VVS

With the Olympics round the corner our Tennis stars are fighting one another. Mahesh and Bopanna refuse to play with Paes as parters in the doubles. Paes does not want a younger player as his doubles partner. Mahesh's father and Paes' father take up cudgels on behalf of their respective sons. First the sports minister wanted to intervene in this on going battle. Ultimately backed out. Latest to join the bandwagon is Sania Mirza who accuses the All India Tennis Association of using her as a bait. She accuses Paes' father who she says wanted a written undertaking that she would partner his son in the mixed doubles. With this bloated egos it would not be surprising if these so called Tennis stars crash out in the first game itself. Why does the AITA trying to pacify these players. Why not groom young blood. At least we can lose with a brave face. All these fading stars are surely going to fade away after the olympics.

Now the stage has been set for Pranab Mukerjee to be elected as the 14th President of India. After much dithering Sangma has been chosen as the opposition's candidate. Pranab must be feeling greatly relieved as he can no longer preside over the economy which is now in shambles as Finance Minister. The UPA it appears is ready to run away as the problems are aplenty.  Day in and day out there are corruption charges. The latest being the corruption charge against the Union Minister Virabhadra Singh who has resigned today. If UPA's problems are full. the Opposition is no exception. NDA constituents are fighting among themselves as to who should be the PM eventhough the election is a far cry ie in 2014. The Left is left out. In the Presidential election they do not know whom to support. Should they support Pranab as a Bengali or Sangma as a tribal. Ultimately they have rooted for Pranab. Bengali is better than a tribal. CPI has chosen to abstain. So much for their concern for the d

On 3rd June 2012 at about 9.45 p.m. Mr.Narayanan who we fondly call him as Narayana Mama breathed his last. He had been unwell for a couple of months. I feel very sad for Mami. We were neighbours at Arisikaran Street for nearly half a decade. We had such close relationship which can never be described. Narayana Mama was such an honest and upright man both at his work and also at home. He always travelled by his old cycle. Even though his son was in USA and daughter well settled. He depended only on his old cycle for commuting. For the past few years the old couple had been staying with their daughter at Bangalore.. Eventhough he was at Bangalore he used to ring me up and ask about TN politics. Though elder to me by about twenty years I enjoyed his company. One incident which he narrated which is indelible in my memory's page. When Narayana Mama's father died, the tenth day ritual was performed. As per the ritual the wife of the dead would be presented with new saree and other

On 26th of May 2012 we family members numbering 12 went to Tirumala. The journey from Chennai to Tirupathi was good and we reached there within 4 hours by a private Tempo Traveller. From Tirupathi to Tirumala we went by Govt. bus. The entire journey was splendid. We thought we would finish Darshan of Balaji within 3 to 4 hours and return to Chennai by evening of 26th. But the Lord had other ideas. We stood in the queue for Rs.300 at 11.10 a.m. Slowly we meandered our way. We went from one shelter to another. No one knew where the queue ended. The shelters had been built in such a way that it takes you around the temple. While standing in the queue we helped ourselves with fruits, biscuits etc. Nobody had lunch except the morning breakfast. As time passed our hunger increased. We went on and on and on. Hours passed. one ,two, three, four ,five, six and so on. Our energy sapped. Hunger increased hunger turned to anger. Words were exchanged as my brother in law who is a diabetic and wh