Letter to God

My dear God,

My name is Ramya of class IV. Sorry, you are God and so you know who I am. Anyway let me tell you what I want to tell you.

You know today, Patti cried. Oh sorry I don’t know if you know English. But I know English only and so am writing to you in English. In case you don’t know English, please come in my English miss’s dream and she will explain this to you.

Now why I write to you, I will tell you. You know, Patti cried. I like Patti very much. So I also cried. But I don’t know why she cried.

In the morning, Patti was very cheerful. She wore a beautiful sari, had lots of flowers in her hair and drew a ‘Kolam’ in front of the new house that Appa has bought.

Yes, Appa bought a new flat that is very near Chennai. It is just twenty kms from Tambaram. And Tambaram is only thirty kms away from Chennai. So, Tambaram is near Chennai, flat is near Tambaram and so flat is near Chennai. You got it, right ?

No, she didn’t cry because of the house.  Appa and Thatha brought a ‘cow’ inside the house and some more ‘thathas’ who had naamam (or thiruman) all over their body told some mantras. And Thatha declared ‘House Warming’ was done.

After all the functions were over, Thatha and Patti were speaking to some other guests. And that was when two Thathas who had large naamams on their forehead, came.

They started saying,’ You did not welcome us properly’.

They were expecting Thatha and Patti to come rushing and say,’Welcome, Welcome’ thousand times. Patti’s eyesight is not good. Doctor has said that she had some disease called ‘cataract’.

She said she didn’t see the two thathas. See, I forgot to tell you. Last week when Patti was taking me to the bus stop, she was almost hit by an uncle on cycle. She didn’t see the cycle coming.

There were two ‘thathas’ right?

One of them said, “You asked me to come. But you didn’t welcome me when I came inside the house’, in a loud voice. Then the Pattis who had come along with the thathas also started to say the same thing. It was like uncles who shout at each other in front of some shop near my school. Mother has asked me not to go near that shop. The shop’s name starts with something like ‘TAS’.

In short I heard these:

  1.  ‘You didn’t welcome us’.
  2.  ‘You have become wealthy and so you didn’t welcome us’.
  3.  ‘We should not have come’.
  4. ‘We are going back’.
  5.  ‘No respect for us’.

God, I have some doubts.

My teacher once said there was something called ‘Atma’ or soul inside the body and so the body was just like a shirt. So, if a person died, the body only is destroyed and not the atma. If that is so then why these Thathas were shouting for respect? Why don’t they know that respect is for the Atma or soul and not for the body?

Also I read a book by Stephen Hawking, in which he says ‘, Man is an insignificant object on an average planet powered be a dying star’. Just the other day, my science teacher said that a meteor the size of a football ground was enough to wipe out most of the living things on earth.

If these are true, then why do these Thathas who seem to know all about atmas, souls etc quarrel about respect to the body? I thought they knew about these as they were wearing namams on their foreheads.

  1. Don’t thathas who were namams know that respect is something you earn and not you demand?
  2. Don’t these thathas know that shouting like this, when we were going into our new house, will make us sad?
  3. Don’t these thathas know that shouting like this, in front of strangers like plumber, watchman etc, is not done by good thathas ?

Please appear in my dream and reply. If you reply tonight, I will break one coconut in front of Lord Ganesh on my way to school.

Expecting your answer.

Yours’ Obediently,

Ramya, Class IV

Legend :

Namam – the markings on the forehead of a particular sect of hindus wgo worship Lord Vishnu in India. The markings are are of two colors – white and yellow / red. The white mark would resemble a parabola and the yellow / red mark would be drawn inside the parabola.

Thatha – Grandpa

Patti – Grandma

Letter to God

My dear God,

My name is Ramya of class IV. Sorry, you are God and so you know who I am. Anyway let me tell you what I want to tell you.

You know today, Patti cried. Oh sorry I don’t know if you know English. But I know English only and so am writing to you in English. In case you don’t know English, please come in my English miss’s dream and she will explain this to you.

Now why I write to you, I will tell you. You know, Patti cried. I like Patti very much. So I also cried. But I don’t know why she cried.

In the morning, Patti was very cheerful. She wore a beautiful sari, had lots of flowers in her hair and drew a ‘Kolam’ in front of the new house that Appa has bought.

Yes, Appa bought a new flat that is very near Chennai. It is just twenty kms from Tambaram. And Tambaram is only thirty kms away from Chennai. So, Tambaram is near Chennai, flat is near Tambaram and so flat is near Chennai. You got it, right ?

No, she didn’t cry because of the house.  Appa and Thatha brought a ‘cow’ inside the house and some more ‘thathas’ who had naamam (or thiruman) all over their body told some mantras. And Thatha declared ‘House Warming’ was done.

After all the functions were over, Thatha and Patti were speaking to some other guests. And that was when two Thathas who had large naamams on their forehead, came.

They started saying,’ You did not welcome us properly’.

They were expecting Thatha and Patti to come rushing and say,’Welcome, Welcome’ thousand times. Patti’s eyesight is not good. Doctor has said that she had some disease called ‘cataract’.

She said she didn’t see the two thathas. See, I forgot to tell you. Last week when Patti was taking me to the bus stop, she was almost hit by an uncle on cycle. She didn’t see the cycle coming.

There were two ‘thathas’ right?

One of them said, “You asked me to come. But you didn’t welcome me when I came inside the house’, in a loud voice. Then the Pattis who had come along with the thathas also started to say the same thing. It was like uncles who shout at each other in front of some shop near my school. Mother has asked me not to go near that shop. The shop’s name starts with something like ‘TAS’.

In short I heard these:

  1.  ‘You didn’t welcome us’.
  2.  ‘You have become wealthy and so you didn’t welcome us’.
  3.  ‘We should not have come’.
  4. ‘We are going back’.
  5.  ‘No respect for us’.

God, I have some doubts.

My teacher once said there was something called ‘Atma’ or soul inside the body and so the body was just like a shirt. So, if a person died, the body only is destroyed and not the atma. If that is so then why these Thathas were shouting for respect? Why don’t they know that respect is for the Atma or soul and not for the body?

Also I read a book by Stephen Hawking, in which he says ‘, Man is an insignificant object on an average planet powered be a dying star’. Just the other day, my science teacher said that a meteor the size of a football ground was enough to wipe out most of the living things on earth.

If these are true, then why do these Thathas who seem to know all about atmas, souls etc quarrel about respect to the body? I thought they knew about these as they were wearing namams on their foreheads.

  1. Don’t thathas who were namams know that respect is something you earn and not you demand?
  2. Don’t these thathas know that shouting like this, when we were going into our new house, will make us sad?
  3. Don’t these thathas know that shouting like this, in front of strangers like plumber, watchman etc, is not done by good thathas ?

Please appear in my dream and reply. If you reply tonight, I will break one coconut in front of Lord Ganesh on my way to school.

Expecting your answer.

Yours’ Obediently,

Ramya, Class IV

Legend :

Namam – the markings on the forehead of a particular sect of hindus wgo worship Lord Vishnu in India. The markings are are of two colors – white and yellow / red. The white mark would resemble a parabola and the yellow / red mark would be drawn inside the parabola.

Thatha – Grandpa

Patti – Grandma

What the Americans learnt from me

‘What is your name?’ I tell him my name.

‘What? Aamaaraavui. Is that French?’

‘Actually it is Amaruvi, but should be pronounced as Aamaruvi. It is a Tamil name’

‘Is that your given name?’

‘What is given name? You mean the name given to me?’

‘No, err yes, sort of. How would you be called by somebody?’

‘Amaruvi. That is how I am being called.’

‘Any short form?’

‘Amaruvi is short enough, isn’t it?’

‘No, well, yes, you never know. Okey, what is your last name?’

‘Well, I have only one name. Never changed it. I have always been Amaruvi.’

‘No, not that. You should have a last name. You know, first name, last name that kind of thing like Bill Gates, George Washington. Get it?’

‘Oh yes, I do have. It is Devanathan. I am Amaruvi Devanathan.’

‘Well, Deva.. Dev.. what ever. What did you say first.. Amaaa..’

‘Amaruvi’

‘Yeah, this sounds better.’

‘Actually Devanathan is not my name. It is my father’s name.’

‘What? I had asked your name. What is your last name?’

‘Devanathan.’

‘Isn’t that your father’s name?’

‘Yes, it is. But, that is also my last name.’

‘I see. Normally Indians have surnames like Singh, Gupta, Sharma and the like. Yours sounds and looks different.’

‘Yes I am from South India.’

‘You mean you are not from India? Is that another country, like South Africa?’

‘Well, no really. I am from India and I belong to the southern part of the country.’

‘Oh ok. Got it. Sorry for the situation. Now, could you please tell me your name, once again?’

I gave up.

This happened in Denver Airport in the December of 2001 after the WTC attacks when I had visited the US for the first time.

Since then this name-deciphering became a routine, but strangely this doesn’t happen now-a-days.

Americans have learnt their lessons, for sure.

Lesson birds taught me

It was a hot Sunday afternoon and this flock of small birds drew my attention as they sharing the leftover water from a spill. The birds took turns to splash themselves. When one was wet, it let the next. Thus no bird was left behind.

There was no jostling or scampering. A bird’s flight in and another’s flight out seemed to have been coordinated by an invisible hand.The communication among them was perfect though I didn’t get a bit.

The birds seemed to tell me something.

You stupid humans, stop fighting for resources.
Learn to share and be happy.
O, America don’t invade for oil and keep the spoil.
O Muslim States, don’t kill and impose your will.
The Sea of China is for all; so don’t create a free for all.
O Humans,
You claim sixth sense
yet behave with no sense
You want the world as your treasure
Yet never do you come up the measure
For the world is for all for sure
And you don’t understand for sure
O humans, learn from us’

The birds have learnt. Will we, ever ?

Un-dressing the HAMAS

If this is not worth reporting, then what is ? Kudos Srinivasan Jain for this fantastic piece of journalism.

NDTV, the Indian television network has done a splendid work of filming an actual Hamas rocket firing from inside a residential area in Gaza. All along, the leftist media and the Hamas apologists have claimed that it was Israel that was targeting innocent Palestinians. 

So, if Hamas fires hiding behind civilians, are they warriors ? If you want war, should you not at least come out of civilian areas ?

Now, would the ‘elite’ media report the true Hamas ? 

என்னைச் செதுக்கிய சில சிற்பிகள்

Jhss Teavhersநெய்வேலி ஜவகர் பள்ளியில் எனது ஆசிரியப் பெருமக்கள். இடமிருந்து வலம் : திருமதி.ஜீனா தயாளன், திரு.பட்டாபி ராமன் ( சமஸ்கிருதம்), திரு.ஜி.கிருஷ்ணமூர்த்தி ( ஆங்கிலம் ), திரு. சுந்தரம் ( தலைமை ஆசிரியர்), திரு மாணிக்கம் ( உடற்பயிற்சி), திரு.வெங்கடேசன்,திருமதி, அனுசூயா( உயிரியல்). 

அனுசூயா அவர்கள் தவிர மற்ற அனைவரும் பல ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பே ஓய்வு பெற்று விட்டார்கள்.

திரு.கிருஷ்ணமூர்த்தி ( G.K.Sir) அவர்கள் வகுப்புகளில் வோர்ட்ஸ்வர்த் நேரில் வருவார். அந்த ஒரு மணி நேரம் அங்கு ஜி.கே. இருக்க மாட்டார். கண்களில் நீர் மல்க ‘லூஸி கிரே’ ( Lucy Gray) வின் மரணத்தைக் கண்டிருக்கிறேன். ‘Solitary Reaper’ ன் சோக கீதம் உணர்ந்திருக்கிறேன். ‘In Celebration of Being Alive’ (Dr.Christian Bernard ), ‘In the grip of prejudice’ ( E.R.Braithwaite ) போன்ற பாடங்கள் நடக்கும் போது அந்த நிகழ்வுகள் என் கண் முன்னே ஓடியிருக்கின்றன. மே மாதம் அவருடன் தொலைபேசியில் பேசினேன்.

இந்தப் படத்தில் இன்னும் பலர் இல்லை. என் தமிழாசிரியை திருமதி. உலகம்மாள் நாகர்கோவிலில் வசித்துவருகிறார். அவர் அன்னை தெரஸாவின் தமிழ் வடிவம். இவருடனும் மே மாதம் பேசினேன்.  

ஆங்கில ஆசிரிய்ர் திரு.ராமானுஜமும் இந்தப் படத்தில் இல்லை. அந்த ஆங்கில ஜாம்பவானின் அறிவுக்கு ஈடு அவரே தான்.

இன்றெல்லாம் ஒரு நாலு வார்த்தை பேசவும் எழுதவும் வருகிறது என்றால் அவை எல்லாம் இவர்கள் போட்ட பிச்சை மட்டுமே.

இவர்கள் என்னைச் செதுக்கிய சிற்பிகள். சமீபத்தில் 1988ம் வருடம் வெளியேறிய மாணவர்கள் இவர்களை நெய்வேலியில் சந்தித்துள்ளனர். அவர்கள் பாக்கியவாங்கள்.

இவ்வாசிரியர்கள் கை பட்ட பல சிற்பங்களில் நான் ஒரு சிதறிய துண்டு.

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