Thirunagar - The perfect dwelling

Though part of the age-old Madurai, I never used to say that I come from Madurai. I would, instead, say that I come from Thirunagar. My friends at college would recognize me as (Mr.) Thirunagar than with my original name.

I loved and love Thirunagar to that extent. Though located only 8 kilometers (approx. 5 miles) away from the heart of Madurai city, Thirunagar is actually in its outskirts.

Thirunagar is isolated from other places by shallow water bodies which gather water only during monsoons. This small township is unique in lot of respects.

First of all, the language - You will find Tamil being spoken to perfection to an extent, missing the real-Madurai dialect. A well-planned township and one of the first for its times. Based on a central park, Thirunagar consists of parallel avenues with lamp-post medians and almost no dead-ends. One would opt for a two-wheeler or a car only out of necessity.

The town-bus service can be called as luxury with the ease of approaching, the frequency and the access to any part of Madurai. You want anything and you get it right there.

The one thing that Thirunagar has no match, at least when compared to the places I have travelled across in India, is the life you find in it. You might find something similiar, but not to this lovable extent, in villages where one single community of relatives live. But with people from all walks of life and related neither by blood nor by religion or caste, this is sheer wonder.

Being part of this small township for almost thirty years I knew each and every person over there, leave alone the streets, stops and stones.

With no industries around Thirunagar or Madurai, one is forced to move out of his favourite dwelling. But anyone who has tasted Thirunagar once in his life would vow to return to this haven to lead his peaceful retired life.

Come, experience Thirunagar!

Raghuvaran! The Comparable!!

It is almost a month since my favourite actor, Raghuvaran, had passed away.

I would never call myself a fan, who never misses even a single Raghuvaran film on screen. It is more than that. I loved him on screen. I experienced and enjoyed each and every moment of his on-screen appearance.

The only time the remote control for the TV at home would be idle is when a Raghuvaran's or Kamalhassan's movie is being telecast. I would be so engrossed that I forget everything that is happenning around me. I am here not to talk about who Raghuvaran is, but how much he is to me.

When I was at high school, my people used to say that I look like Raghuvaran and speak like him. Soon I realised that it was true. Once during my cousin's marriage I had to spend three days in Madras. From the first time she saw me, a friend of my cousin kept telling me that she had met me earlier, somewhere. We explored all possibilities and on the third day she herself found that out. She said, 'Hey, dude! You look like actor Raghuvaran!' ( I remember her name as Shweta)

I never tried to imitate him, expect for sometime when I try to deliver some of his movie dialogues. But my mannerisms and speech always seemed to be similar to his, about which I have always been proud of. But I have lost the long Raghuvaran face these days.

Whenever somebody speaks good about Raghuvaran, I feel happy as if the person is talking about my family member or a close friend of mine. If at all, I had to choose a pseudonym I would choose and have chosen this name, Raghuvaran, many a time.

If there was one day when most people in the world thought of me, it would have been April 19, 2008. A lot of calls started pouring in conveying their condolences. Even Raghuvaran's family members wouldn't have received so many calls. I had to keep clearing my mobile inbox for this.

I was at work that morning when I first heard this news. I always thought that some day or the other I would step into the film industry and naturally would meet Raghuvaran one day. So this news was a shock to me.

I came home, that day, had my lunch, had bath and got dressed as if I were going to attend a party. (I knew that it wouldn't be so easy to get into his house). I wanted to pay my last repects to my favourite actor. I got on my bike enquired throughout and finally reached his house in T. Nagar around 4:00 in the evening, only to find out that the funeral procession had left and was heading towards the cemetry.

I didn't have second thoughts. I rushed and followed the rose petals strewn on the road and caught up with the procession within minutes. And as we reached the burial ground, I had chance to touch and see my friend's face. My well dressed attire helped me there and I was through, with the few VIPs present, to the electric crematorium. We, Revathy, Rohini, Thalaivasal Vijay, few other VIPs and me, were together through the last rites. Yes! I had the luck to be present for my favourite actor's funeral alongwith the VIPs and be a VIP. All others were literally pushed away from that place.

Rishi, Raghuvaran-Rohini's only son. I felt much for this guy. The small guy was in his dothi, not knowing what is happenning around, but realising that his dearest dad will be no more with him. I put my hand around his shoulders for some time. And that is all I could do for my favourite actor.

There are a few things that I have lost and which are never going to happen.

• Rishi isn't that grown-up to realise what a great man his dad was and when he realises, Raghuvaran would be a man of the past.


• Raghuvaran never acted with Kamalhassan, my other favourite actor.


• Raghuvaran himself was talking in an interview about a music album that he got ready; and who is going to publish that now.

And finally,

• I wanted to meet this person in real life and sit and talk and spend some time with him.

I am happy that I was able to see and touch him atleast on the last day of his on this earth, even though it was just a lifeless chunk.

When will we change..?

I believe in God. Be it Jesus, Allah or Vishnu or Shiva. But there is someone above us.

If science says,
- 'Energy can neither be created nor destroyed'
- 'Energy in one form can be transformed into another,' then where did all the energy that is in and around us come from? Let's call that God. Fullstop.

Now, if we believe in God, why are we going after men who call themselves God. Who can deny us direct access to God? Who can come in between God and his devotee?

DGS Dinakaran passed away earlier this day. I admire him as a good preacher. But he was a pure businessman. He started from scratch, did a good business, excelled in business and now left behind wealth for generations.

We have millions of devotees of another businessman across the world. No proper investigation has been done, but file closed, on the the 1993 murders in Prashanthi Mandir, the abode of Sai Baba.

If this is so, few others are making business with God's name in politics.

Let's all think beyond religion, caste and language. Let's not even say that we are Indians. Let's say that we are humans.

We should be able to empathize when a Pakistani or a Briton or a Marwari is hurt. Let's not wait for others to change. Let us start from ourselves. Let's not get influenced by people who call themselves God or who use God's name to do harm to others.

Will we change..? When..?

And finally into blogging...

I have always took time to use the Internet for my own benefit. I never had time to contribute anything from my side or even attempted to.

I wonder seeing people who have spent their valuable time and uploaded lots and lots of information for persons like me. I have no words to appreciate them. It is more than social service done in person.

I start writing this first post after months of christening this blog. I have no objective, as of now. But I want to contribute something to the world. So I start now with scribbling a few lines.

Now, again, 'Blogs.' I was once going through a blog, here, a girl posting tamil songs, sung by her. Impressed, I created my blog the very same day. And after seeing a blog (http://orchidparadise4u.blogspot.com) by my old schoolmate, Jayashree (she must have joined our school after I left), I decided that I am writing today.

Here, we have the first post, finally.