away from me

I have written in my earlier blogs both in English and Tamil about the most misguiding advertisements – most of them imaginary and cheating. I am happy that the Government has come out with its own notification in this regard and at least after this the TV channels will avoid advertising about a detergent that will take out dirt within seconds and a toilet cleaner that would make it milk-white just by a rub.

The car was speeding at 100 mph. Two goondas were seated in the front seat. The male was on the steering wheel while the female was seated by his side. I was tied to the back seat and I could not move my hands or legs. My murmurs fell on their deaf ears. They were enjoying their ride with some frustrating music in their system which was a great head-ache to me. They did not bother about me or my feelings and if at all I made a small sound also, the man would turn to me with a fearful look and I had to shut up my mouth. They were munching something without caring for me and all I could do was to keep quiet.
I was very much annoyed. I wanted to make some sound so that someone could come to my rescue. When I tried, the female companion told the man to pull over the car. I was sure that they both were going to do something and I was scared. My fear became true and they both stopped the car at an isolated place where no human being was visible. They both got down from the car and approached me. They were having some liquid in their hands. They gave it to me and asked me to drink it. Doubting some foul play, I refused to drink. Then the woman caught hold of my mouth and the man poured the liquid directly into my throat. It was a horrible drink. It was neither sweet nor sour. I felt like vomiting when the man showed his fist. The woman hit me on the centre head and they both pressed me to drink it. With no other go, I drank the entire glass of that liquid. It was creating a big storm inside my stomach. But they both were not bothered about that. Both went to their seats and the car began its journey. The woman was telling the man “this fellow will be asleep within another ten minutes and thereafter we can plan something”. My God, the worst seemed to have happened.
Oh, I have forgotten to tell you who I am. I am a two year old child being brought up in USA. The two goondas are my dad and mom. As per American rules, I am tied to my Child Seat in the car and they are feeding me, of course, without even caring whether the drink they feed has enough sugar or not. I will grow up one day and when I start speaking, I am going to tell them how far they did not care for my tastes in all sense. Oh God, please make me five quickly.

It was in 1955, when I was 7 years old, that I had the chance of participating in a small programme for children in All India Radio, which was then Aakashwani. Those days, there were two children’s programmes in All India Radio on Saturdays and Sundays and one was organized by Radio Mama while the other one was by Radio Anna. I was in Radio Anna’s group and this Radio Anna was Sri.M.S.Srinivasan, himself a violinist and the brother of great Violinist Sri M.S.Gopalakrishnan.

It was the time when Naya Paisa (the present Paisa) was introduced. Till then a rupee contained 16 annas or 64 “kaalanas”(quarter annas). When Naya Paisa was introduced, a rupee contained 100 paisas and for some reason or other, people were thrilled to have so much of coins for a rupee. Our programme was to introduce that new naya paisa to the people through a song and a small drama. I still remember the song we sang in Tamil: “nalla naya paisa, vandhu vittadhu naisa, kadaikki ponen nethu, kai niramba kaasu” and the drama also was appreciated by everyone who listened. It was thrilling that time to sit in the house the next Saturday and hear my own voice in the radio. More thrilling was the sense of astonishment when we entered the airconditioned Studio and sat in a calm room where cameras and lights and mikes were aiming at us from the next room. We had to maintain pin drop silence and any small sound will spoil the entire episode. Though, in later days, I accompanied my paternal uncle, Sri V.M.Krishnamoorthy Bhagavathar for his ‘kutcheris’ in All India Radio, I could not forget that nice moment of my first Radio experience.

Even today, I cannot forget that roaring voice of Smt.Saroj Narayanasamy who was the leading news reader in Tamil those days. I still wonder how such a famous figure was forgotten slowly!!! Though we have lot of technologies in the media, still people listen to Radio while driving and it has improved a lot, thanks to the present RJs.

The great painter M.F.Hussain is again in the news, this time for getting the Qatari citizenship and our Indian politicians are after him inviting him to come back to India, forgetting the damages he had done to our Hindu Goddesses and our Bharath Matha. No doubt, if he comes back to India also, he will continue his own style!!! But what I wonder is, if he had hurt the sentiments of Muslims in his paintings, is there any chance of his getting citizenship from these Gulf countries? And, let us be proud that we are Indians, to forgive and forget everything, yes, anything and everything, since ours is a “secular” nation!!

Instead of running after MFH, we can bring to light hundreds of Hussains in our Nation without proper uplift and who have high talents!!!

I have compiled some household medical informations from different sources in Tamil which will be useful for everyone:

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Tamilnadu Government is distributing free colour Television sets mostly to all!!! Lot of people who have plasma tv sets also get this free colour TV set and it is no doubt an election gimmic. And the election commission can step in only if it is nearer to an election. As a layman, I wonder what will be the strain to the State’s exchequer due to this thousands of crores of rupees involved in this scheme and how Centre or big statesmen like Dr.Swamy or the opposition parties keep mum over this issue. Dr. Swamy came out with splendid ideas regarding the greatest fiscal deficit in the latest Central budget and instead of paying attention to the pre-mature release of Nalini and other such common issues, he can spend more time in alerting the Governments in such issues. Again, let God save India and its people!!!
SS

Great Actor Shah Rukh Khan was humiliated by Shiv Sena for mentioning Mumbai as a land for all Indians!!! His new film “My Name is Khan” suffered lot of difficulties during release in Mumbai and the entire film Industry was worrying!!

Actor Jayaraman’s house in Chennai was ransacked for his comments about Tamilians during an interview in Kerala and he had to make a public apology for continuing in Tamil Film Industry.

Cases are pending in different Courts of Tamil Nadu against Actress Kushboo for her mention about chastity of women before marriage!!! She is still running from pillar to post to settle this issue and it has never ended. Her position during those days was worse after her interview on the above subject!!

These are only a few examples and there are lot of such incidents where big personalities had to suffer from the public of some criteria or other for their remarks during interviews.

Nobody voluntarily says these things. They are forced to come out with their own views during interviews by the media with some tricky questions and the media exploits these replies and makes money. This is a routine abroad where the media’s strength has spoiled the very future of very big shots like Tiger Woods or Michael Jackson. Can’t our media play a vital role in upholding the supremacy of our country by using its strength in a useful way? Let us hope for the best!!

United States President Barack Obama has said if given a chance he would like to have a meal with his “real hero” Mahatma Gandhi, although the apostle of peace did not eat a lot. Mr. Obama’s response
came to a question from a ninth grade student at the Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, who asked
him if he could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who it would be. “Dinner with anyone dead or alive? Well, you know, dead or alive, that’s a pretty big list,” he said amidst laughter. “You know, I think that it
might be Gandhi, who is a real hero of mine,” Mr. Obama said. “Now, it would probably be a really small meal because he didn’t eat a lot.” He said Gandhiji was someone who has inspired people across the world for the past several generations. “He [Gandhiji] is somebody whom I find a lot of inspiration in. He inspired Dr. King [Martin Luther], so if it hadn’t been for the non-violent movement in India, you might not have seen the same non-violent movement for civil rights here in the United States,” he said. Gandhiji, Mr. Obama said, ended up changing the world just by the power of his ethics. “I am always interested in
people who are able to bring about change, not through violence, not through money, but through the force of their personality and their ethical and moral stances. That is somebody that I would love to
sit down and talk to.” — PTI

The above is the news that came in The Hindu of 10th September, 2009 which moved my heart very much. Mr.Obama is a down to earth President and he wants peace on earth at any cost. He resembles a lot with our Mahatma in his charm, in his patience, in his speech delivery etc etc. We can find lot of his principles seemingly drawn from great spiritual leaders and he is becoming more and more popular amongst many a country in the world. Let God give him that strength to fulfil his vows to the nation and the world!!

And in the same page of The Hindu came this news also!!! The above article is beyond values while the article below has value, of course!!!
LONDON: A bronze statue of a seated Buddhist deity presented by Mahatma Gandhi to his Irish friend Emma
Harker has fetched Rs.5.47 lakh (£6,840) at a sale here.

It is a pleasant news to hear that during the centenery celebrations of Dr.C.N.Annadurai, the founder of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a postal stamp with his picture is going to be released by the Centre. As a man who lived during Annadurai’s effortful days to snatch the Government from the hands of Congress, I recall those days.

Dr. Annadurai, fondly called as Anna, was a well educated economist of those days with an MA degree in Economics. He understood that the Dravidian people wanted a change from the routine Congress regime which was for rich people, according to him. His vision was for the poor and downtrodden and thus he launched the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, detaching himself from E.V.Ramasamy Periyar, an aethist of those days. Dr.Annadurai knew that oneness amongst Tamilians only would fetch the result and so against the principles of EVR, he embraced even Brahmins and thus came DMK. I can remember the day when, in early 60s, when DMK snatched the power from the Congress, the entire stretch from Island Grounds to Gemini Circle wore a festive look. Annadurai was coming in an open jeep while Dr.MGR and MR Radha were accompanying him on horses. Dr.Karunanidhi, the present Chief Minister and right hand to Annadurai was seated next to him and crackers and fireworks filled the air with maximum thrill. And after that, Congress could never get back to power in Tamilnadu and it was a fight between the two Dravidian parties, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, another split-away party for principle-difference.

In those days, Annadurai was the most educated leader in that party and rowdism or goondaism took back seat. His way of dealing things in the Government, let it be policy matters or political matters, was extraordinarily appreciable. His patience was his great asset and I could remember the reaction he gave when he was defeated by Dr.Natesa Mudaliar in his own constituency, Kancheepuram after serving as Chief Minister for more than two terms. Till his death, there could never be a split in the party and after that only due to difference of opinion, ADMK came out lead by Dr.M.G.Ramachandran.

Annadurai was an addict to snuff and was famous for his drinking coffee very hot. These things anyone could see on the stages and he made very good friends with Rajaji and Kamaraj, a powerful head of Congress in those days. It was all due his diplomacy that he could win the hearts of even enemies. He was a great scholar and I can remember a sentence in one of his speeches delivered to college students once. He was telling about grammar:

“Students! Can anyone tell me a sentence with 3 ‘because’ in one place?” and he himself gave the reply:
“Do not begin sentence with ‘because’ because ‘because’ is a conjunction.”

And there are many occasions and instances to remember and still to many people even today, he is a great man!!!

The recent revelation by Prof.Vaidyanathan of IIM, Bangalore that around 1.5 trillion dollars of Indian wealth is struck in Swiss Banks evading Indian Taxation is a shocking news.  More shockingly he has informed the audience during the Palkhiwala Memorial lecture on “Tax havens and illegal wealth of India” in Chennai that due to the absent-mindedness of their original account holders who have not informed their heirs about their deposits, many deposit amounts have been swallowed by these Swiss Banks.  According to him, the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report says that 40 per cent of all Indian transactions abroad are hawala, and he has urged the Prime Minister’s Office to insist upon accountability with regard to Ministerial trips abroad, as many of them are clubbed with personal trips to nearby tax havens.

When the common man is struggling to pay his taxes regularly, these big cats are enjoying without any worry.  Started as an election stunt, this Swiss issue has blown beyond proportion and the time has come for the Government to act urgently since these huge amounts could solve a portion of the annual financial budget deficit of the Government and give relief to common man.  But here are some questions:

How these huge amounts escaped the shrewd eyes of the Airport authorities or any such officials and found way into Swiss Banks?

Are there flaws in the rules allowing VIPs to travel unfrisked at the Airports?

Can there be any mechanism to check online transfers of huge amounts?

Let us wait and see the outcome of this Swiss episode!!!