Friday, March 12, 2010

தெருவ மறிச்சு கோவில் கட்டி...

என் தோழி: ஏன் அண்ணா இப்படி எல்லாம் ஆகறது.. :( 


"மக்களின் பேராசை... ஞானத்திற்கான தேடலின் முடிவு தான் குரு என்பதை ஒதுக்கி, தேவைகள் தீர்தலின் ஆரம்பமே அவர் என்ற அரிப்பினால், அது போன்ற தோற்றம் உள்ளவர்களிடம் தங்களை இழக்கிறார்கள்..உன் பதிலைச் சொல்.. எத்தனை முறைகள் ஞானத்தை மட்டுமே கேட்டிருக்கிறாய் உன் குருவிடம்?


சிஷ்யனின் அம்மா: ஏன் நாகராஜ் சார், இப்படி அர்ச்சகர் சாமியார் எல்லாம் தப்பு பண்றாளே...

ஊருக்கு ஒரு கோவில், ஒரு மடம், ஒரு குருன்னு ஏன் வெச்சிருக்கா... ஏன்னா, 1000 பேர் இருந்தா, அதுல 200 பேர் நல்லவாளா இருப்பா... அந்த இருநூற்றுல ஒருத்தர் ரெண்டு பேர் தான் Qualityயோட  இருப்பா... ஐம்பதாயிரம் மான்களுக்கு அம்பது புலி தான் இருக்கு காட்டுல... அந்த மாதிரி, இதுல ஒரு ecological balance இருக்கு... இந்தியா எவ்ளோ பெரிய தேசம்.. , காஞ்சிபுரத்துல தான் உக்காந்துண்டு, மீதி மொத்த தேசத்துக்கும் நாலே நாலு எடத்துல மடங்கள் போறும்னு வெச்சாரே ஆதி சங்கரர், அது இந்த quality-ய  maintain பண்றதுக்கு தான்... இத்தனை கோடி ஜனங்களுக்கு ஒரு ரெண்டாயிரம் மடங்களாவது வெச்சிருக்கலாமே! 

நீ தெருவுக்கு தெரு கோயில், ஊருக்கு அறுவது மடம் வெச்சேன்னா, இப்படி தான் ஆகும்... வேற ஆள் கெடைக்காம, தகுதி கொறச்சலா இருக்கறவா, தகுதியே இல்லாதவா எல்லாரும் வந்து சேருவா... ஞானத்தக் கேக்கலைன்னாலும், பேராசையால அது வேணும் இது வேணும், என் புள்ள immediate-ஆ வேலைக்கு சேர்ந்த அடுத்த வருஷம் CEO ஆயிடணும், என் பொண்ணு கால்ல அவ மாமனார் மாமியார், நாத்தனார் எல்லாரும் விழணும் இப்படியெல்லாம் ஆரம்பிச்சு, விஜய் படம் நன்னா ஓடணும்னு இவா வேண்டிக்கறது வரைக்கும் அவஸ்யமா? வெளிப்படையா சொல்லிக்க முடியாத ஆசைகளோட ஜனங்கள், அத தீர்த்து வெக்கறவான்னு சில பேரைத் தேடிண்டு போனா,
எங்கயானும் காசு வரும்னு தெருவ மறிச்சு கோவில் கட்டி பொழப்பு பண்றவாள்கிட்ட தான் கூச்சமில்லாம போய்க் கேக்கத்தோணும்... 

மொதல்ல, ஒரு மனசா ஒரே  மார்கமா இல்லாம, வீட்டு சொவர் பூரா ஆணி அடிச்சு, விதம் விதமா இருவத்தஞ்சு படம் மாட்டி வெச்சு, அதுல ஓரத்துல எழுதீர்க்கற செந்தில் ஸ்டூடியோ, haaji moosa frame works, நாதன் பிரதர்ஸ்-க்கும் சேர்த்து கற்பூரம் காட்டறத நிறுத்து... அங்க தான் ஆரம்பிக்கிறது  ஆசைகளும் 
compromise-ம்....


Sunday, March 7, 2010

Not A Coach for Disabled - 2


When the train stopped at Thiruchi, I heard a strong beat on the window and found it was a guard. There were 3, 4 persons around him. I decided and opened the door and the guard never came in. Instead, he asked a guy to get in and said, “namakku therinja paiyan thaan... thirunelvElila eRangeeduvAru... kadhavai sAththikkunga.. yAr thattinAlum thoRakka vENAm...”

The guy entered, spread some newspaper and slept. As he came in, my conversation with the woman who was in front of me came to an end. She was the escort for her daughter who can’t talk and hear. Two decades ago, she was in love a conductor and married him against the wish of both the families. She belonged to the Nadar community and the man was a Kumbakonam Iyer. Her daughter is 23 years old now and she is yet complete plus two, as she had to discontinue her studies due to wedding bells. A businessman, aged 42 is her beloved hubby who just ignored her handicap and had the mettle to read her mind. Well, but your being in a state of knowing everything but can’t speak your mind is difficult, especially when you are educated.

Education elevates your life but, it keeps you sensitive and also makes you feel more, what you can’t do, what your limits are, what is the difference between the incoming and outgoing etc. Ignorance is a blessing if you are surrounded by unchangeable Faux Pau.

I played for Kundrakkudi M.Balamralikrishna(vocal) and for Anand (violin solo). The stay was one of the best as Shri Krishnamurthy and Smt. Savithri showered a great care and hospitality with delicious food.

AthukkAl bhagavathi’s pongal fest delayed the arrival of ananthapuri express by 50 minutes on our way back. This time, the coach for disabled was a bit neater. A bank officer and his friend joined me up to thirunelveli. Iruttu kadai halwa costs Rs.120 per kg. The halwas sold near railway station are not original. Shanthi Sweets sells it for 80 rupees and it costs 100 Per kg in a nearby shop. The mixture sold at shanthi is famous and you may have to wait in queue to for 20minutes to buy it.

Nallakannu an advocate boarded at valliyur, with his escort and I heard many stories about missionaries converting many people in south Tamil Nadu. They target the Hindu families which have disabled members and say, the cause for disability is being Hindu and the remedy is to “hug” Christianity! Conversions cannot be stopped. There was a speech going on, at vadiveeswaram just before my concert by the Brahma Kumaris association. A man aged around 55, who came down from the stage, reached me and said, “sahOdharA... nAn kaduvaLaip pArththirukiREn... neengaL kANa vENdAmA.. mavunt abuviRku vArungaLEn oru  muRai... illAvittAlum, neengaL vasikkm paguthiku arugilEyE, engaL iyakkaththil sEralAmE” {brother, i have seen god... you should see HIM too.. come to mount abu once... or, you can visit any arya samaj nearby your place... welcome..]

Even if all the humans, animals and the rest were transformed to one religion, intersects will try to convert or compel the other to come to their “world!”

Then the day light match commenced with a real bang by one man claiming he is handicapped and we asked him to show the ticket and asked him where his escort is. His eyes turned red and he threatened us to open immediate or he would not be responsible for whatever may happen if he becomes angry and added “open the door.. you have space here...” We declined.

A crowd of twelve (normal people who turned abnormal) knocked like hell in the following station. This time, there were more warriors, I  think, as we got titles, surnames and citations in “chaste-thamizh” for free of cost and just like the rhyming words they used, many of them took oath to kill us at egmore railway station. One man with his friend came closer to the window and screamed he is handicapped and wishes to enter. The train tore the dark into pieces with its horn before we could do anything for him and he managed to run to the unreserved coach and joined us in the next station.

Two more persons got into our place showing the tickets reserved under concession for disabled and we slept. The superfast-6124 tried to be faster in a view to adjust the time delay.

When I heard someone rocking the glass door above my head, the train was in Madurai. I, woke up one man and asked him to open quickly as I saw a visually impaired lady near my window, crying and asking to open the door. She would have travelled more and encountered many cruel hearts.  Before that man could reach the door, there appeared an RPF guy with a walky-talky and started calling the names and shouted he would imprison the man. But, there was no delay at all. The responsible constable vanished from the scene, the moment we open! Constable who gone instable!!

As a consequence, the lady and her group of 6 people, all visually impaired couldn’t swim against the tide of many people who entered forcibly into the compartment. At last, they managed to get in and sat between the two lower berths. It was pathetic to witness such a situation. Everyone looked tired like anything, that too at 1AM in the night, with their eyes begging to sleep and body strives to shed on the floor. They are just people from the lowest layer of the society and seemed toy sellers travelling to various places. The toys just kept in open cloth bags and many took them in their hands to see what it was and kept it back, without the knowledge of the sellers.

I was keeping a dhinakaran daily under my legs to avoid the dust and dirty floor whenever I sit, but they lied there, keeping their faces closer to THAT floor. One man, who was lean and youngest of them, went under my seat and slept THERE for want of space. A family with two men, three women and a kid tossed a loathsome look on them and murmured their dissatisfaction that these blind people occupied more space. They also voiced in high decibel that, “when people are suffering to even sit properly, why the hell these people lie here...?” Naadimuthu, one of the sellers, replied in a strong tone, “hey.. Don’t shout unnecessarily... this is a coach for disabled... we have the right to be here... if you feel any discomfort, go to hell...” He knew that there were many people and aired his voice without knowing who deserves his reply. That is where the person doesn’t exist and just the question takes the role of a man. If you can see, you will weigh the man passing comments on you, for sure before you react to it. But, naadimuthu can only feel the pulse of the voices...

If 20 guys encroach like this, how can a disabled person reach the rest room? Okay, they are destined to be suffering like this. If anyone of the normal persons go there and return with wet legs, making his foot marks near the faces that sleep there, is it a matter of pride? Is there anything that can do damage to one’s self esteem than this?

They all got down at chengalpet. Now we saw a tribe of shameless office goers trespassing into our compartment and they never hesitate to keep their things anywhere and sit anywhere they like. The lady sleeping in the opposite seat opened her eyes to look at the ass of a man and two more men near her legs. They all had Times of India or Deccan Chronicle, the low cost dailies and sat all over. Even the hand rail gave room to 5, 6 six men. There were two disabled persons among this herd. One was in a corner of the seat and a lady who works in Chennai was successful in negotiating a place near my legs. They were discussing many things loudly where I needed to say 30, 40 ‘excuse me’s to find my way to toilet. And, it takes time, as everyone is keen to scan me and find in what way I am disabled and then only they move.


Dear useless HR for railways, you appoint three guys to take care of the passengers in AC Coach. Two do the bed and one supervises it. They act as bell boys too. Most of the times, they just stay drunk and I have avoided calling them and asking them anything as they spread the smell of rotten fruits in an air conditioned coach. It is a stink for non-alcoholics and it stimulates the one likes it. It is awful and unhealthy both ways, to and fro!

If your so called majesty can employ three guys like this with central government salary, can’t you keep a helper in the coach for disabled who can check the tickets and let real handicap in? The coach for disabled is always at the end or the one next to engine. If we have to buy something to refresh or eat or if we need any medical assistance, wouldn’t it be helpful, if this kind of coach is placed in the middle? It is a shame that the railways keep a coach like this and ask us to travel with “escort.”

The coach that you gift us on compassionate grounds, grounds the disabled not on the platform but on the land many times, since the coach is at the tail end. The vendors too never come there as they have to cross the closed windows of the AC coaches and you can’t expect them to incur loss. The pantry corner fellows are stopped too, as the vestibule ends with sleeper coaches itself.

I have sishyas, friends or someone else; what the ordinary men have? If there is no escort, we can’t even get the concession at all!  Why someone could not see me off here and someone can receive me at the other end and the railway takes care of me during travel?

If your man guards the door properly, will the floors be this much abominable? If limited number of passengers unlike, an invading crowd, uses the rest room wouldn’t it be cleaner? Instead of this two disabled and two escorts getting a reservation and travel inside this all time knocked useless locked doors, if you provide 8 sleepers and 4 chairs with a single guy for assistance (without escorts occupying half of it), wouldn’t that open new avenues for more number of handicapped persons to have a real “Happy Journey ?”

The last issue of junior vikatan says that the railways held a competition and run model trains with an engine and 9 compartments and it was heartening to see how enthusiastically the employers took part in it. Also there were some valuable suggestions like fixing brail numbers for enabling the blind to find their seat number in the coach for disabled!

This is not all a coach for disabled and instead you PREACH & COACH DISABILITY to all of us.















Naadimuthu, holding the bag and resting his head on his hand unable to sleep...

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Not A Coach for Disabled - 1

The sun flowers were feeling guilty to face anyone as the clouds did not disclose the asset of the sky on time. The station where the train stopped was maniyAchi.. The smog created a natural CG for the trees. And, the cranes, not much excited, feeling lazy to spread their wings just walked browsing the land... They ate nothing... Just they were doing some window shopping and when the sun started negotiations with the fog, I could see their beak-on light!

Unlike the so called noisy metropolitan, where the concretes contribute in making the sun and stars abstract, here, the fields and landscape played a supporting role in magnifying the glory of the immeasurable sky... Quiet natural..!

I was inside the coach for disabled and nearing nAgarkOil on 26-2-10. The round trip was really coaching me the odds of the society, which invoked many thoughts regarding the disabled and regardless authorities.

My ticket read SL1 and Ananthapuri was about to leave Egmore at 7-15pm and the clock showed 6-55pm when a guy mounted the reservation charts. Arun and Krishna found that compartment at the tail end and took me there. There stood a man, seemed to be the guard who checked my tickets and said, “Two more passengers, one handicapped and her escort will come... Then lock the doors inside... don’t open it at any cost even if someone knocks... this is meant for you four only.”  Being unaware that the moving train is going to furnish many moving incidents that will touch the tender corners of any real mind, without a compulsion for connectivity or relevance, I remembered the question, what is the difference between the guard and the guru? The guard minds the train; the guru trains the mind.

The place accommodates two disabled persons and two escorts and four is certainly a crowd for the poor condition of the rest room. Thank God, I didn’t travel with any PYT or GF, but felt extremely happy that the train tried to throw some light on a single’s secrets and stayed disappointed like many dudes who tried to unveil the unbuttoning!
Ha ha... guys, I am joking...  It was a day light match-jyOthirmaya journey with seven bright-tube lights (oxymoron!). It seemed as if the Minister for Railways, a servant of the Italian Delight would not have nodded to grant switches for the lights or plug points for chargers as they are endangering specimens for the handicapped. In reality, Disability makes people immobile and the coach did the same too!

Not even a single or married plug point existed there. But, this particular compartment was drawing solar energy through its broken body. While the emergency (why the picture always shows a guy jumping out of a window as if the husband returned unexpectedly, emer-gentcy?) windows on either sides were capable of letting in any anti-social element through the “holy” shutters, there was an easy solution in the name of broken-plywood-inner wall. They were actually like hidden tunnels and you can open it if you be daring enough to slide through the fast moving shaky train. That is the syrup (speciality) of the medi-train which shakes the content well before use. Doesn’t matter, you will be on the right track fortunately if your train is on the left track. Even otherwise, you will enjoy that you have been left “on track” from the right train! The train travels reverberates the gravels of the mind to remain “never mind” in any such given conditions.    

The compartment is spacious enough to wander with a wheel chair and the toilet really lets access to the rest room with a broad door, giving room to the rendezvous of both WCs! (wheel chair - western closet). There was a hand rail under the windows in lower level that, if you walk, you need to bend too much to reach it. But, the only greatest thing one can appreciate about that is, even if a year old kid tries to hang itself, the kid will survive!


The seat is broader than the usual, giving a comfort stay for my bumps (are they still bumps if one lies on his back?) and while mine was feeling great, the entrance of the rest room lacked one. As a result, the water, crossing boundaries were causing boundless worries to the patient-gers. “Waters from holes are never holy waters!” As the surface is wet, it red carpets an easy approach for cockroach encroachments. I kept my mrudangam on the upper berth to prevent any “hit-die” creatures exploring it and as an expression of gratitude for the divine instrument which keeps an all time lover of lower be(i)rth guy in the upper berth of artistic values.





The constant knockings and loud tapings on the windows and the door, reminds you that are in homeland, you can never miss even a smallest station though you are in deep sleep. People wake you up not only by ignorance but also because they think it is their right to enter and also they envy you for you have space inside. These kinds of problems are perennial as 'sky is the limit' in and for space!