Wednesday, November 2, 2011

After retirement hobbies- 3 stotra rathnas in English

After retirement hobbies- 3 stotra rathnas in English
During the time I was 16 till I reached 60 , I was fond of praying using several stotras. When I was studying in the university I used to get charmed by reading Sri Krishna Karnamrutham, Vishnu Sahasranamam, Lalitha Sahasranamam, Devi Mahatmyam , Dakshinamurthy stotram and so on. Though I used to read them with devotion and was happy , I thirsted to knew the meaning of what I was reading. Fortunately I could get books on some of these great stotras. Then I drifted off by getting busy in my job and problems of my little poor family which I was trying my best to raise up. From then on , till I became 60 , I used to chant many stotras but recite only few of them understanding their meaning. So one of the first job that I took up was translation of some of these stotras in to English. I was not sure that I was doing a correct job. So I took a print out and them to the Kanchi and Sringeri Mutts. Swami Jayendra Saraswathi immediately replied. The draft that I had send was over all OK. This made me little more confidant. It was at this time that I went to the second time to USA. By that time I had translated about 40 stotras which included two sahasranamams and Abhirami Andathi. Our new daughter in law helped me by teaching me the first lessons on web design. BHagyam Ramaswamy put my translation of Abhirami Andathi in his web site. Several internet friends like Achalam encouraged me for launching a web site. So my new web site of Stotra rathnas was launched under tripod http://english_stotras.tripod.com/.
I came back to India and started putting lot of efforts for translating more and more stotras. All these were put in my own web site under geocities.com. Slowly and steadily this web site grew up. www.brahmanas.com helped me further by putting some of my translation in their web site. An organization called Rajajinagar Bhaktha Sabha released a CD containing 260 of my translations. A young gentleman in north started a web site called www.stotrarathnas.com for putting my translations . Sri Lakshmanan of www.celextel.org requested me to translate 21 minor Upanishads. They also put all my translations in their web site. It was at this time that the geocities.com closed all free web sites. I was worried that all my translations would be lost. One of my admirers from Hyderabad printed a few of my
Translations. A web site called http://sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/ from Holland allowed me to post all my translations in their web site. Giri Traders published my translations of Lalitha Sahasranam and Rudram. The Kanchi Kamakoti mutt made my translation of Devi Mahatmyam , a part of their book. www.hindupeda.com who were trying to build up an encyclopedia of Hinduism, made me as one of their editors. As on today I have translated more than 600 great stotras. In few more blogs I will make a brief review of what I have done so far, Ramachander

After retirement hobbies- 2.Kerala Iyers web site

After retirement hobbies- 2.Kerala Iyers web site
During the same trip to USA 12 years back , Getting to know about Yahoo search for the first time, I tried searching for information on iyers. I could few references which included a few references on PICO iyer, an Indian American writer. But when I tried searching for Palakkad Iyers/Palghat iyers / kerala iyers there was no information available on the web. Without much reference work, being a member of that community , I had in my memory some information about them. So Icreated a small web site in www.homestead.com about them. This attracted lot of attention. Many people contacted me and among them was Sri Krishnamurthy who was son of a little house of a neighboring Mami in my village Chelakkara. He told me that he would build a better web site if information is supplied to him. So as soon as I came back , I started collecting information about my community. I met many people went to various places and started my enquiry. By another one year I had collected lots of information and this was put in the new web site www.keralaiyers.com which was launched ten years back. The paper Mathrubhumi had a news item about its launch on the day it was launched. It was then that Krishnamurthy suggested that we start a yahoo group. I named it “Pattars group” This group has got the largest membership of iyers among the many iyer groups. Many of the members started groups of their own. Iyer123 and 4 Brahmins are two such groups. It was at this time that my younger brother DR.Kasiviswanathan came up with an idea of starting a trust to help the needy Kerala iyers. After much discussion, this was launched and one of our Young friends Sri.Ramprasad ,who was a class mate of my son took up the job of managing the group with untiring support on receiving the money and channelizing it to deserving people by my younger brother and his Wife. By the tremendous cooperation of the Pattar Group members, several volunteers and executive committee members we have been able to disburse several crores of rupees as an aid to the needy Kerala iyers. Another aspect we got interested was to help the needy to find suitable grooms and brides. We initially started a yahoo group Kalyanam, which has lead to the marriage of many and recently a web site called www.ikalyanam.com , which allows free registration for matrimony to all iyers. Sri Krishnamurthy is now doing the job of revision and restructuring the web site www.keralaiyers.com.
I am having great hope that several newly socially relevant activities would be started in the years to come. Ramachander

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

After retirement hobbies- I. astrology and matching of horoscopes.

After retirement hobbies- I. astrology and matching of horoscopes.
P.R.Ramachander
I knew some amount astrology from my father and later learnt a bit myself. When I was in service, I used to help a few people to match horoscopes for matrimony. Immediately after retirement I happened to Go to USA to be with my daughter. I used to find a lot of time to waste. It was at this time that I came in to contact with Sri Murugavel through his web site sysindia.com. We used to talk with one another in phone. He was at the time engaged in building a matrimonial web site called tamilmatrimony.com. As he knew that I knew astrology, he suggested to me that I can spend my time helping people settled abroad with matching of horoscopes. After getting my consent he was the one who put an advt in his site about my availability to match horoscopes. This kept me slightly busy. I also contacted cyberkerala.com and they also put an advertisement in their site about my willingness to match horoscopes , free of cost over the internet. When the tamilmatrimony .com grew up and they introduced soft ware to match horoscopes in their web sites , naturally the announcement regarding me was taken out. Meanwhile I returned back to India and continued what I was doing. Me and one of my young friends built a web site called keralaiyers.com and even there we put an announcement. Ten years back , it was a unique service and so many other web sites gave announcements about what I was doing.
As a result of these , I have been matching horoscopes for matrimony for the past eleven years. Thousands of people belonging to all communities have contacted me and I too have made it a point to answer their mails promptly. Hundreds of marriages have taken place . I also give in a small way personal consultation to match horoscopes in my house.
Though not very willing I also do forecasting of future in a minor scale . I have become an astrologer for very many families. Several families have taken my help in matching horoscopes for all their children. I have made hundreds of friends through this hobby.
Looking back , I think I have so far done a great job. I am getting old and I am not sure how long I will be able to continue what I am doing.
Since it was my first post retirement hobby and it was a social service of sorts , I want to thank God for guiding me so far.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

RIP Bhima –my cousin and best friend

RIP Bhima –my cousin and best friend
I met Bhima as a slightly older child in 1947. He was living with his father and aunt in a god forsaken village in the God’s own country. I had just come from a big town and Bhima’s father made me a horn using the Papaya leaf. That day I enjoyed playing with the little, tiny Bhima. When Bhima was 5 year old his mother had died. His father who was son of a rich land lord had become very poor by then. Later I understood that my father was supporting the family. A few years later Bhima’s father died of Tuberculosis. The 11 year BhÄ«ma was taken by my father to help him in the running of his hotel in Secunderabad. A few years later my father took me along with him to study in an English medium school there. The only child companion that I had at that time was Bhima. We grew up together as brothers and friends. I knew of adolescence from him. I learnt how to fly a kite and spin a top from him. I remember him teaching me to ride a cycle. I fell down and sprained my ankle and bid good bye to learn to ride a cycle. We used to eat Gulab Jammoons together in other hotels as it was a sweet not prepared in our hotel. We used to go the Public Garden and eat Chilli (miruppa kai) Bajjis there and drink water from the tap. During all Deepavalis we used to wear our new cloths together. After a few more years my father was forced to sell his hotel. My father gave Bhima’s only sister in marriage to her uncle, borrowed money and reached my native place without a single pie. Bhima worked for his uncle for some time. It was at this time that I started going to the university for my M.A. The town where Bhima was living was on my way to university. So I used to meet him during every vacation. Once when I was worried, I remember how we both consulted the street magician to find out solution to our problems. It was at this stage Bhima realized that his uncle was exploiting him and ran away from there to another town. Days were spent in fasting till he got a small job. It was at this time that a family friend of ours started a hotel in a town in Andhra Pradesh. As per the request of my father Bhima got a job there. My father used to finance my education by taking loans. One source was the annual income from Bhima’s small property in my village. Once he was able to sell that property and this money as well as the loan my father had taken from him helped him to purchase a plot in the town where he was working my father also got him married to a girl from the neighboring house. She was a classmate of my sister as well as my play mate during childhood. Bhima and his wife started their journey towards slight prosperity. Meanwhile I had completed my education and was an employed in a small village in Karnataka. Bhima with his wife used to visit us every year. I distinctly remember his stay with us immediately he got married. Poor Bhima used to take his wife for a walk to talk to his wife and my mother who was not used to such things used to shout at him. It was at this time my sister had two small kids. One of them who is a very famous doctor now started calling him Bhima and in our closed family, he remained as Bhima. Bhima’s family grew. He had first a daughter who died when she was baby. Then another daughter was born and later a son. With Bhima and his wife at my side I got married. I remember how with a new bride I travelled to the city I was staying in a car in torrential rain. To add up to this the car broke down on the way. I and my bride reached home in a small car and it was Bhima who brought all our things on a bus. Later my brother got married and both our families grew. Bhima was at our side as when we needed. We always considered him as our own. Bhima was a part and parcel of our little family. His daughter was given in marriage when she was very young. Bhima’s son got a job in far of city and Bhima migrated there. His son got a job in USA and left. Then the greatest tragedy struck Bhima. His wife suddenly and without any reason died. By this time mine and my brother’s children had grown up , The last function attended by Bhima’s wife was the marriage of my daughter. Bhima was inconsolable but things had to go on. His son got married and took his new wife to USA. The greatest tragedy was still waiting to happen. Bhima did not get VISA to visit his son, daughter in law and granddaughter. It was at this time that he became sick. His sickness increased over few years and a few days back he almost lost his memory. Yesterday he breathed his last.
Bhima when he was alive used to entertain all of us by his witticisms. Whenever he was in some place, loud laughter would surely be heard from there. When it was a question of helping any of us, he used to work ceaselessly and without rest .No job was below his dignity for him when he was helping us, whom he considered as brothers and sisters. Without him we all feel a vacuum in our lives. The only consolation is that we ourselves have become old.
Dearest friend, May your soul rest in peace.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Avani avitta manthras(Upakarma mantras) for 2011

Dear Friends,
For the past ten years, I have been compiling the Avani avitta manthras(Upakarma manthras ) every year and putting in the web so that it is available to those who are not able to get them or to those who know only English. I know many other people are doing this job.Last year I came across a reference where even the audio is given. I am still doing it in the hope that at least one person in this wide world would find it useful.

This year the Yajur Vedi and Rig Vedi Avani Avittam falls on 13-8-2011, Gayathri Japam for all Vedas on 14-8-2011 and the Sama Vedi Avani avittam falls on 31-8-2011 according to the Madathu Panjangam which I follow.

The Yajur Vedi and Rig Vedi mantras are given in
http://brahminrituals.blogspot.com/2011/07/yajur-rig-vedi-avani-avittam-for-year.html

and the Sama Vedi Upakarma mantras are given in

http://brahminrituals.blogspot.com/2011/07/sama-veda-upakarma-prayoga-for-year.html

Hope you may find them useful, Ramachander

Friday, June 10, 2011

Ramya475 –Punascha Hari Om

Ramya475 –Punascha Hari Om

Unlike many old people of today, I am a trained main frame computer programmer from 1970. My knowledge helped me to computerize the Institute that I was working from 1975 to 2000 using the micro computers which came in to the market in 1975. But somehow the wave of the modern day computers did not affect me at all. So when I needed to communicate to my children over the internet, I needed an e-mail Id. Raja and Ramachander were booked even at that time. So playfully my son tried “Ramya” which was the name of the house that I built brick by brick in 1984. Even that was not available. So we had to expand it by adding the number (475) of my house and my e-mail Id became ramya475. For the past 11 years I have been using this e-mail ID in various forums and I am sure that the great web site that I built and successfully launched in geocities bore that name. When geocities closed down, with the help of the Sathya sai bhabha brotherhood, I again my web site but did not use ramya475 in the name.
Yesterday, with heart weeping I sold my Ramya bearing the number 475. She was not only the house but a mother to me. There were several occasions when I have celebrated functions in side Ramya. My son and daughter got married there. My nephew who is more like a son to me got married there. My revered father bid farewell to me at the age of 97 in that house. Being from a lower middle class home, there were days when I had wept in my Ramya. She has without any reservation always consoled me. About two years back, I had to move out of Ramya with a view to be near my child and yesterday I had to sell it. Today Ramya is not my house /my mother any more. Tears gush out of my eyes. But I saw to it that they dried up quickly for I have been successful immensely in giving ramya475 an everlasting life over the internet. Try searching for ramya475 and thousand of references to that house would tumble out.
I am in search of a new ramya475 and I am sure I will get it soon. I am tempted to say “Punascha hari om”

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Would this mean the end of terror every where?

Would this mean the end of terror every where?
By
P.R.Ramachander
The first black one in the white house ,
Thought that enough is enough,
And the time has come to put an end,
To the needless killing of innocent ones.

There was no need to search far and wide ,
For the most important killer of the decade,
Who called himself one of the students of religion,
And was called obama with an “s” instead of “b”.

But there was a need to search for this killer,
For some said he was already dead and is in heaven,
Some said he was hiding in the thick Afghan forests,
And yet others said he can never be found out.

Obama was surprised to know from the spy army of his,
That Osama was indeed alive and living like everyone else ,
In a big town, that too near an army post , in a three storey house,
In a country that called itself the greatest friend of his own country.

Obama dared not request the country that was his friend ,
To hand over the terror who was the student of the religion,
For he thought that the first one to know about his secret request ,
Would be Osama living in a three storey home in that country itself.

One fine morning several mechanical birds of the sky flew.
In stealth so that the radar of the friendly country could not find,
Full of chosen soldiers from the army of the sea(l) of his,
Who were prepared to die , to kill the terror who could kill all.

And they did that and killed that savant of religion of peace,
Who thought killing others for the sake of his religion ,
Was never a sin, for God would decorate him in heaven,
But these seals of the sea buried him in the sea itself.

Obama of the barracks thus put an end to the saga,
Of Osama who was laden with an onus of his own,
And the happy people all over the universe asked,
“Would this mean the end of terror every where?”