A Journey Starts From Destination !

A Journey starts from Destination

This is not  a  story similar  to a movie “ Back to the Future “ , a comedic science fiction of 1985. The title may  look odd. Any journey starts from an origin to the destination. But in my case , my spiritual journey started from the destination , MAYAPUR in West Bengal .

Mecca is a holy city for Mulims  and Jerusalem is for Christians .  Mayapur ( a holy town in India , about 130 KM north of Kolkata in West Bengal) is for ISKCON devotees.

Mayapur is the birthplace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

 He appeared in the year 1486 and then performed many of his early pastimes here. Mayapur is 130 km north of Calcutta and across the Ganges from the city of Navadvipa. Navadvipa was at that time the capital of Bengal.
Mayapur is one of the most sacred and peaceful areas in all of India. Sri Chaitanya is non different than Lord Sri Krishna. Lord Sri Krishna appeared as a devotee of the Lord in the form of Lord Chaitanya. He showed us all by example how to perform the Yuga Dharma and please the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. At Mayapur Sri Chaitanya displayed His childhood pastimes and one can see through them Sri Krishna's lilas. Mayapur is non different than the holy land of Sri Vrindavan dham.
I got introduced to ISKCON by my daughter before her marriage . She took me once to the ISKCON temple in Burkit Road , T.Nagar , Chennai  for a Sunday evening prayer. I met her classmate Ananda Subramanian there , who  was  also a devotee . The congregational prayer by loudly chanting the Hare Krishna maha mantra and dancing attracted me towards Krishna Consciousness. My daughter gave me some books written  by  the Founder , Srila Prabhupada . Till such time I do not know much about ISKCON activities. After reading the small books on KC ,  I felt at that time that I missed in the  past very much  on not knowing KC.
The seriousness towards bhakthi yoga came to me very late . My son , my daughter and my son-in-law are all devotees of  Sri Krishna  and that inspired me to give a serious thought in Krishna Consciousness.

My son wanted to visit Mayapur and  , few years before,  I took him there on a short trip , one way by train and return by flight from Kolkata. The first visit was a great experience . Both of us took bath in the Ganges  by the side of a ghat near the temple. Overnight stay in the Gada Bhavan guest house was wonderful. We walked in the 108 stones laid for chanting the Maha mantra in front of the temple . I took the guidance from my colleague Mr.Niladri Bhattacharya of Kolkata and without any problem we made the trip a success.




Chandrodaya Mandir ( ISKCON Mayapur)



The highlight of the trip is , my daughter , who was in USA at that time , watched us online through a website of ISKCON,Mayapur and captured us in two snaps in the early hours , 4.30 am , during the arti inside the temple. It was amazing at that time by seeing us praying inside the temple through the webcam fixed there , whereas she was in other side of the globe !The snaps are attached here.

GoShala

 My second visit to Mayapur was with my son-in-law during Gaura purnima in last March (2011 ) , when he came from US on personal work. That trip was also a memorable one for me . We had been there by flight from Chennai and then by a cab straight to mayapur. Unfortunately we could not plan for temple guesthouse but stayed just opposite to temple in a tiny hotel room for two nights and on the third night we could get accommodated inside temple.Whole day was spent inside the temple and watched the ceremony of Chaitanya maha prabhu’s birth anniversary ( 525^th ) in the temple complex. This festival is celebrated as Gaura Purnima. About ten thousand people were in floating population and it was amazing that no untoward incident happened by the grace of Krishna. There were dramas , discourses in the tented grounds.



Pushpa Samadhi

 I was excited  by an incident inside the temple complex , when I was eating  prasadam snacks along with my son-in-law. When both of were sitting in the cement chair  near the entrance of the temple and next to Sri Garuda deity and about to start eating the Prasad  purchased from the counter , a saffron robed priest came to me and with both hands  asked   for  the Prasad . I do not know what to do as I had taken a portion already but not bitten it. Few seconds I am speechless and wondering what to do and is it right to share to a guru like devotee. But  my hands automatically gave the complete Prasad leaf bowl  to the priest. He immediately left the scene . My son-in-law was also by the side of me . Within minutes the  same saffron robed  priest came to me suddenly and gave back my Prasad and tapped my shoulder and said “ you have passed the test “ . Still I do not find an answer , what test I have passed . Only one thing I could realize is that when someone asks for food , we should not think twice and  give away whatever we have for us without any hesitation . Really I was excited for few moments and that incident will  never be erased from my memory !
My son-in-law and myself had a great bath in Ganga , and he swam to a small stretch happily.



Bathing ghat near Ganga



But the under current was strong and he immediately retrieved  himself to the shore.  The three days stay gave me  big change in my thinking and action. I was wearing  at that time a gold chain with Krishna  dollar around my neck along with Thulsi mala, since my retirement , as the same was purchased from the contribution money my colleagues gave. But to my surprise among the pilgrimages I have not seen any male devotee  wearing a gold ornament in their neck. It sparked like a blow on my cheek ( normally in Tamil film , the hero will feel a blow on his cheek by an invisible hand for giving the audience a punch dialog). At that moment I have decided not to wear a gold chain in my neck ,  and wear only  a thulsi mala . When I returned from Mayapur , I gave the gold chain to my wife  for alternate use by her.



Ferry crossing in Nabdeep Ghat



There is no TWO without a THREE ! This statement  was made by a white dressed guruji  to me when I visited for the third time to Mayapur in March 2012. It must be Krishna’s wish I believe. He showed me a colourful book dedicated to Nabdeep covering the entire islands where Sri Chaitanya Maha Prabhu travelled, chanted and danced to the tune of hare Krishna mantra and spread Krishna Consciousness in that  region. I bought that from him and talked to him for some time. He enquired about me and family and where from I am coming. When I told him about the service of my son-in-law  and daughter  for KC , he told me that I am blessed  by Krishna. This time also I took a bath in Ganga on the banks and spent half a day inside the temple and took  Prasad in Govinda’s restaurant. Bhog arti was great and the deities dress  colour combination was too good. Unfortunately , this time no one is allowed to take pictures and we have surrendered our mobiles in the counter.



Crossing Ganga



The temple of Vedic Planetarium is coming in a big way and the entire construction is handled by Gammon , our company’s prestigious customer.  The route I took this time was from Sealdah Railway Station to Krishna Nagar city and from there by a share auto to Nabdip ghat and then by ferry crossed the ganges and reached the other shore. A mini bus took me to the gate of Sri Chandrodaya  Mandir, Mayapur , the International HQ of ISKCON.

Now I will reason out the title of the blog . For everyone Mayapur is the destination and so to me, to experience KC. So  my journey of understanding more on Krishna consciousness , dedicated   time to read the books of Srila Prabhupada , Bhagavad Gita again and again  and not to miss chanting the maha mantra daily , practice what I talk on KC  , starts from the destination – Mayapur .

Chant Hare Krishna and Be Happy .



Sree Krishna Chaitanya Math



Sree Chaitanya Gauditya math



Oh ! Calcutta ! … Now it’s Oh ! Kolkata !

 Oh ! Calcutta !   … Now it’s  Oh ! Kolkata ! 

Once upon a time , I was longing to visit  Calcutta  which has a nick name “ City of Joy” . Coinciding to this nick name , in 1969 there was a  longest running  musical show in Broadway and in London with 3900 performances ,  based on the controversial off-Broadway musical comedy revue.  It is a series of musical numbers about sex and sexual mores ! In Indian news papers the news of Oh! Calcutta ! was like a mirchi !  But I do not find any  link between the title of the musical and the city , Calcutta . Any way it was sensational at that time , when I was 17 !

Though I had travelled  to many places in India on official duties , Calcutta was missed out  for quite a long years. At last I had a chance to visit for an audit work to Calcutta in 2000 for my previous company , Greaves Cotton. I felt very happy on seeing the City of Joy. When I got down at Howrah railway station , the historical bridge welcomed me !

Calcutta is located on the east bank of Hooghly river and served as the capital of India until 1911 under the East India Company and later under the British Raj.

But in my first visit I could not move  around much to enjoy the richness of the city. Later when I joined Schwing Stetter , I got a good opportunity to visit many places in the city and suburb. The thrill of travelling in the TRAM , is a great pleasure , as the Tram services in old Madras was terminated  in 1953, I believe. It is a new mode of transport to see and enjoy travelling for me and every new visitor will love to go for a ride. It moves very slowly in a track along with other motor vehicles .

The places I have visited are  Victoria Memorial Museum , St.Paul’s Church , National Museum , under ground Metro train travel , Dhakshineswar , Belur Math ,  ISKCON temple  and  Birla Mandir . In the present Kolkata ( Calcutta has been renamed in 2001 as Kolkata ) , lot of infrastructure development is happening and a new city  has already come up in the suburb. The charm of old Calcutta  is still there in the present Kolkata in certain areas with hand pulled rickshaws and  cycle rickshaws. You can see all mode of transport in Kolkata , which you may not see in any other states .

On the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901, Lord Curzon, who was then Viceroy of India, placed before the public the question of setting up a fitting memorial to the Queen. He suggested that the most suitable memorial would be a "stately", spacious, monumental and grand building surrounded by an exquisite garden.This was to be a historical museum where people could see before them pictures and statues of men who played a prominent part in the history of this country and develop a pride in their past.The princes and people of India responded generously to his appeal for funds and the total cost of construction of this monument amounting to one crore, five lakhs of rupees, was entirely derived from their voluntary subscriptions.Sir William Emerson, President of the British Institute of Architects, designed and drew up the plan of this building, while the work of construction was entrusted to Messrs. Martin & Co. of Calcutta. Vincent J. Esch was the superintending architect.

St. Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral of the Church of North India - a united church which is part of the Anglican Communion - in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is the seat of the Diocese of Calcutta, and the incumbent bishop is the Rt. Revd. Ashoke Biswas.^[1]

The building itself stands on the "island of attractions" in Kolkata - beside the Victoria Memorial, Nandan, Rabindra Sadan theatre complex, and the Birla Planetarium.

Belur Math, sprawling over forty acres of land on the western bank of the Hooghly (Ganga), in Howrah district, an hour’s drive from Kolkata, is a place of pilgrimage for people from all over the world professing different religious faiths.  Even people not interested in religion come here for the peace it exudes.

It was at Belur Math that Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), the foremost disciple of Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886), lived the last years of his brief life.  He consecrated the grounds in 1898 by worshipping the urn containing the sacred relics of Sri Ramakrishna, which he himself carried on his shoulders to the place of worship. 

The Dakshineswar Kali Temple (Bengali: দক্ষিনেশ্বর কালী মন্দির Dokkhineshshôr Kali Mondir, Sanskrit: दक्षिनेश्वर काली मन्दिर) is a Hindu temple located in Dakshineswar near Kolkata. Situated on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, the presiding deity of the temple is Bhavatarini, an aspect of Kali, meaning, 'She who liberates Her devotees from the ocean of existence i.e Saṃsāra'.^[1] The temple was built by Rani Rashmoni, a philanthropist and a devotee of Kali in 1855. The temple is famous for its association with Ramakrishna a mystic of 19th Century Bengal.
The temple compound, apart from the nine-spired main temple, contains a large courtyard surrounding the temple, with rooms along the boundary walls. There are twelve shrines dedicated to Shiva—Kali's companion—along the riverfront, a temple to Radha-Krishna, a bathing ghat on the river, a shrine dedicated to Rani Rashmoni. The chamber in the northwestern corner just beyond the last of the Shiva temples, is where Ramakrishna spent a considerable part of his life.

Kalighat Kali Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu goddess Maa Kali.^[1] It is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas.
Kalighat was a Ghat (landing stage) sacred to Kali on the old course of the Hooghly river (Bhāgirathi) in the city of Calcutta. The name Calcutta is said to have been derived from the word Kalighat. The river over a period of time has moved away from the temple. The temple is now on the banks of a small canal called Adi Ganga which connects to the Hoogly. The Adi Ganga was the original course of the river Hoogly (the Ganges). Hence the name Adi (original) Ganges.

Apart from the above land mark places I have travelled  around  and seen the co-existence of rich and poor  in the old city. A barefoot rickshaw puller and a rich man in a luxury  car  move together on the streets.



Rich & Poor contrast !



Convoy of rickshaws



Another way of transport ?



Joy ride for whom ?



Famous Haldiram Sweets are made here!



Sharma Tea House - for delicious samosa and tea



Flyover to new city



yellow taxi on the bridge



Indian National museum Estd.1814



Road side economic shave !

Merging of Tram and Taxis in a busy street



Superfast roads to Delhi and Mumbai



Tender coconuts on two wheelers !

There are many photos I took in my last trip during March 2012 but could not share all here. Hope you all will have the pleasure of viewing Kolkata through the lense of my Blackberry ! A seperate story line is  getting ready on my trip to Mayapur , the International Head Quarters of ISKCON , a holy Dham , about 130 KM north of Kolkata. Chant hare Krishna and Be Happy .



It's Festival Time in Mylapore ( March - April 2012 )

It's  Festival Time in Mylapore

In this auspicious tamil month of Panguni ( Mar-Apr) , in Mylapore , a 10 day utsavam  in Sri Kapaleeswarar temple. It is a coincidence for Sri Rama in the same month this year to celebrate His avatar day – Sri Rama navami. So in Sri Vishnu temples too a 10 day festival is going on . In Mylapore Sri Madhavaperumal temple and Sri Adi Kesava Perumal temple celebrate it in a big way by taking the utsava murthy twice in a day , morning and night in mada streets . The same ritual is being followed in Siva temple for Panguni utsavam.

The famous utsavam of Sri Kapaleeswarar are – 3^rd day morning – Adhikara Nanthi. The main daities , Shiva & Parvathi will be taken on a silver Nandhi vahanam and Pancha moorthis’ ( Vinayagar , Shiv Parvathi , Muruga & Chandigeswarar ) follows in procession on the streets. 5^th day night is Rishaba vahanam , which comes out of gopura vassal at midnight. 7^th day morning will be Ratha ( ther thiruvizha ) and 8^th day afternoon , the arubathu moovar (63nayanmars)follow Lord Kapaleeswarar. Both the days there will always a big crowd in the mada streets and diversion of bus route will be announced regularly.

Thanneer Pandal , more & Juice pandal you can see around mada veethi. Panagam will also be served sometimes. When we were young and active in Scouting  , me and Gopi, my brother  do social service through Ashoka Scout Group . We help the devotees to from a circle around the Ratham for safety and all the scouts  form a human chain to protect public from the ther chakras ( Ratha Wheels ). Similarly for Arubathu moovar festival and Rishaba Vahanam  we do service along with other  Bharat Scout groups.

Every day and night many Mylaporeans used to visit temple festival for all days and some for the big events mentioned above. The road side platform shops  will be busy in selling  their toys , pasi mani mala by Kuruvikara ladies ( with their young ones tied  in their hip ) , pericham pazham ( dates ) , pala pazham ( jack fruit ) ,  nannari sarbath carts , thapoosani ( watermelon)  carts  etc. will flourish in their business.

For young and old Mylaporeans , this festival is an important one and many non-residents of Mylapore  and who lived earlier in Mylapore will never miss this festival and make it at least a day or two with colourful cloths.

On arubathu moovar day , Thiruvalluvar Nayanar & Vasuki Ammaiyar , Big faced amman ( upto neck only ) from our old house neighbourhood  used to join  in the procession behind Lord Kapaleeswarar. Vaira sevai ( Lord Muruga wthl diamond studded dress and kreedam ) from Chintadripet is a special attraction. Vana vedikai ( fire works ) from China ( china petti – where many dolls comes out one after other when it glowas with colour fire )  is a highlight show.

When we  were  young  we enjoyed with parents and periappa( father’s elder brother )  , and later in our college days  with street friends .

Similarly Ramar utsavan comes daily in morning and night from Sri Madhava perumal temple and we were fortunate that our street was mada veethi for Perumal. Pushpa pallakku ( Floral Palanquin ), Ther ( Ratham ) , Hanumantha vahanam , Garuda vahanam  were star  attraction . We stand to show arti to the deity in front of our house in both times.

I feel great in sharing my old times of Mylapore festival here and many who read could recollect their old times  and cherish the past. My blog  is created to cherish the past and I love the good old days .

Chant Hare Krishna  today ,” Sri Rama navami day “  forever and be happy.

3D Society of 16 TV !!!

3 D Society of 16 TV , Mylapore

A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations,  and dominant cultural expectations. Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations) between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions; a given society may be described as the sum total of such relationships among its constituent members.

The above statement is taken from WIKIPEDIA  about Society !

In ‘70s’  a Society is formed by only three constituent  members  through persistent relations and dominant cultural expectation . So  to serve the society  the 3D Society is established by  only three life members : M.D.Chander , M.D.Gopinath & Suresh Kuppuswamy !!! Don’t be surprised ! The thought struck  to start a society , when we were sitting on the parapet wall on the terrace of  16 TV ( our house at 16,Thiruvalluvar koil St., Mylapore ) and  watching the people passing through the our street and  few  looking ahead to see our crazy posture on the wall .  So we three have decided to do something for the passing society in cultural aspects ( LOL)!

A sign board saying “ 3D Society “ painted in a black background with white letters  and fixed on top of the front door frame in  upside down  position , just to attract the passing crowd . The very next day we could see the results ; that is the comment of the public and wondering why  such a board is fixed in that position and who are the  society members and what  they are going to  do and many other matters behind their mind. We felt  that  people have their own curiosity  in looking into other people’s business  and  so a black small notice board is made and tied in the steel grill of our house verandah without any writing . Again watched passers  whose   head automatically turns towards our black board and disappointed  , as there is nothing to munch ! Next day we  started wring silly slogans , just for fun . That also attracted people and they were looking forward for more daily !Like that the 3D society started to serve the Mylapore  society !!!

Any society should have an office and a meeting place.  In our house backyard ( thottam ) we had many bamboo sticks of 5 feet long each , belongs to our scout group. I was the quarantine master for that and started to make a makeshift tent with that and old thick bed sheet to accommodate three of us to sit, chat and sleep.

The tent is well equipped with power supply , a bulb with shade , a transistor of Giri’s ( Nelco brand , flat deck type ), Coke can pen stand , few posters and an ORIENT multi- purpose fan of Suresh’s , Cut pieces of coconut tree to a height of  2 ½ feet  were bought  from nearby Thiruvalluvar Koil  thottam  by us at cost and  used as stool to sit and watch the road  from terrace .

Major time pass after studies  and a round to Luz , Shanthi Vihar for Alu tikki channa , with Gopal ( Jr. To Suresh in School of Architecture ) , Jaggu ( Gopal’s brother ) ,  was  late night listening to music .

Music   treat to the  neighbors of 16 TV in 1970s’

Does this  seems to be a weird ?  By whom ? By what means ?  For what reasons ? Did the neighbors enjoyed the treat ? How it was given ? From where the  music treat was broadcasted ???  All these questions comes to everyone’s mind with eagerness  to know what it conveys ! to be frank I wish to write about the fun we  had on the terrace of our house , I would prefer to call home .

 Suresh’s dad , who was with Post & Telegraph  ,  had a Radio service  shop “ Maxwell “  near Sri Karaneeswarar koil and  Suresh’s  elder  brother was also working in late hours along with father after his office hours . He was with  Nelco , a trusted name for Radio &  Transister Radio .  There were many  music system comes for repair and unclaimed also. One such Turntable cum Record changer “ Grundig” of Germany , we took to our tent for entertaining us and the neighbours !

Lot of LPs’ ( Long Playing Records ) was with us and we blast  the music by keeping the player in the centre of the terrace and the speakers nearer to the parapet wall.  Famous  hit records of those times –

Mili , Jawani Diwani, Yadon ki bara hat , Hum kisee se Cun Nahin , Kati Patang , Mera naam Joker , Bobby , Kurbani and so on in Hindi.

Ossibisa, Kenny G , Pink Floyd , Bony M , Abba , Neil Diamond , Tom Jones , Shadows , Ventures , Beatles Tina Turner , Carpenters , Madonna , Samantha Fox and so on in English .

The record changer holds 10 LPs at a time and once started our hands are free to change the records. Of course it disturbed some but attracted many .

On the terrace of our house , one late  night ,  a film – Kulebagavali of MGR’s  was  screened on the next door ( Sathy’s ) house first floor wall . The nearby slum people graduallu gather in late night on the street junction to watch the film, as it was viewable from road too. Some have creeped on Arvind’s house roof and came near the parapet wall of ours and  assured that they will quietly watch. MGR’s fight with a lion was a highlight of the film. These are all unforgettable memories of 16 TV and 3D Society’s charity show !

After the music treat to ourselves and others we three used to go out for a cup of tea  at midnight  in BROTHER'S TEA STALL opposite to Sanskrit College , in the junction of Sullivan Garden Street , next to Malabar Saloon. It is still there !

After retreat to our DEN , we go to sleep , of course we used to have a sound sleep , for a fresh next morning .

This is our life style in teens . Our Den life was great and  we are really good boys as we never had  any bad habits.  We were proud when our Suresh got a gold medal in B.Arch. , University first rank and also a gold medalist in MTP in School of Architecture and Planning, Madras. He is now the Dean  of the same institution and Estate Officer of Anna university . I had a chance to attend his graduation convocation in University of Madras . Me and my brother also got graduated and  took employment in three years interval as he is younger than me.

Life and times at Mylapore of mine with Gopi and Suresh cannot be forgotten and the reason for writing this episode is Balaji Sethuraman , my good  next door neighbor kid  and of  my brother Ramesh’s  classmate , who is  14 years junior to me. But he could still recall the terrace life of us at  our home , 3 D Society’s fun loving days ,  though he was too young at those times.  He mentioned our dress style of bell bottom pants and jeans pant and long hairs of Suresh’s and more and more. My brother Ramesh also could recollect the good times from his childhood memories on us.

More of  Mylapore times will feature to cherish the past , which the present day kids could not enjoy !

Think Krishna and thank Krishna for the good times he gave us and Chant Hare Krishna and Be Happy.

In the year 1965 - '65 ...to be or not to be ...yes to Hindi or no to Hindi !!!

In the year 1965 – ‘65 …. To be or not to be …  yes to Hindi or no to Hindi !!!

 A SUDDEN THOUGHT - I recalled from my memory ,  the happenings ,  in the year 1965 in my school days !  Many of my age and elders could recall the tragic happenings in that year . Yes. It is about  the Anti – Hindi agitation  . To recollect the happenings I browsed internet also !

In January 1965 ,  I was a student of class 9  , my sister  Vasanthi in 10^th and my younger brother Gopi was in 6^th std. ( my other siblings  Ramesh and  Vidya were not born  in 1965 ) . In that year beginning  in Madras a big agitation started to protest the national Congress government’s  imposition of  Hindi language  as an official language throughout the country. This was planned when the constitution was written in 1950 , that after 15 years , the bi-lingual , English and Hindi , will be changed to Hindi only , it seems. All the non-Hindi speaking people made a strong protest for this policy. Particularly students community of Madras state were seriously  against Hindi and many deaths were recorded officially and unofficially . Self immolation by students in Madurai sparked and spread  throughout Madras . Later when I grow I could understand the political gain made by a party with this background , influencing the students to far ahead in the protest!

Why this topic is selected  for my blog is , whole of last year I travelled throughout  India and crossed almost 18 states and felt the need of Hindi speaking skill and regretted  for my weakness and inability to converse.  I can  read and write Hindi, by the   mercy of the concessional policy of the government  at that time, after the anti-Hindi agitation,  to continue with Hindi in schools. At that time  the annual exam score in Hindi is not considered for the total marks for school final ,    even though we wrote Hindi exam as one of the paper for 50 marks.

My school is so close to my house . I studied in P.S.Secondary School , Mylapore Madras. Myself and my classmates used to come to our terrace after the classes , when Police were targeting students gathering in group on the road and lathi charge them. On  a fateful day , tear gas  shell was busted in the junction of our street, Thiruvalluvar koil st.,  and Mundakanni Amman koil st., and we were watching by hiding behind the parapet wall with terror in our eyes. My mother shouted at us to come down . S.Balasubramanian , Ramesh , and few others of my classmates were with me .  From the  busted shell  in the junction, gas was fuming out and irritated our eyes. It was the first time we young students witnessed  such acts of police. Of course no one injured.  But we were so thrilled to watch police with shield and steel cap running on the roads in front of our house.  We have seen  many  war movies , where people running for shelter and the sounds of gun and rifle echoed in our ears even after coming out of the theaters ! But the live action of police force was seen by our naked eyes during the Hindi agtation.

The agitation went on for few more months . But in the curriculum of ours Hindi was not taken out .We wrote Hindi exam also in our school final ( 11^th standard in 1967 ) . DMK came into power with the supporters of anti-Hindi in the year 1967 and the education pattern was changed . But when Mr.Bhakthavatchalam was the Chief Minister during the agitation period , he was very stubborn  on students community and he only gave the shooting order on the students. Because of that Congress miserably failed in 1967 election and never came as a ruling party in Tamilnadu.

 Many sign boards of Central government and other bearing Hindi letters were tarnished with black paint or tar ( bitumen ) by the agitators. Mylapore and Santhome post office sign boards remained many years in the same condition.  In 1967 a new policy was formed by  national  government to continue with the bi-lingual policy as long as the non-Hindi speaking states wishes.

Today many people  of my age and the next generation feel the importance of Hindi when we move out of Tamilnadu. Comedian  Vivek  sarcastically speaks  in movies that Tamilan cannot survive in other states without Hindi.

So, the year 1965  went  like that  , by the  self sacrificing students ,  self immolation for anti-Hindi.  I cannot comment of those who were against Hindi but I felt the need  even after so many years and being a senior citizen now , I wish to  speak in Hindi to my own colleagues in 20 other states on business.

Learning a language is a gift and let us learn more languages. Mahatma Gandhi learned Sanskrit only to understand   Bhagavat Gita and practice .  Let us learn a new language and guide our next generation to learn Hindi  to live in any corner of  India and any other foreign language too for a comfortable living abroad !  Be Indian and Love all Indian Languages !