School Days

I studied in Gopalapuram Boys High Scool in Chennai, from Standard V to Satndard X during 1960's.I was weak in English and used to get 35 to 40 marks. At the time, our Headmaster was one Mr. V.Srinivasan. He was very strict and sincere. He used to punish students who walk on the lovely lawn. In order to get good results for the school, he called all the students,who were weak in English and said that he would take evening classes,(after school hours) for English, without any fee. He selected some few areas where we can get high marks-such as precis writing,punctuation,etc. His simple and effective way of teaching really helped us in getting good marks. It is very difficult to see such a dedicated,committed and sincere teacher nowadays.

TRAGIC EVENTS

When I was doing my BSc degree in 1964 at the New College,Chennai, I used to have joint study with one of my close friend C.S.Padmanabhan (called Ramji). We were staying in the same street. For the second year,we were preparing jointly on a Sunday. The next day we had Physics exam. As we go to the college together,as usual, on Monday I went to his house. There was a huge crowd in his house. I thought something must have happened to his father,who was in hospital. To my great shock I came to know about the brain haemorrhage to my friend. I was really shaken by the news and could not control my tears. In view of the exam I had to leave for the college. But due to his untimely death I could not concentrate on my exam. Somehow I finished my exam and rushed to his house to pay my last respects. His cousin Gopal, who was my school mate ,also met with a similat fate after 2 years of Padmanabhan's death. Both the deaths really had shaken me and even today I think about them and feel sad.

Raining Fish

Residents in a remote desert town in Australia,326 miles from the nearest river,are recovering after two days of fish raining from the sky.Lajamanu, in the northern territory,population 669,has seen hundreds of small white fish fall from rain clouds, with many still alive. Weather experts believe that the fishes were sucked up in a thunderstorm before being dumped over the town. It is the third time,in less than thirty years that Lajamanu has been bombarded by falling fish.

SADHANA CAMP

Recently we attended a Sadhana Camp organised by Arshavidya Gurukulam" at Anaikatti, 30 kms from Coimbatore,between 26th February and 28th February,2010. There were 64 participants,mainly from Bangalore. As usual the camp life started at 4.30 am and ended around 10pm. It covered "pooja" at Sri.Dakshinamurthy temple (5am to 6.30am),meditation for 1 hour and three classes a day for "Hamsa Gita" of one hour each. In the night there were bhajans and question/answer sessions from 8 pm to 10pm.
There are 45 slokas in "Hamsa Gita",representing dialogues between Yudhistra and Bheeshma on vedanta. Due to want of time Swamiji could complete only about 20 slokas.
There is a small beautiful temple for Lord Muruga,situated inside the campus,on a small hill.
We really enjoyed the 3 days camp organized under the spiritual guidance of our swamiji-Swami Chitatmananda Saraswati. As we were cut off from our normal life, we were free from our worries and routine jobs

BALE PANDIYA

Another old tamil movie "Bale Pandiya" was shown in KTV recently. Sivaji Ganesan has acted in three different roles and M.R.Radha in two roles. This movie is a full length comedy. Sivaji Ganesan has,as usual,done the three roles beautifully and differentiated the characters nicely. He has proved that he can shine in comedy role also. What a great actor he was? All the songs of the movie are melodius and penned by Kavingar Kannadasan. "Athikkai kai kai.......""vazha ninaithal vazhalam......" and "neyee enakku nigaranavan....." are some of the melodius songs linger in our mind even today. Music is by Viswanathan Ramamurthy.

KATHALIKKA NERAMILLAY

In KTV,they have shown recently,a tamil movie "Kathalikka Neramillay"-an yester years hit,by Director Sridhar. This movie ran for 200 days for its full length comedy and beautiful melodius songs.Even today,the songs are ever green. It is a clean full length comedy movie without any vulgar and double meaning dialogues. Actor Muthuraman, who must be around 30 years of age at that time gave a creditable performance,as a father to Ravichandran. His punchant and modulated dialogue delivery was another feather on his cap. Actor Balaiah excels in his portrayal of a man ,without much worldly knowledge. Actor Nagesh,an excellent comedian and actress Sachu provide the necessary support for this wonderful comedy movie. Musis of the movie is by Viswanathan and Ramamurthy.

VINNAY THANDI VARUVAYA

Recently we saw a tamil movie "Vinnay Thandi Varuvaya" in Anjali Theatre at Trivandrum. After a gap of so many years we were seeing a movie in a theatre.With the new sound system at the theatre,the back ground music and music for the songs were very noisy and I could not hear most of the dialogues properly due to this. Some of the old songs like "kalangalil aval vasantham..."in Pava Mannippu,"Netru varai nee yaroo..." and "Chinna chinna kannanukku...." in Vazhkkai Padagu are still popular and linger in our minds because they are melodious and importance was given to the lyrics. I am not saying that all of our present songs are noisy but very rarely they are melodius.

Grand Daughters

We have two grand daughters-Hrudya and Smayaa. "Hrudya" means one who dewells in the heart. True to her name, she is dwelling in our heart. After my retirement in 2005,we have spent most of our time with her. She is very affectionate and talented(music,dance,keyboard,etc)."Smayaa",the recent addition,about one year back,means "Smiling."She is also,true to her name smiles and laughs a lot. Even sitting in the potti seat she shouts,laughs and smiles. The way she calls me "thaa...thaa",gives so much of happiness. Whenever we are eating, she comes crawling fast and asks for food.
It's God's gift to us to have such wonderful grand daughters. Because of them, my retired life has become tension free and meaningful. They give lot of happiness and joy. We sincerely pray for their welfare and happiness

Railway Stations of India

Indian postal department has comeout with another set of beautiful stamps on "Railway stations of India". Four stamps,issued on 16/8/2009, cover Chennai,Kolkatta,New Delhi and Mumbai Stations. This is printed in "Wet-offset". Denomination of these stamps are Rs5 each. It is worth to add these stamps in Stamp Collectors' kiity.

STAMPS BY INDIAN POSTAL DEPARTMENT

Indian Postal Department has issued on 27/7/2009, 11 beautiful stamps on Geetagovinda-10 stamps depicting the ten avatars of Vishnu and one on Jayadeva. Geetagovinda was composed by Jayadeva in Sanskrit in 12th Century AD and translated into many Indian languages. The Geetagovinda has been sung,danced and enacted at Puri Jagannath Temple. I find that nowadays Indian Stamps are superior to other country stamps. Be proud to be an Indian