New Year Greetings!!

If there is one thing I like…it is finding a common thread that binds diverse subjects together. I am sure most of you, if not all would have admired, perhaps liked or loved seeing the movie ‘Jurassic Park’ and hope that you know that it was Michael Crichton who wrote that thriller.

Michael Crichton was born on 23^rd October 1942, just under a year after US joined the war (World War II) on 7^th December 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Standing tall at 6’ 9” he indeed made a mark as a best-selling author, producer, director and screen writer. He is best known for his work in science fiction, medical fiction and thrillers. In 1994, he became the only creative artist ever to have been a No. 1 in Television (ER), Film (Jurassic Park) and Book sales (Disclosure).  A graduate of Harvard Medical school, he never obtained a license to practice medicine and preferred devoting himself to a writing career. Two novels brought him immense fame as a writer: The Andromeda Strain & The Great Train Robbery which were later adapted into film.

Just the other day, I was a bit early for a meeting in Café Coffee Day at Barton Center and instead of aimlessly walking around the MG road boulevard, I decided to spend some time browsing at ‘Bookworm’ – it is undoubtedly one of the best places to get your pick of a 2^nd hand book in Bengaluru. I picked up Michael Crichton’s ‘Five Patients’ and my all-time favorite author A J Cronin’s ‘The Citadel’. This novel of A J Cronin was adapted into a Hindi film in the year 1971 by Dev Anand and his elder sibling Vijay Anand – ‘Tere Mere Sapne.’ Literally translated from Hindi to English, it stands for ‘Our Dreams’. While the novel can be read innumerable times, the Hindi movie adaptation can but be seen just once; that kind-off summarizes the difference between a ‘best-seller’ and ‘an also-ran’.

Coming back to where I started…there is an interesting piece of information on Massachusetts General Hospital in Michael Crichton’s book ‘Five Patients.’ Mostly familiar as ‘Mass General’ or ‘MGH’, it is the teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. Named the No. 1 Hospital in the US in 2012 by US News & World Report, this hospital is the 3^rd oldest in the history of US having been established in 1811. Only Pennsylvania Hospital (1751) and New York – Presbyterian Hospital (1771) are older.

Altogether the hospital had 1,000 beds in 1967; this figure stands marginally higher at 1,057 today, but what stands out is the efficiency with which patients are treated:

1.      16,000 operations were performed by the surgical staff in 1967. Today, it stands at 34,000.

2.      27,000 patients were admitted in 1967; Today, it is 45,000.

3.      Research budget has gone up from 10.5 Million USD in 1967 to more than 500 Million USD now.

However, what probably stands out are the stats of our own AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences). It is a teaching and research hospital and came into existence only in 1956 through an Act of Parliament – it is nowhere near the 201 years of Mass General’s existence.

1.      150,000 operations are performed by the surgical staff yearly.

2.      160,000 patients are admitted in a year; no. of beds: 2,424.

3.      Research budget: Funding is mostly through grants and from collaboration with overseas institutions, and can never match the figures of Mass General, I suppose!

Every word and every institution has a story to tell; and so is the word ‘hospital.’ It is derived from the Latin hospes, meaning host or guest and the same root has given us “hotel” and “hostel.” In fact the evolution of hospital has been going on for more than two thousand years, beginning with the ‘Aesculapia’ of Greece around 350 BCE (Before Christian Era) taking the form of temples. The Aesculapian temples were not so much hospitals as religious institutions where patients came on pilgrimages, hoping to be cured by a visitation of the gods.

The hospital in the more modern sense began in late Roman times, and coincided with the spread of Christianity across Europe. Medicine was practiced by monks and priests. The Renaissance and Reformation loosened the Church’s stronghold on both the hospital and conduct of medical practice. St. Bartholomew’s hospital (also known as ‘Barts’), London’s first hospital was established in 1123, while its associated medical college was established in 1843. However, the first school to be granted official charter for medical teaching in 1785 was the London Medical College Hospital. Those of you who like trivia…here is one on Barts: Dr. Watson – Sherlock Holmes’s companion and biographer, first meet in the pathology laboratory at Barts and, Dr. Watson is its fictional alumni.

Well, so much about hospitals, Michael Crichton and his book ‘Five Patients’…if you get an opportunity, please read this book – it is a ‘must-read’ for anyone associated with the medical world or otherwise.

When I set out to write a few words to all my friends as a welcoming new year message, little did I imagine that it would get this big. I hope you make yourself some time to read this piece, either today or tomorrow, which incidentally, has the unique distinction of being a year apart!!

As we end the year today, I wish to quote from Sai Baba’s message to his devotees: “The second is the very basic unit of Time which we measure, in what we designate as a year. Sixty seconds, make a minute, sixty minutes make an hour, twenty four hours constitute a day and thirty days make a month; twelve months pass and we say a year has passed! When twelve months are over, we come back again to the first in the list of months, and call it the New Year Day. We go on a spree to celebrate the occasion.

Really speaking, nothing new has happened on the “New Year Day” - it is not the year, but every second that follows the present that is new. Hence, do not wait for the celebration of something new in Time, until minutes, hours, days, months and years add up! Celebrate the immediately succeeding second, and every one after it, through honest effort and attain everlasting joy. Do not waver in your determination to live in joy and peace.”

With warm regards and here's wishing you all Happiness, Success and Good Health in the year ahead!!

Govinda, Govinda, Govindaa

The very thought of traveling to the temple town of Tirumala on the Venkatadri hills brings along an unknown excitement and at the same time a wee bit of fear too. What if we do not get a chance to make it to his abode! While we are self-invited guests to his home, isn’t it strange that we see nothing wrong in expecting the best form of treatment and wait for those fleeting few seconds when we finally get to make an eye contact with him – the over powering sense of relief makes one feel weightless and as if we are floating freely in space!

Transcending all the known barriers, it feels that we are one with him. The sense of satisfaction that we have told him all that we wanted to and that he has patiently heard you out is a private dialogue that can happen only between you and him! But surprisingly, the long list of wants that you entered his home with now seems so trivial and soon forgotten. The sheer ecstasy drives away the agony of the long wait!

You are soon jolted out of the trance by the professional pushers who seem to be saying – okay, you had your chance and now let the next one get his! The Japanese Pushers, whose work is to push people into the railway cars during peak hour pale in comparison to the home grown pilgrim pushers in TTD.

Situated in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, Tirupathi is the most ancient pilgrimage center in India. The town owes its existence to the sacred temple of Lord Sri Venkateswara situated on the Tirumala Hill adjoining it. With a history of its present structure dating back to over twelve centuries, the temple is considered as the jewel in the crown of ancient places of worship in southern India.

The Tirumala Hill is 3200 ft above sea level, and is about 27 square KM’s in area. It comprises seven peaks, representing the seven hoods of Adisesha, thus earning the name, Seshachalam. The seven peaks are called Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrishabhadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri. The sacred temple of Sri Venkateswara is located on the seventh peak, Venkatadri, and lies on the southern banks of Sri Swami Pushkarini.

It is the 2nd richest temple after Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple at Tiruvanthapuram, but the most visited holy place in the world today.

Significantly, the temple was maintained and upgraded by various kingdoms namely The Pallavas of Kanchipuram (9th century AD), the Cholas of Tanjore (10th century), and Vijayanagara pradhans (14th and 15th centuries), who were committed devotees of Lord Venkateswara. The temple gained most of its current wealth and size with donations of diamond and gold by the Vijayanagar emperors. Gold for the inner shrine roofing to be gilded was provided by Sri Krishna Deva Raya the then ruler of Vijayanagar empire. Interestingly, it was Sri Ramanujacharya, the reformer and Vaishnavite saint  who in the 12th century laid down a comprehensive system of organization and management of worship. The principles and the method of worship to be followed have survived to this day in Tirumala.

We, as a family have always preferred APTDC’s package trip to the temple town as the service is prompt and each section or part of the journey happens like clockwork. This time though, we had some surprise in store! The start from home was pretty auspicious with nothing untoward happening and so was the bus journey from Bangalore APTDC’s Race Course pick-up point. The bus itself was a beauty – a swanky new Mercedes Benz rear engine air conditioned bus. With 15 seats going abegging, we hoped it would be similar at Tirumala’s notorious Q’s at the temple gates. The first hint about how things would shape up came our way just as the elevator doors shut to take us to the 4th floor in the Transit accommodation provided by TTD. The Lord may have taken pity and forgiven us poor souls, but not this elevator. With 2 persons too many, it groaned to an abrupt halt midway between the 2nd and 3rd floor causing some kind of panic. We had to remain locked in its confines for a good 15 minutes before help finally arrived. From his instructions that were faintly audible to us, we realized he was a novice – a green horn, to be more apt. Lucky for us, he had apparently worked on MS Windows and ended up doing what all of us do. Yes, re-Boot!! He switched off the power supply, gave it some time for the memory in the elevator control circuit to erase and then switched on. The elevator descended to the ground floor like a charm – we heaved a sigh of relief from the temporary set back, climbed all the way up to the 4th floor and hurried to our respective rooms to freshen up to embark on the next leg of the journey.

Being a Friday, we were told that a visit to Padmavathy temple would take place first at Tirupathi and later we would be transported to the hill-top town of Tirumala by TTD operated link bus, in time for the 8:30 AM darshan. We were assured that the entire duration would not last more than an hour. And so, off we went to Padmavathy temple in suburban Tirupathi – Alamelumangapuram. It was 4:30 AM and Aarthi had just then concluded post the morning panchamrutha seva. A couple of guys were shouting at the gate for us to hurry up, else the doors would be closed for the ‘Alankara’. Our guide, incidentally was also ‘Srinivasa’ – not a God send, but it was as if God had himself descended on earth to take care!! He got us special tickets which allowed us a fairly good amount of time in front of Goddess Padmavathy. With time to spare, we for the first time got some time to look around the temple complex and visit the sub-temples of Sri Krishna Swamy, Sri Sundararaja Swamy and Sri Suryanarayana Swamy.

The gateway to the 7-Hills is called Alipiri and somewhere close to this starting point we disembarked from our luxurious Mercedes Benz and jumped into a waiting Link Bus operated by TTD. Each time we visit Tirumala, I wonder why the TTD Board has not thought of getting a complete new fleet of buses. Most of the existing ones seem to have outlived their extended lives and I am sure if they send a word to the major engine & chassis manufacturers, they will fall all over each other to oblige; who knows they may even give the Board a discount with the hope that they pass on a message to the good Lord and earn a few brownie points for themselves. Well, jokes apart, the engine condition and the brakes are maintained immaculately and there is no reason for any doubt about safety of these buses shipping people up and then down, 24/7.

As we were steadily climbing our way through the 7-hills I tried recollecting what I had heard and read about this unique temple. There are innumerable ancient references to the deity and the purifying hill, in fact  even before the advent of the deity. They date back to the Rig-Veda period. Some described only the purifying hill, others mentioned the Lord who absolves sins and presides over the hill, but not any temple. The puranas refer to the Tirumala hill as Venkatadri or Venkatachala. The longest epic in the world, the Mahabharata describes the transformation of the departed spirit of Sri Krishna into a lifeless four armed image which was to descend to earth and be worshiped in Kaliyuga. This is believed to be the Tirumala deity – one of the eight Swayam Vyakta Sthala. In the hierarchy of structures, Swayam Vyakta Kshetras stands at the peak amongst the 5 categories. The other 4 in their descending order are: Deva, Arsha or Sidha, Pauranika and Manusha. The difference is based on who installed the deity in a given temple. The images installed by divinities like Brahma, Indra etc are known as Deva sthala. Similarly, images installed by great sages are known as arsha sthala and ones by sidhas are known as Sidha sthala. Images installed in the ancient days and as mentioned in the epics are known as Pauranika sthala. Images installed by devout human beings are known as Manusha sthala.

The main idol in Tirumala is believed to be of divine origin – Sri Krishna manifests himself by his own free will as the Archavatara or the image fit to be worshipped, in Tirumala, the Swayam Vyakta Sthala. The other 7 Sthalas are Srirangam, Srimushnam, Totaparvatam, Salagramam in Nepal, Pushkaram, Badrinath and Naimisham. It is believed that in Kaliyuga, one can attain mukti only by worshiping Sri Venkateswara. The benefits acquired by pilgrimage to Vankatachala are mentioned in the Rig Veda too. The following is an interesting connection between the astronomical, the physiological and the spiritual : Kaliyuga as told in our puranas is a period that will last 432,000 years, with the beginning of this era suggested as 3012 BC. According to Hindu tradition, the Rigvedic hymns were collected by Paila under the guidance of Vyasa who formed the Rigveda Samhita as we know it.  According to the Sataptha Brahmana the number of syllables in the Rigveda is 432,000, equaling the number of muhurtas (1 day = 30 muhurtas) in forty years. Is this a mere coincidence or was this by design – The Almighty God can surely throw some light!!

If I stretch my memory, I must have visited the Tirumala Sri Venkateswara temple just twice before my marriage. The first was for the twin celebrations: my thread ceremony followed by my eldest sister’s marriage in the February 1975. This was when we experienced the Lord indeed to be ‘The Supreme’. My father had decided for himself that he would get my ‘Thread Ceremony’ done  at Tirumala. With the muhurtham falling on 16th Feb’75 and my sisters marriage the following day, there was little or no scope for my parents to arrange one event in Tirumala and the next one at Bangalore. My father took the step of getting both the events organized at Tirumala and it meant a considerable hike in budget along with logistical woes. All plans were made for the entire family, friends and relatives to travel from Mysore on 14th Feb’75. With just 5 days to go, mysteriously, both my sister and me fell sick with high fever and delirium. No medicine, Allopathic or Ayuvedic was able to ascertain the problem, let alone cure us from this unknown malady.

It was my maternal grandfather – Sri S Vittala Shastrigal, who attained Sanyasatva as Sri Sri Gyanananendra Saraswati Swamigal, accidentally discovered the seemingly moot cause!! He called my mom aside and asked her a direct question: “Did you harbor a doubt or a negative feeling about the two events being done at Tirumala?” When my mother answered in the affirmative, he made her pray for forgiveness and request the lord for helping her and my father to conduct the two events without an impediment. It is believed that if the remorse is genuine, the Lord readily forgives. Miraculously, this paved the way for a dramatic recovery for both of us and we were able to successfully complete all the rituals unhindered. To this day we hold this shrine and Lord Venkateswara in awe and always remember that if we make a promise to him, we had better keep it.

In the last 27 years I have personally made three promises…the first was to pay my respects to him just before my marriage. In my own recorded history, this was perhaps the best visit. It had rained continuously for more than 36 hours before our scheduled arrival at Tirupathi and very few link buses were plying between Tirupathi and Tirumala. When we did get one and arrived at the main entrance, we found that the temple wore a deserted look with not many people around. Fearing the worst, we presumed that the temple gates would be shut down because of the heavy downpour. We hesitatingly approached the counter for special tickets and to our dismay found even that to be shut. Upon approaching a TTD official, we were told that the doors of the temple were wide open for any devotee willing to walk in. Could we have asked for anything better? Undoubtedly not!! We, my second brother-in-law and I jumped up with joy and went into the innermost Sanctum Sanctorum. We were shocked with a pleasant surprise when the purohits asked us to stay longer as we were turning to retrace our steps!!

The second promise was to get my elder son’s Tonsuring ceremony done at Tirumala. The most recent one was the third major promise when my second son had completed his final semester examinations. We had not made a special trip to Tirumala when my elder son graduated and I felt it would be nice to make a foursome trip as part of ‘Thanksgiving.’ In between of course we have made many trips and thanks to the promises of my better half, who is an ardent devotee of Sri Lakshmi Venkateswara.

By 6:30 AM we were at the temple gates and a good 2 hours to go before the ‘Q’ would be opened up for the devotees on the package trip. As we patiently waited at the main entrance, we could see thousands of people rushing in with special passes and that was when in my mind, I began to panic…what if, we are denied an entry? The human brain is amazingly wired to think of ‘n’ number of ‘what if’ situations create a sense of panic and press the alarm button to make all other organs go on an overdrive! I tend to develop cold feet very easily when it comes to Lord Venkateswara; I guess it stems from the past experience.

As soon the ‘Q’ opened up and we all rushed in, we discovered to our dismay that we were led into an enclosed space known as the ‘cage’. We were all made to live the life of a convict, albeit for a short while. Luck did play a role and the waiting period was just 15 minutes – the gates were thrown open and we got into the labyrinth of passages that finally led us to the sanctum sanctorum. All the anxiety and panic our minds had conjured simply vanished the moment we got a glimpse of the awe inspiring and flower bedecked Lord of our world. The relief, the joy, the happiness at having finally made it was simply overwhelming. The power and sheer positive energy can only be experienced as one stands in front of the Lord with folded hands. Only later did I realize that the only two words that I could softly utter to the Lord was a ‘Thank You’…A Promise made and a Promise kept!!    

A day in the life of not-so-better-half..

Without doubt, managing to set-up a home and run it like a well-oiled machine is a mammoth task and the fact that women are much better at it than their male counterparts is a foregone conclusion. Not that I am not aware of this universal truth, just that it was re-emphasized on a day that I least expected.

I took over the reins of performing this role that my better-half does with élan, for a couple of days when my wife had to step out as a participant in a musical concert. Having managed the home front during my bachelor days and on a couple of occasions as a married bachelor, I presumed it would be pretty cool. In fact I hoped that it would bring back some nostalgic memories of the yester-years. Coming from a family of musicians and fine arts, singing comes naturally to my wife. And like all else, one needs a good coach and mentor to train and direct ones skills in the desired direction. She continues to train under the tutelage of an emerging Hindustani vocalist and Harmonium/Keyboard player. With a couple of years of training I can confidently announce that my wife is a pretty good amateur vocalist in the genre of Hindustani classical music.

When her teacher and coach decided to give an opportunity to perform to a select audience in a north Karnataka city known for having nurtured well known Hindustani classical musicians, we – my sons and I encouraged her to sign-on. That she performed well and was rewarded with a standing ovation isn’t the story that I wanted to relate. It so happened that while she performed well, I was goofing up in managing the home front.

Comical at times, it was also a revelation of sorts! I used to announce the dish I would prepare much in advance to my sons and create an expectation of sorts. Looking back in time, I should have heeded the warnings of a close friend of mine from Kolkata days, between 1983 and 92. He had an amazing sense of humor with his punch lines! Whenever he stayed back at my place for breakfast, lunch or dinner he would insist that I make the dish first and give it a name later. Quite aptly put, if I may take a dig at myself! The Upma I had prepared for breakfast turned out to be soggy with excess water and tasted more like Ganjji – a diet normally reserved for the very sick.

Not learning from past mistakes is a pretty common trait and quite contrary to what is explicitly told even in an organization. I would however, like to be a bit kind to myself and just say that ‘history has an uncanny habit of repeating’. As part of her preparations, my wife had given me clear instruction on which cooking powder was kept where and the ‘know-all’ guy that I thought myself to be, I did not pay much attention hoping that my sensitive olfactory system would guide me correctly if the need arose. And so, from the kitchen in ground floor I shouted about the proposed menu so that my sons could hear me at the first floor. I said that I would make mixed vegetable curry-rice not realizing the trap that I was laying for myself. However, to my good luck, both the boys were immersed in whatever they were doing on their respective laptops with Bose headphones covering their ears. Presumably, they wouldn’t have heard me at all.

Till the time the chopped and assorted vegetables were cooked, I was on the dot. I was making my first attempt at parallel processing. It is truly amazing how our wives can really juggle around with a cellphone held between the ear and a raised shoulder, one hand stirring , the other searching for a missing ingredient and all the while listening to music blaring from a favorite FM channel. The list of things they can handle simultaneously can go on and on. Granted that we can nowhere match this skill, I made a brave effort to see how close I could get. While the vegetables were cooking, I made arrangements to soak, wash, rinse rice and place it in the rice cooker. I was attempting to use the Just-in-Time concept by coordinating all the independent activities so that output from these would be ready ingredients for the final act!

Both boys love all kinds of curry rice and hence my wife prepares and stocks curry powder mix in a big Tupperware jar that normally lasts for a month. With the rice done in the rice-cooker, the final act was to sprinkle generous portions of curry powder on the cooked vegetables, add the cooked rice to it and after a thorough mix and a pinch of salt to taste…yahoo! The curry rice would be ready!! Both my boys like cucumber, tomato, onion raita along with curry rice. I pride myself in cutting vegetables to geometrically exact shapes - rectangular or square with a high degree of precision and good repeatability!! The job was to cut/chop/slice these vegetables to fine bits add freshly purchased Nandini curds to it and with a pinch of salt to taste the raita would be ready.

Like the proverb – ‘proof of the pudding is in eating,’ a couple of morsels later, I felt something was odd with the curry rice and I wasn’t able to put a finger on the flaw. I asked both boys and they put up an extremely brave face and said there was nothing wrong. Come to think of it, they were probably trying to be nice to their dad but the writing was on the wall. A substantial portion of the curry rice was untouched, it generally isn’t so and in fact it gets polished pretty soon the dish is placed on the table when my wife prepares. I kept racking my dumb brains to think what had gone wrong but wasn’t able to get a clue. While eating it myself, my taste buds sensed something strange…the lingering smell and taste of dalchini (cinnamon, in English) – I was dead sure that this ingredient does not form a part of south Indian curry powder! A perfectly measured quantity of dalchini gives it the typical north Indian garam-masala flavor, a bit in excess gives it a Pakistani touch and I know this from my short stint at Dubai. I however banished these stray thoughts from my mind hoping that these were figments of my wild imagination.

I was only able to crack the defect soon after my wife returned home! The powder that I had used so generously for making the typical south Indian variety of mixed vegetable curry rice was in fact pav-bhaji masala…my nose was honestly giving the right signals but I had ignored it and the result was indeed a disaster. As is typical, I got into an endless debate with my wife on the positioning of the Tupperware box with pav-bhaji masala…I kept insisting that she should not have mixed ingredients from North with South in the same cupboard…I had to finally let go, after all it is her territory and I was just a guest for a few days. Going back to what my Kolkata friend had told me years back was like a prophecy come true! I should have named it rice-bhaji, post cooking!! Honestly folks, don’t ever try it…rice and mixed vegetable with pav-bhaji masala substituted as curry powder is an awful combination. When my elder son softly suggested that we order for pizzas the following night, I sheepishly grinned and agreed. We had a very good meal the 2nd night and could sleep peacefully and well.

I now realize why the wife is usually referred to, as the ‘better-half’!!

How Corrupt is our Corrupt Society?

Born in 1940 before India attained independence from the British Raj and a former Indian Army soldier, Anna Hazare is known as a social activist who was instrumental in upgrading the ecology and economy of the village of Ralegan Siddhi located in the drought prone district of Ahmednagar in the state of Maharashtra. Now widely and wildly popular for having stirred the common man’s interest in his crusade against corruption and corrupt politicians, public figures occupying various government positions et al, Anna has become a household name.

Riding on this crest is 1965 born Baba Ramdev (nee Swami Ramdev) who has earlier gained popularity through his practice and teaching of yoga and pranayama not just in India but abroad as well. Associated with the 2011 anti-corruption movement and involved in the Jan Lokpal agitation, Baba Ramdev is going on an indefinite fast from today June 4th, 2011 to force the government to take effective steps to curb corruption.

Both these gentlemen have a large following from all walks of life. While their intentions are noble, one needs to understand how much the common man understands the implications of being clean and above board. It’s like an ‘I am Okay, you are not okay’ syndrome, but how much truth is there in it? It remains to be seen and felt. Thousands of mini scams go unnoticed every day involving officials and common persons. This country can call itself corruption free only when a customer does not ingratiate with the system to get a positive response to his requirements. One example that comes to mind where the common man ends up paying additional money is at the RTO when he or she goes through the rigmarole of obtaining a driving license. Even the most clean with all the data and documents in place have to pay up this convenience fee to sail through at the counter.

A point to dwell upon is the age at which we get an exposure to such dubious double standards! Parents now-a-days are willing to shell down huge sums of money to get their children into a private institution, all because the government run public schools perennially are in short supply of good educators, instructors and teachers besides the woefully pathetic infrastructure. During the late 50’s and early 60’s the difference between a government run school or college was not much when compared to a privately run institution, but not anymore.

This may sound comical: take a step back and look at the profit and loss arithmetic sum we all must have done in our early childhood: How much profit does a milkman make if a liter of pure milk costs Rs. 10 and he adds a liter of free water from the tap to every 9 liters of pure milk before selling to his unsuspecting customers? If there is a gain from being corrupt and this gets taught in the schools at a tender formative age, whom are we blaming? Rest is just an extension and the degree and decimal point varies.

With no resources at its disposal, the young government at the time of independence faced an ever yawning gap between demand and supply. Creating a socialist democratic republic by removing healthy competition (Nationalization of privately owned Industries and Establishments) and by controlling the daily needs of the common person, the then government thought they had everything under wraps and in control. It took the government a good 35 years to realize the harm their excessive control had brought in. By opening the market through free market economy the floodgates did eventually open up for investments and so did the income. Unfortunately the economy further polarized the population between the haves and the have nots. With the pay scales of the government employees being directly proportional to the tax collection, one can imagine the pressure on the government with just 35 million miniscule tax payers in a country of a billion. The law enforcers came under the less privileged class and thus for them to make two ends meet, they accepted convenience money. The section of people who earn sufficiently to make two ends meet comfortably, were also the persons who were evading taxes but quick to blame the government for corruption. It was like the pot calling the kettle black!

We have refused to stand in the ‘Q’ for a popular movie just released on a Friday and instead buy the tickets in black. We prefer to bribe the linesman to declare the energy consumption meter faulty and pay lesser amount to the Electricity Board. We tap raw power from transmission poles during festivals and deny income to the state run utility companies. Our hospitals demand extra money for providing sub-standard services to inpatients! Office of the registrar of births and deaths demand a huge ransom to issue an appropriate certificate, in spite of the documents being in order. It is as if they are doing us a favor by issuing a certificate!! The list is endless and this parasite called ‘corruption’ has spread its tentacles far too widely for it to be reined in. Where will these two gentlemen Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev commence? While the rich and the famous besides the politicians and the Government officers and offices are rightfully to be blamed, who will bring in the necessary controls amongst the larger public who are equally to be blamed, if not more?

It was a shock when we visited a temple in a famous south Indian city near Chennai where, we were first invited by the temple priest into the sanctum sanctorum and later forced to pay a tidy sum in order to exit. The creators of the idols are long dead and gone, their names not even carved on stone as a recognition of the years of efforts they put in to erect such ageless magnificent structures – the fruit of their labor is being enjoyed by a set of unscrupulous temple priests who in the name of God extort money from gullible public like you and me and we, willingly pay thinking that the Gods will be immensely pleased and bless us with gay abandon.

While it is nice and easy to point a finger at the others, it is time to realize that by doing so, three fingers point back at us. Are we listening to our inner conscience? It knows what is right from the wrong, one just needs the courage to travel on the right path. As Gandhiji said: Speak the truth! It is an immensely easy thing to do yet, it is a very tough task!

Anna and Baba: I hope you are listening…please ask each of your ardent followers to practice in their personal capacity to make India corruption free as well…only then will this campaign bear fruit and not otherwise!!

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy!!

While giving my car a nice early morning cold shower on Sunday, I heard the not-so-familiar sound of a ‘myna.’ It had perched itself firmly on my rooftop railing and was chortling with an apparent gay abandonment; something that is a rarity amongst us homosapiens living in a busy metropolis. It took me back in time – four decades and five years…us kids playing in the huge tracts of empty space between two housing rows left by the then British and Indian town planners in Durgapur. It was thankfully created for us kids, the birds and the trees. Lung space, as one would call them now in the concrete jungles of today. Amongst birds, the common sparrow, pigeon, myna, the occasional koel, parrot and the common Indian crow were a familiar sight those days. We would compete with the parrots and mynas to pluck the ripened guavas directly from the trees around for a snack between meals. The excitement would heighten if we had to steal ourselves into the neighbor’s fenced compound, climb the tree, pluck guavas and later scram for safety.

It beats me still, how the commonly used term ‘One for sorrow, two for joy, three for letter and so on’ came to be associated with mynas, but then it did leave an indelible impression deep down, somewhere in a few of the 100 billion brain cells. The instant recall upon suddenly spotting the myna on Sunday morning speaks volumes of the way the brain cells are interconnected between the left side (logical & analytical) to the right side (feeling & meaning maker). It brought pleasant memories, when spotting twin mynas was considered to be a good omen but spotting a single one was considered bad or sorrowful. At that young and formative age one does not know what sorrow in its true form meant, but the occasional whack from dad or getting chided by the school teacher for not completing homework or getting singled out for scoring poorly in a ‘surprise’ test was perhaps the limit to which one could stretch our imagination. I strongly feel that the third one got added as we grew older and when a sibling had to move to a different city in pursuit of higher education. Spotting Myna’s in groups beyond three was considered a blessing for material gain and is probably not worth mentioning here. It had very little significance then and virtually none now!

It was such a nice sight to spot this beautiful dark brown myna with a yellow beak and head gear of the same hue. How spotting a single bird can bring in a sad thought of ‘sorrow’ is difficult to imagine; but if you look at this variety in the avian family, they are very social and gregarious and found mostly in southern and eastern Asia. A myna perched on a tree branch would probably look like a two-color dolphin and the similarity ends there. Three to four times the size of a sparrow, these dark and often brown winged birds have strong feet and flight. They thrive on fruits and insects and generally nest in holes. Some species are pretty well known for their imitative skills. A relatively unknown fact about mynas is their contribution towards pollination. They are known to be dispersers of seeds, especially the sandalwood and banyan. This may sound stranger than fiction; their stomach enzymes have the ability to quickly break alcohol when these birds consume over-ripened and fermented fruits. No wonder these birds do not get intoxicated as in their history of existence none seem to have crash landed and their 3-axis flight coordination remains intact with their tiny brain combining the interdependent motion between eyes, feet and wings with precision control.

Unbelievably, it was the twin leg winged dinosaur almost 150 million years ago that turned into an aerodynamic winged creature and birds were thus born. A huge variety of these winged creatures turned birds, came and went before evolving into some 9,000 present day variety of birds. While dinosaurs became extinct some 65 million years ago during the ‘big bang’ when supposedly a meteor crashed onto earth and wiped out the entire family of dinosaurs, the family of smaller birds that evolved post this era have adapted themselves admirably well. The power of flight gave these an edge over other creatures and Sir Richard Attenborough believes that birds may be the most successful creatures on earth, more successful than even insects to have adapted and evolved. From the extremely cold sub-zero temperature in South Pole where emperor penguins have thrived to the extremely hot and dry climate in the South American deserts where grey gulls have survived, the sheer variety is absolutely amazing.

One noteworthy trait of the homing pigeon is its innate ability to return to its nest and to its own mate over long distances up to 1,800 kilometers. These birds cover distances at an average speed of 80 kilometers an hour. The Egyptians and Persians were the first to use these homing or carrier pigeons. Closer home, Tipu Sultan had a fleet of carrier pigeons at his headquarters in Srirangapatna, near Mysore. Closer to its nests, the homing pigeon depends on visual landmarks much like the way humans do while finding their bearings, but when released from distant lands, the pigeons trace back their path using spatial distribution of atmospheric odors also called olfactory navigation.

Birds are not known to attack human beings but the 1963 film by Alfred Hitchcock, ‘The Birds’ struck terror in the minds of people who ventured to see this horror film. This film portrayed ‘fear’ in its raw form and with no explanation of why the ordinary crow attacked anyone venturing out of their homes; the movie left people petrified. Such was an impression Hitchcock could create in his movies! Compare this negative portrayal to Richard Bach’s best selling fable, ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull.’ This is a story of a seagull; tired of the daily squabbles decides to push himself to improve on flying skills and to eventually attain perfection.

It is indeed a pity that the city bred generation ‘Y’ does not get to see these small wonders of God’s creations. I am told that the proliferating cell phones have driven the sparrows away. The explosion of electromagnetic waves in cities is causing the common house sparrows to quickly disappear. These waves are concentrated in the tower masts and with hundreds of them spread across the cities to cater to the ever increasing demand for cell phones; the day is not far when these winged friends will become extinct. How true are Ken Robinson’s words when he says in his book ‘The Element’, a NY Times best-seller and I quote: “The crises in the worlds of nature and of human resources are connected. Jonas Salk, the pioneering scientist who developed the Salk polio vaccine made a provocative observation. It’s interesting to reflect that if all insects were to disappear from the earth, within fifty years all other forms of life would end. But if all human beings were to disappear from the earth, within fifty years all other forms of life would flourish.”

We need to deeply introspect and remember that; ‘This planet does not rightfully belong to us! We have merely borrowed it from our children and other living beings. We need to take care and be a part of the eco-system, not plunder it!!

When Past was ahead of its Future!!

While returning from US in early October 2010 as I flipped through the latest issue of TIME magazine in the boring and lengthy 9 hours leg between London’s Heathrow terminal and Bangalore, I chanced upon the article ‘The new science of fetal origins,’ researched and written by Annie Murphy Paul. It explores the life as a fetus: besides the nutrients that the mom supplied through her own good or bad dietary habits, which played a significant role in the health at a later age in life; this article explores the stress level and the state of mind the mother eventually unknowingly transferred to her yet-to-be-born.

According to the article in TIME magazine dated 4th October 2010, Mathew Gillman, a professor of population medicine at Harvard University launched project Viva – a study tracking more than 2,000 Boston area children since they were fetuses. Another set of results will be available in the year 2012 from mothers and children aged 21 on a voluntary study being conducted to understand the gestational factors in brain development.

This relatively new subject, known as fetal origins claims that the 9 months of gestation is how the mom influences the wiring of the brain and the functioning of the organs. There is a frightening similarity to what has been explained in the epic Mahabharata – the chapter that dwells on Arjuna’s explanation in detail about the array of battle formations, complete with individual and unique technique of attacking and escaping to his wife Subhadra, who was then carrying little Abhimanyu in her womb. Apparently, Arjuna stopped narrating when he discovered that Subhadra had dozed midway during his explanation of breaking the battle formation: Chakravyuha. Not knowing the escape technique proved fatal for the young warrior Abhimanyu who was cordoned off by six Maharathis defying and breaking all the established war rules.

It would be interesting to note that the scientific dating of the Mahabharata war has been established by Dr. P V Vartak, a scholar from Pune. By using astronomical references he has derived the date as 16th October 5561 BC. Circa 2010: 7,571 years later TIME magazine publishes an article that goes on to prove the already known fact stated by sage Veda Vyasa eons ago. It is a foregone conclusion that in the past, Astronomy and Mathematics were far more advanced than what we have believed. The recordings by sage Veda Vyasa of presence of Saturn, Uranus and Pluto, their orbit around the sun, their relative position to earth bears testimony to this fact.

More recently, I watched with fascination the six-part serial ‘Ancient Aliens’ that first made an appearance in the History channel. The 1935 born Swiss author Erich Von Daniken, best known for his hypothesis that human culture in the ancient times have been influenced by extra-terrestrial is prominently featured in this television series. Daniken’s first book ‘Chariots of the Gods’ was a best seller in US, Europe and in India; his books have been translated in more than 30 languages and have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. While he claims visitations by aliens having the know-how of vastly superior technology, the historical artifacts that he uses to prove his hypothesis is clearly not established. His explanation of the superior technology used to erect gigantic prehistoric monuments across the world, namely the Giza pyramids in Egypt, Stonehenge located in the English county Wiltshire, Piri Reis Map is quite convincing that the accuracy with which the monuments were built and the maps drawn, surpassed the tools and measuring equipments available at that time. The Piri Reis map is indeed mysterious as it contains a precise representation of the coasts of Antarctica, a continent unknown at that point in time. Such a map could have been drawn during the mythical Atlantis days or were drawn from pictures taken from the sky, by satellites, aircraft's or spaceships some 15,000 years back. This map known after the Turkish Admiral Piri Reis is actually just a fragment of the original map drawn on gazelle skin.

Using the hydrocarbon dating technique the monument building of the Stonehenge site began in 3100 BC and ended around 1600 BC. A debate still exists whether the Stonehenge was constructed based on a religious belief or as a scientific observatory. There is a strong belief that the site was created to commemorate the solstices – an astronomical event that takes place twice each year when the position of the sun moves to the northernmost or southernmost end. For half the year the northern hemisphere of earth is inclined towards the sun with the maximum inclination occurring on 21st June. Likewise for the other half of the year the southern hemisphere is inclined towards the sun with the maximum inclination occurring on 21st December. In the Hindu calendar the two solstices are named Makara Sankranti (January 14) which marks the start of Uttarayana and Karkata Sankranti (July 14) which marks the start of Dhaksinayana.

The Hindu calendar descends from the Vedic times and many references have been found in the Vedas. The Vedas are amongst the oldest sacred texts and dates back to the late Bronze Age – early Iron Age; 1500 BCE (Before Common Era). It is interesting to note that the Mayan calendar dates back to 5th century BCE and is believed to be amongst the most sophisticated, well documented and widely understood. This unique civilization in the western hemisphere flourished from 2000 BC to 900 AD with the period 250 BC to 900 AD being devoted to building impressive monuments and temples. During this period the Mayans made astonishing discoveries in mathematics and astronomy. The No. 1 amongst the Mayan architecture is the temple: Chichen Itza. The design of this temple has special astronomical significance. The four corners of the base is a true match to the sunrise and sunset positions of the summer and winter solstices. What is amazing is this was precisely built during the period when there were no measuring instruments and compass to show the direction. Each face of this pyramid Chichen Itza has a stairway with 91 steps, which together with the shared step at the very top add up to 365, the number of days in a calendar year.

The Great Pyramids of Giza, one among the seven wonders of the ancient world constructed over a 20 year period around 2560 BC has been built on such a precise location that a deep knowledge of mathematics and geometry was necessary, something that never existed. More intriguing is the comparison between the three pyramids and the three belt stars in Orion constellation. There is a striking resemblance: three stars in the middle of the Orion constellation, diagonally with one star deviating and three pyramids also with one deviating from the diagonal. The relative positions of the stars and the pyramids match each other perfectly.

While Von Daniken’s theory of alien influence over mankind in the past can sound far fetched and perhaps preposterous, it does leave more questions in the mind about the vastly superior knowledge of our forefathers in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, geometry and precision engineering. It is indeed amazing to learn how the human brain, if channeled correctly, is capable of delving into the complexities of laws governing the formation of this Universe, be it in any era. One just needs to have the curiosity and urge to seek knowledge. The fact that our ancestors were able to do so with pinpoint accuracy tells us how much more focused and superior they were to us. Are we willing to learn?

Cheers!!

Freedom from Defects..

How would you feel if each time you present a ‘Self’ cheque for Rs. 1,000 at your bank, the teller hands you Rs. 998? Unhappy! Anger or just despair and without a whimper accept the cash before walking away from the counter. Come on, how you can be so unfair in your demand of 100% Quality when you at your job are barely able to meet your contractual service levels?

Let’s look at another example: You have booked yourself in Island Express from Bangalore to Trichy. For those of you who may not be aware, in my good old college days in the late 70's, this train would get split in Erode Junction with one half getting attached to the train going to Trivandrum from Chennai and the other part proceeding to Trichy with another Link. What if you woke up in the morning and found yourself in Trivandrum instead of Trichy. The gangman who is responsible to split the carriages at Erode Junction obviously made a small mistake. How would you feel? I am sure this would be akin to a horror dream! The Indian Railways don’t talk about their record of transporting millions of passengers to their respective destination – not one mistake in their 150 year history, of the right train reaching the wrong destination.

One last example: You wake up in the morning (evening for our friends in the BPO industry) and before you finish brushing your teeth, your mom, wife or sister is ready with a hot cup of coffee or tea and a smile, perhaps. Remember, she is providing the service anticipating your need, while you haven’t even made a demand for it!! How would it feel if she does not do it?

These are a few ‘taken for granted’ examples of defects free service being provided and Wow – we don’t even appreciate it. This is exactly what each of your end customer is expecting out of you.

I am reminded of the following story doing the usual rounds in the internet. Believe me, this is a perfect example of how it is all within us to make this shift in our minds to deliver services, ‘defects free’:

One evening a scholar was addressing the participants on the concept of work culture. One of the participants asked the following question:

"I am a senior manager of Materials Department and I joined an organization 25 years ago as an Engineer Trainee and over the last 25 years I have gone through every experience in the organization.

During the initial part of my career, the job was very challenging and interesting.

However, all those exciting days are gone since I do not find my job any more interesting because there is nothing new in my job. I am now feeling bored because I am doing a routine job.

However, Sir, I am living in the same house for over forty years, I am the son for the same parents for over forty years, I am the father for the same children for the past ten years and the husband for the same lady for the past twenty years!

In these personal roles I do not feel bored. Please tell me why I am bored of the routine in the office and not in the house?"

The response from Scholar was very interesting and convincing. He asked the executive a question:

"Please tell me for whom does your Mother cook?"

The executive replied that obviously the mother cooks for others.

Then the Scholar said that the mother "Serves" others and because of this service mindedness, she is not feeling tired or bored. But in an office, we "Work" and not "Serve". Anything we consider, as service will not make us feel bored. That is difference between Serving and Working.

He asked the executive to consider his work as service and not merely a work!! This was a very interesting analysis!! Whenever you put a larger context around your work and see a broader meaning for your work, you will take interest in your work and it will make a very big difference in your internal energy.

Attitude Matters!!!

If you think you are working for the organization you will get frustrated. If you feel you are doing a service and getting some service charges you will feel happy.

After all - doing what you like is freedom but liking what you do is happiness!

It is just a paradigm shift that is required! Try this once – you will be amazed to discover your own potential.

Cheers and Best Wishes!!