RANDOM THOUGHTS

       MADURA COATS COLONY - VK PURAM                         HEAVEN ON EARTH                                  ( Repeat )  I have had the good fortune of having lived in a gated community all my life . First as a youngster under the care of my Parents at various Railway Settlements and later as a grown up in the Mill Colony down South where I was employed .  My early remembrances are  of having lived in the Railway Colony at various locations by virtue of my father having been a Senior Officer in the South Eastern Railways  at Kharagpur , Garden Reach - Kolkata , Chakradharpur , Adra , Cuttack , Nagpur , Waltair or Vishakapatnam and Bhilai . They bring back fond and  nostalgic memories of the many  Diwali , Durga Pooja and other Festivals that were celebrated there . . Being a small and almost c...

     A  Scorching Heat Here / B Freezing Cold There  Today is the last day of March and the Summer is upon us at Ambasamudram in a telling manner . It is terribly hot till about 3 pm and a bout of strong wind and heavy summer downpours follow . This has been the pattern for almost a week now . This pattern took a very serious turn for the worse  yesterday . It was particularly hot till about 3 pm when all of a sudden , very heavy wind with lightening and thunder followed with an equally powerful shower of windy rain . Many trees and power lines got uprooted so much so that the fallen trees completely blocked the road to Papanasam near the Agasthiarpatty Primary Health Center.  I seem to have had an experience of both the extremes.  Scorching Summer Heat and Freezing Cold have both been part of me for almost a decade now . We belong to a place called Ambasamudram in Southern Tamilnadu, India . This place though comfortable weatherwise for most part...

WHEN THE UNEXPECTED SUDDENLY HAPPEN  Sringeri Vidya Peetam , Toronto  We have all come across situations or been part of an experience which defy logic . The sheer magnitude and surprise of the event even as it unfolds goes on to linger for the rest of your  life . Meeting Friends or Relatives at places in which you least expect to meet them  or bump into them lingers for a very long time after the event . 1 ) The year was 2010 and we were in a Car in Bangalore Distributing Wedding Invitations for my Son's Marriage when I suddenly notice my very dear Friend Japan Balu on the footpath adjacent to the road . Words fail to describe the emotions that this brought forth . He was on his way to work and his Boss was none other than our Weaving Manager E S Shankar.  We all met ESS Sir in his office and exchanged notes on our glorious past and the future ahead of us . 2 ) The place is the very same Bangalore and I am in an AC Bus Route 500 C from Banashankari to Kadugodi...

  This is a passage which I came across recently. I found it to be very enlightening and worthy of sharing between friends . ----------------------------------------------- HOW RICH ARE YOU AND ME ? Amazing answer by Mr Awadhesh Singh, an ex student of IT-BHU (now IIT-BHU) When I was doing my B Tech, there was a Professor Das Talukedar who used to teach us Mechanics His lectures used to be very interesting since he had an interesting way to teach and explain the concepts. One day, in the class, he asked the following questions, 1. What is ZERO? 2. What is INFINITY? 3. Can ZERO and INFINITY be the same? We all thought that we knew the answers and we replied as following, ZERO means *nothing* INFINITY means *a number greater than any countable number* ZERO and INFINITY *are opposite and they can never be same* He countered us by first talking about infinity and asked, ‘How can there be any number which is greater than any countable number?’ We had no ...

              HOW SMALL INDEED  IS OUR WORLD  Agasthiarpatty , Ambasamudram or Kallidaikurichy can by no stretch of imagination claim an elite place when it comes to people on the look out for Greener Pastures to make a a living .  HOW WRONG WAS I TO EVEN ASSUME THIS  Nonetheless Ajax , a suburb of Toronto in Canada has a sizeable Population from the Subcontinent who have  settled here . People from  Tamilnadu make up for a large Percentage of this Chunk . Almost all of them are from the IT field which  makes it even more interesting as my own  Son and DIL are also in this list .  Less than one Kilometre away from our place is a family from Kallidaikurichy .  Two streets behind ours is a family who have strong connection with Ambasamudram  . They are the Descendants of the Singampatty Zamin . In fact the cousin of one of the occupants is well known to my son and was one year senior to him at School...

     First Foray in Social Media  These are days of Instant Transfer of News , Pictures or Videos to known dear ones across the World or even to people with whom you have not even shared a friendly Hello . The Internet and the Mobile Phone has Changed the way of our daily life . ZOOM , GOOGLE MEET.  EMAIL WHATSAPP, INSTAGRAM , TWITTER are Just a few terms which are very much a part of our daily life now . Add Amazon , Flipkart and tatacliq and you need not step out of your home for any purchases . They get delivered at your doorstep . Net Banking , Googlepay , Rupay , Phonepay , etc have made our  life simple . No need to carry cash in your wallet and add  the risk of it getting misplaced   or stolen . Over The Top ( OTT ) Platforms like Netflix , Amazon Prime , Disney Hotstar have changed the way we watch movies and Sporting Actions anywhere across the Globe . During our heydays as youngsters the only Social Media that we knew or made use of...

 How to Make Your Retired Life a Godsend  ( This could apply to anyone , be it in Agasthiarpatty, Mumbai , Chennai  , Toronto or Milan )  The One thing in common that all Retired Persons have in common is TIME on their Hands . This is a luxury which only the Senior Citizens have .  It is always a challenge to make use of the same in an effective way . The challenge becomes even more difficult if your offsprings are settled in a far off place within the Country  or even abroad .  The often heard word in these times is“ BOREDOM “ Let us spend some time and dwell a little deeper to decode this seven letter Word that go on to play such an important part in the later part of our Lives .  This is probably the only time in our entire lifetime when we have so much time at your disposal . You and me have not had it before and in all likelihood , we  are never going to have it again anytime soon . Consider this as a BOON  which has now come your w...

      TENKASI TO NELLAI         ELECTRIC RAIL TRACTION It was the 4 th of August 1974 and we the 22 of us as  Apprentices were on our Way from Madurai to Ambasamudram by the Shenkottah Passenger Train.  Our Employers M/S Madura Coats Ltd had arranged Two Exclusive First Class Coaches for our overnight travel . The Train which was to Depart from Madurai Junction Railway Station  shortly before Midnight was scheduled to arrive at 10.00 am on the next Morning . The Quaint Looking British Era Steam Locomotive on the Metre Gauge took all of 10 hours to cover the mind boggling distance of the near 200 Kms !! . We were received by an equally quaint looking Ford Ambulance Van with the Blue MADURA COATS  MILLWHEEL INSIGNIA as our  Transport Vehicle  to take us to the the Mill Colony at VK Puram .  For reasons which I could never  understand , I had always felt that I had been short changed for no good reason...

                               S  BEND ON THE WAY                                     TO TRIVANDRUM  I have travelled to Trivandrum by the Shenkottah Ghat Road right from my School Going Days . The travel then on this road by Car or by Public Transport was No less than an Adventure of an epic proportion.   First and foremost , the roads then were single lane  Tar Roads in various stages of repair or pot holed especially at the umpteen Hair Pin Bends enroute . One unforgettable spot during the journey as you travel from Shenkottah is the very first ' S ' bend as you enter the Ghat Section .  The traffic on this section is almost always very high. This is because of the fact that almost anything of daily use , be it consumables or construction material for Kerala has to come from Tamilna...

  ARE WE NOT MISSING THE BUS SOMEWHERE  I do not want to appear as someone opposing anything and everything happening around us . As someone who had the good fortune to visit both SOMNATH AND DWARAKA in Gujarat recently , I would like share some unique experiences at these places  . In terms of Size and the Number of Pilgrims visiting them  , they are almost on Par with our own Madurai Meenkshiamman or Sri Ranganathar at Srirangam or the Muruga Prumal at Tiruchedur or even the Thousands that visit Rameshwaram Everyday . 1) Security Check which is almost equal to those at Airports.  2 ) Mobiles , Cameras not allowed inside Temple Premises.  3 ) Footwear Storage very Systematic but free . 4 ) Men and Women have to  stand in Separate Queues for Darshan . 5 ) NO SPECIAL DHARSHAN CHARGES OF Rs 100 , 200 or 500 . One single Queue for FREE and that's it . 6 ) NO HARATHY THATTU GOING AROUND FOR MONEY TO BE PLACED FOR VIBHUTI OR KUMKUM . 7 ) TEMPLE TIMING AT SO...

     KUMBHABHISHEKAM AT MANNARKOVIL  The KUMBHABHISHEKAM of Rajagopala Swami  Kovil was held with all the pomp and decor the occasion demanded on the 3 rd of March 2023 .  I had returned  from my visit to Gujarat just the previous day and could not make it there on the Auspicious Day . We however made it to the Temple this evening . All three Decks in the NINRA , AMARNTHA AND SAYANA Kolam were spotlessly clean . The Newly Installed Metal Staircase makes it possible to reach the 2 nd and 3 rd Deck with ease and in a very safe manner .  Staying very close to this renowned Temple , I am a regular visitor to this Temple . I remember some 25 or 30 years back when reaching this place itself was an issue with no proper roads, more so was the climb to the Sanctum  Sanctorum  . One had to climb rickety wooden steps to do so at the great peril of falling down anytime . Elderly could offer their prayers only from a distance . Thankfully all these a...

            NEAR SIX DECADES OF TRAVEL                       AND TOGETHERNESS  It is not often that you get to be in touch with a person for close to Six Decades . Even more strange is the fact that both your separate lives have crossed and  met each other at very important junctures during this period . I did my Textile Technology while staying  at my Brother's place at Sion - Koliwada in Mumbai .  We were put up in an Apartment Complex Called  The Puncha Pushpa Housing Society , an ensemble of 5 Similar - 4 Storey Apatments with a small playground in the middle . College and School Going  Youngsters of the Colony would happily spend their evening hours here , chatting or playing Cricket or Football . One such friend , though younger by a few years was Krishnamurthy Venkateswaran or Murthy from now on . His Father and my Brother who was also my Guardian were colleagues at ...

         DWARAKA TO  AGASTHIARPATTY  KHAMAN DHOKLAA TO NELLAI HALWAA As I had mentioned earlier,   the Distance from Dwaraka to SAMA our  place of stay in Baroda is  580 Kms . With our departure from Dwaraka scheduled at around Noon , we expected to cover this distance and be at our temporary home at Baroda  by 11.00 pm .  Enroute ,  we would have crossed JAMNAGAR (PLACE OF RAVINDRA JADEJA ) , RAJKOT ( PLACE OF YOURS TRULY AS A KID ) , CHORWAD ( NATIVE PLACE OF THE AMBANIS ) CHOTILA , BAGODARA AND FINALLY SAMA IN BARODA We were dot on time at our place of stay at Sama - Baroda  at 11.00 PM as planned , which included a wait for nearly Extra  45 mts at the CNG Gas Station at Bagodara because of a very long queue waiting for their refill . One outstanding feature of this long drive was seeing  Men and Women in their  dazzlingly Coloured Bright Dress of  RED , YELLOW AND GREEN  embedded with...