உன் பிதாக்கள் நாட்டின பூர்வ எல்லைக்குறியை மாற்றாதே.

இந்நாளுக்கு நம்முடைய மக்கள் நம் சொந்த பழைய வழிகளை அழிக்க தேடியிருக்கிறார்கள். ஏன்? எந்த முகாந்தரதுக்கு இந்த பைத்தியம்? நம்முடைய பிள்ளைகள் அசேடண்த்தில் வளர நம்முக்கு இஷ்டம்?இல்லை வேண்டமே. அப்படியே நம்முடைய இடிகசம் பிள்ளைக்கு பெறுமையால் சொல்லிபிடிக்க் வேண்டும். சம்பிரதாய அரிவு இல்லமால் அறம் இல்லை, அப்படியே சமாசத்தில் கன பிரச்சினைகள் பார்க்க முடியும்.அதாலே கஷ்டங்களில் இருக்கிற இளந்தைகள் குற்றங்களை செய்திருக்கிறார்கள்.உன் பிதாக்கள் நாட்டின பூர்வ எல்லைக்குறியை மாற்றாதே என்று வேதகமத்தில் எழுதியிருந்தது. நம்முக்கு நல்ல ஒரு எச்சரிக்கைதான். ந்ம்முடைய பழக்கங்களையும் வழிகளையும் இரட்சிக்க அமர்கொடுக்க ஆரம்பிக்க் வேண்டும்.

From the Minority to the Majority

Having grown up in a place where you are the minority, wether on race or religion or in my case both, can make you feel timid and shy. No matter where you walk in the mass of humanity around you, you seem to stand out and be unable to hide. Just by looking at you, people judge you to be a certain way - and those judgements do not change with the greatest of ease. So assumptions about your wealth, your families job and status (if you are lucky to have one) are formulated on your appearance - To wether you are greated by Vanakkam, Namaste, Asalam Aleikum or Hello young saar. Everyone has predujices, I myself - being bought up in a community which was extremely anti-hindi and anti-brahamic - refuse to speak Hindi and hate the caste system. Even though I went to an English medium school, I could hardly afford the books. I didn't have proper shoes until 14 and often dodged paying fares by hanging onto the side of the bus. So when people looked at me and charged me double or triple because I looked like I came from a rich family (despite my accent, plain clothes etc) I got most upset. For this reason I never dreamed of using rickshaws and developed the like for long walks under the hot Trichy sun. I love walking, you get enjoyment from the air, and the sites of things that you miss in the bus (Its less crowded) or car (going to fast). Walking through the Nilgiri (when i managed to get there) and the backwaters was probably one of the most enjoyable things. I think now, with today's modern and convinence that everyone is too busy to stop and contemplate. It takes me 5 minutes to get to work now, before I had a car it used to take 35 minutes - During those 35 minutes I was just thinking about life and things, not letting things get too crowded. But to walk here, puts you in the minority... Its not bad to be in the minority, because then you are unaffected by the things that affect the majority. We are not born into being one thing or another, unlike what is taught in Hinduism, The jothidam can't predict your future - no matter if you were born on Mercury's day, Sun's day, Moon's day - on the 1st Month or last Month because you can control your future.
I now live in a place where we are the majority, which is probably the most unusual and unexplainable feeling -- People are not stirring at me nor trying to up the prices, but I don't suprise people anymore.
I believe everyone to be equal and unique, which is why I still hold onto my taught anti brahmic stance - which, though I could prosper by it, I know is opposition to life. I still support the DMK! Vaazhga Valamudan!

A slow death

When a hurricane leaves the warm tropical ocean and moves over land it decays rapidly, but when it passes over cooler ocean it dies a slows agonising death - cut off from the warm ocean it looses its source of energy. In this same way I've felt my life dying a slow death - both physically and emotionally. When I came in April, everything was new - everything. I was excited to walk around and see people, relations that I never knew - but as the days drew on, my heart started to lose energy. Physically, I can most mornings no longer feel the end of my fingers nor feet - as if my very life was running out of my veins. I struggle to keep any heat within my body, perhaps its some sickness or a reflection of my heart. I hold onto memories as a hurricane would try to draw moisture from a cooler ocean, but it leaves me with a feeling of frustration. There is always a chance for a hurricane to reform when it moves to warmer ocean, but in the end - due to the course of nature- it must die or transform. Can I undergo a transformation after I have suffered so much upheaval? I doubt it. Perhaps one day I will wake up and find the brighter sky and vibrant flowers and to find everything had been a dream, who knows? But one thing I do know is that some sicknesses are just untreatable and a sickness of the heart is not easy to cure. I've already purposed in my heart to move back to the warmer ocean.

A Contridiction in terms

Well today is Monday, I don't have the luxury of having anything like a Chinese new year to celebrate, so I'm once again at my office - working. Everyone dislikes Mondays, well when I say everyone I mean every real person - i.e. the working class. Anyways this Monday is like any other Monday - full of the same pep talks, same niggles and re opened stuff from last Friday. Mondays also seem to be the day of moral victories, the victories you have when you are completely beaten. Fresh from my moral victory, I considered the stupidity of the English language and all the says that don't make sense. Here below is a short list that make little or no sense.

"Moral Victory" sounds like: Triumph of virtue over the face of evil. Real Meaning: Your butt just got whipped and you just managed to save your face from getting flogged also.

"To have your cake and eat it too" sounds like: What a normal person would do if given a piece of cake. Real Meaning: You've just been caught eating everyone else's cake.

"Burn the Candle at both ends" sounds like: The feeling you get after eating 'lunumiris'. Real Meaning: You've been to work early and left late because some prick has moved the deadline forward again.

"On a roll" sounds like: Youve just stood on a bread bun lying on the ground. Real Meaning: You are doing things very quickly, but you are sure to be going downhill.

"Let them eat cake" sounds like: Youve been allowed the privilege to do something. Real Meaning: You are about to be sacked, the cake is your farewell gift.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" sounds like: Good advice, horses can give very nasty bites. Real Meaning: We don't want you to look too closely at the "gift" we are proposing to you since it means that you will be working more hours for less.

I think office life is turning me into a cinic. The tragedy of modern living!

A change of winds.

I cast my mind back many years to a time and place that is very different to where I am now. Back then I was wild and senseless, Wild in that my feelings would persuade me in the brief moments to do rash things and senseless, in that I often didn't have then sense to control myself in bad things and lacked motivation to do rightly. After this length of time in wild surroundings to which I displayed a massive amount of indifference to all around me I was about to learn a lesson that would change me forever. On reflection, small changes happen daily, too numerous and too meaningless to be remembered - but all important in making who we are. Big changes often involve a change in thought and habit. Now I hate the beach, and fail to see the attraction of it that westerners have with it. The sand is coarse and grating on my feet, often getting into my shoes and thus inside the house - usually rubs raw on my foot causing sores. The waves make me feel uneasy and I can't find enjoyment in perpetual bombardment, which rakes the aforementioned sand. Jellyfish, Coral, Sharks, Rocks are all hazards common to most oceans. Then there is the wind, which blows from the South West constantly during the main moonson - which seems to just blow sand in your face when its not raining, or hearlds in bad weather. All this makes it unusual for me to be there. It was about 10pm, and the fishermen had all gone to their huts - the showers that had formed during the day over the hills, had blown over and the horizon of the sea was filled with distant thunderstorms. The wind wasn't particularly strong either. I was as the beach with a few friends, which we had earlier played volleyball and cricket. While I was looking at the distant thunderstorms, with the moon glowing overhead and the music from a make shift baila band a few 100 meters way - a friend came up and whisphered 6 words into my ear from an old song. "Hard times come again no more". I turned around a looked at my friend and cried. Life had indeed been very hard towards me. He had no idea what I had been through. He, thinking that he had upset me, recoiled and left for the night - but his words sounded like a promise from life itself. I stood on the beach and looked out and watch for another 30 minutes, before sleeping myself. Little at the time did I know how right he would be for now the winds of life were changing. My friend was correct, because from that day on - compared to the rest of my short life, those hard days have not come back. I had finally learnt an important lesson in life from an unlikely source, and without doubt had saved my life from self-destruction. The lesson being, "The bitter fruit when tender, The sweet fruit when ripe"

Welcome

I guess its a custom to start a blog of with an introduction about onself, or in my case myself -- But if you are reading this I would guess that you would have a greater idea about myself than what I would. I have no intention of explaining the unexplainable or try to cover the uncoverable (Or should be uncover the unfathomable). One thing I will say is that I straightways am sorry for any bad grammar or spelling, but it seems to be increasingly prevelant in how I write. Thus saying, I will be taking my time and thought in writing - as not doing so would show total disregard to the reader. One thing I have noticed is that people judge your level of english as your intellengence, which, though mine being of a poor quality, I don't mind because I suprise people even when I seemingly struggle to speak two words of english together. I'll generally post in English, though I'll post some articles in Sinhala and Tamil depending on the situation. Some people think I do it out of arrogance, maybe - but the actual reason is to hide what I want to say from those that I wish to remain unknowing. As it bugs me when people start in one language and finish in another, or mix it all the way through, I will try my best not to that. So what will this blog be about? And what is the Siyabala Express? Well Siyabala is the Sinhala word for Tamarind, which is a sweet and sour citrus-tasting-like fruit. An Express, in this case is a train that runs from one destination to another. Life has a beginning and ending, and it doesn't stop - and its sweet but sour. The fact I choose Sinhala and not Tamil is ironic -- It doesn't gloss well because there are two letter "l"s in Tamil, which is hard to describe in English. puLi = tamarind, puli = tiger - so a blog called the Tiger Express may give people the wrong ideas. But Yeah, its a blog that resembles somewhat my life. And without giving away my first post - I'll finish the introduction here.