Back To School After 45 Years

Back To School After 45 Years

Through this blog I would like to share the nostalgic  moments  experienced  by all  ,who assembled  at Hotel New Woodlands , Mylapore  ,in the first week of January , by an invitation to all of us over phone ,from  a classmate  , for a re-union of school final ( class XI ) classmates of 1966-’67 batch, of P.S.Secondary School , Mylapore ( later re-named as P.S.High School –North ) . We were the third batch of  our school.

I need to mention the initiator’s name here. His name is Jayachandran , who was my classmate since class 1 in Senthamarai  Vidyalayam,  Mylapore and continued to be my classmate in P.S.Secondary school. . Along with him Hariramabadran , a retired Manager from Indian Bank , took keen interest in getting the link of many of us . Last year itself  Hari  spoke to me over phone by introducing himself as my classmate , but I missed to meet him in person. This was an opportunity to meet him. He could easily recognize all the 12 of us.

The highlight of this re-union is , we all met after a gap of 45 years !

Indeed this is a great even for all of us. We left the school in 1967. In those days our school uniform was khaki half shorts and white shirt and the age group was 15 or 16. This meet happened after  more than four decades and all of us are 60 plus by age and everyone is retired from services , except few who continue business and our outlook has been changed a lot due to aging.  Many could not even recognize faces because of the long years but some could catch up the voice and excited  to recollect their names.

All the fun happened for three long hours by sharing each one’s past life, family , children and grand children , leisure activities, social services and so on and on….

We become school boys in those memorable time and talked about our teachers , friends whom we miss , friends living abroad or at distance places ,  classmates who left the mother earth and reached the abode of God . The nick names of few masters and friends like “ Kuthirai “ , “ Poochi “  and few other names.

The present group of us  belongs to different professions like teacher , charter accountant , bank managers , sound engineer , magistrate ,  managers of private firms ,  businessmen  , journalist , shop owners , manufacturers  and other professionals.

In the first meet we have not decided on any agenda for the next meet except to invite more of our classmates in this group and later we shall make a constructive action plan for our group. So we dispersed after a formal lunch at New Woodlands and a photo session.

We all carried  pleasant memories with us and enjoyed the meeting  and eagerly waiting to meet many more of our classmates in the next meet.

Jayachandran  has planned to have our next  “ Back To School “  on 26^th January 2013 , being our Republic Day and a holiday for all of us to meet again. Many  old boys , now senior citizens , who missed the first meet ,  have consented to join . So it was another opportunity  for  us to get connected with the new  members.

Many of us attended the Republic Day function of our school , though our meeting was called for at 10 AM only. Dr.Ganesan, Ex.Principal of Vivekananda College , now the Secretary of the present school , was on the stage during the celebration and after that he interacted with all of us. It was a nice meet with him. 

Our  old Head Master Mr.A.Ramachandran  , at 93  passed away few days before the Republic Day and the sad news has been shared among us.

This time seven new faces  of missing classmates came and  we all wished to sit in one of the class room of ours in the olden time. We made a request to the HM and he has obliged to accommodate us in a class room.

In our class room

He shared his views  on how to increase the strength and the bottle neck in running the show.

Sankaranarayanan and Jayachandran with present school Head master in the centre

After that we all gave our introduction , individually on personal and past life . The sharing was great as everyone spoke very truly  and some made open confession. No one felt and hard feeling while sharing , as we were a family once , 45 years before.



Jayachandran





Hariramabadran



Ramachandran has taken lot of photos , individual and groups and posted in the social network on the same night. Thanks to him. Since all are above 60 , each one wish to do social service in their own fashion.  Jayachandran wants to start an old age home.  Kalyanaraman  , Ramachandran and Ramachandran are already in social activities. Krishnan writes a lot for youngsters and awaiting his latest article “ Naan Vanangum deivangal “ ( The deities I worship ) in  the next issue of a Tamil magazine called Kalaimagal. Ravindran still works with Vasanth TV  as Sound Engineer and spoke on how he took that profession in his younger days.  It was a news for us that he accompanied our Late Prime Minister , Smt. Indira Gandhi , to Tashkant , when Doordharshan was the only TV channel available at that time.



Thangamani



Rajagopalan



Jayachandran & Ramachandran



Jayachandran’s new pain killer hany machine “ TENS “ got introduced to us. Lakshminarayanan  made us to look  hand reading in a different perspective. He continues reading and acquiring  many degrees and diplomas in  the subject of his  interest.  He is an expert in thumb reading and solve unsolvable issues. Many classmate’s children are in US , new Zealand , London, Bangalore  and other places. Many have grandchildren and making trips to far and near. Thangamani  is a freelance  advisor for share market . Kasi , a retired English teacher , ready to serve the needy kids of our school.  Some are working the ways and means on how they can contribute their services to the society.  Prathapchand shared  a personal experience  with a good natured classmate and   explained ,  when a person is good all good things will happen to him. I spoke about my association with Gandhi Forum and off late ISKCON by the influence of my daughter. When I referred my first employment with richardsan & Cruiddas ,I said my starting salary was Rs.150 in 1971. Mr.Kuppan joined  and spoke about Gandhiji’s visit to the British parliament  and Churchill’s remark.  Ravindran said that his schooldays in Ashoka Scout Group  shaped his character and values. I told him that my agreement to his statement is expressed in my recent blog on Scouting. 

All is well at the end with a big group photo and  individual photos were also taken by ramachandran.

Photography is his hobby and if you visit his Facebook site , you can see his interest in nature. A personal data sheet made ready by Jayachandran was filled by all  and he requested to join each and everyone in  yahoo group   by means of their Yahoo mail id .

Nine of us had lunch in Hotel Sukhanivas , Mylapore and rest left . though I am a diabetic patient , I never felt  hungry till 2 PM , because of the happy time spent with my old schoolmates. Awaiting for next meet and more old boys with new faces due to aging.

 Long Live Our  45 Years Friendship and with few it is 66 years old !!!

Swami Vivekananda’s 150th Birth Anniversary celebration in India

Swami  Vivekananda’s  150^th Birth Anniversary  celebration in India

(1863 , January 12 – born in Kolkata  /  1902 , July 4 – Mahasamadhi  in Belur Math , Kolkata )

I am an old student of Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College , Mylapore , Madras ( Chennai ).  My college days were between 1968 and 1971 . Almost  44 years before I was  a student of B.Sc – Mathematics in my college and enjoyed studying in one of the best Arts & Science Men’s college in those times.

In my old blog about my college I have briefed on how I got into the great institution. Now it is time for celebration of Swami Vivekananda’s   150^th birth anniversary  and  to pay my humble obeisance to my teachers of that Temple of Learning and also to the Great Master Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa , Swami Vivekananda  &  Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother , the past and present Temple Presidents od Sri Ramakrishna  Mission , Mylapore , Chennai.

One of my old school mate recently gave me a book titled “ Values “  published by Sri Ramakrishna Math. This is an ideal book for all and in particular  for students to inculcate social and ethical values.

Though I have a wide range of collections of SRM publications ,  I have to still read many books and sure will start in full swing to complete the books. The oldest book I have in my possession on this subject is, “The Complete Works of The Swami Vivekananda “  , published as Mayavati Memorial Edition, by Advaita Ashrama , Almora , Himalayas in the year 1924, priced for the cloth binding at Rs.3/8 anna. This is one of my prized possession .

I was fortunate to be associated with the Ramakrishna Mission even before entering into  Vivekananda college , as my father used to take us to the Mylapore Math temple in our younger days. The serene atmosphere gives us a sense of spiritual attraction . The calm , peaceful  and  untroubled  ambience  gives everyone who visits there , a mental peace , cleansed mind and pure thought in no time .  I had been to the new Universal Temple , which came in the Math premises and consecrated during  5^th to 13 th , February 2000.

To pay homage to Swamy  Vivakananda , I displayed the books by Swami Vivekananda , Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi at my home and prayed by  playing the Aarti  video bought at RKM book stall.

On Swami Vivekananda's 150th birth anniversary, here's the  selected  text of his famous Chicago speech through which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions, Chicago in 1893.
11th September, 1893
“Sisters and Brothers of America ….I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true……I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings:

As the different streams having there sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to thee.

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world, of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita:
Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.

In our school days we have memorized the above speech to participate in oratorical competition.

Founding of Ramakrishna Mission
Soon after his return to Kolkata, Swami Vivekananda accomplished another important task of his mission on earth. He founded on 1 May 1897 a unique type of organization known as Ramakrishna Mission, in which monks and lay people would jointly undertake propagation of Practical Vedanta, and various forms of social service, such as running hospitals, schools, colleges, hostels, rural development centres etc, and conducting massive relief and rehabilitation work for victims of earthquakes, cyclones and other calamities, in different parts of India and other countries.

Belur Math

In early 1898 Swami Vivekananda acquired a big plot of land on the western bank of the Ganga at a place called Belur to have a permanent abode for the monastery and monastic Order originally started at Baranagar, and got it registered as Ramakrishna Math after a couple of years. Here Swamiji established a new, universal pattern of monastic life which adapts ancient monastic ideals to the conditions of modern life, which gives equal importance to personal illumination and social service, and which is open to all men without any distinction of religion, race or caste.
I had been to Belur Math and Dakshineswar temple in Kolkat .

Dakshneswar temple

Selected Teachings of Swami Vivekananda:

Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.

 Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success, and above all, love.

 They alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.

Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be.

We have to read his books and follow his many  teachings for the benefit of ours as well for the society.

Thiruvalluvar day

Thiruvalluvar day

This year yesterday, 15^th Jan. 2013 ,  was celebrated all over Tamil Nadu as Thiruvalluvar day.

There are several claims regarding where he lived, but none of them have been verified. One legend associates him with Madurai, the ancient capital of the Pandya rulers who vigorously promoted Tamil literature. According to another he was born and not lived in Mylapore, a part of present day Madras, and traveled to Madurai to submit the Thirukural, for approval of the king (Pandian) and his college of poets.

But myself  as well most of the Mylaporeans and Madarasis  believe  that Saint Thiruvalluvar was born in Mylapore , Madras ( now Chennai ). I was blessed to  born , just 100 metres away from his birthplace , in our ancestral house  in the  same street named after the great  Poet( 16,Thiruvalluvar Koil Street ). There is a temple for Saint Thiruvalluvar in our street  and the birth place is ear marked inside the temple. The tree base  , more than 2000 years old , under which he was born , is protected with copper plate and worshipped by all.

Thiruvalluvar Temple,Mylapore,Chennai

In Tamil it is written as Thiruvalluvar's birth place inside the temple

Saint Thiruvalluvar's birth place,Mylapore

Thiruvalluvar statue in Mylapore

A monument for Thiruvalluvar in Chennai

In Kanyakumari

After more than 10 years I happened to visit on Thiruvalluvar’s birthday to that temple , as we moved away from  Mylapore  by the year end 1999. Myself and my wife felt that we were blessed to have a darshan of the Thiruvalluvar in a deity form after many years.

The literal meaning of  all the 1330 Thirukural  gives   us thought for the day , if we read one couplet  with the meaning  daily.  State government run buses  display one Thirukural in each bus  and promotes reading Thirukural by all.

Thirukkural was written by Thiruvalluvar, who is believed to have born 30 years before Jesus Christ.  The Tamil Calendar is dated from that period and referred as Thiruvalluvar Aandu (Year).   We find Thiruvalluvar as a moral philosopher,  political scientist and master of public administration in the first two parts of Thirukkural.   We find him to be a creative artist in the third part,  depicting the fascinating aspects of lovers. 

Thirukkural's immortality and universality are unquestionable.  Its ethics and values are applicable to all religions, countries and time.  It has been translated in over 60 languages of the world.

Thirukkural is the masterpiece of Tamil literature with the highest and purest expressions of human thought.  It is written in the form of couplets (two line poems) expounding various aspects of life.    It contains 1330 couplets, divided into 133 chapters of 10 couplets each. 

Thirukkural has three major parts.  The first part deals with Aram (Virtue), the moral value of human life.  It has 38 chapters.  The second part is on Porul (Wealth), the socio economic values of men in a civilized society.  It has 70 chapters.    The third part is on Kamam or Inbam (Love), the psychological values of life.  It has 25 chapters. 

Many managements thoughts you can find in the couplets and many leaders uses that in teaching and available in book form. 
A couplet  from Thirukural – the very first one is given under: This is a prayer to the almighty.

குறள் 1 அகர முதல எழுத்தெல்லாம் ஆதி பகவன் முதற்றே உலகு

விளக்கம் அகரம் எழுத்துக்களுக்கு முதன்மை; ஆதிபகவன், உலகில் வாழும் உயிர்களுக்கு முதன்மை

Couplet 1 A, as its first of letters, every speech maintains; The "Primal Deity" is first through all the world's domains

Explanation As the letter A is the first of all letters, so the eternal God is first in the world

Transliteration Akara Mudhala Ezhuththellaam Aadhi Pakavan Mudhatre Ulaku

"இறைவன் மனிதனுக்குச் சொன்னது கீதை
மனிதன் மனிதனுக்குச் சொன்னது திருக்குறள்

The Power of Chanting in Dreams

The Power of Chanting  in Dreams

This is a personal realization and wish to share with my blog viewers  and readers.

Definition of an idiom : a dream come true – something that has been desired for a long time that has happened as hoped for.

But the reverse – a true incident comes in dream – is something happens sometime to many . But in my dream I was caught in a natural  holocaust  and tsunami yesterday and how I was saved by chanting ‘Hare Krishna ‘  is the story.

Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, as well as a subject of philosophical and religious interest, throughout recorded history. The scientific study of dreams is called oneirology. Scientists believe that, in addition to humans, certain birds and the majority of mammals also dream.

Last December 26^th is a black letter day for India too , as on the same date in 2004 we were hit by  the natural disaster called Tsunami , in Madras for the first time and also the shoreline of  Tamilnadu . I had a personal experience of visiting Marina beach within hours after the tsunami hit our shores.  The whole world prayed for the victims in various parts of the world  during  last month to pay homage on the anniversary of the fateful day .

 Two weeks before  I watched many original footage of the aggressive tsunami hit Indonesia and other parts , caught by the camera and published by the survivors , through internet.   








When I was watching the natural disaster, it so happened to watch the man-made disaster  by the  atomic bomb called   “Little Boy”  on Hiroshima , Japan on August 6^th, 1945.

 I think these  videos got registered in my inner mind.  The ideas , images , emotions and sensations suddenly came in my dream yesterday .  In my dream I was walking on a street not known to me and saw a bright red flame similar to the explosion size of atomic bomb , very close to me and many human bodies were thrown out by the power of the heat and flame. I do not know what to do and involuntarily started chanting “ Hare Krishna “mantra. Added to the explosion the top floor of a nearby building got collapsed and found people’s cry and falling bodies. I continued the chanting and running without  any idea where to go ahead to save myself .

Then I saw water on the road slowly rising and flowing in a slow pace initially and surge up with full force suddenly. I chant and ran but the water raised  to my neck level. I closed my eyes and  prepared  to face the end of my life but holding my breath to chant  without stopping. A few minutes later when I opened my eyes in dream , I saw the receding water in that road.  Again I started running to a building where I could spot few people whom are also chanting the maha mantra. A lunatic with an axe like tool in his hand approached me and hit a person next to me in the panic situation. He fell down like a chopped tree. Next the fanatic spotted me and raised his hand and seeing me chanting,  blabbered something on his own and left the scene.

Again the flood level increased in the road and I was floating in the water ,looking ahead a lorry carried away in the stream coming towards me. I saw few air filled  rubber tubes and truck tyres   falling from the lorry and I could catch one to float safely in the water. My chanting not stopped for no reasons known to me at that moment. This is an involuntary action it seems.  All these happened to me and I had a real time experience of getting caught in a holocaust and tsunami but survived only because of the chanting the holy maha mantra “ Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare ; Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare “ .  The power of the mantra is realized   by me after I woke up from my dreams and also how I was saved from  the tsunami and natural holocaust in the dreams.

I wish to pay homage to all those victims of  tsunami and the holocaust in Hiroshima 67 years before. .

 I  felt the impact  on human being young and old , in my dream.

Any  dream may come true some day for someone or for us too. But Let us chant the holy mantra for ever as many times as possible  in a day and  for every action or deed  and that will definitely save us and when the end comes to us we will reach the abode of Sri Krishna by departing from the material body .

I cannot forget this dream , a nightmare experience with disater . Many a time we forget the dream very quickly or sometimes we even cannot  recollect what we dreamt.  But the dream of getting saved by chanting come true always.

Chant Hare Krishna and Be Happy.

Memories Never Dies !

Memories Never Dies !

I had a wrong perception about my  memory .  I could recall my  memory with few instances happened from the age of 5 and wrote a blog on the excursion trip when I was in class 3,  and felt that I have a strong memory. But actually memory is related to many things for a person to assess his own capacity. There were many research going on to find the human memory’s various functions.

How does the mind store the information ?

What kinds of memory do people have ?

How easy is it for you to remember  certain things ?

What is short term and long term memory ?

What is the memory capacity of  the human brain ?

Few answers we can get from the internet :

The human brain consists of about one billion neurons. Each neuron forms about 1,000 connections to other neurons, amounting to more than a trillion connections. If each neuron could only help store a single memory, running out of space would be a problem. You might have only a few gigabytes of storage space, similar to the space in an iPod or a USB flash drive. Yet neurons combine so that each one helps with many memories at a time, exponentially increasing the brain’s memory storage capacity to something closer to around 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes). For comparison, if your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage.

The brain’s exact storage capacity for memories is difficult to calculate. First, we do not know how to measure the size of a memory. Second, certain memories involve more details and thus take up more space; other memories are forgotten and thus free up space. Additionally, some information is just not worth remembering in the first place.

The reason for writing this new episode is during last week itself two persons identified me after a long span of 41 to 45 years and  recalled our old time in fraction of a second . It is amazing that their mind travelled past that many years soon after meeting me or hearing about me or speaking to me or a sudden thought recalled in their memory to get connected to me.

First person is a childhood schoolmate , Jayachandran , who studied with me from class 1 till class 11 , from 1955 to 1967 . After that we got delinked , though we both lived in the same neighborhood for  four decades. For reasons not known to us we could not continue our association . But the beauty is last Wednesday, 26^th December,2012 , I received a call with a strange voice asking me to recognize him ! But it is true that I could not  and surrendered to him. Then he gave me a clue of his dwelling and a place where I had my schooling from class 1 to 3. Then my memory also travelled back to many years and could spot his name and asked him, whether am I  correct. It is good that the person is the same Jayachandran , I mentioned above.

He is also above 60 , but his memory is so strong  and he is in the process of locating old schoolmates for a re-union, a great event I  wish to join. Of course the batch mates of 1980, pioneered by Mr.Balaji Setrhuraman, did the same by organizing a get together with their class teachers in service and also the retired. They started a Trust and helping the needy kids for their continuing education to college level. My friend Jayachandran also trying to catch up all old class mates and reached me with a great surprise. So I cannot be proud of my memory and I salute his memory and intention to reach and share happiness of the past and present and wish to continue. Now I am linked with him by the modern social network, which is faster than meeting in person.

Secondly I had another experience with a college senior , whom I met last Saturday, 29^th December,2012 at Seva Samajam, Children’s Home , while attending a get together of all the Guild of Service staff meet annually.  His name is Mr.Ramalingam. As a volunteer to take photographs and video of their dance program, I reached the venue very early and  no one from my wife’s school, GOS, Home for the Handicapped, Annanagar, reported yet.  I sat in the second row and waiting for them. It was a heavy rainy day and torrential non-stop rain badly hit the approach road from the entrance road opposite to   CLRI ( Central Leather Research Institute ). With knee deep water I could reach the Children’s Home by walk , with three cameras and an umbrella. One for video, one for still photo and one as backup.

A person in safari suit approached me and wished me good morning. Then he asked about me. I am happy to give an introduction of mine and my  indirect association with Guild.  When I asked about him, he said that he is taking care of admin of the hosting institution.

Then he looked into my eyes and said that my face is familiar to him but not by name. Furthermore he asked about my office, college and where I lived in college days. The moment I said that I am an oldie of Vivekananda College, immediately he said that he is my senior by an year in college and not only that he had seen me in Mylapore near Mundaga Kanni Amman Koil Street. It was amazing again ,  for the second time a person identifies me after so many years, within the span of one week.  I am happy that he is doing a social service to the Seva Samajam apart from his business, after retirement from Banking services.

These two incidents taught me a lesson . I should not be proud of my memory . I respect the two gentlemen  whom I met  last week for their affectionate recall of my association with them. 

So memory is not directly linked with recollection of thoughts and deeds of the past, but occasional thoughts for a reason , it travels past to remember friends or relatives and gets linked to them for the same reason.

I take this opportunity to convey my sincere thanks to  Mr.Jayachandran and Mr.Ramalingam for their renewed relationship with me by their strong memory.

Memories Never Dies !