If not political, then educational?

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

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Greetings to all,



I have been browsing through some earlier posts of Shri appaiah and Shri Nachinarkiniyan and they were truly remarkable… (wish they were my history teachers!!!). Tamilbrahmins.com is indeed a great way to reach out to our scattered brahmin community.

Though it might seem difficult to combine for a political reason (for now), would education and employment be a just reason?

This might be a long shot - could we create a corpus and then, together with a monthly “minimum contribution” from our brahmin brethren, look forward to starting educational/health care institutions where employees are 100% brahmins? This may be the start we need; the scope for expansion into other areas (in the future) is tremendous. If needed, the legalities involved and the pros and cons of this can be broken down in an analytical way in this forum itself, which may provide the solution.

(These educational institutes can impart Vedic classes along with other subjects…?)

Though most of the members share the view about the need to unite, there is little or no involvement to translate this into reality (no intention to blame anybody here).


If it is a start that we want, then am ready to contribute to the corpus an initial amount of One lakh rupees and a monthly minimum contribution of Rs.500. But the project needs to be on a much larger scale to accomplish the above goals.

It might seem that am bursting out loudly in haste – believe me it is not so. We really need to put our thoughts and talks into action.


I believe that the responses here would indicate the need felt by our community to bond together.



Thanks & Regards,
Seshadri

 

[kunjuppu]

sesh,

so refreshing to read your posts. i am with you in spirit in your endeavours.

but. here comes the caveat.

many of these endowment stuff has been thrashed before here, squeezed dry and hung to barrenness

personally, i can see a first objection from me. starting vedic classes. whenever you introduce religion into something, very soon, it becomes a tool of a political group or a mutt, both of which, i personally abhor and avoid.

even in this forum, it is only with great patience and effort, we have for the time being, with the broad support of many a thoughtful persons, that we have somewhat curbed the encroachment of political slant tending towards extremism and hate.

to give you an idea of the damage done - wise and thoughtful posters like nacchinaarkiniyan were hounded off from this forum. we have yet to recover from the loss of such calibre of people.

yours truly, was a mute observer to this type of injustice. i am ashamed of myself for not taking a stand at that time. but i have learned my lesson. what prompted me was the fear of losing more of our gentler yet wiser ones.

back to your ideals.

i think if there is any possibility of success of any endeavour, it is best to keep it at a level, where there is a broad common approach.

first of all, to start with, do we have any idea of the level of abject poverty among tamil brahmins?

let us start off from the assumptions, that not all will become i.t. professionals or accountants. there will always be the bell curving of our community, with a certain numbers at the wrong end of the spectrum.

how many of them are there? my main concern all along has been in this group who are poor and yet aspiring.

the key word is aspiration and drive. my heart aches for the young ones of the poorer group, who would like to have a chance for education, but unable to do so for financial reasons. a young mind is a terrible thing to waste.

again, i channel my contribution only for higher secular education, and not for veda patasalas. there are others who wish differently. so be it.

like prpsarathy, i have been involved on an unofficial scale to help out poor students. of late, surprisingly, there have been more appeals for health care stuff.

i am yet to move into that level of philanthopy, but might eventually do so, only because of the lack of applications for poor students.

we are widely dispersed, and it inevitably falls on the shoulders of a few people to do the day to day adminstration of disbursing the funds and keeping track.

so, all in all, while i am with you on a broad scale, i am fairly comfortable with doing my little mite for the unfortunate in our community, with an eye on the future generation.

knowing ourselves in all our facets, and working around our failings, to achieve some modest and uplifting goals, may be more viable, than attempting to construct edifices which might be turn out after like those proverbial castles in the air!

thank you.

 

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

kunjuppu,

As before you are the first to comment on my post...

I would like to see any other responses that may (?) come along...

I reserve my comments for now...

Thanks,
Seshadri

 

[Brahmanyan]

If not political then educational?

Dear Sri Seshadri,

I fully agree with your views on opening educational institutions for Brahmins. In fact I had also made a suggestion on similar line in one of my my earlier posts.(copied hereunder) It is time some Brahmin philanthropists come forward to organize and work out details for such an initiative.

Regards,
Brahmanyan.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: Brahmins and Tamil Society. - 04-07-2008, 10:46 PM
Dear Sri Adiyean,

I am happy to read your positive response to my Post. I have been thinking for long about finding some solution for the plight of Bright Brahmin Students in TN due to Communal Reservation. I can suggest the following three to start with.
1. In view of the discrimination, Brahmins could approach the Courts to declare themselves as minority community under the Constitution to start their own Educational Institutions. This is possible when they live outside TN. ( Eg. MVJ institutions in Karnataka)

2. There are quite a few well to do entrepreneurs from Brahmin Community in TN and outside who could come forward to open educational institutions to help the community. Religious Mutts which caters the spiritual needs of Brahmin Community can also help in this regard.

3. Community Trusts can be formed to finance and offer all other help for eligible Brahmin candidates to join Universities in Foreign Countries where merit is respected.

By doing these we can help our community and also help eligible candidates from other communities if need be.

Namaskaram,

Brahmanyan.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

My view - I

This should be a voluntary movement from within the community and not the work of a few individuals.

Having said that, I do not mean to push those who cannot afford to maintain their family or spend on education. Let me divide the brahmin group into three simple strata (for easy analysis) viz., the poor, the middle and the affluent.

Again, questions and sub-questions may arise (the intellectual group that we are..) about what is the yardstick for the above classification. Am flatly assuming that a per head per month gross income less than Rs.7500 is poor. Middle is between 7501 to 15000 and affluent is 15001 and above. I have consciously adopted this stratum without considering any liabilities or asset base. This is strictly for this discussion purpose only.

Now, coming to the point – the poor strata are not obliged to pay anything… however, they may do so of their own free will.

Just a rough classification based on the 2001 census:

Website: http://www.census.tn.nic.in/religion.aspx

The total hindu population as per the 2001 census is​

5,49,85,079​

​

​

​

Children are

63,46,991​

​

​

Am assuming the total Hindu population to be 48638088. Of this 1% brahmins (assumed) are 486380; am assuming 50% of this number to be earning members, which is 243190. Of this 50% under poor – 121595; 30% to be middle – 72957 and the remaining 20% to be affluent – 48638.

Assuming that the poor do not contribute anything, the middle contribute Rs.25/month/head and the affluent contribute Rs.100/month/head, the amount would be Rs.66,87,725/month ~ 66 Lakhs.

Assuming again, that voluntary contributors are only 50% in the above two strata, still the amount available per month is 33 Lakhs.

Not to forget the corpus.

To be continued…

 

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

My view – II

Main Collection and Deposit centre – Chennai

Sub Collection and Deposit centres – 4 or 5 major districts

Collection centre – optimal collection units to be set up based on spread of brahmins

Collection centres would carry the primary task of collection from members. Exclusive well paid people can be appointed for the operation and book-keeping. Again, the contribution should not be chased; we should only give a reminder to those who have not paid their monthly contribution and leave it at that. These centres would then remit the funds in an online account, which would be under the Sub-Collection centres. The other operational procedures could be outlined later.

To do the above, we need to know the spread of brahmins in Tamilnadu; maybe we could ask ******* to assist us in this. The difficult task here would be to identify and enrol the member; even if he is not a contributor he should be a registered member. In this way, it would serve as a database too which can be used for references, alliances etc.

TBC...

 

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

My view III

Even assuming the cost of collection and other overheads to be at 50% of gross collection, the net amount for disposal would be 17 lakhs per month.

We can start with one or more of the following - home for the aged, nursing facility, health care, education – primary and secondary, tour operation, financing, kalyana mandapam…

Everything should be subsidised to our community; service to others, if done, should be at full rate.

In education, sanskrit should be compulsory and learning of vedas should be gradual over a period of time. By vedas, I do not mean patasalas; The school should have an additional subject which is the study of the vedas – not from a religious angle, but from a educational angle. This is the only way in the present scenario where we would keep the spirit alive. So, by the time the child is ready for college education, he/she would have a basic grasp of the important aspects of our scriptures. This would not alter the secular view in any way.

We should also offer free education for brahmin children till a certain level.
We could start with the project for a home for the aged/nursing facility, which would be a boon to the aged in our community.

Overall, I think that this would be a tremendous opportunity once we start.

The initial thing is the will to do it.

How many of us have it?

 

[anandr91]

good suggestions mr.sesh.
it is time the community starts to coome together and work on things like these. maybe this group( yet to be formed at this time, i assume) needs to connect with other established groups/committees and try to assess the needs and work on building the network and support for such endeavours. There are a lot of our community people who are financially backward but cant get into higher educational instituions due to the tag of Forward Class given to them. I can think of children of temple gurukals and other such people.
someone should get this idea from a thought level and get in on the ground and moving forward. I will do my best to help this project.
anand.

 

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

Thanks Mr Anand,

But as you can see, the response to such an idea is lukewarm from our community.

I am ready to be a part of the operative team, but we have to get started... seems we have to move mountains of inertia to initiate such a project.

Regards,
Seshadri

 

[T.N.G.Shankaran]

Dear sesadri,
We should be prepare to spend sometime for this noble cause.We should knit the various likeminded groups.Some brothers do not know the problems of our community.In coimbatore, bringing of all brahmin outfits is now started. your idea of giving education is to be considered first.
with regards,
T.N.G.Shankaran

 

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

Dear Shankaran,

Thanks for the info.

Would it be possible to give me some contact info, so that I may be able to get in touch when I come to India?

I just hope that it is a common brahmin togetherness irrespective of iyer, iyengar or madhwa...

Regards,
Seshadri

 

[pannvalan]

COMMUNITY SERVICE​

This article is a brief response to the question “If not political, then educational?”


1. Social or community service must embrace all productive activities that give both
short term and long term benefits to the community.

2. Some may be in the form of investment and some may be in the form of relief.
For instance, creation of permanent assets to serve public at large for many
generations is an investment, whereas providing relief and aid, for a particular
purpose, to a group of people residing in a particular region or to those who
are engaged in a particular profession come under the latter category.

3. Our overall aim must be to develop the Tamil Brahmin community as a whole,
without any prejudice or favour interrupting our function, thereby negating the
very purpose.

4. Following are the activities proposed by me:

(a) Providing education – primary, secondary and higher education.
This can be achieved by extending financial assistance or we ourselves
building necessary institutions, without any government support.

(b) Providing healthcare – either by constructing dispensaries ourselves or
by having tie-ups with reputed, multi-speciality hospitals.

(c) Constructing community halls for marriages, upanayanam and the like.

(d) Constructing auditoriums so as to patronize music and performing arts.

(e) Arranging Seminars, Work-shops, Conferences etc.

(f) Providing Career Guidance, Tuition for 10th and 12th Std students and
Coaching for AIEEE, IITJEE, GMAT, GRE, TOEFL etc. with the help
of teachers and professors amongst us.

(g) Encouraging and supporting research that has wide applications.

(h) Providing training and development support.

(i) Giving or helping in getting employment.

5. These are lofty ideals and may serve as our ultimate goal/mission. Naturally,
they will take long time to bear fruit. But, certain things like providing financial
assistance or instituting merit scholarships for higher education, helping our youth in getting employment, meeting the costs of expensive medical treatment, meeting the funeral expenses, providing gold ‘mangalasutra’ and dress-materials for poor girls’ marriage etc. can be immediately started, without creating any infrastructure.

Before concluding one important word.

We live in a society that comprises of poor people from all sections/strata.
Therefore, to be successful and to attain social harmony, we must also reserve a part of our resources for such people from other sections of the society.

 

[whisper]

Greetings to all,



I have been browsing through some earlier posts of Shri appaiah and Shri Nachinarkiniyan and they were truly remarkable… (wish they were my history teachers!!!). Tamilbrahmins.com is indeed a great way to reach out to our scattered brahmin community.

Though it might seem difficult to combine for a political reason (for now), would education and employment be a just reason?

This might be a long shot - could we create a corpus and then, together with a monthly “minimum contribution” from our brahmin brethren, look forward to starting educational/health care institutions where employees are 100% brahmins? This may be the start we need; the scope for expansion into other areas (in the future) is tremendous. If needed, the legalities involved and the pros and cons of this can be broken down in an analytical way in this forum itself, which may provide the solution.

(These educational institutes can impart Vedic classes along with other subjects…?)

Though most of the members share the view about the need to unite, there is little or no involvement to translate this into reality (no intention to blame anybody here).


If it is a start that we want, then am ready to contribute to the corpus an initial amount of One lakh rupees and a monthly minimum contribution of Rs.500. But the project needs to be on a much larger scale to accomplish the above goals.

It might seem that am bursting out loudly in haste – believe me it is not so. We really need to put our thoughts and talks into action.


I believe that the responses here would indicate the need felt by our community to bond together.



Thanks & Regards,
Seshadri

Dear friend,
I like to join this starting educational/health care institutions. You can count on me friend.I told this in requset for help by srividya forum.

 

[whisper]

Dear Seshadri,
Hope that your idea will have more help and good inputs not negative quotes.
As far as the amt i am saving daily 1 INR from jan 08 till date may be amount is small but i will contribute what ever i can.
May be some dont like my idea but will contribute what ever i have.

 

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

Dear Seshadri,
Hope that your idea will have more help and good inputs not negative quotes.
As far as the amt i am saving daily 1 INR from jan 08 till date may be amount is small but i will contribute what ever i can.
May be some dont like my idea but will contribute what ever i have.

Dear whisper,

It is really heartening to see your encouragement; I just hope that others too see the merit of the purpose and come forward.

Regards,
Seshadri

 

[whisper]

Hi seshadri,
Will let you know how much amount i saved from jan08. to till date may be amt is small and It was just a Drop in the Ocean but together we did Make a difference.

 

[whisper]

Dear Seshadri,
My friends i think at present we can save upto 5000/- INR(my daily 1 inr till this year end+i saved for our community other needs+ my friends dondation).It was just a Drop in the Ocean but together we did Make a difference.
If we joined together work as a team(I mean team work) there will be success. To start a educational/health care institutions we need unity,team work and bonding our people together. And dont worry abt negative quotes.

 

[happyhindu]

If the idea is to promote merit based education for those who cannot afford it, promote health-care (the health sector in india really kills with its bills, doesn't it), and involve in activities that promote self-reliance such as vocational skills, then please count me in as well. My budget is 30K per year and i can ask several others to contribute as well.
Regards.

 

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

Friends, with regard to this subject, I would just llike to add that I shall try to get in touch personally with like minded people in Coimbatore and see how things could be taken to the next practical level.

Any Coimbatorean who has interest in this matter may please mail me.

Regards,
Seshadri

 

[silverfox]

Dear Whisper/Happyhindu/Sesahdri:

When we started this forum in 2006, we started getting requests for help - the first one was for a poor 'ooduvaar' in Poonamalli (or somewhere near there); the request was posted by his niece. The poor man had a heart attack and was in the hospital. Anyway, the response from our members was tremendous; we were able to collect Rs.50k and send to him. Next was Sri Vidhya for her Eng. education. For that also, I collected Rs.40k per year for two years and provided for her education. In addition, Ramki has personally paid for a poor Archagar (for his child's education) in Valasaravakkam (I went to check him out before I handed over the check); I sponsored the education of a young girl in the same area; I am happy to say she graduated and got a job with some IT company.
I tried my level best to start a trust so that we could channel all these funds thru the trust but it never got materialized; too many obstacles.
I dont see the same enthusiasm now. Just look at the number of active members.
I would love to see PRP Sarathy or somebody start a trust and announce it here so that we all can contribute to the trust thru which we could disburse funds.

 

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

Dear silverfox,

My hint was to do the ground work for a core group that could volunteer to do the required work... as I hail from Cbe, it would be easier for me to do the startup there...

It does not matter who starts it; since no one here seemed to take the initiative, I wanted to proceed. If anyone is already in the process, please count me in. I dont want to duplicate efforts; we all should aim for one common trust which has broad and universal applications for the brahmin community...

I would like to get your view and from those interested about getting "paid volunteer' work done... Yes, of course, you should be assured of the credibility and reliability of the use... any ideas/suggestions/feedback?

Thanks & Regards,
Seshadri

 

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

And yes, I would love to get prpsarathy's inputs on this... I believe that he is in general accordance with a trust for donation/education etc... If he is already on the job, then maybe we can all join hands...

 

[Seshadri Subramaniam]

Those who are silent spectators would probably join the trust once they are convinced of the intent and determination to push forward...

Since there has been too much talk and no action for long, maybe most of the members are just resigned to the fact that "brahmin unity" cannot happen for real...

 

[tbs]

Dear Seshadri
Namaskarams , I can help for teaching of Sanskrit/ may be part of vedas.
but serious responses required from the community.

Regards
tbs

 

[T.N.G.Shankaran]

Dear Seshadri,

Namaskarams.Regarding comman trust, I wish to share some points.First There is one organisation for Brahmins in Tamilnadu namely THAMBRAAS[THAMIZHNADU BRAHMIN ASSOCIATION] They have one trust THAMBRAAS FOUNTATION. Through this trust Educational ,Medical,etc help given to needy brahmins. Web site.www.thambraas.com
Since Thambraas doing the services to our community for past 29 years, we should help THAMBRAAS by giving helping hand.

with regards,
T.N.G.Shankaran