I entrust my unknown future on a known God

With all the possible things we do in our daily life, the degrees we learn, the work we do, and the things we aspire for, finally we end up in no man’s land. This is a fact in the sense that, all these things make up something in the society and help us achieve what we want in life but yet get us nowhere at the end of this life. Then what are we living for? It is just for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Though we don’t achieve anything in this life or though we don’t make a mark in this society, there is one hop for us if we only obey the will of Jesus and walk according to His word. We get to live for eternity. Even the richest person on this earth cannot achieve this great hope of living through eternity. Even his works in the earth is limited only to this lifetime. But we a have hope and a purpose to live for. This gives us a way to live forever. I have a ray of hope that others don’t have.

No person can predict his future. No one can be sure of what his future would be. There will be a doubt in everybody’s mind about his or her future. There is only uncertainty prevailing everywhere. This world may get destroyed anytime. That’s what the scientists predict as well. Global warming crisis is creeping into everyone’s minds these days. Incurable diseases are found on the rise everywhere. We never know when it would affect us. We might have got many degrees behind our name and work as even the general manager of the biggest company in this world, but still there is only uncertainty before him. But I “entrust my unknown future on a known God”. I have submitted my unknown future in the hands of my God, the Lord Jesus Christ. I am now certain about my destiny. I know what I will do and where I will go.

Controlling anger

The main resistance for the central nervous system is that you have to be in a peaceful state of mind especially in time of crises. This is a very important thing that I learnt very recently. Temperament works well if you treat it the right way. Controlling a temperament is in our hands. There are a hundred ways suggested by a numerous people to control temperament, but yet I thought I can suggest some suggestions that could be useful.

Try going off to sleep whether you may be standing, sitting, walking, running or eating. This controls your anger and puts you in a very calm state of mind. It may sound very funny as many ask me how to sleep when they are in meeting or even running for that matter? But still it’s not difficult to do so as it’s not the eyes that should close when your sleeping but it’s the brains that should shut down its operations. By doing so it puts you in a very clam state of mind and stabilizes your mental position.

“Sleep” is a gift which has to come naturally as I personally believe that a person who can sleep without much strain is a blessed person. Sleep reduces pain and tension and cuts you off from the rest of this world and the things happening around you. So if you are a natural “sleeper” you are at a lesser risk of getting stressful by the tensions of your daily work pressure. This activity can be dealt with effectively if used wisely only when needed. For example: When you are pinned down by your boss in the office, try sleeping with your eyes open, Within a second you will go into a another world of yours where you may hear what he speaks but not even a single word would enter your hear. This reduces the damage that it causes to your central nervous system. Thought it may sound silly for some people, its still is a healthy option available to many.

Now having said this, sleep should not become an unnecessary habit. Over dose of this pill will cause you to become lazy. Again this has its own adverse effect on an individual. Laziness can even make you a zero in this society if you sleep too much. So beware before you take up this most effective “stress release action”.

Time is too much

Working at nights has not always been desirable but circumstances have made me to take up this job. It was when I joined my M.phil course at the Madras University, I found that life could not be less interesting than this. It was this that led me to take up this job because I thought I could at least keep myself occupied at night as I was practically wasting the entire day at college. Fortunately everything turned out to be well at work and I am enjoying my stay there.

Though life has become busy as never before working in the nights and attending classes during day time, I find time for myself, my family and friends. I still hang around with my friends and manage to stay close with my parents more than I used to be before. Apart from this, I still continue with my music playing and also take music classes. People call me to play in different churches and other Christian meetings for which I give my first preferences.

I feel that I still get a lot of time left and sometimes even wonder how to kill it. Because of this I developed a new interest towards watching Japanese animation movies and also got a bit addicted to online games as well. This new diversion has helped me to kill some time and I make use of the rest by blogging and off course spending more time at my Lord’s presence. When I having such a busy schedule could manage to do so many things and still manage to get some time to waste, I guess how people could say that they don’t get any time at all?

My daily routine as of now (From December 2009 till may be I complete my M.phil)

I wake up at 8.30 in the morning, finish my morning duties and straight head to college. I should reach there by 10 to get my attendance for that day. So I make sure I leave early to reach there in time. It’s as usual there, none of me lectures would have come at that time and if at all they were there, they would be doing some work. Then I sit down to have a chit chat with my friends talking about politics, life, love, girls and whatever comes up at that time and suddenly we realize that it’s 1 o’clock and time to have our lunch. I then wait till others have their food because I don’t fell hungry at that time and so I keep listening to songs trying a get a small nap till they all finish their lunch, but still I fail most of the time because of the noisy environment over there. The talk continues after their lunch session is over and we continue to talk on things we left off. Time waits for none and suddenly I feel my stomach pinching me from inside and that’s the time I open my lunch box and its 2 or even 2.30 sometimes.

Again we have a small lunch session, the guys alone, because I don’t eat my food fully and then we head to the tea shop after a while which is near our department itself. But the strong tea never helps me to stay awake and my head starts to spin which nobody understands or even realizes that this is happening to me. I then start back home at about 3 or 3.30 sometimes even later. As soon as I reach home I hit my bed and sneak off into dreamland.

At the stroke of 6 my mom comes back home and wakes me up and by 6.30 I finish my dinner and head off to work. Well, after that I have to stay there till 4 and sometimes it extends till 5. Then I come back home sleep at once I enter the house and wake up again at 8 that same day in the morning. It’s the pure grace of my Lord that keeps me going despite this hectic schedule of mine. He leads me in a miraculous way. His unseen hand guards me and shows me the way in which I have to go. Let all praise and honor be to my Lord Jesus Christ alone.

Aesthetization of Politics in Tamil Nadu

Aestheticization is used to depict as being pleasing or to symbolize to be in an idealized or refined manner in Tamil Nadu from the time the very concept of politics was recognized by the people of our state. From the very beginning people used some kind of reaching motion of medium to correspond or to entrust their ideas on others. Whenever Periyar voiced his ideas he used to be different from the sayings of others which made people think the other way. This was a tool used by him to spread his views. His ideas are strongly recommended by many (Even I am a strong follower of Periyar) because of his fight against injustice. This thought being different from the authoritarian rule of that time.

The “King Maker” Mr. Kamaraj started his early political life by joining the congress party at an very early age of 16 by participating in the march to Vedaranyam led by C. Rajagopalachari as part of the Salt Satyagraha in March 1930. This was his first step to get into active politics by being different from the authoritarian rule of that time.

Early politicians used aestheticization to propaganda a noble cause which will benefit the people. But as years went by, modernization started playing an important role in politics. People started using the visual medium as a strong tool to spread their fame. The late Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai, the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu shot to fame not only because of his well known oratorical skills and his writing abilities, he used theater as an effective medium to gain popularity. He had scripted and acted in several plays. Some of his plays were later made as movies. He was the first politician from the Dravidian parties to extensively use Tamil cinema for political propaganda.

After him following in his footsteps was the great M. G. Ramachandran who later became the most popular Chief Minister of this state. He made his film debut in 1935, in the film Sati Leelavati. M. G. R. dominated Tamil cinema during the Fifties and Sixties with multiple blockbusters. He rose to super-stardom in 1954 after Malai Kallan. Later, this film was used as a template for other films by playing roles that portrayed him as the savior of the poor and the oppressed. His movies were the medium of communication for the Dravidian movement. He had the maximum number of all-time blockbusters to his credit at that time. This stardom status helped him to make a mark in the political arena in this state. The party which is founded by him the A.I.A.D.M.K swept the polls whenever it consisted for elections under his leadership. Such was his stardom effectively used in politics. His co-star in most of his movies actor J. Jayalalithaa took up his post in that party after his demise.

Our current Chief Minister MR. M. Karunanidhi began his career as a scriptwriter in the Tamil film industry. He is known for his wit and oratorical skills, qualities which helped his rapid rise as a popular politician. He was famous for writing historical and social (reformist) stories which propagated the socialist and rationalist ideals of the Dravidian movement to which he belonged. His stardom saw him get elected at the highest office in this state five times. His greatest political rival J. Jayalalithaa started acting when she was 15. She acted in a number of films in which most of them were with M. G. Ramachandran through which she entered politics as well.

Political parties have started owning television channels which serve as a strong tool to furnish their goals and to make a strong mark among the common man. The sun tv network and the Ktv network owned by the DMK family is the largest viewed regional channel in Asia. This medium helps them give a fast reach. Similarly the Jaya tv network is owned by the AIADMK chief.

Nowadays every other actor in Tamil cinema wants to become a politician. They enter active politics once they get a little bit established in the film field. The recent actors changed politician is Vijayakanth who is the founder of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam. Looking at him followed Mr. Sarathkumar who started his career in Tamil cinema playing negative roles, and later played minor roles in other movies. He then later started a new political party claiming to carry out the ideals of K. Kamaraj Nadar.

Life at Madras University

Our university campus is a splendor when watched from the marina road side. Its ancient architecture which stands majestically even after so many years is a treat to watch. The main conference hall which stands right at the entrance catches my attention daily as I pass by it. The huge pillars are so adorable that I wonder daily as to how they would have built it.

But as I walk down from the main gate to my department (which is at the end) I find a clear cut difference between the buildings which were built by the British and us. Those built by the British have a manly look on them whereas ours lack those adorable looks. I find that trees in and around the campus is not sufficient. I find the campus so small that its borders can be covered by a mere 20 minute walk around it.

As usual and not to my surprise as all the other government offices are, this campus is so very dirty and the restrooms stinks as I have to walk pass two bathrooms every day to reach the department. After passing through all these things, I find it so difficult to even enter my class room as it in the size of my bedroom in which we have a music system, a computer, tables and chairs which are used by the thesis books submitted by former students, and the rest of my classmates standing like guards for those lifeless things.

The instruction for us on day 1 was:

1. You have to be present in class exactly at 10

2. Classes will be conducted daily between 10 and 5 O' clock

3. If u come even a minute late, attendance will not be given

4. One of our professors says: even if we ask you to die, you should say ok and go. Then u can come later on and ask WHY? (It means we should be so obedient and willing to do anything they say) (Government illa…. Adha than….)

5. Every week you should do a presentation on some book. Everybody should take a book from the library and read ..... and so on......

So I thought to myself that these people will do accordingly and I started coming to classes regularly at 10 sharp everyday. But there were no signs of anybody taking any class for a few days. Suddenly a professor comes to our class one day in the afternoon and asks us to arrange the thesis done by the previous year students and jolt it down category wise. He wanted us to write a summary for each book and make a data base on the system. He said that it was our assignment. Suddenly as we were doing that work, another professor comes in after a few days and tells: Why do you have to do these things? It’s not necessary and most of these thesis don’t carry any good. So confused again, we stopped doing anything.

The one who gave us this assignment came to our class only twice n spoke nothing but only about assignments. The other class is (I think film studies) its not in our syllabus and we are forced to watch movies which I have watched it over and over again both in my UG days as well as in my PG days which was then a part of my curriculum.

I miss heaven, my MCC days. Never will those golden days come back in my life.

Now after all these things we squeeze back into our tinny little room (our class room) and breathe some fresh air, a student or some Professor comes in and tell us: why are you all making so much noise? Can’t you keep quite? (“finger on your lips” treatment would be better).

But still life goes on and should go on for a year more.

East of West “MCC” is the best always…..

Petrathan Pillaiya ??? (World AIDS day)

December 1, World AIDS day, as we remember today, many are travelling the unknown path with this killer disease called AIDS. A sudden fear of death gripped the hearts of mankind when this deadly disease was first detected in Haiti USA in 1981. Since then, over a 2 million deaths have been reported due to this disease and many more unaccounted deaths too.

Our land is also one of the most effected places due to this killer disease. HIV has spread among the general population in India because the epidemic has followed the 'type 4' pattern. This is where new infections occur first among the most vulnerable populations (such as injecting drug users and female sex workers), then spread to 'bridge' populations (clients of sex workers and sexual partners of drug users) and then finally enter the general population. Most of the people becoming infected are in the sexually active and economically productive 15 to 44 age group. This means that most people living with HIV are in the prime of their working lives. Many are supporting families.

Statistics say that there are more than 2500 children in Chennai who are affected with AIDS. There are much more in fact even double the amount of children who are actually affected and are unaccounted for and do not fall under any category which means they are not eligible for any benefits provided by the government or any other NGO’s. These children do not even get the basic attention which other HIV effected children get.

The biggest concern is that our country has one of the lowest treatment coverage rates; with only 7 out of a hundred people infected with the disease get access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs. India has the highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS and 70% of HIV infections in Asia. But only 7% of people infected with the virus have access to treatment. The only bit of good news is that HIV prevalence among young men and women in southern India appears to have dropped in recent years.

However our government has hopes to diagnose and treat hundreds of very young HIV-positive children under the National Paediatric HIV/AIDS Initiative. It will also free paediatric dosages of anti-retroviral medicines to children living with this disease. Finally our government has launched a specific programme to treat children living with HIV/AIDS that will for the first time in the country allow children under the age of 18 months to be diagnosed. According to an official estimates, 202,000 Indian children are currently infected with HIV and about 56,700 HIV-infected children are born every year.

What are we going to do to save this set of people from destruction? We are all the children of this earth and it is our responsibility to save others and many AIDS effected children. There are many schemes launched by our government and other NGO’s to protect these people. We could also lend a helping hand along with our fellow strong men towards this noble cause. You can adopt a child, or help a family, or take care of an elderly person.

“ Petrathan Pillaiya” is a campaign which was launched this year which grabbed my attention towards it. May be the name of the campaign or the way in which they launched it because kamal Hassan donated Rs. 750000 which will be used as premium to be paid through which 1000 HIV affected children will come under a pension scheme. But nothing of that matters if you and I start fighting against this killer and save the lost and the redeem them back to the light. Petrathan Pillaiya? Even other wise adopt a child as yours and lend out a helping hand for them.