Lessons

I saw him today, after a long time. I first saw him may be more than a decade back. I was in 10th standard then and a regular traveler in suburban trains.

He used to sell pop corns. He is handicapped, no right hand. With the handicap, he used to run around the platform and compartments, trying to sell his pop corn, which he sold for 50 paise apiece.

Now he sells water packets, costing 1 rupee each. He hasn’t changed. The same level of enthusiasm, running around… Of the 15 minutes I was observing him, he was hardly idle for a second.

Despite being a handicapped, he chooses to earn his living like any other person, there was no sign of weariness on his face, no losing of patience when no one in the bus-stand bought what he sold. He kept on trying, hoping he will finish his quota and make his ends meet.

A thing or two to learn.

Good One

"How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live"

- Henry David Thoreau

(Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle)

Next week, by this time we will have a new President. It is more or less sure now that its gonna be 'Rashtrapatni'.

Now on, according to our politicians, all problems facing the women will be solved at one go. They will be at par with men in all the areas. Thousands of women destitutes who suffer everyday will now be let free by their tormentors because the country has a women president.

I dont intend to demean Ms.Patil or women hood here. One would have really appreciated if a woman was nominated in the initial stages after consensus. It is not as if the 'Super woman' or her protégés in the Government did not know of the existence of a woman called Pratibha Patil. In fact, it is a slur on Ms.Patil’s face that she was brought in at the last stage as a face saving for the ruling elite. It is definitely not out of respect for women that any of these ‘Saviors of Women’ have brought her in. Just opportunism.

The other matter is that for the first time, we are going to have a President against whom so many allegations are raised and who is not able to satisfactorily justify her point of view. And from next week, she will be under Presidential immunity. Is there no other non-controversial woman, if only the motive of our rulers is to bring in equality of sexes??

I feel a Karan Singh or a Gopalakrishna Gandhi would have made a good President, if the ruling combine did not want to go with the current Vice-president.

Whatever it is, the ‘Super woman’ is gonna have a nice time in the case of a hung Parliament in 2009. Long live democracy!! Jai Womanhood!!

"Wonder'ful

I was chatting with one of my colleagues about the recently announced seven wonders. I hadn’t applied my mind into the topic till then. But the points he mentioned were quite logical.

Taj Mahal was built a few centuries back. I haven’t seen it, so cannot comment on its eligibility for being considered for this poll. But don’t we have any other wonder better than Taj Mahal? We have built temples thousands of years back on hill tops when there were not even proper approach roads. Many heavy structures were built with single rocks with unbeatable architectural excellence. They contained beautiful paintings, awesome sculptures and impeccable construction methodologies were used. Vaishnodevi, Amarnath Cave, Ajanta and Ellora Caves are few examples.

I am sure there are many more such structures (not only temples) which could have at least been shortlisted for these polls. At the end of the day, mobile phones and internet have made wonders. May be we had become too emotional with one structure that we did not go beyond it.

Weekend visit

Last weekend, I was on a mini pilgrimage to various temples in and around Kumbakonam, a temple town some 250 kms from Madras. It is an awesome place, to say the least. I have never seen a place which is surrounded by so many temples (and covers almost all Gods worshipped in Hinduism:)). The serenity of the place I am sure can be attributed to these temples.

But sadly, most of these temples are commercialized and many a time, leaves distaste in the minds of the pilgrims. Not to mention the high handedness of some people who think they are above others when it comes to having a closer darshan of the Lord (Sadly, I was part of one of such teams and I just couldn’t do anything about it – I have no right to criticize others :(). But the solace was the fact that in a few temples, the Archakas refused to accept money offered to them directly. Integrity still has some takers.

The visit also brought back old memories. It was in this area that I began my career. I was employed with the Indian Railways and spent around 15 months there. How can one forget his first job?? Especially, the times when he bunked work and escaped to the nearby agricultural fields to play with the kids there and have an awesome bath in the pump-set waters. The places remain unchanged, except the demographics. (I am not elaborating further on this. Secular brigade might get angry).

Along my way, one thing I observed was the real estate boom, even in semi-urban areas near Kumbakonam. Lots of construction activities and land mapping activities. But the sad part of the story is that it looks as if many fertile agricultural lands are being converted for real estate construction. It was apparent in many places. Even areas near lakes weren’t left out. I was told by my brother-in-law that this is the case in most of the places. What a sad state of affairs? Who is controlling all these constructions?? Aren’t we having a long term plan to preserve such agricultural lands? What will our future generations do for survival??

Music

Music is indeed the savior many times. One of the major contributions of my college life is inculcating in me the habit of listening to music. It also brings in some unforgettable college memories. I don’t restrict myself to Tamil songs; I now have a good collection of English and Hindi songs, which help me in warding off my boredom in the evenings when I am back home early. Its not just a medium of time pass, it gives you such a soothing effect that you tend to forget all the work or personal life pressures that you have. I somehow am not attracted towards Carnatic music. I only wish I get interested in it, for it is supposed to have much more effect in bringing in calmness to one’s mind.

Friends

It was an extremely drowsy day at office yesterday. May be it was a Monday, and I was still down with the Sunday syndrome. Whatever be the reason, I was finding it difficult to concentrate on my work.

Then came the evening. Spoke to a couple of my ex-classmates currently employed in IT companies in Pune and Bangalore. Caught hold of a lot of friends when I was online for over 2 hrs subsequently. Spoke to some more friends after dinner.

After all these interactions, my mood was completely changed. I was on cloud nine and drowsiness completely drifted away. ‘To the soul, there is hardly anything more healing than friendship’. What an apt saying….

Is Baalu listening??

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jul/04spec.htm

Devil is in the details

Very apt saying. I have always been sitting in AC office all through my work life. Rarely have I visited the main factory for any purpose. But in the last 3 days, I am at the shop floor throughout , trying to get into details and understand the functioning of the plant. It really makes a difference when a guy who is to be involved in controlling costs does the same sitting in an AC office and the same guy running around the areas where costs are incurred. Latter is bound to be much effective. Now I understand the importance of a proper training.