Completed 11 years in Software Industry. My real career in Software is going to "Start Now".
Tuesday, September 09, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Trivandrum Memories (1)
In 2003, from September to November I was in Trivandrum for attending my job training. There are certain periods in our life, that stays fresh in our memory forever. My days in Trivandrum is one such period.
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To Training Center:
--------------------
I was staying in Aruvi hotel in Pattom, Trivandrum. On the first day I woke up early in the morning, got ready and came down to the reception. Many were waiting there, since almost everyone staying there were the ones who have come for the training. I was dressed in a light blue coloured format shirt, a dark blue pant, shoes, and tie. All of them were new and I was indeed looking funny. Until the van came I was watching the TV in the reception. A particular song grabbed my attention "karuppin alagu", for which two ladies were dancing - one was Meera Jasmine & the other one I didnt know. She looked pleasant and was younger than Meera Jasmine. Later I got to know that she was Bhavana, who later became famous in Tamil movies.
Around 8 o' clock the van, indeed vans came - they were the old light-green coloured Mahendra vans. We got into them in batches, and started our journey to the training center, which was in Technopark, Attinkuli. It was a ride for about 40 minutes, at the end of which, the van entered into a location, which looked exactly like a Jurassic Park, and we looked like goats taken there to feed some Dinosars there.
[Entry to technopark training center]
The training center was a beautiful white coloured building. As we entered into the building, it had a great grand interior, which I have never seen till that time. There was a big fountain and a waterfall inside the building. We were directed to go to the first floor and were made to sit a big hall there. Shortly afterwards the joining formalities started. We were split into batches, and I belonged to the batch T33.
[Training center in Technopark, Trivandrum]
A couple of people came one after the other, boasted about the company and their experience and position in the company, among whom I now only remember "Alby". She was an young enthusiastic HR there. One of her statement that I still remember now is "You all are away from you home, away from your comfort zones. And some of you might be sad about it. But the growth starts only when you are away from your comfort zones, and slowly things will fade in significance with time."
Instructors came one after the other, repeated almost what others said, and soon we all got bored with them. We were given tokens, which we were supposed to use for the month for tea, coffee & lunch. After the lunch hour, they conducted some games. In some of the games, we have to touch or hold the hands of our neighbours. Whenever there was a female colleague near me, I was embarrassed to hold their hand, but still we have go by the rules of the game and so I obliged.
During my training days, I had a hidden agenda, and as part of the hidden agenda, I tried to come out to make a phone call from a phone booth. In those days mobile phones were a novelty and only very few had them.
The day came to an end at 6, and we all came out, and found the same vans outside, got into them and our return journey started. Morning we were strangers, but now we know each others name. Thanks to those games.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evenings:
---------
Once we reached our hotel, we refreshed and roamed in front of the Aruvi hotel. Just in front of the road is the Pattom main road that leads to the Secretariat on the right and towards Sreekaryam, a shopping area, to its left. I had the habit of taking a long walk in the left till Sreekaryam, which was roughly about 2 kilometers from there. The intent of this long walk is to make a phone call from the phone booth of a grocery shop and to have a tea.
Around 7:30 or 8:00 will start with some of my new friends to the nearby woodlands hotel for dinner. Normally I used to have meals for dinner. Sometimes I went alone. Finding a browsing centre was a Herculean task for me. Finally I found a browsing centre where I used to go at times, for browsing, chatting and emailing.
Once back in room after dinner, will have a chat with other trainees, study for sometime and then sleep. In those days, I didn't have much to study, as during the training we were taught our grand-father's days technologies like C, C++, etc.
Soon it became a routine and I started getting bored with it. I started talking up random long walks to explore the city. Trivandrum was indeed a calm and nice city. I wished that I could come and settle down in this city in the later part of my life, ie. after retirement. But after 3 years, I was about to see another city about 68 kilometers from Trivandrum, which I liked the moment I saw it, mainly because it was very much like Trivandrum in many aspects.
Our training started in the first week of September and went on till the end of November. Diwali came in-between. It was almost military rule there and initially it was declared that there was no leave for Diwali. And we could plan for a visit to native only if were given leave for one more day. Also we should be allowed to leave a bit early on the previous day. Just a couple of days before, we were informed that we will be given leave. Immediately I managed to go the Majestic bus stand and book ticket for me in bus to Trichy for Diwali. And I think I asked Appa to book the return ticket for me in bus. So, all set to go for Diwali.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shoppings:
-----------
One evening I was just roaming in front of the hotel, when I was 2 of my lady colleagues in the reception. They were dressed in jeans & tops and appeared to be waiting for someone. I said "hi" to them, while crossing the reception. They smiled and replied. Immediately one of them asked if I could join them for a shopping. I was shocked and taken aback. I never got such an invitation till that point of time in my life. Going for shopping with ladies!!! Never... But it was a boring evening and at that time I was also worried about a couple of personal issues, and so I began to get into a dilemma. But they persuaded me saying that another Guy is also joining us. Then, I decided to join them. It was already around 7 in the evening. I quickly went to my room, got ready, and came back to the reception and we are set to go for the "Diwali shopping".
We came to the main road and went to the MG road. We got down in some place in the MG road. We were new to the city and we didnt know where to go. We just kept walking on the road. It was crowded and both sides of the road was beautifully lit. We saw a shop near the road where almost everyone going in that direction were getting into. Having no agenda in place, we also decided to go into that shop. It was "Parthaas", a textile shop. I had no plans of buying when I entered the shop.
It was big shop, and not much crowded. They did some shopping and me along with the other Guy followed them wherever they went, without any intent of buying anything. But after sometime I decided to buy dress for parents. So I first went to the saree section and bought a brown coloured saree for Amma. Then I went to the vesti(dhothi) section and bought one vesti for Appa. When I was about to complete the purchase, our lady colleagues saw the saree and they liked it and they too went ahead to that section to buy one for them. They both bought one each. Then we came out the shop. It was around 9:30 PM. We took an auto and went straight to one restaurant in Sreekaryam. On the way they called 2 more colleagues over phone to join us for the dinner. By the time we reached the hotel, those Guys(who were also from our batch) were waiting for us. We had a good dinner there and after that I back to my hotel by walk and they went in auto to their hotel. On the way had tea in a roadside tea shop and I enjoyed that late night walk.
On one evening I went to a shopping complex in Sreekaryam, where I like doing window shopping. There I bought some books for my sisters. Other than that, I enjoyed doing window shopping in almost all the shops in that complex. Hoping to go for such a shopping again in that complex.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One day during the training hours, we all were called to meet the HR. I went with my roommate to meet the HR. The HR’s bay was crowded and many were waiting to meet him. Later got to know that the HR is collecting our details, for opening the bank account where salary will be deposited. I go thrilled. In those days I have heard about the ATM cards, but never had one. He took my details like name, address, and collected 2 photographs, one of which will be used to print my photo in the ATM card.
We received the ATM card, check book and other related documents after 2 days. I was thrilled to see the ATM card. We were instructed to use the card after 24 hours, since it will be activated after 24 hours. But we actually had to wait for 3 days, since our salary will be deposited after 3 days. Till that time, we had nothing to do with the ATM card.
One evening when I was returning after dinner from the woodlands hotel, I found many of my batch-mates going out in groups. Almost everyone was going out at that time. It was around 9:30 and normally at that time the roads will be almost deserted. Got to know that salary was deposited and everyone was going to the UTI bank (now Axis bank) ATM machine to withdraw money. I had just Rs. 300 in hand, which was sufficient for 3 more days. And I was planning to ask Appa to send in money if salary is not credited in 3 days.
I also started walking in the direction where others went, as I didn't know where the UTI ATM was. After walking for about 15 minutes, we reached the building where the ATM machine was. There was a small crowd in front of it. My batchmates went in one by one and we didn’t know how to operate it. The security was inside the ATM and he was helping them in using the card in the ATM. I think almost all first times learns using the ATM from the ATM security.
When my turn came, I went inside. My ATM card is still stuck on the paper, in the same position in which it was given to me. I took out the card and gave it to him. He was so friendly and helped me in changing the PIN, and then I think I withdrew Rs. 300, it gave money and the slip. I retained that slip with me for many many years, until I eventually lost it. The account is not active now, but I still have that first ATM card with me, with my photo on it.
My expenses were very less compared to my other new friends there. But I was spending considerable amounts on phone, since STD calls were costly those days.
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Food items in hotels weren’t much costly in those days. Once I got used to the place, I starting trying out in different hotels, ate different varieties of food. I couldn’t recall the names of those dishes now, but would like to eat them again. Later I got an opportunity to taste those items again in Nagerkoil, after my marriage, no wonder that I liked those dishes like anything.
A new veg hotel by name “Saradha” was opened near the hotel that we stayed. As inaugural offer, they gave items at half the price. We all shifted immediately from Woodlands to that hotel. We had good meals at tiffin items at very low price. The quality and taste were very good. I tried many different items. September was the month of Purattasi. So, I was a strick vegetarian during that month. Once the day Purattasi got over, I started roaming even more for food. I walked to very long distances and had many varieties of non-veg dishes. This partly would be the reason for many intestinal dis-orders I got later in my life. I like parotta with chicken curry a lot.
Excatly 50% of my stay was at Aruvi hotel, ie. Till Diwali. After returning from Diwali, we all were moved to a much bigger three star hotel near the Training center in Attinkuli. This place is outside the main city and near the Technopark. The hotel was a three star hotel, but outside of it, there were no facilities. Even for making a phone call I have to go for a long distance and at times I took an auto for reaching a phone booth. Getting good food was
Will continue in Trivandrum Memories (2)...
- SPGR.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Training Center:
--------------------
I was staying in Aruvi hotel in Pattom, Trivandrum. On the first day I woke up early in the morning, got ready and came down to the reception. Many were waiting there, since almost everyone staying there were the ones who have come for the training. I was dressed in a light blue coloured format shirt, a dark blue pant, shoes, and tie. All of them were new and I was indeed looking funny. Until the van came I was watching the TV in the reception. A particular song grabbed my attention "karuppin alagu", for which two ladies were dancing - one was Meera Jasmine & the other one I didnt know. She looked pleasant and was younger than Meera Jasmine. Later I got to know that she was Bhavana, who later became famous in Tamil movies.
Around 8 o' clock the van, indeed vans came - they were the old light-green coloured Mahendra vans. We got into them in batches, and started our journey to the training center, which was in Technopark, Attinkuli. It was a ride for about 40 minutes, at the end of which, the van entered into a location, which looked exactly like a Jurassic Park, and we looked like goats taken there to feed some Dinosars there.
[Entry to technopark training center]
The training center was a beautiful white coloured building. As we entered into the building, it had a great grand interior, which I have never seen till that time. There was a big fountain and a waterfall inside the building. We were directed to go to the first floor and were made to sit a big hall there. Shortly afterwards the joining formalities started. We were split into batches, and I belonged to the batch T33.
[Training center in Technopark, Trivandrum]
A couple of people came one after the other, boasted about the company and their experience and position in the company, among whom I now only remember "Alby". She was an young enthusiastic HR there. One of her statement that I still remember now is "You all are away from you home, away from your comfort zones. And some of you might be sad about it. But the growth starts only when you are away from your comfort zones, and slowly things will fade in significance with time."
Instructors came one after the other, repeated almost what others said, and soon we all got bored with them. We were given tokens, which we were supposed to use for the month for tea, coffee & lunch. After the lunch hour, they conducted some games. In some of the games, we have to touch or hold the hands of our neighbours. Whenever there was a female colleague near me, I was embarrassed to hold their hand, but still we have go by the rules of the game and so I obliged.
During my training days, I had a hidden agenda, and as part of the hidden agenda, I tried to come out to make a phone call from a phone booth. In those days mobile phones were a novelty and only very few had them.
The day came to an end at 6, and we all came out, and found the same vans outside, got into them and our return journey started. Morning we were strangers, but now we know each others name. Thanks to those games.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evenings:
---------
Once we reached our hotel, we refreshed and roamed in front of the Aruvi hotel. Just in front of the road is the Pattom main road that leads to the Secretariat on the right and towards Sreekaryam, a shopping area, to its left. I had the habit of taking a long walk in the left till Sreekaryam, which was roughly about 2 kilometers from there. The intent of this long walk is to make a phone call from the phone booth of a grocery shop and to have a tea.
Around 7:30 or 8:00 will start with some of my new friends to the nearby woodlands hotel for dinner. Normally I used to have meals for dinner. Sometimes I went alone. Finding a browsing centre was a Herculean task for me. Finally I found a browsing centre where I used to go at times, for browsing, chatting and emailing.
Once back in room after dinner, will have a chat with other trainees, study for sometime and then sleep. In those days, I didn't have much to study, as during the training we were taught our grand-father's days technologies like C, C++, etc.
Soon it became a routine and I started getting bored with it. I started talking up random long walks to explore the city. Trivandrum was indeed a calm and nice city. I wished that I could come and settle down in this city in the later part of my life, ie. after retirement. But after 3 years, I was about to see another city about 68 kilometers from Trivandrum, which I liked the moment I saw it, mainly because it was very much like Trivandrum in many aspects.
Our training started in the first week of September and went on till the end of November. Diwali came in-between. It was almost military rule there and initially it was declared that there was no leave for Diwali. And we could plan for a visit to native only if were given leave for one more day. Also we should be allowed to leave a bit early on the previous day. Just a couple of days before, we were informed that we will be given leave. Immediately I managed to go the Majestic bus stand and book ticket for me in bus to Trichy for Diwali. And I think I asked Appa to book the return ticket for me in bus. So, all set to go for Diwali.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shoppings:
-----------
One evening I was just roaming in front of the hotel, when I was 2 of my lady colleagues in the reception. They were dressed in jeans & tops and appeared to be waiting for someone. I said "hi" to them, while crossing the reception. They smiled and replied. Immediately one of them asked if I could join them for a shopping. I was shocked and taken aback. I never got such an invitation till that point of time in my life. Going for shopping with ladies!!! Never... But it was a boring evening and at that time I was also worried about a couple of personal issues, and so I began to get into a dilemma. But they persuaded me saying that another Guy is also joining us. Then, I decided to join them. It was already around 7 in the evening. I quickly went to my room, got ready, and came back to the reception and we are set to go for the "Diwali shopping".
We came to the main road and went to the MG road. We got down in some place in the MG road. We were new to the city and we didnt know where to go. We just kept walking on the road. It was crowded and both sides of the road was beautifully lit. We saw a shop near the road where almost everyone going in that direction were getting into. Having no agenda in place, we also decided to go into that shop. It was "Parthaas", a textile shop. I had no plans of buying when I entered the shop.
It was big shop, and not much crowded. They did some shopping and me along with the other Guy followed them wherever they went, without any intent of buying anything. But after sometime I decided to buy dress for parents. So I first went to the saree section and bought a brown coloured saree for Amma. Then I went to the vesti(dhothi) section and bought one vesti for Appa. When I was about to complete the purchase, our lady colleagues saw the saree and they liked it and they too went ahead to that section to buy one for them. They both bought one each. Then we came out the shop. It was around 9:30 PM. We took an auto and went straight to one restaurant in Sreekaryam. On the way they called 2 more colleagues over phone to join us for the dinner. By the time we reached the hotel, those Guys(who were also from our batch) were waiting for us. We had a good dinner there and after that I back to my hotel by walk and they went in auto to their hotel. On the way had tea in a roadside tea shop and I enjoyed that late night walk.
On one evening I went to a shopping complex in Sreekaryam, where I like doing window shopping. There I bought some books for my sisters. Other than that, I enjoyed doing window shopping in almost all the shops in that complex. Hoping to go for such a shopping again in that complex.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Money:
--------
One day during the training hours, we all were called to meet the HR. I went with my roommate to meet the HR. The HR’s bay was crowded and many were waiting to meet him. Later got to know that the HR is collecting our details, for opening the bank account where salary will be deposited. I go thrilled. In those days I have heard about the ATM cards, but never had one. He took my details like name, address, and collected 2 photographs, one of which will be used to print my photo in the ATM card.
We received the ATM card, check book and other related documents after 2 days. I was thrilled to see the ATM card. We were instructed to use the card after 24 hours, since it will be activated after 24 hours. But we actually had to wait for 3 days, since our salary will be deposited after 3 days. Till that time, we had nothing to do with the ATM card.
One evening when I was returning after dinner from the woodlands hotel, I found many of my batch-mates going out in groups. Almost everyone was going out at that time. It was around 9:30 and normally at that time the roads will be almost deserted. Got to know that salary was deposited and everyone was going to the UTI bank (now Axis bank) ATM machine to withdraw money. I had just Rs. 300 in hand, which was sufficient for 3 more days. And I was planning to ask Appa to send in money if salary is not credited in 3 days.
I also started walking in the direction where others went, as I didn't know where the UTI ATM was. After walking for about 15 minutes, we reached the building where the ATM machine was. There was a small crowd in front of it. My batchmates went in one by one and we didn’t know how to operate it. The security was inside the ATM and he was helping them in using the card in the ATM. I think almost all first times learns using the ATM from the ATM security.
When my turn came, I went inside. My ATM card is still stuck on the paper, in the same position in which it was given to me. I took out the card and gave it to him. He was so friendly and helped me in changing the PIN, and then I think I withdrew Rs. 300, it gave money and the slip. I retained that slip with me for many many years, until I eventually lost it. The account is not active now, but I still have that first ATM card with me, with my photo on it.
My expenses were very less compared to my other new friends there. But I was spending considerable amounts on phone, since STD calls were costly those days.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Food:
------Food items in hotels weren’t much costly in those days. Once I got used to the place, I starting trying out in different hotels, ate different varieties of food. I couldn’t recall the names of those dishes now, but would like to eat them again. Later I got an opportunity to taste those items again in Nagerkoil, after my marriage, no wonder that I liked those dishes like anything.
A new veg hotel by name “Saradha” was opened near the hotel that we stayed. As inaugural offer, they gave items at half the price. We all shifted immediately from Woodlands to that hotel. We had good meals at tiffin items at very low price. The quality and taste were very good. I tried many different items. September was the month of Purattasi. So, I was a strick vegetarian during that month. Once the day Purattasi got over, I started roaming even more for food. I walked to very long distances and had many varieties of non-veg dishes. This partly would be the reason for many intestinal dis-orders I got later in my life. I like parotta with chicken curry a lot.
Excatly 50% of my stay was at Aruvi hotel, ie. Till Diwali. After returning from Diwali, we all were moved to a much bigger three star hotel near the Training center in Attinkuli. This place is outside the main city and near the Technopark. The hotel was a three star hotel, but outside of it, there were no facilities. Even for making a phone call I have to go for a long distance and at times I took an auto for reaching a phone booth. Getting good food was
Will continue in Trivandrum Memories (2)...
- SPGR.
Wednesday, January 01, 2014
Friday, September 27, 2013
The Educationist
For some strange reasons, I was not getting sleep during those days. All night I used to just lie on the bed, closing the eyes, but not sleeping. Sometimes I used to get up from the bed and walk here and there inside the home. As this continued day by day, I started looking very tired and dull during the day time, and people around me started commenting that I look dull and also started inquiring whether I am not well. I tried many things to get sleep. First I started watching TV. That was the time of IPLs. After 20 years I started watching cricket again in my life, just to kill time. On the first day when I switched on TV to watch cricket, it was a person called "Shikar Dawan" who was batting in a wonderful way. Then I moved on to watching movies, cartoons and what not. But the end was not reached. Even after watching TV till 4 am or 5 am in the morning I was not getting sleep, but only short naps for an hour or so.
Then I moved on to do some physical work - like cleaning home, washing clothes, cooking. All these tasks made me more tired, but I was nowhere near my goal. I even tried going for a walk and jog. Nothing helped.
During that time, I happened to travel in Pallavan Express from Trichy to Chennai in 3rd AC coach. I think that was my first trip in the AC coach of Pallavan Express. The train was at 6:30 in the morning. As usual, after a sleepless night, I reached the station on time and had just enough time to get into the train. I was just gazing through the window when a person called me from behind "Sir, is that your seat...".
I turned back and saw a calm and quiet person, should be in the late forties or early fifties, very neatly dressed, with a beautiful smile. His face had a divine charm.
"No, sorry, this is not my seat...", I said as window seat was not mine.
He replied "Sir, it is my seat, but if you want, you can continue to be there and I will take your seat"
Normally, like many, I prefer to have the window seat, but upon seeing his face, I said "No, thank you..." and moved to my seat.
He occupied his seat and was continuously getting phone calls, in which he was talking about some churches and brothers in those churches. I thought he himself could be one such brother.
As the train started, he asked whether I am into business. This is the second time I am encountering this question. First time I encountered this question was again when I was traveling in the AC coach of Rockfort express, which made me to assume that, it is mostly the businessmen, who travel in the AC coaches.
I replied "No, I am not into business..."
"Then... you are..." he asked.
"I am into software... I develop software..."
"Oh Ok..."
"To Chennai...", he enquired
"Yes...", I replied.
Then I got into some deep thoughts. But, I thought that I should ask him what he is doing, though normally I never ask anyone any such questions.
"And you..."
"I am an educationist...", he replied.
I didn't know exactly what he was meaning by that. I thought he should be a lecturer or a professor in some college.
"In which college Sir...", I asked. I started addressing him as "Sir" in somewhat a respectful way now.
"Not college... school... I am headmaster of (he said some school's name, which I forgot now) in Royapettah."
It sounded to be a famous school in that area. Having faced a lot of difficulty in putting my dear little friend Dhanu into school, some 2 years ago, I thought I should get to know more about him and interact well with him, so that in future, I can put my cute little friend Deepu into some good school, with his recommendation. But at the same time, I was so doubtful whether I can do that in the short train journey of 5 hours.
"Nowadays almost all are into software..." he remarked.
"Yes Sir... most of the service companies has established processes, and now software can be developed, even without any knowledge of data structures or algorithms..."
He seemed to have got more interested into it and started asking me more and more questions and I tried to answer as much as I could.
Finally he remarked... "Whatever it is... it is indeed a good field, that provides jobs to many and almost eradicated the unemployment, which was in its peak in the 90s..."
"What you do in your school sir... I mean what are your day to day activities in school..." I asked him.
He seemed to have got interested in this question and started answering in an elaborate way.
"Morning I go to school about 8:30, attend the prayer and then around 10:00 will go for rounds all around the school..." and then he went on to explain his day to day activities.
"One of my main activity is to constantly watch the mood and enthusiasm of the teachers and whenever I find that they are not enthusiastic or happy, its my duty to help them in getting their worries resolved and bring them back to normal... Because if they are not happy, they cannot do their job well... and it will directly affect the students..."
He continued "One day while on the rounds, I found the one teacher had a very sad face... It was like as if it is written in his face that he is having a miserable life..."
He went on... "I asked him what his problem is... He immediately started crying, unmindful of the students in front of him... I took him aside and asked him again what his problem is..."
"From what he said, I understood that his personal life is miserable. He is married for about 10 years... has 2 kids... and now have almost come to the stage that he cannot live with his wife anymore, who was a teacher in another school... and the only way to spend the rest of his is to get separated from her... I found that day by day, he was having a miserable and painful life in home... In that situation, definitely he cannot do a good job in school..."
He added... "By this time, we both started walking and came to the main gate of the school... The gate was locked... There was a road in front of the school's gate and at the other end of the road, there was a ditch in which dirty water was running... We both saw a man, wearing dirty clothes-that looked as if it was never washed, his hair-looked as if it was never combed... He was holding a small stick in his hand and was standing on the shore of the ditch and was playing by hitting the stick on that running water..."
He went on... "I asked the teacher, do you know why he is so happy now... The teacher looked at my face, confused... He is happy because he had a good meal in the morning... and he is celebrating it by playing in that dirty water... though he knows very well that his next meal is not guaranteed..."
"But see... In your case, you both are working as respectful teachers, and the meal for you and your family is guaranteed for the next thirty years... But still you don't know how to celebrate it... And instead you are worrying about it..."
"She is your wife... Who else will fight with you.... She bore your 2 kids... Go home right now, ask her also to come home... talk to her... tell her that you want to celebrate your life day-by-day, with her..."
"He left the school immediately and came to school after 2 days and this time he was happy... I never asked him what happened in home, but I was sure that he will be a good teacher after that, celebrating his life in school too..."
The educationist went on and on. After a long time, I was hearing a monotonous speech, more or less a lecture... I started dozing... as I used to do on hearing the lectures in college and I was finding it tough to keep myself awake ...
But I tried my best to keep myself awake, just to listen to what he said.
He went on... "See the Russia... most of the time it is cold there... covered everywhere with snow... But see India... where we have sun almost all the days..."
I was wondering why he is comparing India with Russia, when generally India is compared with the US these days. I assumed that he should belong to the previous generation. As far as I know during the British rule, India was compared with Britan, even Gandhi went there for his higher studies... But I am not sure whether Gandhi attempted and cleared GRE or TOFFEL to reach there. And for a couple of years after independance, India was compared with Russia... and in the recent days India is compared with America.I guess the "Sir" should have been an child or young boy during the days of comparison with Russia, as one tends to remember their childhood days for the rest of their life.
He continued "There people cannot work on the field(probably he is referring to agriculture). But see our gifted climate, where we can work round the year... But how we waste our time and energy on useless things, fighting with each other..."
After that I didn't know when I slept. I had a sound sleep, after a long time. I dint know for how long he kept talking. But when I woke up, I found that he was also asleep. I also observed that in every station, he got down from the coach, and met his old students in the platform. Upon knowing that he was traveling in this train, many of his old students had come to the station in that odd hour to meet their teacher. He should be a famous teacher, and should be a role model for many, I thought.
As the train entered Egmore station, we got ready to get down.
I thanked him, for which he returned a beautiful smile, and came out of the station. He was received by a couple of people at the platform. I started walking towards the bus stop to take a bus to home.
After that I never had a sleepless night, probably because I have decided to celebrate my life, day-by-day... Thank You Sir...
- Pavala.
Then I moved on to do some physical work - like cleaning home, washing clothes, cooking. All these tasks made me more tired, but I was nowhere near my goal. I even tried going for a walk and jog. Nothing helped.
During that time, I happened to travel in Pallavan Express from Trichy to Chennai in 3rd AC coach. I think that was my first trip in the AC coach of Pallavan Express. The train was at 6:30 in the morning. As usual, after a sleepless night, I reached the station on time and had just enough time to get into the train. I was just gazing through the window when a person called me from behind "Sir, is that your seat...".
I turned back and saw a calm and quiet person, should be in the late forties or early fifties, very neatly dressed, with a beautiful smile. His face had a divine charm.
"No, sorry, this is not my seat...", I said as window seat was not mine.
He replied "Sir, it is my seat, but if you want, you can continue to be there and I will take your seat"
Normally, like many, I prefer to have the window seat, but upon seeing his face, I said "No, thank you..." and moved to my seat.
He occupied his seat and was continuously getting phone calls, in which he was talking about some churches and brothers in those churches. I thought he himself could be one such brother.
As the train started, he asked whether I am into business. This is the second time I am encountering this question. First time I encountered this question was again when I was traveling in the AC coach of Rockfort express, which made me to assume that, it is mostly the businessmen, who travel in the AC coaches.
I replied "No, I am not into business..."
"Then... you are..." he asked.
"I am into software... I develop software..."
"Oh Ok..."
"To Chennai...", he enquired
"Yes...", I replied.
Then I got into some deep thoughts. But, I thought that I should ask him what he is doing, though normally I never ask anyone any such questions.
"And you..."
"I am an educationist...", he replied.
I didn't know exactly what he was meaning by that. I thought he should be a lecturer or a professor in some college.
"In which college Sir...", I asked. I started addressing him as "Sir" in somewhat a respectful way now.
"Not college... school... I am headmaster of (he said some school's name, which I forgot now) in Royapettah."
It sounded to be a famous school in that area. Having faced a lot of difficulty in putting my dear little friend Dhanu into school, some 2 years ago, I thought I should get to know more about him and interact well with him, so that in future, I can put my cute little friend Deepu into some good school, with his recommendation. But at the same time, I was so doubtful whether I can do that in the short train journey of 5 hours.
"Nowadays almost all are into software..." he remarked.
"Yes Sir... most of the service companies has established processes, and now software can be developed, even without any knowledge of data structures or algorithms..."
He seemed to have got more interested into it and started asking me more and more questions and I tried to answer as much as I could.
Finally he remarked... "Whatever it is... it is indeed a good field, that provides jobs to many and almost eradicated the unemployment, which was in its peak in the 90s..."
"What you do in your school sir... I mean what are your day to day activities in school..." I asked him.
He seemed to have got interested in this question and started answering in an elaborate way.
"Morning I go to school about 8:30, attend the prayer and then around 10:00 will go for rounds all around the school..." and then he went on to explain his day to day activities.
"One of my main activity is to constantly watch the mood and enthusiasm of the teachers and whenever I find that they are not enthusiastic or happy, its my duty to help them in getting their worries resolved and bring them back to normal... Because if they are not happy, they cannot do their job well... and it will directly affect the students..."
He continued "One day while on the rounds, I found the one teacher had a very sad face... It was like as if it is written in his face that he is having a miserable life..."
He went on... "I asked him what his problem is... He immediately started crying, unmindful of the students in front of him... I took him aside and asked him again what his problem is..."
"From what he said, I understood that his personal life is miserable. He is married for about 10 years... has 2 kids... and now have almost come to the stage that he cannot live with his wife anymore, who was a teacher in another school... and the only way to spend the rest of his is to get separated from her... I found that day by day, he was having a miserable and painful life in home... In that situation, definitely he cannot do a good job in school..."
He added... "By this time, we both started walking and came to the main gate of the school... The gate was locked... There was a road in front of the school's gate and at the other end of the road, there was a ditch in which dirty water was running... We both saw a man, wearing dirty clothes-that looked as if it was never washed, his hair-looked as if it was never combed... He was holding a small stick in his hand and was standing on the shore of the ditch and was playing by hitting the stick on that running water..."
He went on... "I asked the teacher, do you know why he is so happy now... The teacher looked at my face, confused... He is happy because he had a good meal in the morning... and he is celebrating it by playing in that dirty water... though he knows very well that his next meal is not guaranteed..."
"But see... In your case, you both are working as respectful teachers, and the meal for you and your family is guaranteed for the next thirty years... But still you don't know how to celebrate it... And instead you are worrying about it..."
"She is your wife... Who else will fight with you.... She bore your 2 kids... Go home right now, ask her also to come home... talk to her... tell her that you want to celebrate your life day-by-day, with her..."
"He left the school immediately and came to school after 2 days and this time he was happy... I never asked him what happened in home, but I was sure that he will be a good teacher after that, celebrating his life in school too..."
The educationist went on and on. After a long time, I was hearing a monotonous speech, more or less a lecture... I started dozing... as I used to do on hearing the lectures in college and I was finding it tough to keep myself awake ...
But I tried my best to keep myself awake, just to listen to what he said.
He went on... "See the Russia... most of the time it is cold there... covered everywhere with snow... But see India... where we have sun almost all the days..."
I was wondering why he is comparing India with Russia, when generally India is compared with the US these days. I assumed that he should belong to the previous generation. As far as I know during the British rule, India was compared with Britan, even Gandhi went there for his higher studies... But I am not sure whether Gandhi attempted and cleared GRE or TOFFEL to reach there. And for a couple of years after independance, India was compared with Russia... and in the recent days India is compared with America.I guess the "Sir" should have been an child or young boy during the days of comparison with Russia, as one tends to remember their childhood days for the rest of their life.
He continued "There people cannot work on the field(probably he is referring to agriculture). But see our gifted climate, where we can work round the year... But how we waste our time and energy on useless things, fighting with each other..."
After that I didn't know when I slept. I had a sound sleep, after a long time. I dint know for how long he kept talking. But when I woke up, I found that he was also asleep. I also observed that in every station, he got down from the coach, and met his old students in the platform. Upon knowing that he was traveling in this train, many of his old students had come to the station in that odd hour to meet their teacher. He should be a famous teacher, and should be a role model for many, I thought.
As the train entered Egmore station, we got ready to get down.
I thanked him, for which he returned a beautiful smile, and came out of the station. He was received by a couple of people at the platform. I started walking towards the bus stop to take a bus to home.
After that I never had a sleepless night, probably because I have decided to celebrate my life, day-by-day... Thank You Sir...
- Pavala.
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
Chennai Express in Vijay Mall.
When I entered the movie hall I observed that the
screen was just a bit bigger than our TV screen. I was disappointed, as I
am person who likes to watch movies on bigger screens. Also our seats
were in the second row, and thus I almost
felt that I was watching the movie in our home. This was our first
movie in the new
Trichy’s Vijay Mall, the first ever shopping mall of
Trichy. By the way, the mall has a nice name
J. The shopping mall in Nagerkoil had an even nicer name
J.
After a long time, went for the movie “Chennai
Express” to theater, with family. It was a Hindi movie taken in Tamil(pun intended). Almost all the characters spoke Tamil including
Sharukh, who spoke a statement in Tamil at the end, which majority of the Tamil speaking population couldn’t
understand. Will come to that later. I am sure
the Hindi speaking people would have had some difficulty in
understanding the story.
In the initial scenes, the background sceneries were more beautiful than Deepika Padukone. Or may be, with time, I have learnt to see the beauty beyond women J. But, nowhere in Tamil Nadu one could see such a place. Later got to know that it is some place near Goa. People watching the movie from North India would assume that everyone one in Tamil Nadu will be having a sickle in hand, as when Sharukh gets down from the train, he was welcomed by a huge crowd, where everyone had a sickle in one or both the hands.
“Thangabali”, a name which I am sure, no one will be having in Tamil Nadu. Also Mr.
Thangabali, is a fair, tall, well-built person, who definitely should have born somewhere in the temperate zone.
Most of the Tamil Guys will remain un-married if we
were asked to lift the girl through those many steps to the top of the
mountain, because…(I don’t want to complete this statement here, but I
can share the complete statement over email,
on request J).
The Perumal kovil
Poojari in having Pattai all through his body. Mohan Ram, the actor whole played the
Poojari role, would have hit his head against a pillar upon watching this scene in the movie.
Priyamani’s dance for
“1234 song” was awesome. One of my short term goal is to learn her
steps. All through the movie I tried to translate the
hindi statements to my friend, who objected to
it saying “I can understand, no need to translate”. With the flow
and with many characters speaking Tamil, she was able to understand
except when
Sharukh Khan said “Ippdi
oru appan iru-paaa-naa…”
towards the end of the movie. He repeated it again, even then many
couldn’t understand. I understood it at the second time. At this time my
friend asked “What did he tell???”.
I translated Sharukh’s Tamil to our Tamil.
The way Deepika calls “Aaapaa” was sweet and wonderful. We have a person in our family who pronounces “Appa” in almost the same way, almost having a similar
name to hers. J.
They call it a tribute to Rajini, but sing and dance about lungi. Dear
Sharukh, Rajni’s dancing style is unique and not the regular lungi
dapankuthu. And by the way, we Tamils cannot claim ownership over lungi. Lungi belongs to one of our neighboring state, the "Land of Lungi", but they call it as "God's own country". The Chetans will murichu our chundu, if we claim ownership over lungi.
But at the end I have to agree that it was good watch and had a good time with family.
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