Ideology through Society, Culture, Family and Sports

At the beginning of May 2019, I was between jobs. On an advise from a well-wisher friend , I attended a Level 1 Table Tennis coaching certification, conducted at the YMCA, Alleppey . Shortly afterwards, I was allowed a chance to work as a part-time coach in the academy he runs . Having been involved in a lot of sports throughout my life, this is the opportunity I have been craving for. It hasn't been smooth sailing right through. I have found coaching beginners to be reasonably easy - for the simple reason, they listen. For someone who believes he is yet to acquire proven credentials on coaching, slightly advanced players pose a challenge. I had to become assertive to deal with everyone. I needed to change - I turned to books for help. I didn't spend time to arrive at a list of books I wanted to read. I chose something that was lying around - "Conquering the Mind" from Eknath Easwaran [had borrowed it from my brother in law , without really attempti...

This afternoon the news about the legendary playwright, Crazy Mohan passing away came through. Without really knowing him in person, it was shattering. I belong to an age where TV serials [not the everlasting ones we see today] that happen once a week were something we looked forward to with lot of eagerness. Here’s Crazy comes to my mind straightaway. We are referring to pre-youtube and only-Doordarshan days - therefore, we didn't get entertainment on demand. We had to wait and the waits were worthwhile every single time. A tired day’s work for Fathers, a poor day at school for children, Mothers in need of a break between all house chores - Crazy Mohan and his troupe's serials entertained all of them. That explains the nature of his humor - clean and open for all. His brother, Maadhu Balaji who took up various prominent roles in his plays, requires a mention here. In addition to serials and plays, Crazy Mohan is a well known script writer for Tamil movies. Being ...

Writing on behalf of my Father, Duraiswamy C Addressed to The Commissioner of Police, South Delhi Credits to  HC Sanjay Nagar, HC Rajiv Chander and HC Beejpal Many of us face few challenges while travelling from South India to North and vice versa. The languages we speak are totally different and that does have an impact on the way we look at each other. I want to narrate a trivial incident which made me believe these barriers are only self-constructed. They can be broken if we want to. On the 26th of Jan, 2019 - A friend and I were travelling to attend a wedding in Fatehabad. Not wanting to carry a heavy luggage, we deposited our bags in the Nizamuddin railway station cloak room and collected a receipt, which we promptly missed soon afterwards [and didn’t realise, of course]. During our return journey, we had to take a train to Bangalore at 8:45 PM, 28-Jan-2019. While attempting to collect our baggage at 7:30 PM, we realized the receipt was no more with us. We ...

(Read time - 5 mins) This quote isn’t directly related to what is going to be written in this passage. But it closely resembles another favourite quote of mine - You cannot keep repeating the same steps and expect different results . All of us complain about things going wrong every single day. But very few of us are prepared to get down, get our hands dirty and try to change things around. It's time we step out of the crowd and start considering every public problem as our own. How many times have we stopped at the white mark in traffic signals, while others happily move as close to the signal as possible while waiting? We will look foolish, but being rightful while looking foolish is alright. I was punched by a group of men once for failing to make way to their honk, while I waited for the signal to turn Green [BTM Signal, 16th Main, Bangalore]. I felt hurt but not ashamed - which I think should have happened to those men. When was the last time we questioned a nati...

28-Jan-2018: Around a fortnight ago, as I was taking a walk on the streets along with Hema [my wife], we met a girl selling story books and little toys. Neither will be of use to us, so we ignored. While we tried to move, all we heard from her was, "I'm hungry..I'm hungry.. please buy this, I'm hungry". Everyone of us is hungry at some point in time during the day, but being hungry without knowing where the next meal will come from, is a very tough situation to be in. From whatever I have seen in my life so far, I strongly feel that the pain nobody should go through, is the one induced by hunger. We asked her, "We really do not need the books, will it be OK if we buy you food?". She happily agreed. Coimbatore is known for the numerous bakeries and tea stalls you can find. She took us to one of those nearby and listed down what she needed. A veg puff, a pack each of chips and biscuits, accounting to 37 rupees. She gleefully thanked us. ...

Around the end of July 2017, Mega suffered a career-threatening accident, which I can also term as Life-threatening. In a total mood of deflation, I posted this and I certainly feared the worst on he being able to play again. When Diva [our skipper] and I met him in the hospital, we just said "Mega, wait for a year, you are going to be on the field soon". Within me, I was thinking even that time frame was a highly optimistic one. He looked terribly damaged which I wouldn't be able to put in words. Fast forward to a little over 5 months, he was playing for the company again. This time he was needed much more than earlier, because too many key players have moved on from the team. Forget about playing well, he being there on the ground by itself was a far-fetched thought. I missed his batting, but I heard he has continued from where he left before the road mishap. 67 runs off 32 balls opening the innings and playing on almost till the end, is something I couldn...

For many of us, a New Year is usually about new resolutions that includes letting go old habits and bad memories, working on plans for the present year. For traditional Tamilians, the month of January is much more than just the beginning of a year. The beginning of the Thai Month, also known as Tamizhar Thirunaal [தமிழர் திருநாள்], is the time of Farmers and is much more eagerly anticipated than the New Year itself. Having just completed the yearly harvest, its the time when people say thanks to the Sun God for the support. But this by no means indicates a stoppage. The next cycle begins immediately after this thanksgiving note! We call it as Pongal in Tamilnadu, different states in India celebrate with a different name, almost on the same date. Spreading our wings wider, a month or so later, many countries in the world celebrate Carnival, which is believed to be an act of welcoming the sun as winter closes [some call it a role reversal day, others mark it as religious re...