I have been in Chennai for the past seven months. Chennai, one of the four metropolitan cities of India is a place which welcomes the people of many parts of India especially villagers like me.
I had to write an entrance examination with three rounds which were tough to enter into Chennai. The one who wants to step into Chennai with a good status must come over many obstacles like Group Discussion, two or three interviews.
I too registered my citizenship in Chennai with great dreams like many other villagers of south Tamil Nadu. I wondered about the big buildings, electric trains, fast moving noiseless vehicles. Now I have become a part & parcel of the things about which I wondered. I am working in a eight storied building, traveling everyday in the electric train, going home from office by a cab- a fast moving, noiseless vehicle. Funny, my friends in Madurai call me ‘Madraskaran’I am able to see auto drivers with butler English and camera cell phones, bus conductors with automatic ticket machines, repeatedly blocking traffic signals, fast moving vehicles and busy men concentrating on their own business who are so much concerned about their material life.
When I had been informed that Madraskararkal(Madras Men) lead a mechanical life, pay for pure water, terrific traffic problems, I thought ”oh! It’s not our problem! I am going to settle in somewhere in south Tamil Nadu, why should we worry about that?!” But the fate has sent me to live a life of Madraskaran!
I thought that Chennai would be yet another place like Cudaloor, Vellore, Sivagangai, Madurai and Paramakudi where I lived in the past which made little changes in my life. But Chennai has registered a great transformation in my life. To become a real citizen of Chennai, I am required to change myself in many aspects to fit in. Some of them are walking fast, inserting my shirt, well shaven face, lifting a suit case, introduce more English words in Tamil conversations, often browse, scrap in Orkut, probing cell phone, eat sandwich, use ATM cum debit card, book tickets by net banking and many more.
When I go to my hometown- Rameswaram, I may miss ATMs, browsing centers, 10 radio stations and cell phone towers but I find my mother with adai dosai, sparrows entering into kitchen, peace giving temple, homely girls and wave less sea. In spite of missing all these things, I have come to Chennai for the reason that I cannot get a job with a good salary, a modern cafeteria, cushion chair to sit, an A/C Hall to work, a cab to pick up & drop, colleagues calling by first name and english speaking environment there in my hometown.
In a way, I am lucky because I am able to enjoy both the city life and village life where as most of the people are able to enjoy only one kind of life.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
My thoughts on Valentine’s Day
As every one of us knows this day is Valentine’s. It’s most appropriate to contemplate on Love which is regarded as affection, attachment, altruism, reciprocation, commitment, emotional intimacy and passion. It keeps its dimensions open for centuries in the human history.
We consider Love as divine, holy and sacred. But I think it is nothing wrong to say that it’s a mere force of nature which tends people towards opposite gender in order to fulfill the instruction of procreation. Of course, we are like animals in this but as analytical beings, we make much difference.
We want a mate to be with us as a friend, guide and motivator to fulfill the needs of nature including reproduction. Social Thinkers comprehend reproduction as our duty & responsibility concerning the law of nature and society by which we help the humanity to move towards evolution and to keep its survival.
If you find some person who cares for you and with whom you feel happy & secure, keep up self-confidence which would launch you in peaks, express her/ him your love. Most importantly, the other must also feel all the above in you. Even the other does not accept your love; you have fulfilled your desire of expressing your feeling. Hence you will never have a gut feeling”Oh! I could have expressed my desire?!”
If you are not able to find such person to love or some one did not accept your proposal with whom you felt all the above , submit the effort of finding perfect match in the hands of the time and your parents. Please don’t toil for it. If you start taking efforts for it, you may have to squander your precious time which would ultimately leave you in streets.
You need not feel uneasy while others have their partners and you don't have. Feel the pleasure of waiting to find the perfect.
If you have started loving, you have look upon my view as follows,
I have seen two types of lovers. The first is "Speaking for hours and hours by cell phone, spend money unnecessarily to go to park, beach & Cinema, letting everyone know of their love, marrying without the acceptance of beloved family members, finally hate each other and become seperated" The second is "Spending time to reach their goals in life, motivating each other to become better human beings, waiting for right time to come for meeting, being patient to grab the acceptence from their family members & marrying, living an ideal life" As my description suggests, I would stand for the second.
The next thing is commercialization of Love. Do you know that before 10 years, Valentine’s Day was not celebrated as we celebrate now? It’s truly commercialized so that we sense its attendance all over the world even in villages which is why the advertisements say “Gift your dear ones to show how much you love”. Do the real lovers expect gifts to greet each other?, it is the cleverness of promoting their products.
I perceive love as a personal affair between two individuals. Actually St. Valentine wants the day to greet and express love that we have.
It is fine to gift your dear ones with in your affordability and seldom fine to be brainwashed by advertisements.
So let us all enjoy the Valentine’s Day with these little thoughts.
Monday, February 11, 2008
My Thoughts on Love
My thoughts on Love
As every one of us knows, man is a social animal. The term ’social’ refers to the idea that man cannot live alone and the term ‘animal’ refers to the idea that man is still animal having all the barbarian characters. Often times, we show animal characters especially Anger, Jealousy and anxiety. But he has an animal character which makes the humanity to evolve. And that is called Love.
In a globalizing era, we have been following Utilitarianism. We do everything for our benefit. As man is a social animal, he wants other men to be with him. The benefit of that is the possibility of sharing our own happiness and miseries. Hence we love/ like/ have affection on some one and with expectations. The form of expectation differs but it remains as expectation only. Think of the people who you love so much and say whether your love is not towards expectation. It’s the fact that in one way or another we expect from the loving people. I want to remind you that there is nothing wrong in it, because everyone of this world is behaving like you. If something is done by only some men then it may be viewed differently. If every one is making the same then it is universally accepted.
As an analytical being, we have to get into new perspective regarding Love which binds everyone of this world. We have to concentrate on the term ‘Expectation’ here. While we are not able to find the fulfillment of our expectation from others and from ourselves, Love turns to Enmity, Jealousy and Anger. Then is it possible to love someone with expecting nothing?
But we can try out the possibility of minimizing expectations. Then it may be easy for us to evolve as better humans. You may able to see this kind of love in some people who are beside like your mother or father. Almost in our lives, we see that our parents do their duty of bringing up us and expect very minimum. Think of some social leaders who loved the humanity. What was their expectation level? Please do not think they are divine beings and we cannot be like them as we are all lay men.
Can we all minimize our expectations while loving people? If you minimize your expectations, others who are loved by us will automatically minimize their expectations. It’s nothing but Newton’s Third Law. Kindly remember that people are the real assets who double our happiness and make half our sorrows.
As every one of us knows, man is a social animal. The term ’social’ refers to the idea that man cannot live alone and the term ‘animal’ refers to the idea that man is still animal having all the barbarian characters. Often times, we show animal characters especially Anger, Jealousy and anxiety. But he has an animal character which makes the humanity to evolve. And that is called Love.
In a globalizing era, we have been following Utilitarianism. We do everything for our benefit. As man is a social animal, he wants other men to be with him. The benefit of that is the possibility of sharing our own happiness and miseries. Hence we love/ like/ have affection on some one and with expectations. The form of expectation differs but it remains as expectation only. Think of the people who you love so much and say whether your love is not towards expectation. It’s the fact that in one way or another we expect from the loving people. I want to remind you that there is nothing wrong in it, because everyone of this world is behaving like you. If something is done by only some men then it may be viewed differently. If every one is making the same then it is universally accepted.
As an analytical being, we have to get into new perspective regarding Love which binds everyone of this world. We have to concentrate on the term ‘Expectation’ here. While we are not able to find the fulfillment of our expectation from others and from ourselves, Love turns to Enmity, Jealousy and Anger. Then is it possible to love someone with expecting nothing?
But we can try out the possibility of minimizing expectations. Then it may be easy for us to evolve as better humans. You may able to see this kind of love in some people who are beside like your mother or father. Almost in our lives, we see that our parents do their duty of bringing up us and expect very minimum. Think of some social leaders who loved the humanity. What was their expectation level? Please do not think they are divine beings and we cannot be like them as we are all lay men.
Can we all minimize our expectations while loving people? If you minimize your expectations, others who are loved by us will automatically minimize their expectations. It’s nothing but Newton’s Third Law. Kindly remember that people are the real assets who double our happiness and make half our sorrows.
My Thoughts on Education
A child can understand the language(s) in which mother speaks with the child. So mother tongue can refer the language(s) in which mother speaks with the children. It extends to father, other family members and the peer group only after mother.Education in English Medium is perfect when Mother and others speak with the children in English starting from the birth. Many parents admit their children in English Medium schools to make them efficient in English. The Assumption of the parents is English Medium would help their children to understand the world, to become professionals and to compete in the job market better than them. Does it happen really?
In many occurrences, students studying in English Medium are not able to understand whet ever they study even their mother tongue as subject. It is just because the education does not kinder their thinking power. They simply memorize and forget after exams are over. Why children are educated? They are put in educational institutes to lead their rest of life better. The base of the life building is education. If the base is not strong, then the building would surely be pathetic. If children are not able to understand the things of the base then how can they build their life building?Here we have to define what education is. The etymological meaning of the term - Education is 'to draw out', facilitating realization of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. Does it happen in the education system in which we have been studying?
It is not advisable to find fault with the system prior to finding fault with our ability of decision making. We have to think, discuss with friends and relatives and decide the best educational institute in which our children are going to be admitted. We lack in thinking just because we too are parts of the same education system. Our parents might have done the same mistake. Should we too do the same mistake even after knowing a thing is wrong?Hence try the possibility of admitting your children in the medium of the children’s mother tongue. Kindly ensure that the educational institute is well equipped which serves all the functions of education.
Now assume that you are a parant. You want to admit your children in English medium schools due to so many reasons, then you should ensure whether your children understand and manipulate whatever they are given in the educational istitutes and thier tuition centers. If not, think of the safety measures those you take. Sit with them and find their difficulties and ponder about solving their problems. You yourself may take special care or ask someone else like sending to pioneers in this field of interest. It is my opinion that none other than parents can solve this problem. Parent must take initiatives for their children’s education. Others may not be as effective as the parents. If the above things are not able to be done, it is better to change the medium with sufficient safety measures or the parents must equip themselves to guide their children in right path.Are you able to fill all the above mentioned blanks of your children’s education in reality?
In many occurrences, students studying in English Medium are not able to understand whet ever they study even their mother tongue as subject. It is just because the education does not kinder their thinking power. They simply memorize and forget after exams are over. Why children are educated? They are put in educational institutes to lead their rest of life better. The base of the life building is education. If the base is not strong, then the building would surely be pathetic. If children are not able to understand the things of the base then how can they build their life building?Here we have to define what education is. The etymological meaning of the term - Education is 'to draw out', facilitating realization of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. Does it happen in the education system in which we have been studying?
It is not advisable to find fault with the system prior to finding fault with our ability of decision making. We have to think, discuss with friends and relatives and decide the best educational institute in which our children are going to be admitted. We lack in thinking just because we too are parts of the same education system. Our parents might have done the same mistake. Should we too do the same mistake even after knowing a thing is wrong?Hence try the possibility of admitting your children in the medium of the children’s mother tongue. Kindly ensure that the educational institute is well equipped which serves all the functions of education.
Now assume that you are a parant. You want to admit your children in English medium schools due to so many reasons, then you should ensure whether your children understand and manipulate whatever they are given in the educational istitutes and thier tuition centers. If not, think of the safety measures those you take. Sit with them and find their difficulties and ponder about solving their problems. You yourself may take special care or ask someone else like sending to pioneers in this field of interest. It is my opinion that none other than parents can solve this problem. Parent must take initiatives for their children’s education. Others may not be as effective as the parents. If the above things are not able to be done, it is better to change the medium with sufficient safety measures or the parents must equip themselves to guide their children in right path.Are you able to fill all the above mentioned blanks of your children’s education in reality?
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