Suresh Chandrasekaran's Blog, page 24

February 21, 2021

The limits of success

Vellatthanaiya malar neeettam; maandartham uLLatthanaiya uyarvu - ThirukkuralThe height of the lotus stalk is determined by the depth of the waters; the heights of men's success is determined by their ambition - Loose Translation These poets, I tell you. You can never take the meaning of a word for granted. This 'ULLam' pops up again, meaning 'mind' as I have had occasion to say before. The last
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Published on February 21, 2021 21:36

February 14, 2021

True wealth?

ULLam Udamai Udamai; PoruLudamai nilladhu neengi vidum - ThirukkuralStrength of Character is the only true wealth; Material wealth does not abide and vanishes - Loose TranslationThe problem with Tiru and, indeed, with most poets is that their words quite often mean too many things. I mean, like take this 'ULLam' for example. Literally, it means 'mind'(or heart, but let us not get into that now).
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Published on February 14, 2021 21:08

February 7, 2021

True Joy?

Araththaal Varuvadhe Inbam; Matrellaam Puraththa Pugazhum Ila - ThirukkuralVirtue alone gives true joy;  everything else is neither joy nor fame - Loose TranslationOh, Well! I suppose Tiru had to say this thing. Almost every Society tries to tell its people that the only true happiness lies in leading a virtuous life. And, invariably, the people who break the rules get ahead. At the end of it all
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Published on February 07, 2021 18:48

January 31, 2021

Spots in the mind?

Azhukkaru Avaa Vekuli Innachchol Izhukkaa Iyandrathu Aram - ThirukkuralVirtue lies in being free from Envy, Greed, Wrath and hurtful speech -  Loose TranslationIt is all very well for Tiru to say that Virtue lies in a spotless mind. The problem is that you cannot just dump your mind into a washing machine and take it out spotless. If you could, you need not bother about identifying the spots, you
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Published on January 31, 2021 20:04

January 23, 2021

Virtue is all in the mind?

Manaththukkan Maasilan Aadhal Anaiththu Aran; Aaakula Neera Pira - Thirukkural A spotless mind is the only virtue; all else is valueless - Loose TranslationI am back to Thiruvalluvar (hereinafter to be called 'Tiru' to save myself some typing), the man who tweeted, prolifically, more than a millenium before Twitter was ever conceived. The only reason why the chap has not been ubiquitous in memes,
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Published on January 23, 2021 00:37

January 17, 2021

A conforming world

 You know the biggest problem with the world is the fact that people do not always agree with each other. It's such an irritating thing to be find someone giving you the horse's laugh just as you are getting into your stride, pontificating about something which you are sure that nobody can disagree with. Of course, you tend to avoid that chap, walking the high road if he takes the low road,
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Published on January 17, 2021 20:21

January 11, 2021

Quotation bias

Way back in school, I was taught to pepper any speech with quotes to lend weight to whatever I was speaking about, especially when it came to public speaking. Which essentially put paid to my career as a public speaker. I mean, if you start off with "As Shakespeare said, 'Neither a lender...', blink owlishly, swallow, and start again, 'Neither a...', look piteously at the audience and, then, find
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Published on January 11, 2021 03:35

January 4, 2021

2021

This new year 2021 comes around in strange circumstances. Up to now, by and large, wishing for a happy new year came tripping off the tongue. Optimism never had to excuse itself, never like this time. Thanks to the fact that 2020 has not exactly been a glorious year which encouraged optimism. One is almost tempted to put in a disclaimer that the wishes are only expressions of goodwill and not a
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Published on January 04, 2021 23:31

December 20, 2020

Show time at the office

It's rather funny how things that you tend to think of things learned for some purpose to be exclusively of use for that purpose. I mean, most people actually seem to have thought that the math that they learned at school was exclusively for use to pass exams and are astonished at the thought that it may have any applicability in life after school.That, though, is not what I wanted to talk about.
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Published on December 20, 2020 19:57

December 13, 2020

Hate the sin first?

It never pays to assume that you have mastered something in the practice of philosophy. Never. It, perhaps, is fine as long as you are hugging the thought to yourself and feeling chuffed about it. But if, by chance, you feel the need to express your happiness...or, as the uncharitable are likely to say, boast about it...As I made the mistake of doing. You see, Hinduism talks of three gunas -
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Published on December 13, 2020 20:09