Making the world a better place.. with cookies..

A couple of weeks ago I saw the movie ’Stranger Than Fiction‘, starring Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal in the lead roles, and backed up by great performances by Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman (one of my all time favorite actors.. remember ’Kramer vs. Kramer‘ and ’Rain Man‘?). As much as I was impressed by the performance of Will Ferrell, the movie’s story-line didn’t appeal a lot at the start, but as I watched on, it just turned out to be one of those “need-to-take-a-look-at-the-quality-of-your life” type of movies. Another such movie which immediately comes to memory is ‘Groundhog Day’ (starring Bill Murray), another masterpiece.

Right, so now that I have finished showing off my movie-memorization skills, let’s move on. Beyond the original message of this movie, there was one dialogue / conversation between the lead actors which stuck with me long after I had finished watching it, so I thought I should share it with all of you. The conversation takes place in the bakery which is run by Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character). Harold Crick (Will Ferrell’s character), a habitually non-enthusiastic IRS agent working for the US government, audits Ana’s business one day, and being a huge hater of taxmen and the government’s policies, she makes sure that he has a lousy time auditing her.

But somewhere inside she is slightly impressed by Harold’s genuineness and his commitment, in what he feels is his way of making the world a better place by helping the government in collecting taxes, which would then use the money to implement social welfare schemes. As night falls, he decides to call it a day and leave for home. Just then she offers him some fresh cookies that she has just baked. He reluctantly accepts the offer and strikes a conversation with her about how she ended up being a baker.

Harold: So when did you decide to become a baker?

Ana: In college..

Harold: Oh, like in a cooking college?

Ana: I went to Harvard Law actually.

Harold: Oh, I’m sorry, I just assumed it was..

Ana: No, no, that’s fine. I didn’t finish.

Harold: Something happened?

Ana: No, I was barely accepted. I mean, really, barely! The only reason they let me come was because of my essay – ‘How I was going to make the world a better place with my degree’. And, anyway we would have to participate in these study sessions.. my classmates and I.. sometimes all night long.. and so I baked.. so that no one would go hungry while we worked. Sometimes I would bake all afternoon in the kitchen in the dorm and I would bring my little treats to the study groups.. and people loved them. I made oat milk cookies, peanut-butter bars, dark chocolate, macadamia nut wedges, and everyone would eat and stay happy and study harder and be better on the tests.. and then more and more people started coming to the study groups.. and I’d bring more snacks.. and I was always looking for better and better recipes.. until soon it was.. apricot croissants.. and mocha bars with a almond glaze, and lemon chiffon cake with a zesty peach icing.. and at the end of the semester I had 27 study partners.. 8 mead journals filled with recipes.. and a ‘D’ average. So I dropped out. I just figured that if I was going to make the world a better place I would do it with cookies.

For me, this was the hidden message in the movie. We often decide our career path very early in life, and follow it so staunchly that we easily turn a blind eye to all other opportunities and gateways which can take us to the same destination, albeit using a different path, often the less trodden one. It’s not as if one path is better than the other, the point here is to recognize the one to which we are best suited to – the one that can give us the most satisfaction at the end of the day. Sure, earning a bit of money along the way doesn’t do much harm either.

In our society, people with unconventional careers often have a very different backgrounds. Persons in the music and theatre industry are prime examples. Some people I know in this field have been trained to become engineers and doctors. Most would admit that as time went by, their life was shaped by designs and events much beyond their control. Still, many would say that they have not drifted a lot from their original ambitions, only the means to achieve those have changed. They still manage to put a smile on the face of the people in front of them, if not by using a healing-hand and a stethoscope, then by using witty humor in their plays or by some melodious piece of music that they have created.

I think this still contributes to the task of ‘making the world a better place’!

What is on top of the refrigerator..

It has always amazed me how we humans have an affinity towards inanimate objects. Sometimes this feeling grows with time. Today I would like to talk about one such affinity of my childhood days.

Our earlier kitchen refrigerator was a 165 liter capacity model, which was about 5 feet tall. Dad had purchased it approximately 24 years ago, when I was only 4 years old, and just over a feet tall. It was kept in the kitchen, and apart from that refrigerator, no other kitchen furniture or appliance was more than 3 feet tall at best, which meant that I could make out what all was kept on top of those things. But the world on top of the refrigerator was sort of enigmatic, because the only way I could reach it was by standing on a stool or something similar.

I remember asking mom everyday what she used to keep on top of the refrigerator. Obviously whatever she kept there wasn’t a national secret or anything, but we often have strange curiosities when we are that young. As years went by, I grew tall, but until I reach a height of 5 feet, the ‘top’ of the refrigerator always remained sort of a mystery. Later, of course, once I could see the refrigerator top clearly it ceased to remain a puzzle. All the childhood curiosities quickly faded away, and the refrigerator continued to serve our family for a long long time.

Over time it started causing some performance issues and last week we decided to replace it with a new, bigger 340 liter refrigerator model. They delivered the new piece yesterday but as they were taking away the old one, I just felt as if they were also taking away some part of my prized childhood with them.

The irony is that the new one is about 6 and a half feet tall. I am at about 5 feet 8 inches. This means that I won’t be able to see the top of the refrigerator even today.. and at this age people will mock at me if I stand up a stool to check out this new world! Childhood.. reloaded!!

Have you ever come across..

Its been eons since I last updated my blog. I’m going to break the hiatus today, with something that I have always thought to be the most difficult of all literary tasks – translating an article from one language to another, without loosing its soul.

Last week I received a wonderful e-mail in Marathi from Sneha Rathod, a friend of mine. It was one of the best collection of thoughts I had read in a long long time. It struck me then that if I could try and translate that into English, it may reach a larger audience. So here goes… hope I do justice to the original article…

Most of the short stories mentioned here are in the context of the typical Indian society. But since social values rarely change among different regions, I hope you can find your own self somewhere in the varied emotions and subtle feelings of the protagonists, who show faith in these very values and trust in their relationships.

1. The rain is absolutely pouring down. The once bustling city has gone into hibernation mode. But not him. He is straddling away unabated on his bicycle, wading through the knee deep water, shouting as usual and selling his wares.

He is soaked in water. The raincoat was never going to be of any help in this rain. But he hardly has a choice. Though its late in the night, he must continue. He desperately needs money to enroll his children into school and buy some new clothes for his wife. He also needs to send some money back to his hometown. No wonder then that he is slogging it out for more than 20 hours in a day. This has taken a toll on his health and he looks dreary eyed now. A person who was known to be the most spirited and enthusiastic person in his group, has turned into an indifferent being today.

To a layman it may seem as if he is balancing the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. Defying adversity, he keeps his head high at all times. Have you ever come across such an optimist?

2. A family of four enter an up-market restaurant. A battle-hardened father, a resolute mother, a happy-go-lucky teenage girl and her confidently-responsible brother, reveling in the joy of his first salary.

The mother is finding it difficult to hide her pride. In all these years she had never thought that her opinion would matter to anyone. But today her son is giving her that importance. “What should I order for you, mother?”, he asks. “Oh, anything you order is fine with me son”, she blushes. In a moment, her entire life flashes before her eyes. The hardships encountered in bringing up the children. An eccentric husband. A prejudiced society. Today she fears no one. Her son has seen her toil away at life, and recognizes its value.

For the first time, the son doesn’t look at the price column on the menu card while ordering the dinner. Busy in her own thoughts, his mother quietly wipes away her tears of joy.

In the quiet atmosphere of the restaurant, have you ever observed such a relationship?

3. He is standing outside the movie hall waiting for her. Its been three years now that they have been having a close relationship. But she hasn’t yet mustered the courage to break the news to her father, fearing dire consequences.

The movie is about to start. His restlessness is palpable. After a few brief moments, he decides to try her cell number once more. There’s no answer from the other side. Thoughts run amok in his mind. He’s had enough of such secret meetings. He now has a good job, a good salary, “what more could her parents want?”, he thinks. “The time has come, today she will have to speak to her father about our relationship”, he says. But every ticking minute increases his anxiety. Now he decides to call her on her home number. He dials in the digits.

As luck would have it, her brother picks up the call. “Dare you call her again.. I will destroy your life..”

He is crestfallen upon hearing these words. Its as if somebody had snatched the earth from beneath his feet. He’s not sure what to do now. His predicament is in stark contrast with the fast-paced world around him. He sits there motionless, contemplating his next action..

In the rush to reach home to your loving family, have you ever come across such a person?

4. She comes out of the building in a very happy mood. She can’t help but smile even while calling a taxi to take her to the railway station. Now, she just can’t wait to break the news to her husband, but realizes that he will be busy at his workplace. “Should I still call him? After all, the news is big”, she murmurs to herself.

Upon reaching the station she realizes that the local train is just about to leave. Driven by habit, she rushes to catch it… and then suddenly realizes that now is not the time to rush through things. She will have to take more care of herself from now on.

Clutching on to a small envelope containing the report of her pregnancy test, she watches the train pull away.

Engrossed in a world of her own, have you ever come across such a woman?

5. She is very angry with everyone today. Someone in her class has played a silly prank on her and has thrown her school bag outside the window. Upset all day, she contacts her elder brother who studies in 5th grade, in the mid-school break and shares the incident with him.

He promptly goes to her classroom, and bullies everyone present into revealing the name of the boy who threw her bag out. The children of 3rd grade start getting frightened now. After some time, one boy cracks, and reveals the name of his offending classmate. Her brother finally gets hold of the prankster and gives him a good dressing-down. He also warns everyone against troubling his sister again in the future.

Her brother, with whom she’s always has silly fights at home, has turned into her saviour today. She fears no one when he is around.  This time she didn’t have to wait till the Rakshabandhan (the traditional Indian festival celebrating the relationship between brothers and sisters) to get her customary gift. He hugs and consoles her, wiping away her tears.

She is feeling on top of the world that day. Have you ever come across such siblings?

6. All the friends are laughing, for no apparent reason. She had attended an interview today and is narrating her experiences to her friends. The funny way in which the receptionist spoke, the sarcastic answers that she had prepared in her mind for the questions being asked to her… Its almost 12 O’Clock in the night, but since it’s a Sunday the next day, nobody is in a hurry to get up early in the morning. They are all enjoying the time in her hostel room.

But all this revelry still can’t hide her disappointment of not getting the job that day. She desperately needs it. Its been 3 months now, and the inflow of money from her home has ceased. If this continues for a few more weeks, she may have to vacate the hostel.

Almost unknowingly, the tension starts to show on her face… she realizes this and tries to push it back again.

“.. and the watchman was constantly looking at me.. in my mind I thought that…” and once more she succeeds in laughing away her tensions.

She knows that she is just trying to postpone the inevitable and is trying to cover her disappointment and anxiety with humor. Hoping for some change in luck, have you ever come across such a girl?

7. She is the boss, but to everybody in office she is ‘Miss Ruthless’ (a.k.a. Meryl Streep in the ‘The Devil Wears Prada’). Though she is still single and the youngest member of the group, she has reached the highest echelon in the company. That position has rubbed off on her personality, and until now the external world has only seen her as a merciless and heartless rock.

The meeting has started. As usual she is listening silently. Her cell phone rings. Normally she ignores such calls, but not today. She picks it up and within no time excitement breaks the tough lines on her face. She is all smiles.

“.. Oh when did this happen..”, she exults, and walks out of the room still speaking on the phone.

How the roles change. The person who was the ‘boss’ a few minutes ago has suddenly transformed into a simple ‘friend’. On the other side of the phone is her classmate from childhood, her best friend, who is getting married.

Her happiness is evident. It’s not everyday that an occasion comes along when she can forget all her responsibilities at the office and really let her hair down. Have you ever come across such a female?

Ping from childhood

It was a regular Thursday night.. I was doing some research for the solution to a technical problem I had faced in the office that day.. the clocked had just ticked past 12 am.. and I had already started yawning. It is normal practice for me to keep the Google Talk messenger ON while working.. so that you can chat with friends.. or rather ‘night owls’ (if in India) or ‘early birds’ (if in the US).. and it doesn’t get boring and eerie in the calm of the night..

Suddenly, I got an alert that I had received a new scrap (message) in my Orkut account. The name seemed new.. so I curiously opened the Orkut window to check out who it was. Well.. the scrap was equally strange.. some female had enquired if my mother’s name was Vasudha. Now, my mom frequently writes articles on specific topics in a local daily here in Pune, and also in some magazines in and around the area. So I thought it was someone who had read my mother’s name in one such article, had somehow come across my account on Orkut (going by the same surname.. which is rare in this part of the world) and asked if I was related to her. So I promptly replied back that “Yes, her name is Vasudha. How do you know her?”. The reply to this took me aback.. and sent me 25 years down the memory lane.. in an instant..

The person asking this was.. technically.. one of my first friends! We, at home, know her as ‘Rani’ (its a nickname), and she and her family (the Chaudhari’s) used to be our neighbors in Chinchwad, a small satellite town of Pune, the place where I was born. Obviously, these were the first people I had played with, & as mom always tells me, they were not just neighbors for her during our stay there, instead they were like an extended family! 

Being just a couple of years old then, I only have a hazy recollection of those events, but through my mom’s stories over the years I have lived those days many times! She has always praised them for being a huge support to her when my dad used to be out on long work-related tours. Also, being a lot younger than Rani and her brothers, Sanju and Raju (again, all nicknames, because that’s what I remember the most) I’ve learnt how they used to treat me more like their sibling..

As you might have guessed by now, it didn’t take much time for Rani and me to get into a conversation that night. As surprised as I was on meeting her through Orkut, I was also eager to know where she was and how everybody was doing. I learnt about how each one completed their respective educations, got married and settled down in life and I really felt nice that each one was doing good. Rani too was happy to learn that mom was hale and hearty, and told me that she always has been one of her favorite persons.

It was many years since I had met them in person, so that day it felt as if we were rewinding time. Its strange how the good news of long lost friends and relatives brings a certain amount of cheer in you. Thank you, Orkut!

The next morning I told my mother about the entire episode, and she was delighted, she almost couldn’t believe it. I told her how Sanju, Raju and Rani have settled down and are leading successful lives today. Rani’s son even has his 1st birthday coming up! It felt great to see her picture albums and through them mom & I tried to catch up on the lost years..

It almost seems a blast from the past.. or a ping from childhood. Its also strange how quickly free conversations can take place, as if you had met the person just yesterday. We have chatted quite frequently since then.

Though many abuses are regularly thrown towards social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook, it is events like these in which they prove their worth. It certainly brought people together after many years of oblivion. Technology, and the internet in particular, does make this planet a small world after all!

Friends after the war..

In sports, and also in the competitive world we live in today, winning is all that matters. Its the final result on the score sheet that counts, not how one got there. Just to be more pessimistic, second place is the first among the list of losers.

Yet, sports often brings the real individual out of a person. Though success stories and ‘who-said-what’ at sporting encounters is of academic interest to most people, some tales do live on and are passed on from one generation to the other, only to become legends and folklore. Case in the point: the origins of ‘The Ashes’ cricket series between England and Australia.

Sportsmen are seen as warriors, or rather, more like gladiators fighting it out against each other for the coveted prize, and the honour that goes with it. But there’s a human side to things which rarely comes into focus. Its based on respect for each other, which ironically is a by-product of the same competitive spirit. A stong friendship can exist even between the most bitter rivals on the field, and we have many instances in the history of sports, or even in the history of the wars the world has fought to date.

On Sunday, inside the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, we all were privileged to see that piece of history repeating itself. It was the moment when an emotional and hurt Roger Federer was consoled by the very person who had humbled him just a few minutes ago in a marathon final match at the Australian Open Tennis Grand Slam Championship. Few would argue that both have achieved a lot of success in their careers, earned a whole lot of honour and respect from the fraternity and will go on to even greater heights in the future. This is surely not the last time we have seen them slug it out on court, but its incidences like these which will be remembered long after they have bowed out from the centerstage.

Image courtesy: ‘http://www.telegraph.co.uk’

I quote Nadal’s own words here: “Sorry for today, Roger. I know how you are feeling right now. But remember that you are one of the greatest champions from history and you will go on to improve the 14 (major Grand Slam titles).”

That is humility for you, a quality that Tennis as a sport has taught Nadal. At a stage where you constantly have to be on the top of your game and face-off with the best everytime, this quality is a great asset to have. It keeps your feet grounded at all times, the main ingredient of the recipe called ‘Champion’. 

I mentioned ‘The Ashes’ a while ago, and I would like to round off the article with a similar incident which occurred after the historic 2005 Ashes test at Edgbaston. It was a series where the English reclaimed the coveted Ashes urn by defeating the might of the Australians. But it will also be remembered for the picture of Andrew Flintoff crouching beside a heartbroken Brett Lee on the pitch at the end of the match, and consoling him, amidst the crazy celebrations from the English players and supporters.

Image courtesy: ‘http://www.theage.com.au’

The following quote from R.G. Briscow made during the World War II just sums it up:

“If only Hitler and Mussolini could have a game of bowls once a week at Geneva, I feel Europe would not be as troubled as it is.”

“.. lives to die another day..”

In happier times..

Image license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License

 

The 26/11 Mumbai tragedy is over. A lot has been said and written about it over the last few days. Many lives were lost, many more were devastated, but ultimately the local citizen lives to fight.. err sorry.. lives to ‘die’ another day..

Surprised because I used the word ‘die’? Well you shouldn’t be.. unless of course you haven’t lived in India for any length of time..

- Because that is what would happen if the ‘public servants of the country’ turned ‘masters of the country’ go about their jobs like preparing a chocolate cake in the kitchen.. that too for the first time.

- Because that is what would happen when intelligence reports are treated like wedding invitations and it is a bureaucrat, generally known as a ‘cabinet secretary’ who decides whether the the minister should read it or not. Apparently, this is much like the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan during WWII, when many alerts were similarly overlooked.

- Because that is what would happen when our courageous and resolute police force have to fight an AK-47 automatic rifle with a regular six-bullet pistol.

- Because that is what would happen when the fiercest security force in the country, the NSG, have to depend upon airplanes from other military departments, and even civilian aircraft sometimes to move from one location to the other, costing precious time.

- Because that is what would happen when egos of some politicians become more important than the lives of the population they help govern, and the commandos who put their lives before others.

- Because that is what would happen when even 5 days after the tragedy and corresponding military operations began there is not one statement from the President, who ironically is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Instead there is abuse thrown by a state chief minister towards the family of a soldier who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that his colleagues could live to tell the story.

- Because that is what would happen when even after repeated terror strikes (with an alarming regularity and deadly results) all that the ‘toothless’ government pledges is “tougher anti-terror laws”.. whatever that means.

- Because that is what would happen when words like ’spirit’ and ‘resolve’ get transformed into weaknesses, and going back to work the next morning becomes your ‘only option’.

One of the most vivid recollections of terrorism I have is from a report I read in the newspaper a few years back. It was an incident in militant infested Assam where a powerful bomb blast had ripped through a railway station in the early hours of an otherwise beautiful day. Do you remember who the victims standing on the platform were? Six-seven year old innocent little school kids, along with a couple of their class teachers.. out for their annual school trip. For many its was the first time they had been on a railway. I think you would say.. wrong place at the wrong time..

The 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes killed off as many hotel staff as affluent civilians dining in those prestigious restaurants. It killed as many regular middle class train commuters like you and me at the CST as a highly diverse crowd at one of the oldest cafes of Mumbai, Leopold Cafe. It killed as many foreign dignitaries as brave policemen and commandos trying to save them. A hard-working father returning home from work by train.. a normal bystander catching the sea breeze in front of the Taj.. a loving daughter trying to make her parents proud by working in a big 5 star hotel.. a promising young chef.. a young management trainee.. an upcoming entrepreneur.. a shipping tycoon.. do you find yourself in one of them?

Again.. wrong place at the wrong time.. you would say?

Who decides these places and times? Fate.. or the terrorists? I think its a no-brainer now that you and me could be in exactly one of ‘those’ places and at one of ‘those’ times easily.. and we may not be as lucky then..

On positive lines though, these attacks might just be the best thing that have happened to Mumbai.. or even India in the last few years. As Amitabh Bachchan put it in his blog, this time each one of us feels the need to be our own vigilante. The anger towards a lethargic system is coming out in the open. Something like this is unprecedented. The final scenes of the hindi flick ‘Rang De Basanti’ flash in front of my eyes.

Post 9/11 the US set up the Department of Homeland Security, and it has helped bring down the number of terror related cases in that country. The Indian Government too now is planning to set up a similar organization. But there was something more important which the US did.. attack the place from where the terrorists masterminds were residing.. Afghanistan. That put across a message that anybody harming people on US soil will be dealt with severely. Now the way they conducted the war is a different matter altogether. But for a ‘peace-loving’ country like ours, this would be unthinkable and always would be termed as a knee-jerk reaction. Why? If we know where the perpetrators of this crime live.. why can’t covert commando operations bring them to justice? We would be kidding ourselves if we really believe that our ‘co-operating’ neighbors would hand them over to us unconditionally.

The worst thing now would be for this popular feeling to die down after a few days. If that happens then the sacrifice of those 200 people would go in vain. Probably that’s what the politicians.. and terrorists alike.. are hoping. Its about time we stop over-doing this ’spirit’. Its about time we seek real answers from the people who should be accountable. Some heads have started rolling in the government, but its time we keep up the pressure on them to not stop the reforms at that.

When we purchase something from a store only then do we pay the shopkeeper money. Its time we start looking at the taxation system the same way. “You provide us basic amenities.. you build good streets for us.. you equip our security forces with proper arms and ammunition.. only then you will get the money in form of taxes.”

Its time we stop cribbing about having to stand in long queues for security checks at places like airports and railway stations. Its time we start obeying traffic rules and stop encouraging corrupt practices like giving bribes to the men and women trying to guard the law.

Its time we look under our seat in the movie hall for anything suspicious. Its time we don’t shy away from reporting something unusual to the nearest police post just because we don’t want don’t have time to get into those ‘legal hassles’.

For once we need to rise above the locals v/s North Indians debate and put our thoughts to something really meaningful.

Lyricist Prasoon Joshi’s poem ’Is baar nahin‘ clearly puts across the current Indian mindset.

Though the attacks had an adverse impact on the various cricket series that were underway, it was heartening to see many foreigners actually putting up a fearless face and wanting to come back to the city.

To round off, I would like to mention Lord Krishna from the Hindu Mythology here. He is said to have used a circular disc (known as ‘Sudarshan Chakra’) of to kill evil persons. Gauging at the current level of unrest and crime in the world, the small 6 inch disc would have to be replaced by something of the order of a 10 meter dish antenna to have any sort of impact!

Or probably as my mother put it yesterday, it would only require his magical flute to bring forth the humanity and banish all evil..

Pichle saat dino mein..

Well, the reference to the song from the recent hindi flick ‘Rock On’ is just co-incidental!

In one of his recent blogs, a friend of mine, Ranjeet Elkunchwar, has tried to convey his tribulations with his inner voice. He has always had this great ability to convert his feelings and experiences into words. Being a Scorpio myself I can easily relate to those feelings and the ‘growing up’ curve he talks about.

The events over the last few days have forced me to dig deep mentally too. Handling close relationships and standing by your decisions is like walking a tight rope. You live and die by your decisions – is what I have always maintained, but putting this into actual practice is not easy. As Ranjeet puts it in his blog, I too think this experience will help me truly grow up. I would not like go into the details of the events for obvious reasons. Rather than putting my feelings into words, I would like to share one of my favorite videos, the lyrics of which sort of describe my own trials and tribulations over this period. 

It is from Lucky Ali’s album ‘Sifar’ and the song is named “Nahi rakhta dil mein kuch”. The music video is great, but its nothing compared to the amazing lyrics of this song.

 

(Courtesy YouTube)

 

The lyrics -

 

Nahi rakhta dil mein kuch, rakhta hoon zubaan par, 

samjhe na apne bhi kabhi.

Keh nahi sakta main kya sahta hoon chhupa kar, 

ek aesi aadat hai meri.

Sabhi to hai jinse milta hoon, sahi jo hai inse kehta hoon, 

jo samajhta hoon.

Maine dekha nahi rang dil aaya hai sirf adaa par, 

ek aesi chahat hai meri.

Baharon ke ghere se laaya main dil sajaa kar, 

ek aesi sohbat hai meri.

Saaye mein chhaye rehta hoon, aankhen bichhaye rehta hoon, 

jinse milta hoon.

Kitno ko dekha hai humne yahan, kuch seekha hai humne unse naya..

Pehle phursat thi ab hasrat hai samakar, 

ek aesi uljhan hai meri.

Khud chalke rukta hoon jahan jis jagah par, 

ek aesi sarhad hai meri.

Kehne se bhi main darta hoon, apno ki dhun mein rehta hoon, 

kar kya sakta hoon.

De sakta hoon main thoda pyaar yahan par, 

jitni haisiyat hai meri.

Reh jaun sabke dil mein dil ko basakar, 

ek aesi niyat hai meri.

Ho jaye to bhi razi hoon, kho jaun to main baaki hoon, 

yun samajhta hoon.

Raste na badle na badla jahan, phir kyun badalte kadam hai yahan..

 

P.S. – If a picture speaks a thousand words, then a video speaks a million!

My first teaching experience..

Over the years there have been some professions which have been termed as ‘noble’. The medical field or nursing is one. Teaching is another, and the following is an account of the experience I’ve had with it.

I’ve always believed that though you are the best person to judge yourself, you never know the full extent of your abilities and it takes some person or an event to bring them out. The same was the case with me. After looking at how I used to interact with people around me, and the technical background I had, a friend of mine thought that I should forward my name for a position of guest lecturer which was open in his college. To be frank, at that point I thought that he was either playing a ‘very-belated’ April Fool’s joke on me, or had totally freaked out! I mean.. during my schooling and college life I had been a fairly good student, but I had seen both – very good days (like standing in the top 2-3 in class for some modules, especially during my C-DAC days) and very bad days (like flunking many subjects at a time!). Plus I had almost taken all the liberties you can think of in the ‘free’ college life, and was far from an ideal person to coach a bunch of guys. After all I regard it to be a noble profession and only noble men-women should do it (though that is rarely the case in schools and colleges across the country).

Then I was reminded of a fact – a very clever person, though eligible, may not be good teacher but an average person, who doesn’t have a great history of achievements, may turn out to be good orator and can explain the subject to someone in a lucid manner. “That’s what teaching is all about, isn’t it..”, I thought.

So after turning down one opportunity, I took up the challenge the following year. It was the position of a guest lecturer for the Mobile Computing subject at the Ferguson College in Pune for the MCS course third semester. Not only was this subject an all-time favorite of mine, but after having a day job as a software developer and working on unrelated technologies at times, I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to keep in touch with some topics I love and a get a chance to know the new developments in an ever updating technological field during the preparation for the lectures. It would also give me something constructive to do on weekends, apart from setting up a second line of work to go with my primary job, which is the need of the hour in an effervescent IT industry.

So there I was.. already committed to taking the lectures and with absolutely no idea of what topics to start with of how to manage all of them in the given time frame. Plus there was a certain nervousness which you feel before going on the stage and facing an audience for example. Naturally there was also a fear of failure, but in the end I did not want to regret not trying to something like this ever in life.

I eventually prepared myself for my first ‘encounter’ with the students. Unfortunately I have a ‘bad’ habit of never reaching a given place on time.. and the first day was no different (well I admit that even after my concerted efforts over the next 4 months, this track record did not improve). So there they were.. about 60 students waiting for me in the classroom. Obviously I was jittery at the start but tried hard not to show it. As the first few minutes went by, I started becoming more and more comfortable in my new role. I tried to take everything in a light vein and enjoy the time there. The first lecture, apart from some funny incidences, went very well – much to my amazement.

The lecture on the following day was the crucial one. I thought that even if roughly 40% of the guys present on the first day turn up, then I have won the first battle. When I saw the class strength on that day (a Sunday) – little more then 60% of the first day – I knew the challenge I had accepted had paid off!

The next few lectures were fun. I used to stay up at nights during the week to prepare for the lectures on the weekends, but I used to like it. Well I must admit that like every batsmen who goes out to open a new innings in Cricket, I used to have that strange feeling in my stomach every time I went up to face the students. But it was fun!

Each day was like a new challenge.. a new test for me. I had to explain the topics in as simple but effective way as possible. That meant a lot of research on the internet too. I did not want to repeat the same errors that my teachers in college made – of not ‘involving’ the students in the learning process and overlooking them. I tried to throw in some innovative diagrams, some self-explanatory videos and some presentation slides to augment my teaching. I tried to focus on the fundamentals of the topics. The main thing I tried to do was to be honest with myself and not merely assume that I am doing a good job – and I realized that this was no easy task.

There were many memorable incidences during the course of the sessions. Including the day when the recital of the national anthem took me by surprise (refer to my earlier article related to this). I realized that instead of taking a formal lecturer-to-student approach, keeping a perennial smile on the face and taking a friend-to-friend approach was a good option. This way the students tend to take more interest in the subject.

Anyone who is even remotely involved with the IT field knows how monotonous it can get. Sometimes I used to look forward to the weekend lectures at Ferguson as a place to rejuvenate myself. It really feels different to be on the other side of the dais and you tend to understand the thought process of other teachers.

I was really surprised by the attitude shown by the students at times during the 4 months. It used to rain cats & dogs sometimes during the rainy season but they would brave it all & be present for the lecture – in spite of it being a Saturday or Sunday. They were even open to share their class trip photographs with me, which I think was a special gesture because they had known me only for a few days really. I would always remember these things.

I myself gained a lot of experience during the sessions and also unknowingly learned a lot from the students in turn. It would seem like a cliche but it really feels great to give something back to the society in this way, and I would like to thank the college for giving me this opportunity. Who knows, this may be the first of many such opportunities. Of course I realize that there are many areas I need to improve myself to deliver a more enjoyable learning experience, but at least this was a start, and when you do something for the first time it is always close to your heart.

To the students of the MCS batch whom I taught: (I’m being very formal here for a change!)

It was a wonderful experience for me taking the Mobile Computing sessions. Thank you for all your support and feedback during this time. I will definitely miss taking the lectures. Keep in touch and I hope to work with you as a colleague someday.

I am also sharing the group photos we clicked in class -

The MCS class I taught at the Ferguson College

Me sitting amongst the MCS group

When the national anthem becomes a pleasant surprise!

Hey,

I am very fond of teaching and I recently got an opportunity to teach Mobile Computing to a bunch of Masters of Computer Science (MCS) course students at the Ferguson College here in Pune. Its quite an experience to manage the weekend teaching sessions with my day job of a software engineer, but that’s matter for different blog.

I would like to share an experience I had during the class last weekend. I had decided to start the class early that day, around 7:30 am. Now that was a first for me too because to be honest I am not used to getting up that early! I was a little preoccupied with what I was going to teach and was trying to set up the laptop and projector for the presentation slides, when suddenly all the students got up. I was initially puzzled, but thought that they might not able to see the screen clearly or wanted to move to the front benches.

But they did not move an inch! I was all the more bemused now. I asked a student as to what the matter was. Seeing my obvious predicament he replied that the national anthem was playing on the college public address system and that they were standing still as a matter of respect for it.

I was taken aback! When I tuned my ears too I could listen to the anthem being played. I now joined them. After it got over everybody sat down and we were ready to start with the business. But before I could do that, I asked myself one question, when was the last time I sung the national anthem?

In the fast paced and digital life we experience nowadays such incidences are a pleasant surprise. Reciting the national anthem used to be a everyday ritual during school days. Then I used to go to the Independence Day celebrations on 15th August at my college for some years after I passed out of there – where I might have sung the anthem for the last time. I used to like it. But eventually life got ‘busier’ with other engagements and I stopped going. Independence Day was reduced to purchasing miniature tricolor flags available on the streets the day before and hoisting them at home, at then forgetting about them in the joy of a getting a holiday from office/work. This attitude needs serious rethinking now.

Ironically the students who stood up in the first place were of the same age group as the people we blame for being selfish and tarnishing our tradition and harmony. We say that they have no respect for elders or society in general and only indulge in the revelries of modern life by taking advantage of the easy money available to them. While this is a matter of opinion and debate, this incident was a reminder that there are exceptions and we should not stereotype someone based on personal prejudices.

Well, I don’t think I am ever going to forget that day!

‘Big Bang’.. revisited!

“We choose to go the the moon, and do the other things in this decade, not because they are easy, but because they are hard..”

Rings a bell?

Yes, these were the words used by John F. Kennedy to describe the US plans of going to outer space, and eventually to the moon. Why am I relating this with the ‘Big Bang’? Because over the last few days the attention and interest that the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider have got is perhaps close to what the guys at NASA would have experienced during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s when mankind’s endeavor to set foot on the moon and explore its surface was at its zenith.

Of course, like me, many of you reading this have only read about that era in history or science books or probably have seen documentaries on TV. Tom Hanks’ miniseries ‘From The Earth To The Moon’ is a fairly good and accurate depiction of those times. Yet the moment when Neil Armstrong first said those immortal words, or the moment when lives of 3 astronauts hung by a thread inside Apollo 13 will never dawn on us.

This time though, we are lucky enough to experience it first hand. Now the experiments being undertaken at the CERN labs under Geneva may not be as dramatic as the space missions, but they are not being dubbed as ‘mankind’s biggest experiment’ for nothing. We find ourselves on the cusp of huge discoveries in physics, and science in general which may prove to be a golden milestone in our quest for knowledge of the nature around us, and the eternal question of what brought us here. The gray haired scientists out there are not just working to create another ‘Big Bang’. There is lot more to it than meets the eye.

Probably, well its quite a possibility, that we may practically come across energy or particles which have been known to exist only theoretically until now. Maybe we can reproduce some form of this energy and harness it in the medical field to treat cancer cells more efficiently. Maybe the findings can drive other studies into the new areas of science and technology which may make our world a better place to live.

Just on the technological front these series of experiments are something to take note of. The raw computing power used to analyze the data emanating from the innumerable sensors is just amazing. Networking speeds only imagined in our dreams have actually been implemented there. The machine itself with its 17 mile long tubes and magnets is nothing short of an engineering feat. There is every chance that this modern technology will eventually percolate into our everyday computing environment. 

Though there is always the other side of the coin. Some rumor mongers have gone to the extent of calling it as the “.. beginning of the end of the world.. “. Some question if its worth investing so much time, money and other resources when there are more mundane tasks at hand back home, more people to be fed, more wars to be fought, more monuments to be built and more elections to be won.

To round off I would like to quote a line from the same TV miniseries which I’ve mentioned earlier in this blog.

“There’s more to life than just living..”

Lets hope this recreated smaller ‘Big Bang’ gives birth to new avenues of research, just like the original one which gave birth to our universe.