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Let us adopt best practices from various other societies.

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Dear Mr. RVR and Ms. Revathy,

Decorating a building (adorning our culture) by adding flourishes (the best borrowed from elsewhere) can happen only when the building is strong and sturdy.


Dear Madam

I am not looking at adorning a buiding or at any other long time goal.I want to get good customs and practices - Let me give an example - Wishing the Driverof the Bus while alighting and boading a bus is a simple custom we can adopt from West (My experience in UK) without bothering whether our building is weak or strong

Probably your goals are different from mine.

Let me stop here reg this point and as our views may not converge.

Thanks
Revathi.
 
Dear Madam

I am not looking at adorning a building or at any other long time goal.I want to get good customs and practices - Let me give an example - Wishing the Driver of the Bus while alighting and boarding a bus is a simple custom we can adopt from West (My experience in UK) without bothering whether our building is weak or strong
..................................
Thanks
Revathi.

Madam,

During my stay in the Sultanate of Oman, I had the chance of traveling length and breadth of that Country and moving with local Muslims, who belong to Ibadi sect, an earliest Muslim Sect distinct from Sunni and Shias. They have respect for "Hindi" (Indian) in general. Initially they used to ask me whether I was a Malabari (Malayali) or Bania (Gujarathi or Kutchi merchant), if not a "Hindi". These two communities from India have endeared themselves by hard work and honesty in trade with Omanis for generations. By nature Omanis are gentle and well mannered people. Even in the interior villages, I had experienced their hospitality.Once they understood me as a friendly person from India, they used treat me with Dry fruits and Kahwa (black coffee). Language did not stand in the way. My broken Arabic-Hindi and English is enough to express my feelings and interact with them. Even on the street when we meet any Omani he would salute and say "Salam aleikum" and expect us to respond "Wa aleikum Salam" also.
Yes, We should learn to fine tune our lives with good manners and customs from others. I find world is full of good persons and I am lucky enough to enjoy goodness of people from many nationality and different Religions.

Regards,
Brahmanyan,
Bangalore
 
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Shri Brahmanyan Sir,

Thank you.

I have a daughter who is slightly older than your grand daughter and I will be happy if you call me Revathi.

(It is a selfish request - You know ladies - we always try to declare our age less than what it is)!

Regards
Revathi
 
Shri Brahmanyan Sir,

Thank you.

I have a daughter who is slightly older than your grand daughter and I will be happy if you call me Revathi.

(It is a selfish request - You know ladies - we always try to declare our age less than what it is)!

Regards
Revathi

Dear Revathi,

OK, Giving respect to your words I will call you by your first name. I found that as we grow older we derive pleasure if some one give respect to us. This is the small bonus of old age.
Best Wishes,
Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.
 
Dear Mr. RVR,

Our foundation is the strongest of all the foundations.- Our four Vedhas

Our building is also very strong - Upanishads.


Our decorations are most beautiful - Idikasa Puranas and other scriptures


I am sure you will agree with me that none us are capable of doing anything on the above. If we preserve the above properly we may be doing great service to the society.

Precisely what I was trying to tell you.

The above building has been vacated by the majority of our people.

How many of us perform Sandhyaa vandanam, japam and puja?

Men folk are too busy and women are not allowed to do even Paarayana of the holy books!

with warm regards,
V.R.

 
reply to # 26.

Dear Ms. Revathy,

We don't have to go to the west to learn to greet the people we meet during the day.

That beautiful custom of saying PranAm, SairAm, RAmRAm has been in practice in India since centuries.

Actually the West has much to learn from us and they are trying to do so now.

Only we seem to be unaware of our own greatness and need to rediscover it from the west!

with warm regards,
V.R.
 
Dear Madam
Unfortunately, I have not seen people anybody greeting others in my generation , unless they are of same status.

If I may, please, I would like to cease my part of discussion regarding this and I would like to carry on.

Thank you for your patience.

Thanks
Revathi
 
today,
If you have to buy a good and authentic copy of Rigveda, you will have to buy it from a german publisher!!! it is our love for vedas.
Suggestion will pour in what brahmin should learn from others but certainly others can learn from brahmin following things
1. how to get fevours from s in laws through icm
2. how to spoil all things with intellectualism.
3. how to hate our own identity and how to distroy it.
4. how to give our just opportunities to vendals and then justify it under name of elitism, modernism, social justice. how to tern blind eye towards sufferings of our brothers and sisters. being a steat of the art opportunist.
5. how to implore for petty selfish interst and put the whole caste to stake for that.
If all other communities adapted these good qualities of ours. certainly world will be more good.
 
Please do NOT reply. I am just thinking aloud!

One needs humility and goodness to be able to interact with others.

That everything has to depend on the status...is unthinkable!

What do we know about the status of the strangers we meet during the day!!

Should the Universal way of greeting called 'smiling' be prompted by knowledge of

the financial back ground of the person?

God save Humanity from such Humans!
 
Madam Vishalakshi Ramani,

Please treat Revathi as your younger sister and leave it at that. Some times written communication doesn't convey the messages properly and even I have to explain to you my views regarding this thread. The same thing could have happened with Revathi also.

Revathi,

Please participate in the discussions as usual and your views will be highly respected. All are equal here.

All the best
 
In a lighter vein... :)

All are equal but some are more equal!

They have the blessings of their Guru!

I had to register my feelings without disturbing the busy persons
who wish to 'carry on'.

Hence the thinking aloud!


 
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... Let me give an example - Wishing the Driverof the Bus while alighting and boading a bus is a simple custom we can adopt from West
Revathi, when I read this I was reminded of my own practice of thanking the driver and wishing him/her a good day as I got down from the bus. Also, as I walk into my office the janitor always greets me with "how u doin man" with a broad smile. But, this may be a little too difficult to do in Chennai buses, the driver and conductor are bound to wonder who this "லூஸு" is.

But I do agree with the general point that we need to be civil and respectful to all irrespective of station or status. In India, in the building where my in-laws live, there are two young boys in elementary school. One is a son of a businessman living in one of the flats. The other is a son of iron-walla serving the ironing needs of the neighborhood. Both are NB. Sometimes, these two kids will come into the flat of my in-laws and watch TV. One will sit in the sofa and the other on the floor. I don't have to tell which one sits where.

When I was there I made both sit on the sofa. But he wouldn't sit in a relaxed casual manner as the other one did. At this young age this kid has already learned his station. My wife later told me it was her brother who made him sit on the floor. That made me feel very bad. That poor kid has to live there long after I am done and gone after a few weeks of vacation.

Cheers!
 
Ancient India did have a number of values, which we had forgotten. We had advanced knowledge in metallurgy and qualified iron smiths as displayed by


Iron Pillar of Dehli” which has not rusted in past 1600 years.


We had lost most if not all of this knowledge and I assume most of today’s process is imported from west. It’s possible some of the technologies we see in west came from east centuries back.


Whatever maybe the case, we have the responsibility to learn the good ideas from anywhere and pass it on to the next gen.


thanks,
 
Dear Sri RVR Ji,

Thank you for your first post here. Yes, learning Tamil from the NC giants you have mentioned was a delight. I still remember the almost "katha kalepshekam' manner in which our dear Professor Radhakrishnan used to teach us. Thanks for reviving old memories.

Regarding the topic of this thread, one has to understand the total culture and the history of various peoples around the world to understand why they do certain things. For example, a Catholic from France is totally different from one fron the US, in terms of culture, despite their religion may be the same (even here some differences exist).

I do not know how a group of people can adapt some other culture's best features, without it sprouting from that culture by itself. For example, somehow from a very young age, without anyone teaching me, I had a very strong egalitarian streak. And to me, this is one of my top three living principles. It is so personal to me, I would not like to live permanently in any country whose culture does not practice it. I'll feel miserable otherwise.

Today, all micro based 'cultural' practices are under attack all over the world, because of modernism. Your account of Japan's treating her elders, which formed through Shinto, like our own religion faces similar challenges like we face today.

So, on one hand, march of time and history shape a culture over time. Food, fashion, marriage, child rearing, social interaction, day to day living all are affected by it. Today, some of us perform no sandhyavandanam, some of us repeat gayathri japa alone many times, some of us dutifully perform the ritual either one, two or all three times. Most of us do not complete the prescribed nithya karmas, let alone Maha Purusha Yagnas required of us.

So, what gives? I think that our religion has already provided the wherewithal to live in a modern world, adapting to it's requirements, while at the same time fulfilling our destiny through our religion. Our religion understood that religion is for people and not the other way around, and this is why every religious practice ever existed existed in the world, exists in our religion. Religion is a tool. People are unique and diverse. What our religion allows is to give the proper tool to a person, based on that person's make up, in terms of intelligence - both mind and emotion, and personality, to attain his/her destiny.

The reason I am saying all this is because, the 'best practices' to be adapted, by definition has a meaning that we as a community either practice 'not a best' practice or do not practice anything in that realm. Let us take an example: Corruption. We cite a country like USA as an example where it is minimal. Why is it minimal here? Because the culture and the society in general look down upon it and one have laws with teeth to deal with it. But in India, it is viewed as something that can not be overcome. So almost everyone contributes to it's existence and even thriving. We pay corrupt money or other favors to get daily things done. If we do not do it, then we or our family gets hurt. So, to adapt this best practice means that either a movement is started capturing the imagination of the people or each one of us not give in to corruption, regardless of the injury it will cause.

Following this logic, I do not think that the best practices can then be 'adapted' by a community easily. It can only be adapted by individuals, having particular passions. Just because many may not adapt, based on the cost/benefit analysis to them, should not make them any lesser human beings.

By the way, if we think through the values taught us by our religion (not the ritual aspects, as they are for a different purpose), the best practices are there to be adapted for the current times: Egalitarianism, level playing field for everyone, charity, respect to all human beings, respect to diversity, living for the Truth etc., etc., etc.

Most of the 'best practices' practiced by other cultures today are also embedded in our religion as well. I remember about 20 years ago, listening to a particular Methodist preacher every Sunday morning on TV for a couple of years when I lived in a particular city, because what all he preached conformed profoundly with my own Hindu view of the world. I learnt a lot about my own culture by listening to a Christian!

Lastly, I want to clarify a few things about the Jews, as I lived with one for 3 decades: Because of their history and constant persecution by the Christians, they were allowed in to only a few professions that the Christians thought 'dirty'. Handling, lending money is one such profession. Hence there is a perception that the jews in general are only 'money minded'. When one looks at this culture, one is surprised to find that they have a somewhat similar societal structure to ours. They have a priestly class, keepers of the Torah. Out of this class has sprung mostly the current day intellectuals, leaders, artists, scientists etc, who dominate their fields. So actually within the community there is somewhat a division of those who think that they have a higher mission in life and those who always think about money, with the former somewhat looking down on the latter. But in general, they are also profoundly religious people across the spectrum, like our larger Hindu society.

Regards,
KRS
 
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Dear Sri kunjuppu Ji,

I saw and read your response to my post a couple of times. You raise very valid questions (and in fact I structured my post in a way, I was expecting questions from both end of the spectrum).

Looks like you have removed it. Please repost it (especially the part where I am felicitated!), but seriously, please do. I have been thinking of a response.

By the way, no need to add all that circumspection - our thoughts are similar, but only our language is different.

Regards,
KRS
 
This is a general post.(I do not expect a reply)

I wonder what to write - Ok.

"Carry on" may be wrong - I was sleepy it was after 10 PM and need to get up early in the morning - May be It was "move on" (Meaning is we differ in opinion, let us take the next point)

But I cannot understand where I have conveyed any kind of insulting messages to any of the posters.

This is a forum where people are expected to offer their view - of course in a very civilized way.I have already seen sarcastic (which is worse than harsh wards in my opinion), uncivlized messages in many threads - including the one closed by Praveen a few days ago.

I convey my different view - which I have seen in my life - e.g :A conductor abusing a old lady with a vegetable basket and at the same time wishing a well dressed one. For which there are exceptions .This clearly is a behaviour based on status.This is my view.

Since I clearly see no point in arguing reg this with any of the members who have posted different views (everybody's experience is different and I wanted to learn good aspect from other culture which is not really practised here so to say), I wanted to close this chapter.Hence the word "Carry On" (Which was a colloquial error).To this attributing "busy persons" et al - I do not what to say.

But to esteemed members - , please interpreting, auditing, expanding evey word is very hurting, In my Humble opinion.

From being passive participant for the past 40 days and active since last week, I have already made up my mind to whom to respond and whom not to respond so that I dont get replies back based on interpretations which I did not convey in my original post (I just do not want to get hurt).

Thank you for your patience.

Regards
Revathi
 
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Dear Srimathi Revathi Ji,

I am a 63 year old, living in the US for the past 40 years of my life. I have been posting in this Forum for a few years, I have been a moderator too.

Please do not feel hurt by any comments here. We have people here from the most orthodox to the very progressive, reflecting the state of our community.

Please stand your ground and shoot any illogical and emotional outburst that comes your way, especially when it seems to diminish your views or a person.

Also, please don't take others' opinions as personal. You are unique, as everyone is in this Forum, cured by your own unique experience and as such carry a vary valid and interesting opinion, from which we can all learn from, either way.

So, please stand up. Don't give in. You have already established your bona fide civilized manner here. Hope this makes sense.

Namaskarams,
KRS
 
Shri KRS sir,

Thank you for your advise.I do hope to learn from many learned and esteemed persons in this forum.

Namaskarams and Thank You,
Revathi
 
In a lighter vein... :)

All are equal but some are more equal!


This is also my loud thinking only. I do not expect any reply please.

Since this is a forum of members who are all equal, at least in principle, I feel it will be more egalitarian to abolish the gradation of members as 'veterans', 'senior', etc. I request Shri Praveen to give this suggestion the seriousness it deserves. Perhaps we will have participation from more aspiring members if this distinction is done away with and all are made to feel equals.
 
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Dear Revathi,

I have been a member of Tamil Brahmins forum since 2006, age wise a senior member and participating in all important threads. As my good friend Sri KRS has advised please do not feel hurt by any unwarranted comments by others. Just ignore them and stick on to your opinion and express your views freely.This is not new to Tamil Brahmins Forum. Initially I too found some members using the forum for exhibiting their "intellectual eloquence" in intemperate language to belittle others. One of my earliest posts in 2007 I wrote "The subject taken by you for discussion is really a good one. But having seen how the discussions go out of tune in this forum, I venture into the platform with a lot of hesitation and fear of getting mauled by personal level adjectives.( I am an old person, not used to modern trend of vituperative eloquence in writing English)." However good friends like Sri KRS and Sri Vijisesh prevailed on me to settled down and continue with my posts. That's what I do now.
Best wishes,
Brahmanyan,
Bangalore
 
Sri KRS ji,

Personally my company is supplying our products to various multinational companies which includes American, British, Japanese and Germans apart from various Indian companies.

Each MNC customer has some unique qualities.

The British customer has decentralized every thing to its Indian subsidiary and it is almost repeat of Indian practices which I don't want to discuss much.

American customer has some good qualities. They are more focussed on their brand building and marketing. An American sales man is capable of selling `refrigerator' to Eskimos. They always concentrate on market share and are highly focussed on improving market share on a continuous basis. The manufacturing unit is mostly a `lean organisation' with very few executives and depend mostly on outsourcing. They treat the suppliers as their business partners and maintain excellent relationships. However they don't interfere in the manufacturing practices at the supplier end and leave it to the suppliers stating that `you are expert in your field and you decide and do whatever you want'.

Our Japanese customer has some unique qualities. At the product development stage, they concentrate very much in to minute details of product design and manufacturing practices. They come to the shop floor of suppliers and get involved in each and every process. They want to ensure that every part coming out of each process is of best quality. They adopt the principle of `poka yoke' Poka-yoke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
If we have to translate literally in Tamil, it is செய்வன திருந்த செய்

My German customer has some excellent qualities. Right from product design to manufacture to maintaining consistency of quality they plan and execute every thing in a systematic way. They go into minute details in each and every process and once they achieve the targeted quality/standard, they ensure that it is methodically followed in subsequent production stage. They don't allow us to change the method of manufacture even if a more efficient method is suggested. One has learn work discipline from the Germans.

The above may look like business practices but I earnestly feel that whatever we do in our work place is affected in our personal life also and the vice versa may also be true.

As a society we may not able to adopt best practices collectively but individually we can start adopting the same. Any way society is made up of individuals only.

I would like to hear more from our other colleagues.

All the best
 
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When this distinction is done away with, people will not feel pressurized to post
-just to improve their scores. If they really have something to say, they will do so. Good idea!


 
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Shri,

Exactly the point.

I used to feel very bad when some of us are even invisible if we dont have appropriate status.

I have personally been humilated many times (due to lack of wealth or whatever) and so I make sure I dont repeat these mistakes knowingly.

Thanks
Revathi
 
Shri Brahmanyan Sir,

Thank you sir. I hope to learn to put forth my views clearly.Your post in 2007 exactly reflects my feelings sir

Namaskarams
Revathi
 
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