Birth centenary of Dr Nelson Mandela

It was a pleasure to view the Nelson Mandela birth centenary speech by Mr Barack Obama, former US President, in Johannesburg, on BBC World, today.

It is rare to come across inspirational leaders like Nelson Mandela, Rev Dr Martin Luther King and our own Mahatma Gandhi.

Sometimes these leaders are placed on par with self centred politicians . It is a well known fact that Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela were proud to follow Gandhian principles unlike in the case of dubious politicians like K Kamaraj, former Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, who was believed to be a Gandhian, though it was an open secret that he could not resist the temptation of eating chicken curry even in public luncheons and was instrumental in oppressing people of certain castes in Tamilnadu, during his regime. His skewed grudge based policies were followed by other political parties as well resulting in nasty public administration governance permeating across all Tamil Nadu State Government regimes except that under the leadership of Dr MGR.

People centered Governance

While our Central Government seems to be doing well in many development areas, I think that it is high time that the Government should consider law and order as 1st priority. 

It is still common to hear criminals being acquitted, given bail etc with no valid reason. This is obviously because of corrupt police officers and judges (Though honest officers are there in Police and Judiciary, there contribution is overshadowed by others). It is very high time that corrupt officials in Police and Judiciary are given very severe punishment including irreversible life imprisonment or death penalty.

Similarly, criminal friendly advocates who defend criminals in our courts of law should also be given very severe punishment. If they are merely banned from practising their profession, they can still influence and mislead the judiciary processes in the wrong manner. If I remember it correctly, many years back Ram Jethmalani, a senior advocate in the Supreme Court, defended the person who assassinated our former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. I think that this Ram Jethmalani was also made a Minister in former BJP regime/s a few times.

Any advocate who defends criminals or people who go against dhaarmic principles (law) should be accorded irreversible life imprisonment or death penalty. Once this happens, lawyers will also be cautious not to practice in the wrong way.   

Yesterday there was a TV news report that the Tamil Nadu Government is going to release life imprisonment convicts on a day of national importance (the date of which I don't remember). Due to some problem my TV doesn't work since this afternoon (though this has nothing to do with payment as I am always prompt in payments and I have paid to TATA SKY for a year's connection). Hence I can't find the date and occasion on which these criminals will be released.  

All of us Indians know that this is not the first time that such a thing happens. I think that such moves are very bad as these criminals will continue their evil works after they get released. I think that our Governments and political parties should not be allowed to do any thing that they like for selfish reasons if their wrong action can cause problems to common folk.

People of my age may remember that in Tamil Nadu, it was only during the time duration when Mr MGR's was the chief minister that such wrong actions were not taken and that during DMK regime such actions were common. 

Nearly three months back I had mentioned that my cousin (my maternal aunt's son) Shreedhar was recovering from an illness after discharge from the hospital. Nearly two months back, he passed away. I fondly remember him. 

Indian pride at the Commonwealth Games 2018

It was nice to know that sportsmen and women from our country brought laurels to our country at a far higher level than ever before in the recent  Commonwealth Games held in Australia. I think that our Prime Minister and his team needs to be thanked for all the encouragement and facilities accorded to deserving people from all walks of life. 

In the past few weeks many religious and historically important events such as Hanumad Jayanthi, Veda Vyaasa Jayanthi, NaraSimha Jayanthi, Parasuraama Jayanthi and the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr took place. I'll write about these in my future posts whenever I find time. Along with the above mentioned, at a closer level, Sudha Mohan, my maternal aunt's daughter passed away. I fondly remember. Hope her husband Mohan and daughters Aruna and Aparna bear the circumstance. Sudha's brother Shreedhar, who lives in Vijaya Nagaram, was admitted in the hospital and discharged; I am told by his daughter that he is recovering. The period also marked one year since my beloved mother passed away. I fondly remember her.

Due to some technical problem with my Notebook and Wi-fi system and consequent mishandling of the problem by incompetent technicians I could not use blogger for several weeks. Thanks to the most recent technician for having fixed my problem. I'll continue writing as before, whenever I find time. Thanks.

As we all know, today we live in a world of increasing crimes. India is no exception.

This morning there was a news item about a school management in Kerala suspending a boy and girl for hugging each other. The parents have gone to court. Interestingly, the TV Channel (Times Now) brought an important question as to whether schools are moral guardians. The answer would be a definite "Yes".

I don't think that any k-12 School can be considered to impart education without giving importance to moral values.

Schools should be allowed to administer non- harsh punishment to students if they deviate from discipline. But before administering punishment the school ought to communicate moral values to children just like how affectionate parents would do.  (This is particularly essential today when grand parents are neglected and parents view monetary gains to be more important than disciplining their children).

Most of our schools teach how to make a living but not how to live.

India and the global movie fans will remember veteran actor Sashi Kapoor, who passed away yesterday, for years to come.

Today is an auspicious day in the Hindu calender.  This is the birth anniversary of Dattatreya, trinity avataar of Brahma, Maha Vishnu and Shiva. Following picture shows the vigrahaa of the Trinity and Shree Ganapathi Satchitananda Swamiji, a very well known devotee of Dattatreya at the Datta Peetam that he runs at Mysore (India).