A Name for the sake of a Name Part2

In Kerala most of the houses or families are known by a house/family name. Some of the families are very popular due to their Social, Economic or Political status. But how did they get these names? Is it an award or reward from somebody? No chances for both. The older generation might have burnt much mid night oil to find a suitable as well as attractive name for their houses or families. Today all most all houses, apart from their ancestral house names, have a name such as "Sopanam", "Nandanam" etc etc. Have these names got any meaning considering the location, feature and other qualities of the house. Certainly not. I could find a house named after an aranya [forest]. Does it mean that the in mates of the house are wild animals or they show the characteristics of  beasts? The owners of the house select some names which they fancy so that one can easily identify their house from others.

When a child is born, the parents and relatives begin to scratch their heads eager to find a good name for the baby. Nowadays it has become a fortnight's job rolling over the Computer, searching over Internet and having heated discussions within family members. In most houses the Christening ceremony will take place on the 28th day of birth. By the 28th day, the the baby will be too tiny that the colour, complexion and character of the baby can never be weighed. Hence a name more suited to the baby can not be given. In olden days, in most of the cases, the name of grand father or grand mother will be acceptable. But in modern days, parents use to ponder for modern names, some of which could not be even spelt or uttered. Even such names are accepted, as a name is a name which does not require any specific meaning.

A girl, white in complexion, beautiful, christened Karuppayee or Karuthamma. A girl named Ponnamma,[Pon means gold] will not have even a single gram of gold on her body. So also with a cruel, involving in treason and arson being named Karunakaran [Karuna means kindness]. Dharuman[name of Lord Yama who is hailed for his quality of dharma]- involving in antisocial activities. Ramachandran [ Sri Rama who highlighted  the Eaka Pathni Vritha in Ramayana ] having polygamy and practicing non-marital relationships. Can the parents, at the time of baptism know that the baby will grow up contrary to the meaning of his/her name?

To conclude, I would sight an example for how a house can get a name for itself. In the middle of a big plantation and surrounded by wast green fields, stood a big posh house - we can call it the "Bunglow House". The plantations were destroyed and only one tamarind tree stood in front of that house - can be called Pulikkale House [ Puli means Tamarind ]. The tree was cut down and the house becomes - MURIKKALE House [muri means to cut off]. Some parts of the tree were found protruding above the ground- Kuttikkale House [ Kutti- protruding remains]. The entire parts as well as the roots of the tree were removed and there appears a pit in it's place - Kuzhikkale House [Kuzhi- pit]. The pit was filled and the ground leveled and the house was modified - Puthen Veedu [The New House].

Thus goes the Namapurana.

A Name for the sake of a Name- Part 1

What is there in a name?

Truly a marvelous question. A name is a name. It cannot be defined further. Perhaps human beings, having a sixth sense, only have thought of the idea of each individual being called or known by a name. In due course the procedure extended to their pets also. Some of the pets have names sweeter than that of their masters. May be their masters wished themselves to be known through their pets.

Even more interesting is that, some people, apart from their names, bear surnames before or after their names, simply to acquire popularity or to highlight their status in the society. It is my strong belief that stone age people did not have individual names. Since they were few in numbers, they could identify between themselves easily and interactions between them were far less.But day by day the population began rising and binding relations paved way for more social participation. Hence the need for one to be identified individually, and smarter brains arrived at the new conclusion - to name every individual by a name - ie Rama, Koma or Krishna. The baptism ceremonies take place very early before the child attains the age One and henceforth he/she is called, known by or identified by that name thus baptized.

Day by day human population began reaching new scales and for want of more names, people began repeating one individual's name for another. Repeating the names, confusion prevailed as to whom one wants to call or contact. Then the perception of awarding initials to names bore fruit - the initials being derived from one's father's name, house name or any other name chosen by the family. When there arose cases of same names with same initials, a second initial system sprang up. I could notice some cases of people having same names with same initials and that they were given to be identified by numbers such as K. Raman No:1 K. Raman No:2 etc etc.

From my grandma I could gather that the epic Bhagavatham cites of a character called Ajamila who refused to utter the name of God althrough his life. In the end he attained Moksha by chanting the name of Lord Krishna in his death bed. As the elders in the family thought they could also attain Moksha by chanting the name of God through out their life time, they preferred to christen their children with names of various Gods and Goddesses.

Here also is a story of an old man, who refused to utter the names of Gods or Goddesses. The family members christened his children with names Krishnan, Padmanabhan and Lakshmi in the strong belief that the old man, by calling his children by their names, will attain Moksha in the end. Contrary to expectations, the old man had his own names reserved for the children to be called. At last, the man, during his last days, sinking in bed, was expected to call his children by their actual names, when they arrived to meet him in his death bed. The first to arrive was the elder one Krishnan. The old man on seeing him embraced him and burst out. Everybody expected that the old man will cry aloud " Oh! Krishna, my son"; but the old man whispered "Dey Kitchu! vanthuttiyeda".

The second one Padmanabhan arrived next. The old man's eyes twinkled on seeing his second sibling. He sprang up from his bed, holding his son's hands, he uttered " Dear Pappa I am sinking, I am drowning". On both occasions the old man fooled his relatives. But they still had hope. "What will he do with his daughter Lakshmi, whom he used to call Kada Kutty [ Last sibling]?"

The man on seeing his daughter,  took her hands in his own, patted gently and murmured . "Loving child Yatchu! I am dying" The man's hands slid from his daughter's and he went for an eternal sleep.

To him Moksha means.................

                                                                                                  [to be continued ]

Sponsorship

I have made it a practice to view Television programs almost the whole time I am available at home. Since I have retired from service and have no other work to do, I depend mainly on newspapers and TV set to kill my time.Though my better half is not happy with that, to avoid personal confrontation, she let me go my way at home only.

Whenever I opened my TV, the first thing I can see mostly will be an advertisement that of a company or product sponsoring that particular program,  Sharply after five minute's program, the telecast of advertisements will start again which will last for nearly ten minutes. So for every 5 minutes TV programme, we are bound to view 10 minutes advertisements. Hence a 30 minute serial or any other programme needs only a 10 minute script in total which will reduce the burden of scriptwriters for mega serials. Some of the programmes will have more than one sponsor and the channewaaalas will cleverly satisfy all with the following comments before their advertisements. The first one will be "This programme is sponsored by...". Next it will be like "presented by ... celebrated by ..." and if more, then "in association with.." Hence the channelwaalas are safe that they need only a quarter page dialogue for the entire 30 minute programme.

Even though channelwaalas compete with each other to get the rankings bettered, they are all unique when it comes to advertisements. If a programme starts at 7, all the channelwaalas will go for an advertisement at 07:05 upto 07:15. You can try any of the 20 to 25 channels available in your vernacular and see this rule is strictly followed irrespective of the difference between channelwaalas.

Sponsorship has caught up with almost all celebrations and functions. Prizes are sponsored, the dais and decoration for the functions are sponsored, food and water for the participants sponsored, why not to say, even men and women are sponsored to attend meetings and rallies.

Recently I could hear a Neta of a party boasting about the conduct of a meeting. He was sure that not less than 500 people would attend his party's meeting from his place, since the whole expenses of transportation, food water and pocket money for each, have been sponsored by a giant shark.

Nowadays anything and everything is sponsored. This sponsorship is actually not to help the needy or the poor. It is only to show the snobbery of the people around.

Of late, this sponsorship phenomenon has plagued temple festivals also. I could see a Big Board in front of a temple, where a temple function was about to take place. The board exhibited particulars in whatever areas you can have sponsorship and the rate for each item. Right from the elephants for the procession upto the regular poojas inside the temple you can sponsor anything. The notice informing the celebrations was in the form of a non-detailed text book prescribed for tenth standard students with all the names of the sponsors with their respective choice of sponsored items.

       " Then why did you collect money for the festival when elephants, vadhyam, fireworks, catering etc etc were all sponsored by individuals " I quipped one of the organisers. The answer was a big silence. Recently I witnessed a car festival [Ther Thiruvizha].  The entire route, the cart was to be drawn, were decorated with Flex boards of a Jewellery Mart, they being the sponsors of that festival. I fear even the cart may be decorated with such boards in due course.

Why such a mad rush for this sponsorship. Is this merely an advertisement for the company or individual? If so, why they are spending so much on this?. I think this is utter snoberry. If you have so much money to spend, why couldn't you sponsor food, shelter and clothing to the needy? Why couldn't you educate some eligible students from poor families? Fail not me to take off my hats to those who are already on such missions.

There is a saying in Malayalam that " Whatever is given by the right hand, the left hand should not be aware of that". Alas! here whatever is sponsored by you, the entire world is made to know about that through advertisements in print and electronic media as well as through Flex Boards.

What a Humility?

Best Man

      Ever heard of a man called Best Man? Fictions and cartoon serials have introduced to us characters like Batman, Spider man, Superman etc. We have heard about gentleman, Cart man, Load man and many others like that. But not the superlative of good man. Dictionary meaning for best man is Bridegroom's supporter [ Mappilai Thozhan ]. In Tamilnadu, lot of parents [ bride's ] fear this gentleman as he pretends himself as the original mouthpiece of the groom. The bride's relatives often take pain to entertain this man and utmost care is given to see that this best man is treated in a grand manner so that he may not turn a worst man.

The practice of sending a best man with the bridegroom started from early days. In olden days the marriages will be held at the bride's residence and the bridegroom may have to stay  there for two or three days before he could return to his home with his bride. During that period  the groom has to be at the bride's residence, he will be like an outsider there, having no close contacts with anybody there and will feel lonely. To give him company, one of his friends will be nominated to stay with him during that period so that he will not feel isolated. The man thus deputed is known as Best man. The bride's relatives will pay more attention to him than the groom thinking that otherwise he will paint them shabby after returning back home. This is to a certain extent true also that there are cases of the  Best man complaining about poor treatment meted out to him. There were cases of the Best man making chaos in the bride's family to show that he deserved more attention than the groom.

I had got a couple of chances to be the Best man. But to my dismay, I didn't get any undue attention and no complaints were raised by me, knowing fully well that the bride's relatives did not ignore me totally. Once I was asked to accompany a groom who belonged to a poor family as no body except me was willing to take that part. The other fellows, who generally compete among themselves to don the role, in this case, refused to do so knowing very well that they will not get a royal treatment because of the bride's economic status. I had to spend one whole rainy night on the veranda of the house on that occasion shivering in the chillness and being attacked by mosquitoes.

Instances of Best man making problems in the bride's residence, specially in Tamil Nadu, were heard and the same have caused strains in the relationship between the bride's and the groom's families. For a simple cause a volcano is erupted. Can this be an act of a man called the Best Man?

The man deputed to be a Best Man should always posses the qualities of a good individual true to the name he is bestowed with.

Ethu Kaliyugam

It is only about ten in the morning. The Sun above kindled like a lit gas burner. Men could neither go out nor stay inside their houses. Every brick in the wall inside the house emitted heat. Times have changed. Even Mother Nature has failed to keep up her schedules. By this time of the year, we could have experienced occasional rains so as to keep the temperature a little above 35 degrees. But now it is something beyond 40. Fans inside the houses began murmuring as they are not allowed any rest. The Haves enjoyed much in the luxury of Air conditioners, where as the Have nots left everything to God to keep them in good fettle under the scorching Sun. Even animals have to bear the agony caused due to heat. But what on earth has brought all these changes in the climatic conditions? Scientists say that it is due to global warming. Some say it is due to a hole in the Ozone layer in the atmosphere. Whatever it may be, my grandpa has his own reasons for all this. The Eighty Five year old, still physically fit, remembers the olden days when they enjoyed every season according to the calendar. The Summer holidays from mid March to May with occasional Koda Mazha [Summer rains] bringing respite from the heat, the rainy season from June to August - when they had to wade through knee deep water to reach their schools which were Four to Five Kilometres from their homes. He clearly remembers those days when they reached their homes fully drenched in water, their books all soaked in water. They had to spread them on the floor to dry up so as to be carried to school the next day. In those days, there were no plastic or leather bags to protect their books from rain and no Rain coats for themselves.

Then comes the cold season from November to January. It will be chilling cold in the early morning hours that one would like to be in bed wrapped in woollen blankets till the sun got warmer.

 Within the last Fifty years everything has changed. Not only the climatic conditions but also the life style of the people. The Koottukudumbam [Joint Family] style of living gave way for nuclear families. Along with it went the binding relationships between the family members. Now a pitiable stage was reached where a son murders his father over property dispute and vice versa, bickerings among family members over sharing of family wealth. Some going to the cardinal sin of breaking harmonious relationships within family members. Men and women are attracted towards bogus pleasures. Changes are effected not only in dressing codes but also in their food habits.  In the name of  modern culture they began taking junk foods resulting in getting affected with fatal diseases. Seven out of Ten people have either Blood Pressure or Sugar complaints or both. Every now and then they use to run to the Doctor. Thus came Multi Speciality Hospitals where we are squeezed even for a simple head ache. In olden days elders in the house knew about Nature Cure called Paatty Vaithiyam. All those natural medicines were free from any side effects. But the story is pitiful now. One medicine for a particular ailment tend to cause another problem. Thus to cure our diseases one by one, we have to be at the hospital doors through out our life time.

Law and order problems is a major subject now a days. You cannot close your news paper without reading news about atleast a dozen murders, half a dozen sexual harassments on ladies and the least, unwanted attacks and counter attacks by various warring groups. Precious lives are lost in accidents on roads, rail, and waterways. Even learned men fall prey to these evil doings. Robberies and murders for gain have become the order of the day. Where are we going? Are we in the right path? Surely not. But we try to hide these under some excuses, that it is Kaliyugam now, prophecied by Lord Sri Krishna, wherein men will fight with men, there will be Dharmakshaya and Adharma will grow like a wild beast and swallow every thing.

My grandpa concluded- the kaliyuga foreseen by the Lord has at last arrived, bringing with it all the calamities in the world.

Results

So, this is how the calmness between the storms look like. After a couple of months of witnessing the non-stop  action, it is time for the people of Tamilnadu to get back to their regular life. Or is it? It is now results, they are bothered of. Though there are many who would be indifferent to these results, some see this as if their entire future were dependent on this. The below queries would be giving them sleepless nights. Who will fare well? Where will they stand when the overall results come out? Whether the state will see a person from the delta districts standing at the top or will it still be a person from the Chennai suburbs. Or would it be from somewhere unheard of? What would they talk to the press ?And more importantly, many would want to compare their performances with those of their acquaintances. After all, class 12 results assume equal significance as the general election results in Tamilnadu.

The parents and teachers tell the students from the time they were in their nappies that all their life would be decided by some exam in 12th. "Good marks - Good college - High pay - settled life - bla bla bla", all these, all the students would hear at least once about the 12th exams. " Oh! 12th a? My son's would-be's uncle's brother's daughter was the state topper last year. She is super brilliant . You know? ", we hear such statements coming out in some random conversations with strangers during travel when we tell that we are in class 12.

There are many institutions whose only motto is to produce atleast a couple of state ranks every year, no matter what, even if that meant that they have to suck all the energy and happiness out of the students. After all, students are brain-washed with the following statement " Study hard till 12th. Sacrifice all your enjoyments till the exams. Get good marks. You can enjoy for the rest of your life ".  Absurd.

The only time where the students enjoy is the time after the exams and before the results. The Class 12 results, some 20 years back were published only in newspapers. On the result day, parents used to wake up even before Mr.Sun takes a peek and rush to the nearby paperwallah's shop to see what their son/daughter got in the exams. Now with the smart phones, getting the result details instantly is just like a walk in the park. Whatever may be the mode of getting the result details, the after effects of it have barely changed. The victorious, celebrate it with more calories in the form of sweets and feasts. Their parents see this as the time to show their pattu mama and Rosy aunty of how brilliant their children are and how they burnt the midnight oil to attain this glory.  Whereas, the candidates who couldn't get the expected results go through trauma and stress and start thinking as if it were the end of their world.

Though these results would be used everywhere from college admissions to interviews, I still feel the hype surrounding this is a tad higher than required. Why don't people play down the significance of this results? After all we can see it as just another year of completed education, use the results to plan the future and not just to blame/bask on the glory of the past.

Habits

It is a belief that habits never die. Whether it is a fact or not, some people use to take shelter under this belief to justify what they are doing in the guise of habit.  What is habit? Is it an inborn phenomenon or a congenital one? One's genesis may have influence over his/her character, behaviour and outlook, but not habits. Habits are cultivated by the person himself/herself, may be from the childhood. It is the responsibility of the parents to see that their children always possess some good habits. If in the negative, they should take steps to nip that trend in the bud itself so that it will not tarnish the childrens' as well as their own images.

When detected, having practiced bad habits, the first question asked by others will be " whose child is this?" Hence the first culprit will be the parents. They should always keep their eyes on their children to see that they do not tend to cultivate bad habits, may be from their playmates, classmates, or neighbours. Whenever they get any doubt about that, they should take every endavour to correct their child or children.

Habits play a vital role in building one's career and status in the society. Habits once cultivated will always linger round you. Hence the excuse of somebody,  practicing bad habits, that they are slave to their habits, resulting  in the making of  habitual drunkards, habitual trouble shooters and so on. Can't these bad habits be eroded from oneself? Surely, if you have the inclination to cast them away. A habitual drunkard can be repatriated gradually and so with other persons with other such habits. They can be counselled properly to shed their inhibitions over their habits and can be brought back to a state where they are loved and respected by all.

I would like to recall to my memory that precious lines written by a famous author " Habits should be like a walking stick used for the ease of walking and not as a pair of crutches to lean on".