Category: A12– Everything under the Sun

 
 

 
For a sub zero weather, hot, hot coffee, oru khaara, , oru pustakam gifted by maruman. Dr. Keshav. Last time when I wrote his name as Keshavan, he quarreled, “mama, onakku en Peru sariyA solla varathu?”
I replied, ” you are a Vaishnavan. Your grand father would have prescribed your name and called you KESAVAN, his heart ebbing with pride and enshrined with the form of the Lord with rich, flowing hairs, hands prominently carrying four divine weapons. He would have also murmured, ‘Keshava: Purushothama:” and your grand ma would have added a pasuram, where your name appears:
“வங்கக் கடல் கடைந்த மாதவனை கேசவனை
திங்கள் திருமுகத்து சேய் இழையார் சென்று இறைஞ்சி
அங்கப் பறை கொண்ட ஆற்றை அணி புதுவைப்
பைங்கமலத் தண் தெரியல் பட்டர் பிரான் கோதை-
சொன்ன சங்கத் தமிழ் மாலை முப்பதும் தப்பாமே
இங்கு இப்பரிசுரைப்பார் ஈரிரண்டு மால் வரை தோள்
செங்கண் திருமுகத்துச் செல்வத் திருமாலால்
எங்கும் திருவருள் பெற்று இன்புறுவர் எம்பாவாய்”
I raised my head anxious to see his facial expression.
He had left the scene, long ago!
In the olden days, we used to consult our parents before naming our babies, born after the fourth, up to whom the names were already predetermined.
They used to come out with such old- fashioned names like Paravathy, Parameswaran,subramanian etc,
Their intention was, while calling the kids, we would actually, though unintentionally, remember the Gods and goddesses. But, in practice, names got polluted to PAru, Pammetchu, Chuppani etc.
The present day children know that the original names never remains as such . Wise guys, they don’t ask our opinion at all. They choose their own sweet, short, simple, mobile- fitting, metallic names.
Easy to pronounce.
Imagine the confusion in his class or in the office, if my grandson had to be named Sivasubramanian!
An old story. When the convent principal, asked the name of my first son, me, raised my head, saluted my father silently, And told her, ‘Ananthanarayanan’
The old lady, fair like a faded white rose, her eyes like marbles, gazed at me and without saying a word, wrote on her book, ‘Ananth.’ With one stroke of a pen, the name of the God, the name of my grandfather, given to my son, ceremoniously, with ritual fervor, keeping him on my lap, communicated through his right year, where the holy Ganga flows, has been mercilessly, unceremoniously cut to less than half.
Why mourn ! Ananth also is God’s name.
What was exciting was the kid got LKG admission in a prestigious school, close to home, no donation, no capitation fee, no building fund!
Even such a shortened name is now twisted to a terrible shape by his Gym coach- Naanan!
It is fine. It is the short form of Narayanan!
My DIL, without asking me a word, added my wife’s name to her daughter’s and my name in a short and sweet form to her son. My wife’s name was already short and sweet. Mine became sweet when it was added to my grand son’s name.
My second son too followed suit. Now there are two
Ratna Perinkulams in the family.
We are selfish. We want our names to be in the air, even after we become a part of the air!

Challenges are there everywhere, for every one, human, animal, bird or insect. In every walk of life. On the land, in the water or from the space,
One has to be always prepared to accept challenges. That doesn’t mean, you should screw up your mustache, stand at the front gate, with a big knife to strike the enemy when he attacks.
It means, first, have knowledge of general nature and sound knowledge on the subject you are dealing with. This is to ensure that ignorance should not be the cause of your failure.
Then comes courage. Knowledge can be bought, acquired, but not courage. You have to develop it within yourself, to help which, knowledge can be one of your tools. Failures can be another tool, if used efficiently. Belief in God or Destiny could also be a tool, if not misused.
Then comes the most important part. Think cool, analyze the problems, arrive at a decision. Use any tool, books, friends, intelligence, experience, anything, but your cool mind, your decision and sir, your Fate will guide you to find a solution,
You are the king, if you have come over the problems. If you have not, use all the tools and be prepared to face the next problem. If you lose heart and sit in a corner, you are creating a problem for that corner. It will

Gone is gone!
“Are you a diabetic?”
“Yes”
“BP ?”
“High”
“Leg pain?”
“There are multiple plains. Not leg alone”
“Where is your wife?”
“Escaped”
“Means?”
“She left me”
“Abandoned you?”
“A new word in the dictionary?”
“What I wanted to know was whether she went alone or with some one”
“How does it matter, whether she went alone or with a doz. people?”
“Your children?”
“Far away”
“Your home?”
“That temple veranda”
“Cash?”
“Enough to buy a chAi and pokkoda”
“How, on the earth, are you so happy, with no wealth, no health, no shelter, no kin around?”
“I’m alive!”
“I too am alive and I have everything which you lack.”
“Who said you are alive?”
“See my hands, see my legs! These are moving.”
“Movement of limbs don’t make one alive. One should feel that he is alive. You are not alive”
“How?”
“If you were alive, you would be feeling the life; the life of yours and that of trees, birds, cattle and clouds and enjoy every moment, every movement of the world, like me. You don’t need a gym- tuned body or a gorgeous woman or mansion to enjoy life.
God didn’t guarantee any of those, when He sent you here.
Instead of enjoying the silence of the sky and vibrations of the Earth, you were wasting your time in enquiring whether my wife escaped with one or ten men. In what way are you concerned as long as you are not one among those ten? Are you going to buy a flat for me in the heart of the town or in a remote village? Are you going to order medicines for a month or a week from Rogam medicals? Or you going to buy one plate of extra pokkoda for my evening Chai?”
“Sir, I’m sorry. Your BP is abnormally high. Take care”
“You take care. Your limbs are shaking”
“Oh, my God, they are shaking! Will they slip and fall from my body? What do I do
now? Come along with you and take shelter on the temple veranda and share your pokkoda and chAi?”
“No, speed up home and see whether your wife is there or had eloped with someone”
Y”Sir, with one or a dozen?”
“In what way are you concerned? Gone is gone!”
“Is that the way to enjoy life? Gone is gone?”
“One of the ways”

“God is merciless”
“What happened? Why this sudden curse upon God? A few minutes ago, you praised Him as Ocean of Compassion!”
“Our Sambhu Sir passed away”
“That old man, in your opposite house? A few minutes ago, you blamed him for all your ills. By death, he acquired ‘our Sambhu’ status from you?”
“SP, respect the dead. Shed a tear drop for a good man”
“I don’t believe in respecting some one just because he is no more. I have the same respect for him which I had when he was alive. But let me tell you, I’m not sad on his death. In fact I’m happy that he is relieved of his year- long agony”
“Happy on someone’s death. Cruel man!”
“He was 85, ailing for an year from an incurable disease, his return to normalcy was ruled out. What is there to mourn about his death?”
“You could at least feel sorry”
“Feel sorry for what ? For his not returning and continuing to struggle?”
“That only shows the basic human sympathy has completely dried in your heart. Inhuman you are”
“Anyway, I don’t want to stay in your company any more. You pay the hospital dues, collect the body and arrange for cremation. I’m leaving”
“Wah, what a man you are, with springs of human sympathy flooding your heart!”

“Tell me, in short, your one achievement in life, SP”
“In yesterday’s pooja I could sit flat in SukhAsan for nearly two hours and do nearly twenty sashtAnga namskArams. I have said two, though you asked for only one.”
“Foo! You call those achievements ? I thought you would say,
‘I constructed a house, educated my children, was never afraid of my wife, wrote a book, uploaded songs in the Youtube, I could recite 20 hymns by heart etc, etc’”
“I have done all those. Anyone else too could have done all those. But, many of my age can’t even bend their knees, leave away sitting on the floor for an hour. And, hopefully, this achievement is going to help me in the long run better than my house or my song or my novel”
“Long Run! How long, you expect to run”
“As long as my leg runs. As long as my heart doesn’t beat erratically.”
“That is fine. Let me come back to the point of discussion. I agree your property or poetry will not help you in preventing decay of your bones and muscles. But singing Hymns praising God will help”
“I don’t sing to praise any person, including God”
“Person? God is a person for you?”
“For you! Didnt you say I should sing to please God? If God can be pleased by praising, he should be only a person. Not the Supreme Reality, who is beyond Time, beyond Space”
“A Peculiar man, you are!”
“True. That is my another achievement. Ok. Let us come back to the topic of discussion. Can you, in biting cold, wait for the school bus, as I did this afternoon, as Megh could not make it due to traffic jam?”
“I can’t as I’m allergic to cold”
“Have you ever exposed your body to cold weather? If no, how did you find out about the cold allergy!”
“My wife said”
“Is she a diagnostician?”
“No, she is my wife”
“She is undoubtedly a wonderful woman!”
“Wah, how could you asses her so accurately, SP?”
“That is my another achievement. Shall we revert to the point of discussion?”
“What is there to discuss further? Your achievements are not one or two”

“Some animals hibernate over the winter, going into a very deep sleep. Hibernating animals usually retreat to a den, a burrow, or a hollow log for protection and shelter. During “true hibernation,” the animal’s body temperature drops, and its rate of breathing slows down. These hibernating animals are very difficult to awaken.”
“( web copy)
That is exactly what I’m doing now, after coming to New Jersey. My sister from Hyderabad, called me from Baltimore for a week.for chewing together our Hyderabad days. It is two months now, I’m here. She cooks or her daughters in laws during week ends, I eat and sleep.
At times, the inner guy asks:
“Why don’t you do some useful work?”
“Eating and sleeping – not useful work?”
“Useful for others, I meant”
“Such as ?”
“Get milk, vegetables”
“Is there a Chettiar shop next door, here? For a can of milk or a kg of tomato, one has to drive 3 miles. I can’t drive, I can’t walk in this winter”
“You can read, write”
“What else have I been doing all these years? Work in a factory or farm?”
“Practice singing”
“Madras Music Festival is awaiting to hear me!”
“Pinnacle of pessimism!”
“Practical thinking”
“You can help your grand children in their homework”
“Ha,ha. Joke of the year! Man, the syllabus and methods are Greek and Latin to me that I don’t understand ABCD of what the kids learn”
“You are not useful to the world. Get ready for your final journey. One seat will become vacant”
“Joke of the century ! What is their to get ready? Is it flying back to India, pack my baggage and weigh and wait for the cab?. My Master simply lifts me up, when the time comes”
“Absolutely unhelpful attitude. You will never reach Him”
“Reach Him? Reach Him where? He is in me and I’m in Him. I’m He and He is me. You talk as if He is in another world or planet!”
————-
“Mano Buddhi Ahankara Chitta Ninaham
Nacha Shrotra Jihve Na Cha Ghrana Netre
Nacha Vyoma Bhoomir Na Tejo Na Vayu
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Na Cha Prana Samjno Na Vai Pancha Vayu
Na Va Saptadhatur Na Va Pancha Koshah
Na Vak Pani Padau Na Chopastha Payu
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Na Me Dvesha Ragau Na Me Lobha Mohau
Mado Naiva Me Naiva Matsarya Bhavah
Na Dharmo Na Chartho Na Kamo Na Mokshah
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Na Punyam Na Papam Na Saukhyam Na Dukham
Na Mantro Na Teertham Na Vedo Na Yajnaha
Aham Bhojanam Naiva Bhojyam Na Bhokta
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Na Me Mrityu Shanka Na Me Jati Bhedah
Pita Naiva Me Naiva Mata Na Janma
Na Bandhur Na Mitram Gurur Naiva Shishyah
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham
Aham Nirvikalpo Nirakara Roopaha
Vibhur Vyapya Sarvatra Sarvendriyanam
Sada Me Samatvam Na Muktir Na Bandhah
Chidananda Rupa Shivoham Shivoham”
————–
“You want me to explain the meaning?”
“No, I’m feeling sleepy. You too go to sleep”
“That is the way of winter. Hibernate”

Full nine days and nine eights, at our disposal, to divert at least a portion of the day or night towards the Ultimate Reality, now we call that Supreme Force or Power as Mahatripurasundari or in short, Amba, still shorter Mother, further shorter Ma, a familiar alphabet.
Such intervals, call it tea time, if you like, are earmarked not only to unwind our minds from the routine life, but also to turn our eyes towards inside and muse upon us, our life, we have already walked through.
Who am I ? How did I reach so far in my walk all through these years? Was it exclusively my intelligence, education, ability that brought me to this stage or was there an unknown hand, which guided me at least on certain occasions and made me to cross the deep trenches and tall hills? How did some lapses occur despite all my best abilities and efforts? Those shouldn’t have happened, but did happen, though I had no role. Who have made that to happen?
Such train of thoughts, which don’t occur during our busy days, if allowed to developed during the auspicious days, or any other days, there is a possibility of our
mind getting cleaner, lighter. Such minds open doors for positive thoughts and once mind start thinking positively, days ahead would be brighter. There will be only Deepavali in our mind.
I used to wonder on Deepavali nights, how great it would be if all the homes in my town, all the homes all over my country, every home in every country, is always as bright as it looks now! While hearing the crackers which burst with big noise for a short while and then become silent leaving behind only burnt, charred paper pieces and ash I ask myself is not my life like this? Make some noise, become silent and turn into ash?
Yes, that exactly was my suggestion that we should try to utilize such short intervals like Navarathry, to look within us and if possible also look up at the sky at that Supreme Reality, MA, in the shortest form and thank Her for giving us life, and tell Her, yes, I’ll live a worthy life. Will never bring you a bad name, because you are my MA.
Once that link between mom and child is revived, mind becomes light like a feather.
Enjoy in the Divine Mother.

ஒருமணி நேரமா கத்தீண்டு இருக்கேன், ஒரு பயல் ஏன் ன்னு பதில் சொல்லரதில்லை”
“கொழந்தைகள் எல்லாரும் வோட்டு போட போயிருக்கா”
“கொழந்தைகளுக்கு என்னடீ வோட்டு ?”
“நீங்கள் கூப்பிட்டா அப்பிடி சொல்ல சொன்னா”
“ஐயோ, ஓன்னை கெட்டிக்குண்டு அழறேனே!’
“பொய் சொல்லறேல், கெடிக்கொம் இல்லை, அழோம் இல்லை”
“எட்டும், பத்தும் வயசிலே வோட்டுக்கு போற பத்து மகான்களை, கெட்டிக்காமே எப்பிடி பெத்தே?”
“அப்பிடி எல்லாம் சொல்லாதுங்கோ நா! வெக்கமா இருக்கு”
“வேண்டாம் தாயீ, போல்ளிங் பூத்லே எடம் இருக்காது “