DISCOUNT DAMAKA

I am geared UP to become rich, might be I would be moving into a new dwelling unit,spacious and with lot of space and storage units ,because you know I have started to think about using the one time fortune that is comming my way.
well wondering whether , got those billion dollar lottery that comes thro sms ,NO. this is different and real, only thing is I have to step into one of the many departmental stores that is available.Which does not miss an opportunity to make us smart save money in the unusual way.
Yeah I have been going thro  these fabulous ! offers  that has been catching my attention
1) I can purchase 2kg of sugar,5kg of cooking oil and 5kg of ashirwad atta at a throw away price of rs 611/-
and save a big sum of rs 163/-
2)A 3.5kg tide washing powder is now coming at a discounted price of rs 226/- i also get 5 soaps free and a huge savings of  rs 100
3) Buy 950 grams of tea leaves only at rs 220 and  gain Rs 60 over your smart buy.
Well these are just a sample of the many whooping offers that have been thrown at me and I am sure
am gonna become cash plus and think about some major purchases or options of trading. too.WITH THE SAVED MONEY
Dons you feel the above activities of marketing are nothing but baits spread to hook innocent people.
My reasoning would be more logical if I explain with examples,going by my monthly average that I spend on provisions which ranges from  Rs 3500-4000, which is still a lavish spend, do you think I can park RS 611/-(almost 20%) of my budget to cough up with 3 items for making a good decision of saving Rs 163.
Further when my consumption rate on monthly basis for these items, is not even 1/5Th of what I have to get. how do I stock them up? that's why I said I would be moving into new dwelling place.
Once I purchase these items, does it not become my responsibility to prevent these item from any termite attacks and preserving too.
So ultimately you know who is the gainer ,the shop fellow who sells more, vacates his stocking area and also dumps you with storage options(Smart way is'nt it) he COULD GET THE ABOVE BENEFITS AT A PARTLY 163 rupee(Marketing hype!)
IT might not be out of place to mention that our normal spending, has  increased  with the advent of such super markets because, we don't have the required quantum,where availability is only in larger packs,We knowing fill up our carts with items not required, because they have drawn our attention.And we are forced to compromise with brands which we do not relish, for the laziness of visiting another shop.these are some of the  inevitable evils of shopping in super markets.
Now lets see what can happen ,if the much described and put on hold FDI in retail market  is brought in India.
 India has the uniqueness of having a huge population of 122 billion, spread in 64 lakh villages(72%) and the remaining 28% accommodated in 6000 towns. 6.8 billion of this population are classified as slum dwellers with no pucca houses, Hardly 3.8% of the above population is employed in the govt sector and the others have been left to design their destiny for livelihood.in the form of petty shops,vegetable vendor,fish vendor,tea shops and road side eateries.
India by way of its diversified culture is represented with different food habits,different dress-codes and value systems, Which means branding and giving you a uniform service delivery across the country  is ruled out. .Above all, we are well versed in preserving techies,BE it MUTTON,FISH,VEGITABLES,Are we not pioneer in pickling them and storing them.WHEN THIS IS THE CASE ,why should I give away my comfort zone of purchasing corriander leaves for 1/- rupee, when I am are half way thro with my favorite  dish, from my next door vendor than driving .to a Departmental store.(See I  save on petrol and pollute the environment less )
   

THE "Dee" FACTOR

"Dee", is one word which I have resisted using against anyone , and it is also my last astra ,what I would like to use when I want to inflict a person with a maximum INSULT.But this word is now of international fame,I was in Pune a few weeks back,the cab driver was very impressed to listen to this song and could bear with a series of Tamil songs being played enroute , I  was into a shop the shop keeper a Hindi wala was inquiring from which part of south INDIA I was?When i said Chennai, His immediate response was Oh that Kolaveri song is good ,But he also  wanted to know What is Kolaveri ? when I gave the right literal meaning" Mudrerous rage"His expression went blank,and he was thinking twice whether he can utter the word again or acclaim in open that he likes that song.
   I have not listened to this song in full length,WHY THIS KOLAVERI DE?  for the simple reason that I cannot imagine any person to be so rude in his expression against a girl/lady/women? that too when he wants to attract her attention and fall in love.(Is love not a delicate issue?)Secondly, I FAIL to understand why such rage to degrade thedignity of women community?For I have not come across any hue and cry on this song from any ladies lib. Since when,  people(girls/women) have become  immune  to such  mockery, that-derail  the modesty of women.
Yes I can hear some resistance from the other end who feel this is an over reaction, and the fun quotient alone has to be considered, and nothing unwarranted  attributed other wise.
But lets not ignore the fact that MOVIES are mass media of communication and they have very lasting influence on the society.. Cinema./songs have a cultural impact on the growing children,who tend to use  what ever they hear as a fashion statement (already addressing each other as mapilla/machi/machan Has been accepted as normal vocabulary),and in due course It might become natural for any man to address  a lady as DE,Besides  the younger generation  believe's that  happening's on screen event(reel), is acceptable in real life
.Now some more reasons ,why I feel disgusted and feel the lyricist have to refine them selves ,will become evident with the below mentioned songs,
Adi da avala, udayai da avala,kolra avala, ava theviyae illa
Evan De unna pettan pettan,avan en kayila kedicha avan sethan sethan
Vaadi vaadi vaadi en cute pondathi.
These are just a few of the many songs, which are making their rounds in the Tamil film musics, which is sung and relished by most of the youth, If this trend continues,we would be aiding in  breeding a uncultured male population, who will neither have any soft feelings on the opposite gen der nor have any respect to the girls father.Remember the quote by Thomas baile aldrich, where he says "A MAN IS KNOWN BY THE COMPANY HIS MIND KEEPS" and more and more of such thoughts would spread as wild fire.
The plight of ladies in India even after decades of civilization, has not improved,we have witnessed good songs,where ladies have been compared with moon/breeze/ flower /tendrils and all delicate things,but still being treated like Beasts ,Popularising and supporting such songs,would encourage people to exceed the limits ,so lets raise an alarm before we reach the Danger mark .SO I only want to make an APPEAL, can we have a FULL STOP  ON THIS "DE"factor

IN THE NAME OF.........

After the new year the much awaited thai thirunaal(Pongal festival)was approaching and now when I am writing this blog it is over

I have been assimilating the last few days that have passed thro and gapping about the cultural metamorphosis

 that I have witnessed in the last 3 decades. The arrival of pongal/sankarathi meant ,the arrival of a new dawn, a new beginning where people expect all nice things TO unfold with the new month thai(tamil calander).and the previous day Bogi (lohri)is dedicated to the god Varun.

Preparations for celebrating these festivals would have a head start a few days ahead, where people would clean their Homes, give it a new white wash, Swap their houses wit cow dung(if in a village with a mud floor)decorate it with kolams(rangoli minus colour) and border it with red sand paste .while in other areas. Each house would be adorned with big kolams nicely spread against the yellow green background of mud , which is again sprinkled with water mixed with cow dung. which is presumed to bring in lots of prosperity. While this happens on the home front, commercially the arrival of small drums, sugarcane and turmeric plants used to flood the markets and streets.

Lighting the bhogi (bonn fire )with all used discarded items against the drum beat shouting "bhogi " was followed as a ritual and we would get busy in collecting these items and the accessories like rods sticks, paper, kerosene, candles and the bundled clothes would be our highest procession for the day ,while others go in search of discarded tyres  twigs etc. etc. There was a pride in claiming who was the earliest person to light the fire and also how long we could sustain the burning. every one of us as kids would hardly

Wink a sleep and wait for the arrival of 3.am,only to jump out to set the bonn fire on ,while we are enjoying this ,we would also be joined by our parents, for a while who would also stare into the blazing fire warming up their palms and legs against the coldness.

Bhogi was also welcomed for it was a day of celebration- where you would be fed with  Non -veg food, your break fast naturally being IDILI  with mutton gravy accompanied with vada.and much more

Now let me see how my day of bhogi was celebrated a few days back, my kids did not have the least inclination of organizing a bonn fire, so they skipped the process of collecting discarded item, I did not involve in going for a color wash because its too costly an affair so cannot be taken every year, I tried to persuade them to wake up a light a small fire this too failed because more than the kids I too wanted to enjoy the extended sleep of a holiday.(it had an overriding priority )I was kind of settled with eating a routine breakfast instead of straining myself with extra efforts of making some special dish, so boghi ended up in a very routine note, I think I need not say about Pongal,because it would have followed suite.

But recounting this I was just wondering what our children are really missing,

Well I could recollect the following

WE used to walk and our shadows used to follow us some times in front OF US, some times at our side

We used to make attempts to stamp our shadows this we could do because we were sure that we are not going to bump intoAny vehicle or no one will knock you off.

We used to welcome current cuts, because it would give you a respite from reading and you can go out and play in the darkForm images in the candle light,  using your hands like a deer,dog or man scream or shout,

We used to walkalong with the moon, seeing steadily at it looking up, sure that no one is going to interrupt your moon walk. AND  also trying to see the Old lady there who keeps making vada as told by our parents during our bed time story.

We could do a nights star gazing; count stars see falling stars and even see a meteorite at times,and those moving clouds against the moon light sky
We could play with mud and sand soiling our clothes, fish in muddled water, get wet in rain ,climb trees  and do what not

These are just a few things but what they are missing and what we have failed to give to our children would  be endless, but  do we not attribute this for the following.

IN THE NAME OF saving our environment, we have stopped burning

IN THE NAME OF PROTECTING our precious child, we deny their interest to adventure

IN THE NAME OF development we have lost large landscapes and open spaces where we hardly get a glimpse of the open sky

IN THE NAME  of affluence, our kids have forgotten to walk ,jump and jog

IN THE NAME of laziness we have forgotten our culture……AND

IN THE NAME OF GOD let us bring back those small happiness into our life,and pass on our tradition to our young ones

CORRUPTION

One word that has gathered more and more prominence in the recent times, which is uttered more frequently than a prayer or a rhyme is Corruption. This has become the anthem of many countries and there seems to be a sudden sense to protect the world from this contagious disease.When ever the word corruption is used than it is accompanied with money,which indirectly convey that,both of them are analogous.

Hearing, reading and seeing this word day in and day out, I started wondering whether this issue requires this quantum of protest and propaganda. Due to general curiosity I wanted to know the genesis of this word and the literal meaning too.

Well a peep into the literary meaning says, “Any Moral or Spiritual impurity or any deviation from an ideal dealing is corruption.” Well I can correlate this when we turn on the computer and when it refuses to work in the normal way and behave erratically we say it is corrupt right?,GOING with the same analogy, any man/woman ,when he/she is away from his normal mode.of functioning and deviating from actions or responses which are expected, we claim that he/she is corrupt.(so corruption need not deal with money alone)  Well we Tamils normally claim our supremacy by stating that our generation lived much ahead before the formation of the gravels and mud (kal thondri man thondra kaalathaye mun thonria mootha kudi) It appears corruption Too   pre-existed before the flood as per the book of genesis. And there are our great philosophers too who have given a thought about corruption such as Plato and Aristotle.

Well but today why is the world talking about corruption and giving it a literal meaning as if any activity that aides to make unaccounted money OR any activity that is a means of deriving money for completing a task   is ‘Corruption’. And a huge battalion is following this dogma and creating an awareness to arrest this malign disease.

But, what I feel real corruption, which is turning into a real menace, is the inability of people both at high and low levels to perform the job assigned to them due to

i)   inadequacy, fear of committing mistakes and indecisiveness.

ii) The fear to talk the truth and to say what is the actual status, instead inflate the statistics to skew them and mislead their bosses.to overate their performance to give a fillip to their career

iii) The inability to say NO, when they are 100% sure about the consequences of saying YES.  .

My every day routine after returning from work is normally to spend a couple of minutes

On the phone to exchange some pleasantries with my family members and than resort to my schedule of watching the television.

However in the recent days I found that each one of them were undergoing  unexplained levels of stress and trouble not because of their inabilities but due to their bosses,who were fitting into one of the  three category mentioned above.

The above points would get more evident if a few examples are cited

A person who was lamenting,for being fired by the boss, when the legacy of organizing  an viva at 9 pm,for a doctorate degree  was questioned ?which was a deviation from the normal routine for the simple reason that the student”s guide was a VIP and the university never wanted to earn  the displeasure of the VIP nor wanted any one to even point out that they were deviating from a normal  procedure.

Yet another person was back from an official training programme, the super boss wanted the participant to submit a report on the programme the immediate boss cautioned the

Person saying do not give a detail report,for it may pave way for additional work, just give a gist and above all send the report through  me. Now the junior person is locked between the devil and deep sea.And resorts to seek advice how both the deadlines can be met.

A third person has unearthed some wrong doing by some  important person!!!! which requires some action taken,but the boss does not want to earn the irk of the important person, Dose'nt want to give directions to stall the process ,but wants the onus of inaction to be borne  by the person who has unearthed the wrong doing.

And I have a fourth person who is often called by the boss to take advice about how a job is to be done,because of inability to think and execute.

These are just a portion of conversation what was exchanged between me and some people, who have been put to undue stress and distress,Such distress and unease is being experienced by every Individual,Organization,and the Society,Fitting this with the dictionary meaning of CORRUPTION.what is stated above the need of the hour is to prune the mind and people to ensure that there is no spiritual or moral deviation from the ideal which is the  first step to arrest corruption.

VICTIMS OF CIRCUMSTANCES

Conversations amidst peers and family members is a real entertainment ,where you don't have to adhere to any grammar, there is no need for you to use refined words, no need to be conscious of what you think and what you say, and watching or listening to these conversations are real time pass.
Some times i used to travel by train and the journey time would be around 2 hours, being on the train occasionally I  used to never have any common friends or accompanies to spend this two hours chatting till you reach the destination.So one way of spending time would be to drown myself into a book and forget about the environment, but how long can you do this,so the other  way is to silently listen to the various conversations happening round you.This is the time that I found out that each person useS different forms of narration and each one of us are unconsciously capable of showing a hundred expressions, I was astonished to see those sharp eye ball movements and facial expressions which i had presumed  is the proprietary of artist only.
Well  WHEN the conversations keeps flowing we do use certain phrases and slang's to imply our point indirectly, just to cite a few some commonly used phrases in tamil" engappan   kuthiru ulla illa"(where the father wants to escape from his nagging debtors so hides himself into an urn directing his son to wade away any one coming in search of him  by saying his Dad is not at home.
instead the boy says my dad is not in the urn,which gives a easy tip for the debtors to snatch his father.
Yet another one" Vaalu pooey katti vanthadu doom doom doom," too bid a story to produce here but a very interesting one,just to emphasis that one incident leads into another.
well have you ever heard people saying this phrase Periya erumai paer pona kadthai .
Well i wanted to give you a brief about this, hence did not dwell upon the previous interesting story of doom doom doom, where it was a monkey involved story ,while here you have different characters including a big buffalo(periya erumai).
Once upon a time there lived a family of four persons, A father, mother, son and daughter in law.
The son  who is the bread winner often sets off to outstations in search of money and wealth ,His wife the  daughter in law,who has to bear the brunt has to suffer long days of loneliness,befriends a neighbour and starts developing a friendship with him and its routine for them to spend time together in the backyard,once everyone retire to sleep,where the cattle owned by them including a Buffalo was roped in.On one such day, after a long chat with her boyfriend the lady(wife) was about to bid goodnight and bye to her boy friend,that is when she noticed that the Buffalo that was tied was shaking its head this way and that way just to keep away the flies and mosquitoes, but the Lady who was filled with guilt misunderstood that the buffalo was threatening her and was  indicating that it would inform her husband,about her illicit affair.Propelled with fear she when t to the buffalo and held its head in her two hands arresting its movement, pleading not to tell her husband about her relationship with the other man. Hours passed by and the lady kept sitting holding the head of the buffalo repeating again and again,please do not utter any thing what ever you saw to my husband.
Mean while the mother in law who stirred in her sleep fond that her daughter in law was not found in the house,guessing that she might gave gone to the backyard for natures call she came to the backyard in search of her only to see her. holding the buffaloes head and sitting there worried the mother in law asked her what happened.?The daughter in law confided that she has a boy friend and the buffalo had seen it and was now,threatening to expose her and hence she was.holding its head and pleading.The mother in law was worried,that her sons Honour was at stake and she never wanted that to happen,so she went and held the front legs of the buffalo pleading please,please don't tell any one what you have seen.
Now it was the turn of the father in law to come in search of the two missing persons his wife and daughter in law and found them both glued to the buffalo,the father enquired his wife about what  was the matter,and his wife whispered the issues.The father too was worried about how his son would get upset if he comes to know about the whole issues and wanted to avoid the fiasco hence went behind the buffalo and held its hing legs with a similar plea please don't say any thing. how long or how many days these people sat like this is not known.
The son returned home with his booty but found he was not welcomed by his wife nor parents and the house was empty,so he came to the back yard in search of them and found all three around the buffalo. And on enquiry found out what was the matter. He too wanted to safeguard his wife's honour so wanted to plead  to the buffalo to maintain the secret.Since all other moving parts such as head and legs are already taken care of by his family members the only part left was the swaying tail which the Son got hold of.
We all know that animals are sensitive regarding certain parts of the body the buffalo which was already stressed by this attack could'nt. tolerate any further harassment, hence with all its force twarthed the rope and started fleeing, and the helpless family started following the animal yelling please do not say anything to  anyone the animal felt that these people were chasing it to inflict more harm and started galloping among the streets creating panic to every one and the news reached the kings ears about a family chasing a buffalo and  the buffalo going out of control.
So the king summoned the family to find out what was irking both the animal and the persons, with no further option the family elaborated what had happened,the king sighed relief and said he will make it public that the lady had not committed any wrong so he called the official communicators(drummers) and asked them to go through the entire village making this announcement as follows:
This is for the attention of every one .Wife of so and so has no illicit affair with xxx, this was not seen by the buffalo(peryia erumai).The buffalo did not say that it will expose the lady,the lady too did not plead with the animal by holding its head. this issue is not known to her . in-laws nor the husband suspects his wife and the whole family did not run behind the buffalo fearing that it would spill the bean.
With this the entire matter was hushed with the news spreading in detail about the illegal relationship what she had.But the entire family was not aware that it was their foolishness which had paved way for the publicity ,instead still blamed the innocent buffalo for the fall out .hence when you are a victim of circumstances just like the buffalo "periya erumai paer poona madiri."well there are very interesting stories like this which we use in our daily conversations to  convey what we want to with a punch