My very own enterprise

Am I ready to blog about the theme for week 20:  What would you name your enterprise and why?

I was ready from the day the post was announced. It is only that it has taken so many months for me to post. 

I was always interested in publishing a couple of text books, the first time I came very close to doing it was in 1998. And from that day, I have always wanted my enterprise to be named as SRAMA Enteprise. 

Srama in telugu means hard work. And from my perspective, Sra stands for Sravanthi and ma stands for Mahesh. I am not sure when or whether this enterprise will ever publish a text book written by me. 

Who knows what is in store for us?

Robot and its impact on my life

Am I ready to blog about the theme for week 44 "Imagine a future in which we each have a personalized robot servant. What would yours be like? What would it do? What would it look like? What would it talk like? What features would it have?

A personalized robot servant! For the generation past us, it would have been the lady of the house. Whether I like it or not, or you like it or not, it is a fact. I cannot imagine how much work the lady of the house does. No robots can ever replace them. To do it day in and day out like those great ladies with that love and affection, our robots would land themselves in repair very soon. I have seen so many people sit and not even move an inch and expect their wife or their mother to do everything for them even today. I do not even understand how they can do that.

What would my robot look like?  I would like it to be child-like and talk in a child's voice.

What about its features? Surely I would not like it to be like a child.

What would I want it to do? It is tough to think, but I would like it to remind me when I have to take my tablets. I am so sleepy and so irresponsible that I forget the tablets at night. I do not eat breakfast and occasionally do not pack lunch to work when I wake up late. Maybe I would like my robot to do that for me. Fix my breakfast and lunch so that the people around me won't bother me that I don’t take care of myself.

It would be nice if it could do exercise on my behalf, but I think that is asking for too much. What fun would it be, if it started doing all my work? Maybe, the robot would start typing my posts too! And comment on yours too. Would that be nice? I guess not. I would be its slave then.

What a thought! Amen to my personalized robot!

Deepavali the ultimate festival for me.

 Am I ready to blog about the theme for week 47: What's your favourite amongst the festivals/ celebrations you regularly observe, and one that's not part of your tradition that you'd perhaps like to adopt (and why).

Undoubtedly, Deepavali as a kid living on the main streets of the Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane. What else can be more exciting? New clothes, lots of sweets and lots of crackers to burst!

In our locality, it was the custom to get up early in the morning, have a bath and start bursting crackers by 3.30 a.m. or 4.00 a.m. I used to burst crackers till 6 in the morning along with all my friends and neighbours. It was important for us kids to observe and boast about which house had the maximum amount of litter from the burnt crackers. It was then time to go to my Uncle’s house where I would spend the rest of the day again bursting crackers. In the evenings, sometimes, we would both go back to Triplicane or to his cousin’s place where we would spend the evening.

And now, to think that I have lost  interest in crackers since over 20 years. The reason for that could be the fact that I moved away from Madras to Bangalore for doing my engineering. Those days, Deepavali in Bangalore was nothing compared to what it was in Triplicane.  

Later on, the prices of crackers went up and the issue of child labour cropped up. These two issues brought down my interest in bursting crackers.

I still love watching the fireworks. As a kid, my Uncle used to take me to St. Thomas Mount near the airport from where we could see the fireworks around the city.  Occassionally, we would see the fireworks at the Gymkhana Club. As an adult now, I go to the beach along with my wife and look at the sky for those beautiful colours.

If there are festivals which I would like to adopt, it would be either Ramzan or Christmas. Ramzan for the fact that it is a month-long ritual culminating in mouthwatering biriyani for me and Christmas, the festive mood that comes with it and culminates in the New Year celebration.

What is Life in an Institution ?

Am I ready to blog about the theme "Life in an Institution?" 

I better be. I have so many posts to write, so much of back log. The last week has been very tough on me, being unwell feeling unhealthy.

I think Life itself is an institution. Like in an institution where you teach different things for different people, life also teaches you different things at different times as you grow.

What is Life in an institution? Growing up in school, college and settling down in life in an institution. I have seen Life in an institution from all perspectives. Maybe the best person to write this post!

In school, I  learnt how to fight with children, take sides in the close circle of friends, study,  rant, play book cricket ( I am not sure whether it is still done), play games at school play ground, fight and stand up for yourself among your senior students.

In college, Bunk classes and make others bunk them too. Watch movies without going to college along with friends (I actually preferred to go alone). More play and less study was the motto. Studying together with a core group of friends. Developing team spirit. Always complaining about the lack of facilities in the institution, be it in the canteen, hostel or …That was my Life in an institution as a student.

As a teacher : Envy the freedom with which a student enjoyed his life. Carefree, Not worry about anything atleast till they came into their third year of Engineering. All play and little study. Talking to parents occasionally about their child’s performance.

As an administrator : This was when I started seeing the true colours of students in an institution. In the hostels, I was appalled with the amount of food which would be wasted by students in their plates. And the answers the students would tell the wardens, Are we not paying the money for the food. Over the years, I have taught them the value of food.

I have seen some indifferent students too. One who told his father that the principal would not allow him to college without a Laptop and made his father, a poor farmer take a loan and buy him a laptop, only to watch movies in the hostel. There was one who had not prepared well for his internal exam and gulped mosquito repellant to avoid writing exam. Another, who brought the fees from his parents and spent it on something else and lost one year because of lack of attendance?

As Institutions grow older and make a mark, so does our life, leaving us to cherish the many memories that Life in an institution offers.

My Role models

Am I ready to blog about the theme for this week (42): "If you woke up one morning as your favourite celebrity/personality/role model, who would it be, and what would you do?

Yes I am, thanks to the holiday that I have got today because of incessant rain.

Actually, it is a tough question. Because I have never ever modeled myself on any one. And I do not adore anybody. I have had celebrity figures as my favourites in tennis, cricket, dance, music etc. But they have never been my role models.

It set me off thinking and I think we try to model ourselves from around the people that we live with. Who are the people who affect me? My uncle, my parents and my wife.

If I got up as my Uncle, I would love to imbibe his work ethic but I would definitely treat my employees better.

If I got up as my father, I would love to guide as many doctoral candidates as he has. On the flip side, unlike him, I would not believe everybody.

If I got up as my wife, I would love to exercise the way she does and not worry as much as she does.

All these people have had varying effects on my life and will continue to do so.

Ahem.

 

Week 33 A short story- Read on

Am I ready to blog about the theme for week 33:  The story starts thus

"It was past ten at night. I had finished clearing up after dinner, and locked up for the night. The rest of the family had turned in for an early night. I was looking forward to a hot shower, and then snuggling under the covers for a quiet read before dropping off to sleep.That's when the peal of the door-bell startled me. Who could it be this late at night?”

Such a horrific thought.

How could this happen to me? Why not?

Too many reasons. I don’t have a hot shower as I drop off to sleep. I don’t read a book before I sleep. So did the door bell startle me? Yes it did.

I started getting worried and was wondering who could be at the door at this hour?

Did something go wrong in the neighbour’s house? Was there any theft in the neighborhood? Did somebody steal my car or did a coconut or a mango fall on my car windshield in the parking lot? Was somebody unwell and had they come to call me since the cell phone signals were not reliable? Did somebody leave the gas stove on and was the building engulfed in smoke and somebody was trying to wake me up? Or was it a bold thief who was trying to ring the bell and standing with a knife at the door? Was it someone I had antagonized and was there for revenge?

I was startled by all these thoughts and woke up sweating profusely to realize it was only a dream. I have been startled by dreams so many times and it is always nice to get up in the middle of the night and realize it was only a dream.

What a huge relief!

Here is what I would like to change about myself

Am I ready to blog about the theme for week 40?  

I better be. I am a week late. 

What is the theme? If there was one thing I would like to change about myself, what would that be?

What a question to answer? Every one of us would like to think that we are always right and on the right track.

If this question is posed to my wife about me, the answer that I would imagine that she would give is, “There may be only one thing that I should not change and every thing else should change”. Well I guess, that is what spouses are meant for!

Facts (jokes) apart, What would my answer be to this question? It should border between procrastination and my job.  Procrastination may gain precedence. Given a chance I would like to do everything tomorrow. That is why I am writing this post a week later. There is absolutely nothing, including eating that I would like to do immediately, maybe except sleeping. Well, most of the time I do things only if there is a deadline. Otherwise, I will not complete any project. How I wish that I change myself.

Easier said than done!  And I will go back to procrastinating about the wish to change myself.