Laughing Buddha's message

O Lucky Buddha, why laugh thee?
Sitting happily under a Peepal tree?
Looks like you are ready to break free
And embark on a world tour spree.

You do have, back in India, a cousin
Who helps the multitude wash their sin
He sure helps us remove any obstacle
His form, with an elephant-head, sure is a spectacle.

Oh Laughing Buddha, thy body language
Surely gives me many a message
" Laugh away those mental strifes
And get moving, in real life".

Gestures of a life-time

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Just the other day, I was reflecting upon some of the most precious possessions of mine, given by my friends, mostly inadvertently.

I know I have been very fortunate to be blessed with some very good friends- friends who are very good at heart, and who have stood by me in trying times, and to whom I have tried to reciprocate as much as I can. However, I would want to mention three instances that have left indelible impressions on me.

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FIRST- This happened during the second year of my Engineering course in Guindy. A batch-mate of mine, Ajay Kumar Negi, who happens to hail from a non-descript village in the hilly terrains of Himachal Pradesh near Spiti , walked up to me one fine morning on a lazy Sunday, right after we had finished our customary raid of the hostel mess. He was a bit circumspect, to start with, seemingly unsure of what my reaction would be to his gesture (as I could surmise later). He flashed out a photo -in Kodak colour, which, in the mid 80s, was still finding it's feet. He pushed it into my hands and said " I took this snap at my village temple just for you, and thought you may like it. Keep it!" And rushed out, without looking back. And sure enough, I was left speechless.

Of course, I thanked him heartily after that, and made sure that during my next visit to Madurai, where my parents lived, I picked up a photo of Meenakshi Amman, as a sort of "return gift". I remember having paid a princely Rs.10 for that.

Little did I realize then that this beautiful photo would keep me company for the rest of my life thus far. This photo adorns our Pooja even today. Thanks Ajay Negi! I do not know where you are today, but with this single gesture, you have taken a permanent place in my heart, my dear friend!!

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SECOND - after my graduation as a Mechanical Engineer, I was working in Thermax, Mumbai.  I used to be on the road 20 days in the month those days, as a Project Engineer, traversing the topology of the country, on work. The year was 1991. A couple of my college-mates , Sivaramakrishnan and Murali, were staying very close to where I did. We used to have a great time, whenever I was in town, during the weekends. 

Siva and Murali were the aspirational green-card seekers, and sure enough, both made it to the USA shortly thereafter. Murali left first, and Siva followed suit. While packing up his belongings, Siva thought it fit, and perhaps without thinking too much, " இத வெசுக்கோடா, இனிமே எனக்கு தேவை இல்லை" ( I don't think I need this any more, keep this, you may find it useful), he handed over his nail clipper. 

Believe it or not, till date, I use that nail clipper, and every time I take it out, Siva, now happily settled in Long island, comes to my mind.  Siva has, inadvertently, left an indelible memory. I am very much in touch with him, and quite often we do exchange the sweet nothings of college.

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THIRD - I can't share of picture of this  here, simply because I had lost that possession forever, and all I am left of it is the memory.

I consider myself a classical music buff. I especially love the old masters. I used to play the Veena, but had given it up- short-sightedly so- on the pretext of studies. Chittibabu and S Balachander are two of my most favourite Veena maestros, and I consider each a genius in his own right.

The mid 80s saw the emergence of National Radio on FM ( beamed from Nagpur and a few other places). It was new to Chennai at that time, and every Sunday, in the evenings , at 7.45 p.m. they used to air either live or recorded versions of the various music maestros. In 1988, on one such evening, I had the privilege  of listening to Chittibabu play the rare 72nd Melakartha Rasikapriya raagam, in a full, unbridled, one-hour Raagam Thaanam Pallavi format. It was sheer music deluge (प्रवाहम), for lack of a better word, to describe the experience. 

Sure enough, Bala, who was also a classical music buff, was there with me. Not just him, but a 2-in-1 of his, a rarity in the college hostel, which could record a live program on an audio cassette  We not only enjoyed the program thoroughly ( at the cost of one of my Sunday evening Kutcheris in one of the Sabhas in Chennai, which I was a regular, for four long years), but also got it recorded. I then took that cassette to my uncle, who lived in Adyar. He had a copying machine, and I was able to have the cassette copied comfortably.

I had this beautiful piece of Veena recital for a long number of years, but then the tape had come to the end of it's life, before I could have it digitized to MP3 format. And so, here I am, left only with memories of Bala, my dear friend, who now lives in Zurich happily, and the pulsating Rasikapriya that flowed from the hands of Chittibabu, reverberating in my memory . Bala has made sure that I do not forget this for the rest of my life. Thanks Bala!

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I am sure I can come up a quite few more of such gestures from friends which have withstood the test of time. In the instances above, with the possible exception of the Ajay Negi, my friends, I suspect, had extended this gesture rather inadvertently, . But then, all three have left something to remember, in the best possible sense of it, for the rest of my life. I am thankful to God Almighty for having given me such wonderful friends.

It makes me wonder how such seemingly worthless tinsel ( to borrow Rajaji's words) can have a profound impact in one's life.

This also underscores something that our spiritual masters have , for long, emphasized - it is NOT the price or economic value of the gift or possession that matters. What matter are - a big heart to give, and the very gesture. After all, Lord Krishna's love for Kuchela was fortified by the latter's offering of a  morsel of puffed rice ( அவல்/ पोहा) , but with full of love and affection for his friend.

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This makes me take it to the next level of pondering - well, only my friends can answer to this. Have I ever, inadvertently or deliberately, given or left anything of value( hopefully in a good sense) to my friends? Have I provided an opportunity for my friends to think about something that I may have parted with them,  in the same way I have been privileged to think about their gesture, after all these years? You bet!

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Nallur Kalyanasundareswarar Temple

In July 2012, I had the good fortune to visit Nallur Kalyanasundareswarer Temple.

The temple is situated about 30 km from Thanjavur on the way to Kumbakonam, if one takes a short detour.

The temple is said to be about 2000 years old. The Lingam is a Suyambhu Lingam ( orignated on it's own from the ground without anyone carving it or planting it).   The temple tank is considered to have powers equal to that of the Mahamaha tank in Kumbakonam.

the Swami is said to appear in five different colours every day, depending upon the time of the day. Hence, also called PANCHA VARNESWARAR. I quite could not see all of it.

Legend has it that Thirunavukarasar prayed here and the Lord offered his feet Darshan to him. hence the practice of Pada Darshanam ( much like Viashnavite temples, something y9ou dont see in Shiva temples) same into vogue.

Truly a lovely temple.

Etymology of Chennai Tamil Lexicon

Quite often, I have wondered what our famous Chennai Tamil lingo words really meant, and their origin.

Result? I have tried my hand at deciphering them etymologically. here they go. Feel free to add to this   list.

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Dabaa - தபா- Meaning " number of times" - Derived from Tamil தடவை or Urdu दफ़ा , all meaning the same.

Bejaar  - பேஜார் - Meaning "problem" Derived from Urdu बेजार of the same meaning


Ghaleej - கலீஜ் - Meaning Dirty- Derived from the Kannada word galeej ಗಲೀಜ್

Kasmaalam- கஸ்மாலம் - Meaning dirty - derived from the Sanskrit word Kasmalam कश्मलं

Bemaani - பேமானி - Meaning dishonest - derived from the Hindi word Be-Imani बेइमानी.

Bagilu - பகிலு - Meaning hip and nearby regions - derived from Hindi/ urdu बगल.

Bigilu - பிகிலு - Meaning whistle - derived from the English word whistle

Bajaari - பஜாரி- Meaning a cheap woman - derived from Hindi/ Urdu बाजारी

Dhool - தூள-  Meaning "busted out" - derived from Tamil துகள்  or Hindi/ Urdu धुल

Galaata - கலாட்டா - Meaning chaos - Possibly Persian/ Turkish. A suburb of Istanbul called Galatta has nightclubs and boisterous music.

Gujili - குஜிலி - Meaning an attractive girl - derived from the Hindi word कुजली , meaning ticklish

Joot - ஜூட்- Meaning "escape" - derived from Hindi छूट which means " to leave".

Reactions to the Diesel price hike

Here could be a list of purely imaginary reactions from our Netas on the recent hike in prices of Diesel.

Digvijay Singh - Rahul Gandhi did not take this unpleasant decision. If you need to blame someone, then blame me.

Mamta Banerjee - No, we were not consulted on this anti-farmer hike. The decision has been taken by Maoist supporters.

Karunanidhi - This is a conspiracy of "Ammaiyar" ( Jaya), and is anti-Tamil. We completely oppose this, but will not leave the government under any circumstances.

CPI(M) - we will take to the streets to pressurize the government to roll this back, but we will not topple the government under any circumstances that could pave the way for "communal forces".

Sushilkumar Shinde ( or any other incumbent Home minister) : This is a conspiracy to de-stabilize the country, from across the border.

Nitish Kumar: We strongly oppose this, but want only a "secular" leader from the BJP to become the next PM.

Mulayam Singh Yadav: We oppose this, but want all elephant statues ( including those in temples) to be brought down, along with Diesel prices.

Narendra Modi : We will make our own diesel, and take Gujarat down the path of prosperity. Come to Gujarat!

Arun Jaitley: We want the government to be accountable in the parliament - but we will not let the parliament function. 

Omar Abdullah : This hike will strongly destabilize Kashmir and make the terrorists' job redundant. We need to be more humane to them.

Jayalalitha: This is a conspiracy of Karunanidhi. His party is part of the government, and is actually promoting this, much to the detriment of Tamils.

Dr. Manmohan: ..........................................................................................................(yawn)

Matter and anti-matter in the Upanishads

I have been prompted to write on matter and anti-matter as it is enunciated in the Hindu sciptures. I am listing down some of the verses from the Upansidhas that I had read at different points of time.

According to Taitriya Upanishad,

"Tasmat va etasmat atmana akasas sambhutah" (Chap 2.1.1): "From this Universal Atman, space emanated"

Space is actually the negation of the infinity of Brahman. Infinity does not mean extension or dimension – but space is extension, dimension, distance. So, immediately a contradiction is introduced at the very beginning of the concept of creation. God is negated, as it were, for various reasons, the moment creation is conceived, one reason being that the creation appears as an external manifestation, whereas God – Brahman – is the Universal Existence.

In fact, interestingly, the word Brhaman (Brhama, crudely put, as in"the Creator") in Sanskrit is derived from the root Bhr..  which literally means "that which expands". The Thanajvur deity is called "Brughadeeswarar". Taken literally, it means "big temple" ( தஞ்சை பெரிய கோயில்). The deeper meaning of this is that the Lord is all pervasive, in the sense that He fills the ever expanding universe.

According to Bruhadaranyaka Upanishad,

"naiveha kiṁcanᾱgra ᾱsīt, mṛtyunaivedam ᾱvṛtam ᾱsīt, aśanᾱyayᾱ, aśanᾱyᾱ hi mṛtyuḥ; tan mano'kuruta ᾱtmanvī syᾱm iti. so'rcann acarat, tasyᾱrcata. ᾱpojᾱyanta, arcate vai me kam abhῡd iti; tad evᾱrkasya arkatvam; kaṁ ha vᾱ asmai bhavati, ya evam etad arkasya arkatvaṁ veda."

Originally, there was nothing. Death was enveloping everything. That is all the meaning, literally, of this sentence. In the beginning of things, what was there? Nothing was there. There was a devouring, all-consuming death principle, as it were; nothing else can we conceive.

In Prashna Upanshad, the very first question that Kabandhi asks is -  What is the root cause of this world? In fact, Kabandhi's question is literally "From where (which root) these people are born ?" For which, Sage Pippalada answers as if the question were asked about the root cause of the world. He says that Prajapati created a union of Prana and Rayi in order to create world and their intermixing or mating produced all the things in the world. Max Müller has apparently translated this union as Spirit and Matter. The spirit portion roughly equates to anti-matter.

A very interesting story in the  Chandogya Upanishad is reporduced below. It is a brief dialogue between the father (Udhalaka) and his son (Svetaketu).

One day, while discussing the meaning of Sat (the Being), Chit (the Consciousness) and Anand (the eternal Bliss), and the origin and evolution of the world (planet earth), Svetaketu asks his father, how could this ‘world’ with all its multitudinous variety of living and non-living forms be produced in this simple way?

Prompted by his son’s question, Udhalaka asked him –

“Fetch me a fruit, lying on the ground, of the Nyagrodha (peepal or pipal) tree”.

“Here is one, Sir”, said Svetaketu.

“Break it and let me know what you find therein, son”, said Udhalaka.

“I see some tiny seeds, Sir”, answered Svetaketu.

“Crush one of the seeds, son”, asked the father.

“Yes, Sir, I have done it so, Sir”, answered the son.

“What do you see therein, son?”, asked the father.

“Nothing, Sir”, said Svetaketu.

“Yet in that subtle substance that is hardly visible to the naked eye, exists the awesome potential that can produce this huge Nyagrodha tree with many large branches bearing leaves, flowers and fruits”, said the aged and experienced father. Do you wonder at it, son? Likewise, all that exists in this universe was potentially in the Sat, dear son, and thou art That. Believe it, said father. Further, he philosophized with a profound saying, “out of nothing, only nothing can come; non-being cannot produce being, much less could consciousness come out of nothing”. Believe me son that “the causeless beginning, as the sage says, was, in fact, the Sat or Being with consciousness”.

To cap this, Stephen Hawkins, in his book "The Origin of Everything" admits , and I quote.

“Science may solve the problem of how the universe was formed, it cannot, however, answer, why the universe bother to exist? May be only God can answer that”.

Mendeleev's Periodic Table Expanded

All about the path-breaking (completely imaginary) new wonder element that has created a flutter in scientific circles... read on...

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The buzz in the Nerdy circles is that Dmitri Mendeleev's Periodic Table is likely to be expanded, with the addition of a new element.

The element, soon to be added under Group 18 (noble gas), has been coded MS ( for want of consistency, the second letter, as per convention will be in small caps, going forward). It is now understood that scientists have been observing the behaviour of this rare element since the Financial crisis in India in 1991.

Key Characteristics of Ms:

First things first. Ms has been included under "Noble Gas" category. The reasons are manifold. Ms has been accorded "noble" ( read: clean) status by the media over the last 8 years. Also,  Ms has been closely linked with economists, and the incidental gaseous nature of it straightaway makes it's way to the Noble Gas group 18.

But what really seals it's place is the fact that like many of it's peers in the group it is an INERT GAS. It is amply clear now that Ms does not bond with any other element or compound, whatever the pressure or temperature may be. The equanimity of Ms has confounded the Scientific community, who now suspect that, in fact, there may be no internal bonds either. In other words, Ms redefines the word Inert.

Invention:

Ms was invented in 2004, by a Congress of scientists who specialize in dealing with inert elements. At that time, the congress was looking for a possible new element that can absorb any amount of pressure or heat without reacting physically or chemically ( or emotionally, for that matter). The congress of scientists wanted a new element which can be quickly branded into the Noble category, and can remain inert for a long time, and invented Ms in the process. Ms has truly vindicated their expectations by remaining inert for 8 long years thus far.

Properties:

1. Tasteless, odourless, colourless.
2. Is fully resistant to heat and pressure of any magnitude.
3. Highly protective of foreign elements.
4. Continues to be "noble" in spite of things all around it falling apart.
5. Zero emotional quotient

Other keys observations:

1. It realizes that high energy levels are not good, and therefore has successfully moved the economy back to "Hindu rate of growth", ie, from close to 9% growth to 5% in 3 years flat. This singular achievement of Ms has been lauded in a recent convention of the scientists in New Delhi to commemorate the completion of 8 years at the helm. It is now surmised that the scientists may be working overtime to reduce it further to zero percent over the remaining two years.
2. Ms never gets associated with any element, under any circumstance - even where it is desperately required to. After all, it wants to retain it's "noble" status forever.
3. Whenever there is an attack on the system ( nation), Ms gives the customary " we will not keep quiet" statement- and then goes back to it's noble status until the next unfortunate event.

Uses:

The uses of Ms has been established beyond doubt. There are unfounded rumours of moving Ms to a new system in Raisina Hill.

The public are encouraged to suggest new uses and applications of this wonder element, Ms.