Is this not child labour?

" At Rs. 12/- this washing soap also will continue" says a 10 year old boy in an ad.
If any of you have children of that age, you will agree with me that children not only have no idea of the price of a washing soap, they also have no idea what brand their mother is using.Or for that matter a child in a jewelery ad.

Of late, children have taken the chunk of the modeling in the ad world. Initially it started with shoe polish, food items etc. When marketeers found that the parents are forced buy these products by their children, they found an easy way.
It is definitely advantageous to those who market the product:

• The children have to be paid less than an adult model.
• They have a better market appeal.

But I doubt if any parent has given a thought to what harm it would cause to their child.
Definitely, a parent feels proud when her child is seen on visual media and becomes famous not to mention the money he would bring in.
Compared to these small pleasures, the pains are immeasurable.

• At that tender age, any child would enjoy the fame and attention and gifts that is showered on him/her.What happens when he grows up and does not get the same attention? How this affects, only a psychologist can say.
• The child model looses the pleasures of his childhood.
• He may lose interest in studies and may not qualify himself.

The NGOs and other organisations are blind to these children. Does this not come under the purview of the Child Labour Act? Or is it restricted to only the economically backward children who work for their living?

I have nothing against using the children as models in the right kind of ads. One good example is the airtel ad and the other one where a child admonishes a man for spoiling a national monument.

Will the admakers think about it. I wish.

Chocolate challenge for christmas

Here is a simple recipe for home made chocolates

Preparation time : 15 minutes
Ingredients:
Milk powder 1 cup
Sugar 1 and 1/4 cups
Cocoa powder 2 tablespoon
Milk or water 1/4 cup
Ghee for greasing the plate
Optional:
Cadbury's chocolate 1 medium bar
nuts and raisins few for garnishing

Method:
Mix milk powder and cocoa powder and keep aside. Grease a plate and keep it ready.
Pour milk or water in a pan and keep it on the stove. Add sugar to it. When the sugar melts totally, add the milkpowder+ cocoa powder to it,while continuously stirring it.. When the mixture thickens, and starts leaving the pan, pour it in the greased plate. Allow it to cool and then cut them into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Variations:
You can roast the nuts separately and add to the mixture before taking the pan off the gas. You may also garnish it after it is poured into the plate.

Melt the cadbury bar in a double boiler (or two utensils, with one inside the other with water in the outer one and cadburys in the inner one) and pour it evenly over the chocolate. You can garnish after you pour the chocolate.

Happy chocolating.

Margazhi Musings

Today, begins the month of Margazhi, of the Hindu calendar. It is considered to be a sacred month for various reasons. It coincides with the "brahma muhartham" of the celestial gods. Lord vishnu, in Bhagwad gita has quoted "maasanam marghashirshoaham" (I represent the month of Marghasirsh or marghazhi).

Personally, I am nostalgic about margazhi. As children, we were asked to learn thiruppavai, a simple thirty verses ( a verse a day) in Tamil composed by Andal, an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi.

The whole locality would wake up early and assemble at a particular place. It would include, adults and children. All of us go around the colony singing bhajans . We then come back to the community hall and there after reciting thiruppavai, all get prasadam ( food offered as gift of the God).

On the last day of the margazhi, a competition for thiruppavai recidtation is heldand the winner is given a silver coin. I still hold a few of these coins as my prized possessions.

Where are we heading to?

"Shoot out at school" screamed the news channels. It took me a few minutes to realise that it happened in India and not in some far away western country.

Everyone is now analyzing as to what and how it happened. Why is it that nobody is interested in knowing why it happened?

Who is responsible.?We all are collectively. We are ready to blame everyone other than ourselves. The values have deteriorated so much that a teenager did not think twice before killing his classmate.

An adoloscent teenager goes through lots of peer pressure and emotional disturbances.Many of their actions are done at the spur of the moment.
It is necessary for the parents to discuss with them about their daily routine. It is essential for the parent to to know their friends and what they do during their leisure time. The teenagers need both quality and quantitative time. It is very essential to keep an eye on the teenager's mood swings and changes in behaviour.

Showering the teenager with expensive gifts, easy cash etc. also could become a cause of jealousy among other classmates and result in hatred for one another.

The teachers and the parents should work hand in hand in giving emotional and psychological support to teenagers. The school can arrange for regular counselling session.

It is a lesson for all of us, to take measures to prevent such incidents from happening again. It is our duty to inculcate in the children, a sense of responsibility towards oneself, parents, school, fellowmates etc., Encourage them to develop habits like sports, reading, music etc. Yoga and meditation are another means of bringing in calm within them.

Let us all vow to make the life of our future generation valuable and worthwhile.

Arattu Festival At Trivandrum

Beautiful backwaters, swaying coconut palms, expansive beaches, and if you are religious, Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, are all that one can visualise about Trivandrum.

However, there is one unique feature in the festivals of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.
Legend says that when Tipu Sultan invaded Trivandrum (then The state of Travancore), the king, maharaja Marthanda Verma knew that he cannot win. So he surrendered to Lord Padmanabha and from then on, the royal members have become dasas (servants) of Lord Padmanabha.
Everyday, the king comes to the temple, and cleans the podium in front of the sanctum sanctorum. He is the flag bearer for all processions of Lord Padmanabha.

Twice a year, in April and November, Lord Padmanabha along with Lord Narasimha and Lord Krishna are taken through a 4 km procession to the sea shore at Shangumukham beach. The king conducts the religious rituals and all the three idols are given a holy bath in the ocean and then taken back to the temple, concluding the 10 day festival. The festival known as "arattu" is worth seeing and the entire city throngs along the path of the procession. The procession is led by the royal family, his contingent police and cavalry with the idols atop gigantic elephants. Young children fancily dressed and others follow the procession, singing and dancing.

The unique feature is that the procession goes through the tarmac of the airport, normally a restricted area. No overflyings are allowed during the period when the Lord is out of the temple premises, to symbolise "He is supreme". When the king handed over the land to the national airport authority, it was agreed upon, to allow these processions as well as to disallow any overflying.

If ever you happen to visit Trivandrum during either of these months, ensure that you dont miss this unique procession, which probably is only one of its kind.

Protective Ok, but at what cost

Yesterday on my usual evening walk, I saw a young girl of about 8 years riding her bicycle, a little ahead of me. I could make out that she is a novice and so did others and moved away from her path.

Then I saw a red Honda city car being driven by a lady and was extremely slow. We thought, probably the lady was also honing her driving skills.

Finally when both the bicycle and the car came to a halt near a house, I realised to my horror that the lady in the car was the girl's mother and she was ensuring that her daughter was riding safely.

I have nothing against the mother being over protective towards her child. I was annoyed that that she was wasting scarce fuel and polluting the environment. She could have very well followed by walk or by another bicycle

If the educated and the elite people are so socially irresponsible, can we expect anything better from the illiterate and the lower level of people? They wont have cars so wont be doing a similar act. That probably is the only solace.

Who is in need of education.

" Jaadhi erondozhiya verillai papa"( there are only two castes, that of man and woman) said a famous poet of Tamil Nadu.

I was therefore appalled to find a that a reputed school in Tamil Nadu requires its candidates seeking job, to fill up a form with a column asking for their religion and caste.

Wonder, who is in need of education.

Logic

A teacher for K , I was once explaining to the children about vowels and consonants. I wrote down the vowels on the board and told them that these 5 letters are called vowels and the others are called,... Even before I could finish the sentence, an ever enthusiastic child quipped "non vowels".
Quite logical isn't it?

Visit to Mumbai

During my visit to Mumbai

Also known as India’s Shanghai,

Not an avid movie buff, but

Happened to see “Jab we met”

The National anthem was played

At the start and the audience obeyed

At the sight of the flag dot on bang

All stood straight and some even sang

Something, I had not seen for years

It definitely brought joyful tears.