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A Seven-Day FDP

"On finding out that Naavarasu had died during ragging, David dismembered his body with surgical precision..." 😭

Beauty and the Beast | 23rd November 1996

An Awesome Beauty Pageant and a Gruesome Murder

#memoriesfromdiaries

[This day, 28 years ago from my daily diary entry]

Well, this I guess is one of the benefits of writing your daily diary consistently – it helps you look back on your past posts with a whiff of nostalgia, on the daily events of your good ol’ past – the things that you have Seen, Heard and Read, and the swoonworthy/ newsworthy events from the day’s newspaper that you have faithfully transferred to your daily diary for posterity’s own sake - and when you read it today, 28 years later – you feel like events of the past come to life with flesh and blood, right in front of your Mind’s Eye – with such a ‘reality of representment’ – helping you re-live those past memories right into the present!

Indeed, as critic Scupin Richard says, our past conditions our present and ably directs our future.

And as Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita –

Whatever happened, happened for the good; Whatever is happening, is happening for the good; Whatever will happen, will also happen for the good only!

On this note, here’s wishing all ye diarists godspeed as well! 

Coming back -

Well, this particular day had two newsworthy/noteworthy events!

The first one is -

On this particular day - 23rd November 1996 - the much-hyped and controversial Miss World 1996 pageant got underway at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.

[Controversial, because, some critics and protestors were dead against the concept of hosting beauty pageants in India, since they felt that such pageants represented women in a way that was culturally inappropriate. 

There was also widespread accusation on the pageant that, women were objectified and used merely for entertainment. Some among the protesters even tried self-immolation, and one person died in the protest as well. 

With such a strong backlash, the swimsuit competition was hence moved to the Seychelles Island.]

Interestingly, this 1996 edition was the first time India had hosted the Miss World Pageant, with representatives from 88 countries participating in the pageant.

Ms. Aishwarya Rai, the Miss World 1994, from India, was a judge in Miss World 1996.

The stage design - reminiscent of the 14th-century ruins of Hampi - was done by Sabu Cyril.

Miss World Greece (Miss Hellas), Irene Skliva, 18, was blue-crowned Miss World 1996 and till date, Irene remains the only woman from Greece to have won the Miss World title.

The 1996 Miss World Pageant in India

28 years later, this year marks the return of the beauty pageant to India, [in March 2024], the second time the event was hosted in India, when Krystyna Pyszková of the Czech Republic was crowned Miss World on 9th March 2024 in Mumbai, India.

The second news that hogged the limelight for this month - November 1996, was the gruesome murder of Naavarasu, a first-year MBBS student (with Annamalai University’s Raja Muthiah Medical College in Chidambaram), by his senior John David.

Since one of our family friend’s son was studying in Annamalai University, and I had chanced upon him today - with all curiosity - I had asked him on how the incident had happened, and he narrated the shocker of an event and its aftermath to me in such detail. 

The ghastly murder had happened since Naavarasu, (son of the then-Vice-Chancellor of University of Madras) refused to comply with the inhumane demands of John David – where Naavarasu was asked to strip and lick footwear. 

On finding out that Naavarasu had died during ragging, David dismembered his body with surgical precision and threw his body parts in various places. 

The chilling murder led to a huge public outcry, forcing the Govt of Tamil Nadu to ‘Act’. Tamil Nadu hence became the first state in India to criminalise and ban ragging in educational institutions, with the passing of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1997.

Sadly, and ironically, almost three decades later, today, even as I am typing out this post, I also happen to read about yet another shocking incident that had shell-shocked the whole of India this week.

Anil, a victim of ragging, with his sister

Anil, a brilliant student (who had scored 550 in NEET without taking any coaching classes) died within a month of joining medical college, after being ragged by his seniors in his hostel in the nights on 16th & 17th November 2024. Police have arrested 15 second-year students for the murder of their junior.

Although the Ministry of Human Resource Development under the aegis of the Department of Higher Education, Government of India has time and again emphasised on the punitive measures and the ban on ragging in educational institutions, it is quite unfortunate that, the menace of ragging still continues unabated in most of the institutions across India.

On an aside, it is quite heartening to note that, the parents of Pon. Naavarasu, [the innocent victim of ragging], have started a noble initiative - The Pon Naavarasu Trust, the very next year (March 1997) with the following noble ideals enumerated below - 

The School founded in Naavarasu's Memory

It is imperative to stem the tide of disillusionment among the youth of our time. It is possible for every socially responsible citizen to make a small beginning however humble it may be, and help generate an ethos and a milieu conductive to what Jonathan Swift long ago called " sweetness and light ". 

As a Chinese proverb goes, "Even a thousand-mile journey must begin with a single step".

To shape a generation of fine citizens who will be conscious of their role in enriching society and life. The trust will take up projects that will assist aspiring youth to enrich one's life through the appropriate application of Science and Technology coupled with the inculcation of cultural, ethical and moral values. 

The prime objective of the PON NAAVARASU TRUST is to bring about a change of heart and foster a humane disposition of the mind. 

It is hoped that in the long run such values will percolate and might even create a movement turning the young people in positive directions. 

With such a large ideal in view the trust plans to develop/run educational institutions, motivating students towards an inner culture by strengthening a sense of fellowship among them.

The Trust has also started a school called, Pon Naavarasu Matriculation School to foster their noble ideals.

More on their noble initiative can be found on their website HERE.

Giving here, a diary entry by Naavarasu, which is so heart-rending, on why he wishes to become a medical doctor in the future, written by him on 11th March 1993. 

Pictures are from: Naavarasu Trust Website/ The New Indian Express / Miss World Website

Cordially Inviting You... ❤️

 

NAZARETH MARGOSCHIS COLLEGE AT PILLAIYANMANAI, NAZARETH

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Tips, Tricks and Cheat sheets | For Planning Your Digital Detox Routine!

Tips, Tricks and Cheat sheets ❤️

For Planning Your Digital Detox Routine! 😍

Of the 24 hours in a day’s time, statistics tells us that we are more slavishly addicted to, and intoxicated by our techno-gadgets than even tipplers of the highest order!

So it would be a misnomer to call a tippler alone an addict! 

When we ourselves are confirmed addicts, intoxicated by the power of all those techno-gadgets, that’s enslaved us to the core! There may be a slight variation in degree, but the quantum remains the same! 

Intoxicated and addicted! Both equally are! So we in us find both the tippler and the techno! ;-)

Hence, much akin to the host of de-addiction centres that are in place all across the city for patients with substance use disorder, or the host of psycho-social rehabilitation centres that are burgeoning by the day at every residential locality across the city, a digital detox centre is the need of the hour for those of us who are so obsessed with our techno gadgets 24 x 7!

Before the situation starts getting out of hand, it is time to stem the rot, ain’t it? 

Hence these detox initiatives!

Moreover, as teachers and professors, it becomes our bounden duty to promote noble thoughts and noble qualities of the highest order in our wards, ain’t it?! One such noble concept is the idea of a digital detox!

Well, a digital detox doesn’t necessarily mean that we would be disconnected entirely from society. It’s a pretty decent 50/50! 

So it starts with a 12 - hour digital detox per day!

You choose your sweet convenient timing at that! It could be evening six to morning six!

Or you may also start from morning six to evening six!

In this particular time frame, you forget the fact that you ever had a cell phone or techno connect gadgets on you.

You don’t even get to touch your gadget in this ‘golden hours’ period! Period! Promise yourself on that! 

So what do I do? How do I indulge myself in other creative pursuits during this 12 hour detox schedule?

Well, it’s quite easy to begin with!

When you are just beginning to try out on your first ever digital detox, begin with just a day’s trial on the detox!

And before you start on your one-day’s trial on the digital detox, for courtesy sake, do tell your close friends / family to get in touch with a close friend /sibling in case of any emergency connect with you.

So yup!

Here we go!

Till six in the evening, you have the entire 12 hours for you to be pally with everyone around you, your friends, your well wishers, your family, your buddies, your pals, your roomies, et al!

The clock strikes six in the evening, and you quietly and gently dispense with all your techno gadgets on you!

So what do I do in this 12-hour period?

Yes! Seven hours goes for your sleep. So you’ve got just around five hours on you now.

At the stroke of six, get your walking gear ready! Get set go! Take a refreshing gentle stroll along the garden, or on the pedestrian pathway down your street, or in the next adjacent playground near your locale! 

When you go on your stroll, do not be like the lay, the pavapetta lay, with their head bent, neck lowered, in such revered attention to their cell phones! That’s not for the types of you! Look around you as you take every step! Look at the trees! Are they native varieties or are they foreign imported trees? 

Do birds flock up those trees, and if so, do you spot any bird calls twittering back at you? Some mynahs? Some bulbuls, some egrets, some parrots, some seven sisters, there are a whole variety of them in your area! Make sure you take a close look at them! Observe them! Thank heavens for these lovely birds that enliven your evening.

On your way back, get some bananas or fruits and biscuits on you! Near your home you might happen to chance upon a cow or a dog, a calf or a pup! 

Make sure you feed them the little you have! See the way they take the food from you that you’ve so thoughtfully bought for them! See the gratitude in their eyes! [What about keeping some good, fresh water and fodder for the chirpy birds? Well, that’s for the morning routine, though!] Now look up above, high above, and with a grateful heart thank heavens for helping you do all these noble deeds! Then come back home, take a refreshing, rejuvenating bath after your evening cuppa time!

After this one hour is up, now it’s around seven pm! 

And it’s time to catch up on the day’s newspapers. [I’ve specifically told my students, especially my PG Classes that they should read at least four different newspapers every day!]

Two English dailies and two vernaculars!

So at around seven, after a refreshing bath, sit for your newspaper reading over a cuppa coffee! Thirty to forty minutes to catch up on all the news of the previous day!

Relax for around fifteen minutes.

Then, gently walk across to your reading table!

What do you do here?

Simple!

Take a book and start reading! Don’t waste time thinking about what blessed book to read! Just take a book and start reading!

And please don’t you ever read any book at a stretch for extended periods of time!

Read with intense focus without any distractions, whatsoever! But only for thirty minutes!

When you begin reading, don’t read with a desire to understand the story! There’s this common anxiety amongst readers to come to grips with storyline, and so they focus more on the characters. But that’s not the exact way to read!

You start appreciating the language of a text, every page and every line of it!

Say a ‘Wowww’, say a ‘Lovelyyy’ say a ‘Awww’, say a ‘Ooooh’ say ‘Amazinggg’, say, ‘Lovely-o-lovelyyy’ everytime you see a particular phrase or expression, a particular idiom or usage that’s so touched your heart!

That’s how you read! Not for the story line alone! Cos stories are universal! They almost always have the same structure to it! Ask the formalists, query the structuralists, and they all will stand in attention and say ‘Amen’ to that!

So you read! Read for the ‘How’ of the story! How the story has been presented to you!

What is the unique style of the story that makes it click?

What is that something special about the story that makes it endearing to you?

Now, after you’re done with your 30 minutes of intense reading, put your book face down, or bookmark it and close it for the moment.

Appreciate yourself, by patting yourself and smiling at yourself! You’ve done something extraordinary in your lifetime! :-)

You’ve sat on a book (not literally though!) for 30 minutes flat without any distractions!

That’s a huge achievement in itself of you, by you, for you!

Get yourself a cuppa hot piping coffee for yourself! Walk down the aisle, the lawn, or the footpath or the sideways! Do some moving ups, and moving downs on the stairs!

Now come back after 10 to 15 minutes, and open your diary or your scribbling  pad!

Write down whatever comes to you! Be spontaneous!!!
It could be a poem!

It could be your week planning schedule!

It could be your appointments for the week!

It could be the assignments that you’ve got to do!

It could be on some noble thoughts or ideas you listened to in class!

It could be some noble thoughts or ideas you’d gained in conversation with your friend, mentor or teacher!

Write them down! Write them all down! In some ordered way!

Let your 30 minutes of writing time be as creative as possible!

Whenever you write something down, bear in mind that it becomes a written record! A written record, becomes so valuable and highly cherished, after decades!

So write down your thoughts! Be it a short story’s outline! Or your top five friends, your top five teachers, your top five inspirations, your top five resolves and resolutions, your top five books that you’ve lined up on the stacks, your top five authors, your top five destinations that you intend to go this winter!

It could be anything! But write them down!

You’re now done with your 30 minutes! Hey presto! One hour of creative spending this evening! Appreciate yourself once again! Pat yourself yet again! Go smile at yourself in the mirror once again!

Yes! Do the happiness dance!

Now! get yourself a glass or two of water! Refresh yourself!

If you’ve got good neighbours, or good friends with whom you can talk, say a ‘hi’ to them!

A grandpa or a grandma at home? Go sit at their feet and say a ‘hi’ to them. Talk to them. Talk with affection and love to them! Do it for thirty minutes! 

Ask your grandma / grandpa if they want anything. Ask them if they need anything. Ask them if they are happy. Ask them if you could be of help to them in any way. Ask them about their favourite games and sports when they were young like you! Ask them! Talk to them! That’s what they need! And what do you get back in return?

Money? Nope!

Chocolates? Nope!!

Food? Nope!!!

Well, it’s something that is more valuable than them all put together! Yes! something that money or chocolates or food cannot get you! What you get back in reservoirs of abundance, are their blessings and their wishes for you. Their blessings in abundance are the greatest credit that has the power to steer you and to guide you all through your life!

Grandpa/grandma time may go on and on without bell or brake! But tell them you’ve got work, and tomorrow same time you’ll meet them again! They’d gladly allow you to take leave!

[Well, if you stay in a hostel, take these blessed minutes to talk with your close friends! Chat with them to your heart’s content. Joke with them! Share your thoughts with them! Do anything except except except… gossip! Discuss your future plans with them! All for around thirty minutes! Human interaction is a blessing of great value! Its value is far more precious than even the costliest rubies or emeralds!

Now, get back to your reading desk! Take another book! Start reading! Do an intense reading! For forty five minutes now – without any distraction of any sort!

Use highlighters or pencils to highlight lovely expressions that you come across! Write some of the useful expressions in a note book that you’ve got handy beside you.

To sum it all up,

Walking: 1 hr

Refreshing time: 15 minutes

Newspaper Reading time: 45 minutes

Reading: 30 minutes

Talking/Chatting time: 30 minutes

Dinner time: 15 minutes.

Getting back to reading: 1 hour

Writing time: 45 minutes

Meditation/Quiet time: 15 minutes

Having successfully accomplished all of the above, you may now get ready to do the victory dance!

The angels in heaven, and God/s above will sure join you in this victory dance, because they’d all take immense pride in creating you, in carving you and sending you into this world, and here you are, quietly and gently making  a difference in your own little way! 

After your victory dance, you may now peacefully, after having kept your triumphant routine, hit sack, and go into gentle snoring mode and avail the most pleasant dreams on you!

Now now now… tell me, tell me, tell me!!!!! where on earth do you have the time to squander, or fritter away, or waste on all those social networking sites or on doomscrolling? 

Well, before I conclude: the other day a student of mine asked me a very pertinent question! ‘Sir, if I don’t log into my facebook, I feel I am missing out on something so important. That’s why I tend to log into my facebook quite often!’

He has a valid point out there! He’s right in a way! But since he’s a student, I gave him an alternative arrangement! 

I told him, ‘My dear boy, everything you ever wanted to know as news or information may be on facebook, but you’d be glad to know that the most relevant and most appropriate news that you ever wanted to know will be carefully ordered and structured to you on a delightful package, available the very next day on a wonderful broadsheet called the day’s newspaper.’ 

‘Added, there’s no artificial intelligence unit on a newspaper to distract you jiffy by jiffy into unwanted terrains and domains you won’t even have thought of venturing into! Hence, on this particular parameter, you needn’t worry that you’d be missing something so great and so valuable!’ I said.

Yes! You surely ain’t gonna lose out on anything big!!!

Trust me! I’m not on instagram at all! And I’ve never felt anytime in my life that I’m missing something greatly, ever! Cos I get it all on the day’s newspapers! And even more!

So what do I get to do on the time thus saved from these trivial distractions? 

I get more time and space for myself - to read, to write, to talk, to blog, to vlog, to publish, to escape into the woods, to go on a long drive, to do a trek, to chat with real people and lots and lots more!

You may want to read more on a sample granny/grandpa chat time, HERE

You may want to read more on a sample trekky adventure time, HERE

You may want to read more on a sample tree walk time, HERE

Well, to conclude, the schedule above that’s been given for you, is just for the ‘detox trial day’, and meant to be tried out by students of all hues! 

And if you’ve succeeded on this routine with high degree of success, ping me on! Would gladly give y’all the regular detox routine, mailed across to you the next instant! That’s a regular detox routine spread over all seven days of the week!

Best wishes on your digital detox!!!

Amaran & the ‘Liberated’ MCC Spirit...!

Amaran & the ‘Liberated’ MCC Spirit

Watching Amaran in Salem | Our Felt Experience ❤️

Well, I am so delighted to give my take (not review!) on the patriotic movie Amaran – a biographical action drama that foregrounds the valour and the sacrifice of our illustrious alumnus Major Mukund Varadarajan, with MCC forming the backdrop to the beautiful love story of Indhu and Mukund.

Well, since my beloved wife also happens to be an illustrious alumna of MCC, [having studied here in MCC for three years], we thought of somehow making it for the first day show of Amaran on Diwali day – 31st October 2024.

However, since we couldn’t get tickets on Diwali day, we thought of making it by all means on the second day at least!

And yes we did!

We were in Salem on 1st November 2024, and we had booked our matinee show in one of the good theatres there. The crowd was literally overflowing all over the theatre.

The very opening scene where Siva meets Indhu was met with such roaring applause and cheer from the audience.

MCC in fact becomes one of the main characters in the movie, along with Mukund and Indhu, shaping the hero and the heroine’s lives for the better.

I was particularly interested in this one scene where Indhu is shown as a kind of introvert, not at all willing to participate in any of the extra-curricular activities of the College.

This particular scene is shot in one of the Indoor Theatres of the Halls of Residence in MCC where Mukund is shown exhorting Indhu to take part in the Cultural fest.

But Indhu replies with diffidence that it would’t suit the likes of her.

‘I am good at tattooing, story writing, creative writing, art work, and related things. But when it comes to stage performance, I’ve got a bit of fear. I don’t think I am good on the stage’!

Then Siva gives a nonchalant look towards her, and replies,

‘Hey Mammootty, if you have to get rid of stage fear, you need to get on stage’!

So saying, he holds her by her hand and lifts her up onto the stage.

There starts her journey into the world of culturals and confidence in MCC.

Bespeaks to the great power of encouragement and how a small word of appreciation or encouragement can do wonders in the lives of people around us - shaping them and transforming them into a better version of themselves!

Well, yes! That’s one thing that sets MCC apart!

Well, MCC has always been unique in this aspect – where students get rid of their inhibitions and introverted nature by taking part in a host of co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities – outside the regular classroom, that make them confident, responsible and informed citizens.

Coming back to the movie –

Yes! We found Amaran a real Diwali treat and a must-watch for every Indian.

To me personally, watching a movie in Salem was a different experience altogether!

One could feel first-hand the emotional connect with the audience that resonates and reverberates in the Cinema hall with such hoots, whistles and claps all the way - up until the end of the movie!

When Siva teaches the famous ‘Achamillai’ song to his daughter, the entire audience chorus it along with him, sending real goosebumps all over us.

Well, watching a movie in Chennai might be a very refined, Apollonian experience.

Watching Amaran in Salem was definitely a Dionysian experience, and an exhilarating experience that made it one of the most unforgettable movies that I’ve ever watched.

Next only to my all-time favourite Anbe Sivam!

The Review of Amaran follows…

In the meantime, you may want to read our review of Anbe Sivam in our past post HERE