Well, a few things seem to have triggered this mega frenzy that I call Opulence in Obituary advertising in Chennai, namely - low cost of digital printing, high court order banning hoardings and the ruling government/party politics. Thanks to all this, I now know the enormous contributions made by one Mr. Dasarathan, party functionary of the ruling party, the everlasting heroics of Dhanu, a local socially challenged individual, and the loving sons of Mrs. Muniyamma. How do I know them? Well, everyday I see all these people brought to life by colorfully printed digital obituary ads standing on causaurina legs :) Each of these posters are mini resumes, like the ones by Raja Raja Chozha in the Thanjavur temple. It talks about the legendary social contributions that these people made and also enumerates the photos of people who are ever grateful for these contributions. The template of these ads are well designed. Each banner has a section with a significant portion dedicated to the party or gang that the person is affiliated. It has a section that has a poetry (oh good, I hate to insult the word poetry), depicted in a scroll and the bottom half dedicated to well wishers. It is mandatory that all these well wishers have a photo with a cell phone in their ears :) All these ads are strategically erected in the directions of flowing traffic to attract maximum attention. Most of these public obituary ads are in politically well endowed, socially less sophisticated neighbourhoods.
Ok, now before you dismiss this as a "bottom of the pyramid" phenomenon, I would like to draw your attention to the annals of "The Hindu" newspaper. This is the realm of pseudo sophisticated people like me and my family :) Wonder if you studied the obituary section carefully. Again, there is a neat pattern of pompous self promotion of the dead and the soon-to-be-dead. So, what is the pattern? Every obituary ad will essentially contain 3 neat sections. First the photo. The second section right below the photo will contain the name of the person, the office he worked in, the position, the degrees, the certifications, the medals, the achievements, and if possible bank balance and account numbers :) For rama's sake, the dude is dead and all these don't matter. All I need to know is the name and work place at best. Does it matter if he was post master general (retd.), BTW you cannot miss the retired part, lest the people think that the person died in harness :) You need to mention which country the person did his M.S. If the person has any long lost connection with the US, it is a must :) So, that is about the dead person. The section on not-yet-dead people is more interesting. So, the list starts with the name of the person, relation with the dead person, his/her academic qualifications, his/her work experience profile,his/her location (very very important if they are anyway outside India, even if its Papua New Guinea, please mention it). Each obituary ad is a mini resume for the family of the dead :)
Adi Shankara said," Maa kuru dhana jana yauvana garvam" - Don't be proud of your wealth, people or youth as the Lord can take it away anytime. The obituary opulence defies all logic :) but then, that is why the cut-off is so low in Kali Yuga :)
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Swamiji's last few days on earth (nishthatmananda of muzaffarpur)
We came to this earth with cries, but while leaving we have to smile and express joy in our face.
“During our life time, if we are blessed to smile, that it self is a great achievement and how can we guarantee our smiling while we leave this earth, the time which is not under our control?” – That’s a genuine question.
We have the life of Swami Vivekananda that gives us the necessary guidance to prepare for ourselves for the joyful journey. All through his life, Swamiji tuned every event as preparation for his ultimate journey.
In the year 1898, Swami Vivekananda during his pilgrimage to Amarnath, had received a boon from Lord Shiva not to die until he himself should choose to do so.
Sri Ramakrishna had said about Narendranath that ‘when he realizes who and what he is, he will no longer remain in the body’.
Hence, as a village boy, who had never seen an aero plane on the earth and who had been told that he would be taken in an air travel next week, would eagerly await for the golden day of his air travel, so also Swamiji was waiting to take up his eternal flight to be boarded by him on July 4, 1902 the day which was chosen by himself. Here below are a few events on his last day of physical existence.
· On July 4, 1902 during his 2 hours morning meditation in the shrine of Ramakrishna, he had the doors and windows closed, while he was accustomed to meditate only in a well-ventilated room. Coming down from the shrine, he had a walk in the courtyard. While walking he spoke to himself in a half-audible tone: “If there were another Vivekananda, he would have understood what (this) Vivekananda has done! And yet,-how many Vivekanandas shall be born in time!”
· He had his noon lunch along with all, which was again quite unusual, since owing to his ill health he used to take his meals in his own room. On that day he ate full meal and remarked humorously,” two days before, owing to my fast for ekadasi on Wednesday, my hunger has greatly increased. I ate full meal but left the cups and plate (without eating them up) with great difficulty.”
· After a short rest, Swamiji took class on Sanskrit grammar to young brahmacharins for three hours and made the class so interesting that no one felt any monotony.
· During his evening walk along with Swami Premananda he expressed his desire of founding a Vedic college at Belur Math. Premananda asked him,”What, Swamiji, will be the good of studying the Vedas?” for which Swamiji replied, ”It will kill out superstitions”.
· In the evening after the prayers, he sat for meditation. After an hour’s meditation he called his attendant, lying down on his bed with the rosary in his hand. He asked him to fan his head. After another hour or so, his attendant noticed that Swamiji’s hand shook slightly; then he took two deep breaths; the gaze became fixed at the eye brows and the face lit up by an extra ordinary radiance and smile. His head rolled to one side and then all was silent. It was seen in the next morning that the eyes were bloodshot and that a little bleeding had occurred through the nostrils and mouth.
Lord Krishna says in the 8th chapter of Gita, “At the time of passing away whoever fixes his prana between his brows and meditates on the Ruler of the world, reaches the Supreme Truth.” Swamiji’s physical death is a yogic Samadhi as stated by Lord Krishna. Swamiji raised his coiled – up spiritual power and made it to pierce through the mystic centres in the spinal column and the head and thrown away the body like a worn-out-garment.
When one is attached to the body and his possessions, death is terrible, but to one who had disciplined his body, death has no threats or no secrets.
Normally, we relate death with sadness, inauspiciousness and fear.
But, it is quite possible to make the event filled with joy, auspiciousness, hope and strength.
God-men like Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and others had thus shown the way to us.
It was Swamiji’s last message to the world – “Welcome the death calmly and boldly.” For Swamiji, death means just getting out of the physical body. As a spiritual force he continues to live and work with us and that is why he said, “I shall inspire men everywhere, until the world shall know that it is one with God.”
July 4th is thus a day of great joy, hope and strength to all followers
of Swamiji. His Master chose to leave His mortal coils on 15th August in the year 1886, knowing well that after 61 years that India would get freedom from foreign rulers. And our Swamiji chose July 4, the day of America's Independence. Though these are occasions for rejoicing country's political freedom, these God-men have chosen to leave the physical frame thus symbolising that death is not a sad event but a step towards eternal freedom and bliss.
Let us prepare ourselves from now on to face that great moment filled with happiness, strength and absolute freedom.
“During our life time, if we are blessed to smile, that it self is a great achievement and how can we guarantee our smiling while we leave this earth, the time which is not under our control?” – That’s a genuine question.
We have the life of Swami Vivekananda that gives us the necessary guidance to prepare for ourselves for the joyful journey. All through his life, Swamiji tuned every event as preparation for his ultimate journey.
In the year 1898, Swami Vivekananda during his pilgrimage to Amarnath, had received a boon from Lord Shiva not to die until he himself should choose to do so.
Sri Ramakrishna had said about Narendranath that ‘when he realizes who and what he is, he will no longer remain in the body’.
Hence, as a village boy, who had never seen an aero plane on the earth and who had been told that he would be taken in an air travel next week, would eagerly await for the golden day of his air travel, so also Swamiji was waiting to take up his eternal flight to be boarded by him on July 4, 1902 the day which was chosen by himself. Here below are a few events on his last day of physical existence.
· On July 4, 1902 during his 2 hours morning meditation in the shrine of Ramakrishna, he had the doors and windows closed, while he was accustomed to meditate only in a well-ventilated room. Coming down from the shrine, he had a walk in the courtyard. While walking he spoke to himself in a half-audible tone: “If there were another Vivekananda, he would have understood what (this) Vivekananda has done! And yet,-how many Vivekanandas shall be born in time!”
· He had his noon lunch along with all, which was again quite unusual, since owing to his ill health he used to take his meals in his own room. On that day he ate full meal and remarked humorously,” two days before, owing to my fast for ekadasi on Wednesday, my hunger has greatly increased. I ate full meal but left the cups and plate (without eating them up) with great difficulty.”
· After a short rest, Swamiji took class on Sanskrit grammar to young brahmacharins for three hours and made the class so interesting that no one felt any monotony.
· During his evening walk along with Swami Premananda he expressed his desire of founding a Vedic college at Belur Math. Premananda asked him,”What, Swamiji, will be the good of studying the Vedas?” for which Swamiji replied, ”It will kill out superstitions”.
· In the evening after the prayers, he sat for meditation. After an hour’s meditation he called his attendant, lying down on his bed with the rosary in his hand. He asked him to fan his head. After another hour or so, his attendant noticed that Swamiji’s hand shook slightly; then he took two deep breaths; the gaze became fixed at the eye brows and the face lit up by an extra ordinary radiance and smile. His head rolled to one side and then all was silent. It was seen in the next morning that the eyes were bloodshot and that a little bleeding had occurred through the nostrils and mouth.
Lord Krishna says in the 8th chapter of Gita, “At the time of passing away whoever fixes his prana between his brows and meditates on the Ruler of the world, reaches the Supreme Truth.” Swamiji’s physical death is a yogic Samadhi as stated by Lord Krishna. Swamiji raised his coiled – up spiritual power and made it to pierce through the mystic centres in the spinal column and the head and thrown away the body like a worn-out-garment.
When one is attached to the body and his possessions, death is terrible, but to one who had disciplined his body, death has no threats or no secrets.
Normally, we relate death with sadness, inauspiciousness and fear.
But, it is quite possible to make the event filled with joy, auspiciousness, hope and strength.
God-men like Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and others had thus shown the way to us.
It was Swamiji’s last message to the world – “Welcome the death calmly and boldly.” For Swamiji, death means just getting out of the physical body. As a spiritual force he continues to live and work with us and that is why he said, “I shall inspire men everywhere, until the world shall know that it is one with God.”
July 4th is thus a day of great joy, hope and strength to all followers
of Swamiji. His Master chose to leave His mortal coils on 15th August in the year 1886, knowing well that after 61 years that India would get freedom from foreign rulers. And our Swamiji chose July 4, the day of America's Independence. Though these are occasions for rejoicing country's political freedom, these God-men have chosen to leave the physical frame thus symbolising that death is not a sad event but a step towards eternal freedom and bliss.
Let us prepare ourselves from now on to face that great moment filled with happiness, strength and absolute freedom.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Fix-All (www.fix-all.biz) - Chennai .. here we come :)
So, its finally off the ground. Fix-All (www.fix-all.biz) , with the blessings of the Lord of Thillai, was finally in the service of all chennai people :) What did not have? For us, it was disappointment, action, drama, high emotions, and finally joy :)And what a co-incidence, Chennai Super Kings win the IPL and we gift Chennai with Fix-All (For us, it almost rivaled the IPL season). We need to thank our team, who have worked with us to kick start Fix-All. Also, we need to mention Vinod, who created our identity on the web. We will assure all our customers. Our services and our effort have only one way to go :) GET BIGGER AND GET BETTER.
It was a great show of support from friends and family :) We finally launched Fix-All. We are getting queries related to A/Cs, inverters, low voltage issues and general support. We are following a simple process right now.
Step 1) Request registration : As soon as we get a request, on phone, SMS or through the internet, we take the request after informing the customers about our service.
Step 2) Acknowledgment and Appointment : We inform our electricians about the customer details and ensure that they acknowledge the customer request and fix an appointment according to customers requirements.
Step 3) Customer Service delivery : Ensure that our electricians to ensure that they have visited the customer. Also, make sure that they explain the billing, the work done and give you a bill for the service rendered.
Step 4) Customer feedback : We call up/e-mail the customer to check if our service was up to their expectations.
We will need your support and feedback to deliver good service to you. Please send us feedback on our website/phone :)
Chennai, here we come :)
It was a great show of support from friends and family :) We finally launched Fix-All. We are getting queries related to A/Cs, inverters, low voltage issues and general support. We are following a simple process right now.
Step 1) Request registration : As soon as we get a request, on phone, SMS or through the internet, we take the request after informing the customers about our service.
Step 2) Acknowledgment and Appointment : We inform our electricians about the customer details and ensure that they acknowledge the customer request and fix an appointment according to customers requirements.
Step 3) Customer Service delivery : Ensure that our electricians to ensure that they have visited the customer. Also, make sure that they explain the billing, the work done and give you a bill for the service rendered.
Step 4) Customer feedback : We call up/e-mail the customer to check if our service was up to their expectations.
We will need your support and feedback to deliver good service to you. Please send us feedback on our website/phone :)
Chennai, here we come :)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Kaal Taxi - New age Yama vahaanam
Even wondered that how does Mr. Yamraja operate in Indian cities these days, given that his favourite agent, the buffalo is off the roads? A 2008 statistic shows that 50% of all vehicles seized for dangerous driving were "Kaal-Taxis". And there is your answer.
Be afraid, be very afraid. Just when you thought you had rendered Mr.Yamaraja vahan-less with the removal of buffaloes from the street, he has outsourced the service to Kaal-Taxis (Kaal- as in MahaKaal, the lord of death and destruction).Look at the name is its obvious. Most of these taxis as Tata Indicab, indicating, TATA, time to go.
Precautions to take when you encounter a Kaal-Taxi.
1) Always take refuge in cephal-ishwar - the helmet. Just as Markandeya swami was protected by Kapaaleshwar, when confronted by Yama, the helmet is your only savior here.
2) Avoid looking into the eyes of the driver of Kaal taxi. Its often taken as a challenge. Many of you would not know that these drivers have never used the vehicle brakes in their lifetime. Its below their dignity to touch the brake, and so do not challenge these guys for a race by looking into their eyes.
3) These Kaal-taxi guys always have their FM channels blaring. It doubles up as a warning to people who are around that, death is very close to them. In case, you want to please him, you can call up the radio station and dedicate a song to them. They might be pleased and forgive you.
4) There is always a sticker on the back of these Kaal-Taxis asking people to inform them if you see the driver driving harshly. You will never ever be able to reach those numbers. Heck, have you ever heard of anyone calling Yamaraja. He does not take orders/feedback. He comes at his will.
5)Worldy rules do not apply to Mr. Yama or his Kaal-taxis. So, do not expect them to follow any traffic rules.
So, remember to thank you lord for giving you one more lease of life after every encounter with the deadly - Kaal taxis.
Be afraid, be very afraid. Just when you thought you had rendered Mr.Yamaraja vahan-less with the removal of buffaloes from the street, he has outsourced the service to Kaal-Taxis (Kaal- as in MahaKaal, the lord of death and destruction).Look at the name is its obvious. Most of these taxis as Tata Indicab, indicating, TATA, time to go.
Precautions to take when you encounter a Kaal-Taxi.
1) Always take refuge in cephal-ishwar - the helmet. Just as Markandeya swami was protected by Kapaaleshwar, when confronted by Yama, the helmet is your only savior here.
2) Avoid looking into the eyes of the driver of Kaal taxi. Its often taken as a challenge. Many of you would not know that these drivers have never used the vehicle brakes in their lifetime. Its below their dignity to touch the brake, and so do not challenge these guys for a race by looking into their eyes.
3) These Kaal-taxi guys always have their FM channels blaring. It doubles up as a warning to people who are around that, death is very close to them. In case, you want to please him, you can call up the radio station and dedicate a song to them. They might be pleased and forgive you.
4) There is always a sticker on the back of these Kaal-Taxis asking people to inform them if you see the driver driving harshly. You will never ever be able to reach those numbers. Heck, have you ever heard of anyone calling Yamaraja. He does not take orders/feedback. He comes at his will.
5)Worldy rules do not apply to Mr. Yama or his Kaal-taxis. So, do not expect them to follow any traffic rules.
So, remember to thank you lord for giving you one more lease of life after every encounter with the deadly - Kaal taxis.
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