Midnight Walk!

When our 1981 fellow batch mate from Trichy, an NITTian (REC Trichy then with us known as RECTIANS) who now heads ITI at Bangalore offered to host a mini get-together of us 10 RECTIANS, we all jumped at it…why miss out a chance to meet, slip into the time machine and get on a memory recall mode? We were all a boisterous group way back in the late 70’s, when talking to each other was the only sane way of spending our time. Undoubtedly a good thing, as to this day, we are proficient in keeping the conversation going with whomsoever.

No TV, no cell phones, the only pastime was to either participate in some sports related activity, or get into voice-chat or ball-talk as we used to call it…just today I was shocked to see a kid maybe 2 to 3 years of age with his parents and grandparents enjoying a meal at a table adjacent to ours. The mom wanted some peaceful time talking to the family of elders and to keep the kid quiet in a corner had switched on to a cartoon in her smart phone. It was kept in a near vertical position by making the phone lean against a glass of water and the kid was happily engrossed in watching its favourite cartoon characters. The parents got their much needed private time to catch up.

Consider another scene: my wife and I go for an evening walk in a gated community zone, close to where we live. There are limited number of houses in this area and vehicle movement is scarce making it nice for us walkers to make a few circular trips on the peripheral road. Both of us have observed that quite a few young moms come for an evening stroll along with their kids. Invariably, for the entire duration of the stroll, moms are on their cell phone yakking away to glory and least concerned about their child. As youngsters, the quickest and the easiest way to learn is by imitating and I still remember my grandparents and my father in particular keeping the children forever engaged in a conversation. This they emphatically stated was the most sure shot way to teach the children just about anything and everything…engage with them and allow them to ask their endless stream of questions was what my dad would keep saying to his daughters when their kids crossed second year. Provide them with honest and truthful answers and they will grow up to be responsible and caring people with a willingness to hear and engage in the fine art of conversation. The modern gadgets may have brought the distant people seemingly close, but the ones near are getting distant! More importantly, they are not learning in an age when learning through observation, listening and imitating is at its peak! It is a sad sight to see these young kids lightly tap their mothers on their cheek to seek attention, but all that they get in return is a glare or a stare to leave their mothers alone. If only us parents wake up to the reality and give attention where it is due…the world will be so much more a friendlier place…

Thankfully, we RECTIAN’s (well, mostly!) are not addicted to our smart phones, but we have learnt to use it smartly for the purpose it is meant for and prefer to live with it, and not centre ourselves around it. Last evening when the ten of us gathered at the ITI officers club, we used our smart phones extensively to capture the moments of togetherness, wearing a huge carefree smile across our faces, not knowing when we would get another chance to meet and greet each other like this…

Incidentally, ITI established in 1948 is the first Public Sector Unit established in the post-Independence era. ITI, more recently got a new lease of life when the present Central Govt. laid emphasis on various schemes on developing telecom infrastructure under the 'Digital India' Initiative and 'Make in India' Initiative. In fact ITI has declared profits after a whopping gap of 16 years and that’s a real Turnaround. With a seasoned and an able RECTIAN now at the helm, we are sure this PSU will make giant strides in the years to come. We wish our fellow RECTIAN all the Very Best!!

With so much of catching up to do, it got a bit late and I was just in time to catch the last Metro from Baiyappanahalli station at 11 PM on the purple line. I was a bit apprehensive if I would be able to get a connecting train from Majestic cross over point on the green line to Yelachenahalli – the terminal station, 2 KM’s from my home. Metro schedules have been designed keeping in mind that people should not get stranded midway at the cross over point. Two pairs of train on each Purple and Green line give a breather at Majestic to ensure no person is left behind and that is being more than fair! Although my son had kept me informed about this arrangement, self-experience proved the point beyond doubt! I arrived at Yelachenahalli at 11:45 PM and decided to walk the two KM’s home. While there were a few autorikshaw’s at the station exit, I had made up my mind to be a bit adventurous and walk the last mile. Not that I’ve not done this before, but on hindsight, I felt that it may have been wiser to hop on to an autorikshaw.

The walk brought some nostalgic memories…soon after joining the BPO organisation located at STPI in Electronic City in the year 2000, I used to park my two wheeler at my Father-in-law’s place in 8^th block Jayanagar and take the company provided transport to Electronic city. We used to work the US day time which equated to pretty odd Indian hours…by the time the company transport dropped me back at 8^th block Jayanagar, it would be 2 AM and not a single soul anywhere. I would, as quietly as possible wheel out my scooter from my father-in-law’s compound, start and dash towards home. Those days Konankunte was lesser known and sparsely populated. The 6 KM stretch would be dark with plenty of stray dogs roaming the streets. Each of these packs have their own jurisdiction and would be careful not to cross their self-defined boundaries. In almost a relay like manner dogs would chase my scooter till I reached the end of my street. This was friendly territory as we regularly fed these dogs in our street. Hearing my scooter sound they would remain silent and act as friendly pilots till I reached the entrance to my house.

The fear of driving in the dead of night remained confined to just the dogs, since cell phone snatching, mugging, extortion, ATM etc. did not exist during those days. 

However, it wasn’t so last night. While I was trying to be brave outwardly, my heart was in my mouth for the entire distance of 2 KM’s. The first negative thought that crossed my mind was fear of being pulled up for my wallet. Not that I carry any cash, but there are plenty of ATM’s around. The next thought was plain and simple mugging – the local don having his bit of fun at my expense! The third was getting run over by a recklessly speeding vehicle. The fourth was someone snatching my cell phone at knife point. To make matters scarier, the weather was straight out of a Hollywood horror movie – windy, accompanied by a light drizzle. Sections of road’s street lights kept switching off at random making it real spooky!! Then, to top it all, the creepy feeling that someone was following me…I heard voices but wasn’t sure if they were in my head or outside. When I did gather some courage to turn back and take a look, I found that 4 people were juggling amongst themselves on a single bike trying to balance. They gave me a sheepish grin before speeding off…what a relief it was  – I let out a huge sigh and proceeded on my adventurous walk.  After safely reaching home in 20 minutes, I realised that all the fears were just a figment of my imagination – all created in my mind! Do we really live in the moment and savour it or are we living in an imaginary world and creating a mess for ourselves? That's a question each of us have to find our own answers...

Incidentally there wasn’t a single dog in the entire 2 KM’s stretch! Spotting a few may have perhaps allayed my imaginary fears…maybe…or maybe not!