Warrier's COLLAGE July 1u 2021

Welcome to Warrier's COLLAGE On Saturday July 17, 2021 Why Are YOU Hurt? : J Krishnamurthy https://youtu.be/UhHMoiSk63A (A littles) (Uploaded one year ago) Good Morning Nice Day M G Warrier A Select Responses 1) Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai Rugmini Swayamvaram Patiently I was seeing Rukmini Kalyanam couched in beautiful ragas. Padams and Javalis constitute an important part of both-dance as well as music. The concept of the yearning of the jeevathma to unite with the paramatma forms the core for all these compositions. Padams are like musical monologues and propagate the sentiment of love for God through the nayika–nayaka bhava. Various rasas are depicted in padams in all their delicate shades, through suitable ragas which reflect such rasas. The earliest padams were composed by Jayadeva in Sanskrit in 12th Century and Kshetrayya in the 16th Century. The Sanskrit verses of Jayadeva, extolling the amorous scenes between Radha and Krishna are in vogue in both dance and music even today. Kshetragna's greatest contribution to music are his padams, composed mostly in Telugu, which he composed in rare ragas, adding beautiful lyrics and moving tunes. . Kshetragna seems to have been a great devotee of Gopala (Krishna), the presiding deity of his village. The ragas used were Anandabhairavi, Sahana, Nilambari, Ahiri, Ghanta, Mukhari, Huseni, Surati, Sourashtram and Punnagavarali, to mention a few. The striking feature of padams is that he uses very few words to describe expansive ideas, thus allowing for elaboration of emotions and situations. The words of these padams, couched in the fine Telugu, or Sanskrit are often very beautiful and are full of imagery most poetical, and set to music, equally plaintive and appealing to the senses. Therefore, they are best suited for abhinaya with their irresistible charm, complex musical intricacies and unhurried lilting gait. There were many other composers of Padams such as Sarangapani of Chittoor, Ghanam Krishna Ayyar,Tanjore Adimurthi Ayyar, Gopala Krishna Bharati, Venkatasubba Ayyar and many . The other well known Tamil Padam composers are Muthu Tandavar, Marimuthu Pillai, Papavinasa Mudaliar, and others. Maharaja Swati Tirunal of Travancore composed several padams for Mohini Attam and Kathakali. If we have interest in slow rendering and involvement in lyrics we can enjoy padams. Padams were much popularized by Smt Brinda, Muktha and Smt D K Pattammal. Vathsala Jayaraman B Readers' Contributions 1) P A Premkumar, Ex-NABARD shares "Wayside Scenes Volume 2*" https://heyzine.com/flip-book/247e0bab5f.html *Link for Volume 1 awaited-Warrier 2) Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai Swayamvaram, Past and Present Which married woman in India can forget that anxiety filled day-some stranger with his relatives coming to assess her height, weight, complexion and intelligence and compatibility? Just leaving the house promising a feed back, but no word thereafter!! Who cared for the embarassment the girl feels to prostrate before the strangers, to be exhibited head to foot and finally to be rejected under the pretext of falling short of a minor shade of expected complexion.In most of the houses this practice continues as unwritten law. The embarassement was equally fely by men while being rejected by the princess." As Indumathi passes each prince.his face shines and gets lighted up with the hope that he would be chosen as bridegroom. As she crosses, his face is plunged into darkness just as a house becomes dark as the bright light of the procession moves on".This is how the shattered mind of the prince is beautifully described by Kalidasa in Raghuvamsam. In Sita's Swayamvaram, more significance is being attached to breaking of 'Shiva dhanus' and the glammour is lost.All swayamvars did not end in happy weddings. Draupathi's swayamvara ends in chaos.In Mahabharatha, the simultaneous swayam varas for three girls, lay the foundation for the death of Pitamaha Bhishma. Undoutedly the respectable Swatyamvara was the forerunner for the prevailing 'Bride-seeing' rutual in the present. Instead of bride going round the hall with a garland, the man visits girl after girl for selecting his life partner. Perhaps the bride's parents want to test the resistance of sugar and cholesterol in the boy's family by offering sojji and bajji. On many occasions sojji is stuck to the mouth disabling the boy to open his mouth. The bajjis instead of being puffed up a full term pregnant lady, look very thin like T B patients,the skin of the vegetable peeping out to see the bride. Now a days, the meeting is arrnged with lunch in famous restaurants sometimes resulting in unwanted discussion about menu forgetting the purpose of visits. On many occasions only youngsters meet and intimate their proposal. Perhaps swayamvaras lasted until the male population far exceeded the female as long as the royal rule continued.As women population increased,the system got reversed.Now the demand is more for educated and employed girls.Pitiable is the present situation of well employed boys eagerly waiting for a simple'ok' early from some girl,with at least 70% of his expectation. Swayamvara may be the order of the day disguised in some different form. Some 60 years back tiffin session was followed by series of lectures on sterling qualities of the girl with 80 % lies. Now the boy and girl lie directly to each other without the intervention of parents. Even modern girls who have already moved with the boy feel an inward thrill on this 'Bride-seeing' ritual. They seem to enjoy the fun of mother's anxiety and neighbours' gossips. Someone jocularly remarked that the word 'kesari' ends with the auspicious remark 'sari'-ok. It reminds one of the expressions'que sera sera'meaning 'whatever will be will be'-a philosophical attribute to kesari. The modern 'mutual apprisal session ' in Coffee Day can never have the sheen and colour of the seemingly blushful smiles of the bride and the hidden longing of the bridegroom. Vathsala Jayaraman 3) V Babusenan Thiruvananthapuram Marriage and Morals Karunakaran was very happy when Sasankan, Assistant Manager of a prosperous private - sector bank expressed a wish to marry his daughter Rajani. He felt that a great weight was lifted off his mind. Karunakaran was a widower and Rajani was his only daughter. She was an M A B Ed She was called for an interview in connection with a teacher's job in a reputed private secondary school. The chairman of the interview board was a sanyasin and a familiar face. He glanced through the testimonials and smiled. He said : "Ms Rajani Karunakaran, your educational career is quite impressive. By appointing you, we will get a good teacher, no doubt. But the question is,what monetary gain we are going to get from you. Minimum 15 lakhs?" She didn't expect such a question. She stood up and said : "Swamiji, please do not waste your precious time on me. Permit me to leave. "Rajani's hope for a teacher's job, thereafter, was only the PSC and she was patiently waiting for a call. Her father was a senior clerk in the Municipal Corporation, Neyyatinkara and he had saved some money just sufficient to marry her away in a modest manner. Anything beyond that was only a dream for him. Sasankan had seen Rajani at the tuition centre where his friend was teaching and his wish for marrying her was conveyed thorough him. Karunakaran made discreet enquiries and was satisfied. Besides, the proposal was without any 'strings' attached. Both father and daughter gave their consent and the date for the wedding was duly fixed. Sasankan made occasional visits to his future in-law's house. He was a refined talker and the evening discussions were thoroughly enjoyable. One evening, while Rajani was bringing tea tray to the drawing room, she found her father standing alone on the veranda. He was in a very disturbed mood. She asked for the reason. He said : "Rajani, Sasankan needs twenty-five thousand rupees to meet marriage expenses. It is a bombshell for me. How can I raise that much money now? What shall we do, Rajani?" "How could he make such a demand at this stage? Have we not explained our financial circumstances to him, father?" She stopped for a moment and then said : "I want to talk to him alone" Placing the tray on the table, she said abruptly : "Sasankan, you must have been in the bank for at least ten years. Am I right?" "Yes, why this question now?" "Didn't you think about marriage at any time?" "Yes, many times. I didn't want to become a sanyasin" He laughed. " Then, you could have saved enough money to spend for your marriage. You had a decent salary all along and, as far as I know, you had and still have no encumbrances." "Oh, leave it. I never bothered about money and I used to spend lavishly for my friends." "In that case, I must say that, in spite of your good qualities, you cannot be depended upon for a responsible life. My father is a poor man as you already know and I do not want to give him sleepless nights by my marrying you." There was an air of finality in her tone. He understood it and walked away. Just then, her father entered the room. She said with a sad smile : "Father, the chapter is over. I have avoided many problems for you and me." C Story Time with K Govindaraj The Grateful Elephant Story in English | Stories for Teenagers | English Fairy Tales* https://youtu.be/WcYWKXp_KOI *Shared by K Govindaraj via Group mail D Leisure Fidel Castro and the Drum , Stick Tree* https://www.drbrahma.com/heard-of-moringa-that-healed-fidel-castro-here-are-the-facts-that-unveil-the-secrets-of-this-miracle-tree/ *Idea Courtesy : Saravana Varma Mumbai E Quotes about communication https://trans4mind.com/quotes/communication-relationships.html Communication makes the world go round. It facilitates human connections, and allows us to learn, grow and progress. It's not just about speaking or reading, but understanding what is being said – and in some cases what is not being said. Communication is the most important skill any leader can possess. F Story Time with S R Badrinarayanan A story from Zen Buddhism There was a robber who amassed a lot of ill-gotten wealth. One day, he went to a teacher who had great reputation of great character and asked, ``How can I obtain happiness? I have lots of wealth and five hundred thieves ready to obey me but somehow I still feel incomplete and empty.'' The teacher led him to the base of a hill, and pointing to three large stones, asked the robber to carry them and follow him up the hill. The robber could hardly move and said, ``I cannot follow you with this heavy burden.' So the teacher asked the robber to drop one stone. After going a little distance, the robber found it impossible to go up the hill with two heavy stones. The teacher asked him to drop one more and the same thing happened with the third one and the robber was able to easily follow the teacher to the top of the hill. The teacher said, ``Deviating from the path of righteousness does cause a heavy conscience. Just as you could not climb the hill with the burden of heavy stones, you cannot achieve happiness if you go through life carrying a heavy conscience.'' How true. Whenever we go against our values, our conscience gets burdened. Stress level goes up. Insecurity comes in. ignoring conscience long enough kills it eventually making it like dead weight like the rocks in the story. Life becomes a burden. G Narasimha Jayanti : Vathsala Jayaraman Narasimhavatharam Kathakali https://youtu.be/KuVYwU9nND8 Narasimha Jayanthi is being celebrated throughout India on the shukla paksha chaturdasi of Vaisaka month. Prahlada charitram is well known to everyone. Pleased by the faith and devotion of child Prahlad, Lord Vishnu descended on earth in the form of Narasimha,-half-lion,half-man form incarnated from a pillar,fulfilling the strange conditions conveyed in Brahma's boon to Hiranyakashipu. This is an avatar showing the ferocity of the Lord shown to his rivals who harass His devotees and also revealing his gentleness to his staunch devotees. This avatar creates an everlasting impression that prayers with unswerving faith and deep devotion never remain unanswered. The form of Lord Narasimha with matted hair, large moustache, sharp jaws with robust physique, may look fearful. Next moment we think of Shantha Narasimha or Yoga Narasimha. The mythology goes, that Lord Shiva manifested Himself as Sarabha, an animal and human form with 4 hands, 8 legs 2 wings with a beak of falcon with dazzling eyes. The two wings are supposed to represent Kali and Durga. Shiva, as Sharabeswara, embraced Lord Narasimha and by fanning with two wings mitigated the raging anger of Narasimha, who gradually cooled down and became Yoga Narasimha. Narasimha Jayanthi is celebrated in Vaishnavite temples. In some of the houses they have a tradition of celebrating Narasimha Jayanthi at home in a grand manner, with Paarayanam, pooja and with an opera at night. I was fortunate to be present twice on the occasion, when Narasimha Jayanthi was celebrated in Shri Janakiraman's (Ex D. G.RBI) residence in KK Nagar Chennai. He used to recite verses, sing and dance as per paddhati. When the episode of Narasimhavatar incarnating from the pillar was enacted the entire hall was charged with divinity. The powerful vibrations are difficult to be described in words. Paanakam and sugarcandy would be distributed as prasad. There used to be marriage-like arrangements in their house. Many eminent Bhagavathars and Hari katha exponents and Bhagavatha mela dancers used to paticipate. It is an unforgettable experience. Another evergreen memory of Shri Janakiraman! Vathsala Jayaraman.