Astrology: Horoscope for houses?

Yesterday I came across A TEMPLE WITH A MUSICAL HISTORY, AND A VISIT TO THE PAST in Raji’s Ramblings. It is an interesting post, well written, and includes two photographs. One is of a vast expanse of green rice fields and the other of an old house which has certainly seen better days and now lies unoccupied.

The second image reminded me of an evening in the early 1990s at my lawyer friend K. Vijayakumar’s house in Cherthala, Kerala. He had one of the most brilliant legal brains that I have come across, internationally. He was also well informed on many subjects.

We got to talking about Vastu (the science related to buildings). Vijayakumar told me that a house could have a horoscope which would indicate births and deaths that take place there, periods when it would be vacant, how and when the building comes to its own end, and several other things.

There is logic to this. If horoscopes of human beings are drawn up based on planetary positions at the time of birth, why can’t it be done for houses though they are considered inanimate? After all, in the olden days, houses were constructed based on Vastu Shastra. Now there is a resurgence of Vastu.

Evolved during the Vedic times, Vastu is a combination of astronomy, astrology, art and architecture. It is meant to harness the positive energies from the elements and create the perfect ambiance for physical and mental health, and prosperity and happiness of those who stay in the house. Feng Shui, the system practiced in China and Japan, it is said, had its origin from Vastu.

There is a belief that if the design of a building is not in conformity with Vastu, calamities can befall the person who built it and those who live there. I know two cases which indicate this could be true.

A cousin of mine had the outhouse shifted to a new location within the compound to remodel his house. Soon his family ran into a series of major health problems. On the advice of Thomas George (“Shilpi” Babu), a senior Architect and Vastu expert of Cochin, the outhouse was brought back to the original location and the troubles vanished.

The second instance again involves a cousin, who built a beautiful new house. I drew a rough sketch of it and showed “Shilpi” Babu. He took one look and said, “The man who built this won’t live for long.” Actually, the cousin had died the same night the house was occupied.

How do you explain these? I didn’t have much faith in astrology but a few meetings with the famous astrologer Mithran Namboori made me think that there is substance to the system. (See: Three predictions.). I also wrote a short fiction piece (The story of a story.) with a strong astrology background.

If you have any information on horoscope for houses, can you share it with us?

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Photos: From Europe, with love

Photos by KO Isaac. Copyright reserved.

Click on images for enlarged view.

Also see:

Photos: Snow clad mountains
When did you last see a kingfisher?

Travel: A round trip by train

Last Thursday I went to Bangalaore by the Shadabthi Express. The first thing that struck me was the difference in the onward and return fares. The latter was lesser. It took me some time to sort that out.

It was my maiden trip by the much touted Shadabthi. Clean compartment. The wide seats, two abreast with fold back middle arm rest, were comfortable. The airconditioning was just right. The toilets were spotless. They had paper rolls and genuine undiluted liquid soap.

Shortly after we left Chennai Central at 5.30 p.m. high tea was laid out – sandwich, samosa, wafers in three different flavors, and so on. Most of the passengers stuffed the goodies into their bags.

Then it was dinner time. Again substantial quantities served by smartly attired bearers. Quite tasty too. All included in the fare. Read for sometime and presto we were in Bangalore Cantt. The distance of about 355kms was covered in approximately 4 ½ hours.

The return train yesterday was to start at 6 a.m. Reached the City Station at 5.30 only to be told that Shadabthi was cancelled. Informing passengers over phone about such changes is apparently not a part of the railway culture.

After a while I was told that three additional AC chair cars were being attached to the Lal Baugh Express leaving at 6.30. I got a seat in a 1992 vintage coach. One could buy breakfast from vendors (railway employees?) wearing clothes that required washing a week ago.

Half an hour out of Chennai Central it was announced that the train was being diverted to Egmore Terminus. The reason? Two bogies of another train had derailed at Central Station. But that had happened the previous night. The passengers could have been informed even before our train left Bangalore.

Since my driver has a mobile phone I could direct him to Egmore. Passengers who didn’t have that facility had to engage taxi or auto rickshaw from Egmore to Central for boarding their cars.
One must however acknowledge that the hefty difference between Shadabthi and the Lal Baugh Express fares was refunded within half hour of reaching Egmore at the end of the 6 ½ hours journey.

Now, the reason for the fare disparity between the Bangalore bound and return Shadabthi - on the outward journey high tea and dinner are served while only breakfast is provided when you come back.

The Shadabthi Express is good – when it runs!

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Also see:
Memories: Shoeless on suburban train.
Travel: Shendurney, the Royal Tree
Bangalore: Of a club, a park and a Chief Secretary couple

Windmill: Photo, poem

"I stand here in my place,

With my foot on the rock below,

And whichever way it may blow,

I meet it face to face,

As a brave man meets his foe. "

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882)

Read the full poem at

http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=311

Photo: KO Isaac (Copyright reserved)

Click for enlarged view.

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Also see:

Photos: Flowers from Switzerland

Cricket: Umpiring blunders

Yesterday at Adelaide India struggled home after the hiccups, thanks to three run outs, including the unlucky one for Jayawardane, while Sri Lanka batted, and Yuvaraj Singh’s return to form. Team India is to be congratulated.
Dhoni’s team should have won the previous game as well. But before dealing with that let me tell you about a thought provoking post Empowering umpires by E R Ramachandran and an equally important comment by Dinakar KR.
Umpiring blunders have been there all along. Now technology brings the bad decisions to the public glare. Among other important things E R Ramachandran says, “With increasing commercialization , wrong decisions during critical stage of a match can indeed take the game away which is neither good for the sides playing the game, nor for the game and finally not for the paying spectator.”
Dinakar KR. points out that too much involvement of technology would take away the thrills. What I would suggest is that technology should be available to the field umpires if they feel the need. If an umpire is not clear about an LBW or a tricky catch, he should have access to the Third Umpire like in the case of run outs and stumpings.
There is a risk of field umpires becoming over dependent on this facility. That could slow down the game and make it boring. The problem could be tackled by grading the umpires taking into account the number of times they call on the Third Umpire for decision making.
Back to the current Australian tour. Dhoni has the potential to develop into a good captain. But he has to modify certain traits. It is understandable if he feels some discomfort with having senior players on the side. The latest indication of this is the exclusion of Sehwag. Dhoni should learn to take counsel of experienced players if he feels the need.
I have said this earlier – a captain doesn’t have to talk except when necessary. Dhoni might not have realized it, but he sounded subjective and not objective when he said after the debacle against Australia on February 17. “… (Yuvraj) will play all the remaining games.” Is it advisable for a captain to disclose his plans well in advance?
Arguably we would have won that match but for the 4 overs costing 22 runs Yuvraj bowled. He can be effective if used astutely. But in this instance we had gone in with five specialist bowlers and among them four overs were left. And, as Ravi Shastri said, “Sending Irfan Pathan at number three was a huge mistake.”
Instinct and intuition get fine tuned with experience. Dhoni seems to be on the right track when he said about the Adelaide defeat that ‘it was a good learning lap’.
All said and done, Dhoni and his boys are capable of winning the CB series. Let us wish them luck.
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Also see: Cricket in remote areas

Usha Uthup & Kerala Marxists

You might wonder what the connection is. Well, it’s like this. A top Communist leader was trying to control his party workers who were creating a ruckus at the concluding session of the Kerala CPI (M) State convention at Kottayam last week. In the process he said words to the effect that it was not an Usha Uthup gamamela (musical performance) for the participants to behave in that manner.

From the 1960s I have attended several performances by Usha, the ‘Queen of Indian Pop’. At none of them the crowd behaved like the comrades did at Kottayam. Usha can move her listeners and they love her, respond to her. That has been going on for decades. Once, at a Bangalore performance which I attended, she asked the Governor who was present to clap along with the audience and he did. It was all very dignified. This famous singer has rendered songs in 14 Indian languages and several foreign languages.

Usha took exception to the Red leader’s statement. She said that for forty years she has been singing all over the world and her listeners have been always decent and well behaved. As one could expect, the politician came out with a rather stretched explanation.

The State meet of the CPI (M) was well organized and quite interesting. There was strong criticism of the performance of the Chief Minister and ministers. The Party found a solution to the problem too - entrust the same people with the same jobs. To be done in the same manner? Well, one has to wait and see. The Party is to issue guidelines on how to run the Government. At least the Budget presentation and governance, which were put on hold for the Party’s convention, would be reactivated now.

In spite of being active in India from the 1920s, the Communists rule only West Bengal and Tripura, and Kerala at alternate elections. Prakash Karat, General Secretary of CPI (M) said in an interview given to the Malayala Manorama (see issue dated February 7) that he would not be satisfied till his party becomes an All India Party.

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Photos from Usha Uthup’s website http://www.ushauthup.com/
Also see: Un-ploughed lies my land

Kumaran, son of Kuruppan

In cities one hardly gets to know people. Everybody is busy. Contacts are often short and functional. But in villages you have time, people have time. You watch individuals grow up, get to know them, partake in their sorrows and joys.
Kumaran of my village, Olavipe, is a Pulaya, a Scheduled Caste. Here the word is used as a statement of fact and not derogatorily. These are days when people can be prosecuted for calling jathi peru (caste name).
Kumaran’s father, Kuruppan, was a fairly tall, dark and affable person. He had a ready smile as well – sparkling white teeth (no toothpaste those days) on the black face. And he was a man of guts, a trait his son has inherited. Kuruppan was one of the few people who said ‘no’ to the priests from Cochin who came to Olavipe to convert the low castes to Christianity. (See History of conversions to Christianity in Kerala – an overview in Articles By Abraham Tharakan)
I think Kuruppan was quite radical in his outlook. He named his eldest, a girl, Meenakshi. That was something unusual among Pulayas in my area. The regular names were Chirutha, Kali, Neeli and so on. Even Kumaran was a deviation from traditional Pulaya names.
Kumaran had primary education which was not so common among Pulayas 70 years back. But he is the type to whom education necessarily doesn’t have to come from formal schooling. Highly intelligent and observant, he learned many things on his own. One among these was the capacity to judge people and situations right and act appropriately.
A good physique and personal courage makes him stand out. He has the capability to be equally at home in the paddy field or a factory. Once I sent him with a team to a factory which was facing security problems. The situation was handled well. He also worked for sometime as a foam rubber fabricator.
A general complaint against Kumaran is that he doesn’t do any hard work (except when the bosses are looking) but makes others toil. Well, that too is an ability. At the end of the day the work gets done.
I took this photo of Kumaran last month at Olavipe. Notice the thorth (thin towel) on his left forearm? That is a show of respect in the villages. Normally it would be worn on the head like a turban or kept on the shoulder.
Kumaran has taken care of his children well. The eldest is an officer with a major bank. Three are involved in smalltime business like shrimp farming on contract. And one is the elected representative to our Panchayat (the powerful Local Administration body)!
Kumaran is our Senior Pulaya now. That is an important position in the agricultural scenario. He is also our chief of security. He is not the type who would retire. He would go on till he fades away.
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Also see:
Tender coconuts: For class distinction to fighting hangovers
Caste System: Is Kerala still a madhouse?