தமிழ் மொழியின் சிறப்புகள் - Tamil Mozhiyin Sirappukal - Tamil language specials.

               This is one of the posts which I want to write for my blog since its name states so, But due to so many other works, it was not possible at all for a long time. But here in the US, I get a chance to write about my mother tongue Tamil for my elder one's Tamil school speech.  Actually, I want to thank his Kamban Tamil school to give me this opportunity to write this blog. Thank you so much for all the support and motivation by each and everyone, also special thanks to my தமிழ் 

       அமிர்தினும் இனிய தமிழ் மொழியின் சிறப்புக்களைப் பற்றி எனக்குப் ‌பேச  வாய்ப்பளித்த என் ஆசிரியருக்கும், எங்களை ஊக்குவிக்க வந்துள்ள நீதிபதி அவர்களுக்கும், மற்றும் என் சக மாணவர்களுக்கும் முதற்கண் எனது வணக்கங்களை உரிதாக்குகின்றேன்.

"செந்தமிழ் நாடெனும் போதினிலே - இன்பத்

தேன் வந்து பாயுது காதினிலே"  

- அன்றைக்கே சொன்னான் பாரதி

     

            அத்தகைய செந்தமிழ் நாட்டில் மற்றுமா தமிழ் பேசப் படுகிறது... சிங்கப்பூர் , இலங்கை ஆகிய நாடுகளில் அங்கீகரிக்கப்பட்ட மொழியாகவும், மலேசிய, பர்மா, துளு  போன்ற நாடுகளில் பரவலா பேசப் படும் மொழியாகவும் தமிழ் மொழி  திகழ்கிறது. உலகில் உள்ள ஏழு கண்டங்களிலும் தமிழ் பேசும் மக்கள் பரவியுள்ளனர், அவர்களால் தமிழ் மொழியும் பரவியுள்ளது.  

       

"கல் தோன்றி மண் தோன்றாக் காலத்தே வாளோடு முன் தோன்றிய மூத்தக் குடி தமிழ் குடி"

         என்ற புகழுக்குரிய தமிழ் மொழி இரண்டாயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு மேல் பழமையான மொழி. அது மட்டுமா இந்திய மொழிகளில் முதன் முதலில் அச்சடிக்கப்பட்டு  வெளியிடப்பட்ட மொழி என்னும் பெருமையும் தமிழ் மொழியைச்சாரும்.  இதற்கு மேலும் யுனெஸ்கோ இந்தியாவின்  பாரம்பரிய மொழிகளில் ஒன்றாகத் தமிழ் மொழியை அங்கீகரித்துள்ளது.    

         "யாமறிந்த மொழிகளிலே தமிழ்மொழிபோல் இனிதாவது எங்கும் காணோம்."

- என்றான் பாரதி…

   

        உலகில் ஏழு அதிசயங்களைப் பற்றித் தான் பேசுகின்றனர் ஆனால் எனக்கு என் தமிழ் மொழி தான் அதிசயம்.  இன்றைய தமிழ் மொழியில் ஆங்கிலமும் மற்றும் பிறமொழி  சொற்களும் பரவலா கலந்துள்ளது... அச்சொற்களை எல்லாம் நீக்கிவிட்டு தமிழை இயங்க வேண்டும் என்று சொன்னாலும் எந்த ஒரு தங்கு தடையும் இன்றி இயங்கும் வல்லமை தமிழ் மொழிக்கு உண்டு அதுவே தமிழைச் செம்மொழி என்று வழங்கக் காரணம் .  

        கன்னடம், தெலுங்கு, மலையாளம் , துளு ஆகிய மொழிகளுக்குத் தாயாக விளங்குவது தமிழ் மொழி தான் . தமிழ் மொழி இயல் , இசை , நாடகம் என்னும் முப்பிரிவுகளை கொண்டது.  அக்காலத்தில் சங்கம் வைத்து தமிழ் மன்னர்கள் தமிழ் மொழியை வளர்த்தனர். ஆதலால் திருக்குறள் , அகநானூறு, புறநானூறு, 

பதினெண்கீழ்க்கணக்கு நூல்கள், பதினெண்மேற்கணக்கு நூல்கள்  போன்ற  பல இலக்கிய இலக்கண நூல்கள் கிடைத்துள்ளது. திருக்குறள் ஒரு உலகப் பொதுமறை நூல்.  உலகிலேயே அதிக மொழிகளில் மொழிபெயர்க்கப் பட்ட  நூலும் அதுவே. 

                        "யாதும் ஊரே யாவரும் கேளிர்"

        -என்னும் உயரிய பண்பை உலகிற்கே சொல்லிக் கொடுத்த உன்னத மொழி நம் தமிழ் மொழி. அத்தகைய தமிழ் மொழியை இங்கு நியூ ஜெர்சியில் நாம் கற்பதற்கு ஏதுவாய் வழிவகை செய்த நம் கம்பன் தமிழ்ப் பள்ளிக்கும் அதன் ஆசிரியர்களுக்கும் முதற்கண் என் வணக்கங்களை உரித்தாக்குகின்றான்.  

"வீடுகள் தோறும் தமிழில் பேசுவோம் 

ஆடி பாடி நண்பர்களுடன் தமிழ் இசைத்து விளையாடுவோம் 

தமிழர்கள் அனைவரிடமும் தமிழில் உரையாடுவோம்."

-என்று கூறி விடைபெறுகிறேன் நன்றி வணக்கம்.

Here is the short video of my son doing the part of this speech... Thanks for reading this blog, feel free to comment if you like this write up. See you in my next post... Byeeee.....

 

Camping at Spring Hill Drive, PA

         There are some things which we want to enjoy, some we want to explore and some wanna try... But only very few which you can enjoy, explore and try. Camping is one amount that for me... Seeing the night sky as it is with the absence of man-made light is one of the best feelings than ever... 

           This is my second camping, the first one I camped at Berijam Lake, Kodaikanal during my school days... It was a camp for four days and three nights at the lakeside...  That time we were so much pampered by our teachers and the guide...  Everything was set already we just went and enjoyed the stay...

           But this time it is with my family,  with a 7yr  naughty and a 1.5yr toddler... But here I got Mahesh(my pillar) to support... It is difficult to compare both the camping, because both of them are totally different by location and peer group... So let me share Only about this here...

     The duration of this camping is two days and one night... This is also a well-planned one but..."Only for food... ;)"

     We are a group of 6 families and 4 bachelor friends, as a total of 7 tents.., Everything was planned before 2days of camping... Got tent, marinated chickens, and panner for grilling in the campfire... Made chappati's and rice... And of course, brought too many junks too...

   On the first day of camping, We(my family) started earlier by packing all the food for two days... That was the last week of summer so every place is full of crowds. 

First, my plan was to visit seven tub falls on the way and joining with other friends in Lake Jean, then after a trial, we need to go to the camping area and the next day morning we planned for boating... 

                        

         But because of the crowd in most of the spot and Covid-19 restriction, seven tub parking is full so we didn't visit seven tubs and we directly went to lake jean. Do you believe, Even in the US there are places with "No Network Coverage", Lake Jean is one among those... ( I didn't before visiting this place) And here Lake Jean parking is full and we can't communicate with my friend, so drive the car along the same road and parked on the roadside after a mile, and we waited for them (Waiting here for my friend who started earlier with me). 

                      

  They reached in ten mins, Both of our families thought to finish our lunch first(food is first ;), Others next )... 

                  

                           

    After lunch, we started our car to the camping area, but luckily Jean lake parking lot was open... So we went inside and wait for other friends to join us... But they didn't... 

                            

        So we taught to start our trails, there are 21 falls on the trail... The total trail distance is 3.5 miles, but we just choose an easy trail and visited a few falls, and came back... Simply starring the water fall is refreshing the mind and the soul... i love to sit ideal near the waterfall for a long time... After the trails,  we communicated with other families on the way to the camping area.

                          

      Our other friends didn't reach the trail as the parking is full, so they went to the camping spot and set their tent, and went for a walk in a nearby lake. After trial, we join them in that lake and then reached the camping area to set our tent,

                               

               By the time I'm setting my tent, everybody else started the campfire and grilling... It was fun to grill the chicken in the campfire and having them. Seeing the bright stars and biggest moon during the late-night is something amazing at the campsite...  Everyone must enjoy it once in a while... 

                             

        Since we are a group of 16 adults, It is fun to chit-chat in the campfire, If u sit in front it is too hot.. but when u move back it is so chill... Here managing toddlers was also not an easy task, but both my elder and younger one enjoyed lot in the camp with his friends... 

                            

         Since we traveled in our car and the camping area is car accessible, so we packed almost half the house... It is very easy to feed them... Ultimate was I boiled the milk in the campfire for my younger one along with the chickens... At night the temperature is around 6°C, but we were in warm clothes and carried blankets along with us... Somehow we managed it... 

                           

    The morning is so pleasant to see and we finished our breakfast at the campsite, took group photos and played games... Finally, wind-up the tents and back home around 2pm... Waiting for the next summer to plan the next camping...

     

My first Canoeing

It's been a long time since I wrote a blog. This is the first blog I'm going to write after moving to the US and it's about my first canoe riding experience during this COVID situation. we are in-home quarantine since march 2nd week and this canoeing is our first outing after so many concerns and double-checking about safety measures.

I went boating a few times in India, among the tourist places like Ooty, Kodaikanal, and once in Pichavaram mangrove forest too.But in all those places someone ride the boat for us and we sat in the boat and enjoyed the ride, but this time there is no one to help me to row the boat and to teach us. We learn it and ride it. Yes, we did it.

 I was very much afraid about this COVID so didn't go out for more than 3 months not even to buy basic groceries, because the new jersey is 2nd highly affected state in the US. Slowly in June the number of newly affected cases is reduced and one of our friend Murali is a shifting to seattle in August, so we all together planned for the safest outing and that where we choose kayaking.

  

 Everybody choose a kayak(its a small boat only two members can ride), and we choose canoe(Its a big boat can accompany 3 to 4). I don't want to take a risk by taking two different kayaks, one for me and Magizh(my first son) and another for Mahesh and Inba(my second son, yes both of the names have the same meaning in Tamil, Happiness). Rowing the boat itself is a new experience and I am not sure how calm Inba will be(He is only 18 months old).

    `

                                      

 After reaching the place, we did online payment (if felt insecure planned to return back). I carried the disinfecting wipes with me, so disinfected live jackets and the pedals, we all wore masks and gloves. I carried two sling bags one was with Mahesh and another one with me. This sling bag contains, extra gloves, masks, hand sanitizers, and water bottles. This kayaking place is 20 mins travel from my home and we booked the boats for 2 hours. so total time we spend out is not more than 3 1/2 hours, so managed kids without giving any food,

                      

All set, we get into the canoe, Mahesh sit back with Inba, Magizh sits in the middle with a fishing net and I'm at the front. first, when I start to pedal in the water I was little scared, we thought to turn the boat in right it goes left, when like to turn left it turns right. Sooner we break the trick, in some 5 minutes not more than that, slowly the canoe comes to our control.

                      
            
            
               
          This canal is one straight path easy to go and come back, it is closely covered by tress in both the side, the view is priceless. we ride for the first 45 mins and stopped at a place,where we can get out of the canal. Since we are all new to kayaking, Murali alone went to the canal shore and took the Photo of all of us and return back to the kayak.  We spend some 15 minutes in taking photos and ride back to the rentals.
         

 This canoeing was one total brain breaking event for all of us, to over this quarantine pressure, 

        We started going to shops nowadays  to buy basic groceries slowly, even though the count comes very low in new jersey, we were limited our-self to visit the shops by monthly or 3 weeks once.
        let's hope soon we come back to a normal lifestyle and let our kids play free outdoors. 

                                                                        Stay safe.

Reduce Recycle Reuse

                    Hi everyone this post is something different from my usual blog. Here I'm trying to provide a solution for reusing a simple waste. In this busy world, we don't have time to visit the shop or we may get the best offer for the same product online than shops, This finally ends up with online shopping.

                   Once the product is reached and everything is fine, we are happy that we saved our money. But At the end, we don't know what to do with those packing materials like carton box and those filler airbags.
                   Here I got an idea from my friend to recycle it by converting it into a good lightweight pot for your terrace or balcony garden. It's easy to make, not expensive and a good habit of recycling too.
                  The step for making carton plant pots are as follows.

Step 1: Choose your carton box,

Step 2: Make a hole at the center of your Carton box( This is an outlet for excess water in the pot)
Step 3: Cover the box with plastic bags, and create the hole at the center of the bag too.

Step 4: Seal the carton box whole with the plastic bag, it helps to drain excess water from carton box absorbing.

 Step 5: Pick four same size bottle caps (Not only the bottle caps but any material of 4 numbers with equal height can also work, I used a coconut shell for one box) and paste them in all the four corners of the carton box. It looks like a stand. 

Step 6: Now your pot is ready for plantation. At the bottom, first fill with coconut fiber, then sand, red-soil and fertilizer mixture. Continue the coconut fiber, red-soi, fertilizer mixture up to 3/4 of the carton box.

Step 7: Plant your favorite plant and water it.

 Note: Coconut fiber is good moisture and fertilizer for the plant. Placing some coconut fiber near the roots, protect the plant from excess heat, and keeps the plants fresh without watering for min 3 days when we are out of home for some reason.

Padmanabhapuram Palace

             Padmanabhapuram Palace is a wooden palace located in Tamilnadu boundary, but it is maintained by Kerala government. This palace is well maintained up-to-date by the government, Padmanabhapuram territory, and their Dynasty.

                              I believe, the palace is the place where the culture begins. This palace is consist of so many portions like poomukam (reception), plamootil kottaram, veppinmooda kottaram (living room), thai kottaram (Queen mother's palace), uttupura (kitchen and dining hall), homappura (prayer hall), uppirikkal malika (multi-storeyed buildings), ayuddhapura(armoury house), chandravilasam, navarathil vilasam, thekke kottaram, clock tower and so on.

               
                        There is a brass horse lamp tied in brass chain hanging from the roof on the reception, Even its hanging from the top it won't rotate randomly in all directions, the direction of the lamp is set by the users according to their need, it has a lock in its brass chain for this purpose. This reception has few wooden greeting cards of the king, and a stone bed which was used by the king during hot summer days.

                           It has a huge dining hall where 200 to 300 people eat a time and a very big kitchen, it seems that more than 100 people will come in and go out for any kind of work to the palace in daily basis, and 3 times the cooks where preparing food for all those people, think when we are preparing food in home at-least for 3 to 4 we are wasting so many foods, and this scenario is totally different and they need to cook food approximate people daily and to control food wastage too.

                         

 

                 It consists of so many wooden carving, one of that has 24 different flowers carving in one wood on the pooja hall roof.

               Next comes the queen's mothers palace, this is the oldest building in their entire palace.          It is a 4 storey building, the ground floor is a discussion room, the first floor has queen mothers bed, the second floor has prayer hall and the third floor is reading place.
                      

                

                  They built the rooms with attached toilets in the first floor. ( wondering about their architecture and how they provide the pipelines for drainage outlet from the first floor). Each block has minimum two floors. Clocktower is the highest portion of that palace. This clock is more than 300 years old, and it is in working condition.

             
                       Navarathri Mandapam is the place where the king and his family members watch drama's and dance or listen to music during Navratri days. this mandapam has a separate room (green rooms) for the performers to get ready.

                     
               This palace has a secret passage to charottu kottaram, which helps the king and his immediate family members and their entourage could escape to charottu kottaram, located several kilometers away in the event of an emergency.

                       

                   The dynasty of Iravi Varma Kulasekhara Perumal are living in another palace in Thiruvananthapuram nowadays. Visitors are not allowed here.

                             
                   It takes at least a day to go through the entire palace and find the reason for their architecture. and also to look at the wooden carvings, I don't want to make this post too long and say everything to reduce your curiosity on visiting this palace. please go and take a look and admire the king's way of living.
                                                            BuBye.

Marthandam

                A beautiful place and a kind people to meet. Last year (2017) Christmas to (2018) New Year break, me and Mahesh went to his friend Jerin's place in Marthandam and we stayed there for four days. Marthandam is in Kerala, Tamilnadu border, Most of the streets where like the left side is Tamilnadu and right side is Kerala. Colloquial language of Marthandam is not Tamil or Malayalam, it is so different, it’s a mixture of both the languages. We were both awed by  Jerin and his family’s hospitality.
                 The nearby places from Marthandam are Kanyakumari, Thirparappu falls, Trivandrum, Ponmudi, and Varkala. Since Kanyakumari is the (As we have visited Kanyakumari many times so we are planning to explore rest of the places in Marthandam) default place for all time, we skipped it this time.

           
               On first day evening, after spending time with Jerin's family we went to Thirparappu falls. Thirparappu waterfall is some 200 to 300 feet long and consists of a rocky riverbed. The water falls from 40 to 50 feet high.Walking and crossing the slippery rocks over the riverbed and moving towards the waterfall was so exciting with lots of excitement and eagerness we crossed the riverbed and took bath in the falls.  Initially, I was refuse to enter into the fall, because of its chillness. Later it was fun when the water touches my scalp. I am feeling like I was stuck with some current wires every-time when that forceful water touches my scalp, it boasts the blood circulations and refreshes the energy of my entire body. We enjoyed a lot at the falls, bathing in it makes me feel light and fresh. It was simply amazing.

                  The second day starts with a  boating in Povaru backwater, it takes minimum an hour to finish, boating starts in the backwater and slowing went into the Povaru and through the confluence of Povaru into the Arabian sea. There we can have a small walk on the beach and we return back to the host by boat. This boating is the time for bird watching, we got a chance to see piper and few other foreign swarms. After the boating, we started to Varkala.

               

             
              Varkala is a beautiful and peaceful place to visit, try to stay at least a day in any one those beach view resorts, it's a different pleasantness to watch the sea from the cliffs in the daytime and also 1000 of lamped boats in night gives the feeling that we are not nearer to the sea.
               

                  Third day morning after breakfast we started from Varkala to Ponmudi and Meen Mutti waterfalls. Trekking starts in Kallaru riverside for more than 2 km in the hills, at one point we need to cross the Kallaru river to see the waterfall. It is so thrilling to crossing the river by stepping on the slippery rocks with the help of a rope. This waterfall is in the foothills of ponmudi, it is so dangerous to take bath at meen mutti waterfall, so it is prohibited. Taking a small dip in fresh water always refreshed our body, It is possible to take bath at the Kallaru river where we start our trucking.
             

            Ponmudi is the hill of grasslands with many viewpoints, a perfect place to take selfies when its sunny and perfect place to enjoy with mist and drizzles. It's your luck whether mist or sunny.
           

                 The final day we visited our most awaited place  Padamanathapuram palace built in 1600. I am searching for a word to explain about its infrastructures, Also I wonder the way the king's lived on those days, how many workers they had to maintain it and their management strategies. Everything was well planned and convincingly made. King's room and King's mother room has a balcony to see the lawn and separate halls for reading, prayers and meeting the other officials of their kingdom. I have taken more than 200 photos in that palace. I'm going to write a separate post about Padamanathapuram palace and the kings.
                   See you soon in my next post.

Trip to typical chettinadu house

         I usually read so many Tamil historic novels, and it makes me more curious to attend my hubby's friend Lakshman's wedding, held at Kandanur, 10Km from Karaikudi, where I got a chance to visit the 110 years old house,(Lakshman's house it is).

         One day before his wedding we(myself, my hubby and my 3yr kid)  started in our car at early morning 5 a.m, First we visited Gangai Konda Cholapuram(built by Rajendira Cholan), then Dharasuram(built by Raja Raja Cholan II), next Karparachampal temple (in Kumbakonam), and then Tanjare Big temple (built by Raja Raja Cholan) and finally we visited Lakshman's house.

           Before discussing about Lakshman house, I would like to share some peculiar and most appreciated thing I noticed during this visit, these three Chola's, Raja Rajan (father) who build big temple,Rajendiran (son)  who build Gangai Konda Cholapuram , second Raja Rajan (grandson) who build Dharasuram are very clever and broad minded, They thought that "if we build something great and bigger than our elders, people in future may not talk and care about our elders", so they decided to build something great and little smaller than the earlier one.

            Let us come to our chettinadu house, before speaking about Lakshman's house, we want to know their family history, Their ancestors were traders under Chola kingdom, and they were all staying in Kaveripoompattinam (Poompuhar). After some sea outrage, most of the places in kaveripoompattinam was submerged, Once their ancestors came back to their own nation after trading and found most of their family members and their relatives gone missing after the sea outrage, they decided to shift to a new place. After seeing a few places, they finally chose the places in and around Karaikudi and constructed their houses. Even thought these area's are very far from the sea, they built their houses with more than 10 feet higher from the ground level.

            All theses houses look a palaces, Every single turn you take in Karaikudi there is a feast for your eyes and an immensity to your minds. Each house has more than 25 to 30 rooms spread over in multiple storeys, I'm damn sure that none of the today's engineers can build such beautiful homes. people on that time are lived their life. There was a saying "Don't judge or predict anything at first sight", i thought that how true it is, after seeing these houses.      

                                     

             The entrance of the house was very small, with two tinnai (place where people sit), one on each side, After that it had a vast area, if you are standing in the front door and another person is standing at the back door (way to backyard) you need a mike to speak with them, these houses are that much big actually. The people's in Karaikudi and Lakshman's family are really sweet, kind and caring, they are having an enormous heart like their house. They also have wide variety of yummy food☺. And finally not only their houses and hearts are big, even their murukku's (a savoury  made with rice flour) are  also so big and tasty, look at the pic.