Bharathi en kaadhalan

Being an ardent fan of Shri Krishna (mind, not a devotee) and an amateur singer, I like Oothukaadu Venkata Subbaiyer & Subramanya Bharathi for their wonderful compositions on Lord Krishna. While the former envisions the Lord as 'Vishamakkara kannan' with a 'paal vadiyum mugam', as his lover, as the powerful Creator the latter envisions Him as his lover and even his servant (Kannan en sevakan). And on Ganesha Chaturthi when I was doing pooja & singing some songs in praise of Ganapathi, I sang Bharathi's 'enakku vendum varangalai'. And when I was towards the last line (Ganakkum Selvam nooru vayadhu ivaiyum thara nee kadavaye), my eyes welled up with tears over the fact that the composer didn't get any of the boons he asked for (in fact, the great poet led his life in poverty and died at an young age)... And suddenly, after completing the song, in a fit of anger I was shouting to our clay Vinayakar - "Andha nalla manushan kettadhe tharalai; nan kekaradha thaana nee tharapora?" People @ home were surprised -"just now u did all the poojais & kozhukattais and in a jiffy u have put on an atheist role". I dinna bother. Yes, I was a little bit angry over the muzhu-mudhal kadavul for not granting Bharathi with his boons.
A revolutionary poet he was, he saw beauty everywhere; in each of his creations. "Ethanai kodi inbam veiththaai iraiva". And he even sees beauty in the striking contrast of God's creations thus: "Chiththinai Achiththu udan Inaiththai Anghu Serum Aymbhoodathin Viyanulagu amaiththai" (You have created knowledge and ignorance together ; in that creation you have set the beauty in the 5 elements of Nature). A good musician by himself, he composed several classical songs and set them to tune in various ragas. He originally set his famous "Chinnanchiru kiliye kannamma" in Bhairavi raga but that was popularised in Ragamalika and in his work Bharatha Deviyin Dasagam he has composed hymns in 10 (Dasa - 10) different ragas! His words "Aayudham seivom, kaagidham seivom" have become true now.
And for such a visionary national poet, what has the Nation done? The Govt woke up from its woodchuck-ish slumber only in 1993 and brought his Triplicane home from a marwari (who had already embellished the house with granites/marbles like garnishing their ghee-laden sweets with pista/cashew gratings :-P) and then "renovated" (?!) it. Fie!

Enakku Vendum Varangalai Isaipen Nee Kelayi Ganapathi
Manadhil Sanchalam Illamal En Mathiyil Iruley Thondramal
Naan Ninaikkum Pozhudhu Nin Mouna Nilai Vandhida Nee Seyal Vendum
Ganakkum Selvam , Nooru Vayathu , Ivaiyum Thara Nee Kadavaye

( Oh Ganapathi ! Will you listen to my Boons; Without any anxieties and without darkness in my mind; Whenever I desire you shall give me your state of silence; Till then its your duty to bestow me with heavy wealth to survive in this material world and a 100 years of life)

Aathaa.... naan pass aayiten

Nearly 147 senior police officials in the rank of ADGP from across the country will undergo training in management and leadership aspects at the London Business School in the last week of July, says a news report. This (attending classes) is not new. In fact, global media is replete with news such as Romanian traffic police attend Ballet classes, Penang police attend Hokkein classes to foster better relations with ocal tribal peoples, etc. Yes, there seems to be a cause behind these but in our case, why are the senior officials being sent to a class in LONDON? Dat too, management class, one wonders! Instead, we can suggest different calsses for our IAS/IPS officers. Like dis:

Jaffar Sait - to learn new methods in tapping phone conversations.

C Umasankar (ex-Elcot) - to learn how not to interfere in family feud (grand uncle-grand nephew, to be precise) and save your job.

Commissioner Rajendran - to learn how not to prevent Kazhaga kanmanigals' from discharging their "duty" in court premises.

Intelligence wing IG Viswanathan - to create a congenial working atmosphere and be a friendly colleague with your fellow workers, esp. Jaffer Sait!