RANDOM THOUGHTS

 ARE WE GETTING OUR PRIORITIES WRONG ? BSNL and the other TELECOM agencies have been doing an excellent job of making the people at large aware of the spread of the deadly COVID pandemic and the use of the MASK and SOCIAL DISTANCING to combat the same . There could hardly be anyone around who has not heard the message multiple times everyday in the recent past . This near 30 second message I firmly believe has outlived its purpose . The flipside of this worthy excercise has started coming out to the fore  .  Inability to reach for timely help during a FIRE MISHAP resulted in the entire house being reduced to ashes before help could arrive . On a more sombre and  personal note , my effort to contact a very close relative of mine  to inform him of his father's sudden turn for the worse just minutes after he had left the house was turning really alarming with the COVID MESSAGE  eating into valuable time before I could reach him . IT IS HIGH TIME THE COVID MESS...

RAGS TO RICHES - TRUE STORIES The rags to riches stories have always been my favourite . As a school going kid , the umpteen Rags to Riches stories on the silver screen where a AMITABH BACHCHAN , RAJESH KHANNA OR OUR OWN SIVAJI GANESAN  OR KAMALAHASAN become overnight Multi Millionaires from abject poverty does make it a compelling viewing . The true life stories of ABDUL KALAM  DHIRUBHAI AMBANI , INDIRA NOORI , RAJANIKANT , NARAYANA MOORTHY who attained positions which is not only inspiring but a path for all youngsters to follow .  For sometime now , we have a person who used to sell TEA on the RAILWAY PLATFORM heading a 130 Crore Country and being recognized for his efforts and lauded the World Over . The recent addition of 19 year old YESHASWI JAISWAL to this elite group is a case in point . Here is a lad from a tiny village of Rajasthan with very limited means but high on hopes to make his name in the game of CRICKET .  His move to Mumbai with nothing in his poc...

           MAATHUR THOTTIPAALAM It never ceases to amaze me to dwell on the absolutely beautiful and wonderful places around our place . Their sheer number and variety are sure to be the envy of many , less endowed with such a bounty . THOTTIPAALAM or Hanging Bridge  is at Maathur in Kanyakumari District and is just 100 Kms from Ambasamudram. . This stone bridge constructed in the year 1966 is the longest and highest of its kind in Asia . It is at a height of 115 Feet and is 1 Km long . This bridge of 28 pillars has a pipeline for water below the walkway to irrigate the agricultural land from one side of the mountain to the other side across a valley . Besides being a boon to the farming community and related activities around the area  it is also a  sure draw for the tourists for the sheer beauty of the panoramic view all around . Those visiting KANYAKUMARI and THIRPARAPPU WATER FALLS make it a point to include this place in their itinerary....

      OUR KNOWLEDGEABLE FOREFATHERS  The methods adopted by our forefathers while buying an Agricultural Land or earmarking a suitable place for digging a well with copious water may sound irrational or even downright  stupid by our modern day folks . Their thought process in adopting these methods will surely make us admire these age old practices.  The prospective buyer of the Agricultural land would spend a whole day and night in the land with a Cock for company . The decibel level of their crow early in the morning  indicated the fertility level of the land .A high decibel level meant  that the land is moist and support the many worms in the soil which have been picked up by the cock . A low decibel level would indicate that the land is parched and dry and thus unfit for agricultural use . Absolutely amazing , there are many other  practices which were followed by our forefathers , which we have conveniently chosen not only to ignore but ...

 PUERTO PRINCESSA , SUBTERRANEAN     RIVER IN PALAWAN , PHILIPPINES  Our family meaning Me , My betterhalf , Daughter , Son in Law and Granddaughter might be just among the very few from this part of the world ( Little Known Agasthiarpatty near Ambasamudram in Tamilnadu ) to have had an opportunity to visit the Subterranean River System with its caves in the Palawan Province of the Philippines .  Philippines as many might know is a country of more than 7000 Islands and it would take close to 19 years if a mad hatter were to  decide to spend atleast one night in each of these Islands.  Its Palawan Province where the Subterranean River is located  has close to 1700 Islands . The Subterranean River is on the Island of Peurto Princessa which is almost 2 hours by Air from Makati/Manila .  Your thrill  starts in the Flight Itself with TAMBOLA and other Question/Answer Games being conducted by the Flight Attendants. Yours Truely was a Luck...

 MOVIES AND ME IN THESE CORONA DAYS  Inspite of maintaining quite an otherwise active schedule in these days of Social Distancing , I am left to fend for myself and find  ways to while away the many  hours of free time in the solitude of my home with my better half for company . The fact that both of us are touching the 70 s mark adds an even more difficult  dimention to it . I must hasten to add here that I sincerely make every effort to lead an active and busy lifestyle . Apart from my Blog  Writing Passion of late and efforts at improving my  Tamizh Writing , My Gardening and all that it rakes to look after the plants plus a daily near  8 kms of walk around the house  does still leave me with a lot of  free time to kill . This is where the OTT  ( Over The Top ) Movie Streaming Platforms like Amazon Prime , Netflix or Disney Hotstar come as  a big help . With no Cinemas Halls  Screening shows , the streaming platforms Re...

                     KILLER ENGLISH  This is an actual letter taken from a Newspaper in response to a Matrimonial advertisement . MADAM , I AM ONE YOUNG GENTLEMAN LIVING WITH ONLY MYSELF IN PATNA . I AM SEEING YOUR ADVERTISEMENT FOR MARRIAGE PURPOSE IN THE DAILY NEWSPAPER . SO I DECIDE TO PRESS MYSELF ON YOU AND I AM HOPPING YOU WILL MAKE THE MARRIAGE WITH ME . I AM THE SON OF MY FATHER AND MOTHER OF AGRICULTURE FAMILY FROM INSIDE PATNA . I HAVING NO BROTHER AND SISTER ALSO . I BECOME BIG IN PATNA ONLY . I EDUCATE MYSELF IN THE ZUARILAL HIMMATLAL HIGH SCHOOL , BEZNA ROAD I AM NICE AND BIG , SIX FOOTS TALL AND SIX INCHES LONG . MY BODY IS FILLED WITH HARDNESS WHY BECAUSE I AM WORKING HARDLY . I AM PLAYING ALSO HARDLY . ESPECIALLY I AM LIKING THE CRICKET . I AM A GOOD BATTER ALSO I AM FAST BALLER . WHENEVER I AM RUNNING FOR BALLING ALL BATTERS ARE RUNNING EVERYWHERE BECAUSE THEY ARE AFRAIDING MY BALLS . MY BALLS ARE BOUNCING TOO ...

                  TEACHERS DAY AND ME  I am now 70 years old . Sept 5 has always been a special day for me for 2 reasons. One , Celebrated as the Teachers Day it is very close to my heart as i have very fond and lasting memories associated with it . A person very close to me has  been a Teacher for a small part of his career . My  Father started his career as a Teacher at Yelamanchilli near Vishakapatnam before he joined the Indian Railways . My better half has been a very loved and respected Tamil Teacher all her working   life , I must admit that I have only faint memories of my teachers at Kharagpur from Standard 1 to 4 . I have fairly good memories of my Teachers from Classes 5 to 9 at Sector 10 and later at sector 7 School at Bhilai in the erstwhile Madhya Pradesh and current Chattisgarh . Principal RK Sharma was an absolute terror and being from the Army , he was a very strict Disciplinarian . Our Science Teache...