Worshiping God in a crowd

Lord Venkateswara is the presiding deity at Tirumala-Tirupati Dewasthanam (Seven Hills) in Andhra Pradesh. Thousands and thousands of devotees throng to this abode of faith and prayers throughout the year. But on certain special occasions there is an unmanageable crowd keeping the temple staff on their toes. Puratasi, a Tamil month is very special for the devotees to worship in the temple. The third Saturday is very special for them. The report is that there was a crowd of 76000 people on that day i.e on October 6, 2012. The people stood in the 4 KM long queue to have a darshan of Lord of Seven Hills. For free darshan the wait was for 16 hours, Divya darshan took 10 hours and quick darshan (on Rs 300-ticket per head) was possible after a wait of 7 hours.

Except for VVIPs the darshan means a 2-3 seconds standing only in front of the God. One wonders what sort of darshan the people are able to have in such a mad crowd. Either the Lord's idol could be made visible for more than 100 people at a time by widening the entrance and opening the sanctum sanctorum to a bigger audience, or booking the days of visit to the devotees in manageable sizes in advance that could avoid crowd on such occasions. Some planning is required in this direction from the management committee of the temple. A devout worshipper like me is unable to visit the shrine for the fear of the crowd and satisfy his soul by worshipping the God from his residence regularly.

Gandhiji - an avatar of God?

Bapu, the Mahatma Gandhi is no less than God in Salangapalayam, 25 Kms from Erode in Tamil Nadu. On Gandhi Jayanthi there is a stream of people from the neighbouring villages heading to the Mahatma Gandhi koil(temple) as it is locally known. The priest performs the arthi to a granite idol of Bapu as part of the daily puja.

A class 4 student, M.Sanghvi, studying at Appachimar Madam Government School prays at this shrine for obtaining first position in the class. Elders and senior citizens also visit the temple on special occasions. Strangely and in contrast to this Gandhi temple where any one can walk in and pray, there is a temple for Goddess Mariamman too in the vicinity where only upper caste people are allowed and not dalits.

Hey Ram! where are we leading to? Untouchability is still prevalent in Gandhi's land and he is worshipped as a God. This is a beginning. Lord Gandhi will be a god of millions in some hundred or thousand years' time  like in the case of several messiahs of humanity like Lord Ram, Lord Buddha.  

I was expecting this phenomenon for quite sometime now.

Reshuffle of ministers in AIADMK government

AIADMK party came to power in 2011 under the leadership of Ms J.Jayalalitha. The cabinet has been reshuffled several times so far by dropping 12 ministers. A number of senior and loyal leaders have been shown the door. It appears that they have either committed mistakes or lost the confidence of the chief minister who happens to be the supreme leader of the party.

Nobody can question the wisdom and authority of the CM to induct anybody or drop anyone from the ministry. But the way and the speed with which it is happening these days one tends to believe that the ministers are appointed on superficial grounds without assessing their actual background or they appear to be careless in their conduct leading to their ouster by the CM. It reflects the crop of leaders and their quality in Tamil Nadu politics at present. It is an unfortunate development depicting the absence of strong leadership in those departments held by such birds of passage. Where is the time for original and long-term thinking enabling the growth and development of the state?

Role of Media

Mr M.Katju, Chairman, Press Council of India is a strong personality and known for his frank views on different topics. While delivering the Anna Endowment Lecture at Anna University on Monday, Sepember 10,2012, Katju advised the students to have love marriages and not listen to the parents because they are indulging in casteism, communalism, superstition and astrology.

He accused the media of dverting attention from real national economic issues like poverty, unemployment, education nad  health care saying that they were more interested in covering the lives of actors and garnering TRPs by showing "astrology, half-naked women and ghost stories".

One should fully agree with his statements and ideas. Atleast someone from the establishment side is speaking the truth boldly and openly without any fear or favour.

Sir, Kudos to your explicit and encouraging views on contemporary topics.

Procurement Price Up as Paddy Production Falls

Paddy was raised in about 13500 acres only as against the total cultivated area of 90000 acres under paddy due to non-release of water from Lower Bhavani Project dam (although promised to do so from August 15) in the ayacut of Tadapalli-Arakankottai canals forcing the traders from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to buy paddy at a price higher than the official procurement price. In a way it helps the farmers to sell at their doorsteps but the state as a whole stands to lose in terms of normal production this year due to drought condition.

Paddy production is bound to decline in such circumstances and the state may be forced to import rice from other countries very soon, thanks to our inadequate planning, nature’s and the neighbor’s cooperation in terms of water and irrigation rights.

A Super Cop at the helm of TNPSC

A few months ago Mr R.Nataraj, the former DGP of Fire Services took over as the Chairman of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission mainly with a view to setting right the beleaguered and mismanaged organization with his rich experience as the super cop in the state. But the way it has been managed in recent days reveals its pathetic nature.

Question paper has been leaked with large scale collection of money at different levels. Therefore the paper for Group II exam has been cancelled and the re-exam ordered.

The result of Group IV exam has been stayed by the High Court on the basis that in some centres question paper contained only 105 questions instead of 200 in number and nobody could help the candidates in getting the remaining questions in the examination hall.

Another news item: “Wrong address on hall ticket foxes TNPSC candidates”. The helpline numbers on the hall tickets were also not in use. Many aspirants tried in vain to locate the correct venue by dialing the numbers. Hundreds of aspirants for the Group II services conducted by TNPSC had to return without appearing for the examination as the hall tickets had wrong address of the examination centre.

One is not sure what and why everything went wrong with a good-intentioned and experienced hand at the helm of affairs. He is perhaps not aware of the intricacies involved in maintaining secrecy and executing the work correctly and efficiently or he is quite casual in approach which has landed him in deep waters. The candidates are the sufferers and wastage of the time & money is the result.

Instead of writing long articles in a daily called Dinamani as usual and presiding over functions every now and then, he can very well focus his attention on the working of TNPSC for a while.

21st Century Hero

One is simply aghast at the extraordinary prowess exhibited by a human being called Michael Phelps in our midst and had created history in 30th London Olympics. By August 5, 2012 when the Swimming Event came to a close we had no other option but to salute Phelps, the legend of USA. With one last gold that took his tally to 18 gold and 22 medals, he has, with his extraordinary feats, inspired a generation.

India, the great and largest democracy on the globe, has not bagged so many medals in the Olympic movement so far! Imagine his power!!