Arindhum Ariyaamalum in Ananda Vikatan

For more than a year, I have been reading Vikatan every week. I would wait for Sadhguru's article. One day, I happened to read Prakash Raj's article and I was amazed at how daringly he wrote about his life. I don't know if he wrote that to get more popular. It might have been a conscious effort to share his life's journey with the world. For many people who think that the world is a perfect place and any small misdoing is punishable, Prakash Raj's article should have been an eye opener. It is not something that just happened to him, there are more people who would have experienced such a life. Anyway, I really admired Prakash for the way he was able to look back at his life. I am not saying that his life is correct or not - I am no one to judge another person's life. I am mentioning this because I want to appreciate Vikatan for publishing such articles. And this came to my mind, when I read 'Arindhum Ariyaamalum' by Gnani. This thodar has been going on for long, but I've just read the last two articles.

10 years back, I knew about transsexuals only because I was involved with CHES(Community Health Education Society). During that period they officially changed their name to 'Aravaani' - after their God. Gnani mentions that Aravaani is a Hinduiism based name and this name should not be imposed on Christians and Muslims. I liked Gnani for creating an awareness about homosexuals and transexuals. However, I did not like it when he came up with this religion based argument. People need to be a little more sensitive when they write in the media. Why would someone want to do this, I don't understand. There were some comments for the article saying that 'Aravaan' is not religion based, but it is our culture, history. Even the Supreme Court of India seems to have heard similar cases and ruled that there is a difference between 'Hinduism/Hindutva' as a religion and culture. I have not yet researched on these cases yet.
One argument is that Mahabharat and Ramayan could have a lot of mythological stuff. But they could be a part of the Indian history. So anyone who is born in India should consider this as our history and not associate it to a religion. I wonder why people are giving so much importance to names.

The Igloo

"The people who make their homes near the top of the world have learned to survive in the harsh climate of the Arctic - a cold so intense it can crack anything it touches, with wild freezing winds and endless fields of snow. For part of the year the sun never rises, and for another part the midnight sun endlessly circles the sky. Hunger is a constant threat, and there are no trees and few animals. Everything the Eskimos need - their food, their clothing, their tools - must be devisedwith great ingenuity from the meager materials at hand. No creation of the Eskimos is more ingenious than the house they live in for much of the year - the igloo, which uses snow itself as a protection from bitter cold and wind."
- From the book "The Igloo" by Charlotte and David Yue

This is a children's book, I wonder why - is it because adults should have known all about the igloos? Well, I have found that children's books are very educative unlike the fiction novels. Anyway, when I saw this book in the library, I knew I had to read it. The only time I had read about an igloo is at school - some book where different types of housing was mentioned. The book explains the lifestyle of Eskimos and how they construct an igloo(illustrations available - I felt more like visiting a museum).

More to come........

Project Green Hands

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