Pale face.

Let us face it , colour consciousness exists rampantly in our society.

It starts from the time of birth . The first question on every body's lips is 'what is the colour of the baby ? Is it white or black?' [segapppa karuppa?]

Of 5 siblings , 3 of us were born with light skin whilst the other two ,in a darker hue. They had to carry the stigma of being a darky [karauppu] all their lives. I have seen that in most families that take pride in their white skin ,a dark skinned person invariably pops up like the proverbial bad penny in every generation.
When I was studying Law in Law faculty at Delhi my classmates would enquire whether I was a Bengali or a Marathi and when I replied that I was a Tamilian , they were surprised and would invariably comment ''with your fair skin and light eyes ,how can you be a Tamilian . Aern't they all darkies?''I had no reply as most of my growing years was away from T.N.

When I finally landed in Chennai to settle down , I found some substance in their observation ,since most of the population is a shade darker than I am . And I did stick out like a sore thumb. In course of time I have come to know of the degrees of skin tone here--- light brown ,brown , dark brown and black.

I have nothing to cheer about my light skin because up North I have come across Punjabi girls who were white as milk. Their dazzling colour gave me a scare and made me feel so small that I wanted to erase myself like a smudge of chalk. Then I happened to come across some European women. They were so white that I could see the blood coursing in their veins, their hair as shining as if spun from gold, and eyes as blue as the sea.Some had copper coloured hair and others red or brown . Some had green eyes and other's purple !

Nature is truly kind to people belonging to Europe ,painting them with ,enviable gorgeous colours. Those Punjabi girls looked dark and drab besides them!

Our tabulations and scale of colouring between North , South , East ,West and upper and lower caste within our country, is laughable!

From dark brown of Kanyakumari to the light skin of Kashmiri's , we are all the 'brown brigade,' with a liberal sprinkling of dusky skins, in the eyes of exquisitely coloured westerners.

I often console myself at this unfair tarnishing by mother nature with the Red Indians description of early European and English settlers as 'Pale face';that black and brown colour shows vigour whilst white displays an anemic pallor!

PS: The current, charming and dashing coffee brown anchors of CNN outshine their white [pale] counterparts!

Animal like!

An artist of British India has captured in exact replica the facial features of animals in men and has sketched their portraits tabulating them as Goat men , Horse men ,Camel men and so on !

I found these drawings very innovative and amusing when I visited the Saraswati mahal the library of last Maratha ruler of Thanjavur ,Sarfroji a great patron of art and literature in the earlypart of 19 th century, where they were housed .

The Vishnu purana , a religious Hindu text, reciting the avatars of Vishnu, written as early as the later Vedic period roughly in 800BC has categorised people's nature that bear similarity with animal nature and mannerisms and advises us to avoid their company!

They are, the cat like people who don the coat of a renunciate to be fool the mice , pounce on it and eat it . These are the persons who wear the symbols of traditions outwardly , but commit sins in secret. They are called 'Paidalavratis'.

Then there are the stork like people who appear as innocent and meditative as a stork standing on its one leg , only waiting for the opportune moment to snatch the fish.Such people harm a person when they get a chance. They are known as 'Bakavritti'.

The other two types of people, one is advised to stay away from are----
''
One who speaks sweetly but passes nasty comments at the back. They are the 'Satta's' .

And the other ,who creates a doubt in the mind of people engaged in good works . They are the 'Haithaku's'.

The Purana says ''Don't you entertain such persons even with words lest harm befalls you''.

Comments.

I have recently taken to reading blogs of leading journalists .Due to my lack of familiarity with the Internet I was unaware of their existence till recent times.Some posts are good and the comments they seem to elicit from viewers , mostly young I presume ,are even better! Some comments are so amusing that I have made a small compilation.

An authoress known for her salacious writings ,posted her views regarding caning school children. She made me cluck my tongue in sympathy at her revelation of the caning she received as a child and how she covered her welts lest her parents see them .The following pithy comment to her candid revelation of a troubled child hood dispelled my mortifications .
'' Thank you for admitting you were caned as a school girl . I always tried to speculate , unsuccessfully , the possible reason behind your intellectual short comings''!

A pretty lady, if the picture on her blog is really hers,has made a passionate appeal to rid our roads of rubbish and plastic waste's . The following comment is equally passionate--
'' What a waste that a beautiful girl like you is writing about waste .....please come with me to a disco !''

An journo writing on the recent judgement delivered on Bhopal gas tragedy has recommended kicking Barrack Obama !I fail to see the connection ,Obama must have been running around in half pants attending primary school when this tragedy took place , so does the following commentator------
''Sir , what is your problem . Were you deported from the U.S for immigration violations?What blame should be attributed to Obama or any other president ,everytime something goes wrong in this country?''

Golden Age.

I see a lot of construction workers from Bihar, singly or in families employed in erecting structures , buildings all over Tnagar.I gather from the media that the labour of hundreds of Bihari's was used to construct the new legislative assembly of T.N.

In ancient India Patliputra or Patna on the banks of the perennial river Ganges was the much coveted seats of emperors like Chandragupta Maurya,Ashoka and Gupta's ,whose writ spanned the entire sub continent.

The only golden age of India in historical times was under the enlightened rule of the Gupta dynasty. They held sway over entire Bharat as well as in several far eastern countries!They had ushered in an era of peace and prosperity.Art and literature also reached its zenith during their time!They had thus conquered Bharat and far flung S.east Asian countries physically and culturally.

The prime position that Magadha or Bihar once held in this country has slipped into oblivion .

Tamil nadu is a dry place . Its rivers are not perennial . Yet its skilled and unskilled labourers don't migrate to other states in India to eke a living or for greener pastures . They prefer the U.S,Arab countries , Singapore etc.My dhobhi at Porur took a flight to Malaysia lured by higher wages for pressing clothes!

When I see these ill nourished men selling their labour cheaply and meekly I can't but chide at the unfathomable petulance of the pendulum.

A son remembers.

How easily we take for granted our mother and her role in our life.But a young man brimming with knowledge and wisdom and who had virtually renounced the world had not!

The following five poems [mathru panchagam] came pouring out of the renowned sanyasi Adhi Shankara at the time of the demise of his mother Aryamba.Translated from Sanskrit it unfolds as follows.

Oh mother mine,
With clenched teeth bore thou the excruciating pain
When I was born to you,
Shared thou bed made dirty by me for an year'
And thine body became thin and painful,
During those nine months you bore me,
For all these in return,
Oh mother dearest,
I ,can never compensate ,
Even by becoming great!

Clad in a dress of a sanyasin,
You saw me in my teachers school
in your dream. And wept , and rushed thither.
Smothered , embraced and caressed me , oh mother mine,
And all the teachers and students wept with you,
What could I do ,
Except falling at your feet,
And offering my salutations.

Oh, mother mine ,
Crying thou shouted in pain ,
During thy hard labour,
'' Oh mother, Oh father,
Oh god Shiva,
Oh lord Krishna,
Oh lord of all Govinda,
Oh Hari and oh god Mukunda''
But in return
Oh mother dearest
I can give you, but humble prostrations.

Neither did I give you water at thine time of death
Neither did I offer oblations to thee to help thine journey of death,
And neither did I chant the name Rama in thine ear,
Oh mother supreme , pardon me for those lapses of compassion
For I have arrived here late to those.

And the final ode runs thus---

Mukhaa manishvam, nayammamethi
Rajeti jeevathi chirum stutha thwam'
Ithyuktha vathya vaachi mathaa,
Dadamyaham thandulamesh shulkam !

long live
Oh pearl of mine,
Oh jewel of mine ,
Oh my dearest eyes,
Oh mine prince dearest,
And oh my soul of soul,
Sang thou to me ,
But in return of that all
Oh my mother dearest,
I give you but dry rice in your mouth.

Momentary.

Some grace the park,to stomp around vigorously ,to peal off their fat,
Others grace the park ,to stretch out on granite slabs and dream about a meal that is nowhere in sight!

Some grace the park to clinch a deal ,
Others grace the park to heal their inner weals!

Some grace the park to drown themselves in each others eyes,
Others grace the park to drown their sorrows by wiping each others eyes!

Everything is momentary ,that it is so scary,
One has always to be wary and that is so weary.

Gold plating.

Parks all over Chennai are renovated at great costs. Fly overs are criss crossing each other ,so madly and rapidly in the air,that this city is acquiring a Westernised sheen!

I generally walk with my head held high,drinking in the beauty of parks,the greenish blue tinted glass fronted offices ,and the fish shaped cars soundlessly slipping by.But I also have to look down once in a while and Ugh, I can't bear to see the garbage piles.

Is the gold plating of this city any use ,when 'refuse' is lavishly coating each and every road?

Why can't Onyx be roped in again ?They did a conscientiously wonderful job of keeping this city clean. Ofcourse quality comes with a price but the spin offs could definitely be nice !

Ram Ram!

In this land of Rama, instead of chanting Rama's name the media[visual] is making millions chant other names.
Last month the name on everyone's lips was Kasav . This month it is Anderson.Whose ,could it be next ?

Ram Ram !,

Cycle.

The memory of the first stirrings in my womb and the memory of the abrupt ending ,is a tragedy that is difficult to overcome . I derive a solace of sorts from the following observations of sage Shankara.

Uncertain is the life of man ,
As rain drops on a lotus leaf,
The whole mankind is prey ,
To grief , ego and disease.

The philosophy I held on to all my life 'you reap what you sow' received a terrific jolt .I can't believe that my actions were so vile that it needed such a castigation.The following suggestions of that young man reiterating the basic tenets of Hindu philosophy 'karma',eases my remorse.

Renounce , O fool ,your ceaseless thirst
For hoarding gold and precious gems;
Content yourself with what may come
Through deeds performed in earlier lives.



And the following Sanskrit verses spun by him , has encapsulated in a nutshell the Hindu belief since time immemorial.

Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam
Punarapi janani -jathare sayanam
Iha samsare bahu dustare
Kripaya pare pahi murare.

Born again and again!
Dying over and over again!
And getting into a mother's womb over and over again!
It is indeed difficult to cross this ocean of repeated life and death,
O ,Murare, please help me through your mercy!

Bhaja Govindam,bhaja govindam
Bhaja Govindam mudhmate!

Worship Govinda,worship Govinda,
Worship Govinda, foolish one!

Since I have had my fill of this cycle of life ,a sensible way out, is simply ,to take his advise --

Geyam gitanama-sahasram
Dheyam sripatirupa-majasaram
Neyam sajjana sange cittam
Deyam dina janaya ca vittam.

Sing the Gita, and the 1000 names of God
Always meditate on the form of Lakshmi's lord[Vishnu]
Turn the mind to the company of the good
Distribute your wealth to the poor and those in need.

Bhaja govindam, baja govindam
Bhaja govindam mudhamate !

Worship Govinda,worship Govinda!
Worship Govinda, foolish one!

Civilisation.

In my younger days I was bemused by photographs of scantily clad tribal people ,holding prehistoric weapons ,in weeklies and wondered how such an anachronism, existed in a modern India.And was full of praises for those who had striven, to integrate them in to the mainstream of Indian population .I marvelled at the sacrifices willingly undertaken by men prompted either by religion or ideology , to shrug off the comforts of civilisation and lead a tough and ascetic life in god forsaken places --thick jungles infested with wild animals and bugs and persuade the people living in primitive conditions to shed their half naked ways , communal drinking and dancing and replacing their spears and arrows with pens and guns.

Then I read a article written by an Englishman questioning the wisdom behind civilising tribal and indigenous people. He wrote ,the life they are leading is from time immemorial and their worship and customs centre's around forests , trees ,and animals, the mainstay of their sustenance.When they are not intruding into our lives ,why should we ?Won't our attempts at civilisation wipe away in one stroke a way of life crafted in tens of thousands of years ?

This view got me thinking and I refrained from deriding or looking down upon the unusual customs of others since then .

Our attempts at civilisation is more or less attempts in suffocating a way of life . Some what like the the bit of alien moss introduced for quick commercial profits along the Southern coast ofBay of Bengal that has become a hydra headed monster suffocating the growth of coral reefs in the sea.Whilst coral reefs take 10,000 years to grow an inch , are a rich source of food to fish and also protect the shore by absorbing waves , this moss not homegrown ,is capable of spreading rapidly over the reefs and suffocating it to death in a matter of few years.

Similarly a beautiful but venomous King fish that was procured from Indonesia to be reared as ornamental pets in fish tanks in coastal U.S have found their way to the Atlantic ocean and having no predators have wiped out the sea clean of grazing fish by devouring them all .These grazing fish ventilate the coral reef's by nibbling away the moss growing on them .This has led to choking of the reefs that has affected commercial fishing and the scientists are tugging at their beards in finding a solution in the past few years to save the reef of this scrounge .

An Finnish Nobel prize winner has written a beautiful short story ,where in two fugitives from law , one an uncouth boy from a fishing village and another a civilised well off land lord take shelter in a cave amidst dense forest, together. The boy adores and admires the man . But the man is disgusted at the boys untamed ways and his stupidity in accepting the crime of his father as his own . The man is proud of himself ,his upbringing and his courage in felling his tormentor ,though in a fit of jealousy.

They spend several years escaping the law , by running and hiding in the ridges, ledges ,crannies and crevices and tree tops in the forest , which they have come to know as the back of their hands.

One day the man falls ill and the boy nurses him back to health.Overcome by gratitude at the selfless service the man starts civilising the lad .

Several weeks later ,as the man is idling in the hideout ,the boy comes running helter skelter ,shouting at his master to hurry and escape as the villagers were hot on their pursuit and were but few yards away and runs away into the forest yelling that since the man taught him right from wrong,the meaning of sin ,he had to inform the villagers of his where abouts! The man was caught and dragged to the scaffold ! The boy escaped .

The perils of civilising !

Bharat darshan

Apart from the colossal congregation of millions of Hindu's at KumbhMela's to take dip,in the holy water of Ganges on pre ascertained auspicious days ,to cleanse oneself of the accumulated karmas , there are several other pilgrimages under taken as well in Bharat.

The mandated Kasi yatra followed through the ages is the most important pilgrimage of Hindu's. It is so deeply embedded in the phyche of every Hindu that a dip in the sacred waters of Ganges at Kasi that,it is sure to be performed by a Hindu in his lifetime ,at least once.

When I visit temples down South I see bus load of people as far away as Rajasthan, camping near rivers bathing in the waters,cooking food in huge cauldrons on road sides and drying their clothes on their stationery buses .They have travelled 1000' s of miles to visit temples .I see them rush in groups after groups to have darshan of Vishnu and Siva in all major temple towns . In all probability they have visited all temples in all the states,they traversed on their way!

I also see men in dressed in black , barefooted and wearing beads, hire vans and buses and criss cross the entire South,visiting all temples and then finally wind it by visiting Sabarimala. They are so numerous that getting darshan at Tirupati in those winter days becomes a jostling bout. However their religious fervour and their full throated 'Govinda, Govinda,Govinda' rending the air,is stirring and enhances the spiritual atmosphere.

I am astounded to see Lambadi's at major temples .The tribal's belonging to A.P .The women folk in their gorgeous mirror worked lehanga's and hands packed from wrist to the elbow with bangles and glistening in chunky jewelleries are a unique blurr of colour.Few decades back they were confined to their remote villages.Now when I land in Tirupati station on my way to Tirumala ,I see a sea of Lambadi's disembarking from trains and surging ahead eagerly to take a bus to Srinivasa temple at Tirumala. I have at several times been pushed and carried along by them to the inner sanctum sanctorium!

Of late there are middle class senior citizens group making the temple circuits in groups of 10 and 20 's. The vaishanavite groups visit all the Vishnu temples India and Nepal [even the remotest ]by train ,air ,vans cars and even by helicopters!Middle class Saivaites undertake the arduous Amarnath and Kailash yatra's in groups.

Indians settled in South east Asian countries like Malaysia ,Singapore,and others for generations , also snatch time and visit all the holy places in India. I came across several such couples, families paying obeisance in obscure but ancient temples in remote villages in Tamilnadu.

Owing to increasing economic prosperity lower and middle class Indians are on a religious touring spree ,all through the year in all age groups!

Life in one's grip.

An writer and philosopher had observed that every one thinks that their sorrow ,grief and misery is the worst experience in this whole world,unrivalled and unparalleled, but in reality there is always some one to be found who has under gone an even worse fate!

If so ,the following verses that seems to have uncannily anticipated my predicament 2500 years back, by Krishna or Govinda as spoken in the Gita ,that helped me ,may help others when they see their carefully built life, slip away .

Nityam kuru karma tvam
karma jyayo hy akarmanah
sarira-yatra pi ca te
na prasiddhyed akramanah

Perform your prescribed duties . For action is better than inaction . If your totally inactive ,even the survival of the body would become impossible.

Na me Partha sti kartavyam
trisu lokesu kincana
n anavaptam avaptvyam
varta eva ca karmani

In all the three worlds there is nothing , that is binding on Me as duty . Neither is there anything that I have to gain nor any thing that I cannot gain . Still I am always engaged in work!

Utsideyur ime loka
na kuryam karma ced aham
samkarasya ca karta syam
upahanyam imah prajah .

If I were not to work , all these worlds would have perished . I would have been the cause of confusion among men and of their ultimate destruction.

Karman aiva hi samsiddhim
asthita Janakadayah
loka -samgraham eva pi
sampasyan kartum arhasi .

Janaka and others attained perfection[ Moksha] only through the performance of duties .Looking ever to the welfare of the society , you should work.

Prakteh kriyamanani
gunaih karmani sarvash
ahamkara-vimudh atma
karta ham iti manyate.

Our acts are all determined by the propensities of our nature. But deluded by egoism , the soul thinks , 'I am the doer' !

Na to evaham jatu nasam
Na tuam neme janadhipah
Na caiva na bhavisyamah
Sarve vayum atah param .

Never was there a time when I did not exist , nor you , nor all these people nor in future shall any of us cease to be !

Every one's individuality[atma] existed in the past and will continue in future without interruption . There fore , there is no cause for lamentation.

The Ramayana says--By chanting or repeating 'Rama' we can dilute or even escape the bad consequences of our actions.

I'll conclude with these reassuring words of Govinda.

Tasmat sarvesu kalesu mam anusmara
yudya ca
Mayy arpito -mano -buddhir mam evaisyasy
asamsayah.

You should always think of me and at same time continue your prescribed duty . You will attain Me without doubt!

Jathi prashtam.

'Honour killing' is an alien concept to Indian civilisation.

'Gotra' which is the bone of contention with some of the rampaging rustics in recent days ,has lost its relevance owing to the phenomenal population explosion witnessed in our country in the past century.

Hindu's are directed to trace and remember their forefathers only up to 7 degrees of ascendancy, by ancient law givers ,of this land.Beyond that limit the filial ties snap .If an Hindu ,who is bound by orthodoxy and tradition ,can trace the relationship in the family tree encompassing seven generations of patrilinial lineage then he 'may be' justified in frowning upon the sagotra marriage as incest.
If he fails to establish the relationship then he can't rely upon Sagotra as a prohibition for a valid Hindu marriage.

In my study of ancient Indian history I have'nt come across a single reference to honour killing and it was never cited as a part of Hindu traditions.

Ancient Hindu society recognised two types of inter caste [love ] marriages.They were Anuloma and Prathiloma.When a male married beneath his caste it was known as Anuloma marriage.Though this marriage was not cheered it was generally accepted.When a woman married beneath her caste it was known as Prathiloma marriage . This marriage was frowned upon . But it didn't invite wrath in form of death.

The maximum punishment meted to those straying from rigid caste and gotra rules was 'Jati prashtam ' or descaling of one's caste and being treated as out castes.

This sort of social ostracization still exists in middle and lower classes .However over a period of time reconciliations are generally made ,the advent of a grand children smoothening frayed tempers.
Honour killing was never a part of Hinduism and Bharat's way of life. It is a imported notion alien to our benevolent and flexible culture. An culture that is known for its tolerance and takes pride in using its brain and not brawn!