தேர்வுகளும் தலையெழுத்தும்..

என்ன செய்வது? என் தலையெழுத்து தினமும் கனவுகள் காண்பது. கனவில் வருவதை உங்களிடம் சொல்லாவிடில் தலை வெடித்து விடும் போலிருக்கிறது.

கீழே எழுதியுள்ள நிகழ்வு முழுதும் கற்பனை. அதுவும் கனவில் வந்த கற்பனைகள். இதில் ஏதாவது உலகத்தில் இருப்பதை பிரதிபலிப்பதை போலிருந்தால், அது முழுக்க முழுக்க தற்செயலே! எனக்கு அதில் பங்கில்லை.

'நாடோடி மன்னன்' திரைப்படத்தை பார்த்திருகிறீர்களா! அதில் புது மன்னன் இட்ட கட்டளைகளை ஒருவர் மக்களுக்கும், பிரபுக்களுக்கும் படித்துக் காட்டுவார். அது போலவே, என் கனவிலும் ஒருவர் படித்துக்காட்டினார். 

"இதனால் அனைவருக்கும் தெரிவிப்பது என்னவென்றால் - நம்முடைய புதிய மன்னர் சில சீர்திருத்தங்களை கொண்டு வர முடிவு செய்துள்ளார். நாட்டின் எதிர்காலத்தை சீர்படுத்தவும், செம்மை படுத்தவும், எதிர்காலத் தூண்களை வலுப்படுத்தவும் (Building Strong, Basement weak என்று இருக்க கூடாதல்லவா) இந்த திருத்தங்கள் உதவும் என்று ஆட்சியாளர்கள் நம்புகிறார்கள். 

இதன்படி,

ஏற்கனவே அறிவித்தது போல், ஒன்று முதல் ஐந்தாம் வகுப்பு குழந்தைகளுக்கு, மன்னிக்கவும், மாணவ மாணவிகளுக்கு தமிழ்நாடு அளவில் பொது தேர்வும், ஆறு முதல் எட்டாம் வகுப்பு மாணவர்களுக்கு இந்திய அளவில் பொது தேர்வும், ஒன்பது மற்றும் பத்தாம் வகுப்பு மாணவர்களுக்கு ஆசிய அளவில் பொது தேர்வும், பதினொன்று மற்றும் பனிரெண்டாம் வகுப்பு மாணவர்களுக்கு அகில உலக அளவில் பொது தேர்வும் நடத்தப்படும். இப்படி செய்தால்தான் நம் நாட்டு மாணவர்களுக்கு அறிவு வரும் (மன்னிக்கவும்) வளரும் என்று நமது கல்வியாளர்கள் உறுதிபட, தலையில் அடித்து சத்தியம் செய்வதினால் இந்த முடிவு எடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. அதே கல்வியாளர்கள் தனியே பயிற்சி வகுப்புகள் எடுப்பதினால், இந்த முடிவின் மூலம் பொருளாதாரமும் வளரும் என்பது அவர்களின் கருத்து.

(கூட்டத்தில் யாரோ ஒருவன், ' அப்போது கல்லூரிக்கு' என்று கத்த அறிவிப்பாளன். 'யாரடா அவன்? அறிவுகெட்ட பயல். இத்தனை தடைகளை தாண்டுவது மனித சாத்தியமா? அதனால், கல்லூரி படிப்பு முழுதும் பணம் கொடுத்து சேர்ந்து கொள்ளும் வகையில் மாறிவிடும்.)

நிற்க.

"இந்த சீர்திருத்தங்களை மேலும் விரிவுபடுத்த முடிவு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது. "

"இனிமேல் அரசு பணிகளும் தேர்வுக்குள் தள்ளிவிடப்படும். அரசு பணியில் சேர்வது மட்டுமல்லாமல், சேர்ந்த பின்னும், தேர்வுகள் நடத்தப்படும்."(கூட்டத்தில் சலசலப்பு ஏற்பட்டது). 

"அதாவது, குறிப்பிட்ட கால இடைவெளியிலோ அல்லது ஒரு பணி முடிந்தவுடனோ அவருக்கு ஒரு தேர்வு நடத்தப்படும். உதாரணத்திற்கு, காவலதிகாரி ஒரு வழக்கை திறம்படி முடித்தவுடன் பாராட்டு சான்றிதழ் வலது கையிலும், தேர்வுக்கான நுழைவுச் சீட்டு இடது கையிலும் வழங்கப்படும். உலகத் தரத்தில் அவர் எங்கிருக்கிறார் என்பதிற்கான புரிதலாக அது கருதப்படும். அதே சமயத்தில் அவர் வழக்கை கையாள்வதற்காகவும், நீதிக்காக பட்ட அனைத்து துன்பங்களும் (கஷ்டங்களும்) மறக்கப்படும். தேர்வில் அவர் எடுக்கும் மதிப்பெண்களே அவரின் எதிர் காலத்தை நிர்ணயிக்கும்." 

"இதே போன்று நீதியரசர்களும், அரசு மருத்துவர்களும், அரசின் மற்ற எல்லா முக்கியத் துறையினரும் தேர்வுகளுக்கு உள்ளாவர்."

"நீதியரசர் வழக்கிற்கு தீர்ப்பு வழங்கியவுடன் ஒரு தேர்வு நடத்தப்படும். மருத்துவர் ஒரு உயிரைக் காப்பாற்றிய பின்னும் ஒரு தேர்வு நடத்தப்படும்."

"ஆனால் அறிவுபூர்வமான சிந்தனையாக, ஒரு முடிவு எடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இவர்களுக்கு செயல் முறை தேர்வு நடத்தப்படாது. நீங்களே யோசியுங்கள் - மருத்துவருக்கு செயல் முறை தேர்வு வைத்தால், அவர் மறுபடியும் அதே நோயாளியைப் பிடித்து மற்றுமொருமுறை அறுவை சிகிச்சை செய்யவேண்டும். அதனால், அரசு ஊழியர்களுக்கு செயல்முறை தேர்வு இருக்காது என்பதை கருணையுடன் அறிவிக்கிறோம்."

"உலகத்தர உயர்த்தலுக்கு சில விதிவிலக்கல்களும் உண்டு. முதற்கண், கல்வியாளர்கள். இவர்கள்தான் இந்த உலகத்தர 'புத்துணர்ச்சியூட்டலுக்கு 'உரிமையாளர்கள். இவர்களே இவர்களுக்கான கேள்வித்தாளை தயார் செய்து, இவர்களே அக்கேள்விகளுக்கும் பதிலளித்தால், ஏதாவதொரு நூற்றாண்டில் அது தவறாக கருதப்படுமென்பதால் அவர்களுக்கு தேர்வுகள் கிடையாது. கல்வியாளர்கள் தற்போது இருக்கும் அறிவுடனேயே இருக்கக்கடவர்."

"இரண்டாவதாக அரசியல்வாதிகளுக்கு விலக்கு அளிக்கப்படுகிறது. அவர்களுக்கு எந்த தரம்வாய்ந்த (அல்லது தரம் கெட்ட) அளவில் தொடங்குவது என்பது புரியாத புதிராகவும், கல்வியாளர்களையே யோசிக்க வைப்பதினாலும், தற்போதைக்கு விலக்கு அளிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது." 

"இந்த வரலாற்றுச் சிறப்பு மிக்க முடிவுகளினால் நம்முடைய வருங்காலத் தூண்கள் (அதாவது குழந்தைகள்) உலகத் தரம் வாய்ந்த தூண்களாய், எங்கேயும் நகராமல், எதையும் சிந்திக்காமல்,  யாரையோ சுமந்து கொண்டிருக்கும் கற்தூண்களாய் நிற்பர் என்பதை மகிழ்ச்சியுடன் தெரிவித்துக்கொள்கிறோம்."

"இத்துடன் இக்கனவு முடிகிறது."

அவன் சொன்னால் என் கனவு முடிந்து விடுமா? அது தொடர்ந்தது. ஒரு பச்சிளம் குழந்தையின் அழுகுரல் கேட்டேன். தொட்டிலின் அருகே சென்று பார்த்தால்... அந்தக் குழந்தை நான்தான்!!

இங்கேதான் என் கனவு நிறைவு பெற்றது.

திடுக்கிட்டு எழுந்தேன். உடல் முழுதும் வேர்த்துக் கொட்டியது. சில வினாடிகளுக்கு ஒன்றும் புரியவில்லை. மனம் வேதனையில் துடித்தது. நரகம் என்பார்களே, அது இந்த வேதனைதானோ!

மெதுவாக தன்னிலைக்கு வந்தேன். இதயம் ஆறுதல் சொன்னது. நீ அப்பருவத்தைக் கடந்துவிட்டாய். உனக்கில்லை இனி அந்த வேதனை!

ஆனால் என் கனவு போலவே நடந்து விட்டால்... கடவுளே! உன்னை விட்டால் யாருமில்லை அந்தத் தளிர்களை காப்பாற்ற...

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ரா. பாரத்ராம்
21/11/2019 

பேச்சுத்தமிழும் எழுத்துத்தமிழும்...

நீண்ட நாட்களுக்குப் பிறகு என் நண்பன் ஒருவனை சந்திக்க நேரிட்டது. அவன் இந்த வலைப்பதிவின் சில கதைகளை படித்ததாக சொல்லி என்னை பாராட்டினான். பிரியும் நேரத்தில் அவன் என்னிடம் கதைகளை எழுதும்போது வட்டார மொழியில் (Colloquial Language) எழுதுமாறு அறிவுரை கூறிவிட்டு சென்றான்.

நல்ல அறிவுரைதான்; அதை நான் குறை சொல்ல முடியாது. ஆனால் எனக்குள் எழுந்த எண்ணம் என்னவென்றால் - ஏன் அப்படித்தான் செய்ய வேண்டும்? சரி, அப்படியே நினைத்தாலும் என்னால் எப்படி முடியும்? நம் சிந்தனைக்குத்தான் மெல்லுவதற்கு அவல் கிடைத்தால், அசை போட நேர காலம் ஒன்றும் கிடையாதே! என் சிந்தனை அசைத்ததை கீழே தருகிறேன். 

எதனால் எனக்கு அது கடினம் என்பதை முதலில் பார்த்துவிடுவோம். என்னால் தமிழகத்தின் பல வட்டார மொழிகளில் எழுத முடியாது; ஏனென்றால் எனக்கு வட்டார மொழிகள் தெரியாது - இதற்கான குற்றத்தை என் பள்ளிக்கு சமர்ப்பிக்கின்றேன். தமிழை சொல்லிக்கொடுக்கும்பொழுதே இந்தந்த வட்டாரத்தில் இப்படி எல்லாம் பேசப்படுகின்றது என்பதையும் கற்பித்திருக்க வேண்டுமல்லவா?  என்னதான் வட்டார வட்டாரமாக சுற்றினாலும், நான் கற்றது ஒரே தமிழ்தான்.  ஒன்றே ஒன்று மீதம் உள்ளது, அதை பிறகு பார்ப்போம்.

சங்க காலத்தை விட்டு விடுவோம்; போன காலத்தை எடுத்துக் கொண்டால், அதாவது வெள்ளைக்காரன் நம் நாட்டை விட்டுப் போன காலத்தை எடுத்துக் கொண்டால், பல எழுத்தாளர்கள் தென் தமிழகத்தை பூர்வீகமாக கொண்டவர்கள். அவர்கள் பிறந்து வளர்ந்த சூழலை வைத்தும், பேசிய மொழியை வைத்தும் கதை எழுதி பிரபலமானவர்கள். சிலர் அவ்வப்பொழுது  வேறு, அல்லது சாதாரண தமிழில் எழுதினாலும் (உதாரணம்: புதுமைப்பித்தன்) பொதுவாக எல்லா சிறுகதைகளும் அவரவர் வட்டார தமிழிலேயே எழுதப்பட்டு வருகின்றன.

ஏன் அப்படித்தான் எழுத வேண்டும் என்கின்ற கேள்விக்கு வருவோம். ஒரு கிராமத்துக் கதையை எழுதும்போது அங்கு பேசப்படும் வட்டார வாக்கிலே எழுதப்பட்டால்தான் அக்கதை யதார்த்தமாகவும், உண்மையாகவும் இருக்கும் என்பது என் நண்பனின் கூற்று. இதை நிச்சயமாக யாரும் மறுக்க இயலாது. 

ஆனால் அதே சமயத்தில், ஒரு கதையின் கரு மனதில் உருவானபின், அது ஏதோ கடைக்கோடி கிரமத்தில் நடக்கும் கதையாக இருப்பின், அந்த வட்டார மொழியில்தான் எழுதவேண்டும் என்று தடை போடுவது, கற்பனையை சிறை வைத்தது போலாகிவிடும். இப்போது தமிழில் எழுதுபவர்களும், படிப்பவர்களும் குறைவு. அவர்களுக்கும் கற்பனையை வடித்துக் கொடுப்பது சரியா? 

வட்டார வாகில் இருந்தாலென்ன, இல்லாவிடில் என்ன? கற்பனையின் உருவமும், கருத்தும் நன்றாக இருக்கும்பொழுது, பள்ளியில் படித்த எழுத்து தமிழிலேயே கதைகளோ, கவிதைகளோ இருப்பதை அனுமதிக்கவேண்டும்.

சரி. ஒன்றே ஒன்று மீதம் உள்ளது என்று சொல்லியிருந்தேனல்லலவா, அதை பார்ப்போம். சென்னையிலே பிறந்து வளர்ந்ததினால் சிங்கார சென்னை தமிழ் எனக்கு ஓரளவு தெரியும். அதற்காக எனக்கு அபூர்வமாக வரும் கற்பனைகளை சென்னை தமிழில் (அதாவது மெட்ராஸ் பாஷை)  எழுத எனக்கு சங்கடமாக உள்ளது.

"இன்னாபா, நான் சொல்றது கரீக்டுதானே" 
(சீத்தலை சாத்தனார் இப்போது இல்லாதது அவரது புண்ணியமே)

இந்த வரி வரை நீங்கள் வந்திருந்தால் உங்களுக்கு தமிழில் சிறிதாவது ஆர்வமுள்ளது என நான் நம்புகிறேன். ஆதலால் இன்னமும் சற்று படிக்கவும்.

பேச்சுத்தமிழ்: நாம் சாதரணமாக பேசும்பொழுது வெகு சிறிய மாற்றம் கொண்டுவந்தாலே காதுக்கு இனிமையாக இருக்கும். உதாரணத்திற்கு,

வண்க்கம் - வணக்கம் (அழுத்திய உச்சரிப்பில்; இந்த வார்த்தை நம் எதிரிலிருப்பவர்க்கு நாம் தரும் மரியாதை)

மூல்யம் - மூலம் (இது எங்கிருந்து மாறியது எனத் தெரியவில்லை. எல்லோரும் மூல்யமாக, மூல்யமாக என்றுதான் உச்சரிக்கிறார்கள்.

மெய்யெழுத்து + இ, பல சமயங்களில் நம்மால் தவறாக உச்சரிக்கப்படுகின்றது.

க்+இ=கெ என்று உச்சரிப்பது; கெடைக்காது என்றில்லாமல், கிடைக்காது என்று சொல்வது எவ்வளவு நன்றாகவுள்ளது.

வெளையாட்டு - விளையாட்டு
நெனைச்சேன் - நினைச்சேன் (நினைத்தேன் என்பது கூட தேவையில்லை)

இப்படி பலவற்றை நம்மால் உணர முடியும். நான் தமிழ் அறிஞனுமல்ல, அப்படி ஆகவேண்டும் என்பது என் முனைப்புமல்ல. சில சில சிறிய மாற்றங்களை நாம் பேசும் உச்சரிப்பில், நாமே கொண்டுவந்தால் அது தமிழுக்கும், நம் குழந்தைகளின் உச்சரிப்பு மாற்றத்திற்கும் நம்முடைய பெரிய பங்களிப்பாகவிருக்கும்.

நன்றி.

******************************************************

ரா. பாரத்ராம்
14/10/2019  

You are a robber

  You are a robber:

Surprised! In this write-up, I'm going to try my level best to prove it with shreds of evidence and moral support from the majority of my innocent losers, who will not even read this. Feeling ashamed or not, is your choice but truth prevails, irrespective of your shouts and opposition against me and those losers. I caution you; if you truly start to feel ashamed, you also will feel guilty. There's no immediate punishment for your guilt but living with guilt, that too a painful one, will not let you forgive yourself; not in your lifetime.

And to my utmost displeasure, I too fall into that 'You' category! Then to whom am I writing? I write to us; or rather my conscience troubles me and makes me write this to us.

The above picture points the finger at us. I tried moving to the left or right side but finger follows me wherever I sway. I' m not able to hide or escape from it. on the outset, it looks like an adult's finger but more and more I see it closely, I can see a small, tender finger pointing me. It is smooth and weak and I feel that I can easily break that finger, if not really, virtually in my mind. But if at all I do it, can I ever evade from that virtual crime?

Enough of emotions. Let's see what foolish thoughts are these, in real sense. We believe more in reality and practicality. Because we, the humans, don't 'feel' much anymore. 

I was forced to give to such a preamble statement because the content and what I try to say, can be easily brushed away by the adults who read this. But to me, if the little ones read this and forgive my sin, I 'am totally content.

From the above passage, you can guess what I' am going to write here. Yes, it is about our children - the weakest human creatures, who depend solely on us for their survival. 

And what do we do to them - We rob.

Yes, We, the parents rob the childhood of our sons and daughters.

First thought (that came to my mind too when this fact struck me) was - 'what? Am I a bad parent? That can never be true. This is rubbish.'

Unfortunately, more and more I think about this I realize not only me - we all are culprits. 

Now, just ask any person near you, 'which phase of life she or he considers as the happiest in life? If not all, most of them will think about their past, and again if not all, most of the faces will glow instantly, and with a grin, they will say, 'their happiest phase of life is childhood.' 

What is childhood? The definition says, 'it is the phase of being a child.' Pretty simple, isn't it? Since definitions have no emotions let me add a few emotions (adjectives) and give my definition here: "Childhood is the phase of life - when I was a child, I was very young, energetic, when I didn't know from where the food or clothes or money is coming and when I didn't even know that there was a wild crazy world awaits to munch me in future - whether I' am grown as per rules set  by society (not by nature) or not "

'Ignorance is a bliss' - this is true in the case of childhood.

Think again; isn't it true?

I used to always compare my previous generation and my time to give a list of complaints. I never imagined that a time would come when I would regret what I leave behind for my next generation. It hurts. 

When I see a child sitting inside the home playing on the computer, or on an iPad I feel extremely sorry for it. As years passes science and technology get advanced; new inventions are inevitable. Of course, there are pros and cons for every invention but when it affects a child how can I be not feeling sorry for it. 

Parents blame children for spending time playing video games on the computer or Xbox (those they bought to present to children). Let's ignore who bought it for now; my question is what do you expect a child to do when it doesn't have a playground.

The nature of a child is to run around, scream, play with other children but where are the places to do it? Who was responsible for being silent when those spaces were stolen for many reasons, including paving a walking track for elders to walk - to reduce sugar level, cholesterol, etc? An elderly gentleman needs a walking track to extend his life; that is important to society but a playground for a child is not at all important. If this question is asked by a child to me, I should say - 'hey, don't worry. When your health deteriorates you too can use this walking track. We, the zombies, are born to walk not to run around aimlessly and cheerfully.'

What gives us more courage - and encourage - to steal the ground from a child is, the point that - a child won't ask. Because that tender mind doesn't even know that it has a right, a right to play in her childhood. Playing, which will introduce and improve - socialization, learning, falling, rising again, failure, a fair game, and above all a healthy body and healthy mind.

We, the adults robbed the children's space. We are robbers.

Fine. is it only about playing? Sadly no. There is one more point which needs to be mentioned here: 

After the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, companies were greed for higher profit which, in turn, needed extraordinary human labor effort to produce more and more goods. This eventually raised the resistance and finally, labor laws were introduced/changed to protect humans. 8 hours of work, 8 hours of sleep and 8 hours for other chores and also making it mandatory to have one day as a holiday. How it is practiced today is totally a different topic; my intention is to point out or remind past.

Labour laws were framed to protect workers from overdoing (current scenario is different though). Similarly, educationalists, child specialists, (I hope) psychologists and a few other unknown demons framed this schooling system. I' am not against schooling; I firmly believe learning starts in school and ends in last breath. 

There are two questions that bother my mind:

1. Do our children study or learn? 

2. How much of the time is spent on 'schooling'?

3. When should this entire process of torture (or education start?

I'll leave the first question open and to your judgment.

Let's see 2 and 3 together. I browsed the internet, went through a few books, had small conversations with 'reengineering educationalists' and finally tried to make sense out of all these.

To give you a shock, I found that in many countries having a very good educational system formal education doesn't even start before the child completes 6 years of age! 

Oh! That's strange. We send our children to schools in 3 years and they start reading and writing by then itself. How can we be so wrong? To seek an answer for this, I looked in another direction - healthy growth. Prominent neurologists across the world stress that the nervous system of a human grows until 6 or 7 years of age, which in turn means brain growth (not only the size but internal connections of neurons) also will be growing very fast. That's the reason how a child learns it's mother tongue so quickly.

Therefore if at all the brain is connected (in some way) with schooling, we should not ask a child to, at least, start writing before 6 years.  In reality, those small, tender fingers are asked to grip a pencil (not even a pen) and write A to Z in kindergarten itself. Can you ever feel the pain those fingers would be having? What's the hurry folks? There are only 26 alphabets and the world is not going to end tomorrow. What are you really trying to achieve by giving pain to those fingers? Ironically, we, the adults, who know those 26 alphabets start to end and end to start, may have very weak vocabulary! How many English words you know? 1000? ok increase it to 5000. Or increase it to 10000. So to learn such meager quantity of words in your lifetime, you dare to punish those little flowers? Barbaric. 

Schools give homework during holidays! I didn't believe it initially but when I had to accept it is true I couldn't resist asking the question - why are they giving homework during holidays? Shouldn't the children enjoy their childhood? The answer I got for that question was maddening - it seems if no homework is given children will go out of touch! What? How much more can you insult those little gods?

We interfere in the natural growth of the mind and body of children in the name of education. It is a crime and robbery of their childhood.

I' am confused. Why is this hurry? What are we trying to achieve? What output do we expect? Our children to be achievers, popular, money makers, or better than ourselves? Why can't we allow them to enjoy their childhood? 

Again, the answer to these was crazy: 'It is a competitive world and more and more a child learns 'quickly' he can survive better!

What a shame! If we had made living/surviving in this world to be so difficult that a child should start reading, writing, speaking like an adult (totally ignorant that a golden phase of childhood had been taken away from them) - who is to be blamed?  We should correct it; we should ensure children get what they deserve; we have to change, not them.

Those innocent lovely children may be ignorant now. But what we have to remember is, they will grow, and when they come to know what a privilege they lost entire hatred will turn on us. Do you really think that you can face those eyes?

So, we, the adults, somehow should correct ourselves, somehow should give back the childhood that we robbed from our children to them. How? I don't know. Humanity is not, and will never be, in a race. Let's make them humans.

***************************************
R. Bharathram
05/10/2019

Water..water..water

Yesterday there was a spell of rain in Chennai (Spell has one more meaning, guess!!)

It was refreshing to see water but the agony continues. Today morning, upon hearing the (banned) air horn of a water tanker ladies ran out of their homes carrying whatever vessels they could grab.

I'll start with a simple question for you to ponder: If you don't pay water tax, your water connection will be cut; whereas if you don't get the supply of water, what do you do? 

When you hear that honk, you (man or woman) runs out to get water, forgetting to apply any beauty product! 

Beauty product? Why am I bringing it here? Well, even during this money crunch period, beauty product industry's revenue was more than $50 billion per year - in the US alone! 

My goodness! If this amount is spent on water storage improvement, the third world war can be averted.

Anyway, it is an individual's right to look nice and also it's their money. I can't interfere.

Let's go back. I'm getting a feeling that water scarcity is a good, 'indirect' way to get more money from us. Forget the water we buy from private suppliers, I mean the responsible people too.

Now, we pay money to get potable water from metro water. We book for a tanker full of water (since technology has improved so much, you can do it either by IVR phone or by online. If we assume the phone is a digital phone the entire process is digitalized). 

Then we sit and wait for tanker - just like a hen sitting on an egg to hatch - but tanker never comes. So you directly go there, plead and get the tanker. And.. the whole process involves money. Did we ever include this in our home budget (and in the state's budget)? Therefore it is surplus money getting debited in one side and credited in another side.

Somehow, our area people managed to arrange a tanker which comes once in two days. They provide three or four - or the number of Plastic buckets you have at home. Of course, there is a limitation because the water in the tanker is for all. A couple of points I would like to mention here,

1. The entire world is talking about abolishing plastic since plastic is non-degradable. But we are forced to buy bigg (as in Bigg boss) plastic buckets, looking like Goliaths so that we get more out of one bucket! These Goliaths like Ayyanar statues in villages are kept near the gate. How are we going to exterminate these Goliaths in the future is a mystery to me.

2. Interestingly, each house has to tip the lorry driver (some 20 or 30 rupees). I won't blame drivers - think of maneuvering lorries in Chennai traffic. But thinking why can't the responsible department pay more to these drivers - unless Department is doing it on a humanitarian basis. Oh, so that's the answer. 

I live in Anna Nagar. I request you to visit Tamil Nadu registration website, where they have clearly given guideline price of land in this area. Reason for saying this comes below:

Firstly, farmers didn't get water for farming. They protested, protest and will protest

Secondly, villages, towns, and corporations went devoid of water. They are tolerating.

Third and finally, a prominent place in the capital of Tamil Nadu is also dying slowly. We will be struggling, what else can we do?

'If it rains we will give you water.'

It is an easy statement. We don't need intellectuals, experts, wise men to say or do this. What we need is responsible, caring, active, solution finders! Haven't we seen such men in history - Making the impossible possible. How long do we have to wait? When are we going to see real heroes?

And what are we going to leave behind to our children - solutions or Goliaths?

*******************************************

R.Bharathram

24-Jul-2019

   

Who is that genius?

I heard that so far June month has never been so hot in Chennai like 2019. Government issued a heatwave alert and cautioned children and elders to stay indoors from 11 to 4.

Come what may, our educational institutions decided to open jail gates..oops sorry..school gates and made attendance compulsory.

Well, knowing free air movement inside classrooms, the number of students per square meter, the number of windows, doors, and... length multiplied by the width of exit passage – we are assured that children will be safe during any catastrophic natural conditions.

But, few 'anti educationalists' enquired whether it would not be a better decision to postpone reopening or close opened schools for a few more days!

I feel shocked and scared to hear that suggestion. To my comfort and peace of mind, an authority pushed away those 'anti educationalists', stating some 240 days are required to complete syllabus of 1st and above standards.

That is interesting. How did they arrive at 240? Is it fixed, something similar like gravity = 9.8 m/sec square, which we were familiarised by the most simple physics practical lesson – simple pendulum – in which we hold that small metal ball in hand, lift and release so that it swings like old clocks – tic toc, tic toc (to me it reminded a hypnotist’s magic work of entering into your mind by saying, ‘see this..see this’) and we learned gravity as if we were hypnotized. Meaning – ask any student, ‘what’s the objective of knowing the value’, he surely would reply, ‘who knows..but I like it as it is simple’.

Oh, as if I were hypnotized I forgot to ask my primary question. How did you arrive at 240? Is it based on intellectuals calculations (usually this calculation will be challenged by another intellectual and it goes on), or by teaching time required (we must average out thousands of teachers individual teaching ability and their experience because a teacher teaches the same line every year for 20 years may thrust the line quickly into a student’s head unlike a less experienced teacher) or is it based on average learning time required for a student (God, averaging out this number is tougher than understanding or behaving as if understood E=MC square) or is it based on any scientific statistical combinations of hell a number of formulas (like calculating percentage affecting fiscal deficit due to past, present and future inflation, which is always found to be wrong in next year).

I am not an expert in this. But I am really interested to understand how that number of days arrived, which ultimately make us push a child into danger. Are we going to wait till something happens to a child or pray for rain to cool atmosphere? Since we have no alternatives, let us pray every morning until this city cools down;

Also, pray that no child of this land should be overexposed to sun .........and become like that genius who identified 240.

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R.Bharathram

16 June 2019

How to kill your mother

               

I can feel some of you wondering what happened to this guy, has he gone mad (knowing me closely it may not surprise you much if I had gone mad), has he lost all senses, will he go to extent of killing his own mother...wait. Don't conclude anything hastily. Listen to the horrible experience I encountered. It may provoke you to think, who knows, may even change your decision of killing your own mother!

I'll quickly come to that incident. Remember: this was not a dream.

Once I found myself locked in a dark place. Complete darkness around me but on a few occasions, I was able to see some faint lighting inside that place if I open my eyes. I couldn't make out where I was and what will happen to me in the future.

But I had hope. Firstly, I felt I was in a safe place though it was dark. And I could hear noises outside, out of which one particular sound waves were not only familiar but very comforting too. To tell you truth, I started liking that particular sound despite I had absolutely no clue of how that person will be. I even felt that one day that person will save me.

Another comforting factor was I never felt hungry or thirsty. Now, at this age, calling myself educated (not learned, huh), I don't know how my hunger and thirst were taken care of. Few lessons, even though we read, we miss out to remember them. 

So, at that particular time (I didn't even know how many days and nights went off) I still had hope and I felt comfortable. I only wished it would continue.

But it didn't. One day, I don't even know why; out of natural instincts and force, I tried to escape. I can't remember how difficult it was but suddenly I found myself in a very bright place, I shrunk and closed my eyes, the warmth around me suddenly vanished, I felt danger and I started to cry, yes I am not ashamed to tell you, I cried heavily. 

I felt the presence of many unknown, strange figures around me, touching me, trying to harm me. I was weak; I couldn't get out of their hands. I started to cry more. Oh, at that moment how much I missed my earlier safe room!

Miracles happen. I believe the first miracle in my life happened at that time. Upon hearing my crying and unable to hear my cry any longer, the familiar voice said something. I was taken and kept near her (yes, it was a female). I heard her words clearly. She said, "sarippa, sarippa, azhadheppa" (meaning 'it's alright, don't cry'). I felt comfortable by the warmth and those words. Phonetic sound of words coming out of her mouth was the first and best sound I ever heard in my entire life. I started to sleep peacefully.

I hope by now you would have understood whom I try to mention. Yes, it was my mother and I was just born. 

In this whole incident (if you had not identified already) the first phonetic sound, words, I heard from my most trustable and lovable person in this world at that time was spoken in Tamil and thus it became my mother tongue. 

Above lines are to exemplify the significance of my mother tongue. I agree that Tamil is many centuries old, has very good literature, one of the classical languages, oldest in usage language, spoken by many millions worldwide. etc. But to me, it has one more reason to love it; the first words I heard from my mother's mouth was Tamil.

All languages are equal; I respect each and every language humans use to communicate in this world. But doesn't Tamil hold a special status in my mind? And isn't it the same in your case - mother tongue special than other languages.

Now, tell me. How can I ignore my mother tongue? How can I not learn my mother tongue and choose a different language so that I can live and earn in a different place in the world? How can I hide my own language to my next generation? Isn't it like killing my mother tongue? 

So....How can I kill my mother?

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ps: I wrote this in English because this applies to all of us - only the language may change but not the sin. 

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R. Bharathram

09/06/2019

We make Economy happy

Sitting inside home, feeling the soaring heat of above 40 degrees outside, I' am unable to suppress my admiration towards the people responsible for giving a boost to our economy - by cutting down trees.

We all know direct advantages, one example is laying 6 lanes road to Trichy and beyond. Now I can reach Trichy from Chennai within 3hrs instead of 5hrs of time it used to take earlier. I save 2hrs of  my precious time (travelling time is subject to variance as - I stop for tea, food and in long queues (length similar to anaconda snake) in every tolls. Ultimately what invaluable work I do in that saved 2 hrs - it needs exhaustive study by research scholars. 

Above is an example of direct advantages of cutting trees. Have you ever thought of indirect contribution to economy from us by cutting down trees? I thought of few:

-          No rain, so water shortage. Since it is scientifically proven that humans can’t survive without water, we buy water from our water services department (our additional contribution here is paying water tax every year). Economy is happy.

-          And to encourage private investment (FDI will come in soon), we buy water from private sellers. God knows from where they get water but we don’t question much because something is better than nothing. Therefore we pay extra money to private ‘enterprises’ for the millions and billions of microorganisms mixed water they bring. And they must be paying some A to Z alphabets coined taxes to government. Economy is happy.

-           Next follows is our health. Water pollution, air pollution - you name it. It is an insatiable desire of humans to pollute everything they see. As saying goes - "humans came, humans saw, humans polluted". After effect of pollution is a good number of unpronounceable diseases. And to treat diseases we need doctors who are specialised in treating unpronounceable body parts. You would have surely noticed sudden spike in number of hospitals in Chennai - multi speciality hospitals in multi dimensions. So, we pay money to hospitals, which in some way contributes to overall economy. Therefore, economy is happy.

-          Air conditioning is no more a luxury in Chennai. We must have some air cooling machines at home. To the people who don’t have such machines, I say, ‘do not despair. Someone will promise air coolers to every home during next election.' Anyway, we buy air conditioning machines, which contribute to production. Economy is happy.

-          But more important point is, we switch on AC almost 24 hrs a day. My goodness. Those machines must be swallowing a great number of units of power consumption. At end, we pay more electricity charges and thereby contribute to government’s revenue. Not only that, since some percentage of power is bought from private companies we encourage competition. Economy is happy.

   

  I guess we can come up with more examples of how our country's economy is constantly fed by cutting down trees. So to progress, we must pull down trees in Chennai. If you feel Chennai looks like a desert, we can always go for a tour to some hill station to enjoy nature by spending money. 

  Economy will be happy if tourism brings more money - it doesn't mind whether tourists spend to see a hill station or to see a desert (Chennai).

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   R.Bharathram

   05/05/2019

Contagious...

Few simple incidents miraculously can become memorable moments, something like what I experienced recently.

Have you noticed people in Chennai started owning corporation road space in front of their house compounds as their ‘own’ car parking space? Sadly I’m also a culprit in this case; when our house was constructed my father didn’t leave a space for car parking. I can’t blame him; my activities those days certainly would have convinced him that his son would never buy a car (and  his son would not even be eligible for making EMI payments).

Having convinced you of the rationale behind our house not having a car parking space, I would like to go ahead a little further to say - I understand why residential areas don’t have sufficient car parking spaces but I can’t understand why commercial establishments, that too, newly constructed, situated on main streets - shops (or) eating establishments - devoid of parking spaces for their customers!

Well, we are peace loving people; therefore I’ll try to ignore establishment’s ‘don’t care’ apathy towards its customers. But the ‘real’ issue begins when we face it in a totally unexpected way. When I drive a car and if I find a place somewhere nearby to my destination, and try to park our car there….most of times, find a man running towards me, his face filled with irritation - (irritation similar to a traffic constable, who was trying to teach auto rickshaw drivers to follow road lanes from morning), - waving to me and saying. “No. You can’t park here.”

This happens to me many times and always bring two points to my memory: 

One is my social position (which includes my job title, people I know, number of emigration stamping in my passport, my bank balance and/or my total credit limit of credit cards) and tips I gave to a waiter in a restaurant the previous day.

Two is of course, the value of my car (No, not the depreciated value at the time of parking but real money I had to pay while buying)

So during such above mentioned incidents, I immediately bursts out, “why, why shouldn’t I park here?”

His reply would be like, “Are you going to eat in our restaurant?”

“No.”

“Then you can’t park here. This space is reserved for our customers.”

Needless to say, it will irritate anyone, who has some knowledge of our rights on public roads.  I mean the right to spit, right to throw garbage, right to dig anytime anywhere and the right to attend to nature’s call in front of a children’s school.

Being aware of these rights, I usually go to next level of argument saying like, “This is a public road; Anyone can park here; Ask your manager to come out; I’am going to park here, I’ll see what happens…blah..blah…” (I’ll tell you a secret. If that watchman is well built or aggressive - switch to English. These people may find difficult to respond spontaneously and so you can give a verdict to yourself that you have won).

Depending on my energy, time availability, and response I get from that person, I go on for some time and then take my car to some other place. No, not that I didn’t establish my rights there but for the reason that once I turn around my face he might  mark a scratch on the car - to make himself content of teaching me a lesson.

In my life, in my parking experiences this is how it always happened; But recently an incident happened, which became a memorable moment.

I went to a shop near Annanagar East . Our dear Sun has started to do overtime in 2019 by shining bright in February second week itself. I found only one parking space near my destination but alas, it was right in front adjacent shop. Still, I dared to go ahead, turned steering wheel, entered in between those two bright parking lines. And as expected, that shop's security guy was running towards me and started to help me by waving his hands.

With a sigh I was getting ready to enter into the argument but then I noticed that young man is from North East side of India. Unknowingly (this is what is still mysterious to me), I brought down my window glass and told him, "I'am going to that shop", pointing the next store. 

And shockingly (!), he went ahead in guiding me and told me in English, "It's okay sir. I am happy that god has given me an opportunity to serve you today. This makes me happy."

I was stunned. My agitated mind got melted. Suddenly I felt what a great lesson I just learnt. Humility and Kindness - how powerful they are!! If most of human population try to learn and practice these virtues, how wonderful our lives will be.

I thanked him and went to shopping with a heart filled with happiness.

'Happiness is contagious.'
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R. Bharathram
17/02/2019  


   

Ridiculing your own job

I was engrossed in reviewing / correcting an important document today. It took couple of hours and once I finished it I felt overwhelmed that I did a good job. But I felt a vacuum in my heart. There wasn't any one to appreciate my good work. Since the document contained details, which cannot be a shared to all, no one was aware of my good work so obviously I couldn't get any pats on the back - I tried with my own hands but in vain.

I grew up in a culture where I get to receive emails appreciating a good work or announcement in a room with my peers, or words in person when I meet the right person (my superior) during a coffee break and if all these don't happen, a hope in my heart that my good work is stored somewhere deep in my superior's brain's database, which could be retrieved if I 'execute a correct query' to my superior in case she had forgotten it or behave as if he/she forgotten it. As a matter of fact, what you learn (or should learn) as time pass by - is to 'design' the correct query! If you don't understand previous line, I'am sorry, you missed to learn an efficacious lesson in corporate ladder.

What do you think about recently popularised - exposing one's own work after retirement, like from World Bank, IMF heads to ex financial ministers? Many have started doing this work vigorously - more 'vigorously working' than when they were in payroll. I could see only one reason for this - they get more money by ridiculing their own work with only one restriction in mind, i.e. don't do it when you are in payroll. 

In case if you think I'am going to ridicule my own work of past i.e. when I was in payroll, don't strain. It was always ridiculed - directly by my supervisor, by my peer fellows (except a few). I assume my subordinates don't hate me very much because I saw them as my 'friends'. ('Friends', do you believe that?) I always believed people who complete work need to be treated well. Because, ultimately, computers don't do anything by themselves. They need human intervention - either to create or destroy work. Those humans were more important than any computer machine.

Funny part is entire system believe ridiculing regularly is essential to survive. If you feel 'ridicule' is not an appropriate word it can be replaced with much harsher words like criticising.

Companies do allocate a special session, that too in billed hours, for ridiculing..sorry...criticising it's own recruited employee's work. It is a session where everyone has a different mindset, at end all want to see a win/win situation even after knowing 'one win' can never happen. They call it as appraisal. By now you would have understood who always lose. We can't entirely blame superiors, because they have their own problems.

Appraisal. To your utter disappointment, I'am not going to give any incidents, stories or expose anything (later? I wish I can). As long as 'comparative' work is there, appraisal will be required in the system. But in this write up's  context, I'am only fascinated by one word that is tactically used during appraisals. That word is 'proactive'. 

When they sit together both have a list - criticisms in one side and praises in opposite side. It is like hearing same news from two different news channels, funded by two different political parties or like watching Kamal Hasan's 'Virumandi' movie. Same incidents but from two opposite angles. Creativity will be at it's best sometimes. 

I personally always support an employee because my superior is also an employee (see, how I dodged). Sadly a superior must ridicule his subordinate (at least one point) regardless of how good that sub ordinate was in that year. 

There a word comes as a rescue. 'Proactive'. If a manager couldn't find any major mistakes he can always criticise his subordinate by stating that he/she was not proactive.  Surprising to both, neither knows what it actually means except that it is a well aimed criticism.

As a matter of fact, if entire team is proactive, appraisals are not needed at all. Is it possible to form a team like that? Can this question be asked looking upwards?

There ends an appraisal.

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R.Bharathram
11 Feb 2019