Uniting India
Archive for November, 2011
Glory Thy Name is India – The Mother of the World
Nov 27th
The readers are bound to have a celestial experience for sure. I quote Mark Twain and other great thinkers about the amazing INDIA. Islamic Countries and Western Countries have reached a stage of virtual collapse, the former due to their religious thinking and the latter due to their way of life. These Countries are left with no choice but to adopt the Indian way of life for their survival.
‘’ India is the cradle of the human race. The birth place of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and the most constructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.’’ – Mark Twain
‘’ India was the mother land of our race and Sanskrit the mother of European languages. India was the mother of our Philosophy, of much of our mathematics, of the ideals embodied in Christianity …… of self government and democracy. In many ways mother India is mother of all.’’- Will Durant, American historian, 1885 – 1981.
‘’ If there is a place on the face of the Earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the earliest days when More >
Can Tamilians Follow the Tamil Culture Abroad?
Nov 21st
We have evidence of Tamils contact with the Romans and even Americans from the earliest period. But we don’t have memories of Tamil settlements in these countries during the ancient period. Scholars also infer that the imperial Cholas of the later days must have travelled as far as Mexico. However on the basis of dependable evidence we can say that large scale Tamilians migration to African, West-Indian Ocean islands began to take place only in the 19th century.
Chart placed below clearly shows the country wise Emigration from Madras Presidency.
Mauritius Bourbon (Reunion)-1874 -75: 5,844
Ceylon- 17,227
British Burmah-264
West Indies-3,043
Other places-3,614
It is pitiable that all these migrants lost their identity except in Ceylon.
Interestingly now after two centuries this chart is increasing as on dated 31 Mar 2011, say up to 80,000 H-1B visas alone. Under, the H-1B cap, U.S. Companies selected our youth for skilled works. Unfortunately these migrants were attracted by the life style and mounting salaries of this country. In this no parent is far off from this thinking. As the head of the family it is common to provide better opportunities to their kids. But the children do not think about the demerits of this life. The main reason More >
External Appearance of People
Nov 21st
Why do we give so much importance to the external appearance of a person? How does it matter if someone is white, red, brown or black? It seems the colour of the blood is also different depending upon the colour of the skin.
I have seen many Indians not even caring to greet fellow Indians in a far away country like America any number of times leave alone talking as if they are in India. It is quite an embarrassing sight even to watch. I have seen Indians coming in groups to temples in America talk among themselves and leave the temples without bothering about other fellow Indians.
I would like to share our heavenly experience with a black person, I hate to call him that way, who has a heart of gold. His name is Larry L Lee. This man simply goes out of way to help unknown persons. He must be certainly belonging to some other world quite unknown to Indians.
In June this year I went to Pittsburgh, America, along with my wife to visit Venkateswara temple. We stayed in Super 8 motel. My wife has driving license but doesn’t have that much confidence in driving due to lack More >
Shreyo Bhooyath Sakala Jananaam !
Nov 21st
“Maitreem Bhajata Akhila Hrit Jaitrim” song was written by Jagadguru Sankaraachaarya Sri Chandra Sekhara Saraswathi Swami of Kanchi Kaamakoti Peetham who was famously known as ‘Periyavaa’ and ‘Paramaachaarya’. On the occasion of 50th anniversary of United Nations Organization, the Queen of Karnatic Music, Bharath Rathna Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi was invited to sing at UNO. Shri Achaarya wrote and gave her this Sanskrit song when she mentioned about the UNO invitation to Achaarya.
This is a benedictory song, composed in Sanskrit appealing for friendship that conquers all hearts, for non-violence, and tolerance to live and let-live, requesting to eschew aggression among people of all the nations of the world and to forsake unhealthy competition, aspiring for universal peace, and showering blessings of prosperity for the whole mankind. Sri Swami appeals to everyone to serve with the feeling of Friendliness and Compassion’. We have seen service done by some people with the sole intention of gaining name and fame. Some others are friendly and compassionate but do not do much service. Some others think donating to religious organizations means service. Service to humanity is service to God and that service needs to be done with the feeling of friendliness and compassion,not with pride or ego.
Composer: More >
The Carnatic Music Legend Dr. M.L.Vasantha Kumari
Nov 18th
Madras Lalithangi Vasanthakumari popularly referred to as MLV was a vidushi of outstanding merit and was a trail blazer and a trend setter. Born into a family of singers, this supreme classical Indian Carnatic vocalist was eventually known as MLV, an acronym standing for Melody, Laya, and Vidwat, three essential components of music. Surely she was great in all these aspects of Carnatic music. Endowed with a melodious voice, MLV was a much sought after musician. She could appeal to all sections of rasikas. Her music was like spring -joyful, colorful and varied. She could very easily render an elaborate ragam-tanam-pallavi in uncommon talam with an unusual eduppu, sing kritis set in two kalai talam or regale her audience with popular and semi classical songs.
MLV was born in 1928 at Madras to Srimati Lalithangi and Sri Kuthanur Ayyaswami Iyer-both musicians. Her mother,Lalithangi was a concert performer. The atmosphere at home was constantly reverberating with the songs of Purandaradasa, the kritis of the Trinity and others, and khayals, thumris and dhuns rendered by visiting Hindustani musicians. Having grown in this ambience, MLV used to give vocal support to her mother as a young teenager. She had dreams of becoming a physician. Thank God, she More >
Happy Childrens Day
Nov 15th
Children’s day is special day for the children. Universally, Children’s Day is celebrated on 20th November, every year.But in India it is celebrated on 14th November, because the date marks the birth anniversary of legendary freedom fighter and independent India’s first Prime Minister – Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru.
As a tribute to Nehru and his love for children, Children’s Day is celebrated on his birth date.
This day reminds to each and every one of us, to renew our commitment to the welfare of children and teach them to live by their Chacha Nehru’s quality and dream.
The video from the Tamil film ‘ Kuzhanthaiyum Deivamum’ is removed by the up-loader unfortunately. Baby Padmini played twin sister’s role. The song compares the chidren with God. Its meaning is as below.
‘ ‘God and children are pure souls. God always forgives people’s mistakes as told by elders. A man is open minded in childhood. The child is equivalent to God due to innocence. Clouds block the rising sun. Anger blocks man’s wisdom. Wind blows away the clouds. So does the peace and friendship between two angry persons. The children become elders when they grow up. The grown up people lose dignity when they fight. All the More >
Adi Kavi( The World’s First Poet) Valmiki
Nov 13th
Adikavi(First Poet), the Poet of Poets, of India, was first to gift the world the immortal epic, the ‘Ramayana’. By profession a highway robber, he came under the spell of Maharshi Narada and became a ‘Brahmarshi’ . He not only sang the matchless greatness of Sri Rama, but gave shelter to his wife Seetha Devi, and taught the epic to Sri Rama’s sons. In Sanatana Dharma or the Hindu religion it is always said that you should never ask the origin of rishi(saint) or river. So, no one knows mostly the exact life history of the ‘World’s First Poet’ Valmiki.
Thousands of years ago there lived a hunter who lived by robbing and looting. He lived in a jungle with his wife and children and no traveler who passed through the jungle was safe. He never hesitated to kill the innocent pilgrims to achieve his object if required. One day Devarshi Narada passed through the forest. As usual the hunter was on the lookout for victims and as soon as he saw a sage approaching joyously singing and playing on his Veena, he thought he would have best of the chance to get rich. With a thud, he jumped down before the More >
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
Nov 13th
“For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.” – Rudyard Kipling
In the ‘Second Jungle Book’, written by Mr.Kipling, the British author sums up the nature of the wolf pack succinctly as above, while describing the laws of the jungles he travelled while he was in India. Although written for children, it is generally accepted that he alludes to the many survival skills in the jungle as essential to his fellow British countrymen to dominate the world and be responsible for physical, mental and spiritual ‘growth’ of the others that they subjugate.
Alas, if India could learn from the same wolves in the jungle! Despite tremendous achievements in every facet of human endeavor, spanning over 5 millennia, we come up short in grasping the above simple truth and making individual sacrifices for the common good.
Sure, There was at least one instance where the above jungle law clearly worked and I quote historical sources: “ On January 26, 1565, the Deccan Sultanates of Ahmednagar, Bidar, Bijapur and Golconda, who had formed a grand alliance, met the Vijayanagaram army at Tallikota, Bijapur taluk between two villages called Rakkasa and Tangadi, on the alluvial banks More >
Balancing Act Of Working Parents and Kids Trauma
Nov 12th
All over the globe middle class couple are left with no choice but to seek some sort of an employment for their better future. The main reason for this phenomenon is economic compulsions. They mostly come from low middle class families having no economical backing. They have a dream of their own. That is to have some decent shelter of their own in addition to certain material comforts which they might not have had as children and also enjoy the bliss of having children.
In Countries like India, migration from villages to the towns and especially cities to make a better living is the root cause of all problems. The very definition of better living is changed drastically over a period of time.
Villages are neglected most. The Government hasn’t bothered to provide even certain basic amenities like good roads, good schools and clean drinking water at least forget about uninterrupted electric supply. As such real the builders and real estate agents have taken undue advantage of the people’s migration to the towns and cities and exploited their weakness by increasing the cost of the land exponentially high.
Gone are the days of possessing independent houses as far as middle class families are More >
Inspiring Movies
Nov 3rd
Every year thousands of movies are made in this world in various languages. Only few of them are inspiring. People generally watch movies for entertainment. Some watch them for latest fashion trends, some for music and some for technical excellence etc. Very rarely we come across movies having good story, script, camera work, editing, dialogue delivery, action and direction.
Most of us love to watch movies for entertainment in our mother tongue for thorough understanding of the dialogues, acting and narration of the story. That’s the main reason why we are allergic to watching movies in any language other than our native language. We are akin to ‘ koopastha mandooka’ way of life – a frog thinks the well is its entire world. Our thinking gets narrowed and we can never get to know other cultures, acting and other techniques and we remain where we are all the time.
Watching movies in different languages is like adding different foods made out of various recipes to the taste buds and enjoying it to the heart’s content. We need not understand each and every dialogue. We can easily follow the movie entirely provided we have the patience to watch it from the beginning More >
