** POEM - "CHANGES" **

மாற்றங்கள்

கரையாது மறைத்துண்ணும் காகம்;
குறைந்து மறைந்த குருவியினம்;
காகித குப்பையுண்ணும் ஆவினம் !!

கருத்து அழுக்கான நீர்நிலைகள்;
வளமிழந்து குப்பையான நிலங்கள்;
மாசடைந்து விஷமான காற்று !!

அழியாமல் மாறாமல் எது ??
மாசில்லா மழலையின் சிரிப்பு -
நாமழிக்கும் அதனுலகம் என்பதறியாது !!

** ISRO : Another feather in the cap **

In its 16th year, PSLV has been successfully launched 15 times. By placing Oceansat-2 and six other nano satellites in orbit on Sep/23, ISRO has added on more feather to its cap. Credit goes to the whole of the ISRO team. Such achievements makes all of us very proud. At the same time, it also makes us crave for such success and achievements from all of our other departments and organisations. One such white elephant is the DRDO, which has shown very little in the name of 'actual' success. Hope it learns and improves its performance so that it comes somewhere near, if not at par, with ISRO.

** Sri Lanka **

I am not a supporter of LTTE at all. I am not the one to raise my voice in support of Sri Lankan Tamils in the name of "Tamil". I feel that it is an internal matter of a different country. I do not like Pakistan interfering in Kashmir in the name of Islam - similarly, I do not like India interfering in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.

That being said, news emanating from various quarters does not sound good. I am not interested in war crimes and all that - but, it worries me when I hear that millions of poeple are being subjected to undue harassment, made to live in sub-human conditions and a huge section of them are still being held under detention. It is not the label - "Tamilians" that it is worrying me. But, the news that millions of people are being subjected to harassment certainly pains me. Sri Lankan government, it seems, has hardly taken any major decisions on resolving the vexed Tamil issue. The President is now talking in terms of "No Fedaralism" - the same which he was ready to offer to LTTE two years ago(this , I feel, is where Prabhakaran erred very badly - He should have accepted it. The Tamils would have been living a lot more peacefully than what they are now.). If the President of Sri Lanka is taking no action to bring in equality in his nation between Sinhalese and Tamilians - the present victory that he had achieved over terrorism would become temporary. The treaty that ended WW-I sowed the seeds for WW-II. We should learn lessons from history. Wish the Sri Lankan elite would !!

** Shewag **

I am a big fan of our cricketer Shewag. Recently, in one of his interviews he answered to a question on his fondness to spin bowlers...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What is it about spinners? You seem to just get turned on by them?
I was a middle-order batsman who was too good against spin and hit sixes consistently in Under-19 and Ranji cricket, and I still have the same confidence. Once Gary Kirsten asked me, "What would you do if there is a long-off, long-on and deep midwicket?" I asked, "Gary sir, do fielders matter to me?" He burst out laughing.

Any big hitter, like Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Tendulkar, all can hit a six but they don't want to get out. There is a 1% risk.

Let me give an example: I was batting on 291 at Chepauk, against South Africa. I told Paul Harris, "Come round the wicket and first ball I'll hit you for a six." He accepted my challenge and the very first ball I hit him for a straight six, and there was a long-off, long-on, deep midwicket and a deep point. I was so tired and he was bowling on the pads and I was getting bored. So rather than spending 10-15 minutes to get to the triple-century I gave him good advice."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can read the full interview at "http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/425164.html"

** "ANNA" & Release of prisoners **

At this rate, I guess, every title line of all our blogs would have to be "Oh No! Not Again!". Latest is the release of a few Al Umma terrorists from TN prisons on the occasion marking birth centenary celebrations of ex-Chief Minister AnnaDurai!! Karunanidhi has always some terrible tricks up his sleeves that can spoil this State more and more. Tomorrow he may celebrate the birthday of one of his numerous wives by releasing more and more prisoners. This is sickening to the core. At this rate, TN won't take too long to turn into a Bihar. By the way, what is the greatest achievement of Anna Durai for all these extravaganza ?? Why a YEAR long celebration?? How much is the Govt going to waste on this unnecessary celebration drama?? Why Anna postal stamps and commemorative coins ?? Where is this nation heading ??

** Education Reforms or Destruction ?? **

Well, the Congress government has done it, once again!! This new found "Education Reforms" is utter stupidity and the present Congress Govt has done it with utter disregard to the consequences and with colossal impunity. Taking cue from its Central Govt partner, the State DMK government has formed a committee to go into it the education and curriculum reforms. I am very sure that the Congress & DMK governments will meticulously disintegrate the education system that is in place now and that which has given so much to our nation over the years.

Given the record of both Congress and DMK parties, we can expect our kids to read more of filth than substance. To quote one example, during my school days, our books had lot of Bharathiyar's poems that oozed nationalistic spirit and positivity. Unfortunately, only because he happened to be from a forward community, the "Dravidian" rulers have slowly replaced almost 90% of his poems with the 'so called' communal crusader Bharathi-Dasan's poems in the school curriculum. As such, the present State board curriculum, which was revised before few years, strokes hatred by dividing people on various lines (say for example, english & non-english educated).

With the new curriculum, we can expect our kids to read that Periyar, Anna, MGR, Karunanidhi are all the GREATEST leaders who lived on this earth!! Do not be surprised if life story of Prabhakaran (LTTE) is included in the syllabus !!! Jai Hind !!

** Oh NO!! Not Again !! **

One more industrial unit has been kicked out of West Bengal !! This time its IT !! A joint sector IT project with Infosys, Wipro, TCS, IBM and other leading firms has been shelved. This is a worrying and sickening outcome. Moreso for West Bengal because this is the second big project in recent times that has been thrown out !! Who will dare to go to a place where the Tatas, Wipros, TCS - the big wigs of Indian industry, have been thrown out unceremoniously and made to bite dust ?? A sincere CM trying his best to make his State an industrial unit - but is not able to!! Now, whom do we blame - Left principles ? Mamta ? Naxalites ? Local hooligans ?? We may get to hear more on that in the near future - but, whoever may be behind this tragic result, I think this is a collective loss not just to the State but to the whole nation.

To read more on the subject - check out the links below...

http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20090908/814/tnl-buddha-loses-again-his-it-dept-scrap.html

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/ITeS/West-Bengal-scraps-Infosys-Wipro-projects/articleshow/4982432.cms

** AP CM - YSR Reddy **

The sudden death of Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister, YS Rajasekhara Reddy in a air crash on Sep/02 is real tragic. He is the person who was widely quoted as the reason behind the revival of Congress government in AP.

These sort of sudden deaths show cases the fickle nature of human life. YSR was the king of AP till the moment of his death - and after death, his body remained unknown and untraced for one full day in the jungles! What life has in store is never known to anyone and still we all take so much for granted !!

A friend of mine recently told me a story (real?). There is a village somewhere in this world, where people whose earnings are only from sea, make a comfortable living. But, once in every six months, they dump all their earnings, including their wealth and jewellery into the sea and start life afresh. They give up, whatever was earned, back to sea. That way, they know that their wealth and money are just temporary. A nice story - Huh ?? Well, I am looking for the place where they dump their money - if you do get to know early, please let me know. :)