English – sucks.

My family takes tuitions for our maid servant’s son. I say family because it is not always me, I sometimes get delayed from work or am too tired/incapable of taking a class. The following interaction took place recently between me and Yonna (My maid-servants’ son).

Me: Spell Boxes

Yonna: B – O – X – E – S

Me: Good, now Spell Ball

Yonna: B – O – L – L

Me (thinking: Hrishikesh Mukherjee was right in his movie Bawarchee… English does have stupid pronunciation. My meager knowledge  of Natural Language Processing had also reaffirmed this. I should tell him to learn another Indian language, and give up on this filthy English. Oh bother, if this dude has to grow up and write a blog, his best bet would be to learn the damn Queens language. Anyhow, how can I explain the current discrepancy in spelling; I dislike teaching anything by rote. Should I give him the logical reasoning of how pronunciation and spelling of English varies based on the following and preceding alphabets? That could be too heavy, certain “realizations” like the imperfection of English lingo should be reached much later. Rote learning has to do for now.)

Me: Yonna, You have to concentrate on the spelling – “Ball” is written as B-A-L-L and pronounced as “boll”. It is a rule in English. Now write B-A-L-L five times.

(Yonna writes the spelling five times)

Me: Spell “Son”

Yonna: S – U- N

I and Yonna are now looking at each other. Me – wondering what to say since we finished “days of the week” just yesterday, where I had taught him the spelling for “Sunday, Monday et. al.”. He is looking at me with a mix of trepidation and indignation – I haven’t yet said good, and he knows that could mean there is a mistake; he wants to remind me of yesterday’s lesson but is too scared to correct the teacher. I just shrug.

Me: English chaala kashtamaina language (Telugu for English is a very difficult language). Son is spelled as S-O-N, but when it comes with day, it becomes S-U-N. Remember this, and now write S-O-N five times.

Yonna: Ok. saar.

BTW, Yonna is in Nursery and has to learn English and Kannada at school. He speaks a sprinkle of Telugu and Tamil.

A diary entry from May 2001.

I was going through some of my old files and came upon this diary entry.

Life – and Quality

My exams were just over – Four years of hard work was finally going to make some sense – or maybe prove that it was a futile, but necessary effort in career building. A lot of my friends realized that there was something in life that had gone unnoticed in life all these years, though some never even knew what. Now was the time to rekindle that lost heat – felt many of my chums.

It was a day like any other – I had a normal, effortless work schedule, and nothing much to drive home happened during the day. Then there was a call from a friend – she was asking me for some help WRT some project work of some of our erstwhile classmates – who, sadly got left behind in this rat race. Well, in a very casual manner she told me of how her career veered off the normal course a person of our degree had to follow – She had started a Night School, was going to be a correspondent for a leading Mumbai daily. She was an engineer just like me – but had chosen a career that was something many would feel certainly not cut out for an engineer. Yes, It was very surprising – but considering her repute (no pun). The course she would plot for herself should have been more obvious. That was the first thing that prompted me to think over the kinds of careers/lives that were being opted for by the people of my generation. I am not saying that we should change our lines – It is not an easy task – and not everyone can do it. ANd many are very, very able at what they are doing right now and that is the best thing for them.

But, Looking around me I found a mad rush to do something that seemingly did something great with a capital G, and brought money with a capital?? $$?? Many were going thru a schedule that left little or no space for things that are more humane. Satisfaction no longer meant what we wanted to do. It was more like adjusting to Careers that paid bucks and believing that it was the thing we always needed. Yeah, there is nothing wrong with it – Except, if everyone has (wants) money, who is goanna be there to look up to him or her and laugh (or cry)?

Lots said – but then, I thought did I have any examples of people who did something different? Didn’t have to wait long for that one – A friend had just bought a guitar, which he strummed pretty well. I was encouraged to restart playing my violin for pleasure. I had developed a very good interest in the instrument during my 10th Std. I wanted to continue – but the race to have a career had me too busy and held up. Well, It was just that I had felt it not too important then. Even now, its’ just going to be a hobby – I am pretty confident of my incapacity to continue. I am too much unpredictable to do that – But on other counts one may never know.

Since I had restarted it, I was concerned with taking it with me to my stay at US for my study. I hoped that if I have time – I could practice. Wanting myself to be perfect – I had to take advice from someone who knew violins well about how to take good care of it. 6 years with my violin had taught me not much – well I wasn’t with it for too long anyway.

My friend and me went to one pehchaan of his. Uncle was not too well, was recovering from a hip fracture. After some initial sweet talk, we got down to the question – who plays the violin – he asked and then, as a passionate child who had been away from his toy for a few days – he touched the violin – Maybe practice makes a man more than perfect on his instrument – it makes him fall in love with it. The notes, which he played, were great. Simply overwhelming – That kind of stuff was sure to unwind anyone from the grimace of this tiring world. It was simply too good for someone who played with very little formal training.

Here was a man who was at the ripe time of his career – and he had a great life. The only thing he feels not present is the ability to share things with an audience – But that is human nature -you believe that life means more and more, whereas it just means something that is enough. He was not earning too much, but it was more than sufficient. His job was a very involved one – but certainly not over killing him. It left enough time for a few smiles and diversions. I then wondered – everyone, including me, who had to make careers out of ourselves – were embarking upon a journey that had work, work and more work. None of the youth were realizing quality in life as it stands now. Maybe, we have to reconsider what we were going to do. Don’t ever say you don’t like the way you are. Just say that there is something more required – but not money.

The night changed my outlook – Don’t know weather it will last too long. I have always been drawn very strongly to a few things only. But consistent performance was something else – I worked regularly in other departments, but I don’t know how music slowly went away. I guess I am like that only. Just like the youth of these days – I wasn’t able to take myself away from my career. It was not that I didn’t like music – Liked it a lot. Am just like the other guys – When I hear a beautiful guitar, violin or anything else -I feel very nice and compelled to learn it. But like the other youth, I always feel that it is something out of reach.

From now, I will at least remember that my effort can bear some fruit, and not end up as a dust covered violin case. There is life beyond work and career – In fact there is no career if you are just working. I know many people who slog it out in the boardrooms of firms that pay them well, but take the life out of them. They can only resort to passive entertainment and nothing else -wonder what will happen to their post-retirement. Such is the life these days – we have only so much time in our hands – feel people that they leave many things for a later time. Maybe they will try to do it after they are through with their life??

That is the dilemma we face these days. We know that there is something missing out in the scheme of things in our life – but where do we search for it? Do we even make a decent effort to do the search? Three youth – Me, and my 2 friends had decided now that our life and career will not be bound to a monotonous routine. Such a living is no life at all. After all, how many of our needs can we satisfy? There are bound to be some things left behind. And emotional satisfaction is not going to be one of them. Try not to ignore when something in you cries out in an impulse for something. Grab the time from somewhere and search – It may, if not change your life, considerably improve its’ quality.

Palm meadows in a desert.

Several gated communities exist, but probably one stands out…Palm Meadows. See this blog post describing the same. I saw an absolutely amazing comment in the above blog by Gan Sharma. The full thing can be read here, it makes for amazing reading, and resonates well with my thoughts. A few excerpts:

….

I have always wondered and asked people in India – what makes them laugh and smile so much sitting where they are! You can enjoy India if you go with a sensitive mind. Imagine this – you live in a 30 apartment building, all 30 have cars, children, friends, outing, et all of best life; you laugh and return boisterously every night at 12 o clock – and the security man has to watch all of you 12 hours a day, with not an Indian dime in his pocket, does not know when his next tea will come from, his total take home of $ 72 a month vanishing in 7 days flat; he cannot touch with his money, what you can afford to throw, he has an orbit of rice and sambhar day in and day out. Can you be sensitive to him or do you habitually sermonize on how these incompetent security people sleep in duty? You will enjoy India if you are able to sensitive to lives. Otherwise, my advise will be, don’t go. Enjoy South of France. Remember one thing, no one is waiting with bated breath in India, they have their little lives to battle with.

….It will help your psychology very much if you remember simply this fact – India is not living there to make your life comfortable. India has 1 billion people and majority is poor. India is trying hard to make lives of that majority better and is striving for the same. Every year there is improvement there. India is busy with itself, making its life better, its life tolerable; your comforts and Palm Meadows are immaterial to India. The main point is, can you make yourselves comfortable in what is India? It is a place where abject poverty interacts with Palm Meadows residents; the poverty goes back to T.V. and sees serials where people laugh and eat and do things which seems out of reach eternally for them. In an aggressive country, probably Palm Meadows residents routinely will get their throats cut; in India maids short change them for 2 dollars. I was amazed when a Palm Meadows resident was passionately out pouring about how a patch of grass has not grown properly due to bad maintenance and the unfairness of the same.

This is a good place to address the issue of a maid cheating; firstly, I have not been exposed to blatant theft; yes they try to make little money here and there – they have to survive. Mostly maids cheat, because we have no long term commitment to their lives; because we will pay a Rs. 2000/- bill at Pizza Hut or Baskin Robins, but negotiate the salary with the maid. If I approach a maid with a mentality that I am here to make one Indian family live well, you will see a long term relationship. None of us would have survived their lives, believe me and kept up the ethical and moral standards they have kept. The beauty of India is that moral and ethical standards are indirectly proportional to the social status. Why does a driver change jobs with no commitment? Because there is no commitment from the employer; what they pay is an immaterial small sum to the driver; his downsides of losing the job are not enormous. If he get a 40% raise with the neighbor, what is wrong in shifting? You did it in your career, didn’t you?

In India you will live happily and comfortably, if you treat all your servants and maids as you treat them in New York. We expatriate Indians want to have the cake and eat it too. We want the service and commitment levels of the advanced societies at the costs of ‘old’ India. A driver gets Rs. 6000/- – exorbitant and prohibitive? It is US$ 120 for the whole month of 12 hour duty for God’s sake!

I have a home in India and my maid has a key. Trust them; also give them long term solutions to their miserable lives, see how comfortable you are! It makes perfect business sense for you to pay the school fees for one year for your drivers’ child. Do it and see how loyal he is. Saying I am there for a short time is an excuse. You get committed to the country; the country gets committed to you. Otherwise, please you are there as an extravagant attachment, India is busy with its life. Approach your trip from this mental get up and I guarantee you a comfortable and lovely stay. What these small people need is not even what your money w ill do in their unsafe lives; the reality – a generous person like you is such an enormous comfort; such a lovable safety net. Like belief in God, it is not important whether you live up to that belief or not – you are a great psychological comfort; remember this, you will enjoy India.

….Food is the best part of India; you have food and food and food at unbelievable prices. You can go to any level you want, idli dosa camps to vegetarian authentic Italian joints – bars, wow, you can’t get enough. But what is lacking again? There is no great entertainment and places to go to daily inside the city, like what you have in each city in the West; you have to go to eating joints and bars with company, you can go to movies, some malls. Having said that, this is not entirely true too; do you have interest in traditional visiting places, culture, history, temples, and authentic food, you have enough to do. You can go short distances to great places. Socializing in India can occupy your whole life time.

….

Cheers friends. Finally, this issue of whether I will be happy in India is not an external question, it is an internal one. I have to be happy where ever I am. If I am completely happy in where I am now, why should I be asking questions about returning to India? Go to India from a happy position of being happy where you are and go to India to be happy. Happiness is in the mind. Really!

Found a very relevant post in the blog by “BIOME environmental solutions pvt ltd“; the whole post is here, excerpt below:

What if you and I came from a village with no education and had to live on the streets for 15 days before even some one gave us a job to wash vessels ? And what if you and I couldn’t open a bank account because there is no document to evidence your and my existence – Proof of residence and Ration card and what not ?

And what do they do for us ? They build our walls, the roof above our heads, they ensure we get our water and our shit is taken away from our toilets. They clean our houses everyday, cook for us and throw our garbage out. They do all the “little” things without which our lives would be an insanitary mess, out on the streets……and then would our abstractions mean anything? I mean to us, would they mean anything to us?

Yeah, that supreme abstraction that we pride ourselves with, our work ethic, our “professionalism”. So we haggle with plumbers, masons, well diggers, maids, the works – to be cheap. We often trouble them for their payments because we think they are “cheats”. We pay less because they were not professional, they didn’t use the right tools. We are absolutely pissed off if while a project is ongoing the plumber suddenly has to go home to Chittoor for an emergency or when he suddenly has lost control of his labourers – “Hey that’s not professional!!. My garden will get flooded !”

When will we ever come out of the cosy shell of our abstractions – abstractions such as values, ethics, merit – that we define and define only in our own social context – Never asking ourselves what they would mean to us if we were different.

You’ve been with the professors
And they’ve all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have
Discussed lepers and crooks
You’ve been through all of
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books
You’re very well read
It’s well known
You know Something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

- Bob Dylan

Taarein Zameen Par?

Many folks consider the movie Taarein Zameen Par to have opened the eyes of parents towards  proper rearing of children, and in general how society should be tolerant in its measure of skill. But even in this movie, the boy Ishaan had to “win” a painting competition to become truly accepted by everyone.

Some say that the masala has to be there for it to get the message across, and without the characteristic “hero wins at the end” sequence, the movie would not run. However, fact remains that not just a movie hero or heroine, but every real-life individual has to win to survive.

Society defines a guiding standard in order to distribute its resources. For example, there is a price for every product – the good items are expensive and the ordinary ones are cheap. This is not just true of our times, it is true across history. History never had a time where lack of hard work kept you satiated.

A problem arises when sections of the same society insist on largess. I recently saw this article in the Times of India (3rd page, Bangalore edition, July 3 2009) about a student who had consumed position because he was to appear before a disciplinary committee. The article headline says: “a scared and sensitive youth, had been warned earlier, but continued with his reckless ways“. This fellow was a student leader and accused of drinking alcohol on the college campus thrice. I fail to understand how he could be sensitive and scared. Adamant would be a better word.

An excerpt from the article:

Education has become a commercial commodity. Neither the giver or receiver of the information is emotionally attached to each. It has become very robotic how we relate to each other in an educational institution. What we need is emotional attachment. Teachers should make an effort to get emotionally attached to the student and vice-versa. Otherwise, it becomes very mechanical. Teachers would think, he is just there because he is paid and student because he has paid for the education, so he can get away with anything. When it comes to suicide, it must be triggered by an over-arching reason. Besides the stress faced in college, the student may have also been going through family problems, and all his pent-up emotions may have triggered the chain of events.

….

He should have been counselled first. It should not have gone to the extent where he committed suicide. Maybe he had the impression he was going to be dismissed, that’s why the extreme step. What happened was inhuman and too big a price to pay for such a petty offence.

So, if education should not be a commodity, will you be OK if one is not guaranteed to get a job after the education? If education should be also responsible for handling family problems, who would pay for such education? These are questions the popular media chooses to conveniently ignore. A few salient aspects:

1. Education has been diluted to such an extent that almost every tom, dick and harry can get a degree without batting an eye.
2. It is becoming very popular to demand guarantees for everything without taking responsibilities: jobs for everyone without hard work, education for everyone without fee, security for everyone but no sense of discipline.
   
3. Dilution of individual capacity to work hard and succeed. A “system” should not provide anything beyond allowing you to work to the best of your potential.

Which place do I belong: Bangalore to Buffalo to Bombay…

This is the reverse chronological order of cities where I have spent a bulk of my adult life. I belong to both Bangalore and Buffalo. Now, where would Obama place me?

The most enjoyable moments for me in Bombay was when I went out riding a bicycle alone on the roads of BARC. I used to often go riding for hours. The train ride with friends while going to college, and foot boarding across the Vashi creek was something I always looked forward to. When we were in Ghatkopar, I recall being able to witness awesome sunrises. On clear days, we could almost see up to the hills beyond New Bombay.

Buffalo (Sheridan drive) – what can I say about this place; my wife can describe Buffalo and our life there better than I can. No matter what I say about the Niagara Falls, Kissing Bridge, the simple Buffalo temple, or the Griffis Sculpture Park, there will be people who cannot appreciate the “dead city”. I still recall myself driving through the wilderness of South Dakota – miles and miles of nothingness, and when night came, a perfect star-studded sky.

Unfortunately though, in these times an individual cannot belong to all places. One has to choose.

Take me for example: I consider myself to belong to three places – and love them all equally. But if I walk up to the US consulate today and tell the consular officer that I want to visit South Dakota to spend a night in a motel at the outskirts of nowhere, I wonder if I would get a visa? Now that Obama has Bangalored us, we will not be able to go anywhere with any amount of ease.

Forget Obama, even politicians in Bombay once agitated that all non-locals must be sent back. One can see “local sentiment” in Bangalore as well. Watching the Niagara waters flow by on a full moon night, I had exclaimed: “With so much love in the world, how can one think of a war”. They can, because they “think”. I sometimes wish that whoever made us had never given us thought.

One patent down, more to come.

Just found out that one of my patents can be seen online, URL:http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090120694. There are a few more in the line where that came from. However, they are yet to be visible. 

Hopefully, there will be more to come. Yes, I know about the whole anti-patent discussion. But I have not been completely sold to the idea that patents are bad.

Zee TV Telugu little champs – goodness in children

My better half makes me watch “Little Champs” on Zee Telugu TV every Wed and Thurs night. I had bought a TV tuner card in lieu of a tv believing that the absence of a TV would lead to more sensible evenings. If at all, the tuner would be used mostly to see news, or some rare tele-event. Turns out it was wishful thinking .

Anyhow, this post is about something very different, not the presence of a TV, or the lack of it. This Little Champs is a competition where children sing songs and are rated by a panel of judges/composers, and by viewer SMSes. From among 24 students, one is removed from the race each week, and as of today, there are four girls – Ramya, Sindhura, Meghana, Anjali Nikhila. The girls age from about 6 to 11 (Yes, SIX!!!). At the end of their song, the participants have to place a vote request , i.e. ask the viewers to vote for themselves. Today, as the first girl took the stage to sing her song, the anchor asked her if she had asked all of their friends to vote. She cheerfully and confidently said that all her friends would vote. And, she added that they would vote not just for her, but for all the four contestants. All the girls gave a similar reply. Now these girls have competed for about a year. After such a stiff competition, one would think that the instinct to compete would be paramount. It is bizzare to think that the girls would hope that all four of them should win. Either the participants have been trained to “stage” such comments, or they are truly very nicely brought up children. An optimist like me would prefer to believe the latter.

But this is kalyug. Bro killing bro, Nigga killing nigga, White killing white, White killing nigga (OMG), Nigga killing white (Happens, swalpa adjust madi), Office politics, Political politics, and ad infinitum. Hence life sucks. It must certainly be the former, the girls are saying such things to sound “nice”. Lofty, utopian ideals cannot surely exist here. Not everyone can win. Some must lose, life is such. Life sucks!!! Which makes me think, what does life suck??? If it does suck, there has to be something at the other end of the straw. I shud really be sleeping now.

BTW, my request that I be excused from watching this contest and that better half continue to watch it did not work. I <have to> enjoy the family time.

An interesting forward; original article here:

Customers who have booked flats in New Town Heights, the project being developed by the country’s largest real estate developer DLF Ltd, at Gurgaon, near Delhi, are planning to take the Gandhigiri route to show their “disappointment” with the execution of the project. Around 200-300 of them are planning to gather at DLF’s office to give out roses along with their exit letters to the company.

Shiva temple??

Had been to the Shiva temple behind Total on old airport road. The temple also has a website, and you can see a few pictures at these blogs: [1] [2]. This was also known as the Shiva temple at Kemp fort. It features several unique offerings: One can see the 12 Jyotirlingas for Rs 10 (The lady stressed in no mean terms that one has to buy a ticket, and that this was a steal), a live bhajan troupe, a miracle spot *1, a special havan seva *2. The nava grahas are placed in a globe like structure.

Readers can draw their own conclusions about how the temple is. I will probably take my parents there once; they have to see this.

*1 You can get wishes granted if you pay about Re 10 or so, say Om Namah Shivaya 7 times and drop a coin into a pond.

*2 For a small donation the pujari will give you some wood, oil, and pre-prepared bowl of navadhanyas to put in a pre-burning flame.

A different blog seems to indicate that the temple was not always like this.

Visit to Shekhars farm

The family went to visit Savandurga, and later to Shekhars’ farm. I had Sri Kruti touch one of Shekhar’s cow. Shekhar is a colleague from work who has gone down the agri route. His way is not the same as that of Srikanth and Priti, but it is close.

Buffalo??, Texas??, No - our very own NICE road in Bangalore. Not that I am really hung up on good roads, but it helps to have them.

Dad and daughter in their natural surroundings. Jyostna was taking the pictures ...

Cows !!!

Go slow, youngistan – Make sure you chew your cud.

I have been watching some of the media messages coming out these days about “impatient youth”, youth on the run… and all that kind of racy stuff. The Airtel ad is a case in point.

Typically, they show juntaa in jeans, with multi-colored hair and the like. You get the picture. I do not have an issue with the hair, I myself wear jeans and stuff, and think it is absolutely cool to make a fashion statement. I have begun to prefer a lungi tho – it is much cooler, especially with the summer. What is scary is that we are being convinced that being fast and being impatient for results will bring about development. One ought to realize that this is life, a complex thing with several variables. You chew through it fast enough, you will get indigestion. This explains the profile image I have:

Keep your cool, do not forget to ruminate

“The ruminating bovine”. For those un-initiated to rumination, a cow has to eat grass before a predator can get to it. It cannot wait to chew its food while grazing. So, it grabs everything it can by those lovely large lips, and stores it in one of the stomachs (It has four of those). But, it does not try to digest it all at once without chewing. It gets it back into its mouth and chews it at leisure.

Well – दुनिया के सारे मुद्दे भी घास के तरह है (duniyaa ke mudde bhi ghaas ki tarah hai) – issues in the world are like grass. You do not have the time to digest it all. Keep your eyes open, learn about them. And do not try to digest them all at once. Ruminate on these before you go for your next “grazing session”…

A related issue is the overwhelming feel that “young blood” is needed everywhere. Of course, youth are needed. But we, the youngistan, should not forget that there are others in Hindustan. If experience is ignored completely, it can lead to very bad results.