Krishnaa Fest

Today is one of the most auspicious days to Hindu people. This is the day on which Shree Mahaa Vishnu took avatar as Krishnaa. According to scriptures, He was born with full ornaments befitting The Almighty, a little after moon-rise on this day nearly 5000 years back in Dwaapara Yugam.

Engineering marvels of ancient Indians

This morning there was a very informative programme about contributions of Indian kings in Cambodia on `NATGEO People' TV channel.

Oddly, such amazing facts of history are not even mentioned in our school history textbooks.

Instead of inculcating values including taking pride in our heritage and contribution of our ancestors, parents and teachers of today seem to place aggressively strong pressure on children only to score marks, succeed in the job market and live comfortably. In other words we seem to be keen on transforming our youngsters into money making machines.

Every right minded school academic in our country knows as to how value education is arrogantly pushed aside in favour of other curricular subjects for no right reason such that our youngsters are stressed and arrogant without knowing their roots.  

Bringing up children now and then (years back)

This morning in his discourse, an ISKCON Mumbai aacharya mentioned as to how important it is for mothers to train children to respect their fathers. Yes indeed, it used to be like this when we were young.

It was around 2 PM on a hot day in March 1971. When I returned home from college after writing my 1st day's exam related to my B Sc Degree, I realised that I had dropped my hall-ticket unknowingly either in the bus or at the bus stops.  My father got very angry because I was careless and asked me to search for the hall-ticket and said that I could have my lunch only after I brought back my hall-ticket though my mother requested for a less stringent punishment. I couldn't disobey my father's order. I searched at the bus-stops, but in vain. Due to exhaustion I couldn't prepare for my next day's exam as well as I had expected.  But still it was important that my father's order had to be obeyed.

My parents, like many parents in my generation, were strict when it came to children's behaviour. Like many good mothers of those days, my mother too  had always tried to convince us that our father was right and that we needed to respect our father and obey him.

Raghavendra Swami's punya dina

Today is an auspicious day for Hindu people in general and people like me who follow Maadhwaa traditions in particular. This day is celebrated as Raaghavendra Swaami's 'punya dina'.

Hayagreeva Jayanthi

Today is an auspicious day in the Hindu calender. This day is celebrated as Hayagreeva Jayanti.  Lord Hayagreeva, an avataar of Shri Mahaa Vishnu is worshipped today.

Independence day

As we celebrate our 70th independence day, our country seems to forge forward. But still, we have a long way to go.

When we were of school going age, independence day used to be celebrated meaningfully with a lot of good fun. But today, our children and youngsters have no time for obvious reasons rightly or wrongly.

I and my mother reside in one of the 150 or so apartments situated on one of the main roads in the city. We reside in 3rd block and my brother and his family reside in the next block. Though I am not a very pushy guy like my brother or my dad, I do try to keep cordial relations with people around me. Though I have always tried to keep a low profile in public functions, I could not succeed in refusing our Apartment Owners Association office bearers' request to hoist the national flag and deliver a speech this morning . 

As I mentioned in my brief 5 minutes speech after hoisting our national flag, our youngsters have important roles to play in eradicating evils and contributing to multidimensional development at different  levels.

I think that  problems of corruption, environmental pollution and  poverty should be solved effectively.

A few years  back I was employed as Curriculum  Specialist by  a Delhi based k-12 Assessment Company with offices in the US. I worked for nearly 4 months but was paid only a month's salary. I had lodged complaint to Delhi police as well as Tamilnadu Government Police  Department's Cyber Cell. Still there is no response from them. While the situation is so inert at the Government level, profile of the rogue founder of the fraudulent Company is still active displaying that he is a product of Colombia University, New York.

I think that we need drastic changes in how Government Agencies handle law and order at least from now on, 70 years since independence.

Shree Mahaa Lakshmi Vratham and Krishnaa Mahaa Pushkarani Fest

Today is auspicious to Hindu people for two reasons. This day is observed as Shree Mahaa Lakshmi Vratham. Today is also the beginning of Krishnaa river Mahaa Pushkarani festival lasting up to 21 August.