The Cyclone-Kalki Krishnamurthy

The cyclone

The Cyclone is part 2 of ponniyin selvam which was written by Kalki Krishnamurthy. Initially it was published as weekly series in a book which was later published into 5 parts.It was written in Tamil and was translated by C.V Karthik Narayan in english for the wider reach of the book and culture of the Tamil Nadu.

The story in the first part ends when vandiyathevan starts his journey to Eazham to meet Arulmozhivarmar. On the other end Aditha Karikalar narrates his story of the enmity between him and Nandini. We all know that Adhitha karikalr entered the war at a early age of 16 and defeated the Pandya and beheaded the king Veerapandyan. There is an another story to it which no one in the kingdom knew.He was in love with the Nandini. But during the war the king of Pandya was in hiding in our beloved Nandini and she was taking care his wounds.But in fact they both were in love which Aditha Karikalar wasn’t aware of.When he found out the hiding place of the Pandya king,despite the pleading of Nandini and due to his duties towards his kingdom therefore had to kill the king.But this had created a deep wound in the heart of Aditha Karikalar and enmity towards Nandini. It is possible after the incident to quench her thirst for revenge,Nandini was plotting to destroy the Chozha Dynasty . Lets move ahead to second part of the series

Here is introduction of yet another amazing character Poonkuzhali who knows her way around the ocean and also amazing singer.Apart from her talent,she was known for her fierceness,strong headiness,temperament and helpfulness. She was in her boat which was floating near the shore singing and enjoying the nature around her.On the other side of the forest was a temple and deity of the temple was Kodikarai Kuzhagar and it was built by Sundaramurthy Nayanar about 200 years ago.Our dear beautiful lady left for the temple as it was about to close through the dense forest.It is here she encounters the warrior Vandiyathevan. The interaction between started with a comical.She started to run before he could understand as to what was happening or to start communicating. She came to shore and shifted her direction towards the lighthouse confusing Vandiyathevan. Finally he caught her attention and finally spoke her and introduced himself and how he knew her through Sendhan Amudhan(Who he met in Thanjavur).He tells his purpose of his visit and message given by Kundhavai(Illaya Piratti) and his need to visit Arulmozhivarman in Eazham(Now Srilanka).He asks her help to go Eazham to complete his task given to him as she knew her way around the sea and also familiar with the its nature.But convincing her was humongous task as she was very stubborn in nature.But finally agreed to help him. As vandiyathevan with the help of pookhuzhali travels through sea to eazham, lets moves to Azhwarkadayan, a character which we have forgotten for long time. For a person who is strong vaisnavite in nature, enters into argument as to who is to better, vaisnavite or Saivite in Lanka until the prime Minister of Chozha dynasty enters the scene to stop the fight.Lets detour a little bit into the history.A copper plate of inscription which gave details of grant of 10 velis of land made to prime minister Anbil Anirudha Brahmarayar was found in the village of Anbil ,Tiruchirapalli. This got from Sundara chozhar,four years after he ascended the throne.The whole story of heritage,lineage.Meanwhile when Vandiyathevan is Bhoodha theevu to get help and track Arulmozhivarman, Azhwarkadiyan was discussing the state affairs with the prime minister,Illaya Piratti was contemplating whether to go to Thanjavur. It here the story of Dear Prince Arulmozhivarman is famously called Ponniyin selvam is revealed.After the King ascended the throne,he and his family often traveled in royal boat on river ponni. When elders were having fun on one end and children were having fun on the other end,Arulmozhi went missing.On desperate attempt of searching he was found the floating in the river by Aditha Karikalar. The king fell down to save the baby,but suddenly young women emerged from the river with the baby in the hands. The king took up the baby and went back to boat.It was such a amazing sight and everyone came to conclusion that river kaveri saved him.Hence the name given to the baby Ponniyin selvam. Now its time to reveal another secret in the history of the Chozha Dynasty. Kundavai had arrived in Thanjavur from Pazhayarai to take the matters in hand and resolve them before the dynasty is ruined.Her father reveals a secret that no other than the prime minister no body knows.It was a time when Arinjayar, father of Sundara chozhar was wounded in a battle and was struggling between life and death and in parallel Paranthakar was in death bed.Meanwhile various search parties were sent in different direction to find and to bring Sundara Chozhar back to the palace.Meanwhile the king was in small beautiful island surrounded by water on sides and filled with trees.Here he caught sight of a beautiful girl in the island who was both deaf and dumb.She was girl who was living in forest with no exposure to city life,very naive and innocent.He fell in love with her and having not wanting to return to kingdom and captivated by not only beauty of the place also with the girl he stayed for a while.But the one search party sent to find him,finally found and he returned palace and had to  deal with unusual political crisis.On the day of coronation he saw the girl in the crowd and afterwards he ordered the prime minister to sent to search parties to find ,but in vain and found that she was dead .He always felt that the her death has been a curse to family and always feel he sees her ghostly figure in night.Since we were concentrating on revealing secrets we have forgotten about Vandiyathevan. The town in Eazham he was in was was lying  the opposite  of Rameshwaram on the other side of the sea.He finally arrived the gates of the fort where he wanted enter and meet the commander of the Chozhas and give away the scroll.He tried entering the fort using the same trick that he used in thanjavur fort,but failed.But it in this town he meets his vaisnavite friend Azhwarkadiyan. But all that happens for he good he appeared in the right and was of great help to vandiyathevan. Through the Vaisnavite he met with Kodambalur Chieftan and his army of soldiers.Both of joined them and finally tracked the prince Arulmozhivarman. He was in Mahout along with the local to learn more local culture and Buddhism. Finally both Warrior and Prince finally met face to face and handed over the scroll given by Kundhavai to Arulmozhi. Now they finally to the capital city of Sri lanka,Anuradhapuram and it was day of festivity.Here he met with vaidulya bhikshu sangam at stipulated time.The bhiksu led  prince and his two companions the way and finally reached the hall which was filled with idols of the buddha only. Maha Thero Guru was seated in the throne and other buddha bikshu were gathered around.The main agenda of the gathering was to decide the person to ascend the throne and the Maha Thero guru wanted Arulmozhi to take throne and rule Srilanka. But given the humbleness and kindness he denied to ascend the throne. The secret was finally revealed by sundara chozhar himself  to his daughter.But in Srilanka, Arulmozhi met her and she revealed her story through the paintings.She has helped him in unsuitable situations and saved his life.Here arrive into scene Parthibendran who is Pallava king and now close aide of Aditha Karikalar and had come with the task of taking Arulmozhi along with to Kanchi. Meanwhile a shocking news was brought by none other than Poozhukali. There were two troops were sent by Pazhavettrayar to bring back Arulmozhi to Thanjavur. There was also another ship which was handled by Arab and the control of the Pandya conspirators  whose main intention is to capture the prince and kill him.The prince,vandiyathevan,vaisnavite ,Kodambalur chief and his army reach the bank of the sea.But unfortunately vandiyathevan fall for this bait.The prince takes the help of parthiban,his army and the ship starts off to save Vandiyathevan. As it turn out in the middle all the commotion and confusion,there is huge cyclone, making it difficult to rescue more difficult.The ship that vandiyathevan is get hold of fire and others in the board escape leaving him behind.The prince overcomes the obstacles and save vandiyathevan from ship and he faints off. Poozkhuali save the prince  and takes him in her boat with the help of Sendhan Amudhan. Parthiban and troop f/lose track of the prince and trying track him done and are in worried about his survival from ocean due to the cyclone.The rest of the story continues in Part 3 of the ponniyin selvam

The God Of Small Things-Arundhathi Roy

god of small things

Suzanna Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1961) is an Indian author. She is best known for her novel The  God of Small Things(1997), which won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997. This novel became the biggest-selling book by a nonexpatriate Indian author. Arundhati Roy was awarded the 1997 Booker Prize for her novel The God of Small Things. 

The story is set in backdrop of Ayemenem which is now part of Kottayam,Kerala.Its a story of twins Esthapan and Rachel who were separated at an very early age and were reunited at a age of 31. Ammu Ipe wanted to escape from her abusive father Pappachi and convinced her parents to send her to distant relative of her’s in kolkata. There she met love of her life and got married despite apposition from her parents.He works for a tea estate and is very  alcoholic and abusive and wanted her to be a pimp to his boss.Despite this circumstances she became pregnant and gave birth to twins.After that she gave birth to the twins she returned back to her hometown Ayemenem. Pappachi was entomologist working for the government and ill-tempered and abusive father and a husband to mother.She had a brother Chacko who was married to Margaret a English lady who lived in London and have a daughter Sophie Mol. Both of them got divorced and she got married second time. Esthapan was later sent to  his father in kolkata. After the death of Maraget’s second husband,she and Sophie Mol was invited to India by Chacko. The author smoothly takes though the story to give the brief insight of influence of communism in kerala and Syrian christian lifestyle. Chacko,Ammu and the twins travel to kochi for a movie and also fetch Maraget and  Sophie Mol from airport.On their way to theater there was protest by the communist party for the mistreatment  untouchable labor in the factory. Baby Kochamma was mistreated by the communist.Now lets move to the next character of the book ,velutha who is carpenter and also mechanic who works in the pickle factory and also a communist. Ammu also had interest in this person and hence loved him by night and loved his children by day. Both the twins also started developing peculiar attachment with him as well.The book not only talks about the communism,untouchability,but also how the complicated relationship affects the family.Sometimes one small incident can take unexpected turn in life we may never know.Just going along with the flow of life matters the most.The story moves on to chacko and Maraget. Both of them met in a cafe where Maraget was working and fell in love with each other.They both got married against the interest of the parents of the both the sides.After marriage he loses the scholarship he was receiving and was unable to find the work and this was affecting the marriage.Meanwhile she fell in love with Joe a friend of her brother and realizes she was pregnant with her first husband.After her second husband death she was invited by Chacko to India for to spend some time .Meanwhile,our  dear Ammu is locked up in her room after it is found out the she was having a relationship in Velutha despite the difference in the caste status between them. One fine morning,house faces other devastating shock,when they find out Sophie Mol is dead and the twins go missing.Later a complaint(FIR) is filed by Baby Kochamma about the missing kids and also she filed complaint against Velutha the untouchable suggesting he might have raped Ammu. But she was aware that both Velutha and Ammu were in sexual relationship with mutual consent and was very well aware of the consequences.Taking the FIR into serious account ,the police inspector and his other coworker went to History house were they found the twins and Velutha and he was almost beaten to death and finally taken to  station.It was later found out that the kids were in the history house out on their own and not kidnapped.Despite this Velutha was accused of it and died.But when Ammu intending to station to tell the truth,Baby Kochamma planned and influenced Chacko to sent former out of the house to avoid any further embarrassment  for the family.Also she arranged for the twins to be separate by sending Estha to his dad in Kolkata to prevent the two from any naughtiness in the future.

After reading the book, I realized that small incident which may think as they are not significant might actually effect our life unexpectedly. Life is just very unpredictable and we just we need to go on with life as it moves.Caste,untouchability,dignity and self respect played a very important role than happiness of people around and well between two people.These factors judged if two people can get into relationship,can they go ahead and it made life very complicated.Despite advent of technology,increase on awareness and  education the mindset of the people as well the in the political scenario it has not changed at all. Communism still exist,Politician still propagating widely their religion and putting other lower caste ,rather than giving all equal importance.With respect to this book the story revolves twins living Kerala and how changes in relationship in people and external factors effect their lives

The Warren Buffet Way-Review

The Warren Buffet Way


About the Author:
Robert G. Hagstrom is Senior Vice President and Director of Legg Mason Focus Capital. He has authored the New York Times best-selling The Warren Buffett Way and The Warren Buffett Portfolio, as well as The Nascar Way. The book takes about the principles that laid foundation and influenced Warren buffet in his decision-making skills. He is successful investor of all times and there no one even today’s generation to match of his skills.


His beginning Days…


Warren Edward Buffet was born in Omaha and was seventh generation of Buffets to call Omaha their home. Since his childhood he was always fascinated by numbers and was calculating machine even before he entered kindergarten. At the age of 10 he was introduced to son of Sidney Weinberg who was a senior partner in Goldman Sachs. Warren buffet was intrigued with the stock market at very young age. He would often visit his father’s brokerage firm and visit Harris Upham brokerage in New York twice a week. He was interested in learning about securities, bonds and stocks. He brought his first shares of stock at the age of 11. He later enrolled himself in University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton school of business and finance. After graduation he got back to stock market and started detailed research. He got connected to brokers and subscribed to various publishing services. He took classes on investment and stock market by Graham which was class of 20. Buffet was brightest among the students and there was amazing chemistry between Benjamin Graham and him. After graduation he returned to Omaha and joined his father’s brokerage firm, recommending stocks based upon the Graham’s approach. Later he got job in Graham-Newman and worked for 2 years until the firm broke off


Early Business…


The Buffet Partnership was started with totally 7 partners and total contribution of 105000$.The deal was the partners got 6% per year on their investment and 75% of the profits made above this and buffet received remaining 25% of the company’s profit. Initially the company brought undervalued stocks based on the Graham’s stock criteria. They initially brought stocks of 2 merging companies and sold to create risk less profit. As years progressed the company made good growth, thus attracting more investors to company. Initially the firm confined to buying undervalued securities and merger arbitrage. By the end of 5th year, he purchased Dempster Mill Manufacturing company which was a farm equipment company. Despite shift in the market psychology and change inflection point Buffet Partnership was showing outstanding results. But with the change in market psychology, the market was highly speculative, and stock were highly priced. In 1889 Berkshire Cotton Company was started and as it progressed, they combined operations of other mills. In the year 1995 buffet merged Hathway manufacturing with Berkshire and named it as Berkshire Hathway. Though the textile industry didn’t work out buffet had learnt few lessons in business which had a long-term impact. Enough capital was not generated to buy an insurance company. In March 1967, Berkshire Hathway purchased outstanding stock of 2 insurance companies who has their headquarters in Omaha. They were National Indemnity Company and National fire and Marine Insurance Company. Few additions were GEICO and owned nearly half of its outstanding common shares by the 1991.The amazing qualities of Warren Buffet were being logical, simple and understandable and never complicated the business. Even in the annual report published by the company the data provided are very transparent. The report shows both the sides of the organization risk and uncertainty involved.


Investment Learning Days….


Warren buffet education was influenced by 3 different people who had 3 different distinct philosophies towards investment. They were also very powerful people in this profession. They were Benjamin Graham, Philip Fisher and Charlie Munger. Buffet was influenced deeply by Graham. He initially learned the philosophies of investment through him and worked for his company. Graham always believed in taking logical approach when considering whether to buy a stock or not. He also believed that it is important to buy undervalued stock No matter what market value is, ensuring there is always a good amount margin of safety. He also believed in importance of calculate the future growth of the firm.
Philip Fisher started his career as an investment counselor and a graduate from Stanford graduate school of financial administration. His main philosophy, it important for any investor to first analyze the company and industry thoroughly first. Understanding their operation, how consistent their earning has been, efficiency of the management and the future prospects of the firm. Buffet met Charlie Munger, a lawyer through Dr. Davis when he had returned to Omaha at a local diner. But had great interest in stock market and just intrigued by them. Later he started an investment firm simultaneously practicing law as well. Later Charlie joined on Berkshire board and today he is vice chairman of the firm. Charlie laid business foundation apart from involving in investment decisions with buffet.


Investment Principles:


There were certain set principles or tenets that acted as a guide in this decision-making process and they were grouped in 4 broad categories. They were Business tenets, Management tenets, Financial tenet and Market tenet. There are totally 12 tenets which served as principles based in which Buffet as well his firm Berkshire Hathaway worked. Although all the investments made by him didn’t follow all 12 of them at once. The only exemption that deviated this principle was General Dynamics and Wells & Fargo company(bank). With General Dynamics he initially brought arbitrage stocks in Dutch action. The industry should be easy and understandable and should have efficient management. The investment should be made for longer term to reap better benefits. Warren buffet after brought at better discount rate and ensures that there a good margin of safety. He always buys shares of a company and preferred the stock market to delay the recognition as it gives him occasion to buy more shares at bargain prices. It is also important to analyze the long-term prospects or the prospects of the company. Buffet also said for every penny invested in the market, the return should be at least one dollar.


Learning and Tips:


For me as a learner, I learnt that for a firm which makes excessively good amount of profit it either pays more dividends to its shareholder or buyback /repurchases of shares else they invest in buying or expanding in other business. They buy other companies from business line or other which might not be doing well. This increases the expenses of the firm and reducing the profit that is earned. This leads firm to a very bad position of the firm and it leads to change in management and liquidating the business. Another learning is that Buffet is not interested short term appreciation and is not in a hurry to sell that stocks. He prefers to keep them as long as the firm is functioning well, management is efficient, competent, honest and business is not overvalued. But it is not important that we analyze and buy stocks or owning business, it also important that we manage the portfolio that we invest in. Though decisions to buy stock are taken majorly based on margin to safety approach but there 3 other important constructs for portfolio management which buffet developed. There are 2 types of strategies one being active portfolio management and another index management. Both the strategies offer more diversification, but do not offer exceptional returns on the investment made. But according to buffet there is a third category that is focus investment. This simply means that choose and invest in few stocks that are likely to give above average returns over long period of time, rather than investing in bulk and can sustain the short-term fluctuations. He further talks about how focus strategies have advantage over the convectional diversification. We all know stock market, probability plays a very important role and one plays one of the determining factors of the stock prices. There were lot of theories explaining this concept and they are amazing and can be better understood in reading them.


People who are into the stock markets can divide their strategy into two ways one is prime bet and other action bets. Prime bets are serious bets. Action bets are for longer shots and hunches. Focus investing has been recommended by from the time of Graham. People like Graham, Philip, buffet and few others are known as super-investors and believed strongly in focus investing. Also, they were involved investing in stock market with the long-term returns and invested in business or stocks after details research. But nowadays it’s different what they the investors tell the client and what they follow are completely different. Also, the performance of people who recommend where invest, sell, buy or hold of the stock based on their return they in short term. They analyze their performance for each quarter and hence they do not get the exponential return on the investment but also, they do not get to deep research on the recommendations they give. It is because of their nature of working on short term return, they are not able to achieve what people like Warren buffet, Graham was able to.


Psychology and economics go hand in hand in the investment and use them to look through the issues of finance is today’s world known as behaviour framework. Overconfidence and overreaction bias characteristics of any investor play a very bad role. Today’s investors think they are over-smart, have superior knowledge than other /their colleagues and are not ready to accept their mistakes. The investors usually follow what other people follow or act accordingly to the trend with understanding where they are headed and their impact. This effect is known as the lemming factor. Investors should be psychologically ready even bad effect of the stock market, they should analyze them and rectify the mistakes. Generally according to modern portfolio diversification, in order to reduce the impact of its important diversification and selling the stock off in shorter time. According to buffer risk refers to harm or anything bad. Also holding the investment for a longer period of time can minimize the risk or there can no risk.
Time and patience play a very important role in economics and investing. There are 2 sets of strategies involved in the stock market that short term and long term. The risk involved with the short term is high and return is unpredictable. In long term investment, the return is much higher, and the risk involved is lesser when compared to short term strategies. Also, it is important for an investor to be rational in his decision-making process in the stock market. Rational meaning taking the decision very logical and full knowledge rather than taking decision-based on speculation or what others in the herd/group is following. Thus, in long term investment, it important to consider the time factor and have the perseverance to patience. In the investing field, it not only important to have IQ and talent, but also necessary to have output in proportion. To get the desired output it is required to have a rational decision-making process and do thorough research before deciding where to decide and how much to decide and hence acts as tip of the iceberg.

Three Thousand stitches.

Three Thousand stitches is written by Sudha Murthy. She is the founder of Infosys foundation and wife of Narayan a Murthy. Narayana Murthy is founder of the IT giant Infosys. Her others books are Wise and unwise, The old man and his God, The day I stopped drinking milk, Something happened on the way to heaven. Her books are usually a collection of true stories that are relatable to everyone. The audience reading this book not only find the book relatable, but they give out strong message. These are real life stories that are encountered by the author in due course of her work and also with people around her and how they have influenced her. She finds a sense of joy and happiness in sharing them with the people and also make a impact on them.

Infosys foundation was set in the year 1996 with less knowledge of how an NGO works. There were lot of issues in India such education, malnutrition, rural development and many more to go on. But there was one issue which caught the attention of sudha was the tradition of devadasi. Traditionally, devadasi where dancers and musicians who dedicated themselves to the service of God. They could be both men and women and held a high status in society next to priest in those days. Kings donated huge amount money to temples. But as Britishers and others invaded our country, the temples were destroyed and kings lost their power. Slowly the Devadasi’s lost their only support, eventually becoming sex workers. In order to help first she went to a small village in Belguam district for few times to get am idea of the struggles they go through. But couldn’t get much, then she took help of her father she visited again. His father spoke them that Sudha was a teacher and was there to help them through scholarships for their children. This will help children get education and not to become as Devadasi. Devadasi’s got convinced and Sudha gave them the support and got them scholarship for their education. On achieving she was in their good books. She went ahead and gave every other help. She talked to AIDS and gave help to pursue other jobs and leave the profession of Devadasi. They came to her saying they wanted to start a bank and help  their community. Sudha and her colleague Abhay after giving some basic knowledge on banking helped them setting a bank. People who worked there were mostly Devadasi’s. After three years of establishing, the bank earned about 85 lakhs. They even conducted a program to honor her for the support she gave. She has helped 3000 children of the Devadasi pursue a better education and they are in a better position. The task was not easy for her. She recorded threats from various people but it was her will and conviction to do better for them and the society made her go ahead

Sudha Murthy was invited to US to address a mixed audience of both students and successful people. Since she prefers to have a interactive session she opened to Q&A session. One kind person asked her what made her  a confident person that she is today. After her 12th or PUC, she wanted to pursue engineering. In those days, it was not common for a girl to do it and people were against her doing it. She still went ahead to pursue it though she was the only girl in her college.She did it in BVB Bangalore. Being around boys for years and prone constant teasing and handling things on her gave her that confidence. Also the due support from her father especially

Handful of water can change many thought process and ideals. It did for our author. Sudha spent some time of her childhood with her grandparents one after School she went with her grandma for lunch and to attend Kashi Samaradhana. It was then she came to know the belief people has about Kashi and ritual people follow when they go there. Also it was considered good luck if person successfully completed the trip to Kashi and came back. It was difficult those days. It was also a dream for grandma to visit Kashi. But she died in vain and with  regret that she didn’t visit Kashi. But Sudha started reading Buddhism books and was inspired to visit Kashi. She took the trip to Kashi, after visiting all temples and her friend there she thought of took dip in Ganga river. It was then she was reminded of her grandparents had her about Kashi. She was told after taking bath in Ganga river thrice, they should give the thing up something they loved the most. She gave up shopping for dresses and other desiring stuff that we buy. This vow was the gateway for her freedom.

On occasion she visited her friend home Rekha for lunch. It was the day there was shaven in Rekha’s home hence food was bland. Usually on shaven we cook food from thing that traditionally grown in our country. Rekha father’s was botanists and they had a small garden. It was through him, that Sudha gained  huge knowledge of various plants that we considered consuming were Indian, but actually were not. Red and green chili were from Europe. Tomato’s are Mexico native. But we use them in day to day cooking and indispensable. Black pepper is of Indian origin. Today we have forgotten about the spices and vegetables of Indian origin and have taken stuff of foreign as our’s.

Once Dr. R. H. KULKARNI father of sudha Murthy was post rural clinic, a place in border of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Not many use to visit the clinic as they believed in home medication But one night he was called by few people and was taken in cart to middle of farm. He saw pregnant girl in labor and helped her despite her asking not to. She was a 16 year old. After the labor, he gave the fee he received and helped become a nurse. Later through her daughter he came he to know about and she had actually become a nurse. Few encouraging words helped a person to come what she is today.

Sudha wanted to build a proper office for foundation in bangalore. But real estate in bangalore was very costly. With little saving in interest from fixed deposit, she was able to buy a land with a old building in it. She shifted there for time being as she couldn’t rebuild the building. Meaning she went for talk in one of the gulf countries there she meet two women who gave shelter to maids who brought through agent and later mistreated by the employer and send them back home. But we’re finding difficult to find funding. When sudha Murthy went there and heard their stories they was moved. She offered to help even if her dream of building her own office will be delayed. After 15 years after this,she shifted to new office and name it as Neralu.

One day Shiba, one of her dearest friends from Belgium says called her to invite for her her grandson first birthday. But schedule of person who is the backbone of running a huge NGO such Infosys foundation is very tight and always have some things keeps popping up. Loads of mails, meetings to attend, call to answer and attend various events. Keeping all this in mind she had say no. But her friend kept persuading to attend, so sudha asked her to coming to office and see how her work schedule is. When shoba did, she observed that she didn’t have time to eat or talk properly even to her family properly. Also whole weight of foundation was on her. At end of day when shoba question her why take so much effort, the answer was just that following passion is sometimes also important.

Last stories covers an important issue is alcoholic addiction. On one occasion where she attended a relative wedding, she met her cousins. One of her cousin’s asked her give advice to her daughter about which path to pursue as she had job in hand as well PG admission also. When the daughter visited she came know that the girls father was alcoholic and recovered with help of group alcoholic anonymous. She did further research and spoke to people and as well as her stories of those who recovered through AA. She attended a session of AA to get to know these stories after hearing all of then she realized hope live and go ahead in life matters more than money

After reading these I learnt devadasi and who they were. I never knew their history. Also got good insight about cultural aspects of Kasi. It is important to pursue a passion and more importantly we create impact. Hope is one the helps us to move on in life. It’s ok to take break to sort ourselves and find what we want. The attitude that you have is enough to make a difference not how you dress and there is no need to show off that you are rich.

Ponniyan Selvam-The First Floods

I am a avid read of book and it has almost become part of me and my world. I can’t live without them and they are the best companion of my life and have been with me irrespective of people moving in and out of my life. To contribute back to the bookish work, this is a small effort from my side as a avid reader

first flood

 

Ramaswamy Aiyer Krishnamurthy  better known by his pen name Kalki, was a Tamil writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist.His writings include over 120 short stories, 10 novels, 3 historical romances, editorial and political writings and hundreds of film and music reviews. Parthiban Kanavu and Sivagamiyin Sapathamgive a picture of the great Pallava  Age of the seventh century A.D., whereas Ponniyin Selvan paints the age of the glorious Chozhas. Both periods are a mixture of many aspects of the history of Tamil Nadu such as that of religions, literature, art and architecture and also of administration.His other social novels include Thyaga Bhoomi (The land of sacrifice) and Kalvanin Kadali (Bandit’s sweetheart), both of which have been filmed. Thyaga Bhoomi, which has the Salt Satyagraha as its backdrop, dealt with women’s rights and untouchability.

I was encouraged to read Ponniyin selvam book by my father and so I read it in the English version,but actually it is written in Tamil. But once I started reading the book never felt to keep it back until I finished and the book was amazing .I learnt a fair deal about the Chozhas dynasty and the rich culture that flourished in vast state of Tamil Nadu.I am also amazed by the research and literature work done by the author

The story begins with beautiful scene of festivity by the river.It is  Aadi perukku thirunal,18th day of tamil Aadi. It during this day people from village gather and  go to the bank of river and to thank Cauvery .Also they carry food and eat after offering prayer to their benevolent mother Cauvery. Enjoying this scene of festivity the protagonist Vallarayan Vandiyathevan was riding through Veeranarayanapuram river(Now known as Veeranam).He was a Vana Warrior  which had carved a niche itself in the history of Tamil Nadu.He was captivated by the beauty of the not only lake,but the also amazed by the foresight the chozha dynasty had and how they had constructed the lake,efficient irrigation system they had set in place and water storage system. Vandiyathevan was entrusted with a confidential task on behalf of Aditha Karikalar the Crown Prince of  the Chozha Dynasty and commander of the northern army.As the scene shifts to a He was named after “Kalki avatar”, the tenth and last avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu.Vishnu temple near Veeranarayanpuram where our dear Vandiyathevan had halted before he restarted his journey intending to reach  Kadambur. It is here the next main character of the story is introduced Azhwarkadiyan. There is huge  argument between him and a Saivite about  whether  Shiva greater than Vishnu or vice versa.And it is here he meets Periya Pazhuvettarayar,a warrior among warrior,a man who bears 64 battle scars after having fought 24 battles and also the Dhanadhikari and Dhayapandaram of Chozha Dynasty who was on his way to palace. Vandiyathevan horse regained its vigor after having rested and reached Kadambur Palace. It is here he met best friend Kadan Maran.  There was festivity at the gates of the palace and our main protagonist was taken by his best friend to attends the traditional folks performances like Kuravai Koothu. For the information Koothu or Therukoothu,is an ancient art, where artists play songs with dance and music in storytelling the epics, performed in Tamil;it is a folk art originated from the early Tamil Country. But more precisely Koothu refers to either Terukuttu or Kattaikkuttu. It here the main plot of story of the entire ponniyin selvam starts. At midnight,a secret meeting was held in presence of the major dignitaries who held various positions and play a pivotal role in the Chozha Dynasty.They were plotting against the Chozha dynasty and about succession to the throne.The whole essence of the meeting is overheard by vandiyathevan ,but also by  Azhwarkadiyan. The story next moves to talk about the renowned princess who belong to the Chozha Dynasty.Our dear protagonist meets them in the astrologer house in Kundhandhai. The amazing description of the river ponni takes to whole another world stretching out to join her Samudrarajan. She stretches out further into 2 arm givers rise and one of the golden arm being the river Arisilar(It is near to Kaveri).It is here he meets the two princess,one of them being Illaya Pirati the daughter of Sundara Chozhar(King of the Chozha Dynasty) and other princess from the state of Kodumbalur. Lets leave this chaos,lets move on ahead and introduce a very important and vital character of this breathtaking novel is Nandini. She is the wife of none other than Periya Puzhavettarayar who had the capacity to influence anybody and bring everybody under her control.She is the mastermind behind the plot set against to ruin the Chozha Dynasty and had great power in implementing efficiently.There has been great power and equal importance were given to the women counterparts which I feel missing these days in the society.They had equal role in the decision making process. When there was commotion happening in the astrologer’s house,on the other side of  a secret meeting was held amongst a group of Pandya supporter and  who were also helping aides of Nandini,one of them being Idumbankari, Soman Sabhavan, Ravidasan and there were few others who  were also plotting ruin the chozha dynasty and making plans to visit Sri Lanka.There is war going on in Ezham(Sri Lanka) and commander there is the younger prince Arulmozhivarmar. Lets get back to vandiyathevan,who now reached Thiruvaiyaru and from there when ahead to Thanjavur and followed the palaquin until he reached the entrance the fort.It was here he met Nandini and he falls for her and gets the palmyra ring which gives him the access to enter the fort and help him complete the task at hand.Before he goes ahead with the task in hand he stays at sendham amudhan house for the night.Later next day he begins his journey and with the help of palmyra ring enters the fort  and he meets younger brother of Periya Puzhavettaryar who takes  efficient care of the security of the fort. Vandiyathevan finally get through him and meets the Sundara Chozhar,the king of the Chozha Dynasty and give him the scroll given by Aditha Karikalar(Elder Son and crown prince of the king).Aditha karikala is a warrior among warrior and had entered in to war at a early of 16.He is famously known for beheading the king of Pandya’s Veerapandya and thereby winning the war at a young age.He was the heading the war in the north and headquartered at Kanchi. He had also built a golden palace for his father and emperor of the Chozha and invited him to visit the palace. Now lets move ahead with the story. Vandiyathevan stays for the night at the fort and he enters the dungeon where the all the gold and other monetary wealth are kept and he encounters his friend Kandan Maran again who is stabbed by the security there on command of the enchantress Nandini. This,thereby creating  an enmity between both the men.He also encounters with Nandini in her palace before this whole incident and leaves the fort to start his journey to Pazhayarai. It in Pazhayarai,the daughter of the king,Illaya Pirati and the women who he fell in love and gave his heart( though it is admitted by him at part 5 of the book)  to give the second scroll and complete the task given to him.Here he embarks into his next task which is given to him by none other than the princess herself and he leaves to Eazham (Now widely Known as Sri Lanka) to meet the prince Arulmozhivarman. He is the commander in chief of the army and is leading the war in Eazham and is king in hearts of the people of both Eazham as well in his own Kingdom Chozha Dynasty.he is the prodigy kid who was saved by the river ponni itself when he fell of the boat as baby.But actually saved by a deaf and dumb lady who happened to be love of the Sundara Chozhar before his marriage to his current marriage and this is secret not to known to many people except a few confidant of the king. Now getting back to Vandiyathevan, he is been searched by the whole kingdom as he was falsely accused of trying to kill his dear childhood friend Kandan Maran.The continuation of the rest of the story continues in review of the next part of the book.

For person like me who have visited the present Tanjore ,Kumbakonam it was hard to believe that there was a time these places flourished in terms of the rich culture,infrastructure like irrigation,agriculture,lands were very fertile,no scarcity of water.Foresight of the Chozha dynasty to built efficient irrigation system,constructed lake to store water from the river Kollidam. There 72 sluices on the embankment of the lakes.The rivers and lakes were flooded,rather sometimes overflowed with water.The banks of Cauvery where strengthened,Aditya Chozha due to his sincere devotion to lord shiva, built 64 Shiva temples along the banks.This book is contribution to the Chozha Dynasty itself by the author Kalki Krishnamurthy. As a reader ,the narration takes us to the world of the Chozhas and exciting that we would keep the book down without finishing all the parts of the book.