Darwin to Erode

Wet season in Darwin

2010-01-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

Most tourists come to Darwin during the dry season. God knows what they do. Most places are dry and the grass actually starts to turn brown in June. Nothing special happens at that time. However, the weather is very steady and the temperatures vary from 23-30C.

But we realised that the wet season is the most spectacular time of the year. There is spectacular lightning and thunder. Don't forget the rains and we got it in buckets loads and we have had continuous rains for 4 days. This is accompanied by flooding. Of course, not in Palmerston. The whole of NT turns green and all the billabongs are filled up. There are water flowers everywhere.

We were at Fogg dam and enjoyed some spectacular scenery and weather. Enjoy the pictures.

Back in Darwin

2009-06-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

In KL as house guests and they were such lovely people
Swish KL

Not so swish but excellent Bukit Lawang Forest camp dinner

River crossing in Bukit Lawang

Forest camp Bukit Lawang

Majestic Orangutan

Bechak ride in Bukit Lawang

We are finally back in Darwin. We took a flight from Tiruchy to Kuala Lumpur by Airasia. Mahima joined us at KL. We flew Medan in Indonesia and were driven in taxi to a place called Bukit Lawang. This was Radhesh's wish to see the Orang utan in the wild. We stayed there for nearly 5 days. The place was beautiful with wild forests on very tall steep mountains. Radhesh and Mahima walked with Murdoch and Williams for nearly 5 - 7 hours in a single stretch

Kate and Shirley are here

2009-03-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Henna applied

After washing the henna offFrom atop Tiruchengode

Huge granite mountain at Tiruchengode

Temple at Bhavani

Temple elephant "blessing" worshippers

Kate and Shirley turned up after all after much expectations. However, their arrival was not without drama, thanks to Kate. Kate missed the flight to Hong Kong from Melbourne - well, you should believe that. So she became late Kate and Shirley early Shirley (Radhesh came up with these).

K and S are enjoying all the attention that they missed out at home. They are also going through interesting times in terms of food. More than the item of food, they normally ordered many more from the menu with the result they ended up eating only once in a day. Also a few problems with the type - when they wanted poori, they got parotta or vice versa. However, the best part is they didn't get a Shane Warne belly by strictly following the advice on just eating only vegetarian food. Otherwise, imagine getting baked beans from Woolies.

K and S got a nice henna tattooed. The colour and design turned out to be great. Manoranjitham did a great job on them too.

They are both in Ooty and they return on Saturday.

NT Forensics

2009-02-10T01:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/10/2487760.htm?section=justin

NT forensics personnel Kym Chilton and Gino Rob are off to Victoria to help identify the victims killed in the fires. This is indeed a very tragic time in Australia and NT forensics personnel are highly skilled and experienced from performing forensics during Bali bombing and East Timor tragic events. We have worked with Kym and he is a very efficient and meticulous man. All the very best.

Figure this one

2009-02-03T02:02:00.000-08:00

All university exams and classes in Tamil Nadu have been suspended indefinitely to protest against the killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The local Tamil Nadu Government has been protesting strongly against the war in Northern Sri Lanka and political parties of all hues have taken up this protests of conscience. However, on Telly we are now watching the third one day international cricket test between Sri Lanka and India! Go figure that.

Kurai ondrum illai

2009-01-26T03:15:00.000-08:00

Radhesh played this song on the flute. The song was composed by Rajaji and became famous through MS.

Murali's Inner Peace

2009-01-25T21:03:00.000-08:00

Murali has produced a flute album titled "Inner Peace". The album was recorded entirely in Chennai. The album has melodious music played in the Hindusthani style. Murali also hired a tabla player in Chennai to accompany him. The music is indeed very peaceful. Murali, Keep it up. The recording is very clear and crisp. Here is a short snippet.

Ananth's Wedding

2009-01-24T09:20:00.000-08:00

The traditional music party at the wedding playing the Nadaswaram and Thavil

Murali and Rad at the wedding. Murali taught Radhesh to play the flute

Ananath and Darshini on the oonjal (swing) as part of Tamil wedding

Ananth and Darshini got married in Chennai on 21 Jan. They both make a gorgeous couple. We met up with our friends from Adelaide some of whom we are seeing after about 4 years. Radhesh and I went to the wedding and Mythily couldn't come as she had to conduct Uni exams for her college.

We also met up with Murali and family. Murali taught Radhesh to play the flute when we were in Adelaide. Murali has brought his first musical album. I will put up a few snippets from this album hopefully tomorrow.

At the Wedding we met up with Tahlia and Gary, Ananth's mate, who had come all the way from Melbourne. My special interest Tahlia is vegetarian. Keep it up Tahlia. She probably had a great time in India as far as food is concerned as India is the heaven for vegetarians. Also check out their blog http://tahliaandgarylostinindia.blogspot.com/, They have got some cool photos of the wedding.

Reunion

2009-01-03T01:16:00.000-08:00

With Harry at KREC beach

St.Cecily's

Snake in the grass

Radhesh playing the flute

The reunion group

We had a reunion after 25 years at KREC, Surathkal with my batchmates who studied engineering course with me. However, out of about 300 of us, about 20% only could make it and others still were attached to it from a distance. Although I am seeing most of them after 25 years it was remarkable that I could recognise most of them. With some it was easy, like Shankar, Navin, Revankar (he actually looked better with age), Madhukar rao, Baba, Raju, Venkataramani, etc., hadn't changed very much at all. Others had a completely new look about them. I had completely forgotten most of their names and needed a bit of help. Mythily knew most of them and so we had a great time. The guys who organised this had done a neat bit of organising. We are in touch with each other through Yahoo groups.

The guys had come from far and wide. From Australia there was just Harry and myself. There are 2 others who live Sydney who couldn't make it.

The best part was Radhesh thoroughly enjoyed himself.

The college, it is on the same terms as an Aussie Uni, has a lot of concrete dropped on the campus at a number of places. Like any other Government establishments in India, this one also needs a lot of looking after from some responsible people. Only question is where are they. Can you believe this college has its own beach.

We watched a cricket match between St Aloysius and FRMCC, Moodabidri. Nothing much has changed there. We also saw a snake behind the Chemical engineering department.

I think it is NH 17 - what a sorry state it was in. How could people put up with this type of nonsense from the Highways Department just beats me. The whole place was dug up, then a good stretch of road, suddenly bad stretch, then no road, etc. Why bother paying road tax for this treatment. The bus drivers were driving like those from Mad Max and produced situations fit to be scenes from American movies with car chases.

Mythily went to St Cecily's the school where she studied at Udipi. She was totally thrilled and took a photograph of her being pushed by her sister from the steps in her school.

We are well here

2008-12-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

Many of our mates have enquired if we were ok following the recent Mumbai attack. Although we are nearly 1500km away, we were shocked by the violence of it all. It is beyond me to understand why would anyone should unleash such violence on anyone. However, one wonders in a region where religions and great ideas were floated freely not very long ago, many violent incidents are happening on a daily basis. This region had openly invited anyone who wanted to be a part of it. Yet there is so much violence today. I am also adding mental violence to it- promoting differences, caste, classs, economic, etc. The old thoughts in the subcontinent were that all religions must be secular, spirituality scientific and business social. Suppression, exclusivity and fear are making the region violent. More inclusivity would make the region more peaceful. Would this happen? I doubt it. Such differences, I think, have been responsible for foreign domination. There is a saying in Tamil கூடி வாழ்ந்தால் கோடி நன்மை. This nice rhyming statement means you live together and there are millions of benefit.

Wasim Akram, one of those brilliant Pakistani bowlers, made some sensible statments. He says that he considers India as his second home. I doubt if any Indian cricketer would dare say that.

There were also a number of high political dramas after the unfortunate attacks if you had not already read about them -

a Chief Minister was driven out of the house of a slain soldier,

Another Chief Minister announced cash rewards for soldiers while the commando operation was going on,

Politicians commenting about the frequency of such incidents,

Condaleeza Rice visiting at an unfortunate time and blaming Pakistan, etc.

However, the most disturbing aspect was the media using what could be termed "embed" method. The media was almost alongside the fighting commandos. Some channel even broadcast a telephone conversation with a terrorist. Media liberty is fine but I expect them to be responsible and sensitive.

Soon after the Mumbai attack, some magazines commented that the commandos did not have basic, atleast in these modern times, equipment. One item that attracted my attention was the helmet worn by commandos did not even communication ear plugs! I hope this is not true since almost any motorbike rider in Australia seems to have it.

There were also others who pointed while such attacks were being carried out on a daily basis on poorer populations in India, the entire country is being 'outraged' because a few rich people and their properties were attacked. While this is cynical, there is some truth in it.

What I would like to see is a single India that is united, being inclusive, ready to accept others and their opinions, and make useful contributions to the world. An inclusive India is also very essential for the betterment of this world.

Picture - a waterfall near Ooty.

Gorkhas and Britain

2008-11-22T08:50:00.000-08:00

Gorkhas and other non English people have been with the British Army fighting many wars for them. I read with some interest that these soldiers of fortune were mostly from the subcontinent and more of them were killed than the British themselves. The soldiers that survived had to fight the British Government for their rights and entitlement. War offshored one could say. And very convenient too. Fighting for Gorkha soldiers rights, recently, British Actress Joanna Lumley threatened to give up her British Citizenship and take up Indian Citizenship.

Would you do this?

2008-11-21T04:25:00.000-08:00

Picture from www.hindu.com

I saw this extraordinary picture in the local newspaper, The Hindu. All this for a living? I really have to kick those political leaders who have put these hapless people at such great risk. I do understand that the infrastructure cannot cope with this kind of demand. But then the leaders, industrialists and people should do something to let people work with some dignity. This is almost along the same lines as the wilderbeast migration.

Mudumalai I

2008-11-20T23:02:00.000-08:00

A wild tusker in the night
Indian Gaur

Monkey invitee to the party

Hanuman Langur with a baby

Mudumalai is about 60km from Ooty and the sanctuary has tigers, deers, leopards, elephants, Indian Gaur, hyenas, monkeys, etc. The whole place, like any other public place in India, is badly managed, but beautiful. We went on a night safari and even saw a wild elephant.

Ooty II

2008-11-20T22:42:00.000-08:00

Visibility down to 10m or less

Thick fog

We went from Ooty to Mudumalai via Gudalur. The road downhill was mostly good. But the visibility was very poor to less than 10m because of thick fog. But there were idiots again who were driving real fast. Scary stuff.

Another wildlife sanctuary - Ooty I

2008-11-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

Ugly houses amidst some beautiful meadows

Scary tree in Ooty Botanical Gardens

Ooty is also called Blue mountains

A rivetted bridge built in about 1920

We went to the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary since there was a chance we could spot a tiger and Radhesh wanted to chance it. The sanctuary wasn't very far from my residence, about 120km away, and up in the hills.

We had to go through Ooty which is a nice hillstation and much cooler than Darwin or Erode. Apparently, this was the defacto capital of the British in the South. Hence the place has many suburbs named after English suburbs such as Charing Cross, etc. The old houses are still around and they are typically English. Many tea estates still have the British touch. But the buildings of recent times are just ugly and are not befitting of the rest of the surroundings.

Driving is a nightmare in India and Ooty is no exception. You can see dumbos driving at 60k at hairpin bends with total disregard for their and others safety. Are they high, drunk, or just the lack of oxygen at these heights make them behave in such a atrocious fashion?

Elephants and monkeys

2008-10-21T04:10:00.000-07:00

Well-fed, naughty, bold and free monkeys and well-fed, but enslaved elephants, especially the one in the temple.

Submissive or arrogant or both

2008-10-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to the Western Ghats in the hope Radhesh can see elephants, tigers and other wildlife. We went to two locations - Topslip and Valparai (meaning tail-like rock).

Before reached Pollachi enroute to Topslip, we came across huge windfarms. The windfarms are situated across a pass (about 70Kms) in the Western Ghats and winds rush in from Arabian sea and, possibly, Indian Ocean. Good to hear that India is the fourth largest country in the world in producing wind energy.

Topslip was disappointing. The roads were horrible and I even wondered if the govt is paying the employees. But then the employees are making their own money. We had a very reluctant ride on an elephant. The ride was most unpleasant for the elephant and also to us. We will never do this.

Valparai was much better. That was just the drive up the mountain. The town was very dirty and we decided not to stay up there. But the drivers on the road were the worst. This says something about the character of these drivers. I felt that these people were very generally submissive and that means they are also arrogant to other submissive people. However, poor people were the ones that were strong and truthful. Let's pray and hope the whole country is not full of submissive people.

Ancient Tamarind trees and Temples

2008-09-28T01:23:00.000-07:00

In India there is so much history, that many things of historical importance would be on an average 1000 years old. But tamarind trees close to 1000 years. That would be something. Here is a link to an interesting story about such tamarind trees. I will visit the place when I get the chance.

Vimala and Babu went to a temple near Hospet in North Karnataka that was not so old. The temple was apparently destroyed in bits by Aurangazeb, last of those Moghul emperors. The stone carvings are very fine and extraordinary.

Coconut tree climbing

2008-09-24T23:57:00.000-07:00

Look at the hip holster he is carrying just like the ones used for carrying arrows. He carries sickles and his personal things.

In Darwin people cut down coconut trees because they are worried that they may become liable for injuries from a cooconut fall. In India everybody loves a coconut tree. It gives cool coconut drink, coconut kernels, oil, toddy (alcoholic), fibres for rope, fronds for firewood, etc. Safety. Who cares. Coconut falls are natural things and should be expected if you were to stand under a tree. In any case, nobody cares about safety in India. They expect you to look out for yourself. People from Western countries who have not been to India would probably need some trauma counselling while driving or travelling atleast for initial periods.

Coconut climbing is a difficult job. Some engineering organisations have tried to develop a coconut tree climber without much luck. In Indonesia monkeys are trained to pluck coconut without them consuming them. In Tamil Nadu, there are separate tribes to climb coconut trees. The coconut climber will not touch the coconut after they have been dislodged from the trees. Strictly business!

Mythily is enjoying her job as the Principal of a Women's Engineering college near Erode. I am housekeeping and enjoying.

Interesting times

2008-09-13T03:38:00.000-07:00

Mythily and I went to the Cauvery river about a km from our house. We met a nomadic family from Central India who have come to labour in the sugarcane fields nearby. With the booming economic situation, the locals are finding difficult get labourers to work in the fields. So they do not mind getting people from faraway places.

Krishna Jayanthi

2008-09-02T00:32:00.001-07:00

All over India, amongst Hindus, Lord Krishna's birthday is celebrated with great fervour. However, if you hear about his features he may not fit the traditional Indian 'look'. He is supposed to have been very dark, with curly hair, very strong and brave, very attractive, etc and no doubt he had many girl friends. So these features fit a person of African ancestory. Mind you, in ancient times people from various continents had robust trade and exchange of culture and welcomed everyone. Only in our modern times we need a visa, passport or other identification to even step out of the house.

Did Krishna have African ancestory? May be he did. But Krishna is celebrated as a child and his devotees 'offer' him all sorts of goodies on his birthday. Anyway, it is a good excuse for celebration. Footprints of a child are marked on the floor right from the doorstep to the prayer room in the house wihich is filled with the goodies. Radhesh took this video and I thought it was very nice.

Radhesh's Birthday

2008-09-01T23:48:00.000-07:00

Radhesh celebrated his 14 birthday on 29 August. We purchased a nice cake from a rural bakery and they even wrote his name on the cake. But they didn't get his name right. So he was a bit annoyed that nowhere people get his name right. But we had a great time and the cake was very nice to taste.

So what is in a name? With the recent terrorism boogey, spelling names in English has become important. Because most governments have strict border controls, and they do not know whom they can let in, they are quite happy to rely on English spellings. But as you know English is not very suitable for Indian names and most definitely other country names.

However, in India there is a phenomenon called numeralogy which is a system based on the belief that numbers govern our lives. In order to get the right numbers, some alphabets are added to names even if it is not the conventional spelling. The name Raman can be written as Raaman. Although I just do not believe this and believe that this is a waste of time and money, we suggested Radhesh that his name may have been modified for the sake of numeralogy. Radhesh has now become curious about numeralogy.

Engineering Colleges everywhere

2008-08-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

In Tamil Nadu alone, there are about 250 engineering colleges. The state has a population of about 65 million. The number of science and arts colleges and polytechnics will be even higher. Around the mid 1980s there were about 10-15 engineering institutions. But why this sudden explosion? It appears that there was a market for education - an engineer or a doctor was a status symbol and many Indian cricketers were engineers. After the government relaxed the norms for private engineering colleges, there was a boom and entrepreneurs just lapped it up. But hear some horror stories in the admission and other procedures(!).

Above are photos of NT parliament and Supreme court buildings in Darwin.

Newton is to blame

2008-08-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

David who runs a fun blog mentioned about my blog and thanks to him I seem to have more hits through his readers visiting my blog. I hope to keep updating the blog more often.

David had mentioned about the number of things he would defy especially if they came from the NZ government and other self interest or appointed bodies. Whereas here he can fully feel at home as every rule or legislation is broken by many citizens. But life goes on without much hassles. Is there a sense in all these chaos. For example, the government here in all hopes of reducing head injuries legislated helmets for two wheelers. However, women protested that their hairstyle and flowers in their hair were wasted because of helmets. Later men protested that they are likely to lose hair because of helmets. So the Government rescinded the decision since everyone, well almost, broke the rule. Civil disobedience, if you like. The government has again brought it in and I am told that the pillion riders have been exempted. I do not know if the rule is in place since no one is wearing helmets including the police. The other day I saw a Westerner wearing a helmet while riding a push bike and what a spectacle he was.

The lorry had taken a fall while taking a right turn at a very small roundabout. The lorry was laden with sand and Radhesh's theory is that the sand moved to the left side and increased the centrifugal force. Well, he is right but I blame Newton for inventing gravity. Look at the tyres as smooth as an ice hockey surface.

Thavil Teacher

2008-08-12T23:49:00.000-07:00

Radhesh learns to play Thavil at the Government Music School. Radhesh recorded the music played by his teacher. I found his teacher to be very competent and confident. He had a way with his students and well respected. Radhesh has learnt his basics fairly quickly. Enjoy the beat.

Kaalai Kadir

2008-08-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

I wrote a few posts ago about Radhesh appearing in the local newspaper. Since I do not have a scanner, Mahima suggested that I just take a picture of the paper. I wasn't sure, but I have been wrong. These days, with high resolution cameras, this is all too easy.

Our Flute Hero Sivaji

2008-08-09T00:11:00.000-07:00

Mr Sivaji teaches Radhesh to play the Indian flute. He also runs an orchestra called Hero orchestra playing mainly bollywood music and without a doubt he is the Hero.

Radhesh and Mr Sivaji get along very well and they learn from each each other. Radhesh tantalises him with his mobile phone operating skills.

Mr Sivaji is a very good player on the flute. He learnt to play the flute on his as his father was also a flute palyer. We like his music. For us he is the hero and here is a short clip from his music.

Coconut oil

2008-08-08T23:15:00.000-07:00

Interesting part about living in a rural area is that we get to produce stuff we normally buy in the supermarket. This time it was coconut oil. We have about 6 coconut trees in our garden producing more than 500 coconuts this season. We removed the kernals from about 40 coconuts. It is not easy to remove the kernals and I will leave it for another day.

The kernals were cut into pieces and dried in the sun for 4 days. The kernels filled a 12 litre bucket. It was crushed and pressed in a local mill. This mill had a single electric motor powering several machines and operated by one woman. Babu collected about 2.5 litres of coconut oil while Radhesh took all the pictures.

The best part of the extraction process is that it is free but we had to leave to coconut cake after the oil extraction which is used as feed for the cattle.

Vimala's kolam!

2008-08-07T01:42:00.000-07:00

Vimala produced this beautiful kolam. A kolam is a beautuful decoration made in front of the house mainly in the state of Tamil Nadu. This decoration is produced daily and made of either rice flour or quartz powder. However, on this occasion she did this for a function at her office.

sivan malai 2

2008-08-04T05:30:00.000-07:00

I wrote about howling winds in my previous blog. We took some videos on Radhesh's phone. I researched a bit around the internet to convert MP4 to a format that can be reasonably published. The quality isn't great, but you will get the idea about the wind. I will try and get better with my research on codecs and players.

Sivan malai

2008-08-04T02:39:00.000-07:00

Sivan malai means Siva's mountain.

Indians have this this habit of "finding" gods in difficult to reach places. But there is an advantage. Most places are picturesque and, frequently, on top of mountains.

Sivan malai is about 40 kms from Erode and situated on a reasonably tall mountain. The whole mountain was covered with beautiful acacia trees (I think it is right. The thorny trees had an umbrella like foliage). There were a number of peacocks on this mountain. A blessing in disguise having temples on mountains - most of the natural surroundings are generally left alone.

On top of the mountain, the monsoon winds were howling and the feeling of nice moist, cold and high speed winds on me was great.

How to uproot a tamarind tree

2008-08-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

One can pull or lift the tree using an earth moving equipment, dig the earth around the tree or...... Oh, well, Iam running out of ideas.

Not so this bus driver. Who decided to hit it at high speed and completely uprooted the tree as in the photo. I saw the bus was badly damaged and I even suspect that someone was killed in the accident. A few kilometres up the road a lorry had targetted another tamarind tree. Yesterday was a bad day for tamarind trees.

Listless day

2008-07-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

Mythily sacked the yoga master today.

Mythily felt we should learn yoga only through a master although we didn't need one. We engaged this person to come home and teach yoga. He was young and impressionable. Five of us learnt yoga in an open air area on top of our house. But he made us do a single routine one by one for nearly an hour and the same thing continued for the second day. This was a well known routine and none of us actually needed much prompting. However, what irritated Mythily was that he used his feet to correct our postures. This is a complete no-no in India. You normally touch the feet of elders with your fingers. But touching someone with your feet is downright degrading in India. Though my elder brother did not care, Mythily rightfully felt offended. I also did not like the way the class went and the way he treated Radhesh. I supported her and he got the sack. So we are without a yoga master. Anyone who doesn't use their feet inappropriately is welcome.

The picture taken from inside our vehicle is of a street scene on the outskirts of Colombo, Srilanka. The streets were unusually clean and the traffic well behaved - a far cry from Indian conditions. However, the streets had armed soldiers every 100 metres as we neared Colombo CBD.

School children

2008-07-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

Shane thinks that children are only good for mulch. But Indian schools think otherwise. Coporal punishment is still common in schools. I still remember with some dread my days at school where the teachers took to boxing my ears, punching on my head, caning me or other imaginative punishment. Mind you I was one of first three in the class. No wonder some people think that I am wierd because of my treatment at schools.

But this is the latest of cruelties meted out to children in Indian schools in amongst other horrible things. But the idea is quite novel. Normally we expect the parents to be punished for the misdeeds of the children. However, some Indian schools think they can punish the children for the misdeeds of the parents. There is also picture in the link.

"Bangalore: More than 20 children studying in the government-recognised Camlin English School here were made to sit on the draughty basement floor away from the classroom for around eight hours on Monday. The fault: their parents did not attend the parent-teacher meeting in the school on Saturday."

Bring on home schooling. Radhesh does it here.

Picture of the whole family when Mahima came to sing at the Darwin Festival last year. The other picture with Mythily showing of the wares in preparation for garage sale just before our trip out of Darwin.

Can you guess

2008-07-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a photograph of a vehicle used by the man who supplies us milk from the village. Can you guess what that red object just behind the front wheel is in this photo?

MP on life term

2008-07-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

I saw a news item that an MP of the Indian Parliament who was sentenced to serve a life sentence was allowed to take part in the no-confidence motion voting process. Whilst I think everyone should be allowed to be MPs, this is interesting. How do you manage the affairs of the parlaiment from the jail.

The photos are from Wayanad in North Malabar of Kerala. The phone tower caught my attention and there was a broadband connection available amongst the forest in remote Kerala.

ராதேஷ் - காலை kadhir

2008-07-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

இன்று ராதேஷ் காலை கதிரில் முதல் பக்கத்தில் தோன்றினான். ராதேஷ்க்கு ஒரே மகிழ்ச்சி. அரசு இசை பள்ளிக்கு போன போது புல்லாங்குழல் கட்ற்றுகொள்ளதான் அங்கே போனோம். ஆனால் அவனுக்கு தவில் வாத்தியார் நன்றாக தவில் வாசித்து காண்பிக்க, அதிலேயே அவன் சேர்ந்து கொண்டான். பள்ளியின் தலைமை ஆசிரியை மிகவும் அன்புடன் நடத்தியது அவனை மிகவும் கவர்ந்து விட்டது.

மேலும் இந்தியாவில் உள்ள எல்லா அரசு நிறுவனங்களும் எல்லார்க்கும் அணுக கூடிய அளவில் உள்ளன. இப்பள்ளியில் செலவு ரூ. 152. இது ஒரு வருசத்துக்கு! இப்போ பல இடங்களில் லட்ச கணக்கில் காசு கேட்கும் நிலையில் இது இசைக்கான மிகப் பெரிய சேவையே. இது தான் எனக்கு இந்தியாவில் பிடிததது. இதனாலே என்னை போன்ற பல ஏழை மாணவர்கள் படித்து முன்னேற முடிந்தது.
வாழ்க இந்த நிலை. வளர்க எல்லோரும்.

Erode - Kaalai kadhir

2008-07-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

Mythily and Radhesh inside CuttaCutta caves in Katherine

Radhesh appeared in a local newspaper. in Erode. Radhesh was all excited about this interview he gave the local newspaper. He was prominently placed in the local section of the newspaper published from a different city. Shame I do not have a scanner. Will try and get one.

He has joined the Government music school in Erode. We initially went there to enquire about flute lessons for him. But it turned out that they have no one to teach flute but they can teach 'Thavil". Someone played the instrument and he really liked and agreed to learn it. The school authorities encouraged him to study for a princely sum of Rs152 a year (less than A$4). The school has some dedicated teachers and know their music and above all, know how to teach it. The school is not very well patronised which is a shame. Many young children are sent to regular schools where they are overworked to learn by rote. I find the regular schools a waste of creative energy for the students. The things that they teach in school can be learnt in 0ne third of the time actually spent.

Mythily is coming back from Kerala after visiting her mom.