THE MASTER STROKE

Decision making is the most difficult thing for all of us,we would rather postpone taking a decision than to decide, fearing what if our decision turns out into a fiasco,But at times we find that decisions,take different twists and turns and end up,in good things without our knowledge giving double benefits,and we casually cite that we could hit two birds with a single arrow or brought down two mangoes in a single stone throw.
Happenings in the recent days are making me wonder what is that wonderful spell that has fallen on the people here,there seems to be a general improvement in the level of self disciple,in our outlook in dealing with people,our level of interaction and our bonding with our dear ones.
It has been days, weeks and months that I had a necessity to yell or shout at my kids,Life was so difficult for me to handle them,my energy and longevity getting reduced,with the dawn Beginning with my repeated attempts of waking them up,prompting them to go and get ready for
school/college,prompting them time and again reminding them that they have to study,complete their home work,do their project.Now for some time I find them being more responsive and above all not even fussy/ nagging me with what ever I pack for them as lunch or provide for break fast.

Me who was a  lazy person ,who always wanted to snug for those extra snooze in ten mornings,and be quite lethargic,have become more active i don't want to waste even small quantum of time i just line up my work prioritize one after the other,always having a look at the clock,Might be Robin Sharma's book,On Mega living ,should have brought in this transformation,cause I find lot of time to read and spend my time improving my knowledge,rather than being glued to the Television or computer.

I find,people around me,my nieghbours having nice chit chats,discussing their meal,prepared,exchanging receipes for venthaiya kozambu and paniyaram,trying out different hair do"s for thier girls,practicing rangoli and now and then discussing the patetic upkeep of the locality,Dicuss about politics now and then and i am really surprised to see them observe nature and their surroundings.

Many ladies have started getting the much needed attention,from their husbands and have been receiving small small gifts,reminding them of their lost intimacy and good times,well this is happening as a reciprocation,for the care that has been extended to them in the recent days,"AS THE SAYING GOES,"the best way to enter a mans heart is thro his mouth"
They are pamppred with tasty,hot,and fresh     servings of food ,the wife who was earlier saying,that,Ihave kept the food on the dining table,help your self,to their family members are seen,sitting by their sides and narrating small.small sweet nothings and the kids are really enjoying their family togetherness.

Family outings,a day, every month has now become,a regular affair,gone are those days when kids had to keep nagging their parents,seamlessly to take them out,but now a special budget,is set aside for meeting this expense,and its never seen as a burden at all.
Its so enthralling to see our culture returning back,young mothers are seen out feeding their kids,showing the glimpses of moon,or a crow or dog(at times bandigoots too).And its really,really good to see our kids having got themselves adapted to this change,instead of throwing their whim's
saying unless they see their favourite add,they will not take their feeds.

Children are elders are growing in a more natural way they understand,nature,science and many difficult subjects very easily ,,because they have merged with nature and no more couch potatoes glued to their favourite show or on the computer games in fact they have taken to some physical activity,and the extra fab and mid section fat is getting reduced(note that men have started admiring their wife's,seeing those curves restoring back)
Men  and women are also returning back home as early as possible,from work not wasting their time outside fearing,that every day ordeal of dealing with the complaints and grievances that awaits to be sorted out between their mother,wife and in laws,and an unusual calm and serenity exists,mother in laws are really finding the going tough,for their idea bank is not getting replenished with new,methods of seeking vengeance on their daughter in law or vice versa
Well don't you now agree that a pleasant spell has been cast on our people.and who ever it is they need a lot of appreciation,well its non other than the EB(ELECTRICITY BOARD)for their benevolent gesture of imposing such huge,erratic and sporadic current cuts,which has put every one right from kids  to the old in their slot sand made them to reconcile   with duties and responsibilities and the precious of losing even a minute power supply is there,Given people a lot of free time,since their TV,viewing time has now been drastically cut,there by their stress level which was inflated with daily soaps,gathering at least 10,different plots of abusing their in laws has come to a reduction.A maintenance shut down,on a day every month invariably make you to fled your homes,cause we cannot deny the fact that there is no life without power(i meant electricity).
People working in office,Establishments,schools,hospitals and what not would like to put in their  their maximun efforts during the periods of Power availability,in fact its seen that 8 hours of job is now done in four hours.
I know what a dreadful Decision it would have been,when the only respite available to EB to meet this power crisis,would be to resort to,such erratic and long power cuts,but they never knew that that action could lead to such wonderful,grooming of the people.At times when its really hard to discipline a single individual,just see how they have brought all of us our senses,
Often we have head people quoting as Master stroke,but in real terms this is the best master stroke in the present days,which has indirectly brought in lots of disciple,belongingness ,and goodness amongst people."A boon in the guise of a bane" 

"" NOW AND THEN""

What used to be a pleasant experience, is turning down into an irritation,But what can I do ,this has become a habit for the last 20 years and I cannot shed it away.Well if you thought it was my regular morning walk,or my ritual of starting my day with a detail prayer or a soulful practicing of music/dance ,Than you are wrong,cause I am more a critic who can never do any of these things, but can pass down my comments.
well coming down to the activity,what I was mentioning is the reading of news paper(papers now)in the morning sipping a cup of hot coffee along side.This activity which was consuming 10 min to 15 minutes with some scans on head lines,detail Reading on interesting article and flipping of pages has now increased to almost 40 to 45 mins,upsetting my morning schedules and invariably projecting me as a late comer to office.
If you guess my reading style or skill has changed,than you are wrong(habits  never die )My irritation starts once I lift the paper in my hands,from the weight of it,and on seeing the first page which is replaced with a full page advertisement either from a jewelery store,a real estate builder,a political cut over or a textile show room..
While my senses tell me to avoid them and rush to the real exciting! matter,my eyes refuse to take instruction,for the colorful display,my inherent helplessness that I can only see such things but can never possess them even if I stare and save all my income,because the price tags attached to them are so high ,But still i think people are available to afford such buying, if not the advertiser would not be a fool to spend such huge money.

Well after crossing all these barriers I will dwell  on the main item,And  wonder why the issues of insignificance are blown up so much and why some issues of prime concern are down played as columns on the 6th or 7th page,and really wonder how the News paper would survive its circulation,if its going to carry less and less content and more and more Advertisement.Not to forget that if you have two news papers in your hand,you would go mad by the way that how each one of them have presented their facts and prioritized theirs news.
Well,this is when it struck me that once you have already en cashed your money on the advertisement front,how does it matter,whether you have a reader list or not.,I always ask the paper distributor,what happens to these unsold paper stacked  there,they go for recycling,after wasting so much of resources such as paper,print material,manpower,electricity etc.(which requires serious thinking and auditing).

Well today being a Saturday and knowing fully well that my paper is going to be heavier by at least a few deca grams with advertisement on real estate and its special edition. I was in for a shock ,that the weight  surpassed my expectations and was more heavier,My instinct told me not to even open it,but it had a special band around it thanking for being in this field for 80 years.

 I was going in for a pleasant surprise because it had reproduced the
news item published in 1930,prior to independence,Had the happy announcement of our countries Independence,The sad demise of OUR Father of nation in 1948 with a full page blow up of a smiling Babuji,.
The Happy announcement of the Republic India
The untimely deaths of our Former Prime Ministers.
The swearing in of at least  6-7 Prime ministers.
Now this paper has become my treasure,which i think  will be pass it down for Generations to come.

History Repeats

• Some very interesting excerpts from the yesteryear's just to say and uphold, that nothing new is Happening ,And our country and its Leaders say and do the same thing at all times(This is what is stability)

• Kerala ration cut may be partly revoked  Jan 26/1966
• President calls for urgent action on Food Front "We have to put an end to Starvation,Malnutrition, Epidemics, illiteracy,Social inequalities and industrial backwardness-Jan 26 /1966
• Indian Airlines flight Cancelled-Dec 4/1971,(only for a different reason,as a result of first air raid alert sounded in the Capital ,during the Indo-Pak war)
• Revolt in Cong over nominees in Cabinet-July 29/1979
• Orrisa JD in turmoil   -June 2/1996
• PM knew of Telecom scam: Jaya,  July 27/1999
• Advani to launch 45-day campaign from Kerala
• Discontent over the hand of family coterie in cabinet making,Karunanidi has yielded to the pressure from some of his family members ,they feel    -May 17/1996
• CBI grills Jaya in Vijayan case -may 17/1996
• Schools of scandal,after dusk the corporation schools in city(calcutta)become gambling dens-Jan 26  1966

Beautiful fore thought:Dr.Ambedkars.call to Nation

If parties put creed above country our independence will be put in jeopardy,a second time and probably lost for ever.This eventuality         we must all resolutely guard against and we must all be determined                to defend Independence with the last drop of blood--NOV 27 1949(While debating on the constitution of India document)

• Indians  must hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving social and  economical objective and abandon bloody methods of revolution

      Bhakti or hero worship is a sure road to degradation and eventual dictator ship

Three Tamil films refused certification-June 2,1984

Three movies were rejected certification,two were rejected for the reason that even thematically,they were suffused with violence and sex and a third one on its supernatural angle shown of even of slightest rationality,loaded with superstition and utterly fantasy.

(where are these people what would they have done had they seen Naan E)

And lastly on the part of advertisements

SMALL SQUARES OF ADVERTAISEMENTS WERE SEEN HERE AND THERE,it was NICE TO SEE RELIANCE AND gWALLIOR SUITINGS AND ONE OF CALLICO MILLS,

even THEN a add to improve hair growth and enhance Energy for man was Available

KILI JOSHYAM(Parrot Astrology)

We are accustomed to certain beliefs and customs which  we find   very difficult to come out from them .

One such thing is our belief in Horoscopes Our urge in finding  what’s in store for us in the future based on our planetary positioning(and of course off late to know what we were in our previous birth) We resort to all possible science and art that can tell our prophecy.

Even thou after Mayans prediction, falling apart and giving us a sigh of relief, That these predictions have a 50:50 chance , our love for seeking such help in the form of Astrology ,numerology,  palmistry, tarot reading, nameology,  nadi joditham and of course kili  joshayam cannot be shelved. Visiting a jodidar(fortune teller)Happened only once or twice in the life of people. Once they are born, which was revisited again when Parents decided to get their children married.

But now without seeking expert advice from Many renowned soothsayers, we never want to carry on with our daily work ,  An argument with your neighbor, no good going with your boss, a tiff with your spouse India not winning a match, Our kids not fairing well in exams, well all these have something to literally do with Guru, Rahu, Kethu, Saturn,  Mars, Moon, or Mercury.

(As long as mankind lives and as long as we believe that the planets are super powerful than our Gods and Godesses,) we are not going to restrict our enthusiasm in supporting these art which has now become high paying livelihood for many ,in the name of speciality and with our greed that we want to be better off than our colleague, friend, neighbor, sister, brother, in-laws and parents have made us to seek remedial help from various corners  vastu , Feng shui ,dresscode,etc etc

Now don’t ask me whether I am a non believer of these, I believe every bit of them at least, at that instant, and so its only an attempt to share my experience and to console you had you undergone a similar one.As a part of educating our ignorance

I always have an admiration to call the kili jhosyam man to have a reading of the cards,I do this occasionally when bored ,more than knowing what’s the prediction, its more an excitement to see the parropt  at such close range  and to watch it doing its job of skillfully picking up the stacked cards one by one with its beak ,throwing out a few or at times till the last card and than handing over one to its trained master, collecting a corn of paddy and obediently getting into its small cage.

In variably every time I would have spent at least 100 bugs, each time I had called one and would have picked up cards for at least ,eight to 10 people and decided to wind up always in a bad mood, because the man predicted some thing ill for some one.

Well Persons who have tried this might agree that the first few cards that the bird picks up, contains some images of gods and the man normally blabbers some thing positive about the person, and you can find that what he says and the image he holds in hand has no relevance. But still we feel elated for those nice words and are tempted to seek advice one after another, Now having comfortably played with our emotion and having assessed our frame of mind that we believe whatever is told.

 Now its time for us to ask the bird to pick a card for the dear most among us, The devil in him comes out and the bird hands over a card, to him even before opening it ,He make a disgusted expression and than opens up a card with a snake, and says  OH ,WHO ever it is, their time and fortune is not good, they are influenced by an evil eye and what not, now its time for him to read the expression on our face and scare us more. He would not allow you to wind up, as if to calm us down,  he would say, you pick up a card let us see what is in store, YOU WOULD AGAIN FIND A different snake pulled out from the enclosed cover, and he would re establish, that the person is processed with ill fate, once he fixes up this,He would come up with his dangerous theory of parigaram(remedy).

Many times we stop this episode here and with a confused mind keep thinking about this prediction and   of course spoil our peace of mind.Vacillating with mixed thoughts and at times ,thinking whether we made a mistake of not accepting to do the parigaram.
 I did encounter a recent episode like this. in the recent days.which made me to go with some intropection .

It made me to think logically about the small trick that’s played against us, The entire stack hardly contained 10-12 cards and he held in his hand at least 4 -5 cards opened with a image of a snake but a different picture, with this probability the first card also could have opened up with a snake ,but no it never happens, because, he has to at least make a good start and keep you in the loop, well how does this game go ,if we carefully see him pulling out a sheet ,its evident that the enclosure does not contain a single paper, but at least four to 5 images stuffed into one and definitely one image of a snake is kept in all the cards in a separate slot(similar to the magician pushing a sword into a box and pulling out an unhurt man)THAT’S THE REASON HE PREDICTS IT EVEN WITHOUT OPENING ,MAKING A VERY SAD EXPRESSION.

When, the person was trying to persuade me to give In to his demand, to go with the parigaram, I gathered all my guts and told him I believe in god and with gods help and presence ,no evil can hurt me,He gave me a distraught look, ok,ok I had to say and caution you, its up to you. And for the first time I also realized my ignorance when gods grace is with us what can predictions do to us,So lets all cheerup,I know by now many of us would have read the predictions for this new year and some would be flying high ,while others have lost the years charms. Let us believe in ourself and also feel the presence of God alongside, we are definitely going to have a great year.If Mayan can go wrong,We have all chaces of A Parrot,CAN BE WRONG TOO.............