CARTOON NETWORK…Does it ring a long lost tiny bell in our minds?Does it transport us back to the days when each one of us were transfixed to the television as if spell-bound,with our senses totally dormant to the things happening around us?Does it make us crave for the all-so colorful,adventurous and wonderful episodes of 24-hr cartoons?

CARTOON NETWORK! WHERE ARE YOU?
The once so-vibrant and magnificent CARTOON NETWORK which featured a huge and a wide variety of cartoons such that its might couldn’t be challenged by any other cartoon channels is now-HISTORY-A LOST LEGEND!
I wonder if kids of the present times (reading this article) will consider this article of any worth because of the not-so-famous-now Cartoon Network.Will they ever understand the true feeling of losing one’s  senses and getting engrossed in Cartoon Network-
-where the ADAM’S FAMILY boast about their weird family habits
-where SCOOBY and SHAGGY tremble to death while solving a mystery and yet, they manage to be the saviors of their companions.
-where POWERPUFF GIRLS save townsville from monkey villain mojo jojo
-where DEXTER gets pissed off due to the scientific accidents caused by his meddlesome sister deedee.
-where FLINTSTONES and JETSONS offer a total contrast to each others’ lifestyles.
-where TOM AND JERRY never pass a day without a chase
-where ED,EDD,EDDY always act as silly and as stupid as possible
-where POPEYE excellently marketed spinach
-where JOHNNY BRAVO flirted with as many girls as possible,most importantly ended up with slaps and thrashes.
-where CAPTAIN PLANET inspired us to be eco-friendly
-where TOP CAT showed us that garbage dumps could be as fine as luxurious homes
-where COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG showed that one’s names does not reflect one’s true personality.

It was definitely a NETWORK.The cartoon characters and the kids were totally connected.
It portrayed a world of fantasy with wit and humor, spreading the message of love and peace. Blood, Hatred and Violence were always kept OUT OF THE DOOR.
Now, tables have turned and these occupy the front row.The cartoons featured now do not end without bloodshed or feeling of hatred. They involve violence in some way or the other and seem to mimic the action packed commercial movies. How will this in any way boost the morale of children?
Classic cartoon network taught us to make fun,
Current cartoon network teaches them to take gun.
The current cartoon network calls itself  ‘futuristic’. Futuristic indeed! Futuristic in terms of introducing kids to the dry and boring mechanical world of manmade robots and machines and a cliche of robot wars and destruction.There is absolutely no variety in the themes and content of the cartoons featured currently. Usage of vibrant colors has started to recede and they have become more of greys and  silvers as opposed to reds,oranges,greens,blues and purples which is found to stimulate creativity in our brains.

Cartoons like scooby doo, popeye,dexter and powerpuff girls were the building blocks of cartoon network. It is pathetic to see that these which proved to be the pillars of a great empire are no longer aired on cartoon network.The current cartoon network has lost its variety and I feel sorry for the kids of the present times who will never get a chance to feel the magnificence of classic cartoon network.

Here ‘it‘ comes, this year, with high hopes and renewed determination in spite of damages due to severe attacks from Shiv Sena in the previous battles.

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting you, the day fueled by the love of mankind, here ‘it‘ comes, The Valentine’s Day!

Considered a taboo in one section of the society while warmly welcomed in the other, The Valentine’s day has always been a promising day for all the newspapers and magazines in the country with many an interesting story hitting the headline – be it a fan’s love letter to Trisha or Shiv Sena’s dim-witted moves to make any pair ‘tie the auspicious knot’, be it a pair of socks too. Poor thing, the Valentine’s day has always had trouble figuring out if it qualifies in India or not. While moms in the metros help their daughters bake heart-shaped cakes for their sweethearts, moms in the country side tremble at the sight of  a red rose in their daughters’ bags. Poor thing, isn’t it? The Valentine’s day!

What people don’t realize is that the Valentine’s day is not just about red roses, greeting cards and naive couples. It’s about love and care – two of the much needed antidotes in this era of hatred and injustice. This day comes every year, in hopes of binding mankind with the strings of love, with unsurpassed efforts to heal the world and seed compassion in the dry and stony hearts of people.This day is never meant only for the teens.How many of us really know that children aged 6-10 send 650 million cards each year? Also, teachers receive the most valentines ( mostly kindergarten) followed by mothers and wives and grandmas. Just like New year and Christmas, this day is meant for every other soul on this planet.

One could never miss out on Rakshabandan when talking about Valentine’s day, a perfect example to demonstrate how people do change. While valentine’s day blesses a guy with enormous courage and power to present red roses to a girl, Rakshabandan places him under the curfew. ( Spidey on Feb 14 and Parker on Aug 2). Lets leave Feb14 and Aug 2 wrangle each others neck while we turn our attention to Mr. Muthalik of the Ram Sene. This everlasting feud between the two ‘days’ (Feb 14 and Aug 2)struck an evil string in Mr. Muthalik’s mind.Every couple that caught his attention on valentine’s day had to either unite in matrimony or in sibling-hood ( actually Rakhihood).Everybody in turn sent him lots of red roses, love letters and greeting cards(and every other ‘pink’ stuff, yes! with hearts and teddies on it) on the same day as a token of their gratitude. Adding to all of this is The Earth Savior Foundation whose primary aim is to safely escort and protect couples from the deathly claws of various anti valentine’s day viruses on Feb 14.

Despite continuous efforts from Feb 14- haters to remove the day off the calendar, valentine’s day has always been the apple of everybody’s eyes and I’m pretty sure that Hallmark and Archies will continue making beautiful cards keeping post offices busy for at least once that year. Come what may, the chocolates and roses and of course the movie channels will always find Feb 14, their Day of Stardom.

Our own PM has announced that big multinational merchants like Walmart and Tesco could open their retail stores in India. Yes! I’m talking about the Foreign Direct Investment where the company to be invested in, is controlled by the foreign corporation. Until now, foreign companies have been restricted to serving only as wholesalers in India.  But now, with the advent of FDI the cage is unlocked and the lion is let loose. For multinational sharks like Walmart, it seemed to be the long awaited opportunity to set their camps in India. By ‘sharks’, what I mean is their immense ability to swallow local trade and put an end to the so-called ‘petti kadais’.  Walmart- Does it really do any good to this nation of ours? Isn’t it another form of western influence in our society? Let’s not get into the political intricacies. Here’s  ‘about it’ in a commoner’s view.

Putting an end to the petti kadai would mean putting an end to the variety of authentic Indian delicacies and knick knacks like chikkis, burfis, kambarkats, thaen mittais and ezhandha vadais..And now,There will be no real need for 25paise and 50paise coins to be minted anymore. Gone will be the days when kids pestered their moms for a rupee or two to buy a handful of peppermints from the nearby ‘chikanna’s  angudi’ ( petty store). Kids will start pestering their moms for a box of Ferrero Rocher from the Walmart.

Petti kadais have been the instant solution for most of the house wives in dealing with their ‘suddden-uninformed-guests’ problem. This is also the best time for kids to amass lots of pocket money and ofcourse, small perks. Mom says, ‘ Buy tea dust’. I demand an extra five rupees ( ofcourse, I get to keep the change), run to chikanna’s angudi and have a small chitchat with him until he wraps it in paper. Ah! That heavenly moment when I grab a handful of rice grains and shove it in my mouth.( God knows how many times I’ve done errands for my mom just for this purpose). Next, Mom says ,’ I forgot to remind you about sugar’. I say, ‘ I forgot to remind you about another five rupees’. (pleasure when she forgets stuff – double bonanza!). I run along the much trodden path and reach the chikanna’s in a jiffy, only  to shove another handful of rice into my mouth. If I did the same thing in Walmart, like maybe, shove a handful of chocolate into my mouth, I’d  be charged with ‘shoplifting’. With the advent of Walmart, I wouldn’t feel happy doing errands for my mom due to the peril of going through the tedious process of starting the scooty, making my way past the heavy traffic, finding the parking lot, entering the cctv monitored store(they make it very clear that they have cctv cameras making us feel that some BigBoss is always watching us), queueing up to pay ‘our ‘ money and returning home with ‘plastics’ adding to our earth’s burden. ( I wish I told them ‘ Keep it simple silly’).

In a country like India where trade is governed through a step system of middlemen and brokers, the entry of Walmart is likely to terminate these links so that the retailer buys directly from the producer. Now, we’ll all be eating canned food instead of fresh food. Not only do retailers like Walmart change the rules of business but also dictate how farming is carried out and infrastructure built.

Deja Vu?   Get a flash of the East India Company?     Transported back to the period ‘before 1947’ ?

Abandoned by his wife and children… Abandoned by his kith and kin.. There were no mourners, dark sky being the sole spectator of the ceremony.Wait! Don’t feel sympathetic too soon. If you’ve shed a tear or so, you’ve already wasted it on a vicious monster, a disgrace for mankind!

On 28th October last year, the whole of Coimbatore entered into a state of mental trauma, after the brutal murder of two kids, Muskaan Jain (11) and Hrithik Jain(8). This incident smashed everybody’s opinion of children’s safety and security in Coimbatore.

Mr. Ranjith Jain in R.G.Street would never have imagined in the wildest of his dreams that that was the last day he was going to see his kids. The children’s grandma wouldn’t have realized that she was waving an eternal good-bye to her grand children while sending them off to school in the morning along with their van driver.The kids never knew that their very own ‘ van anna’ was going to put an end to their lives.

Van driver, Mohan Krishnan along with his friend, Manoharan kidnapped both the kids, demanding money in return. Growing frustrated over time, the kidnappers planned to murder both kids. The kids were taken to Udumalpet and were forced to drown in the PAP Canal. Muskaan’s body was found first and was brought home. Hrithik’s body was found only after three days… three days of high hopes and unanswered prayers that he might atleast still be alive.

Both these kids have lived a mere ten years.What harm did they intend to any at all? Why did their lives have to end in such a miserable way?They are now lost memories, an eternal scar in the hearts of their parents.

Both the murderers were cornered by the police. The main accused, Mohan krishnan was mercilessly shot by the police.The whole of Coimbatore rejoiced that day, with crackers and sweets.Now came the Human Rights Commission. They argued for a fair trial for the accomplice, Manoharan, and accused the police of mercilessly killing a poor human soul.Yes! The poor human soul who strangled the 8-year old boy to death. The poor human soul who tortured the 11-year old girl to death. The poor human soul who shattered the dreams of Mr.&Mrs. Ranjith Jain and trade their trust. The poor human soul who terrorized the whole of Coimbatore.

Due to continued efforts by the Human rights commission, the accomplice in the case is sitting safe and secure in jail, expected to be released soon.

Statistics say that in the year 2010 alone, around 11000 kids have been kidnapped, 4000 molested and 5000 killed. Cant a child trust his/her van driver or school watchman or house servant? Security is totally out of question, now.

One of the two monsters that led to this chaos and fear in the hearts of every parent, is now safe and sound, untouched and not punished. It is absolutely frightening to think about how many such monsters are on the run, in India.

Today, in the walls of one house in R.G.Street, hangs a picture of Muskaan and Hrithik, those innocent faces with their radiating smiles, seeming to tell the world,”Don’t let this happen to another Hrithik or Muskaan. Let them live a Full life”.

God! A black and white topic which is our grandparents’ lore. It is never our cup of tea, atleast for most of us. Many feel that God-fearing nature is inversely proportional to the degree of coolness and that nerds are regular visitors to the house of god. True! Did God help us get full marks in our exams for which we never studied? Did He help us in impressing the most wanted girl/ guy in college? Did He help us increasing our 50% attendence to 85% ? Greek Gods like Hades, Poseidon and Zeus have family issues amongst themselves as to who stole Zeus’ lightning bolt. Lets bow down before them once they’re done! We think so, don’t we?

Ofcourse, cultivating self-confidence, positive virtues and attaining peace are the sole purpose in life. What we don’t realize is that God is a readymade formula, a shortcut to attain these objectives. The word ‘ God’ can be thought of as a synonym to positive values. My set of positive values may or maynot be the same as yours. This may lead to discrepancies. ‘ God’ is a collective term which unifies all our positive values.

We may tag all the holy rituals and practices as highly ‘ uncool and villagish’. But, these are the only antidote to the increasing western influence on our society.

In times of despair, we need some supernal power onto whose shoulders we could lay our burden on. God is this supremal power. Resting our burden on God and surrendering ourselves to him is equivalent to forgetting our worries and moving on with life. If you are the one who forgets your worries and moves on with life, then you could very well not believe in God because you are self- equipped. But, how easy is it for most of us to Move on? ( may sound good in fast track ads).Most of us, however stony and rigid on the outside, tend to breakdown over certain issues personal to us. ‘ God’ is for this ‘most of us’ who would crumble at the test of times.
To those of you who still ask me who ‘god’ is-
- with what probability did the universe come from nothing?
- with what probability  was our solar system born?
- with what probability did our earth get positioned at the right distance from the sun?
- with what probability did life come into existence from nothing?
- with what probability did a unicellular organism develop into a human?
- with what probability are you now able to read and process this article of mine?
This is God!

Fords and Volkwagons find their parking lots in Park Sheratons and Taj Coromandels. Cycle rickshaws and Autorickshaws find their parking lots in one Guru mess and one Baasha Dhaaba. This is the normal stereotype. But, poomarket area in Coimbatore is one place where there is a mismatch of the above worlds. Thanks to the Paatiamma Mess!!! They open their shutters when others close theirs.They spring to life after 8:00 pm.

This place is a refuge to that part of us which wants to be its true self – undisguised and fully free, tired of all sorts of courtesies and etiquettes like battling to eat with forks and knives and managing not to bang the crockery with it, munching food without showing the slightest movement of jaws with our mouths pursed, tipping the waiter with double the amount of bill just because neighboring diners tip that much and always conscious of whether our attire stands out among the others’ in terms of the brand name and the porsche looks. This place has no sort of such restrictions.

All that it has had throughout are a handful of cheerful young waiters and a couple of plastic chairs. Ofcourse, the food served is of awesome quality..authentic south indian…It is also known as the ‘Dosai Kadai’ because of the 20-30 varieties of dosai’s that they serve. Another feel good factor is the seven – eight different varieties of chutneys that are served which is sure to make anyone crave for more.The main pleasing factor is the immediate service. Unlike the star hotels where orders for breakfast are served for lunch, steaming hot food appears at your table within a short span of 5-7 minutes. What more does any diner want?

A man in suit is a rare sight because nightwears are the rulers here. People wanting to dine in their cars are also entertained.But, current trends show that people prefer gas-lights,open night sky and plastic chairs to their comfy perfumed interiors of their fav cars. Authenticity in just about anything has started to come to the limelight.

Everytime i go to the Paatiamma mess, I find a vibrant change int the setup – an apt change which attracts people- an intelligent outpour from the brain of some business tycoon or a mastermind!

My recent visit to this place, a week ago, was a memorable one. It was dark in the evening and the lights from the restaurant set the dark streets ablaze. Partitions and walls in the restaurant were made of huge and colorful lighted advertisement boards instead of any construction material. The whole place was well lit – fresh greens, vibrant reds, royal purples, dashing yellows- An ambience that would enlighten any miserable soul. It both served as an additional income to the management for advertising other products as well as increased the aesthetic appearance.This particular idea astounded me.

The person behind this must really be one of his kind because anybody else would’ve developed the place into a star hotel with mosaic floors and granite tables,( considering the huge amount of profit that they make in a single day) which would’ve given us ‘ just-another-Taj or Sheraton’. Hats off to the management for presenting ‘ the Paatiamma mess’ as a Mess – with its ambience untampered.

The euphoria of going to Nilgiris, my hometown, made me forget about my awful road journey from Trichy. The mere thought of experiencing the green and the fog of the mountains and the chill weather emanated radiance and wide smiles on my face. In no way did the hot and the terrible Trichy climate do any good to boost my senses over the days in the previous month. I was anticipating this trip to be of immense help to me in replenishing my being.

The fatiguing journey came to an end at Mettupalayam, the foothills of Nilgiris. Aww! There she stood, bluish green, nestling the clouds,portraying a majestic aura – Nilgiris!.
My dad drove me uphilll from there. I fantasized the cool hill wind brushing past my hair and a whiff of wet-wooded earthen scent. The much awaited moment arrived. I lunged for the fragrant air. Eww! what was that smell? It made my insides burn and choked me. My head started reeling. I looked questioningly at my dad. ” Welcome to the Plastic-giris”, he said.The chain of events occurring from then on, made me feel that Nilgiris was cursed.

PLASTIC! A foreigner or rather, an intruder has entered Nilgiris, has established its territory here too! I thought that this was unique to the metropolitan cities where the milkman, grocery store, departmental stores, showrooms and practically the whole of the commercial world offered ‘ free-of-cost shortening of life span’ by giving away plastic bags.

People are too adamant to let go of plastic bags even though they know that they are committing an extremely slow type of suicide. Now, I would call plastic, an excellent hypnotizer. Plastics have already covered the cities in shroud, the cities are already dead and buried. It never struck me that this could be contagious. I strongly believed that Nilgiri people were sensible enough to keep plastics out of the fort. But, people, you are letting me down!

I realized this when I found plastic covers and cups strewn all along the hill roads. The slender grass shoots which were once covered with frost and dew drops, now seemed to break down under the weight of discarded plastic. The tall pines which have been the trusted companions of Nilgiris since times immemorial seem to bear more number of plastic covers than acorns on their branches. Come autumn and the forest floors are carpeted with plastics instead of dried up oak leaves and Bougainvillea fowers.

While insisting kids to buy bills from shopkeepers that records the purchase, parents also insist them to demand plastic covers which records our planet’s death day.A new amendment to our Constitution – RIGHT TO PLASTIC. Why is it that not one of them thinks about what happens to the plastic after it is used?

Anything in India becomes a habit or legal when there are many doing it. Ours is a country where a milestone becomes a deity when a couple of people are seen worshipping it. Similar is the case with discarding plastic. If a couple of plastic covers are littered in a place, irrespective of whether it is the Lok Sabha of the Parliament or the marble floors of the Taj Mahal, your cover could duly take its place there because, who cares, people have already started this cult and you not the only one doing it! This, apparently is the same mentality of people in Nilgiris too. Sparing a few minutes’ thought of carrying a cloth bag for shopping will spare the beauty of Nilgiris. But, people are so blind folded by the ‘Handiness’ of plastic that they fail to recognize this fact.

Nilgiris never forgets tourists – prime reason being – they are the main sources of income and the other reason being the amount of plastics they leave behind. These mounds of plastics stay for eternity in the Nilgiris singing ‘ all-hail-tourists’.

We have fought for and have got our Independence from the British but when will we get our Independence from plastics?? Or, do we ever realize that we are being enslaved by plastics? Ours is a pathetic plight.

In kindergarten, we were taught a variety of  rhymes and songs. Our teachers always insisted on us to snap our fingers and shake our legs to the tune of music. Not a single day at school passed on without the school walls hearing our finger snaps and feet taps. But now, since we have moved out of childhood trying to call or motion to somebody by snapping fingers at them is considered a rude gestures. Same is the case with shaking our legs when sitting with somebody.

At school, teachers taught us the alphabets by making us orally repeat the letters and simultaneously point out at the alphabets on the chart with our index finger outstretched. We were asked to point at the animals, fruits and what not while pronouncing the words and names aloud. But now as grown ups, pointing out at the person at a distance with our index finger outstretched is considered rude. Its not accepted in our society.

I still remember how as a kid, I fancied the bubblegum. We always blew bubbles and had a competition among our friends so as to see who blew the biggest bubble. The elders seemed to love  our way of blowing bubbles. They always encouraged me to try blowing big ones. The same adults, now tell me that it is bad manners to blow bubbles in front of elders. Chewing while talking to somebody is considered highly rude and inappropriate.

Different gestures at different stages in our lives have different meanings.I am still trying to figure out which gestures fall under the right category and which under the wrong one.