அறிவிலியும் பிரிவினையும் (Ariviliyum Pirivinaiyum)

அறிஞர் அண்ணா திராவிட இயக்கத்தில் இருந்து வெளியேறி "திராவிட முன்னேற்ற கழகம்" தொடங்க முடிவு செய்த பொழுது தந்தை பெரியார் இப்படி சொல்லி இருப்பாரோ? "அட போங்கடா வெங்காயம், பிரிஞ்சு போற அந்த கண்ணீர் துளிகள் கிடக்கட்டும். நாம பாட்டுக்கு நம்ம பொழப்பை பார்த்துக்கிட்டு இருப்போம், அதுங்க முன்னேறுதா இல்லையா பார்ப்போம்!"

இந்த கட்டுரை திராவிட அரசியலை கிண்டல் செய்வதற்காக எழுதினார் போல தோன்றினாலும் ஒட்டு மொத்த மனிதர்களையும் கிண்டல் செய்வதே என் நோக்கம். தற்போது இருக்கும் எங்கள் "ஒக்லஹோமா தமிழ் சங்கம்" பிளவுப்பட்டு ரெண்டுபடும் நிலைமை வந்த பிறகு சாதாரண மனிதனாகிய நான் வேறு என்ன தான் செய்ய?! யாருக்காவது வெசவு வைது வைக்க வேண்டாமா? அகப்பட்டான் "அறிவிலி மனிதன்"!

இந்தியாவில் இருந்து எங்களை பிரித்து "தனி தமிழ்நாடு கொடுங்கள்" என்று அறுபதுகளில் முட்டாள் தனமாக கோஷமிட்டவர்கள் தானே நாம்? அந்த பிரிவினை புத்தி லேசில் மனதிலிருந்து அகன்று விடுமா? அண்டைய மாநிலம் ஆந்திராவிலிருந்து தெலுங்கானா குட்டி போட்டாயிற்று! இன்னும் எத்தனை மாநிலம் பிளவுபட போகிறதோ! இங்கே ஒக்லஹோமா தமிழ் சங்கம் சந்தி சிரிக்காமல் சாந்தி நிலவ வேண்டும்!

நட்ட நடு சபையில் பாஞ்சாலி தேவி போல அபலையாக நிற்கும் போது இருக்கும் பணிவு பரம சிவன் கழுத்துக்கு போய் பாம்பாக அமர்ந்து படம் எடுக்கும் போது எங்கே போனது? புட்டக் கொழுப்பு அளவுக்கு மீறி மிகுதியாக வளர்ந்து மீசை முறுக்கேறி தலைக்கு செருக்கேரிய பிறகு உயரத்துக்கேற்றிய ஏணியை மனிதன் என்றைக்கு தான் நினைத்தான்? அது மனிதனின் மடைமை நிலைமை. நிற்க. பிழைத் திருத்தம். மனிதன் மட்டும் அல்ல, விலங்குகள், மற்றும் அணைத்து உயிரினங்களையும் ஆண்டவன் அப்படிதான் பிழையான உத்தியுடன் படைத்திட்டான் போல! ஆக, இது ஆண்டவன் செய்த தவறு, அவனையும் வைது வைப்போம்!

மேலே உள்ள சூர்யவம்சம் படக் காட்சியை கண்டு சிரித்து மகிழுங்கள்! ஆர். சுந்தரராஜனும் மணிவண்ணனும் நடித்த அற்புதமான போதை தரும் காட்சி! மது போதை அல்ல! புகழ் மற்றும் அறிவு மிகுதியால் அல்லது அறிவு குறைவால் வரும் திமிர் தரும் போதை! ஆர். சுந்தரராஜன் அமைதியாக உட்கார்ந்துகொண்டு தான் பாட்டுக்கு தனியாக "தண்ணி" அடிக்க தொடங்கியிருப்பார். அப்போது அங்கே வரும் மணிவண்ணன் முதலாளி தனக்கும் "தண்ணி ஊற்றிக் கொடுப்பார்" என்று ஏக்கத்துடன் அவரை பார்ப்பார். ஆர். சுந்தரராஜனும் "பாவம் தொழிலாளி, போனால் போகிறது, கொஞ்சம் தான் ஊற்றி கொடுப்போமே" என்று பரிவு காட்டி உபசரிப்பார்! மணிவண்ணனும் இரண்டு மூன்று "பெக்குகள்" உள்ளே சென்ற பிறகு கொஞ்ச கொஞ்சமாக திமிர் ஏறி ஒரு அலப்பறை விடுவார் பாருங்கள்! அட்டகாசமான நகைச்சுவை!

இறைவன் ஏற்கனவே "வெள்ளை தோல்", "கருப்பு தோல்" என்று நிறத்தால் நம்முடன் விளையாடி விட்டான்! இயற்கையாக வந்த நிற பேதங்கள் போதாது என்று நம் அறிவால் வந்த பேதங்கள் தான் எத்தனை எத்தனை! இருக்கும் ஒரே ஒரு இறைவனை அவரவர் அறிவுக்கண்ணால் விதம் விதமாக பார்த்து, அல்லா என்றும், ஏசுபிரான் என்றும், கிருஷ்ணா என்றும், கூப்பிட்டு பேதம் கிளப்பியாயிற்று! இறைவனுடன் பேச ஏது செய்யும் வெவ்வேறு மொழிகள் தானே மதங்கள்? இந்த மதங்களால் கடந்த இரண்டாயிரம் ஆண்டுகளாக எத்தனை பெரிய பிரச்சினைகள் உருவாகியாயிற்று!

வெள்ளையுமின்றி கருப்புமின்றி பெரும்பான்மையாக கபில நிற தோல்காரனான இந்தியன் அக்கபோர் செய்ய பாஷையாலும் பிரிவினை செய்தான்! மொழியா முக்கியம்? நாம் என்ன சொல்ல வந்தோமோ அந்த கருத்து தானே முக்கியம்? சொல்ல வந்த கருத்தை மறந்து சொல்ல பிரயோகப்படுத்திய பாஷையை (மதம், மொழி) வைத்து எத்தனை சண்டை! எனது உசத்தி, உனது தாழ்த்தி என்று எத்தனை பிரிவினை! "ஆஹா, சரியான போட்டி, நன்றாக சண்டையிட்டு மடிந்து சாகுங்கள்" என்று இம்சை அரசன் புலி கேசி வடிவேலு மாதிரி சண்டையிட மைதானம் அமைத்து கொடுத்து நாம் முட்டாள்தனமாக ஊக்கப்படுத்தி தொலைத்துவிட்டோம் இந்த அரக்கனை!

இறை வேட்கை தேடலில் அறிவு மேம்படும் போது தத்வார்த்தமான பிரிவுகள் ஏற்படுவது சகஜம். கிருத்தவன் கத்தோலிக்கன் என்று தொடங்கி மற்ற பல கிளைகளாகவும் பிரிந்தான். துலுக்கன் ஷியா என்றும் சுன்னி என்றும் பலவகையாக பிரிந்தான். சிந்து சம வெளி நாகரிகக்காரன் சைவம் என்றும் வைணவம் என்று ஆரம்பித்து வித விதமாக பிரிந்து தொலைத்தான்!

அடுத்தவன் வீட்டில் சண்டை மிகுந்து அவன் பிளவுப் பட்டால் நமக்கு கொண்டாட்டம் தான்! ஆனால் நாம் பிளவுபடுவது உலகத்துக்கே தெரிந்து அவர்கள் நம்மை பார்த்து இளக்காரம் செய்து கொண்டிருக்கும் போது அதை அறியக்கூட இன்றி அறிவுக்கெட்டு கிடக்கின்றோமே! அடக் கண்றாவி! இது என்ன நிலைமையடா சாமி!

உளியை கல்லின் மேலே வைத்து மென்மையாக தட்டி தட்டி ஒரு அழகு சிலை உருவாக்கலாம்! வேகமாய் ஒரே போடு போட்டு கல்லை இரண்டாகவும் உடைக்கலாம்! உளியும் அறிவும் ஒரே மாதிரி தான்! ஆக்கவும் செய்யலாம், அழிக்கவும் செய்யலாம்! அதன் தன்மை அப்படி! ஆக்க நினைத்தது அழிந்து விட்டால், அதை "அறிவு மிகுதியால்" வந்த நல்லதென்று மார் தட்டி கொள்ளப் போகிறோமா, அல்லது "அய்யய்யோ அறிவிலியாகி போட்டு உடைத்துவிட்டோமே" என்று வருத்தப்பட போகிறோமா!

உம்மாச்சி, பிரிவினைகள் தவிர்க்க முடியாதவை என்று நீ நன்றாக அறிவாய்! எல்லாம் உன் செயல்! நீ தான் எங்கள் கண்ணை குத்தாமல் எல்லா பிரிவினைகள் வரும் பொழுதும் எங்களுக்கு பெருத்த நட்டம் வாராது நட்டக் காப்பு (damage control) செய்ய வேண்டும்!

மஹாகவி பாரதியின் கவிதை தான் ஞாபகம் வருகிறது - "உலகிலே சாந்தி நிலவ வேண்டும்"!

ஓம்! சாந்தி! சாந்தி! சாந்தி!

எத்தனை கோடி இன்பம் வைத்தாய் (Ethanai Kodi Inbam Vaithai)

எத்தனை அற்புதமான கவிஞன் மஹாகவி பாரதி! சாதாரண தமிழில் சாதாரண கருத்து சொல்லும் பாடல் போல ஆரம்பித்து அதில் அறிவியலையும் அத்வைதத்தையும் கலந்து அம்சமாக சொல்லும் அவரின் புலமை கண்டு பிரமித்துப் போய் இந்த கட்டுரையை எழுத எத்தனித்தேன்!

தமிழென்றும் நாத்திகமென்றும் கரை வேட்டி கட்டி பகட்டாக பேசி தனது பாக்கெட்டுக்கு எத்தனை காசு வந்ததென்ற  ஒரே சிந்தனையுடன் காலம் தள்ளும் சில கழக கண்மணிகள் இந்த பாட்டை கேட்க வேண்டும்! மணிரத்தினத்தின் இருவர் பட "நறுமுகையே" பாட்டில் தான் எதோ இதுவரை யாரும் செய்யாத அளவுக்கு சங்க கால தமிழ் மொழியை அருமையாக இந்த கால மெட்டில் புகுத்தி எழுதிவிட்டதாக நினைத்தது மார் தட்டி கொள்ளும் கவிப்பேரரசு வைரமுத்துவும் இந்தப்பாட்டை கேட்க வேண்டும்!

மிகவும் சாதரணமான வார்த்தைகள், அனால் அதில் இயற்கையன்னையிடம் அவர் கண்ட பிரமிப்பை பாரதி எத்தனை அழகாக சொல்லி போய் விட்டார் இந்த பாட்டில்! கவிப்பேரரசு போல இந்த பாட்டிற்கு பாரதி என்ன லட்சம் லட்சமாகவா காசு வாங்கினார்!

பல்லவி:

எத்தனை கோடி இன்பம் வைத்தாய்!

எங்கள் இறைவா! இறைவா! இறைவா!

சரணம்:

சித்தினை அசித்துடன் இணைத்தாய்!

அங்கு சேரும் ஐம்பூதத்து வியன் உலகமைத்தாய்!

அத்தனை உலகமும் வர்ண களஞ்சியமாக

பல பல நல் அழகுகள் சமைத்தாய்!

முக்தியென்றொரு நிலை சமைத்தாய்

அங்கு முழுதினையும் உணரும் உணர்வமைத்தாய்!

பக்தியென்றொரு நிலை வகுத்தாய்!

பரமா பரமா பரமா!

மேலே உள்ள பாட்டில் நான் கண்ட கவித்துவத்தை கூறுகிறேன் கேளுங்கள்! தமிழ் தெரிந்த அனைவருக்கும் பல்லவி புரிந்திருக்கும். சாதாரண மொழியில் தான் உள்ளதல்லவா! சரணத்தின் முதல் வரியை பாருங்கள்! "சித்தினை அசித்துடன் இணைத்தாய்"! சித்து என்கிற வார்த்தையை (மாயம் என்கிற அர்த்தம் கொள்வது) உபயோகபடுத்திவிட்டு உடனேயே "அசித்து" என்கிற நேர்மாறான வார்த்தையை பயன் படுத்துகிறார்!  உயிர் உள்ள எல்லாவற்றையும் நான் "சித்து" என்று சொல்லுவேன். உயிர் என்கிற மாயம் இல்லாதவற்றை "அசித்து" என்று கூறலாம்! கல் களிமண் போன்ற உணர்வே அல்லாத வஸ்துவில் என்ன "சித்தினை" கண்டிட முடியும்! "ஐம்பூதத்தை சேர்த்து வியன் உலகமைத்தாய்"! ஆங்கிலத்தில் சொல்லவேண்டுமேன்றால் "Oh creator, you created such an animated world out of all the inanimates! How could you infuse life into the lifeless"! இது வெறும் உலகல்ல! "வியன் உலகு"! படைப்பாளி இன்றி இத்தகைய பிரம்மாண்டமான சித்து வேலையை எங்கணம் காட்டிட இயலும்?

யாரும் பயன்படுத்தாத வகையில் இறைவன் உலகை "சமைத்தார்" என்கிற வார்த்தை பிரயோகம் காட்டுகின்றார்! ஓவியன் வர்ணம் வைத்து "வரைவான்", ஆனால், இயற்கையன்னை அதே வர்ணத்தை வைத்து "அழகுகள் சமைத்தாய்" என்கிறார்!

இந்த உலகத்தை படைத்த படைப்பாளியை "இயற்கை" என்று அழைக்கலாம் அல்லது "இறைவன்" என்றும் அழைக்கலாம்! இரண்டும் ஒன்று தானே! பெயரில் என்ன இருக்கிறது? "இயற்கையோ" அல்லது "இறைவனோ", அந்த படைப்பாளி கருவிக்கு உரித்த மரியாதை தந்து வாயார "பரமா பரமா பரமா" என்று போற்றி பாரதி தன பாடலின் முடிவை அமைக்கின்றார்!

பாட்டின் முடிவு பகுதியில் பாரதி "பக்தி"யை பற்றியும் "முக்தி"யை பற்றியும் கோடிட்டு காண்பிக்கின்றார்! "முக்தி" என்பது இறைவன் சமைத்த "ஒரு நிலை" என்கிறார்! அதனை அடைந்து விட்டால், உயிருள்ளதும் அல்லதும், பிறப்பும் இறப்பும், உணவும் மலமும், இறைவனும் இயற்கையும் எல்லாம் ஒன்றுதான் என்கிற உண்மை புலப்படாலாம்! இதனை பாரதி சொல்லாமல் சொல்லுவது போல என்னுடைய அத்வைதம் சார்ந்த உள்ளம் அர்த்தம் கொள்ளுகிறது!

தொண்ணூறு வயது தாண்டி வாழ்ந்து செத்த தந்தை பெரியார் முக்தி அடைந்தாரா என்று எனக்கு தெரியாது. தனது குடும்பத்துக்கு சொத்து சுகம் எப்படி சேர்த்து பெருக்குவது என்கிற சாதுர்யம் நன்றாக கற்றுக்கொண்டுவிட்டாலும், தற்போது தொண்ணூறு தாண்டிவிட்ட கருணாநிதியும் எத்தனை தூரம் முக்தி அடைந்திருக்கிறார் என்று எனக்கு தெரியாது.

அனால் 38 வயதே வாழ்ந்து மடிந்த பாரதி முக்தி அடைந்த நிலை பெற்றுவிட்ட மாதிரி தான் எனக்கு தோன்றுகிறது. மேற்கண்ட மாதிரி அவர் எழுதிய தத்வார்த்தமான பாடல்கள் வேட்கையுள்ள மனங்களுக்கு நல்ல அறிவு தீனி!

நான் அடுத்த முறை வலைப்பதிவு செய்யும் வரை, நீங்கள் சந்தோஷ பாக்கியம் பெற்று பெறு வாழ்வு வாழ என் வாழ்த்துக்கள்!

Healthcare - The Unholy Practice of the Holy!

Rod of Asclepius

It appears that the recent "Neeyaa Naanaana" episode that aired on 08/17/2014 Vijay TV about "greediness in healthcare field" has created a bunch of fury amidst Tamilnadu medical professionals. Running health care amidst all your competitors is a tricky thing nowadays. In the days of Sushruta and Charaka, it was all probably free. Patients paid voluntarily whatever they wanted to pay to the healers. There was no concept of money and they just paid the doctors in kind. You may get tomatoes from one patient's garden and perhaps snake gourd from the next patient. But now "money" rules in all of our lives! Healthcare is no exception.

In this context I remember the recount of my Kilpauk Medical College classmate's real life experience. A labor-and-delivery case that got botched up, and the lives of the mom and the kiddo could have been lost because of the ego of the administrative heads. But luckily my friend, the physician, was a conscious enough to save those two lives.

Let me tell you that case. It involves two healthcare facilities in Kozhikode district in Kerala that are set in two different small towns separated by 10 kilometers. Let us just simply call these facilities as facility A and facility B.

There was a private practitioner in that town A who established a practice in the early eighties. As more and more cash flowed in from his thriving practice, he went on to open his own pharmacy in a "Benami" name, then expanded on to open his own admitting "facility A". It was his own sole ownership.

In town B, there was a church but no medical practitioner. Like many of the churches in India, this organization masqueraded under the holy name, and underneath all its activities, there was a subtle mission - a desire to see more and more people embrace Christianity. The church ventured out into opening a healthcare (facility B) as there was clear demand for it in that town.

The new facility B had a problem taking off and establishing its roots in the community. The doctors there kept quitting their jobs and the patients could not have any guarantee that they would see the same doctor each successive follow-up visits. It was a 24 hour RMO job for Re 5000 per month salary and none of the local Kerala doctors would take that job. Hence the people continued to be going to the other town and sought health care over there in facility A.

The missionary organization placed an advertisement in "The Hindu" Chennai edition to hire new doctors. Doctors who moved from far-off place like Chennai to Kerala to take such 24 hour RMO jobs offered better hopes to those Kerala employers. They were likely to stay in the same employment longer than Kerala doctors. That strategy frequently worked for them in hiring doctors from other states like Tamilnadu.

This chap, my Kilpauk Medical College classmate went to work for that Catholic Missionary hospital in facility B. His medical qualification was just MBBS and he was capable of doing basic medical care, but not capable of handling any heavy-duty medical case. That facility had only one other doctor, a Obstetrician, also from Chennai. Her job was to build OB-GYN practice for that facility A. Both these doctors took the job in Kerala to work, make some money and at the same time to be studying and preparing for their higher studies in USA/UK.

And slowly facility B started getting some patients coming to them routinely indicating that the patients now trusted this new facility and its two Tamil doctors. The fee was just Re 5 or 10 per visit in 1994 set by the sisters/nuns. The missionary that was running the facility got very happy. And they also got their first prenatal case following with the OB-GYN doctor which meant that they were going to deliver the first child in that little hospital! Once they prove to the community that the facility was capable of delivering children, then hopefully people would quit going to competing private practitioner in the other town. They probably had a plan to then hire a surgeon as well after proving their ability in delivering babies. Then they could venture out into doing "appendectomies" as well. These are the business aspects of medicine - about how to progress from one to another to make it more lucrative.

The OB-GYN doctor took her well-entitled time-off - one weekend off to Chennai to spend time with her family. That weekend became a fateful weekend. Because the first prenatal care patient developed labor pain and showed up at the facility. The sisters/nuns were so embarrassed that their promise to the community had failed because the OB-GYN doctor was not available when needed. That pregnant lady in labour was about to go to Facility A in frustration. But that would be such bad public relationship event for the growth of this facility. So, the sisters/nuns looked up to my friend to deliver the baby successfully.

My friend had delivered several dozen babies during his house-surgeoncy training, but they were all supervised by a post-graduate obstetrician. He had never done this alone. But he agreed to that proposition of conducting the first delivery in that hospital without any help. However he did tell the sisters that he was no expert in this.  In any case he did successfully deliver the baby without complications. Everyone cheered in the delivery room! But the problem was that they couldn't control the post-partum hemorrhage. The mom's blood pressure started dropping. My friend who was just barely out of the medical school was all alone in that small town being solely responsible for the safety of the mom and child. He gave her fluids, but didn't have any blood to give the bleeder. He made the decision to summon the ambulance and transfer the patient to the facility A where access to blood transfusion and expert doctors were all possible.

You would expect the sisters, the ladies walking the holy trail would be the most holy in this situation because of their commitment to nunhood and righteousness. But what the sisters said was the most shocking thing in this case. They just acted like a typical healthcare facility administrator, like a business person, and didn't want the patient to be transferred to their own competitor. They did everything possible arguing with my friend in the delivery room in trying to avoid the transfer because they said "there was nothing more embarrassing than accepting defeat to the competition". That did waste some precious bunch of time. Finally my friend succeeded in transferring the patient. And the patient got her life back after several units of blood transfusion at facility A.

Caduceus

Oh boy, how much has health care changed over period of time! Not just health care, but every thing in life! Money rules everywhere now! You probably thought that I blamed the sisters for the above problem. But you know what my friend did after that event? He negotiated Re 1000 increase per month in his salary from the next month because he was instrumental in the first successful delivery there and also saving the life of the mom by transferring her out in a timely manner.

Everything is money, money, money now! Just few hundred years ago "insuring something" was almost an unknown concept and now we have insurance for everything.

Look how the imagery that represents healthcare has changed over time. The first image in this blog above - that indicates the rod of the Asclepius, the greek mythological deity associated with healing. When healers provided service out of pure goodwill, because of their passion in their profession and an eagerness to help, without charging tooth and nail, then you can think of the above figure. The second image mentioned above is the Caduceus. This figure is frequently confused with imagery representing healthcare activities. When you think of medical profession done for purpose of business, then you probably should think of Caduceus. It indicates a trade, just a freaking healthcare business.

And now, I found this image off of the internet - a modern Caduceus tattooed on a man's back! Look at the tattoo below, it shows good and evil on the opposite sides.

Modern Caduceus - depicting good and evil on opposite sides

We will have to talk about one more profession in this context. The Hindu priests! Thousand years ago, the way the priests behaved was very different than what we see now. They were not supposed to expect fees for their services. If the customer gave them something out of their own will - probably a tumbler of rice grains, some banana fruit, perhaps coconut etc, then they could take it to their home because it was a voluntary offer by the customer. It was considered obscene to set a fee and ask a customer that amount for priestly services. But look at the modern priests nowadays! I remember the priest that came to my house while we had my father's dead body laying in the hall. He came like "Alaipayuthey" movie hero "Madhavan" in his bike with sun goggles on, iphone in his pocket, ear buds in his ears. They had offered a "package deal" for Re. 9600 to perform the 1st day ceremonies. That involves going to the electric crematorium in Besant Nagar and chanting all the mantras so that my father would travel safely to the heavens. Priestly duty offered as a package deal! That priest was pretty business-like, came, did his job, kicked his bike start, and went back to the next death home!

Some professions may be holy in nature, but once the elbow gets extended to collect the monies and riches as fees, then the holiness is gone right here.  Doctors can't offer arguments that they answer pages at night to save lives of other people. Nowadays software consultants go to work and stay in their offices for 14 or 16 hours easy, extending well into night or early morning before they can even come back home. And so does a factory worker in Ambattur doing night duty work! What about that? Can they claim it to be holy? Think about it! If your job description involves answering pages at night, just do it! After all it is done for a fee and not free! I know of many doctors in USA who bill at a minimum of 15 minute time increments to answer their hospice and home health calls and bill it to those companies!

And I read one doctor saying that he cleaned other people's anuses and that he needed to be respected for doing a sordid thing like that. What kind of argument is that? Then what about the chennai corporation latrine cleaner who cleans human excreta all day long in his work? Is he performing a holy profession?

The term "holy" can only be used when you offer some service without expecting anything in return. Selfless, so to speak. But we live in a world where money rules the world and its people. Since the doctor sees the healthcare transaction as a way to make money, he doesn't think about it as "holy". If the outcome of a healthcare transaction was poor (such as death of a patient), then the patients don't hesitate to make that misfortune as fortunate as possible by suing the doctor. That tells you that the patients don't see the healthcare transaction as "holy" either.

Doctors, just grow up! Your patient is ready to go to thermonuclear war against you in the court of law if you did a bad job of what you promised to them initially. Learn to do what you do for your patients well, communicate that nicely to them, your patients, and try to be honest about what you do! Just admit that you are not doing anything for free to your patients. Quit pretending to be Dalai Lama! There is a business aspect to practicing medicine and start admitting to it! Where is the holiness in this? There is no confusion. The world has pronounced the verdict long ago - perhaps in the second part of the last century.

Healthcare is looked as a business and nothing else. Just grow up and come to terms with this realization.

Albert Einstein meets Raga Mohanam

Today I wanted to blog about an important musical concept. Who else could be a better guest in this particular blog other than the theory of relativity guy - our own favorite - saakshaath Albert Einstein? And which ragam could be a better one to describe this illusive musical phenomenon other than our favorite pentatonic queen Mohanam?

And now you are stuck with seeing my face again in Youtube. Please click the video below to hear me play Mohana raagam! Since I used the Bansuri to play this and since I incorporated vilambit laya sans south Indian gamakas, let us call this as Raga Bhoopali (which is the north Indian equivalent for the south Indian Mohana raga).

And remember, my previous promise to you is still true! For each time you click to hear me play, I will send you $ 10.00! All that you have to do is email me your invoice! There you go! I will paypal you some dough from my Gandhi kanakku bank account!

Mohanam is a beautiful raga. Even the wind chime that you buy at Home Depot plays it so nicely without having any idea that it is playing a beautiful Audava-Audava raga. Audava means 5 notes - pentatonic! Audava-Audava means both the ascending and descending has 5 notes each. Sa Re Ga Pa Da Sa! Or, in western notation - C D E G A C! In my hexadecimal notation system I call Mohanam as 024790! I once again refer you to my copyrighted piano figure below to understand why I call Mohanam as 024790. I use this system of nomenclature for its simplicity sake - it removes the ambiguity of the "sharp" and "flat" notes.

And now - talking about the main subject of this blog - that the visual and auditory perception are analyzed so differently by our intellect! Let us look at light perception. You can't see light below 400 nm (infrared). And visible spectrum starts at 400 nm. Your brain perceives this light - 400 nm - as "red light". That is true for all the humans. As soon as light is decoded by the visual cortex, the intellect stamps the "red" label on such a light that has a frequency of 400 nm. It is not like Indians see 400 nm as "red" while Chinese would look at the same as green! 400 nm is pretty red for all of humans, whether we are white, black, brown or yellow! And similarly the perception of a 700 nm light is "seen" as "violet" by the intellect. Thus there is a clear branding by the brain about what color is a particular frequency of light.

But in the auditory realm, the same thing of "light perception logic" don't hold true. Mother Nature decided to show you her caprice here! How dare you try to apply the logic of one known system to another system that you are trying to elucidate, you silly little mortal human! Can you ever decode Mother Nature! There she is, Mother Nature, laughing hysterically showing you her middle finger!

In visual perception, red is red whether it is next to green or blue. But in auditory perception, things are not absolute anymore, it is all just very relative! So, let us look at the auditory perception! Human ear is capable of hearing between 20 Hz to 20000 Hz. Mother nature doesn't brand sound waves as they pass through the auditory cortex just like the way she brands light waves! There is no branding of "Sa" or "Re" notes as the waves pass through the intellect. The psychoacoustic perception is a very relative phenomenon - you perceive one note only in relationship to the adjacent note and not by the absolute value of the solitary note alone! In fact in music perception, brain never finds joy in the notes themselves! What matters is the frequency distance between the notes and not the notes themselves. The joy of music is in listening to the various tonal patterns and not in the tones themselves!

Play a 261.62 Hz frequency note (which is the note middle C, by the way) and let us see what the heck the brain does! It cares a damn! Really! Try it! But then, as an experiment, play the 261.62 Hz frequency first and then successively play 293.66 Hz (which is note middle D), and then 329.62 Hz (which is note middle E), and now the brain begins to wonder if you are playing the Sa Re Ga of Mohana raga! So, when you are playing the raga Mohanam - 024790 - the brain never looks at the absolute notes as mentioned above! What matters is just the difference between the notes! So, all that the brain cares about is the pattern of tonal differences between various notes - and thus in this example, 22323 is the the tonal pattern that creates the "music of raga Mohanam"! I arrived at 22323 as the pattern representing raga Mohanam because the Sa and Re of mohanam are separated by 2 semitones, then Re and Ga are separated by 2 semitones and then between Ga and Pa separated by 3 semitones and so forth making "22323".

It is unbelievable how the theory of relativity applies in various aspects of our life. My parents see me as a son, my aunt sees me as a nephew, my daughter sees me as a father and my wife sees me as a lover (I could have said husband but the word "lover" gave me a little bit of a kick!). So, look at the various avatars that we all have in this world! It is like the photograph of your house that looks so different from the front, and the sides and the back! Unless you have been to that house and know it well, you may not even associate the picture of the front of a house to the picture of the back of the house and realize that they both are of the same house! It is all just different perspectives of the same thing, isn't it?

Look how tonal pattern that makes the raga Mohanam (22323) takes various dimensions based on how you look at it:

22323 equals raga Mohanam!

23232 equals raga Madhyamavathi (looking at Mohanam from Re Ga Pa Da Sa Re)

32322 equals raga Hindolam (looking at Mohanam from Ga Pa Da Sa Re Ga)

23223 equals raga Suddha Saveri (looking at Mohanam from Pa Da Sa Re Ga Pa)

32232 equals raga Suddha Dhanyasi (looking at Mohanam from Da Sa Re Ga Pa Da).

When I concluded my Bansuri alapana in the above Youtube video, the short vocal alapana that I did was raga Nagaswaravali - Sa Ga Ma Pa Da Sa (045790). The tonal pattern for raga Nagaswarali is 41223. Why don't you look at that pattern in various ways - example "12234" or "22341" or "23412" or "34122" and see what other ragas you get out of it! That would be a good exercise on your keyboard!

And by the way, when Einstein came to my home to visit me, he appeared to be a little disappointed in me for wearing the same Kurta Jeans in my four Youtube videos that I have posted so far.  He also told me that I should consider hair transplant before posting stuff on Youtube!

Einstein sir, don't you know that pulchritude possesses solely cutaneous profundity? Anyway, I do agree with you regarding changing the Kurta Jeans in my next video! Until next time, cheers and see you again!

Hair, Hairier and Hairiest!

Men are just strange breed of people. My doctor told me about a patient of his that he took care in the eighties. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Like what was once upon a time a good practice of medicine - to cut off the man's precious testicles - was recommended to this man also.

Those kinds of treatment options were not uncommon in those days. Like a women with breast cancer losing her ovaries to save her life, what is the big deal about a man losing his testicles to save his life? Of course woman sans ovaries would end up with menopause related complications. The usual crankiness, mood swings and yada yada yada of most women could now be easily blamed on the menopause devil! But in a man, think about the loss that they would have to go through after getting stuck with post-surgical "Andropause"! Most men perceive the "andropause"(ouch, it would hurt for a man to hear this) as equipment fail!

Andropause not necessarily equals deflated tires. Decreased desire and decreased performance are two different things. But the above man with prostate cancer didn't understand this obviously. Once presented with this terrible dilemma, "keeping his life versus keeping his testicles", that patient chose his "manhood" more than his life. He apparently said "I would rather die as a man than a women". A shocking decision indeed, isn't it? A man wanting to go inside the coffin as a dead man and still wanting to have his equipment as "manly" as possible! What good is it to have it all aplomb and ready, while it is such a claustrophobic little space inside the closed coffin anyway? There is not even enough space for a little selfie there, forget about two people inside it.

Thus, those so called people in the world, that happen to have a Y chromosome in addition to the X Chromosome, take pride in few other things in their life. Like driving a huge gas-guzzling Hummer juggernaut! To have that black-smoke spitting gargantuan man-made contraption navigate between the freeway lanes is sure a "macho" thing! To show the innocent spectators on I-35 that their mundane little town was now under military attack with the Hummer running like"marching tanks"! All those other "green conscious stupid people" driving their ordinary pathetic cars like the Toyota Prius, in obeisance to the all mighty - Almighty Hummer!

And one more thing that men take pride in owning apart from their manhood, driving a Hummer etc, is to have a lot of hair on their head. But when God allowed men's testicles to manufacture the testosterone right at the time of their puberty, God also gave all men a tricky proposition. God said, "hey guys, this stuff, testosterone, is darn good stuff! It is better than coke, meth and all that you can buy in black market! It sure will make you all masculine, help you develop secondary sexual characteristics and you will have a lot of facial hair and stuff - but one screwy thing is that some of you men are going to lose all your hair in the head".

Boy, what a bomb that God threw on all the men folk! "You will be a man with this testosterone, but some of you will become bald". Darn it, that was really a bad deal for poor Adam while Eve was there laughing her head off behind the bush! Adam took the testosterone anyway because with hot Eve on his lap, especially without clothes in those cavemen period, he desperately needed the testosterone! That sucker, Adam, the first man in the world, despite getting a big whopping dose of testosterone directly from God himself, seems to have gotten lucky in getting the best of both the worlds! He never got the "bald bug", but got all the testosterone he wanted! The pictures that I see of him shows him that way! Lucky son of a gun!

Remember God's curse on men - not all, but only few men would be affected! The bravest of the brave men would be chosen to go barren in their head! And here we go, I got to admit my stupidity when I had my first tryst with God! As soon as God made me, I could see that he was pretty proud of himself for his artisanship to have made such a perfect man like myself. He then asked me if "I was a brave kid or not"! And least did I know the kind of trouble that I was getting into! I stupidly answered to God "yes Sir, I am a very brave man". I should have never said that, but anyway, I got jinxed that day. That is how the seed for my doom to lose all my hair was sowed on the same day of my creation! That is it, God, I will never trust you again!

I did get bald in my twenties right after my graduate school, as per God's evil plan. I stayed bald for few years in the early nineties when I first came to America. But later, I defeated God with my high intelligence. I am going to tell you how. Please see the following picture carefully.

Don't think that one of my silly cousins photoshopped my face with an app called as "pimpmyhair" and created the above hairy photograph of myself. That really is me with real hair. That is not some kind of prosthetic hair or wig or hologram or anything like that. It really is the real deal!

Now I hear you guys whispering there quietly - how dare you even you think this is my wig? Let me tell you what I have been up to get the above luxurious hair growth. I am using turmeric paste, pomegranate extract, mixed with Kiwi Fruit peel, Garlic, Cinnamon, Cumin seeds, Neem leaves, Curry leaves blended using a specific patented ratio, along with banana stem juice and nice sautéed guacamole paste - I apply this formula to my head all night long every weekdays! On weekends I apply Ragu pasta sauce all night long! My wife and children have disowned me because it smells like hell when I have this paste on my head. My family has left me and they live in a different house now. But I never cared about them any way in my quest to get hairy.

But the only professional problem is that when I go to work in the morning, my clients can't tolerate the smell either. Hence I am forced to perfume my whole body like crazy. Every month I order about $ 600 worth of perfumes from Amazon.com. But you know what? It is all worth it - because look at the luxurious growth of hair on this once upon a time barren scalp! Now some of this miracle hair growth product that I used on the scalp spilled over on my upper back area and I am developing a dense tropical forrest there. I have created a monthly account at a local hair salon and go there everyday for them to shave off my back daily. But they have been specifically instructed to never touch my scalp hair, because that is my pride and it is very precious to me! Vogue magazine is planning to vote me as the most handsome man who ever lived on earth. All, thanks to my hair formula! Why do I care if my wife left me and my children don't talk to me any more! I have this precious enviable hair growth that makes everybody notice me so specially even in a big crowd! God sure is great and has been very kind to me lately!

But then I came up with a new problem. When I walk around with this kind of hair, my clients have begun to report that it is looking unprofessional. And hence I have had to come up with lots of ideas about how to look professional, yet, have all the hair I want to have on my scalp?

And now, look at the photo below, and you will see what I did to myself cleverly.

I got a nice wig that makes me look bald. I bought it in Dubai - it was custom fit for my head. The wig kind of sits tightly on my scalp and it hides all the above luxurious hair that I have on my scalp and it kind of makes me look bald and professional! So, from tomorrow, when you guys see me, please understand that I am wearing a bald wig to look professional. At my home I stay my natural self as you see above! If you want to see me that way, please drop in to my home over the weekend and you can see me as long and as much you want!

You didn't expect this kind of anti-climax in my blog, did you? That "Bruce Willis was dead all along and was a ghost" in the movie "Sixth Sense" kind of a twist to this blog! Now you understand all the sacrifices that I have had to bear with, be sweating like crazy and suffocating all my beautiful hair follicles underneath this bridling bald wig, yet, keep smiling on the outside to keep you all happy? All for what, in an effort to put up a professional appearance! Like the Indian lawyers, as per their professional requirement, wearing black blazers while the temperature is 110 degree Fahrenheit  in the un-air-conditioned Indian court rooms!

Until my next blog, cheers and have a nice weekend!

Vigna Vinayaka - Ranjani Raga - Lord Ganesha

Lord Ganesha is a very enigmatic divine figure! He has a lot of uniqueness in Hindu mythology! Not many Gods are horizontally challenged like him! Not many Gods have animal heads like him! He proved himself very smart when it came to winning the competition started by Narada muni! These two kids had to come around the world 3 times to win the competition to prove themselves worthy of getting the much coveted fruit that Narada muni gave to Lord Shiva! Who would go around the entire 24901 miles - the actual earth circumference?

Christopher Reeves may have had the power to make the earth spin anti-clockwise to regress time in Superman! But Lord Ganesh, being a naive God child, seriously wondered his limitations, especially with his weight challenge! Could he make that long trip of 74703 miles! He used all his astuteness and figured out one thing! As a child, if he argued cutely wagging his trunk hither and thither, that "his subjective world" was just his "parents", then who could repudiate that common-sense driven logic? So, he just did that very same thing, while Lord Karthikeya was stupidly trying to whirl around the humongously big spherical earth!  He simply dumbfounded his silly and oll-lly (tamil word) brother Karthikeya when he returned back from his international trip! He didn't sweat a darn, just sat there in the nice, chilly and cozy mount Kailash, with a sly grin and told his brother that he was the victor! Put yourself in the position of Lord Kartikeya and just try to feel how much it would have made you feel angry - to be defeated by the chicanery of this elephant-headed sloth!

Anyway, my mother decided not to discriminate against this seemingly cunning God! She wrote this nice song all in praise of him! It is set in Ranjani raga!

Pallavi:

Vigna Vinayaka charanam charanam!

Dhukka nivaarana charanam charanam!

Anupallavi:

Bhakthiyudan unnai niththam thudhi paada

Sakthi maindhaa enakku sakala balam tharanum!

Charanam:

Sankaran pudhalvaa sankadangal thavirpaai

Omkaara roopanae paangaagavae vandhu

Singaara velanin seermigu sodharaa

Mangala moorthiyae magimaiyura varanum!

My mom looked at Lord Vinayaka from his father point of view (Sankaran pudhalvaa), and brother point of view (Velanin sodharaa) and also called him as "dhukka nivaaranaa". Lord Ganesh will not only cure your illness after your being afflicted, but he is also good at "preventing illness even before it occurs". He knows that prevention is better than cure, so you better start any pooja with Ganesh prayer first! Even if you are a vaishnavite, you may start your pooja with praying at least "Thumbikkai Aazhvaar"!

And now, I sang a raga that is just related by namesake to the above Ranjani raaga that my mom used for her song! Click below to hear me sing and see if you can identify the raga:

I remind you once more to my hexadecimal methodology of naming musical notes. Please see the self-explanatory figure below:

Ranjani raga has different arohanam and avarohanam. Thus when you go up (arohanam) you go "023690" and when you come down (avarohanam), you play "0b9630". Try that! You got Ranjani now!

And the raga that I sang above is Mararanjani (25th melakartha). It has the same arohanam and avarohanam. Play "02457890" up and down and you got Mararanjani!

You probably wonder why it sounds so close to Charukesi! Playing Charukesi is simple - "024578a0". Try that in your keyboard! Thats it! So, now you see that Mararanjani and Charukesi are very closely related ragas! Instead of "9" (Na1 in Mararanjani), you have to go with "a" (Ni2) to get Charukesi.

And the last 30 seconds in the above video I sang "Saama" - its arohanam is "025790" and its avarohanam is "0975420". Do you see how these ragas are genetically related?

Have fun playing your keyboard! Cheers, until next time!