They created numbers and destroyed values

During the recently concluded Champions' league you would have heard that if South Africa defeat Australia, India will be the number 1. This is what the number game has come to. Some one being rated the number 1 because some one else defeats the best team in the world. More often you also notice that the ranking of the bowlers and batsmen by the different rating agencies has no relation to the performance of the teams that they play for, but the obsession to number every one and any one who plays provides a different motivation to the players and the once celebrated team game has now been reduced to a 22-member game. This does not stop with cricket. You have the other biggest entertainment medium - movies also rated not by their sheer merit, but more by the producers / directors / actors affiliations. Then you have the ratings for actors, actresses, comedians, songs, musicians, etc. This rating has pervaded all spheres of our life, rating of educational institutions, consumer goods, never-ending serials (I am still not able to understand what is the rating for a serial is; is it which one tests your patience and that of the actors of the serial more than the others), hospitals, matrimonial sites, etc. Our rating indulgence is second only to the opinion surveys presented by our 24X7 mediocy (media idiocy) on any topic under the sun. The non- news channels do the same through talk shows.
People play this number game to make or break a product. Similarly doctors use numbers to scare patients. They have a range of values for all body parameters and use that to their advantage. During a sequence of tests even under controlled experiments performed in laboratories, it is difficult to maintain an ideal combination. What would happen in an un-controlled structure like our physiology?
Numbers are also used in the corporate world to drive performance. SMART is the buzz-word in corporates. (to-be continued)

Reality Check

“Uncle, naangey drawing book siggilla”

These words and the face that uttered them were haunting me throughout the night. The voice not one of complaining but one of disappointment; the eyes not of jealous that some else got it, but of a dream melting. Kids are kids. And we go all out to ensure that they are not what they are. When does this reversal happen?

I saw Imran trying to forcibly take away a doll from Latha one moment and then playing with the same doll with Latha the other moment, oblivious of the fact that he wanted it for himself not long ago. There was Prakash who wanted to show me his drawings again not because he wanted me to acknowledge him as the greatest artist or to stoke his ego, but to satisfy himself that he is good at something after all. And more than himself, there was another girl who was more happy than Prakash himself on him being a good artist and that he can bring any scenery in the world on to a piece of paper. There was another girl who had realized that her core competency is drawing and is working her best to improve it. Immediately when their leader commanded, they all took their positions in a jiffy. Someone opened a biscuit packet and distributed the biscuits to as many kids as possible even before taking one for him. Some eagerly came forward to perform a dance or sing a song. Some were shy even though they were good in one of them. The rest of the kids, helped them to perform, by providing support in whatever little way they can. They were honest to accept if they do not know something. They did not care that they were showered with gifts by people from the society that did not care about them before. They taught me the virtues of being transactional, forgetting the bad things and remembering the good things, focusing on core competencies, win and let others win and feel happy about others’ winning also; distribute whatever you have for the common good of the group; help those who are reluctant to come to the limelight and most importantly be honest about at the least what you know and what you don’t. They care less for things that we care more and care more for the things that we care less. These kids should be training us on the soft skills.

I think some of our lives follow a sinusoidal curve, where we shed all these virtues, to learn about competition, about beating everyone to the top whatever it takes, that losers are useless and success is a comparative measure specified by a single unit, currency. This has changed our attitude towards life, work and people and resulted in carrying the cross throughout. Some are fortunate enough to understand the futility of carrying it at some point or the other, the point depends on their disposition and goes back to basics, the others live a tangential life.

I am still not able to figure how all those good things fall by the wayside as we grow up. I am only sorry about being one of the role models that I do not want them to grow by. Probably I should know when I traverse downhill on the curve.

Quotable quotes - Eswar

1. I have 'excel'led so much in life that I get dreams with gridlines
2. All of us are on the same page, alright, but in different books in different languages
3. I was euphoric when they said 'you are krishna'; and I realised that they do not take me as seriously as they take my words!

நான் கடவுள் தான்

நான் கடவுள் என்றான் நண்பன். நான் கடவுள் என்பதில் எனக்கும் சந்தேகமில்லை. ஆனால் எந்த கடவுள் என்பதில் தான் ஒரு தடுமாற்றம். கொழுக்கட்டை, பழங்கள், பலவித தின்பண்டங்கள் என்று எல்லா நைவேத்யதைய்யும் பின்னி பெடலேடுக்கும் பள்ளி பருவத்தில் விநாயகனா?
அரும்பு மீசையும், கலையாத தலையும், நொடிக்கொருதரம் கண்ணாடியில் சரிபார்த்து அழகை ஆராதித்து மயில் தோகைவண்ண கனவுகளில் மிதக்கும் டீன்களில் முருகனா?
காணும் அத்தனை இளம் பெண்களும் தன் அழகில் மயங்கி தன் வருகைக்காக ஏங்கி இருப்பதாக நினைத்து கற்பனை கோபியரை ராகிங் செய்து பைக்குகளின் சாரதிகளாக திரியும் காலேஜ் காலத்தில் கிருஷ்ணனா?
தனக்காக ஒருத்தி பிறந்திருபபதை கண்டெடுத்து கைப்பிடித்து காதல் கொண்டு ஏக பத்தினி விரதனாகிவிடும் போது முப்பதுகளில் ராமனா?
மாமனார் வீட்டில் மாப்பிள்ளை முறுக்குகாட்டி, பிள்ளைகள் பெண்டாட்டியின் பிடிவாதத்திற்கு ருத்ரதாண்டவம் ஆடி முணுக் என்றால் மூன்றாம் கண் திறந்துவிடும் நாற்பதுகளில் சிவபெருமானா?
கடமைகள் தொலழுத்த கவலைகள் பயமுறுத்த கடவுள் மேல் ஒரு புது நம்பிக்கை ஏற்பட்டு ஜோசியர்கள் பரிந்துரைக்கும் கோயில் களுக்கு சென்று பக்தி மார்க்கம் பார்க்கும் ஐம்பதுகளில் தம்புரா இல்லாத நாரதனா?
எல்லாம் முடிந்த பின் இதற்கு தானே ஆசைப்பட்டாய் என்று அறுபதுகளில் தன்னை உதறி 'என்னை' தேடும்போது புத்தனா?
உடல் குறுகி உணர்ச்சிகள் மறந்து உடுத்தும் ஆடை கூட பாரமாகி, அது உடலில் இருக்கிறதா இல்லையா என்ற கவலையும் மறந்து இருக்கும் எழுபது எண்பதுகளில் மகாவீரனா?
நான் எந்த கடவுள் என்பதை அறியாவிட்டாலும் கடவுளும் என்னைப் போலத்தான் என்பதை அறிந்து சந்தோஷமானேன்!

எதிர்பார்ப்பு

நடுகாட்டில் நின்று
கைகள் விரித்து
ஆண்டு ஆண்டாய் தவமிருந்து
ஒவ்வொரு வருடமும்
தலைமழித்து
வருவோர்க்கெல்லாம்
பசியாற்றி
வீடுபேறு எதிபார்த்து
காத்திருந்த என்னை
இக்கொடியவனின் அரதிற்கு
இறையாக்கி விட்டாயே
இறைவா!

பிள்ளையார் சுழி