Motivation

We have all heard people talking about motivation and why it’s very important to succeed in anything in life. But how many of us really know what motivation means? What is this ‘thing’ which is so great that everyone who actually succeeded in life talks about?

All the meanings the dictionary can give us is ‘a state of being motivated’ or ‘something that motivates’. Most of us don’t really understand this ‘MOTIVATION’ let alone have it. So, here is a small story on what motivation is.

A guy once went to a guru, he said to the guru “i want to be rich and succesfull like u, teach me how”. The guru said, “ok, meet me tommorow at the beach”, and this guy, lets call him Joey, agreed.

The next day, Joey was all ready and exited that he was going to find out the secret of success. The guru came on time, and without even greeting, he told Joey, go to the water. Puzzled, Joey agreed and went to the water, it was knee deep, and the guru said go deeper. Not knowing why, he continued going and now it was waist deep, the guru said “go deeper”. Joey did not understand what was actually going on, he thought to himself, ‘this old guy must be crazy, but what do I care, he IS rich, might as well do as he says’ and he went deeper.

Now the water was at chest level, and the guru said go deeper, this time Joey was completely puzzled, “I came here to be rich and successful, not to be a life guard” But he still obeyed the guru and went deeper. When the water level was at his neck, the guru came along, and pushed Joeys head under the water and held him there.

When Joey was almost passed out, the guru let him out, he was struggling for air. The guru asked him, what do you want right now? Without even thinking Joey answered, ” I want to breath”.

The guru smiled and said, when you want to succeed as much as you want to breath, then you will be successful.
You wont care about anything else, you won’t want to sleep, to eat, or anything, all u want is to succeed. No pain, or tiredness, or hunger will stop you from moving forward, that is when you will succeed in life.

THAT is motivation, the want, the urge, the sole desire to win. I will finish this post with the immortal words of Rocky Balboa:

The world is a cruel place, it will hit and pound on you every chance it gets and will push you down to the dirt and keep you there if you let it. Not you, me or anybody can hit life as hard, no one.

But it’s not about how you hit life back, its about how much hit you can take and rise back up. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That is where champions are made, that’s where winning comes from!!!

Job list for VMIA Deepavali celebration.

Dedication team

Heads: Elsa and Chandravasheni

Members:Khiruphaalani, Kausalya, Shindu, Kaliswary, Meera, Nishalini, Shalini, Annete, Zaman, Narmataa, Vaishnavee

Cooking team

Heads:Arvinrajand Kirupananthan

Members:Khirubai, Shakkthi, Ishver, Ghaithrie, Thinusha, Chai Wan, Bavani, Vaani, Jonah, Narra, Raj, Shaasi, Ganesh, Gerald, Dhivyah, Nava, Satheesh, Sayleni, Ratna

Drinks team

Thivein and Shereen

Packing team

Dinesh, Malwinder, Raja, Jeevan

Decoration team

Heads: Janaki and Sethu

Members: Dharshini, Thartsiny, Vanusha, Lingitha, Rubani, Sharmilla, Harinath, Bala, Sugan, Sathya

Media and invitation team

Tharun, Gerald and Vinodh

Sound system

Vinodh, Ramesh and Johanon

Day-of-event Team

Heads: Bennita and Patricia

Members:Daniel ,Bahanee, Sujen

(the rest to be decided very soon…..)

If there are any queries, questions or requests to shift jobs, please contact Tharun K. Pillai at 89375403673. All calls will be entertained.

Onam festival.

We all know of the Significance of Deepavali and Thaipusam, but how many of us know about the Festival of Onam (Onam Pandigai), its significance and legends…? Here are some information on the matter.

What is Onam?

Onam is the biggest and the most important festival of the state of Kerala. It is a harvest festival and is celebrated with joy and enthusiasm all over the state by people of all communities. According to a popular legend, the festival is celebrated to welcome King Mahabali, whose spirit is said to visit Kerala at the time of Onam.

Onam is celebrated in the beginning of the month of Chingam, the first month of Malayalam Calendar (Kollavarsham). This corresponds with the month of August-September according to Gregorian Calendar.

Carnival of Onam lasts from four to ten days. First day, Atham and tenth day, Thiruonam are most important of all. Popularity and presentation of rich culture of the state during the carnival made Onam the National Festival of Kerala in 1961. Elaborate feasts, folk songs, elegant dances, energetic games, elephants, boats and flowers all are a part of the dynamic festival called Onam.

Government of India has taken due notice of this vibrant and colorful festival. It promotes Onam internationally in a big way and celebrates ‘Tourist Week’ for Kerala during Onam celebrations. Thousands of domestic and foreign tourists visit Kerala to be a part of Onam.

The Legend
Story goes that during the reign of mighty asura (demon) king, Mahabali, Kerala witnessed its golden era. Every body in the state was happy and prosperous and king was highly regarded by his subjects. Apart from all his virtues, Mahabali had one shortcoming. He was egoistic. This weakness in Mahabali’s character was utilized by Gods to bring an end to his reign as they felt challenged by Mahabali’s growing popularity. However, for all the good deed done by Mahabali, God granted him a boon that he could annually visit his people with whom he was so attached.

It is this visit of Mahabali that is celebrated as Onam every year. People make all efforts to celebrate the festival in a grand way and impress upon their dear King that they are happy and wish him well.

Onam Celebrations
Rich cultural heritage of Kerala comes out in its best form and spirit during the ten day long festival. It is indeed a treat to be a part of the grand carnival. People of Kerala make elaborate preparations to celebrate it in the best possible manner.

The most impressive part of Onam celebration is the grand feast called Onasadya, prepared on Thiruonam. It is a nine course meal consisting of 11 to 13 essential dishes. Onasadya is served on banana leaves and people sit on a mat laid on the floor to have the meal.

Another enchanting feature of Onam is Vallamkali, the Snake Boat Race, held on the river Pampa. It is a colourful sight to watch the decorated boat oared by hundreds of boatmen amidst chanting of songs and cheering by spectators.

There is also a tradition to play games, collectively called Onakalikal, on Onam. Men go in for rigorous sports like Talappanthukali (played with ball), Ambeyyal (Archery), Kutukutu and combats called Kayyankali and Attakalam. Women indulge in cultural activities. They make intricately designed flower mats called, Pookalamin the front courtyard of house to welcome King Mahabali. Kaikotti kali and Thumbi Thullal are two graceful dances performed by women on Onam. Folk performances like Kummatti kali and Pulikali add to the zest of celebrations.

History of Telugu people.

Who are the Telugu people:

Telugu people or Telugus are ethnic people of India. They are people who speak the language Telugu. Telugu is the 3rd most spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali. Telugu people are mostly natives of the south Indian state of Andra Pradesh.

While most Telugu-speakers are descendants of administrators, religious scholars, artists and Hindu priests who migrated during the rule of the Vijayanagar Empire and the Madurai Nayaks, Tamil Nadu also has a large population of recent migrants who moved during the British Raj when Tamil and Telugu-speaking districts of South India were put together into the Madras Presidency. Telugu people are found in significant proportions in almost all districts of Tamil Nadu. Among metropolitan areas, Coimbatore had the largest proportion of Telugu-speakers (22.95%) according to the 1971 census. In 1971, Telugu-speakers constituted a little over 12% of the population of Chennai city.

From the research i have made, i have found that the Telugu people are descendants of the Aryans and played a big role in the Mahabharata war.

Famous people:-

Tanguturi Prakasam (Andhra Kesari):- was the first chief minister for the Andra state. One of the first few to pursue education over seas and one of the best lawyers ever seen. He played a major role in the struggle for Independence.  An example of what he did:-

When the Simon Commission visited India, the congress party decided to boycott it with the slogan “Simon, go back”. There were a host of reasons for this boycott, the most important being that the commission did not have a single Indian in its ranks. The commission was greeted with demonstration of black flags wherever it went. When the commission visited Madras on 3rd February 1928, the police did not allow protests in some sensitive areas of Madras. Nevertheless, the crowd grew large and restive near the Madras High Court at Parry’s Corner and the police resorted to firing with a view to control it. However, a young man, named, Pardha Saradhi was killed on the spot. The police warned the people that they would shoot if anyone tried to come near the body. At this, Prakasam grew enraged and tore open his shirt, baring his chest and daring the police to shoot at him. Understanding the situation, the police gave way to him and other supporters. After this incident, people respected him with the epithet of “Andhra Kesari” (Lion of Andhra).

I will be updating this post after further research. For those who have been reading, i hope this helps us realize the rich and wonderful ancestry from which we are all from. Stay united and lets move forward proud and majestic.

A brief history on the origin of Malayalees.

I am very very very very very sorry guys, but i couldn’t find a video on Malayali history, and this article is one of the best i’ve found so far. But i couldn’t post the link to the page because the comments posted weren’t exactly politically correct. But I will continue searching for it and will post it up soon.
Thank You.

Origins of Malayalees-?

The origin of Malayalee ethnic identity is as intriguing as the people themselves. Here I’m trying to reconcile their matrilineal society which is supposed to be the earliest form of social structure with their language that is supposed to be the youngest of the major South Dravidian languages. However, I’m not saying anything new about their origins as I read about it during my primary school days. Let’s see about the present theory.

Malayalee was Tamil once upon a time:
The present theory is that region of Kerala was inhabited by proto-Tamil people. Unlike the regions of Tulu Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu the region of Kerala was not inhabited until neolithic times. And the distinct Malayalam literary language branched from Proto-Tamil-Malayalam around 900CE. Since Tamils had distinct Tamil identity a millennium back before literary Malayalam started branching we can safely assume that Malayalees were Tamils once. However, my question is whether the people inhabited Kerala were Proto-Tamils or Proto-Tuluvas.

The uncomfortable Tulu connection:
I am not really comfortable bringing up this Tulu-Malayalee connection for the simple reason that I am not sure if I were hallucinating when I read that text book in Kasaragod. I used to visit my grandparents house in Kasaragod during my summer holidays. I came across an old Kannada text book in the godown. I’m not sure if it was a text book or a general book related to Kerala history. There it was mentioned that Malayalees were basically Tuluvas. However, they did not like Tuluvas using the word for mother to father and the word for father to mother! And that was one of the reasons they developed their own distinct language. Well, Tuluvas do use mother to father and father to mother if you go by present day South Dravidian languages. But not so if you go back 1000 years(atleast in the case of Kannada). Tulu father is amme(r) and mother appe(r). In Kannada it used be amman and abbe, I suppose.

It was Proto-Tulu and not Proto-Tamil:
The reason author gave for Malayalees developing a distinct identity from Tuluvas might be hilarious; but I believe a big chunk of Malayalees were basically Tuluvas (or Proto-Tuluvas) in the past and Namboothiris might not be the only one.

Let us see the tree of South Dravidian languages. It is obvious that Proto-Tamil-Kannada and Proto-Tulu branch earliest from the Proto-South-Dravidian. So we infact had free Proto-Tuluvas to inhabit the region of Kerala along with ..ahem…Proto-Tamil(?). Who did? Now compare the culture of Tamil Nadu and Tulu Nadu. You will get the clear picture. The two factors that show that it was Tuluvas who inhabited the region of Kerala(at least the Malabar region) are;

1. Matrilineal system(Marumakkatayam in Kerala and Aliya Kattu in Tulu Nadu)
2. Spirit worship (Theyyam in Kerala, Nema in Tulu Nadu)

Probably, Tulu and Malayala regions continued connection could also be seen in the fact that Namboothiris consider themselves a branch of Tulu Brahmins.

Matrilineal system:
I strongly believe that matrilineal system was once widespread in both Tulu Nadu and Kerala but became irrelevent/absent in the case of weaker castes due to economic and religious dependency. I believe patrilineality in Kerala and Tulu Nadu was just an absence of matrilineal system.

According to William Logan’s Malabar manual (19th century), the castes in Malabar and Travancore that practiced Marumakkatayam were;

Payyannoor Namboothiris, Kshatriya, Tirumalpad, Nayar, Urali, Andor, Pallichan, Kushavan, Vyabari, Kolayan, Chembotti, Pisharodi, Variyan, Nambi, Teyambadi, Attikurichi, Eradi, Vallodi, Nedungadi, Vellutedan, Chaliyan, Tiyan.

Also, in North Malabar and Lakshadweep Malayali muslims kept their matrilineal traditions intact. This fact could be used to understand why Malayali Christians and big chunk of Tiyas did not practice Marumakkatayam.

Matrilineal system can sustain itself only when females have economic and religious freedom, especially the former. The caste system was enforced on Kerala society medieval period 13-14th century onwards. Since because of matrilineal system there was no male community identity, a rapid degradation of families that were declared low followed. The females of those families lost their individual identity.

As a result, the conversions that took place after the enforcement of caste system resulted in Christian and Muslim families that did not belong to matrilineal traditions. However, the pre-caste system families, the ones converted to Islam around 9-10th century CE and the isolated Malayalee Hindus in Lakshadweep who converted to Islam followed the matrilineal traditions due to self-sustained identity of Malayali women.

Probably, the situation went worse in Tulu Nadu were only feudal caste and prosperous Jains(Jainism has nothing to do with matrilineality; the people were matrilineal from the beginning) remained matrilineal.

However, I do believe many of Malayalee communities have Tamil beginnings(especially in South Kerala).

How Tuluvas became Malayalees?:
Well, it has to do something with the strong Tamil kingdoms that ruled over the region of Kerala for almost a millenium. When Tuluvas in Kerala adopted Tamil (Proto-Tamil-Malayalam?), their Tulu tongue twisted it to such an extent that language became distinct.

Raja Raja Cholan.

The History of Raja Raja Cholan, one of the greatest Indian King who ever lived. An INDIAN who created a world which exceeded the Greeks in culture and the ancient Egyptians in building, just forgotten in the sands of time.

History of Tamil

To all VMIA members, this is a video on the brief history of Tamil. It’s a video on how the Tamils were people of courage, and pride. The Tamil race was filled with warriors, and it survived the crush and depression of other influences solely because of our ability to forgive and forget and remain united.
Please do take a moment to watch this video and understand our history.
I will upload more videos on our wonderful history of our heritage.
(Next: the history of Raja Raja Cholan, the man who had the largest architectural program in the history of man-kind)