Monuments @ the mercy of granite industries

Lot has been written about the threats to the heritage Jain monuments in the hills of Madurai. Justice was quickly met out - Granite Quarrying can happen but not exactly in the heritage site, just few meters further. What an insightful judgment!
Times of India has a big article condemning this ruthless act.

Jainism was present in the region for over 1,300 years and its relics have survived till now,providing evidence of a rich civilization,culture and academic excellence of a bygone era. But their survival is threatened and they may disappear in the next 100 years due to the quest for granite,he says.The Tamil Nadu State Archaeology Department has under its control 16 such monuments,including four Jain caves and four Brahmi culverts in Keelavalavu near Melur,Perumalmalai in Karadipatti and some other places in Madurai,including the one in Thiruvadavur.The site in Thiruvadavur contains Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions and prehistoric paintings that date back to the second century BC.Sources in the office of the assistant director,department of archaeology,say that a survey would be conducted within the next two weeks to see if the two granite quarries had exceeded their limits based on the specification of the gazette notification.

Kalapirar - Tamil History

களப்பிரர் - Kalabhras come into Tamil history around 3rd century. They ruled over the tamil heartland for over three centuries. Later from the 7th century onwards, we get to see the dominance of Pallavas, Pandyas and cholas. Unfortunately, there is very little "popular" historic details about this clan. Very easily the historians have skipped three hundred years and termed it as an interregnum - இருண்ட காலம். The joke is, the most famous tamil literature - Thirukural is from this period. Other classics are Naaladiyar, Inna Narpathu, Iniyavai Narpathu..and many such works..so much for being இருண்ட காலம்!

Jeyamohan, in one of his recent blogs - களப்பிரர் has undermined the importance of researching about this period and why the three hundred years of history has been showcased as a virtual black hole. Interesting read for history enthusiasts.

Vijayakanth ensures DMK's win

So much for policies and campaigning....DMK can now heave a sigh of relief. Shrewdly they left out Vijayakanth from their alliance knowing it would favour them at the end.
DMDK has emerged as a third force, by cutting into AIADMK's vote base and splitting the anti-incumbency votes. In many constituencies DMDK has polled more votes than the winning margin. They have significantly increased the vote share from 8% to 10% - i.e, almost 30 lakh votes. Quite impressive. Tamilnadu has traditionally seen only two party system..a third alternative is welcome.

Now, the comedy circus would begin in Delhi...M.K.Alagiri, M.K.Kanimozhi, Dayanidhi Maran would become ministers and would continue their service to the poor and downtrodden of the tamil community. Long live Democracy.

Out of mind

Clear signs of being 'out of mind'. Karunanidhi is trying desperately to hold on to 'இனமான காவலர்'tag but failing miserably..his latest statement is sure to add fuel to the fire.
"Even if Prabhakaran loses, treat him like Porus," the DMK patriarch said, pointing to the historical episode involving Alexander the Great and Indian ruler Porus who was treated with dignity and honour by the Greek emperor despite losing against him in a battle. "When asked by Alexander, Porus said he wanted to be treated like a king, which Alexander duly obliged. "It shows the magnanimity of Alexander who gave equal respect (to a man defeated by him)," he said. [ source: chennai online]

Meanwhile, Vijayakanth has fired his next salvo: Vijayakant has said his party was ready to boycott the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu on Sri Lankan Tamil's issue, if AIADMK and DMK also do so.

All of them are busy scoring brownie points here and the Genocide continues there :-(

Veera Thalapathy

Amazing....
Veera Thalapathy J.K.Ritheesh, the super star in the movie 'Nayagan' gets to fight for LS seat in Ramanathapuram. No more movies from him?..sad..we will miss the fun..
http://jkritheesh.com/portfolio.htm

Vijayakanth - Early Bird

While the other parties are still breaking their heads over alliances, Vijayakanth has announced his first list of contestants and has already started his campaign. I was quite surprised to see - K Pandiarajan, founder of Ma Foi Management Consultants limited, as a DMDK candidate for virudhunagar constituency

Always thought the input to politics were - 1. political family 2. Film 3. Local gundas who graduate to councilor, வட்டம், மாவட்டம், MLA, Minister..

Free Pongal

Already - the gas is free, Now the ingredients for making sweet pongal (a traditional dish that is made on pongal day in TN) - raw rice (500 gm), sugar candy (500 gm), moong dhal (paasiparuppu — 100 gm), cashew, dry grapes and cardamom (20 gm), would be given for free, through ration shops between January 1 and 14.
Simply amazing..Wonder how they get such ideas? Now, what abt the utensils for making sweet pongal????

Western sight

Hmm...a different perspective from a foreign tourist. Edward Wong has a painted a rosy picture of TN tourism..but he has left out the pitfalls..

A very interesting beginning to his article - Temples where gods come to life. (nytimes.com)

The god was ready for his night of conjugal bliss. The priests of the temple, muscular, shirtless men with white sarongs wrapped around their thighs, bore the god’s palanquin on their shoulders. They marched him slowly along a stone corridor shrouded in shadows to his consort’s shrine. Drumbeats echoed along the walls. Candles flickered outside the doorway to the shrine’s inner sanctum. There, Meenakshi, the fish-eyed goddess, awaited the embrace of her husband, Sundareshwarar, an incarnation of that most priapic of Indian gods, Shiva.

Wonder how this would sound to a devoted pious guy ;-))

News in News

Hmm..Nowadays..Sun TV news looks very similar to Jaya TV news...
Sign of fast changing equations.. Anything can happen in TN!!!

New Jain Sites, rock art - Gingee, Tamilnadu

Over the last three months, two rock art sites, two caverns with Jaina beds, and dolmens have been discovered within a radius of 25 km on the hillocks behind the Gingee fort in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district.

The rock art consists of a painting of a deer done in white kaolin with outlines in red ochre.

“This is really rare,” Mr. Gandhirajan, an explorer who specializes in art history said. While this figure of a deer is about 3 feet by 3 feet in size, there are tiny drawings of deer and lizard (udu mbu in Tamil) on the adjacent rock surface, as if to contra-distinguish their size. He estimated that the paintings might belong to circa 1000 B.C. “These paintings were done by pre-historic men — by hunter-gatherers who used to live in this cavern. Much later, the Jain monks occupied them

More in this Hindu report.

Rare photo

TN CM Karunanidhi without his trademark dark glasses ..clicked by vikatan during his Bday celebrations.

Knife politics in TN

I was quite shocked to read Tha.Pandian, CPI's secretary's interview in Ananda Vikatan. The interview goes on the usual lines like congress bashing [interestingly, he lambasts Sonia for having picked up Manmohan Singh & Chidambaram] , nuclear deal bashing...etc.
The last Q:

''கம்யூனிஸ்ட் தொண்டர்கள் கையில் சிறுகத்தி வைத்துக்கொள்ளுங்கள்!' என்று அறிவித்திருக் கிறீர்களே, வன்முறைப் பாதைக்கு நீங்களும் மாறுகிறீர்களா..?''

[Why have you advised cadres to have small knife with them.Have you also resorted to violent path?]
Answer:

''இந்திரா காந்தி, ராஜீவ் காந்தி, ஆலடி அருணா, தா.கிருஷ்ணன், பூண்டி கலைச்செல்வம் போன்றவர்களைக் கொன்றவர்கள் கம்யூனிஸ்ட் தொண்டர்களா? மதுரை சன் டிவி அலுவலகத்தில் உயிர் பலி வாங்கியது கம்யூ னிஸ்ட்டுகளா? மணல் திருடர் களைத் தட்டிக்கேட்ட எங்கள் தோழன் ஜெயக்குமாரை வெட்டிக் கொன்றிருக்கிறார்கள்! எனவே, தற்காப்புக்காகத்தான் எங்கள் தோழர்களைக் கையில் கத்தி வைத்துக்கொள்ளச் சொன்னேன்.

சமூக விரோதிகளிடம் கம்யூனிஸ்ட்டுகள் வெட்டுண்டு விழுவது கட்சிக்கு அவமானம். எங்கள் தொண்டர்களுக்கு கத்தி, லத்தி என ஆயுதப் பயிற்சி அளிக்க இருக்கிறோம். ஆயுதங்கள் இல்லாமல் இனி தமிழ்நாட்டில் அரசியல் நடத்த முடியாது! சமூக விரோதி யிடம் இருக்கும் கத்திக்கும் சமூகத் தொண்டனிடம் இருக்கும் கத்திக்கும் வித்தியாசம் உண்டு!''

[Imp. point in the answer: I have asked them to have knives for their own safety. We have planned for knife, lathi kind of arms training to our cadres. Without arms, you can't do politics in Tamilnadu. There is a difference in the knife that a social enemy has and the knife that social loyalist has]

Long live Democracy!

Pondy thro foreign eyes

On the southeastern coast, about 150 miles south of Chennai, Pondicherry is, for an Indian city, tiny. Just about a million people live there, mostly in the types of charmless, three- and four-story concrete buildings erected all over the poorer parts of Asia. But near the Bay of Bengal, the cityscape changes drastically. Soon you see tile roofs and wooden shutters, balconies and colonnades, wide brick streets and pastel Catholic churches — the neighborhood once known as the Ville Blanche, or White Town, where the colonists lived.
...

The air-conditioning was blasting, and when I turned it off, I heard something I’d never heard before in India: nothing. No traffic or honking horns, no vendors’ cries, no heavy machinery whirring from within a neighbor’s home.

Peace pervaded the neighborhood. In a neatly subdivided park, office workers on lunch break napped in the shade, and along the waterfront boulevard, couples and families — mostly Indians, the women in stunning yellow, orange and teal saris, along with a smattering of French tourists — ambled past the too-rocky-to-swim beach, the stately Hôtel de Ville and a statue of Gandhi.

More interesting observations in NYTimes

Most productive debate - TN State Assembly

With umpteen number of people issues screaming for Government's attention and action, the MLAs & Ministers found Shriya's & Namitha's dressing sense dangerous enough to warrant a debate in the state assembly.

With PMK taking a hardliner stand on this issue, wanted the government to intervene & save the 'Tamil Culture'. The DMK discussed in 'length' on where all the government could not pass the regulations. Wonder what the next scene would be?

This just adds to the list of all shameful incidents & speeches at the Assembly.

Stupid Article in Outlook

Chicken A La South - a huge blunder of an article in Outlook.

The point that this article makes is very a "profound discovery" - It says the traditional Idli-Sambar diet of 'South Indians /Tamilnadu' has changed to non-veg. Now more veg people are turning to non-veg.

Some 80 per cent of South Indians are non-vegetarian, as opposed to 44 per cent of North Indians, according to the Indian Food Intake Survey 2007, carried out by Protein Foods and Nutrition Development Association of India and market
research agency Pathfinders: India.

So whats the great deal here? For eons Tamilnadu has been traditionally Non-veg with a very small minority of the population only eating veg. What a discovery now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So would South Indians, who, apart from battling the generic label of 'madrasi' they are all put under, are also assumed by their brethren in the north to be strict herbivores getting by on platefuls of idli-dosa-sambar. In reality,though, vegetarianism is a preserve of the Brahmin, others in the South have always had a thriving meats-rich cuisine.

Who are they trying to sell this point to? It looks like as though you came across an alien species and you needed to write an article about their corrected food habits you presumed as otherwise.

The Nadar down the street may well say 'I told you so' to that. He has for long griped that "ever since Brahmins starting eating eggs, the prices have gone up".

Ha..Ha..Good Joke...I'm saying good becos some extremely good jokes are coming later.

Abitha Sathish Kumar, head of academics at the Indian Institute of Fashion Design in Chennai, thinks the only reason so many biriyani shops have proliferated in her neighbourhood, Triplicane, one of the traditionally Brahmin-dominated areas of Chennai, is because many Chennai Brahmins have turned non-vegetarian.

I'm not blaming Abitha, man..the author, editor incharge should have some great sense of humour to let this get printed. Triplicane is also a muslim dominated area. Any chennai-ite would know triplicane is the place where any non-IT bachelor would get a room - there are soooo many mansions to cater to their needs. No wonder you have biriyani shops..

I think I will end up quoting the entire article ;-))

..It just shows the mindset of people from elsewhere - Tamilnadu has been associated with veg eating people only while the absolute majority (see it is not even a 60% - 40% weightage - If I can be liberal - it would be 90%-10% weightage) has been ignored completely. It shows years of bias. Sometime earlier, even CNN IBN carried a report of how traditional chennai (read veg) is now changing to Non-veg! I guess these people just now woke up to the fact that Tamilnadu is different from what they thought it was. Talk about prejudice!!

Name Change

We can expect more from Paghutharivu Paasarai (would roughly translate to rationalist group)..esp after the saibaba-ring episode at Karunanidhi's house.

An article in Kumudam reporter exposes the so- called followers of periyar - Paeyarai maatriya periyar seedarkal. Central MinisterT.R. Balu has now become T.R.Baalu and State Minister Arcot. Veerasamy has become Veeraswamy. Name change for numerological belief!

Story from IdlyVadai

TN Buildings

The Tamil Nadu government has introduced a Bill to protect the owners of buildings in the city who had violated building rules and regulations from enforcement action for one more year.
What happens after one year?

Pillaiyar

Lets give a break to Ramar.
Varalaaru.com has a very insighful writeup on Pillayar/Ganesha history in TamilNadu. Good Read!

TamilNadu Engg Colleges - A Royal Mess

If there is anything that is more messy than the marriage - honeymoon - divorce - focus shift statements from the Left, then it has to be the way Engg eduction happens in Tamil Nadu.

First, the supply is more than the demand and the quality suffers in that proportion. If you have got the minimum qualification (45%?) to apply for engg education, you are sure to get a seat. Then the confusion starts as to whether entrance exam needs to be held or not?, What happens to improvement students?, what happens to the various quotas?, etc., All these are cleared only after umpteen court cases. Then, you are all set to attend the counselling. [if there is one system that works properly, then it is the counselling - admission system]. After numerous suggestions on what course to take or what college to join - the student & the parents decide on it during the counselling.

The problems don't end there. The fees structure is so customizable [to the benefit of the college mgmt] that all software products would love to have that logic in their webclient. You see one amount in the paper, you pay another. No questions asked - the well-oiled machinery just runs..

The gullible student enters the college [ after a 15km journey - which was earlier promised as very near to the Main Road junction] to see eternally under- construction buildings. Most of the colleges don't have the required infrastructure - be it the classrooms, labs, computers, teachers [ most of them fresh recruits - would have finished engg a year or two before - didn't get a good job], library, hostel facilities [ the less said - the better]. The city colleges fare a shade better in this regard.

The syllabus & exams don't expect you to work hard on becoming a creative, thoughtful, innovative engineer. So, getting a pass is guaranteed if you can get hold of a good guide, old question paper booklets - sometimes the actual question paper too [ My batch had to rewrite three exams when it was found that question papers had leaked].

Last year there was a commotion on Deemed University status - the degree might just have become a paper. But there is no dearth of admission to the same, this year. The future is safe as long as the software companies are hell bent on increasing their head count.

This year, the commotion is about the raids on Engg colleges who are collecting more than the required fees. The raids have a political colour too (the engg. colleges are very good revenue generators for erst-while politicians). The latest - The TamilNadu government has recommended to the All India Council For Technical Education to close 34 engineering colleges.

Now, What happens to the students???

Pathetic School education

Was quite shocked to see the headlines - There isn't a single student in 32000 (3%) schools in India [Karnataka has the dubious distinction of being the highest-almost 8,000 schools]. The report was aired on NDTV. [This is according to Elementary Education in India 2005-06, a report prepared by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA]

Did a quick followup on the NDTV report. Good things first
1. Surveys like this do happen in India. [whether action would be taken or not is a different matter!]
2. U actually get to read the entire report on the net.
3. There is a site www.educationforallinindia.com, that houses many such reports.

The Analytical report was based on parameters such as Schools with blackboard, Availability of drinking water facility, Toilet facility, Playgrounds etc., There are other parameters like boundary wall, Book-bank, Residential schools etc., which I thought were very superficial.

It was really heartening to note that Tamilnadu was doing very good in most of the parameters. And the unfortunate part - as expected the North Eastern states are the laggards in all the parameters. Ughh..speak abt inclusive growth!