THE EXPIRY DATE

Three occurrences that happened during a couple of day back , has really disturbed me and made me think whether some discussion in this direction is required.

Well the first one was that of passing away of the one and only DEV ANAND,which I felt was a real loss to the film society, and it made me sad too, because I was a real admirer of his films, liked his smile and was a die hard listener of his many songs. But beyond all this, the reason for my sadness was different, As a mark of tribute to Dev sab all TV channels were telecasting the songs of Dev anand acted movies, where his captivating face and smile was haunting the TV screens , Simultaneously some TV channels were also showing a recent interview with dev sharing the screen, as fragile personality, with sunken eyes, wrinkled cheeks and with that charismatic smile oh god, would he have ever imagined that old age can really make one devoid of those charm and looks. well seeing him than and now and than seeing myself now and comparing me 10 year back has really brought in a lot of fear about old age.I felt God, for once has been too unfair for he should have really put an expiry date on all of us, any product manufacturer has to invariably put the date of manufacture, the shelf period and not safe beyond this date. After all when all of us know that one thing certain is death why should we really undergo so much of hurdles carrying oneself with difficulty and old age problems. If this is there we may really have a quality life.

Well the second incident was the last lunar eclipse that happened a few days back, which was also visible in India, while this topic was being discussed with people at home what they were saying was again disturbing for they said as per the almanac, the previous day was a full moon day, we all have been told and read that the lunar eclipse normally happens on a full moon day. And in scientific terms when the sun , earth and the moon all three are in a straight line. If both the facts are true than we do have to infer that there has to be a slight shift either in the imaginary axis of the earth or some disturbance within the solar system. Well have we all not taken for granted that this universe would exist for ever and it is eternal. Well here again if any product/machine or a system, which functions untiringly will definitely undergo changes of wear and tear, and would really come to a grinding halt irrespective of the type of maintenance, here again I guess there has to be an expiry date for our solar system too, only thing is that we are unaware rather we do not want it to happen.

The third occurrence is my daughters every day lamenting, saying that  her friends share a topic that the world would come to an end during 2012, which again is one of such statements which keeps making the rounds now and than, and her worry and desire is that she has to live longer and feels she is being denied the right of living longer as her grand parents, uncles aunts and parents, here again I was reminded about fixing an expiry date, which should neither be too early nor too late.

An exit or scrapping when too tender or too old would be an irrational choice, so let our mighty god too go with some derived standardization by introducing the concept of  expiry dates   

THE JOURNEY

My worries started looming around me even ten days ahead of that dreadful day. I started having sleepless nights and my stress level kept on rising, ultimately the day too arrived I woke up early, took that extra care that I have to be pleasant able at the venue and should not find myself out of place, are you all guessing what this dreadful day might be, well it was a journey that I had to perform by flight.

Travelling by AIR even thou had a lot of fancy for me, the procedures and the environment that prevails once you step into an airport, makes you scary and dizzy, The first point of fear grip from that weird doubtful look that the security man, gives you at the entrance, than comes the next issue of checking in your baggage ,should I go to the scanner or go to the counter this doubt lingers on than I start swaying my eyes to capture what’s going on with the other co passengers who are heading in different directions .I start following one of them, trying to clone what ever is being done by him/her. But the doubt still there whether I am in the right queue, has my baggage been  loaded in to the right flight, am I following the right track/gate and till such time I get into the flight I have undergone  a thousand ripples I guess if an ECG machine is left at the airport every one would show a mind variation in there heart functioning.

Well once settled into my seat, now the next level of tension gripped me, is this journey going to be safe, I hope the flight takes off in time and with out any issue, the moment the cabin crew starts giving the safety tips I roll over my eyes to make sure that 8 exits do exist. Try to locate them and also have fixed up which can become the shortest route to escape, in case of emergency and whether  an emergency is anticipated or not I am fully geared up to meet it.

I say a few prayer to myself once the engine is switched on ,cling on to my seat(I think I don’t require a seat belt) my fear has fastened me more firmly to my seat, and really give a large relief when I start seeing the diminishing sizes of buildings, oh the take off is over, and soothe myself that things are fine for the moment, but I cant assure anything for the present,(sorry for being so pessimistic)By nature I am quite optimistic only this flightophobia(a new word of my invention)make me sick. Now turn back the same sequence of anxiety, despair and helplessness till such time that the flight makes a safe landing (me too).

Yeah this was the psych of mind when I started my journey from my home town , imagine what is in hold for me at the destination. I started tailing my co passengers ahead of me not taking my eyes off , following them praying that first I should reach the baggage collection point, second my baggage should arrive (shouldn’t have traveled in a different flight) and should really land up at the right exit gate, where some one might pick me up, lets run this sequence and see what happened, walking across various conveyors/escalators I reached a point where the conveyors were scrolling on with baggage, I waited for 10 min, couldn’t sight my unique bag, because it was in a rare colour (easy to identify).Then I look up on the CCTV information board which says my baggage collection is at a different point ,I scan around, locate the point, move on with a bit of nervousness and stand, staring at the moving corrugated conveyor, with more expectations  to sight  my bag, by then  the person assigned to pick me up  has already given me two to three calls, stating he waits at gate no 3(very exact details) I should not miss him. Atlast my bag has come, and carefully I head thro exit no 3, scanning around all the boards to locate my cab, and I fail to notice him? Is there another exit gate 3 and I landed else where, I now make a call on his mobile and say I am out. He too confirms he is right there, we both on connected mode start searching each other oh ,both of us are just facing each other. The only mistake he has made is to have given his own spelling for my name, which was beyond recognition. Well so far so good I am in a cab  hopefully heading towards my destination. And I am sure that each time I have to make a journey thro AIR, EVERY TIME ITS GOING TO BE THE SAME DEAL

THE MAZE

Don’t  we all love solving problems? Yeah! I can hear many saying nay, while some ARE JUST DOING IT ALWAYS ,well even though I was referring to problem solving in mathematics, the topic under scanner today is problem solving in real life.

I do hope we always look forward for many things to happen uninterrupted, like having a permanent job, getting your salary paid regularly, always longing that only our kid should get that standing ovation in all fields, that  our dear ones; father ,mother ,brothers ,sisters and kids should always be in the pink of their health, that our domestic help should come in time and of course not absent herself, that the train/flight/bus should be on time, that there should be no power cuts and that  every one of us should be the boss and no one should boss us over. Well such expectations and desires are endless and even if one activity is not going as per our expectation, then we have a problem. The moment we have a problem, all of us would like it to get resolved the earliest, so that ,life flows  like a steady river.

Well now the issue starts with how big or small our problem is, whether we are capable of solving it, whether we just have a single simple problem on hand or , has the problem too come as a serial string.

Well what ever it is, I did have a problem. In the recent days I earnestly believed that the problem should get solved(more than that, felt that it was my star, fate, karma and ill luck, which was the cause of my irony ).

This was the time that I had a whole  8-10 hours where I had nothing else to do than to brood over my ill luck and endlessly keep tuning down into the 80 channels on the television. To my surprise I found that I was not alone in this world, for there were many people along with me, because there were lot of dial in programmes and many people wer e calling up the stations and seeking remedies for their problems. This caught my fancy . When there seems to be some solution, why miss them? So I also started watching them ,to see whether I get some clue.

I was on a channel, there was a person sitting with a Laptop and of course an anchor who was aiding him by receiving the calls and transferring the person for a one is to one discussion. Oh! The first caller had landed. The man was asking , “What is your date of birth? What problems do you have?” The caller gave both the info spontaneously. There was a response from the person and he started reciting, “Your zodiac is so and so, the planets that you have to activate are Venus, Saturn, Mars. For this you have to wear a gem associated with the planet . Some times he spoke about a yantra and then there were at least two to three planets that were supposed to be deactivated, and during the 30 minutes program almost all the planets were under the zone of discussion for either activation or deactivation. Now I believed that I  too have to go thro this process identify which are the problem creating planets and how to enhance them.

I was wondering on this subject and accidently bumped on yet another channel, here again the set was different.  But two people were there to help people come out of their difficulty, again there was a stream of calls ,the same questions ,DOB ,and your problem.NOW THE REMEDY WAS DIFFERENT. THE EXPERT SAID, “Your Jupiter is weak or Saturn is in retro grade. And now the people were being guided to visit the shrines of identified deities who can mitigate the ill effect and make wonders for you.

My search did not stop here, I was on a different time band and a different channel, and here was an expert on vasthu. He was enquiring “What’s in the north of your house? Were is the kitchen placed? Is your tap in the north eastern corner? Have you closed your window facing north?” And suggesting various alterations that has to be made minor as well as major, like even turning ones house upside down. I started going around my house to check whether what ever deviations he said existed in my house and whether that was the reason for my problems.

Thinking about this in my browsing schedule ,now I had parked on a different channel, here was yet another expert who spoke about cosmic energy and activating cosmic energy thro pyramid, this was too heavy for me to handle, so flip I slipped into another channel, here again I could listen to people calling up an expert for respite, now the scene was slightly different the expert was a swamiji, who was fluently reciting some mantra in Sanskrit,(I doubt whether the caller could even capture a word out of it) and each person was given a mantra to be recited 108 times, 48 times etc, so that he would get the benevolence of the god .

When all these things were churning into my head, I had landed up into yet another channel which was claiming that once you train your mind and invoke the inner conscious then you can completely come out of any problems. Just due to paucity I am stopping here because I had encounters with at least a dozen more channels with different techniques

Now my difficulty is that I believe all of them and I guess following their advice would really give good results , but the problem is what do I really do should I go and get those gems, start visiting temples, recite mantras, demolish my kitchen and redo my house or start  practicing to control my mind. Well this is when I remembered problem solving in maths, the lesser the number of variables, the easier to solve and as the number of variable increases, the problem becomes very complex and tedious to solve.

SO NOT KNOWING WHAT TO DO I RESOLVED TO DO THE EASIEST THING THAT IS TO KEEP QUIET,WELL IMAGINE WHAT DO WE DO WHEN YOU GET A VERY TOUGH QUESTION PAPER, IN MATHS,JUST WRITE YOUR ROLL NO AND SIT FOR 30 MINUTES AND SUBMIT YOUR PAPER AND COME OUT WELL THAT’S IT.GOD solves all our difficult problem.

SOME SERIOUS(SILLY)THOUGHTS

Can you recall, when was it the last time that you were yelled, scolded, shouted by some one,

And you retorted sharply, because the word used against you was that of an ,Animal, and felt your pride was totally  put to shambles.being the supreme human being

Well when I thought about this the names of some of the animals with Which we have been associated and scolded came to my mind aren’t these the very commonly used words,buffalo(aerumai) cow(maadu),DONKEY(KAZUTHAI)monkey(kurangu) and of course dog(nayae)

Well this made me to make some serious thinking, why  are  we called so?On the same day I got the answer for some of them.I was travelling in a car and was just looking out and registering the events that was getting captured, my thoughts were halted with a sudden jolt the driver had applied Brakes and in front of our vehicle there was a herd of cows having a jolly walk across the road, any amount of horning or hooting made no difference to them, they maintained, their pace and crossed the road in their usual way. OH this is what is called maadu mathri(like a cow) not heading to any external pressure, and having your own way.

W ell this reasoning was further enhanced, when I continued still further, this time what caught my attention was again a herd of cows and buffaloes ,grazing on the fields and to my surprise I found a few crows and sparrows had settled on its back and having a free ride and at times pecking at them, but there was no reaction from our friends, they did not even take cognizance that someone was making use of them and having a jolly ride, again the phrase MAADU MATHRI  came to my mind, so this had a different meaning, Not taking cognizance of your hardship and allowing others to make use of you. Is symbolically stated, when said  Maadu madri iru.

Is this all ,no I still have something  to add, I had travelled still further and again there was a slowing down of the car, this time again I wanted to know what can be the reason,? I saw that a overloaded bullock cart was maneuvering to move forward, the cows were helpless couldn’t express that they were stressed, but the rider was just lashing it thinking wonders may happen, so here again if some some said Maadu mathri iru, it means you should never express your difficulty, you should somehow deliver goods(aha this is the word used in all professional organization)even while you are hurt and bombarded ..

I was really getting worried why so many incidences linking a cow were happening on a single day and why I was extrapolating them and trying to decode them, while this was the thought that was lingering on  I watched  that a relatively young cow was galloping on the side lane ,and following that cow there were at least ten to fifteen cows which were racing with it,some were limping but they too were and galloping and running, not  aware what was the spark that made the first one to run and where they were heading too ,but  the other cows were following suite,so in this situation to be like a cow(maadu mathri) is to simply follow what ever your predecessor does not knowing where you would land.

Well now people who ever get a chance to read this can compare,their imaginations with relevant portion, yeah but I did really forget to tell you all PLEASE LISTEN TO Rajni,s song Vanthen da paal kareaen pasu maatha pathi pada poorean da, it really talks too high about cows, but I think who ever scolds us as Maadu have no reference to that song.

Well what about the other things, DONKEY,DOG,MONKEY……..,WELL I HAVE TO DO SOME RESEARCH ON THEM TO REALLY GIVE YOU SOME INFORMATIC IDEAS.

But let me finish this with some thing what I read in one of the books written by swami Nithyananda (yeah the same person who was jailed)Someone asks him the same questions ,why are we called as cow, donkey,etc.

So he has given a wonderful explanation, you become what you think,

when some one tries to throw insults,abuse,and dirt over you and you remain,without any reaction,you have started to behave like a cow.

 

When some one  touches you  and you react in a negative way just like the kick of a Donkey,and start brooding over thing and fall into depression,than you have started to behave like a donkey .

And lastly when some one trys to prod you and in response when you put your leg forward to move ahead than you have decided to be a horse , and set to make history.

“SO ULTIMATELY ITS OUR OWN REACTIONS WHAT MAKES US LET US MOVE FORWARD BRUSHING ASIDE,CTICISM AND INSULTS”

On The Memory lane

Hey everyone both young and old,I just thoughti would take you down your memory lane once again making you feel young and happy.well I know that if I post  a question ASKING HOW MANY OF YOU REMEMBER YOUR NURSERY RHYMES?I know most of you are going to put up your hands , because of two reasons
 i)That was your first lesson what you read in school,so you would not have forgotten them,but of course with variations that some may remember 10 and some 100
ii)Most of you would have at least one or two kids or siblings ,so you had the joy of redoing that.
Well ,what was going thro my mind was,the very basic Idea, regarding the person who would have incorporated,RHYMES IN THE CURRICULUM OF TODDLERS,for that was a very smart move of making them learn as many words as possible,Secondly it was the right media,to encourage the young mind to get interested in studies.
But I was also recalling whether the rhymes what we learnt were taught in the same way as that of ours to our Children.Because,we were taught this with  action ,each one of you can recall who was your mam/miss/teacher and what type of actions came out from her and how each one of us repeated them /reciprocated and how proud we were in replaying this to our parents when they asked us what was taught today?Contrary to that model nowadays we are more tuned into the habit of purchasing CD/CASSETTES and leave the child by its side to have a sing along programme, so we hardly know whether the value addition what was meant to go in has reached or not.
Now let me bring out a Few memorable rhymes and substantiate the above reasoning
Pussy cat,Pussycat,where have u been?
I've been to London to visit the Queen
Pussy cat,Pussycat,what did you do there?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair.
Yeah from the above rhyme, the inference are, London the great country is the only place where you can really see the royal queen,BE IT ANY COUNTRY, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO Be away from the menace of rats.With all its wits the pussy can only frighten the mouse and not the Queen.Can u also recall who ur miss was and the action of fright what she made?
Well the next rhyme
One two buckle my shoe
three four knock the door
five six,pick up sticks
seven eight lay them straight
nine,ten a big fat hen.
Well ,watch out for the different words used in this small rhyme,and well this was more focused to teach the student on the numerals 1-10.Also imagine how many time they would have made the child to bend down to buckle the shoes,an inbuilt mild exercise.WELL The next one to follow,

Hot cross buns!hot cross buns!
One a penny,two a penny-Hot cross buns
If you have no daughters,give them to your sons
One a penny,two a penny-HOT CROSS BUNS
Here too  more thrust is given introducing more vocabulary and to the least denomination of money,penny
Who can forget the action rhyme the cow jumped over the moon and the dish ran away with the spoon,which were funny and made kids laugh endlessly.
SO my dear young moms,and young children go thro your rhyme list see what fun each contains and also shake your hands,legs and head bring life to them instead of Singing them as gingles.
Do not restrict yourself to rhymes in english, you may recollect so many of them in tamil,hindi,telugu etc
so enjoy

"WE THE LIVING"

                                                                          

                                          

Seeing this topic people need not associate themselves that this is a tribute to the great author  AYN RAND,OR HAVE a misconception that it’s a review on her famous book titled above. I  am a very ordinary persons who can only admire such a great writer of no parallel. But what I wanted to bring out her e is just a brief account of a very big family which has its presence to three generations, which I know personally.

THE FIRST GENERATION

There are only three characters in this segment on whom I would like to dwell upon and that’s about my father and mothers. Just to make things more common and applicable to all I would rather not name any character here with their personal names but go in with their common names

DAD: I have very little remembrance of how my dad looked like, when he was young or rather when I was young. Well but from a age that I can remember, I can says that he is an astounding personality, a few things what I can recall was his very unique way he would wear his pants inserting his legs, and the way that he would put on his lace knot, I have inherited the way he puts the lace knot, and I know that there are people in my office who like to imitate it but have failed.

I am still fascinated in eating a basket cake for which my love has not diminished,(the only item that has REMAINED my favorite)well the reason being that this was a piece of item that my dad used to buy from a baker man on the doorstep when I was five.

My father was a jack  of all trades, starting his journey flying high.I did mean it he was a flying crew In the IAF, seen a few wars associated himself in history with the china war, our child hood play and talks were centered on knat, dekota and fighter planes   

He changed his job to become an entrepreneur, was proprietor for a factory that Manufactured radio sets and its components, so our toys too changed to E core and F core of transformers, lids wire, soldering iron, flux, valves and gang condensers, I remember that this factory hosted big people like LATE SHRI BakthavatShalam . I have the honor of having a photo graph alongside with my dad as an Industrialist.He was a good trainer too he had passed out his knowledge to his pupil on radio theory and communications, who are leading good lifes, might be they would remember Dad for giving them a livelihood

He was wooed into politics, was instrumental in launching IND, have seen him with Madam Indira Gandhi, I guess he was one person who had the privilege of translating the speeches of at least 3-4 Prime ministers, SUCH AS Moraji Desai, Chandrasekar, Devekowda

A great orator with multi linguistic skill toooo good in English, we are yet  to match his vocabulary, HAVING A VERY loud and beautiful voice ,well modulated and having a mesmerizing  effect. HIS attire as a politician turned into dhoti and white shirts with the traditional tundu, was very particular that he dresses spic and span, was never tired of contesting elections He believed that failures were very near to success. only thing is we never gave him the infinite trials. was his unofficial secy. Fixing up dates., which made me familiar with all names towns ,city and villages in Tamilnadu.Became good at drafting and writing.

A very strict and lovable father, very strong in his knowledge base in physics, WE still go numb, when he states boyle’s law or Kirchoff’s law. Only weak in Math’s  all (grand children who find math’s difficult please see who”s responsible).Had his own ways of entertaining us, he played badminton cricket, TennIcoit and even at times boxing, tried to teach us a little bit of every thing good in chess too. have not seen my dad sketching figures.

HE has a special love for cinema and Musics, some of his favorite heroines include Nuthan ,durga kote, padmini,Kammambal,T.R.Rajakumari,sujatha,Simran and not to miss Deepika padukone.some how he did not relish MGR, but still liked enga veetu pillai and aayiratil oruvan.

Food was his favourite,he had a style of eating with cutlery, Is fond of non veg and relishes western items like sausages and tinned tuna. His will power made him to get a driving license at 60 and was on wheels till 75.Dads will power and the spirit of not giving up has made him to survive all odds.

Thou has a lot of bias on ladies, he loved his daughters and grand daughters  was ever eager to have the first glimpse of his grand children. He is having a great innings batting at the crease at 82.A staunch vaishnavite with all his prayers towards lord Venketeswara.I pray god to keep my dad healthy and happy all thro

MOM:

Mom is one character who is admired by all her grand children for her jellying with people of all ages

Her narration about her young age and schoolings and her everlasting  wits are her plus points, always had a serene beauty, never bothered to enhance it for she was confident of her looks .A GREAT MOM, can pacify any child  with her mellifluous  lullaby, playful  games, enfolding petting and her imaginative story  crafted by her about each one of them. Each child had a story in which he or she was the centre piece.And longed to hear it again and again

Should have been a good entrepreneur for her talents, used to design our dresses, wove sweaters, SHE WAS HIGHLY IMAGINATIVE AND ARTISTIC, she would reproduce anything with a slight observation

Decorated our hairs with imaginative plaits, no one can dare to request her to oil your hair, because you with we bathed with it.

A GREAT passionate COOK, SHE CAN MAKE YOU YEARN EVEN FOR THAT KANGI WHAT SHE MAKES, right from vegetarian, non veg and other cuisine mom was too good at it, the famous Subramanian swamy was also a fan of our moms rasam, SHOULD say that mummy was a pacca socialist, Her care for others outside the family is more than that she has for her children. more concerned  at the servants, very kind hearted and an animal lover, she had special love for her pet dogs TEDDY and dhorty .

Mom was participative in our growing up, she made small hand made dolls using rags, helped us in making dresses for them,encouraged us to make kootan sooru,using  small utensils in our backyard,very knowlegable in baby care and what not, Mom always was our guiding force telling us the importance of maintaining values,THE verses in the song ENTHA PILLAYUM NALLA PILLAI THAN MANIL PIRAKAYILAE, PIN NALAVAR AVATHUM,THEYAVAR AVATHUM ANNAI VALARPATILAE. Should go as a dedication to her FOR HAVING GIVEN SUCH GOOD CHILDREN TO THIS SOCIETY.

Many times I recall that she has never had a day of living a life of her own.The only desire I have at present is to show her the better side of life atleast for a short period.I LOVE YOU MOM

CMOM:This is how she is reffered,but called as amma by all of us, The first women in our generation to have entered college,very attractive and beautiful, She always had a very good sense of dressing up.I remember amma giving final touches to her curls and eye liner.Cmom was good at maths,she was the person whom dad could not overtake with her skills in algebra and other areas .Cmom had her hand as the first working women of our family worked for,M/S BEL Bangalore.HER PHOTOGRAPHS are areal treat to see with those beautiful.eyes.

MOM HAS AN EVER LASTING love for babies,which has not diminished.And thou I might look rude I should say that she has an extra love for boys than girls.She has been the god mother for all of us ,and stood with our joy and sorrow.

I have not seen amma singing or humming songs, but used to narrate lots of stories(a few only guess),which used to bee very lively where she would really emote the characters, the famous story of the dog with two girls,where you will really feel like crying when the dog goes in search of her kids

MOM was a perfectionist, I should credit her for ,giving appa his white dazzling dhothi”s and shirts,with her excellent hand wash, if at all we had some thing to envy about it was those white dresses that were drying. I HAVE not seen CMOM good at any extra handiworks, what mom used to do, like mom, Cmom too is a good  cook,with restricted expertise,her sundakka kozambu and vengaya kozambu are a real threat.

Cmom was more experienced in taking care of small kids,she used to be comfortable giving then there baths anddressing them up.She was our official attender at hospitals for her smartness and service

Amma of late has been more into spiritualality, spents more time in the pooja room and ammas prayers are always heard by god,or might be she asks too small things which god is generous to grant.

I n short to sum up, the Govt lost the advantage of having the services of a nice statictical person like mom,she has been a great companion and support to APPA. Ma, love u and thanks for the wonderful things you have done for us.

Well with this the first gen comes to an end,they have been blessed with 10 GEMS,WHO WE WILL MEET SHORTLY.

The hairy secrets

It was one of our  family get together The family members were having fun and chatting with their peer level relatives, discussions were flowing touching across many topics, like studies of their kids, what extra feats each one is good at, culinary tips, shopping experiences, preparedness for the forth coming festival, nuisances of unwanted messages from advertisers. This is when the topic started drifting slowly towards "Hair".

Are we not somehow  fascinated about hair?

I Receive at least a few sms from advertises claiming that they can control hair fall, delay baldness, enhance hair growth, and even implant fresh hair, you move on to TV channels you can find  an array of advertisements on a range of products, hair oil, shampoo, hair colorant, lice control.

Well we all might agree that we do have a special reference to hair as one of the most important natural gift which has the capability of enhancing our looks and never missed to pocket the complement that “you have  beautiful hair”

We at least spend a considerable time on doing our hair, be it short or long, combing and brushing and setting it in its place is what we love to do, and not to forget, the comb is the only cosmetic carried by men,thou he is Bald,And hair  is also one of the most envious procession for both men and women,  we never miss to spell a wow when u see a girl/lady with long voluminous bouncing hair and many a times we automatically would like to touch and  feel our own hair to compare ourselves on our standing.

I Think each one of us would have undergone that dreadful experience of undergoing our heads being shaved, crying/wailing before it  and at least seen our hairless head a hundred times in the mirror  and again cried seeing how ugly we looked with that hairless head.

Well coming back to our luncheon discussion about hair, one of my sister in laws was narrating the tough time she had ,in pursuing her teenage son for a haircut, while a few were lamenting that visiting a saloon for a haircut is one of the most priority items on men’s list. A few of us were complaining about the irrational decision that our teenage girls had done with chopping off the long dangling tresses with a short hair which they felt was more manageable, this is when my brother added spice to this topic stating that girls/ladies felt liberated when they could do away with their long hair, it gave them confidence and a feeling of freedom, and at times it was a way of saying to the other gender, Hum kise se kum nahi< we are not inferior to you in any way >. On the contrary the moment boys show resistance to have a haircut is an indirect way to express that they have grown up. Further, cutting the hair and grooming it short was extending a feeling that someone was interfering with their freedom, and perhaps cutting short the hair of a man was an act of taming him. He also said if men are allowed to grow their hair long they become very powerful, thou this was more a general statement, some thinking on this really made a lot of sense.

Don’t we have a general perception that girls with long hair neatly plaited, are highly accommodative, submissive, pious and homely, while those with short hair are highly arrogant , dominating and modern. Contrary to this guys who are well groomed and clean shaved are preferred against men with long hair(playfully called samiyar), when I just recall men with long hair, at least a few images which came to my mind were those of Lord Shiva, Jesus Christ, Buddha, Mahaveer, Baba and invariably all sadhus and sidhas,and of couse some of our inventors and scientists, who are really powerful. And those  extraordinary bad men what you see in movies and serials.

In general conversations,we refer hair in tamil as both very useless stuff or too great a one .,people who speak tamil may enjoy inserting a few slangs used and have a good laugh