DOING NOTHING ..........

ARAALAKESHI IN ABHAYAAMBIKAI ATTIRE

 

“DOING NOTHING” - THE MOST DIFFICULT TASK ! ! !

 

After a huge gap, I decided to publish a blog once again today. (The page was dormant for almost 18 months). The immediate provocation (?) was a video (a repeat, though) in a whatsApp about doing nothing. Having entered the ‘retirement’ phase of life couple of years back, I know, more than anybody else, how difficult it is to stay home, and do nothing..... ! I was reminded of this beautiful story of this ‘Saamiyaar’ (Swami Ji, or Godman) who was staying in a temple in a remote Tamil Village.

 

Like all other staff and workers attached to the temple, he too was getting his quota of one ‘padai’ (measure) of ‘soru’ (rice) every day. All those attached to this temple were assigned specific duties, like, bringing flowers, lighting the lanterns, arranging the puja materials, washing, cleaning the premises, etc., etc. However, our ‘Saamiyaar’ didn’t have any duty. He would come when the temple opens, and leave when it closes. He was known as “சும்மா இருக்கிற சாமியார்” (Summaa irukkira Saamiyaar), that is, the Swamy Ji who does nothing. He would sit a particular place without doing anything whole day, probably smile at some devotee occasionally. That’s it. Nobody had any issue with the practice because he was simple, well-behaved, and just stayed quite all through the day. And, one extra measure of rice is anyway not going to matter much. And the practice continued till the temple management changed. The government took over the temple, and a new Administrative Officer took charge. Obviously, the MBA graduate wanted to prove his mettle. While going through the accounts he found out that certain amount was shown against the food expenses of one Saamiyaar. He asked the Supervisor what the Saamiyaar was doing, like what are his duties.

He was told that the Saamiyaar was actually doing nothing, and he was known as SUMMA IRUKKIRA SAAMIYAAR, and he was also provided with one measure of rice, that is, ஒரு படை சோறு (Oru Padai Soru) every day, like all other employees attached to the temple. Now, our Administrative Officer was furious.

“What nonsense! How can he be given free food every day, that for doing nothing? This is atrocious” he yelled. “I want this practice to be stopped immediately”, he ordered.

 

And that day, poor Saamiyaar didn’t get his usual morsel of rice. He found out about the embargo by the new Admin. Officer. Saamiyaar went and met the new Officer, and requested him to listen to him before stopping the ration. He asked, “May I know why my rice quota if stopped?” The officer replied, “How can any one be compensated for doing nothing? And, sitting at one place doing nothing is the easiest thing one can ever imagine”

“Have you ever tried it, Sir?” he asked. “I have a small suggestion. Please sit quite for two hours tomorrow, and then decide on stopping the ‘oru padai soru’ which I was getting all these days.”         “What is the big deal? I will prove tomorrow”

 

And the next day, the Officer sat at the place where our Saamiyaar used to sit as soon as the temple opened. People were coming and going. Some were smiling, some were making hushy comments. The staff were chatting, and some were watching whatsapp messages, Facebook / Instagram videos, and sharing. The officer wanted to rap them, but he was supposed to do nothing for two hours. His Blood Pressure was shooting up. And the clock was moving very slow. 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes..... He didn’t know what to do. He had to watch silently the passers by making fun of him, making snide comments..... ! One hour passed and he just got up and rushed to his office. He typed out something himself and pasted the paper in front of his office. People were very curious to know what it was. It was a NOTICE signed by him... And, it read,

 

“சும்மா இருக்கிற சாமியாருக்கு இன்று முதல் ரெண்டு படை சோறு .......”           (Starting from today, the Saamiyaar will be served TWO measures of rice)  

 

Enjoy your week end, chums ......................

 

a n a n d . . . . .
for ever..........

Friendship isn't about who you have known the longest.
It's about who come and never leave your side.  

 

 

HOW I WAS “APRIL-FOOLED” BY THE CLOCK …. !

I’m going back to my school days. And, it’s vacation time. Come April month, and we discuss between us “ingenious” ways of fooling the ‘girls’ on the 1st. After all, that was the time for everyone to entertain themselves at the expense of others…. 😂 There was no Radio/TV, let alone WhatsApp, FB, Instagram, Telegram*, Viber, Messenger, Skype etc.. etc.  those days.

* 
 

In olden times, you must have heard about people getting "April Fooled" through anonymous  phone calls, false warnings, fake news, etc. etc. As I was mentioning, during our childhood days, we would devise new, novel ways to fool people that day, year after year. Some would receive them sportingly, some get annoyed, and angry. The Newspapers of April 2nd would be full of imaginative 'April-fooled' stories..... And we discuss and enjoy them all...

However, now a days, we look at April 1^st as just any other day. Could be because the likes of 'home delivery' apps, grocers, banks, print / visual media, the so-called 'gurus', why even the political outfits, governments, opposition, and every other person or agency you come across, in short, anyone and everyone you deal with day in and day out, has been FOOLING you for a long time now. So, there should be why one more day of fooling !!!

But then yesterday was ‘different’. Tell me, have you ever been "April-fooled" by a digital alarm clock?

"Digital Clock"? Look at the alarm clock above - 'SONY' make, made in US, working on 110V - gifted by our son when we were at the US for his convocation in the year 2006 😍 - still 'active'. Only thing, I don't use it for FM/AM, or alarm (except when our 4-year old grandson is around, to take a break from the monotony of Bangalore life….                                            

That is when both Alarm A and Alarm B are activated by default! And, that is only one of his activities and experiments he does with many other gadgets at home!) And I will have real tough time to reset the gadgets to original settings, especially because the fellow had experimented discreetly 🤭 Now, lets come back to the title.

Well I WAS fooled lock stock and barrel, this morning. For knowing this, you should know some history. Call it habit, 6th sense, or gut feel or whatever. Though I normally set the alarm (5.15)  every night, I wake up exactly before it goes off (+ or - 5 minutes) - every time. And today was no exception. The mobile under the pillow vibrates. (I've set it in such a way that the vibration comes first, and then, the music in ascending format..... The icon at the centre like in most of the smart phones, is for 'snoozing' and when you swipe upwards, the alarm is switched off. Obviously, I swipe it while half asleep. And, after 5 minutes of lazing about and rolling over, I look at the digital clock, and it shows 3.35. What the hell ????

Considering the plethora of dreams I was passing through over the night, I thought it must be some 6 to 7 hours of slumber, and the start of another usual day, and I should get ready for the walk after tea etc..... All the more so, because, I could see feeble light behind the window curtains, indicating the dawn. How on earth can it be 3.35?

To cut a looooong story short, I must have slept off again, and this time, it showed 5.45. I clicked a snap from my mobile, thinking I would use it for sending 'Ugadi' wishes .... However, on closer examination the time of click in my mobile showed 7.30 !!! And, the wall clock in the hall and digital clocks in the other two bed rooms also showed more or less the same time... It was then, it was then that it dawned on me that America has reset their clocks. (Power saving exercise) And it is not the first time this was happening to me.

Now, you should know that USA practices something called “DST”, or Day Light saving Time. Here is what Wikipedia tells us about DST as practiced in the US

Daylight saving time in the United States is the practice of setting the clock forward by one hour when there is longer daylight during the day, so that evenings have more daylight and mornings have less. Most areas of the United States observe daylight saving time (DST), the exceptions being Arizona (except for the Navajo, who do observe daylight saving time in Navajo Nation),^[1] Hawaii,^[2] and the overseas territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 established the system of uniform daylight saving time throughout the US.^[1]

In the U.S., daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, with the time changes taking place at 2:00 a.m. local time. With a mnemonic word play referring to seasons, clocks "spring forward, fall back"—that is, in springtime the clocks are moved forward from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. and in fall they are moved back from 2:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Daylight saving time lasts for a total of 34 weeks (238 days) every year, about 65% of the entire year.

The following table lists near future starting and ending dates of daylight saving time in the United States:

 

Year	Start	End
2019	March 10	November 3
2020	March 8	November 1
2021	March 14	November 7
2022	March 13	November 6
2023	March 12	November 5
2024	March 10	November 3
2025	March 9	November 2

 

ALL clocks are set in such way that the time changes automatically every time...... AND, THAT WAS HOW AN INNOCENT-LOOKING ALARM CLOCK FOOLED ME ON THE "ALL-FOOLS DAY"...........😉🤭😂

However, the time should have got changed on March 13th. Perhaps it had chosen 1st April night, purposely. Or, the 15 plus years old piece is becoming like me…..

“SELECTIVE AMNESIA” WITH AGEING… 🤭

For those who have some of your relatives / friends in the US, or those who are interested to know more about the topic, click the link below:

https://www.timeanddate.com/time/change/usa

That’s all for now, guys… See you later with something different. Byeee.

a n a n d . . . . .
for ever..........

Friendship isn't about who you have known the longest.

It's about who come and never leave your side.

More will follow ……..

Enjoy......................

 

TAIL (END) OF TWO SETS OF ‘PAADARAKSHAALU”                                                    

aka “ ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL”

I am sure you would have heard about the ‘Tale of two cities’ – probably, never got the chance to read it. Here is a golden opportunity for all of you to read an abridged version of a similar tale.

I know you will not be in the proper frame of mind to read the blog – mini or maxi, in one go, especially after a loooong week end. However, as a matter of abundant caution to ensure that the blog reaches as many souls as possible, here is the festival discount. As a special case, you are permitted to go thro’ the narrative in 3 - 4 equal installments.

Yesterday happened to be our 42nd happy wedding anniversary (remember kids saying, innakki enakku happy birthday aakkum), and 43^rd wedding day full of sweet memories. Unlike previous years, it was a hectic day, having coincided with Ganesh Chathurthi. As you may know, it is celebrated with fair degree of pomp and glory in this part of India. As is mandatory to visit a temple on this memorable day to thank Him for blessing us with many more happy returns of the day (notwithstanding similar wishes by a host of friends as well as relatives, earlier), we decided to pay our obeisance to the deity at nearby Ishtasiddhi Vinayak temple in Besant Nagar, and seek His blessings. It also, suited perfectly being His day as well.

We could leave only by 8.00 PM, thanks to the various mundane chores, visits, phone calls, and a plethora of activities. (Now, I can visualize the quizzical look in your eyes wondering how this old man is able to type so fast on the mobile in grammatically correct English with no spelling mistakes and most important, successfully overcoming the spell check and auto correct demon.! For the youngsters of the present generation, it is a different ball game altogether to type messages on their smart phones, at an amazing speed, using both hands, like playing a piano.

I shall share the secret a little later. Now continue.

There was huge crowd at the temple, with people of all ages, styles, religions, outfits, and ethnicity, praying to the lord to obviate off all their ‘vighnaas’. Incidentally, the Shabdhakosh gives the meaning of the word ‘obviate’ as

                                                               

टालना,  बचना, हटाना, दूर करना, निवारण करना, निराकरण करना, दूर रहना, छुटकारा पाना, अनावश्यक करना, जरूरी न समझना, मुक्त हो जाना. 

                                                    

In simple English, however, the word means ‘to remove a difficulty, problem, or the need for something’, according to google guru.

Where did we leave?

Yeah. “There was a huge crowd at the temple, …. blah, blah, blah …”

After wading through the devotees, and getting a brief darshan of Ganesha, and the deities installed all around, and most important, collecting the donnaiful of yummy kesari soaked in ghee, we were just about to leave, when the incredible happened….. The sky opened up in full bloom and fury. And how? It was as if a huge cloud had burst. Torrential would be a great understatement. To borrow from our dear Home Minister Amit Shah ji, so also from PM Modi ji, it was “ PRACHANT ” all the way - literally - what with water seeping with full force to the entire stretch of the hall attached to the temple, stream of water right outside the temple, flooding the roads, and in a state of topsy-turvy, bringing the holiday traffic to a grinding halt.

 

And, after about 30 minutes, intensity of the rains came down, and we thought it would make sense to escape from the next onslaught, though it was still drizzling. But then, there was some shock in store for us. With almost knee-deep water at the temple entrance, all foot wears left there got washed away….. !! Some were floating, and my dear wife was lucky to grab one of her shoes. The other piece could not be located despite desperate search. They were not ‘made for each other’, I thought. And no trace of my foot wears which were exclusively reserved for temple visits – bought at a discounted price of about 200 odd bucks from the street corner shop, some 2 or 3 years back. Many hard core devotees were seen frantically trying their luck and that brought some consolation to me, really (like your feeling happy to find that EB power has failed not only in your house, but in your neighbour’s house as well).

Today morning, on our usual walk at the beach front, we took a detour and stopped at the Pillayar temple, hoping for some miracle to happen, now that the water has receded. But not much luck. And suddenly, my wife noticed her Jodi shoe inside the locked shoe enclosure of the contractor. And we returned after finishing the usual quota of our morning walk. After collecting the Jodi shoe, I was glancing through the grand collection, neatly stacked in the racks. There were several pairs, many of them, costly ones, and in good shape, except some minimal coat of sludge.

“Paambin kaal pambaRiyum”, they say. I told myself, and strongly believed that my name (Anantha – the divine snake with 1000 tongues) can’t go wrong ....
                                                                           

“Oru kaal, may be oru kaal, there is a chance that my ‘temple special’ which adored my kaal till recently, is lurching somewhere in the heap. For a fraction of second, I was tempted to pick the best pair available in the lot. Kind of ‘sabalam’ ….. But, luckily for me, I remembered just in time my childhood days, when I heard from my dad for the first time the story of the wood cutter, whose axe accidentally fell into the well. Poor man, was going to lose his livelihood. You surely know rest of the story when God appeared before him from inside the well, and first showed him the golden axe, and seeing the woodcutter shaking his head in the negative, showed the silver axe, and finally, the iron axe, which our hero promptly recognized. And the God gave him all three axes. And, my gut feel didn’t go wrong. I located my priceless possession neatly stacked in a corner on the top most rack. Phewww… At that precise moment, I could visualise how Mackenna would have felt when he discovered the treasure in the midst of the canyon….

To cut a long story short, it was a happy Tuesday, and I decided to lavishly tip the care taker 10 bucks. That’s why I told in the beginning, “All’s well that ends well”

After the tale of two paadharakshaalus, here are two tips for my friends.

1. If you do not want to lose your new chappals while entering a temple, never ever keep them at one place, but put them separately in different locations – and remember the two locations where you kept them, when you return after the prayers.

2.  And, now for the secret about my typing the links, long paras etc., on my whatsapp pages, like an expert. Simble. Just download the whatsapp app on your lap top or system, type what you want in word, copy the matter, and paste. 

ADVANCE WISHES FOR A VERY HAPPY ONAM TO ALL MY DEAR FRIENDS .........

a n a n d . . . . .
for ever..........

Friendship isn't about who you have known the longest.

It's about who come and never leave your side.

BHAKTHI

While at Chennai, I make it a point to watch Suki Sivam's discourse at 7.00 AM on Saturdays and Sundays in SUN TV. Like wise, Morari Bapu in various TV Cannels, when I was on deputation to the sites in North, and to Udit Chaitanya in Asianet, whenever I get time. There may be many more such gifted speakers talking on virtues, and propagating positive thoughts and guiding people to lead a meaningful and purposeful life, through good words and deeds.

During one such discourses recently, Udit Chaitanya was mentioning about Bhakthi. Unlike South, people in North are staunch devotees of Ram, as much as they are devoted to Lord Ganesh. Of course Ram is worshipped in South also. In fact, for people like Kamba, Valmiki, Tulsidas, and many such great writers and legends of their times, Rama was everything. All of their compositions are on Rama. Bhakthi is the main Bhava in all kritis. 
While elaborating on the Bhakthi, Udit Chaitanya was giving a classic example of what Bhakthi is. 

Soon after returning to Ayodhya, Pattabhishekam was arranged for Rama. It was a gala affair. Everybody who was somebody vied with each other to take selfies with Rama........ Our friend, Anjaneya was however, standing in a corner, chanting Ram.. Ram.. Ram... No one paid any heed to him, but Rama was smiling unto himself at the pseudo 'Bhakthi' of people around him, including his brothers, and other family members, friends, and associates. Obviously, the coterie around Rama were too furious and jealous at the proximity Hanuman enjoyed with Rama. They had an 'in camera' meeting like our political parties are having these days, to decide on who will take charge of which portfolio. In the end, all portfolios were taken away by one person or other. They now looked at Hanuman and told him.

"There is no portfolio or department left, and we can not accommodate you any where. So, it is better that you go back to the woods, where you actually belong to ..." This was a clever move, they all thought. Hanuman politely asked whether he can snap his fingers when Rama yawns. All of them considered the silly idea for a while.

"No issues", they said, without realising the ramifications. Now, one never knows when Rama will yawn, and therefore Hanuman's presence near to the Lord is must all the 24 hours. That is called 'Bhakthi'

Click the link below to know why people snap fingers when yawning.

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-snap-their-fingers-in-front-of-their-mouth-while-yawning

Udit Chaitnaya was narrating the incident during his discourse with his own typical sense of humour and amazing rendition style. I was just trying to recollect the bits and pieces of what I heard years back.  

AND, AS FOR THE WEB PAGE DESCRIBING THE ORIGINAL STORY, CLICK THE LINK BELOW:

http://www.bhagavatam-katha.com/ramayana-story-hanumans-snapping-of-fingers-for-yawning-rama/

Enjoy your week end, chums ......................

 

a n a n d . . . . .
for ever..........

Friendship isn't about who you have known the longest.

It's about who come and never leave your side.

The Week That Was

THE WEEK THAT WAS…..

I don’t know if you have ever watched an episode of “the week that wasn’t” aired in CNN NEWS 18 Channel, compeered by Cyrus Broacha, and ably supported by Kunal Vijaykar. 

The latter in fact, is more of a food writer than TV actor, one of his famous books being

Made in India: 60 mouthwatering recipes from desi kitchens and bylan

In case you are nterested, please watch the latest episode on YouTube. (Click the link below)

https://www.news18.com/shows/the-week-that-wasn-t.html

The UK Channel Sky 1 also airs a program of the same title.

Here, I am making an earnest and sincere attempt to pen about the happenings during the week that WAS, 

and NOT the week that WASN’T….

Sometime in July last year, I had published my blog on “Senior Citizens’ Day”. If interested, you may go to the link below:

http://anandforever-anand.blogspot.com/2018/07/senior-citizens-day-ramayana-month-etc.html

AND NOW FOR ‘THE WEEK THAT WAS’ …….

Starting last Monday, 11^th March, ‘Kavasam’ TV had organized Bhakthi Utsav at Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai for 5 days from 5.00 PM to 9.00 PM. We tried for the passes, but were told that they were sold out and maybe we can try at the hall on the day of the program. Thankfully, ‘Kavasam’ TV was streaming the program live on YouTube.     Suited me best, and I cast it to my TV, and watched the entire proceedings live on my TV in the cozy, comfortable ambience of my home, with occasional servings of namkeen, nutties and what not !!

The paper ad below will give you the details of who all contributed for the excellent extravaganza for all the 5 days, with their own eloquent and captive renditions. To cut a long story short, I was glued on to the idiot box for almost 4 hours on all those 5 days. The channel has announced to start their telecasting from April this year. They would be re-telecasting these programs for sure.

On Saturday, it was an altogether different experience at our Sabha. The occasion was to remember and pay respects to that cruel villain of yester year movies, Sri. M N Nambiar. It is public knowledge that once out of the shooting sets, he is a gem of a person, and such a humble and philanthropic personality. The speakers who paid rich tributes to the legend included 

‘Sowcar’Janaki, ‘Kumari’ Sachu, Directors, P Vasu, SP Muthuraman etc.

If Sabari Mala is so popular, the credit for it should go partially to Mr. Nambiar, who, it seems had been to the shrine some 65 times or so. You name the movie actor from South or Bollywood, he would have accompanied Nambiar to the shrine at least once. During shootings, he would take only the food that came from his house, cooked by his wife. 

He was a total vegetarian, never had any vices usually associated with most of the film fraternity. An out and out family oriented person, so much so, he set an example as to how a husband should be caring and loving to his wife. All the speakers and the large audience were choked with emotion when some of the speakers spoke about their experiences with the veteran actor. The highlight of the evening’s program, however, was the drame “Dronacharya” staged by the son of that famous theatre personality R S Manohar, who had specialized in glorifying the negative characters of our epics. He himself had the notorious garb of another terrible villain of Tamil screen. It was thus only apt that Manohar’s legacy was followed by the lavish tributes paid by Tamil filmdom.

The highlight, however, was the experience at my favorite spot, namely the Elliot’s Beach.

Sunday mornings at Elliot’s Beach have become generally miserable, of late. There is one procession or other in the name of ‘creating awareness’ or there are marathons of all varieties – the maxi, mini, symbolic etc, etc, again, with all kinds of messages one can imagine from importance of ‘Vegan’ food to bringing back Modi. 

The most pathetic part of all the above in addition to creating untold miseries to the peace-loving morning walkers like me like near-rupturing the ear drums with cacophony of very high decibels, hundreds of plastic water bottles, carry bags, and paper are littered all around. Once I requested a youngster sweating and relaxing after completing a mini marathon to highlight the dangers of plastic in our daily lives, to please put away the plastic water bottle under his feet in the nearby waste bin. Prompt, came the reply that it wasn’t him, but someone else who has put it here. Quietly, I took it and put it in the nearby waste bin.
Last Sunday morning, I went with my dear wife for our morning walk at the beach front, There weren't many cars and bikes. I felt a little sanguine that today was going to be different. My complacency, however, was short-lived. Because, a little distance away, there was this group with white pants and white shirts. One of the banners read "World Sleep Day". I googled for the Tamil translation of the word, and it said, 

உலக நித்திரை தினம் for ‘World sleep day’. 

Vahh, I thought this is really interesting. I asked one of the members 

what was the    name of their president. He said 'Kumbh Karna' - No wonder. 

Later, saw them going on'walkathon' through the 1+1 km stretch of the 

beach front. Fair enough.                    

Oldies like me, after  all, can't engage ourselves in any form of marathon.                  

But walkathon is fine.





A little away, there was another group in yellow 

caps, with some hundred yellow hydrogen             

balloons. On enquiry, I was told that they belong 

to the ‘Down Syndrome Federation of India’.     

Apparently the idea was supposed to break the 

myth and mis-conceptions (concepts?)on 

the syndrome, show their support and interact 

with the affected kids and adults. World Sleep 

day, and Down Syndrome Day – two ‘days’ on 

a single day. Not bad. 

These days, every other day, you  have  some 

day or other at Elliot’s Beach. I am not talking 

about that, ‘Take care, and have a good day. 

I am talking about the various‘days’ celebrated 

throughout the year, at times even two ‘days’ 

on a single day as I was mentioning …..



In our childhood days,we knewonly 3 days, i.e. New Year day, 

Republic Day, and Independence Day. 

‘May Day’ and all comes to our lives much later. We liked those three 

days, because school    declares holiday on those days. 

And of course, we knew ‘Birthday’ though there wasn’t much to 

go ‘ga gaa’ about it, unlike in the lives of kids of present generation, 

I mean, getting new dresses,   loadsof gifts from friends and well wishers, 

not to mention the plethora of birth day wishes from various 

whatsApp group members in all forms & styles.

I was doing a bit of due diligence, and found the following:

There are quite a few ‘days’ in this month. Starting with women’s day on the 8th, we had World Kidney Day on the 14th, World Sleep day as well as Down Syndrome Day on the 17th, World Story Telling Day on 20th, World Forest Day on 21st, World Water day on 22nd, World Weather Day on 23rd, etc., etc. The list goes on and on and on.

I do not know whether “Men’s Day” is celebrated in any part of the world. We ‘Chennaites’ are different – as always. We celebrate “Men’s Day” every year, not for one day, but for close to 90 days…! Starting from April first. Only thing is, people here proudly call the days as “ DOGS’ DAYS ”

As for the proverb “Every dog has its day”, you can have more insight on my blog which was published some 6 years back.

http://anandforever-anand.blogspot.com/2013/

And, I think, that’s all for the week that was. See you all later.

Enjoy......................

 

a n a n d . . . . .
for ever..........

Friendship isn't about who you have known the longest.
It's about who come and never leave your side.