Great Ram of Madurantakam

30th January, 2011.

The weather was cold and I was too lazy to get up early on a Sunday. With great difficulty, I managed to get myself up and refreshed myself. As usual, I logged on to Yahoo! to check my mails. There were lots of spams, promotional mails, but amidst all this junk there was a mail which was of interest to me. It was a mail from a software engineer named Srinivasan with the title "Thanks to Lord Ram of Madurantakam". His words in the mail were as follows: "Thanks a lot for this post on Madurantakam. What you have written is 100% true. Ram exists in Madurantakam. I prayed for my career and guess what..... the most fascinating episode in my career is about to take place with His blessings. I am going to Germany. Kuddos man! Thank you. I am grateful to Lord Ram". These mails aren't ordinary ones, but testimonials to Lord Ram who exists and protects Madurantakam. His glory will never fade. Any kid born in Madurantakam is brought up telling his glories and virtues about how He blessed British Collector Lt.Col.Plaze.

I live a bit far from Madurantakam now, but my feelings and respect towards this deity has grown up manifold due to this separation. I feel peace every time I think of him. I feel calmness inside me when I write about His glories. I feel proud when India wins a cricket match. I feel equally proud of my Lord when someone says,"Great Ram of Madurantakam blessed me". Once upon a time, I was a skeptical person who always had doubts of stories related to miracle and expected proofs, but once I started believing him wholeheartedly, I changed a lot.

This post is again a humble dedication from my part to my beloved Lord Ram of Madurantakam.

Regards,
Krishna Kumar.S

Visit to Srirangapatna and Nimishamba Temple

"Dear Friends, this travelogue is a humble dedication to people of Karnataka. I consider it as an honor and privilege to write about this great state and its citizens. I am also thankful to God in giving me a new opportunity to interact with people of this state and learn many good things from them".

With best Regards,
Junior KK.




Nimishamba Temple, Srirangapatna.

16th October, 2010.
Time: 04:15hrs.

The clock strikes 4:15AM. The alarm in my mobile starts singing,” Nanna dhvanige ninna dhvaniya, seridante namma dhvaniya. Na swaramu nee swaramu sangamamayi manaswaranga avatarinchey.......”. I woke up and got ready in 30 minutes. The climate in Bangalore was cool in the morning hours. At 5:30AM, I came out of my house at Bommanahalli and walked past the mosque towards Begur Road. Local isthiri wala Sridhar was busy with his pressing work. We greeted each other and after 5 minutes chat with him I started with my journey to Bommanahalli bus stop. A couple of street dogs accompanied me till the signal. I boarded 356C bus bound towards Majestic circle.

The bus was crowded even at that unearthly hour. That surprised me a little. As my bus crossed Madiwala, I almost got a seat, but a guy pushed me aside and threw his bag thus reserving the seat. After he sat, he gave an accomplished look at me and I couldn’t resist laughing inside. The journey lasted 40 minutes and I reached Majestic comfortably even though I was standing all the way. I walked towards the Railway station and purchased a ticket to Mysore though I was visiting Shrirangapatna. To be on the safer side, I purchased an Express category ticket so that I had the advantage of travelling in both Express and Passenger just in case if I changed my plan to visit Mysore (had a different backup plan).


Sriranganathasamy Temple, Srirangapatna.

I walked to platform 6 and waited patiently. 214 Tirupati-Mysore Fast Passenger arrived 20 minutes late with a BZA WAG-5#23x91 locomotive and there was a mad rush. I occupied one of the doors and waited for the train to start. Those 15 minutes seem to be the longest in my life. At 7:45AM, I heard a typical WDM-2 type honk and my train slowly chugged out of SBC. I liked the driving style of the loco pilot. My train curved towards the right and then towards left and after crossing Nayandahalli the train picked up high-speed. The first halt was at Kengeri. There was a mad rush and my train became jam packed. With a couple of youngsters sitting in the doorstep, I stood behind them observing the scenery as the train travelled across rural Karnataka. It was diesel action all the way. Diesel locomotives have a charm of their own! It’s also nice and interesting to watch them, though I am more of an electric fan.



My passenger reached Maddur at 9:15AM. A good amount of crowd got down at Maddur. Couple of vendors holding “Maddur Vadas” boarded the train and they started making good business! I had an idea of tasting it, but later quit it as I was a bit concerned about hygiene. I knew it would be good and hygienic, but still I thought “maybe next time”. My train was running a bit late as it had started late, but I wasn’t bothered. I found some space near the door and I started rail fanning. There weren’t any crossings so there weren’t much rail action, but overall the entire atmosphere was awesome and it made me feel good.



At Mandya, some chain-pulling incident happened and as a result my train was made to wait for 5 minutes. Yeliyur, Byadrahalli, Pandavapura were scheduled stops and my train halted there. It was a pleasant sight to watch the villages from trains. I noticed that the train was fully packed only till Maddur and after Maddur the train was mildly crowded.



After getting down at Srirangapatna, I walked to the front to observe the locomotive. After a scheduled minute halt, my train started and it was a real beauty to watch KJM WDM-2 departing the station with its smoke all around. As the train disappeared, I sat under the tree to enjoy the rural beauty of Karnataka and then proceeded towards Srirangapatna Ranganathaswamy temple.



I was impressed by the temple at first sight. There was a delay in darshan as poojas were conducted for the deity. I purchased laddu prasad for my cousins and then went around taking photos of the temple, sculptures in my camera mobile. I was amazed at the beauty of the sculptures and the cleanliness of the temple. The temple was indeed well maintained. I spent a good 45 minutes at the temple premises before leaving to my next destination Nimishamba temple 5km away from here.



After visiting the temple, I proceeded towards the town and walked inside for a kilometre. By now the weather was too hot with scorching sun right above my head. There weren’t any good hotels, but I accidentally bumped into a nice chap. He was an auto-driver and he suggested that I should take a bus to Nimishamba temple instead of going in auto. I told him that I would rather go in his auto, but he wouldn’t accept and he suggested that a bus would be cheaper costing only Rs.5/- instead of Rs.40/- for his auto. I was amazed as I haven’t come across such an auto-driver so far in my life who advocates so much for bus. I told him that an auto would be more convenient and proceeded with him. He agreed to take me to Nimishamba temple and drop me back at Shrirangapatna bus stand for Rs.40/- without any waiting charges. It was a jackpot for me. I never heard such things in Chennai.



I enjoyed the journey very much. It is believed that anyone visiting Nimishamba temple should donate lemons to the deity. In return they are offered lemons by the priest which were kept in pooja earlier and those lemons should either be made into juice same day or kept in home for 21 days and then thrown out. I offered 3 lemons and got 3 lemons as prasad. The temple looked fairly small with Kaveri River nearby.



Nimishamba is a form of goddess Parvati. There is a belief that Parvati will clear off all problems and trouble of her devotees within a minute. That explains the reason for the name "Nimishamba". "Nimisha" means a minute.

I roamed around the temple for around 25-30 mins and returned back to my auto. I thought that auto-driver may demand a few rupees extra, but he didn’t ask me anything and he dropped me off at the bus stand. I walked towards the nearest hotel. I had two chapattis and one masala dosai. The hotel wasn’t very hygienic, though it looked big, spacious with a lot of tables. The bus stand was very near and in 15 minutes I managed to catch a bus to Bangalore. I boarded the bus at 13:00hrs and I reached Majestic at 16:30hrs. I had problems of finding a bus to Baiyappanahalli and it took 30 minutes to find one. After 1 hour ride, I reached BYPL Nilgiri’s stop. My cousin brother’s house was very near to the tracks. I spent the weekend at his house before returning to Bommanahalli.

-Krishna Kumar.S
a.k.a Junior KK
IRFCA-SBC

Save the girl child!

I had been waiting to publish this article for some time. Let me share with you about what I have observed in the society. I have observed two sets of people. A conservative, worried, always tensed generation belonging to the age group of above 30 (born before 1980 era) and another is a hopeless breed of so called “cool dudes” (born in 1985-86 along with me). I regard the present day younger generation of India in the age of 14-25 as hopeless souls, hooligans with wrong attitude and lack of character. Since I also belong to their age group, I am also useless. Let me make this confession and start with the article. Well, of course not entire present generation is bad, but majority of them have no intelligence or the basic manners to respect values. I blame the cinema industry for treating women as sex objects.

Now let me narrate a real life incident. I was travelling to NIIT Nungambakkam to get some of my documents verified. It was a hot day in September. I was travelling in 29C and I boarded the bus at Adyar signal. I took my seat near the window. My bus stopped at Stella Mary’s bus stop where lot of college girls got in. They were dressed in modern dresses. The present day generation is so infatuated by the money thrown by IT/BPO industries the younger generation has failed to realize the harm in following Western culture especially in a repressed culture like India where men are desperately hungry to taste the forbidden fruit. Being modern or dressing in western style is not wrong, but there should be some discretion practiced. Right from womb till grave a girl child is never safe. India is not former USSR or erstwhile Soviet Union where women are given equal rights. Girl children are killed in womb. Girl babies are killed in villages after birth by giving poison. If they manage to survive all this, they get molested or raped. That’s the way they get treated in this land where men worship Durga and Goddess Lakshmi.

Now let me narrate the bus journey. There were a bunch of useless college students in the back. These guys think that they become professionals if they join a B.E or B.Com course. No one is a professional. People become true professionals when they know how to treat another human being in a humane manner. I doubt whether these guys of present era come anyway near it. Let me describe their appearance. Piercing in ears and in the chin, handkerchief over the head, t-shirt without collar with the divine ‘F’ word written multiple times, shaded jeans. I can also type a few more, but my sisters would be reading this. I would rather stop here. It is for the better tomorrow of these people, Indian Army soldiers die in the border and the worst part is that God is watching all this. What’s even more pathetic is that a soldier dies in border fighting intruders; his wife becomes a widow and gets a pension of few hundreds while the people inside the country continue to enjoy life. The worst thing is that no one is bothered. Someone else is suffering. Someone else has become a widow. Is it my daughter? Is it my sister? That’s the way everyone thinks which is entirely wrong.

Coming back..

As the bus stopped at Stella Marys the college girls got in. One of them couldn’t control his excitement and desperation and exclaimed "Machi, Super figure da". (Machi in Tamil is a short form for brother-in-law) His friend was too elated and couldn’t help whistling. The girl noticed and you should have watched her reaction. Man! She was happy! I turned my face and looked out of the window and I was laughing inside. I was thinking of former President Abdul Kalam and his statement requesting youngsters to dream. The youngsters were indeed dreaming a lot!

After I got some of my documents verified I started my journey back. I was to board 29C again. I came to the bus stop and was waiting there. 29 C came and I boarded it. As the bus crossed Stella Mary’s a girl boarded the bus. Immediately, the entire gang (this is a different gang, but still no difference) started shouting raising double meaning slogans. The poor girl got a bit afraid and sat in the front itself and didn’t even come to purchase the tickets. Then these guys were planning to approach her. The girl got a bit fed up and she got down fearing embarrassment.

Maybe after a few years, if China invades India, all these boys should be conscripted and should be posted in the border to defend every inch of Indian soil. If they retreat from the border, they should be shot by Generals for retreating. It requires more courage to retreat than advance. At that time, they would realize how tough life could be if one is in the suffering end. The entire woman population is taken for granted and is being preyed by hungry men. I know I can’t do anything. I won't react to this, but I have the right to portray them here. I could only wish the Soviets were around and they wouldn’t have allowed this to happen.

The reason for all this nonsense is the aggressive expressions of love that one sees in the movies. However, according to some psychologists the root cause of eve teasing is the patriarchal mindset of the Indian male. They like to believe that they have power over the women society. They thrive on the fact that even today a large number of women still prefer to ignore rather than to confront. I blame all this on the cinema industry. All these bloody films have projected women as a sexual object and not as human beings with emotions and hence the cine industry has created a "Frankenstein" in the younger generation.

During my school life I have observed that girls who are dark in colour are bullied a lot and girls having fair skin are portrayed as Goddess. I seriously don’t see anything so great between dark complexion and fair complexion. Human society fails if crimes can't be prevented. Majority of the films portray heroes passing sarcastic comments on dark skinned women and even passing remarks on women who are fat. There is also a sarcastic portrayal of eunuchs. I wonder how the Government gives permission to publish such scenes. The government has failed in its purpose to protect its citizens.

I seriously wonder what the sensor board is doing. And immediately, critics might argue saying that there is a right to practice freedom of speech. Is that a freedom of speech or freedom to insult a human being? If such things are to be practiced let the Preamble of the Indian Constitution is changed. Why should India be declared as a socialist, secular, democratic republic? Let it be an ordinary democratic republic. There is no bloody socialism over here. I only see that there are ethnic jokes like Sardarji jokes, Anti-Brahmin jokes and ethnic violence. There is no secularism. I see more of communal violence and inter-caste violence. And I would like to reserve my comments about democracy in India.

-Krishna Kumar.S
a.k.a Junior KK
IRFCA-MAS

Reason for multiple religions

It was some time ago during one of my visits to temples I discovered something which could be an answer to queries regarding multiple Gods and multiple Religions. An answer that could even bring peace to the world. The answer is quite simple and basic. During the days of 2008 when I started working, I got my first salary. I bought some sweets for my parents. I wanted to gift some dress to beloved ones. Since I had no brothers or sisters, I had no ways to celebrate. I did have “foster” brothers and sisters but they were either far or busy with career preparations. I thought I should buy a saree as a gift and present it to a girl. But do you think that if I present a saree to any girl at college or at workplace, will she accept it? She would either think that I had wrong intentions or she would be afraid to accept fearing what the society would think of her? I need to celebrate at any cost!

Generally, I like doing things rather than keeping them pending. I browsed my mobile's directory to find out if any of my friend’s sisters would be able to help me. I tried calling them the line was either engaged or they were out of station or they were on the other line. I lack patience in life generally! I felt that I would dedicate to Goddess Parvati- female form of Goddess in Hinduism. Parvati is the consort Lord Shiva and theoretically she represents the power of shakthi meaning power, which is possessed by men proving Men and Women are inseparables. In short, it means that a woman represents a man’s power.

I went to Nalli, a big shop in Adyar near to my house. Purchased a Chinnalum pattu. Went straight to the temple and handed over the saree to the Gurukkal (priest). Now what am I trying to say here? Though, I have a socialist secular view, I do believe in God. God is one and the same. But He has come in different forms to convey joy to humanity. On that day at the temple, I was able to give the saree to the Goddess. She accepted it like a sister. I can’t offer a saree to Lord Shiva idol nor to Jesus. There arises a need for multiple figures to satisfy human thoughts. And also whenever a human being is happy he needs to share it with others as that’s the general tendency. I was happy at that time and I was able to share it with someone. This incident did teach a lesson in my life. I am also happy that on that particular day none of my friends picked up their phones or were out of reach from their towers. It’s a miracle! Otherwise, this article wouldn’t have been written now. I just can’t believe that even my friends Rajesh and John didn’t pick up the phone that day-these guys take up in the first ring usually!

Variety is the spice of life. Enjoy it! Jesus came to the world took all the pains and died on the cross for the sins committed by humans. Here it proves that God would never quit on humans and He is willing to take any amount of pains for the mankind. He would never give a challenge which cannot be faced and handled by His creations. Allah hasn’t got a physical figure-here God proves that he is omnipresent and everywhere! There might be some questions in your brain now.

What are the communists here in this world for? My view is that they are also good people trying to do goodness to society by bringing everything under Government control to offer food, security, education to every citizen. And how come there are many Religions? The answer is simple. Ages go there lived people who were fascinated by many things and they wanted to propagate their views, theories, and culture. Each one wrote their own version which was indeed just and true. The subsequent generations got fascinated by each theory and adopted the one which interests them. Like if I like reading about history and heritage definitely, I would suggest reading and writing as a hobby and not partying! The basic outline of every religion is not to hurt another human being but to walk in the righteous way.



You might ask why in every religious complex like temple or dargah it is written that people of other faith shouldn’t enter. Answers are simple. This is a typical human behaviour. Even in my life, I had a lot of views. My friends agreed and appreciate it. Not one or two. Everyone! The whole bunch. If people agree with you, you generally have the tendency to treat them well. I had some other views too which may be right or wrong. My friends disagreed. I would get angry and I would try to show my discontent in some way. It projects I am hurt or upset by the disagreement. Likewise, the same applies to Religions and that’s what is happening in the human society. Human psychology!

It’s high time and people stop hitting each other. Before that, I should change myself as I am also a short tempered imperfect person. Each and every event in life is interconnected and leads to another event and it’s an endless process ultimately ending in truth. Every story, every proverb has got a meaning and a moral! For example, there’s a story in which Lord Vinayakar quarrels with Muruga for a fruit and Lord Muruga (Subramanian or Karthik as known in North India) separates from God’s family due to dispute. Lord Vinayakar circled around parents and claimed that going around His parents was equivalent to that of circling the earth. This could be mean that respecting parents is bound to bring goodness to man. It also indicates that a quarrel or a dispute has always got a disastrous consequence. Seriously, even I need to think about this! At school, I was educated by Anglo Indian teachers, brought up by Hindu parents and some of my friends are Muslims. If either of these people hasn’t entered into my life, my life would have gone for a toss or a big six! I wouldn’t have even graduated.

Critics might argue inquiring from which Engineering college did Lord Ram graduate to build a bridge between Srilanka and Rameshwaram? Or else inquire about how a Virgin gave birth to Jesus? My only answer to them is that there are few things in life which cannot be unraveled and would still remain a mystery and it lies above human sense perception clearly indicating the presence of Supreme Power, the omnipotent reality. One needs to be humble and attain self realization or Enlightment; maybe he could unravel more mysteries of life..... More than what I have written over here.

One last thing anyone might like to ask. Can God be seen? I haven’t seen him either, but I can explain why God doesn’t show his physical form or responds to human queries regarding this presence? The answer is simple. Take me for an example. I love chat items, watching trains, sometimes writing articles, taking photographs. I have dreams of how my future wife would be and what I should do for her. I have got lots of expectations. Just imagine if God shows himself to me? Do you think that I would have any desire/wish in life after that? Do you think that I would marry any girl? If all men start thinking like that way, the world would come to a standstill and would cease to exist in 100 years. Skeptics might ask then why God created the world. Didn’t I say earlier that there are certain things which lie above human perception? The best way one can serve any deity is to rise as high as possible.

-Krishna Kumar.S
Chennai, Tamilnadu.

Divinity of Madurantakam

Madurantakam is a small town located 84km south of Chennai. It is famous for a Ram Temple located at the center of the town and the temple is 1500years old. I personally like Madurantakam very much for many reasons. Primary reason is that a British Collector himself had a darshan of Lord Ram in the year 1796. This is also the only Ram temple in the world in which there is no separate sannidhi for Anjaneyar or Hanumaan. This is because when Lord Ram returned from Lanka with Seetha, Hanumaan was assigned a different task by Lord Ram and as a result he was not present. That's why there is not separate shrine for Anjaneyar at Madurantakam. Instead there is a small temple for Anjaneyar in front of Ram temple which was built later.

I visit the Ram temple at Madurantakam almost every two months if I am in Tamilnadu. Being a devotee of Lord Vishnu, I am always interested in Vishnu Temples. I am personally impressed with the overall majestic appearance of Lord Vishnu as Lord Ram in the Yeri Katha Ramar Temple. His brother Lakshman’s majestic appearance adds more beauty. As far as I know this is the only temple in which Lord Ram is portrayed as holding Sita’s hand. I got this information through the temple priest with whom I converse often.




Madurantakam has an interesting legend associated with it. It is believed that Lord Ram gave darshan to Lt.Colonel Plaze, a British collector when he prayed to Lord Ram to assist him when he was in trouble. It is to be noted that Plaze was a sceptical person.
In the year 1796, the temple authorities decided to build a shrine for Janakavalli Thayar (Goddess Sita). It was a rainy season and Madurantakam Tank was getting full. There was a fear that the bunds would give away and water would come into the town. At that time, Lt.Plaze noticed a huge pile of stones piled up near the Temple. He inquired the purohits why there were so many bricks and stones inside the temple complex.



The purohits replied that those bricks were to be used for constructing a separate shrine for Goddess Sita. The collector was amused. He said that building a shrine wasn’t a priority. He believed that the bricks should be used for repairing the bunds of the tank or should be used to strengthen the bunds. The purohits replied that Lord Vishnu never betrayed any devotee and He always answers the prayers of his devotees. Purohits asked the Collector to pray to Lord Ram sincerely from his heart and they assured him that his prayers would be answered and he would be saved from trouble. Plaze wasn't in a mood to listen to all these stories.



The rains never stopped and the villagers were worried. The entire town of Madurantakam was filled with water everywhere and daily life was affected. Many feared that the tank would overflow and water will come into the town. As a District Collector, Lt.Col Plaze had a lot of work pressure and he was extremely worried. He went to the spot along with his team and inspected the bunds. He prayed at heart that the bunds shouldn’t break. He had no chance now. He has to rely on God now.

There was a flash of lightning. He saw two figures standing at a distance. One of them had a bow in the hand. Lt.Col. Plaze was amazed and spell bound. It was none other than Lord Ram (Vishnu) and his divine brother Lakshman. His prayers were answered! Lord Ram and Lakshman themselves have taken the task of protecting the tank. None of the other members in the team who were with him in the site saw Ram or Lakshman. It was believed that the Collector fainted after having darshan of Lord Ram.



When the rains stopped, the Collector approached the purohits and apologised to them for being sarcastic. He personally took charge of the construction expenses and a shrine for Janakavalli Thayar was built. As a sign of respect, the temple authorities engraved a small idol of Col.Plaze in the walls of the shrine of Janakavalli Thayar as a sign of respect. Even in the temple entrance Col.Plaze’s name is mentioned in return of grattitude.

I love Madurantakam and it's my favourite place in this world! Wherever, I travel to, I would always come and visit this place. This is where I find peace, love and tranquility.

-Krishna Kumar.S

Journey to Chakradharpur (Jharkhand, West Singhbum district)

December 25th, 2009.

I got up at 3:30AM. It was too cold. With the help of geyser, I prepared some hot water and put my legs into it. After 15 minutes, I was feeling better. I was ready in 30 minutes. My adopted pups were awake and were happy to see me awake early in the morning. They started licking my legs and were jumping crazily. I was a bit afraid. Even though, I like dogs I always make it a point not to touch them much or even allow them to lick. I managed to push them back to my apartment and hurriedly moved out with my backpack.

I came out of my house and walked to my neighbour Anoop Bhuyan’s house. He and his nephew Saurabh were getting the car ready for the journey. There were lots of luggages. I am not a person who has great knowledge of car, but I could identify the model as Santro. The time was 4:15AM. The plan was to start by 5AM, but looks like we were ahead of time in our schedule. The plan was to visit Chakradharpur in the neighbouring state of Jharkhand. My neighbours and I became thick close friends within months of our first meet. I was very much interested in roaming around the countryside. They knew it and they asked me to simply join along in their personal trip. I thought it wouldn’t be nice, but they didn’t allow me to decline the offer. Even I was interested in seeing Chakradharpur. Even the very name thrilled me! The name sounded very majestic and imperialistic. I thought ‘Chakradhar’ was a King’s name. That was my guess.

Chakradharpur was situated roughly 340km from Howrah. The plan was to reach the place by 11AM. I would be staying in a separate room at a friend’s place and later join them in the car for the return journey the next day. My friend Anoop is a 40 year old conservative Bengali while Saurabh was a college goer younger to me by a few years. He always had the habit of calling me”Dada”, later I requested him to call me by my name Krishna, but he would just not listen to me.

We started at 4:30AM. Anoop was a good driver! He was driving very well. I almost felt like I was in a train. Excellent speed! Kolkata looked deceptively calm during the early morning hours. Some parts were deserted, but I still found some parts crowded and people were busy. I wondered what they were doing in wee hours of morning. Salt Lake City (Kolkata) looked beautiful even during the morning hours.

The journey was long. It could have been tedious for Anoop and Saurabh, but I was simply enjoying as I like travelling. I took my mobile and started taking notes regarding details needed for my travelogue. Since there were lot of luggages we couldn’t opt to travel by train and moreover, there were other plans for Anoop. My plan was to simply roam around, so it wasn’t a big deal for me. Whether it’s train or car or even a horse cart.

After roughly 1.5 hours we stopped for tea. It was great to have tea in the morning. It was really warm. After 15 minutes, we resumed our journey again. This time Anoop was driving the car a bit slow. I wondered why. Was something mixed in tea??? I had my own worries.

West Bengal looked beautiful, but it lacked in infrastructure. The roads were a bit poor here and there with a lot of dumps and bumps. I observed the countryside and it was beautiful. I was thankful to God for giving me an opportunity to travel to these places. I remember marking these places in map, but never knew that I would be travelling there in any part of my life time. It’s a special feeling. It gives a lot of peace and happiness. I wasn’t going to miss this moment. I connected my mobile and I was listening to some of my favourite songs. No prize for the guesses. I was listening to my favourite Backstreet Boys, Michael Jackson collections.

Around 11:15AM, we reached our destination. Chakradharpur had a lot of railway quarters and colonies for staff. The town (city?) was a bit quiet on that day with not much of activity around even though it was Christmas. I was feeling a bit tired. Saurabh helped me with my new room for the next one day and I refreshed myself by taking a shower. I told him that I would be roaming around the town only in the afternoon and I would like to take some rest. He left me alone and I went for a nap. I didn’t feel like eating anything. I didn’t know why. After one hour nap, I got up and went along with Anoop for lunch at the hotel nearby. I had rotis with rice, while Anoop went for a heavy Non-Veg stuff. He couldn’t understand why I was still a vegetarian. I told him that I was a Brahmin.

After lunch, I went around the town by walk. It was a wonderful experience. I stopped by the countryside and had “gol-guppa” or Pani Puri with onions. The taste was good. Brought back fond memories having Pani-poori in the streets of Kolkata. The local bus stand was not in proper condition but there were other things to boast about. The place still represented British era and it was beautiful. The place was a railway establishment and I could see a lot of quarters and other Government buildings. There were statues dedicated to freedom fighters and people looked amazingly simple with great character.

As I walked towards the bus stand, I came across a board which read as Cuttack-370km, Patna-568km, Nagpur-819km, Vijayawada-1107km, Nasik-1468km. My goodness there were lots of places mentioned. What about Chennai? Well, what about Kolkata? It is the nearest major metro and it was mentioned. Cuttack is mentioned, but what about Bhubaneshwar-the capital? Most of all, why isn’t the capital city of Ranchi not mentioned here? I felt a bit amused.

My first task was to board a share auto or bus to a place called “Kera” to visit Bhagwati temple. It was 10km away as per information collected from my friends in Kolkata. The main hurdle was language. But I was confident of managing with my Hindi. I boarded a bus and purchased ticket to Kera. It was a long journey! The driver took nearly 40 minutes. The bus wasn’t crowded. The roads were dusty. The road conditions in the outskirts were very bad! I found myself travelling between midly dense forests and lonely state highways. The villages gave a sleepy appearance. I was enjoying this journey very much. I was listening to my beloved Backstreet Boys-I want it that way. After 40 minutes, I got down. The temple was nearby and it wasn’t as big as I assumed. I thought it was “Bhagwati Amman” but it was simply Bhagwati Temple. Later only I realized that Amman is a name used only in South India and in the North India it’s “Ma”. The temple was simple and peaceful. My next destination was Ponga to visit a Shiva Temple.

Villages in India manifest a deep loyalty to their hometown. They identify themselves proudly representing their hometown. Even I don’t represent Chennai that proudly. I need to learn a lot from these villagers. I have also observed that a family rooted in a particular village does not easily move to another and even people who have lived in a city for a generation or two refer to their ancestral village as "our village”. I have always felt a sense of pride and loyalty when I speak with Indians who live in villages. They carry themselves with pride not giving to underhanded ways. Maybe some of our guys in corporate offices should learn a lesson or two from these people.

These people also have the habit of sharing things. They share common village facilities-the village pond, grazing grounds, temples and shrines, cremation grounds, schools, sitting spaces under large shade trees, wells. Perhaps equally important, fellow villagers share knowledge of their common origin in a locale and of each other's secrets, often going back generations. Interdependence in rural life provides a sense of unity among residents of a village. I haven’t observed anything as such in cities. Why such contrasts exist?

Viewed from a distance, an Indian village may appear deceptively simple. It may even look silly for a few. A cluster of mud-plastered walls shaded by a few trees, set among a stretch of green or dun-colored fields, with a few people slowly coming or going, oxcarts creaking, cattles roaming around, and birds singing. In reality, any Indian village life is far from simple. The work ethic is strong, with little time out for relaxation, except for numerous divinely sanctioned festivals.

I returned back to my friend’s place at 6 PM. Citing language problems, I wasn’t much interested in roaming at nights. I didn’t want to outdo myself or try anything eccentric and get into trouble. I was very hungry too. I returned back to my friend’s place and had an early dinner at the same hotel where I had lunch but this time alone. Jharkhand’s cuisine was nice and interesting. I love rotis! Rotis, Dal, Khukri, with lots of vegetables. It cost me a good Rs.50. After dinner, I silently slipped to bed.

The next day morning I started my return journey towards Kolkata with Anoop and Saurabh, with lots of luggages. After long hours of continuous driving, we took our breakfast at a place called Galudih. Our next halt was at Ghatsila near Jharkhand-West Bengal where we took rest for about 30 minutes. As we crossed the border, a board sign read,” Welcome to West Bengal”.

-Krishna Kumar.S
a.k.a Junior KK

Stress Buster-A friend's suggestion

How to cope up with stress, problems, bugs and useless people? There are many temporary fixes for the above mentioned problem, but these happen again and again. I was wondering whether there would be any permanent solution. Sometimes, I tackle worries by simply ignoring them. The true fact is that sometimes I am clueless about how to handle things, so that’s the reason why I prefer to ignore things. Fortunately, ignoring problem become solutions. Instead of getting worked up to find a solution, sometimes it is better to ignore problems.

In one such confusing scenario I was clueless. I was suggested by my friend/colleague to dance alone in room to the tune of your favourite music to relieve anger, stress, or boredom. I was surprised at this. At first I thought my friend was joking. I asked,” I don’t know how to dance?” The reply came,”Arre, it’s easy. Simple shake your hands and legs just like that to the tune. You will feel the difference”. The idea is a bit funny and interesting too. I decided to implement the same.

I was sitting with my machine at around 1AM. The compiler spit out errors as usual. I wasn’t irritated, as this work wasn’t my priority now, but still if I am able to accomplish this it would boost my overall confidence, morale and self esteem.

In such a scenario, I remembered the “dancing technique”. At 1AM in the night, I started listening to my favourite Michael Jackson’s-Smooth criminal. Sitting in front of my machine, I had a glass of water and started shaking my legs and hands simply to the tune of Smooth Criminal. I am not a dancer and I am a shy person when it comes to dancing and singing. I was also singing the exact lyrics and within a few minutes, my stress was gone!!!! Even Michael Jackson will turn in his grave, if he hears that his music has got so much of value.

However, by my experience I knew this was a temporary solution. This is something like anaesthesia. Before the effect of anaesthesia falls away, the “operations” need to be performed. I immediately started to work on a task. No, you guessed it wrong! It wasn’t the bit of code which was throwing error. I started to work on my travelogue about my recent trip to the town of Madurantakam (beloved). And after few hours, I came back to the piece of code and it was working fine.

But when I went to bed, I had a smile on my face. Shaking legs, hands for music...... LOL! How did that help me to solve the problem? God only knows. Whatever... I found out a way out thanks to my friend.

Thanks for your patient listening,

Regards,
Krishna Kumar.S
(Travel Writer/Rail nut)
IRFCA-MAS (Indian Railways Fan Club Association)
Visit us at: www.irfca.org