Swamy Vivekananda

12 January was the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.

Sankraanthi Fest

In India, Hindu people in states such as Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Punjab offer special worship to Sun God and celebrate 3 days (13 to 15 January) to mark the end of rice harvesting season. More importantly they celebrate it as anniversary of several important incidents as mentioned in Hindu scriptures. I'll write about them when I find time. 

Software, sensibility and Shreedhar

We all know that sharing messages and media has become very easy with WhatsApp and that it is also misused like other technology backed social media tools. But fortunately as in other media platforms, there are exceptions in WhatsApp too. As I have mentioned in my posts earlier, effects of these tools depends on the user.

I and two of my first cousins share greetings with each other somewhat regularly. These two guys viz. Madhusudhan Rao (Madhu) and Shreedhar are sons of my late maternal aunt who was very straight-forward and non-gossipy like my mother (for which reasons some people didn't like the two ladies).

It is amazing that Shreedhar finds time in early mornings before going to a bank for work to select very nice `Good Morning’ pictures and videos. Many of the pics centre round simple and meaningful themes and are very rich in quality (colour contrast, background etc etc). Following is one such picture sent by him, thanks to Shreedhar and WhatsApp: 

Vaikunta Ekaadashi

Yesterday was a very auspicious day for most people who worship Shree Lakshmi Naarayanaa. The day, which comes annually, is known as `Vaikunta Ekaadashi'. Devotees of Lord Lakshmi Naaraayana celebrate it today according to their traditions.

Shree Lakshmi Naaraayanaa

Post production problem

In general, we all take pride in what we produce (such as a good book, a meaningful painting etc). It is human nature. But it doesn't work positively in the toilet particularly so in apartments where toilets face each other. I don't understand why some people don't flush their toilets immediately after every time they defecate. I think that it will be nice if we humans can use our ability to reason (that does not exist in other animals) properly.     

A few days back, there was a news item on TV that the former pension chief got arrested in South Korea on charges of corruption. The culprit was handcuffed and taken to prison. (In 1981, nearly 150 school teachers from India were recruited to work in Government schools in Ethiopia. Sebastian (Sebastian Perumcheril John) and I were posted to Endaselassie, a remote village. On the first day, when we locked our rooms as we left for school, our local colleagues were surprised. They told us that none in the village locked their doors as there was no security problem at all. They said that police always kept guard in civilian dress all the time and if they saw any one indulging in crime, they would punish the person severely. This kept people away from indulging in crimes).

R to L: Sebastian and I with a colleague's daughter in front of our rooms

I think that such a form of punishment should be followed in our country, whoever is the culprit. The punishment should be severe enough that none would dare even to imagine going against law and order.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of viewing a nice travel show on Maldives on Travel XP Channel channel. Whenever I see or hear about this beautiful country I can't help remembering my good friend Jose (Jose Kottuthundiyil Cherian) who served there as HOD English and Principal in schools. (He and I were colleagues in a school in Bhutan in the late '70s. We lost contact for many years until a few years back, thanks to the Internet). I'll post his photo when he sends me one.

Sink sanity

Most people do works just like how others do. But some people do the same works differently (so that the work can be completed more efficiently). I belong to the second category though at first seen as a sort of `eccentric'. 

We all know that kitchen sinks are sources of mosquitoes, cockroaches and other living organisms that can harm our health. We also know that these organisms feed on kitchen trash. In order to minimise the inflow of these organisms, I always make it a point to close any sink-bound utensil with a lid before placing it in the sink (as shown in the photo below):

(The photo is upside down. I tried to insert it in the proper orientation, but couldn't. I regret the tech problem which I'll try to sort out when I find time. Sorry for inconvenience).

It is always better to place any utensil away from the centre so that when we open the sink tap, the water doesn't spill out from the utensil.

These are all simple (probably uncommon) ways of functioning with significant benefits.

Yesterday, after several weeks, I bumped into a very meaningful malayalam movie "Aathma Kathaa" meaning "Soul's Story", on Bharat Channel. This morning as I write this post, I hear a nice rendering by Placebo, a German rock band, on DW TV. Any entertainment medium isn't bad as long as it is meaningful. 

A few days back, Goswami Gaurav Krishnaji was narrating a small incident in one of his discourses on Srimad Bhaagavatham: An inspecting officer was visiting a school to assess the quality of education imparted to children. During his visit to a class, he asked the students, "Who broke Shiv Dhanush?" Students said that they didn't know. This happened in all classrooms. He presented this question to teachers. They also said that they didn't know. Eventually he called the headmaster and asked the same question. The headmaster replied, "Sir, I really don't know. By the way I didn't break it. As whatever has happened cannot be undone, please don't worry about it any more."   

Any one who read the Indian Epic Raamaayanaa would know that it was Lord Shri Raam who broke the Shiv Dhanush during Goddess Sita Devi's Swayamvaram and married her.

This incident gives a somewhat correct picture of what is happening in our K-12 schools. Our schools seem to teach our children as to how to make a living (in any manner)  but not how to live.