My native place

 Golden days of my native place (written by me and published in The Hindu , Open page ono9.9.12)

The memories of my childhood days spent at Natchiar Koil village in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu are still fresh in my mind. Such memories led me to compare the existing situation in India, in general, and in villages, in particular, with the past. An analysis left me sad for the undesirable transformation which India has undergone over the last few decades. Those were really golden days.

As children, we didn’t know that our village was famous for the Mariamman temple, the Perumal (Vishnu) and Natchiar temple, for the world famous brass lamp factories, for Nagaswaram vidwans like Raghavan Pillai and for betal leaves. Our village, like any other village of yesteryear in Tamil Nadu, had an Agraharam, where Brahmins lived, the Muslim streets surrounding the mosque and the colony where the Scheduled Castes lived. The Brahmin youth were working in offices, the Muslims were landlords and traders and the Scheduled Castes mostly served the other communities in various capacities. But we never witnessed communal clashes or disputes. We lived in total harmony. Everyone treated the other with dignity. All community leaders participated in the meetings held to discuss village matters.

The Mariamman temple festival was celebrated for 10 days at a stretch. It attracted crowds from all surrounding villages and towns. Small traders from all over Thanjavur district participated in the shanty, spreading their wares in the lanes around the temple. Children, and even adults, used to crowd the shops for the whole day. Things which attracted the women were vessels of all types, ready made clothes and kitchenware. The children liked seeni mittai, a sweetmeat in different shapes and colours. Jav mittai was an attraction as well. The vendor would sing songs to attract children and pull out the colourful, sweet semi-liquid material which was elastic enough to be moulded from the bamboo which was holding it and out of which he would make birds, animals, watches, insects, etc., as per our demand and stick the design on our hands. Girls used to crowd ribbon, bangle and wooden and papier-mâché doll shops and boys thronged shops selling kites and tops. There were bio-scopes through which we can see “cinema bits” and the merry-go-rounds, and folk arts performances provided us enough entertainment.

The best part of the festival was the display of religious tolerance. All Muslim families wrote letters to their relatives living afar, inviting them for the Mariamman festival. Every Muslim home used to have so many guests during those days. The same way, people of different faiths arrived for the three-day float festival of the Natchiar temple, making it grand by their presence, participating in the festival activities organised outside the temple. I still remember the regular badminton practice given by my father to Brahmin boys on the mosque ground in the evenings.

Hindu women used to bring their babies suffering from fever to the mosques in the evening and would wait for the Mullahs to come out after prayer and get them cured of illnesses. The Mullahs would recite Arabic prayers, and bless the babies.

Muslim families always threw a separate vegetarian feast the day after their family weddings for Hindu friends. On Pongal days, all agricultural labourers used to bring fruits, flowers and hens for the Muslim landlords and they, in turn, were given dresses, money and food. They were allowed to decorate the cattle as they liked.

In short, everyone faithfully followed his/her religion and was tolerant of other religions. They never talked of conversions. As children, we never bothered to know about the classmates’ religion. We never heard of untouchability during our school days. In the big bazaar of our village, Hindu and Muslim traders conducted business without any clash of interests or rivalry.

Our village had Panchayat-run Tamil medium primary and secondary schools. Private schools were unheard of. Students belonging to the rich, middle and poor classes studied in the same school. Our teachers never demanded but always commanded the respect of not only students but also the village elders. The headmaster was always consulted by the panchayat leaders in village matters. Out teachers inculcated in us the values of religious tolerance, patriotism, secularism, respect for elders and honesty. Independence and Republic days were celebrated with patriotism. I still remember some Hindu teachers giving free tuition to poor Muslim students and some Muslim landlords helping poor Brahmin boys in their higher education.

Life was simple and stress-free. We spent our childhood playing out on the dry riverbed, the open ground for the entire evenings. We played in rainy and summer seasons. We played in mud and clay, but were never discouraged from playing for a long time and we never felt sick because of dust or pollution. We never had heavy homework. Going to school was fun since we could meet all our friends and exchange our eatables. We studied only for the examinations. English was introduced only from Standard VI. Yet many of us could get higher educational qualifications and a decent status in our life.

I can go on and on, with the memories of my village life. My heart bleeds when I now hear news of loss of human lives, destruction of business and property taking place, in the name of religion. It is painful to see responsible political leaders making hate speeches about different communities, owners refusing to rent out their homes to particular communities, children in village schools suffering the indignity of untouchability and neighbours in apartments in the cities boycotting one another on the basis of religion. How backward have we become in social harmony and religious tolerance? Our mindset has become so rigid against peaceful co-existence. Such an ugly transformation is not only confined to the cities but has spread to villages, which had all along protected the rich Indian culture. Will India revert to the golden days?

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Freebees culture of Tamil Nadu

The article, "public policy and private gain" by Pulapre Balakrishnan in the Hindu (16.12.15)clearly explains how the distribution policy of the Dravidian parties has restricted the space for public goods in Tamil Nadu.. The youth of  Tamil Nadu particularly, of Chennai who were rendering humanitarian service of high order during the recent flood would have witnessed directly for the first time in their life, the futility of distributivism policy pursued vigorously   at the expense of  the  provision of  physical infrastructure like roads, bridges, sewage, drainage system etc., and shocked beyond limits. But the question is , have   the political parties of Tamil Nadu  wanting a  clear mandate to govern this State after the election of2016 learnt any lessons? Have the voters who vote repeatedly on the basis of free bee culture learnt any lessons ? Only the recent flood exposed fully the quality of governance of the Dradvidan parties which has ruled Tamil Nadu for most of the decades. In a away the flood has exposed  the mismanagement of the disaster and  has  awakened the collective consciousness of the voters of Tamil Nadu and made them feel guilty about blind use of their votes 

Directionless conduct of the Congress party .

Ever since, the “high command” culture and the centralisation of powers in one family started in the Congress Party resulting in the fall of the federal structure , the  party faced  reduction in  the party’s   vote banks in several states  For example, as long as regional leaders like Kamaraj and Moopanar were playing a dynamic role at the national executive level of the party , the congress had decent vote bank in Tamil Nadu. The most important  effort  the Congress Party has to take urgently is to strengthen the Party at the states level through giving an opportunity to local leaders to participate at the decision making level . Imposition of decisions from above without considering local realities  may not enthuse the party cadres. Moreover the present strategy being adopted by the Congress party session after session in the parliament has  irritated many responsible members of their own party and the even their allies . The Nation is also losing it’s patience over their unproductive approach to parliamentary affairs . Can’t they fined a better strategy to put the BJP under right track ? A mature approach to revive their glory is expected from a old party.

Illeberal law of the Haranana govenment

The statistics presented in the editorial, “Illiberal law” in the Hindu Editirial (12.12.15) proves that all the governments which have ruled the state  of Hariyana so far, have failed to achieve  better social status of the SCs . Denying them the right to contest in the local election on the basis of their educational qualification and other conditions  amounts to a slap on their face in the form of denial of political a participation and will leave them under represented in the political arena . It will further deteriorate their social status. What justice is there in punishing the victims for the failure of the various governments ?  Has the Haryana and Rajastan governments run by the BJP  taken any special effort to improve the educational enrollment and retention of SC children whenever they were governing those states/  It is very unwise to introduce political reforms in an unequal society .

Tamil Nadu flood

When will our administrators learn through their mistakes and take corrective steps at least to prevent  large scale losses of materials   and human lives in future, when nature attack man kind with intensive  fury? Why  do party men waste the viewer’s time by engaging in blame game during the channels debates on Tamil Nadu flood? Why can’t the Tamil Nadu government invite representatives of the major political parties,  experts on  natural disasters , central government and the  local governments of Tamil Nadu and the secretaries of the various departments connected with flood management to arrive at a clear picture regarding the road map for disaster management of this magnitude, resettling of those who have lost everything and to plan for coordinated efforts by central, state and local agencies  to normalise life in Tamil  Nadu. Is this a time for prestige and decide about future course of action without involving all the stake holders? Is it not time for swift action than engaging in postmortem of who did  what and when? Is not time to concentrate on getting central aid quickly by finishing the evaluation of damages in time?

Flood in Tamil Nadu and the lessons learnt

The flood in Tamil Nadu taught a humbling experience to many . The nature treated every one equally and hence, in spite of the differences in economic, social and political status every one suffered in different ways and degrees. For the first time people would have realised that , it is not the financial strength that would come to their rescue  during crises of this magnitude  but , it is the humanness of fellow citizens that would give them the required solace and relief .The unbearable sufferings experienced   taught many lessons to the citizens. But the political class alone seems like not learning any lessons since they were continuing to exercise the  arrogance of power , malpractices and sycophancy acts , even, in the middle of a human tragedy of this magnitude. They have forgotten that India is a democracy and they will soon be taught a lesson .Otherwise their spokes persons of the ruling part will not appear in TV channels and attack the youth of Tamil Nadu  and of the neighboring states who rose to the crisis and lent all their resources like money, time ,energy, intelligence and social networking facility  to render devoted service with  admirable social responsibility? What justice is there in attacking them for the  the adverse comments the government received in the media for it's various failures in   coping  up  withe the crisis

A mindless act exposed by the media

When the media was engaged in covering extensively about the impact of unprecedented rain in Tamil Nadu and its impact on different parts of the state ,particularly, in the Chennai city and was covering the extent of assistance from the central government through cash assistance and through sending the army, navy , inspection squads and the disaster management groups, the extraordinary assistance rendered by the NGOs and other social media groups, college students and other political parties and also the neighboring states and other states  and of the heart moving scenes on the human sufferings  one particular news coverage of an event  irritated the civil society. It is on the attempt by a group of people ( who are instructed to do so)to paste the Chief Minister’s pictures on the relief materials sent from different corners of the nation  , thereby exposing  their lack of   sensitivity even over human crisis. The flood in Chennai is a humbling experience to many sections of the population especially to  the well off sections that ,money will  not come to their rescue under all the circumstances. This natural calamity taught us a lesson i.e., when nature plays a major role humans  are powerless however  big they are politically, socially or financially. But the political class alone is not in the habit of   learning  any lesson  even during a worst crisis This point  is proved by the attempt to paste CMs picture in the middle of critical  operations related to  relief work . Whose brain has ordered them to be engaged in that work when we are facing manpower shortage for relief work and when every minute and energy of manpower is required for mitigating peoples sufferings?  Thank God the  CM has noticed that and has ordered the stoppage of  such mindless tasks. Otherwise this act would have continued and irritated every body and  spoiled the reputation of the ruling party