Geographical Indication (GI) Tag !!

    Authenticity is something all of us look forward in whatever we buy. Biggest gift for one’s work happens when they are given the due recognition. I would like to go over the “Geographical Indications” topic in this blog. Basically products which carry GI tag are nothing but products originating in a region or a locality in that territory where its quality, reputation or characteristic is essentially attributable to its geographic origin. This is a great initiative from Government of India in partnering with WTO and other affiliated organizations. With the recognition it gives huge boost to Exports of these products, promotes Tourism, protects goods from fake competition, livelihood of people involved improves due to recognition from World market.


I wanted to share couple of my experiences in recent past where couple of terms – “Chettinad” and “Montessori” were overused and in fact misused in Tamil Nadu.


Misuse of the term Chettinad:  I love trying different restaurants and one such category is ‘Mess food’ since I enjoy the taste. This was a newly opened mess in Trichy and went for Dinner and ordered Ceylon parotta and Fish chettinadu kulambu. In few minutes I got both the items and was shocked to see the Fish kulambu. Basically fish pieces were deep fried like Chicken-65 and then dipped into curry which was creamy and rich in taste and had heavy dose of ginger,garlic,onions and Tomatoes. In short words it was more suited for Rohit Sharma and Harbhajan singh and not for Ravichandran Ashwin. I asked the server to look into my face and see that my face has Chettinad written all over it in Times new roman font size 72; I had no problems if the dish was mentioned as North Indian curry since taste was good but using the term ‘Chettinad’ whose characteristics are primarily being extra spicy laced with roasted spices was completely missing. Every damn restaurant, mess, hotel use this term but unfortunately do not adhere to the cooking methods adopted in Chettinad.


Overuse of the term ‘Montessori’:  Hunting for schools is not a joke in India since this is one area where competition is much more fierce than Thalapathy and Thala fans.  When hunting for schools for Skandan I visited one such school which was taken over by some big weights in the city. My goal was to focus on curriculum and not on the infrastructure and I asked a simple question “Does the school adopt Montessori education for kindergarten” and the mam goes on explaining they have fully air conditioned classrooms, swimming pool construction to begin, artificial grass lawn, huge playground, blah blah …..appreciating her response I once again asked the same question for which she said she has to have a kindergarten teacher come and answer the question. Teacher came and said they are awaiting paperwork and should most probably get the approval soon to adopt Montessori education and I was shocked not looking at the school but the parents who have signed up like crazy for admitting their kid into their school. Once again the term ‘Montessori’ lost its credibility since every damn school either use ‘Montessori’ or ‘International’ as the tagline.


   Therefore I feel there must be a system where we need to safeguard our strength (produce, skillset) by stamping our authority in World Market. Examples of some of the GI tags that has been given to Tamilnadu are Salem fabric, Madurai Sungudi, Coimbatore wet grinder, Kancheepuram Silk, Tanjore paintings, Madurai Malli, Tanjore veena, Erode Manjal, Chettinad kottan, Dindigul locks, Swamimalai Bronze icons, Arani Silk, Kovai Kora cotton saree, Tanjore Doll, Srivilliputtur Palkova, Pazhani Panchamirtham, Kandangi saree, Kovilpatty kadalaimittai etc., Now let us go through couple of these in detail.


[1] Srivilliputtur Palkova: So what makes this dish special which is made by simmering milk?  Basically it is the Milk that makes the difference since Milk has more fat content and rich in nutrients; They also use tamarind wood and traditional clay made stoves for the fire to fuel the making process. Looks like they on every pan only 3 kgs of palkova is made since making more than that will spoil the traditional taste.


[2] Dindigul Locks: These locks are known for their superior quality and durability. Once again raw material is iron and that is available in abundance for the growth of the industry. These locks are made up of iron and brass and are completely handmade; The way these locks are designed will surprise many with different lever pattern and the city manufactures quite a number of models based on the needs of the public. One such variety is ‘Partner locks’ where in a Business if there are two partners and if they want the lock to be opened then both the keys has to be simultaneously used; Other variety is ‘Grand master’ locks which is used in family business where head of the family holds the master key and sons have the subordinate keys and if Father locks then all the keys son hold becomes dummy like a heroine in Kollywood masala movies. Since they are handmade the locks lasts many years unlike machine made locks and these locks cannot be duplicated since they are handmade.


  So I welcome the GI tag concept and happy for all the workers in those respective regions, money can fetch the requirements but beyond that if a weaver in Kanchipuram, painter in Tanjore, cook in Kovilpatty realizes that their products made out of them has got International attention and recognition then that is much bigger gift than Money which is a mere legal paper.

Dada ..Thala ..Cho

    If all of us look into our lives there would be few people who may influence us. The type of environment we live from childhood, our teachers, friends, neighbors, social circle, Colleagues etc., all of us play a role in building our personality that we finally end up being. Sometimes it happens without our consciousness too. This is on top of the genes we inherit from our parents, grand parents and great grand parents etc., If a person comes from a Doctor background where his/her parents, grandparents all are into Medicine profession but this person wants to switch gears and want to get into Lawyer profession then that decision wouldn’t have happened in one day as it is just a culmination of various incidents, people around him that have made up his mind to take up a profession completely new to his family.


   Now when it comes to nature of people in terms of their general behavior, the way they talk, react/respond to opinions I would like to classify people into three categories


[1] Diplomatic studs: Around 60% of the people belong to this category; This is a safe bet as they can be in good books with everyone. They will never reveal the true story and will just politely be in acceptance with everything. When two people of opposite sides reach out to this category they may please each side saying they are correct and other side is wrong.


[2] Cousins of Kamal haasan: This category of people are like rather than saying ‘1+1=2’ they may sound ‘1+1=only even prime number’; It is difficult to follow their speech since we may need to hire CISCO engineer to decode their speech. They make things complicated not just for them but even for people who are listening and around 20% of the people may belong to this category.


[3] Speak your heart out: Around 20% belong to this category and this category does not care about anything since they just speak out in a frank and honest manner. But the key thing is one should not sound so just for the sake of it since credibility of the person is based on how truthful he is. People can easily make out whether the person is being truthful or drawing some attraction through negative publicity.


Now that I have gone through the different types of people I want to go over three people who does have a influence in my life and these people are from three different paths – Sports, Cinema and Politics. Actually there is one more person but he deserves one full blog which I will come up later. Consciously or unconsciously I like Sourav Ganguly, Thala Ajiith and Cho very much and I think one common thing between all three of them is ‘Being Truthful’.


Sourav Ganguly: I love Sachin, Kohli but when it comes to favorites then it must be Ganguly on top of Dhoni. There is no doubt that he was one of the best captains India has ever produced, on top of talent and guts the thing that I personally admired was his Truthfulness. He is one person who would not mince words. It was Ganguly who broke regional bias of bringing players mainly from Mumbai to Indian Cricket team since he brought players like Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Pathan, Kaif, Dhoni from Tier 2 cities. Sourav brought credibility back to Indian Cricket since Indian cricket was going through a low phase with all the match fixing scandals. Ganguly was also one captain who would not allow players to be picked and dropped at whim and fancy and to do this one has to have a strong conviction and belief on your players. It all boils down to being truthful in what you do since it is not easy to get on top of Indian selectors with the amount of politics that goes inside.  


Thala Ajith: Let me accept the fact that I may not be fan of his movies but just adore the man himself as a person. He has given more flops than hit films. Once again, I am not going to talk about talent since that is not that draws people like me towards him. He is one person who has such huge “Loyal” fans – he does not appear in Award shows, no mega Audio release for his movies, does not give T.V interviews, avoids filmy functions, no media bytes, no press release,  etc., but you say the word ‘Thala’ in any function and just listen to the uproar from his Fans. I think he is just being straightforward – perfect taxpayer, dissolved fan clubs, actor to fight against politic pressure, does charity but never advertises, so on and so forth. If a person does not want to be in limelight but still when his fans celebrate him like the way they are then it must be his Truthful nature of practice before you preach. It is more than just a coincidence that fans who like Ajith may also like Ganguly and vice versa.


Cho Ramaswamy: I just love him so much especially his satirical talk, his self destructive way of talk especially his bald head, his intellectual take on current political scenario, his predictions etc., This man had an uncanny habit of bringing the house down through his humorous talks. Every time Thuglak anniversary function was held in Chennai it would go sold out. Thuglak magazine is one of the most reputed magazine amongst the reading community and the magazine does not fall prey to kollywood commercials. No wonder Cho appointed Gurumurthy as his successor; If you have seen the movie Guru then do you remember the daredevil journalist played by Madhavan which is none other than Gurumurthy himself. Cho left movies long time, he was not into active politics but still he drew attention of all big weights in Indian Political circle only because of his political acumen and Truthful analysis of political developments across the state and country. It is to be noted Ajith and Cho had a good bonding.


Now let us do a simple exercise, which category do you belong to and who are some of the people that you believe may have influenced you?

Indian Maids - All India Radio (A.I.R)

  In these Challenging times all of us need to be optimistic and that is the only way to keep us going amidst all the problems we face. I wanted to write a blog on Corona but then somehow felt tired and exhausted hearing the word umpteen number of times. I wanted to come up with a blog on Indian maids – their role in an Indian household and their role as a “Broadcaster”. We should acknowledge the fact that ‘Gossip’ is part and parcel of Indian culture and it just exists in our system. Not just the person who is speaking gossip even the one who is listening is responsible to penetrate the gossips reach more and more people. I had to cautiously add some fictional aspects but the core of the blog is taken from real life incidents.


 Now let me go over some background about these maids – they run a typical 1980 story such as Drunkard and irresponsible hubby, two kids to take care, not in good terms with Mother in law and whole lot of responsibility lying on the shoulders; They typically have to work in 4-5 houses and on an average earn anywhere between 2000 to 4000 per month by that way they end up earning 15000 on an average; The need for a maid is inevitable in a Indian household for three reasons – Dirt, Heat and number of meals in a calendar day; Even a CID officer may not be able to identify how dirt accumulates inside the house and constant cleaning is a must. Tamilnadu is one place in Earth where Summer lasts for 9-10 months, as a couple we have cooked food for 30 in 5 hours but in India all I have made is just omelette as it gets exhausted standing inside a kitchen for some period of time. There is a thumb rule in India – Men should not do household chores and if they then boy’s mom face will be longer than great wall of china. This makes the equation tougher for housewives and all they can do is take care of cooking and outsource the rest to maids.I think with these three reasons put together it is a mandate that one employs maid for Household chores like sweeping, mopping, cleaning vessels and washing clothes.


Just imagine following five households and assume all houses are geographically closer

Home 1: Husband, wife, 2 kids and In laws

Home 2: Husband, wife and 2 kids

Home 3: New married Husband and wife

Home 4: Husband, wife, one kid

Home 5: Elderly Husband and wife with kids settled abroad

Makeup and Ladies: The Lady in Home 2 has a habit of spending quite a lot of time on makeups – just to name a few like applying Milk clothing , green gram powder, multani mitti, coconut milk combined with honey in face, ….But the lady always sounds modest and humble saying everything is natural and she doesn’t believe in make ups. She doesn’t realize she has A.I.R (All India radio) in the form of her maid who updates her day to day activity to females in Home 1 and 4 who all hang out together. This gives huge scope for female leads in 1 and 4 to make fun of 2.

Spending pattern:  Couple at Home 5 is very popular amongst social circle since they are members of some of the elite clubs in the city; Also since kids have settled abroad they have even more time to spend time on parties. People who are super rich always have a common characteristic like that of being miserly for petty things and elderly couple in this case is no exception. Maid has requested for Sabena dishwasher powder for over a week now and still her request is not fulfilled and this is good enough for maid to do her A.I.R service that of spreading gossips to Homes 1,2 and 4. She might say couple spend thousands of rupees in gifts, drinks but end up calculating for small things such as sabena dishwasher powder.

In laws Grinding: People boasts Daughter in law is like their own daughter but everytime I hear this someone say I just laugh inside. If daughter sleeps till 8 am then that is okay but if Daughter in law sleeps till 8 am then that is bad; Mother in laws have habit of grinding Maids to know details regarding their daughter in law and maids who are A.I.R does their job effortlessly just to be in good books and the same maids play a double game by reciprocating everything to daughter in law too thereby adding oil to the already burning Thiruvannamalai deepam

Men cooks: Some men portray themselves like Actor Raghuvaran by their manly features, there is CNN Inside story to that. These men are excellent chefs and they cook very well. This can be a well guarded secret to the whole world but the so called A.I.R in the form of Maid is good enough to spread the information much faster than travel of light. This gives so much fodder for the ever hungry females in neighborhood.

  As you can see from above examples that Maids play a role of news broadcasting much better than CNN/NDTV and they spread news much quicker than corona virus. People take legal actions against social media platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram, Zoom citing privacy concerns in their software but just hire an Indian maid and the word Privacy is up for a toss. Having a maid, driver etc., all add comforts but at the same time you can be assured privacy is compromised. But on a serious note these women possess enormous amount of will power and they are physically and mentally tough. Even the food that is offered to them they take it to their kids and they sail through all the challenges in upbringing their kids.

Proverbs ..Beliefs ..My Thoughts

   I would like to go over some of the super common Tamil proverbs which we use very often amongst the tamil fraternity. The reason I am bringing these proverbs is though we end up using these very often still we don’t know the correct meaning. In this world if eight out of ten say lies loudly and two out of ten say truth softly then world seem to believe the majority. Let me go over those four Tamil proverbs:

Proverb 1: சட்டியில் இருந்தால் தான் அகப்பையில் வரும்

Common belief: The vessel needs to contain something for the spoon to fetch it

Actual proverb: Shashti yil erunthal akapaiyil varum

Actual meaning: Observe fasting during shasthi period to conceive child

Proverb 2: நாயைக் கண்டால் கல்லைக் காணோம்; கல்லைக் கண்டால் நாயைக் காணோம்

Common belief: We use this proverb jovially whenever we couldn’t find one of the parties in question

Actual meaning: In ancient times there are wonderful stone sculptures across different parts of Tamil nadu and if the sculptor has made a dog as one of the sculptures then it just looks too good for us to make out a dog since we see a stone and if we see the dog it is difficult to make out the stone.

Proverb 3: கழுதைக்கு தெரியுமா கற்பூர வாசனை ?

Common belief: Donkey cannot appreciate smell of camphor because it does not understand its goodness

Actual proverb: Kazhu Thaikka theriyumaam karpoora vaasanai

Actual meaning: Those days they used to make mats made up of Kazhu (a grass) that had smell of camphor. They used these mats for children since the smell kept off the ants and insects from children

 Proverb 4:  முருங்கையை நட்டவன் வெறுங்கையோடு போவான்!

Common belief: People get scared to keep muringai in their house hearing this proverb since they feel they may be empty handed if they plant this tree

Actual meaning: Muringai is a fantastic plant that provides so much nutrients to the body and if one has drumstick leaves regularly they can remain young and may not need stick in their old age. When they say empty handed this is what they intended to say

As you can see these are very common proverbs but we just have a different meaning to it. Now let me move onto couple of beliefs. 

Chithirai month: There is a proverb that says “சித்திரைக்கு அப்பன் தெருவில் நிற்பான்” which once again wrongly interpreted by people. I am not Saint to talk on beliefs as myself am a religious person and will not challenge old beliefs that showcases our tradition and culture. But something which is wrongly understood by people and even more wrongly spread by people is what makes me feel bad. We must spread positivity as much as we can and even if we cannot spread positivity we shouldn’t indulge in spreading negativity. Now coming to the belief of the proverb – if people conceive in Aadi then child is born in Chithirai and this is the reason spouses are separated in month of Aadi since they believe Chithirai is all time hot climate and in olden years with not much transportation facilities and no artificial ways to coolen yourself people tried not to give birth in Chithirai as it would be tough on them to manage the heat. Now in this 21st century transportation, medical facilities, A/C, Coolers all have made Chithirai no different than any other month. We live in a world where Milk man has car and maids carry smart phones. So interpretation according to the context is the key.

“Theetu”:  Actually I like the concept of “Theetu” – when child is born in one household then all the members in the household are asked not to visit public places like temples for 11 days or 16 days as they don’t want the members to catch hold of a disease and spread it to the newborn as the newborn is yet to gain resistance power. But in this generation newborn is born in US, grandparents in India, aunts/uncles in Europe, cousins meet in Whatsapp, emotions are transferred through facetime, so where is all this Joint family concept ? But still I may miss out on something which I would like to know myself …If you know more about ‘Theetu’ please ping me. Once again I am not here to challenge the belief system as each and every custom had a rationale behind it but my only question is some things may no longer hold true for current generation.

But there is one evergreen proverb in Tamil – “எல்லாம் நன்மைக்கே” ..Thank god this was found by people who did not patent the usage; If someone in today’s world would have found he would have asked subscription charges every time we use. There is no wrong interpretation for this one and this one is applicable to anybody and for everything. Truly immortal proverb ….

Success Matters !!

   Success is something everyone cherishes and the whole world celebrates. It has got a tendency to make people proud and happy once they succeed in their endeavors. Society celebrates successful people and celebration is directly proportional to the amount of success achieved by the respective person. Unfortunately people who have failed become unnoticed since they are lost amidst the celebration. World cares only for people who are successful except very few who still are compassionate towards fellow human beings. This topic is better explained through real world examples and some practical situations hence I have listed following six examples.


Example 1: Let us assume person ABC is an Entrepreneur who has multiple businesses and makes lot of money. Since he makes lots of money he also spends quite a bit on celebrations and makes quite a lot of donations for charity to get rid of his black money. Society celebrates person ABC and he is given red carpet wherever he goes. Let us assume person XYZ who makes decent amount of money and nothing compared to ABC. Since XYZ makes little he makes small donations for charity and seldom spends on other things. Now the world categorizes ‘XYZ’ as miserly person …Now should XYZ be upset ? Obviously not since self-satisfaction is much more important than what society says but practically the problem is  XYZ has to coexist in the same society ABC lives and hence success does matter to XYZ.


Example 2: Yuvan Shankar Raja who is a music director in Kollywood has given super duper albums in 2000’s and not just that he has been the Debut director’s Darling; Dheena directed by ARM has music by Yuvan, Thulluvadho ilamai, Kadhal kondaen went to public initially only through his music, Through Nanda we had Suriya establish himself as a performer and once again music by Yuvan, Ameer’s debut Mounam periyadhae had his music, Vishnuvardhan gave Arinthum Ariyamalum which had great music by Yuvan, Venkat Prabhu gave Chennai-28 which had great music by Yuvan and I can keep on going on how many films Yuvan’s music was the selling factor. A phase came where G.V Prakash, Santhosh Narayanan and Anirudh took away his place and he also had setbacks in his personal life like divorce and losing his mom. Now again he is back with a bang with a string of hits especially with Rowdy baby ….When I saw him in Herndon I felt happy for him since he was back doing movies. World does not care when setbacks happen ..but same world celebrates you when you succeed so basically success matters.


Example 3: Now let us assume between two individuals working in an IT company where one is very truthful, straightforward whereas other is dishonest. Whom do you think would be affected ? Obviously person who is truthful is often mislead and eventually laid off. Would the world care what went into the making ? The first thing they say is people should learn to adjust to situations to live in this world and once again proves the fact that once you are successful you have an upper hand.


Example 4: Now how about actors like Bharath, Prashanth ? Both had hits in their career but they could not sustain because they were not able to succeed consistently. If opportunity and good roles would have come their way they would have made it very BIG in kollywood as I like both the actors as they have given some nice movies in the past. When we think of Actor Rahman first thing that comes to our mind is he is relative of AR Rahman and once again our mind subconsciously associates with a successful person. In Pudhu Pudhu arthangal he was so natural and even in recent Dhruvangal Pathinaaru he was brilliant as an actor. Take Arun Vijay for example who was lying low in his career but his recent few films have been hits and once again proves success matters.


Example 5: Let us assume one is very talented and he/she wants to stand in an election of a Non profit organization since there are more than one people standing for the post. No matter how talented you are, you got to win to prove yourself before you can even start doing what you intended to do. Once again success matters.


 As you can see from my examples and practical real world situations Success does matter. People may feel inner harmony, self-satisfaction are more important which is all true but end of the day success plays a crucial role in one’s life and if you want to make your presence felt in the society you have to be successful. In recently movie Kaana there is a dialogue which summarizes my blog in one sentence “Indha Ulagam Jayirchiruvaenu sonna kaekaadhu, aana jeyichavan sonna kekum”

Kannaana Kanney

    Kannana Kanney is one song that can be called as ‘Chartbuster’. We see so many melody songs in a calendar year but this song was a monstrous hit amongst public which was unanimously liked by people from all walks of life. Be it a Cultural show, Music competition, College reunion, Temple festivals everywhere this song was played or sung by singers live in front of the public. There was a ‘Jeevan’ in the song and there were many factors why this song was a huge hit amongst public.


   Lyricist Thamarai: I am not sure how many female lyricist we have in the industry, big thanks to Gowtham Vasudev menon for extracting her potential in all his movies. Being a female she is able to express the emotions through wordings from a female point of view ….When she wrote “Anbae…iravai ketkalaam…Vidiyal thaandiyum…Iravae neelumaa” in Kaaka Kaaka it just expressed love from girl’s point of view with so much dignity. In ‘Oru maalai’ song from Gajini her simple lines “Thoongum Azhaginai Paarthu Rasithida..Iravellam Kanvizhiththu Kidapene...” expresses a man’s love in a poetical way. One other song from Kanda Naal mudhal called ‘Pani Thuli’ her lines “Aduthathu Aduthathu Epavunnu  Maamiyaru Kaekkum Munnae Ara Dozen Pethu Kodunga “ is a wonderful sarcastic take expressed in a musical way. There are so many songs where I like her lyrics a lot since I always believe she brings a different angle to the emotions portrayed in the song. In this song she has used poetry to express the bonding between a father and a child – “Alai kadalil naduve  Alainthidava thaniye Padaganave unaiye parthen kanne”, [in centre of a wavy ocean father feels he saw child as the boat to save him]“Puthai manalil veezhunthu  Puthainthadave irunthen Koorunagayai yerinthe  Meettaai ennai” [when about to be buried after falling on a quick stand a small smile from the child saved me]. So Thamarai is one of the main reason for the song to be such a sensation.


   Imman Composer: Music director Imman is doing a good job in Music industry, he not just delivers hit albums but also finds new talents and encouraging lot of youngsters. I think he is also very good at heart which is translating into success. I always believe some things can happen only through blessings – just imagine Actor Vadivelu who was not acting in films, not active in politics, not giving any interviews but still every single Tamizhan across the globe cannot pass a single day without his memes. How in the world “Pray for Nesamani” became viral and talk of the town when Actor Vadivelu was nowhere in the scene? Some things happen just like that …Music drector Imman focuses on melodies and if you see his films there would be more melody songs and he has given number of melodies in the recent past and his music complemented the beautiful lyrics Thamarai wrote for this song.


Sid Sriram: He can be termed as new kid in the block …infact new NRI kid in the block …There was his concert in Trichy which I couldn’t go and was taken by surprise seeing the reception he got from youth. Sometimes all we need to make things work is to inject some freshness into our efforts and I believe that is what Music director Imman has done – he has roped Sid Sriram and felt he would be perfect match for Ajith who is the one singing the song in the film. That conviction of choosing a singer envisioning something in your mind must be applauded. Now that song is a sensation everyone may feel Sid Sriram was ideal for the song but only Music director would sense something beforehand. Especially the piece when he sings “Aaraariraaroo  Raaroo raaroo aaraariraaroo” is too good and Sid play a big role for the song to be hit.


Other factors: I loved the way song was picturized – father allowing child to play in rain, father enjoying kid performing in school, father buying ice cream are all so naturally taken. Song was able to reach masses due to Thala factor, sentimental values in the movie, Box office success of the movie all played a minor role in how the song turned out to be. In many parties where old albums are reminisced they have this song in the background since the song just compliments so well and the song is a testimony for Human bonding towards one another.

Thinking out of the Box !!

All of us want to think out of the box but unfortunately only few succeed. It is natural phenomenon for people to think their actions are unique but hardly they realize they are influenced by society. By the way is it a must to think out of the box? Absolutely not unless you wanted to. Right from the dress we wear, movies we watch, food we cook if things are bit different then that attracts attention. In my language if I wanted to give an silly example, let’s assume we have made Veg Kurma and we find that it’s bit salty then regular person would pour water into it but one who thinks out of the box will add potato to it to absorb the excessive salt ..as simple as that. Let me take you through three classic examples where people thought out of the box and won many hearts

Cinema: I would call A.R Murugadoss as one who thinks out of the box for the movie ‘Ramana’ he made way back in 2002. Vijayakanth was known for action sequences, lengthy dialogues and family sentiments but director broke all of that and made Vijayakanth almost go ‘Mute’ in this movie. It is easily said than done but it needs conviction to make a movie like Ramana where you bring in a hero to do something others have not yet attempted and to bring a sad ending it needed guts. When Murugadoss penned script for the movie several names would have come to his mind but picking Vijayakanth was thinking out of the box.

Politics: People talk about Women empowerment everywhere but unfortunately it is seldom followed. Movies like Bigil talked about women empowerment but am afraid these movies will hardly have any impact on society since these are coming from larger than life heroes whose primary intent is Box office collections. But if you ask me I would say our PM Narendra Modi as one who thinks out of the box and who is really showing what women empowerment is to the whole nation. He gave Mrs.Nirmala Seetharaman three coveted posts – Commerce ministry, Defence and now Finance; She may be deserving candidate but to give such posts to the biggest democratic country in the world speaks volumes about our PM. Not just that he also gave Smiti Irani to contest in Amethi which is strictly considered Congress’s fort and to kick Rahul Gandhi out and win in Amethi speaks about her hard work and confidence PM had on her. Now Tamil Nadu’s BJP General Secretary is Mrs.Vanathi Srinivasan and I don’t have an iota of doubt that she is going to make it big in Politics. In a world where every household is seeing ego clashes between husband and wife here is a man who is thinking out of the box and empowering women along the way.

Food: How does having both Mutton and Brinjal at the same time sound ? You may think that is crazy but for the person who invented Dalcha (Saalna) he did not think the same way. For people who have done Bachelor’s in Biriyani eating they may be contented with Raita/Gravy but one who have done Master’s will definitely expect Dalcha along with Raita/Gravy; Mango which is added along with brinjal and Tamarind just elevates the biriyani taste altogether. So whoever invented Dalcha is someone who thought out of the box.

Seeing something that others have not yet thought and proceeding with full conviction is what makes few people special.

Q & A between a devotee and Mr.Wisdom !!

   Recently I happened to meet an elderly couple and the lady is a pious devotee of Lord Shiva. This person never misses to worship Pradosham no matter which part of the world she is. Seeing people like her and few others in my day to day life, reading Arthamulla Indumadam  I wanted to pen a blog on religious matters. I will present the blog in a Q&A manner and Mr.Wisdom is a fiction character I will have to respond to my questions. I will be asking questions from a common Devotee’s point of view.

Sundarbuddy: I have been worshiping pretty regularly and even observe viradham and involve myself in religious activities but unfortunately my requests are not answered by God ? Why ?

Mr.Wisdom: The same question is there amongst all young generation, people feel I have gone to padhayatra, I have observed viradham, I have offered pooja, I have taken Irumudi, I have taken Kavadi, Paal kudam etc., but nothing really works. The key is “Faith” ..no matter what you do but if you do not have full faith in god then that may not bring you desired results. Unfortunately today’s generation want everything fast right from food, dress etc., patience is something they have not experienced. Once you have faith and patience prayers are answered in fact answered in much better way.

Sundarbuddy: There is a construction going on in a Temple and really wish I can do for much for the temple but financial constraints are not allowing me to sponsor much. How am I to cope ?

Mr.Wisdom: I can understand your feeling, see not everyone can sponsor financially. If your intent is good you can try to do good in many ways. For example you can volunteer and sponsor time, refer friends and help temple for volunteering in different areas, you can bring guys on board who can cut down costs for the Temple by either selling their products or services; Bottom line there are many different ways you can help the temple. Almighty knows everything, many people in India are so very economically weak and lord blesses everyone and people can do to the best of their ability. If your financial status allows you to sponsor you should sponsor and consider yourself very blessed to do that.

Sundarbuddy: What is your take on VIP darshan?

Mr.Wisdom: Let us take Lord Athivaradar, he came and talk of the state was about him. Priest made money, temples made money, Kancheepuram businesses like hotels, lodges, restaurants, Transports all made money…but Lord Athivaradar came and went inside silently. Just to segregate crowds based on time availability for devotees there has to be mechanisms and one such thing is VIP darshan ….if Superstar comes in normal queue then how to control crowd ? I am not defending VIP dharshan ….if something disturbs you coming in VIP darshan then go in normal queue.

Sundarbuddy: Why do we have many temples nowadays?

Mr.Wisdom: In 1990’s Tambaram used to be Chennai outskirts but now it looks like it is in middle of the city. Such is the state of expansion and it is practically impossible for people to commute long distances to visit temples on weekdays; Hence we are seeing more new temples in every locality.

Sundarbuddy: I feel visiting Pazhani on Thaipusam day, Sabarimala on Mandalam day but scared about the crowd too …what am I to do?

Mr.Wisdom: There is no right or wrong thing ….You can choose to go whenever your personal space allows. God expects true bhakthi and he will always bless you whatever day you go; That being said if your schedule allows you to go on those particular days then you can very well go and you may just have to be prepared with huge crowd.

Sundarbuddy: Your take on Pariharam?

Mr.Wisdom: You take a course and then you score poor marks, your next step will be how to improve my scores. Pariharam is one such thing to improve things in life and unfortunately it is commercialized and some people start losing hope on it.

Sundarbuddy: Your take on Astrology and 7.5 years sani?

Mr.Wisdom: Astrology is a beautiful subject and it is like an ocean. Problem is middleman in the name of astrologers know 50% of the subject and try to teach us where we get only 30-40%; Overall we don’t get to understand things fully. 7.5 years Sani is law of nature, one must undergo that phase no matter who you are. It will teach you what life is all about and once you come over you will be a much matured human being.

Sundarbuddy: Some temples hold lots of significance but personally not able to go, what am I to do?

Mr.Wisdom: No matter which temple you go but always pray with Faith. Let me take Thirukadaiyur for example, this is one temple which is busy all 365 days in a year; It holds lots of significance and once you try to understand its significance you will start to appreciate more. Once again if your personal space allows to visit certain temples on the days you want consider yourself very blessed else pick any temple of your choice and pray with full faith.

Sundarbuddy: I see temples are too crowded and once people occupy spots they don’t move. What am I to do?

Mr.Wisdom: Yes ..this happens, people should be considerate and allow everyone to worship. Next time you face this situation try to worship and leave room for the next person and am sure you will have more sense of satisfaction.

Sundarbuddy: Your take on natural calamity and environmental damages?

Mr.Wisdom: This is purely due to greedy nature of human beings. If animals have FB account they would pose a selfie with a post saying people are occupying our land since now we see other way around. It is high time young generation take measures to improve mother nature since their future generation needs a good environment to live.

Sundarbuddy: People settle abroad due to several factors but some still care about where they were brought up and try to donate in every possible way; I see some completely neglecting their home country and it is very disappointing to see these folks? Your take

Mr.Wisdom: Desa bhakthi and Theiva Bhakthi are two things and it is like asking physics question in a biology question paper. So sorry this question is out of syallabus

Sundarbuddy: These days we see too much of competition even for religious organizations and we see so many people contesting elections, your thoughts?

Mr.Wisdom: This is very interesting trend that is happening …In a way it is good since people are signing up to volunteer their time. All this election, Title is like a fantasy …if you really want to service God title doesn’t matter; Some may say Title gives you more authority to pursue things which is true but God knows everything and you can render your service to God unconditionally and he is ready to accept.

Sundarbuddy: Unfortunately in this competitive world everything is considered as a race and Padhayatra is no different ..your take?

Mr.Wisdom: Well Padhayatra is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy mother nature and experience the bliss; Very unfortunate if people consider this as a race …You helping fellow devotees and having a nice conversations with fellow walkers spreading love can be a very memorable experience. Consider yourself lucky and blessed if your physical fitness allows you to reach the destination faster.

Sundarbuddy: I feel it is not fair to inherit bad karma due to my forefathers ? Your take on this

Mr.Wisdom: This is simple law of nature …You inherit both good and bad deeds due to you and your forefathers, like how we accept assets from forefathers we also have to accept  their wrong doings.

Sundarbuddy: I was very excited that we as a family was about to host a Pooja, but then realized my wife had Chums and it was very disappointing not to host the pooja? How to cope up with this?

Mr.Wisdom: No one can control everything beforehand, things like these do happen but your intent and Bhakthi is important. Be assured that later we will know that things happened for a better cause.

Though I have written the blog, I myself do not follow some of the things mentioned. Worship is all about faith and spreading love to near and dear ones.

Authentic Tamil Brahmin Food - New Maduraa Hotel, Trichy

   Being a foodie I love to try different types of cuisines as well as different types of restaurants. Being month of ‘Puratassi’ I wanted to try out authentic brahmin food and that is when I ended up with New Maduraa Hotel. I think I have been to this place three decades ago but I hardly remember anything other than the fact this place is known for good food. Okay now starting a restaurant or for that matter any foodie joint has become a trend and so many youngsters are jumping into this sector since this is one of those rare sectors where everything is cash and carry and no credit is involved. If you ask a youngster what are the main things one has to do to entice business he would say the following: nice ambience with lovely canvas prints, contemporary wooden work, imported chic light fittings, soulful music, swanky table and Chair etc., Let me say you something, New Maduraa Hotel does not possess any of those five mentioned rather they focus on ‘Quality’; I feel sometimes life is more beautiful when we keep things very simple; their ambience, table & chairs, everything is superlative of simple. In fact if you look into their walls you would see pretty much all deities. To run a restaurant for more than five decades is not a joke since management must have gone through multiple generations. In today’s world Labor is Number 1,2,3 problem where every Business face and to run a hotel keeping the old tradition as well as addressing all the challenges from current world deserves a special mention.

    Also we youth think we are over smart when we calculate carbs, fat, Trans fat etc., when we end up eating Idli, Dosa, rice etc., Well if you come here and look into some of these folks I bet you can learn how to carry out Irrigation, they literally sketch irrigation plan in their plantain leaf. Coolie workers after exhaustive physical work they just come and have ball of a time (Infact rice of a time); This hotel attracts people from all walks of life – elite, coolie workers, Bank staff, Government staff, College crowd, North Indians, Telugu people etc., Also you will spot folks with Horizontal and vertical lines, mamis in madisaar, maamas in panchakacham since this is their fort. Also being close to Bus stand and Bazaar there is always steady flow of customers.

   So what makes their food special? Before going into their food one key thing for people who serve food is they have to do that with love. Their policy is “Eat how much ever you like but please do not waste”; They are truly ‘Unlimited’ since most of the places they mean only rice as unlimited but they limit vegetables. Over here they serve three vegetables unlimited which includes one greens. Their sambar is special because it is ‘arachuvitta sambar’ as they blend fresh ground masala. Another dish ‘Mor Kolambu’ is very good since they use green chillies and coriander seeds when they prepare masala and they also end up using coconut oil during seasoning. Tomato rasam was too good since I believe they prepare their own rasam powder. End of the day anyone can bring in the taste if they learn and master the art but for the food to reach every common citizen is a blessing and it is only possible if people have good hearts. Owners want people to enjoy the food and they believe no one will end up with any problem after having food at their place. They neither serve Breakfast nor Dinner and just Lunch all the way from 9.30 am to 4pm;In fact everyday in the morning they post the menu in the front and also on their website and stick to that till 2.30 pm and only between 2.30 to 4pm they change menu items based on supply and demand. Now coming to cost – would you believe their unlimited lunch is priced just Rs.80 ..yes you read it right ..Eighty rupees in year 2019 where one liter of petrol costs the same. This clearly emphasizes their business model ..keep things simple …charge less…In fact when I read McDonalds biography founders followed one mantra “We want to keep menu very simple” and they feel that was the reason McDonalds was huge success back in those days. Nowadays menu card is like CBSE syllabus book where people had to have an index page with page numbers.

   Cleanliness is one thing which they may want to improve but that being said I feel there are quite a lot of positives they possess. When Business transitions between one generation to another there is always bumps across the road due to conflict of opinions but to overcome that and to retain the rich legacy is something incredible. They could have easily scaled up, got into Franchising mode, added more menu items rather they stuck to their core principles and made just minor modifications. I really wish the hotel do good and someone in their family keep carrying their rich legacy. If you happen to visit this hotel please don’t go looking with head held high since you will be surprised to see the building and name board ..everything is ‘Simple’ and that is their hallmark.

Hotel URL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgoeQcjynJ0

Their website:

https://new-maduraa-hotel.business.site/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral

System has to undergo Change !!

My goal for this blog is to highlight that if a Country or even for a city to change the whole system must undergo change. In India the very first thing people complain for everything is Government. Government as such can only do so much but it is up to citizens to embrace the change and take it forward. Change is inevitable and every damn thing in this world keep changing. I would like to present series of small incidents which I had to deal with in day to day life to highlight some of the pain paints.

Quest for Organic Eggs: My requirement was simple – “Need to buy Organic eggs” and I started visiting few supermarkets and to my surprise I could not get anywhere. I came to know an elderly couple in Puthur Market who sells organic eggs and I was able to get hold of them, I purchased few times but the problem was they always had limited supply and most of the times when I go they don’t have stock so I had no other choice but to skip them. I found another shop who dips the egg in dicoction water and upon time the color of the shell changes to light brown and they label it has organic eggs. My search continues ..Found another shop which I bet must exists even before India got its Independence…He informed me these eggs are called “Pannai Eggs”, now this was like trying to understand Duckworth lewis rules of cricket where people confuse you through new terms. I bought those and my maid said these are no way organic eggs and I was being cheated. Now I turned my concentration to villages since I knew my egg hunt (literally) would produce good results; Unfortunately when I visit my native hens don’t lay eggs and when hens lay eggs I end up not visiting village ..somehow logistics did not work out though there was genuine organic eggs available. Now I found general merchant store (annachi kadai) where they sell Organic eggs and each egg price was four times than that of a normal egg but since I was exhausted on my search I did not think twice about the price and bought only to later find out eggs get spoilt much faster and the shelf life markings are merely bogus. Now I am at a point no more plucking nails …….I wanted to bring this incident to highlight being a perishable item there has to be some mechanism to screen quality of perishable food items. So system needs some regulations in Consumer goods especially perishable ones from respected Food departments

Safety is question mark: Now after Subasri’s death there is lot of noise on Banners ..but there are not one or two things that has to be changed in Roads but a whole lot of things has to be changed. Let me share two incidents …

Incident 1: People who build houses buy steel rods from steel merchants and these rods are carried on an open vehicle and one end point towards you if you happen to be on back of that vehicle. This is very scary considering the fact how sharp these rods are. Now the steel merchant has lot of ways to send this in a safe manner but it will cost him more and he agrees upon a price (including freights costs) with the buyer just to be competitive in market. Now who is the victim – “Public” ? Transport laws should avoid these risky freight movement

Incident 2: Once I was driving around MGR statue and since the roundabout was quite a big one I was looking on one side completely neglecting other side. There was one mid aged man who came in two wheeler and accidentally I dashed him and he fell on the road. Without hesitating for a second I had my hand brakes on and rushed to see the man ….I said I am very sorry and I did not do this intentionally ..He was a nice person ..he accepted my apologies and said no one would do intentionally and asked me to drive carefully. Though I can take the blame partially still constructing such a big roundabout in heart of the city is so very dangerous and all residents of Trichy are aware of this. Political parties make sure their political leaders Statue show up in prominent joints to gain more mileage. If at all statues are moved then that becomes big time Politics. We need all possible safety measures on roads

Mobile shops: I am not talking about the phone mobiles but am talking about the shops on the move. Considering average width of a street to be 30 feet on a normal residential street these vehicles occupy 5 feet on one side (ex: egg noodles shop) and another guy has some shop occupying on other side occupying another 5 feet and public is left with 20 feet. Within that 20 feet we may have to learn to drive our cars and not to forget the road is two way and we may see movement on both ways. We may also see a lady selling Flowers in one corner, man selling groundnuts in another corner making the road even more congested …..now we can neither move these guys as their living is based on this nor afford to have these guys as this will create public discomfort. Somehow concerned authorities has to find a solution to make peace with all parties concerned. 

Judiciary system: Our office is in a prominent part of Trichy and there cannot be a peak time compared to 6.30 pm in the evening. Medical representative came inside our office to meet us and when he went outside he was shocked to know his bike was stolen. All this happened in matter of 30-45 minutes; He raised a police complaint and we all know how it works. Police took the case and did some investigation ..they even visited our office to get some CCTV footage. After few months I met the Rep and asked whether he got his bike and he said though he got his bike he wished it was stolen. He had to make multiple visits to Police station and he suspected link between them and person who robbed. In simple words …This is how he sounded ….Robber takes away bike ….Sets up deal with police …Police does investigation and gets money from owner of the bike for taking up the case ….Police finds the bike and hands over to owner …Robber gets money from police….Police makes money from owner ….Owner to some extent is happy since he at least got his bike …Judiciary system role ? India needs to setup fast track courts to look into the Judiciary issues since only when we control law and order issues we can progress forward.

As we can see there are lot more things within the system that has to be changed to create a better tomorrow. Complaining Government is not going to take us anywhere ..People has to change, laws has to be changed, regulations has to come into effect, lawmakers has to enforce rules and not just advice, need proper governance, government authorities and last but not the least good stable Government to lead the state. In short whole system has to undergo “Change” ….