There are situations when we subtlety try to make some moments understood by others. One situation is characterized by these questions e.g. How was one supposed to make new friends? What words one had to say? Was there any well defined ritual? I did try to find these questions and would be answers in childhood days. One of the innocuous activity then was touch of forefingers followed by a handshake . Not to forget the excitement that followed . I am still not sure how swami made friends in "Swami and friends-By R.K Narayan " . But they can be taken to be ideal friends , at least for me it was the definition . Another open question , how was one supposed to end the friendship? , yes there was easy way for this ( because it was part of friendship ) . The ritual was to touch little fingers of the forelimb and exchange unfriendly stare.
How was one supposed to identify the best friend? Again answer to this was abstract rather than absolute. May be you knew someone is best friend when you had to separate , not to meet again. An interesting activity , regarding best friend , i got to know from dear mother. She said for them it Was easy and mandatory to find your best friend ( everyone had one best friend ) . They used to call each other with same name because they were best friends. I always knew there was "engine Mausi". My Mom referred to her best friend as "Engine" . I did understand the full scenario when i actually heard "engine Mausi" calling my mom as "Engine". Its amazingly sweet , even now they refer to each other with the same word i.e. engine ( How they found this word for each other is another story ).
A corollary to above scenario is situations when you call some friends with unique names .This name is used by only you and not others in general .Some unique names become so popular and everyone in friend circle will use the same for person under consideration. We do end up giving really unique names to some friends , i remember, i nicknamed one friend "NDTV" because he always had unending "news" to share. His name was later modified to more sober "ND". It's creativity at best when you can nickname people around you without fear of hurting them . You can only gesticulate wildly on hearing those weird names , sometimes you are at receiving end :)
Next question comes , how often we get chance to nickname friends? Some friends are there only for few hours. You suddenly realize what if you had known him/her for better? There is unknown conspiracy to send some people to meet you only for few days and some only for hours , serendipitous. There is realization of the truth , you can't save many good things for tomorrow.
As i look for concluding words , in few days i shall have to shift to new city . Present acquaintances will become part of memory lanes. Some moments will be part of the sweet memories for sure....The Smiling face of newspaperwala when he came with monthly bill , the ever helpful kirana store bhaiyaji who knew what i shall ask for , the repetitive question from the house Maid on weekends , " Bhaiya aaj chutti hai kya?" , the waiter at restaurant who knew i did learn to eat sambhar-rice at his place , the Paan shop i did visit only to buy the match stick box of rupee one , the chicken Centre guy who did give apologetic smile when his stock did end. These Small but beautiful moments define life.
Talking about the nickname replication activity , it is strangely cute occurrence when you call someone special as "baby" and as return you are called as "baby" by the same person . Obviously, the person in question will be more than friend for you i.e. THE ONE for you.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
The sly company of people who care : Some Lines
Recently i did finish reading many books. One of them has been "The Sly company of people who care. " Thanks to lazy me , i have not updated my blog for quite sometime.Here are some lines from the book which made me read them again and again.
1: Water is essential truth of guyana. One's encounters with it were so frequent that one felt little amphibious.
This is how we feel in rainy season.
2: The way diamond wink at you , no gal could wink at you like so.
If et al any girl winks at you :)
3: You can take something for a diamond , but never a diamond for something else.
We may make mistake of assuming some bad person to be good , but good persons can not be taken to be as bad or something else.
4: When horror is of such a scale , it begins to feel like fantasy and fantasy is easier to digest.
All seems good when we imagine the worst scenario possible.
5: Though there was no watch on it , I Sprang up as if to show i was running late.
Beautifully described in this line , how we pretend to do small things.
6: Often he would point out someone and start a story about them.
There many people we find who have so many stories to tell.
7: Everywhere individuals were looking interested in each other.
This situation is so weird , when it seems everyone has someone to listen their stories.
8: Everything which can be glorious is worthwhile.
All it matters is to give second thought to something which can be glorious.
9: She was prepared to tackle the world because the world to her was not absurd.
Life becomes easy if we start to accept that everything is not so absurd .
10: I walked and walked , I walked out of fear of stopping.
We do many things just for the sake of doing.
11: Whatever done in darkness , soon comes to light.
Nicely written , and easily signifies, the inevitability of the wrong doings.
12: I wished there was girl equivalent of the man . I could walk with , slower and closer than they , laugh sweeter than they.
13: I knew her like quick addiction.
Some people become so special in small time, weird but true.
1: Water is essential truth of guyana. One's encounters with it were so frequent that one felt little amphibious.
This is how we feel in rainy season.
2: The way diamond wink at you , no gal could wink at you like so.
If et al any girl winks at you :)
3: You can take something for a diamond , but never a diamond for something else.
We may make mistake of assuming some bad person to be good , but good persons can not be taken to be as bad or something else.
4: When horror is of such a scale , it begins to feel like fantasy and fantasy is easier to digest.
All seems good when we imagine the worst scenario possible.
5: Though there was no watch on it , I Sprang up as if to show i was running late.
Beautifully described in this line , how we pretend to do small things.
6: Often he would point out someone and start a story about them.
There many people we find who have so many stories to tell.
7: Everywhere individuals were looking interested in each other.
This situation is so weird , when it seems everyone has someone to listen their stories.
8: Everything which can be glorious is worthwhile.
All it matters is to give second thought to something which can be glorious.
9: She was prepared to tackle the world because the world to her was not absurd.
Life becomes easy if we start to accept that everything is not so absurd .
10: I walked and walked , I walked out of fear of stopping.
We do many things just for the sake of doing.
11: Whatever done in darkness , soon comes to light.
Nicely written , and easily signifies, the inevitability of the wrong doings.
12: I wished there was girl equivalent of the man . I could walk with , slower and closer than they , laugh sweeter than they.
13: I knew her like quick addiction.
Some people become so special in small time, weird but true.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Retail in india : Where we are going?
" Oho Dipika ji...Lijiye aapka sab saaman taiyaar " . This immortal line from that Nirma Ad when the lady visits neighborhood grocery shop. Government of India has taken decision to allow 51% FDI in Indian retail market . No wonder , big debate has been going on , amidst protests and statements from some important and some not so important people. Everyone has own opinion, some can be easily termed as hypocrites who are opposing their own statements they made other day ; some are stupid at best saying they will burn foreign shops if opened . What about the people who will be actually affected? Some will gain out of this decision. Moving away from technicalities and the raging debate , i would like to look into the world where we interact with the traditional Kirana shop and how things may and may not be same again .
The immediate question comes into mind is , what things will not be same?
1: The natural smile of the attendant at kirana shop will be replaced by the artificial smile of the attendants in super malls.
2: You will not be asking new year calendar when you shop on the new year eve.
3: How you can ask for that extra chili for free at the mall after buying weekly vegetable stock? Asking for some stuffs which are given without measurement i.e. ginger for rupee 1 Or mixture of spices for rupee 5 .
4: Can the statement : " you save rupees xyz , if you buy this. " , replace the original form of bargain?
5: You will not be treated like god for being first customer/last customer.
6: What about returning things you bought which is not defective , but somehow you want to return that? Just try returning goods you bought from the super market store and we know how nasty and crazy things can get.
Having said this , buying all things under one roof can be good and bad idea as well. People can defend saying , " I don't have time to look for different options". Next question comes , we are running after what? The joy of buying vegetables confirming the market price by asking from 2-3 shops seems best market practice. They say FDI will improve the infrastructure and supply chain . Can we not understand nuances of supply chain management by knowing how we distribute news papers daily or how the the milk supply chain works on daily basis? But at the same time can there be no alternative path where we can improve the infrastructure without forcing closure of our neighborhood kirana shop or for that matter roadside vendors?
Before closing , i would like to mention here one recent event. Here it goes..
I decided to buy a sari for my mom and to make matters worse , i had to gift this as a surprise . So , i could not ask for valuable inputs from mom i.e. which color , which design etc . Somehow , i could not outsource this work on time and i had to perform this activity. What to do? which shop ? which design? at what time? Of what price? . I knew , i had to explain to mom , this-is-the-best-buy-after-elaborate-bargaining . I started devising algorithm and used delay-and-wait technique. I zeroed on to the tried and tested formula , be the last customer.This happened by constraint , rather than by choice , weird office timing and lazy me contributing to the resultant scenario . I reached the shop at around 10pm . They were almost drawing the shutters down. Did give the specification in some vague words i.e. color , medium price range , it's for Mom etc etc. The difficult part of action point was still with me , choose the best one and then look for bargain!. I did implement the screening procedure , though i was not sure of the criteria, May be it was first view and randomization . After first round short listing , it came to take final decision and bargain price. Thankfully , the shopkeeper agreed to good bargain ; at least it seemed to me , price was reduced by 200 from marked price. So deal was done and it came to completing formalities i.e. Paying the money ,take receipt , packaging. Wait! the situation had to become more win-win , at least it seemed to me . The shopkeeper offered 50 rupee less price than the agreed price , just because i was last customer. The Being-Last-customer situation had worked without me insisting on the same. Technically , i had completed the shopping part and was about to leave. Suddenly , it occurred to me , Man! something is missing!. After slight stress on my memory cells , i got the reason; Mom usually asks for complementary handkerchief at the end of shopping for sari activity . I placed one gentle query before the shopkeeper asking to put one handkerchief with the sari. He obliged with a natural smile. Mom was more than happy when she found that "extra" handkerchief . She knew , what must have happened.
May be , we love to shop in big place i.e. shopping mall, but memories are created in small places. I wish both foreign retail shops and Local kirana stores thrive together, I will see how things turn up.If foreign retail shops are dreams for many including me , local kirana shops form sweet memories. When dreams and memories shake hands , we are not sure which is better.
p.s : As i type these words , the song , "let it be : from movie desi Boyz " is playing on my pnone. My favourite for the moment.
The immediate question comes into mind is , what things will not be same?
1: The natural smile of the attendant at kirana shop will be replaced by the artificial smile of the attendants in super malls.
2: You will not be asking new year calendar when you shop on the new year eve.
3: How you can ask for that extra chili for free at the mall after buying weekly vegetable stock? Asking for some stuffs which are given without measurement i.e. ginger for rupee 1 Or mixture of spices for rupee 5 .
4: Can the statement : " you save rupees xyz , if you buy this. " , replace the original form of bargain?
5: You will not be treated like god for being first customer/last customer.
6: What about returning things you bought which is not defective , but somehow you want to return that? Just try returning goods you bought from the super market store and we know how nasty and crazy things can get.
Having said this , buying all things under one roof can be good and bad idea as well. People can defend saying , " I don't have time to look for different options". Next question comes , we are running after what? The joy of buying vegetables confirming the market price by asking from 2-3 shops seems best market practice. They say FDI will improve the infrastructure and supply chain . Can we not understand nuances of supply chain management by knowing how we distribute news papers daily or how the the milk supply chain works on daily basis? But at the same time can there be no alternative path where we can improve the infrastructure without forcing closure of our neighborhood kirana shop or for that matter roadside vendors?
Before closing , i would like to mention here one recent event. Here it goes..
I decided to buy a sari for my mom and to make matters worse , i had to gift this as a surprise . So , i could not ask for valuable inputs from mom i.e. which color , which design etc . Somehow , i could not outsource this work on time and i had to perform this activity. What to do? which shop ? which design? at what time? Of what price? . I knew , i had to explain to mom , this-is-the-best-buy-after-elaborate-bargaining . I started devising algorithm and used delay-and-wait technique. I zeroed on to the tried and tested formula , be the last customer.This happened by constraint , rather than by choice , weird office timing and lazy me contributing to the resultant scenario . I reached the shop at around 10pm . They were almost drawing the shutters down. Did give the specification in some vague words i.e. color , medium price range , it's for Mom etc etc. The difficult part of action point was still with me , choose the best one and then look for bargain!. I did implement the screening procedure , though i was not sure of the criteria, May be it was first view and randomization . After first round short listing , it came to take final decision and bargain price. Thankfully , the shopkeeper agreed to good bargain ; at least it seemed to me , price was reduced by 200 from marked price. So deal was done and it came to completing formalities i.e. Paying the money ,take receipt , packaging. Wait! the situation had to become more win-win , at least it seemed to me . The shopkeeper offered 50 rupee less price than the agreed price , just because i was last customer. The Being-Last-customer situation had worked without me insisting on the same. Technically , i had completed the shopping part and was about to leave. Suddenly , it occurred to me , Man! something is missing!. After slight stress on my memory cells , i got the reason; Mom usually asks for complementary handkerchief at the end of shopping for sari activity . I placed one gentle query before the shopkeeper asking to put one handkerchief with the sari. He obliged with a natural smile. Mom was more than happy when she found that "extra" handkerchief . She knew , what must have happened.
May be , we love to shop in big place i.e. shopping mall, but memories are created in small places. I wish both foreign retail shops and Local kirana stores thrive together, I will see how things turn up.If foreign retail shops are dreams for many including me , local kirana shops form sweet memories. When dreams and memories shake hands , we are not sure which is better.
p.s : As i type these words , the song , "let it be : from movie desi Boyz " is playing on my pnone. My favourite for the moment.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Above Average : Some lines
I did complete this book : "Above average By Amitabha Bagchi " . Here are some lines which i noted down while reading it. My thoughts on the same have been added after each line.
Here it goes....
1: " Some lied brazenly like Kartik , others went about it more subtly. Some lied just to others, some to themselves as well."
This did remind all moments when i lied to me and tried to fool myself knowing i what i was doing.
2: " The averageness that i was ashamed of showing became my most intimate friend."
The averageness is scary , we try to hide it from outside , but from inside we become friends with averageness.
3: " I pooh-poohed the board exams because everyone in the school did."
This did remind me my class 11th days when everyone was crazy about IIT. Most made into IIT as well. I was fashion to solve
physics questions in maths class and Maths question in physics calss. The path was obviously difficult one , but everyone was walking on it ,together.
4: " We always ate rice for lunch and rotis for dinner . I thought to ask why."
My mom still wonders how i ate just roti in the lunch and just rice in the dinner. Something become so common in homes we notice , but we don't ask the reason.
5: " The evening was reserved for going to people's houses and eating sweets and then waiting at home for people to come to eat your sweets. It was only after this was done that the proceedings turned whole heartedly pyrotechnic. " .
This does remind me the diwali celebration in my family. With all efforts made to appease goddess laxmi.
6: " When abhilasha emerged from the prayer room , platter laden with diyas in hand , wearing a heavy silk sari , it was like a life insurance ad , an Asian paints hoarding come to life. "
I would call this a cute of a line. Its surprisingly happy moment to see b'ful girls in sari.
7: " Shit man, whispered Ghontu. 'Antakshari! These people are such locals!'."
This did remind me all antarakshari sessions , most importantly when we 5-6 friends trying to win the moment against one guy
very good at singing. He used to sing 4-5 lines of the song, we used to revert back with one liners. Not so sophisticated game , but yes, we enjoyed.
8: " Either I was to get into a management school or i was to go abroad to study or I was to take the civil services exam. It was a crossroads where to my mind , the first arrow pointed to money , the second to the pursuit to knowledge and third to power."
I did not understand what problem different career choices can throw until i had to face the same. Its uphill task to choose the correct option without knowing if any choice provided is good enough.
9:" Its a rule one of them said . If you have a partner , the two of you are entitled to play . If you don't , you have no rights . There are carom room rules. "
This brings back to me the sweet memories of carom room and wonderful friends i did made at carom boards. Yes, getting correct partner added to the fun , specially if you did involve in sleding and played scary shots to overpower opponents.
10: " you could stay but you would inevitably become the only one left behind , lonely and dissatisfied."
The side effect of walking on unknown path. One should be prepared to face the loneliness and set backs.
11: " TK's nickname is an abbreviation of tension Kumar,nothing to do with real name . Every batch in every hostel is
supposed to have a tension kumar , it is a designation , rather than a nickname. "
This happens everywhere , tensions-loadus-fratus are in every college , every dept and of course in every college hostel. So many souls depend of them for their academic progress.
12: " why climb a mountain? ...because it is there. " :
challenges do inspire people. I have seen people toiling hard at difficult things with full dedication without thinking about reason for doing the same. Passion they said.
13: " Strongest and the deepest bonds we form in our lives are with people who know how to hurt us in the most devastating ways." :
Ironical line , but very true in most situations.
14: " He was ranked in the bottom ten of the class , a badge he wore with pride. " :
Its not difficult to find guys who did not give a damn to the GPAs.
15: " I had no real passion for anything i studied , although some of it interested me and i was competent at all of it." :
simple confession is hard to make , we do many good things which may not be core area of interest.
16: " For me and my friends , SPICMACAY was an organization you joined if you wanted to meet girls.The common perception was that you went to SPICMACAY concerts for same reason you joined SPICMACAY : for the women. And to make such public display of frustration was not allowed. ".
Days are not far away when i was in this group when talking to girls without any reason was considered derogatory and act of desperation . It was not a secret , everyone wanted nice gals around them , but they refrained from showing it. Once my pen refill has exhausted , to make matters worse , that b'ful asked if i had extra pen . Since that day ,i carried two pens , but that questions never came again i.e " Do you have extra pen ?" .
17: " You don't have to be a doctor or an engineer , just do something you like. I used to worry that i'll never find something that i like . It was scary . "
No other words, its really scary , i don't know what i like.
18:" In the past whenever i wrote something, i would always daydream that i had a girlfriend whom i could read. " :
There can be no other better person to review what you write . For brief period i had this privilege , other times you have to be your editor.
19: " I pass people coming from work. They seem to be serving a sentence. confinement in isolation. "
Its good time pass to see frustrated people head back home from office ?( obviously when you are not one of them )
20: " A half solved crossword torn out of times of India lying on his lap. " :
I had seen this live many times. Many guys had this strange habit of cutting the crossword part from reading room news papers.
21: " There were people to poison you , to push you down . But when were you down there were others who would help you up, who would heal you with touch. " :
It very easy to find good , bad and ugly , and the situation worsens when bad people conceal themselves as good one.
22: " loneliness is a disease whose symptoms grow worse at night."
How many times this happens , its 3 o'clock in the morning and you are unable to sleep.It great to have 3am friends.long live all those 3 am friendships.
23: " I don't even know what i want to do, I just do what everyone else does. "
We are helplessly guided by our surrounding , 'can't help situation' .
24: " We aren't what we do or what we achieve or what we become , we are and we always will be what we want."
Very true , but its so dynamic , we keep on wanting one more thing or the other.
Here it goes....
1: " Some lied brazenly like Kartik , others went about it more subtly. Some lied just to others, some to themselves as well."
This did remind all moments when i lied to me and tried to fool myself knowing i what i was doing.
2: " The averageness that i was ashamed of showing became my most intimate friend."
The averageness is scary , we try to hide it from outside , but from inside we become friends with averageness.
3: " I pooh-poohed the board exams because everyone in the school did."
This did remind me my class 11th days when everyone was crazy about IIT. Most made into IIT as well. I was fashion to solve
physics questions in maths class and Maths question in physics calss. The path was obviously difficult one , but everyone was walking on it ,together.
4: " We always ate rice for lunch and rotis for dinner . I thought to ask why."
My mom still wonders how i ate just roti in the lunch and just rice in the dinner. Something become so common in homes we notice , but we don't ask the reason.
5: " The evening was reserved for going to people's houses and eating sweets and then waiting at home for people to come to eat your sweets. It was only after this was done that the proceedings turned whole heartedly pyrotechnic. " .
This does remind me the diwali celebration in my family. With all efforts made to appease goddess laxmi.
6: " When abhilasha emerged from the prayer room , platter laden with diyas in hand , wearing a heavy silk sari , it was like a life insurance ad , an Asian paints hoarding come to life. "
I would call this a cute of a line. Its surprisingly happy moment to see b'ful girls in sari.
7: " Shit man, whispered Ghontu. 'Antakshari! These people are such locals!'."
This did remind me all antarakshari sessions , most importantly when we 5-6 friends trying to win the moment against one guy
very good at singing. He used to sing 4-5 lines of the song, we used to revert back with one liners. Not so sophisticated game , but yes, we enjoyed.
8: " Either I was to get into a management school or i was to go abroad to study or I was to take the civil services exam. It was a crossroads where to my mind , the first arrow pointed to money , the second to the pursuit to knowledge and third to power."
I did not understand what problem different career choices can throw until i had to face the same. Its uphill task to choose the correct option without knowing if any choice provided is good enough.
9:" Its a rule one of them said . If you have a partner , the two of you are entitled to play . If you don't , you have no rights . There are carom room rules. "
This brings back to me the sweet memories of carom room and wonderful friends i did made at carom boards. Yes, getting correct partner added to the fun , specially if you did involve in sleding and played scary shots to overpower opponents.
10: " you could stay but you would inevitably become the only one left behind , lonely and dissatisfied."
The side effect of walking on unknown path. One should be prepared to face the loneliness and set backs.
11: " TK's nickname is an abbreviation of tension Kumar,nothing to do with real name . Every batch in every hostel is
supposed to have a tension kumar , it is a designation , rather than a nickname. "
This happens everywhere , tensions-loadus-fratus are in every college , every dept and of course in every college hostel. So many souls depend of them for their academic progress.
12: " why climb a mountain? ...because it is there. " :
challenges do inspire people. I have seen people toiling hard at difficult things with full dedication without thinking about reason for doing the same. Passion they said.
13: " Strongest and the deepest bonds we form in our lives are with people who know how to hurt us in the most devastating ways." :
Ironical line , but very true in most situations.
14: " He was ranked in the bottom ten of the class , a badge he wore with pride. " :
Its not difficult to find guys who did not give a damn to the GPAs.
15: " I had no real passion for anything i studied , although some of it interested me and i was competent at all of it." :
simple confession is hard to make , we do many good things which may not be core area of interest.
16: " For me and my friends , SPICMACAY was an organization you joined if you wanted to meet girls.The common perception was that you went to SPICMACAY concerts for same reason you joined SPICMACAY : for the women. And to make such public display of frustration was not allowed. ".
Days are not far away when i was in this group when talking to girls without any reason was considered derogatory and act of desperation . It was not a secret , everyone wanted nice gals around them , but they refrained from showing it. Once my pen refill has exhausted , to make matters worse , that b'ful asked if i had extra pen . Since that day ,i carried two pens , but that questions never came again i.e " Do you have extra pen ?" .
17: " You don't have to be a doctor or an engineer , just do something you like. I used to worry that i'll never find something that i like . It was scary . "
No other words, its really scary , i don't know what i like.
18:" In the past whenever i wrote something, i would always daydream that i had a girlfriend whom i could read. " :
There can be no other better person to review what you write . For brief period i had this privilege , other times you have to be your editor.
19: " I pass people coming from work. They seem to be serving a sentence. confinement in isolation. "
Its good time pass to see frustrated people head back home from office ?( obviously when you are not one of them )
20: " A half solved crossword torn out of times of India lying on his lap. " :
I had seen this live many times. Many guys had this strange habit of cutting the crossword part from reading room news papers.
21: " There were people to poison you , to push you down . But when were you down there were others who would help you up, who would heal you with touch. " :
It very easy to find good , bad and ugly , and the situation worsens when bad people conceal themselves as good one.
22: " loneliness is a disease whose symptoms grow worse at night."
How many times this happens , its 3 o'clock in the morning and you are unable to sleep.It great to have 3am friends.long live all those 3 am friendships.
23: " I don't even know what i want to do, I just do what everyone else does. "
We are helplessly guided by our surrounding , 'can't help situation' .
24: " We aren't what we do or what we achieve or what we become , we are and we always will be what we want."
Very true , but its so dynamic , we keep on wanting one more thing or the other.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
India Unbound : A side view
Recently, i did finish reading the book India Unbound by Gurcharan Das. A blog entry on the same was expected as an after effect. The optimism shown in the book is one of the better points , all of us should show similar pragmatic optimism in daily routine. By the time i realized , i was deeply engrossed reading each chapter with utmost concentration . I wish i can read everything with that level of dedication and concentration. It was heartening to read the facts that how Nehru's idealism failed to get implemented ,how we created difficulty in our own growth story and we failed to eradicate poverty in time. By the time we took measures to remove those obstacles , 40+ years had passed since independence and many countries have moved ahead of us.
Without going into other aspects of the discussions beautifully raised in the book , i would like to come to the topic which i want to elaborate here. Obviously , these are my thoughts and as i fondly say , subject to evolve in future. In the book there were so many references of middle class values. Some values are so apparent and some are hidden , you have to really explore to discover that. The topic is difficult to handle as i can already feel . The source of values are multiple as i try to trace the origin. Some are family values which can qualify to be middle class values.
1: Earn the right to have/haven't : I remember once i had asked dad , " why we can't have that thing called a-car ". Dad's gentle reply was , " only eligible people get that , for that you have to study very hard and get that " . Then i didn't know what people become by studying very hard. He said ," study hard , you will become someone good for sure and you will get 'that-thing' for sure ". This certainly qualifies as middle class value and the motivation is kept alive by always working for the goal and good things do come in between.
2: Austere lifestyle : Extra things should be minimized . Have only those things which you require. When i visit home, i am reminded of austere lifestyle which should be the guiding force. Family members still wonder , how that plate of vegetable served in a normal restaurant can cost 200 rupees per plate. I don't think mom-dad will agree to eat food served which come with such price tag. At the same time , Somehow they think new generation has right to eat that food , the bottom line remains "Earn the right ".
3: Calculate your resources : I failed to explain to dad on the topic , why people use credit cards? His question was, anyway the money has to be paid , so what's usability. I tried to come up with those cash-back and use-now-pay-later argument. But still, that was unconvincing explanation . he said , "may be that is useful ,but i don't understand". Spending after calculating the available resources has been one main family teaching which has been repeated to me time and again . This sub topic will remain incomplete if i don't quote John Abraham . He once said , " I am from the family where 1 rupee is valued as 100 paisa" .This explains the importance of the value. Now i know ,in all middle class families this value is taught everyday.
4: Hard work : Border road Organization's Motto : Shramena Sarvam Sadhyam ( Sanskrit words which means .... with hard work everything is possible ) . I was introduced to this fact in my family , though no one pointed this specifically . I remember my maternal grandma used to extract cream everyday from milk . The process requires a lot of patience and one has to believe the fact that milk contains cream and that can be extracted . That cream was later converted into ghee . With this small reference ,i knew with hard work we can do beautiful things. Other similar instances from my maternal grandma's activities are also mentionable i.e one can scan through 100 kg of rice in one go , looking for presence of small stone pieces or foreign particles not belonging to rice "community" , we can separate two pulses from each other ,last but not the least, one can wake up at "4am" in the morning. Only requirement is belief, supplemented by hard work and sense of urgency. Of course ,later on with experience as we become good at things we do routinely.
5: Learn good things from others : Washing cloths , cleaning utensils , cooking. I did not know these things until i did know i need to perform that activity.I thought ," What is the solution ? isn't it simple?". How mom used to do this task?It's wonderful to know , that you know things from others , in their style. As i wash cloths , i know i'm using mom's algorithm. When i keep a backup plan , i know mom does the same way. When i leave earlier than usual to catch a train , that is dad's way. The arrogance , which i show sometimes ,is from my elder brother. In addition many attributes of mine have come to me from my friends , but that will be other topic of discussion. As middle class we do take help from others and learn from them as well. This can qualify as middle class value.
6: Ignore and adjust :This has been another keyword which i try to work on. I still remember the day when i had to go away from family to carry on with life from boarding school . Mantra given to me was , you need to adjust with different people.
The end result has been , as most of the times i was reserved and was cautious with the fact that how much words i use with whom . I did manage to get good friends in the process.On broader side, we can not be friends with everyone, but this doesn't
mean we should have enemies. Sometimes we have to compromise for mutual good. This is evident in international arena as well ex. India and china are not friends for sure ,with due respect to "Hindi-chini-bhai-bhai" slogan , but our trade volume is
certainly very high.
The quest to understand middle class values is life long . There is always scope to improve on all values identified and one can always discover new ones.
Before closing : India Unbound is certainly one of better books i have read . Reading the book was simply fascinating and great learning experience as well . I can happily say , I am better person after reading this book. The concepts and ideas
described in the book will define me in future and will be guiding force for me.
Without going into other aspects of the discussions beautifully raised in the book , i would like to come to the topic which i want to elaborate here. Obviously , these are my thoughts and as i fondly say , subject to evolve in future. In the book there were so many references of middle class values. Some values are so apparent and some are hidden , you have to really explore to discover that. The topic is difficult to handle as i can already feel . The source of values are multiple as i try to trace the origin. Some are family values which can qualify to be middle class values.
1: Earn the right to have/haven't : I remember once i had asked dad , " why we can't have that thing called a-car ". Dad's gentle reply was , " only eligible people get that , for that you have to study very hard and get that " . Then i didn't know what people become by studying very hard. He said ," study hard , you will become someone good for sure and you will get 'that-thing' for sure ". This certainly qualifies as middle class value and the motivation is kept alive by always working for the goal and good things do come in between.
2: Austere lifestyle : Extra things should be minimized . Have only those things which you require. When i visit home, i am reminded of austere lifestyle which should be the guiding force. Family members still wonder , how that plate of vegetable served in a normal restaurant can cost 200 rupees per plate. I don't think mom-dad will agree to eat food served which come with such price tag. At the same time , Somehow they think new generation has right to eat that food , the bottom line remains "Earn the right ".
3: Calculate your resources : I failed to explain to dad on the topic , why people use credit cards? His question was, anyway the money has to be paid , so what's usability. I tried to come up with those cash-back and use-now-pay-later argument. But still, that was unconvincing explanation . he said , "may be that is useful ,but i don't understand". Spending after calculating the available resources has been one main family teaching which has been repeated to me time and again . This sub topic will remain incomplete if i don't quote John Abraham . He once said , " I am from the family where 1 rupee is valued as 100 paisa" .This explains the importance of the value. Now i know ,in all middle class families this value is taught everyday.
4: Hard work : Border road Organization's Motto : Shramena Sarvam Sadhyam ( Sanskrit words which means .... with hard work everything is possible ) . I was introduced to this fact in my family , though no one pointed this specifically . I remember my maternal grandma used to extract cream everyday from milk . The process requires a lot of patience and one has to believe the fact that milk contains cream and that can be extracted . That cream was later converted into ghee . With this small reference ,i knew with hard work we can do beautiful things. Other similar instances from my maternal grandma's activities are also mentionable i.e one can scan through 100 kg of rice in one go , looking for presence of small stone pieces or foreign particles not belonging to rice "community" , we can separate two pulses from each other ,last but not the least, one can wake up at "4am" in the morning. Only requirement is belief, supplemented by hard work and sense of urgency. Of course ,later on with experience as we become good at things we do routinely.
5: Learn good things from others : Washing cloths , cleaning utensils , cooking. I did not know these things until i did know i need to perform that activity.I thought ," What is the solution ? isn't it simple?". How mom used to do this task?It's wonderful to know , that you know things from others , in their style. As i wash cloths , i know i'm using mom's algorithm. When i keep a backup plan , i know mom does the same way. When i leave earlier than usual to catch a train , that is dad's way. The arrogance , which i show sometimes ,is from my elder brother. In addition many attributes of mine have come to me from my friends , but that will be other topic of discussion. As middle class we do take help from others and learn from them as well. This can qualify as middle class value.
6: Ignore and adjust :This has been another keyword which i try to work on. I still remember the day when i had to go away from family to carry on with life from boarding school . Mantra given to me was , you need to adjust with different people.
The end result has been , as most of the times i was reserved and was cautious with the fact that how much words i use with whom . I did manage to get good friends in the process.On broader side, we can not be friends with everyone, but this doesn't
mean we should have enemies. Sometimes we have to compromise for mutual good. This is evident in international arena as well ex. India and china are not friends for sure ,with due respect to "Hindi-chini-bhai-bhai" slogan , but our trade volume is
certainly very high.
The quest to understand middle class values is life long . There is always scope to improve on all values identified and one can always discover new ones.
Before closing : India Unbound is certainly one of better books i have read . Reading the book was simply fascinating and great learning experience as well . I can happily say , I am better person after reading this book. The concepts and ideas
described in the book will define me in future and will be guiding force for me.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
PMkJH Moments!
" Poochne me kya jata hai " : Loosely translated -> We lose nothing by asking. This has been latest TATA Sky ad campaign and this has immediately caught attention of everyone. This article is dedicated to all Poochne-me-kya-Jata-Hai moments i.e PMKJH Moments. The idea is simple, if we don't ask on time we lose precious chance of getting what we want.
As i look back to trace my first PMKJH moment , it was mom asking me to bring flowers from neighbor's backyard after getting permission for the same. I recollect vaguely, i had suggested, " she won't allow ". Mom had replied , " poochne me kya jata hai , try to karo " . To my surprise ,that lady had allowed me to pluck flowers without making any fuss of that. Another moment , then i could not belive , people can allow strangers to sit in their car , we call that 'took lift' moment. I said to dad that car won't stop , why he'll allow us in his car for no reason? Dad had said with a smile , " Poochne me kya jata hai ?" The car had stopped and that was successful PMKJH moment.
As we grow , PMKJH moments reach curious proportions. Its tricky, when Guys try this with many girls , Some are masters and easily ask for evening coffee and many fail to ask even for class notes from girls. First year of college had many PMKJH moments with so many people. Not to forget regular usage of vocal chords to say "Poochne-me-klya-jata-hai" to negate the disappointment. Looking for PMKJH moment in other spheres of life , one popular place is restaurant , we always ask for extra onion , lemon and that green chilly. Most of the times our query is processed with smile and sometimes the result is void . When its void , we smile and say , " Poochne me kya jata hai ? "
Referring to various job applications we send for dream jobs , and we get no response, we console ourselves and accept PMKJH moment.PMKJH moment may not always be successful, But the joy of asking and the satisfaction of the fact that " I tried", will negate the disappointment of failure. Before closing , anyway you have THE "NO" if you don't ask , So go ahead and ask, because PKMJH moments are precious .
As i look back to trace my first PMKJH moment , it was mom asking me to bring flowers from neighbor's backyard after getting permission for the same. I recollect vaguely, i had suggested, " she won't allow ". Mom had replied , " poochne me kya jata hai , try to karo " . To my surprise ,that lady had allowed me to pluck flowers without making any fuss of that. Another moment , then i could not belive , people can allow strangers to sit in their car , we call that 'took lift' moment. I said to dad that car won't stop , why he'll allow us in his car for no reason? Dad had said with a smile , " Poochne me kya jata hai ?" The car had stopped and that was successful PMKJH moment.
As we grow , PMKJH moments reach curious proportions. Its tricky, when Guys try this with many girls , Some are masters and easily ask for evening coffee and many fail to ask even for class notes from girls. First year of college had many PMKJH moments with so many people. Not to forget regular usage of vocal chords to say "Poochne-me-klya-jata-hai" to negate the disappointment. Looking for PMKJH moment in other spheres of life , one popular place is restaurant , we always ask for extra onion , lemon and that green chilly. Most of the times our query is processed with smile and sometimes the result is void . When its void , we smile and say , " Poochne me kya jata hai ? "
Referring to various job applications we send for dream jobs , and we get no response, we console ourselves and accept PMKJH moment.PMKJH moment may not always be successful, But the joy of asking and the satisfaction of the fact that " I tried", will negate the disappointment of failure. Before closing , anyway you have THE "NO" if you don't ask , So go ahead and ask, because PKMJH moments are precious .
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Our Ladakh trip
We know some days will be memorable ,
We yearn to enjoy that by planning,
Actual form is unknown till the end,
Finally, we did start the journey.
Those jokes and familiar mimicry ,
We decided , Do it this way , don't eat that way,
Man! don't conspire and switch on the light ,
I have to finish that innocuous article.
Why he did not join , will that buddy will come later on?
The journey is long and some days are gone,
We reached Delhi , managed the first halt,
Did board the bus which took us to manali.
Picked up few mineral water bottles,
Did appreciate rivers and apples,
After breakfast, we set off to leh ,
Man wait!, we have to complete the para-gliding in solang valley,
ok, no problem, lets divert to that location ,
Get that camera ready , for which you were charging the battery ,
Click few snaps in the rope way .
We had to cross rohtang Pass to see mountains in the sky,
Don't know why people can't resist hi-tea,
Sun has set , it's time to sleep,
lets arrange the dinner and exchange bed time stories.
Its morning , wake up friends!
I need that liquid soap you have kept,
Lets go to river side and check temperature,
Is that a crow watching the snow?
Saying Hi to passersby , appreciating the hard work they do every day,
Now i know BRO works for better future ,
Mountains got bigger , roads became narrower,
Our driver said , see this 22 cuts,
Road with 22 bends , bottom to top.
We searched, where is the end ?
we read, this is second highest motorable road,
As we moved , waited a Long stretch of flat road,
At this height? its impossible!
Night fell , leh welcomed us ,
We wondered , such location exists in india ,
Surrounded by snow clad mountains ,
Foreigners available in quite a number.
Lets sleep and make tomorrow's plan ,
Someone said river rafting , enjoy next evening ,
Other interjected, shopping is a must ,
Indus is so friendly , water flowed so steadily.
By now ,all knew what exhaustion means ,
bhai log ...lets eat and sleep ,
Pangong Lake is too far away , lets postpone it to next day,
The day was hectic , How can the lake's water be so blue?,
Please Explain the optics , click on the pics.
The Journey reversed , guess what? we are tourists,
People talked of important things ,
What makes us better , what makes us wrong,
At 4 am , all ran for cover, Sleep was too tough to overcome.
Time moved , we did retreat to normalcy ,
Back to work , quest to catch the dreams,
Here faces are strange ,
Everyone is busy with something insane,
Concluding is not easy work,
We eat words and mold situations,
Some you can express , most can only be felt,
In the end memories do stay, the best days become history.
P.S : The first question struck in the midst of our leh trip was...Do we have to go through so much effort to feel the magic?Time to get slightly philosophical, all things, if possible, should be earned with hard work to appreciate the feeling of triumph
We yearn to enjoy that by planning,
Actual form is unknown till the end,
Finally, we did start the journey.
Those jokes and familiar mimicry ,
We decided , Do it this way , don't eat that way,
Man! don't conspire and switch on the light ,
I have to finish that innocuous article.
Why he did not join , will that buddy will come later on?
The journey is long and some days are gone,
We reached Delhi , managed the first halt,
Did board the bus which took us to manali.
Picked up few mineral water bottles,
Did appreciate rivers and apples,
After breakfast, we set off to leh ,
Man wait!, we have to complete the para-gliding in solang valley,
ok, no problem, lets divert to that location ,
Get that camera ready , for which you were charging the battery ,
Click few snaps in the rope way .
We had to cross rohtang Pass to see mountains in the sky,
Don't know why people can't resist hi-tea,
Sun has set , it's time to sleep,
lets arrange the dinner and exchange bed time stories.
Its morning , wake up friends!
I need that liquid soap you have kept,
Lets go to river side and check temperature,
Is that a crow watching the snow?
Saying Hi to passersby , appreciating the hard work they do every day,
Now i know BRO works for better future ,
Mountains got bigger , roads became narrower,
Our driver said , see this 22 cuts,
Road with 22 bends , bottom to top.
We searched, where is the end ?
we read, this is second highest motorable road,
As we moved , waited a Long stretch of flat road,
At this height? its impossible!
Night fell , leh welcomed us ,
We wondered , such location exists in india ,
Surrounded by snow clad mountains ,
Foreigners available in quite a number.
Lets sleep and make tomorrow's plan ,
Someone said river rafting , enjoy next evening ,
Other interjected, shopping is a must ,
Indus is so friendly , water flowed so steadily.
By now ,all knew what exhaustion means ,
bhai log ...lets eat and sleep ,
Pangong Lake is too far away , lets postpone it to next day,
The day was hectic , How can the lake's water be so blue?,
Please Explain the optics , click on the pics.
The Journey reversed , guess what? we are tourists,
People talked of important things ,
What makes us better , what makes us wrong,
At 4 am , all ran for cover, Sleep was too tough to overcome.
Time moved , we did retreat to normalcy ,
Back to work , quest to catch the dreams,
Here faces are strange ,
Everyone is busy with something insane,
Concluding is not easy work,
We eat words and mold situations,
Some you can express , most can only be felt,
In the end memories do stay, the best days become history.
P.S : The first question struck in the midst of our leh trip was...Do we have to go through so much effort to feel the magic?Time to get slightly philosophical, all things, if possible, should be earned with hard work to appreciate the feeling of triumph
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