From & To Sathish #6 - Page 28

Avan, Aval Adhu 503

None of them had spoken a word or even exchanged a glance with each other from the moment they had followed the lion into the forest. The reasons for their collective silence were not the obvious ones like the huge lion that walked before them and that spoke like a human being nor that they were walking into a forbidden forest. Forbidden by the government and by all the scary tales that had been told by those who lived around the ancient forest called Perumalvaram.

The reason for their silence was that all their minds and hearts were heavy with sorrow and memories. Of old and new.

They had walked for about twenty minutes when Madhu, Dharmalingam and Thamarai saw a clearing up ahead of them. The reason they could see the clearing even in the near darkness of the forest was that the full moon shone down brightly on that patch of forest which had no trees in it.

They looked at the wooden benches and chairs that were scattered around the clearing and heard the lion address them.

' Please, sit, rest while I go fetch the master ' and turning around from them walked away into the darkness, growling loudly, ' Don't worry, humans. You are not alone or unprotected. The forest is watching over you.

Since they had been given no choice in the proceedings, Madhu and Meenakshi's parents sat down heavy in heart and heavy in mind and unknownst to them drifted away into a deep sleep.

Then hearing heavy footsteps crunching on dried leaves and twigs, all of them slowly roused themselves up from the sleep that strangely had been rejuvenating even though it had been for a short while.

Madhu opened her eyes and nearly jumped out of the wooden chair in shock for the man she had known to be spartan sat in front of her and next to him sat Buddha the lion.

' Spartan ' she said his name and then looked at him with confused brown eyes and asked, ' Or should I call you Kavin...?'

Spartan smiled, ' I have been called many names, Ma'am but I prefer to be called by the name that was given to me by my mother. She has been dead for more than 600 years and yet I hear her, feel her when I am addressed and spoken to with that name.'

Madhurima sensing his pain smiled sadly and whispered his name, ' Azhagan ' and seeing his face light up, continued, ' So, what happened Azhagan?'

' Both are dead ' Azhagan replied and hurriedly added, ' No, I did not kill them nor did this fat feline that is fast asleep next to me and whose snoring noises remind me of a fat pig. Shameful behaviour and that too with guests present next to it.

Buddha who had fallen into an instantaneous deep sleep and who had indeed been snoring, stopped and opened one big green eye, and snarled, ' I heard that. You better stop making fun of me and body shaming me or else I will be forced to make a reel about how I am being ill-treated by you and then post it on Instagram and YouTube.'

Madhurima burst out laughing and her laughter was so loud and infectious that Dharmalingam and Thamarai joined her and for a few precious moments, they forgot about life and life let go of them for it too felt their grief and needed a second for a breather.

recipe for everything concerning that?

Recipe a set of instructions for preparing a particular dish, including a list of the ingredients required.

Formula a mathematical relationship or rule expressed in symbols. a method or procedure for achieving something.

Ingredient a component part or element of something.

As 2022 shut shop permanently, and 2023 opened its doors, Producer, writer and film critic Dhanajayan gushed that the year had indeed been good for the Tamil film industry.

I use his Twitter message and quote him word by word and use only his words, " “In terms of box office, the industry has crossed a gross of Rs 2,000 crore for the first time. Out of 230 films, at least 30 films have been very commercially successful, which is a great percentage. So, everyone in the industry is thrilled about the kind of theatrical revenue films have brought in this year.”

Stop and stare at that number 2,000 crores and now count the top films in that supposedly 30 out of 230 and you will see that only a handful, ok two handfuls of films contributed to the 2000 crores number.

They were, ponniyin Selvan part 1, Vikram, beast, valimai, Etharkkum Thunindhavan, Love Today, Thiruchitrambalam, Don, Sardar etc. Even this list is in my opinion ambiguous for a few films in the list cannot be defined as hits, successful or in plain Jane terms, did not leave the producer and distributers gushing in joy and swimming in cash. Crores of cash.

Enga cinema fieldla, oru saying irukku, " Operation success. But patient died ". ennathu?

Example. Simple and brief. The patient was in critical condition and was brought into the operation theatre to have the tumour in his brain removed. The malignant growth was removed but the patient died in the process '.

To explain it in even simpler terms I will give you numbers.

The movie Love Today was made on a tiny but decent budget of 5 crores and the investment brought in 150 crores at the box office. Nearly 30 times the investment.

A few big films in the top ten of 2022 were made on hundreds of crores and brought in a little over their original budget. Why?

Because, today, not only in Indian films but all over the world, filmmakers have run out of ideas. Ideas to make good films.

All around the world, production companies and directors are doing their best to cash in on big action films with mind-blowing action scenes and CGI work but with a hollow heart and almost no story at all.

So, what is the secret formula, method, or recipe for success in films, and in life in general? Who knows? I don't.

What is the recipe or formula for success?

Passion: positive energy even during tough times. Purpose: having meaning in your life. People: optimising your relationships.

Okay. But will it work in real life and in real-time? I doubt it.

Just imagine, that each passing year in our life is similar to the cinema field and take the 365 days that make a year and look at it as 365 movie releases and step back and introspect on the make, quality and success of each film or specifically each day in our life.

Every day is different but not different. Every day seems to be nearly the same as the previous day and yet you know it is not. Why is that?

Like in cinema, our own life's themes and stories vary and some work and some don't and sometimes nothing works. Like in movies, we too fall in love, fall out of love, have regular family dramas, and fights although in real life, unlike film, we get beaten up all the time.

So, is there a formula for a happy and prosperous life? Is there a great recipe for a peaceful life? What is the secret ingredient to a good life and wtf is a good life anyway?

More questions than answers.

Look at this way, at least asking, seeking is time well spent than just going with the flow and to one among the " AATU MANDHAINGA "

Hey, nee yaara solre?

' Enna sonnen'.

“I said: what about my eyes?
He said: Keep them on the road.

I said: What about my passion?
He said: Keep it burning.

I said: What about my heart?
He said: Tell me what you hold inside it?

I said: Pain and sorrow.
He said: Stay with it. The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”

City needs more reservoirs, micro and macro

By V Sriram, Madras Musings, October 16, 2023

Why can’t water bodies such as the Chetpet Lake be harnessed for water conservation?

The monsoon is just around the corner, and it will hopefully be bountiful. The water situation presently is comfortable with Metro Water officials saying that the city has enough of this precious commodity to tide over one more year, irrespective of how the monsoon fares. The Chembarambakkam reservoir, one of the largest sources of water for the city is already 85 per cent full, necessitating release to lower its levels so that it can accommodate further inflow during the monsoon. Elsewhere in the city, stormwater drains are being constructed to carry away water that is likely to otherwise stagnate. All of this is to the good. But are we taking steps to maximise storage of nature’s bounty? The answer seems to still be no. The city needs more reservoirs, micro and macro.

We got a fifth reservoir, 60 years after the fourth!

It was in 2020, that the city got its fifth reservoir. It was the first to be excavated after Independence, the last such facility having been completed in the 1940s! Our population certainly did not remain stagnant during those seven decades and we muddled along somehow – taking over wells here, borrowing from a river there, and laying pipelines at enormous cost somewhere else to reservoirs deep in the south. We even took over granite quarries in our desperation. We made a virtue of firefighting and never bothered with a long-term solution.

True, the desalination plants, at enormous energy expense, have proved useful but a simple scheme for additional storage capacity has not been thought of. Even with five reservoirs, we can at most store one year’s water supply. Our droughts stretch for much longer.

Sixth reservoir -- work forever in progress

A sixth reservoir was announced in 2019, at Orathur in Sriperumbudur, to be built across one of the tributaries of the Adyar. It is not certain what the state of progress is, but at the time of launch it was expected to be completed in 2021. Of course, the pandemic intervened. But there has been complete silence since then. As a consequence, in order to accommodate more rainwater at Chembarambakkam, we are forced to release water into the sea.

Do we need stormwater drains everywhere?

The next short-sighted scheme is the construction of stormwater drains where they are least warranted. While they are a necessity on arterial roads, to have them in side streets and along the beach is plain stupidity. The residents of the former need to be educated on the necessity for unpaved garden space so that rainwater percolates to the subsoil. And as for the beach, it acts as a natural filter and so can absorb surplus rainwater.

But then, residents on side streets face another challenge – that of rising road levels, which push rainwater into the compounds and premises, which is why they are forced to raise plinth levels and pave their garden space. This drains the rainwater on to the road, which floods and necessitates the laying of stormwater pipes. The net result is that the groundwater does not get recharged.

When rainwater harvesting is only on paper

Lastly, we seem to have given rainwater harvesting the go-by. While it remains on paper, it is an open fact that large commercial projects and residential complexes bypass this mandatory requirement by resorting to corruption. The short-term expense of bribing they feel is nothing compared to the long-term commitment of maintaining infrastructure. What of the environment? That can be left to future generations to worry over.

Why not reservoirs, micro and macro?

In short, what Chennai needs is a comprehensive and long-term water storage policy. This needs to comprise large reservoirs and small ones, by which we mean neighbourhood storage facilities such as tanks, and micro schemes wherein each premises works on becoming water sustaining. Will MetroWater think on those lines or simply rejoice at yearly surpluses and firefight when there is a deficit?

https://youtu.be/RVi6GgQBkwE?si=M2ZhKKGaIEaiPmOY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VcwBL789Nw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4T9tlpOrU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt_MmVBUv84

Avan, Aval Adhu 504

Ecclesiastes 3 is the third chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.

The New King James Version divides this chapter into three sections:

Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 = Everything Has Its Time

Ecclesiastes 3:9–15 = The God-Given Task

Ecclesiastes 3:16–22 = Injustice Seems to Prevail

The following words appear in the first verse

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Slowly, the laughter died away and the dead came to the fore as if they demanded their share of attention and a share of their joy and sorrow. The memories of ghosts of the past mingled with the newly dead and unable to handle the overwhelming grief, Dharmalingam began to cry. The pain that he felt in his soul ricocheted all over his body and burying his head in his hands along with guilt, shame, and the knowledge that he had failed both his son and daughter, the good man cried like a little boy.

Thamarai looked at her man, her husband of more than 40 years and seeing him cry, threw her hand around his massive shoulders and gently rebuked him, ' Why are you crying? She made us cry when she was alive and she has us crying in death too. Stop crying and stop wasting your tears on her and on him. They are gone now and there is nothing we can do about it.'

Lifting his head from the refuge of his palms, he looked at her like a lost child and wailed, ' I failed them. I failed them both and now that they are gone, we have to suffer as orphans.'

Turning to Azhagan, ' God blessed me with all this wealth, power, fame and then bestowed a kind and gentle soul to be my life partner. But all that seems for nought for here we are with just the memories of our dead children.

Raising his head to the skies above, ' Children who have lost their parents are called Orphans. But what about, parents like us? Aren't we orphans, too?'

A look of bitterness filled his tear-streaked face and he snarled bitterly, ' She is dead. We are yet to see her body but I feel the loss, the emptiness of her death. But, what fills me with this immense and uncontrollable anger is that even when she lies dead, she has done her best, her worst to create chaos in the world around her and in the lives of the people who cared for her.

Pointing to Madhu, he looked at Azhagan, ' See, what has become of this child? See, what Meenakshi has forced Ravi to do to the one he loves more than anything in this world'.

Azhagan stood up and went to Dharmalingam, and placing his left hand on his head then placed his right hand on Thamarai Dharmalingam, and spoke to them and consoled them.

' Despite all the destruction she wreaked in all your lives, Meenakshi tried to redeem herself in the end. She realized her mistakes and genuinely tried to rectify them but it was too little and too late. Yet, she stood boldly as she faced death and begged Ravi to forgive her. I think that counts for something.

' Come, let me take you to her, and your son, Sundrarlingam' he said and both the orphaned parents looked up at him in shock and slowly struggled to their feet and then unable to take in the thought of seeing their long-dead son, both collapsed and fell into the mighty arms of the boy who was an orphan himself and found light in his light that he brought back from the darkness of life.

https://youtu.be/KuOnMryX8pk?si=IRUHHci3K35UiFVC