Kazhakuttom railway station

It is not a greatest place on the records of tourist books. A quiet suburb fittingly got a tiny railway station adjacent to a fleet of coconut groves.Iwill try to capture the moments I spent in that place as honestly as possible.Exaggeration at times transcends limits as I try to re live my rendezvous.

The kattanchaya or karuppatti was awesome to begin with. Later it turned very bitter to drink. I gulped it down. Tea was served by a lady who bore a traditional keralite smile bestowed upon her by anatomy of teeth.The station name " kazhakuttom " was written in hindi, english and the local language malayalam. The name plate is an old metal arch precariously bent resting up on a big tamarind tree. Foot paths cutting the dense grass or make do's as they say, adorn the lonely rails.Unlike parallel rails which never meet these make do's join and leave the rails on numerous occasions duly filling in as companions.

How often we find a vinayaka temple adjacent to a railway station ? Kazhakuttom is not missing out either.May be Vinayaka loves train so much.The evening passenger to kollam is yet to come.A stray dog wandered up and down the platform without any purpose.How am I saying it had no purpose. May be it had some purpose how do we know ? I got seated comfortably eagerly waiting to see a train.Seats on the platform are a gift to sit. You dont often get a better seat. Try it and tell me. Smiles got exchanged from opposite platforms. Wave of hands and a sense of fulfilment filled the realm of workers going back home.

Distant horn and rumble of the oncoming train woke the station from its slumber.Casual looking station guard checked the signals and kept his flags ready.The train is not the expected passenger and it is not meant to stop at kazhakuttom. It had a good speed.The arrival was ceremonial with a long horn and a ever increasing rattle of its wheels.Blend of its horn and wheels' rumble made every one look up and see the train.Even lovers seated at far end were forced to break their trance.

As the train crosses your eyeline,those where moments of glory for the train.Massiveness blended with speed leaves you dumbstuck.We feel as though we share the glory by merely watching the train's progress.It was all done in a quarter a minutes' time.Everyone paid due respect to it.It commanded it.Rhythmic friction between the track and wheels makes good music to one's ears. The platform gently yields to the pressure of the pace of the train by little quivers.Those quivers with the train's horn takes you to an elated state.The kollam passenger came.Only few people alighted and few boarded.`Silent meaningful glances` were exchanged for the last time of the day as the train rolled out of the station.Chirping birds and distant game of foot ball took the station back to silence. I could read the faces of people alighted. The pleasantries and grievances of the day are spilt in the train. It made their hearts lighter and their distant dreams seem closer.

Weakening Link

Brahma

"Babu repeated it for the tenth time -”Raja Raja chola built tanjore temple in 1010 AD”. He felt it was enough. "Shahjahan built Tajmahal". This is fairly easier. It deserved only five repetitions. Babu teaches history at high school"

Crores of history lessons are taught like this. An attempt to treat history as a mere collection of facts is a gross injustice to our rich and fabulous past. They rarely get the attention and understanding they deserve. CREATION of mindset, to treat history as an fact base and a demand to reproduce it blindly for examinations leads to a justified disinterest amongst young minds. This sets the tone for their increasing disinclination to learn about our glorious past.

Vishnu

"Giridhar's Job is very dull and boring. He needs to go to the office at 9 and comes back at 5 regularly throughout the year. No work doing regular time. No hopes of over time. His customers include young lovers who rarely want to be disturbed from their trance, middle aged couple with turbulent minds seeking solace from routine in silence of the premises, fleet of school children drop in occasionally with their school teacher as their guards. Besides there will be researchers who turn up at times. Giridhar hates them. Their questions are very difficult for him to answer. He clings to newly arrived computer and pretends that he is too busy. Yes. He is the curator at National museum in Meerut."

Tone that is created in schools is REINFORCED at large, at the plight of our national museums and art galleries. To name a few, Tirumalai nayakkar mahal museum at Madurai and museum at rock fort trichy are at dire straits. Visitors have a purpose for which the museum is not built for. Abject state of museums and related institutes, drives away even the little few who want to re look into the past. Maintenance of thousands of such museums and art galleries all over India is a demanding job though not financially rewarding. We are resigned to accept that nation's growth depends only on economic frontiers. In the race of SENSEX, GDP and inflation we miss the joy and glory in seeing the growth of our country in cultural and social fronts.

Shiva

"Saamee ... This is how most people call him. He is very old and an exponent of all Vedas and Upanishads. Lessons and case studies taught by management gurus are often redundant when compared to his knowledge about tirukkural and mythology. His knowledge is rarely valued in the society he lives. Being old he is the victim of neglect. He often laments about the lack of respect to elders, among the younger generation and faces the wrath of counter arguments which dejects him further. He is ganapathisamy gurukkal. He currently resides in Chennai with his sons and daughters who are working for MNC's."

Tone that is created in schools is reinforced outside translating it into actions in our day to day life. Customs and rituals are slowly forgotten or shortened to customize the so called fast pacing world. Outsourcing’s poorest manifestation in the name of hosting parties with catering agencies' help is a shocking indicator in our land which is famous for the way it plays the host to its guests. What is the use of hosting a party if you are not a host? Perplexing. History is looked up as the last career option. Disrespect to elders, Ridiculing persons going to temples are most prevalent amongst youngsters of our times. In this mode of forgetting things we DESTROY the link unconsciously. Soon would be times we will not be able to tell where we came from.

What happens when one looks back at past? It instills confidence in us to move forward in a positive fashion. Lessons like dedication, sincerity and Magnanimity transcending all forms of work are abundant in history. Only we fail to see them. From the past, some people grew to the present and some went down to the present. Why? Lessons lie there.

Key lies in conscious attempt, to create a mind set in schools, to care about our past. We must preserve the present to handover it to the next and destroy the anomalies and irrelevant things to learn the right lessons from the past.

The Hindu Trinity

Lord Brahma is the first member of the triad, Vishnu being the second and Shiva, the third. Brahma is the god of creation and he is traditionally accepted as the Creator of the entire universe. Lord Vishnu regarded as the preserver of the universe. Shiva is said to be the god of destruction and the three gods represent the three fundamental powers of nature which are manifest in the world viz. creation, destruction and maintenance. These powers exist perpetually. Creation is going on all the time. So is destruction and maintenance. All three powers are manifest at all times. They are inseparable. Creation and destruction are like two sides of a coin. Maintenance is an integral part of the processes of creation and destruction.

My love story .. " I love you "

She came only in the middle of my life. What she did to me is enormous . She has been the source of inspiration for me. She is beautiful. I owe a lot to her for what little I have achieved till this date. I love her so much.

When she came to me? I still remember the exact date and timing . It was one of the ordinary evenings in my college campus. I was trodding around Jobless. My friends have left. I stayed back for no reason. Perhaps it was better I did not have a reason. I met her. She wore a black dress and later she told me that it was her favourite colour. It was a wonderful moment. I felt I lived till then for that moment. I immediately fell in love with her.

I told my friends. Some cheered.Some cautioned. All of them were happy to know that Iam in Love. I knew that, what I had fallen into, has the magic of making me insensitive to the present world. I was on a high and I liked it. It was very special. Did I tell her my love ? Should I tell now or later ? I was only a fresher. What if she says no. I cannot bear that. I turned to my friends for opinion. Some asked me to wait. Some told me to go ahead and tell.

I enjoyed the period of trance. She looked more beautiful as days went by. Though I did not tell her my love, I was speaking to her on occassions and it helped my dreams during days and nights. One day I spoke to her the whole night. It was unforgettable.And then this happened. I knew this would happen. My friends told her about My love. Should it happen this way? I should have told her directly. I donot know. It is good and Bad to have someone expressing on your behalf. I prayed god daily that I should get positive response from her. I was insensitive to my Family and other commitments. I wanted her Badly.

What did she say? She said NO. I was shattered. She told that I had poor English, I was wearing spectacles, I was conservative in my thinking, immature and so many. I did not want reasons. I wanted her love. She gave only reasons.


What should I do know ? Should I leave her and look out for some other Love ? Can I forget her? Shall I try once more. Try and Impress her. Can I win her ? She did so many things to me. I got good grades and started dressing well becasue of her. I became more assertive and confident because of her.Some saw it as a boost to my life. Some did not felt so. Seconds went like years without her. I decided to keep on loving her till she does.My friends said that she is not all life.They asked me to concentrate on other things. I did not listen.

Our College tour came. She came for the tour. I thought she would speak to me during the tour.She did not.She spoke to every other guy and I was down and out. I cried almost on every night of the tour. I thought of speaking to her some time in the tour. I could not.

Time is the best healer, as they say, it was true in my case. Soon after my college ended I got a job and work ate my dreams. I slowly lost the memories and soon it was out. I was both happy and sad. Happy because more time with friends and family. Sad because Iam not hearing her voice anymore. Deep inside I wanted to talk to her for life time.As years went I became more rational and mature. Some how I felt, if I shape myself the way she wants, I will win her. I developed my english, got more expansive in my thinking and became more equipped to win and conquer her.

Is that enough ? She raised the benchmarks every time I improved. I found it difficult to catch up.She raised standards every time. I tried hard and wanted to win her badly.She was elusive.The catch up game continued.

I started to understand the design. The happiness I get out of the love with her lies not at the end but, in the process,in the means of attaining her love. Each and every effort I make to win her love gave me happiness. I soon found out that entire happiness lies in the catch up game. What should I do now ? I decided to play the catch up game forever without giving up.

Every day,She threws up new challenges. She gives me new insights and makes me emotionally stornger and more rationale. She enjoys the catch up game too.

She raises the standards every time I grew. I knew there is no limit to her standards and I did not bother to know what is the limit if it had existed . If there is a limit, that ends the catch up games, so to my happiness. She is boundless.

I know most people love her. She goes along with every one, laughs,cries,criticises,praises,advices,hugs everyone of them. She guides everyone, throws up future challenges and illustrates present day miseries. She is the lamp of life for people like me. Hope you know her. Don't you?.Let me tell you. She is "the books we read".

There are no limits upon the kinds of materials that can be put between covers, or how those materials can be arranged inside her. You can get anything under the earth from her.She is an inspirational tool for the future.We share our knowledge through books.Our friends introduce us books and it is the starting point of building up the habit. But of late she is dying. There are many reasons why she is dying. I donot want her to die. Some cure must treat it back to life. I want to play the catch up game eternally with her. Will you Join us ?

Magic is Simple

This is something difficult about being simple. People never try to be simple. Greatness mostly lies with her cousin simplicity. Being simple is great because being simple is very difficult. In this attempt i try to draw a analogy between two disparate things but have one unique great feature. That feature contributes to the magic it provides and i call that magic simplicity. Magic is Simple.

Wasim Akram, Champion left armer has always been a great inspiration not only in reference to cricket. A diabetic patient only on doctor's records. The stride, arm action and follow up are true marks of a champion and every aspect is equally simple. Simple though word is simple is not actually simple . You have to be a great to be simple and Wasim is truly Great.... The parallel is my fresh obsession, tanjore big temple. Its majesty is its simplicty. Be it the big elephant at the entrance, to a monumental nandhi statue , the vast expanse outside the main shrine called the pragaram, its capacity to accomdate half a lakh people is a testimonial to what it takes to be simple. You can sit for as long as you want. The walls,cielings,structures have messages. They make a statement , a simple statement. It throws up fresh challenges in to your mind. They are .....

Is it possible for the world cricket to get one more Wasim akram ?
Is it possible to build temple of this magnificence again ?

The beauty as I see in both is that they do not undermine your intention of recreating it again. Instead they welcome the challenges. The big temple built by Raja raja chola challenged his son Rajendra cholan to built another masterpiece at gangai konda chozha puram. This temple was built with stones brought from Ganges. Imagine the logistics problem ..

I could not draw any similar instance for Wasim but Iam sure We are going to see one more Wasim again ...

Simple thing about great things is their ability to inspire, to reach out for even greater things. Let us get inspired my the magnitude of challenge, offered by Wasim and the Big temple ... We must take up challenges of such magnitude offered by current world inequities. Let us get inspired rather lament about it. As they say “No one ever achieved greatness by playing it safe.”


P.S. : Though it is challenging to create Special economic zones ... it is surprisingly and shamefully less challenging than providing a square meal to the persons who are getting displaced for the sake of SEZ's.

Is that have to be your Own ? ....

There was a power cut and there was no water ..... in my hostel for about two days ... Its walk of life for more than 70 percent of the Indians ... It was not the case for us. We felt as if we are in one of the conditioning camps of Hitler. We simply, honestly could not stay normal or adjust ourselves during the course of interruption.

How is that 70 percent of fellow country men take it as light as a dust ... while it seemed to us the failure of entire administration of our Institute.How is that they are able to march past all these interruptions while we went even to the extent of cancelling the classes .. .. Iam thinking ....

The reason cited commonly is ... We are used to what we have . If some thing goes wrong .. we don't get what we get regularily then ... Problem starts .. Here comes the fundamental question ... Is that have to be your own ... your own experience to make it happen again or to prevent it happen again ... This reminds me conversation between my friends avinash and viki about tamils in srilanka. Viki was quoted saying "we will not able to feel the pain of a person who lost his land,his community his cultural bondage and in short sense who has lost his emotional living "
I feel it is true . A person who comes good from an poor financial background knows the pains and remedies. One who comes from a financially sound background ... it is difficult for him to understand visualise and make out the remedies ... Iam not saying it is impossible .. But it is difficult and it will eat up considerable amount of country's resources .... it may also result in horrendous policy judgements and we have witnessed plenty of those.

Schemes for rural India is drafted by a urban brought up minister. Policy for education of poor is enacted by a house of ministers whose children study in big private schools and minister themselves are uneducated .... in this case value of education is known to a man who has got it.. not to one who has not ... .. It is mostly the lack of understanding of the intensity of issues leads to erroneous policies.. You may say this is the basis of democracy... People must have to vote in and vote out to get issues resolved...

But has that happened ?? Till Independence dawned this sacred India ..... life has not been a holi to majority of her countrymen. Our PM in his I-day speech puts before him issues almost similar to the one Nehru had put before 60 years ago when independence came.. There is clear lack of ownership of the problems of the ruled amongst rulers . Even if that is the basic design .. a human nature... we cannot let it happen .....

I would suggest a priority ... of course reservation to people who come from backward background ... means not only finacially but also culturally, backward .... to rake up the real intensity of the issues ... Strangely there have been voices that there should not be any reservation ... You can only laugh at it....

We are in a land of absolute inequality. In the name of global competition we are creating a divide in the nation .. Let us give food first later we will design a fastest electronic chip in the world. Let us give quality primary education to the poor first ... we will later worry about quality of IIT and IIM graduates . Any way they are of no use to India .. they are not going to be in India or for India ... Let us give shelter to the poor we will later build multiplexes and malls .... First we must open our eyes then we can start looking...

We are presently looking with eyes shut and cheating ourselves in the name of Global competition. Long term solutions do not work for problems of long term. We must solve them short term .. Let us think about welfare of people of present .. solve their problems ... Our unborn sons and daughters will have their time to fight it out.Let us think about brothers ans sisters of our time. What is the pride in getting a global tag with millions of her soil fail to get square meal a day.

If all this would happen at cost of a blood shed revolution ... Let us be ready for it ... Let us join the revolt ... Let us give our next generation an equitable and harmonious society to grow with .... I pray .. on millions behalf for such a revolution to take us to everlasting equity ...Jai hind ..

Yeh Dil Maange more...

Its been a while since I posted.This effort will be trying to reply queries w.r.t
to my earlier post and more......

Education was the basis of my previous post ; i have found a sound definition.
" Education is the way in which a generation hands over their own entire learnings to the next. ".It is the way in which a generation inhertis learnings of its ancestors. My anguish is that the inheritance has not entirely been happening or even if it happens its at slow pace. Who is to blame is next best question. ?

Is it the beneficiaries to be or the people who regularily review and enhance the system to be blamed ? My earlier blog was totally against on the former ones.i.e. the beneficiaries. But .the latter .. the admin mechanism lies with the government and it is natural tht ppl point their hands towards government. It comes natural to all of us to blame the government because it is so easy and it is not pointing towards any particular individual.

But the real issue is educational system should be continusoly enhanced,reviewed to help the soceity. Who has to do it ? Infact it needs tremendous skill to just run a educational system as enormous as it is in India.To regularily review update and enhance it requires tremendous commitment.take the question in last line of previous paragraph.... rephrasing... Who has the commitment?

One who commits has the commitment.Government commits and invariably it fails ... and we have our fingers ready...

I strongly beleive that such a dynamic system like educational system the promise to deliver upon commitments .. lies definitely with the beneficiaries.It is the beneficiaries who run away from their implied duty of giving back to what nurtured them but it is the government who takes the blame for not delivering the commitments which is .... Failure of commitment is a effect...Beneficiaries not giving back is a definite cause.

Ironically we can only write ... only write .. till now ... we are as
my friend viki says just " Blog bastards " ...

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I went to tanjore Brahadeeswara temple... imposing monument.It was a big storage place for warefare,a ground for arts extragavanza,a shelter to numerous villages during natural calamities, an architect's dream and many more .... The purpose and the magnificence of the purpose is truly commendable. It takes a broad and grand view of your subjects to build such a masterpiece.It has been declared as world heritage monument.

"There is no limit to what can be accomplished
if it does not matter who takes the credit for it"

Iam just thinking of those artisans,masons,architects .... who were invloved in building this monument.All knew people will remeber only Raja raja chola... still it did not matter to them. All they knew is how to give infinite moments of joy to the people who watch the spectacle even after thousand years.. and its amazing for a management graduate whose first lesson invariably taught in cut throat corporate is how to take credit for what he does ......... Shame ful. I will be back.....

"Enga area ulla varatha "

Friends ..

"Enga area ulla varatha
padicha naye kitta varatha"

Sure many of you would have heard this song ...from pudupettai ..

The essence of state of educational system in India is subtly,explicitly told .... in these few lines ... It hints at who needs a revamp.Is it the educational system or its beneficiaries.

What is an Educational system ? Leaving out any MBA grad's passion for complicating simple things, I put across as a framework in which there is a learner and a teacher.Only these two will comprise any educational system.

The Objective of the educational system is upliftment of the entire society which helped in its formation.It is made by the society for its own enhancement.Learner and the teacher share this common objective. It aims in continuosly improving the living standards of the people equally through out all available divisions of people.The divisions are arrived at after classifying people based on caste,economic strata, region they belong to.

But there are a few concerns ...
Firstly "Do all the divisions of the society get education ? ...
Secondly but importantly "Do they get the benefit of the educational system ?"

The former question is being dealt extensively by Our Politicians and their related governing bodies.Every effort to improve the status quo is being taken up.

The Latter pose?

Who has to answer ... The onus to answer this question lies with us.Us is we.
We is anyone who has completed his graduation.We are the cream layer benefited with exposure to numerous deficiencies,problems available in the present society and we have the capacity to provide solutions to those problems ........
But still we also have the mental capacity to ignore such basic duties ... and pursue "Our Own " path. Hope you know what I mean by "Our Own path"..

We the creamy layer are nourished with so much information ,backed by ability to provide clear cut solutions to current problems ,have the capacity to change present scenario and ..but.....we completely forget our share in fulfilling the objective of the educational system.Our role in giving back to the society which formed us is entirely forgotten and infact we dare to ignore the victims of our own negligence.

We have been taught to build bridges,roads,substations,oil refinieries,business ventures,relationships.Educational system which we are blaming at is not the real culprit.But the beneficiaries of the educational system are the one to take the blame.

We use the supply chain concept to sell a detergent cake and lose out in using the same in Ration supplies distribution.We use the branding concept in selling a shirt but fail to use it when it comes to rice,wheat,and endless crops that are exported out of this country.We use cost accounting principles to reduce operational costs of a client we have never seen but we are reluctant to apply the same to a small scale industry next to our place . We use balanced score card to benefit our department employees but fail to use it when it comes to our government organisations.

If the beneficiaries of system move away from the system who will change the system ?
This has been the case for some long time and this I believe rightly in their own perspective,led to the discontent of under privileged and they feel that "WE" are not part of the system and in some cases it is to the extent of underprivilged themselves throwing us out of the system which needs us.

The Jobs,the lifestyle,the money ,all that is offered and taken ,by potential graduates at present are not the intended destination.That is not the basket our educational system aimed at.Alas nobody including me has realised that.

We want one sacrifice.Infact sacrifice is a too big a term to use. Its a small compromise.A subtle monetary and status compromise about everything,Right from the cool drink we drink to shirts we wear to Job we do,to gadgets we use,we need a compromise.

Those compromises will not make us poor,but will make some poor a little rich ,will not make us beg in streets , but will move some children in streets to shelters, it will create the India we imagine,we dream in longterm.It will change the system we are pointing our fingers to..buddies We are the culprits ..

The compromise is that we must start working in government organisations.. and their related bodies.We must start entering politics.We can create more organisations and entities which will result in upliftment of entire system.We may not earn fat cheques but we will earn a worthy living.

We must try to lift our neigbours up.It is important that we grow and it is even more important that we help others grow.Way we can help others is not charity alone.Get into the fucntions and modify their SOP's.We are not here to fill the deficiencies created out of the system.We are here to find out the causes for the defects and eliminate them from the system.We must internalize the need for which the term education came into existence.

It all comes down to this.Those who have must give to those who do not have.Be it material wealth or mental skill. Sadly this is not happening in our motherland.

"Friends the educational system has given us the jobs, the lifestyle, the status and the pleasures we thoroughly undeserve"

Its high time we must start giving back !

luv,
mani

Debut Innings

This is the first blog ... a novel way to yell out at may be millions of millions of people and tell them that iam also here and i want to be heard.

Hi frends i have not totally understood how this blog works.But this will give me immense pleasure in welcoming you all to my world. thts wat every body who blogs says . so to I !.

You are welcome .

Will it replace email .... ? let it replace .

Is this blog for sharing things ? forget it . There are thousands of ways we ( human community ) invented to share things and most of them are under-utilised and misplaced in context of both time and place.

This is my place i will say what all i want and what all i should .

iam terribly disheartened that in real life , (presuming blog is virtual and nobody instantly available for reacting to what all i say), i am not allowed to say what i should.Be it in my class or in hostel or in road or in bus or in temple or you name any place iam bounded to something.

What is that ? If you know tell me. i want to kick it out if i can.I know it kills my instinct .

Is it the past experience or an incongrous pattern already formed in my mind that leads me all way and shows me way every where. I dont want it . It unnecessariliy guides me . No new things and all old fun and i stay where iam .

Is it the feeling that i want to be in zone of comfort all the time ... tell me.

like you see i want feed back (another pattern led sentences iam typing out)

luv
mani