Happy Diwali

Sweets, new dress, oil bath, pooja, lamps, friends, TV programs, film releases, gifts, long holidays, rememberance, wishes, get2gethers, ten thousand wallas, rockets, fountains, ground-chakras, smoke, petty quarrels for larger share of crackers & sweets, the light, the sound, the excitement filling the air...

H a p p y D i w a l i !

சர்க்கரை நிமிடம்

பக்கம் வந்து
நின்ற நீயும்
என்னைக் கடந்தாய் -
கண்டுகொள்ளாதது போல்!

நீ கண்டு கொள்ளாததை
நானும் கண்டேன்;
உன்னை அறிந்தவளாய்
சிரித்துக் கொண்டேன்!

சற்று தூரம்
சென்று நீயும்
திரும்பிப் பார்த்தாய் - நான்
எதிர்பார்த்தது போல்!

நீ பார்த்ததை
நான் உணர்ந்தேன்!
நான் உணர்ந்ததை நீ பார்க்கத்
திரும்பினேன் நானும்!

உன்னை ஒளித்து
கண்ணைப் பறித்து
நீயோ தப்பித்தாய் -
நான் மட்டும் உறைந்து விட்டேன்!

Clearly Confused II

First I thought of putting this as a followup comment, but felt it still better as a continuation post.

Krish, "facts can't be left to interpretations!" I'm unable to agree to that! Will come to it in a little while. Before that, talking of konar Thamizh urai (guide), I always found the paada puththagam (text book) far far better than konar notes! :-) And, Skely, you are heights!! :-)

Biju, what you say is very true. I completely agree upon that. Even I admire objectivism for the "Live for yourself" part. But I see problem with the "Live only for yourself" bit. Exactly, Biju! Reasoning is the process by which you apply your mind on the information acquired by your senses and derive a meaning out of it or arrive at a decision based on it. So, doesn't the phrase "basing your reasoning on facts" means interpretting the facts? When the word interpretation comes in, it definitely is relative and varies with person to person.

Also Krish, what is a fact? It is an information already derived by another person based on his first-hand experience to a situation; or that you derive based on your first-hand experience. Now, how can fact be absolute? :-(

Hi Cogito, thanks for your comments! I feel Doing what others expect us to do is different from Doing for the sake of others. Talking of Einstein or other genius for that matter, they pursued their own interests, against the regular life of an average person... bla bla... is all fine, but that again, as I said earlier, is part of "Live for yourself". Talking of 'Victims of mysterious forces', again, I can interpret it as 'no excuses for what you hold yourself responsible for'. But I do believe in fate-miracle, intuitions that don't have a logical reasoning. Will try your suggested reads sometime :-)

Hey Skely, I guess you are more confused and even more confusing than myself! :-P

As Skely said, 'Living for yourself' and 'Living for others' arrive at the same thing, from different directions- living life to the fullest of your satisfaction.

When you do something for the sake of others voluntarily (i.e when you are living for others) there is a happiness that you experience within and it may be termed as affection/ compassion/ love or whatever. And your actions need to be based on the selfishness for *that* happiness, and not on any other pressure. By pressure, I mean the morality definitions by the society (i.e what you are expected to do) or fear or force of any kind. This point of convergence of the two philosophies serves to guide us for a balanced, complete life.

Consider you are witnessing an accident victim needing help and you are on your way to an important business deal. By Objectivism's selfishness if you choose to go for your business as your higher interest, does that give you all the satisfaction? Or since there is no 'victim' concept should we say he is being punished for his own fault and we leave him as such? Or should we say he is nothing beyond himself and I'm nothing beyond myself and he's free to get himself alive? Should suppressing your monetory gains in that situation to help the victim be considered as a fake show-off behavior?

'Why should I bother about the society?' and 'why should I even think of another person?' - I'm afraid such questions can easily distort the principles of Objectivism and hence feel an explicit balance is needed.

Clearly Confused

The philosophy called Objectivism, it's a philosophy with a difference for those who believe 'philosophy' as something to blindly believe in and not analysing and understanding. For, it says Reason is your means of survival. It proclaims Give me liberty or give me death, signifying that if I cannot be myself, then I better shalln't be at all!

I too am fascinated by the strength of the character Howard Roark( Fountainhead), to stand emotionally immune to people around him, nomatter what they are or do to him, be it - they hate him, they betray him, they like him, they flatter him... And thats the freedom of thought and freedom in life that Ayn Rand advocates.

To essentially summarize it in her own words,
" Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life. Men must deal with one another as traders, giving value for value, by free, mutual consent to mutual benefit."

Though I admire Objectivism for all of what it is, there are definitely contradictions that clearly confuse me.
Objectivism rejects the morality in living for others. By this very phrase, I comeout with two interpretations: First, you are concerned with your own image on other people's minds, which is termed as 'second-hand living' by AynRand. Second is when your purpose is to fulfill other's purpose, that is, when you do something for other's happiness or betterment and that doesnot contribute to your personal benefit.
But dont we feel good or happy when, at the least, our smallest gesture or deed brings a smile in a total stranger's face? Talking of second-hand living, aren't we concerned about our image in our loved one's minds and abstain from doing things that may hurt their feelings?

Objectivism rejects the belief that man is a victim of forces beyond his control (such as God, fate, upbringing, genes, or economic conditions).
But are all forces in control of man? How about genetic disorders in control of the patient, for example?

Objectivism says facts are facts and your reasoning always leads you in the right path when they are based on facts.
But doesnt the interpretation of facts change based on prior knowledge, place/time, situation etc?

After all these and more confusions, I feel objectivism is too ideal, for, it just takes head(reasoning) into account and not the heart(feelings and emotions) of men. Definitely it is as essential as a person's private space around him but it is also limited to that extent.

How is it?

When you have absolutely nothing to do on a holiday afternoon... A new look from this Vijayadasami! Refreshing blue and few more additions/ modifications... Howwww is it? :-)

Who says Cooking is easy?

Today, though a holiday, my brother had gone out with his friends [oh, poor me!] So I thought of cooking my lunch [Actually I dint have an option, but never mind]. I started looking around for raw materials (vegetables/ pulses/ onion-tomato/ etc etc). I had soaked channa y'day night for making "sundal", something special for Vijayadasami. It was in proper form, how lucky! [ya, you have to be lucky everytime you enter the kitchen, for, you can never guarantee that what you intend to make is what you land up making!]

There was half gobi. The other half I cooked yesterday. That's a biiig story in itself... I started cooking and the electricity went off in the middle [see, one of those lucky aspects was missing then] and I couldnt see a thing properly. I had turned off the stove as my hunger was killing me and I couldnt wait any more. The dish was all fine, except that I wanted to make a Gobi fry and it turned out to be Gobi gravy! But believe me, it tasted heavenly!! mMMmm.... Hey, I'm deviating from the topic... where was I?

Han, there was half gobi. I determined to give "Gobi fry" a second attempt today! Now, what will I do for the main dish? The maidservant had not come today and half the utensils were unclean [Again those lucky stars playing around with my kitchen!]. Thank god, I had not used the cooker yesterday :-) Okie, I would make jeera rice then! Wait a minute, but doesnt that require some kozhambu (means gravy)? How many items will a single person single handedly make to have a single lunch? Uff! Hey, dint I say the channa was in good form already? :-D So that became the "Jeera-Channa-Rice". [Oh did someone say your creativity is at it's height when you are in the kitchen?]

First I started with the Gobi, coz it takes more time to cook than rice. So when it is all prepared and set on stove you can lesuirely work on the rice part! [I call that "time management" tactics]. Finally I got both the dishes set on the stove. By the time it gets cooked I thought of taking a break. So I sat down at my computer and was browsing through blogs... The cooker was warning regularly with it's whistles. When it was time, I promptly went to switch it off and oh, what was that? The gobi fry was already spreading burntout smell! OMG!!! My lunch!!! :-(
Good that the vegetable had not gotten burnt yet, only the vessel was pitch black. I had to remove the dish before it absorbs the burning odour [You have to act real fast when in a rescue operation] And there I was with a plate of gobi fry and jeera-channa-rice! :-)

With so many tactics, lucky stars and hidden parameters involved, when you say you had cooked something and it came out good, it's a very big achievement! Now, who says cooking is any easy job, huh?

தமிழ்த் தேடல்!

தமிழை தமிழாக எழுதறதுன்னாலே எவ்வளவு திருப்தி! அதுவும் நாம இங்லீஷ்ல தட்ட தமிழ் எழுத்துக்கள் தானா வந்ததுன்னா இன்னும் கேக்கவா வேணும்? அதுக்கு இங்க செல்லவும்.

என்னோட இந்த தமிழ்த் தேடல்ல ஒரு தேவதையின் குட்டித் தோட்டத்தை வேர பார்க்க நேரிட்டது! அந்த சிங்களச் சாயலும், அப்பாவித்தனமும் தமிழுக்கே தனி அழகு தான்! அஞ்சலியின் தோட்டம் - நான் என்னையே மறந்த இடம்; நீங்களும் கட்டாயம் பார்க்க வேண்டிய இடம்!

What do U say?

I was so fancied by this picture that I had set it as my wallpaper immediately! What do you think about it?

I'm tagged too

This seems to me like one of those "soft skills" or "personality development" exercises... Hmm, lemme see how much I can fill in!

1. I like doing these:
1) Connecting with friends/ family
2) Giving surprises
3) Nature Watch
4) Singing (of course along with the radio/ player )
5) Dancing to the beats
6) Visiting new places and getting to know new people
7) Celebrations- for a birthday or festival or anything at all!

2. I'm crazy about
1) Balloons
2) Full moon
3) Almond chocolates/ Cashew burfi
4) Poetry
5) Handicraft- paintings/ embroidery
6) Red rose
7) Flute
8) And ofcourse myself!

3. I wish to learn (to have???)
1) Swimming
2) Carnatic music
3) Flute
4) Glass Painting
5) Free style dance
6) balancing different spheres of life - career/ personal/ family/ social...
7) To speak extempore

4. I say these the most
1) Hayyo hayyo
2) aaie
3) mmm; hmm; ahm (all possible fillers)
4) oh my god
5) chup be
6) nee yein ippidi irukkaie?
7) paradesi (my brother's pet name)

5. I cant
1) Stand people smoking in public
2) Watch any of the sports, live!
3) Play video games
4) Read newspaper fully
5) Solve Crossword puzzles
6) Prepare for any exams the previous day
7) Initiate anything by myself... Starting trouble! :-)

6. Things that attract me to opposite sex
1) Smile
2) Sharp eyes
3) Good Height
4) Casual Dressing
5) Neat hair
6) Loud, clear, strong voice
7) Attitude, style

7. My favorites songs
1) Kaatrinile Varum Geetham (By MS)
2) Chinnanjiru Kiliye (Bharadhiyaar)
3) Kaatril Endhan Geedham (Johny)
4) Eedhedho ennam (Punnagai Mannan)
5) Tanhaayi (DCH)
... And the list grows to cover all songs with nice lyrics!

Actually, I've excluded a few topics and included my own... well, this is one thing I usually do when I donot know the answer... I change the question! ;-)

I'm back!

How does it feel when a sweet fragrance of freshness fills every cell of yours just when you were wondering why everything looks so rusted around you! It's the same I feel when I say "I'm back!!! With Ghajini's "Oru maalai.." sweetly playing at the background and my lips arching slowly in a smile, I hold my laptop really on my lap while I'm little more comfortably sitting on my bed preparing to post my return on my blog! But what shall I start with? Hmmm... :-)

I catch myself humming this tune so many times of-late... and the music, the picturization, the lyrics, everything is so so beautiful! Okie, "these" are my favorite lines:

*** Updated on Oct 07 - my favorite lines இப்பொழுது தமிழில்***

ஒரு மாலை இளவெயில் நேரம்
அழகான இலையுதிர் காலம்
சற்றுத் தொலைவிலே அவள் முகம் பார்த்தேன்
அங்கே தொலைந்தவன் ஆனேன்

அவள் அள்ளி விட்டப் பொய்கள்
நடு நடுவே கொஞ்சம் மெய்கள்
இதழோரம் சிரிப்போடு கேட்டுக்கொண்டே நின்றேன்!
அவள் நின்று பேசும் ஒரு தருணம்
என் வாழ்வில் சர்க்கரை நிமிடம்
ஈர்க்கும் விசையை அவளிடம் கண்டேனே!
( ஒரு மாலை...)

பார்த்துப் பழகிய நான்கு தினங்களில்
நடை உடை பாவனை மாற்றிவிட்டாள்
சாலை முனைகளில் துரித உணவுகள்
வாங்கி உன்னும் வாடிக்கை காட்டி விட்டாள்

கூச்சம் கொண்ட தென்றலா
இவள் ஆயுள் நீண்ட மின்னலா
உனக்கேற்ற ஆளாக
எனை மாற்றிக் கொண்டேனே!
( ஒரு மாலை...)

பேசும் அழகினை கேட்டு ரசித்திட
பகல் நேரம் மொத்தமாய் கழித்தேனே
தூங்கும் அழகினைப் பார்த்து ரசித்திட
இரவெல்லாம் கண் விழித்துக் கிடந்தேனே

பனியில் சென்றால் உன் முகம்
என் மேலே நீராய் இறங்கும்
தலை சாய்த்துப் பார்த்தாளே
தடுமாறிப் போனேனே!
( ஒரு மாலை...)