birth day celebrations

I have often wondered and often passed stringent comments on thsoe who used to celebrate birth days.In fact i do not recall any celebrations in my house hold itself till i turned 15, of any bith days, be it that of father , mother , sisters or brother.

Perhaps my hardened stance on birth days is due to lack of celebrations of any such birth days in my younger years or perhaps it may be attributed to my own revulsion at the way in which some of the political leaders used to make it as an advertising compaign to reach their ends.

I think my first remembrance of a birth day was when my father turned 60 (Shastiapthapoorthi celebrations).And mind you i was hardly 5years old and thus the memories of this event were as temporary as a passing shadow.

The time when i realised the importance of a birth day was when i moved to my sister's house, when i was about 13years old.My sister and brother in law, in their income, which was then just sufficient to make both ends meet used to celebrate their birthdays, those of their siblings and that of mine too.Even then i used to think it as a waste of money as i knew how difficult to earn a rupee in those days.But my brother in law(in his best moods) is a person whose passion, enery and enthusiasm in such matters is sort of contagious and whether you wish or not you will be engulfed by it.

There will be invariably a visit to the temple in the morning hours, follwed by some sweets at the house, some outing to a theatre near by in the evening ,preceded by a session at a near by hotel (it used to be invariably My coffee bar near Shathi theatre in those days).The sessions at the hotel used to be fun (and at times embarassing too) as he(my BIL) used to order for a plate of bajji or Mangalore bonda(to which my wife developed an instant liking in those days and may be for the same reason i developed an instant dislike!!) and then start cutting it and distributing to the memebers of the family.(If you count it there will be atleast half a dozen members ).Obviously with the first round of distribution the tiffin is over.

What was behind that distribution is love and affection,A desire to treat in the best way possible not withstanding the limitation of resources and ensuring every ingredient is present (thogh in limited manner)to make it lively At this point of time in life when i spend hundreds of rupees on any outing and when i compare the outings i used to have then and now, and the levels of satisfaction derived,then and now, the former is a winner, hands down.

And the habit imbibed from my BIL slowly grew and as it normally happens , found its outlet when i became a lover/husband/father in that order.And slowly the pleasure of giving, rather than the pleasure of receiving started sinking in.And also the message behind such celebrations.

The birth is a god send gift to us and lease period is in suspence..In the intervening period, it is not merely enough if we have our love and our affection on those around us unless the same is given an outlet in some form, be it words, be it some gifts ...

And only very few people like my son have a gift of words to show their love and affection with out any contamination whatsoever..Those who would like to have a glimpse of his vocabulary , reach and depth may pay a visit to his blog "The endless
horizons" .

This post is not intended to have a reference to the blog, it is a reference to the
energy, love and affection that such words can show on one's birth day making him/her feel as if he/she had really done something worth justifying their living in this universe.

If that be the case every birth day is worth celebrating, for it is reiteration of values, bonding, friendship and ever lasting love and affection..AND THAT IS THE LESSON LEARNT ON THE 60TH BIRTH DAY....

A TRIBUTE TO TEACHERS

I do not know at this juncture, whom i should recall from my memories to honour them on this day devoted to Gurus,and i indeed feel guilty that i have not done it all along in the span of last 58years.My son is a guru, to me at this moment and the first heart felt thanks to him , for having reminded me about my omission, by his post, which is a classic tribute to his teachers.

And coming to the word "Guru", is it confined to only teachers(School, college etc0 or does it extend beyond that.To me before broaching on this issue let me place my gratitude to my teachers who made me what i am to day...

It goes back to Sita teacher(SRI DEVI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL), who took care of me during my first years of schooling, and in the same breath i must acknowledge my other teacher(my own sister Jayam)who with out teaching any thing, lives day in and day out as a role model to be pursued .

Then the memory lane takes me to the next important teacher of my life, who taught me the values of life, a strong belief system in God,self confidence by identifying, accepting and making me a leader to lead various debates, classes etc , who taught me mathematics and English and made me to secure state rank and a school first rank in my school.MANY OF THE VALUES IN LIFE WHICH I HOLD EVEN ON DATE , I OWE it to Sri Vijayaraghavachariar(RAMA KRISHNA MISSION HIGH SCHOOL-North branch).

My college days brought me back the passion for English language as well as Tamil langauge, and since then they were my two eyes.The ease and expertise with which i was able to handle the behavoural science classes ,in both languages , simultaneously later in my life as a faculty , the taste that i have developed to authors like Jayakanthan, Thi Janagiraman, NA Parathasarathy , JK, etc all flowed from my two teachers at College Sri Jagannatha Chariar(Tamil) and sri K.Srinivasan
English).I still recall with agony and pleasure at the same time, when my professor of English did the last part of Antony and cleopatra, the death scene of cleopatra.The entire class was moved and in tears at that moment when he acted like cleopatra,and none of us could take lunch on that day. All of us skipped our lunch as no one was in a mood to go to lunch.And that was the day i recognised the greatness of true love.

Then when i moved in to the professional pursuit, Sri Sadagopan, a chartered accountant by profession, taught me the values about the profession and th need to maintain the highest clarity and integrity, backed with practical wisdom in issues of importance.

LATER WHEN I HAVE TAKEN BANKING AS MY CAREER THE ONE PERSON WHOM I SHOULD MAKE A reference to for all the guidance that he gave to me is Sri Ganesan, who made my career graph to ascend the way in which it is presently progressing.

That much about the teachers, i.e the manner in which the term is loosely understood by masses-then there are many more teachers, like a friend in need, a father's untold love, a mother's spoken love, a sweet heart's timely advise, the actions and words of near and dear, a son and a daughter, and even the opposition of an enemy ,events in society which revolve around you all these are great masters of life. And as my son succinctly put it the life itself is the greatest leveller and to that extent a great teacher too.

I dip my banner in acknowlegement to all those who have contributed directly and indirectly in so many ways for shaping my life.

September 6, 2010 1:20 PM