HAPPY BIRTH DAY

Female hippopotamus " Yana" enjoyed her birthday cake made up of salad,carrots and concentrated feed,recently at the Opel Zoo in Kronberg near Frankfurt. Tana who celebrated her 50th birthday, is the oldest animal at the Zoo and one of the oldest hippopotamus in Europe.

INTRODUCTION OF TOILETS IN TRAINS-A SHOCKING EXPOSE

Based on the following written complaint by Okhil Chandra Sen to the Sahiganj divisional railway office in 1909,the Railways introduced toilets in train.
"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jack fruit. I am therefore went to privy.Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lotah in one hand and dhoti in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on platform.I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station.
This too much bad,if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on the guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers."

PARASAKTHY

Recently Kalaignar TV aired a Tamil movie Parasakthy ,penned by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, on his 87th birth day. This was the first movie for the great actor Sivaji Ganesan.Nobody can say that this was his first movie. With his delivery of difficult and lengthy dialogues of Kalaignar perfectly and forcefully, he became an instant success in the film Industry. Especially his dialogues in the court scene,are even now , being appreciated and imitated . This film came in 1950's and directed by Krishnan Panju. Incidently these directors directed the 125th film of Sivaji Ganesan. Worth watching this movie

JAZZ PIANIST

Silent fingers jazz pianist Hank Jones died at 91 in New York. He belonged to Jazz's golden era and played with Ella Fitzgerald,Charlie "Bird" Parker and Benny Goodman. He accompanied Marilyn Monroe when she sang "Happy Birthday Mr.President" to John F Kennedy

An Incident-2

When I was studying in Gopalapuram School during 1960's, Kanchi Periavaal came to Gopalapuram and stayed in a devotee's house for about a week. At that time there was an announcement that Periavaal will give a silver coin to everyone who who has completed writing of 10000 Sri Rama Jayam. Myself and my elder sister completed the writing and went to collect the coin. We were standing in a queue. When my turn came I gave the note book and collected the coin. However my sister had a problem. They said that the book did not contain 10000 namas. She started crying. Periavaal,who was watching the incident called the concerned person and told him to give her the coin. He then said to the person that the intention is not the numbers but to appreciate the devotion and sincerity. How great he was. Even today we used to think about it.

An Incident

When Sri Sankarachariar of Kanchi matt was staying in Gopalapuram in Chennai during 1960's he used to visit all the streets in Gopalapuram.One day he came to Sadasiva Iyer street,where we were staying. As soon he reached our house, he asked his people to stop. He approached our father,who was standing outside our house,to see him. He enquired about his native place, working company and familiy members. After spending out 10 minutes he blessed all of us. It was a great moment for us. Even today I used to wonder how a Great Man stopped in front of our house and blessed all of us.

Humanity Lessons

In the Week Magazine dated 30/5/2010, there is an article "Humanity Lessons" by Amjad Ali Khan. This is an article about children, their present education,etc. Extract of one portion of the article reads as follows:
" Although development is important, administering discriminatory ideas to the minds of the children is a sin.Let the young minds experience peace,harmony,tranquility,equality and freedom.
Today's children are shooting and killing each other,even in schools.They have become so intolerant and unkind towards others and most importantly to themselves. It is sad that even children today need temper counselling.
It is high time we thought about the role of schools. There is definitely something seriously wrong in the education system. We need to teach our children the human and spiritual aspects of life. Teachers should establish their relationship as Gurus,Guides and Perceptors. Parents to give more time to their child from their busy schedule. We don't want to see robots produced by schools. The world will be richer and will be able to achieve its goal if schools could contribute towards making kind and empathetic children."
Wonderful article. It's right time that Government and Schools join together and solve the major issue.

Oh! Father

My father had a second heart attack during 1983 and was admitted in H.M.Hospital in Chennai. Eventhough he was recovering nicely, he suddenly became worse on Saturday night. He was again put in ICU. On sunday he became normal and on Monday morning (20/6/1983) around 8.30 am the Chief doctor Pratap Reddy (now with Apollo) checked him and told us that our father is alright and can be discharged on the next day. Since my father was thirsty, the doctor asked us to give coconut water to him. I gave the coconut water around 9 am. While drinking,he suddenly had a big cough and his heart baets became erratic. I went to the doctor and asked him to see immediately.As he had checked my father only around 8.30am he was not believing my words. However he came and found my father serious. His heart beat stopped around 10 am and the doctors started giving him electrical shock. Finally the end came around 10.30 am. I was watching his death from a window and could not control my tears. I miss my father very much even today.

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.