Is the Present Better than our Past?

I grew up in a rural Tamilnadu setting, some seven decades back…

Regardless of the season (did we really have a season ?), our dinner time was at 830 PM and bed time was no later than 1000 pm.

Eating out at a restaurant was a huge deal, a rarity actually, that only happened when it was a birthday or a very special occasion to celebrate.

There was no such thing as fast food on every other day. Having a bottle of soft drink and an ice-cream from the local shop was a real treat reserved for special occasions. Pass your final exams and you might have gotten a treat or a new pair of Bata chappals. We waited for Deepavali, Birthday and Pongal for a new set of dress. Hung around at the Tailor shop on the eve of Deepavali to collect the newly stitched dress.

You took your school clothes off as soon as you got home and put on your ‘home’ clothes. There was no taking or picking you up in the car or school bus. You either rode on public transport, or just walked home. You got home, did your chores and homework before dinner.

Not everyone had a home phone and much later, all private conversation were at PCO booths. We used to get telephone calls at our neighbor’s house. If our home had a telephone, we had to be the messenger to many neighbors as and when they got a call.

We didn’t have Apple TV, Amazon Prime or Netflix. Only a few houses had TV, we used to flock them. We had only Doordarshan to watch, Oliyum Oliiyum on Friday, Movie on Sunday for which we waited all week. We need to constantly meddle with the antenna to get Radio Ceylon, Rupavahini reception.

We played Thirudan Police, Football, Cricket, Iceboy (actually it was “I spy”) Goli, Kaathaadi, Pambaram , Gilli and any other game we could come up with… At home, we stuck to Dhaayam , Paramapadam, Aadupuli Aattam and Trade (Monopoly). Whoever was the Banker at Trade game had underhanded dealings with selected few players. The street was rarely busy with buses and it was free to play for gilli or cricket or hit ball(?)..

Staying home was a PUNISHMENT and we hardly complained about getting bored as we always had something to do outside. Half the time, folks at our home could identify us with our voice as we became tanned, dirty and sweaty, walking / playing or roaming in hot sun. Home was only to shower, eat & sleep. We always walked or by- cycled up to few KMs, never took a rickshaw or a bus. Don’t recall going to doctors at the drop of a hat!

Life was good without insta, facebook, twitter. Followers were the friends standing behind you.

We played music in tape recorder (in a few houses only) but mostly with radio / transistor sitting around it. A walkman which came later during college days was a luxury even for the rich. Cricket commentary (take it from me Taliyar khan), Bianca Geet Mala (Ameen Sayani), Radio Ceylon (S P Mayilvahanan, K S Raja) are all cherished memories!

We were sent to ‘Nadar or chettiar Kadai’ for groceries. Chiclets, then mittai, kamarcut, parrys, nutrine, Britania etc. was a commission / treat for our trip to the shop. They all used to cost a few paise.

We ate what ‘Amma’ made and packed in our lunch box. Bottled water was non-existent. We drank from the school water tap or from the earthen pot.

We called our friends by shouting their names from standing outside their house on the street. We were welcome at all our friends’ houses uninvited and food / snacks was served irrespective whether anything was left for friend’s mother. We never bothered about the caste of your friends!

We weren’t AFRAID OF ANYTHING. We played until dark… sunset / darkness was our alarm to return home. You could never enter home without washing your legs & hands first.

If someone had a fight, that’s what it was and we were friends again a day later if not SOONER.

We were careful with what we said around our elders because ALL of our aunts, uncles, grandpas, grandmas, our parents’ friends and neighbors were all extensions of our PARENTS and you didn’t want them telling your parents you’d misbehaved!

We respected our Elders, Police, Firemen, Teachers, Doctors and Nurses or anyone with power. We never questioned or answered back… ever!!!

We were made to stand on the bench at school for not doing homework, no hair cut, being late to class or being naughty. Our teachers freely spanked or even canned us whether we deserved it or not and our parents did not complain about it. Parents would never come to our rescue even if we complain about your teacher.

We fought in school over who is great MGR or Shivaji (for some Jaishankar?)!

We did not know what luxury was. Our simple lives were so good.

Those were the good old days. All kids growing in Metros today will never know how it feels to be a real kid. I loved my childhood and all the friends I hung around with. Really miss those days. Simple living, no anxiety, no worries about tomorrow.

We had a little money but life was not that bad even without fridge, AC…

Summing up, wouldn’t you agree that our past is not all that bad – may be a shade better than the present?

Share with those of your generation if you are from my generation…..

Adapted from a WhatsApp forward ….

கல்பாக்கத்தை கடந்த காலங்கள் – ஒரு வாடா மலரும் நினைவுகள்

76-77 காலகட்டங்களில் கல்பாக்கம் பஸ் போக்குவரத்து சொல்லும்படி இருக்காது. சென்னை போக 108, 119, 119 A அடிக்கடி இருக்காது. பம்பாயிலிருந்து வந்த புதிதில் சட்ராஸ் பஸ் ஸ்டாண்ட் கடைக்காரரிடம் ‘எப்பங்க அடுத்த பஸ்?’ கேள்விக்கு அன்பாக அவர் உடனேயே ‘இப்ப இருக்கு தம்பி’ன்னார். ஒரு மணி கழித்து வந்த வண்டியை பார்த்த உடன் அவர் ‘நான் சொன்னேன்ல, வந்துடிச்சு பாத்தீங்களா?’ கடிகார ஓட்டத்தில, பாம்பேக்கும் கல்பாக்கத்துக்கும் இவ்வளவு வேறுபாடா? சிரிக்கறதா அழறதா தெரியல்ல.

இரவு கடைசி பஸ் சென்னையில் 8மணிக்கு என்று நினைக்கிறேன். கூட்டம் தாங்கமுடியாது. உட்கார்ந்து வந்ததைவிட நின்றுவந்த நாட்கள்தான் அதிகம். கல்பாத்தில் கடைசி பஸ் எப்பன்னு சரியா ஞாபகம் இல்ல, ஆனாலும் மாலை 7 மணிக்கப்பறம் இல்லன்னு ஞாபகம்…

ட்ராவல் நேரம் சுமார் 3 மணி! தர்மத்துக்கு என்று ஒரு ரோடு.. நிறை கர்ப்பிணிகளுக்கு பிரசவம் நிச்சயம்!

சென்னைக்கு போவதற்கு இந்த கதி என்றால், என்னைப்போல தெற்கே போபவர்களுக்கு அது ஒரு பெரும் போராட்டம்! முதலில் செங்கல்பட்டு போய்சேரவேண்டும்; பின்பு சென்னையிலிருந்து செங்கல்பட்டு வழியாக போகும் வண்டிக்கு நின்று ஏறவேண்டும். பொங்கல், தீபாவளி போன்ற பண்டிகை நாட்களில் பஸ் நிற்காமலே போவதும் உண்டு. சிதம்பரம் போக 8-9 மணி ஆன காலகட்டம் அது.

அந்த நேரத்தில் கடலூருக்கு சென்னையிலிருந்து டைரக்டாக பஸ் விடப்போகிறார்கள் என்று, FBTR G சீனிவாசன் (அவர் எங்க ஊர் – கிருஷ்ணமாசாரியும் தான்) சொன்னது, அப்போதுதான் கல்யாணமாகி இருந்த எனக்கு, காதில் தேன் போல இருந்தது; வாயில்தானே தேன் இனிக்கும் – இது எப்படி என்று என்னை கேட்காதீர்கன்; (செந்தமிழ் நாடென்னும் போதினிலே – மட்டும்தான் தேன் பாயலாமா?). காலை 730 – 8க்கு கிளம்பி சிதம்பரத்திற்கு 1230 – 1 மணிக்கெல்லாம் வந்துவிட்டால், அதுவும் பஸ்ஸில் உட்கார்ந்து கொண்டு! ஜென்மம் சாபல்யமான சந்தோஷம். 188 அப்போது தான் ஆரம்பித்தார்கள்!

அப்புறம் ECR ரோடு; அரை மணிக்கு ஒரு பஸ்; சர்வதேச தரத்தில் ஒரு ரோடு; 3 அல்லது 3 அரை நேரத்தில் வீட்டிலிருந்து வீட்டுக்கு சேரும் சௌகர்யம்; சொர்க்கம் என்றால் இதுதானோ?

80-85 களில் இங்கு உத்யோகத்தில் சேர்ந்தவர்களுக்கு, இதெல்லாம் தெரியாது – ஸில்வர் ஸ்பூனுடன் பிறந்தவர்கள்!

கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சமாக வசதிகள் வந்தவர்களுக்குத்தான் அதன் சுகம் தெரியும். TV இல்லாத காலம் – Readers Haven இல் புது புத்தகங்கள் – பிறகு கம்யூனிட்டி TV 6th Street பார்க்கில்; பிறகு TV ஆன் பண்ணிட்டு சத்தம் வரும் முன்னே – படம் வரும் பின்னே வால்வ் TV – Water tankஇல் antenna – ரூபவாகினி ‘நேத்து ஒங்க வீட்ல வந்துதா?’ – EC TV – கலர் – ரிமோட் – 100க்கும் மேற்பட்ட channel – எங்கேயோ வந்துட்டம்பா!

TV இல்லாத காலங்களில் பொழுது போக்க எத்தனை வழிகள்: open air theatre KRC- NESCO – swimming pool – hostel table tennis -Guest house badminton- Homoeopathy Association – officers’ club- கணேஷ் தியேட்டர் – நோ – அது ஒரு கூறை கூடாரம் ( ஏதோ ஒன்று ஸட்ராஸிலும் உண்டாமே?) – ௧ணேஷில் கம்பாக்கத்துக்கு வந்த மறு நாளே continuous காட்சிகளில் தில்லானா மோகனாம்பாள் (Padmini is The most beautiful actress – don’t you agree).

எத்தனை நண்பர்கள் – வயது, பதவி வித்யாசம் அதிகம் பார்க்காத, கள்ளமில்லாத, எதிலும் வேறுபாடுகளையே பார்த்து விவாதிக்கும் சமுதாயத்தில், எந்த வேறுபாட்டையும் காணாத, காண விரும்பாத மனம் கொண்ட வாலிப கூட்டம்! வேலைச்சுமை அதிகம் இல்லாததால், மாலைநேரங்களில் பெரும்பகுதியை காலனி வாழ்க்கையில் செயலிட முடிந்த ஒரு காலகட்டம். அந்த நாளும் வந்திடாதோ! நினைத்தாலே கண்கள் மகிழ்ச்சியில் கனக்கின்றன!

wifஐ பின்னால் உட்கார வைத்து இருசக்கர வண்டியில் பயணித்தது எத்தனை பேருக்கு அனுபவம் உண்டு? பின் ஸ்கூட்டர், கார், … ஹூம் நினைத்தாலே இனிக்கிறதய்யா! Co-operative stores இல் loan வாங்கி எது வேண்டுமானாலும் வாங்கலாம். அப்புறம் milk society! Vegetable at wholesale rates… மாதசம்பளம் 750 இருந்து – குழந்தைகள் தங்கள் காலில் நிற்கும் நிலையில் – படிப்படியாக வாழ்க்கை மாறியது; ரிடையர் ஆகும்போது கை நிறைந்து மனமும் நிறைந்திருந்தது! பசுமை நினைவுகள் – நிழலின் அருமை வெயிலில் காய்ந்தவர்களுக்குத்தான் அய்யா தெரியும்.

புதிதாக கல்யாணம் ஆனவர்களுக்கு quarters கிடைக்காமல் திருக்கழுக்குன்றத்தில் வாடகை வீட்டில் தங்கிய அனுபவம் என்னைப்போல எத்தனை பேருக்கு உண்டென்று தெறியாது! இப்போது பல அடுக்கு மாடிகளாமே?

நாற்பது ஆண்டுகளில் கல்பாக்கத்தில் ஒரு அசுர வளர்ச்சி – நமக்கும் தான்! இறைவனுக்கு ஒரு J போடலாமா?

Envious British

The British tabloid ‘Daily News’ cribs over the building of the statue of unity: “In the 56 months it took to construct the £330million Statue of Unity, UK taxpayers gave India £1.17billion in foreign aid”. Earlier in similar tones was a commentary when Modi announced the country’s ambitious manned space sojourn. Why are the British are sulking over our efforts and link them to its Forget aid?

After it was kicked out of India in 1947, Britain kept up the pretence that it is fascinated by India and has strong cultural bonds. But in recent years that mask has slipped. India’s relentless rise to prosperity coupled with Britain’s steep decline with poverty and hunger being not uncommon, there is a real heartburn. As Indian companies started snapping up the crown jewels of British industry (Corus, Land Rover, Jaguar) the colonial aversion for Indians soured and swollen.

India’s growing prosperity and influence is a ‘pain in their neck’. In 2008, when an Indian spacecraft discovered water on the moon, the British media was aghast that India was wasting its resources on such high-tech gimmicks while it has hundreds of millions of poor people. A year later when India launched its first nuclear submarine, the British questioned India’s need for such expensive weapons when according to the Brits more than 800 million people survived on $2 a day. Indians are hearing this old record being played repeatedly and they are tired of it.

Let it not be forgotten: Britain alone is responsible for India’s poverty. Britain’s rapacious colonialism turned India from the world’s richest country in the 1700s to one of the poorest by the time the British were kicked out in 1947. Within the span of 190 years, the British also killed at least 60 million Indians through wars, displacement of populations and artificially created famines. Their leaders didn’t hide their despicability to this country either: Winston Churchill, who described Indians as a “beastly race”, caused the deaths of nearly four million Indians in 1943-44 by diverting food from India to Europe. It is known as the Great Bengal Famine during which the daily calorie intake of Indians was lower than that of the Jews in Germany’s death camps. The celebrated Charles Dickens, desired to ‘exterminate the race’ after the 1857 war! Such was the respect we had from the English.

It is not that British have plundered our country of its wealth but also ruined the culture and educational system! In order to govern the country effectively they had arranged a detailed survey of not only the wealth but the prevailing educational system; came to the conclusion that unless that is disfigured and a new system to suit their ends, is introduced, they can’t rule this huge country; the outcome of the survey was Lord McCauley’s edict which was adopted in British parliament that reads thus:

‘We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions we govern – a class of persons who are Indians in colour and blood, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect’

Have we lost a golden opportunity to revive ourselves soon after independence, due to this new class of pseudo-Indians?

Macauley’s education was introduced in india soon after the passage of English Education Act in 1835, which made the regional languages secondary to English ruining our already embattled heritage and knowledge by the Muslim rulers!

But we continued to be ruled by British in temperament long after ‘independence’… Our erstwhile prime ministers were living in an utopia of fascination and loyalty to the British even in their attire and outreach. But times are changing. No more sermons please! what a self respecting Indian now needs from Britain is an apology and not Her aids! It is indeed a true reality that outer skin and inner heart have totally different hues for this Brit!

Statue for Sardar

Narendra Modi, in an oblique reference to Rahul Gandhi, remarked that but for Sardar Vallabhai Patel, ‘shivbhakths’ would not have been able to pray at the Somnath Temple. Graciously, he didn’t open the pandora’s box of the obstacles put down by his great grand father Jawaharlal Nehru on the endeavour of restoring the glory of the shrine.

This ancient Shiva temple which is the abode of one of the twelve jyothir lingas, had been ravaged repeatedly by various Muslim invaders, notably Mahmud Ghazni, who not only desecrated the temple and looted the gold and other valuables but also massacred thousands of devotees. In the run-up to Partition, the temple became a symbol of both Hindu and national pride.

During the independence, Prabhas Patan (in which Somnath is there) was part of the Junagadh State, whose ruler, the Nawab, had acceded it to Pakistan. India refused to accept his decision, the state was made a part of India and Deputy Prime Minister Patel came to Junagadh on 12 November 1947 to direct the stabilization of the state by the Indian Army. Immediately thereafter, he made known his intention to rebuild the temple on a grand scale at a rally in Junagadh. But the then prime minister Nehru used every petty trick he could to express his petulance. But, With Mahatma Gandhi supporting Patel, only advising not to use government’s money, he vowed that the people of India would fund the project. So, A trust was constituted for the purpose, with his close aid and the founder of Bharathia Vidhya Bhavan, KM Munshi, as its chairman and the restoration work of the shrine began. Though there were hiccups for a while with the demise of Sardar Patel, there were tall leaders such as Rajendra Prasad, independent India’s first President, who backed the project. When Rajendra Prasad accepted to inaugurate the reconstructed Somnath temple, Nehru wrote to the President, strongly suggesting that he abstain from the event. But, he ignored the advice and the Jyotirlinga was reinstalled on a Friday the 11th May 1951 at 9.46 A.M in a very grand ceremony.

Munshi, who later authored accounts of the freedom struggle, wrote in his book, Pilgrimage to Freedom, that Nehru had expressed displeasure and said he did “not like” Munshi’s effort in seeking to restore the Somnath temple because it reeked of “Hindu revivalism”!

Thus, Sardar’s freedom struggle continued even beyond getting independence from the British. Without this ‘iron man’, the Somnath temple, which is the Hindu pride, wouldn’t have been what it is today and the site would have been handed over quietly to the archeological department to preserve the ruins (which is what Nehru desired).

Salutes to Sardar! Ignore those who howl! If you don’t build a monument commensurate to his stature, to whom else would you do?

Are Stonehenge-men Primitive?

Stonehenge, that many of us might have been familiar only as our windows desktop screen saver, is a monstrous monument built by prehistoric stone men in the plains of south-west England. What is imposing is the megalithic structure has many stones weighing 7 to 50 tons, that have been pulled from quarries some 230 miles away, by hundreds of workers, rafted over waterways, shaped and finished without any metal implements, over a period of around 800 years, probably between 2400-1600 BC. How the lintels weighing over 7 tons in the ‘trilithons’ have been lifted to a height of around 20 feet for placement exactly over the two upright tower stones and positioned in the dovels, in those days without a ‘ramp’ is indeed an engineering marvel! It is estimated that perhaps 1,500,000 man-days might have been involved in the construction, apart from the time of designers, whose capabilities are comparable to that of Newton-Einstein caliber! ‘The Great Pyramid of Cheops’ of Egypt which was completed in 2560 BC, also has one of the heaviest stone weighing over 15 tons, atop 400 ft, but a gentle slope would have enabled its easy raise to the top! Locating an 80 ton stone at a height of 216 ft at the South Indian temple at Tanjore is again no mean feat but considering the tools and shackles and the construction knowledge that could have been available in 1010 AD, one would not be awe struck as with Stonehenge.

Is it just a stone monument of archeological significance or a burial and sacrificial ground indicated by the human bones found in the site during archeological investigation or a place of some cult worship as it is commonly believed to be so?

It is fascinating to read in the book, ‘Stonehenge Decoded’ by Gerald S Hawkins, where he scientifically establishes after detailed surveys that the monument must have been a solar-lunar observatory of the Stone Age and should have been used to predict the eclipses apart from guiding the agricultural seasons! In those days, the scientific work of astronomical predictions was done by priests whose advice the kings would follow meticulously. Eclipses, being the most frightening among natural phenomena that primitive men could encounter, the priests who designed this structure to predict would not only command the power with the king but would seem to control those monstrous events (and gods) as well!

There are as many as 95 locations apart from the five trilithons that serve as observation points of sun/moon rise/set over stones that must have served as calendar for sowing and harvesting. They also aided in forecasting solar/ lunar eclipses. Stonehenge seems to have succeeded in meeting the basic celestial requirements of the Stone-age men! Could it have served beyond this?

Can’t the prediction be accomplished without this heavy structural construction? Is it that the construction had served some requirements of religious rituals apart from being an observatory? The design, construction and deployment of this mystical monument which is over 4000 years old, with no historical records, can presently be hypothesised only as ‘observatory’.

Could the capabilities in that era have been superior than that of the present? There is no evidence to say ‘No’; Is it akin to the claims of extreme right Hindu fundamentalists that the science in Vedic Times is far superior to the one in Twenty First century?

In any case, it is beyond any doubt that Stonehenge is truly a stupendous effort by the so called ‘primitive’ humankind!