RANDOM THOUGHTS

Canada is famous for its weather patterns and its winter and freezing cold are a legend . The two pictures above are of the same place at Wilson Intersection in North York , Toronto , Canada. The one with the complete green foliage was taken by me just before i left Canada from my sons place there in early Oct 2018. The second one taken coincidentally by my son almost at the same angle highlighting the snowfall on 30 th of December. What a transformation , the green cover is completely missing and only the trunk of the tree can be seen . Strange as this may seem I believe, the green cover will be back again in June as has been the case every year after year for eons . WE SHOULD LEARN TO RESPECT NATURE ,  IT SURELY HAS ITS OWN WAYS .

If at anytime you feel stressed or down in any way , the sure stress buster is a visit to your school , the place you enjoyed the most as a child . If you live in a place away from the school , the video or photograph of your school where you reconnect with your Teachers , Friends is also a sure stress buster. TRY IT , YOU WILL BE SURPRISED WITH THE RESULT  I visited the place of my Schooling at Kharagpur in West Bengal last year . I had done the  final year of my Schooling there some Half a Century  back . The feeling that this brings about  is almost devine and no words can  express this in words . The class room , the library , science lab , play ground brought back memories of the happy school days . This school is now almost 130 years old . The Railway Officers Quarters Bungalow No 620 where we stayed , the cricket and football played here is still fresh in my mind . The South Indian Association at Kharagpur came into being largely due to the e...

AMBASAMUDRAM , JUST WAITING TO BE DISCOVERED BY YOU Ambasamudram  , a small taluk headquarters town in Tirunelveli District of Tamilnadu has many places of tourist attractions which cater to the tastes of people in all age groups . Surprisingly all these places of interest are located within a radius of 40 kms from this small town . The  unique and standout feature of this Paddy growing area is the River Tamiraibarani around which most ,if not all of these places are located . This river originates in the Western Ghats and winds its way in to the sea in the neighboring District of Tuticorin . Nava Thirupathi and Nava Kailayam Temples are a feature on the banks of this great river which recently celebrated its Mahapushkarani . Visit WWW://municipality.tn.gov.in/ambasamudram TIRUPADAIMARUTHUR : This Siva Temple is situated some 15 kms from Ambasamudram and is the abode of Lord Naramboonathar and his consort Gomathyambal . The finely chiseled feature of the main deity ...

TAKE HEART : EVEN AS YOU READ THIS : YOU ARE THE YOUNGEST YOU ARE EVER GOING TO BE ( IN THIS LIFETIME ,  FOR BOTH THE BELIEVERS  AND NON BELIEVERS IN REBIRTH) FOR  THE REST OF YOUR DAYS IN THIS WORLD  , SO TAKE HEART AND MAKE THE BEST OF IT .                             I remember very well , seeing older people through the years and thinking that these ellderly  people were years away from me and that i was still at the first step of the multi storey apartment . But here i am , knocking on the " SEVENTIES ". Many of  my friends are also retired or almost getting there and barring a few who still have it in them to dye their hair ,  all others are all grey and most others do not even have to take this trouble as there is hardly any hair left to dye .   They move slower in measured steps . Some are in much better shape than me and some are worse off . Their age is beginni...

Although a bit late , i make  this post in the steadfast hope that this inspires others as much as it has inspired me . I arrived at platform number 7 , at Chennai Central by the 0608 Nagercoil/Chennai Central Special Express from Tirunelveli at 8 AM on Nov 15 th. Despite the heavy crowd , the sight of the middle aged man sitting next to his magazine trolley ( Owner of the magazine selling stall  ) sitting cross legged in Pancha Katcham and Angavastram with the Pancha Paatram and Uddrini doing the Sandhyaa Vandanam was a sight to behold and also a great inspiration . Sadly I missed taking a snap of the same as that would have been more appropriate and sent the message to a larger audience  . It takes some courage to do the same in this land of the non believers and haters of the particular sect who still follow this practice that has been handed down to them through the ages  . PS : Though not a very strict follower of the rituals myself , this has inspired me...

We belong to a place called Ambasamudram in Southern Tamilnadu, India . This place though comfortable weatherwise for most part of the year becomes very hot during the summer months of April to Mid June . The temperature hovers around the mid to late 30 Degrees Centigrade during this period . We have got used to this and overcome this with the help of the various appliances now in the market. Eight years back , I was at Regina in the Saskatchewan Province of Canada . I had already visited this province before but at relatively better climes . This time it was on the 11 th of December , co-passengers and my daughter had already warned me that it would be terribly cold and windy when we landed and that  our arrival would be anything but a Welcome one Weatherwise . Sure enough , the travel from the Airport exit to the car park was a Himalayan task . Freezing cold and the blustery wind and snowflakes all around made it all the more difficult .  Thermal Innerwear , 2 layers of inn...

The Incident  being cited below is during  the    PRE - COVID AND LOCKDOWN ERA . Marriage and Wedding Reception were places where friends and relatives gathered in large numbers to wish the Newly Wedded couple . Masks and Sanitizers found  a place only in the Dictionary or else when you Googled  . Its use was restricted to those in the elite medical profession  . Weddings were just fun places in which everyone wanted to be a part of the celebrations  and enjoy the togetherness of loved and near ones . THE WEDDING GIFT WITH A DIFFERENCE . There was a huge pile of Gifts and Presents at the Wedding Reception of Suraj and Sharmista . In fact a mini van had to be engaged to shift the many huge presents from the Marriage Hall at VKP to their Residence at AGASTHIARPATTY.  Even as  they were opening the various boxes a couple of days later  , one particular gift item  caught their attention . Beautifully gift wrapped was a Dazzl...

The engrossing T20 Match at Jaipur between the Rajasthan Royals and Mukt Eleven has got over on the 11 th itself . Victory is nonetheless a victory irrespective of the margin involved .Today is the 14 th and  the local commentators do not seem to have come to a decision on the Prestigious  MAN OF THE MATCH and left it for the high command to resolve the issue . It is hoped that RAHUL will give a helping hand to SACHIN and resolve the issue .

Super Cricket Match During 2018 IPL               INDIAN PARLIAMENT/ ASSEMBLY LEAGUE  Election to  MIZORAM , TELENGANA , CHATTISGARH , RAJASTHAN AND MADHYA PRADESH  Tuesday , the 11 th of December has been unique in the history of Indian Cricket. 5 very Important cricket matches across various fotmats have been played for the first time in this country. The venues for these matches have ranged from Aizawl in the North East to Hyderabad in the South to Raipur , Jaipur and Bhopal in the Hindi Heartland. I , sitting in the comfort of my drawing room in faraway Agasthiarpatty have been able to watch all the action as they unfolded and the commentary provided non stop on the TV and that too in English , Hindi , or Tamil made it all the more engrossing. All the matches which started at 8 AM have finished at varying times depending on the teams involved and the targets set . Even as i write this piece ,the result of one of the matches ...

William Golding the famous Novelist had this to say about the Women. Women foolishly believe that they are equal to the males in every way. What they not realize is that they are way above their male counterparts in every way . You give a woman anything and she will add value to it and make it more attractive . You give her your sperm and she will give you an offspring . You just give her a smile and she will give you  her heart . Whatever you give her , she will multiply it a thousand times and give it back to you . So remember folks  if you are the reason for her anger , she will come back at you , with a thousand times more venom . So next time be careful .

AMBASAMUDRAM A CHANGED PLACE NOW  Just the other day , finding no other way to while away the time , I was gaping at the road outside my house at Agasthiarpatty  . This is a road that connects the Taluk headquarteres town of Ambasamudram with the tourist / pilgrim attraction of Papanasam . There was heavy traffic  on the road with a lot of 2 and 4 wheelers passing  on either side .  What was conspicuous by its absence was the bicycle , which was till quite recently one of the main mode of  transport . Out of sheer curiosity , i counted the number of vehicles passing  on either side and noticed that it was almost 20 vehicles every minute . This brought back memories of this  very same road some 40 years back . We were staying at the Mill Quarters close to Papanasam during those days . Against a lot of opposition and also advice from friends , self and my better half would often venture out for the evening movie show at Kalyani Theater , Ambasamu...

It is often argued that there is nothing permanent in this world and that everything has to change with time. This may be true in most cases but there are a few habits which do not follow the rule and are passed on from one generation to the next . In my early school days the craving for the sugar coated candy or the jaggery rolled ball of puffed rice is still fresh in my mind, as was the slab of ice soaked in a sugary syrup . This used to be the Ice Cream of our generation. With the small pocket money on hand it was always a challenge to find the resources to fund these small pleasures . The father of the house would always chide you for the excesses and almost always insist that all he had for school was the packed tiffin carrier that his mother gave him and nothing else for the break at school. The meticulous care taken to iron the school uniform or the evening dress by neatly folding it and keeping it under the pillow and sleeping over it is still fresh in the mind . The fathe...

THOSE WERE THE ,,,,,, ,       DAYS !! Here i am , a retired person knocking on the doors of the seventies  , musing about the many childhood dreams some of which have been fulfilled and many which still remain a dream  . There have been many things which had caught my fancy as a schoolgoing kid or later on into my  teens . Some of those dreams have seen the day of light  and sadly a large part of the same are never ever going to do so . The early part of my teens was at a place called Kharagpur in West  Bengal . Now , don't  get me wrong , it was not at the IIT for which the place is more famous for the world over , but the Railway Colony of which my father was very much a part of . I did my schooling at the Railway Mixed Higher Secondary School there. My fathers previous posting was at a place called Chakradharpur ( in present day Jharkhand ) and due to very frequent transfers , I did part of my schooling at my sisters place at Bhila...

My Very First Blog 3 rd Dec 2018 Toronto Regina CANADA With both my daughter and son having decided to  make Canada their home at Regina and Toronto , i have made a number of visits to be with them for durations ranging from three to six months almost every year now . Relatives and friends back home keep asking me about the general lifestyle , how i manage to spend my time and many other such questions about Canada and Toronto and Regina in particular. So here i go , First and foremost spending time with your grand children in the company of your own children is a godsend and no words can describe it . Now to Toronto , by all accounts it is the 4 th largest city in North America after New York , LA , and Chicago .Everything about it is awesome. The infrastructure is simply out of the world . Cleanliness , Roads , Public Bus Transport , Metro Rail Service , Free Medical Services , Free Schools for the children that too , close to their place of stay is to be seen to be bel...