Warrier's Collage on Monday July 18, 2022
Welcome To
Warrier's COLLAGE
On
Monday
July 18, 2022
🙏
1) Dance
https://youtu.be/r6g4kuSN5yU
(Link Courtesy : T N C Rangarajan)
2) Napiers Bridge Chennai : Painted as Chess Board
https://youtu.be/h98yrOomuKw
(Link Courtesy P R R Nayar)
Good Morning 🌄
Nice Day
M G Warrier
A
Messages/Responses
1) T N C Rangarajan
Shared a profound thought :
No Regrets
"We always think we have more time"
In other words, people get caught up in the day-to-day things of life that they put off doing the things that are truly meaningful to them.
"When you take the future for granted, it's easy to lose sight of larger questions of meaning and purpose and respond to what's demanding your attention in the moment,"
https://www.wellandgood.com/most-common-regrets-near-death/
Rangarajan's note :
Last week, my cousin died in his sleep. When I called his sister who is abroad, she said that he called her the previous night, beyond midnight in her place, and she was sleepy and disconnected thinking she will call next day. But he did not wake up the next day and she feels that she missed something that he wanted to tell her. She is absolutely distraught.
Regrets are always about omissions or commissions - or what might have been.
I feel it is a waste of time thinking about it.
What happens is always for the best.
Rangarajan
(No time to regret. Age may be a number. But let's not close our eyes to aging process which affects our activities. Gradually, depending on circumstances we have to adjust to a slower life. Better reschedule our priorities to manageable levels. Reducing expectations from others and ourselves can minimise occasions to regret. Life was never perfect. Why regret about imperfections now? We have to stop complaining about ourselves first. Like charity, let forgiveness begin at home. Forgive yourself first 🙏-M G Warrier)
2) C V Subbaraman
Benjamin Dissraeli was a British PM and had witty expressions:
His idea of difference between a misfortune and calamity:
The difference between a misfortune and a calamity is this: If Gladstone fell into the Thames,
it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, that would be a calamity.
3) Vathsala Jayaraman
Today's Collage has an interesting take by Shri K N Ganapathy on Manu Smriti*. Quite revealing.
There has been much talk about atrocities on women. Hundreds
of articles have been written by doctors, lawyers, and sociologists, specially after the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi that shook the entire nation.
Continued at H1
*I had a copy of Manu Smriti during 1970's. A friend borrowed it. If he opens this message please confirm the book is safe. No need to return the book, may be donated to the nearest library-Warrier
4) M G Warrier
https://www.prokerala.com/general/calendar/
Malayalam month Karkidakam begins on July 17, 2022
Dasapushpam
https://healthyliving.natureloc.com/dasapushpam-ten-sacred-herbs/
(Link Courtesy : Sudha Warrier Mumbai)
5) Dr T V Surendran Mananthavady
Shared a link :
https://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Spiritual/2016-01-12/Beautiful-explanation-by-Swami-Vivekananda-on-Association/199801?infinitescroll=1
6) Are you hungry?
S Venugopal shared a link :
Woodlands
https://fb.watch/ejzhFSy_-P/
Bonus :
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/humour-in-distress/the-worship-of-food-43810/
7) Bertrand Russell's letter to Einstein : Mainstream Weekly July 9, 2022
http://mainstreamweekly.net/article12492.html
Bonus
https://www.atomicheritage.org/key-documents/russell-einstein-manifesto#
B
Current Affairs
Chess Olympiad in Chennai from July 28 :
https://www.sportstiger.com/watch-chennais-napier-bridge-gets-painted-like-a-chess-board-ahead-of-44th-fide-olympiad/
C
Story Time
E Madhavan Thrissur
Shared a link :
Short story by brother E Hari Kumar (Audio of Hindi translation)
https://youtu.be/RrHvEt1t5QE
D
RBI Retirees Association AGM, Chennai
S R Badrinarayanan reports :
Everyone eagerly awaited for the 26th AGM slated for 16th July '22 for more than one reason.
Years after the Silver jubilee , a meet could be organised only now as the pandemic prevented any gathering. More so ,the minimum age of the participant being 61 and 90+ the highest care needed to be taken on health front! Before the omigran could assume alarming proportions which seems to be not far off, FORE Chennai unit made arrangements for the meet and the same was held with all grandeur on 16.07.2022.
The auditorium was packed with many standees. Enthusiasm was visible with many braving the risks of physical exposure. Unusual inclement weather of Chennai failed to stop many reaching the venue before time.
It was a grand gathering. Masked faces did threw a challenge to identify many persons. It was a pleasure to come across many ex-colleagues who would have surely faded from our memory minus the meet ; after all, out of sight leads to out of mind.
The meeting commenced with Tamiz Thai Vazthu with the entire gathering standing in reverence! The singer Baby Laya has a bright future in the fine arts. Credit goes to the grand ma.
The leaders who spoke did express grave concern over the opaque attitude of the management in the much vexed updation issue. Sri Mahalingam ex-ED was plain in his describing the bank's intransigence attitude of the Bank unmindful of its' commitments made at the time of pushing thru the scheme. Though efforts by some speakers were aimed at keeping the hopes bright many would have prayed Lord Kapali to enact a miracle so that wisdom dawns on the men at top!
Around 322+ retirees were felicitated on their completing 70,80 and 90 years of successful life. It was a great sight to see our friends after long gap.
The FORE , Chennai had organised a nice meeting with every participant getting a pocket of fine kaju kathli and sev with tea.
The meeting is surely an added feather in the Chennai unit's cap.
All the volunteers deserve a word of appreciation and thanks for their service.
Hope to have such gathering annually.
Badri
V Sundaresan says :
It was like 100 metres dash between Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt. This time Mr. Badri won by a whisker, with his usual crisp but a very descriptive narration (This morning I have seen the message of Venu on“English Interesting English” and my English may be sequel to that). It gave me a feeling that I was part of the gathering despite being far away from Chennai.
President Mr CR telephoned to me yesterday morning and extended his personal invitation. I feel sorry I could not make it.
Congratulations to the organizers and volunteers.
I am eagerly looking forward to the next meet.
Thank you Mr SRB
Sundaresan V
E
V Babusenan's Column
Nalappat Narayana Menon, the grand uncle of Kamala Das (I prefer to use that name considering her connection with RBI) was a reputed poet of the early last century, besides being the translater of Victor Hugo's 'Les Miserables'. In his elegy on his dear wife, he wrote:
"Anantham, ajnaatham,
avarnaneeyam
Ee lokagolam thiriyunna
maargam
Athinkal engaand oridath
irunnu
Nokkunna marthyan
Kadha entharinju! "
(Infinite, unknown and indescribable is the path of this revolving globe called the world. Sitting in some obscure corner, man looks up. What can he know?)
He was right, but that was years ago. Now the situation is totally different. The pace of advancement of astronomical science was tremendous. First came the big and versatile Hubble telescope put in space by NASA in1990. What wealth of heavenly data it has sent to earth since then!
These scientists, especially the NASA type, will not be satisfied with what they have. They are possessed by a sort of divine greed as a result of which, spending around1000crore American dollars, they have built a new telescope, a hundred times more powerful than the Hubble one, of course, with international collaboration .
Where do you think the NASA fellows placed it? Naming it as James Webb Space Telescope(JWST), they launched it in December 2021 and placed it in space15 lakh kms away from earth. It has started sending very clear pictures. A few days ago, NASA released the first five pictures of space as it looked1300 crore years after the Big Bang whis is said to have happened 13.8 billion years ago. The depth and clarity of these pictures bear witness to the astounding efficiency ofJWST.NASA will not rest until it tells us with pictures what exactly happened at the time of the Big Bang and more! What a triumph my countrymen!
But alas! look at ourselves. Have we become any better than what we were when Nalappat wrote the lines quoted above? Not at all.
We have gone worse ,in fact. Let me, with your permission ,make a reference to Swami Chinmayananda's remarks which I wrote some days ago. When his hosts invited his attention to the automatically opening gates at an European airport(those days,it was a wonder) he quipped "only your gates, not your minds".The Swamiji could silence them with his clever repartee, but the condition at home was not much different.
'Vasudhaiva kudumbakam'(the world is one family) ,a great motto given by us to the world, remains a hardly realisable dream. While the brain moves about in distant nebulae, the mind shrinks into narrow domains like religions, castes and sects. This tragic mismatch between the brain and the mind was predicted as a failure of Dame Evolution by the 20th century thinker Arthur Koestler.
Regards
F
Leisure
1) English is FULL of contradictions*
Here are some funny ones:
1) Found Missing
2) Open Secret
3) Small Crowd
4) Act Naturally
5) Clearly Misunderstood
6) Fully Empty
7) Pretty Ugly
8) Seriously Funny
9) Only Choice
10) Original Copies
11) Exact Estimate
12) Tragic Comedy
13) Foolish Wisdom
14) Liquid Gas
15) Working Holiday
And The newest Mother of all is :
16) "Social Distancing"
Forgot to mention "Happily Married"
Shared by S Venugopal via Group mail
2) Don't underestimate elders*
An 81-year-old elderly woman, lying on the bed, said to her 83-year-old elderly husband: "Listen.. I just looked out the window and thought the garage light was on. Will you go and turn off the garage light?"
The old man got up from the bed with great difficulty, opened the door and came out and saw five or six thieves trying to break into his garage door.
The elder called the nearest police station from there. "Look.... please. write my address. We're the only two elderly husband and wife at home. Right now five or six burglars have attacked my garage and are breaking into the garage door. Send a police team quickly"
From the other side came the dispatcher's voice:
"We've written your address. Don't worry. We don't have any free teams right now. As soon as we get in touch with a team, I'll send them to your home."
Hearing this, the elders wished some serious bloodletting. on the other hand, thieves were still engaged in breaking the lock of his garage.
Two minutes later, the elder again called the police station: "Listen... there's no need to send anyone now. I've shot all those five thieves..."
There was panic as soon as the old man's phone came to the police station again. Within five minutes, a police team, along with a helicopter, a paramedic, three doctors and two ambulances, reached the old man's house. Those thieves were soon overpowered and they were arrested.
Later the in-charge of the police team reached the elder and said:
"You said that you shot those five thieves, but we caught them alive?"
The old man replied: "And you also said that none of your teams are free now."
Don't underestimate Senior Citizens............
*Shared by P V Mohan Krishnan Thiruvananthapuram
3) Men & Women*
A friend has explained why in English letters M is straight and W is in reverse! His reason
is men think straight whereas women always derive unnecessary reasons.
Today, I came to know how it is.
I was in the lift, and a woman entered lift with a small girl. I just asked her, second or third?
She said, "Shutup, I am not married, this is my neighbor's daughter" and walked away seriously.
What did I say? I asked her which floor.
*Shared by William Panakkal via Retirees Group Thiruvananthapuram
4) Literacy level
My dad used to put his thumb impression on my report card ...
I asked him :
"Being a C.A, why r u putting ur thumb impression, instead of signing ?"
My dad replied:
"Idiot, after looking at your marks, the teacher should not think that I am educated...!!"
Forward shared by S Venugopal
(My father used to sign ശ്രീ
(Shri in Malayalam) and add Thumb Impression. He was able to read and write Malayalam -Warrier)
G
Quotes on regrets
https://www.happierhuman.com/regret-quotes/
H
1) Continued from A3
While analysing the patriarchal set up of the society, the sociologists have squarely blamed Manu Smrithi as the main culprit behind all these events.
Traditionally accepted as one of the supplementary arms
of the vedas Laws of Manu or Manava Dharma Shastra is
one of the standard books in the Hindu canon, and a basic
text for all gurus to base their teachings on. This 'revealed scripture'
comprises 2684 verses, divided into twelve chapters
presenting the norms of domestic, social, and religious life
in India and is fundamental to the understanding of ancient Indian society.
Yatra naryasto poojyantay, ramantay tatra devta [3/56]
(where women are provided place of honor, gods are pleased and reside there in that household), is a famous Manu quote.
Anti- Manuvadhis quote a few verses from the Manu smrithi to justify their stand :
1) 2/213. It is the nature of women to seduce men in this world;
for that reason the wise are never unguarded in the company of females.
2.) 2/214. Women, true to their class character, are capable of leading astray men in this world, not only a fool but even a
learned and wise man. Both become slaves of desire.
3) 2/215. Wise people should avoid sitting alone with one’s mother, daughter or sister. Since carnal desire is always strong, it can lead to temptation.
4) 5/150. A female child, young woman or old woman is not supposed to
work independently even at her place of residence
5) 5/151. Girls are supposed to be in the custody of their father
when they are children, women must be under the custody of their
husband when married and under the custody of her
son as widows. In no circumstances is she allowed to
assert herself independently.
6) Men may be lacking virtue, be sexual perverts, immoral
and devoid of any good qualities, and yet women must
constantly worship and serve their husbands.
7) 5/158. Women have no divine right to perform any
religious ritual, nor make vows or observe a fast. Her
only duty is to obey and please her husband and she will
for that reason alone be exalted in heaven.
8) 9/3. Since women are not capable of living independently,
she is to be kept under the custody of her father as child,
under her husband as a woman and under her son as widow.
9) 9/6. It is the duty of all husbands to exert total control over
their wives. Even physically weak husbands must strive
to control their wives.
10)9/80. A barren wife may be superseded in the 8th year;
she whose children die may be superseded in the 10th year
and she who bears only daughters may be superseded in the
11th year; but she who is quarrelsome may be superseded without delay.
It is argued that the Manu Smrithi 'hang over' of horrific codes
in the average Indian mind set that is -woman is a 'thing'
and is to be dealt with harsh -these and other Manu prescribed ideas
that still form the background of an average Indian home, notwithstanding the developmental programmes
of the Govt, not withstanding 'women empowerment' movements
and education of women.
Added to this are TV shows replete with men, MIL, Aunts in Law,
SIL slapping women and men molesting women at
every twist and turn-highly disgusting.
If we review this original Manu Smriti, one can proudly assert
that there is perhaps no other text in world (except Vedas of course!)
that accords so much of respect and rights to women.
Even the modern feminist books would have to seek further amendments to match up to Manu Smriti.
Here are a few quotes for example
1)3.55 A father, brother, husband or BIL should keep their daughter,
sister wife happy and pleased thro gentle words, respectful behaviour etc.
2)3.57 A family where women are happy, is bound to prosper for ever.
3)9.26 Women give birth to next generation and enlighten home .
They bring fortune and prosperity( Gruha lakshmi)
4.)9.4 A father who does not marry his daughter to a
deserving groom deserves condemnation. A husband who does
not fulfill just demands of his wife deserves condemnation.
A son who does not take care of her widow mother deserves condemnation.
5)9.11. Women should be provided autonomy and leadership
in managing the finances, maintaining hygiene, spiritual
and religious activities, nutrition and overall management of home.
6)9.89. It is better to keep the daughter unmarried than force her to marry an undeserving person.
7).90-91. A woman can choose her own husband after attaining
maturity. If her parents are unable to choose a deserving groom, she can herself choose her husband
8)9.130. A daughter is equivalent to a son. In her presence, how can any one snatch away her right over the property?
9)9.131. A daughter alone has the right over personal property of her mother.
Thus, as per Manu, while daughter has equal share as her brothers over property of her father, she has exclusive rights over property of her mother. The reason for this special treatment of women
is to ensure that women are never at mercy of anyone.
After all happy dignified women form the foundation of a happy society!
10)8.323. Those who abduct women should be given death sentence.
11)8.352. Those who rape or molest women or incite them into
adultery should be given harshest punishment that creates fear among others to even think of such a crime.
Manu Smriti was written thousands of years back. Naturally,
as literature is the mirror of the society, the smrithi deals with the situations and practices obtained during the period.
With all that Manu has taken into account many probable
situations that might arise in due course.
It is strange that people who have neither belief nor
regard for scriptures want to shift the blame on the mythical Manu/manus when they are unable to solve problems with their constitution, their current Laws and penal codes which they never bother to implement. They choose verses that most suit their stand and leave the rest.
In many Western countries too such situations prevail. Do they also follow Indian Manu Smrithi?
Poor Manu!! He stands accused.!
Vathsala Jayaraman-
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