Warrier's Collage November 2, 2021

Welcome to Warrier's COLLAGE On Tuesday November 2, 2021 1) Sri RUDRAM (NAMAKAM) https://youtu.be/PbGBn14Q-TU 2) Sri Rudram with meaning : https://www.astrojyoti.com/sri-rudram-with-meaning.htm Good Morning Nice Day M G Warrier A HAPPY DEEPAWALI Ganga Snaanam Aachchaa? Vathsala Jayaraman Sanatana Hindu dharma has allocated dates for celebrating numerous festivals through a year. A beautiful aspect of all these festivals, without exception, is that each has a spiritual and a social message. Every function for instance is wound around one Devata — a God or a Goddess who we recall that day and offer puja and naivedya besides special obeisance as specified. (Continued at H2) B Select Responses 1) Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai God's Own Country The Kerala Tourism's decision* to adopt "God's Own Country" as its official slogan may sound like self-promotion at its most self-aggrandising, but visitors to the southwest Indian state tend to find themselves thinking it's a fair summation of the place. With almost 600 kilometres of Arabian Sea coastline, a labyrinth of lakes, lagoons and canals, elephant and tiger reserves, rolling hills of tea, plantations of ginger, cardamom and coffee and rice paddies as green as anything you'd find in Eden, it can certainly feel like tropical paradise. So many temples, towers, spires and synagogues ! So if the search for the place on Earth most favoured by God is a numbers game, Kerala sure beats the other places on this list. A magnet for hippies in the 60s, it's still a perfect place to peace out, seek out enlightenment and perhaps come that bit closer to God. Vathsala Jayaraman *Know more : "Kerala Tourism – God's Own Country - The Strategy Story" https://thestrategystory.com/2021/01/15/kerala-tourism-gods-own-country/amp/ 2) M G Warrier Mumbai a) Babusenan's brief introduction of Malayalam Movie Legend Sathyan was well received by Collage readers. Sathyan's life is another proof, if any proof was needed, for the saying that fate will ultimately take one to the slots to which it originally planned : Making of Sathyan "Remembering legendary actor Sathyan on his 50th death anniversary | The Times of India" https://m.timesofindia.com/entertainment/malayalam/movies/news/remembering-legendary-actor-sathyan-on-his-50th-death-anniversary/amp_etphotostory/83535648.cms Excerpts : "Man Of Multiple Talents He was good in academics and apparently his first job was that of a teacher. Later he took up a clerical post and after a year, he joined the army. It was in the early 1940s and soon Sathyan was appointed as the Viceroy’s commissioned officer. He served as an officer in the British Indian Army during World War II. Following that he joined the State police as an inspector. Sathyan was always interested in arts and theatre and it was in the late 1940s that he decided to try his luck in films!" b) A "Kerala Model"* The latest ordinance promulgated by the Kerala government has objectives much beyond restructuring of the management of district cooperative banks (DCBs). It will, hopefully, pave the way for the formation of Kerala Cooperative Bank through the merger of Kerala State Cooperative Bank and all DCBs in the state, a dream project of the CM which found a mention in Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s manifesto for the last assembly elections. Close on the heels of the merger of State Bank of Travancore with State Bank of India the formation of a big local bank gains significance. If the new entity is able to gain scheduled bank status and the political leadership allows it to function with efficiency and professionalism, a history of sorts will be made in the cooperative sector and may emerge as yet another “Kerala model” for others to follow. Cooperatives across India had more than their share of problems post-demonetisation. It is comforting to find that Kerala has understood the urgency in finding a solution to a problem that has arisen due to continued neglect of an institutional system which has been serving the semi-urban and rural areas of India, with all constraints. There are no alternative conduits to ensure banking service to their clientele in semi-urban and rural areas. M G Warrier Mumbai *Letter published in the Business Standard in 2017. 3) Jyothilakshmi Anil Chennai Keralam has witnessed nature's fury beyond man's control during the last 4 years. On this Keralapiravi day, I really wish this saga stops, or at least, hope everyone start working to reduce climate change, especially the Govt and the policy makers. C Story Time with V Babusenan Thiruvananthapuram Pots and damsels As long as water is essential for existence, its container, the pots, both metallic and earthen, will remain integral to human life. Mankind loves it so much that a sizable section of it has always welcomed it as part of its anatomy, deeming it as a sign of prosperity and contentment. Its earthen manifestation is at home in the poor man's kitchen and the Carnatic music platform providing rhythmic support. Presently, we are not concerned with either. Our focus is on its all-pervading influence on literature. The king said with a smile : "Look here, gentlemen, I am giving you the last line of a quatrain : 'Dum, dum, da dendum, dadedem,dadendum'. Fill up if you can." Some poets present doubted their monarch's sanity. Others who took him seriously could not do anything about it. But to Kalidasa this absurd line immediately sounded like a metallic pot rolling down the steps of a bathing ghat. He said: "Raamaabhisheke jalamaaharanthya Hasthaacchyutho hemaghado yuvatthya Sopaanamaasaadya karothi sabdam Dum, dum, dadendum, dadedem dadendem" (Beautiful damsels were busy collecting, in gold pots, water from the river for the coronation of Lord Rama. A pot from one of them slipped and rolled down the steps making the noice : dum,dum.......) In Kalidasa's Sakuntalam play one could see Sakuntala and her two friends Anasooya and Priyamvada carrying pots to water plants in the ashram garden. It seems to be a universally accepted concept that water pots add to the charms of feminine beauty. In Malayalam poetry, for example, there is a touching description of a girl walking towards the village well with the water pot held on one side of her waist. It is in Asan's 'Chandalabhikshuki '. There is also the very popular drama song sung by the famous music director, the late Devarajan Master : " Vennilaa cholayile Vennakkal padavinkal Mankudamenthee oru Pennu vannu ............." (One girl appeared on the white-marble paved footsteps to the river glittering in the moonlight, holding an earthenware pot close to her body.) We do not generally notice. Welfare measures have their negative sides too. With water pipes reaching even remote villages, girls with water pots, the favourite subject of artists and poets, has almost become irrelevant. D Current Affairs 1) Media Response To The Editor The Hindu Business Line Letters November 1, 2021 Staff Accountability and employee morale Please refer to the report "To ease lending, FinMin moves to boost bankers' morale, growth" (November 1). There's no denying that the issues arising from the unprecedented growth in stressed assets in PSBs during the last decade and laxity in credit appraisal and prompt monitoring of credit delivered, are huge. They cannot be addressed only by setting up a National Assets Reconstruction Company or consoling bank jobs will continue to be safe. The trust deficit issue arising from mismanagement of depositors' money with banks allegedly with tacit consent of political leadership need to be addressed without further delay. Here, as the problem is not confined to PSBs or for that matter not even the banking system, GOI, in consultation with RBI may have to evolve transparent and enforceable guidelines applicable to all institutions and organisations mobilising deposits from public for carrying out business. M G WARRIER Mumbai (Published in The Hindu Business Line on November 2, 2021 : "Letters to the editor dated November 1, 2021 - The Hindu BusinessLine" https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor/article37289246.ece) 2) Book Review : A Time Outside This Time "Fiction Book Review: A Time Outside This Time by Amitava Kumar. Knopf, $26 (272p) ISBN 978-0-593-31901-7" https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-593-31901-7 Excerpts : "Scattered throughout are engaging summaries of psychological experiments—of varying validity—which are supplied to him by his wife, Vaani, a psychologist studying alpha male rhesus macaques. There are some moments of grandiosity (“What can one write to save a life?”), but it sizzles when it gets to Satya’s attempts to deploy, or resist, the “seductive language” and “hectic plots” of fiction amid pervasive mistruths." E Readers' Contributions 1) Cranky Old Man Cranky Old Man* When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in an Australian country town, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, They found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Melbourne. The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas editions of magazines around the country and appearing in mags for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem. And this old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet. Cranky Old Man What do you see nurses? What do you see? What are you thinking When you're looking at me? (Continued at H1) *Received from Mohan Krishnan Thiruvanantapuram 2) Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai Empty Nest Syndrome II Mom, it has been a while since dad passed away. Yet you ensure to remind us of the circumstances surrounding his death which were beyond our control in every letter you have been writing to us since then. He was a great man! We booked our tickets as soon as we heard about his ailing health but dad assured us not to worry and that he was doing fine. He bravely examined how many times can we travel whenever he falls sicks. Dad was very witty mom! Infact he told us on phone: I wish I die with Hema Malini and Mala Sinha surrounding me. (Continued at H2) F Leisure 1) An unusual REUNION In response to an invitation for a rather unusual REUNION of all time greats: Newton said he'd drop in. Socrates said he'd think about it. Ohm resisted the idea. Boyle said he was under too much pressure. Darwin said he'd wait to see what evolved. Pierre and Marie Curie radiated enthusiasm. Volta was electrified at the prospect. Pavlov positively drooled at the thought. Ampere was worried he wasn't current enough though alternately none were. Edison thought it would be illuminating. Einstein said it would be relatively easy to attend. Archimedes was buoyant at the thought. Morse said, "I'll be there on the dot. Can't stop now, must dash." Hertz said he planned to attend with greater frequency in the future. Wilbur Wright accepted, provided he and Orville could get a flight. Aryabhatta said there were zero chances of him showing up. Marconi said he would listen to the report on wireless. Pythagoras refused because he thought the organisers were not looking at the reunion through the right angle. *Contributed by Shivram Shetty Ex-RBI Mumbai 2) We do exercise* Who says we don't exercise? We 'Jump' to conclusions... We 'Throw' our weight around... We 'Twist' the truth... We 'Stretch' the lies... We 'Bend' the rules... We 'Push' our luck... We 'Lift' our egos... We 'Run' from tough situations...and We are absolutely fit...!!! But still, we're fat because we eat our words so often !! Vathsala Jayaraman Keep Smiling.... Spread Happiness... G Diwali Greetings 2021 "200+ Diwali Wishes & Greetings [2021 Happy Diwali Images]" https://news.maxabout.com/offbeat/diwali-wishes-images-sms-greetings/ Like : " May this Diwali Light up New Dreams, Fresh Hopes, Undiscovered Avenues, Different Perspectives, Everything Bright & Beautiful, And Fill Your Days with Pleasant Surprises & Moments. Happy Diwali" H 1) Continued from E2 A cranky old man, not very wise, Uncertain of habit with faraway eyes? Who dribbles his food and makes no reply. When you say in a loud voice, I do wish you'd try! Who seems not to notice the things that you do And forever is losing A sock or shoe? Who, resisting or not lets you do as you will, With bathing and feeding The long day to fill? Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see? Then open your eyes, nurse You're not looking at me. I'll tell you who I am As I sit here so still, As I do at your bidding, As I eat at your will. I'm a small child of Ten with a father and mother, Brothers and sisters who love one another A young boy of Sixteen with wings on his feet Dreaming that soon now a lover he'll meet. A groom soon at Twenty my heart gives a leap. Remembering, the vows That I promised to keep. At Twenty-Five, now I have young of my own. Who need me to guide And a secure happy home. A man of Thirty My young now grown fast, Bound to each other With ties that should last. At Forty, my young sons have grown and are gone, But my woman is beside me to see I don't mourn. At Fifty, once more, Babies play 'round my knee, Again, we know children My loved one and me. Dark days are upon me My wife is now dead. I look at the future I shudder with dread. For my young are all rearing young of their own. And I think of the years And the love that I've known. I'm now an old man and nature is cruel. It's jest to make old age look like a fool. The body, it crumbles grace and vigour, depart. There is now a stone where I once had a heart. But inside this old carcass A young man still dwells, And now and again my battered heart swells I remember the joys I remember the pain. And I'm loving and living life over again. I think of the years, all too few gone too fast. And accept the stark fact that nothing can last. So open your eyes, people open and see. Not a cranky old man Look closer see ME! Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within. We will all, one day, be there, too! 🌹 *Received from P V Mohan Krishnan Thiruvanantapuram 2) Continued from E1 Rupa (my sil) slogs whole day, she has to pick up the kids, take them to swimming classes, return home and prepare dinner, sit with the kids and do homework. She called me up and broke down that every time you send these emotionally wringing email, she feels like never talking to you at all. I hope you understand Ma, she only had your best interest when she recommended skype to keep in touch. What does bright or gloomy day in East Coast has anything to with us not picking up the call that you never made. Mom, are you auditioning for a weather reporter in NDTV channel? Mom, have you ever considered Shyamali typing emails on laptop, the same one that Rupa so lovingly gifted. We were willing to pay for Shyamali's computer classes so that she can learn basic typing skills to type or scan letters. But you refused to let Shyamali learn such skills controverting that these modern tools are bane of life. We understand your arthritis situation and doing our best to help you but can you also help us here in helping you. Rupa was not complaining. She wanted to help you to be in touch with us with less effort so she gifted you a laptop and implored if you could let Shyamali learn basic computer skills to operate skype , emails etc. But mom, you being the mystified you completely misunderstood her gesture. Rupa knows everything mom. She made discreet enquiries with the best specialists in India about your condition and was willing to travel to India to consult and get you treated. But Ma, these dripping emails that you are writing really scared her and she is worried that a week with you will blow her nerves into smithereens. How could we visit India mom? Do you know what you have done? You have moaned to the entire neighbourhood how cruelly we have abandoned you in the most *insidious* manner. Now the entire neighbourhood thinks that we are monsters. How could we ever visit or step into that locality again? On one hand you expound your excruciating circumstances and on the other you feign dignity of not troubling us. Mom, hello mom, can we please stop playing these mind games and behave like two adults. We have been urging you to help the neighbourhood kids like Shyamali's son and pay for their expenses. We asked you to donate Priyam's and Madhu's toys to the orphanage but you wanted to keep them for yourself as keepsakes. We understand the mellowed sentiment but Mama Mia there is nothing more fulfilling than spreading cheer and joy through sharing our blessings with others. So please donate the kids's toys and picture-me books. I guess you wish to come down and sell off the house after my death, and hence feel spending money on this house where your ancestors once lived is bad investment. Surely, you should always keep practical thoughts before emotions. They help to frame grand success stories just like yours. By the way, some roofs are leaking. But don’t worry. There are many rooms. I can always be shifted to those where the roofs are still intact during monsoon. She was murdered last year for she refused to sell her property. Only that I shall miss the evenings at my sprawling balcony where I sit every day to see the sunset, asking myself when my sunset would finally arrive. .Mammoo, I cannot read your mail further because it wounds my fragile brain. We are well-settled here so we need no income from ancestral home. We were worried about your well-being and that mob who were after our property. So we planned to dispose the property and shift you to a more lively apartment with a full-time maid so that you are engaged with neighbours who can provide us regular updates of your health instead of you dictating letters in your pain-ridden condition. But you staunchly refused hanging on to the faded scribbled walls and sprawling balcony. What are we to do? You tell me what am I to do? We called up Mrs Gupta and Mrs Tiwari and enquired about housing colonies for the elderly and they were very helpful in providing us with all the details but every time you write such doleful emails and guilt-trip us we are clueless what to do. Ma, can you stop being so Waheeda Rahman from Om Jai Jagdish. Hope you both, my computer engineer son and my professor daughter, will not throw away the letter into a waste paper basket as a sentimental brooding theory paper. Just read them if you get time as a treasure trove of memories. Ouch! That was a hit below the lowest waist. Mama deario, where did you learn such skills? Bolo? And oh! I forgot to tell you. I have kept some money aside in the bank so that you can perform my last rites with that after my death. I wish to buy the passage to heaven with my own money, it’s the one I earned years back as a teacher at a primary school, that your dad never allowed me to use. All my luck to you and your children. All you talk these days like a broken record is dad's demise, your demise, dad's demise, your demise, and when the children ask what did granny write, what are we to answer? Mother we love you but you prefer to wallow in self-pity writing such emails which probably will make rounds in social media maligning us or you make a sensible choice and work with us in facilitating a good life to you. Love, your confused daughter Questions ,even the unasked ones making yourself eligible for above centum.The letter shows that you are crystal clear in your views and no longer a confused daughter.You have given a befitting reply almost word by word .No doubt. BUT I fear it may not have answered her fear,anxiety and emotions born out of frailing health.The mother's expression is rather tough and undigestable.But the spirit of the letter,leave alone the words and content-says it all.we don' t need a mirror to see the injury in our arms. Without taking the mom's as well as daughter's letter personally, both reveal the inescapable situation in which both parents and children are placed.No answers and counter answers are capable of solving the issue.The problems have to be seen eye to eye with maturity and correct perception.This is a social menace spreading like wild fire.Open letters are not written with open mind by both mothers and children and this creates no balm,but increases the intensity of wounds ,touches the raw nerves and develops more strain in the relationship.Better both understand the practical hurdles .'As you have rightly said'let there be pleasant exchange of greetings notwith standing suffering.Let there be more thinking before conversing over phone or writing letters especially when both are wounded equally. It may be very difficult for the earlier generation to accept certain things as their thought process is deep rooted in totally different issues.In Tamil there is a proverb'thaayaippola pillai.noolaip pola seai.(the child is the replica of a mother.How can a saree differ from the original thread ) . But as daughters we can copy the good traits of parents and can be successful in creating a better motherhood by our reasoning skills seasoned with our new visions and correct perceptions.Can we try? Precisely..that is the need of the hr. A condition becomes problem only when you look at it in that angle. When we have no concrete solution to this specific problem, say, the children away, parents lonely et al, better learn to live thru it without hurting ourselves/vice versa. Easier said than done, I know. But we shall arrive at it eventually. Now at this age what seems feasible may be an ordeal later, But I am pretty sure such service cannot be expected from my son/ DIL..who are away..so no comparison or complaint. For each their own. As some one has mentioned, we must save enough for our life after retirement. Sure it will be a tug of war between the head & heart. Better to go by the head to save our heart. Vathsala Jayaraman 2) Continued from A But one festival that stands apart on this score is Diwali. It's not designated to a detailed worship of any deity. Other than lighting up the whole place, wearing new clothes, eating an unbelievable spread of sweets and savouries, and bursting crackers, it’s the bath – as in ‘Ganga snanam’ – during the wee hours of the morning. We get up early on the day of Diwali and have an oil-bath in hot/warm water. The hot water is supposed to signify that river Ganga is present in the water during the early morning muhurtham. Hence the inquiry about ‘Ganga snanam’. But many people do not know the tradition of having one more snanam (bath) on this day. A little before 9 am we are required to do a ‘Tula snanam’ which involves bathing in cold water preferably in a river like the Cauvery or from your well if you have one, or at least under your bathroom tap. We are also told that we should pray to Lord Vishnu during the hot water oil bath, and to Lord Siva during the cold bath. Diwali also gives us an invaluable social message. We celebrate the festival all over India — to commemorate the destruction of Narakasura by Lord Krishna. Interestingly, the Asura himself is said to have requested Krishna that the day should be replete with good cheer and unalloyed happiness. Narakasura’s mother Bhoodevi endorsed his prayer in which he said, “let me suffer for my wrong doings but let everyone be happy and prosperous”. The subtle and graceful message to all of us from the Asura, seconded by Bhoodevi and blessed by Krishna, is: Forget your personal grouses, unhappiness or pique you may have, and rise over any form of ill-feeling caused by your personal misfortunes. Go out and give joy and good cheer to all around you.” Wish you all a Happy Deepavali. Vathsala Jayaraman

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