Wednesday 28 March 2012

Don't be Thankful


I am definitely not going to thank the eternally youthful great grandpa.

Yes , eternally youthful grandpa - How better can I describe Ananda Vikatan - the Tamil weekly which has captured the imagination of Tamil population all over the world for generations now .

"What?" My wife roared. "It is completely wrong. You have to be thankful to the magazine which has brought you to lime light" This was the comment received from my better half on reading the opening lines of this post.

Again I insisted "I am not going to be thankful to Ananda Vikatan". …but before I could explain my intentions better , she had already left for the kitchen (as always!).

"Thank God, she's gone to kitchen". I was greatly relieved.

But I firmly believe that at least you will be on my side when i complete this post.

Now i propose the word 'grateful' instead of ‘thankful’.

YES. I am ‘grateful’ to the magazine 'Vikatan', a friend of mine for past 50 years.

We must be grateful when somebody does a favor to us; when the action is out of kindness.

We can be ‘thankful’, only when we get a relief from hardship or untoward accidents or bitter experiences. (If you are married, please go to 5Th paragraph where i "thank god", you may understand better).

Both are completely and exactly opposite situations. First one is positive out of love and kindness: a positive situation; the second one is a relief from a negative situation.

For instance if you are given a pat and a cake with a coke by your friend for having successfully completed the previously failed papers in the examination, you can tell

"Thanks"

"Thanks a lot"

"I am grateful to you, Pals".

Another scenario:

You owe some amount of money to that banker who is following you. But, In the crowd he misses you. You are truly relieved.

Say "Thank God” or "I'm thankful to the banker for his poor sight".

Now tell me whether i should be thankful or grateful to Ananda Vikatan which has given me a pat by recognizing this blog?

Now it is your turn:

"Oh..Thank God ... relieved..at last.. he has finished" I could hear you saying .