SEASONAL THOUGHTS:

A CHRISTMAS IN SUMMER

BY P S SUNDAR

Having witnessed Christmas season in many European countries over the years, I had a different experience of Christmas season in Australia and Fiji Island this month.

For one, in Europe and most countries elsewhere, Christmas season means peak winter and some in snowy conditions.    In Australia and Fiji, it is peak summer now.  I saw sun setting at 8.30 pm and rising at 5.30 am in Sydney.   The day temperature rose to 41 degrees Celsius with television channels screaming that it was historically high heat.   Clearly, it is Christmas in summer.

In Sydney, Christmas celebrations began on November 26 – a month ahead of Christmas – and will go into the New Year.   All over Australia, educational institutions are closed from November till February 2016.   Christmas business is peaking and students are seen working in such business houses to earn some money during their vacation.   This is more so for Indian students who prefer to remain there rather than spend on travelling to home.  I saw Indian postgraduate students (boys and girls) and PhD scholars working as waiters in Indian restaurants like Saravana Bhavan and local Taj.   “Usually, I do part-time work but now being Christmas vacation, I am doing full-time work”, Tinju a post-graduate student from Kerala, told me.

Christmas mood has been set in at Sydney with the icon Christmas Tree at Martin Place where people share their Christmas messages.  So too the  ‘Christmas Green’ at Hyde Park.  I saw volunteers sweating in the scorching sun in Sydney’s Opera House surroundings creating pavilions for Christmas concerts.   The very enjoyable ferry ride from the jetty near Parramatta to Circular Quay via underneath ANZAC Bridge and Darling Harbour Bridge gave me a feel of Christmas season with decorations on many buildings on river bank.

And at Circular Quay, a walk took me to Christmas Village Bizarre with street musicians and magicians in operation.   Further down, the Opera House surroundings stood testimony to Sydney’s determination to provide among the best Christmas attractions this year as I saw pavilions being erected to present music, fun and frolic.  The 200 years memorial at Royal Botanical Gardens also echoed Christmas sentiments.

“Every year, with my friends, we see Christmas and New Year world-class fireworks display at Sydney”, R Subramanian, an engineer in Goulbourn near Canberra said.

“Sydney never fails to impress.  Some highlights now include the world-renowned fireworks of Sydney’s New Year Eve and Sydney Festival”, says Australian Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres.

The Melbourne city has made it free travel in public transport.   I saw Christmas decorations all over the streets in Bourke’s, Lonsdale, Collins, Swanston, Elizabeth etc surrounding The Eureka Skydec.   Restaurants are busy attracting visitors with Christmas specials.  So too are textile shops where sale with discounts happens.   Gifts shops and Santa Claus are everywhere.   There are many Christmas markets in the side-streets.   The youth are spending many hours in the streets, eating, strolling, expressing love and fraternity.  Being summer, the youth are in their minimal possible dress – not so much to speak of Christmas dressing !

And, in the hype of all these, there are candles, cakes, colours, celebrations, cards, carols and countless gifts – but Church and Christ are missing.   “Once I was in New Zealand on Dec 24 night and wanted to attend a Christmas Mass when I discovered that Churches were closed because Priests were enjoying Christmas party with their kith and kin elsewhere”, Rani Baliah, staying in Suva, Fiji, told me.

“We celebrate New Year earlier than most of the world”, Nandu Naidu living in Suva said.    2016 will don there over seven hours earlier than it does in India. 

(response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)    

P S SUNDAR'S ARTICLE ON HIS SON -- 8::

THE DAY WHEN MY COMMUNICATION FAILED

BY P S SUNDAR

Communication, written and oral as also body language had always been hailed as my strongpoint.   Being a faculty of many institutions, international and domestic, I deliver a lot of lecture on varied topics.   Being a prolific writer in media, not a day passes without my article appearing in some publication or other.   So much so, replying to many people who want to know what I am doing, I have said, “Talking or writing is what I do .. reading and listening to strengthen these!”. 

But then, there was a day when I could not talk what I had to say... And, all I had to say were just three words .. they were words of truth, ground reality and embodiment of an irrevocable reality...

So, it was a case of being in difficulty to utter not a lie but truth.. a truth so hard to digest despite years of mental preparation ..  

These three words came up to my throat every time I had to mention to my contacts but they failed to raise above that stage at ease, got swallowed in sorrow and forced me to exert a greater effort to eject them from my throat.

In the Indian epic Mahabharatha, Bhagavad Githa enjoys a special status for the communication skill of Lord Krishna in making a confused Arjuna clear in mind.  In the other epic Ramayana, Hanuman excels in communicating to Lord Rama the truth of his having sighted Goddess Seetha in Ashok Vanam in Sri Lanka for which He is hailed as ‘Sollin Selvar’ (Master of word).

Both these epics, however, describe the verbal numbness a parent undergoes –  a scenario diagonally opposite to these communication excellence .. and that happens when a parent (father or mother) witnesses and passes through the saddest moment of his/her child (son or daughter) dies.

Irrespective of ‘Poorva Janma prathipalan’ (impact of previous birth) concept of explanation, ‘Puthra marana Dhukkam’ (sorrow on child’s demise) causes communication failure.

And, in my case, the three words I had to say were ‘My son died” .. this day (Oct 21) 12 years ago.. when our son, Vignesh, left us forever to a destination beyond our imagination at an age of 16 years...

(response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)

LIFE ENRICHMENT -- 16::

DETHAN CONTINUES TO RECEIVE RECOGNITION FOR HIS 'THIRD EYE' PHOTOGRAPHY

BY P S SUNDAR

A treatise on the expertise of the celebrated photographer of Coonoor Dethan Punalur appears in LIFE ENRICHMENT 3 -- LEARNING THROUGH LENS in this blog .. reachable by clicking :: http://pssundarthinktank.blogspot.in/2013/12/life-enrichment-3-learning-life-through.html.

Dethan continues to receive a plethora of recognition, the latest being as among the top 10 photographers of the year 2015 by 'Foto Wide' Malayalam monthly devoted to photo technology and creativity.

Dethan's 15 photographs earned this credit -- three under five categories.  

Here is a presentation on them::

I.  SCENERY :: 
  

HAPPY JOURNEY

MILKY MORNING

A GOLDEN TRIP

II HUMOUR::

EVENING PRAYER

UMBRELLA BACK POLICY

NAUGHTY NEW GENERATION

III.  NEWS::

FOOD PATH !

MOTHER

OPEN HOUSE

IV. WILD LIFE

BE CAREFUL 

THE FIGHT

THE SYMMETRY

V. WEDDING::

MUHOORTHAM

THE PORTRAIT 

KANYA DHANAM

(response can also be sent to:: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com) 

LIFE ENRICHMENT -- 15 ::

ORPHANED ELDERS TO DONATE EYES

BY P S SUNDAR

A treatise on M N Trust's 'Anbalayam' Old Age Home in Denalai village, 10 kilometres from Coonoor, appears in this blog as LIfe Enrichment - 4 ::Caring for elders, a passion and mission", reachable by clicking :: http://pssundarthinktank.blogspot.in/2013_12_01_archive.html.

Now, another magnanimous contribution of the Old Age has come to light -- the decision to donate eyes of inmates when they die.

“This is in response to Government of India’s call to donate eyes during the on-going ‘National Eye Donation Fortnight’.  We will link with hospitals which harvest eyes and enlist inmates support to donate their eyes”, N Ramamurthi, Trustee, told me.

RAJESWARI & RAMAMURTHI INTERACTING WITH INMATES

“In the seven years of our functioning, we have had 57 inmates.  The youngest at present is 64 years old and the eldest is 93. We face death regularly and give them decent farewell”, Managing Trustee Rajeswari said.

SEEMA

“They are not only poor but, in most cases, deserted by their kith as burden and waste.  By helping them donate their eyes, they send a message to the world that they are more useful to society than even kiths who deserted them”, Seema, co-ordinator for Medical Psychiatry, added.

(response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)

LIFE ENRICHMENT -- 11:

SELF-AUDIT TO MAKE THE NILGIRIS A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN

BY P S SUNDAR

In the emerging context of social media affording limelight for social service activities, a common claim is “We are making the Nilgiris a better place to live in”.

While this reflects the desire and need of all, for this to become a reality, we require an attitudinal change – enhancing our attitude to the altitude of the Blue Mountains, the district we are blessed to live in.

The biggest challenge comes from not only corrupt politicians and bureaucrats but even us, the people who, for selfish justifications, injure nature violating laws and logic.   Many times, while expecting others to abide by law, we miss to realise that those others see us as law violators causing irreparable damage to the ecology and environment of the Blue Mountains.

In my keynote address at the meetings of service clubs and people’s fora, I keep stressing, “Be the change you want to see...however small it be!”  I give many examples where we can be the change rather than asking others to change.  Just to kindle thought, I reiterate here a soul-searching introspection which I had raised in some fora asking ourselves some basic questions on a single matter, say buildings, “to make the Nilgiris a better place to live in”.    Some pertinent questions are:

1.  Am I living in a house or earning rental or other income from a building that is unauthorised construction, legally declared or not?

2.  Have I encroached in any way – road, footpath, drain, waterway, grass meadow, others’ lands etc?

3.  Have I indiscriminately felled trees, uprooted tea or other plantations, or liquidated natural mounts to construct building?

4.  Have I used materials in construction which can be injurious to the ecology of the Nilgiris?

5.  Have I constructed (or am I indirectly supporting by renting) a building without leaving vacant space on all sides, sometimes even intruding into the air space of the municipal/panchayat road or neighbours?

6.  Do I observe waste disposal norms including letting domestic wastes properly into municipal/panchayat drains and not letting septic wastes into public or other drains and the water on to the road or elsewhere?

7.  While raising building towards the sky, have I strengthened the foundation or have I just built stories on the age-old structure which can make the Nilgiris go the Uttarakhand disaster way?

8.  Have I kept my building away from the touching-reach of TNEB overhead cables?

9.  Do I have adequate rain water harvesting or storage facility?

10.  Do I dispose of the solid domestic wastes from my house by throwing on to the road, dumping in the vacant spot near the house or tossing on to the stream nearby?

11. Have I as lawyer, banker, financer, broker, contractor or engineer, keenly interested in promoting my business but promoted unauthorised constructions ignoring necessities to protect the ecology and environment of the Nilgiris?

Definitely, the indifference of the civic and other authorities has made our life difficult and, sometimes is forcing people to violate laws, but we need an attitudinal change in ourselves to start to stop our violations “to make the Nilgiris a better place to live in”. 

A self-audit and wilful stoppage of law violations through attitudinal elevation can “make the Nilgiris a better place to live in”.  This is only about buildings.  There are many others.     Let us make the beginning at least now !

(article in The Nilgiri Rotarian, April 2015 issue). 

ICON-- 14 ::

 

BIRDS IN COONOOR - 2015

BY P S SUNDAR

This is the last in the series of five articles documenting the bird species identified in five regions of the Nilgiris during the Big Bird Day (2015) on March 8, 2015. 

Here comes the list of 54 species identified in Coonoor region by the team led by Antony Grossy and Allen Murphy which included Senthil Kumar, Luke Robert, Shanon Enos and Titus. 

Last year, 68 bird species were sighted in Coonoor region.

This is the list of the species compiled as per what BBD co-ordinator Jamuna Raju has sent me::

Shikra

Grey Junglefowl

White-breasted waterhen

Nilgiri Wood Pigeon

Spotted Dove

Common Hoopoe

White-cheeked Barbet

Hill swallow

Grey Wagtail

Scarlet Minivet

Bar-winged flycatcher shrike

Red-whiskered Bulbul

Red-vented Bulbul

Indian Blackbird

Bluecapped Rock Thrush

Oriental Magpie Robin

Pied Bushchat

Nilgiri Flycatcher

Green Leaf Warbler

Jungle Babbler

Cinereous Tit

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Oriental White Eye

House Crow

Myna

House Sparrow

Black & Orange Flycatcher

Ashy Prinia

Asian Fairy Blue Bird

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

Black Drongo

Common Rose Finch

Malabar Whistling Thrush

Rose Ringed Parakeet

Purple-rumped Sunbird

Brown-breasted flycatcher

Vernal Hanging Parrot

White-throated Fantail

White-throated Kingfisher

Emerald Dove

Brown Shrike

Bush Quail

Black-lored Tit

Golden-backed Woodpecker

Yellow-browed Bulbul

Puff-throated Babbler

Square-tailed bulbul

Rock Pigeon

Greenish Warbler

Malabar Parakeet

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta

Indian Scimitar Barbler

Yellow-naped Woodpecker

Rufous Babbler

photos of some birds clicked by this team during BBD 2015::