Picture of the day-20:

Picture of the day-19:

Picture of the day-18:

Taken by me using my Canon Powershot A590 camera, while travelling by the Karaikudi-Trichy Passenger train, somewhere between Pudukkottai and Trichy.

Random Thoughts-30: "On Advertisements"

Advertisements are mostly a nuisance, a pain in the ... ok, neck. Some advertisements specialize in driving people mad; irritate people. Especially TV advertisements. They are disrupters. One wonders how the advertising business is thriving with all this. Sometimes they repeat the same advertisements three times successively; it is clear they want to brainwash everybody. But personally I feel their effect is seldom the one desired by them.

Advertisements in the print media are comparatively less painful. For TV advertisements assault your ears, eyes and mind at the same time. In the case of print media, at least your ears are spared. The most irritating part of TV ads is the volume goes up automatically. I am grateful to the man who invented the remote control. At the commencement of advertisements, I mute the TV or change the channel and thus have found a way to escape of the onslaught of advertisements.

As for the print media, if you don't like the advertisement, you turn the page. Occasionally you come across some advertisements that are pleasing. I came across some of these during my travel to Chennai by Pallavan Express.

These advertisements had these following features in common: First, they greet you: HAPPY JOURNEY, which is very nice of them. Then they have useful message and sayings like: "No man can stop what god wants to give; No man give what god wants to stop".

These advertisements for kailis, banians and underwear by K.A.S.Jainulabdeen Co, Chennai, deserve appreciation. Other advertisers can emulate them. This is how ads should be: subtle, unobtrusive and less-aggressive. I have snapped one for a sample, which appears above. I am sorry the photo is not up to the mark. But then I am only an amateur photographer, who has to learn a lot.

Picture of the day-17:

Picture of the day-16:

My Photo Album-38:

During my visit to Kovilpatti last month, I took some photos of Achu using my Canon Powershot A590 camera, which have been reproduced above.

Picture of the day-15:

Picture of the day-14:

A Thought for Today-210:

Those who live nobly, even if in their life they live obscurely, need not fear that they will have lived in vain. Something radiates from their lives, some light that shows the way to their friends, their neighbors, perhaps to long future ages. - Bertrand Russell

Random Thoughts-29: "On Dreams"

Yesterday night I had a stupid dream. I was in a train with my bag and baggage. Next I find myself inside a temple (probably on the railway platform itself or just outside), performing some 'puja' as dictated by the priest there. Then I suddenly remember my bag and baggage in the train and abruptly stop the 'puja' and rush to the platform, only to see the train gone. Frantically I look for a taxi which can help me to catch the train at the next station or so. But no taxi was available. Then I try to think of somebody who could be traveling by the same train so that I can call him over my mobile. This is where the dream got broken. I heaved a sigh of relief on realizing it was all a dream.

I have plenty of stupid dreams like this at night and self-cheating day-dreams during the day. Is there some meaning in all these? Can dreams be interpreted? Of course, you have Freud's 'Interpretation of Dreams'. But the problem is he links every innocuous dream to sex, which is too much for me. (I had at one time Freud's 'Interpretation of Dreams" and 'Sex Theory'. One of my good friends, a practising-Homeopath, relieved me of these, probably thinking they would be more useful to him and hence not bothering to return them.)

If you go through the Homeopathic Repertory, especially Kent's, you will see a lot of references to dreams and delusions. Not that you take these homeopathic remedies to stop the particular dream or dreams; but sometimes they help the homeopath to pinpoint the correct remedy. Unlike Freud, Homeopathy does not try to interpret dreams; it only uses them for selecting the best-suited remedy for the patient.

I hail from a railway family (many of my people were/are connected with the railways) and used to travel by train frequently. In fact, I used to commute to my college by train. Further, when we were in Manamadurai, I used to go to Madurai often, which was just an hour's travel by train. During night travel, I always end up sleeping on the upper berth or the rack above meant for luggage. Probably because of this, I used to have dreams of falling down from the upper berth, only to find that I was lying on firm ground at home. Later when I was studying Homeopathy, I was surprised to find this symptom in the Homeopathic Repertory, which had 'Thuja', a many-sided and deep-acting remedy, for this symptom. On going through the Materia Medica of Thuja, I found I had many Thuja symptoms like 'after-effects of vaccination', 'warts' etc.

Another interesting symptom worth mentioning here is 'dream of snakes"; I know of a case or two where this symptom has helped to find the right remedy and cure the patient. 'Lac Caninum', a medicine made from dog's milk, was the remedy.

So, if you are taking Homeopathy treatment, don't forget to mention your dreams to your physician.

Picture of the day-13:

Picture of the day-12:

Taken during a recent visit to Cuddalore using my Canon Powershot A590. Viewed from the overbridge and the bus is coming out of the Cuddalore Bus Stand.

A Thought for Today-209:

There is a giant asleep within everyone. When that giant awakens, miracles happen - Frederick Faust

Picture of the day-11:

A Thought for Today-208:

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love - St Basil

Picture of the day-10:

A Thought for Today-207:

Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence and justice - Spinoza

Gandhiana-9:

My life is an indivisible whole, and all my attitudes run into one another; and they all have their rise in my insatiable love for mankind - Gandhiji

A Thought for Today-206:

Life consists in what a man is thinking all day - Emerson