Ration saga in Tamil Nadu

      Fair Price Shops aka Ration shops is the topic I have chosen and am going to walk you through the world of Ration shop operations in Tamil Nadu. Before that let us quickly go through the organization, its objectives, some statistics etc., Civil supplies and Consumer protection department has an Organizational structure headed by Minister of Food department followed by many hierarchies of subordinates. They have a system called as Public Distribution system (PDS) in Tamil Nadu to facilitate the operation part and policy comes from Food and consumer protection department of Tamil Nadu. PDS comprises of several stakeholders to carry out its day to day operations. Some of PDS objectives is to ensure affordable prices of essential commodities, ensure availability of essential commodities etc., PDS has been implemented in 38 districts, 310 taluks, 34773 fair price shops and there are 2+crore family cards, 6.7 crores + beneficiaries etc., I think coming up with statistics may be due to watching excessive Vijayakanth movies during my childhood. If you think Ration cards are those old card types with worn down looks then I am sorry you got it wrong. Now they call it as ‘Smart cards’ and they appear just like your credit card and very handy to keep it in your wallet. They have a workflow in place and when people show the card, system sends an OTP and once OTP is verified you get what you want and everything you got comes as a SMS to your mobile and gets updated in the system too. Pretty cool stuff since they even have an App to track everything. Overall, they both have a system and process in place to carry out the operations. So far so good …..


      Population of Tamil nadu is roughly seven crores so it is almost 100% true that 90-100% of the people get benefitted from Fair price shops since if you look at beneficiaries it is 6.7+ crores; Our people have a habit that even if they had Oothappam for breakfast they behave as if they had Cheese Ravioli. People often feel embarrassed and shy to go to Ration shops hence they either have their staff or maid go to their behalf. For this service people usually tip 20 INR since the person takes the effort to go, stand in the queue and carry the stuff and does all this by merely showing the smart card. Officer is not supposed to hand over stuff by merely seeing the card since the cardholder has to appear in person but there is a ‘Deal’ worked out between officer and our staff which makes things possible --------Point no.1; Now Ration officers are more than eligible to work as antagonist for Tamil Heroes since they always have Ponnanbalam sort of looks even for Purnam viswanathan sort of individuals visiting the shop. They have this bad policy of forcing people to buy something on top of the commodities they give. This could be Match box, Salt, Wheat flour etc., and this tactic is to make up for the free flow of revenue and staff usually gets stuff worth 20 or 30 every trip ------------------Point no.2; Human Psychology works in such a way that when we get some stuff for a good deal we don’t tend to check it thoroughly and that is what happens since we don’t weigh whether we got 1kg of sugar or 750 grams (no prize for guessing what happened to the missing 250 grams of sugar) ------------------Point no.3; Now that we got the monthly stuff from fair price shops people are happy but not every time we get good stuff from these shops since sometimes we tend to get average stuff too and on those occasions we pass the stuff to needy or to the person who helped us. This could have been a deliberate attempt by the person himself since they know by bringing in inferior stuff from the shop they may sense there is a good chance that stuff would be directed to them eventually --------------Point no.4; Now if you sum up all points it outweighs the advantages you inherit by going to the Ration shops3.


    Hence, I decided to take the plunge myself and realized 2 to 3pm is a time where Sun shows no mercy and it is considered to be Non peak time. But seldom did I realize if God gave me brains it is the same God that must have given Brains to my friends too ..One fine afternoon when I went I spotted one of my friend and both of us had Bhagyaraj sort of smiles ..Thanks to Corona ..due to Mask we were wearing we couldn’t see each other smiles evidently …I just want you to watch the following scene in Mouvna Raagam before I can express what each of us thought


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_FKNjX0lZxg


(Listen from 15:50 onwards ….)


Imagine myself as Revathi and my friend as Mohan ….Now mind voice starts ….


Myself: Aaha ipo naan enna panradhu

Naan inga vanthutaenu yaar kitayum sollada please

Sollamatenu sathiyama sollu naan indha jenmathuku un friend a vae irupaen …



My friend: Neeyum sollamaetunu sathiyama sollu naanum indha jenmathuku un friend a vae irupaen3


Myself: Evlo periya Industrialist a irunthutu nee inga varuvanu naan nenachu kuda paakala


My friend: Nee US return irundum nee Fair rice shops ku varuvanu naan nenachu kuda paakala


Mind voice ends ….



   Now that I have walked through the Ration scenario I want to highlight something too. As you can see the Trust factor in the case of the staff for a mere 100-200 rupees transaction; Imagine businesses worth lakhs and crores on what is happening on day to day operations; Proprietors try to be on top of things until they are 60 or to put it in better words until their Health cooperates. But once their health deteriorates with kids settled either abroad or in IT industry the staff has the final say in the Business. Worst part is owners are aware of everything that is going on but with no major financial commitments and not much help from the next generation they are forced to run the business at the cost of staff’s misbehavior. If the staff is young, has good hold of Business operations then with the help of bank and his in laws funding he starts something on his own thereby bringing the downfall of the company he worked. Bitter truth is some of the Businesses which were having glorious run in 80’s and 90’s are not able to stand up to the current Business culture prevailing in the state. Though GST and Corona are having major impact on the Business I believe these are seasonal and can be ironed out but the black sheep in the form of disloyal staff is a major problem every Business has to handle.

Arulmigu Thayumana Swamy Temple

    Being my 100^th blog I wanted the topic related to Religious aspects and hence chose to write one on Sri Thayumanavar Swamy temple, Trichy. World is going through lot of turmoil – Corona has been devastating so far, Locust attacks on agricultural land, Floyd’s death in USA, Pregnant elephant death in Kerala, Cyclone in west Bengal etc., There could be ‘n’ number of discussions going around for the root cause of these events but the underlying truth is Humans have become more and more greedy. I got one forward recently saying what did Athi varadhar do for Corona, I think the message was not right. Whole world is blaming China for the sort of devastating effects Corona has created across the globe but my point is there is something beyond to that fact and Mother nature is punishing Human beings in a very hard way. Humans want to destroy flora and Fauna and wanted to enjoy nature as much as possible but the point is Nature belongs to all of us and all of us have to coexist in this world.


    Since I cannot voice for whole of India let me brief about Corona situation in Tamil nadu – Tamil nadu has been doing some very good testing, recovery rate is decent and fatality rate is low. But media highlights only the growing number of cases but concern is in the last few days lockdown measures have been relaxed and people started to move around freely. Though there are lots of room for improvement on Testing and treating patients I would like to appreciate the government for the work they have done so far. I cannot imagine the situation in Tamil nadu in case if Corona would have taken over the state since we lack in Infrastructure, Healthcare system is poor, Health and hygiene is treated no big deal etc., On top of Indian drugs and Immunity factor there is a big advantage Tamil Nadu holds – it is Punniya Boomi for many different reasons. Look at how many glorious temples state possess, number of Yaga salai, Kumbaabhishekams, Abhishekam, Alangaram, Chariot festivals, Paal kudam, Kavadi, Padha yatra, Thiruvizha, Sami purapaadu, Homams, Kootu prarthanais, Archanais, Poojas etc., that is happening across the state. State roughly has around 16000 villages and Temple activities is part and parcel of our living. Though I have no clue what is in store in the coming months with Corona, I am positive that divine intervention will happen and not just save Tamil Nadu or India but whole world to come out of this crisis. Only way world can be a better place to live is to show love, empathy towards fellow human beings and towards Flora and Fauna. One such tool to do so is turning into Religious activities – if you host a party there is a good chance some people may envy your growth but when you host a Bhajan/Pooja there is positive vibration and almost leaves no room for negative thoughts amongst the public.


  There are so many beautiful temples in Trichy and one such temple is Sri Thayumanavar temple. I would like to go over the sthala varalaru about this temple. Rockfort is not just Trichy’s identity but also pride of the city. Lord Manicka Vinayagar graces from the foot hill temple and Uchi Pillayar at top of the temple. Arulmigu Thayumanavar temple is situated on the Rock fort enroute to the Uchi Pillayar temple on the hill top (roughly climbing around 200 steps from foot hill of the Malaikottai). At set timings we can see Othuvar group come and sing before the lord and trust me just to listen to those tamil verses is a fantastic experience. Now let me go over the story about this temple. According to the legend there was a woman who was living on other side of the Cauvery river who is a pious devotee of Lord shiva of this temple. She is a regular visitor of the temple and that continued even during her pregnancy. One day after her darshan she found the river was flooded and she cannot pass through the river. As she waited for river’s flow to subside, she developed severe labor pain. Since she was in Labor people around her stopped her trying to cross the river. But the woman was desperate to go back home since she felt her mother would be the ideal person to help her out during labor. Lord Shiva came to her, disguised as her mother, and helped her deliver the baby safely and then disappeared. Later when her actual mother came asking for her, woman realized it was lord shiva who came to her rescue in disguise. As Lord Shiva himself served her devotee as a mother here the main deity is called ‘Thayumanavar’ (God who is also the Mother). This incident is celebrated as a special event called “Chettipenn Maruthuvam” on the fifth day of the Chithirai festival. Name of the Ambal is ‘Mattuvarkuzhali’.


   Those who had lost their Mothers pray here for his grace hoping that he would guide them throughout their life. Pregnant woman and their husband pray to lord Thayumanavar for a safe delivery of the child. Delivery is blissful experience but what goes into the making is something Lord must bless the whole process. Practice that is followed is after successful delivery of the baby, people offer Plantains to the God. One can see people carrying ‘Vazhaithaar’ all the way upto the temple and after offering to Thayumanavar people distribute it among other devotees in the temple and take some back home.



Visit below URL for the slogam that has to be recited for safe delivery:

http://singaporechettinadrecipes.blogspot.com/2016/10/slokam-for-normal-delivery-for-pregnant.html



    Now coming to my role in this Venduthal. Many of you may want to do thanksgiving but for some reason you may not be able to do so for various practical reasons. Ideal thing would be for you to come in person and offer thanksgiving but in the event you are not able to do so I can offer you help in doing this thanksgiving task. Apart from the fact that I wanted to help people there is also another reason and that is I intend to visit this temple more and that is not happening now and your request may be a commitment for me. So there could be your wife, daughter, sister, In laws, Friend, Neighbor or anyone for that matter and you can offer your prayers for a safe delivery of the child. Once baby has been delivered successfully if you would like me to offer thanksgiving on your behalf reach out to me personally (sundarbuddy@gmail.com; PH: Seven-five-four-zero zero Five nine zero nine four). Since this is for religious matters you can pay me once I am done with Thanksgiving task. Roughly we are talking about 600 – 800 INR (300 to 500 for Vazhaithaar based on its size, 50-100 for the guy carrying it to top of the temple, believe 50 Rs ticket to temple for the service, 5 Rs archanai ticket, other misc minor expense etc.,) I can send my NEFT information and you can deposit electronically once I am done with the offering. Also when you message me I will get the archanai details.

 

   For people who want to come to this beautiful temple here are some tips. N.S.B road in Trichy is equivalent to Renganathar street in Chennai so be mindful of the traffic. You need to park your car at Singarathope and then walk down to the temple else ask your driver to drop you at the temple and then park the car. Manicka Vinayagar is at the foot hills and you have have a quick darshan. Before that you may need to order Vazhaithaar at the bottom and pay the guy the money for the vazhaithaar and to lift it to the temple. Kindly get his phone number since he may wait for more folks to join since he can lift everything at one go. You may also want to buy ticket for the service as well as archanai ticket. Also note temple close bit early in the night around 8 pm so kindly check the timings before your trip. Once you reach the temple priest will do the Archanai, offering to lord with curtains closed and then give back the vazhaithaar to you. You need to bring knife, some newspapers and tissue with you to distribute the bananas. In matter of few minutes you might have distributed all the bananas and then you can take some with you. You can also plan to go top of the temple and visit Uchi Pillayar.


யான் பெற்ற இன்பம் பெறுக இவ்வையகம்