A True Story

MYSTERIOUS

 

A modified version of this true story appeared in "Muse India" issue of July-Aug.2008 as a short story contributed by me. Here is the true story. The last paragraph had been added after we visited the friends in 2010. Till now I am unable to solve the mystery.

 

He was crying. It was almost midnight and the sound pierced through my eardrums. I was rudely awakened from sleep. My wife also awoke at the same time and was trying to find the reason for his crying. For a child of two and a half years, who had just started saying a few small words, there is no way he could explain the reason for his agony.

This was not the first time. The child had woken up many times during deep sleep with this type of crying. We have never been able to find out why. My wife started her usual treatment – just out of faith. She went to the Pooja Room and returned with some sacred ash and applied on his forehead. It would work sometimes, but not always. This time he stopped after a few more minutes of crying and went back to sleep as if nothing happened.

We were living in a suburb of Coimbatore in a rented house off the highway to Palani. My office was a few kilometers away. Further down the road was a temple of Vinayaga at Eechanari Village, a small but famous one visited frequently by many. Raju was a supervisor in my office and he would be visiting the temple every Sunday religiously. He would cycle his way to the temple – a distance of about 8 kilometres and on his return, stop by at our house to hand over the sacred ash. He had taken upon himself this “duty” and performed it with the sincerity known only to his generation. Even after his retirement, he continued this routine and I could expect him at around 10 am every Sunday barring any unavoidable reason.

I was not a regular temple visitor in the real sense. I would make occasional visits with my wife as she was a firm believer and would collect all prasadams in a container.

Her uncle – Mr. Manickam, a second cousin of her father, who lived not far away, used to visit us once in a while. He was in a small Government job and was spending his spare time in social service activities. He was running a small Homeopathic clinic and would prescribe and distribute medicines to poor people freely. On one of his visits, I mentioned about the night time cries of my son, but he could not think of any reason.

Manickam was a firm believer in religion and followed the teachings of a certain “Sai Baba”. He was attracted not only by the spiritual powers of Sathya Sai Baba but by the service to the society rendered by him as well.

Sai Baba sometimes toured parts of the country and devotees would throng to have his darshan wherever he went. Manickam was insistent that we should have his darshan any time he came somewhere near Coimbatore. I was neutral to the idea and was not paying much attention to this suggestion.

One day Manickam came to us with the news that the Sai Baba was visiting Ooty and we should go and have his darshan. My wife was receptive to the idea and I yielded after much persuasion. I had a notion that she wanted to visit her sister’s son who was studying in Ooty and this was her real motive in suggesting that we have Sai Baba’s darshan.

We took a very early morning bus from Coimbatore to Ooty along with Manickam and reached Ooty sufficiently early for the morning session of bhajan at the place Sai Baba was staying. People were sitting in rows in the lawn of the bungalow in a highly disciplined manner awaiting Sai Baba’s arrival. The sound of rhythmic singing of bhajan was filling the air and it was soothing the mind.

Sai Baba arrived after a few minutes. He walked slowly and gracefully along the rows of the disciples and many of them could touch his feet. I was also in one of the rows and my son, being a small child, was running around making noises. I was a bit chill as it was a hill station and he seemed to be enjoying the weather which was in contrast with what we had in Coimbatore. Sai Baba was walking along the row in which I was seated. When he came near me, he suddenly walked fast and skipping me, allowed the man next to me touch his feet.

I would not say I was disappointed, as I was neutral. I took it as matter of fact and did not want to brood over it. But Manickam was of a different mould. He was sorry about my inability to pay homage to Sai Baba. By the time, Sai Baba had completed his rounds and had got into the car of a disciple to visit some place.

Manickam did not want to leave the matter there. In a corner of the lawn, someone was selling photographs of Sai Baba and Manickam suggested that I should buy one. When Sai Baba returns, I should try to get his autograph on that and use that occasion to touch his feet.

Again, I was neutral and even a bit reluctant. However, I finally yielded to his pressure and bought a photograph. However, when Sai Baba returned, he went straightaway into the house and the photo remained rolled up in my hands.

We decided to visit my nephew in the school and moved out. Manickam was insistent that we should return for the evening bhajan at about 4 pm.

When we returned, clouds had gathered and a good shower appeared imminent. The sky was very dark and the downpour was likely to start any time.

The organizers of the bhajan took a decision to shift it to the main hall in the bungalow. With a substantial crowd, it was a little cramped in the hall, but the organizers managed to arrange the devotees in rows allowing for space for Sai Baba to walk around.

The bhajan started on time and Sai Baba came out neatly dressed in his saffron robe and mingled with devotees. He stopped in front of some of them and was speaking to a few. I sat with the photograph rolled up on my side. Suddenly I found him standing in front of me as if demanding that I do the namaskar. I bent down and touched his feet as if by reflex and forgot all about getting his autograph.

I felt I was actually touching some lotus petals when my hand came into contact with his feet. A few seconds passed and he graciously moved out.

We returned to Coimbatore in the night and I placed the photograph into some available space in the cupboard. I almost forgot about it thereafter.

The house in which we lived was at the end of the street and a doctor lived opposite to us. He was working in a Government Hospital and never had any private practice. He had two sons, both of school going age. They all remained aloof and would rarely mix with neighbours. My wife, being of a very amiable nature, managed to become friendly with the doctor’s wife and would sometimes take the child to play with the boys. But the boys would never venture out of their house except for their needs. The lady would generally lock up the front gate at about 7 pm and none would come out after that.

I had to take up residence in the Railway Quarters in 1976 and we had to move. Since my job involved frequent transfers, we were always ready to move. We had made a number of wooden boxes in which we would pack our belongings whenever we had to move. Our servant was given the responsibility to do some packing work and he had packed most of the belongings.

Eechanari temple down the road was being renovated in a grand scale and the consecration function was to take place on the day before we moved. My office friends wanted to attend the function, being on a holiday and asked if we would join. I was forced to decline as my son was down with a fever. Raju, the retired supervisor who was a regular visitor to the temple also could not attend as he was indisposed with high blood pressure.

We had planned to move the next morning as early as possible. We finished our dinner and put the boy to sleep. We wanted to complete some more packing and started working on the remaining items. It was after 10 pm.

The boy woke up and started crying; the usual night time crying for which we could never find the reason. My wife took him in her arms and started consoling him. At the same moment, I was just taking out the photograph of Sai Baba and putting it into a box. For a moment I thought of getting the sacred ash container to apply on the child’s forehead. Then I remembered that it had already been packed by the servant and I did not know in which box it was placed. I was wondering what we could do. I felt helpless. The photograph was still in my hands.

There was a knock on the door. I was wondering who was the visitor at this time of the night and went to open the front door. It was the doctor’s son- the boy who lived opposite; one who would never come out after 7 pm. He had a small packet in his hand and said that someone wanted him to hand over the sacred ash packet to me. He gave me the packet and ran away.

At the exact moment, the crying from the bedroom stopped. Anyway, I handed over the packet to my wife, who applied the sacred ash on our son’s forehead.

We moved out the next morning and could never meet the doctor’s family for a long time. The child never cried in the nights afterwards.

In 2010, we had made a visit to Palani from Chennai and decided to call on the old friends near the private house were we had stayed. We knocked at the door of the doctor’s house. The doctor’s son, who had grown up opened the door. The doctor had died in the meantime. His wife and one son only were staying there. They could recognize us immediately. After initial exchange of pleasantries, the subject came to the matter of sacred ash. They were totally unaware of the episode. The matter remains a mystery till date.

 

MODERN PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT

 

 

OBJECTIVES:

 

1. Companies are formed with the sole motive to make profit and any social objective is to be only on paper.

2.  Management policies should be flexible. Care should be taken to ensure that objectives mentioned in memorandum of association are worded in such a way that no further reference to company registrars, or changes in memorandum and articles of association, should be necessary.

3.  Private limited companies go public when

            a) A loss is foreseen, but not in the balance sheet.

b) Product is well known to public and is well received.

c) Competition is coming up.

d)Shortage of private funds for growth.

 4. Other points to be taken care of:

a) Have more people to be inducted as Directors (to share the goodies.)Make sure they are mostly dormant (Note; no one wants responsibilities)

b) Voting rights to be selectively restricted to close circle.

c) All AGMs under company law will require shareholders to vote certain resolutions. To ensure this, distribute shares to a very large number of people, preferably farthest from registered Headquarters so that very few attend AGMs.

4) There is certain amount of quota of shares which the management keeps for distribution at their discretion. Ensure all those controlling the company indirectly (Includes Govt officials) are given some quota.

PROFITS:

 

1.  The balance sheet should show a marginal profit to ensure market value of shares.

2.  To achieve this objective postpone payments. Show in advance credits in transit.

3.  Delay payment of Government regulated payments like PF.

4.  Items mentioned by audit and not compatible to be explained “as per policies of the company”

5.  Share value to be dropped to encourage shareholders  selling them back  to the company.

7.  Withhold/ delay payments of taxes and contest  delays.

HOW TO BE A GOOD MANAGER:

 

1. Manager is one who can manage those who manage.

2. Should be quick to publicize other’s achievements as ones own or having guided  the  achievements.

3.  Change “Wrapper” if you don’t get noticed.

4.  Never fight unless you have an able supporter.

5. Never try to fight in all fronts. If you do even the weaker ones will make inroads.

6. Please note that “expert” is one who can successfully hide secrets and not reveal the true source of knowledge/information.

7. Delay in decisions mean loss of money. Take calculated risk.

8.  A public display of any staff’s achievement  without delay is better than delayed awards.

9. Minimum written appreciation to  be done to avoid amore changed situation later.

10. If you want to be a leader please note that the leader should have

(a) An ability to lead.

(b)Should have followers who can be relied upon

(c) Information gathering by spies should be developed to keep a control.

(d) Make a show of listening to people.

(e)Mind your communication and not hurt anyone. Leave the bad task to your subordinates.

(f)Take criticism in its stride. Always use an external smiling mask.

(

PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT:

 

Choosing Board of Directors:

 

Priority to close relatives

Influential persons like past very senior Government servants, to be given some shares and made directorS. Directorship will cease as soon as they fail to meet objectives.

Ability to make good sugar coated presentation and replies in AGMs.

Staffing and promotions:

 

All key positions to be held by closely related persons/groups, to ensure loyalty. Promotions by “Relative Seniority”. Meaning of this term is kept undefined. Persons with high NQ(Nuisance quotient) are to be kept in good humour (like some officials known to be demanding).

When a promotion of one is to be done on “Relative seniority basis”, adopt Zigzag method, i.e. allow him to move to a higher designated post in a sister company and bring him back as a matter of selection for a higher responsibility.

Create new designations to indicate a “so called promotion.”

Source: An old friend who keeps in touch.

Bribery in My Name

A True Story

Quite a few of us might hsve faced similar situations during their active service. I thought I could share this incident with others.

I was working as Production Engineer in the Signal & Telecommunication Workshop, Southern Railway, Podanur, a suburb of Coimbatore. I was in charge of developmental work, adding new products to the production plans, procuring machinerying recruiting skilled staff, etc. and achieving the required level of production

One evening I received a call from my boss at Madras that a proposal had to be made to take up an expansion project and I was given twelve hours to get the proposal ready. I sat that night with a supervisor and made a proposal costing Rs.75 lakhs.

The proposal was taken by me to the Head Office next day and was promptly approved. We made a detailed estimate along with proposals for additional staff and reorganization. Approval was obtained with some minor changes and I was put in charge of implementing it. The workshop, which mainly served the southern zone was evolving into an all India establishment.

The workshop needed additional skilled manpower and a decision was made to recruit personnel at the skilled level. Some of the workers were against the decision and wanted to scuttle the recruitment. I had arranged for practical tests to be conducted on a Sunday. Some of the workers had locked a few machines in such a way that an effort to operate them would result in breakage. This was anticipated and I conducted a systematic survey to check each machine before it was assigned to a candidate. The process of testing then went on smoothly.

However, one incident which came to light a few days later put me in a tight spot. A friend who was working in Coimbatore, brought in a news that some workers trained by PSG Industrial Institute at Coimbatore alleged that the recruitment was influenced by money and that I had been bribed by at least one candidate. I was shocked. I was keen on finding the true story behind the allegation and went to PSG Industrial Institute, posing as one who wanted his protégé to get a job in Podanur. I was told that there was one Kanakasabapathi who was corrupt and could be approached.

I wanted to find out who could have paid money to whom. I scanned the list of selected candidates and located just one person who was trained in PSG Industrial Institute. I decided to confront him. On direct questioning, the candidate gave in and came out with the truth. After he passed through the practical tests, he had been sent to the Railway Hospital for fitness test. The doctor in charge had demanded money stating that he was the middleman collecting money on my behalf. The boy had paid.

I was at a loss. There was no way I could prove that my hands were clean without affecting the candidate. Finally after consulting a friend who knew the Chief Medical Officer of Southern Railway I decided to meet him and pour out my predicament. I had known the CMO though not intimately and he could only sympathize with me as there was no way we could prove the allegation. However, he did the best he could. The doctor in charge was transferred out to a station in Kerala.

Later I met the people in PSG Industrial Institute, revealed my identity to them and explained the whole sequence of incidents, requesting them not to pass allegations without verifying.

Two Lesser Known Temples of Lord Murugan

My daughter in law Vidya Subramanian had been invited to give carnatic music concerts at Srirangam and Viralimalai. I asked her to accept the invitations as I had heard of Viralimalai and was keen to visit the place.

We decided to drive to Srirangam and started on a Saturday morning. I had known of another temple which was almost on the way between Tindivanam and Villupuram. It is about 25 kilometres fro Tindivanam. One has to take a detour of about 5 kilometres from the highway to reach the Murugan Temple at a place called Mayilam. There is a small hill and one can drive to the top of the hill to climb a few steps to the temple.

This temple was built in the 18^th century but the sanctum sanctorum seems to have existed for five centuries according the temple staff. The temple looks beautiful and attempts are being made to keep it clean.

The deity sits on a peacock. It was stated that the place had many peacocks but we were unable to see any. They were all huddled up near a Vinaka temple and we could not go there.

According to the Sthala Purana, Soorapadma took the form of a peacock in Mailam and begged Murugan to take him as his vehicle (Vahana). There is a swmiji who lives in the temple premises but we were unable to see him as he was engaged in pooja. The temple is visited more by the poorer sections of the society. Here are two pictures of the temple.

He second temple we visited was at Viralimalai which is about 30 km from Trichy on the Madurai Highway. A little detour of about 3 km will lead one to the temple. This temple has a number of peacocks roaming around freely. The legend says that the Lord gave darshan to Arunagirinathar here. The main deity is six faced (Arumugam) with twelve hands sitting on a peacock.

A number of saints are supposed to have worshipped the lord here. Saint Arunagirinathar has coined some verses in praise of the lord here.

A peculiar thing about the offering here: Daily after the pooja, as neivedhyam, cigar is offered.

The temple is managed by a group of trustees who are doing good work. Here are some pictures:



For Harmonious Life with Grown Up Children

In my personal life, I have found certain guiding principles useful:

1. Never give unsolicited advice. The children are grown up and are capable of taking decisions in most cases. They will ask the parents if they feel the need.

2. Have trust in the children. After all, they have been brought up by us and we would have inculcated certain principles in them by setting examples and by value education.

3. Never thrust your ideas on them.

4. Never take sides in any argument between the children and their spouses.

5. When living with children, take up the daily chores which they find difficult to manage due to their official pressures. There are many ways in which we can be helpful to them.

6. Love and affection do not necessarily grow by being near to each other. Even from a distance these will grow.

Tribute to The People Who Shaped my Life

 

I was born the seventh child of the family of eight children. It was a unique sequence: two daughters, two sons, two daughters and then two sons!

What I know of my father was what was told about him when I reached a certain age; he had died before I was four. I cannot even remember his face. The responsibility fell on the mother who had the grit and determination to face the problems of bringing us up.

My eldest sister (Akka) had been married off before I was born. My eldest brother died within two years after my father’s death.  The next elder brother, at the age of 15 became the family breadwinner.

We had a small restaurant business (fairly big for the small town) which was run by my brother Rathnam Anna. I used to be of some help to him beyond my school hours after I reached a certain age.

I enjoyed my school life. I was not the first in the class but very near the top. I was always confident that I could outdo the first ranker in many ways.

SISTER

My second sister Chellam was studying in a school in Madras. She was a brilliant student in school.  She would come home during vacations and would literally take charge of all of us. She was very strict and would make us do our routines without any letup.  It was she who brought a sense of discipline in our daily life.

She had developed a particular liking for me and would give me good books to read so that I could develop a personality. She went for college education with zoology as her main subject. Her record books were as neat as printed text books and the drawings she made were true to life.

All my elders had made sacrifices on my behalf. Ratham Anna would never question any of my needs and the sisters would bend over backwards to accommodate my needs. But it was Chellam who made positive contributions towards my development.

My schooling was with the only high school in town; the Board High School. Those days, it was eleven years of schooling leading up to SSLC, at the end of which a public examination was held. The school boasted of 50% results at the best!

The medium of instruction was Tamil. English was a language to be learnt. The school taught us very little of the grammar and literature. The students could at best write English by verbatim repeating what they had crammed up from the printed guides.

Chellam would encourage me to read and write English. She would make me read “The Hindu” Newspaper to improve my vocabulary. But still I had a long way to go!

I passed my SSLC with very good marks and got admitted to Loyola College for the two year Intermediate course with Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry as my subjects.

At this stage the family was going through extremely difficult times and my mother was very diffident about sending me to college. She wanted me to take a diploma course which would last about three years. Again it was Chellam who prevailed upon her to get me admitted to the college. She would insist, “He is very good in his studies. We should give him the best of education.”

In the first term I really struggled as I could not cope with the sudden switching over to English medium. Chellam used to write letters to me and would insist on detailed replies from me in English only. In the quarterly examination, I secured 198^th rank in a class of about 270 students. The principal read out the marks and commented “Needs a lot of improvement.” I really felt ashamed.

I slowly started putting in efforts to improve my rank; in the half yearly exam it was 109, in the first year end it was 53 and in the University exam, it was 24.

TEACHER

My school had a number of teachers and most of them were indifferent to the performance of the students. It was a coeducational institution with very few girls. Some of the boys were interested only in chasing the girls. By and large the atmosphere was not conducive to serious academic development.

When we reached ninth standard, we had a new class teacher Sivanesan. He was from the same town and had just completed his graduation in science. It was like a breath of fresh air to have him as the teacher. He studied the personalities of each student and would take great pains to discipline each student. He knew his subject well and was an excellent teacher. When handing over corrected answer papers, he would dwell upon the performance of each student in detail.

I became a sort of pet for him. He singled me out in the class and every mistake I made in my answers would be highlighted by him during the review. When we were promoted to the tenth standard, he went off for a year to complete his teachers training (B.T. those days) in Madras. During the entire year, he would write letters to me regularly and advise me on my studies and how I should conduct myself.

Later, he attended my wedding reception and still later, my son’s marriage. By this time, he had gone blind and needed help to move around. Later I learnt that he was in an old age home in Kanchipuram and that he died in the home itself.

He was one teacher I have taken as the “Guru” and can never forget.

FRIEND

Friends make a man. My school friends were more of playmates and there was no real friendship. Things turned in Loyola College. During the first few days of hostel life, I stumbled upon Madhavan. He was also a fresher doing commerce and was staying in a room not far from mine. It was sheer accident that we met (or was it providence?). In no time, we became thick friends and were called “Inseparables” by other classmates.

Madhavan was studious. Loyola Hostel Warden was very strict and at the time the study hour bell rang at 8:30 pm, all inmates would have to be in their rooms. Madhavan would be in his room at 8:15 and would meticulously go over the work assigned for the day. He never missed this even for a day. I would hang around with him till 8:15 and then go to my room to start my studies, a habit acquired from him.

Similarly in the morning, he would get up at the specified time and he used an alarm clock regularly. His next duty would be to go around and wake up the friends; I was mostly the first one to be called!

The two years I spent in Loyola Hostel was the most memorable period of my life. I learnt discipline from Madhavan in addition to studiousness.

Later Madhavan joined the Indian Revenue Service as an Income Tax Officer and lives a retired life now in Chennai.

Along with Madhavan, I had excellent friends like Ganapathi Subramanian and Sri Ramakrishna (a senior). None of them chose the engineering field and I had to reluctantly leave their company to join the Engineering stream in Guindy. Over the years, I have been able to maintain contact with Madhavan and his influence over me continues to this date.

BOSS

In my service in the Indian Railways, I had worked under many bosses. At least three of them have to be remembered here. The first one was Rajagopalan, my immediate boss in the Eastern Railway at Dhanbad. He was a bachelor and as I was also single, we shared the same living quarters for about a year.

He was meticulous in his work. He would go into the last details of any work to be done and taught me the basics of working in a Government organization by setting examples. On the day he returned after his marriage, I had left on transfer to Southern Railway. In a way, he was my first “Guru” in work ethics.

I was posted as Assistant Works Manager of Railway Signal Workshops at Podanur on transfer and reported to The Works Manager Ranganathan. He had risen from the ranks and knew how to impress people. He was a glib talker and could cover any subject as if he was an expert. He loved challenges and was always jumping from crisis to crisis and literally thrived on them!

We sat in the same cabin facing each other and I could watch all his maneuvering  without any hindrance. To quote an example of our conversation, one day he said to me, “The first time you face a labour agitation, you are scared. The next time you are confident of handling it.” I responded, “The third time you welcome it and the fourth time you organize it!” We both had a hearty laugh.

But he was never tolerant of excellence in his subordinates. He always wanted to be one up on others and earned as many enemies as friends. At a later stage, I took over as Works Manager after he moved out. We had a number of occasions to rub each other but once we left the organization, there were no hard feelings left.

The most important person I remember as boss is Joseph. He was the Deputy Chief Engineer controlling the Workshops from the Railway Headquarters at Madras. He was a tough task master and would demand continuous alertness from the officers working under him. He brought in many projects and executed them very efficiently and many times I had to work under great pressure to meet targets.

Later, he became the Chief Engineer and continued his work aggressively. On the day he retired, I had the opportunity to speak frankly about him. His dedication to work and insistence on the officers working under him to give their best was unparalleled. After I left Indian Railways on voluntary retirement in 1983, I maintained contact with him till he passed away around the year 2000.

COLLEAGUE

There have been many people I worked with in Railways and after I left the organization to start a business. Many of them had become personal friends and continue to remain so even after many years after my retirement. But there is one person who requires special mention as the one who changed my destiny.

I first knew Achuthan as a vendor and was skeptical of his capabilities and the quality of his products. He was operating from Calcutta and was running a small industry. My experience with Calcutta based businessmen was not very encouraging and hence I was wary of all of them. In course of time, I was impressed by his sincerity and promptness as well as quality of his products. About six years after I came to know him personally, I happened to spend a month in Calcutta doing a Management Development Programme in the Indian Institute of Management. I had the opportunity to move with him closely and we spent a number of evenings discussing matters of mutual interest. I had more or less become fed up with Railway Service and having experienced working in private sector and State Government earlier, I was itching to become an entrepreneur. Achuthan encouraged me and offered to support in case I wanted to come out of Railways to start an industry, even at the smallest level.

The idea was dormant for over five years and when  I finally  left Railways to start a business, Achuthan kept his promise and provided initial financial support and advice in running the company.

It is another story that the company took many years to come of age and by that time, Achuthan had left leaving me to handle it on my own. He had visions of expanding his business and I lost contact with him after he relinquished his position as director. Though his actual contribution to the company was not significant, it was he who was instrumental in my leaving the Railways and starting a new life at the age of 44.

Now I am over seventy and retired and when I look back, I wonder what direction my life would have taken in the absence of the people who shaped my destiny. I keep wondering…..

-------------------

 An Interesting Court Case

 

I was the Works Manager in the Railway Signal & Telecommunication Workshop at Podanur near Coimbatore. An interesting court case developed needing my evidence.

This particular incident in 1969 involved drinking during duty hours. It was a Saturday morning in January. Two workers  were working in a secluded area where no one else was present. The foreman Balakrishnan made his rounds in the area and found the two drinking liquor brought in in a tiffin carrier. His assistant Anthony was also a witness. Balakrishnan immediately reported the matter to me. I ordered the security personnel to remove the workers from the place of work and take them to the Railway Hospital nearby for a test. The two begged the security personnel to permit them to meet me and they were brought in. They pleaded with me to pardon them and let them off, promising that they will not repeat the offence. I was very strict and told them that they will have to face the consequences of their action. They were then taken to the doctor in charge at the Railway Hospital. The doctor was scared and took a very safe stand that the hospital did not have the facility. The two were then taken to the Government Hospital at Coimbatore. Fortunately for them, a nurse was related to one of them and they managed to get a certificate that there was no trace of liquor.

The next eight days, the workshop was closed for annual maintenance work during the Pongal season as was the practice. When the workshop reopened, the two workers gave a letter that they had been falsely implicated by the foreman and unless suitable disciplinary action is taken against the foreman, they will seek justice in a court of law. This was a case of extreme indiscipline and I did not want them to have their way. I got charge sheets issued to both of them based on the evidence available and appointed the accountant as the enquiry officer. The accountant was scared to handle the case.

The workers then went to court. The magistrate court at Coimbatore dismissed the case as frivolous. They went on appeal. And the district court decided that the case should be heard by the magistrate at Tiruppur.

The year 1969 proved to be a year of many events very good and not so good professionally.  I was again deputed for some refresher course at Railway Staff College, Vadodara and on my return in June, was transferred and posted to Madurai.

During my tenure at Madurai, Balakrishnan from Podanur met me. The two workers had filed a criminal case of defamation against him and the case was being heard by the Tiruppur magistrate. The Legal Department of Railways had refused to fight his case as it was a criminal case against him personally. The Railways might consider reimbursing his expenses if he won the case. The workers had aligned fifteen witnesses on their side. Balakrishnan was in tears and wanted me to appear as a defence witness and I agreed.

On receiving summons from the court, I travelled to Coimbatore. I had arranged to meet our lawyer in the evening as the hearing was for the next morning. I went to the lawyer's house at the appointed time, but he was held up elsewhere and could not meet me till late night. He suggested that we discuss the case the next morning when driving to Tiruppur. I was picked up in the morning by him along with Balakrishnan. By the time we reached the road to Tiruppur, the car had a breakdown and we were stranded.  Just then, the plaintiff's lawyer was passing with his clients in a cab. He was a friend of our lawyer and offered us all a lift. With the plaintiffs traveling with us, all chances of briefing were lost!

We reached the court and the case was taken up. I was called to the witness stand and was examined by the lawyer. The questions were cursory and there was very little I could bring out. Then the cross examination started. The plaintiff's lawyer tried to browbeat me with insinuations that it was all made up by us to defame his clients. One of the points he tried to stress was that there was undue delay in issuing charge sheets. That meant it was an afterthought. I intervened to give the reason but he cut me short and did not allow me to elaborate. I had tried to give leading answers a number of times as a signal to our lawyer and was cut short by the plantiff's lawyer. Our lawyer was quick to grasp the points and on re-cross, asked me the relevant questions. I had ready answers. I was on the witness stand for nearly two and a half hours.  At the end the magistrate congratulated me for the way I conducted myself.

In his judgment in our favour, the magistrate devoted over two pages to my evidence. In short, he had written that it was a treat for him to watch me on the witness stand. He had found my disposition straightforward and to the point. I was the only witness on the defence side, while the opponents had fifteen witnesses lined up.

Balakrishnan at last had his stand vindicated. His expenses for defence were reimbursed by the Railways with my help. The workers were also punished later on my return to Podanur on transfer again in 1970 as part of an expansion plan.

Sri Adhi Ratneswarar temple – Thiruvadanai

Forgotten Temple of Tamil Nadu

Thiruvadani, the temple town is located about 25 lilometres from Devakottai  towards South in the Chettinad area. The ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is known as Adhi Rathneswarar Temple.
`
Legend:

Vaaruni the son of Varuna the God of rain  stayed in the Ashram of Sage Durvasa who was in deep meditation. Vaaruni’s friends played there using the fruits and flowers in the ashram and disturbed the penance of the sage. The angry sage cursed Vaaruni for his deed to become a strange creature with the head of a goat (Aja) and body of an elephant (Gaja). In Tamil the name will be Aadu (goat) and Aanai (elephant), hence the name of the place Thiru Aadu Aanai – Thiruvadanai.

Vaaruni realized his folly and begged for forgiveness. He was told to go to this temple in the Pandya kingdom, pray to Lord Shiva for his redemption. When Vaaruni did his penance  Lord appeared before him and granted him a boon. Vaaruni in his Aja Gaja (Aadu-Yanai) form begged the Lord that his life  be a lesson to those who showed disrespect to elders and that this place should be known as Thiruvadanai. His wish was granted and the place came to be known as Thiru Aadu Aanai.

The temple is praised by Saint Tirugnanasambandar in his Thevaram hymns. This is the 9th temple in Pandya region praised in Thevaram hymns.

During their exile, Pandavas brother Arjuna got the pasupatha missile from Lord Shiva.  He was asked by the Lord to come to Thiruvadanai to know how to use the weapon.  As a mark of his bhakti, Arjuna installed the Somaskanda in the temple, according to a story.

Sun was very proud of his radiating power.  When the brightness on Lord rose up, Nandhi the bull vehicle of the Lord drew it, the Sun losing his brightness.  Sun begged Nandhi to show him the solution.  Nandi advised Sun to worship Lord of Thiruvadanai installing Him on a seat made of sapphire gems for remedy.  Sun being the Adhi-first among the nine planets worshipped Lord Shiva Adhi Ratneswarar as suggested.  

Festivals:

10 day Vaikasi Visaka Vasanth Utsav (summer festival) in May-June, 15 day Aadi Pooram in July-August, Navarathri in September-October, Pradoshas – 13th day of both full moon and new moon fortnights in all months, Karthikai in November-December and Chaturthi in Avani-August-September are the festivals celebrated in the temple.

Greatness Of the Temple:

Three yard sticks are used to decide the reputation of great temples, viz. Murthy, Sthala and Theertha.  Temples are famous for one or two of these aspects and some have all the three attributes.  Thiruvadanai Adhi Ratneswarar temple has all the three attributes.  Lord Shiva is a swayambu.  He is also praised as Aadanai Nathar and Aja Gajeswarar.  The sacred springs are Surya Pushkarini, Varuna, Vaaruni, Markandeya, Aghasthya and Kamadenu theerthams.

Mother Snehavalli, the consort of the deity is the deity for planet Shukra-Venus.  The temple is famous for Shukra worship.

Significances:

• One of the 275 padal petra sthalams.
• This temple is more than 1000 years old.
• According to Purana, Soorya worshipped Lord Siva here with sapphire gems. Hence the lord name is Ratneswarar. In Tamil, Ratnam means Sapphire.
• This temple offers pujas to Sun God.
• Arjuna learned how to use Pasupatha missile from this place.
• Arunagirinadhar sang Thirupugazh on Murugan of this place.
• Sambandhar sang hymns on Lord Shiva of this place.
• This temple was worshiped by Agasthya, Markandeya and Kamadenu.

Temple’s Speciality:

This is one of the Shiva temples offering pujas to Sun God. Sun worshipped Lord Shiva placing Him on a stage – Avudayar – made of sapphire gems, hence the name of the Lord, Adhi Ratneswarar.
Footnote:

When I visited this temple a few years back, I expected a small shrine but was surprised to find a big temple maintained well. Incidentally my father worked in this temple in the 1920's much before I was born. It was in the attempt to trace his journey in life, I landed in this temple town. - KSK

Forgotten Temples of Tamil Nadu

 Veerattanathar Temple, Tiruvathigai

This temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is over 1500 years old. It was in existence during the reign of Pallava king Mahendravarman (7^th Century CE). The temple was in existence centuries before the Big Temple of Thanjavur was built. King Rajaraja Chola is understood to have taken some ideas of temple construction from here. The temple is located about 2 kilometres from the town of Panruti, which is close to Neyveli. The presiding deity is called Veerttaneswarar and his consort is Tripurasundari. The name is taken from the legend in which Lord Shiva vanquished the Tripura demons. Here Lord Shiva's consort is on the right side of the sanctum sanctorum. 

There are two prakarams in this temple. There is a tower at the entrance to the first prakaram and another tower at the entrance to the 2nd prakaram. Inside these 2 prakarams, the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Shiva and that of female deity is situated. There is no entrance in front of the sanctum. One has to get inside through the south side entrance. On the vimana above the sanctum, one can see the sculpture of Tripura Samhara Murthy with his 12 hands with a stance of Thiripura Samharam. The sivalingam inside the sanctum has 16 faces in it. There are scupltures of Thirunavukarasar and that of his elder sister Tilakavathy.

This temple is associated with the life of Thirunavukarasar, who was one of the principal Nayanmars. In the earlier part of his life, Thirunavukarsar was a follwer of Jainism and gave lectures in support of Jainism. His elder sister Tilakavathy was an ardent follower of Lord Shiva at Tiruvathigai and wanted her brother to become a Shiva devotee. She prayed to Lord Shiva daily for the fulfillment of her desire. Thirunavukkarasar was afflicted with a severe stomach disorder.. At this juncture, he came to Tiruvathigai to visit his sister. Tilakavathy convinced her brother that he will be cured of his diesease by praying to Lord Shiva. He visited the shrine of Lord Shiva at Tiruvathigai and composed Pathigams (Poems of ten stanzas) worshipping Him and requesting Lord Shiva to free him from the immense suffering. Thirunavukarasar, who was known as Vageesar at that time, took a dip in the well situated in the north prakaram and drank the water from the well. Vageesar was completely cured from his disease. It was Lord Shiva who called Vageesar by the name of Navukarasan for the first time. Since then Vageesar was known as Thirunavukarasar. He is also known as Appar to the followers of Saivism. Later, Thirinavukarasar spent time maintaining the lawns around the temple using a spade (Uzhavarapadai). His idols anywhere show him only with this tool.

The temple organises a seven day festival in honour of Appar in the Tamil month of Chithirai (April-May). Other Nayanmars like Gnanasambandaar and Sundaramurthy have composed songs in praise of the lord here. Hence this temple takes the honour of being named as a “Paadal Petra Sthalam” (a temple which has been honoured by songs by many great devotees or Nayanmars).

The temple is not known very well ouside a small circle. However, I was surprised to find the temple maintained fairly well. I also found that this place is very popular among local people for conducting marriages. Here are some pictures I had taken:

\

Pol Pot – Hitler of The East

K S Kanakasabapathi

There are innumerable temples that can be visited by one interested in archaeology but the common tourist gets “templed out” after three or four days of temple tour, visiting ruins and learning about the glorious past of a country now reduced to utter poverty. Here is a country that has no electricity except through diesel generators, no railway systems and no highways of standard equal to its neighbours. We had decided to reserve one day for the capital Phnom Penh where we could visit the Genocide Museum otherwise known as the Killing Fields. Tough this was covered by us during the first part of our stay, I have made it the last part in my write up to give prominence to the past glory of the country.

Siem Reap is closer to Thailand border and is north of Phnom Penh. We had taken a flight to Phnom Penh from Bangkok and took a bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, which is close to the Angkor Temples. The bus journey was very tedious and consumed over six hours through a “Highway” which was as good as a bad city road. Miles of paddy fields and small towns without electricity lined the route. Hence we decided to seek other means of transport for our return to Phnm Penh. There were two alternatives. One was hiring a van as we were seven people and the other was taking a boat which would take us along the Mekong River to Phnom Penh. This river is the border between Cambodia and Vietnam. We found that the boat service was only once a day and would be leaving early morning. Since we wanted to cover Banteay Srei before going to Phnom Penh, we had to opt for a van only. The van took about four and a half hours to reach Phnom Penh.

No visit to Cambodia can be complete without a personal view of the dark ages of the 1970's when Pol Pot ruled the country. Anyone can get first hand information about Pol Pot through Wikipedia and hence I am avoiding the details of his life history etc., to concentrate on what we saw in the Killing Fields.

Here is a brief information on Pol Pot before I proceed further:

Saloth Sar (19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998),better known as Pol Pot, was a Cambodian Maoist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death in 1998. From 1963 to 1981, he served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. From 1976 to 1979, he also served as the prime minister of Democratic Kampuchea. Pol Pot became leader of Cambodia on April 17, 1975. During his time in power he imposed agrarian socialism, forcing urban dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labor projects. The combined effects of forced labor, malnutrition, poor medical care, and executions resulted in the deaths of approximately 21% of the Cambodian population.In all, an estimated 800,000 to three million people (out of a population of approximately seven million) died under his three-year premiership.


The Killing Fields in Phnom Penh is one of the sites where such executions were carried out. The present government has made this a museum exhibiting the horrors along with a display of weapons used and a video show.

This picture of the display at the entrance shows how truck loads of victims were brought to the site

The executions were carried out using weapons like axe etc. To prevent the crying of the victims from being heard, a loudspeaker was fixed on a nearby tree with loud music being played. The victioms prior ro execution were to dig pits for mass burial. The bodies were thrown into the pits with a DDT spray to ensure that anyone still alive would be dead and also to prevent spreading of infections. Here are one mass burial pit and the tree from which a blaring loudspeaker was hung:

Here are some of the weapons used for killing:

Even children were not spared as could be seen from this picture. One is reminded of our own Krishna story in which Kamsa killed the children of his sister Devaki in a similar way:

The skulls taken out from the mass graves are exhibited in a tower. The skulls are seggregated agewise and genderwise. These exhibits were in a thatched shed earlier, and now have been placed in a multistoried tower. The upper decks contain other bones.

This picture shows an ex-school teacher who assisted Pol Pot's men in executing many people. After the fall of Pol Pot, he quietly went back to his school. Years later, he was identified and tried in a court of law. The people feel that the punishment of a few years in prison was nowhere equal to the crime.

A visit to the Killing Fields has the same effect as visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC or the Peace Park in Hiroshima. It shows how low can humans descend in their hunger for power.

With this post I am concluding the visit to Cambodia and shall move on to some other topic shortly. I hope thet the viewers found the posts useful and interesting. I shall just add a a few pictures of Samudra Manthan statue at Bangkok's Suvarnabhoomi Airport, which I was keen to see to make sure it was real. This statue was in the departure area after checking in and the people in arrival area were unaware of its existence. This will help to end the post in a happy note.