ONE IMPACT OF MODERNIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY

I still like the simple green Christmas tree with all the trinkets and lights. Too much technology and the modern touch wipes out the basic traditional aspects out of anything :)

KERALA'S PRISTINE FACE - GREEN LAYERS AROUND STRETCHES OF WATER

RANDOM ART WITH MICROSOFT PAINT

This is something worth a try with Microsoft Paint. Lot of simple tools giving you a great effect. 

If you can imagine, sky is the limit here too.

SHARPEN BEFORE IT GETS BLUNT

I happened to see one of these men today, and that is what inspired me to sketch this piece. Back in the years when I was in high school, playing cricket in the evenings on the streets, was of great interest for me. Once I got back from school, I would freshen up, have something to eat and then head for the street in front of our house. I was never good at cricket, but on some days, the balls that I bowled, would somehow spin and get me wickets. I would be so excited about it and my mind would get clouded with the success so much, that I would not be able to think of anything else. 

Mom had left for her heavenly abode much before this period and Dad was the one who was taking care of all the cooking at home, although we had a maid to help us out. We had special knives that we had got from Kerala for cutting fish. On few days in a week, when I would approach Dad with some doubts in my subjects, he would answer me, while battling with the fish and the knife, to clean them and mince them into pieces. Sometimes, in reply to my questions, I would face real heat while he replied. I would not feel bad, as I knew Dad was going through a frustrating phase as a widower.

On working days, he would return home after sunset and that would be after the knife sharpening men, came through our street. I would be there at home by that time. On some days, he would have told me in the morning while I left for school, to look for the knife sharpening men, to get the knives sharpened. In the evening, as the sun slowly gave way to dusk and then the moon, to take over the decree, the streets would be filled with the wonderful cacophony of screaming kids, running around and playing and also with the chirps of birds and the caws of crows, returning to their nests in the trees. The knife sharpening men would slowly come into the streets while the kids would keep running all around them. With the burden of the contrivance on their back, they would call out and try and get their customers. In the bowling successes that would cloud my mind, I would often not even spot these men, leave alone hearing their call and getting the knives sharpened. Dad would be very livid with me on those evenings. 

I would very diligently wait, for the next encounter with the knife sharpening men and get the knives sharpened. Many of them frequented our streets, but only one of them still remains there in my memory. And this man would tell me and all his customers once he sharpened their knives, "Don't wait for the knife to become blunt. Sharpen it often and keep it ready". At that age, his words did not carry a depth or relevance to me. But looking back today, it does. 

Whether at work or in matters of our personal life, it is good to be sharp, agile, prepared and planned, so that we can cut through our tasks like knife cuts through butter.

A BLISS OF IVORY THROUGH THE GREENERY

You will spot this beautiful edifice on the Nungambakkam High Road in Chennai. But, you have to take time, stand near the gate and view through the trees, to get this feel :)

The best thing is the feel, that angels are really around the church. Spot them there with their wings up? And also the beautiful glass painting of the Lord in the centre.

NATURE'S SUBTLE WORK OF ART AMIDST THE WORLD AROUND IT

Years back, in the 80s, I remember seeing the black and white art movies on Saturday and Sunday afternoons in the television. We did not have television at home and I would go to our neighbour's house for the same. The screen play would be so slow. For example, one would see a character walk an entire long road with just the caw of a crow accompanying as a sound in that scene. At a shop, another character would be smoking and you would sometimes see him smoke the entire cigarette. In scenes where a poor girl has lost her virginity to a cruel man, famous movie directors would after showing the struggle of the woman, show a barren tree and then fill it with sad violin music. And so, whenever I saw a barren tree I would always associate it with something extremely sad or with some extreme tragedy where someone has been robbed or stripped of something.

But, towards the later part of my life, the same images started giving me a different impression. They portrayed some form of resilience in times of adversity. Seeing a bare tree in the midst of the world around it, be it a busy urban area or the calm stretches of greenery, though without its beautiful leaves, it still brings out its own unique beauty in its bare state. It's like the tree is still smiling and giving its best to keep us happy with the portrayal of its unique image, still tenaciously holding on, while the world around is trying to subdue its image.

I have tried being so, but I have found it very difficult. Adversity shows up as tension, peevishness and anger on my face, even though I manage to bring out some humourous talk while being so. I adore the people who are able to remain calm and keep smiling in these times.

EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH PREPARED FOR MY DAUGHTER: TOPIC - ZEROING IN ON A CAREER

Every student dreams of a professional journey of very high satisfaction and is equally wary about getting into anything else. The one question that always comes up into the mind of a student, is about the career that he would finally want to pursue. That is because, as a single category of activity in our life, it is our career that is going to take up most of our time. And so, a good career can take us to very high levels of professional and emotional satisfaction. Sometimes a student takes up a career because his parents dream of seeing him in a particular position of power, in that career. And after the student takes up that career, many times he or she would find the career engine losing its steam, after a journey of a few years. Only very few hit the success path in this route.

Several years back, very few dared to explore beyond the thresholds of the traditional career choices like Engineering, Medicine, Top Management, the glamourous Civil Services or Chartered Accountancy. In fact to get a good bride or a good groom, one had to be into one of these careers. Although India is seeing a huge wave of change today, these traditional choices still dominate the marriage markets in many places in the country. Over the last decade, our conservative middle class have started opening up to choices like hotel management and fashion. A career with Indian Armed Forces is of course even today something that is taken up after lots of rumination, as there are lot of challenges for the family life in such a career.

Some times a career choice is largely influenced by a business that has been run by the family across generations and it becomes a matter of prestige for the next generation to take up the reins. So here, students go through a forced choice, curtailing their probable opportunities to exhibit capabilities in another field that they would have otherwise been a part of.

Parents have a big role in helping the child in zeroing in on a choice. Many times they could help in a big way by not taking emotional and subjective decisions, but by being very objective, keeping in mind what the child is really passionate about. Sometimes children are influenced by fancy ideas and these could influence their choices too. Parents need to spend time and if possible get them to talk to people working in different fields, so as to understand the pros and cons before making a choice.

Spending a short period, like for e.g. a self driven micro internship during a holiday period can help the student to get a feel of the processes and procedures of an engineering firm, a hospital, an accounting firm or even a few days at the office of a top management executive or a civil services bureaucrat. It will prove to be a good foundation for the career decisions that are made, as the student would get a feel at a very high level, as to whether the profession would suit his interest and temperament, These aspects cannot be decided by just reading a subject in depth or by scoring high marks in a subject.

A career well chosen, will be soaked with so much passion and that will certainly put the student on a fast track towards success, not just in material terms, but by also taking him through a professional journey of lasting satisfaction and fulfilment.