அரசனா ? தெய்வமா ?

அரசன் அன்று கொல்வான்
தெய்வம் நின்று கொல்லும்

பல்லாயிரம் தமிழர்கள் படுகொலை
கொன்றது
அரசனா ? தெய்வமா ?

Who Are you?

Soul Searching

After exploring the deepest and farthest expansion of my soul
After relentless retrospection and introspection
After countless hours of counting sheep
I have distilled all my internal conflicts
Am I a manly Muppet or
a Muppet of a man?


* Thanks to the song I heard in BBC Radio 2 today for helping me distill.

"What Is The Golf Swing," by Roy McAvoy

I never used to like golf. I shared Molly’s (Roy McAvoy's love intrest in the movie Tin Cup) view about golf.

You know, this is without a doubt the stupidest, silliest...most idiotic, grotesquely masquerading game ever invented.

But then, due to some persistent encouragement from my cousin Prabhu and my colleagues at SITA, I am now hooked on~to golf. I watched Tin Cup recently, where Roy McAvoy explains the golf swing.

Here it goes…

Well, I tend to think of the golf swing as a poem.

The critical opening phrase of this poem will always be the grip. The hands unite to form a single unit by the simple overlap of the little finger.

Lowly and slowly, the clubhead is led back, pulled into position not by the hands, but by the body, which turns away from the target, shifting weight to the right side without shifting balance.

Tempo is everything; perfection unobtainable as the body coils down at the top of the swing. There's a slight hesitation. A little nod to the gods...

Yeah, to the gods. That he is fallible. That perfection is unobtainable. And now the weight begins shifting back to the left pulled by the powers inside the earth, it's alive, this swing!

A living sculpture and down through contact, always down, striking the ball crisply, with character.

A tuning fork goes off in your loins.

Such a pure feeling is the well-struck golf shot.

Now, don’t rush into thinking that I have mastered the game, and have a very low handicap; on the contrary I have mastered the art of playing most frustrating rounds of golf. Without exception, every round of 18 holes I have played, I have scored centuries (on a par 62 course).

You might ask, why do you subject yourself to this sort of frustration, but then Roy McAvoy answers that question too.

Yes ma'am and that's why I love it. Now if you hit one good shot, just one, and that tuning fork rings in your loins and you can't wait to get back...and do it again.

Corruption - I cannot bring myself to stone her

I had a thought provoking conversation with my colleague today regarding Anna Hazare and his movement against a weak anti corruption bill.

We both shared a clutching feeling, a tightness in the throat and a feeling of "We must do something" that is ever so familiar to us middle class people.

As we continued our discussion, my colleague came up with some questions that I felt were very pertinent and soul searching.

Summary of our discussion:

We do decide to jump in, and join the agitation and contribute in whatever way that we can, be it fasting till Annaji does and being part of local chapters and help in organising etc, etc. That involves a certain level of commitment in terms of resources and potentially life altering commitments. In that case, do we understand what are we fighting against? Who are we fighting for? Is it worth it?

The What:

We fighting against the system that lets several obviously tainted politicians occupy position of power and enables them to further abuse that power without any sort of accountability associated with their actions.

The Who:

1. People happy to pay couple of thousand bribes to a customs officer to avoid tens of thousands of import duties.

2. People who are willing to pay couple of thousands of rupees to avoid the hassle of filling up a couple of pages of forms, and learning driving, and prove your skills in a driving test etc instead get the drivers license delivered to their homes?

3. People who want to associate themselves with feudal local politicians that gives them flexibility to park in a no-parking zone and argue with the enforcement guys "Do you know who I am?"

4 . People who are willing to pay in Cash and without receipt so that they can avoid sales tax?

5. People who are willing to pay several lakhs in bribes to get good postings, knowing very well that they can earn several times more when they get those "good postings".

6. People who accept free this, free that in exchange for their votes?

The list goes on.......

So is our joining the fight worth it?

Can a Top down approach to control and eliminate corruption work? Or should it be more bottom up?

I think it was Jesus who said, "Those who are without sin, cast the stone on her".

I regretfully admit, I cannot bring myself to stone her.

What I can at the very least do, is promise to myself that I will not resort to bribing, no matter what the consequences may be, and instil this value in my children, and hope and pray that we find more people who have the moral right to cast the stones, and provide them all the support we can.

Jai Hind!

Do!

 

To do?

want to do?

or like to do?

need to do?

or have to do?

should I do?

 

oh sod it mate! just do it!!

oh sod it mate! just do it!!

 

would love to do,

should have done,

or should not have done,

need not have done,

or might have done,

get it done,

 

oh sod it mate! just do it!!

oh sod it mate! just do it!!

நான் வருவேன்

நான் வருவேன்

சுவற்றிலிட்ட பந்தாய்

நான் வளர்வேன்

பாறைக்குள் வேராய்!

 

கார்மேகம் சூழ்ந்தாலும்

காரிருள் சூழ்ந்தாலும்

பெருங்கடல் கொள்ளவந்தலும்

என்னுயிர் கொண்ட வெப்பத்தால்

என்மதியின் நுட்பத்தால்

என்னிறைவன் இணக்கத்தால்

புயல் மழையாய்

பேரொளியாய்

மிதக்கும் கத்திக்கப்பலாய்

 

நான் வருவேன் !

நான் வருவேன் !!

சுவற்றிலிட்ட பந்தாய்

நான் வளர்வேன்

பாறைக்குள் வேராய்!

 

தினம் தினம் தேய

நானொன்றும் நிலவில்லை

என் இடம் தட்டிப்பறிக்க

ஒருவன் இங்கில்லை

 

மேடு என்பது

பள்ளத்தின் மறுபக்கம்

தோல்வி என்பது

வெற்றியின் மறுபக்கம்

எதையும் முழுதாய் பார்த்திட

வேண்டும் மன திடம்

 

நான் வருவேன் !

நான் வருவேன் !!

சுவற்றிலிட்ட பந்தாய்

நான் வளர்வேன்

பாறைக்குள் வேராய்!

---------

A friend of mine, Sunil asked me if I can write a poem in Tamil that he can write music for.

I came up with the above poem...wanted to write something from the point of view of the someone who was feeling down and out, and wants to bounce back...kind of a pep talk for self....

Super Star Rajinikanth said after chandramukhi...refereing to "Baba" being flop

 

"நான் யானை இல்ல,

நான் குதிரை, விழுந்தா கூட சும்மா துள்ளி குதிச்சு எந்திருப்பேன்"

That should be the spirit... Read somewhere, its not a big mistake to fall, the big mistake would be to stay fallen!!

The poem is my attempt to encourage the reader to "bounce back"

Why the rain should go away ?

Rain Rain Go Away

Come again Some other

Little Jhonny Wants to play

Rain Rain Go Away

 

Rain Rain Go to Spain

Never Show your face again!

 

I recently read the above nursery rhyme in one of my friends FB status.

The above nursery rhyme outraged me! It sounds wrong at so many levels!!!

 

Why do we want to poison the young mind with such vicious thoughts ?

 

"Never Show your face again!" – Why ? What did the rain do to deserve such contempt ? The poor thing is just doing its job!

 

"Rain Rain Go to Spain" – Why ? As though "Rain troubles me, I don't want it" "Let it go to Spain and let it trouble them, they deserve it!" – Why ? What did Spain do to get your trouble passed on to them ?

Imagine, if Rain does hear you, and decide, what the hell, I shall come another day. When It comes back, I am sure you are going to make the kid sing the same song, and guess what the Rain will go back. If it happens every time the Rain comes anywhere near us, it will finally give up and say, "You know what? I am never gonna come back" – we all die of dehydration and hunger!! Well done guys! You just wiped out life from the face of the earth!!

 

PLEASE think before you teach such mindless songs to the kids.

 

As my one of my cousins once Said – "Raise above your pitiful self, and think about the greater good of us".