Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The luminosity of success

For the average person, success may seem elusive,
Sans hard work and persistence, who can live?
Not even the crème de la crème, who have to slog day and night,
At least for the bread to be consumed by the family, which they have to give;
The struggle for existence is like a battle, where one must prove oneself competent to fight;


Success and failure are optional;
In this noisy, competitive world, one shouldn't remain in the lull,
Of ignorance and mediocrity, as each one of us has traits which are unique;
One ought to follow one's heart, even if one is meek,
Lest one should miss out on opportunities one can seek;
In life, one ought to have fixed goals,
They ought to remain a challenge, not a piece of cake, such as a trip to the Poles;
One ought to decide, whether to stay at home and enjoy with one's family,
Or whether to dare to move outside one's comfort zone and experience the big, bad world that's there to see;
Being within one's cocoon is hard to resist,
Unless, to go afar, one wishes to persist;
Even if it is to keep up with the Joneses,
To the individual who is passionate about her/his endeavors, success will be hers or his.


Success is manifested as different things for different people;
For many, it is money and fame;
For a few, it is having listened to the inner voice and having trodden a different path without regrets,
Ensuring that unlike others, they aren't the same;
As the secret of success lies behind the endless toil,
Which is done with love, with a positive feeling that plans won't foil.


Legend has it that a prince was forced to leave his kith and kin for fourteen years;
Confined in exile in the woods,
He confronted his fears,
And proved himself a righteous individual;
Upon returning home, he was proclaimed a hero,
Because he was not afraid to take risks for a selfless act,
Which can be established as a fact,
That success shouldn't blind us;
We should celebrate the triumph of truth, awareness over oblivion and good over evil, without any fuss.


Manifested as visible radiation and waves of sound,
The luminosity and decibels of the occasion will ensure that the Lord of Darkness will be found.

Friday, October 14, 2011

You know you're a Tam-Brahm if....


1.You wake up to M.S. Subbulakshmi's dulcet tones that resonate from your cassette or CD (nowadays MP3?) player- "Kausalya Supraja Rama" of Shri Venkateshwara Suprabatham.

2.You consume 'Madras filter coffee' of the finest decoction and go through snippets of the morning newspaper.
   The Hindu(pronounced 'Hind-do' [as in 'do' it well], not 'Hinthoo') is your favourite newspaper.

3.You own a TVS 50/XL Super,Suvega(affectionately 'Sevika'),Luna,Bajaj M80,Hero Puch or Enfield Mofa which is used for commuting, even you're a priest(sastrigal) going for a 'homam' from one household to another.
  You may own a bicycle or an ancient Ambassador(affectionately Ambi's Amby!) car.

4.You condemn 'mixture',namkeen and farsaan as 'sundry items', yet have them for lunch along with your thali.

5.'Stamping not allowed' would be more appropriate than 'Parking not allowed' as you care for your kolam.

6.You can't wait to rush back home after office hours as you don't want to miss the latest episode of Metti Oli, Kolangal, Chithi, Selvi, Manaivi, Comedy Time or Kondattam on Sun TV(or Raj TV,Kalaignar TV,Jaya TV,Aadithya TV,Star Vijay).
 If you're a westernized yuppie,you'll feel the same for Two and a Half Men,How I Met Your Mother,Family Guy and the Simpsons (on Star World),apart from Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah (on SAB TV).

7.You've grown up drinking Ovaltine('Oval'),Viva,Horlicks and Maltova (nowadays Milo, Boost and Bournvita).
   You've offered Crush,Oval, juice concentrate or syrup,apart from tea and coffee to guests.

8.You've visited least one of these restaurants- Mylai Karpagambal Mess in Mylapore,Woodlands, Palmgrove (in Madras),Dasaprakash (in Madras,Mysore,Ooty,Ahmedabad,Jaipur,Delhi,Agra and Lucknow),Chalukya,MTR,Vidyarthi Bhawan,CTR,Janatha,New Krishna Bhawan (in Bangalore).

9.You love shopping at Pothys,Nalli,Naidu Hall,RMKV (in Madras) or Rangachari Textiles (in Bangalore) despite the proliferation of malls with branches of Westside,Pantaloons,Wrangler,Nike,Reebok,Adidas,Big Bazaar and Vishal Mega Mart in your city.
   A visit to 8th cross,Malleshwaram or Sampige Road (in Bangalore),Ranganathan Street or Panagal Park (in T Nagar,Madras) is a must rather than a visit to Commercial Street or MG Road (in Bangalore),CG Road,Ashram Road or SG Highway (in Ahmedabad).

10.You don't play cards as there's no 'green' card, which every holder [an Ambi Mama,Athimber or Chitappa of yours in California/Texas/Michigan/Illinois :) ] uses to return to India every December for the Margazhi music festival in Mylapore Kutcheri Sabhas. There are Carnatic music concerts held elsewhere too-at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Malleshwaram (in Bangalore) and the Shanmukhananda Hall,in Matunga (Bombay). The Tiruvaiyuru Thyagaraja Aradhanai,held in the month of January,is famous too.

11.You stay in localities like Mylapore,Triplicane,Adyar,Besant Nagar,Saligramam,Vadapalani and Nanganallur (in Madras),
    Malleshwaram,Basavangudi,Banashankari and Jayanagar (in Bangalore),
    Vastrapur,Memnagar,Satellite and Bodakdev (in Ahmedabad),
    Matunga and Ghatkopar (in Bombay),
    RK Puram and Munirka (in Delhi)

12. Your long, tongue-twisting name is truncated to your initials. For example:  Melattur Sundaram Rajagopalaiyer is known as M.S.R. to all.
(October 14, 2011)