tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-127008782024-03-06T03:44:31.319+05:30WritingWhat good is your emotion if you can't express it in writing! Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-30659221762457279272016-06-28T10:00:00.002+05:302016-06-28T10:36:17.776+05:30Junk in schools<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I spent the last two days working
with the management, children, teachers, and parents of a major school in
Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. Since this was my first time to the state, in
fact just my second to the region (North East India) itself, there was much I had
to learn and understand about the people, the culture, parental mind-sets, etc.
Pros and cons of things like Inner Line Permit (ILP) started to make more sense
when sitting here, rather than when reading about it on wiki lounging in my cosy
couch in Bangalore. And since the place is so cut off from the rest of the
country, boys and girls were very curious to find out more about me and
Bangalore. ‘Are there really super cars like Maserati in Bangaore?’ one of them
asked. ‘What is your height?’ was a very common question – A 6-footer like me
in this land where height is not the forte of most people, must have been an amusing
sight. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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One of the first things that was
shocking to me, both in this school and in another school in nearby Assam, is
the amount of junk food that was freely available not just outside the school
campuses, but even within. Small shops set up inside school campuses sell
everything from frozen ice colas to multiple varieties of chips, to 2-ltr bottles
of soda (Pepsi being the favorite). Kids start coming to school at around 730 after
their breakfast and go home by 230. And all they have in the interim is the
junk from the canteen. The schools have been doing nothing to promote good food
habits.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘It is a recent phenomenon,’ says
one administrator. ‘Started probably a decade back. In-fact many adults took to
colas to avoid alcohol, so in one way this is the lesser of the two evils that
they are choosing.’ He was only part joking.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘My son will be waiting for me to
go home. Soon as I reach, he will tell me he is thirsty and force me to give him
some Pepsi,’ complained a parent. During the breaks, it is a common sight to
see kids move around carrying small packets of Kurkure or Aalu bhujia. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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When me and my friends who were
visiting the school pointed this out to the management, teachers, parents, and students,
they immediately acknowledged the issue. What was refreshing was the Principal’s
‘First of all I am at fault here,’ attitude. He straight away declared that he
should have done more and requested the help of his teachers to make things
better. One common (partial) misconception that the management had was that the
parents were all of no good, that they were only interested in getting rid of
their kids for the major portion of the day time and that they couldn’t care
less what the school did with them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Conversation with a few parents just
before the assembly started somewhat confirmed this attitude, but not all
parents were like this. One father spoke vociferously about the need for
parents to not just stop pandering to their children’s wants, but also spoke of
the school’s responsibility to teach them good eating habits. He also spoke of
how when parents organise get-togethers the standard drink was Pepsi or Coke
and connected this to the addiction that children seem to have for these drinks.
The school was clearly generalising parent behaviour and therefore missing out
on good opportunities to engage with the willing partners.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The students themselves didn’t really
understand what was happening. They were too in the moment to see the larger
picture of their health getting spoilt. But many did, on probing, admit to
their inability to stay even day without having any of these foods or drinks. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The last two days were very
fruitful, what with representatives from different stakeholder groups getting
together and figuring out ways to improve this situation both at school and at
home. Parents spoke enthusiastically of their responsibilities, students wanted
to first change their own habits before they would go preach the behaviour to
their friends in not only their schools but also nearby schools, teachers
agreed to inculcate discussions on good eating habits in their curriculum, and
the management decided to work with the canteen worker and slowly phase out
junk food and replace it with healthy, tasty alternatives instead. The energy
in the group was palpable and the respect that everyone showed for each other
was amazing. Each group went off with a clear takeaway and there was a lot of
hope in that room that afternoon. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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It is not easy to change habits and
culture of an entire society, but it is the responsibility of a school to not
blindly tow the lines of the society but to measure it acutely, and mirror only
what is reasonable. It should otherwise aim to weed out the evils and to change
parental mind-sets through their children. In this school the first step has
been made. Hope it gets healthier soon!<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-32899614088995817932016-06-06T12:34:00.001+05:302016-06-06T12:34:02.756+05:30Story of the Swiss knife<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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“But it is my item and I want it
back. So please help me out here.” I was slowly losing patience with the
security check personnel who insisted on destroying the sharp object he found
in my toiletry kit in my small suitcase. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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You are probably thinking what a
fool I am to have brought it in the first place or to not check-in that small
suitcase at least. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Well, I always check-in my small
suitcase. But have also always wondered why I don’t carry it with me and save
some time. So on that fateful day, I was quite early to the airport (4:15 am)
and decided to try it out. I checked with the Air Asia counter if small bottles
of soap and shampoo were allowed. </div>
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<br /></div>
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They were ok with it, as long as I didn’t
have any sharp objects. They raised their eyebrows about my drum sticks, but
were eventually confident that that would pass too. I tried to remember if
there were any sharp objects and couldn’t recall any but my shaving razor which
I remembered when I was waiting at the security check queue.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Google expressed reasonable confidence
that most safety razors would pass. As I waited on the other side of the
security belt, I eagerly studied the face of the person manning the X-ray
machine as my suitcase was being scanned. His bored gazed lingered a bit longer
but finally he let it through. Just as I was sighing in relief, he looked at me
and said ‘There is a nail clipper in there, next to the razor.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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Shit! I had totally forgotten
about it. I mentally prepared a response, but he continued. ‘But that is not
the issue. What is the item between your razor and nail clipper?’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I had no clue what he was talking
about. ‘May I open and check?’ As if I had a choice. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘Yes please.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It was a bloody swiss army knife!
I had put it in there about a year back and had used it exactly twice since
then. I sheepishly took it out and showed it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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He shook his head sadly and said
‘Destroy karna padega.’ (Has to be destroyed)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Though I was frustrated thinking
of the time I would now be spending in going back to the check-in counter,
checking the bag in, and walking through the burgeoning security queues, I had
already mentally prepared myself. It was only 4:30 and my boarding was not
until 5:15. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘Ok, give it back to me, let me
go back and check the luggage in.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘It is not that easy sir. Please
go and bring an airline staff with you, and I will release the item.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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That mustn’t be hard, should it.
I went down to gate #5 to see Indigo boarding their passengers but there was no
Air Asia staff in sight.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I went back to the security and told
him that. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘Can’t help it sir. Your flight
is at 6. I will wait till then and then…’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘Then?’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘Destroy karna padega.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘Hey you can’t do that. I want to
go and check it in along with my luggage. Help me out here.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘Ok, sir. Go to helpdesk around
the corner and talk to them. They will call Air Asia staff.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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That surely must be easy! Isn’t
it? And it is too. If the helpdesk staff sat in their seats. But they weren’t
there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘Sir the helpdesk isn’t there.’ I
was back at security.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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‘Then you will have to wait for
Air Asia staff to come. Am afraid there is no other option.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
4:40.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I moved around frantically
looking for some help somewhere when I saw a person from Airports Authority of
India(AAI), moving around looking important with a walkie-talkie in hand. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘You tell me… what do I do now?’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Sir, please go to that last
security person, he will help you call the airline.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I walked, not slowly anymore,
towards that guy and explained. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Sir, please bring an Air Asia
staff with you.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘But there are none down there.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Sir, there is a helpdesk…’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘But there is no one behind the
desk to help!’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Sir, then am afraid you’ll have
to wait. At flight take-off time, it will be destroyed’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
America wouldn’t have been so
zealous in destroying North Korean nukes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘But can’t you call them?’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘No sir, we can’t call them from
here.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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4:45.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I jog to the place where I found
the AAI guy, but he was probably somewhere else looking important. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My roving eyes caught a desk
behind which was another important looking security personnel by the name of
Chouhan (name changed for anonymity). And along with him were two junior men.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I went and explained the issue to
them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Chouhan nodded and said in broken
English. ‘I try to help you. Will do my best.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I was at my sarcastic best then
and wondered how one can do anything but his best when all he has to do is make
a call to the counter below.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He nodded at one of the junior
guys who then made a call post which he asked me to stand near a particular
security check counter as that is where the airline staff would be entering
from. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
4:55. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Every airline except
Air-Asia seemed to be busy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I went back to Chouhan who said
he had already made three calls to Air Asia. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘I am going to lose this knife.
For no mistake of mine!’ I muttered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Mistake is not in you, sir. It
was in that toiletry bag of yours.’ He was trying to be funny I guess. Bad
timing, Chouhan. I was fast losing hope. I could picture the security guy
laughing evilly while destroying the knife (I couldn’t help wondering how one
would go about ‘destroying’ a Swiss knife. Hammer it to pieces? Beats me!). I
was determined to get it back, but didn’t know how to!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
5:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Finally, one lady from Air Asia
walked in like she was leading by a slim margin in a fast walking race. When I
asked her to help me out with the suitcase check-in, she looked at her watch
and determined it was too late for me to do it. When I insisted, she said her
colleague who was about to come along ‘any time now’ would help me and that she
had to go as she was in a hurry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
5:05.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Her colleague made a call to
someone and told me that the counter was closed. I could still go and try, but
that she would not be responsible if I missed the flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘But I have been waiting here
since 4:30 for you guys. I was much ahead of time, all you had to do was sign a
piece of paper that would have enabled me to take back MY knife in MY bag, back
to the counter and check-it in, and all this at MY own risk of missing the
flight.’ <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Sorry sir, we had duty to attend
to.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
5:08<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Chouhan was still leaning back
and relaxing in his chair, arms folded behind his head. I told him about what
was happening and he was aghast. He leaned forward a bit and vented. ‘Being
here is not their duty is it?’ <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He called the Air Asia lady and spoke
to her and tried to circumvent process a bit, but together they discussed and
dismissed a couple of options. I decided to throw in the towel, and was ready
to leave.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘But you should not leave them
sir. Please call them and blast them. You wait, let me call them and give you
the phone. Saala no one’s on time here nowadays.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Before I could protest, he had
the number dialled, the speaker phone on, and the phone was ringing at the
other end. I really didn’t want to do this now. I didn’t even know what time
they were supposed to be at the boarding counter, so what was I supposed to
tell them!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
5:12<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Thankfully no one picked up. I
told Chouhan that I was going to board the flight. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘What? You have quit? Wait a
minute,’ he asked another guy (Bahadur - name changed for anonymity) to go with me and
have a look at the item.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Ok, now this was the embarrassing
bit. The Swiss knife I had was very small. Probably the size of </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Bahadur’s pinky
finger. So while I walked with him to the security counter where the destroyer
guy had the knife, I tried to cover up a bit. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘It is a very small knife but has
huge sentimental value, you see.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Oh! I see!’ All Bahadur wanted
was a peaceful morning and I wasn’t exactly the meditation centre he was hoping
for. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
What was even more embarrassing was
that the knife was right on the security table near the guard and Bahadur kept
looking around for it. I had to point it out to him. He gave me a
is-this-what-you-have-been-making-me-run-around-for look and took it back to
Chouhan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
5:15. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Boarding was on. My phone
buzzed. It was the wife. Messaging me to forget the knife and ensure that I
caught the flight instead and that she would get me a brand new knife soon. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘When do you come back to the
airport?’ Chouhan asked inspecting the piece curiously.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Thursday night, sir.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Bahadur, tag this item, assign a
tracking number, and give it to sir.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I could not believe my ears!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Bahadur promptly took down my
boarding pass details, entered something in his diary, and asked me to collect
it on Thursday from the lost and found counter. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Give him a tracking number too,’
Chouhan reiterated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I got the tracking number written
down on the reverse of the boarding pass.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Still surprised at what just
happened I shook the man’s hand for what was the firmest handshake I could
recall from memory. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘I told you I would do my best,’
he said making me feel smaller than the knife for the sarcastic attitude I had
towards that statement earlier on. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘You did, sir and you did great!
And you too Bahadur,’ and shook his hand too. Nothing great about the firmness
of <i>his</i> handshake though. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I left a happy man. It is always
a pleasure to meet people that solve problems instead of re-iterating three
step SOPs (1-Find the Air-Asia staff. 2-Go to helpdesk. 3-Please wait and
repeat from 1). Chouhan went out of his call of duty, he broke through red-tape,
he ensured I get my knife. He did one more thing. He ensured the knife now had
sentimental value. Because I consider it a gift from him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
PS: I wanted to take a selfie
with him and post it on Facebook and make his deed go viral (Always wanted to
see how posts go viral, maybe that is an experiment I will have for another
day), but I wasn’t sure if that would get him into trouble. So I refrained! <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-9819392873232607682016-05-27T12:39:00.000+05:302016-05-27T12:44:36.682+05:30Building blocks of Excellence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Building blocks, looked at in isolation, these small little pieces can look insignificant, but they finally add up to the magnificent whole that is a beautiful skyscraper, a car that with twin silencers, a garden and many many more. Many a kid has longingly looked at a group of blocks and a glossy sheet of paper that shows what the blocks should become into, and wondered if there was a way to quickly put it all together.<br />
<br />
The other day I was with my drums instructor asking him to teach me how to do comping (check out the first 22 secs of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg1hoMybKKw" target="_blank">this video</a>) and he gave me a series of exercises to work upon, all of them nowhere near sounding like what this guy does here, but would eventually add up. Let me tell you, these exercises are real boring, require a lot of patience because they are tough, and take a long time to master. But the idea is that comping can be done ONLY if I master these exercises. So it is a small, boring building block, but one that ensures the larger beautiful picture is painted.<br />
<br />
Discipline in such small things is what makes people achieve greatness eventually. There is a constant urge, a push towards the big thing too early, that you see all around in general. What this does is, it leaves the person demotivated as the goal cant be reached without its foundations being proper. You could try day after day, hour after hour, to swim the perfect lap, but unless you spend that considerable amount of time practicing your breathing, it won't happen the way you want it to. You can't write a best-seller straight up, unless you brush up on your writing basics, spend that time tossing sheet after written sheet in the dustbin because you thought you could do lot better.<br />
<br />
After years of lifting weights in the gym (some entirely not in the right poses, I think now, in retrospect), my back finally gave way last year. I suffered tremendous discomfort due to the herniated disc for about a fortnight, and then slowly was at least on my feet able to walk. The recovery was agonizingly painful for someone like me who likes to be out of my home playing, cycling, hitting the gym and all of that. I was advised to do one thing at a time, and not to stretch it a lot. Finally now, I am back at the gym and putting in a lot of focus on doing things the right way and not as much on how much weight I lift. But more importantly, I have started doing the one thing I always kept away from - Yoga!<br />
<br />
I know that unless I strengthen my back all the effort I put in the gym is going to come to a naught pretty soon as I am sure to get injured. So I take the pains of getting up at 430 am at least once a week (I should be doing more ideally) and hit the 5 am yoga class. It is tough, my body isn't very flexible, getting up so early is not my cuppa, but I tell myself that unless I do it, I won't achieve my related goals in life.<br />
<br />
So figure out those foundation blocks that are unique to the things you want to excel in in your life, and work on them. It is painful, it can be irritating at times, and ironically, might even seem like they are standing in your way of achieving your goal faster as you are spending so much time on these foundation blocks, but every minute spent is only going to take you closer to excellence. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-56349913930017876502016-05-25T14:32:00.000+05:302016-05-25T14:35:06.406+05:30Of ketchups and sports stores...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One evening, my five-year old son (Siddarth) pointed out to a Ketchup bottle and told me proudly that he and paati (grandmother) bought it at a store that day. In a burst of fatherly inspiration (the kinds that helps us folk get away fairly unscathed despite having kids), I asked...<br />
<br />
'Do you know that Israel has banned tomato ketchups?'<br />
<br />
He gave me a puzzled look that said 'why the hell would anyone do THAT?' but lack of vocabulary made him shorten it to a simple 'Why??'<br />
<br />
'Cos it does not have tomatoes'.<br />
<br />
'But it has tomatoes dad. It is TOMATO ketchup.'<br />
<br />
'I know, son. But they feel it has more chemicals than tomatoes.'<br />
<br />
'Oh!'<br />
<br />
A pause. I went on setting the dinner table.<br />
<br />
'But India has not banned it. Why?'<br />
<br />
'Because, the Indian government feels that many kids here want tomato ketchup and so they would not be able to ban it here.'<br />
<br />
'Really?'<br />
<br />
'Yes, so if kids keep asking their parents for tomato ketchup everytime they go to a store, then it would never be banned and all kids in India would grow up eating chemicals.'<br />
<br />
'Dad, we should also stop?'<br />
<br />
'That is up to you Sid. I wont interfere. If you want to stop, you should tell mom.'<br />
<br />
'I am going to tell Mom to stop buying it.'<br />
<br />
'That is going to help a lot, Sid. Then slowly other kids will also want to stop, so if the government sees that tomato ketchups don't go away from the shelves at all then they are going to want to stop the wastage, and hence stop production.'<br />
<br />
Then he realized what he had signed up for. So he quickly asked 'What about that other ketchup that doesn't come in a bottle but is in a pack instead?'<br />
<br />
I knew he didn't want to give up on ketchup.<br />
<br />
'You could get ketchup from Nisarga (a local organic store) instead.'<br />
<br />
'Nisarga? Why?'<br />
<br />
'Cos chemicals would not be much in those ketchups and it might just be real tomatoes.'<br />
<br />
'Oh yes! I am going to tell mom to buy only from Nisarga'<br />
<br />
Cut to an hour later, when Niel (his mom) walks in from work.<br />
<br />
'Mom, come here, come here.' He drags her to the ketchup bottle and says, 'Don't buy this from now on. It has chemicals.'<br />
<br />
Niel gives him and me a puzzled look and says 'ok....?'<br />
<br />
'Let us buy it from...' he pauses. 'Decathlon!' he says emphatically. Decathlon is a popular sports store.<br />
<br />
Niel goes 'Are you sure? Decathlon doesn't sell ketchups.'<br />
<br />
'It does mom, dad told me just now.'<br />
<br />
Niel looked at me and all I could do was roll my eyes.<br />
<br />
Yet another interesting chapter in the book of parenthood!<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-28229954320221270452015-01-21T23:12:00.000+05:302015-01-21T23:12:15.383+05:30Recognising love<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It has been normal for a long time now to organise farewell dinners or meetings for colleagues at work when they quit. It has also become normal to 'gift' the outgoing person as a show of love. While this sounds great, lately I have become disturbed by the increasing trend of what people think of how much a person should be gifted. There was one conversation I was in, where this colleague of mine who was collecting money for buying a farewell gift was shocked to find that one of our team members had given 'just' Rs 100 and that for the subsequent farewell (which was to be of our team leader), we should all pitch in with at least Rs 500 per person. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I retorted immediately saying we really should not be putting any cap on what people offer and that one's presence at the farewell function should be more than enough to show one's love for the outgoing colleague. To counter even this last point, just because Gandhiji was not present at Nehru's Freedom at midnight speech, doesn't mean he loved India any less. (For the facts, he was attending to the sick and needy at some other place, Gujarat I think, at that time)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I was aghast at her thought processes and was discussing this with my wife at night, when she told me of something similar that happened in her office the same day. And this got me thinking as to what are we really valuing in life...Money? Gifts? Or one's company and loving deeds? Do we want to equate the importance we give to the person to the quantum of money contributed to farewell gifts? </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The nature of man to want material things is probably at its peak now. And I see it everywhere. Spouses smile more at the sight of more expensive gifts, children love that guest at their birthday party that brings in the biggest car, and so on. Gifting has become synonymous with love and I don't have a problem with that. Not gifting or not gifting much is frowned upon in some quarters and <i><b>that </b></i>is the attitude we need to change. And we can change it, if we dig deep and think of what we really see as expressions of love. Whether we value the guy who sits late at night and offers to help you complete your work or do we value the other person who brings in a bottle of champagne when back from his trip to France? Does the spouse who gets back early from work, decks up the house, cooks great dinner, and keep his favourite movie ready any less than the spouse that swipes a card for an on-line purchase of his favourite perfume? </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Let us not measure love in terms of money and things. Love is subtle, is in the small things as much if not more in the bigger ones. Is in the small hand-written and designed note tucked on your PC saying 'Great job, Krish. Love you for ever and will miss you even beyond that' as much as it is in a Rs 1000 contribution to the farewell gift. By measuring love with money, we are just reducing the value of the emotion to numbers. Let us learn to love and recognise love!</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-75781603524778297462014-04-07T22:23:00.003+05:302014-04-07T22:23:42.810+05:30One day in the life of a 'C'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">I sat in the room next to my best
friend, she looked so pretty that day – hair neatly braided, teeth white and
shining, so fair and beautiful. Didi walked into the room and sat on her chair
and we all got up, said good morning and sat down on the floor. What an
imposing figure Didi was. She always tells us what to do and what not do and I
love her for that. Wait...who is this stranger now walking into the classroom?!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Children, he is here to observe the
classroom so I want all of you in your best behaviour,’ Didi said clarifying my
question instantly. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">Test time. I had to write down Urdu
letters from the blackboard. Ah, so difficult! Don’t know how my best friend
does it. She is so quick and so smart. No one in the class can better her!
There she goes to Didi with her notebook. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Well done, now go back, place your
book upside down and do something else while the others finish.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">Place upside down! I almost laughed
out. She is my friend, she will help me with the answers orally. I don’t have
to look into her notebook. I nudged her as soon as she sat down. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Tell me… is this right?’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">She peered slyly into my note and
quickly turned her gaze away when she heard Didi cough. I nudged her again. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Tell.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">She looked at me and nodded. I
cracked it. I knew I could get Urdu if not Maths. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">I got up, walked over to Didi and
flashed my book. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Are you sure you got it right?’ she
said in that tone which suggested that I had drawn pictures of pigs on the note
instead of copying Urdu letters from the board.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">I put my head down, rolled my
eyeballs towards my friend for confirmation. She was busy chatting with the
other girl. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Why are you looking at her?’ Didi snapped. How did <i>she</i> know! </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Yes, I think its right,’ I muttered.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Some kids, you can teach them how
many ever times, in so many different ways, but they just don’t get it,’ Didi
looked at the classroom observer and said. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-IN">Pity those kids </span></i><span lang="EN-IN">I thought. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘I mean, they look normal, talk
normal, play normal, but when it comes to studies, they peter out fast.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-IN">Poor things. I hope they someone
find a way to study well.</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Look at this one. She is healthy,
strong, has a lovely smile, but she simply doesn’t get it.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-IN">Wait! What! Me?! You are talking
about me?!</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Some research has to be done on <i>these
kind</i> of kids.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN"><i>Research?</i> What's a <i>research?</i> And what <i>kind</i>
of kid was I? </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">I looked at the observer. He sat
there smiling though it didn’t seem like he wanted to. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">So I <i>was</i> bad after all. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Please do it right and bring. It is
simple. Just look at the board and draw those things there. They are called
letters.’ She circled three letters in her red pen and I went back to my place.
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-IN">Why did my friend say they were
right? Maybe she didn’t see them right. Ok, let me start all over again. Aah.
Pencil lead broke. Now what!</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">I thought of asking her, but she
seemed very engrossed in her work. And Didi was also keeping a watchful eye.
What if she felt I don’t keep my things properly and another <i>research</i>
needs to be done on that. So I went digging into the dark depths of my bag.
There it was! Nope. Too small, my little finger was bigger than that. I dug
more. Didn’t find any. Decided to go with the small one. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">These curves, so tough they are. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Keep the book on the bag, beta. You
will be able to write better,’ Didi’s </span>told me in her calm voice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">That was a good idea. <i>Start on
top, curve to the right, and finish at the bottom.</i> I looked up to compare with the blackboard and it was
wrong. I didn’t get it, yet another time. Rubber time. Rubber? Rubber? Depths
of the bag didn’t produce a rubber. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Let us move on to the next piece,
children,’ Didi can’t wait for me for ever no.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span lang="EN-IN">How do I rub this mistake now before
someone sees it. Finger. </span></i><span lang="EN-IN">I looked left and right, everyone was staring at Didi. I rubbed my
forefinger against the letter…it slowly disappeared but in a very bad way,
leaving dark stains as it went. <i>How clean my friend’s book looked and look
at this one! No wonder everybody likes her. Clumsy me.</i></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘There are the As and the Bs that
are doing all right, but then three children fall in the C category, with whom
we have no idea what to do,’ Didi answered some question of the observer.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">Her fingers pointed to me, one more
girl, and that boy who always sat at the back.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">I rubbed more vigorously, my damn
mistake, it was not going away. <i>What if the observer or Didi saw it NOW.
When they are talking of me. </i>I licked my finger and rubbed again. That
usually doesn’t go wrong except for the occasional tendency to make a hole in the paper.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Why is that boy sitting there on
his own by the drum?’ the observer spoke.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Oh he is one of the few As. He
doesn’t want others to copy his answers. Very smart kid you see and children
always want the easy way out and look into his notes.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Oye, see what people ask of you. You want to sit inside that drum there? That way no one
would be able to see even you, leave alone your answers.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">I laughed out loud. Didi can be
really funny!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">But I admired that boy. How
confident he must be to not want to sit next to anyone in class. I will faint
if I were made to do that. Imagine not being able to look into your friend’s
notes. But someday I will get there. I will be so confident that I wouldn’t
have the need to sit next to anyone. That day, I will go and sit alone, on my
own and not show answers to anyone. Maybe to my friend, she has helped me a
lot, but not to anyone else. Certainly not to <i>that</i> boy.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">Didi left and my favourite <i>sir</i>
walked in for Maths. Someone so nice shouldn’t be teaching maths! He should be
a sports teacher or an arts teacher instead. Someday I will tell him that.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Ram bought a book for Rs 50 and
gave it away for Rs 40. Was that a right thing to do? Don’t say the answer,,
raise your hands.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">This was easy! I almost jumped up
from the floor while raising my hand. My friend too did.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘You,’ sir said pointing at me.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Right thing, sir.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Right thing? Right thing?’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">He was so surprised that I got the
answer right. ‘Yes, sir.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">Sir, exchanged a glance with the
observer. Am sure he felt proud of me at that moment.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Ok, you tell me,’ said sir to my
friend.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Wrong sir.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Why?’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">But he didn’t ask ME why! Why??!!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Because it is a loss, sir. I would
have sold it for Rs 60 for a profit.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Shabaash. There comes the answer.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN"><i>But what if he is giving to a
friend? It didn’t matter to give out a book to a friend. And not like
I am giving for free anyway.</i></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘But remember, not everything is
profit and loss. To friends you can give your things to share,’ sir continued as if he read my mind.
But that is what I wanted to say. He should have asked me <i>why</i>!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">Rest of the class went smoothly. I
wanted to answer the next question, but sir didn’t see my raised hand. The
question on multiplication was too complex, so I didn’t bother. The next
question on addition was easy, but sir, I think, wanted to test the others, so I didn’t even raise my hand.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">Final bell and I ran home.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">Mom hugged me so tightly. ‘Beta…come
come. I have been missing you so much! Did you enjoy your day in school today?’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘Enjoy? I loved it!’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">‘That is so nice beta. At least you can
sit at school and come back though you won’t understand much.’</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">I didn’t even hear the rest of what
she said, I was so hungry that I ran straight to get my plate.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN">*** Note - This semi-fictional account was inspired by the experiences of a girl in one of the government schools I visited in interior Rajasthan. Thanks to the ignorance of the teachers, there are many children like this across the nation that are being cast aside as poor performers with whom no real change can happen.*** </span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-84872370987464253532011-11-20T01:53:00.001+05:302011-11-20T02:24:03.196+05:30The tale of an Ayush Homam<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The day began with Siddarth aka
Hari Narayanan waking up at 530 am to have a bath before the ‘yama kandam’
started at 6 am. He, by the way, is my son who just turned one that day as per
the Tamil calendar and hence we were about to have the function called the
‘Ayush homam’ wherein the child is blessed with a long life by elders of the
family.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
After a quick oil massage, he had
the bath and escaped the dreaded time of 6 am. He was safely out of the
bathroom and in his new clothes looking smart and unaware blissfully of the
long day ahead of him. Slowly the family members, and a typical Iyengar’s
family consists of many layers and … sub-layers, so get ready for a plethora of
names and the relationship confusions - streamed in. First to land were my
mother’s brother (mama), Mani and his wife, Maternal grandmother and mother’s sister
- they made the long trip from Tirupathi to Chennai in a Toyota SUV and were in
our house promptly by 6 AM. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VVwXy4EgFuo/TsgQ3jDtgII/AAAAAAAAMt4/w2BNGBQP99w/s1600/DSC_0325.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VVwXy4EgFuo/TsgQ3jDtgII/AAAAAAAAMt4/w2BNGBQP99w/s200/DSC_0325.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mani mama, his daughter, and Sid</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My mama himself is a certified pundit, but since he
is almost of the same age as I am, we are at first name terms with each other
and he is more of a fun pundit than most of the others (that does not mean he
does not take his work seriously, he is just more open than many others)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As I played with my son, I
ignored two to three calls from my dad asking me to have a bath. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Muhurtam is only at 7:30 dad,
chill,’ I said as I rushed to save Sid’s head from making contact with a chair.
Dad grunted and got himself busy hanging mango leaves inside the house, getting
bricks ready for the homam (holy fire) and such activities that characterize these
events. His elder brother arrived next.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘The function is today, right?’
he asked aloud alarming of my parents, who were surely that he had spotted
something seriously wrong in the arrangement.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OpkXReAZogI/TsgRWDo_ZwI/AAAAAAAAMuA/6BnoXd4_6uE/s1600/DSC_0400.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OpkXReAZogI/TsgRWDo_ZwI/AAAAAAAAMuA/6BnoXd4_6uE/s200/DSC_0400.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Periyappa</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Yes, why?’ Dad’s voice was extremely
tense.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Varun is standing with a half
drawer (loose term for ‘shorts’) on, that is why.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I froze. I could almost hear my
dad seethe, the thought ‘I told you so’ would be flooding his brain now and he
would let it out anytime unless I defused the situation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘I am going right away Perippa (relationship
term meaning ‘dad’s elder brother’). I was giving Mani directions,’ I said and
scooted, towel in hand into the bathroom.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My wife, Niel, who had travelled
half way across India from Ranchi, to be married into this family, courtesy the
crazy little thing called love, was getting another hang of a family function
in South India. The last time we celebrated something similar was Diwali where
she had a bath at 5 AM, thinking what more could be appropriate on a festival
day, only to be question by mom why she bathed without asking her. What about
the oil to be applied on the head?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘How was I to know? Neither you
nor mom told me about it yesterday,’ Niel protested to me behind closed doors.
Fair point but I obviously did not tell mom that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This time though, she got the
green light from everyone before bathing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
By that time, many more had
trickled in, my cousins, dad’s sister’s (1) husband shortly followed by his
son, dad’s sister (2) and her husband and their daughter-in-law, shortly
followed by their son(2.1), dad’s sister‘s(2) daughter and her husband (all the
way from Trichy), dad’s younger brother, dad’s elder brother(3) and his wife
and his wife’s sister, dad’s elder brother’s (4) daughter(4.1), dad’s elder
brother’s (4) son and his wife and their daughter, dad’s elder brother’s (4)
daughter (4.2). Sorry, I know it is going above your head now, but you got the
picture right? Wrong! You just have half the picture, because also present
were… Maternal grandmother (from Tirupathi) who came along with mom’s brother
(mentioned in the early part of this blog) and his wife, mom’s sister (1) and
mom’s sister (2) and her husband (all the way from Kumbakonam). Even now you
just have 95% of the complete picture as I am sure I missed some folks along
the way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LACjYun3cMM/TsgR_x036ZI/AAAAAAAAMuI/WmlQUD78qgA/s1600/DSC_0405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LACjYun3cMM/TsgR_x036ZI/AAAAAAAAMuI/WmlQUD78qgA/s320/DSC_0405.JPG" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A small portion of the 95% mentioned <br />
in the article</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The priests came by around 7:15
and started busying up the place. ‘Put the bricks here,’ ‘Place the puja items
here,’ ‘Where are the plantain leaves,’ ‘Ask the son (me) to get dressed up,’
‘Ask the girl (Niel) to get dressed up’ and so on. Mani promptly took me aside
with a splendid dhoti in hand to help me get the panchakacham done. Mani is a
man of the Vedas. His family (my mom’s family that is) was one of priests and I
never fail to tell people that care (or those that don’t too) that back in the
70s and 80s, my maternal grandfather was one of five people that ran the temple
of goddess Padmavathi in Tiruchanur, Tirupathi.<br />
<br />
The temple is the second most
famous in Tirupathi as it is the abode of the divine consort of Lord
Venkateshwara who people flock to visit in the Tirumala hills. His son, Mani,
had taken his line of work and was one of the more well-known pundits in the
town. It is always a pleasure seeing him perform rites and rituals, shouting
out the slokas with perfect emphasis on each of the syllables. He would even
throw a gentle line of taunt or two in the middle just to catch the attention
of people around. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He wrapped the dhoti around my
legs, through my legs, and across my hips in a fashion that was as complex as
any piece of code that I have written in my seven years in the IT industry.
‘Whenever you are free on Sundays, try this out.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8hETxVUqiWQ/TsgSxncNBII/AAAAAAAAMuQ/5F6dVz3YJ6Y/s1600/DSC_0363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8hETxVUqiWQ/TsgSxncNBII/AAAAAAAAMuQ/5F6dVz3YJ6Y/s320/DSC_0363.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panchakacham and Madisar eh!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I will check on you after two
months and you should be able to do this by yourself,’ he told me. I just
smiled in return but the guy is so persuasive that for the first time in life,
I fantasized on how it would be to learn the art.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I suddenly realised that Niel was
missing for the last 30 minutes. After searching for her everywhere, I realised
that the door to one of the room’s had been shut for a long time and in a house
as busy as ours was that day, no door can be shut unless people were in it. It
was elementary. Niel was being dressed up in the women’s version of the
panchakacham, the ‘madisar’ or the ‘nine-yard saree’!!! And I was sure there
were at least 2-3 attendants making sure every fold was right. Sure enough, she
came out looking like a bride, all over again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
We sat at the wooden platforms
placed for us on the floor, in front of the square homa enclosure, surrounded
by four priests and all the people I mentioned earlier. The function began.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Priests behave in different ways
– They either rush the slokas in a hurry, pay scant respect to whether you, as
the host, utter each of those slokas properly or not, collect their money and
leave even before the ‘Muhurtam’ time is over. This is done if the host is
judged (by the priest) as someone that wants the function done just so it has
to be done and just because the religion demands it from them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But if the host and family are inherently
religious (this sounds more like my family), and even worse (from the priests’
business point of view), if there are qualified pundits in the host’s family
itself (there were at least four people from either side of my family that day
that recited the slokas along with the priests, two of them ultra-qualified
pundits, holding important positions in some of
the top temples in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu- two of the major Brahmin
bastions of India), not only will the priests ensure they recite the slokas
slowly, they would also be a tad nervous if they are intimidated by the wealth
of knowledge around them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So the main priest began reciting
the slokas taking care that I recited them properly after him. Even in the
second scenario that I mentioned above, a certain minimum speed has to be
maintained when reciting the slokas as the Muhurtam time was usually short,
spanning anywhere between an hour and a half to two hours. And at this speed,
it is difficult to follow what all is being said even if it is said in English,
leave alone in Sanskrit (which of course was the language of the day). The art
of not embarrassing oneself by blabbering something completely unrelated to
what was just said takes years to cultivate and being brought up in the family
and having gone through many functions like this (‘Upanayanam’-Holy thread
ceremony, ‘Changing of the holy thread’ ceremony – once every year since the
Upanayanam, My marriage, Ceremony held at the eighth month after Niel conceived
to name just a few), I knew most of the slokas soon as the priest started
uttering them and had some tricks up my panchakacham to handle the other
bouncers thrown at me. For those that are searching for ways, here are a few in
ascending order of difficulty:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span>Top
most and easiest of them all is to start a phrase as soon the pundit starts it.
This way, you can get away uttering anything from that day’s cricket scores to
the news headlines till the last part of the phrase (that almost always ends
with a ‘swaha’) is recited. But unless the elderlings around you are totally
deaf, do not recite the news headlines. Rather, try following the priest and
say things that at least sound similar to what he says and then end the phrase
with the mandatory ‘Swaha.’</li>
<li>Grab
hold of the mantra book prior to sitting on the hot seat and follow it as and
when the slokas are being recited</li>
<li>Learn
all the mantras by-heart and fire away at will, go on give people around you a
complex. At the end of the day, you might even get a little extra (in the form
of Ashirvadam) by the elders. Not the easiest way to earn money, but hey, who
said earning money was easy!</li>
</ol>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RQdHhaUtpg4/TsgTXIvVxmI/AAAAAAAAMuY/RZ2g1j8_MEk/s1600/DSC_0352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RQdHhaUtpg4/TsgTXIvVxmI/AAAAAAAAMuY/RZ2g1j8_MEk/s320/DSC_0352.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Head priest intimidating us</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This pundit was good and constantly
ensured that I was at least keeping pace with him as he recited along merrily.
He would merely increase the tone and pitch of his voice if he found that I was
getting distracted and that would bring me back to planet earth from wherever I
went (which that day, ranged from something as exciting as TinTin-3D to something
as mundane as just getting rid of the dhoti in favor of my ‘half drawer’).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The pundit breed is ultra-special.
You will not see many people speak better and so confidently in public
gatherings, not even the top salesman in award winning car dealerships. They
have to meet people from all strata of society – rich, poor, Six pack Suryas to
those with one big MRF tyre pack (as obese people are referred to jocularly)
and a lot more variety. Doing this day in and day out make them so garrulous
that only empty politicians or army officers can challenge them in this trade.
My mama is no different and can hold in own even if he is amidst NASA
scientists discussing their next launch. He would probably convince them into
visiting Tirupathi to seek the Lord’s blessings for the launch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The chorus of the slokas raced
ahead towards its imminent conclusion when the chief priest’s phone rang the
tune of another sloka. He picked up the phone, glanced at the number, looked
sheepishly at the rest of us, and signaled us to stop for a bit. And attended
the call, much to my surprise. I remember my dad slapping me on my head during
my younger days if he found me spacing out during these functions, and here the
priest was on phone giving directions to some guy who apparently wanted to
reach some place. The audience looked at each other wondering how to bell the
cat and resume the chorus. My father’s younger brother did it elegantly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘What happened?’ he asked, addressing
everyone and no one in particular. ‘Some emergency?’ he feigned a state of
shock while neatly conveying the message that such an interruption in the midst
of a major family function could be warranted <i>only</i> by an emergency and nothing else.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The chorus resumed instantly and
all was well again. The function ended in the next fifteen minutes and the
crowd dispersed to various corners of the house – the women folk bunched around
in gangs in the kitchen, terrace and in one of the bedrooms, men lorded over
the ceremonial hall and the verandah, my son ruled the entire house commanding attention
wherever he went, the priests stuck to the space around the homa kundam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Mrs. I and I were then paraded
around the house by various elders who suggested to us to prostrate before and
take the blessings of other elders around. Though we were used to this, my mom
thankfully nudged my dad and asked him to tell everyone to gather around so
that Mrs. I and I can prostrate before all en masse. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P0P-IDPa2zk/TsgT64MCN8I/AAAAAAAAMug/EJEiTdDCeBg/s1600/DSC_0384.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P0P-IDPa2zk/TsgT64MCN8I/AAAAAAAAMug/EJEiTdDCeBg/s320/DSC_0384.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beginning of a prostration,<br />
not even the kid is spared!!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And so, the who is who of
the Rangarajan family gathered around in the ceremonial hall and showered a ‘limited
meals’ amount of ‘Akshata’ (rice mixed with turmeric powder, considered very
auspicious) on us. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The day ended with me and my wife
replacing our festival clothing with more modern and comfortable clothing. Yet
another family function, high on religious quotient and very eventful! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Post Script<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The current generation, I don’t think,
is very excited when it comes to such functions. I shamefully include myself in
that category. But my humble opinion is that when we take time off to explain
to our children practical and religious significances of such events, the point
would go much farther. Fortunately or otherwise, the world is tending to be
more scientific and less religious. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WwnOlRb9cHU/TsgUYxGIyjI/AAAAAAAAMuo/QkzZccR905I/s1600/DSC_0318.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WwnOlRb9cHU/TsgUYxGIyjI/AAAAAAAAMuo/QkzZccR905I/s320/DSC_0318.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bk1C7nr_-bI/TsgUlf7EuYI/AAAAAAAAMuw/Rc9QM4MUYCE/s1600/DSC_0357.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bk1C7nr_-bI/TsgUlf7EuYI/AAAAAAAAMuw/Rc9QM4MUYCE/s320/DSC_0357.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dad 'ashirwad'ing us</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Therefore, just thrusting rites and rituals
on children would more often fail than succeed.<br />
<br />
From the other side,
we, the internet generation, need to understand the sensibilities behind our
parents laying stress on such events. Not everything religious can be explained
practically, and generations of educated people cannot be wrong. So, unless you
would be seriously impacted, let us go ahead with the flow, understand the meaning of
these events beforehand, enjoy them and make them enjoyable for everyone around.<br />
<br />
If we all make these adjustments, our culture would
be able to stand the test of time for a very long while to come.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Swaha!</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-61749589569855634462011-10-04T09:14:00.000+05:302011-10-04T09:14:50.068+05:30Backpacking in the Cats<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We waited in Tarrytown, waiting for April to arrive,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘The cars around me on the bridge’ she said, ‘were like bees in a hive.’</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The five of us carpooled in the Toyota and the Merc, sped towards Prediger road,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were excited about the Devil’s path, ready with our 30 pound load.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So we arrived at 10 o clock, parking in the dark,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was not a single sound, neither of man nor of the lark.</span></div>
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</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O43tTtIO2Ew/Top9nhgdyxI/AAAAAAAAMjk/iF71EzglYXo/s1600/erica+in+the+car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O43tTtIO2Ew/Top9nhgdyxI/AAAAAAAAMjk/iF71EzglYXo/s200/erica+in+the+car.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Did we take all our stuff?’ someone asked, ‘the maps, compass and the water?’</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cos we need to spend time in the woods for the next day and a quarter.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">April fell down reaching for the maps, the first in a series of ten,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But boy was she tough surviving it all, like a lion in its own den.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HBpKIvudhZA/Top-Hqls6uI/AAAAAAAAMj4/wBYg5sHje-0/s1600/bear+bag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" id=":current_picnik_image" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HBpKIvudhZA/Top-Hqls6uI/AAAAAAAAMj4/wBYg5sHje-0/s200/bear+bag.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lean-to was soon in sight, after the one mile hike,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we tied our food in plastic bags and hung it on a tree higher than the bears would like.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VDOBhFdCD1Q/Top-g1zksjI/AAAAAAAAMkE/izXrAtS6rx4/s1600/river.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VDOBhFdCD1Q/Top-g1zksjI/AAAAAAAAMkE/izXrAtS6rx4/s200/river.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
We soon slept in our sleeping bags, after hanging to dry our shoe(s)<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all the night the roar of a river nearby, our ears listened to.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The birds chirped, the water dripped, when day finally broke</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What a crisp day it was then, its beauty made us choke.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We had our food, and filtered the river water, thanks to April’s portable device,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Little did poor Judy know then that the device had a vice.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Oh no, will we fall sick?’ that was Judy’s grouse,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">when April revealed suddenly that she forgot the filtering element in her house.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But we had bigger problems down the trail, as slowly the Devil revealed</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">why so many people before us had tried the trail and failed </span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Well the above line was just for fun, not the truth)</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On and on the trail went, not something you would love,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Especially if it goes up and down, like a sine curve.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We did not stop for lunch at all, we were racing against time,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to get the day’s hike over with, before the end of sunshine.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First we came to Indian head, then the Twin mountain peaks,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">followed by the Sugarloaf, crossing many creeks.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then we descended in the dark, stumbling over the rocks,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cliff climbing with just headlights, not a stroll in the parks.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FwKzFYYFzUc/Top-1uxuwjI/AAAAAAAAMkI/jESXhZgTrYs/s1600/mink+hollow+lean+to.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FwKzFYYFzUc/Top-1uxuwjI/AAAAAAAAMkI/jESXhZgTrYs/s200/mink+hollow+lean+to.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘There is the lean-to’ screamed one of us,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tired, relieved, and what-not, we changed after we undressed.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Toni, the fireman, made a valiant try,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to get a fire started but alas the wood wasn’t dry.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We all sat inside the shelter trying to get warm and cozy,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but when swirling around Toni, the draft seemed to get lazy.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Tis already 9 O clock, the time is just right,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to go to sleep,’ said April, ‘cos its hikers’ midnight.’</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LI9i40XsXGM/Top_RzOU51I/AAAAAAAAMkQ/VfOEM1Q0t6M/s1600/lean+to.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LI9i40XsXGM/Top_RzOU51I/AAAAAAAAMkQ/VfOEM1Q0t6M/s200/lean+to.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The whole night it rained, without any respite,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but the morning brought rich sunshine, much to our delight.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So for the final time, we packed our bags with the pans and pots,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and receded from the lean-to, with rather heavy hearts.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last three miles seemed like the longest, but we crossed them after all,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to complete the first, but not the only </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">hike of the fall.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o4DGYZQa7cE/Top_hDX6dgI/AAAAAAAAMkU/IOTW1iXlb8U/s1600/all+of+us.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o4DGYZQa7cE/Top_hDX6dgI/AAAAAAAAMkU/IOTW1iXlb8U/s400/all+of+us.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-90357192144377848422011-09-24T02:33:00.001+05:302011-09-24T02:56:01.379+05:30Crunch time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
“Ok sonny, six balls to go and you
got 12 runs to make, how do you plan to win? This world cup is ours for sure.’</div>
<div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Wasim Bhai. Not for nothing am I
best batsman in the world. Bring in your inswingers, you will see them swung to
the boundary with equal speed.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Huh…here you go..Hey, don’t duck.
Really? That’s the best you could do? 12 off 5 now. You are done for.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OPusFYwDm2M/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OPusFYwDm2M/0.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
‘Umpire, Wasim is distracting me.
Please do something.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Come on Sachin baby. This is a final. Pakistan
is playing India and you want to play like mutes?’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Ok, old man. Out with your next ball.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Shucks. Damn this dew. You are
lucky you got a full toss buddy. My next one will toss your bat to the boundary.
Stop sniggering.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘I told you. The
boundary is not far when the little master plays. 8 off 4 now? My grandmother
could score that.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘That’s fine. I would not want my
upcoming bouncer to injure someone old. So stick to your crease. Here it goes.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Damn this dew’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘I heard that chubby. You
defended? Rahul would have done better’.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Hey. My bat slipped, else this
ball would have struck your coach Javed who is sitting in the box enjoying mutton
biryani.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Yeah, yeah. I hope the fans of
India don’t make biryani out of you once you lose this match. 8 off 3 brother.
Not sure if your grandma would like to play in this situation, eh!’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘She would not want to. Cos there
is no challenge. With a wimp like you bowling. Why are you taking so much time
anyway? Scared?’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Here you go buster. Take that Yorker.
You flicked it? You actually flicked it? That was pad first. Umpire, come on.
You cannot be serious!!!’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Hey, hey. Don’t do a McEnroe
here. The umpire has given his decision. Will you please ask Shoaib at the boundary
to be sharper than that? It is getting too easy for me. I think he is still thinking
about his autobiography.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘You don’t worry about that, Mr Tedulkar!
Here goes the last ball of the match.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Now you can’t count? There are
two balls left. 4 runs to make.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘But you will last only this ball,
Tendla. The stumps better be strong enough to withstand my pace. Ugggh’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Ooh! That almost got me, damn
it. But I will take the two runs. 2 of 1 big boy. What do you reckon?’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘No time, take this. Oh no, you
hit it. Shoaib, come on, stop the boundary.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Hey, What happened? It became
dark suddenly.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘That’s because I have been
calling out to father and son for the last 15 minutes to stop that stupid Xbox game
and come and eat breakfast.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘Awww mom! But that was the final
ball of ther World Cup!!! You can't switch off the TV like that’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
‘If our actual cricketers had so
much passion, we would do better. Now please eat!’</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>'I wrote this for a 500-word dialogue only short story competition. Was fun writing it, and I was able to space out for about 20 minutes at work!'</i></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-19837697755142352262011-08-28T10:59:00.001+05:302011-08-28T11:15:21.560+05:30Irene whispers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/582590main_Irene-GOES-LARGE-20110826.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/582590main_Irene-GOES-LARGE-20110826.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The news was bombarded with stories
of the wreckage created by <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=irene&um=1&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=667&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=hurricane+irene+2011&pbx=1&oq=hurricane+irene+2011&aq=f&aqi=g-z3g-v1g-z1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=2149l4715l0l4838l12l8l0l0l0l0l300l1439l1.3.3.1l8l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=265f5e3edf2ec82b&biw=1366&bih=667">Irene </a>south of New York City as it waited the onset
of one of the worst hurricanes in the last 26 years. I would not be surprised
if Facebook servers were overloaded by the number of <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-08-27/Twitter-and-Facebook-buzzing-about-Hurricane-Irene/50158320/1">people
commenting on their drenched walls</a> of their experiences with the hurricane.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
After having a few glasses of ‘<i>The best Chardonnay</i>’ that one of the
many wine-making families in ‘<i>the Napa
valley had to offer</i>’, I decided to take a walk in the rain to see what
really was in store for tomorrow. It was just past midnight and though Irene
had not yet ascended onto our town yet, she had most definitely sent her infantry
(in the form of incessant rain and a strong wind) to ‘check out’ the area
before herself making an appearance. My wife was asleep, so was my 10 month old
blissfully unaware that tomorrow he would mostly witness the first thunder and
lightning of his life. I wore a rain jacket and my track pants, buried my phone
(I can’t move out anywhere without it) deep in my pocket, ensured that I took
the house keys with me (didn’t wanna wake up the wife when I returned, did I),
and ‘elevated’ myself down to the ground level.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The first thing that struck me
was that our parking lot, which is usually overparked during normal days, had
many vacant spaces. I figured soon that people did not want to park under the
trees. Not everyone had a beat up Audi like I did and waited for disaster to
strike so that they could cash in the insurance money after the car got totaled.
I walked up the road ignoring the ‘here-goes-a-lunatic’ stares that some car
drivers gave me. The wind was pretty strong, though not anywhere close to the
75mph that weather.com had predicted for tomorrow. The CB Richard Elllis
advertisement board outside their office had already unhinged on one side and
was tottering dangerously on the other. If this had been <i>Final Destination-V</i>, the wind would have ripped apart the board which
would have flown towards unsuspecting me and sliced my head off neatly. The
audience would have enjoyed the IMAX-3D version of the scene for sure! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The gutters were working overtime
to drain the increased volumes of water and were doing a pretty good job of it
so far. I only hoped that they did not get tired by the time Her Highness
appeared. Further down the road, there were a group of people walking – the only
people on foot that I spotted in the entire half hour trip – towards me. They
were drunk and I was sure that they would not let me pass without making a remark.
As we got closer to each other, one of them stared at me and shouted ‘<b><i>Irene</i></b>’
in a guttural tone. I instantly raised both my arms to my sides and charged him
imitating a ghost. That seemed to be enough to calm the guy down. I did not
have to do anything more with him or his friends.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
When I started, I was hoping to
hit one of the downtown bars and have a drink before heading back home, but the
only other weekend evening that I have seen America be ‘inside’ is on the eve
of thanksgiving a few years back. This time, downtown Stamford was deserted even
more. As I made a quick U-turn and headed back home, I witnessed a guy kiss his
girl on the porch, another run towards his apartment, and a group partying in
the balcony. The wind was more intensity and so was the rain. <a href="http://twitpic.com/6c31xt">Dunkin was open</a>, always dependable, like Mama Bear. I soon reached home jogging on
the slope going down towards my apartment. The headiness caused by the wine was
amplified by the rains, the wind, and the downward slope. But I didn’t have to
mind much when crossing the road due to obvious reasons.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I had a strong urge to write something
once I reached home and what better topic than the one doing the rounds in
North East America now. I sat down with my laptop, and more of ‘Napa Valley’s
finest.’ If it is relatively safe to go out when Irene arrives tomorrow, I surely
will, and will write another piece of the actual event. Meanwhile, if you are in the path of the storm, be sensible and follow the checklist items that no doubt you have come across many times by now from various sources. The one that I last read was to fill up one's bathtub in case water ran out!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The wine is kicking in well and proper. I'd better go and eat and get some sleep. Bye!</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-27051008725314598902011-08-20T05:31:00.000+05:302011-08-20T05:31:08.195+05:30Fasting from a foreign land<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Many people ask me why I am fasting just because Anna Hazare is fasting in India. The answer is both philosophical and practical. In a philosophical way, I for one, cannot be at ease knowing that someone is suffering on m behalf, that someone is going through a lot of hardship so the future of my family sees as little hardship as possible. The man is fighting for a great cause. I believe in his cause. I also believe that he, at 74, is fasting for 14 days, for you and for me and for every Indian on earth. I cannot carry the burden of that knowledge and eat good food daily. Tomorrow when something positive comes out of this saga, I wont be able to get out on to the streets grinning ear to ear and enjoying the fruits of his hard work, knowing that I never as much as raised a finger to help him.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now for those who ask how is me fasting tantamount to raising a finger to help the man, the practical explanation follows. Such bold uprisings if not backed by mass, would fail. The government of India is a powerful entity. Especially when it is on the back foot like how the Congress now is. Ever seen how boxers simply flail their arms in despair when they are cornered? That is what a government will do when given a couple of hard punches and when its back touches the ropes. The only weapon that we the people can launch, is mass support - by way of public gatherings, peaceful marches etc. Now, such demonstrations would help very little when done in a foreign country unless the word spreads around back to India. So a group of us are participating not only in marches and demonstrations in the USA and other countries, but also directly participating in the fast itself. The news of such actions go back to India through the media and when they get reported out, serve as an additional couple of jabs to the government, if not a knock-out punch. Also, and perhaps more importantly, Anna's place is a very lonely place. He might be surrounded with thousands of supporters, but very few are participating in the fast with him. True, he is a veteran of more than a dozen fasts, but people supporting him directly by sharing this activity will ease a little of the pain. That is how, in my eyes at least, the fasts undertaken by people in Chennai, Bangalore, and other places in India are going to help him, by adding that extra bit of energy to his spirit.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now, this all might look more than a tad indirect of a cause and effect relationship, but I just wrote what came to my mind, rather than meticulously try to construct arguments to justify fasting. Bottom-line is I believe in it. I will fast till evening, once in three days, till Anna Hazare does. And you are welcome to join too! Power to the movement! Darkness to corruption!</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-38346346570089057562011-04-23T19:42:00.001+05:302011-04-23T19:44:18.226+05:30Technology integration over two generations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">(A college student could have used this title for his project submission and been proud about it. Sorry about that. I suck at conjuring up titles and have to improve on that aspect of my writing. The following piece might really not be as boring as what you read above.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I vividly remember the first television that we bought in our rented house, back in Valluvar Kottam, Chennai. I think it was the early nineties (with a tolerance of 3-5 years on either side) and televisions were slowly becoming common, from lower middle class families up. And we were in that bottommost band which explained the initial reluctance of dad, who had come from a remote village in TN to make a living among the bright lights of Chennai, to jump in on the trend. My mom and I cajoled him a lot, even sulking at times. Eventually we discovered that our affluent neighbors were upgrading to a color television and had no need for the Solidaire black and white piece that the family had.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We ushered in the TV on a Sunday afternoon but past the time when the (usually) award winning regional language movie was shown. Mom and I gaped at it unable to fully grasp the beauty of the device. Not until Fido - our German Shepard – would come to our house a decade later, would we feel the same thrill. It was a huge rectangular box inside a wooden cabinet that had sliding doors designed to lock the TV and protect it from dust, falling objects and the like. It had all of eight channels to choose from using the rotary dial that would click and lock into place with a small thud at the stop of every channel. I don’t exactly remember how the volume control looked like. Before switching it on, we smeared kumkum on the TV’s forehead and also did a small puja praying for its long life. Even the black and white static (looked like ants crawling at a very busy pace) on the screen denoting the absence of programming at that ‘odd’ Sunday hour excited us.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mom made hot bajjis that evening as we gathered around, awaiting five o clock. White static turned into multi colored bars that ran from top to bottom and made a constant hum. Then started the countdown from, what was it… a minute? Doordarshan’s cult graphic of those days appeared - the rotating solar system in the midst of which appears a moon. The word ‘Doordarshan’ then shows up in the moon, written in perfect symmetry. This was followed by some Tamil movie that was Sunday special. Dad was not much of a TV person and so, it was mom and I that made full use of the television.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I was studying in class eight of nine… much later, after we moved from that rented house to another. Video games were the fab. Talk of 8-bit games and 16-bit games, slowly moving on the coolest of them all – the 32-bit games, were becoming common amongst us school children. I only fantasized these, I knew there was no way my dad could afford any of these for me. But that did not stop me from pestering him. He had by then quit his salaried job and taken to business, partnering with a group of Marwari friends that he had. All these men had shops around Annai Sathya bazaar, a place for buying the fanciest electronics (Video games, remote controlled cars you name it) and the choicest of garments. I think the pani puri wallah that put up stall in that extremely busy lane was the only pani puri wallah in T.Nagar. Since my best friend’s house was quite close to that place, after we hung out together in the evenings, I used to go to dad’s shop to return home with him. His fellow shop owners in that bazaar soon became my friends with me and Riaz, the guy who owned the electronics shop, was my best friend there. I had little interest in those that sold garments. Riaz bhayya offered to lend me one of the 8-bit video games from the shop. Though my father did not like the practice and chastised him for spoiling me, Riaz was calm and told him that I was just a small boy and that I “should enjoy it at this age”. It became a regular habit, I would take a loaner from Riaz bhayya on weekends and play games like ‘Duck hunt’ and ‘Super Mario bros.’ (The former actually had a gun that you had to point at the screen and shoot ducks that would fly into the air. How cool was that!)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cut to 2000! This was serious stuff. The days of fun and frolic were over. I was in college. Engineering. Filling ones head with knowledge of computers was deemed to be as necessary as filling up ones tank with gas when going cross country across the Sahara. GNIIT and DNIIT were fighting the royal rumble with similar courses from Aptech and SSI. Unless you wanted to end up on a shop floor with a meager pay that would doom you for life, you had to get into one of these courses (that’s what the advertisements confidently proclaimed). We had moved yet another time. This time we had a color TV. But no cable connection. (This last part came from a stolen connection that I was the proud architect of). Dad also was building a house for us in some part of Chennai. A lady who worked in SSI and was a regular buyer of garments at dad’s store suggested to him that instead of enrolling me in an expensive course, he should invest that money in buying me a computer and that I could always learn most of that stuff by myself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I could not believe my ears. A computer? For myself? I felt like how Raja would have if he were asked to distribute 4G spectrum. Boy, would I use the machine to learn Java and C and C++ and AutoCAD and what not. I promised my dad a hundred times. And the poor man fell for it. So many students were buying assembled computers (My friend got his assembled by some hack who installed a 'Priya' motherboard and not the more popular 'Pentium' that he paid for. After all, students would not bother opening the PC and looking in. At least thats what the hack thought.) that though my dad did not really believe that all of them were actually putting those machines to good use, he was pressurised into buying one for me. I never learnt Java in my life. Hell, I didn’t get beyond the first 10 pages of the most popular JAVA book on the planet at that time. The 96% that I scored in C++ at school in my twelfth standard was not due to my self-learning at home using the assembled computer (the PC came at a cost that I won’t take lightly even today with my plush dollar to rupee Xoom assured exchange rated salary). Instead I got addicted to playing video games! Illegal copies of Heroes of might and magic, Unreal tournament, and Need for Speed gave me sleepless nights and my parents, utter frustration. When dad used to go on business trips to North India, I started playing at 5 pm (immediately after college) and went on till 4 AM when I would eat eventually eat dinner and hit bed dreaming of capturing the flag on the new planets. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now - and now is almost a decade later - I bought a television of my own. 40 inch, LED technology. I can browse the internet. Play games. Post updates on Facebook. Even watch TV too. All in one box. And it does not even look like a box. TVs don’t anymore; they rather resemble flat boards, don’t they. It is amazing how much integration technology has done in such a short span of time. When my son grows up, he will have all the entertainment that his dad had over a span of a decade and a half, sitting right there in the living room. What more is left? Coding C and C++ or whatever the new languages out there are, in your TV itself? But that would make it just a computer with a big screen right? Exactly. So that eliminates yet another device. Whichever way you twist and turn this tech crystal ball, the future seems exciting. For gadget freaks at least. It’s a pity I have other not-equally-interesting priorities now than playing games on my large screen HD television. </div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-77369592653445607142011-01-04T09:02:00.000+05:302011-01-04T09:02:43.066+05:30How to go to Gurudwara for free food - For dummies<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Li0OxP4VEI0/TSKUdcxq_PI/AAAAAAAALXg/eZXd6n0Xam4/s1600/2011-01-02+13.36.16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Li0OxP4VEI0/TSKUdcxq_PI/AAAAAAAALXg/eZXd6n0Xam4/s200/2011-01-02+13.36.16.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in Stamford, it was raining all right, but the temperature was a pleasant 50 Fahrenheit and there was no snow predicted for days. Monday too was a holiday, so that made it easier to thoroughly enjoy the Sunday. I had plans to go to the Gurudwara in Norwalk – when I could get free food in a town 15 minutes away, why would I go to the temple at Pomona an hour away? Besides, I heard that food is really good at a Langar.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">My friend Gagan Lamba and his wife, who incidentally cooks the best Punjabi food I have tasted, had also planned to tag along – albeit for nobler reasons than mine – but had to withdraw at the last moment as the dude was suffering from a bout of high fever. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">‘Don’t worry, all you have to do is tie a kerchief around your head and you are good to go,’ he had a word of advice to me when I left. I was going with another friend of mine eventually – Tam Brahm Vinay. And he had been to this place apparently multiple times in the past.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Always the cautious one, I didn’t want to land there just in time for the Langar, that would be too rude. So we left by 12:15 despite Vinay protesting that the prayers don’t end till 130pm. we reached at a quarter to one. As I walked from the car to the Gurudwara, I panicked. Have I come grossly underprepared? I tried to recollect all the Sikh kind of things that I knew and could do or say inside. The beautiful Golden temple came to mind! Then some people whom I know – Vikram, Gagan, Kulpreet, Manmeet, Harbhajan, Yuvraj etc. (The last two are indeed the cricketers, but what if they don’t know me…I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> know them right?). Next came the song from Rang De Basanti.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gAipul6yHf8?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gAipul6yHf8?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This prayer song is one of the few prayer songs from movies that I would ever cherish. One other classic is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYkyWAwfINU">from Mahanadi</a>. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gYkyWAwfINU?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gYkyWAwfINU?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">But then, what good were these memories now??? They still didn’t tell me any Sikh things that I could do or say inside. Thankfully, no one accosted me to ask anything. As I removed my shoes, I was glad to see lots of scarves, meant for tying around the head. I picked up one and started when Vinay said ‘You know that the hair should not be visible after you tie the scarf, right?’</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">‘Well, I don’t, but what’s the big deal in that?’ I said and to my horror, found out that it is not easy to get the cloth to cover your head completely if you didn’t know how to. I turned around to see Vinay begin confidently. ‘Dude, you know how to do this???’ I asked shocked.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">‘Man, I have come here many times before. Of course I know’, he said and proceeded to fold the cloth.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Damn! I should have done my homework. I have youtubed to learn how to swim, how to kickbox, how to tie a tie, wear a scarf, build websites even, but tie a cloth around the head for entering a Gurudwara? No!!! I mentally kicked myself for the stupidity and kicked Gagan Lamba too for oversimplifying things.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Thankfully, only an elderly couple was nearby and they didn’t care if two kids (they were old enough to call us <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kids</i>) were fooling around with the scarves. Finally, we got it right and entered the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darbar Sahib</i> (prayer hall, I have read about Gurudwaras by the time of writing this article) where I went and almost took a seat when Vinay hissed ‘Dude, wait.’ <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I wondered what it could be now. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">‘We have to prostrate first.’<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">We stood in line and I prostrated before the Guru Granth Saheb which was placed on a raised platform (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Takht</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Manji Sahib, </i>it is called). A shiver ran down my spine when I thought about how it would have been if I had come here alone. I would have probably earned nasty glances from a hundred people.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">A person was giving a speech over the microphone and most of the words were Punjabi, way over my head. Though it was similar to Hindi and he interspersed the speech with English words, I still was unable to pick up the meaning of the sentences. So I started looking about and observing the people sitting all around me. Many people were not wearing turbans and had just covered their heads with scarves. This could only mean one of three things…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ul><li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>They were Sikhs who did not believe in the turban</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>They were non-Sikhs that believed in Sikhism and turned up here with intent to pray</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>They were non-Sikhs who were just plain hungry for good food, like me</li>
</ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Vinay nudged me from behind and whispered, ‘The speech will continue for another hour. I told you that we could leave another 30 minutes later.’<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I despaired hearing that, but still ignored the remark and opened the browser in my cell phone to wiki up what customs people follow in Gurudwaras. No luck. Tried rephrasing the search a couple of different ways, but to no avail. Then suddenly a burly man came and sat right next to me. He better not find out that I was googling things up sitting in the prayer hall. So I turned the phone display towards me to hide it from his view and looked at him cautiously. He returned my stare, only I could not tell if he looked angry or not. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I looked around and every person seemed to be looking at me, but their expressions were totally covered by their lengthy beards. This made all of them look like they were glaring at me. And the ones wearing the big turbans looked stricter than the ones with the leaner turbans. Look below...don't you think?</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Li0OxP4VEI0/TSKN-KPCEoI/AAAAAAAALXc/cy-3v1y6KQU/s1600/sikh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Li0OxP4VEI0/TSKN-KPCEoI/AAAAAAAALXc/cy-3v1y6KQU/s200/sikh.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big turban</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.indianexpress.com/m-images/2009-06-26/M_Id_90803_rani_mukherji.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="166" src="http://static.indianexpress.com/m-images/2009-06-26/M_Id_90803_rani_mukherji.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smaller turban</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I guess it’s an exact parallel to how differently the Brahmins wear the mark on their foreheads – these ones look fiercer than these ones. But eventually I convinced myself that they were all nice people and that I was just feeling guilty for coming in here underprepared and that they actually were just looking at me normally. There was nothing serious about the glances!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j7IwynrIhuk/SHrdWoZphtI/AAAAAAAAAHw/a8sRaRF6flI/s320/thiruman.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j7IwynrIhuk/SHrdWoZphtI/AAAAAAAAAHw/a8sRaRF6flI/s320/thiruman.bmp" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big forehead mark</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/people/iyengars/11169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/people/iyengars/11169.jpg" width="137" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smaller forehead mark</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Now that the internet search option was out, I began to watch the proceedings closely and did things exactly the way others did them, right from the way the Prasad was accepted to the way people lifted their plates as a mark of respect to the volunteers serving the delicious food to everyone. I was more confident by the time I left the place. I kind of had figured out (when I was fidgeting with my kerchief during the prayer) how the knot can be made around the head. I caught some of the prayer words – <a href="" name="OLE_LINK12"></a><a href="" name="OLE_LINK11"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK12;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wahi Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahi Guru Ji Ki Fate</i></span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">h, </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>had an<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>overall experience of a Sikh prayer meeting, not to mention the awesome food. As much as I feel strongly that religion causes a lot of split among people, it is indeed remarkable how India is the birth place of such great religions and this underlines the strong spiritual thread that runs across the nation.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">PS:To get a more serious description of a Gurudwara either for learning about this holy place of worship or for being forearmed when going for free food, read this: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/ritesrituals/gurdwara_1.shtml">http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/sikhism/ritesrituals/gurdwara_1.shtml</a><o:p></o:p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-25181035176280760302010-12-17T09:51:00.000+05:302010-12-17T09:51:28.967+05:30Trends<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb241/fashionising/ss09-shoe-trends-MAIN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb241/fashionising/ss09-shoe-trends-MAIN.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Trends! I don’t know if every other city has it, but Chennai sure has. I think it started while I was in college, first year I think. <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Internet cafes</span></b>! They ruled the roost. Anyone who had money enough to buy 3-4 computers could set up an Internet café. Prices ranged from Rs 10 an hour - those centers providing cheap machines which had keyboards where you needed to double click each key, to get the desired output – to Rs 30 (that’s the maximum I have seen or heard. Let me know if you have heard a higher price) for the high end centers like Dishnet or Satyam i-Way that offered good speeds and reliability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every kid created a yahoo and id and chatted with girls with foreign names – Cathy, Macy, Linda and so on – at an age when most of these names were names of actual people and not bots pretending to be girls. (If you have not recently tried chat rooms, you are in for a big surprise)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Other reasons for people flocking to these www centers was for checking on college exam results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still remember the Dishnet Café (It had a wonderful offer at that time – browse from 6 AM to 9 AM for just Rs 10 flat. No fine print there, trust me) where my two friends (of whom I would refer to very frequently in this post) and I parked ourselves for three hours that fine weekday morning, and getting the dreaded news of our Arrears (Me in Math, one of them in Mechanics, I think) from that PC. One Mr. Desibaba also provided good incentive for people to log on. Many a time people paid just for the privacy and not for www time. Where else could you go out with a girlfriend and have an intimate time for just Rs. 20 an hour??? I still remember the way a friend of mine was boasting about this white girlfriend of his whose fancy he had caught over Yahoo! She ditched him the day the poor fellow responded in a technologically challenged fashion when she asked him if he (meaning his PC) had bluetooth. He replied, ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nope! Me got fresh white ones!</i>’ No surprises as to why she ditched him. Slowly the fad faded away.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Then came along <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Billiards and pool</span></b>! Everyone took the cue and went gaga about shiny little colored balls rolling over smooth, green surfaces. And boy, was happy hour effective in this sport! The reason why my marks dipped in my semester exams can totally be attributed to this. At any point of time, one among the three of us would think that we have done enough group studies and that we deserve a well-deserved break. That break usually came by pooling in money and offering it to the coffers of one particular pool parlour in Triplicane that had extended happy hours playing for one ridiculously low price. I remember the most posh of them all was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Billiards Point </i>somewhere in Egmore. The name caught on and soon every place where you could play the game was known as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Billiards point</i>, much like how every washing powder was surf or every pack of asafetida was LG.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The culture of <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Super Selector</span></b> came at the time when internet centers were booming. So the fancy caught on. Suddenly everyone had a team. Believe it or not, amongst us friends we had a team each (three teams), a team with each of us pairing with each other (that is another three teams), and one team for all the three of us combined (This is the seventh team). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we had chits of paper in our wallets with details of all the teams written down. Anywhere and everywhere we would be tracking scores or rather, performances. It was a heart break for my friend when Lara, in my team, scored heavily against the home side, Sri Lanka. But he took revenge soon as Muralitharan was on the field. He had the last laugh when Lara had to drop off the tour due to an injury. It hurt me as much as it hurt the great southpaw. And there were unverified stories of my college mates winning watches and cameras as prizes due to the high number of points they racked up. I won, this is a verified truth as I am telling you so myself, about Rs 500 in groceries from an online retailer. That was the first time I was ever able to buy something for my home using <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my</i> money. Emotional moment indeed.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Then suddenly there seemed to be a pause in all these activities. It’s been almost seven years since I have been in Chennai for two months in a row, so maybe I am missing some trends. I know that there has been a spurt of <b>tennis courts</b> all around. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But other than that, nothing… nothing good at least. By this I mean that I have noticed quite a bit of ‘bad’ trends going around. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Let us begin with the <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Engineering college seats scams</span></b>. I don’t know if the modus operandi is as I am going to describe, but this is what I figured after reading quite a bit on this topic. Considering that Tamil Nadu is the engineering college capital of the country (need not necessarily mean that we produce the best engineers, but we sure produce a lot of ordinary ones, yours truly being one of them), and Bihar being one of the most backward regions, bereft of many such colleges, Bihari youth one day got up to realise that it is not as difficult to do engineering as their elders thought. They realised that the difficulty stemmed not from the rigor of the course, but from the absence of colleges in their state. Hence they began migrating down south where they knew that it was more difficult to get admission into the temple at Tirupati than it was to get into an, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">any</i>, engineering college. But there is this elite group that also knew that not all Bihari’s knew about this. So they ‘engineered’ (pun intended here) these money making nexuses with local college students in Chennai. Soon was born an almost Gujjjuish money making scheme. ‘Buy’ seats worth X lakhs per seat. Go back to Bihar, promise the other students. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">And Voila! The students got their paved way into Microsoft (oh and by the way, engineering almost always means computer education, down south), the local and Bihari goons, err, students made their pocket money, rather pockets full of money, the engineering colleges got a cut, am sure the cops were not totally blind to this ripe scheme and so they got a portion of the profits..well if this is not a well-rounded business, I don’t know what is. If you thought this was bad, things get uglier than this too. How? What if there are other groups of elite youth that are competing for selling the same seats? They get into clashes, at times physical, which at times results in death of one party or the other. Some ignorant fools went to the extent of kidnapping a minister’s son. And soon realised that our cops can be pretty smart when kicked in their pillow sized butts, when they got busted within a day, courtesy, one angry minister! And these scenes happen a lot in the state. It is sad indeed. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">And then there are the localites that do not have the means to do such high end scams and therefore pick someone quite not their size. Children! Suddenly every mid-20 year old on the road is swooping onto every Richie rich walking by. And suddenly it becomes alarmingly clear that the adage ‘Do not take biscuits from strangers’ is not quite being emphasized at home by parents. It is frightening how easily children are being kidnapped. With silly stories like ‘Your dad was unable to pick you up, so he asked us to do the job for him’, and ‘Will you eat this biscuit, it is a new variety and you will love it,’ giving highly profitable though short-term results, wannabe kidnappers with absolutely no prior <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><b>kidnapping</b> </span>experience succeed in at least the first step – that of lifting the kid away and calling in for ransom. Bt the inexperience quickly shows up, as the cops are swooping in on them like guided missiles. The regularity with which these guys get caught makes you wonder whether the cops plant these people in the first place to make themselves look good. But to be fair to them, this trend is forcing them to use innovative ways of dealing with the criminals – tapping cell phones, using snipers, at times even letting the kidnappers get away with the ransom just so they could lead them to their other partners-in-crime. All heavy stuff!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">One reason that it is important that we educate youth, and educate them in a way as to enable them to get jobs, is that they don’t resort to such desperate money making measures due to joblessness, which they are doing right now. But then, am sure many before me have said the same, and we have not seen much difference.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I have spoken about the trends that I noticed but I consider myself a pretty poor observer. What all did I miss that you noticed? This post is not just open to Madrasis, Othercitywallahs…bring it on!<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-46859507345621307892010-12-06T10:38:00.003+05:302010-12-06T10:41:37.698+05:30Pick someone your own size....<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0791440443.01._SX220_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0791440443.01._SX220_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" width="129" /></a></div>Reading <i>Ethical Vegetarianism</i>...I have had multiple arguments about vegetarianism with many of my friends at various instances in life. Being a vegetarian not just by caste, but more importantly by choice, I have passed around many arguments and am always eager to know what more different ways of defending this noble way of dining are out there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I am paraphrasing a very interesting point made by a great Greek philosopher....'<i>Men are not naturally meant to be carnivorous. Many tell me they are, but I just tell them this. Try facing a wild animal without any weapons. fight it. Tear it apart with the nails of your hands and feet. Bite and eat it while it is barely but still alive. Know why? Because thats what carnivorous species are supposed to do. Does the lion use a bow to kill a human? Does a lion roast deer, add spices and condiments to mask the natural taste of the flesh and eat it?'</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Might sound amusing at first, but think about it. It is very true. A sad justification indeed for those non-vegetarians out there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Why I am writing this at 12:07 AM? <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article935320.ece">This article</a> triggered me to.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Good night and veggie dreams!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-69932413755424390092010-12-05T11:20:00.017+05:302010-12-05T11:26:25.573+05:30To my country, I pledge my devotion....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Li0OxP4VEI0/TPsoAeoab8I/AAAAAAAALUg/ecUEkCb76VA/s1600/quiz+show.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Li0OxP4VEI0/TPsoAeoab8I/AAAAAAAALUg/ecUEkCb76VA/s320/quiz+show.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jeffery Sachs once said (I didnt know that he said it, Nandan Nilekani says that he said it, in his book Imagining India) that Indian rural schools have changed a lot from the last time he had seen them, but then he wonders very seriously, if thy are adapting fast enough for the changing times and if their growth rate is justified for the pace in which the rest of the world, and even the rest of our own country, is moving...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">While I didn't need a Jeffery Sachs to tell me this, it just served me a harsh reminder..that we are not sitting on piles of time. If the popular though irritating I.T jargon that <i>something was needed 'yesterday'</i> were to be used in this case, it would be that 'the schools needed to have upgraded last year.'</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We have no time guys...every day, every month that passes by is another step closer that poor children all over the country have taken towards the inevitable state of '10th pass' or '12th pass' but without a clue of what they gained in the last 10 or 12 fruitless years. Our support is invaluable for the children to make it through. Unless there is a mini revolution of sorts by the youth that <i>did</i> make it through, viz. people like you and me, this country will never attain the greatness that it can.<br />
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We need to work towards the development of the nation, from wherever we are, through whatever means we can. We cannot sit and watch petty injustice send these children to doom. That is tantamount to being party to the crime. Let us stand up like true men and be counted. Let us show our brothers and sisters (For a long time, I thought this phrase was just used for providing a dramatic effect and used it very sparingly in my writings...now I really feel it. What pride Swami Vivekananda would have felt in penning down the national pledge!) that we are there for them. That we will let no cheap actions by cheap souls cause them pain. That together we are indeed a family and that despite existence of a wide variety of hassles, we will strive to give them all the support that they need.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Because, and I again borrow from Swamiji, 'In their well-being and prosperity alone, lie our happiness.'</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-31440346029722035522010-11-08T00:41:00.002+05:302010-11-08T00:45:53.703+05:30Brick by Brick<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Li0OxP4VEI0/TNb4riF4EzI/AAAAAAAALSY/odGPEEIfgo4/s1600/Kandivali.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Li0OxP4VEI0/TNb4riF4EzI/AAAAAAAALSY/odGPEEIfgo4/s320/Kandivali.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The boy was an introvert, didn’t talk much, and that was the reason </span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span">he had not yet spoken to the girl he wanted to get up with every day. But after much </span><span class="apple-style-span">persistence from his friend, he finally dialed her number that he had possessed for a few weeks, said ‘Wrong number’ himself and replaced the receiver. But one thing led to another and eventually they got married and lived life happily ever after.</span></span></i><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">That was just the outline of a popular Tamil movie and the girl in front of me in the small, terribly quiet room lit with a solitary but powerful white bulb, was not Trisha, the beautiful actress. But she looked very pretty all the same.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">People call me a very quiet boy, but today I decided to break my shackles today and talk. Just the opportunity of talking to someone as</span> <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">pretty as she was - perfect eye lashes contouring her eyes beautifully and a smile that would make Colgate models look for alternate jobs - were good enough reasons for me to try to send my silence away on a one-hour holiday.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">It all happened so quickly. Sanket bhaiya had called me to the Borivali railway station at 9 am and said that a friend of his wanted to talk with me. Sanket is one of the people that come to the temple nowadays to teach me and my friends. He obviously took pity on me and my mother who plead people walking past us to part with some of their money so that we could buy food or clothing or treat open and potentially septic wounds. (In other words, we beg.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Sanket plays with us and also tries to teach us things – some days English, some days things about computers, and stuff like that. I don’t know why he does that. And the strange part is, he does not even charge us money. The teachers at the government school I go to are not half as interested in teaching us as Sanket and his friends are.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Shreya was with Sanket when I met him at platform number one. He told me that she was a nice person that wanted to talk to me for some time in her 'studio.' He said she was a ‘Child Sy-ko-logist’. I did not know what it meant but I could not care less. She looked so pretty that I would go to school every day with her if she taught there.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The local train took us to her single room studio and </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">that is where I am now. Sanket left the place, he was a theatre artist and had to practice for a play.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The room was small, you could reach from one corner to the diagonal corner in four leaps. But it was spotlessly clean (So there <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are</i> places in India that don’t have paan stains on the walls). And silent. I could not hear a single honk or the clattering road of a giant JCB machine, the sounds I am used to.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'This will not take more than an hour, Muthu,' Shreya said in heavily accented Tamil. I knew instantly that she had spent more time in Mumbai than down south and stifled a grin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I nodded, thinking I would not mind a longer chat…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Sanket tells me that you don't like it much in school and are always coming back home before the classes gets over.'<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">….or maybe not… So this was going to be a lecture on going to school regularly? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Didn’t have a choice of answer there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘This is not going be a lecture on why you should be in school.’ Well, she just read my mind, my face more like it. ‘I just want to know what is stopping you from being there. But not for more than an hour.’ She looked at her watch as if mentally starting a countdown timer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I didn’t like the way this was going, despite Ms. Super-smile here. Who wants to be told again that education is important and all the associated spiel. I reluctantly gave in. The temple was my domain, I could just run, hide behind the numerous flower shops or get into the many autos parked outside in random fashion and no one could find or catch me. But this tiny space was hers and I had to respect that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Let us talk a little bit more about you first. Leave the school topic for later. I am sure you have interesting stories to tell, coming here all the way from Tamil Nadu.'<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I started tentatively but before I knew it, was spilling out details of my life I had not told anyone before. Maybe it was the silence in that room that made me narrate the stories of my life. I told her how my family was caught in a debt trap back in my village and how we needed the money to get him out of our backs. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'And so, my parents decided to come here and get a job. They are convinced that there is big money to be made here.'<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'That is true, Muthu. Mumbai <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> a place that encourages talent and innovation. There is no limit to the things you can achieve here. What do your parents do here?'<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I tried hard to focus on the session, but could not resist the biscuits kept on the table. The chocolate cream was tempting. Shreya understood the want in my eye and gave the packet to me. 'Go on, take it. Don’t feel shy, it’s for you.'<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'They are construction workers,’ I said splitting the two biscuits and licking the cream off one. ‘I too help them from time to time,' I said proudly. ‘We worked on many big buildings back home – the clock tower, the railway over-bridge and many more. We are working on the flyover coming up near the temple in Borivali.' I said, trying to sound important.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Not many people listened to me when I spoke and so I was excited at the attention I was getting. I then told her about my Near Death Experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'When I was small, mom carried me in a piece cloth tied around her back and went to work. She walked up and down long flights of stairs with me on her back and a big iron plate full of bricks on her head.'<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'Some strength she had' Shreya exclaimed.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘One day the hot sun must have hit her harder than usual; she lost balance on the seventh floor and teetered on the edge. I wondered why I suddenly was tilting. The motion stopped abruptly and I rapidly moved to the other side and I heard a man’s voice shouting out. I was too young to understand what had happened until much later my dad, in drunken rage, screamed at my mom, "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I wish you had indeed fallen that day from the seventh floor along with this good for nothing fellow. I would not be in half the debt that I am in right now.</i>"<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'If your mom was carrying you on her back, you would have been a baby. How on earth do you remember something that happened when you were so small? I can’t even remember …. say, the colour of my first bicycle.’ I didn’t know colours of bicycles are things that people are supposed to remember after growing up. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'It is simple. I have a very strong memory. Did Sanket bhaiya not tell you my prowess in the Memory game?'<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'Memory game? What is that?' she leaned forward onto the table, as if I had told her I knew the location of long lost buried treasure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Sanket bhaiya blackmails us that unless we study, we can’t play this game. We all absolutely love this board game he brought for us. It has small squares containing pictures on one side – like cars, cartoons, men and so on - placed upside down. These squares were in pairs and we had to take turns in uncovering two squares at a time, and matching the pairs. I have never done a wrong match till now if I could help it.' My chest puffed out in pride. Now that I said it out aloud, it felt good indeed. After all, we would have played the game hundreds of times.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'That is something,’ she exclaimed, returning to her original position.<span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'And then there was this other instance that was quite funny. A painter that the construction company had employed asked him to write something on a board and hang it outside the building. I had a peek into the piece of paper and since it was all in English, I could not make out much but the letters got locked in my memory. Days later, this painter decided to get the job done, and called me along to help him out.'<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">At this point I needed a piece of paper and started looking around. Shreya fished into her handbag and gave me one along with a pen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'The man painted T.O.I.L.E.T,’ I wrote this word on the paper, ‘on the board and hung it outside the building. I swore to him that the straight line between the O and the L should not be there. Even though he had lost the paper, he was equally adamant what he wrote was right. He said that he had painted many such boards for his previous employer, some company named <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sulabh</i> and that they had never complained once.'<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I paused, waiting for the effect to sink in, and soon enough Shreya burst into laughter and I started giggling as well. Sulabh is a firm that constructs toilets around the country. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">'So, how is life in Mumbai for you? Apart from the obvious problem of language, how are you managing?'<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I could not bring myself to answer this question immediately. I had realised some weeks after landing here that it was going to be very difficult to get out of this place and that this is where my future was going to be made. Did I want to be hauling stones up and down stairs for the rest of my life? No. But there were many challenges and some seemed so insurmountable that it was pretty discouraging.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">She got up to stretch and get some water from the cooler in the corner. ‘I came here when I was young too, and found it difficult. But slowly I started liking it!’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I smiled wryly. Her life was a lot rosier than mine is right now.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Sensing my discomfort she gave me a cue, ‘Do you want to tell me what you do daily?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I was glad she did and picked it up. ‘I told you. When she is not in the construction site, my mother and I beg for a living outside the mandir. Not just us, many folks from all around the country. Gudlu is from Rajasthan, Suresh from Kashmir, Rayudu from Andhra, people from all over the country are there. You should come there once, it is fun.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I was not even in school till recently when Sanket bhaiya got all of us admitted in one nearby. Luckily all of us know a little bit of Hindi, so we manage there.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘But how did you get into the school in the middle of a year?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Even I thought I will avoid it till the beginning of June, but seems like there is some scheme by the government called SSA. I don’t know what that is, but according to that, every child should be in school and so the teachers said they would admit me under that scheme.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">My mind drifted to the time I joined school. The teachers had asked me for my birth certificate which my mom was positive we did not have. My dad left for the village a week before that, and he was retained by the landlord who threatened to possess our land forcibly if he returned to Mumbai anytime soon. So he stayed behind. Sanket bhaiya went to a court nearby, spoke to some people, and got birth certificates done for me and my friends. Then I received books, pencils, even a small school bag that they said would help keep my books safely in case it rained and our huts got flooded. That was indeed a bonus and all these at no cost at all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘So do you like school? I know you had studied till your fourth standard in your village, but then dropped out.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I attend half day and then return to the temple.’ I ignored her question, because I myself did not know the answer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Why?’ she said this was precisely the moment she was waiting for.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Food, madam, Food.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘What does that mean? I am sure they serve you food at the school.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘And so am I sure that you won’t like to eat cold boiled egg and rice two days old every day of the week.’ I loved being sarcastic.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘No, not really.’ She sputtered, with no other choice but to agree to me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘So all of us come home and stand in the line. There is a ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free food for beggars</i>’ scheme instituted by the temple. </span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">You should see the rush there. There is not even that much crowd to see the God at times, we stand in the line, </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">some bullies try to stand ahead of us bypassing the queue, we hit them with stones, they retaliate, it is all fun! If only all things in life were as adventurous as receiving lunch,’ I sighed as I remembered fondly of lunch time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Oops, am sure it is fun,’ she said blandly. I wondered why she did not share the same excitement. ‘So you return to school after lunch?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘No didi. How can I miss the evening snacks? Only a fool would.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘So they have a ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free snacks for beggars</i>’ scheme too?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I giggled, she did have some sense of humor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I wish they did. This time it is the devotees. They come in these big cars, pray to God, and serve us with tasty laddoos, jalebis, and what not. Some ladies come in these bright sarees, get out of huge cars remove their chappals on the road, and pray from the road itself. Then their servants would hold a tray full of sweetmeats and walk behind them while they distribute the sweets to us. They get part of their ticket to heaven made and we get our taste buds tingled. Can there be a better deal?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘But who said their tickets to heaven are made when they feed children like that?’’ She could not be serious with that question.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Come on didi. Is it not obvious? Feeding someone is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">doing good</i>. And that will surely take one to heaven.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Her eyes were telling me that I didn’t know what I was talking about. ‘Ok, I beg to differ, but continue.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘What is more to tell? That is it. The day ends, and then night falls. Whatever we have left of rice and dal, we prepare in our huts, eat, and sleep.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘But don’t you have tuitions nowadays?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Oh yes. How can I forget. Sanket bhaiya and his friends come to the mandir every other day and teach us some things. English, Computers, Counting and stuff like that. They even make three-year old Mangu do some work by giving him some drawing sheets. The poor guy is all lost and scribbles something on the paper’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I then told Shreya about all the things that happen when Sanket comes over. He had initially met me playing marbles on the road and convinced me into sitting with him for a while. Slowly he gathered the other kids too. But we were not interested in studying. What would we do with English anyway? We already knew things in English. “Hello”… “How are you”.. “What ijj your name” … Are there much more things in English to know about that would matter?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Then started the memory game sessions. Initially we wondered how interesting a game where one would not need to run, hit, scratch, fling things at each other be. But once we saw that it was pretty challenging, we all got hooked onto it. Like I said, no one could beat me in the game. Anshul, the resident bully loses so badly at the game and simply refuses to understand that he is all brawn and no brain. The only way I can get back at him for making fun of my cleft is by defeating him time and again at this game.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘You know what? This cleft of mine is in a way good’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Really? How?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Just like wearing dark glasses masks where your eyes are looking at, having this cleft, it is hard to figure out if I am making faces at anyone.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">She laughed out. ‘You really think so?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Tell me if I am making a face at you now or not.’ I threw a face contortion at her.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">She mulled over it a bit. ‘I think you are.’ <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Damn, she found out. It didn’t work as well as I thought it did.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘No, see, I told you. This is what I keep doing to Anshul when he takes a dig at me. Poor fellow does not even realize. Even if you keep the right pair of tiles facing up on the board, he would not identify them. Even if you told him! He is that dumb.’ <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I am sure he won’t. Sounds like all brawn and no brain, like you say. And how about your mother? Is she ok with you going to school?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘No,’ I replied. That was an easy question. How can she be? Me being around meant being fed properly. We needed as much food as we could get and from any quarters. Sanket bhaiya had asked mom the same question many times and she has never managed to say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No</i>, by herself. Probably out of guilt, but she put the blame on me saying ‘Ask him if he wants to study. If he does not, then what’s the point?’ she used to say. And I would always respond to Sanket bhaiya with a blank stare. So he could not really enforce her to ensure that I stay in school.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘That’s wrong. If he is trying to help you, then you should co-operate. You do not want to be a resident beggar outside the mandir, do you?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I sensed a small degree of anger in her voice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Do you know your alphabets well?’ Boy, she was on a roll, but this time she asked the wrong question.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I can write and read the alphabets, and I am the first to answer questions in my class,’ I answered in an equal tone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Want to see? I can even read what is written on…say this piece of paper here.’ I turned the newspaper that was facing her towards me, praying that simple words were printed. In the next couple of minutes, I was sure I made her forget what English she knew. Still she smiled. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But that is not what surprised me. Was I really able to recognize and put together so many words and sentences? Was I finally learning something?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Did that make sense?’ I asked her hesitatingly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">She ruffled my hair. ‘Make sense? It was impressive’ That smile again. Take cover, Colgate models.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I have had some pretty (and) rich people talk to me at the temple telling me to ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">be a good boy</i>’ and to ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">study instead of being here</i>.’ But an uncle told me something that impacted me a lot. When he knew that I had helped my parents in constructing buildings before, he told me that everything in life was like constructing something. </span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Just like you placed one solitary brick after another, poured cement, painted, and then completed the structure, one had to be patient, place one small step after another, and pave the road to success. And of course you step back from time to time and feel good what you have achieved so far – be it completion of the foundation, or the first floor and so on. I wondered if by grasping at least some elements of what Sanket bhaiya taught me, if I have placed a few bricks in constructing for myself a good education.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘I think it’s time for us to leave,’ Shreya interrupted my thoughts. ‘We can continue with another session later on, but I think you are a very smart kid,’ she said and for the first time in my life, someone had praised me. And I knew there was some truth to it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">We journeyed back to Borivali where Sanket was waiting for us at the platform. I felt sad seeing her go. She had been nice to me, and I hoped that she would come to teach at the mandir too. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 105%;">Sanket bhaiya,’ I said on the way back to the temple for our evening session. I could not resist, I just knew it was the right thing to do. ‘Can you talk to my mother today?’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">He seemed only mildly surprised like he was already half expecting this.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘About what?’ I was sure he knew the answer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">‘About keeping me in school? I want to study properly and finish college one day.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The world seemed a nicer place, I felt strong, confident, and raring to go, ready to place the other bricks, and finish my own construction. I would tell the other boys too this.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<s>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</s><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><s><br />
</s></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">There were multiple reasons for me to write this piece. I was deeply impacted by the lives of migrant children in Mumbai, with whom I have worked with for some time. The names of the characters in this story, are fictitious though they actually are the names of some of my friends that have done work like this in Dream India and out of as well. <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Some of the main points I hope this piece highlighted were...<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><br />
<ul><li><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></i></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">The plight of migrant child laborers</span></i></span></span></li>
<li><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></i></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-style: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">About i</span></i></span>nsensitive people encouraging begging by giving alms misconstrued as good deeds that will buy them Rajdhani express tickets to heaven</span></i></span></span></li>
<li><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></i></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-style: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">About the r</span></i></span>ole of youth volunteers in helping millions of such children across the country, thereby contributing to nation building</span></i></span></span></li>
<li><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></i></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Government schemes like SSA</span></i></span></span></li>
</ul><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">·L</span></i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">ast but not the least, my own experimentation with writing for my own pleasure and at the same time, delivering a message to the masses with my experience in social work.</span></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Attached picture is of the actual kids I have worked with in Kandivali, in the construction site of the flyover, opposite a mandir.</span></i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-55094938596424582802010-08-31T11:22:00.006+05:302010-08-31T11:30:32.958+05:30The power of a book, the power of dreams<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.elrst.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/imagining-india-idea-of-renewed-nation-nandan-nilekani.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.elrst.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/imagining-india-idea-of-renewed-nation-nandan-nilekani.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Just this other day, I was talking to a friend about the book <i>Imagining India</i>. Both of us had equal experience with the book, we had both read about 80 pages (he is my namesake too by the way). Sometime this year, in the long 30 hour cross Atlantic journeys that I have planned, I will finish it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">We discussed the pros and the cons of the book, he felt that it was written for a Western audience, I probably am not very perceptive and am also too easily gullible to any thought stream coming from any book. So I loved every page of it. I have read many books on post Independent years in India and how we struggled with our many cows and humans and how one Mrs Gandhi did a coup on her own government and stuff like that. There wer books written by famous and not so famous Western and at times desi authors depicting the nation as one big chaotic place and how if one was open-minded, he or she would experience the ultimate miscellany in culture, food, languages, sport (as long as it is cricket and criket alone), and Bollywood. I was a big fan of these books till one morning I realised that they are all so similar - they carry pictures of Goddess Durga with her thousand heads or of kids playing gully cricket or of Elephants on the road giving 'dokku' to people. But this new book that I read gave perspective on how India changed herself economically over the years to emerge from the dark economic ruins it was confined to due to overtly social policies to the brighter side of the world.</div></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00155/03IN_ELEPHANT_155994f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00155/03IN_ELEPHANT_155994f.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Elephant giving 'dokku'</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>I am a sucker for gossip or masala news of any kind and this book provided me with lots...sample the following...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><ul><a href="http://www.abcmusicshop.com/images/products/large/ramayan16dvd-lg-abc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.abcmusicshop.com/images/products/large/ramayan16dvd-lg-abc.jpg" width="148" /></a>
<li>Ramayan and Mahabharath were actually launched in India for a reason: Post Independent India identified itself as one for a brief period. Slowly as the effects of unity of Independence wore off, the incumbent government found the need to unite the people on some aspect, and thats when it hit upon this idea, the idea that made people from Kashmir to Kanyakumari tune into DD every Sunday morning and watch arrows meeting each other in mid air, one flaming, the other dousing it with instant rain thereby symbolising victory (in that round at least... there are usually five to six such rounds before the eventual victor is decided) for the launcher of that arrow. Televising these two bottomless epics seemed like the best thing to happen to DD (before the advent of Junoon, would you say?).</li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sangam.org/articles/2004/ayodhya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.sangam.org/articles/2004/ayodhya.jpg" width="148" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The VHP tribe</b></td></tr>
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<li>The author describes how India could have easily sat on the bus that travelled to free market land and how that would have given us a headstart on the progress that many Asian economies made sooner than we did. Instead we tried to appease every community possible whenever they raised a question on the basis of Language, Caste, and what not. When we were fighting over whether Hindi should be a first language or not (there are some people down south that were pretty seriously voting against it), Singapore put an end to whether it should adopt Tamil or Malay or Mandarin, and imposed English as the first language. This country, the most globalised in the world, saw its English patronage grow in leaps and bounds soon after this decision was taken. We are still wondering in 2010 if Ayodhya should belong to Ram or Allah, when long back in China a certain ruler, faced with a similar headache, dispelled all arguments by building a park in that space and declaring it free of religion.</li>
<li>India had a golden opportunity back in the 60s and 70s that it failed to capitalise on. But now when we have the youngest population in the world and when China's population has just crossed over the peak and will soon have more dependents than independents, we are again going to be thrust into a scenario of demographics, one that we could either construe as an opportunity and ride the success wave or by being lethargic and apathetic, miss the proverbial bus again, this time more dangerously so than the last and mire ourselves in deeper trouble.</li>
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Nandan states seemingly irrefutable facts to back all these up. Sounded exciting to me. Think about it, humans have shaped cars, software, monuments and spacecraft, but none of these would be as complex as shaping a country, a new generation. The latter assumes importance of a phenomenal magnitude, something that can alter the course of history irrevocably for good or for bad. In our case, this opportunity has the potential to vastly change the face of the world, and how it looks at the brown man, his skills and capabilities.</div><div><br />
</div><div>So my friend and I kind of agreed on all these but with a pinch of <b><i>k</i></b><b><i>rystal</i></b>. <a href="http://www.herbspro.com/images/productImg/Miracle-Krystal-Salt-15059.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.herbspro.com/images/productImg/Miracle-Krystal-Salt-15059.jpg" width="148" /></a><br />
Sounds fabulous, very interesting, but how deep down the pit are we in now and if any amount of efforts at all would even come close to solving the deep-rooted problems that we have - poverty, illiteracy, population? That was something to ponder upon, we both fell silent, not wanting to be the first to say something negative. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I guess a lot more people would have had confidence if the situation had not been so bad, if we had gotten at least the basic things right, but not many want to climb the tallest mountain.<br />
After all, who knows if we all actually get seven lives, and even if we do, what is the surety that this is not the seventh. If it is, it is game set and match for us after this! So, the thought of giving up on a good life chasing this elusive holy grail is frightening indeed.</div><div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Krishnan</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Yet there are people, and there are stories of valour, of courage, of sacrifice. There are <a href="http://www.hinduonnet.com/mp/2004/08/16/stories/2004081601500100.htm" target="_blank"><i><b>these</b></i></a> stories and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvex9QP5otw" target="_blank"><i><b>these</b></i></a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariappan_Saravanan" target="_blank"><i><b>these</b></i></a> too. <br />
We should support such efforts, in any way we can. From signing online petitions to oppose the way in which the CWG is being organised to conducting skype sessions to impart knowledge through distance learning, to spending an hour every week in orphanages to becoming into one of the above stories yourself - there are millions of ways in which we can help, offer our invaluable support to these brave warriors, the ones that chose to climb the mountain that we find unsurmountable. Only we should do it truthfully. Not out of guilt or out of a sense of obligation, but out of a positive attitude that our actions are bringing about a change.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi11CJYPVH1ackgXzl2Zjnv2CpV8ybz2VKhzzc_z2s-OItoqQL5KXqnrlKlqbWMgfXWwRGuwv2vkd6lcqhssU17gnmIG6TXeTzvI_DqeRkvVDFoqfLV5s4x6NvYynyxqDPp6zgptg/s1600/Senthil.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi11CJYPVH1ackgXzl2Zjnv2CpV8ybz2VKhzzc_z2s-OItoqQL5KXqnrlKlqbWMgfXWwRGuwv2vkd6lcqhssU17gnmIG6TXeTzvI_DqeRkvVDFoqfLV5s4x6NvYynyxqDPp6zgptg/s200/Senthil.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>'Payir' Senthil</b></td></tr>
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Nandan has proved yet again, at least to me, the power of a good book. You can do zero action, but write one inspiring book in your lifetime and you would have sent a million thoughts scrambling in order to rearrange ones priorities. Wings of Fire <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgev2OWaSwUNHeog8cxzXOpq_7ibA606kWTrjhm667FmTlekCKLJIOzI1N18rgLCl6Em5rOkyhatXKy_x0pPMWGaBFzhC4WUNYkWYGXlzqX0QML-FHPXW2BwHLBDmCqtf2DRnlC/s320/WingsofFire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgev2OWaSwUNHeog8cxzXOpq_7ibA606kWTrjhm667FmTlekCKLJIOzI1N18rgLCl6Em5rOkyhatXKy_x0pPMWGaBFzhC4WUNYkWYGXlzqX0QML-FHPXW2BwHLBDmCqtf2DRnlC/s320/WingsofFire.jpg" width="148" /></a><br />
was case in point #1, to an extent The Great Indian Dream, <a href="http://www.iipmresearch.in/public/images/sundayindian/the_great_indian_dream1277031717.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.iipmresearch.in/public/images/sundayindian/the_great_indian_dream1277031717.jpg" width="148" /></a><br />
and then surely, Imagining India.<br />
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Together we can, together we should!</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-65033302832767317022010-08-26T07:33:00.003+05:302010-08-26T07:49:37.998+05:30'Investing' in the rat race<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.propertynice.com/property_image/pic-RS1527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="http://www.propertynice.com/property_image/pic-RS1527.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>India is a budding nation, all right. Compared to some of the Western oldies we are but a child, in terms of of our age (we only recently turned 63), but at the same time we need to agree that we have an advantage. In that, we dont have to re-invent the wheel, and can take cues from developed nations, on different subjects.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We are one of the foremost economies in the world right now, and only getting better by the day. Talks are more about when India would economically overtake the USA and not IF. But despite all our wealth and despite all the education, we the privileged people in our society - software engineers, doctors, pilots and who not - fail to play a role in public welfare. Rather, many of our actions easily can be classified as so greedy and selfish, that they leave in their wake, an army of people that want to imitate us, thereby just creating a very bad cascading effect.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Think of it. The one strata of society that has risen from laymen to princes in a trice, is the breed called 'Software engineer.' Now, people belonging to this group came into a lot of money overnight, went abroad frequently and with such ease that such a glamorous profession was unheard of in the annals of the Indian labour industry (maybe barring the film industry). </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, as a group, this lot of people had two choices - Be down to earth, spend sensibly, save the money and invest wisely for the future. And if possible, even spread the wealth around a bit. And the other choice - unfortunately also the chosen one by many of us - is to spend ostentatiously and with scant respect for the greenback. (I probably should be calling it differently, but considering that this trend mostly started with inflow of dollars, greenback is technically not wrong). While I am not a detractor of spending and living a comfortable life, when these become the sole ideals of one's life and when people spend all their time on researching on new ways to earn more, it creates a dangerous trend. One of greed, one where it becomes a dog eat dog world and power struggles and peer pressure strangles everyone.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Across our country, services are being charged more than what they are worth. Be it trips in an auto that used to cost Rs 15 but now cost Rs 30, or be it that apartment complex that should cost Rs 30 lakhs (considering old fashioned factors in determining house prices) but now touch half a crore, this trend is because of us that are ready to shell out more just because we have enough, regardless of whether it is justified or not. We do it only because we CAN.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you thought this was bad enough, then there is the aspect of land hoarding. Many of my friends bought multiple pieces of land or a few houses spread all over the country, wherever they could lay their hands on, through friends, relatives, even brokers. They usually made tons of money in these deals, returns that were very very lucrative. I was kicking myself for not cashing in earlier and wondered why my money making skills were so poor. But in hindsight, I am thankful to have not done that. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I presume - correct me if I am wrong here because I am not an expert in this subject but just thinking with common sense - that in doing this, we only jack up land prices all around us. True we earn some dough in the bargain, but if that <a href="http://varun-dreamindia.blogspot.com/2007/11/conversation-with-traffic-policeman.html"><b><i>poor police constable</i></b></a> wants to buy a piece of land for his family, I think we would be helping him do that by controlling our hoarding tendencies. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I could not resist but give this example. TATA launched a low cost housing project called Shubh Griha in Mumbai. It was obvious that the project was aimed at people that could not afford tens of lakhs of rupees for a house, but had the dream of living in comfort and in a new house. A friend of mine was suggesting to buy property there for 'investment' purposes as the value is bound to spike up in a few years. Now, does that not defeat the purpose of those houses? Agreed, TATA did not mean to be an angel in building those houses, they are probably still ging to land in the hands of people who are out to make money, but since when did the thing that everyone wanted to do become the right thing? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Do I sound like a communist? You economists and market analysts out there would know better. But unless someone gives me a convincing argument on why my presumptions above are wrong, I think controlling our greed for the sake of overall societal growth is very important. We should invest in that beautiful house, but stick to just one and not go for one each on the names of each of the household members, for the sake of 'investment.' We must buy that beautiful car, but stick to one or as many as truly necessary, and not go for one each for each of the kids for the sake of maintaining societal 'status'. Once we as a society begin to think this way, and become sensitive to the layman's dreams and ambitions, we would all grow together as one. And that, my dear friends, is my vision of 'India Shining'.</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-67169066773866388762010-07-25T06:39:00.010+05:302010-07-25T17:35:14.418+05:30Imagining India<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT4EcJ8OzDJZ5dpqNs-zH-Drowbdsxh0qJX5ilgPP9DaMCf2t8&t=1&usg=__N_PI-H7Xrxno_fV3I9LOwB0x4MI=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT4EcJ8OzDJZ5dpqNs-zH-Drowbdsxh0qJX5ilgPP9DaMCf2t8&t=1&usg=__N_PI-H7Xrxno_fV3I9LOwB0x4MI=" /></a></div>"I believe that the most important driver for growth lies in expanding access to resources and opportunity. People everywhere, regardless of their income levels, should have access to health facilities, clean water, bsaic infrastructure, jobs an capital, a reliable social security system and good schools where their children can be educated in the English language."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In such simple terms, Nandan Nilekani explains - in his book <i><a href="http://imaginingindia.com/"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Imagining India</span></b></a></i> - what India needs in order to progress and do so in the rapid pace that it can and should. Access to resources and opportunity! <a href="http://varun-r.blogspot.com/2005/09/melghat-magical-lost-land.html"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><i>I visited this beautiful place called Melghat</i></span></b></a>, way back in 2005, along with two of my good friends. It was one unforgettable trip that was purely inspired by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palagummi_Sainath#As_a_development_journalist"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><i>famous journalist P.Sainath</i></span></b></a> and his articles in The Hindu, on how malnutrition and related deaths were a regular annual feature in the Amravati district. The sights that we saw in this region still haunt my memory. Villages were pitch black in the evening, as there was no electricity. Not a power cut mind you, there were no Electric lines at all! So people lived by hurricane lamps. The only beautiful image of the following morning was the ethereal sunrise and the sounds of birds chirping happily and the water pump being cranked by women. The adult men folk were busy smoking beedis and the young menfolk were clearing cow dung from the front of their houses.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But as the day progresses, we witnessed defunct classrooms, solar light posts with the panels missing (apparently they were stolen, some of them by the villagers themselves), hospitals that looked like war zones with even very basic amenities missing. The ideas were there. Solar power, mobile hospitals, balwadis to take care of the young ones while the parents went out in search of work and so on. But the implementation was such that women crushed crocin tablets that doctors visiting once a fortnight in mobile hospital vehicles provided, made a paste out of it with water, and applied it to open wounds of children. The implementation was such that the last anyone ever saw a teacher in the school was a month ago. So with basic things hogging one's mind, like how to sell the produce and make enough money to sustain the family to the extent of even saving the kids from dying, where will thoughts leaning toward entrepreneurship and growth flower? With people spending time in walking 20 kms to the nearby town to sell their produce (buses from the town dont ply to this region during monsoons), where is the time to do something constructive and improve self?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Take the case of more developed regions, abroad or even in parts of India, where all these basic ncessities are taken care of. The only things people need think of is how to improve on the profits, how to provide more to the family, how to enroll children in that cricket academy. The lady worries more about how well her art and craft work would be appreciated in her women's club and less about whether to take her chotu to the hospital for his burning fever or if she should just wait for it to subside on its own and use the money for the night's dinner.<br />
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We need to have more of the former kind of situations and less of the latter, if we are to come any point close to justifying our potential as a great nation.<br />
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Just some points to ponder on a hot and sultry Saturday afternoon...</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-63460606904076708262010-06-11T07:49:00.000+05:302010-06-11T07:49:10.684+05:30Bhopal Protest...<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Bhopal Gas Tragedy judgement is a Sham and a Shame. This movement of people has decided to gather at 11 am SHARP on this Sunday, 13th June, in front the building that most prominently represents the government in their city or town, wherever in the world they are. All the people across the world, who are angry at this decision, are going to gather together at this one common moment, and sing the National Anthem of their country. There is going to be no sloganeering, no speeches and no banners. No one is going to direct you to start singing. We have to set our watches and start singing our National Anthem at 11 am sharp.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">This is a movement for people like me who are angry but do not know how to express their anger. So come out. Tell the world that we cannot be taken for a ride and will not be made fools of. That we do not accept the justice that was given in Bhopal. In Pune, the venue is Shivajinagar courts. In Mumbai the venue is Mantralaya. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">PLS SPREAD THE WORD. Contact me to join a Dream India group in Mumbai for this...</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-32912390103571638622010-01-28T08:59:00.001+05:302010-01-28T09:05:22.351+05:30Dream on...<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.eastofthesun.com/pi7/images/dreamcatcher21.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.eastofthesun.com/pi7/images/dreamcatcher21.gif" width="213" /></a><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here goes my second <a href="http://varun-r.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-you-see-is-not-what-you-get.html">dream</a>. Well, these dreams are getting spookier by the day. They have this uncanny way of matching reality towards the end and that is what spooks me. How the hell does this happen! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I was fast asleep and dreamt that my wife, Niel and I were eating samosas in a canteen. Our friends Eswar and Mani were nearby and Mani calls her to play with him. So she picks up a tennis ball lying nearby and throws it at him. Then he throws it at me - I am still chomping on the samosas - and I promptly return it to Eswar. After a while all of them are asleep on the floor and I am... still chomping.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Suddenly Eswar lets out a wild scream clutching his legs. I am tempted to think that he is faking it just to pull our legs, but hell no. I have never heard him cry out in such a pained tone, so maybe he was indeed hurt. I go near him and ask if I should call a doctor, he is still screaming as he shakes his head. I dont know if he is shaking his head in denial or in pain.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I had to act. I call 911.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">'Hello, this is 911. Where are you calling from?'</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">'Stamford,' I say frantically uttering the word.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">'One moment while we connect you,' she says calmly. I wait for exactly a moment after which I hear the phone ring at the other end of the line.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">'Hello?' I say the word desperately, even as I realise what an ass I have been. I wake up with a start already having realised what exactly happened all the while. The ringing phone was my daily morning alarm and I gingerly turn around hoping, praying that Niel had not seen me talk in my sleep! She was blissfully asleep.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">While, this seems funny, and it is indeed I agree, what is it that makes dreams move ever so slowly, but surely towards a conclusion that meets reality? I do not think it is a coincidence, because this has happened to me in the past as well. I am sure there is a meaning to this that I have not googled up yet. But what are your thoughts?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As for me, I guess I will try to unearth that Dreamcatcher my friend gave me 4 years back, and hang it over my head tonight! </div></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-23849341365640859822010-01-16T07:45:00.005+05:302010-01-16T19:25:50.709+05:30Leave the price tag on...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.campmor.com/wcsstore/Campmor//static/images/packs/larger/88333_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.campmor.com/wcsstore/Campmor//static/images/packs/larger/88333_l.jpg" width="185" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A lot of really amusing and funny things happen in our day to day lives and I really wish I could capture them in some form. Maybe this blog would do justice...<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Today my wife bought me an amazing gift. It was a North Face Backpack. Since the time I decided that I am going to climb Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in continental USA, I have been looking out for deals in hiking gear - Sleeping bags, backpacks etc. And the branded names on these stuff cost the earth.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is our anniversary next month and so she gave me a sexy backpack, something just like what I wanted, as a gift. It was green and grey, big enough to hold stuff that would enable me to survive the backcountry for a couple of days and nights and... It had the price tag still on. That was a surprise all right. It was really uncharacteristic of her. She usually goes to any length to shield that information from me.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'This is cool. Seems like it did not cost much...how come?' I asked.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'It was on sale. And on top of that, there was a 15% student discount on it. I went with a friend of mine and he had a student id,' she replied triumphantly.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'Wow! That is awesome.' I could not stop grinning.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After I had poured over all the details of the bag and finished admiring myself in the mirror wearing it, I checked all the websites selling this particular model and was thrilled to find out that they were at least 200 dollars costlier than what she had bought it for. The same model with the same specifications with the same colour!<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So I spent the next 30 minutes gloating over the fact that it was such a good deal and what a wonderful decision she had made. Slowly I realised that I loved the bag not just for the fact that it was an amazing piece of work and it fit my need perfectly well, but also for the fact that it was bought so cheaply. Perhaps more so for the latter reason than the former.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">'Now do you know why I left the price tag on?' she asked sarcastically. What could I say. She knew me too well.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So for all you girls who qualify as wives out there...take my advice. There are two things that a guy loves - Cool gadgets and a wife who saves money. Be smart, make the right purchase and....<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Leave the price tag on!!!<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-90365713532938312672010-01-04T05:01:00.002+05:302010-01-04T05:02:13.404+05:30"Mama...Jesus"<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Li0OxP4VEI0/S0EotmSQjRI/AAAAAAAAKiQ/Gzt25iNTyE8/s1600-h/jeenesh.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Li0OxP4VEI0/S0EotmSQjRI/AAAAAAAAKiQ/Gzt25iNTyE8/s200/jeenesh.png" /></a><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Day: Jan 1, 2010</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Venue: Satyanarayana Temple, Connecticut, USA</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">My wife and I were asking the huge, impressive statue of Lord Ganesha, for the usual stuff - good health to all our loved ones, No mishaps during the year, good job market, were probably on both of our minds when we prayed. I was about to jostle past the hundreds of people around me, to worship the rest of the gods, when I heard this little boy, who was flanked by his parents (obviously South Indians settled down in the USA, don't ask me how I know, I just do) exclaim pointing an index finger directly at Ganesha's tummy..</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">'Mamma, Jesus'</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Not surprisingly, it evoked more than a few curious glances by people around, not at the child, because children are still given the benefit of the doubt, but at the parents, who promptly turned red.</span></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">'Chee, shut your mouth up,' <i>mama</i> (American, for 'mother') pulled back the boy's arm and sharply rebuked him, more in embarrassment than anything else.</span></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i>Daddy </i>reacted more maturely by signalling to his wife to remain calm. He turned towards the boy and said</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">'Kanna ('Dear' in Tamil), this is not Jesus. Jesus is in the church, out in the temple, it is 'God'' (He said this in Tamil)</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">I had to control myself from laughing. There are many predicaments that Indians raising their kids abroad face, I am sure the Tusked God would have been amused to have been mistaken for his on-site counterpart, Jesus. </span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Maybe he has also gotten a green card??? Well, thats a thought! </span></span><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple, Middletown, CT 06457, USA41.5398209 -72.614814341.5237599 -72.643996800000011 41.5558819 -72.5856318tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12700878.post-38371980552080677822009-12-08T06:12:00.005+05:302009-12-08T06:41:18.997+05:30My first novelHi Reader,<div style="text-align: justify;">I recently completed my completely trashy first draft of my first novel (You can guess by this sentence how my novel would be). I was forced to write a novel because I participated in this competition called <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">National Novel Writing Month</a> (NaNoWriMo) where I had to write 50,000 words of a novel starting from scratch... and I did. It was difficult, very very difficult, because I am what every parent calls a 'Jack of All Trades' - so doing just the one thing over and over again, every day for 30 days was difficult. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But thanks to god and all supporters - I finished. And so, despite a personal vow not to reveal the plot to anyone till I smoothen out the millions of plotholes in the story, I think I owe you this much at least. So here you go, the synopsis of my story (No spoilers...so read right on...)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Raja is a confused TamBrahm who is working in a software firm and then on goes to his dream land, America. He is thrilled to be there and is all set to settle down there. Little does he know how his life would take a turn.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He meets Harry (formerly Hari) at office and they both become friends. Harry is known for his pranks and at times for taking it to extremes. So much so that he loses his girlfriend to one of his pranks. And she is Smriti, the office cutie who meets and falls in love with Raja. Just when things are going well, Raja gets a double blow - his H1 visa application does not go through and his manager kicks him back to India.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Back in India, Raja's very close friend Kumar, takes him around to meet the children in the NGO that he runs. Kumar has quit his job and wishes to gain an entrepreneurial scholarship that will give him the freedom to work for the society without worrying much about personal financial security. And hence, takes up this project at a village near Pollachi. Kumar and Raja visit the village regularly during weekends and get to know the situation there with the help of the mysterious <i>Guna Sir</i>. Though Guna has lived in the village for long, his actions and his worldly knowledge at times are so sophisticated that Kumar has his own doubts as to the background of the man who is the elected village cousellor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One day Raja's parents come to know of his relationship with Smriti and are, understandably, livid. Raja's other close friend Kuldeep, a captain in the Indian Army, advices Raja to stay calm and take wise decisions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Raja gels well with the kids in the village and gets them involved a lot in activities in the local school. So when it is time for him to go back to America, the children bid him a tearful farewell. Raja too leaves with a very heavy heart.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Soon after, Kuldeep is embroiled in a major hostage situation when terrorists capture a major landmark in India's financial capital of Mumbai.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Does Raja come back? Do he and Smriti get together? Does Harry play one last prank?</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Does Kumar get the scholarship that he wants? What is the mystery behind <i>Guna sir</i>? </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Does Kuldeep come out alive from the clutches of the deadly men from the sea?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For all these and more...await the latest potboiler... <i>Swades!!!</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6