Ilayaraja and his efforts to learn a Musical Instrument

The first question I asked when I got to know that my cab mate's name is Ilayaraja
was "Do you play any musical instrument?". For sometime I was using the company provided cab to commute to office. He immediately said "No," but went on to add "Infact, I tried" and continued "When I was in Madurai, in the floor below my apartment, there was a music school, where they teach music to kids" (So, our Ilayaraja stayed close to music, at-least.)

Ilayaraja added "Once I went to that school teacher and told him that I want to learn a musical instrument... And also told my wish to learn violin...". But the master had told him that he will get neck pain eventually as the violin had to be held in-between the shoulder and the cheek..."

Undeterred and also to do justification to his name, my cab mate still wanted to learn a musical instrument. So, he replied to that music teacher, "Sir, then I will learn guitar.." For which the master also agreed.

Our friend bought a guitar, paid the fee to the Master and started attending the classes. But soon, another trouble came. The musical notes were too difficult for him, to understand and to learn. So, after a couple of classes, Ilayaraja told to the Master "Sir, the notes are a bit difficult for me to understand and remember. So, can I drop Guitar and switch to Keyboard...". For some reason Ilayaraja have come to conclusion that the notes for Keyboard should be easy, as playing a keyboard is very easy. Not need to strain at all, all we have to do is to select a key and press it. It always gives some sound, unlike the violin or a flute, where it takes weeks to hear the first sound. But he lost all hopes of learning a musical instrument when his master said "The notes are same...".

After this incident, he stopped going to the classes, and never thought about learning any musical instrument in his life again. But it seems that frequently he comes across this question "Do you play any musical instrument..." Whenever people get to know about his name. I was happy in a way. When people hear my name, all they ask is its meaning, and what it refers to. Had my name been something similar to Ilayaraja, life would have been a bit more tough.

- Pavala
05-Jul-2019.

Designated Story Teller

You have to believe me. Like "Software Engineer", "Senior Assistant", "Section Engineer", "Technical Assistant", the "Designated Story Teller" is the job title of a person who came to my little friend Deepak's school. Her main work is to tell stories to the kids. I was surprised to find that such a job exist nowadays. 

When I was a child, it was my grandparents who used to tell stories. Primarily my maternal grandparents and when considering the number of stories told, its my maternal grandfather. I still remember many of the stories told by him. Most of those stories were from him his imagination. One of his famous story was that of a King who makes an attempt to go to a war, but the wheel of his vehicle gets broken. He tries all vehicles right from a chariot till cycle, but the cycle too gets punctured. Finally he decides to go by walk, when he falls into a pit and his leg gets broken, where the story ends. 

But these days, the grandparents neither have the time to spend with their grandchildren nor they have the time to tell stories to them. This situation has given rise to jobs like "Designated Story Tellers" like the Madam who visited Deepak's school. They charge a hefty amount it seems. They come with lot of charts, toys, and using them they tell stories to the kids. I am not sure if kids enjoy them, but got to know that some kids slept while hearing them. This is a success on their part to some extent, since the main intent of telling stories to the kids is to make them sleep. 

Due to the changing lifestyle I think we can expect many such new jobs which we would have never had heard. 

- SPGR.

Bank Strike, BSNL Strike and the Postal Strike

Recently read in news paper that the bank employees will be going on a strike for four days in a couple of days. This news brought back the memories of telephone department strikes that happened frequently in the early 2000s. I was a PG student in Anna University in Chennai. Since I got admission in REC Trichy, I wanted to discontinue my course there and wanted to the join REC in Trichy. I had to convey some important info about this to my Dad. We had a land-line phone in our home in native. It was a Saturday and morning at 8:30, after having breakfast in the hostel mess, I walked out to the main gate where was a telephone booth. Those were the days prior to the mobile phones. Only a very few had mobile phones. I was surprised to know that the phone booth was closed.

Then, I went out side of the university campus through the main gate hoping to find a open phone booth, through which I can make a call to native. A couple of phone booths on the front side were closed. Since it was a Saturday, I thought that they will open after sometime. So, I entered into the university campus and went out again through the side gate. In those days there used to be a small gate near the library building that opens out to the Kotturpuram Road. I started walking along the Kotturpuram Road. I found a small phone booth. Not a proper booth, just a phone was kept on the table. A man was sitting near that phone. I told him that I wanted to make a phone call to Trichy. He smiled and said that its not possible, since the telephone department was on strike that day. He said that I can make local calls. Also I could call to some districts.

He thought for a while and told me that I can call to Madurai if I know someone there. I was wondering how the telephone network worked in some district and didn't work in some other. He continued to insist me to call someone in Madurai and convey the news to them. I remembered that one of my college mate was in Madurai. But what is the point in calling them, how will they in-turn call to Trichy, with the network blocked in Trichy. I understood that the man wanted to have business through me, and so I left that place. I still continued my search, assuming that someone could show me some way to call to my home land line number in Trichy. I roamed around the roads till 12:30 in the afternoon (remember the search started at 8:30 in the morning). I understood that there was no way that I could call home, and hence returned to hostel. After having lunch in the mess, suddenly decided to take up Pallavan (Express) and go in person to my native, which is what finally I did.

The telephone employees could have striked by keeping their exchanges switched on. When I was studying in 8th standard, I happened to visit a telephone exchange in a rural area. One of my distant uncle was working as a technician there. I was astonished to find that almost everything was automated. I saw huge racks with all sorts of machines, with computer monitors embedded in them, and some message was continuously scrolling in them. No manual intervention was required. They worked on their own. My uncle told me that no manual intervention is required, and periodically the machines in those racks will be maintained, one rack at a time, while the machines in the other rack continued to work. That is, there was no down time.

So, in the telephone department strike, I understood that the employees have intentionally switched off the mains of their exchanges to go on strike. Had they walked out without switching them off, those machines would have continued to work for weeks or even months without their intervention. That made me realize that a day will come, when they no could no longer go on any strike, because, by then, the machines would have over-taken them.

Slowly the telephone exchange was privatized (or partially-privatized???) , and also many private players came in, and slowly the days of telephone employees strikes came to an end. Now I don't think that they can go on strike anymore, and even if they go, there wont be any big impact (in my opinion and understanding).

I also vaguely remember the strike by the postal department employees. After the wide spread use of telephone and mobile phones, the strike by the postal department employees didn't have any major impact on the common man, only thing being that the letters will be reaching a bit late. After the arrival of private couriers, it will be big joke, if the postal department decides to go on strike now.

Recently the employees of the Information Technology sector also have started going on strike. Working in private sector, I know very well how those striking employees can be targeted and made to leave the company on their own. Its all a matter of time. Similarly, there is a very high chance that the same will happen to the private bank employees who are joining the public sector (striking) bank employees.

Keeping my likes and dis-likes aside, let me wish the striking bankers "good luck" in their mission.

- SPGR.

What a speech by Obama

Morning I happened to watch a live speech by Obama. Actually I happened to stamp on the DD National channel while jumping between stations. Since Obama was talking, I thought of listening to it for sometime. But it was a beautiful speech that I stopped my other activities and listened to it till the end.

It was a speech given by him to an audience of students in an auditorium. Some elderly people were also seen among the audience. He told that his grandfather was a cook to some British person in Kenya. He went on the describe the discrimination that he faced in his life. He said "Due to the color of my skin, I couldn't walk in the some of the streets in that country." Also due to the color of his skin he faced many more hardships. I was watching his statements with a smile. Obama looks fairer (light-colored) than me. So, I was wondering what would have happened to me if I had born there. But Michelle looks darker than me. So, my complexion is in-between Mr. and Mrs. Obama. So now, in a way, I feel that I am closely related to the Obamas :-).

It is not that I had a smooth life without any discrimination. I stopped participating in stage related events (in school and college), when I realized that my skills were required only for the back stage works. Not long after, I realized that my area should be on the intellectual side, where the knowledge and talent matters, and not the skin color. At some of time in my life, I got so seriously wounded that for a brief time I hated my dark skin. Exactly around that I time, I resolved that I will marry a very fair (light-colored) girl and have fair skinned kids so that they do not face the difficulties that I faced. It took me a really long time to understand that the skin color doesn't matter at all. Though being light-colored or dark-colored does gets noticed at the first sight, after sometime it is the overall character and our approach that creates a lasting impression. Once I got this maturity, apart from other things, I also put an end to the habit of taking a look only at the fair and good looking girls, and started seeing all the girls, equally, irrespective of their skin color :-).

Oops... I digressed... Coming back to Obama... He re-iterated the point that both he and Michelle were not from a wealthy background or from a famous family. But at the same time Obama said that some of his teacher and elders were kind enough and embraced and guided him. They helped him in getting the scholarships and getting good education and come up in life. He said that we should provide opportunities to everyone to come up in life, and provide much more opportunities than one can normally imagine. It is this opportunity that will make the grandson of a cook, the President and a tea-seller, the Prime Minister. As a expert public speaker, he stopped at this point, for the audience to clap.

Obama also stressed the need to take care of women and girls. As fathers, brothers and sons, its our duty to protect the dignity of women, everywhere. He said only those countries grow where their girls grow, where their girls are given opportunities and where their dignity is protected. He continued that if a girl gets education.. She can later start a new business, invent something new, cure some disease,  her children will get good education and this is what is needed for a nation. He said that only those countries will grow, which respects their women.

Obama said that when Martin Luther King, Jr came to India he said that he was happy to be in the land of Gandhi and similarly now he is happy to be in the land of Gandhi.

I observed that his accent was not a 100% American accent. Without any difficulty I was able to follow and understand his complete speech. Or may be my familiarity with the American accent has increased. Without any doubt, he was an exceptional public speaker. Towards the end of the speech, the whole of the audience would have become his fans and would have approved all that he said. When I told this to my friend, she said "Thats why he is the President of America". To some extent, I can also talk like him and influence the audience. Let me see to where it takes me :-).

- SPGR.