Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Hindu Culture



The following is a forwarded message and it triggered an interesting discussion:

>>> Forwarded Message <<<<<
With great regret I would like to share with you the following:

The basic hindu culture of a woman is wearing a tilak / pottu / bindhi, bangles, flowers, especially after marriage, which has got many meanings and benefits.  I have not seen any girl child / woman without a bindhi in my childhood except when they are widows or a non-hindu.  That is why in marriages, it was found auspicious and the bridegroom use to keep mangala kumkumam on the forehead of the bride.  Even in many cinemas, till today they show this scene.  But now-a-days, I find many hindu girl children in the place of bright tilak, wear a sign like fullstop that too in black colour, in many houses even that culture is not seen.  why? 

In many advertisements, woman from childhood days to grandmother stage, they are shown without a bindhi with a free-hair culture.  Even in many hindu schools, girls are prohibited from wearing a bangle, flower, etc. why?  In Vijay TV shows, "Tamilagathin Chella kural", etc. shows, I have seen in the first round, the participant will be on their own, with bharatiya culture, bindhi, jadai, flower, etc. etc.When u notice them at the end of the final rounds, they will be made w/out bindhi and free-hair culture!?  In almost all the cinemas, the heroine is picturised in this manner indirectly influencing our children to follow their style!? which infludence drive them so?

Though Hindu dharma is a vast ocean having treasures like any thing, this is a small basic culture when not followed and nurtured, it washes away many other valuable samskritis alongwith it.

What we can do?

1. First being a Hindu, every woman must be proud in wearing a Tilak / Bindhi and insist their family members, friends, relatives also to follow it.  Just observe how other communities are staunch in observing their samskriti.

2. Everyone should try to suggest to the companies they work or where they have influence to use the advt. model with bindhi and carry the bharatiya culture (if a company shoots 10 model, at least one or two can be made carrying bharathiya culture).  In many jewellery, motorcycle, textile advertisements, the woman will be shown without a bindhi and westernised style indirectly influencing all our innoncent girl children to follow their style.  Why this should happen?  Actually, the company / person who is spending crores and crores of rupees will be a hindu, but for some reason or other reason canvassing for the damage of our own samsriti.

3. Every one should suggest to the school where their children are studying to allow their girl children to wear bindhi, bangle, etc and even it can be suggested to have the exam holidays  acc. to hindu festivals like navarathiri, sankaranthi, etc.  In many schools like Amrita, they have changed the leave pattern like this.  In schools like Amrita, bharathiya culture is nurtured by introducing sanskrit in the schools, making the children chant bhagavat gita before taking food, celebrating many hindu festivals, saying om namashivaya in the place of good morning, etc. etc.

ps: while others are working with a mission to convert Hindus, we should work hard to retain Hindus as Hindus.

>>>> End of Forwarded Message <<<<

and I got the following interesting reaction from Ms. Vimala Jagannathan:

This is a very interesting e-mail. I am writing down the excerpts of certain conversations about the same topic. I am quoting them in bits and pieces. Please accept it. These are not my personal opinions but they are the justifications given to these issues by many youngsters. If only we can clear their doubts it will be possible to bring about a change in our society.  Please forward this mail also to as many people as possible. Maybe they have answers!!

 Firstly the bottu issue. The best of English education is available in Christian schools where bottu is banned. People prefer to give up bottu instead of English as there is future and high quality life only with English education. 
 Bottu also has a scientific significance. It invigorates the Agnya chakra and all that. Our vedic scholars have discovered this aspect and introduced this custom. The argument here is, if people who are not wearing bottu also have normal agnya chakra function then why unnecessarily wear it? Moreover there is no guarantee that it serves the purpose.

 How does the color of the bottu matter? The color code is just an indication which does not really matter. Moreover why should we allow such indications? Many a times it leads to problems.
 Women wear bottu from their young age and not just after marriage. So why should a widow not wear it? It is a rule of this meaningless Male Chauvinist's Society. Frankly speaking, widows wear bottu compulsorily to avoid nonsense from lusty Males.
 All Hindus irrespective of gender are supposed to wear bottu or their caste symbol on their forehead. If men have given up this habit for their convenience, why not women? So men the so called poll bearers of the society must correct themselves first and then preach women. In the vedic times it is said even married men had to wear certain marriage symbols like Mangalyam and toe ring. Slowly as ages passed by they have totally eradicated these rules for themselves for reasons known to them. It was Hindu men who took the first step and changed to western attire like pants and shirts from our own dhothis and kurthas. Women followed them very much later.Where is the rules book for Men? Why has it been thrown into the ocean?

 Bangles and flowers are mere decorative items. There is no need for so much ado about it. Are Hindu men allowed to cut their hair according to our shasthras?  Why are Men always finding fault with women and Controlling them? Why are women stupid and timid not to raise the same issues about Men? Why can't we reform together?
 Please observe the photos of our Gods and Godesses. None of them have plait their hair. None of them have covered their belly button. None of them have covered their pallu fully. Look at the statues and scriptures even in our temples. They do not indicate what is preached. That is why many foreigners who visit these places have labelled our religion as the religion of Kamasutra. Sorry to quote this.

 Why do morals apply only to women?  Does it mean Men have no morals? It is pretty sure that God is the ultimate biased of all. That is why He created us in such a way that when two persons commit the act only the women has to bear the brunt of it. That doesn't mean Men should go Scot free. The responsible leaders of the society must punish the Man also. Men need to be educated that they too have morals. 
 Another major issue is that the biographies of Gods are also not spared in Hinduism. Even the Gods are not given a clean chit. Youngsters claim themselves purer than them. Some stories are really disturbing. If all the ladies claimed as pathivrathas had more than one man in their lives, then why does the code differ now? Why are there absolutely no pathnivrathas?

  All Indians (Hindusthanis) are only Hindus. Unfortunately many of them have been misled and converted into other religions in the name of equal status. The extreme bias towards lower castes on the ruthless injustice has led them to such conversions. Yet we as Hindus are not ready to give up casteism. Not only Hindus women from other religions are also abandoning these so called religious symbols which are actually impositions of Male Chauvinists for their own mean intentions. Women have been compelled to follow some unexplained rules and subdued in the name of religion. If there are rules let them be for both genders. God has given life to both genders. Please let each one live with their own freedom and preferences. At least make these symbols as tokens of revere so that women may give it a thought. 
 It needs to bring about a strong revolution regarding all these matters. It is time for many radical changes. Ultimately it is Life. Irrespective of gender we are all Human beings. It has been ages since when Men have Lived and women have merely existed only for their well being. Please let women also live like human beings and have their own preferences and freedom. All these symbols and decorations hardly matter. It is true Love, Affection, Concern and above all the Respect we have for each other's lives. Let us celebrate Humanity and live in equal esteem.   


Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Alka Ajith in Airtel Super Singer

My blog entry after more than an year - This is my way of showing appreciation to Alka Ajith's performance in super Singer junior - 2010

One of the very rare performances and what a blessed girl she is! It will be too long before we see another performance like this. Immediately after a few lines of singing itself, I told my family 'See, she is going to get a standing ovation at the end of the song' but it was sooner than I expected. People just couldn't wait till the end to give her a standing ovation. It is just not the singing - just from the beginning itself, we can see a sort of divine presence there, as if
the Singara velan Himself was pulled down from the heaven by Alka!. I don't know whether there was anybody in the auditorium who could control their emotions that evening. What a natural show of appreciation by singers Srini, Mano and others! Also, the tough and grim looking James Vasanthan as usual - maybe he would have been all smiles had it been a Jesus song. What a show of innocence by her without an iota of ego for having delivered such a brilliant performance! I had never sent any SMS in my life for these kind of TV shows and for the first time I sent 3 SMS for her from 3 mobiles immediately. I wish she does not get big on her head while get going up and up in the ladder - let her innocence be not lost whatever materialistic wealth and fame comes to her in life.

Nobody can beat our divine music!!

I am personally attached to this song because of a childhood incident. We had a very talented and sincere man in the name of Sadhasivam working in our house and he had a gerat affection to me. When I was about 7-8 years, he took me in his cycle from my house at Papanasam (Tanjore dist) to a movie thatre at Uthani for the movie 'Konjum Salangai, about 6-7 kms from Papanasam, brought me back to my house after the movie and then returned to his house. A distance of around 20 kms of cycling just to take me to the movie. Sadly, he committed suicide within a few months. So whenever I hear this song, I am daunted by the lingering memories of our beloved Sadhasivam and the way Alka sang that day, I was stirred totally.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Where are we heading to?

After Sri Kamaraj's fantastic rule, where are we today after 40 years of rule by these Dravidian parties and the caste based reservation system? Recently a temple trustee (a Dravidian) very sadly said to me "3 generations of Tamilnadu have been spoiled by these parties". Let's see....

Govt offices

I went to the LIC office of Adayar branch last year. From the reception hall I just glanced around and I saw portraits of Dr.Ambedhkar and posters of some specific union all through.. everywhere... I tried to locate a single Gandhi photo but believe me, I could not! If some unions want to portray Dr.Ambedhkar, why not do it very well within their union office? why in a common office space where the customers come and go? Later after a few days, when a LIC agent friend of mine called me up for a policy, I told her about what I saw in the Adayar office and asked her to go to the people portraying Dr.Ambedhkars and not come to me.

That's the state of Govt office system of Tamilnadu...

Educational System

I attended the parents-teachers meeting of my son a few months back (he is in 11th State board now). He was with CBSE till 10th std and I switched him over to a State board school for 11th. The Principal of the scholl told very clearly, publicly, in her address to all parents "If you are in CBSE, the quality of teachers is high enough that students can write on their own words in the exams but in State board this is not the case. The quality of the teachers evaluating the papers is so very bad that we don't encourage students to write in their own words. We ask the students to mug up and write in the same words as given in the books. That's why the State board exam system (12th) is slowly going towards objective type questions. For 12th Std Computer Science, 75 marks out of 200 are objective type questions where only some dumb idiots (like computer) are sufficient to valuate the answers". In CBSE, my son never considers English as an exam at all. I hardly seen him studying for English (even for 10th board exam) but in State board, he was struggling like mad for English exams especially in the initial few months.

That's the state of Educational system of Tamilnadu..

Medical field

With all the reservation systems we know the quality of doctors. The state head, Mr.MK, had brought doctors from AIIMS for his treatment in a private hospital. Why not Royapettah Govt hospital? Why not some Govt Doctors who had come through the reservation system? That would have motivated more people to speak for social justice, is it not?

That's the state of the Medical system of Tamilnadu...

Judicial System

There is no need to talk much about this now. The lawyers and the law students conducted themselves to speak for themselves. Now The Law colleges have become political centers of some specific castes. When the whole Tamilnadu excepting a few politicians was silent on Srilankan issue (we had our own issues to fight for like the recession, job insecurity, price rise etc.,) as their internal issue, how come only one sector - the lawyers - jumped up and down? Are our lawyers are so compassionate, so loving, so caring to come in support of the Tamils by heart? The guys who defend terrorists and well known criminals shed tears for Srilankan Tamils! The same guys may even argue for Singalese against Tamils, if there is a chance/ money!

I read that the hero of the event, Mr.Rajinikanth (a lawyer who threw eggs on Swamy in the court hall itself in front of the judge) has so many pending cases against him right from his Law college days - such an elite background. Is there any lawyer/ judge having guts to speak against him? They didn't attend the court for 2 full weeks and Mr MK announced that he will go for hunger strike (he thinks he is a Gandhi - what a disgrace to Gandhi's fastings!) and I don't know what happened to his announcement then.. It was an unprecedented law and order breaking up which the country had never witnessed in its 60 years of independence.

There was a lawyers' rally yesterday in chennai. I have not seen it but I thought they should have brought that hero Mr.Rajinikanth (lawyer) in a decorated chariot for bringing total grace to the lawyers!

The country had seen one Rajiv Gandhi for IT revolution; it had seen one Narasimha Rao and one Manmohan singh for economic reforms but when is the time it sees a man for Legal reforms?

As an urgent requirement, there should be a system wherein
a) for a crime committed by Politician, Judicial and Police personnel the punishment should be double/ triple that of a common man.
b) for the the same crime repeated again (for anybody), the punishment should be double. For the first theft, if it is 1 year, for the second it should be 2 years, for the 3rd, it should be 4 years and so on..
I saw a scene in a movie recently. After doing one murder, one person was luring another person to do another murder by saying "whether you do one murder or 10 murders, it is the same punishment, so let's do this also.."

That's the state of the hopeless judicial system working for us...

Police

I don't have to say anything on this. When was this system good enough to become bad now? It maintains its heritage..

That's the state of the law and order system of Tamilnadu..

Religious

The head of the state, MK, is spitting so much venom against Hindus - the majority people of the country/ state just because there is no vote bank for Hindus but thinks he gets the vote bank of minorities by doing all these. More and more temples are being taken over as if the existing temples are being maintained wonderfully! So many ancient temples are not even open to devotees or see only one kala pooja simply because of the insufficient no of priests whereas the collections from the temples are going to other religions as well. Leave alone the tens of thousands of ancient temples of Tamilnadu, even the 275 Thevara padal petra stlamas and the 108 divya desams are not being renovated/ maintained properly.
M.K.Stalin with family is going and falling at the feet of Saibaba with the full consent of his father but when others of his party put kumkum on their forehead it is a sin, it is being ridiculed!

That's the state of the Religious System of Tamilnadu...


This (back)boneless Govt is taking care of us (the head of the state is having a real backbone problem and undergoing treatment, hope we will be protected properly after his backbone recovery).

Where are we heading to?

இறைவா... உன்னால் மட்டுமே எங்களைக் காப்பாற்ற முடியும் (God.. you only can save us).

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Azhagi - THE product for Tamil typing

I have been a Blogger since nearly 2 years and had been searching for some products to type Tamil in unicode. Many friends recommended many products but none gave me what I wanted.
I finally stumbled upon this product:
http://azhagi.com/free.html
and my previous post was my first attempt on Tamil.
In one word, it is "awesome" and it's a simple application of common sense. Most of the successes are achieved simply by applying "common sense" and not any complicated/management school thinkings.