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Sunday, November 1, 2020

Thirukkural 'Impartiality' ~ நடுவு நிலைமை : Rituraj shines in CSK win and memes on MSD

For us the immortal words of Sage Thiruvalluvar ie.,  Thirukkural will always ring a bell.  To those who have not read much, “Thiruk Kural”, is a classic of couplets or Kurals (1330 rhyming Tamil couplets) authored by Sage Thiruvalluvar.  Kural literally means "short verse", and is typified by the Venpa metre that consists of two lines. Thirukkural is a great source of knowledge – 1330 couplets structured in 133 adhikarams [chapters], grouped in 3 sections – Aram (righteousness). Porul (wealth) and Kamam or Inbam (pleasure). 


Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms, primarily the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis, and to a lesser extent from the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera and the maripa palm Attalea maripa.   In India, we have a different one – the ‘palmolein’.  The fad for this oil was so high a couple of decades ago, that the Govt. was importing them in bulk tankers and redistributing to households, who were using this oil moving away from dalda vanaspathi, groundnut oil, gingelly oil, bran oil and other cooking oils. Now refined oils like sunflower, olive, safflower, avocado have all taken over. 

Ever heard of ‘Clever brand’ ~ the other day whilst waiting at signal near City Centre, saw 3 cartons placed on a two-wheeler that was standing in front of me. The curiosity of the carton, made me take a photo and later read its contents and came to know that - Kumar Agro has been in the field of oil industry for more that three decades.  Their manufacturing of palmolein oil under the the name Clever refined palm oil  !

How biased are WE !  .. .. in this World of Social media, every second, we find posts, tweets, and memes which smack of partisan attitude !!

IPL in the Gulf has been far more interesting .. .. In its inaugural year in 2008, underdogs Rajasthan Royals had a spectacular run, winning 11 out of 14 games in the group stage. Standout efforts from Watson, Sohail Tanvir, Pathan and the captain, Warne, all through the season helped them lift the trophy, defeating MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in the final.  This year the same two teams are lying at the bottom of the table !  .. ..

This is no Cricket post as such but the ‘partiality’ that exists in human minds.  Supporting any team is OK but the amount of taunting the mercurial MSD and CSK are undergoing this year is immeasurable ! ..  they have lost matches in row but at last won today against RCB. After this win, (till the match between RR & MI) is over – RR is at the bottom most but what a team they have – the best pacer who instills fear in the batsman Jofra Archer, all rounder England Captain Ben Stokes, Internationally acclaimed batsmen Jos Butler & Steve Smith, supported by Indian batters – Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson,  Riyan Parag and big six hitting Rahul Tewatia – yet they have so far lost 7 of their 11 matches ! ~ honestly tell me, is there any meme on Steve Smith, criticism on his style of leadership ?why MS Dhoni  is singled out ?? ie., sheer partiality !

Last year read a newsitem on this boy -  "Mahi bhai, Andre Russell scoop aur paddle nahi karta. Short fine leg hataake deep square laga sakte the [Mahi bhai, Andre Russell doesn't play the scoop or the paddle. We could have removed the short fine-leg and put a deep square-leg instead]."  -  that reportedly was Ruturaj Gaikwad who had not played a single game telling his Captain MSD.   "Sharp cricket mind," Dhoni told Gaikwad!

This year he was in trouble right from the start – as CSK trained in Dubai, he had to be isolated and later returned back to   the team's bio bubble after returning two Covid-19 negative tests.  In his first match he was run out for a duck; then scored 5 against Delhi Capitals and was again out for a duck against MI .. .. but today, he played some sparkling strokes and anchored the   the chase with an unbeaten 51-ball 65 while Faf du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu brought urgency at the other end.

In some ways, CSK were done in even before the start of the Tournament for their squad had been shaped and built  for  the slow, turning pitches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. One must appreciate MSD for still being cool and keeping his expressions under hold.

Moving away to the theme ‘impartiality’ -  Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy recently wrote  an unprecedented letter to the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde making shocking allegations against the second-senior-most judge of the Supreme Court – Justice NV Ramana, accusing him of attempting to influence the High Courts due to his proximity with TDP chief and former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.  In an 8-page letter written to CJI SA Bobde on October 6, the Andhra Pradesh CM has pointed out Justice Ramana’s alleged “proximity” to TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and mentioned about an Anti-Corruption Bureau investigation into the “questionable transactions of land” involving two daughters of Justice Ramana and others in Amaravati.

~ and miles away, in UK – BBC’s  impartiality is under threat from all sides. The corporation is in danger of commercial censorship, wrote a columnist alleging that   BBC TV news is increasingly cautious, and stating that  journalists are asking the wrong questions.  BBC has always been partial and one-sided reporting news about India.  For British, India is under-developed and land of snakecharmers, where still rustics live !  ..  .. .. many news items would showcase that British too is unsafe and lot of bad things occurring. 

The noun ‘impartiality’  - is the opposite of   equal treatment of all rivals or disputants; fairness. Read with interest an article titled ‘the biggest threat to the BBC’s independence is the corporation itself’.  However, if “impartial” means to represent the values of a notional political centre then the BBC is hardly likely to secure itself there, as this centre has been racing to the right for more than 40 years in the UK and globally.  Political power lies more firmly than ever in the grip of the hard right via its monopolies in high finance and the commercial media.  They don’t want balance, they want possession. The modern day media, the newspapers do not report the news: they create it. Every day, massive events happen: environmental disasters, theft and fraud by the very rich, power grabs and attacks on democracy. Instead of reporting them, the newspapers concoct scandals out of marginal topics, or out of thin air.  News in the UK is the propaganda of the oligarch, amplified by the BBC.


Now read this Thirukkural ~ this couplet was written on the middle carton of ‘Clever Palmolein’ that interested me .. ..

கெடுவல்யான் என்பது அறிக  தன்நெஞ்சம்

நடுவொரீஇ அல்ல செயின்.

நடுவுநிலைமை தவறிச் செயல்படலாம் என்று ஒரு நினைப்பு ஒருவனுக்கு வந்து விடுமானால் அவன் கெட்டொழியப் போகிறான் என்று அவனுக்கே தெரியவேண்டும்.

பால்: அறத்துப்பால்;   அதிகாரம்:  நடுவு நிலைமை; குறள் 116:

Thiruvalluvar says the moment one’s heart knows and feels that they are not fair and are feeling partial, it is a clear indication that he is heading for evil and bad.

Interesting !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
25.10.2020.


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