Ambimama - India

Yesterday a friend of mine had gone to visit the match between England and South Africa. He reports the following:
1. The foreign visitors were allowed to carry on flags and other important items to show their sporting spirit.
2. Indians were not allowed to carry anything and were checked thoroughly.
3. There was not enough food stalls and food, even water bottles.
4. Indians were not allowed to go out and have food either; if they go out they cannot return!
The hot summer of Chennai forced my friend to return home and watch the match on TV which England won by 6 runs. Is this the way we Indians should be treated?

A child’s smile is god-given. It is as though God laughs. No hidden feelings, just smile! Of course we all enjoy the smile because the mother takes all the pain of giving the child proper care of feeding, removing the clothes at proper time and other routines. And when the child cries however we may try to cajole, ultimately it finds comfort in the mother’s hands. Such is God’s creation. I do not remember how much pain my mother would have gone through. The children are all God’s own and we have to respect and treat them with joy. It is manmade World and the children learn to behave in it the way we have made and want them to learn the way we want. All the child’s merry is gone when he becomes an adult and then the cheer returns when he gets a child of his own.

I have received a lot of greetings in my personal mail for Pongal. More than Deepavali. I had not written any article since Christmas. I read a lot and think of writing but postpone. And it has become a habit. I watched TV and it was a very sad accident in Sabari Malai. I have visited Sabari Malai many times and it was a pleasant and divine experience. And of all the news I have seen recently the ones in Pakistan flood and Brazil & Sri Lanka really are horrible. It is really painful that I have to go through with all the news and that I am a normal Indian and will see the second 50 overs match between India and South Africa today evening. OK not so much with delight. I have to do something – I will pray sincerely. And I will write more.

All around me loudspeakers are blasting Lord Iyyappa songs. I had gone to Iyyappa shrine with devotion and my Iyyappa devotes used to cheer me up saying that I should say Sharaam Iyyappa in a loud voice. And I used to say and gain divine strength to climb the mountains. There were lots of Christians too coming for the darshan of Lord Iyyappa, singer Jesudoss being one of them. And many Muslims too and we used to pray at Vavar samy. I think only in our country such devotion and Bakthi exists. To people who are visiting Lord Iyyappa such blaring loud speakers may be necessary but sure it does hurts the ears of others. We Indians are tolerant people but sure on this Merry Christmas let us lower the volume of the speakers and increase the brightness of the stars that we hang up outside our homes.

In my neighbourhood some Christians some days ago celebrated their new house inauguration. They had put up speakers with cinema music blasting at full sound throughout night for two days. They must understand the neighbours’ listening capacity too!

TATA Aria was unveiled at the Delhi Auto Expo 2010. Touted as a cross between a sedan and a SUV, the Aria is the most expensive car that has ever come out of Tata’s gates.

The concept of Crossover is not new to the Indian Market. Ford has tried this concept earlier with the Fusion (a cross between a hatch and a SUV) and failed quite miserably.Vehicles like the Chevrolet Captiva and the Mitsubishi Outlander are others cases in point which haven’t really set the ball rolling.

Tata Aria is available in four variants: Aria Pleasure, Aria Prestige, Aria Prestige Leather and Aria Pride. All the models of Tata Aria are equipped with disc brakes in all wheels plus comes with all time 4 wheel drive system. Both these features are first for a multi utility vehicle in this segment in Indian market. The Tata Aria is being made available, to begin with, in 25 cities through 69 dealerships.