My Writeup: Ram Sethu Uproar

With recent developments happening around Ram Sethu, I decided to take
some time, look at the facts and provide my views in this blog of mine.

Facts

• It is believed in Hinduism that Lord Ram and his allies built a bridge
  across Tamil Nadu, India and SriLanka of stones so as to enable an army
  to cross over to wage a battle with Ravana, the then king of Lanka.
  This belief is from the texts of Ramayana which has been in India for
  ages.
• Hindus form 80% of the population of India.
• Festivals like Ramanavami and Deepavali are celebrated with grandeur all over India in the name of Lord Ram.
• There is still no historic/scientific evidence that the bridge was man-made.
• Government of India recognizes Ram Sethu as a mythical bridge southeast of Rameshwaram,
  Tamil
  Nadu, connecting with the Talaimanar coast of Sri Lanka. The Government
  says the Setu (bridge) is actually a natural, 30-km-long chain of sand
  banks.
• The presence of Ram-Sethu has made ships to take a route around SriLanka to reach the other coast of India.
• The Rs 2087-Sethusamudram project, will build a canal from the west
  coast of India to the east coast without going around Sri Lanka. This project will
  damage the Sethu (bridge). Work on the project began in July 2005.
• The Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project will dredge a channel in a narrow
  strip of sea between India and Sri Lanka, reducing distances and
  cutting costs for freight traffic.
• The Supreme Court has restrained the government from causing any damage to the Sethu following petitions from people.
• A political party in Tamil Nadu, DMK has been a strong believer that no God prevails
  and have been known to take an anti-hindu stance in the past. Most of
  the belief of this party is based on anti Aryan beliefs (people of the
  Northern India).
• DMK wants the continuation of the project.
• The disputed region is India's only marine bio reserve.
• Dredging on the sea bed would cause deaths of marine species like Whales
• Sea life in the region would be destroyed.
• The travel distance saved in this project is very less (few nautical miles)
  compared to other projects of this nature. Hence the cost savings might
  not be phenomenal for the recovery of the project cost.
  

Life of Ram
The life of Ram is an inspiration to all who seek to be righteous and follow the path of dharma. The whole Ramayana can be seen as one man's life as a son, brother, husband, father and the king. Every aspect of the man and the decision he made though painful for him has been in the footsteps of what is the right and what is for greater good.

Today, people in India celebrate Diwali and Ramanavami all through the country in honour of the great person.

There have been questions raised in modern times about why Lord Ram left his wife in the forest over some citizen's accusation. Or why did he ask her to take agni pariksha (proof of purity) in Lanka. People should know the age when the incident took place is different from what its now. Moreover, Sita could have refused to leave Ayodya or gone to her parent's place. Instead she took it as she believed its for the greater good and what she did was right at an age so long ago. Its not a correct point of view to reexamine history or past in comparison with a modern age mentality.

People should know and have the intelligence to think across ages before they can write or examine the past.


Hindu Belief - A faith undivided
Whether the story of Ram is true or its a myth is not a question. His presence and his life is not merely a belief of a few, but a faith that has been deeply embedded in the minds and the hearts of millions of people. His name is a part of everyday life of many. Parents name their children after him. Saints through ages sang his praise (Thiyagaraja & Tulsidas for example) and men, women and children alike chant his name daily. There are festivals celebrated in his honor by over a billion people. Its a faith in Lord Ram thats undivided.


Extremism among Hindus - Why & How?
Hinduism is a faith that has always been patient and tolerant. Over the ages, this faith amongst people have been caught in the midst of various invasions and humiliation. Historic evidences and monuments had been ravaged by invaders for centuries. Yet the faith has been kept alive because of the people who believe its a part of them.

Mahatma Gandhi's ways of ahimsa and satyagraha for the Indian freedom movement was drawn from the essence of this very faith. It proved an effective weapon bringing down the curtains on the dominating and unethical English rule in India.

Over years post independence, political parties has been following the English way of giving priorities and incentives to the minority religions causing a divide and rule. These political parties still use the same tool to lure voters and come to power.

When people are subjected to such invasion, slaughter and disgrace over a period
of time it brings a revolt by the oppressed against the oppressive.
This is what is seen as instances by few sections of the Hindu society
in India.


Karunanidhi & DMK
Ever since the Ram Sethu project was brought up the Tamil Nadu government has been supportive of the project. But the government is not sure about the cost effectiveness of the project as well as its not clear whether the cost savings would outweigh and justify the destruction of India's only marine bio reserve.

Without clarity and certainty on the above mentioned points, moving ahead with the project is not the right way to go.

The current DMK regime lacks the clarity. As a matter of fact, its ministers are not bright or educated to make the right calls for the progress of the state. For instance A Raja (current minister for Telecom at the Center) had been a Forest Minister when the tiger population in India became an all time low. Despite program like Project Tiger and funding from abroad the ministry under him had not been effective. The same holds good for Mayor of Chennai, Stalin who had left the city of Chennai without daily water supply.

Poor management and corruption has been well known identity of the DMK regime. But there should be no surprises to anyone on this. The party is a good representation of leaders who are illogical, incompetent and lack of judgement for the RIGHT, TRUTH and COMMON SENSE.

For instance, removing the Ram Sethu formation is not wrong if its done with proper justification and after clarity and proof of what good it could bring. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, instead of getting the right scientific and economical people to get to the facts. went about calling Ram a myth and a mere character in a story book written by sage Valmiki. He went on to embrace "a divide and rule policy" amongst the people of Tamil Nadu saying Ram is a God for people in Nothern India (Aryans) and not Dravidians. He and his party sinked to all time low calling for a state wide bandh (strike) to go ahead with the Sethusamudram project.

What Karunanidhi as a leader must know is he has been elected by the people and should hence represent them. There are many important projects that needs to be implemented by his government but concentrating on small misleading projects and calling bandh does not befit any ruling party leader. He needs to get his priorities right and if his brain is too slow for it, I guess the right thing to do then is for him to take/put(by the people) into retirement.


Comments:

1. Karunanidhi has resorted in an unforgivable way to divide the united people of Tamil Nadu. It has been a stand he took years back with "a ban Hindi movement" and stating that "Ram is a God for the Indians outside Tamil Nadu". The DMK wants to segregate the people of Tamil Nadu on this basis Dravidians and Aryans. This centuries old segregation is still used by DMK to get the voters. But people need to get over this and think about progress and freedom from such crooked and narrow ideas.

2. If Sethu samudram project is something that brings good (which facts prove otherwise) then the project must be implemented. The costs of marine life must be weighed against this before taking any steps.

3. For people who have faith in Ram, please be wise to understand that Lord built the bridge for a purpose and it served its purpose. Now if the proposed will bring greater good. The project implementation should go on. But you have the right to get the Government to prove its cost effectiveness and also about the environment.

Media Links

• Overview of the Project
• Info on Ram Sethu
• Economics of the Project
• An article published in the Economic and Political Weekly, VOL 42 No. 29 July 21 - July 27, 2007
• Clash of Faith: 'Aryan' Ram no God down south
• Violation of the Law
• Karunanidhi recites Hindi poem in public

My Writeup: Harry Potter Books

I have completed the series, It had been a great reading that started on the door steps of No. 4 Pivet Drive, when Harry was a baby to the great hall at Hogwarts where he dueled Voldy. There had been times in the stories, I though Harry or the others could have handled better. Well then its a story of life, any who is perfect.

Well pondering deeper into areas of trust and friendship, especially with respect to Harry Potter's life, it all boils down to relationship and making the right decisions at every point in time.

Well, I don't want to be philosophical, but book 7 makes you one, after the loses Harry had to face and decisions he needed to make.

For non-Harry Potter fans, you did miss something by not reading this book.

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My Writeup: Vairamudi Sevai @ Melkote

My second trip to Melkote coincides with the Vairamudi sevai dates at the Thirunarayana Puram temple. The utsavam (temple festival) is significant because the beautiful Lord Chella Pillai is adorned by the materialistic beautiful Turban of diamonds. This utsavam attracts hugh crowd to the little town completely sealing the view of the road. And most of the crowd stays to see the Rajamudi sevali early the next day.

We reached Melkote on the morning of the utsavam. Our accomodation was arranged at the Ahobilam mutt there. We took a quick dip in the Kalyani kulam (a very clean pond during the rest of the year, had been made polluted at that time). We went to the Thirunarayanar temple and took off to the Yoga Narasimhar temple.

Click here for Photos of the utsavam.

My Writeup: The Hunt for the real Treasures - Part I

It is said that Lord Narayana has left many forms he had assumed on this earth for us to see and realize his presence within us. Out of them 106 are very significant. I took 27 years to realize their significance and hence set out to see them all as soon as I could before time batter my body. Here is an account of each of the place I had visited by the Lord’s grace.

Of these 106, I had already visited four of them, many a times; they are

• Parthasarathy Perumal, Chennai,
• Sri Ranganathar at Srirangam, near Trichy,
• Srinivasar at Thirupati and
• Padmanabhaswamy at Thiruvananthapuram.

Malai Nadu Divyadesam

I had found from my mom that there are 13 forms of the Lord here in this state and given the opportunity to work here for the next one month. I had a desire to visit them all. Accordingly, I studied about each of these places from various books and articles from the Internet. Finally, I had my plans drawn to visit my Lord at all of them.

Day 1 – July 2, 2006

Chenganur, is a place in the Alapuzha district of Kerala. Around this town lie 4 of the 13 temples. These 4 temples hold the Lord’s images as worshipped by 4 of the 5 Pandava Kings. After the Great War at Kurukshetra between brothers to establish that the truth alone shall prevail in the world, the Pandava brothers traveled south. Each of them installed temples for Lord Krishna and worshipped him till they attained the feet of the Lord. Chengannur and its adjoining areas house 4 of these temples. The 5^th Pandava brother built the temple near another town called Chenganasherry further north to Chengannur. In between these two towns of Chengannur and Chenganasherry is a small town called Thiruvalla where the well known Sri Vallabha Shketram is present. These 6 temples were my first destinations.

Before I began, I prayed to the Lord for making this happen since it had been raining the previous day. On the morning of July 2, 2006, I set out to the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) Bus depot at Thiruvananthapuram at 3:00 am. I took the bus to Thrissur 3:30 am at Platform 4. There were two options here a Fast Passesnger and a Super Fast bus, I chose the Super Fast since it skips most of the intermediate stops thereby saving almost 30 min of travel time. It was not until 3:45 am that the bus started off towards Chengannur. I reached Chenannur at 6:30 am. The bus fare was Rs. 66. I immediately engaged the services of an autorickshaw driver and negotiated to see all the 4 temples for Rs. 250 in the next few hours.

The four temples I visited were distributed around Chengannur. First of them was Aranmula about 10 Kms to the west of Chengannur Bus Stand. This temple is well-known for its boat races. The Lord here is called Parthasarathy and his statue was in a standing posture. This statue of the Lord was installed by the Pandava king, Arjuna to whom the Lord had served as a charioteer during the Kurukshetra war. Arjuna worshipped the lord after his retirement for years before he finally attained his feet. The temple was made well, and it drew quite some attention from the people of the town at 7 am. The Lord was covered with chandanam (sandalwood paste). The prasad here was chandanam and some flowers from the feet of the Lord in a small piece of banana leaf. I tried to get some photos of the Lord in the nearby shops, but they were not selling any.

One other thing I wanted to mention is, in Kerala men must be preferably wearing a dhoti and bare chest before the Lord. It’s a customary practice throughout. Hence I carried my dhoti and uttriyam which I wore in each temple.

My next stop was Thirupuliyur. This temple is around 4 kms to the west of Chengannur, The temple drew quite some visitors in the early morning hours. The temple was neat and wonderful. The statue of the Lord here was in a standing posture. The Lord had a brass muha (face). The Pandava king, Bhima installed this form of Lord Krishna and worshipped him till he attained the feet of the Lord. The temples prakaram (surrounding the sanctum) was well made with stones. The prasad which was given to me was chandanam and some flowers from the feet of the Lord on a small piece of banana leaf.

From Thirupuliyur, we went a bit north to Thiruchitharkarai (Thiruchenkkur). Here the statue of the lord seemed smaller compared to those at Aranmula and Thirupuliyur. The Lord was in a standing posture. This statue was installed here by Yudhistra the eldest of the Pandava kings known for his virtue of upholding the dharma. He prayed the Lord here for his sins he had committed during the war, until he was pardoned and taken as refuge at the feet of the Lord. The temple was quite empty and I had a long and wonderful time praying to him all by myself. The temple’s prakaram needs improvement as it was made of small pebbles and sand and lots of improvements are possible here. I wanted to help do this and prayed for the Lord’s blessing to bring me back here so that I could do what I want to. Here too I got chandanam and flowers from the feet of the Lord as prasad.

Further north is the temple whose statue was installed by Nakula, the fourth of the Pandava king. This place is called Thiruvamundur. The Lord here too was in a standing posture. The statue seemed to be made of granite and was very big. I liked him a lot. There was not much crowd here as well and I enjoyed praying to him for a longer time. I got some photos of the lord over here. I was given some prasad in the form of chandanam and flowers. This temple had quite some people visiting it.

I was dropped back near the Chegannur bus stand at around 10:00 am. I had food at a hotel and went to the Bus Stand to take a bus to Thiruvalla. Usually the temples in Kerala close by 11:00 am and I was not sure whether I would really be in a position to see Lord Vallabha in the morning. Miraculously, I got a bus to Thiruvalla immediately. Once I got down there after a 15 min drive, I enquired at the office for any bus to Sri Vallabha Skhetram. The person I had asked immediately came out, and asked me to follow him. I followed him quickly as he ran towards a bus that was about to depart. He asked the conductor to help me get down at the Market bus stop near to the Temple. In about 5 min I was getting down at the designated location. As I got down, a lady from the same bus asked me to follow her since she was heading to the same place. After about 10 min walk, I reached the temple at 10:45 am. Nothing can be said of all the help I got despite me not knowing the local language. I could clearly see that it was His wish that I see Him.

This temple drew lots of people. There were functions being organized here. It had a hugh prakaram as well. I also saw an elephant at this temple. I went to the sanctum where the Lord was housed. The Lord was in a standing posture. He had four hands. Two of which carried the discus and the conch. One was carrying a lotus and the other was on his hips. I had time to pray to him and thanked him for all this mercy in bringing me to the place with ease. I got chandanam and flowers from the Lord and left for my final destination near Chenganaserry.

I walked back to the bus stand and took a bus back to the Thiruvalla bus stand. Here, I got another bus to Chenganaserry almost without any wait time. I reached Chenganasherry in 20 min, had some snacks and searched for an internet café so that I could spend the next 4 hours there.

My next temple was at Thirukodittaanam about 2-3 kms from Chenganasherry in the East. This temple was built by Sahadeva, the youngest of the Pandava brothers. The temple opened at 5 pm. I waited outside for about 30 minutes. During this time met a local boy named Ajeesh. Ajeesh was an Economics graduate. He explained me a lot about the temple thereby answering all my queries. The temple had a pillar in front where laid in horizontal a granite statue of a figure like man. He had a crown like that of a king and a conch in his left hand with a sacred thread. It is believed that the temple witnessed a time where feudal warfare was at his heights. During one such time, a neighboring king wanted to annihilate the region becoming jealous of its prosperity. He was cursed and hence attained a form of the figure. Since then normalcy returned to the region. Another significant thing about this temple which is very much noticeable is its fort like walls which curved to the top. The wall was erected in one night and was believed to be the work of demons protecting the temple from damage due to invasions. The wall looked unique made of bricks and no cement.

At 5pm, the temple opened and I went ahead to seek the blessings of the Lord in the form that Sahadeva had workshipped. He was magnificent with a brass covered face. I was told by the priest of a Yoga Narashimhar behind the Lord. I went in pradhakshanam and found the figure of Lord Narasimha glittering in the lights of the oil lamps lit inside. He was looking really awesome. This temple had lot of unique identity to it and is a must see. I performed archana here and obtained the prasadam. Here the chandnam was pink in color.

In this temple I met a person from Bangalore along with his mom. After my dharshan of the Lord I found that they had left already. Hence I walked back and picked an autorickshaw to head back to Chenganasherry Bus Stand. On the way I saw them, standing at another bus stand. I wanted to pick them up. But the auto moved fast and I did not say anything so as to avoid an argument with the driver. But, I felt I had made a mistake. I got a bus back to home at 6:00 pm and reached the Thiruvananthapuram Bus Depot at 10:00 pm.

Day 2 – July 3, 2006

It had been raining heavily in the morning hence I decided to buy an umbrella before I set out today. I had made up my mind to visit Adi Kesava Perumal and Venkatachalapathy.

Adi Kesava Perumal Temple was at a small village called Thiruvattar. This town is around 7 kms east from the Marthandam bus stand in between Thiruvananthapuram and Nagerkoil bus route. Venkatachalapathy Shrine is at Tirupatisaaram about 4 kms from Nagerkoil’s Vadachery bus stand where the KSRTC buses stop.

At around 3:20 pm, I took a bus from the Thiruvananthapuram Bus Depot towards Nagerkoil. The bus frequency is pretty good in this route with one Fast Passenger bus every 10 minutes. It was unfortunate that the bus’ tire was giving fumes out due to heat. I could not afford to waste time. Hence I prayed to the Lord for his help. The conductor got all the passengers into another KSRTC bus which was heading to the same destination. I got down at Marthandam bus stop and engaged an auto rickshaw to visit Thiruvattar and get me back to the Marthandam bus stop for Rs. 80. I reached the temple at 5:05 pm.

I was shown into the temple and I was amazed to see how much this temple resembled the one at Thiruvananthapuram. The entrance to the sanctum was from the rear of the temple. The Lord here was also similar to the one at Thiruvananthapuram. He was lying on the king of all serpents, Adi Sheshan. His head was towards from right unlike that of Padmanabhaswamy whose face was to my left. I had a good dharshan of the Lord. I prayed for his wishes to help me return to this wonderful temple. The temple was empty and I had spent time seeing the Lord in his magnificent form. Its believed that Lord Narayana rested here on Adi Sheshan after banishing the demons Kesa and Kesi.

I went back to Marthandam, took a bus to Nagerkoil. I had to enquire a bit here to find the way to get to Tirupatisaaram. A mini bus was to leave every 30 minutes. I waited and took the bus. It was around 7:15 pm when I reached the village. I enquired about the direction to the temple and I was informed that the temple was just a few meters ahead and that it would close soon. I rushed to the temple hoping to see Him. I quickly changed to traditional clothes and went in; I was shocked to see the doors of the sanctum closed. I asked a girl in the temple whether the doors would open again and to my relief she said it would for the deepa aradhanai.

As the doors flung open, I realized that was looking at one of His most magnificent forms. It seemed to me as if the Lord was looking at me with his bug eyes. His form was hugh and very beautiful at first sight and much more as the moments passed. I had not seen him this way before; He was in a sitting posture with the sudharsana chakra (discus) in one hand and the conch in the other. After delivering justice to Hiranya Kasipu, Lord Narisimha was in a rage that terrified Goddess Lakshmi. She came over to this place and meditated upon him. After He had calmed down, the Lord came over to Tirupatisaaram and took his wife back into his heart. There is a sanctum for Lord Rama along with his brother Lakshmana and wife, Sita. Along with them is Hanuman’s statue as well. In the same sanctum are statues of sage Agathiar, Vibhishana and Namalwar. Thirupatisaaram is supposed to be the hometown of Namalwar’s mother. This temple at Tirupatisaaram is also significant for the fact that, Vibhishana while returning to Lanka from Ayodhya was given the divine vision to witness Lord Rama’s crowning ceremony that was taking place in Ayodhya.

I met a person here, named Ramesh who sold me some drawings of the Lord. I came back to Vadacherry bus stand at 8:30 pm with the help of one of temple priest in an auto rickshaw. I immediately boarded a bus to Thiruvananthapuram which reached its destination at 10:40 pm.

Day 3, July 15, 2006

I wanted to go to the Padmanabha Swamy temple today. I took a auto rickshaw from my place of stay (Vazthacaud) and reached the temple which is located at East Fort around 7:30 pm. It was a Saturday and there was special pooja as usual. I stayed at the temple for almost an hour. During this time I also sat with a group of people listening to a discourse from an old man. He was talking of Mahabharatha. While in this temple, I was amazed recollecting the similarities with the Aadi Kesava Perumal temple, that I had been to a while back.

At around 8:15 pm, the Lord came out in a palanquin. He was followed by Goddess Lakshmi. There were 4 bearers for each of the palanquin. The Lord’s idol was small and made of Gold, that’s the specialty of this temple. After three pradakshanam, the Lord went back to his sanctum.

I followed the Lord and took a special dharshan ticket to see him for the last aarathi. The moolavar, was splendid as always. I had a great view of the Lord through the first door. I always liked this temple. I hope I will get a chance few years later to visit my Lord over here again.

The next day, I took a trip to the temple of my first Guru, Lord Parasurama. The significance of this temple is that it’s the only temple for Lord Parasurama in India. The temple is not far from the Padmanabha Swamy Temple. In fact one should take a bus towards Kovalam Beach from East Fort Bus stand (opposite Padmanabha Swami Temple). The temple is at a place called Thiruvallam and is just a few minutes walk from the Thiruvallam bus stand.

Day 4, July 22, 2006

I reached RC Uncle’s home at Ernakulum in the morning. Mom had arrived few days before from Chennai. I had made my plan to visit the next 4 temples. Uncle made some changes and a mini van was rented. In the evening, Uncle, Leela aunty, Moli aunty, mom and I headed to the Trikkakkara. This place boasts of a temple of Vamanamurthy and is situated in Ernakulum. It is this place where the Lord had made Emperor Mahabali realize his true self. Mahabali is the grandson of Prahalada (Narasimha Avatar).

Trikkakkara temple opens at 5 pm. Since we had reached the temple early, we headed to the Lakshmana Perumal temple at Moozhikkalam. The Lakshmana Perumal temple is situated at 8 kms from a small town called Athaani near Angamali. This temple is said to be devoted to Lord Narayana and Lakshmana had offered prayers to the Lord over here to be forgiven for his attempt to kill his brother Bharata who came to meet Lord Rama in exile.

There was some rush here at the temple. We came know that it is considered auspicious to visit 4 temples associated with Ramayana here during this month. After few minutes the rush was gone and I was delighted to spend some time with the lord.

From here we went back to Trikkakara, The Vamanmurty was in the form of Thiruvikrama (conqueror of the three worlds). The Lord was beautiful here. I could not see the Vamana form here with a umbrella, but the Lord was wearing a crown indicating the Thiruvikrama form which he had taken while accepting Mahabali’s offering of three steps of land – Heaven, Earth and himself. There is a Kapila kulam (pond) which Mahabali had used to give out the three wishes of Vamana.

Day 5, July 23, 2006

This day was the longest, and we started out at 5 am. A student of RC Uncle and her daughter joined us for this trip. We headed north towards Malapuram district. Here we went to a town called Pattambi in Palakkad district. From Pattambi we traveled towards Guruvayoor for 5 kms and came to a place called Kootupathai.

The anju moorthy temple is situated around 3 kms from Kootupathai in a village called Thirummittakode. Thirummittakode is situated on the banks of the Bharatha river (puzha is the Malayalam word for River). As we reached the temple, the rain began. It was nice to walk between the sanctums in the rain.

The temple has 4 sanctums for Lord Vishnu and one for Lord Shiva. The Pandava brothers had installed the idols and had worshipped Lord Narayana over here. The main temple entrance is 3 feet high. Upon entering it we find the Shiva lingam. Behind this sanctum is Lord Vishnu as worshipped by Arjuna. On the right of these two sanctums is the temple of the Lord where Bhima had offered prayers. On the left is the one where Yudhishtra had prayed to the Lord. Further to the left, is the sanctum where Nakula and Sahadeva had offered worship to Lord Narayana. The temple was beautiful and the atmosphere was very serene with the river running beside it.

Next, we traveled further North West towards Kuttipuram. Thirunavai. This temple too lies on the banks of Bharata puzha. The temple is well known among the locals for performing the rites of their deceased forefathers.

The temple is that of Nava Mukundan. It got the name Nava from the nine sages who had worshipped here and had attained salvation. It is also believed that here Goddess Lakshmi and Gajendran the king of Elephants had offered worship to the Lord. Due to this the supply of lotus flowers in the river dwindled. When Gajendran prayed to the lord, The lord took Lakshmi as his wife and gave moksha to Gajendran.

The idol of the Lord is visible only above the waist. It is said that behind the idle there is a very deep pit which is unexplored. The Lord was beautiful here and I spent sometime over here praying to him.

Our next halt was Guruvayoor. We had to stand in a long queu, but surprisingly the queue got reduced very quickly and we got a dharshan of Lord Krishna though just for a few seconds.

From Guruvayoor, we traveled to Triprayar, near Irinjalakuda. A well known temple. There are customs here to feed the fishes and burst crackers. There was hugh crowd and it took us a while to see the Lord. Rama here was in the form of Vishnu with four hands bearing the discus, conch, a bow and a garland. The temple was small but beautiful.

We headed to the Bharata’s temple of Lord Narayana at Koodalmaanikkam. Here my Lord was looking great. There was no rush when I entered the gates, I had few minutes for myself with the Lord right ahead of me. Prayed silently for sometime. Then we got back to the last of the temples from Ramayana at Payammel. We reached the place at 8 pm. There was a big traffic jam about 1 km from the temple. Hence we decided to get back home.

My Writeup: Has the government lost Moral responsibilities?

Oh my God, Please save my motherland.

Yes, thats exactly what I feel everytime the Govt of India takes a stand in various matters that would shape the future of the land and its people.

After its 2nd anniversary, the UPA Govt, (headed by Congress), brought in the reservations, that so much divide the people based on caste. 60 years since the British left our shores, Indian govt., still follows the same method of running the govt, forcing a divide amongst its people. Gone are thoughts of moral responsibilites to investigate a better way of bringing in reservations that would be Quality centric.

Now, the Office of Profit bill. (http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/31/stories/2006053123200100.htm). Following expulsion of Sonia Gandhi (Congress chief) and few other Members of Parliament (MP), the ruling party has created a bill that would side track 56 positions within the Govt., that can be held by the MPs. The bill got passed in both the houses of the Parliament. But, the President of India did not accept the bill in its current state. Stating that the bill lacked uniformity and a standard that could be applicable to all states and union territories of the nation he has sent it back to the Parliament. This brings in great moral responsibility by the Govt., to amend it in a proper manner or withdraw the bill. But I wonder whether the current Govt., has any moral values at all?