RANDOM THOUGHTS

 Cricket has always been my favourite sport . I have been part of the team right from my school  days  (Kharagpur ) to Khalsa College Mumbai and later for the Annual Inter Unit Tournament at various Centers of Madura Coats at Ambas , Madurai , Tuticorin or Koratti . Not many may believe this but i have tweaked  my arm on a few occasions in the Inter Collegiate Tournaments in Mumbai where the legendary Sunil Gavaskar of Kirti College was a member . I leave it to your imagination to judge the outcome of these encounters . I have grown up listening to the commentary on the 7 Valve Telerad  Radio Set and then graduating to the Transistor Set and then finally to the delights of Telivision first in Black and White and then in Colour and followed up the Test Matches , ODI s and T 20 s played all over the world  . The IPL matches for 2020 are now over and a most exciting final over last ball thriller decided the eventual winner. Unfortunately, the pandemic ha...

I have often seen this man whom i later came to know as  Irudayaraj , pushing his wheeled tailoring machine with a walking stick in one hand .  His eyesight , a very key ingredient to his profession was also not that good . In these days of Readymade Garments , these poor Tailors who were plying their trade in almost every street are now a rare sight . It was a pity and a lesson at the same time to see Irudayaraj with all his deformity and advancing age making an honest attempt to get on with the trade he knows best and lead a happy and contended  life . Over the years , i have had clothes stacked in the cupboard in various stages of repair . I decided to  ask Irudayaraj for his Servises . It made us both happy , me more so because i could offer him work and  also because the used glasses which i handed over  seemed to improve his vision a lot . I have taken it upon myself to get his eyes properly checked and get him the correct glasses . The ...

I needed to mke a very fast money transfer of a fairly large amount ( atleast by my standards ) and after exploring various options , i hit upon RTGS as the fastest and safest mode of effecting the transfer . I arrived at the bank ( THE LARGEST PUBLIC SECTOR BANK ) at 2.30 pm and after  the mandated form filling formalities , i was handed a token for my turn at the counter at 3.04 pm . The designted 6 desks were manned / womanned by just 3 staff and it was already late by the time my turn arrived . My turn finally arrived and the process got over at 4.13 pm with me having to carry the file and documents for the Branch Managers final approval . This was done at 4.23 pm and the Manager was kind enough to inform me that the transfer would take place immidiately. Since i have a net banking facility , there was a message that the money has been debitted from my account for RTGS transfer . I returned home satisfied that the job at hand had been done well . Now , comes the probl...

We have all been to Wedding Receptions , where it is more often than not a practice to present the esteemed guests with a return gift as an expression of thanks for having attended their son/daughter s marriage and graced the occasion . A lot of thought , time and money is spent on the purchase of these gifts . For lack of space in the house these items   often find their long and forgotten  resting place in the attic and are often discarded after a few years of gathering dust and soot  into the trashbin . My recent experience of attending my Omega colleague Nagu s sons wedding was a pleasant surprise . The wedding , music and the sumptuous lunch was all special . What was even more special was the return gift . The guests were presented with a sapling of a fruit or a flower plant . The enthusiasm of the guests as they recieved these gifts was genuine. These  saplings would with time grow on to become the fruit or flower giving plants when nurtured wi...

Doraipandy better known as Pandy is a small time flower merchant at the old bus stand in Virudhunagar . He is looked with awe by his fellow shopkeepers in the bus stand . Each day after finishing the day s work and closing his shop , he has this habit of placing 4 flower garlands outside his shop . Next morning he would get a sense of fulfilment if he sees a few garlands missing .He would throw any unused garland into the dustbin and start working afresh with the flowers for the new day . He has been doing this for the last 20 years . If some unfortunate person passes away during the  untimely hours when the shop is closed it becomes extremely difficult to find a garland which is often required as a mark of respect for the departed soul . Virudhunagar being a small place , the business community close their establishments pretty early . The nearest big city is ofcourse Madurai which is an hour s drive away . Doraipandy has taken it upon himself to address this and provid...

  This post of mine is sure to invite very derisive comments from many of my fellow blogging friends. Having nothing better to do , it has now almost become my passtime to count the number of vehicles passing on the Ambasamudram to Papanasam Road in front of my house everyday  . The number keeps rising each month and it is now almost 20 vehicles per minute each way during the peak hour . What is conspicuous by its absence are the cycles which were the sole mode of transport till the very recent past . Nearly 8 Lakh students write the 12 th standard examination every year . Most if not all of them are provided Cycles free of cost for their travel to school from remote areas . A very laudable initiative by the Government which goes a long way in improving the Literacy Percentage of the state . This practice has been  there for almost 20 years now , so there should be almost 1.6 crore bicycles on the road .  Do you see any ? I must be having a serious problem w...

THENMALA is situated on the Ghat Road between Shenkottai and Tiruvananthapuram . It is just 35 kms from the famous Courtallam Waterfalls . The pristine water and the green cover of the Western Ghats makes this an ideal tourist spot . This place has the distinction of being the First Eco Park / Spot  developed in India.This place was once famous for its beehives and came to be known as Thenmalai ( Translated into English , this would mean a mountain of Honey ) , overtime it has now become THENMALA . As of now , it has not yet been a victim of the environmental changes and the thick forest cover makes it an ideal spot for A SLIDING ROPEWAY , HANGING FOOTBRIDGE AND THE KALLADA DAM . Deer Park , Nature Appreciation Education Center and the Long Boat Ride attracts a lot of Tourists . Situated as it is close to Ariankavu , Kolathapuzha , Achankovil in Kerala and Sorimuthu Iyyanar kovil in next door Tamilnadu , the place sees a manifold increase in the numbers during the Sabarimala ...

THE  ( not so ) HINDU Newspaper of 150 + years standing prides itself on its English and also prides itself on being the mentor for the all knowing elitist public . The days of its glory are now diminishing by the day . The connection between RAM and MARAN are now known to all ,  Its political leanings leaves nothing for imagination . The last page of 13/03/2019 has this news item of a flight returning as a mother forgets to bring her kid along with her on the flight . FLIGHT and FIGHT seem to mean the same for " THE (not so ) HINDU " THE LAWS OF THE DIMINISHING RETURNS ARE FAST CATCHING UP WITH THE ( not so ) HINDU 

1 ) Heavy rains remind us of the challenges in life . Never ask for a lighter rain .  Just pray for a better umbrella . That is attitude . 2) When there is a flood , fish eat the ants and when the very same flood recedes , ants eat the fish . It is only the time that matters . Just hold on , God gives equal opportunity to all . 3 ) Life is not about finding the right person , but creating the right relationship . It is not about how we care in the beginning but extending the care till the very end . 4 ) There will always be people who throw stones at you , It all depends on what you make out of them . A WALL OR A BRIDGE . Remember you alone are the architect of your life . 5 ) Every problem has ( n+ 1 ) solutions ,  n is the number of solutions that you have tried and   1   is the solution that you have not tried so far . That is life . 6 ) It is not important to hold all the good cards in life , but to know how to play with the cards available ...

THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE MISSING 10 Rs The trekking experience of the Three friends into the Pothigai Hills above the Baana Theertham had slowly started becoming a nightmare . The lone place of stay was a fair distance away . The rain which had  started  as a drizzle was now pounding upon them in full force . That only a single room was available in the only hotel for their combined stay and that too at Rs 300 for the nights stay was a bit hard to swallow . Their protests with the attendant yeilded no result as the owner of the joint was away and was expected to return only  late in the night . Having no other choice , each of them shelled out Rs 100 and dozed off into the night . There was a pleasant surprise even as they woke up early in the morning  when the attendant brought the hot morning coffee . Along with the coffee was the news that the owner had reduced the rent to Rs 250 for their  nights stay and placed Five notes of Rs 10 denomination on the ta...

Age 70  + or thereabouts is a rather difficult place to be in . Nothing can be more apt than the Tamil " ingeyum illai , angeyum illai " or the Hindi " dhobi kaa kutta naa ghar kaa yaa ghat kaa " somehow seem to sum up ones situation more aptly . The years of toil to make both ends meet and the efforts taken to bring the family to its present state of comfort would have already started to take its toll on your health and general well being  . The health related niggles will be conspicuous only by their absence . It is hard for one to realize that unless one is in a very specialized field , the chances of employment are almost next to nothing . The fact that you still have a little while to go before the final bell does toll , seem to add on  to ones misery . There have been occasions when i have had to manage the house in the absence of my better half . The time frame for these periods have ranged from a couple of days to almost 3 months  . Staying as i do ...