be flourishing with life energy.

Can you locate the shrine....
and the peepul trees...

All these are at andhili... Near Narasimha swamy temple...

I spent nearly three months for preparing my CA Final Exams. Everyday morning I come to this place with my books... brush teeth with fresh neem stick from the tree grown on the river bank... do my morning chores.. take bath in the river... and then sit for study at the small shrine...This I did continuosly for three months...

But how long will u sit with your books... I just wander out in the river or climb a hill and explore it... Feeling like a stone age man... And then my thought process brought me to a state of mind where I felt like there is no need for anything else than just living... That I consider is a real learning than the CA subjects... Nature taught me few other things too... (thats a different post)

Summary of my thoughts there:
At that moment I lost interests in jobs, money, city life etc coz.........

All a human need to do is to live... wherever he be... whatever he does... To put in one word he is living

To live means living a life with nature without disturbing any damn thing on the very earth...
To live means living with other living things just like what happens in a forest...
To live is to breath fresh air right from beneath a big tree...
To live is to drink clean water whenever you want just by walking to the river bank (forgetting sump, water motor, water carrying trucks, city corporation)
To live is to live in a place where you can think what why and hows of this very existence....
To live is to live not worrying coz trees animals and other micro organisms which are very primitive forms of life compared to humans dont worry for a damn thing....
To live is to live lively....
All these happens at Indian villages.... where life is at its fullest vibration....
By a river side... On on a silent hill or mountain... On lonely beaches...In forest....

Want to be in a village and explore more of the self....

Well, When I read it again before clicking the publish button.... I could see the drift in topic... but could not help it... Let this be a verbal graph of my thought process....

Commetz plzzzzz.....

English and Sanskrit

There has been a Mahabharatha going on between people who argue that Sanskrit is an indigenous Indian Language, born and raised in India and those who argue that Greek, Latin and Sanskrt had a common source and the aryans who spoke that common source moved from central asia to NorthWestern Indian plains.

Im not going there because I dont know anything about that. But I was awestruck by the traces of similarity between English and Sanskrt. Ill post a few words. You add if you find any.

     English - Sanskrt
1. Three - Tri (Triguna, Triloka)
2.September - Saptami
3.October - Ashtami                      Though these are not exactly the 7th,8th,9th or 10th month
4.Novemeber - Navami                        there must sure be a story behind it.
5.December - Dasami
6.Antonyms prefixing the sound 'a' - symmetrical  X Assymetrical; Neeti X Aneeti (U can build many like 
   these)
7.Dental (Something related to tooth) - Dantha (Ekadantha-ganapathy where tusk is nothing but tooth)
8. Centre - Kendra (In English C is sometimes pronounced as K rite? Try it that way)

Ill keep editing and posting more when it occurs.
You can also add in comments.

But why all these? Coz Im just curious......

bharathiyin kavidhaichaaru

கண்ணன் பாட்டு:

பாரதியின் கவிதைகளிலேயே என்னை மிகவும் கவர்ந்தது இந்த கண்ணன் பாட்டு என்பேன். கண்ணனை தோழனாக, அரசனாக, மகளாக, காதலனாக, காதலியாக பாவித்து பாரதி புனைந்த அற்புதம் அது.

அவற்றுள் சில வரிகள் என்னை வெகுவாகக்கவர்ந்தன:

கண்ணன் என் தோழன்:

பொன்னவிர் மேனி சுபத்திரை மாதை புறங்கொண்டு போவதற்கே இனி என்ன வழி எனக்கேட்கில் உபாயம் இருகணத்தே உரைப்பான்.

இதில் இரு  கணம் என்பதை கூர்ந்து நோக்குக. அடுத்த வரி:

அந்த கன்னன் வில்லாளர் தலைவனை கொன்றிட காணும் வழி  ஒன்றில்லேன் வந்திங்கு உன்னை அடைந்தனன் என்னில் உபாயம் ஒருகணத்தே உரைப்பான்.

அந்த உபாயத்திற்கு இரு கணம். இதற்கு ஒரே கணம் தான்!!!! போர் கண்ணனுக்கு எவ்வளவு எளிது என்பதை இந்த நுணுக்கதிலிருந்து அறிய வைக்கிறார் பாரதி.

காதல் விளைய மயக்கிடும் பாட்டினில் கண்மகிழ் சித்திரத்தில் பகை மோதும் படைத்தொழில் யாவினுமே திறம் முற்றிய பண்டிதன் கான்.

இதில் கண்ணனின் பூரணத்வம் எளிமையாக கூறப்பட்டுள்ளது. செய்யும் அனைத்திலும் வெற்றி......

கண்ணன் என் தந்தை:

இதில் கண்ணனை இன்பமாக இகழ்கிறார் பாரதி.

செல்வத்திர்கோர் குறை இல்லை, எந்தை சேமித்து வைத்த பொன்னுக்கு அளவொன்றில்லை.

கல்வியில் மிகச்சிரந்தோன், அவன் கவிதையின் இனிமை ஓர் கணக்கிலில்லை.

பல்வகை மான்பினிடையே கொஞ்சம் பயித்தியம் அடிக்கடி தோன்றுவதுண்டு.

நல்வழி செல்லுபவரை மனம் நையும் வரை சோதனை செய் நடத்தை உண்டு.

முதலில் படித்த போது இது ஒரு வஞ்சப்புகழ்ச்சியாக, தனிச்சுவையாக இருந்த வரி. எண்ணி எண்ணி ரசித்தேன்.

கண்ணன் என் சேவகன்:

இதைக்கேளுங்கள்....

கூலி மிகக்கேட்பார், கொடுத்தெல்லாம் தாம் மறப்பார்.

வேலை மிக வைத்திருந்தால் வீட்டிலே தங்கிடுவார்.

ஏனடா நேற்றைக்கு நீ இங்கு வரவில்லை? என்றால்...

பானையிலே தேள் இருந்து பல்லால் கடித்தது என்பார்.

வீட்டில் பெண்டாட்டி மேல் பூதம் வந்தது என்பார்.

இப்படியாக நகைச்சுவையுடன் கூடிய பல்சுவை மிகுந்த வரிகள் கண்ணன் பாட்டினில் காணலாம்.

கண்ணன் என் அரசன்:

இதில் கண்ணனில் நையாண்டி செய்து பின்பு உச்சியில் ஏற்றுவார் பாரதி.

முதல் சில வரிகளில்....

பகைமை முற்றி முதிர்ந்திடும் மட்டிலும் பார்த்திருப்பதல்லால் ஒன்றும் செய்திடான்.

நகை புரிந்து பொருத்து பொருத்தையோ நாட்கள் மாதங்கள் ஆண்டுகள் போக்குவான்.

இடையன் வீரமில்லாதவன் அஞ்சினோன் என்றவர் சொல்லும் ஏச்சிற்கு நாணிலான்.....

என்பன போல் சொல்லிவிட்டு...

பிற்பகுதியில்....

காலம் வந்து கை கூடுமப்போதிலோர் கணத்திலே புதிதாக விளங்குவான்.

ஆலகால விடத்தினை போலவே அகிலமுற்றும் அசைந்திடச்சீருவான்....

என்று நெகிழச்செய்கிறார் பாரதி.

இன்னும் பல்சுவை கொண்ட பாரதியின் கவிதைச்சாரினை பருகி இன்புறுக.

My pet dog Somu

It was a stormy evening in my village, when I was leisurely enjoying the Cartoon Network Channel, say The Scooby Doo Movies and The Popeye Show.

uuuoooon....uuuoooonnn...uuuooooo.....uuuuoooooonnnn....

I barely cared.

The TV and my mom's scolding continued to play. My father was cursing for not letting him to watch the 8'O clock news. We thought News was the ugliest thing which could occur on such an entertaining device. A singular face, looking at us like a moron and moving the lips uttering unusual sounds was boring to the core.

uuuoooon....uuuoooonnn...uuuooooo.....uuuuoooooonnnn....

I tried to care a little and then dropped the idea of finding where this very familiar sound is coming from, in this stormy evening. Because I know, if I attend to it, it will become of burden of responsibility. I tried to concentrate on my own troubles like, how Im gonna handle my Tamil teacher the next morning, for I didnt complete the imposition. I was devising many techniques to spend as little time at home as possible, in doing things which in any remote way is related to school.

uuuoooon....uuuoooonnn...uuuooooo.....uuuuoooooonnnn....

uuuoooon....uuuoooonnn...uuuooooo.....uuuuoooooonnnn....

Impulse drove me out in the direction of that sound. There laid, in the adjacent plot, amidst wet sand and mud, a poor little light brownish living thing, which elders of our place use to call 'a dog'. I dont know how it happened to come there, who was its mom or which Rakshas left it there. All I wanted to do was to feed it with little warm milk and bring it home and make it feel little cozy. I went out and looked at it and observed it closely. My brother with umbrella in his hands, extended it involuntarily to cover the pup from rain. The pup little raised its poor eyebrows and looked at us. There was a thousand words in that one look. It said....

Oh! Atlast some mercy in the world.....
Please.... Give me some food and shelter....
Who are you guyz? Are you gonna hurt me? Please dont....Ill myself die in another few minutes...
And many other words in just one look...

I was in my VIII class by then. I had to get permission from my mom for doing anything new. My mom came out and looked at us critically, asked a few questions about it and asked us to leave it there and come in coz it was raining. It was not a high quality breed but the common type found on South Indian roadside. The highly disgusting animal for many Indian households. But for me and my brother, it looked like a poor living thing appealing for some food and life, which were its birthright. I searched for its mom, the only thing which can wipe of the sorrow in just a second.

Then we decided to give it some shelter below the staircase which leads to the terrace of our house. We picked two old gunny bags and made a bed for it. I brought a kottankuchi, after ensuring that none of the eyes of the wooden cup are open, poured little milk into it and took it towards the mouth of the creature. It smelled the milk and rose upon its feet and drank it hungrily. With every lick of the milk the creature made, I was growing happy as if my tummy was getting full. It finally licked it and cleaned its new wooden cup, rolled its tongue around its mouth, raised its head and looked at us. We tried it with little more milk. It worked only to half the cup and then it went to sleep for the night. Fully satisfied of the good deed I did for the night, I slept happily.

From next morning we started feeding it daily and without knowing we adopted it as our pet. The pup chose the space below the staircase as its home and we could always find it there. It got used to our faces and voices. I was surprised and happy and grateful all at once when my mom gave me an old plastic bowl as a plate for the pup.

Namakaranam: A week later, it became part of our family. We were calling it 'Naai kuty'. But its not the usual practice with pets. That evening we discussed and finally chose the name as 'Somu' (because Ramu was a very common dog name in those days and we didn't want to copy bcoz it was not exam time).

Another week slowly wagged off... sorry... went by....
And Somu got used to its name. We often call it by name and rejoice when it turns its head in the direction of the voice calling its name. Ill do all experiments. Ill go to the backyard, terrace, verandah window and try call its name, to double check whether it accepted its name and knows that. I felt proud when it responds for its name coz Im the one who converted it from a 'Naai kutty' to Somu.

After months, people in the locality started accepting the pup too and to add to my happiness they too called it Somu. I sometimes proudly share the namakaranam experience with the other children of the locality. They also started feeding it. Somu slowly became our locality's dog. Everyday, it will get food in some house. But wherever it went, it came to its home for sleeping. Daily night we will spend some time together sitting out. Somu will also sit with us and listen to us. We were not sure if it understood when we talked about it. One evening it saved us from a big bug (Nattuvaakkaali) bite. Whenever we come home after a long absence, vooowh... it will act crazy licking all of us, coming round and round, uttering crazy sounds.

A neighbourhood kid used to sit on it and go for a Naai savaari.  It never bites anyone. It was a warm and friendly dog to everyone. Atlast one day it was killed by a pig shepherd in the midnight because it used to be a hindrance for the pigs to cross our area. Pitifully we buried it near the paddy fields. I was again surprised when my mom cried on its death and I didnt. Of course I was very sad and eventually I forgot. But whenever I see that guy, I mean that pig shepherd I get the memories of my Somu.

Is that just another day? The April 8th 1986?????

My grandma (mom's mom) was dead when my mom was six months pregnant. So my mom was sent to Trichy to her elder sister's house, who obviously took charge of the midwife post.
I, who did not know (till now) where from I came to my mom's womb, who did not know anything happening in the outside world, was silently awaiting the D-Day.

The D-Day came and it happened to be my birthday. 8th April 1986 in Srirangam, a temple town in Trichy.... I was born (so was I told)....

Today is 5th May 2011 9:30AM Sriperumbudur..... There was ample time between these two singularly peculiar dots on the eternal timeline.... yes... I guess its eternal even to me....

What did I do in all these time? To put frankly, nothing. I just lived (Thank god, I did something atleast). Like any other living thing (I didnt use the word human)....

I lived... I took some food, grew, went to school, tried to learn something about the world around me sought all sort of happiness, and kept doing it over and over....(I dont remember asking why I was sent to school... All children of my age were going to school.... If I didnt go, that wud ruin my life... I will not have the material advantages like others... I will be an odd man out... My mom and dad did not either asked the question... why should a child be sent to school? Why? Seeking the answer to that one logical question wud have given answers to many unanswered questions which followed....But no one did.... Neither did I)

At the same time in a remote jungle in some remotest part of India, was born a monkey (on the same D-Day).... It was not sent to shcool... It was taught by its mom and dad and friends how to jump and climb... How to do whatever it is supposed to do... It ate, grew, sought all sort of happiness.

Lets take these two living things and compare:

Me on one side and the good monkey on the other side. We both know to eat, grow and seek happiness. So whats the difference?

Monkey is subject to no ethics....Is that good? Monkey knows no good and bad...There is no feeling called guilty in its life... or is there any feeling at all? It can steal from any house for its food... whereas my food is attained thru dharmic means... I was subject to rights and wrongs... Why? Why is there a difference between two living things? No Ill reframe my question. Why is there a difference between all living things and human beings? Why humans are subject to ethics? Who brought about these differences? What good does it make to mankind? What if I go to no job and roam like a hermit and steal and eat wherever I find food and spend my days living a life which would be no different from what Im doing now?? What if everyone does that?

Ok that apart... Does the attainment of ethical resources to attain ethical pleasure does any good to me? Should I continue doing that so that some point of time Ill go to heaven, the very existence of which Im not sure about.

Why????? Well now what's the link between the topic and this content? I was born. What extra did I do when compared to the Monkey. In what way does human life differ from that of any other living thing? Are ethics the only difference? If so what's the use of ethics? I literally didnt know the answer. But there must be something more. I was not born on to die like that monkey does. There must be a HUGE difference between the D-Day and the day I finally close my eyes. Im trying to work on that. I think I confused enough.

Now its time to Jump and climb... C ya..

Summmmmmm.....er

Why this post?
Well....
May be becoz I got bored in this typical summer, sitting in Sriperumbudur, on a rolling chair with this monitor in front of me, typing this post, whereas in my hometown, Manampoondi, a riverside village near Thirukkovilur, following activities happen unnoticed:

School children enjoying the question paper tearing, book dumping, ink sprinkling and shouting ceremony on the last day of Annual Exams,

Thenpennai is totally dry with only the sand mafia bullock carts, (the only indifferent thing in any season), the long forgotten cricket bats are dusted up and brought back to action in many houses, and the agricultural fields in the outskirts are subjected to landscape maintanence work with suddenly sprouting unity among the group.

Power cuts in the scorching noon time makes the entire street and all its houses a playground for Hide n seek to the children who believes that they have got all the time till eternity (one and a half month hardly, coz schools will reopen in June, But the smell of new books and notebook, new uniforms and shoes, new pen... ahh.. that's another post) to play.

Moms pleading the boys to have lunch, Dads scolding them to read math tables.... (Oh Gosh.. My dad wanted me to recite 16table backwards... I remember wondering if its humanly possible, and till date the only thing I remember is sixteen sixteens are two fifty six)....

Time to explore the dark areas of the village, say the forbidden hill, the haunted white building near the railway track, the river underneath the steel bridge which is rumoured to have no bed at all etc.(what du think? The children are up one standard by next year... They are growing)

Time for travelling to relatives' houses and playing with cousins.... Time to explore other villages too... There may be a new girl in the neighbourhood of cousin's houses who also has to come to vacation..

Oh... Sorry... Boss calling....GTG.... Happy summer schoolkids... :-(