கிறிஸ்துமஸ் வாழ்த்துக்கள்!

Once again it is Christmas time.
A time to remember
God's gift in His son and
in all of you my dear friends.

God is said have taken
human form in Jesus Christ.
Humanity is elavated to
the levels of divinity.

That is the gift
of incarnation.
Let us try to respect
humanity in all its shades,
especially when it is poor,
exploited and endangered.

Let Jesus be born
in you and me.
Through you and me,
let him bring the gospel
of the Kingdom of God
here and now.

Happy Christmas and
A Happy New Year!

எஸ் எம் எஸ்

nooru varudangal vaazhum manithan azhuthukonde pirakkiraan! Anaal, silamani neram mattum vaazhum pookkal siritthukonde pookkintrathu!

Life can give us a hundred reasons to cry; but friends can give life a thousand reasons to smile!

If you wait for happy moments, you will wait for ever; but if you start believing that you are happy, you will be happy for ever.

Nadanthathai aayiram murai yosippathai vida nadappathai oru murai yosi... vaazhkkai un kaiyyil.

Making a million friends is not a miracle; the miracle is to make a friend who will stand by you when a million is against you...

Mudiyum varai muyarcchi sei. Unnaal mudiyumvarai all, nee ninaitthathu mudiyumvarai.
- APJ Abdul Kalam

Fear creates the hurries which makes worries. Boldness creates victories which makes histories. Dare to do your best.

Beautiful photos are developed from the negatives in a dark room... So when you see darkness in your life, believe that God is preparing something beautiful for you.

Never reject anybody in your life. Because good person gives us happiness and bad ones give us experience. Both are essential.

Sometime in life we run so fast that we don't notice anyone running with us. We notice them only when we fall and they stop to pick us up. They are called friends.

If you fall, don't see the place where you fell, but the place where you slipped. It is the secret of success.

Good friends are those who care without hesitation, remember without limitations, give without expectation and love even without communication.

எஸ் எம் எஸ் chinthanaikal

எஸ் எம் எஸ் சிந்தனைகள்

எஸ் எம் எஸ் சிந்தனைகள்

അരുളപ്പന്‍ സ്മാരക സംഗീത പുരസ്കാരം

oru kaalakhattom vare sangeetham kondu aranguthakarttha noorolam kalaakaaranmaare ren sangeetha vidhyaalayam randaayiratthi onpathu octobar nalaam thiyathi thiruvananthapuram nishagandhi aaditoriathilvachu Nadan Madhu, gaanarachayithaavu Bichu thirumala ennivar mukhena puraskaaram nalki aatharikkayundaayi. Aa pruaskaaramaanu parethanaaya shri arulappan bhagavathar (erayumanthurai)inte peril nalkukayundaayi.

Musings about a Musician from the coast...

My father, Arulappan Bhagavather, classically trained musician, was a rare combination of music and drama. In his days, there was no play back singing. And so the musicians were preferred for acting also. That gave him entry in dramas of Kalaithozhan like 'Jodippurackal.' He even tried to join Cinema Company in Madurai. But his mother went all the way to bring him back. But that could not keep him for long and thus began acting in local troupes. He even conducted public recital in village and other programmes.
He learned music from a teacher who always dreamed to teach music to the talented ones even from coastal villages like Erayumanthurai, our village. That teacher's name was Azhoor Muthayya Bhavather.

Severe Weather/Winds Around the World....

India:GIANT WAVE IMPACT!! A 70-year-old woman was found pinned under the debris of her house and over 100 houses were damaged here on Friday as the sea continued to remain rough for the second day. The worst hit village was Erayumanthurai, where around 20 houses located between the Thamirabarani River and the sea, have been destroyed, forcing the evacuation of the residence to a community centre. According to sources, till Friday over 100 houses were devastated by the high tide at Enayam, Mulloorthurai, Ramanthurai, Erayumanthurai, Marthandamthurai and Neerodi colony. Abinesial, 70, of Erayumanthurai was killed when tidal waves destroyed the walls of her house. Bus service via Thengapattanam remained terminated. Fishermen from across the district abstained from fishing. When collector Rajendra Kumar inspected the affected areas near Thengapattanam, the residents gheraoed his car and urged the administration to build a retaining wall along the coastline. The collector assured them to disburse compensation.)

[Re: Severe Weather/Winds Around the World
Quote [link to visz.rsoe.hu]

Rough sea scares people in Kumari, Ramanathapuram districts

Rameswaram/Kanyakumari, June 16: Sea remained rough in parts of Kanyakumari and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu as giant waves left three persons injured and caused damage to houses and roads in coastal hamlets today.
The sea was "abnormally rough..In fact fierce" in Kolachel, Kodimunai, Vaniyankudi, Kurumbanai, Erayumanthurai, and Ramanthurai in Kanyakumari district and Mukundharayar chattiram in this island, officials said.
Three persons including, two women, were injured as the violent waves tossed them in Erayumanthurai area. They have been hospitalised.
More than 30 houses were damaged in Erayumanthurai and 25 houses in Kadiyapatinam villages in Kanyakumari district as sea water entered the houses, bringing back dark memories of the 2004 tsunami, a report from Kanyakumari said.
Fishermen kept away from the sea while boat services to the Thiruvalluvar statue, a popular tourist spot in the sea off Kanyakumari, were suspended.
People at Kadiyapattinam were scared by the unusually high (about 20 feet) sea waves, which leaped past the barrier wall and inundated the village.
Water also entered huts close to the shore in Dhanushkodi and Rameswaram-Dhanushkodi road suffered extensive damage.
Four Sri Lankan Tamil refugees were stranded at the fourth sand dune between Rameswaram and Sri Lanka as the boatmen who ferried them could not navigate in the rough sea.
Rameswaram fishermen informed the Indian Coastguard officials, but they could not reach the spot in view of rough sea conditions. They would be rescued tomorrow. - Agencies
[Jun 17, 2009 -Chennai Online]

Kumari village set to disappear...

NAGERCOIL: Erayumanthurai fishing hamlet, southernmost village in Kanyakumari district is the worst affected by sea erosion and is in the danger of disappearing from the map.

Located between the Arabian Sea, AVM Canal and the perennial Thamirabarani River, Erayumanthurai is very vulnerable for sea erosion. The sea has engulfed more than half its land eating away rows of houses, coconut trees and fishing equipment worth lakhs. During monsoon, the heavily flooded river enters the village, causing more damage. For the villagers, fishing is the only occupation and during such times, they are the worst affected.

However, the village continues to survive due to a weak and permeable wall, which is slowly collapsing as the sand from beneath continues to get washed away. A number of representations to the district headquarters and the Secretariat in Chennai has yielded no action.

Twenty years ago, the distance between the sea and the river was about 700 metres with eight rows of houses, besides a road, Erayumanthurai parish council member Dunston told Express. But now the distance was merely 50 metres with rows of houses, due to sea erosion.

He said in 1982, when an anti-sea erosion wall was constructed, the population was 7,000 and now it has dwindled to just 2,500.

Priest Ignatius Russel said: “Constructing a backwater on the west of the village is the only solution, but it has been objected by the neighbouring villagers, who fear that it would affect them in turn.”

Professor and oceanographer Vareethiah said construction of fishing harbours, power plants, industries, groynes or any other structure obstructing the course of the sea currents would have a reverse effect on the behaviour of the sea.

“For the past 25 to 30 years, Kanyakumari coast has been witnessing heavy erosion with Neerodi-Kurumbanai being severely battered. This can be attributed to the breakwaters and fishing harbour constructed at Vizhingam, Kerala,” he noted.

“People normally reckon that anti-erosion protection wall can solve the problem. But that only negates the dynamics of the sea currents. A seawall can protect the landscape only for a particular period of time after which the waves will start washing the sand from beneath. If the wall is not reinforced every year without fail, it will create more problems.”

[L Arun Oscar First Published : 08 Jun 2009 02:28:00 AM IST Last Updated]

A letter to every Indian...

Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?

We are the first in milk production.We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.We are the second largest producer of wheat.We are the second largest producer of rice.Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime... Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported.. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.

YOU say that our laws are too old.

YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.

YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.

YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say.

What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai . YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand .Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston???

We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan.

Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England . When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government.

Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too. I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.. 'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY' Lets do what India needs from us. Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.

Thank you,

Dr. Abdul Kalam

[A Letter to Every Indian - APJPublished by uttishthata July 6th, 2007 in APJ Abdul Kalam The President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam 's Speech in Hyderabad .]

The wife - the radiant sun of the family...

The family has its own radiant sun, the wife. Hear how scripture puts it:
The grace of a wife will charm her husband,
Her accomplishments will make him the stronger.
A silent wife is a gift from the Lord,
No price can be put on a well-trained character.
A modest wife is a boon twice over,
A chaste character cannot be weighed on scales.
Like the sun rising over the mountains of the Lord
Is the beauty of a good wife in a well-kept house.

Yes; the wife and the mother is the radiant sun of the family. She is this sun by her generosity and gift of self, by her unfailing readiness, by her watchful and prudent delicacy in all matters which can add joy to the lives of her husband and her children. She spreads around her light and warmth. And if you can say that a marriage augurs well, when both partners seek the happiness of the other rather than their own, this noble feeling and intention is more especially the quality of the wife, although it concerns both husband and wife. It is born of the very pulse of her mother’s heart and its wisdom; that wisdom which if it receives bitterness, gives only joy; if it receives belittlement, returns only dignity and respect. It is like the sun which brightens the cloudy morning with its dawning ray and in its setting gilds the evening shower.

The wife is the radiant sun of the family with the brightness of her glance and the ardour of her word; a glance and a word which gently enter the soul, bending it and making it softer and lifting it out of the tumult of passion, and recalling her husband to joy in the good and in familiar conversation, after a long day of uninterrupted and often painful work whether professional or agricultural, in commerce or in industry. The wife is the radiant sun of the family by her natural candour, by her simple dignity and by her Christian and decent behaviour, as much by her collectedness of mind and uprightness of heart, as in the subtle harmony of her bearing and her dress, in her becomingness and in her behaviour at once reserved and affectionate. Little signs of feeling, shades of facial expression, ingenuous silences and smiles, an approving movement of the head, give to her the grace of some choice and yet simple flower which opens its petals to receive and reflect the colours of the sun.

If you could only know what deep feelings of affection and gratitude such an ideal wife and mother arouses and imprints in the hearts of her husband and sons! [This is from a talk by Pope Pius XII on newly-married couples]

[Also read a beautiful poem on the perfect wife from Book of Proverbs 31:10-31 in the Bible]