Growing Trend of Family Feuds !!

 Some time back I was watching Sai pallavi's interview in Youtube and she mentioned pretty much all the heavy dance movement songs she was choreographed she had periods including 'Rowdy baby'; I was stunned seeing her attitude and her guts to speak out the truth in public forum that too with an interviewer of opposite gender. I have penned some bold topics like 'Caste', 'Big fat Indian weddings' which brought me lots of accolades and today I am going to pen an important topic which is very much relevant in today's world. Family feuds are becoming more frequent these days just like your morning filter coffee. When I used to be in US I used to wonder why people fight? 99.99% the reason for fight is money and many think money come and go but relationships aren't hence we should not fight. Now that I have completed five full years of coming to India I think I pretty much nailed it why there are family feuds everywhere. I am going to list them and explain in detail. 

[1] Cash Transactions: If you think demonetization had made India into digital economy then come and have a cup of Soup. Cash dealings are always unofficial and though Government comes up with lot of rules and regulations people always find a way to find a loophole. Cash transactions becomes unaccounted and you cannot find a trace of it after few years. Real estate and Jewellery shops accept cash and people often use cash for these two things. If market value of a land is 2 crores whereas guideline value is 80 lakhs then the balance amount of 1.2 crores is settled in Cash. Now you might wonder what does cash transactions do with family feuds ? It does and it does big time. Assume there are two brothers where one live in US and one live in India then when both the brothers settle wealth do you think cash transactions will come into surface ? If at a year 2005 jewellery is bought through cash and at year 2010 land is purchased through cash will these two transactions come into the settlement table 10 or 15 years down the lane? If things are done in a fair manner then it should come but cash transactions will have zero trace hence these two transactions are discarded. This becomes advantage for the brother in India and the tendency in India is always "People in US are money machines" hence they may not be very particular on accumulating on all the wealth in India since the kids are all well settled in US. I am personally seeing many parents willingly asking one of the kids to settle in USA since they are aware of the problems that will arise if all kids settle in India. This is very pathetic and explicitly shows the parent is not being fair. Once again cash transactions are the root cause of many problems that arise in families. 

[2] Zero Transparency: I would say heated debate is better than silence; People keep all the information within themselves when it comes to inheritance of family wealth. Nothing is disclosed and people always find ways to execute things quietly. I am not saying one has to announce these things in a mike but healthy discussions has to happen when we talk about some sensitive topics. Parents tend to be partial with one of the kids and they deliberately don't reveal out anything. The more secretive they are the more curiosity it creates for the other kid. 

[3] Gender Disparity: Assume a glass of water and pot of water; One gender is given glass of water periodically whenever they are thirsty thereby quenching the thirst and the other gender is made to wait ..wait ..wait .....and then one final day given a big pot of water for the whole world to see how big the pot is. It is true pot of water is big but if you compare the glass of water at regular intervals to the pot given at the end then the little glasses of water will easily be to the size of a small pond. I leave it to the reader to decide which gender am I talking about for the glass of water and big pot. This point is again one of the main reasons for family feuds happening now. 

[4] Take NRIs for granted: I feel so sorry for the NRI community .....just because NRIs pose pictures in cruise ships, lavish birthday parties, luxury cars doesn't mean life is full of roses for them. Going through immigration, missing family reunions and the worst is rushing down to India after hearing the sudden news or in some cases missing important funerals are all tough nut to digest which NRI community has to go through in their lives. Looking into the lifestyle of NRI community I have many so many people in India comment following things 

 "They will not come down to India anymore ...they have plenty of wealth in USA"

"Both husband and wife work and wealth in India is peanuts to them". 

As Ex-NRI, I will voice out and explain the ground reality. I think its time for NRIs to voice out and start to understand more on India matters; If you think talking about these may raise eyebrows and create friction in the house then I am afraid when you want to raise your concern there will be no one to listen to your concerns. Always remember healthy argument is better than silence. Taking NRIs granted is also one of the reasons for family feuds since some people have started voicing their concerns. The big batch went abroad around 1995-2000 and those people are nearing 60 hence this is coming up in the last few years so going forward we will see more of these issues as number of people who went abroad post 2000 was on the rise. 

So I have explained all possible reasons for family feuds. One thing is for sure ..there is something called 'Karma' and those who act unfair by amassing wealth of others will pay the price and sometimes Karma is so very powerful that it will leave you and start to bug your next generation. 

Iraivanin Padaipu

I think nine out of ten believe that there is super natural power on top of us who orchestrate our script in the form of our lives. But God's creation is so very wonderful that humans seldom realize. I plan to go over some practical day to day examples of how God has given a space for each Individual to shine in her/his life. 

Degree from high profile university and a street vendor: Let us assume guy named XYZ is born in an affluent family and gets to study from a reputed business school. He studies pretty good and get placed in a MNC company as a starting package of 12 lakhs/annum; Now take another example of ABC son of a cobbler who is not privileged enough of going to school since his parents cannot afford to pay for his education. He rather sells samosa/vada is a busy bazaar street; So here we are with two examples from two different backgrounds. Now read further ...Guy XYZ makes 1 lakh/month and his take home is roughly 80000; There is lot of expectation from society/community on his next steps so sometimes he had to take decisions due to peer pressure. He has to work long hours, travel often, have plenty of outside food due to his work culture. Now coming to ABC he starts his day around 2 pm where he does preparation for all the stuff he will be selling in the evening. He starts selling from 5pm and because he is in such a busy spot he is able to sell 500 each of samosas, vadas, bajjis and pani puris. He prices each of them at 7/piece and that is 2000*7=14000; Raw material, labor and other overhead expenses will be 50% so that is roughly 7000 profit per day and assuming he works 25 days in a week that is approximately 1,75,000 and even if you consider dull days, police bribe, other unexpected expenses for 75,000 it is still 100000 rupees. I may sound little exaggerating but trust me this is happening. All I wanted to say is XYZ and ABC pretty much earn the same amount of money though the society look both of them in a different way. Rich is blessed to be born in an affluent family but is it mistake of poor to be born in an economically back family ? If there is a will there is a way and God though made XYZ born in an affluent family still makes him work for it and made him cynosure of all eyes whereas ABC has no expectation from society but has to sweat and work hard to earn money. The point I am trying to make is not to say street vendor is better than job from MNC company but want to emphasize on how God has made a level playing field for everyone to prosper.

Vitamin and Iron Supplement: Vitamin and Iron deficiency is becoming very common these days and pharma companies are coming with a seperate sub division called Nutraceuticals where they focus on supplement drugs. Doctors have started to prescribe these drugs where some are available over the counter and some are allowed to be purchased only with valid prescription. People have started to buy supplements as they don't want to take chances but these drugs are expensive. Some can afford to buy whereas many cannot. Once again god's creation is beautiful - rather than having Vitamin C supplement tablets if you consume Guava it can make up for it. In fact one Guava contains twice the amount of recommended Vitamin C intake per day. By the way myself and my two boys are big time consumers of the fruit and our love towards the fruit can easily surpass Surya's love towards Jo. Iron deficiency is becoming very common these days and supplement tablets are available in plenty of brands but easy solution is moringa leaves. If you buy moringa leaves for 20 rupees that is good enough for family of four but unfortunately in this zomata era no one has the patience to pluck leaves of moringa. 

Iraivanin padaipu is amazing - He made earning very difficult and spending very easy, if its other way round things will be chaotic. He makes you inherits wealth at the same time also inherit punyams/paavams from ancestors, God make elders like kids in their older age to help remind the kids this is coming soon for them too. There is always checks and balance and his creation is designed in such a way that he wants people to be humble and grounded all the time. 

Next Blog: Growing trend of Family Feuds 

Ponniyin Selvan

 I was super excited to watch this movie during opening weekend but couldn't get tickets on the desired theatre I wanted to watch hence waited for some time. Though was just a call away from getting tickets I don't want to obligate my friends every single time when a new big movie releases. Then once I was able to get tickets I couldn't get tickets on the type of seats I wanted to watch - balcony, center row seating and it was like as soon as seats show up in internet someone booked the entire row. I still had to wait and finally second weekend booked tickets but then my nose was like Ponni nadhi and even cetrizine couldn't rescue me hence had to skip watching the movie. Finally third weekend booked my tickets and finally watched the movie. If I cannot have patience to wait for 14 days I can imagine amount of patience or should say perseverance for Mani Ratnam to wait for 40 long years to make his dream come true on his dream project. I deliberately did not attempt reading the novel nor listening to audiobooks because I want to go with clean slate and not influence my background on the story have a saying in my liking towards the movie. 

I plan to do a complete post mortem of the movie going over the movie in detail. First let me go over a short narrative.

Farmer and Neem tree as a narrative: Once upon a time a farmer called Govindasamy lived in a small village and cultivated crops on his native land. He gets up early in the morning and starts watering his crops followed by applying natural fertilizers. Then he ploughs the land using a tractor and then his loving wife helps him in cutting the weeds and pests control. His children at times comes and plays in the farm and family is contented with the way they lead life. Family always rests under the neem tree and either having food or taking a nap always happen under the neem tree. 

Now if you read a narrative you imagine characters and incidents on your mind and depending on the author on how he establishes the characters it gets into a new world of imagination for every reader. Novels are like slow poison and it takes ample time to establish each character and once author hooks you onto the characters then story revolves around the characters. Ponniyin selvan is five volumes book spanning close to 2000 pages. Story has been widely read by public and it has reached people across all walks of life. Now imagine taking the same narrative through mainframe cinema 

Farmer and Neem tree as mainframe cinema: Beautiful sunrise happen and farmer with folded hands hum a song and enter into the field. Rain comes and he is overjoyed and thanks nature for all its help and then one fine day while applying natural fertilizers realizes his crops have been affected by pests. Not knowing what to do asks help from his wife who agrees to mortgage her jewels in order to save crops from further damage. Family always eat, sleep and play under neem tree and one fine day snake bites farmer's son and farmer is put into lot of pressure both on professional and personal front. How farmer recovers from this situation forms rest of the story. 

As you can see in mainframe cinema you have the ability to tweak things as per your wish but it is important to retain true essence of the story. So biggest challenge for Mani Ratnam must have been on how to adapt a novel into mainframe cinema retaining the true essence of the story as well as adding fictional elements and dramatical moments to cater to normal audience. For example climax fight would have been very average if the fight took place in land but drama was added by having rain, thunderstorms to make it bit cinematic. Devarattam must have been a dance form in the past era but that has to be communicated to modern day audience through a song choreographed. 

Ponniyin selvan story is 70 years old and stalwarts like MGR, Sivaji, Kamal, Rajini attempted but couldn't make it. There were multiple challenges like huge budget requirements, big star cast and making of two parts. Mani Ratnam said in one of the interviews that this was his dream project and he has to wait as many as forty years for making his dream come true. Remember Mani Ratnam is a heart patient and people tend to take things easy once heart diseases scare you. Corona was a major roadblock hampering the shooting schedule. People working with PPE kits and N95 masks just shows the passion they have towards art. During 2020, vaccines were not readily available for citizens and to shoot during this period considering how Corona shook the entire world shows the character and commitment people had towards this project. Multi star cast in Tamil Cinema is like serving sambar vada in muniyandi vilas ...simply not possible 

In Trichy there is a sentiment - anything with the name Kaveri will be a sensational hit, be it school, college, hospital, supermarket everything is doing extremely well. Ponniyin selvan is doing tremendous box office collections and making small kids and all the way upto elders at home to visit nearest theatre. Photography and art direction were simply outstanding, and this should be one of AR Rahman's best work. At times I felt music was bit contemporary but then music when faceoff between Trisha and Aishwarya happens was too good. Beauty with brains holds good for both Trisha and Aishwarya as they both got meaty roles. Dialogues were good and rather than taking us to ancient language the one used in the movie helped people to understand. I heard it took one year to come up with the screenplay of the movie and great job by the dialogue writers. I was happy VFX works were limited since story is not a fictional one. 

I have never seen Mani Ratnam market his movie this much as he has always maintained low profile towards movie's promotion. But this movie marketing done through cast of the movie were bit overwhelming but it paid rich dividends. Good movies has to be appreciated and hats off to Mani Ratnam for a wonderful movie. I knew before its release that it will be compared to Bahubali ..this is sick attitude from audience, Bahubali is more of fictional story and had many larger than life scenes but PS is based on a true story with some fiction around it. One need not degrade one film in order to appreciate other instead both movies are good in their own way. Bahubali has to be given credits because it let directors know that even with period film one can make commercial blockbusters.  PS has given new lease of life to Tamil industry and soon we may see many novels coming as mainframe cinema and one who adapts it well will be successful. So finally writers will get due respect augurs well for writing community and will not be surprised if novels like Partiban kanavu, Sivagamiyin sabatham turn into movies pretty soon. 

Next blog: Iraivanin Padaipu 

Pilferage

 'Small waters make mighty oceans' is a very famous proverb and am going to illustrate how 'Pilferage' is carried out in today's world in various Businesses. I have picked handful of Business typically my community chooses and highlight the challenges faced in today's world. My community is a very conservative one and are good traders but off late since second generation is not coming into the family run Business it is all advantage for other groups and especially for the employees in the respective firms. I truly believe challenges are more of internal in nature (mainly due to employees) and not because of Modi ji, GST or economic climate. Our community chooses Businesses very wisely and below list are five common fields we are currently associated with: 

Example 1 - Medical wholesale Business: Medical field is one of the fantastic field to be associated with and Corona has just explicitly highlighted the same to the whole world. Whether you are into Medical practice, own a wholesale/retail, run a hospital/pharmacy, own a Lab (scanning services) or into Surgical trading or run a C&F everyone in the supply chain is a beneficiary of the prevailing life style and food habits of fellow citizens. Since we are into medical wholesale business below are some of the ways pilferage happens:

(a) If a Customer is known for his poor finances then best thing to do is to stop business with him. But people voluntarily places orders to this customer. Let us assume this bad customer has this habit of paying back only after 90 days (90 days credit is slowly becoming common) then our staff hands over the money only after 120 days. So thirty days staff uses money for his own personal expenses and returns 30 days late ...Imagine number of customers our staff deals ?? 

(b) If company requests stockists to provide offer then we are obliged to do; Imagine company XYZ asks us to provide '10+2' offer for a new product launched meaning for every 10 numbers we sell then we are requested to provide 2 numbers free of cost; Our staff uses this formula and rather than providing two strips free of cost to customer they sell two strips to the shops they know and collect cash. Many retail pharmacies will know the formula but some shops due to poor manpower they don't know current offers, and these are the shops people take advantage. 

Example 2 - Paper Industry: Just like how medicines get consumed paper is one commodity which we keep using every single day. Paper manufacturers are facing slew of challenges like raw materials shortage, costly coal and Russia-Ukraine standoff. Wastepaper is one of the raw materials for paper mills and since wastepaper is of much demand staffs inside the mill trade wastepaper with other mills in order to fetch money. Also, rough formula is one ton of coal is required to produce one ton of paper. Since coal is most sought after for electricity needs, coal is again being traded to thermal plants for higher costs by the very own employees. 

Example 3 - Transport Business: Just like how medicine and paper are consumer products transport is one industry which public uses every day since common public with 8000 rupees salary package cannot own a Bike/car especially with the sort of petrol price in the market. Private Bus owners give incentive to bus operators based on the 'collection' and this is primarily done to increase footage on a particular route. So rather than carrying 55 guests if bus carries 70 passengers, then bus operator gets incentive for the extra 15 passengers, so he is encouraged to accommodate more and more people (now you know why private buses are crowded). Now let us assume one passenger regularly takes one route daily and becomes close buddy of the bus operator then bus operator rather than giving ticket to him gets cash. Ticket price may be 20 rupees but passenger offers 10 rupees and both bus operator as well as passengers gets mutually benefitted through this deal at the cost of the owner who looks into the bigger picture of 'collection' in a day and not collection for a single trip. 

Example 4 - Estate Business: Estates and nagarathars go a long way since cultivation of crops and being in harmony with nature always suits well with my community. With 100 or 200 acres in their kitty it is not an easy job to be on top of things. Most of the people appoint managers and handle the overall operations of the business but may not be hands on with day to day operations. 'Yield' is a very important term in Estate business and in order to fetch weight tamarind seeds are added as part of coffee seeds and papaya seeds are added as part of black pepper. If you are handling 100 tons of merchandise how in the world will you find out these ? These are planned at the field level and either adulteration is done at the estate or during transportation. But end of the day in the name of food adulteration people make money and its a network of people who gets associated. 

These are just some of the examples of how pilferage happens in some common businesses. Older generation since they have gone past years of hard work they overlook these just to keep them going. With proper technology in place and suitable business process at every step and more importantly second generation getting into the groove can only curb these and put an end to the pilferage activities carried out by the own staff. 

Next Blog: Ponniyin Selvan

NAP

 Not everyone is blessed to fall asleep as soon as they lie down in the bed ....Sleep is a blessing and those who don't get to sleep peacefully at night know the pain of what it takes to do your daily chores. The fact is pharma companies are selling sleeping tablets more and more and am afraid sleeping tablets are becoming as common as Iyengar bakery puffs. So why is sleep becoming a problem ? Answer is 'Stress' ..Stress is playing a predominant role these days in everyone's life ...I can bring some examples why people are stressed so much these days :

1) Co-sister's blouse is more grand than mine and tailor messed up mine hence stress level shoots up 

2) Branch of our mango tree full of mangoes falls into our neighbor's whereas neighbor's thengai mattai keeps falling in our house hence stress level shoots up 

3) Scoring less marks on midterm tests shoots up stress levels for parents

4) When you have rasam rice in plantain leaf and realize rasam runs in all four directions, you shout at the person for pouring more rasam 

These are some of the basic silly reasons why people get stressed out which in turn disturbs your sleeping pattern. 

Recently I plotted an analysis where I figured out those who take a nap in the afternoon are much more productive at their work than people who don't take a nap. In IT world you don't get the luxury to take a nap in the afternoon but for people who run their own business they have the option to take a nap and extend their office hours in the evening. Taking a nap in the afternoon gives you that extra strength for your mind which in turn results in a productive evening. I believe in Japan young children are allowed to take a nap in order to increase attention spans. Because one is deprived of sleep it takes extra time for brain to translate visual input into conscious thought. It is even said with good nap it removes toxic waste from brain. There is a theory that napping improves creativity as right side of the brain remain active during napping and is associated with creativity. 

Staff at NASA, Google and Samsung have one thing in common that of taking a quick nap during your work hours; I have been to Google office in California and amazed to see the specially designed sleep pods called 'Metronaps' where you get into the machine and outside world is shut by a large visor playing soothing music before it gently wakes up its occupant by switching on light patterns. 

One of the biggest factors people are afraid of taking a nap is that they are afraid they will put on weight by doing so. People spell out fancy terms like 'Carbs', 'Calories', 'Diet' but they seldom realize how do temple priest live with Pongal, sambar rice, lemon rice, tamarind rice but still maintain their fitness. How many priest had heart problems ? They are constantly on the move running in and around the temple and many tend to take a nap in the afternoon. Many senior doctors in India take a good nap in the afternoon for a productive evening session; 

So what are you waiting for ? Go take a 30 minutes Nap every afternoon !! 

Next Blog: Pilferage 

My adventure

 As far as my memory goes, I have never been part of any adventurous stuff except the fact that I have been to some thrilling rides in theme parks. I have never been part of serious trekking, scuba diving or sky diving. Only thing I can remember being adventurous to some extent is while being part of some white water rafting and ice skating. December 31,2021 had different plans for me and by far this was the most adventurous ride I have experienced and going to share what happened that evening. 

There is this train called 'Lokmanya express' which stops at Thiruchirapalli junction and goes to Kanchipuram directly so my Mother in law had this train reservation on a Friday evening. Train leaves trichy 6 pm + so we left home around 5.30; It was cloudy and was thinking whether kids should come but since it didn't rain all four of us decided to go to the train station. We went all the way to the platform for the train to arrive and my son was like "Appa enaku ucha varudhu" ..I took him all the way to the main entrance and realized landscape of Trichy junction is very badly planned. So we are standing at the platform for the train to arrive and train arrived few minutes late. All four of us went inside the train and as soon as we spotted the seat we were searching for plug point to charge her phone. Suddenly we realized train started to move ..man I came running to the door and train already picked up speed. If it was just me I could have jumped but since I had kids with me I was wary of the consequences. I just had to be wise and realized train may stop at Sri rangam; and could always take a taxi and come back to junction. I was shocked to know this is an express train and does not have frequent stops. Not even lalgudi or Perambalur and next stop is all the way to Vridachalam. I have no clue where Vridachalam is and how far it is from Trichy. I realized Vridachalam is 120 kilometres away from Trichy and easily couple of hours away. 

Inside the train ...

So we four of us were stuck inside the train without knowing what to do ...TTR came to me and I pleaded to him that he has to take our case as emergency and drop us at some station. I said I was ready to pay fine as much as 5000 and expressed my willingness to pull the emergency chain ...He pleaded or I should say begged asking me not to do so as that will put both himself and me under police case. It will also make his job into trouble as there are legal ramifications for allowing passenger to pull the chain. He sat next to me and made me understand "Emergency" is defined when person is suffering from chest pain, stroke etc., and me stranded with kids will not fall under emergency and this is example of carelessness. Well I think he has a point but somehow I was not convinced. Blame game started between me and my wife and we both realized we need to get back home safely.

7.55 pm Vridachalam Junction ...

Here comes Vridachalam junction and we got down from the train and went into reservation counter to see whether there are trains going back to Trichy ....December 2021 was the timeframe third wave was picking up and IRCTC closed unreservation tickets as they don't want people to be crowded in one compartment. I was looking for plain seating, 3AC, 2AC or even Tatkal bookings and nothing was available as it was new year's eve and all the train where booked pretty much in full. So train option was ruled out. 

8.15 pm 

Next option was to take a taxi ..I was trying to approach taxi drivers and each of them were like Telugu cinema villains getting down from Tata sumo not having time to shave for the last six months. One gentleman advised me to go to Vridachalam bus stand which is few kilometres away and can get reputed taxi from there. So we got onto to Auto and went to Vridachalam Bus stand. 

8.30 pm 

I was trying to look out for taxis like Ola or Uber by that way I can keep accountable of the whole trip. Since it was new year's eve we don't want to get into some unknown taxis which is unreputed because there is a good chance drivers could have been drunk. There was one medical shop next to bus stand whom we supply medicines but the staff was like the person whom Kajol gets to meet before marriage in Minsara kanavu ...for anything and everything "owner a kekanum" ....time was running and we are getting into the night ...With Train, taxi ruled out only option was to take a Bus. I spotted a Trichy Bus and when I was trying to catch I realized my fitness is at a very bad shape. Finally I got hold of a bus and reserved seats through the popular method of placing a cloth in the seat and in this instance my hand ker chief. My wife and kids got into the bus and all three of them went to sleep as soon as the bus started. With so many windows and natural air flowing in it was a new experience for my boys to rejoice the bus travel. Half way through the journey my MIL landed in Kanchipuram when we were returning to Trichy. Around 11.35 pm we got down at Chatram Bus stand and got hold of an Auto and came home around 11.55 pm to light the lamp in time and offer prayers just before the year turned to 2022. 

Last six hours of 2021 was definitely adventurous and it was an experience. In life some things are planned but many things are destined to happen and this one incident makes me nervous these days to get inside a train in order to send off people. 

Next Blog: Nap

Vanjaram Fish - Shocking Truths !!

  Food adulteration is an old topic but when you get to see it through your own eyes then you are in for a shock. Sunday afternoon is not complete without a Non vegetarian dish in India and when lockdown was imposed on Sundays in India you should see the crowd in front of poultry and fish markets on Saturdays for you to believe whether corona really existed. Often our class teachers used to comment "Why do this class behave like a Fish market?" Fish market is a happening place and I love shopping in these markets because I missed this for over a decade. I usually visit Puthur Fish maket in Trichy and since the place is about to be renovated, I switched to Woraiyur market. My first choice would always be Vanjaram and there is big, medium and small categories; You have to go pretty early like 5.30 am to get Big Vanjarams as the restaurant business and Catering chefs come early and pick all the big ones. I usually go in at 7 to 8 am and I get to see only medium and small ones. Vanjarams are fleshy and ideal for both frying and Fish Kolambu and the best part is it has got little thorns. Suddenly one fine day I see the newspaper with an article that in Woraiyur Fish market, FSSAI authorities has seized 650 kgs of fish since fish was laced with Formalin. 

  Everything is sensitized in India for unknown reasons so I did my exploration to know what the inside story of this episode is. First and foremost, Vanjaram belong to "Sea food" meaning it can be found only in oceans. So, for places like Trichy, Madurai, Tanjore, Coimbatore and basically Noncoastal areas it has to be transported to local markets. Assume fish is caught on Wednesday in places like Rameswaram or Kadalore and it is consolidated on wednesday and by Thursday it leaves the source. On Friday it reaches destination to the big wholesale merchants who control the local market. Bidding happens on Friday and local retailers buy from wholesale merchants based on their level of Business. On Saturday and Sunday local merchants have all the fish they need. Now if you note the fish that was caught on Wednesday is what you buy on Sunday. Tamil Nadu is hot at least eight out of twelve months and for the fish not to decay for four days there is whole lot of things that happen. Western countries are able to retain the shelf life through Cold storage and other latest technology available at their disposal but over here 'Cost' plays the role in how food storage is handled. 'Ice', 'Ammonia' and 'Formalin' are three methods adopted by merchants to retain shelf life of the fish. When I say 'Ice', merchants usually have a thermocol box and have loads of ice on all sides of the fish to make sure fish does not get spoilt. But do you think mineral water was used to make Ice? Ice is usually bought from ice factories and on many occasions ice is prepared from unhygienic condition. Other method merchants deploy is ammonia is mixed with water and the water is freezed  to preserve the fish which is again dangerous. 

  Now coming to 'Formalin' - it is a cancer inducing chemical used illegally to preserve fish. Formalin may be injected deep into the fish so unless you cut deep into the flesh you will not know the smell of the chemical. In many cases on Government hospitals Formalin is used to preserve human bodies in mortuaries. Regular intake of formalin even in small proportions just increases the chances of Cancer. There are plenty of articles in the internet which helps us to detect presence of Formalin in the fish but I don't want to do fire fighting with the merchants rather I want to go back and choose wisely on what fish to buy. It has been almost a year now and I stopped buying Vanjarams (though I consume in events and Restaurants since it is beyond my control). I am buying local varieties now and these are caught locally and sold the same day. Blood splashes when they cut it in front of my eyes. On the down side it takes ever to take away the thorns from the fish and if you have toddlers then you are running a bigger risk of burning your Sunday afternoon doing nothing but removing thorns. 

So it is simple, ask yourself "Is point of sale far away from place of catch"; If answer is Yes stop buying Vanjarams rather buy local available fish. In other words make a switch from the modern classic to local Dappan kuthu !! 

Next Blog: My Adventure

Religious beliefs & Marriage !!

 My blogs on religious topics have always been well received in the past and realized it has been some time now since I wrote one on religious topic. I am going to go over Marriage and religious beliefs in Hindu religion. Marriage is a very important step in one's life and there is a famous tamil proverb which describes marriage as "Aayiram kaalathu payir" meaning as we see yield of crops in a particular season, marriage is similar to a crop where it has to overcome all seasonal challenges and come out strong spanning generations and give us plenty of yield. My community is one of the most conservative community and it is absolutely painful to see marriage failures and parents bearing the stress in their old age. Just like Covid has introduced the term 'New normal', 'Divorce' has become a very common term people are coping with in modern world. There is always prescriptions to anything and everything and Hindu religion has given a way to lead life no matter what your life situation is. There are so many rituals and temples which helps bride/groom to enter wedlock upon worship in their respective shrine. I am going to list out the ones which are not that common (since people may already know the common ones). 

1)Nandhi Kalyanam: There is a saying "nandhi kalyanam mundhi kalyanam" meaning one who witness nandhi kalyanam will get married soon. 

When: Panguni month, Punar poosam nakshatra day 

Where: Vaidyanatha Swamy koil, Thirumazhapadi 

Belief: Marriage happens between Nandeeswarar and goddess Swayambikai and it starts in the evening and festivities go till late in the evening. If groom or bride witness this marriage it is said their marriage will happen soon. 

2)Thadikombu - Soundararaja Perumal temple

When: Five consecutive Thursdays 

Where: Soundararaja perumal temple, Thadikombu

Belief: Performing poojas to the deities Rathi and manmadhan on five consecutive thursdays will help unmarried people enter wedlock sooner. 

How exactly it works ? Men need to pray and put garland for Rathi and women need to pray and put garland for manmadhan. This has to be followed for five Thursdays. Once you get married you have to come as a couple to offer thanksgiving. If you call priest he will explain you very clearly on the options you have. For some practically coming five Thursdays may not be possible and priest is the best person to advice you on the options. My intention is just to let you know that there is one such belief exists and worked wonders for many. 

3) Thiruvidanthai Nithya Kalyana Perumal temple:

Where: Chennai East Coast road, 24 kms from Chennai

Belief: Those who are yet to enter wedlock will soon get married

How exactly it works? Unmarried Boy/girl has to take a holy dip in the kalyana theertham, take cocunuts, fruits, beetel leaves and garland and offer prayers to lakshmi varahar by doing archanai. Priest will give one garland which you have to wear around your neck and basically do nine rounds around temple premises. Once you get married come as a couple and bring the garland and do an archanai and offer prayers for varahar. Before the garland get dry there is a belief one will enter wedlock. Once again call temple priest for up to date details. 

4) Thirupainjeeli Shivan temple

Where: Close to Manachanallur in Trichy 

How exactly it works? Doing archanai for both lord Gneelivaneswarar and goddess (Note: there are two goddess shrines in the temple) and offering prayers will help groom/bride to enter into wedlock sooner. 

5) Vedhapuriswarar temple, Thiruvayaru 

Where: Near Thiruvaiyaru

How exactly it works? This sthalam is one of the dosha nivarthi sthalam for marriage; People who need to enter wedlock can come and offer their prayers by singing devaram songs. Once they get married they can come as a couple and offer their thanksgiving. Saint Sampanthar mentions lord's mercy on all those aspiring for most auspicious wedding 

Literal meaning of the lines are "The whole hearted wishes of boys and girls are most auspiciously fulfilled. 

I just want to reiterate the fact that some of the things I mentioned above can be outdated so please kindly contact priest of the respective temples and get to know the complete details and see whether it aligns with your schedule. My intention is to just highlight the temples which helps people on marriage aspects. 

Rain as a Character - Mani Ratnam style !!

 Bharathi raja starts the film with two hands folded saying "En Eniya Tamil Makkalae"; Balachander gives his directorial touch by witty one liners; Bhalu mahendra movies move at lethargic pace with natural photography and my all time favorite director Mani Ratnam uses both 'Rain' and 'Train' quite a bit in his movies and would say he has gone to an extent where rain has played a character role adding more substance to the emotional quotient of the scene. 

Rain as introductory song for actress: I can't help but bringing Mouvna Raagam again to the equation where Revathi as Divya played her role to perfection. When the whole house is waiting for her arrival from college she goes with her friends dancing in the rain thereby showcasing her attitude. But Director has already given a prelude of Divya's tom boyish character by splashing tub of water to interrupt her brother and sis-in-law's stolen moment of intimacy. If you look into couple of lines in the song "Oho Megam Vandhadho" those describe Divya's take on arranged marriage 

"Naan pennanadhu kalyanam thedava  

Oh kannaalan vandhu poomaalai podavaa

Yaen ammaadiyo pen paarkum naadagam

Yaar vandhaalumenna

Thirumbaadhu nyabagam

Poovilangu thevaiyillaiyae"

She questions on arranged marriage and says why all this drahma ? She doesn't want to be handcuffed even if that is made of flowers ? Interesting thing during the song is at one point few men circle the girls and leave and director indirectly says that she is ready to take on boys .....Whole song was more beautiful because of Rain ....If you take rain out of this song then this would have been one of the many songs and wouldn't have made any impression. 

One other song 'Barso re' from Guru where Aishwarya Rai is introduced to audience through the song and once again rain was used in the background and it revealed the innocent childish nature of the actress dancing carefree in the rain. 

Thalapathy and Rain 

Rajini's intro happens in heavy rain and there is a big fight sequence where he takes goons; Rajini's first confrontation scene with Mamooty happens in rain and Mani Ratnam proved he can use Rain for conflict and fury. Mani Ratnam has taught us one thing - shooting in switzerland alone does not bring the beauty in the frame rather to shoot magical scenes you should know your frames well and should use it well to narrate your story. 

Alaipayuthey and Rain 

This movie has a special place for many especially if you happen to be in college during its release ....Mani Ratnam used Rain as a character to interact with its protagonists ...Evano Oruvan song is a classic song set in a dull tone starting with dark clouds, thunder storms, wind and then suddenly outpouring rain happens thereby indicating tension brewing up between shakthi and Karthik like the dark rain clouds and finally outpouring rain signifies couple want to love each other as intense as the rain. 

Arvind Swamy proposes to Manisha Koirala in Bombay and we see rain in the background; SRK's opening scenes with Manisha at Railway station where he says 'Duniya ki sabse chhoti prem kahani' where once again there was heavy downpour elevating the mood of the narration; In Kannathil Muthamittal cinematographer has used lighting to good effect when the marration shows family life and contrastingly uses rain, heavy clouds in latter part of the movie when the country is attacked by political chaos; Velu nayakkar dances in rain on colorful Holi to show that he is fond of his neighborhood in Nayakkan; Vikram proposes to Aishwarya rai in Raavanan and once again rain in the background. 

In a world where people use Rain merely to bring out the glamour quotient of heroines to cater front benchers here is India's top notch director who uses rain as a medium to narrate his storytelling in a poetic way. 

Who is a visionary ?

  After a brief hiatus I am back to Blogging which I just love doing. I have prepared a big list of topics which I want to pen my thoughts and topic for this blog is Visionary. Change is inevitable and things keep changing over the period. One who adapts change and works to his advantage clearly holds the upper edge from the person who see change as bad omen. If you are running a Business right from competition, laws and regulations, policy changes, Government tax structure etc., everything play a role in how successful you are. I am going to list few examples which were truly revolutionary and only from visionary people we get to see ground breaking ideas coming to life. 

Example 1 - Idhayam Gingelly Oil: People talk about "Cold pressed oil", "Branding" and all the BUZZ words used in Business language but here is an Entrepreneur from Virudhunagar one of the remote places in Tamil Nadu who established a world known brand in Consumer goods. Idhayam Gingelly oil is much more than a brand and it occupies integral part of one's kitchen especially amongst Tamil population across the world. Whether USA or New Zealand, Idhayam oil has cemented its place in FMCG market. Not to forget V.R Muthu is the second generation in the family and the brand was already founded by Mr.Rajendran. If we are talking about scalability and zest to grow then we have to invest in technology and appropriate process and that is what V.R Muthu did by automating the manufacturing and packaging process which led to phenomenal domestic and international sales. Idhayam oil exports close to 50 countries and has got 90% of share in seasame oil business and 70% market share in groundnut oil business. Also I cannot forget the Ad where Jothika bathes Idly with oil and that was when she was at her peak form and it had lot of reach amongst the public. Idhayam brand was the one which introduced concept of 'Oil pulling' (concept of swishing oil in your mouth for few minutes which helps to eradicate bacteria on top of moisturizing gums and increase saliva production) to nook and norner of Tamil Nadu or I should say created awareness about the concept. This translated to huge sales for Idhayam brand on top of becoming a household brand. 

Example 2 - Privatization of Television Channels through SUN TV: Maran is a powerful name in Tamil Nadu as Mr.Murasoli Maran is considered to be the Brain of DMK party; Serving M.P for more than three decades Maran senior was instrumental in negotiating Trade deals for India in Global forums and made significant policy changes to drive India's export potential. Now if you take rags to riches stories it would be very inspirational but if you take individuals who represent second generation coming from affluent families everyone would curiously watch what they are upto; Kalanidhi Maran son of Maran senior is a media baron and founder of SUN group. He owns television channels, radio stations, newspapers, weeklies, DTH services, cricket team and a movie production house. April 14, 1992 was a D day in Tamil Nadu's television chapter as it opened doors for private sector. Sun network was the first to procure license for satellite broadcasting and they had to start it as three hours program. Many make fun of mega serials in SUN TV but the hard reality is there is viewership for emotional quotient in TN (In this era movies like Kadaikutty singam and Namma veetu pillai were huge box office hits primarily because women loved the emotional quotient). Also in mid 90's anywhere you go in TN around 9.30 pm you would see people seeing 'Chithi' serial ....Raadhika and Maran on many occasions had to lock horns on political upfront but Maran junior has never mixed professional life hinder his personal life and has always supported Radaan media on her serials and she has provided very good serials for SUN TV. Also Maran junior had the vision of diversifying his portfolio by not restricting him in Televisions alone; If you look at movies produced or distributed by Maran junior he cleverly chooses low budget, medium budget and then a high budget movie. Maran's formula is like you invest X amount for movies like Kanchana 3 and take 3X benefit whereas in movies like Annathae he invests X amount and just takes 1.5X; End of the day his ROI on movies like Kanchana 3 and Namma veetu pillai is much more than movies like Beast or Annathae but movies like Beast and Annathae is more of Brand building. One other character I love about Maran sir is he maintains such low profile, in a world where people boast on getting more views in their respective Youtube channels here is a man who has revolutionized the whole TV industry but still avoids shutterbugs. 

Example 3 - Latest Kamal's flick VIKRAM: Kamal's latest flick Vikram is one cracker of a movie though there is excessive and unrealistic action sequences. I would say director Lokesh Kanagaraj is a great visionary for excellent execution on quite a lot of factors. First Kamal is having a release after 4 years and he is considered to be one of the senior actors in the country but the very decision to show him with such miniscule screen space in the first half would be baffling. But this is where Lokesh won lot of brownie points as he established the story and the characters quite nicely until interval thus giving massive scope for Kamal to start his fireworks in second half. If the writing is not strong whole thing would have fallen flat. Secondly we don't get to see quite a lot of multi starrers because one actor dominates other which discourages actors to act in a multi starrer movie. But here we have Fahad, VJS and Kamal who have got meaty roles and it justifies their presence in the story telling. Once again had the writing been one sided we would have seen one characterization being stronger than others which would have ultimately lead to less curiosity and overall would have dampen the mood of the audience and made them feel its a 180 minutes movie. Last but not the least I don't think any director in the recent past has connected the dots more convincingly than Lokesh on Kaithi 2, Vikram 2 and connection with 1986 Vikram movie. 

Example 4 - iD Idly batter: At IBCN event in 2019, I happen to listen to PC Mustafa owner of iD Fresh foods and was blown away by his approach towards running Business. One of the audience asked is Idly batter a viable business in the future with so many brands coming up and with so many food choices people have in today's world. Mustafa quickly explained some numbers which was so convincing for the audience to realize Idly batter is here to stay. Forget about his hardships and the challenges he had to face to climb up the ladder but just imagine his vision to sell idly batter and then grow a business to clock nearly 300 crores in turnover - absolutely amazing; I have seen people when they pick menu items in Pot luck they tend to skip taking Vada because making vada can be challenging. You take Aavin milk cover and then have the vada batter and then have a hole in the centre and then gently slide it in the cooking pan; It may sound lot easier but reality is different; iD fresh foods invented "Squeeze and fry vada batter" where all you need to do is squeeze the batter and then vada's shape is automatically created and more importantly shape of all vadas are equal. Housewives just love this especially girls who have just entered their wedlock. Mustafa eliminated shape of the vada can no longer be a reason to get into an argument for a Daughter in law and Mother in law. 

Just wanted to list these examples so I see these people like V.R Muthu, Kalanidhi Maran, Lokesh Kanagaraj and Mustafa to be visionaries in their respective industries. 

Next topic: Rain 

Perspective

 Perspective is a very interesting subject and the topic embodies phycological behavior of a particular individual.  What is right for ABC may be wrong for XYZ; It has been more than a decade but I still remember this joke way back in 2008-09 period ..I was working at Home depot HQ in Atlanta and since TCS had its huge presence there I had to work with quite a lot of TCS folks both from north and south of India. One guy called Nikhil Trivedi a hard core Gujarati always praises his state and was very proud of his state achievements and he said Gujarat is a state where at 12 or 1 am a girl can walk safely on streets. He had great admiration of his home state and always had good things to say ....I took the same wordings and shared with another guy called Tushar Vyas that of a girl walking safely at midnight in Gujarat ..He asked me "Hey Sundar ...what is the need of a girl walking at 12 or 1 am on the streets" ..I laughed out loud ..two people two different perspective ....Let me get into some practical incidents ..

Bursting Crackers:

Let us assume you have bought 10000 wala cracker and very excited to burst them during Diwali; You are pumped up and on Diwali day you rollout out the 10000 wala in the street with so much pride as if you have been selected for admission at prestigious Standford University; Now you light up the long agarpathi and approach near the cracker and light up the cracker .....once you realize fire has caught the cracker you run like PT Usha to a safe spot just to witness the sight of the cracker you burnt .....Imagine a young guy who is economically backward and cannot afford to buy any sort of cracker ...He may witness sight of the cracker bursting with all the joy and excitement too ...Now what makes you more happier ? You bursting the cracker or letting another kid enjoy the sight through you ??

Ringtone :

After a movie release some BGMs become massive hit ...for instance after watching Maanadu I updated my ringtone to SJ Suryah's intro BGM in my phone ...The reason was I liked the bgm so much hence wanted to keep that as my ringtone so that I will get to listen often. This is ideally anyone would do but there is another section of people who will just do the opposite .....In case they like something like a song or BGM they will just listen and not keep that as BGM because they are afraid they will get boredom if they get used to it often ...Once again two people and two different perspective .....

Abhishekham Sponsorship:

It is your birthday or wedding anniversary and you have decided to sponsor for an abhishekham for your ishta devadha at your local temple ...Based on the size of the deity abhishekham sponsorship may differ from temple to temple and on an average it costs anywhere around 1000 to 3000 rupees ....Since you are the sponsors priest make you and your family sit right in front so that you can catch glimpse of the entire abhishekham. Now imagine there are so many people who watch the abhishekham since they happen to be at the temple at the same time. Few people who couldn't afford to sponsor treat this as a blessing to watch the abhishekham ....Now you can either watch for a while and leave room for others or pretty much occupy the spot throughout the process. It is your own wish ....Almighty knows you very well and your intentions .....By leaving room for other he may be even more pleased to see your magnanimity ....But two people and two different perspective .....

Perspective is a fascinating subject ...nothing is right ..nothing is wrong ..it just depends on how you see things .....On a lighter note when you think of "Perspective" think about "Parotta" .....State of Kerala has banned Maida (main ingredient of Parotta) whereas if any such thing happens in Tamil Nadu whole state (including me) will go for protests on road as Parotta and chicken/mutton gravy is considered heaven on earth combination. 

Next Blog: Who is a Visionary ?