Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Saturday, September 24, 2016
A CHALLENGE TO MY NATURAL SELF
Every human derives a lot of strength from his natural character, the natural being that is ingrained within him. Even as a parent I consciously evolved in the way I gave feedback to my daughter, taking all care that the feedback, never altered their natural base. Whatever corrections had to be done, had to be done with the natural strengths remaining intact. My strength lies very much in my silent nature. Some people see my external body language and conclude that I am reserved. Actually I would spontaneously explode and talk to the extent of inundating the other person, if the topic was around what I was interested, so much so that the other person would get overwhelmed. But on a majority of times, I would prefer being alone and being alone for hours never makes me gloomy but on the contrary energizes me for action.
When I was in school, I was less assertive, more diffident and more quiet. Once, one of my uncles, whom I often spotted talking in a social circle more than what was necessary, often kept prodding me to talk more while in a social gathering where close family and friends showed up. The more he prodded, the more I became conscious about it and at one point, I started talking although I really felt that the talking I was doing was beyond a "Hi" and that it was more intrusive and unnecessary. At that point, I never knew, that I myself was tarnishing my natural profile. Yes, it was good if I did talk more, but then, it would have been more appropriate, if it could have been allowed to happen as a slow transformation with sensible talk. Instead, I was actually responding, to someone's constant prodding.
On one such attempt, I met one of my Dad's very old friends at a wedding reception and started a conversation with him. "Hello Harry Uncle, how are you?" I asked. "Oh Roy, I am fine. How is Cherian? Hasn't he come?", he asked. "No Uncle. Dad is busy with some work. So he asked me to be here", I replied. "So how is your son Uncle? Where is he now?" I asked, beautifully placing my next question as though with the elan of a very seasoned socialite. "He is fine. He is in the Gulf", he replied almost immediately. "So where is he working in the Gulf Uncle?", I asked again with all inquisitiveness. "He is in the Gulf", replied Uncle with some more sternness in his tone. I paused for a while and silence filled the space between us. Around us the buzz of the crowd and music was in full blow. Little children were running all around with ice cream cones in their hands. The decorative lights that festooned the arena, slowly started coming into prominence as twilight slowly gave in to the night. And then I placed the same question again, "Uncle, which company does he work for in the Gulf?". He gave me a death stare and walked away. I realized then, on the impact of the change, that I was attempting to implement within me. The ramifications were pretty clear.
With the passage of time however, I really developed the art of smooth and polished talking at social functions. I believe, we can take feedback and apply them with our own natural style and at our own pace and not as a response to someone's pressure messages. After all, an improvement can only be done, from a base of natural strength.
When I was in school, I was less assertive, more diffident and more quiet. Once, one of my uncles, whom I often spotted talking in a social circle more than what was necessary, often kept prodding me to talk more while in a social gathering where close family and friends showed up. The more he prodded, the more I became conscious about it and at one point, I started talking although I really felt that the talking I was doing was beyond a "Hi" and that it was more intrusive and unnecessary. At that point, I never knew, that I myself was tarnishing my natural profile. Yes, it was good if I did talk more, but then, it would have been more appropriate, if it could have been allowed to happen as a slow transformation with sensible talk. Instead, I was actually responding, to someone's constant prodding.
On one such attempt, I met one of my Dad's very old friends at a wedding reception and started a conversation with him. "Hello Harry Uncle, how are you?" I asked. "Oh Roy, I am fine. How is Cherian? Hasn't he come?", he asked. "No Uncle. Dad is busy with some work. So he asked me to be here", I replied. "So how is your son Uncle? Where is he now?" I asked, beautifully placing my next question as though with the elan of a very seasoned socialite. "He is fine. He is in the Gulf", he replied almost immediately. "So where is he working in the Gulf Uncle?", I asked again with all inquisitiveness. "He is in the Gulf", replied Uncle with some more sternness in his tone. I paused for a while and silence filled the space between us. Around us the buzz of the crowd and music was in full blow. Little children were running all around with ice cream cones in their hands. The decorative lights that festooned the arena, slowly started coming into prominence as twilight slowly gave in to the night. And then I placed the same question again, "Uncle, which company does he work for in the Gulf?". He gave me a death stare and walked away. I realized then, on the impact of the change, that I was attempting to implement within me. The ramifications were pretty clear.
With the passage of time however, I really developed the art of smooth and polished talking at social functions. I believe, we can take feedback and apply them with our own natural style and at our own pace and not as a response to someone's pressure messages. After all, an improvement can only be done, from a base of natural strength.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
A SCHOOL BAG FULL OF REMINISCENCES - THE LIGHTER MOMENTS
Looking back at my school days, I believe that school would have been a monastery, if all the students were studious. There has to be a bunch of fun loving, casual mates who will contribute to the overall student ecosystem by relieving it of the stress levels and mundane times. We too had a bunch who kept the class lively, although teachers may have thought of it the other way. As in my earlier school related posts, I would be maintaining anonymity of the individuals. I am drawing memories from across my twelve years at school about different individuals.
Flint was an Anglo Indian and had a naturally fair complexion. His hair was a nice curly and well shaped topping for his head. He had good height too and our classmates filled in the rest for him by announcing that he resembled actor Kamal Hassan from a few angles. This made him all the more conscious and he altered his walk and mannerisms to match the actor’s moves. When he smiled, the pyorrhea on his teeth that was a shade distorted in front, showed up. His focus on style, grew more with the passage of time, that he would get off his school uniform and wear a very nice shirt while cycling back home, ensuring that the girl folk got a glimpse of him. He was really popular amongst the back benchers and when Kamal’s Sakala Kalaa Vallavan released in 1982, he became all the more popular.
Although branded as a back bencher and sidelined without any hope by teachers, I still admire Flint for his stubborn character. One day, he was caught while at one of his pranks. The teacher yelled at him saying “Show your smartness if you can, by passing a test in Geography”. Flint took up the challenge and asked the teacher to set the portions and the day and time of the test. And on that day he cleared the test with very high marks. But as we all know, it's consistency and not just one time peaking that matters and Flint went back to his old state soon.
Kial and Deepu together made a very funny pair and they created classic pranks. Their primary motivation of course was to grab the attention of the female folk. Deepu would set up a thick wooden stick that was actually broken as two pieces. It’s rough edges and corners at the broken area, merged so well into each other, that holding on one end kept the other in place and the merged area showed no signs of a breakage either. So for a person watching the whole thing, it would be like Deepu was holding a normal thick wooden stick. Kial would come up, flex his muscles and in one super man’s move, break the stick with his hand. Amazing show indeed. Well, I would be lying if I said that I had never wanted to impress the girl folk. I did want to, but somehow, studies and other important matters took priority.
One afternoon, while the sun was at its scorching best, we had our physical training period. All of us were lined up in ten rows and our master was calling out instructions for our exercises. Each time we heard him say “Hands up” we could hear one voice within us say “Pants down”. It was so well timed that what he said would mix with what our master called out but still would be a shade late. Our master went wild and he called out several times to the students to show the person who was doing this and to the person himself to step out. But in these times, we proved to be a real united pack of untamed wolves. Not one person gave in. And so we remained standing there and each one got a nice whacking with the master’s cane. For the diligent students, the installment was one whacking in addition as he was more frustrated with their silence than that of the others. We all knew that the character creating this mockery was Deepu.
Nigdal was another Anglo-Indian, who had a fantastic way of dropping rubber lizards and reptiles from a higher point on to the tables of the girl classmates. You would really get a feel that it dropped from the roof, as he would surreptitiously get himself to a higher elevation to drop them. They would land like with that real "Plop" sound. It was fun to hear the reactions from the girls with most of them screeching “Mummy” and holding on to the other. Nigdal’s attack would be when the whole class would be preparing for an intense test in Physics.
Many teachers would tell us in advance about question answer sessions that they planned to conduct. On such days, Deepu would position himself behind a girl and surreptitiously tie one of her long plaits to the wooden frame of her chair. And when she would be called by the teacher with a question, she would politely get up, only to be pulled down suddenly, by the trick worked up by Deepu. Atleast our batch was not so notorious as our seniors who had bleaching powder spread inside the desks of girl classmates. When the teachers were not around, Deepu mostly used the top of the desks to move around in the classroom. Very rarely did he take the aisles between the desks. You would get a feel that he was up to a table top dance sometimes.
These are some of the many funny experiences that flood my mind as of now. In one way, I should thank these friends for filling my mind with these lighter experiences.
Flint was an Anglo Indian and had a naturally fair complexion. His hair was a nice curly and well shaped topping for his head. He had good height too and our classmates filled in the rest for him by announcing that he resembled actor Kamal Hassan from a few angles. This made him all the more conscious and he altered his walk and mannerisms to match the actor’s moves. When he smiled, the pyorrhea on his teeth that was a shade distorted in front, showed up. His focus on style, grew more with the passage of time, that he would get off his school uniform and wear a very nice shirt while cycling back home, ensuring that the girl folk got a glimpse of him. He was really popular amongst the back benchers and when Kamal’s Sakala Kalaa Vallavan released in 1982, he became all the more popular.
Although branded as a back bencher and sidelined without any hope by teachers, I still admire Flint for his stubborn character. One day, he was caught while at one of his pranks. The teacher yelled at him saying “Show your smartness if you can, by passing a test in Geography”. Flint took up the challenge and asked the teacher to set the portions and the day and time of the test. And on that day he cleared the test with very high marks. But as we all know, it's consistency and not just one time peaking that matters and Flint went back to his old state soon.
Kial and Deepu together made a very funny pair and they created classic pranks. Their primary motivation of course was to grab the attention of the female folk. Deepu would set up a thick wooden stick that was actually broken as two pieces. It’s rough edges and corners at the broken area, merged so well into each other, that holding on one end kept the other in place and the merged area showed no signs of a breakage either. So for a person watching the whole thing, it would be like Deepu was holding a normal thick wooden stick. Kial would come up, flex his muscles and in one super man’s move, break the stick with his hand. Amazing show indeed. Well, I would be lying if I said that I had never wanted to impress the girl folk. I did want to, but somehow, studies and other important matters took priority.
One afternoon, while the sun was at its scorching best, we had our physical training period. All of us were lined up in ten rows and our master was calling out instructions for our exercises. Each time we heard him say “Hands up” we could hear one voice within us say “Pants down”. It was so well timed that what he said would mix with what our master called out but still would be a shade late. Our master went wild and he called out several times to the students to show the person who was doing this and to the person himself to step out. But in these times, we proved to be a real united pack of untamed wolves. Not one person gave in. And so we remained standing there and each one got a nice whacking with the master’s cane. For the diligent students, the installment was one whacking in addition as he was more frustrated with their silence than that of the others. We all knew that the character creating this mockery was Deepu.
Nigdal was another Anglo-Indian, who had a fantastic way of dropping rubber lizards and reptiles from a higher point on to the tables of the girl classmates. You would really get a feel that it dropped from the roof, as he would surreptitiously get himself to a higher elevation to drop them. They would land like with that real "Plop" sound. It was fun to hear the reactions from the girls with most of them screeching “Mummy” and holding on to the other. Nigdal’s attack would be when the whole class would be preparing for an intense test in Physics.
Many teachers would tell us in advance about question answer sessions that they planned to conduct. On such days, Deepu would position himself behind a girl and surreptitiously tie one of her long plaits to the wooden frame of her chair. And when she would be called by the teacher with a question, she would politely get up, only to be pulled down suddenly, by the trick worked up by Deepu. Atleast our batch was not so notorious as our seniors who had bleaching powder spread inside the desks of girl classmates. When the teachers were not around, Deepu mostly used the top of the desks to move around in the classroom. Very rarely did he take the aisles between the desks. You would get a feel that he was up to a table top dance sometimes.
These are some of the many funny experiences that flood my mind as of now. In one way, I should thank these friends for filling my mind with these lighter experiences.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
A SCHOOL BAG FULL OF REMINISCENCES - THE GYPSIES
Reminiscences of my school days would be incomplete without a mention of the gypsies. I thought it was appropriate to dedicate an entire piece for them as a mark of respect for them. Although, we often tend to see them as vagabonds and criminals, there is something really attractive and mysterious about them. While on our journeys to school and on our way back to our homes, there was not one day when would have missed seeing a band of the gypsies somewhere on the route. Dressed in the most haphazard and unkempt manner, at first sight, they are certainly a bunch that does not deserve any mention. But observe them a little more closely and you will see why they are an amazing bunch.
The other fascinating aspect that I observed, was that they had their own products that they made and sold. I had mentioned in my last post on the same subject of school reminiscences, that there would be vendors who lined up with their sale spots on both sides of the road on the salary day of each month. The gypsies also would put up one or two sales spots in these. Of course, we could find their sale spots on other days too, at different places. What they made, were mostly trinkets and jewelry of various colours, made of beads and metal and other small metalwork. They also sold catapults of different sizes. They had their own supply, assembly and selling systems in place. A bunch of them, would go out on the roads and the streets and use their sticks that had magnets fixed at their ends to pick up different types of iron stuff and scrap. They could be nails or rings or any small parts that found its way outside the Railway shops. Another bunch, would sit and make whatever products they could from what the supply bunch collected. My assumption is that they would invest in the purchase of the beads, that were very much a part of most of their products. What was fascinating was their passion in what they made and the faith that their products would sell, when they were still a group that were being looked down in the social strata by the hoi polloi. I doubt whether their social position has become any different today either.
Monkeys are very much a part of the bunch. The gypsies get them dressed in beautiful human attires and make them do all the monkey tricks. A lot of people gather to watch this and generously give them money. This show was always there on the Railway salary day of every month.
I remember watching a very funny scene while returning from school, one day. A police team was trying to clear out a gypsy bunch from a location. One of them, while lifting his air gun in the process of quickly evading the police beating him up, happened to portray a position as though, he was aiming the gun at the police. The poor fellow got beaten up all the more, miserably :))
With the rampant growth of e-Commerce, the products of their type are being made and sold by several other individuals through home based ventures. Women can stand out in the crowd or go boho-chic by incorporating the gypsy woman jewelry into their outfit. You enter a fascinating world when you have a tryst with gypsy jewelry. You can spot beads from the size of a mustard seed to that of a lemon in their works of art. I think women should go in for this jewelry only if they are in the mood for experimenting as they are sure to stand out in a crowd in a pretty quirky way with these. That way, they get to tweak their looks everyday to go in the gypsy way. A free spirited and flamboyant mentality is what a gypsy look reflects and that is yet to catch up in a big way in conservative India. There are several gypsy tribes all over the world and each have their own flamboyance in their way of life.
One of their skills that caught my fascination, is the way they brought down squirrels with the catapult. I have also seen them shoot small birds with their air guns. There are days when I have stopped my cycle to watch this flawless execution being exhibited. It requires such a great amount of practice and focus to bring about this impeccable execution. I have seen hardly one or two in their bunch, miss a shot, over the entire school time span that I have seen them. This meant that most of them, were really good at it. It really made me think, as to how I could scale up my performance in my academics, through sheer practice and focus.
The other fascinating aspect that I observed, was that they had their own products that they made and sold. I had mentioned in my last post on the same subject of school reminiscences, that there would be vendors who lined up with their sale spots on both sides of the road on the salary day of each month. The gypsies also would put up one or two sales spots in these. Of course, we could find their sale spots on other days too, at different places. What they made, were mostly trinkets and jewelry of various colours, made of beads and metal and other small metalwork. They also sold catapults of different sizes. They had their own supply, assembly and selling systems in place. A bunch of them, would go out on the roads and the streets and use their sticks that had magnets fixed at their ends to pick up different types of iron stuff and scrap. They could be nails or rings or any small parts that found its way outside the Railway shops. Another bunch, would sit and make whatever products they could from what the supply bunch collected. My assumption is that they would invest in the purchase of the beads, that were very much a part of most of their products. What was fascinating was their passion in what they made and the faith that their products would sell, when they were still a group that were being looked down in the social strata by the hoi polloi. I doubt whether their social position has become any different today either.
Monkeys are very much a part of the bunch. The gypsies get them dressed in beautiful human attires and make them do all the monkey tricks. A lot of people gather to watch this and generously give them money. This show was always there on the Railway salary day of every month.
I remember watching a very funny scene while returning from school, one day. A police team was trying to clear out a gypsy bunch from a location. One of them, while lifting his air gun in the process of quickly evading the police beating him up, happened to portray a position as though, he was aiming the gun at the police. The poor fellow got beaten up all the more, miserably :))
With the rampant growth of e-Commerce, the products of their type are being made and sold by several other individuals through home based ventures. Women can stand out in the crowd or go boho-chic by incorporating the gypsy woman jewelry into their outfit. You enter a fascinating world when you have a tryst with gypsy jewelry. You can spot beads from the size of a mustard seed to that of a lemon in their works of art. I think women should go in for this jewelry only if they are in the mood for experimenting as they are sure to stand out in a crowd in a pretty quirky way with these. That way, they get to tweak their looks everyday to go in the gypsy way. A free spirited and flamboyant mentality is what a gypsy look reflects and that is yet to catch up in a big way in conservative India. There are several gypsy tribes all over the world and each have their own flamboyance in their way of life.
I very rarely take the Railway road these days and it's been a long time, since I have seen a bunch of gypsies. It would be really interesting to see, how the mobile technology has impacted them as mobiles have crept into the hands of almost everyone in India. Imagine some one in the gypsy community getting a good exposure on e-Commerce. He or she could make a big impact, while India is going through this transformation in shopping now.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
A BIRTHDAY WISH FOR A TRAVELER FRIEND
You have been blessed with a pair of eyes,
That is always busy,
Exploring different corners of the world,
Through the traveler in you.
Your gregarious nature,
Brings together a lot of individuals,
Under the umbrella of comradeship.
Happy Bday.
May destiny bless you,
With unending zeal and enthusiasm,
To explore the remote corners of the earth,
And also bind several people,
With the warmth of your heart.
Sunday, June 19, 2016
A BIRTHDAY WISH FOR A LOVER OF ART
As blessings have to be counted
And dreams have to be revived.
Also, be YOU today,
Even if it's being foolish.
You are blessed with this life,
With tastes of music, art and science
And lots of the ability to empathize.
May destiny shower you with much more.
May this Day of your birth,
Be a happy day to re-energize your life batteries.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
A BIRTHDAY WISH FOR A FRIEND WITH A NEVER DYING SMILE
If music had friends,
You would be one of its closest.
If laughter and fun needed an engine,
You would supply most of the thrust.
If friends required a lynch pin,
You would be the natural choice.
There is much more inside you,
Although your modesty wraps it beautifully.
Nobody would judge the amazing depth inside you,
Because you always sport a casual wrapping.
As you are today,
With all the fun, love and smile.
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