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!

Shrungagiri Shanmukha Devasthana

This week our Monday trip to a temple in and around Bangalore took us to the lesser known, Shrungagiri Shanmukha Temple (Six Faced God) in Rajarajeshwari Nagar. This temple is close to where we live in Konankunte, but we still used Google’s help to guide us correctly and without us getting lost in the many lanes and by lanes.

As the story goes, it was Lord Shanmukha's own will to choose the barren Hillock in Rajarajeshwari Nagar as His abode and manifested in His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Bharathi Theertha Mahaswamiji of Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri’s dream. Sringeri Swamiji entrusted Dr. R. Arunachalam with the job of building Shrungagiri Sri Shanmukha Temple on this hillock. Thus ordained and blessed, Dr. Arunachalam's extraordinary visionary capacity guided him to design the entire temple structure based on the very name of Lord Shanmukha, which means a Six Faced God.

From the temple’s website: The Crystal Dome stands at a commanding height of 42' from the top of the Temple Gopuram, embedded with 2500 Nos. of 1' diameter crystals. During day time, when direct Sun Light falls on the crystals, the same is converted into a beautiful Rainbow pattern. In the evening, the crystals are illuminated by 27 Watt LED lights, each crystal disseminating 16 colour combination lights, forming 138 patterns. The temple roof is fitted with a Sun Tracking System having 2 vertical and 2 horizontal sun light sensors, which position themselves to face the Sun from morning till evening and track maximum Sun rays at any given point of time during the day. The Sun rays thus tracked are directed on to the main deity, from any direction, enabling Surya Kirana Abhisheka to Lord Shanmukha from sunrise to sunset.

We had the good fortune of meeting Lord Shiva’s entire family, starting with Panchmukhi Ganapathi seated on a lion. This is truly a rare sculpture, because Ganesh’s vahana is his inseparable mouse. As we climbed the stairs to the Arunachaleshwara temple, we had to go past Nagarakatte and the giant sized Trishul and Damroo of Lord Shiva, painted bright yellow, visible from afar. The Shivalinga was amazing: Spatika Shivalinga carved out of crystal clear crystal. Unlike the other ancient temples in the South, This one is very spacious and can even accommodate more than 100 to 150 people on auspicious days when the footfalls are very high. As we entered through the main entrance to our left was an idol of Chandikeshwara. As told in the puranas, Chandikeshwara occupies the foremost position in the worship of Lord Shiva as we can get the blessings of the Lord only through him. He is in a constant state of deep meditation not realizing who comes to the temple. But, he is a person who keeps records of our visit to the temple and so it is customary to snap your fingers or gently clap thrice while uttering Lord Shiva’s name close to his idol, so that he realizes our presence, take his blessings and then proceed to seek the Lord’s blessings.

To his left is Goddess Parvathi – the divine mother! We seek her blessings and then climb to the main deity’s sanctum – Shrungagiri Shanmukha, second son of Lord Shiva. Referred to as God of war and protector of earth, he is also known as Karthikeya or Murugan or Subramanya. The main idol of Subramanya has six faces with three visible as we face the deity. And as we circumambulate, it is possible to see the balance three faces from a window at the back side of the sanctum. Beautifully carved and tastefully decorated with flowers we seek the blessings of Lord Subramanya and his two wives, SriValli and Devasena.

The unique thing about this temple is its giant Gopuram with six faces. The six faces represent the six rays or six attributes; Wisdom, Detachment, Strength, Fame, Wealth and Divinity.

There is a newly constructed hall close the temple, where an idol of Adi Shankaracharya has been placed for people to pay respects to the Jagat Guru. His life story in the form of paintings adorns the walls of this massive hall – certainly a place to spend some time… Just a few hundred steps from this hall is the abode of Gramadevathe: Karumariamman Temple. Visit to Shanmukha Temple is not complete without visiting this amman kovil.

True tales are stranger than fiction!

I just watched Deepak Ramola's 'Allow yourself to be stupid sometimes' on YouTube, and this took me back to my most recent Mumbai - Bengaluru trip. I was at Mumbai airport trying to kill an hour or so before the flight departure from the swanky and not-so-new terminal.

I was sitting and watching a vendor replenishing the stock in a vending machine. It took him almost an hour to replace the old unsold stock with fresh stock and once done, he checked whether the controls were in place and then moved on to the next vending machine down the same aisle.

I made my way to the vending machine to see if there was anything interesting; something that would not cost more than 20 Indian rupees as I had just those two ten rupee notes in my purse. I found an item - a chocolate bar for Rs 20. I inserted the first Ten Rupee note (the old design, which is longer and wider than the new ten rupees note recently introduced). The counter accepted and credited me Rs 10. My next ten rupee note was from the new series. The moment I inserted this note into the slot, it spat out the note...it literally flew out of the machine, in a way chastising and telling me nonchalantly, "do not insert fake notes". Not wanting to feel defeated by an AI, I inserted the same note once again, but this time I was prepared to catch the note if the AI spat it out. And, it did...I was ready for it and with some awkward movements of my torso and a back-pack perched on my shoulder, I was able to catch it. I guess it was a pretty comical sight watching a 59 years old grey haired person struggling with a simple vending machine. How stupid can anybody get!!

I was now pretty confident that the new series of Ten Rupee note was not programmed in the control panel, so the next best thing was to ask someone walking past me in the aisle to exchange the new with an old note. I started asking loudly to a few passersby if they would be willing to exchange an old with a new...out of curiosity, a few did come forward to understand my problem, they delved into their purse only to discover that none of them had an old ten rupee note. I am quite sure most would have taken me for a glorified street urchin asking for money...but, it was nice to know that I had company...most people do not carry cash...plastic money has become so commonplace here in India that there is no need to make your hip pocket bulky. In a manner of speaking, I wasn't really feeling out of place!!

My problem wasn't getting solved either. I kept at my job of asking all passersby to check their purse and help me by exchanging their old for my new note. When I was finally on the verge of giving up and letting go, along came a youngster, who said, "Uncle, why don't you try with coins?" Not having cash itself was a bit embarrassing, where was the question of having coins? He said, "Uncle, don't worry, use the coins that I have!" Between the two of us we could garner Rs 5 in coins. I profusely thanked him and gave him my new Rupees Ten note and told him to keep the change!

I inserted the coins and finally saw a credit of Rs 15 on display screen! For this amount, it was only a 500 ml bottle of water that the vending machine could offer. I settled for it and was able to get a bottle of Bailey's water from the vending machine!

After all the sweat by allowing myself to be stupid at times albeit unknowingly, water was probably the only stuff that could quench my thirst and bring a smile on my otherwise stressed out face.

On hindsight, it was really nice talking to strangers and the sheer variety strange looks each one gave me...I could probably recall their expressions and write many more blogs...

Was this a Dream?

Was this a Dream?

My wife and I attended a program organised by Ashwath's family in December 2015. While I had put my thoughts together, I had not posted the same in my blogspot. I chanced upon this written article and decided to post it. The thoughts are still relevant today, three years later and does really bring back memories from the past to the present! 

“Tamboori” – this word brings a flood of memories in the minds of Dr C Aswath’s millions of fans around the world. This was his signature ‘final’ song in each of his live performances. It was hence befitting to have called the musical evening by this name by his family when they decided to hold a program in his memory on 12^th December 2015. While we lost one of the most eminent and prolific Kannada Sugama Sangeetha exponents six years back, the legend lives on in the minds of the people, his millions of fans, his core group of artists who had accompanied him through thick and thin and last but not the least, his extended family.

The entire team from his erstwhile troupe who agreed to put together and perform for the audience on 12^th did an exemplary job and we had the eerie feeling that Aswath was around somewhere in the backstage, guiding and motivating his artists to give their one hundred percent. Towards half way into the musical evening when the recorded version of Aswath’s song “Shalmala” – from his most successful live performance “Kannadave Sathya”  was played, there was absolute pin drop silence in the hall and one could hear a quick intake of breadth – an involuntary action when there is a catch in the throat. People were with him when he rendered this song in his inimitable style then and today it was as if history had repeated itself. With a packed audience in the R V Dental college auditorium and not an inch of space left, we suddenly got the feeling that he was around somewhere. The rapturous applause he received now was in no way lesser than the thunderous applause he received during Kannadave Sathya, held in Palace ground amidst a record Lakh and Twenty Thousand die-hard fans.

We are sure,  Aswath, would have been proud of his family for having put together such a fine program, and all this…without a formal induction or training on organizational skills required to combine the various pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that happens backstage to make any program a grand success. It requires weeks and  months of planning and organizing to ensure that every angle is covered to a perfection! A stickler for ‘Perfection,’ Aswath demanded and got 100% from each member of his troupe; hence this program “Tamboori” organized by his family as a mark of respect and remembrance would have been particularly significant to him! Wherever he is, the thought that he could have used his near and dear ones more often for their amazing organizational skills must be crossing his mind!  

H S Venkatesh Murthy articulated so very well in his brief recollections of life and times with Dr C Aswath. He said, Aswath is the ‘one’ music composer who brought out the depth and range of the poetry through his musical compositions and one could visualize the situations or the people and theme in their inner mind and heart. Each of the listeners present in his ‘Live’ performances visualized in that ‘moment’ in a manner that was completely their own emotional feelings…a connection that each individual could bring to life from their own personal experiences, past and present. This was the uniqueness of Aswath’s music compositions! There wasn’t a parallel during his days and I guess, there isn’t one as we live in the present! HS continued to add that Aswath, while singing to  any audience, be it large or small or even in a close circle amongst friends and family, there was this depth that couldn’t be separated from him.

His fans and the packed full houses in all his live performances had been his source of strength and perhaps the reason for his tremendous success. He loved his audience in much the same way as a Guru would love his students in a Gurukul…fiercely protective but at the same time giving them all that he had. And the audience reciprocated in much the same way, crying when he became emotional, whilst  singing and dancing with ecstasy on a fast number like “Shravana Banthu Shravana”. T N Seetharam, a very close and dear friend did mention this point in his short speech. He said that he was so enchanted with the rendering of this song that it made him feel why we should not have all the twelve months as Shravana! Having directed the most successful TV serial “Mukta-Mukta”, he had asked Aswath to compose and sing the music for the title song. In a magnanimous gesture he said people watched the serial because they wanted to listen to Aswath’s title track.

Long gone, yet having the magical power to draw people and family together…can only be the mark of a Legendary Genius – A shining Star! Not just the one in the sky, but in each of our hearts!

Roots...

While reading the article written by Bernie Swain in HBR, my mind started racing to recall incidents that left a deep and indelible impression in my mind about my father who was my real hero….it is 30 years since we lost him, but memories are still so fresh…small acts of his that have remained permanently etched in our memories!

I was in the last batch of student community in West Bengal state going through 8 + 3 program at school, which was later changed to 10 + 2. Bengal as a state, was a laggard when it came to conducting Board Examinations and declaring results. When I passed out in the year 1976 from a multipurpose school run by Durgapur Steel Plant, results from all other states in India had already been declared and admissions were coming to a close. My parents had decided that I must join a reputed college in South, if I were to make a career and so, the day results were announced, my father landed at my school to talk to the principal to get the marks sheet, get copies of it typed out (no photocopy facility those days…) and get them attested by the Principal. His intention was for us to catch the Howrah Madras Mail departing from Howrah Station at 9:30 PM, the same day. Durgapur, around 170 KM’s from Howrah was well connected by trains, but there used to be a lull period between 12 noon and 6:00 PM with no connections available. The only train we could take was an odd train called Toofan Express coming from New Delhi heading towards Howrah. Its scheduled arrival at Durgapur was 12:30. This train was notoriously known to be delayed on all days between 1 and 3 hours. We were in luck when my sister called the station to check and was told that it was 2 hours late. It was a race against time as the school Principal was nowhere around to receive the package containing all the students marks sheets. By the time we were able to locate him and request his help to issue the original marks sheet and thereafter sign the ‘True Copies’, it was 1 PM. After a quick bite and packing some essentials for our journey into the unknown, we headed for Durgapur station. It was a good 12 KM’s from the place where we lived. While the roads were deserted, it did take time to negotiate all the junctions and the lorry traffic on the grand trunk road, part of which we had to take to reach the station. It was 2:30 PM when we reached the station.

The train had already arrived and we could see it from the ticket counter. My memory gets a little fuzzy here. Events happened so swiftly, that we never realized what we were doing, but went through the sequence on a hunch and both my dad and myself got into the running train that had just started when we reached the platform. We didn’t even have time to say our good byes to my second elder sister, her husband and my mom who had played a major role in helping us push ourselves into this running train. My brother-in-law had also managed in the confusion to buy the train tickets to Howrah and slip it into my pocket.

So much about the train ride to Howrah, but the real test was getting into Madras Mail and traveling two nights without reservation in an unreserved compartment! Howrah station in the mid 70’s used to be extremely chaotic. Announcement over the public address system would be something, and the reality would be entirely different. There would be last minute changes in the platform allotment for the empty rakes of long distance trains. Dependence on the coolies would be very high; information would somehow reach them much before the traveling public. One can imagine the mad scramble amongst the passengers if the platform was changed in the last minute.

In those good old days, three unreserved compartments would be set aside for the last minute travellers – ones who had not booked in advance. Windows in these carriages would not have protective bars, making it easy for agile youngsters to dive into the compartment as the empty rake was slowly rolled into the platform. My father made me wait at a particular place and said he would make arrangements for two seats in the unreserved compartment. Little did I know that he would, like the youngsters jump in through the window and occupy two seats for us. Once the train came to a standstill, he informed the other occupants to take care of the seats he had occupied, while he walked back to where I was and return with me and luggage. The story doesn’t end here…he was determined to talk to the traveling ticket examiners (TTE’s) to see if he could get two berths for us.

The first stop was Kharagpur after a two hour run – At 3,519 feet, this city has the distinction of having the third longest platform in the world after Gorakhpur in UP, and Kollam in Kerala. This is a junction where the track from Howrah splits in two major arteries – one goes down south to Madras and the other goes west to Bombay. This is also where the electric loco is swapped for a diesel loco during a 30 minute halt for south bound trains.

My dad was confident that he would be able to find a way out with the TTE’s and get two berths while the train was standing at Kharagpur. The situation was much more complex in reality! At Kharagpur the TTE’s shift changeover takes place and in the handing and taking over process, none of them entertain any discussion on berth availability. My dad then ran back to the unreserved compartment to inform me that he would ride with the TTE’s in the sleeper coach until he obtained the berth and come back to fetch me at the next stop. Although he asked me not to worry and also requested other fellow passengers to keep an eye on me; this was all new to me as I had always travelled with the entire family in the past.

However, I did not have to wait for long…within a couple of hours, when the train had briefly halted at an outer signal near a lesser known town, I heard him calling my name from outside. He had been successful in talking his way through the TTE and got us the much needed berths. There was a rider though…he said it was an unscheduled stop for want of clear signal and nobody could predict when it would turn ‘Green’! It was anybody’s guess…He thought for a split second and then said, let’s take our chance…we grabbed our luggage and ran all the way to the coach where we had been allotted berths, once again just-in-time before the signal changed and the train started moving.

Years later, when I was reconstructing this incident in my mind, after completing his annual ceremony, what struck was his simplicity, honesty and integrity. He was pretty high up in the ranks, but consciously avoided use of his powers in his official capacity for a personal need. It was this quality that earned him tremendous respect amongst the rank and file of the organization he served till his last breadth. This was the journey that eventually took me to R E College at Tiruchirapalli and the person who made this possible against all odds was my dad…To me, this indeed was a defining start…and I am sure, each and every one of you will have someone in your life who would have played a very decisive role in shaping who you are and what successes you have achieved. Take some time to reflect and give credit to whosoever deserves!

Leveraging Conflict!

It wasn’t a usual 6E232 Chennai-Bengaluru flight last night, 25^th November 2016. Indigo to a very large extent keeps their schedule departure time unaltered on all sectors. Perhaps, it is a form of training that is imparted to all new joinees, that they are pretty-much committed to ‘On Time’ departure and arrival and do whatever it takes! So much so, that they take pride during the departure announcement as, “Indigo Departure Time”…sole reason probably for their runaway success!

Last night however, while waiting at Chennai airport, I noticed that the departure time mentioned in the closed circuit TV panels showed a 15 minute delay. There was no announcement of this change from 21:15 to 21:30 Hours, whereas, a 15 minute delay in departure of their flight to Kolkata must have been announced over the Public Address system at least 3 to 4 times, if not more. All passengers one-by-one started walking up to the ground force at the departure gate to ask for the status. Not having a plausible reason to offer as an excuse for the delay, I guess the ground personnel decided to move away from the desk to avoid questions. They did however return when there was 25 minutes left for the revised departure time. Having been allotted a seat in first row, I had to wait till all passengers had walked in, as boarding was taking place through the aerobridge.

As I entered the aircraft I noticed that the Chief Flight Attendant was visibly angry and was having a heated argument with ground personnel in charge of loading food and beverages. It may be interesting to note, that variety of food served to passengers who pre-order their choice of refreshments is demarcated, based on duration of the flight. Short haul flights like Chennai-Bengaluru, there really isn’t any time to ask each passenger and serve a meal of their choice. Only passengers who have ordered at the time of booking their tickets are served and even the snack choice is limited between two/three varieties of soft drinks and between cashew nuts or cookies. Taj Sats – the catering agency for Indigo at Chennai had goofed up on 25^th November 2016. They had loaded food that was meant for a long haul flight; this meant,  no nuts and cookies and to make matters worse the soft drinks and water loaded, were at room temperature in Chennai weather.

Couple of rows behind me, a frequent flyer, who made it known to all of us within his earshot that he flew 150 times each year was unhappy when a warm Nimbu Pani was offered to him. He asked for Aam Panna; normally Indigo offers this as an alternative on Chennai-Bengaluru sector under the brand ‘PaperBoat’. Having had a heated exchange with the ground personnel in-charge of loading food, the flight attendent’s patience just snapped. She rudely told the passenger that this was all she had in the aircraft today and the passenger had no choice but to accept the warm Nimbu Pani – almost a ‘take it or leave it’ kind…

Not wanting to be taken for granted, the passenger spoke in a firm voice about his preference. The attendant, now besides herself with rage, first on the Caterers, then on the Ground Personnel, Passenger asking for something that she was not in a position to offer was the proverbial last straw. She lost her cool and allowed emotions to take over and yelled at the passenger. In the same breadth, she went back to the ground personnel and accused them of goofing up the loading and finally said she would not allow the flight to take off if she did not get the variety meant for this short haul flight or deplane the rude passenger. It was as if she was leveraging on the conflict with a passenger to drive home the point with Ground personnel that they were sloppy in their execution. She even went to the extent of asking the ground personnel to convince the passenger by accepting their responsibility of the goof up. Sitting close to the front entrance, I was privy to these discussions. It was also clear that the ground personnel were least interested either in replenishing the stock or own up to their mistake and tender an apology to the passenger, the flight attendant was insisting on. Personally, I was quite in agreement with the way the flight attendant was fixing accountability and responsibility, but did we have the time to see who would blink first?

Unfortunately, the drama that was unfolding before us was having a silent toll on time. We had long crossed the ETD of 21:30 and it was getting to be 21:55. Few of us fellow passengers had to intervene with this flight attendant to calm her frayed nerves, wave the white flag and call for a truce to allow the plane to take the skies. Apparently, the ground personnel were waiting for such a window of opportunity to escape and it came to them on a platter. They quickly took a sign-off from the Captain and deplaned. Once the main doors were shut, locked and cross checked, our now infamous flight purser took control of the situation and was back in command doing whatever she needed to do, when in-charge! She did approach the passenger after we landed at Bengaluru, post a 20 minute circle over the Bengaluru skies, Queued at No 20 in the landing sequence and asked him to cooperate and explain the entire sequence of events to senior leadership team at Indigo. She promised him that she would seek justice from her organization on his behalf. While we may not get to know the final outcome, at least we should be happy that ‘quality of service’ will always be the discerning or deciding factor between companies that are good to companies that are great.

Come to think of ‘Conflicts’, most of them are like the one described above. The root cause is always far away from the stakeholders at loggerheads. A human mind is rather hard wired to jump to quick egoistic conclusions, a distressed me versus them, with “I” always assumed to be at the receiving end! In times of conflict, the world comes to a momentary halt, as the head begins its spin…and how we wish for the inverse!!  

Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child!

Ever wondered what direction India’s education system is heading towards?

It would be good if all Indian parents hear Raghu Raman’s TEDx talk at IIT BHU published on 26^th June 2015 in YouTube. The talk is titled “Order in Chaos”! In one part Raghu categorically states “sweat in peace, sweat in peace, so that you don’t have to bleed in war”. Raghu talks eloquently about our young armed forces – a crop of courageous, brave, intelligent, self-less, die-hard, never compromising men. Compare this to the modern day graduates and under graduates (XII – Standard POF; pass or fail)…do they ever struggle in their 12, 15 or 16 years of their academic career these days?

As parents, we need to take a good percentage of blame for the evolution in upbringing that has slowly creeped in. With the new norm of nuclear families, DIOK – double income one kid we have become over protective to the point of stifling our children’s growth. We want them to have the best of every comfort so that they can live our dreams. Do we ever take a moment and reflect on the child’s likes and strengths and then propel them in a direction of their choice? Hardly! This doesn't in any way mean that all parents are uniformly alike, there are exceptions…and we only wish there were more such kind of parents around as a guide or a mentor. Then there families with no regular sources of income. Not knowing when or where the next family meal would come from, educating their young is never a priority.

In the same breadth, students too must stop blaming their parents for not having done enough. J K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series in her graduation day speech at Harvard Business School has said this so nicely: “There has to be an expiry date to the blame you pile on your parents.” Wake up boys and girls, stop complaining about the decision your parents took on your behalf and instead, train yourselves hard to face the tough competitive world we live in today. There is no short cut to success!

A quick look at the metamorphosis in educating our young in the last 50 years. Back in my days in 60’s, 70’s and very early 80’s, each academic year used to be broken into three terms and it was made clear at the beginning what portions in each subject would be covered in each term. There was no question in not knowing what was in store during that one academic year. At the end of each week of class studies and associated home studies including homework, we used to have something called as unit test and this used to happen with clockwork regularity, every Friday. Performance in this unit tests would carry a weight-age in each of the three terms scorecard. It just meant that in order for a child to be promoted to the next higher standard, the scoring in the weekly unit tests and the three terms mattered. This was also a very good guide for the teachers to understand which child or student was falling back and what kind of support they required from the teachers. The parent-teachers meet would also be focussed on the score card – it served as a good measuring yardstick to check on the performance and rope in the parents when necessary. Besides the weekly unit tests, there would be surprise tests also – I suspect, teachers used this to get some free time to catch up on their own mounting paper work, not forgetting the time they had to spend on correcting test papers and homework. While they had their hands full, they never hesitated to give a free, frank and honest feedback to the parents regarding an erring child or a student lagging behind the average in the classroom. Some teachers were a terror; there was no hesitation to punish the wrong doers, but to be fair to them, we seldom saw a bias. In general, principals had no patience for complaints coming his or her way from any of their teachers. It would mean a solid rap on the knuckles of both hands or a kneel-down punishment just outside the classroom so that all other students of the school would get to see…you either felt publicly humiliated and became a rebel or learnt to rein in your ego and make corrections to never repeat your mistake.

Fast forward this to the modern day…it is a common sight to see parents lead their children to the front entrance of the schools. Had the principal been a bit lenient, these parents would lead their wards to their classrooms as well, and may be stay back for additional time until the school bell rang. A teachers role as an educator is indeed stressful these days as one cannot scold a child, let alone spank! The teachers cannot take the children to task if they do not complete their homework or project work. The unit tests, term and final exams at the end of each academic year are realms of the past. The grading system that has replaced the score card just does not say anything about the what the child / student has learned or what he / she has not learnt! To make it more liberal, we have done away with making students repeat the academic year for poor performance. With all the so called private schools and colleges charging exorbitant fees, the management I guess feels obligated to the parents donations and the first signs of complaint about a tough no-nonsense teacher, the principal gets rid of these educationists. It is a vicious circle, as all teachers are scared stiff about what they can or can’t do. An easy way out is to tolerate under-performance and just learn to look the other way, while it is time to promote them.

By the way, did I mention that in India, teachers in private schools and the government law enforcers are the most poorly paid? It would be incorrect to make a sweeping generalization, because there are still good and honest teachers around who take their work very seriously and perhaps we can apply the Pareto’s principle to state with some degree of confidence that 20% of our teachers make a positive mark in their student’s lives and we owe the country’s progress to these 20% of the teacher’s population.

The question is, if all are in agreement with the deteriorated education standards and have kind off accepted it as a way of life, then who is complaining? No marks for guessing this correctly!! It is the employment industry; and I am not specifying any one type…it includes just about all! Having spent the last 15 years in the ITES industry in various capacities, I can say this for sure that the quality of graduates who walk in to these organizations is a far cry from what these companies would like to hire, especially now. Could the situation have been different? I would say one hundred percent! It now makes sense to state what Raghu Raman has said in his TEDx talk: “Sweat in peace, sweat in peace, so that you don’t have to bleed in war!” His TEDx talk can be viewed from the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ-IBRGfJyY

Can we go back to our educational institutions and provide them with the right platform and freedom to educate our GenY so that they learn that nothing in life is a cake-walk. Studying and training hard, so hard that employment opportunities would be for their taking and not the other way around. Consider this, for every 100 graduates who walk in for an employment opportunity roughly 5 to 7% succeed and they succeed not because they are way above the rest, but because somewhere someone in these organizations took a decision that these are trainable folks. Companies spend a good 2 to 6 months training these new hires to help them reach a level from where they perhaps can be on their own, albeit with small ongoing support and encouragement. While the organizations can take comfort from the fact they are indirectly helping GenY  and brand this as a CSR activity, our successive governments must become aware that the “Chalega” or “Casual” approach to everything, starting from educational institutions is a retrograde step. A close analogy could be found in our airports in India. From the time a person enters the main terminal of any airport in India, he or she is subjected to 4 or 5 levels of security checks before finally being cleared to board the aeroplane. It is because the first security check at the entry takes it cool thinking that there are four ahead of me and If I miss anything, heavens are not going to fall down – let the others also take their job seriously! This is a sure shot way to mediocrity and pretty much, our education system has also followed on these footsteps. Is it a surprise then that none of India's 700 universities and 35,539 colleges has made it to the top 100 list?

The final question: By being over protective have we made the GenY too soft and sensitive to travel the turbulent roads in work life? I would once again say a one hundred percent! From the day of joining, the question on top of their mind is, “What’s in it for me?” The work environment has to be to their liking, as they come in with big expectations. Not finding those immediately leads to disappointment. God forbid, if one of the monthly feedback discussions goes a bit hard because of under-performance! It wouldn't surprise many in the organization, if this person did not return to work the following morning. Grow up boys and girls – a positive attitude, a willingness to learn new skills and a thirst for knowledge are the fundamentals that will help you flourish in your chosen field.

While we are pushing for “Make in India”, if we do not “Make it right, in India” the hopes of our politicians can at best remain a pipe dream to push growth to double digit figures. Brahmagupta or Aryabhata may have introduced “Zero” in mathematics or the concept of nothingness, on a different context, there is a danger in us being branded as a country of Zeros and not Hero’s!!