எதில் இன்பம் ?

"வாழ்வில் இன்பம்  என்பது பணத்திலோ, பொருளிலோ, நாம் குவிக்கும் சொத்திலோ, வேறு எந்த விஷயத்திலும் இல்லை. இவை யாவும் உயிர் அற்றவை. இன்பத்தின் கரு மனிதனுள் தான் காணப்பட வேண்டுமேயன்றி வேறு எங்கும் தேடலாகாது. மனிதன் தன்னுள் சந்தோசத்திற்கு இடம் அளிக்க வேண்டும். அவனுக்கு மேற் சொன்ன பொருட்க்களை பயன் படுத்த ஞானம்  இருக்க வேண்டும்; வெறும் சேர்த்து வைக்க கூடாது. அவை இவனை சார்ந்து இருக்க வேண்டும்; இவன் அவை மேல் அல்ல. அவை இவனை தொடர வேண்டும். இவன் அவற்றின் பின் ஓடாமல் இருந்தால், அதற்குண்டான ஒழுக்க நெறிகளை பின் பற்றினால், அந்த பொருள்கள் இவன் பின்னால் தன்னால் வரும்."

Why translate this book?

First of all, I am not sure if this book is translated by any of the leading Tamil authors or publications. James Allen is a great writer, and even after 100 years, we find his words very apt for our times. I first got introduced his book "As a man thinketh" which I have read and recommended to my friends several times. Every sentence of James Allens' words are quotable. I often think if these books could be translated, many folks of mine would surely benefit.

Secondly, I have a great interest in book translations. I attempted several in the past, but did not have a systematic mechanism to capture them in some form. I hope this website gives that platform.

Third, this book "Eight Pillars of Prosperity" is a bible for anybody's life. Reading it for myself sets a good start for this new year.  The eight pillars are Energy, Economy, Integrity, System, Sympathy, Sincerity, Impartiality, and Self Reliance. To practice these, I need to read;  What I read, I translate and publish. Its an opportunity to cleanse and build my-self.

I hope this will be a very useful effort for the benefit of everyone.

I request you to read the online version of the book and also buy an original copy of the book if possible. It certainly adds value to your library. That will be a great tribute to the great writer.

ஜேம்ஸ் ஆலன் - ஒரு அறிமுகம்

ஜேம்ஸ் ஆலன்  லீசெஸ்டர் (இங்கிலாந்து) என்ற இடத்தில 28 நவம்பர் 1864 அன்று பிறந்தார். அவருக்கு 15 வயது இருக்கும் போது அவரது தந்தை கொடூரமான முறையில் கொல்லப் பட்டார். மேலும் அவரது குடும்ப தொழிலும் பாதிக்கப் பட்டது. இதனால் ஜேம்ஸ் ஆலன்  படிப்பை நிறுத்தி விட்டு, வேலை தேட ஆரம்பித்தார். தனது 38 வயது வரை பலரிடம் சிறு சிறு வேலைகள் செய்து ஜீவனம் நடத்தினார். தனது வாழ் நாளின் பிற் பகுதியில் அவர் எழுத்தாளனாக மாறி, சுமார் 9  வருடங்கள், தனது மரணம் வரை (1912) எழுதினார். அவர் குறுகிய காலத்தில் எழுதிய புத்தகங்கள் யாவும் உலக பிரசித்தி பெற்றவை. அவரது முதல் புத்தகமான Above Life's Turmoil ஐ தொடர்ந்து அவர் தனது சிறந்த படைப்பான As a man thinketh ஐ எழதினார். அவரது மறைவுக்கு பின்பு அவரது துணைவி அவரது எழுத்துக்களை உலகிற்கு அறிமுகம் செய்கிறார். 

James Allen

James Allen is one of my favourite authors. I have read his book "As a man thinketh" several times. It may appear like a dry essay, but every sentence of his work is worth a quote. Thanks to Dr.VS, I got to know about James Allen's writings. Those days a publication by name "Sri saiva siddhantha pathipagam" from Tirunelveli had published all his books. Another title that I was fond of - "Eight pillars of prosperity"; and another one being "Above Life's Turmoil". 



(I remember that Mr.SKM, the founder of SKM foundry (Erode) was a great fan of his writings. He used to ask his people to translate the work (eight pillars...) and listen in tamil. Mr.SKM is one of the very disciplined industrialist known.)



Last night, thoughts of James Allen started haunting me and I was desperately started looking for his titles on the internet. Would you call it magic?  Today I took my parents to Forum mall - in the Landmark book stall among thousands of books were lying these two cute books - As a Man thinketh and 8 pillars of prosperity. I did not buy any other new titles, how attractive they may be. After coming home, I realized that I did not search for "Above life's turmoil".  When I glanced the "As a man thinketh" book, it came as a pleasant it had alll the other 'missing' books.



I already have 'Book of Meditation' which I decided that I will read everyday morning from New year.



Related Links: http://www.jamesallenlibrary.com/

Its Termination of Worldspace

We have been great listeners of WorldSpace for the past few years. My father listens to it every day - first thing in the morning at 5 am and then to melodies in the afternoon and in the late night. He is a great fan of KL Radio and the Shruthi music channels. He demonstrates this radio to all our guests. Recently I was trying to get him a latest model of the radio which is worth Rs.4500. The sales department lady said best offer - Rs.3500 only etc but never hinted about the service termination and their bankruptcy. I even argued that there should be pay-per-channel option as in Satellite television. Some intuition saved me from going for it. Worldspace services are also available on Airtel Digital TV.  Here is the mail from WorldSpace. 



______________________________________________

Dear customer,



On December 31, 2009, the WorldSpace satellite radio broadcast service will be terminated for all customers serviced from India.



This action is an outgrowth of the financial difficulties facing WorldSpace India’s parent company, WorldSpace, Inc., which has been under bankruptcy protection since October 2008.  The potential buyer of much of WorldSpace’s global assets has decided not to buy the WorldSpace assets relating to and supporting WorldSpace’s subscription business in India.  As a consequence, WorldSpace, Inc. must discontinue its subscriber business in India.  Your subscription contract is with WorldSpace, Inc., a US company that is in a bankruptcy proceeding in the United States.  The company recognizes that you may have paid for services to be rendered beyond the termination date, but is not in a position to offer a refund for any unused portion of your subscription.



You may have a potential remedy under the U.S. bankruptcy law. You may file a claim under the claims procedure that is intended to protect creditors of the bankrupt company.  Sometime early next year, a claim servicing company will send notice to all creditors listed by the company. In order to ensure that you receive timely notice, we would request that you send the following information by mail or email to Rakesh Raghavan at WorldSpace, Inc. headquarters in the United States.



1.        Name



2.        Address



3.        Email



4.        Subscription Account Number



5.        Date of Subscription



6.        Length of Subscription



7.        Amount paid for your current subscription



Send this information to: By email -- CustomerServiceUS@worldspace.com or by regular mail – Rakesh Raghavan, WorldSpace, Inc. 8515 Georgia AV, Silver Spring, MD 20910 USA.



Our sincere apologies for this circumstance.



s/ Robert Schmitz

Chief Restructuring Officer

WorldSpace, Inc.

Three Exhibitions in a day

We along with family, attended thre exhibitions on the same day - all at Palace Grounds! 



Kids Festival by Times Group:  I thought it would be a good idea to buy more innovative gifts for my kid and also see what new learning aids are available. With an entry fee of Rs.30, we could not enjoy the event. There was mad rush, one row of stalls had regular stalls for kids - none of the items were worth buying. The real theme was a display of schools advertisements. All the schools of Bangalore had put their stalls. There was a talent exhibit - but there was not any interest. It was a pure business tatctics. One stall did not even give the bill. He said its not needed and he is already paying the sales tax!

Aadishilp 2009:  This was happening in the next ground. Very interesting. Its an arts and crafts exhibition. Ambience was good. There was a hut which served as an entry for the stalls. Almost all the north indian and north east state folks had displayed their products. Tamilnadu, Kerala and North Karnataka items had one stall each. Bought a shawl for my dad, some earrings, chains for my women folks.  I was interested in buying a book shelf made of wood - but that was too big to carry in the car. Finally, I bought something for myself - a pen stand made of rock elements. The North East guys told me its made of rock and no-chemicals - but I thought I would buy one to encourage them. We certainly respect such events to encourage the village folks. More than worth for the entry fee of just Rs.10/-. The organizers kept announcing that the buyers insist on bill.



Silk Expo 2009 -  This was next to the Aadishilp event; As my family members were excited to enter this, something was warning me that there could be a hole in my wallet. I was lucky that all mad-crowd were not leaving single unit of space to stand and enquire something. I directed my family to the stalls where there was not any crowd. Yes, the stalls were not worth visiting.  Finally, except for the entry fee of Rs.30/- per head we did not spend anything.



I expected the traffic from Palace Ground to JP Nagar will be hell. But it was breeze; all the signals were turning green for me and I reached my home in breeze!

JP Nagar Slum will go away

For the past ten days, our area roads were all glittering - they are tarred dark black and painted bright white for directions and road discipline - especially in most unwanted areas. Now the puzzle is solved. Mr.CM Yediyurappa was planning to visit our area for the slum upgradation related initiatives. Yes, he did. The event was just opposite to my house but I could not participate.



Here is the ad and the news report.





Indian Express News Link

BANGALORE: "There will be no slums in Bangalore in the next three to four years as more than Rs 522 crore is being spent on rehabilitating slumdwellers under the JNNURM scheme, said Yeddyurappa at the foundation stone laying ceremony to build 1,500 houses for the dwellers of Ragigudda slum in JP Nagar on Saturday."There are over 2,676 slums in the state and nearly 570 in the city and most of them will come under the same plan of rehabilitation," he said. "The Ragigudda slum that has been in existence for the past 30 years needs to be removed and the people here will get newly-built concrete houses in the same vicinity to avoid re-location," said BN Vijayakumar, Jayanagar MLA. The project that costs Rs 32.55 crore will provide basic facilities to the residents by December 2010, he said. Vijayakumar also said that the park located next to the slum would be used for building temporary sheds for the people of the slums.Bio-metric cards were issued to five women who live in the slum and the cards will ensure that they are given a house once the construction is complete.The CM said that projects worth Rs. 7,500 crore would be taken up by the government.Ministers Ashok, Katta Subramanya Naidu and Aravind Limbavali were present.