2012 came. And is leaving. Looks like it all happened in a flash. What did I achieve during the year? Not many pleasing answers I can present!

The year began for me with a relaxing trip to Bangalore and Hosur. Trips to Chennai featured as usual, lots of joyful occasions and happy gatherings. But trips to Vizag and Tirupathi remained elusive. Looks like that is how it will be in the first half of 2013 too.

The year saw Nimal graduating from pre-primary to primary at school, and become a hard-core fan of Chota Bheem. He has also developed a liking for Horrid Henry, Roll No. 21, Oggy, Mighty Raju, and god knows what else!

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2012 saw Pranab becoming President of India. Obama and Modi were voted back to power. Akilesh emerged the shrewdest among the young guns. Arvind Kejriwal established the Aam Aadmi Party. Mamta left UPA. And, Arnab Goswami was busy, as usual.

2012 also saw Ajmal Kasab’s sentence being carried out.

The year witnessed lots of protests. From those against corruption in the beginning of the year, to the ongoing ones seeking more stringent punishments for rapists. Anna, Arvind, BRD lead popular protests. Honestly though, I failed to relate with many of them.

India will not forget Nirbhaya. And the world will not forget Malala.

The year also saw some interesting events take place in India on the ‘social media’ front. Few arrests were made in relation to tweets and facebook status updates, leading to public outrage and wide scale discussions on Sec. 66A of IT Act. Events like arrest of a Pondicherry man for his tweets against Karti Chidambaram and arrest of two girls near Mumbai for a facebook status update in relation to Balasab’s funeral will hardly be forgotten soon.

But not everything changed in 2012. Uncertainty over Telangana, inflation, power cuts, meaningless debates on television – few things hardly changed.

The year saw Ratan Tata stepping down and handing over the reins to Cyrus Mistry. Kingfisher Airlines kept journeying from one crisis to another. Yet, surprisingly, it is still surviving.

Bal Thackeray, Rajesh Khanna, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Neil Armstrong, Mehdi Hassan, Vergherse ‘Amul’ Kurien, Whitney Houston, Tony Greig, Jaspal Bhatti, Yash Chopra, Joy Mukherjee, Dara Singh, AK Hangal…. The list of celebrities and inspiring personalities who departed in 2012 is staggering.

2012 was a year that every Indian cricket fan would like to forget. The drubbing at the hands of England was followed by a 0-4 loss to Australia, and then, more shamefully and painfully, a 1-2 home series defeat at the hands of England. Yes, England. The year saw Ponting, Dravid, and VVS retire from international cricket, and Hussey announcing his retirement.

2012 saw SRT making his 100th international 100. He also debuted in Parliament, and retired from ODIs. West Indies won the World T20, and in the IPL, DC became ‘Sun Risers’.

India’s best performance in Olympic Games was soon followed by IOA getting banned. IPL style Hockey League was launched. Saina came up with some good performances. And, Vishy Anand retained his World Champion title, winning it for the 5^th time after beating Boris Gelfand.

Spain won Euro 2012, beating Italy in the finals. Amazing achievement by them – to win Euro 2008, WC 2010 and now, the Euro 2012. Lance Armstrong fell from grace. Men’s tennis saw 4 different grand slam winners in 2012. And, Andy Murray capped it with an Olympic Gold. On the women’s end, Serena won 2 Grand Slams and the Olympic Gold. Indians will be glad to remember that Mahesh and Sania won the French Open Mixed Doubles this year.

2012 saw Saifeena and Vidya Balan getting married. Many interesting movie releases this year. Some that I wanted to see (but failed to, as usual) were Paan Singh Tomar, Talaash, The Dark Knight Rises, and Life of Pi. Among the few that I saw, enjoyed English Vinglish. Needless to say, it was Sridevi who made the difference!

And, finally, if 2011 was about Kolaveri, 2012 was all about Gangnam. Interesting video, amazing steps. I, like many others, just loved it. Now, waiting for an Indian version of it in some movie!

2012 – an interesting year, that got over very quickly. A year that, even if it may not have brought much joy to many, didn’t particularly harm anyone close to me. And that surely is a blessing.

Well, those were just a few impressions that 2012 left on a mango man in a banana republic.

Theek Hai ?!!

The two shepherd boys were twins. The flock though, hardly realized that.

They were very skilled and experienced. They had to lead the flock to pastures, prevent them from going astray, and then bring them back in the evening. Routine, yet responsible tasks.

Their day always began early. They worked hard. The Lord was their master, but they took their orders from Destiny. Committed servants, that they were, they always carried out their orders to perfection.

They were bound by a code. A code that they never violated. A code that prevented one from interfering when the other was dealing with things. This meant that where one was around, the other was not to be seen. The sheep though, were free to be close to anyone of them.

They shared common bonds and some similarities. Yet, they were very different. In fact, quite the opposite in most things. They approached things differently. One appeared kind, and the other, harsh. Even while both were striving only to ensure that the sheep don’t go astray. Difference in methods, but similarity in purpose.

The sheep though, wouldn’t understand this. They didn’t realize that the guys were around only to protect them. And for some reason, they all loved the younger one. The one who was soft, mild, and lead them, rather than the elder one, who pushed them from behind. Little did they realize that the purpose of both were the same.

Over a period of time all the sheep wanted to be close only to the younger one. They started to avoid the elder one. And when the younger one was not around, they tried to run away from the elder. In the process, travelling to forbidden territory, endangering themselves. They didn’t realize that the elder one, as much as the younger one, was there only to guide them and protect them.

For the twins though, how the sheep saw them was immaterial. They had a task on hand, and they were committed to carrying it out. They complimented each other and between them, it didn’t matter who was in-charge at a particular moment. They divided the work among themselves, tending to some sections of the herd randomly.

Their commitment meant that, by-and-large, the herd remained safe. Some that strayed trying to avoid the elder one paid the price. Some were lucky to come back and join the herd even without realizing the risk that they had exposed themselves too.

The twin’s commendable job made them notable. Scholars preached about how their approach was laudable and how others had so many things to learn from them. But they carried on with their lives unassumingly. Inspirational they are, the shepherd twins from the Ness family, tending the herd of humanity. The younger one is named Happy Ness, and elder one Sad Ness.

Haven’t you come across them yet?

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Continued from Part 1

Thidhi – How to track anniversaries?

Leaving aside technical calculations, we can understand generally that the 14 days between every Amavasya and Pournami, and vice-versa, are divided into 14 thidhis. They are as follows:

1. Pradamai (First day after Amavasya/Pournami)
2. Dvithiai (Second day after Amavasya/Pournami)
3. Trithiai (Third day after Amavasya/Pournami)
4. Chaturthi (Fourth day after Amavasya/Pournami)
5. Panchami (Fifth day after Amavasya/Pournami)
6. Shashti (Sixth day after Amavasya/Pournami)
7. Sapthami (Seventh day after Amavasya/Pournami)
8. Ashtami (Eighth day after Amavasya/Pournami)
9. Navami (Nineth day after Amavasya/Pournami)
10. Dasami (Tenth day after Amavasya/Pournami)
11. Ekadasi (Eleventh day after Amavasya/Pournami)
12. Dvadasi (Twelfth day after Amavasya/Pournami)
13. Triyodasi (Thirteenth day after Amavasya/Pournami)
14. Chaturdasi (Fourteenth day after Amavasya/Pournami)

The period from Amavasya to Pournami is referred to as Valar Pirai or Shukla Paksham. ‘Valar’ roughly translates ‘to grow’. It indicates that during the period the moon ‘grows’ in size.

The period from Pournami to Amavasya is refered to as Thei Pirai or Krishna Paksam. ‘Thei’ roughly translates to ‘erode’ in tamil. It indicates that during the period the moon diminishes in size.

To arrive on a date based on thidhi, we need the month, the paksham or the pirai, and the thidhi. For eg., Akshaya Trithiai is celebrated every year on ‘Panguni month’, ‘Valar Pirai or Shukla Paksham’ and ‘Trithiai’ thidhi.

Srardhams (death anniversaries) are marked on the basis of thidhi and not on the basis of star. Thus while for calculating the birthdays we use month and star, for calculating death anniversaries we use thidhis.

Special Days

A few days of the month that are considered special are as follows:

Festivals

Some common festivals are marked as below:

The above are only a few of our main festivals. There are many not included here because I haven’t yet understood them. I will try to keep updating as many as I can. Meanwhile, if you find anything here needs correction, please feel free to let me know.

As mentioned earlier, the above post is only for beginners like me who have no understanding of what the Tamil calendar is about. Hence, the information here is mostly simplified and devoid of technicalities. Should one look deeper, one would find that everything is based on a lot of technical calculations. For those interested in knowing more, there are a plenty of material available online.

Hoping that this post would have given you some basic introduction to the fundamentals of the Tamil calendar!

“Nimal! What do you want to become after you grow up? How about a solider like these people? Join military and become an Officer?”

Silence

“Something like Airforce? Do you want to become a pilot? Fighter pilot? Then you can fly planes. What do you say?”

Silence again.

After a few seconds,

“Dad. I don’t want to join military.”

“Why?”

“You know, sometimes planes fall down from the sky. Then everyone inside it die. I will also die. Then you will cry. I don’t want all that. That’s why I don’t want to become pilot.”

After a few minutes,

“Dad, if you want, I will become an engine driver. I will drive trains. That will be good.”

“Mmm. How about boats and ships? You can join Navy. Then you will get to be on boats and ships.”

“No Dad. They also sometimes go down the sea. Then I will also go down. I don’t want all that. That’s why I am saying. Engine driver is very good. I like it. Adhudhaan yenakku sugam!”

The End! At least for the time being.

All of my 35 years, I never understood the Tamil Calendar. And I never cared to understand it, too. It always seemed confusing. It meant people peering over the almanac and discussing terms that I found very difficult to remember and repeat. For most part, it used to get mixed up with astrology and superstition – good time, bad time, auspicious time, rahukaalam, yamagandam, and so on. To add to the confusion, my Tamil birthday would sometimes come ahead of my date of birth, and sometimes later. All this and more meant that I hardly gave it a second thought.

All that changed when my son started going to school. One of the first things that he learned in school was ‘January, February, March ……’ One of the first things that he wanted to figure out on his own was, when his birthday would come. It was pretty easy for him to figure that out. Month and date. Just two parameters. He was clear.

I suddenly wanted him to know about the Tamil Calendar too. Why? Don’t know. Just wanted him to. May be because I wanted him to be aware of our culture, even though I wasn’t aware of the same. And so, because I had to know it first before I could share it with him, I started to check what the Tamil Calendar was all about. And to my surprise, I didn’t find it that complicated. Making me wonder why it took me so long to look at this.

People who are already familiar with the Tamil Calendar, may find this post meaningless. However, I know many people who are, like how I was just a few months ago, totally clueless about the Tamil Calendar. Should they wish to know, here are a few basics that could introduce them to the Tamil Calendar. And, as mentioned above, I would like my son to know it too. And because I often fail to explain anything properly to him, I leave my understanding here so that he may get to know of it whenever he is ready.

At the outset, I want to make it clear that:

• this post has nothing to do with astrology or any other related field. The idea is only to get familiarized with, and understand how days are tracked in the Tamil Calendar. And nothing more. It has got nothing to do with calculating auspicious or inauspicious timings, which day is good and which is not. I will leave that to experts
• for the sake of easy comprehension, I refer to the Gregorian Calendar as ‘English Calendar’ here
• there are still many elements related to the Tamil Calendar that I am not clear about. I will also leave my doubts here, with a request to anyone who comes across this post and knows about them to please enlighten us.

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Basic Parameters

The basic parameters for tracking a day/date in the English Calendar are Year, Month, Date, and Day. Ignoring Year for a moment, to track a day in the English Calendar, we refer to the Month and Date. Eg. March 27.

In the Tamil Calendar we have the Year and the Month. After that there are 3 separate tracks:

1. Date,
2. Star or Nakshatram, and
3. Thidhi.

Depending upon the purpose, days could be tracked based on Month and the Date; or Month and the Star; or Month and the Thidhi. Eg.:

1. First day of Thai Month, or
2. Panguni (Month) – Uttaram (Star), or
3. Chitirai (Month) – Pournami (Thidhi), etc.

We will get to know them – Stars and Thidhi – as we go along.

Let’s understand the months first. Twelve months. Often confusing. Which one comes when? To remember them easily, we can have some reference points in relation to the English Calendar. I have given a sample below. You can work out your own.

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Tracking Birthdays – What is a Star/Nakshatram?

Let’s leave the technicalities for a moment. Stars are about 27-28. They follow one after the other in the same sequence. Birthdays are calculated against the Month and the Star which prevailed on the day you were born. So if you were born in Panguni and your birth star is Bharani, your birthday based on the Tamil Calendar would be on March 26 this year. Pretty Simple, right. Just Month and Star.

However, because there are only 28 stars, and there are more days in a month than that, couple of stars could get repeated each month. So what do we do if your star comes twice during the month in which you were born? Not clear, but in my home, they celebrate on the day towards the end of the month as opposed to the beginning of the month. Could be the same everywhere. Could be different somewhere.

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More in the next post:
Thidhi – How to track anniversaries?
How to track festivals?

To be Continued …..

Dear Son,

You are turning 5 today. You are growing up fast. It seems like it was only yesterday that we celebrated your 4^th birthday, which was of course, a very silent affair. Just the 5 of us at home. You cut a cake for your satisfaction and then we all went back to our work.

This year, it seems, would be a little different. You are all excited about your birthday. You have informed about it to everyone you know. You are eager to invite your neighbourhood friends and have a birthday party at home. Want to give them gifts. Want to receive gifts too. All this is going to be new in our household where we often don’t even remember our birthdays.

As you enter your 6^th year on the planet, I want to share a few things that we have been noticing about you. Lot of things about you have changed over the last one year – your interests, your choices, your behavior, and more. Perfectly normal. We expect many more such changes.

These days, television has taken over you. And you have taken over the remote. The battle to regain control of the remote has been fought against you by everyone else in the family. And lost. Now, there is peace at home. You wouldn’t mind watching ‘Chota Bheem’ 24 hours a day. Because of you, we are also forced to watch it. And forced to watch the same episode numerous times. Vexed, we no longer come near the TV. What my father failed to achieve in over 35 years, you have done in just one.

When no television, you want to go to the park. Or go cycling. Or want others at home to tell you stories. If nothing else, then, you want to call someone on the phone. You are also starting to build you a friend circle of your own, in the neighbourhood. We now have your ‘friends’ visiting us.

At school though, it is the same old story. You know the names of hardly 5 or 6 of your classmates – out of a total of 40. The rest all ‘boys’ or ‘girls’. Next academic year, it is going to be even tough. You will be in a new section, with new classmates. Hoping that you make friends soon. Also, it would be a full day at school for you from the next academic year. And a lot more subjects – languages, science, computers and more. You are going to have your hands full. Hoping that you would enjoy all that.

Your Mridangam class is coming along fine. You continue to be playful there, and picking up things at your own pace. But it’s not going to all rosy for long. Soon, your teacher is going to start demanding things from you. Exposing how your preparations are not enough. You wouldn’t practice at home, though. That’s ok. We will wait.

Your demands are also going up. You now want to ‘purchase’ everything that you see. Samosas while traveling, toys sometimes when coming back from Mridangam class, something or the other whenever we take you to any shop. You even want a car, at times.

But one thing hasn’t changed. In your hands, toys seldom retain their shape or utility for more than one day.

There are times when your actions frustrate us, annoy us. But when I look a little closer at the situation, I realize that you are not a problem child. The problem is with us. With our inability to match with the pace of your play. With our limitation in understanding your eagerness. And with our failure in understanding your needs. I realize that we need to look at you as a 5-year-old. As much as we realize that, when the testing situation comes, we are back to our old self.

That also makes me wonder if you feel frustrated by our actions. I am sure you are. May be most of the time. So, let’s see what we can do about it.

Anyway, always feels happy to see you smiling. Let your journey continue in the same positive spirit.

Wish you a very happy birthday.

– vijven