An ancient combat

The media, all kinds as in print, multi and social, are abuzz with the one burning issue. Yes, go on, say the word, "JALLIKATTU". Why has this thousand year old sport been banned when there are enough social and civic evils completely abominable in nature rampant all over our republic nation? The answer may surprise a very few as it happens to address something more than animal rights or human rights violations.

At the cost of sounding self righteous and drawing comparisons between bull sports around the world, it is necessary to point out that the Indian civilization has always revered nature. As a child I remember waking up to some festival or the other and I am not even talking about the big ones, such as, Diwali and navaratri, the list is exhaustive. We celebrate the sun, moon, planets, trees, mountains, livestock, books, instruments and even snakes. This is the basis of this wonderful land called India. We celebrate nature because we believe that every atom is God. Our Scriptures teach us to believe that I am God "Aham Brahmasmi" and I am That "So Hum". What we call "SHIVA" translates to nature. Shivam is matter while Shakti is energy. 

The festivals celebrated and the customs followed in each state although unique to the specific geographical territory are pretty much resonant with other states. A good example is the PONGAL festival. It is celebrated almost all over India  as Makara Shankaranti. It marks the Uttaraayana Punyakalam the term Uttarayana is derived from two different Sanskrit words "uttara" (North) and "ayana" (movement) thus indicating a semantic of the northward movement of the Earth on the celestial sphere. This movement begins to occur a day after the winter solstice in December which occurs around 22 December and continues for a six-month period through to the summer solstice around June 21 (dates vary ). It is believed that this time period is conducive to start new ventures as the suns benevolence is at its peak. Hence the new crops are reaped and livestock, widely used in farming activities, is revered and prayed to. There is irrefutable logic and deep science behind every festival, which may indeed be a time for merriment,these are nevertheless a necessity 

The Jallikattu is one such practice of venerating the stud bull which is considered a sacred symbol in our culture. The BULL is honored as the vahan of Lord Shiva and is considered to be of great strength and power. Jallikattu or Yer Thazhuvudhal is a tradition performed to ensure the safety of the bulls that is instrumental in ensuring healthy progenitors. The need to use oxen, that used to be an unavoidable asset for agriculture, has been completely done away with the arrival of tractors and other modern farming equipments. The dairy farming industry is dependent on these progenitors to produce healthy milk conducive to the Indian genetic make up. A poor farmer is pretty much dependent on these stud bulls to service his cows to ensure the continuous production of good dairy.

It has been found in recent studies that the milk generated from cross insemination of Indian cows with foreign breeds is toxic and is the cause of many modern day diseases. The Jallikattu Bulls or KAALAI MADU as they are commonly called is an inevitable asset to the dairy farmer to ensure the production of healthy milk.

The attitude of subservience to the biggest and the most powerful force called nature that has steered out societies for centuries has been replaced by greed from the glitter of the west. From a land of content people we have become a greedy money scrounger lot chasing anything that will bring more yield. From knowledge seekers we have turned into wealth grabbers, wealth made at the cost of our neighbors and  our future generations.  It is all very nice and suave to talk of ethical treatment to animals when leather goods are being sold all over the world and with elephants being killed in huge numbers for their tusks and blue whales and other sea bound bulls being killed for some medicines or the other and untold torture the poultry is put through before it finds its way to the table.

There are a lot of socio-economic and cultural issues involved in conducting jallikattu and it should not be seen behind the tinted glasses of ethical treatment which makes one ponder on the motives behind the groups who claim to be sympathetic towards animals. It makes more sense to demand provisions to be made for safety of the participants, both man and animal rather than to ban the very sport.

To summarize the achievements of humanity today we would be leaving a world devoid of clean air, fresh water, nourishing soil and a perilous atmosphere that would create unknown health hazards.It is time for all the so called animal welfare activists to think twice about the repercussions of their unnecessary interference in the conduct of a civilization as ancient as mankind itself.

Many reading this blog may consider it the rants of another Tamil rebel, but in this case I am just one of the selfish citizens of this country who is worried about her children. Like many, I am worried that I may be left with nothing but a picture of a Bull to show my grandchildren, not to mention the stories of how milk used to be a medicine at some time in the long lost past as opposed to the toxic liquid we would be feeding them in the future.

Follow SPERO

A few days ago I was stuck in another never ending hold up on Old Madras Road and the signal timer showed 166 seconds for the green light. As always my fellow commuters didn’t even have the common sense or the courtesy to turn off their engines. These, like many other  such moments,  were the most daunting 3 minutes of my life when I imagined being infested with severe carcinoma of the lung/eye/brain because of all the carbon emissions.

Thank God I knew pranayam. But this science was never meant to tackle this scale of pollution. Even so I held my breath and escaped the smoke-filled nightmare.
It was then that I remembered a friend of mine mentioning an E-bike they were to introduce soon in the market.  After serious contemplation on the practicality of a bicycle, I called her for a demo. When the demo did materialize I was convinced that these bikes are the solitary solution to tackle varied harms such as

Carbon emissions

Respiratory allergies

Other general health issues arising out of pure lethargy

Obesity

Traffic congestion and

most of all, it is pure fun to ride these bikes. One can choose to throttle or pedal and it is also equipped with a funky digital display gadget. But either ways it is a pleasurable experience, needless to mention the tremendous benefit of exercise that rejuvenates the mind and body.

I request all commuters to just imagine a street with minimal traffic snarls and a healthier lifestyle. Try this option that could be your first step in keeping fit and also adding your bit to help your world become a better place.

Book your E-bike now as the manufacturers in their altruistic endeavors have put it up for crowd funding and have some tempting offers for early birds. The prices may shoot up in the demand market. Log on to https://www.fueladream.com/  and type “SPERO” in the search bar and begin a journey of illness free and pollution free lifestyle.

I have said a big yes to a safer, cleaner planet. When will you.....?

Finding Echolocator

Recently we saw an animated movie FINDING DORY. It was better than most sci-fis I had seen in all these years. It felt almost like a fun class on ocean life. An octopus has 3 hearts and a dolphin can do echolocation and so on. I and my children 7 and 13 respectively were truly fascinated by this phenomenon of echolocation. The dolphin (in the movie) could make a sound and visualize the images of the surroundings that the sound was able to touch and reflect or echo.

I came home determined to explain how it actually works to my kids who were full of questions  about these facts gathered from the movie. It was then that I discovered that echolocation is an ability that we frail and weak humans possess too. There are several articles, images and videos on the same and the visually impaired often use this ability to traverse through any terrain.

The Wikipedia claims that

 "Many blind individuals passively use natural environmental echoes to sense details about their environment; "

"Because sighted individuals learn about their environments using vision, they often do not readily perceive echoes from nearby objects. This is due to an echo suppression phenomenon brought on by the precedence effect. However, with training, sighted individuals with normal hearing can learn to avoid obstacles using only sound, showing that echolocation is a general human ability.

Now considering something so phenomenal to be a general human capability what else are we forgetting or missing out on. Can we see in the dark, climb tall structures and smell out individual scents. Are there many more evolutionary ability that have been erased from our minds never to be recalled again.

It hit me then that this is the price we have paid for the advancement in technology. We have come to depend so heavily on machines and gadgets that even something as mindless as remembering an oft called phone number evades us. We as a civilization of creatures generally known as humans are now only good at using our fingers or to be precise finger tips. Any work be it mental or physical is achieved by mere touch, flick and swipe not to be confused with the usage of  wands in the  Harry Potter series.

Trust me, magic needs massive concentration and mental labor and it should never be confused with technology. But it does make one think that "MAYBE", "WHY NOT" and "HOW COME".

As in "MAYBE" I have the capacity to do much more "WHY NOT" try and do some magic or atleast echolocation and "HOW COME" I wasn't told that I could become a bat or a dolphin if not a wizard. MAYBE I can live under water WHY NOT try telepathic communication   HOW COME everything is such a big mystery to me.

The problem is we have forgotten mostly the art of questioning anything that is posed before us as a fact or fiction as it makes no difference to us. We would still have our smart phone, smarter phone or smartest smart phone and just couldn't care less if we can echo locate or expilliarmate or whatever it is that we did do in the long gone past.

So long fellow frail humans till we decide to figure out the hidden secrets of human capabilities and capacities. Got a few SMS to send, some tweets to tweet and posts to post on whichever platforms, I am sure "You know it".

 

Redefining education

There was a time when children who were born were pampered and kept in the comfort of their homes till it was time for them to go to a place called school. This place called school would then take them into its cozy comfortable corridors were they were taught many many things. . The schools always had some people called the TEACHERS. The teachers were supposed to do exactly that TEACH all who came to them. It was not an easy task because some children got it right at the beginning and some took  a while and there were the others who couldn't quite get it at all. But that did not make any difference to the TEACHER because he /she was used to seeing people failing, falling and getting up when it actually mattered.

Then there came a time when the children who were born were only trained to enter the precious sanctum of this place called school with a lot of qualified CRITICS(teachers) . The Mother would have nightmares of her child being demoted at Lower Kinder garden or worse still the child being labelled as ADhadahdhijkllmo...... and so on. the Father on the other hand had sleepless nights thinking of the SCHOOLS sucking out all his hard earned money using his child's water bottle straw.

And finally to the rescue of these horrified, tortured, confounded creatures called parents we sometimes get to see SCHOOLS in the real sense of the word with TEACHERS who actually know what exactly they are meant to do. 

It is in these sane precincts were one can actually see a sense of achievement  in the teacher when one of her students recites a poem or reads a rhyme all by himself. The HEAD of establishment finds great fulfillment in seeing her students do well in life.

The place where the Teacher sees all that is good in a child and tries to optimize on that and not to harp on what is lacking. These are the places where one can find tomorrows leaders because they were given a chance to fail. They were not trampled over by harsh words meant to break their very soul. 

The child was given the right to be wrong and the wisdom to rectify it.

 Three cheers to these wonderful human beings who are here to revolutionize the concept of EDUCATION and give it the much deserved sanctity. Parents who are indeed on the look out for such a dream come true look no further because the achievers/teachers are all very near and the best part and my favourite is that they aren't asking you for too much to do what they love doing.

EUREKA!!!!! EUROKIDS GOD BLESS ALL YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE

Is thin in ?????

FAT Facts  

It is time to state some hard facts. Either one is too thin or too fat. No one is never just right. Till one does not acknowledge this fact they will remain exactly that. The truth is that it is not about how fat or thin you are it has always been about how fit instead.

 FIT, the three letter word that could change the way we live and feel.  One has to realize that the I makes a world of difference in our mental condition. The “I” here is who we are and also the way we see ourselves.  The minute we see FAT we get into the dangerous terrain of obsessing about obesity, which would kick start a set of haphazard crash diets and exercise regimes.  This is in turn would lead to constant spells of weight loss and gains.

At the end of the day one really needs to focus on the question of how healthy am I? We don’t need a health guide or personal trainer to be healthy.  It has been proven by many researches that all our problems start with weight gain. 

A slim story

Now to analyse the story of FAT it has been proven that it is triggered by bad eating habits. . After a point we are eating only to appease the 5th sense.  The thought of eating just enough does not occur to any of us. One never knows when to stop appeasing the tongue. It would solve our problem of overweight and in turn solve the overwhelming food crisis of the world. This can be sorted out by pacifying hunger pangs by eating  fruits, salads, sprouts and snacks like puffed rice that would appease hunger and not enhance your fat.
The second cause for weight gain is stress. Mental stress can lead to a situation wherein one is eating to pacify the psychological strain on the system. This should be addressed using traditional treatments such as honey and cinnamon that helps relieves stress and lemon is also a soothing ingredient, much like ginger.
The third biggest problem is working hours and conditions. Most of us work odd hours and hardly find time to eat healthy home cooked non greasy food. Odd work hours and in turn eating habit are the cause of extreme weight gain and other related problems.

FIT finale

As we can see weight gain has many causes hence going on a crash diet and or extreme exercise regimes can never help. One must be cognizant of being FIT and not thin. Thin is never in as fashions keep changing and trends also change time and again.
People on a weight loss campaign thin is in your mind and not in your body. You can be well endowed and look really beautiful as compared to a skinny starved person. So go for the FIT slogan and take the FAT fable out of your life. Best wishes to all for a healthy life.

THE HAPLESS VOTER

Good news to all the citizens of INDIA

India is still a democracy. We still get to elect our leader to outline the making or breaking decisions on our behalf, In short “OUR LEADER”, three cheers. 

Don’t celebrate so fast, read on now for 

Bad news, to all the citizens of India

We don’t have a leader it seems. Let us see the key to good leadership

a. Honesty difficult yet desirable quality

b. Philanthropy is an important aspect of leadership.

c. Statesmanship could be another feature that one looks for in a leader. 

d. Financial management……………please most definitely Thank you.

e. Security is an important factor considering internal and external threats and vulnerabilities.

f. Parity is also something we expect from a leader.

Now we as nation with a collective consciousness have to weigh our options here.

Let us consider our options today. I beg my fellow citizens to not get carried away by caste and religious politics. Please apply the above mentioned key parameters and decide for one or the other.

                                     Honest  Philanthropist  Statesman  Financial  Wisdom  Security  Parity

RAHUL GANDHI 

ARWIND KEJRIWAL

NARENDRA MODI

OTHERS

People talk of riots when our main concern must be

a. To boost the value of our currency. 

b. The lack of jobs for the millions graduating from our many money swindling colleges.

c. The preposterous Fees charged by the schools.

d. The ever rising cost of edibles and consumables alike.

e. Depletion of fuel and other valuable resources 

f. Shortage of living space

g. And most importantly scarcity of water.

h. Not to mention The moral vacuum created under the circumstances.

I have enlisted them in a top down order starting from example of bad governance to the resultant scenario. Not much has changed in the last 60 years of our self-governance except for population explosion. The much spoken about Gujarat riots seem to be nothing in comparison to the riotous governance (GUNDA RAJ) that is making a BIG FOOL of the whole country.

Apart from this all these so called secular governments have had their share of riots like the Sikh butchery, Babri Masjid demolitions and the ensuing riots and not to start from the very beginning had one person had the magnanimity to let go of the prime ministerial title there would be no Pakistan or Bangladesh today.

The 2G spectrum, coal gate, and many other scams lined up by the media loose luster in a while. 

Please friends let us not allow trivial doubts cloud our decisions. Let us make sure that there is a change in our government and that change makes a huge difference to our lives. We do not want our children to travel in the same railways after another 6o years.

Jai Hind

My Paatshala

My hands are paining! My eyes are burning! Ah! My back is breaking, “How much more”? And can I just stop now?

These are not the pleas of the daily laborers who are toiling in the hot sun, carrying heavy loads, but of the school going children.

Right from the time they are 2 – 3 years old, we decide to send them to school where they are taught

·       Shapes

·       Colors

·       Textures

·       Size

·       Names of objects

These are things that the kids can learn at home by trial and error, we are after all talking about little people who have been here and done it sometime or the other. They will learn sooner or later. But no sir! sorry, we are in a big hurry we do not have time and have to catch up with the rat race.
According to the ancient Indian system, a ritual called “Akshara abhyasam” or “vidhya arambam” is performed at the age of 6.  That is when the mind is ready to understand complex reasoning. In our culture the concept of written work did not exist and the child was taught verses orally thereby improving memory. 

A school in its purest form must induce the thirst for knowledge. The primary intention of education was to strike a balance between the physical, emotional and mental states of the individual. Once the mind and body are in harmony, one can talk of teaching hard core concepts. The student was taught by inciting curiosity and thereby extracting questions for which relevant answers where sought by both the student and the teacher.

Today the schools are more like factories that actually put every other child into the same mold irrespective of whether they fit or not. Surprisingly most children fit, save some rebels to call them that. Throwing a glance at the typical day of say a three year old the day starts with the kid lolling in bed till say 8-o-clock in the morning. The mother hurries the child to be ready in time for a school that normally starts at 9 or 9.30 pm. The little joys of the morning time like the sunrise, the birds chirping in a nearby tree, the squirrels scurrying about is lost. Then in the school the child is made to write the Alphabet like it is their only chance of surviving through the day. Back home the kid brings a load of the same survival kit to ensure further longevity. But that is not all, we will send them for extra (ordinary) classes after which the child gets to watch several scholarly shows like Doreamon, Ninja Hattori, Ben 10, and so many more in the same lines, till it is time to eat and go to bed.
What are these young children learning? There is no possibility for curiosity in this case. In today’s system we do not talk of this knowledge. Our only concern is to feed stale and useless information in the name of education, there is no scope to use a technique based on research and remedy as the current system is based on a set syllabus which the student merely has to memorize. That apart every other child is branded as either "A slow learner", "ADDHD", "Autistic", and the list goes on as they find newer words in the English dictionary thereby breaking the very core of that little human being. 
The great scientist Albert Einstein said, 

“The only source of knowledge is experience”. And also
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge”. .

The one person I consider to have been truly enlightened after “The Buddha” is Albert Einstein. Had he be born in India am sure we would have the Einstein Mahapeetam dedicated in his glory thronged by the Einsteinites from all over the country as he could not be a mere mortal in our eyes. The point is that our ancient religious texts are nothing but scientific treatises. There are references to the “big bang theory” and what the scientists call the BOSONIC Particle, in Thirumular’s Thirumandiram, The Rigveda, and the Brihadharanyaka Upanishad. By categorizing them as sacred, divine and godly in the name of religion the wisdom of our country is lost in antiquity.

The present education system is successful in creating memory machines that can reproduce everything that is fed to it. We are each born with different gifts and thereby equipped differently to pursue in those lines. We all are most definitely not empty shells; there is something or the other in each of us that is unique and hence useful to the others. 

What we need at this point is a system that combines the ancient method to teach the new age concepts. Ideally a school

   Must be close to home

   Must be located preferably in a place with a lot of open area

   The teacher student ratio must be 10 : 1

   The school must start early

   The school must begin with Yoga sessions everyday

   There should not be any prescribed text books

 The class should be conducted in a responsive manner, based on research made on the subject by both the students and the teacher.

   A typical day at school should be interjected with training in  music, dance and art training

   Martial arts must be mandatory for boys and girls alike

Most people may find these ideas idealistic and impractical. "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe the mind can achieve".
India today needs radical men and women who can break free from the prototype and go back to our roots when every individual was enlightened. The time has come when we as a nation have to wake up to the need to enforce moral values that are utterly lacking in our system and work toward achieving it.