No Contradictions

Perceiving the sun

In the midst of the rain,

Ladling out clear water

From the depths of fire.

I have always been fascinated by Haikus and here is a beautiful one from the Zen. Let me try to understand this one!

We are surrounded by the clouds, mist, fog and the rain. Remember yourself ……. Not to get lost.

“Ladling out clear water from the depths of fire”. It is an impossible thing to ladle out pure water from fire. But howsoever impossible it may be, it happens. This is the mystery of existence. Here, fire turns into water. Here, the dance of the rain declares the sun. There is no opposition in existence, no contradiction. Everything supports everything else. Alas! The irony is that, we live in contradictions, with others, with nature and with ourselves.

Mani C Markose

It was in my 9th class that I met Mani C Markose, a little 6th class guy who had the guts to walk in front of us when we were standing in the mess. I wouldn’t have cared if he had been from some other house. But his T-shirt revealed that he is from Bharathi House, for which I was the House Captain. I turned pale with anger and shame, when my batch mates stared at me. I didn’t react, as I didn’t want to make scene in the mess, where the whole school, including my seniors has gathered for the evening Roll Call, instead made quick plans to deal with the guy during the House Roll call, where I will have complete authority.

As usual, the house Roll Call started at 9:00 PM and when it was finished, I asked him to meet me in my room. The house master KRMK asked if there is a specific reason, and I told him that he deserves a punishment for his misbehavior in the mess. He asked me not to man-handle(beat) him, as it is becoming an issue during the Parent’s meet and I agreed.

I went to my room and washed and changed. There was a knock at the door, accompanied by a cry, “Please, may I come in man?.”

I said with a stern voice knowing that it would be culprit, “Come in.”

I was shooting many questions about his misconduct, about himself, about his family and he was answering everything with a pleasing smile. At the back of the mind, something kept saying that, this guy will be a friend for ever and somehow, I felt that he should be treated so, though it is not a custom for an Amravian to treat a junior as a friend. I order to keep a balance, I decided that he will be punished, but at the same time, he will remain a friend. I delegated a few duties as a form of punishment and he will perform them for me, so that he will be a friend.

You will bring tea for me in the mess
You will carry my books (envisioning to study a couple of text books in the room, which never materialized) from the school to house and back

The next day, my friends were proud of me, seeing the guy carrying my books and offering tea for me. This went on for 2 years and by then we were almost friends that, I visited his house and he visited mine. Finally, he ended up writing all my practical records, when I was in 12th class.

We were in constant touch even after I left the school, and after he left the school, though we were poles apart with respect to the career we have chosen.

It was a happy moment for me, when he visited our house yesterday and I was astonished by the kind of love and respect he had for me in the same way I have for him. Apart from the gifts for my son and a bottle of Smirnoff for me, he shared with me some beautiful snaps of Andaman, so that I will fulfill his long pending invitation. I don't think I will be able to make it before he is posted to the next station! OK, let me post some of those beautiful snaps...........

This is he!

Highway to Hell

I was reading Kamzee’s post on the road passing through his apartment and as a result started exploring the need for the most wasteful new road projects. Roads created problems long before the invention of cars, as the villages lost their self efficiency when they became dependent on trade and travel. In more recent times, roads are the precursor to the so-called development, that has lead us to the peak of self-destruction. Time and again, the roads have trashed the Garden of Eden; cutting through the villages, forests and rivers.

India, with a total road length of about 5.0 million KMs (excluding the Golden Quadrangle Project), has one of the largest road networks. The condition of most of the rural roads is deplorable due to the neglect and negligence of the officials and the politicians. District and State authorities are responsible for the construction and maintenance of roads, but large scale corruption has led to this sad state of the roads. Due to the contractor-engineer-bureaucracy nexus, the common people have to suffer a lot while commuting. We have got too many roads already and close to half of the urban space is paved to accommodate automobiles; more land is converted to cars than to housing and agriculture. There was a proposal to build an alternate road to connect Kodaikanal and Palani, which would cut through the endangered shoal forests and some pristine rivers on the Palani Hills requiring resettlement of villages, agricultural fields and the fauna. Thanks to the efforts of PHCC, to halt such proposal. Resettlement - They say human beings and the organisms should be resettled. But, where? Where is the land? Has someone invented a land-manufacturing machine?

All these roads cost money. The expenditure on highways and major roads is of a great magnitude when compared with what is being spent on the basic needs of the people including education. The most powerful reason why road building dominates our infrastructural budget, even when it makes no fiscal or ecological sense: those earth-moving machines, trucks, rollers and the plants cost lot of money, and their owners are not going to let them rust. Another reason is the belief that the roads have become a reflex article of faith and the faith in them is impervious to arguments and hence serves as gold mines for the politicians, bureaucrats and the construction industry.

And perhaps, the only genuine reason can be cited is that we want to get from here to there directly, without going around, which means, we have got to have another road. There was a time when I also agreed to that. I used to think; more roads are good because they would allow people to reach the destination soon through a more convenient angle with minimum fuel. I disagreed, on seeing the fact of the study conducted by Ivan Illich that revealed that: If we divide the distance we travel by the number of hours we spend not just sitting behind the wheels but also working to pay for our cars and fuel or doing other things in some way associated with our cars, our net speed comes to around 5 miles per hour!

People should realize that motor vehicles are the largest single source of atmospheric pollution worldwide and 65% of all carbon monoxide emitted into the environment comes from vehicles. Carbon monoxide, besides being poisonous, contributes to global warming by promoting the buildup of methane, a powerful green-house gas. In a world threatened by global warming and cancer epidemic, we keep accumulating pollution. A certain amount of pollution is inevitable; but, we can at least examine our conduct on an individual level and try to cut down to a minimum damage.

A new highway means worse air and water quality, less money available for road maintenance and public transportation and more burden on the tax payers, Tax payers’ money is being hijacked for unneeded roads that cause sprawl, damage the environment and hurt local communities. We are destroying some of the most pristine wilderness in this country for outdated, short-term solutions that won’t solve traffic problems.

It is not logical just to state the problem and leave the solution unattended. A few recommendations would be

1. Enhanced and Attractive Public Transport System

2. Work Near Home or Work from Home

3. Utilization of Inland Waterways using ferries - A resurrected Koovam in Chennai!

4. Pedelling Vehicles

5. Efficient Traffic Management System

6. Horse Power ( I apologize if you are from Blue Cross! - Menaka Gandhi muje maaff karo - It's apt for our IT geeks riding on a horse with their laptops crossed- helmet compulsory)

More suggestions and recommendations are welcome:)

Fxxx - The most beautiful word!

Every prophet has been misinterpreted and finally institutionalized by the so called followers. For example, Jesus’ repeated call for repentance has led to branding the humanity as sinners to be repented all their life. In essence, what he meant was to “turn inward”. The equivalent word for repentance in Aramaic meant to turn inward.

Osho is no exception too. I believe he is the highly misinterpreted prophet I have known and he was once called the “Sex Guru”. As a person who was fortunate enough to have a profound insight of his teachings, I can say that he has made millions understand the timelessness of the west and the eternity of the east.

This is the hilarious, infamous F**k discourse by Osho. Hope you will enjoy this.

A call from Sandy

The day started beautifully when I received a call from Sandy Thomas (after one year) to wish my son a Hearty Welcome and me and Sujathaa a Happy Parenthood. She was surprised when I recognized the voice. How is it possible for me to forget a voice that has dominated my life for two years and has transformed my life in every aspect? Only people who have loved and transcended that love will understand the way the heart gets elated, when a person who had permeated every cell of your body, perforated every sheath of your mind and imbued every action of your life, calls and wishes you with such concern and love. I understand from her that, she was grateful to me for adding beauty to those two years of her life and I need to state here that I am always grateful to her for; those two years have eternally beautified my life. Though as lovers we were successful, both of us agreed of the fact that we could have never cooked up a good marriage. Not all successful love ends in marriage. But with me and Sujathaa both are successful.

The Superman

He energized the conscious force and came to knowledge that matter is the Brahman. Far from Matter all existences are born: born by Matter they increase and enter into Matter in their passing hence. Then he went to Varuna, his father, and said, “Lord, teach me of the Brahman.” But his father said to him, “Energize the Conscious Energy in thee; for the Energy is Brahman."

Taittiriya Upanishad.

From the day I started my search, I have been trying to understand the totality of the above verse and I have not been able to understand. I sometimes hate the word totality as its use always deprives me of the partial and fragmentary comprehension I am capable of. I understand or I don’t understand. That’s the truth. Totality and Partiality are tricks to satiate my ego. But my search continued and time and again found shelter in various forms manifested by the teachings of the greatest prophets of the recent past. One such shelter is the following excerpt from Life Divine of Sri Aurobindo.

It enlightened me of the higher possibilities of humanity being manifested naturally as a process of evolution, as manifestation is progressive in nature and hence, humanity is the potent divinity.

The persistent ideals of the race are at once the contradiction of its normal experience and the affirmation of higher and deeper experiences which are abnormal to humanity and only to be attained, in their organized entirety, by a revolutionary individual or an evolutiuonary progression. To know, possesses and be the divine being in an animal and egoistic consciousness, to convert our twilit or obscure physical pain and physical mentality into the plenary supramental illumination, to build peace and a self existent bliss where there is only a stress of transitory satisfaction besieged by physical pain and emotional suffering, to establish an infinite freedom in the world which presents itself as a group of mechanical necessaities, to discover and realize the immortal life in a body subjected to death and constant mutation – this is offered to us as the manifestation of God in Matter and the goal of Nature in her terrestrial evolution. To the ordinary material intellect which takes its present organization for the limit of its possibilities, the direct contradictions of the unrealized ideals with the realized fact is a final argument against their validity. But if we take a more deliberate view of the world’s workings, that direct opposition appears rather as part of nature’s profoundest method and the seal of her complete sanction.


We speak of of the evolution of life in Matter, the evolution of Mind in Matter; but evolution is a word which merely states the phenomenon without explaining it. For there seems to be no reason why Life should evolve out of material elements or Mind out of living form, unless we accept the Vedantic solution that Life is already involved in Matter and Mind in Life because in essence Matter is a form of veiled Life, Life a form of veiled Consciousness. And then there seems to be little objection to the farther step in the series and the admission that mental consciousness may itself be only a form and a veil of higher states which are beyond mind. In that case, the unconquerable impulse of man toward God, Light, Bliss, Freedom, Immortality presents itself in its right place in the chain as simply the imperative impulse by which Nature is seeking to evolve beyond Mind, and appeard to be as natural, true and just as the impulse toward Life. As the impulse toward Mind ranges from more sensitive reactions of Life in the things like metal and plants up to its full organization in man, so in man himself there is the same ascending series, the preparation, if nothing more, of a higher and divine life. The animal is a living laboratory in which Nature has worked out man. Man himself may well be a living and thinking laboratory in whom and with whose conscious co-operation Nature wills to work out the Superman, the God. For it is likely that such is the next higher state of consciousness of which Mind is only a form and veil, and through the splendours of that light may lie the path of our progressive self-enlargement into whatever highest state is humanity’s ultimate resting-place.

Women's Day - A Joke!

While shattering the glass ceiling and the phenomenon of the glass cliff are the challenges facing women seeking to climb the corporate ladder, making an existence itself is a challenge for the unempowered women of rural India. Hence, on this day, I think it's appropriate to provide a bird’s eye view of the crimes inflicted on them. Though, it is a collective responsibility of the humanity to provide a solution, the following excerpt from a case study I did a couple of years ago (without any purpose!) would at least enlighten the minds of the nouveau riche softies of the problems faced by the women.

International Women's Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, the crime and violence inflicted on them remains as is.

In India, the deep-rooted discrimination of woman begins at her family and her entire socialization process is oriented toward making her an obedient mother and a sincere Wife. She is being discriminated in education, health and decision-making. Most of the work she does for the family remains largely unaccounted and unrecognized by the family and the community which reflects the invisibility of much or her work, making her a mere reproducer and not as a producer. In any Indian family, gender identity determines the status of a person with in the family and hence, the father has more authority over the children than the mother, brother enjoys more facilities, than the sister, the husband has more authority than the wife, and the son is the sole decision maker of a widowed mother’s destiny. Dowry deaths, wife beating, desertion, incest, feticide, infanticide, and polygamy are some of the maladies of the domestic order of the Indian society and are still prevalent. It is often said that domestic violence is a traditional phenomenon, which is not so, as it is both traditional and modern. The tradition burnt women alive, while the use of the modern science kills them in the wombs and denies them the right to be born. Equal property rights to all women and joint matrimonial property rights are not recognized and mother not considered as natural guardian. Women are often used as an instrument to humiliate as her body is considered to be the best site where any kind of revenge can be wrecked. By attacking the women of targeted group, the targeted group is sought to be taught a lesson.

India is in a period of transition and new ideas and ways of living have been introduced in the wake of liberalization, which has resulted in blind consumerism and unreal aspirations fuelled by the barrage of advertisements and get-rich quick schemes influencing the manner people think and behave. Women usually face a double workday, working on an average of 4 to 5 hours a day at home, fulfilling their traditional domestic responsibilities in addition to their economic activity that depends on the size of their family. The factors pushing women and children to displacement and excess work are,

1. Poverty
2. Secondary status of women with in family due to cultural and financial reasons.
3. Customs like dowry, which makes her a financial burden.
4. Son preference
5. Loss or incapability or unemployment of the male member of a family.
6. Consumerism and the aspirations of the family to cope up with the modern life style with material comforts.

At work place the problem starts from wage discrimination, reluctant to employ women and sexual harassment. Both in the informal sector and formal sector most women are not organized in trade union that makes them insecure as far as their jobs and rights are concerned. Many women considering their family responsibilities refuse promotion, training opportunities and leaves. Sexual exploitation of women by the employers, co-workers, colleagues, contractors, middlemen etc. is another serious issue faced by working women. Instance of sexual harassment in the organized sectors may not be as violent as the unorganized sector, but differing degrees of harassment are widespread. Harassment can be in different forms such as verbal harassment, unwanted invitations, sexually colored comments and also physical advances.

The one issue that remains least addressed in Indian society and law, which is one of the most under-reported crimes in our country, is rape. Rape is one of the most brutal forms of aggression against women. In addition to the trauma of rape itself, the victims have to further agony during the legal proceedings that require repeated explanation of the incident before the police and court. Rape by socially and economically powerful persons misusing their position to exploit women is seen in large numbers and most of the women do not even report the cases as they feel that it will not help them, considering the strong position of the aggressors. The girl child remains to be the not vulnerable and powerless target to be sexually exploited. Crime statistics from the national crime records bureau of the home ministry have consistently shown for the last 10 years that rape of minors below 16 years of age are more than 25% of the total rape cases and the shame on the part of law convictions. Of the 284 reports cases of rape in New Delhi in 1992 there were only 3 devaluation of women and children in the society and their oppressed status.

According to official records in 30% to 50% of the cases of child abuse, the offenders are family members, close relatives, neighbors and friends. When it is not with in the family, most of the victims are the children belonging to the poor section and street children of the society. There is also great deal of hesitation by families, to report cases of child abuse as the police or social environment of the legal procedure are not sympathetic towards the victim. When the abuser is the male member of the family, pressure from other members of the family in the name of saving the family honor is the, main consideration and in such cases there is a conspiracy of silence as the family is dependent on the abuser financially. If the victim is 12 to16 years of age she is blamed for inviting the assault or her parents are accursed of allowing her too much freedom, which results in the blame-the-victim syndrome that traumatizes the victim affecting her self esteem. The definition of rape in the Indian penal code is archaic and is remnant of Victorian colonial legislation, which defines rape as vaginal penile penetration and does not recognize oral sex or anal sex as rape of sexual assault. Since vaginal penetration is not often possible in child abuse and does not occur in child rape, the rapist under the Indian law is liable to be punished only for molestation an there is also a failure in the proper registration of the case in the FIR. There is also a serous mental stress due to the lack of counseling for the child and her family and because of the social prejudice against the victim, which is very common.

The Next important issue is the immoral trafficking of girls or women or children in our society. In India according to the 9th five-year plan, 320 million people are below poverty line and of these 70% are women and so this can be referred as feminization of poverty. The rewards of globalization have been reaped by privileged few, amassing wealth and power in the hands of multinationals and the individuals. This has led to unemployment , under employment and retrenchment of the female Labour force which makes them loose their source of livelihood and under these circumstances, more and more women and children are under great pressure to earn more to supplement their family’s income. Hence the tragedy starts to have child Labour, child prostitutes, street children and even men prostitutes. Trafficking is the illicit and clandestine transport of people across national and international borders, largely from developing countries with the motive of forcing them in to oppressive and exploitative situation for the profit of the traffickers or exploiters. Women who are widowed, deserted, abandoned, victims of fraud marriages, are soft targets for the trafficking Mafia. Family, friends, lovers and even parents are often party to the process and in most case the labour contractor or an employment agent or practicing or retired prostitutes are the party to the process. These trafficking people are used in.

1. Flesh trade,
2. Purpose of begging,
3. Attraction in sex tourism,
4. Illegal organ transplant,
5. Drug trafficking,
6. Urban household requiring cheap domestic labour and in
7. Industries that require cheap Labour.

Today the entire flesh trade market is demanding younger girls and according to a current study of the approximate 9,00,000 prostitutes, some 30% are children, and the number of girls below 14 years engaged in prostitution is increasing at the rate of 8% to 10% per annum. This is because of the following factors.

1. It is easier to force them in to submission with the use or threat of physical violent.
2. Myths that sex with virgins is a sure cure of impotent and STD.
3. The fear of HIV among the amateur prostitutes and the mistaken belief that the young girls present a much lower risk of infection.

Despite constitutional guarantees and ratification of international conventions that protect the rights of women and children, laws are followed more in their breach than in their observance. There are special police officers for controlling trafficking and curbing exploitation and most of them do not regard this as serious offence and often collude with the traffickers. There is also a strong nexus of traffickers with the politicians, officials, businessmen and the priesthood. There is no penal sections against officials who fail to take action in cases involving, trafficking of women and girls. Hypocritical moralizing against prostitutes while remaining completely silent on the sexual perversions and promiscuity of the ever-growing male clientele is futile effort in the system of justice and law enforcement.

Culture created by the liberalization process on the economy have encouraged the proliferation of the pornographic industry designed to create sexual fantasies with obscene films, photographs, websites and books, which are easily accessible. This has resulted in the exploited of the children beyond any resistance and further it is fuelled by the immoral portrayal of women by the medial as instrument of lust and pleasure. I beleieve that the best way to conclude is to present the following verses of the former president of India Late Shir.K.R.Narayanan.

“Violence in society has bared a hundred fangs
As advertisement-driven consumerism is

Unleashing frustrations and tensions in our society.
The unabashed, vulgar indulgence in
Conspicuous consumption by the nouveau riche
Has left the under class seething in frustration.
One half of our society guzzles aerated beverages
While the other half has to make to with
Palmfuls of muddied water.
Our three-way fat lane of
Liberalization, privatization and globalization
Must provide safe pedestrian crossings
For the unempowered India also.”

We are blessed with a child

Kabir said to his son Kamaal " Kamaal, I'm going to leave this body soon. Before I leave, I want to correct one of the lines I've written. I have written,

" The dew drop disapperaed into the ocean".

Please correct this as,

"The Ocean disappeared into the dew drop".

Kaamal said, " I was always suspecious about this line. See, I have crossed it in the book."

Kabir was amazed and realized that he has rightly named his son as Kamaal - A miracle.

What am I arriving at?

Here it is.

A life has appeared as a dew drop. We are blessed with a baby boy. The baby was born at 7:44 AM on 26-Feb-2006.

A life has appeared as a dew drop.
The dew drop disapperaed into the ocean.
The Ocean disappeared into the dew drops.

Poems of Love

Happy Valentine's Day

Through Love

You

Heart to Heaven

I remain in You

Your Kisses

Happy Valentine's Day

Love – one of the definitions that I could think of instantly is from Kushwant Singh’s that says “ Love is a feeling that makes you feel a feeling that you have never felt before”. Though, I quote this first, I personally feel that love is not love when it is defined and hence love is an indefinable and incomprehensible bliss. However, we tend to understand anything only when it’s clearly defined and hence, I present the following verses of Swami Vivekananda as the best definition of love.

“Love is the manifestation of the whole universe. What is it that makes atoms unite with atoms, molecule molecules, and holds planets in orbit, and what is that attracts man to man, woman to woman, woman to man, man to woman, and animals to animals, drawing the whole universe to the center is what is love. Its manifestation is from the lowest atom to the highest being: Omnipotent, all-pervading, is this love. Under the impetus of love, Christ gives his life for humanity, Buddha even for an animal, the mother for her child. It is under the impetus of the same love that the thief steals, the murderer murders. So, in all crimes, as well as in all virtuous actions, behind stands that eternal love. Unattached, yet shining in everything is love, the motive power of the universe, without which the universe would fall in a moment, and this love is God."

Whatever the history of Valentine’s Day is, its sensible that a day has been dedicated for Love and on this day, I present a few poems of love written during my course of Agony and Ecstasy. Love is bridge between prayer and sex. Love in its finer form is prayer, while in its grosser form is sex.

Seed
Flower
Fragrance

Knowledge
Intelligence
Consciousness

Sex
Love
Prayer

Hey, I’ve written a Haiku. If you happen to read all the poems, you will understand why I have written this Haiku as a caution.

Top

Through Love

You are the one who masters me
I’m totally mastered by you.

By the passion of love for you,
I’ve grown as sweet as sugar.
By myself I’m bitter,
Through you I’m sweet.

When depressed darkened I’m
Your love lightens my mind.
By myself I’m a rock,
Through you I’m a gem

Life ensnared me with desire and disease
While, you’ve killed them with your love.
By myself I’m pain.
Through you, I’m pleasure.

When life flings me into the air,
You hoist me to the sky.
By myself I’m a slave,
Through you I’m the King.

Birth made me wander in illusion;
You’ve shown me my being in you.
By myself I’m death,
Through you, I’m life.

Top

You

You are a secret,
Like a bird in a shell,
Like a rose ere its blossom
All unseen you’ll dwell.

You are the kernel of the fruits
The germ of all flowers
The blaze of all the diamond
The moment of hours.

You are the light in the darkness
The sky in the river
The soul in my bosom
That wears it forever.

You are the work, and the dearest
My mouth has ever spoken.
You are the thought, the sincerest
My mind has ever known.

You are the flower in a basket
All bloom and perfuming.
You are the gem of my casket
Love, beauty and You.

Top

Heart to Heaven

My soul spilled into you and is blended.
Because my soul has absorbed your fragrance, I cherish it.
Every drop of blood I spill informs the earth,
I merge with You, when I participate in love.
In this house of mud and water,
My heart had fallen to ruins.
Enterd you my Love, to make it a heaven.

Top

I remain in You

I need a lover and a friend
All friendships you transcend
And impotent I remain.

You are the sun and the moon
You are the light and the dark
Behind the veil I remain

You are passion and are rage
You are the bird and the cage
Lost in the flight remain.

You are the wine and the cup
You are the ocean and the drop
While afloat I remain

You are the bait and the trap
You are the path and the map
While in search I remain

You are poison and the sweet
You are the defeated and defeat
Sword in hand I remain.

You are the love and the beloved
You are life and the death
While thirsty I remain.

Top

Your Kisses

In the early dusk when met,
you gave me three kisses
so that I would wake up
to this moment of love.

I tried to remember in my heart
what I’d dreamt about
during the night
before I became aware
of this moving
of life.

I found my dreams,
but the moon took me away
It lifted me up to the firmament
and suspended me there
I saw how my heart had fallen
on your path
singing a song.

Between my love and my heart
things were happening which
slowly slowly
made me recall everything.

You amuse me with your touch
although I can’t see your hands.
You kiss me with tenderness
although I can't see your lips
But still, I miss you.

But it is you who keeps me alive
Perhaps the time will come
when you will tire of kisses
I shall be happy
even for insults from you
I only ask that you
keep some attention on me.

Top

Children

The very thought of becoming a dad to a kid in a couple of months, brings to my mind the freshness of my childhood with a state of no-mind, as placid as a lake and unadulterated by thoughts. Every child is born as the very possibility of God, but in its journey, gets exploited and manipulated by the influence of ties, relationships, religion, knowledge, competition, objective and society forming a sheath of stains. The divine potentiality is nipped in the bud and is pulled into the orbit of interdependence, possessiveness and slavery. I am reminded of the following poem of Khalil Gibran from The Prophet.

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Happy Pongal

Wish you all a very happy and a prosperous pongal.
It's time to eat lots and lots of Karumbu(sugarcane) - it keeps your dentist away!

To know about the A to Z of Pongal Festival........

Kodaikanal - The Pristine Beauty

History

Location

Roads to Kodai

How to Reach

Places to see

Though my blog is called Kodai Hills, so far I have not written anything on Kodai – the place that’s deeply rooted in my heart and soul, for it is a cradle of serenity with its pristine beauty and intoxicating aroma. The terrific tranquillity of Kodaikanal is simply awesome and infact, the serenity experienced at Kodaikanal is seldom found in other hill stations. Arguably, Kodaikanal is the most beautiful and the best-preserved hill station in the sub-continent.The summer retreat of Kodaikanal literally means gift of the forest and remains true even today.

Though there are many site in the web on Kodaikanal, I am unable to provide a reference as the information is in bits and pieces and their authenticity is questionable. Hence, I have decided to collect and present my own account, which I’m sure will be more authentic and informative.

History

Kodai Hills has a history as old as time. There are references to Kodaikanal in the Tamil Sangam literature of the early Christian era. In the pre-historic times, the primitive tribes of Paliyans and Pulyans resided near the Palani Hills and their descendants still live here in many of the hamlets. There is proof of settlement of prehistoric tribes at Kodaikanal by visible artifacts such as dolmens homes of great stone slabs. After the primitive tribes of Paliyans and Pulyans, in 14th century, villagers of Palani foot hills fled into Kodai hills, to escape from the oppressive rule in the plains and also from the invasion of Tippu Sultan.

Kodaikanal as a hill station was set-up by the Americans, though the British soon joined.The first European to visit Kodaikanal was Lt. B.S. Ward a surveyor in the year 1821. His Head Quarters was Vellagavi village. The irony is that, till now there’s no road to this village and to the many settlements in and around Vellagavi. The Hill bananas and the oranges from this village are exotic as they are cultivated without the user or any chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

During the Raj, the British / Americans could not bear the oppressive heat in Madurai and they faced sickness from epidemic diseases and consequential deaths. They wanted neat and healthy natural surroundings near Madurai to rest and improve their health. They were happy to find from the report of Lt. B.S. Ward about the hills with wonderful climate and easy accessibility from Madurai & Periyakulam. Many English and American missionary people visited Kodaikanal through various routes. Notable among them are J C Wroughton -Sub Collector, C R Cotton Judge and Dr. Weight. Dr.Fane built two houses in 1845 in the lake road. More houses were built by British Govt. The American Missionaries moved in and built a lot of dwellings in the southern side which is still there and now called 'Sunny Side' and 'Shelton' . In the year 1860, the first church was built jointly by the Bishop. American Madurai Mission built the union church in 1895.

From year 1860, there was all round improvement due to the visit of several dignitaries. Roman Catholics came, purchased a bungalow for Jesuit fathers, as rest house which is now called La Providence in upper shola road. Governors of Madras Sir Charles Travelyon and Lord Napier visited in the years 1860 and 1871. One major JM Partridge of the army introduced Eucalyptus and wattle trees in the year 1867. Bier Leverage, collector of Madurai lived in Pamhar house after his retirement. Only through his tireless efforts and initiative the artificial Kodaikanal lake, the foremost attraction of the tourists was formed. He arranged boat rides in the lake. He planned and executed several approach roads to Kodaikanal. He introduced several foreign trees and vegetables such as Pine Forms and Pears. In the year 1872 Lt. Coaker cut a path along the ridge of steep south eastern side which commends a magnificent view of the plains below. The path was named after him as Coaker's Walk and even today it offers a good walk with the panoramic view.

Top

Location

Kodaikanal lies in the Palani hills which is the eastern offshoot of the Western Ghats covering an area of 2400 Sq. Kms, and the town of Kodaikanal is centrally located. The Palani Hills is the main watershed for the Vaigai (South) and Amaravathi (Cauvery) (North) Basins. Geographically, Kodaikanal is located at a latitude of 10°7' N to 10°20' N and a longitude of 77°16' E to 77°45' E. Kodaikanal is situated at an altitude of about 2,133 m.

Top

Roads to Kodai

There are two ways which we can reach Kodai. One is the road via Batlagundu on the Kodai Ghat Road (58 KMs) whose gradient is brilliantly engineered with just 2 hairpin bends, thanks to the British who did the origional formation of the road. This is a double road ( 7.5 m in width) and is always well maintained. It wouldn't be fair to Kodaikanal not to show the beauty of the vegetation here and this scene everyone must know who was coming to Kodai as you must pass this road to get and to go from there. Enjoy this road, 1.5 to 2 hours drive through the mountains to the town. I did this road several times with the bike, many times broke my record descending this road in even less than 50 minutes - the bike ride in this road is a an ecstasy.

The other road is the one that emanates from Palani, which is called as the Kodai-Palani Ghat Road (62 KMs) poorly aligned and designed with 21 hair-pin bends, thanks(?!) to the Highways Department who did the formation in 1970 and this road became operational in 1975, the year in which I was born :). Both the roads meet at a place called Perumal Malai which is just 12 KMs from Kodaikanal.

Top

How to Reach

Kodaikanal is 120 KMs and takes 3 1/2 Hours from Madurai via the Kodai Ghat Road. There are frequent buses from Madurai and cab would cost you Rs. 1200 (Ambassador, Indica etc) to Rs 1500 (Quoalis, Sumo etc) depending on the vehicle.

From chennai or Bangalore, the distance is 520 KMs and I recommend you to take up any of the Chennai - Madurai train and descent at Kodai Road Jn. Kodiakanal is 70 KMs from here via the Kodai Ghat Road and a cab would cost you Rs 800 to Rs 1200. There are also direct buses (KSRTC, TNSEC,KPN, Parveen ) from Chennai and Bangalore that takes approximately 12 Hours.

From Coimbatore, Kodai is 175 KMs via the Kodai-Palani Ghat Road. There are direct buses from Coimbatore, Erode, Thiripur, Sathyamangalam, Gobi and frequest buses from Palani. From Palani, the cab would cost you Rs 800 to Rs1200.

Top



Places to see

Rat Tail Falls View

As soon as you ascend the Kodai Ghat road, at the 12 th KM, there is a place called DUM DUM Rock that provides a panoramic view of the Rat Tail Falls and the Manjalaar Dam. There is a view tower from where you can have a real good view and is worth a few snaps.

Silver Cascade


Silver Cascade waterfall is located on the Kodai Ghat Road about 8-km before you reach Kodaikanal. This is an artificial cascade in which the overflow of Kodai Lake drops down from about 180 feet high. This waterfall can be delightful and impressive when the fall is in full spate.

Kodai Lake

Kodaikanal Lake is a 24-hectare lake bounded by a 5 km long road and the central point of Kodai. The tree-fringed lake greets everyone in the crisp early morning and is the cool heart of Kodaikanal. It is the legacy of the then Collector, Sir Vere Livinge, who formed it by damming the valley where three streams flowed. There is a Boat Club that provides the tourists with Rowing Boats and Pedalling boats and a public ferry. If you are visiting Kodai as a couple, I recommend you to take a ride in the Shikara boat offered by the Carlton Boat House. Boat Race and various competitions are held every year during the Summer Festival.

Coaker's Walk

About a kilometre from the lake is Coaker's Walk that runs along a steep, emerald green wooded slope , offering a breathtaking panorama of the plains, the Vaigai Dam and the distant hills. This hill-edge path way was identified by Er. Coaker of the Royal Engineers, in 1872 and hence is named after him. There is a rugged pristine beauty about these vistas, and the mist rising in veils from the valley below, makes this place a heavenly abode.

Upper Lake View

Upper Lake View is 3.2 kilometres from Coaker's Walk on the way to Green Valley View and provides a magnificent view of the Kodai Lake and is worth a couple of snaps. The first picture in this post is the Upper Lake View.

Green Valley View

Driving along the cool green darkness with the trees making a canopy overhead, one reaches Green Valley View, formerly known as the Suicide Point, portrays a stunning view of the valley dressed and undulating green velvet carpet of vegetation and also commands a beautiful view of the entire Vaigai Dam. Here too, the mist rises from the valley, imparting a solemn, out-of-this-world beauty to the scene. The prestigious Kodai Golf Club is located that a colonial legacy

Pillar Rocks

Thick woods line the road leading to the Pillar Rocks. These are three vertical pillars standing shoulder to shoulder measuring 112 m and a cross hoisted in one of the pillars. The ground drops sheer below them, creating a dramatic impact and affording a stupendous view of the valley below. Soon mists wrap up the pillars in mystery and one wonders whether they are real, or whether they were a figment of one's imagination. Then the sun melts the mists away and the rocks rise, solemn and majestic, dappled in sun and shadow: the effect is ethereal and awe-inspiring. There is a small garden with widest range of flowers

Devil’s Kitchen

Rediscovered by Kamal Hassan in shooting his film Guna, this place is now called as the Guna Cave. The cave is formed as a chamber between the two rocks of the Pillar Rocks and presents a view as if it is an abyss.

Moir Point

Yet another View point after the devil’s kitchen on the Kodai – Cochin road, present am amazing view of a steep valley, the hills and a few hamlets (Chinnoor, Periyoor) located in the mountains ro sometimes a herd of hibex grazing in the mountains. There is a forest check-post here to prohibit unauthorized entry beyond this point through the road leading to Munnar via Berijam Lake. Also, a road leading to the the Goshen road (This is a road that originated from Observatory Road and streatches to may hamlets like Poombarai, Kavunji, Mannavanoor, Kookaal etc.) meets at this point completing the famous 14 miles round.

Berijam Lake

Berijam lake - 21 kms from Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu is the most beautiful lake in all of South India. Originally discovered by the British & Spanish people, this place was a swamp 80-100 years ago. It has been converted to a lake with catchment areas around the lake. the lake itself is situated in a very high altitude...just a couple of hundred feet below kodai. The lake has very pure water and is the main source of water for a town called Periyakulam which is situated in the valley below Kodaikanal. Besides this, there are fantastic pine forests around the lake and theres something about pine trees and the fog and the lake and You have to see it to believe it !!

You only get permission to stay in Berijam till the evening, but if you are persuasive enough, you can get permission to stay overnight in Berijam ! There is a dormitory at Berijam, which can serve as a base for trekking. There is a canteen too with a friendly cook who'll cook anything for you, provided you have had the brains to shop for vegetables and stuff before getting here. Prakash, the cook will whip up anything you want to eat without any complaints. Iwould suggest you carry eggs and bread. This is the best breakfast you can have before you start on that wildest trek in your life !

You will realize the worth of the pain involved in getting the permission from the Forest Office, once you reach the Berijam Lake View - a spectacular view of a serene valley of shola forests with its diverse medicinal and aromatic plants and the lake resting like a pool of panacea in its bosom. There’s also a forest watch tower which provides an enthralling view of the same from an elevated point. Just 3 kilometers from this point is a shola called the Mathikettan Shola (people are sure to get mad on entering this shola because of the diverse variety of medicinal and aromatic plants it). This is preserved as on of the many endangered shola forests in Kodiakanal. There is also a possibility that your sight might catch up the glimpses of some fauna like Bisons, Nilgiri Lemurs, flying squirrels and deers.

Though boating is not allowed in this lake, it still remains as the most favoured picnic spot not only for the tourists but also for the locals. Don’t miss Berijam if you are visiting Kodai. From Berijam Lake, the road leads to Munnar (another paradise on earth) and is closed for the tourists. This road is another masterpiece left to us by the British. The road was operative till 1990 (the last time I took this road was in 1987 in a Jeep along with Gemini Ganesh and his family) but was ignored both by the Forest Department and Highways Department on a dispute over its ownership. Though the road is completey damaged till the Tamilnadu border, you can see that it is superbly maintained once you enter the Kerala border. Thanks to the Forest, Highways and the Tourism Depts of Kerala.

Goshen Road

To be continued............

Matrimandir

We (Shiva & Sujathaa) had a great time at Pondicherry on the eve of New Year. Visited Auroville, but visitors were not allowed inside the Matrimandir, as some restoration work is being done. Pondy has always been my favourite place for its culture, colonial houses, beaches and food. We stayed at Patricia's Guest House, which is a Colonial house and dined mostly at Redezvous roof top. The restaurant is run by Vincy and Jessica, who were operating a restaurant in Kodaikanal (1981-92) and Vincy was able to remember my dad and he was very friendly to us.

The Matrimandir wants to be the symbol of the Divine's answer to man's aspiration for perfection. Union with the Divine manifesting in a progressive human unity. The Matrimandir wants to be the symbol of the Universal Mother according to Sri Aurobindo's teaching.

Love - Agony and Ecstasy

There is no person on earth who has never been in love. But love can go beyond all limits and bounds and it can transcend consciousness and our very soul. Love has played a key role in my life elevating me to the peak and droping me into the abyss, experimenting with me in all the possible ways...............

Sona

I was deeply lonely with myself and was equally motivated to share that loneliness as well as to preserve it against ant trespass. I expressed my liking by denuding myself; by laying open my heart and inviting the person I liked to trespass into my inner solitude. Then came a stage when the desire to preserve that inner solitude became very stronger than the desire to share it. It was at such circumstance that I fell in love with Sona. It didn’t last long as she left me with loneliness to rest her soul. When she left, the heaviest blow was to me as I was in pain, misery and travail. Love itself is the cure for the pangs of pain caused by it. Though it yielded a joy that was vast as an ocean, the pangs it caused were deeper far. Having subjected me to this inconsolable grief that had wasted all my acquisitions, my guilty eyes had dried up with no more tears to shed. I conceived that, to suffer in sweetness and in peace without offering any resistance is to suffer in the right way. The dreams were my wonderful companion as they brought me sweet messages from her, though at sometimes horrible.

It was not so bad when I had loved Sona, for then in my adolescence, I had only wanted to give and it was the giving that has been refused. I loved her and didn’t expect her to return my love. I just had to keep trying and I kept proving it to her. Even after her death, whenever I thought of her, I felt myself enter her aura. It was torture to have this feel of her and yet have her no where in this world. Pain caused curious things to me and I realized that pain is the most profound of all human feelings. I tasted the pleasure of pain.

Sumithra

It was easier for me to fall in love because when the image of my first love broke down, it left an empty space in my mind with large charge of feeling, which was urgently looking for a replacement. Driven by the anxiety of this vacuum, I started romanticizing the image of the any lovable, reasonable and passionate woman who came along so that she can fill the niche quickly. I had no need for woman but I needed the feeling of being possessed by them. To me possession meant a longing for permanence, for an unchanging condition. Lack of love brought me infinite pain but it could do me no harm.

It was at this point that I found Sumithra and I realized that life would be impossible unless my new hunger is fed by someone like her. I had never known before how much of me had been dead without love. If I had known I would have loved passionately the first women I had come across. But it would’ve been very superficial and with Sumithra it was very deep and rich. Though she was also highly inaccessible I loved her more than I did myself. I used to wonder if it was for us that kambar – the Tamil poet wrote these lines in Sundara Ghandam,

Blow, wind to where my loved one is,
Touch her, and come and touch me soon;
I’ll feel her gentle touch through you,
And meet her beauty in the moon.
These things are much for one who loves-
A man can live by them alone-
That she and I breath the same air,
And the earth we tread is one.

-Ramayana

We didn't even meet each other and our love had more frustration than fulfillment. Ultimately we had to break considering the impracticality of our happening. Just because it didn't happen, do I have to treat her as a stranger? She's married and settled in ONT, Canada. We are still good friends with ocassional mail exchanges.

Sandy Thomas

The basic cause which made me seek the love of another person was because I was extremely lonely again. I felt this loneliness to be painful and yearned to escape, from it. The sudden release and explosive pouring out of myself in to someone whom I have not even seen was experience with my love with Sandy Thomas. And it was the most beautiful kind of relationship I ever had with a woman. To this day she is a mystery as she brilliantly kept her identify a mystery. She is the most mysterious , indecipherable, inscrutable, most profound, most precious and, at the same time, the most accursed girl I’ ve known and I’m in total darkness about her.

She was deprived of the childhood needs which spoilt her formative years and has driven her to a state of “give-up neurosis”. As for her portrait could depict she was exceedingly beautiful but her beauty was thing of might and dread that shook my life like a tempest. As a highly- organized loving-being I was able to objectify my passions enabling myself to suffer and enjoy most keenly. I was intoxicated by her love. I got transfigured into her and every through was merged in that one ocean of love for her. She was the only perfect flower in the wilderness of my life and the only fixed star in mists of my wandering and my only hope in my despair. I couldn’t predict the weight for measure of my love I had for her. She was my wish and my thought, I breathed her with every draught, I kissed her with every fragrance. Although I was far from her physically, we had one single light. No one knew who was the lover and who the beloved, and we never made any effort to meet which made the relationship a great mystery.

Her wantedness to break her ego boundaries was satisfied by my correspondence with her, and I thought our love will be a permanently enlarging experience. But, our relationship had to collapse due to some misunderstanding. It was my mistake - That's what she said. That was the time for wiser of the two to put and end to the relationship because the one who wishes to prolong it in the hope that it may be restored to its initial intensity, is the one who is going to be hurt and she is wise women. Our occasional mails and her ocassional calls keep us as friends till today.

Pavithra

Pavithra, a girl of low melting who poured into my long prepared mould and she was the only one with whom I progressed up to some kisses. I had a peculiar sense of freedom as her presence always lifted from me a pressure I could not define. Her love encouraged freedom of myself and we shared positive and negative reactions to warm the cold feelings. She was bold, free, ambitious, self-reliant woman and intellect. It was a different kind of love - sexual love, a genetically determined instinctual component of mating behaviour which I confess, is a selfish emotion and I know that in this society any selfish emotion and my intense longing for association, the strong desire on the part of two to become one. As for as I am concerned, it was apparent that love is initially stirred by physical attraction and is born in the eye. It is in the physical that the mental and emotional relationship is built. I wanted to love her ever and ever. I deliberately shut my eyes to the two enemies. Time and change. When I turned indifferent to her love because of the crisis I got into, she was more realistic as if she knew that all things pass.

I never cared about what she had done or what she is or where she is from as long as she loved me. That is the nature of sexual love, and I was blind to her nature. Even my best friends were against my association with her as they thought in term of the usual ethics, tradition and values as if they are the greatest virtue every person should posses. I believed that preaching of chastity is an incitement to public anti-nature. Any kind of scorn for sexual life, any contamination of it with the concept of “uncleanliness”, is the real sin against holy spirit of life. What is the cause of chastity? The presence of the so-called unchaste, impure, street-walking and whoring women is the cause of chastity. I believe the so-called decent women differ only in the aspect that they are less honest than the whores. Woman also has the equal right to expect her man to be equally chaste as she is and so it is better not to have room for moral judgments in life. Life is amoral.

According to me there is nothing immoral or obscence; there are only poorly conceived and poorly executed ones.Ordinarily we think in terms of duality. But there’s no duality in life. There is neither good nor evil in this world, but only being and doing. Zola was right in saying that morality is like a religion; a soporific to close people’s eyes to the tawdriness of their life. It was amusingly surprising to note that in a land of phallus-yoni worshippers people are crazy enough to laud the virtues of virginal chastity. I had to sacrifice her for the sake of society and I’m ashamed of the second-rated life I had lead that could not even spare me of my love. On introspection, I realized that any love couldn’t last longer because of the fact that I expected instant gratification from it but I was not willing to wait for the ultimate fulfillment.

Sujathaa

Every love affair must reach a point where it will attain marriages, and be changed, or decline, or wither. When ever I was in an excited state I was more prone to fall in love than when I was calm and placid. There was always a sudden discontinuous jump from one love to the next and between these two loves, there was a gap, a void, something like life – lifelessness – life. If it was the will of existence to molest me with beauty of passion, how can I help trying to impose any boundary? No. It did not lie in my power to love or hate, for the will is always over–ruled by fate. Now that, I have gained significant experience not only in love, but also in life. I almost had die in order to be born again - I got resurrected. However, a life time without love is of no account as love is the water of life. Drink it down with heart and soil as it is the highest form of expression of the phenomenon of God. After a loveless life of 2 years, I met Sujathaa and we were instaltly in love and didn't take much of a time to realize that all these years of love was just a projection of a longingness to find each other. After 2 more years of being in love, we consolidated it by marriage.