Venkat Aekka's Blogs

Bhaskaran Sir

2014-09-05T09:10:00.002-05:00

Bhasker Rao Sir (sitting in the front row right hand to brother)

Bhasker Rao Sir (as we call him) joined our school as telugu
teacher in his teen years. He grew up in Puttur and after completing
his studies in Telugu literature joined our school.
Durga Teacher (his wife) also taught us telugu in the primary school.
I remember from 5th class onwards Sir handled
all our telugu classes.

He was unique in terms for teaching telugu poetry. He used
teach by first singing the poem and then used to explain
the poem ( just like Ghantasala Bhagavat Geeta )
He did this everyday for 30+ years and some of us think
this resulted in problems for the throat.

He lived his life contentiously and served our
school for almost all his life.

Personally he helped me a lot by giving rightful advise
at much needed times (going to US, renting Aliabad house,
Old Boys Association etc.). He also used
to share his issues with us (daughters' marriages etc.).

Being our Sir, we can learn a lot from his simple life. I think
he is one of the very few who stuck to his ideals
till the end. We never heard anything remotely negative
about Sir all our lives. He is the one who knew how to talk pleasantly and
always maintained good appearance (always well dressed, walks straight,
talks clearly). Also he never left our school until his death
(re-joined the school after retirement as primary school principal).

He played lot of roles for our school (telugu teacher, managing
printing press, ITI, warden for boarders, primary school principal,
running OBA) and more importantly had knowledge of every kid and parents
of Boys Town. Streets, lanes and by lanes of Aliabad, Jahanuma,
Shamsheergunj, etc.. miss this teacher as much as we do. He chose
to move to Aliabad this January from the city just to be close
to our school. All three communities (here religions) respected him
and as he was the only one allowed to roam freely in sensitive areas of Jahanuma
during communal riots. Lot of Muslim families and students in Jahanuma
miss him as much as we do.

His sons (Naren and Pavan) and daughters are all settled in their lives.

Bro. Celestine, myself and Surie specially miss him a lot.

Though we completed our schooling
in 1978, some of us (specially myself and Surender) were in
close contact with him till his end. I met him last December in
the school and also he attended our gruha pravesham function.

Our beloved telugu teacher died after 40+ years
of dedicated service to our school and families around. His last wish was to do his
funeral in school premises, which was fulfilled with all people from all walks of life taking a last
glimpse of a dedicated teacher.

Please forward to any other Boys Town student you know

Venkat Aekka

April 24th, 1984 - Memoir on Vinu Mama

2014-04-24T14:56:00.000-05:00

There were so many major events / milestones in my life like my marriage, kids, USA, father's death etc. One of the events that is outside my family but still had greater impact that any of those events is my friend Vinay's death on April 24th, 1984. Till then I was thinking friendship as ever-lasting and death as never-happening scenario. Both of them showed up uninvited at 12:15PM at Vizag's Ramakrishna Beach on a high tide, sunny summer afternoon.

Vinay Kumar Gupta (Vinu Mama) used to be an young, energetic, engineering college student. He was from Sultan Bazaar, Badi Chowdi lane and used to call his family as National Integration Family. Mom was Marathi, Dad was Telugu Vysya settled in Tamilnadu, Brother married a Kannadiga. So they had almost all languages being spoken at home. Vinay used to be fluent in Marathi, Hindi and spoke mostly Hindi with friends.

I met Vinay on my first day at Engineering College. We sat next to each other and our would be best friend (Sunder) walked in with a white Kurtha on the first day. Sunder is a heavy set, almost 6ft kind of a guy. With Kurtha and Hindi mannerisms, I made up my mind that he is definitely a Marwadi. After couple of days of getting to know each other, over few samosas & 1/2 teas at the Hilton (famous Irani hotel within 100 yds of campus), I was so sure about Sunder being Marwadi that I started confirming his Marwadi Origins. He said that he is a Tamil Iyer. I was so shocked that I kept on repeating my Marwadi Assumption. He got tired and finally replied that he will check again with his family.

Vinay was a fun loving kind of guy. I, Sunder and Vinay used to hang out a lot. Vinay was also very close to Shashank - Shanks. He always treated Shanks with respect saying he is better guy to hang around with. They also used to converse in Marathi whenever we were not around. Vinay used to build special bridges of his own, he used to be close with Poorna too.
Vinay's house in Badi Chowdi was centrally located (as realtors generally say location, location, location ..). Family always welcomed friends of Vinay. We used to get our own room, throw our books, listen to music and go to movies (Venkatramana, Prabhat, Maheswari sisters, Basant theatre were at walk able distances) after a sumptuous lunch prepared by Vinay's Mom. Sometimes Vinay played Bul Bul Thara and drums for his friends. He was a talented musician. We also started meeting his childhood friends Milind, Sharad, Anand Kulkarni, Peter (Prem's brother). They were all his Vivek Vardhini school / college mates. We also used to venture out to famous MojamJahi Market theatres Navrang, .. theatres playing Jitender, Sridevi telugu remakes like Toffa, etc.

Vinay did well in Engineering. From 3rd year onwards, we almost moved into Engineering Hostel-ECH II with Shanks/Sambesh/Pankaj/Poorna etc. We used to have fun schedules. We go to college in the morning and after our classes we used to go home. After dinner, we used to go back to hostel for studies/2nd shows/etc.. Among friends Vinay was only friend on wheels. After dinner he would pick me and Sunder (from Shankar Matt) for combined studies at Engg. Hostel .. Riding Thikkie.

Some of my memories of Vinay ..

He used a good Tennicot Ring player. I don't know whether it is played nowadays.. But it is a very tricky and needed lot of stamina. The court is a smaller than a badminton court and players need to throw Tennicot Ring (almost tire like round, made of rubber, handy ring). The rules are that one should catch and release ring in seconds and ring should not vobble too much when thrown. Good players are excellent in placing ring, offensive shots sometimes are very powerful
He was a good swimmer. We used to go to Hanuman VyayamShala and Osmania pools in summer. He also joined NCC
Just like everyone, he liked movies and company with friends. He had a unique and loud laugh and enjoyed jokes.
He was the only smoker among our close friends. Not an heavy smoker but at least one a day. Speaking about smoking, one of our friends at college was a "chain" smoker. We were teasing him to be "belt" smoker as "chain" has atleast some gaps in between.
Vinay was very emotional. His mood would hop from a big laugh to tears in seconds. Once he messed up an exam and it took several hours for us to bring him to normalcy. He had tears, talked about suicide and finally we had to drag him to a movie.

With Vinay, we watched several movies like (Shammi Kapoor movies, Arth, ArdhSathya, Rajesh Khanna movies etc.). One of the movies we saw umpteen # of times was Namak Halaal. Vinay used to imitate Parveen Babi's dance in our college parties, the famous number .. Javan Jaane Man .. Haseen DhilRuba … One night Shashank, Sunder wanted to watch a movie in Prabhat. We went to Vinay's house in the night. He was'nt there and Shashank lied to his parents that we came to pick a book from Vinay. Shashank and Sunder started saying that we have an exam next day and how this book was essential. They searched anxiously for the book and found it in his study room. We all thanked obediently and presented a "relieved" look by holding the precious book. Then we slowly we sneeked into Prabhat to watch the Shammi Kapoor starrer. During the interval, Shashank and Sunder stood up to stretch under bright lights. Vinay's parents were sitting in the row behind us. We didn't have nerve to greet them and they were smiling.

In 1983, we all planned for a trip to Goa. Sunder couldn't make it as he had rowing competition somewhere in West Bengal. He was arguing that rowing certificate was important after college, I need to check with him about the certificate again when I see him this summer. Shashank, Vinay, Pankaj, Poorna and myself finally went to Goa (my uncle was living there in Goa and we stayed in his house). I don't remember all the details but I and Vinay had a big fight (almost a physical fight) at Goa. We were so close, that we never hesitated to fight each other. Twenties is something that will bring out your full personality. Nowadays I don't feel that fighting closeness (not even verbal) with any of my friends.

Our College Trip to Araku Valley .. April 1984 ..

During our final year, we had some funds for a educational trip. In order to raise some more funds, we planned a fund-raiser by arranging special show of Rishi Kapoor starrer "Khel Khel Mein". The planning went well and of all the titles, we picked "Khel Khel Mein" after several iterations (strengths - suspense, songs - Hamko Thumne Dekha, Thumko Hamne Dekha .. Kaise .., college setting, etc..). The ticket was Rs 5.00 and we picked Chemical Engg Auditorium. It was a huge sellout and Pankaj/Hanuman played key role in organizing event.

Vinay was reluctant to go on the educational trip. I don't remember the reasons but we kind of pestered him to come. Finally he packed his clothes and joined the class on a separate dedicated bogey to Araku. Train journey was fun with late night chais at train stations, songs, picking on Girish Karnad look alike Vidhya Shankar. Girls also participated (first time in 4 yrs & it was final yr of Engg.) in the fun with songs, getting to know our names, .. That's different class altogether.. for namesake it was co-ed. Finally we reached Araku .. and it was beautiful ..We liked silent valleys, tribes, greenery, etc.. Vinay was always with us doing his things .. One thing I remember was a dance he did imitating JayaPrada when no one was around ..He was wearing a wheatish colored T shirt with Caption "Let Me Be Me" and we all wonder the weird coincidence about his death and the caption.

We came back from Araku and our train to Hyderabad was around 3:15PM. I think it was lunch time, when I observed Vinu mama slowly sipping away Thumps-Up sitting next to me. We were with girls in a Vizag restaurant. He apparently promised one of the girls that he would treat her at the restaurant. He and I always used to have financial transactions .. He asked me to lend him Rs 10/-. I was cursing him on how he should have checked his balances before promising treats and I never realised that it would be my last transaction with Vinay.

After 5 minutes, one batch finished lunch and was heading towards beach as we had around 3 hours for our train to Hyd. Since Hyderabadies are always beach-hungry, we never wanted to waste even a minute. The group that finished lunch got into auto and there was one vacancy in the auto. They asked Vinay and he readily got into the auto.

I wish I remember his final good-bye but I don't. We took the next auto and reached Beach within 15 minutes. It was sunny and supposed to be full moon day. It was a high tide afternoon and none of the Vizag locals were swimming including fishermen. There was no warning and guidance for tourists like us. No one was supposed to get into the beach that afternoon due to high tides.

One group of our friends including Vinay did venture into the beach and our group was taking pictures about 1/2 mile apart. Now and then I glanced at the swimming group and it looked like all of them were staring at the ocean. Something was different about Pankaj's look and stare into the ocean. Then someone came running saying that Vinay is missing. Apparently Pramod, Poorna and Vinay went swimming into the ocean. Due to the high tide, all of them had to turn back after going some distance. At one point, all 3 were visible fighting waves in order to make it to the shore. Pramod and Poorna made it eventually and Vinay couldn't.

The following week, month, year, years were very tough on all our classmates.

The incident happened 22 yrs ago on April 24th, 1984 at 12:15PM. We still miss our dearest friend Vinay and prey for His Peaceful Soul.

Some days like April 24th never vanishes from our hearts and memories. I tend to recollect fun memories about Vinu Mama, who was full with life till his last moments..

The year after his death, we commemorated a plaque at the Elect. Engg. Dept and at Badi Chowdi, Vinay's friends (Sharad, Anand) conducted Tennicot competitions for youth.

I know we are all busy with our daily battles about work, family, kids education, Hyd real estate investments, career promotions, etc.. We need to take a moment and remember Vinu Mama and try to live our lives richer, as who knows a empty spot in an auto might lead to no-return one way road for good ..

I know it is sad and long, but still worthwhile reading about Vinay and our memories of him.

Best Regards,
Venkat Aekka

అలా మొదలైంది

2013-04-25T15:27:00.004-05:00

బాల్యమంతా చదువు బాధ్యతలు

యువ్వనంలొ ఉద్యోగ ప్రయత్నాలు

ఆమ్మ నాన్న ఆశిర్వాదంతో ఒక ఉద్యోగం

పెద్దల దీవెనెల తో పెళ్ళి కొడుకు అవతారం

ఒక చేతిలొ గాండీవం, మరొ చేతిలొ రథ సారథ్యం

జీవిత మహాభారతం లొ రంగ ప్రవేశం

సిటీ చివర ఒక సింగల్ బెడ్రూం ఫ్లాట్

ఆందులొ గగణానికి అందుకునే కలలు

మొదటి సారిగ "ఆమెరికా పయనం" వ్యూహ రచనలు

ఎర్పోర్టలొ సాగ నంపులు, అత్త మామల హగ్గులు బొకేలు

కన్న వారి కన్నీలు, తొబుట్టువుల పొగడ్తలు

సతిమని కౌగిలి, సూట్ భుజం పై వాలిన మల్లె పూలు

రోజు కాల్ చెయ్యాలి అంటు వాగ్దానాలు, ఫ్లైట్ అటెండెంట్ అనౌస్మెంటులు

ఫ్లైట్ కిటికి లొ నుంచి అన్ని అరణ్యాలు ఎడారులు

నీలొ పొంగి పొతున్న అశలు అశయాలు

పొర్ట్ అఫ్ ఎంట్రి స్తాంపులు, గుండెళ్ళో దడ దడలు

ఆడిఒ ఇంటెర్యూలు, ఫేసె-టు-ఫేసె ఫేలురులు

తిరిగి రెఫెరెన్స్ సుబ్మిషన్లు, చివరిగా ఆఫర్ లెటర్ హైఫెయ్లు

నీ భార్యకు మద్రాస్ వీసా ముహుర్తం, అత్త మామలకు అంతులేని ఆనందం

చిలుకూరి వీసా వేంకటేశ్వర ప్రదక్షణం, అల్లుడికి పుల్లా రెడ్డి స్వీట్ దక్షిణం

రోజు ఇంటావిడకు ఆఫిస్ పాలిటిక్స్ రీరన్ కాలక్షేపం

ముక్కు మొహం తెలియని బాసుల పేరులు ఆవిడకు కంఠస్తం

అమెరికా ప్రయాణంలొ ఒక కొత్త మలుపు, "నెను తండ్రిని కాబోతున్నాను" కాస్సెపు విరామం

డాక్టర్ల చుట్టు ప్రదక్షణం, అత్త మామలు ఇంట్లొ అకస్మాతుగా ప్రత్యక్షం

క్లబ్ హౌసులొ క్రెడల్ సెరిమొని, తర్వాత చికాగొ నయాగరాల జర్ని

బావ మరిదికి ఒక ఇపాడ్, మరదలుకు ఒక ఇ20

భార్యకు ఇటి టెస్టింగ్ ట్రేనింగ్, అదే కంపని లొ ఎంట్రి లెవెల్ ఉద్యోగం

ఆఫిస్ ఒక్కటైన, దారులు వెరు వెరు

మొగుడు ఎదురొస్తె భార్య మొదటి సారి తలదింపుడు

అమెరికాలొ ఇంక ఎన్నొ విజయాలు వీరస్వర్గాలు

ఇల్లు, స్టాక్స్, గ్రీన్ కార్డు, కుమాన్లు, అలోహాలు

మెల్లగ ఒక్కరొక్కరిగా స్నేహితులకు "అల్ విదా"లు

ఇక మిగిలినవి పిల్లల చదువులు పాఠాలు

ఎలా మొదలైనా, ఇది న్ అర్ ఇ జీవిత సారాంశం

- వేంకట్ ఏక్క

Smt Aekka SakkuBai (1936-2010)

2011-08-17T13:39:00.113-05:00

My mother, Smt. Aekka Sakkubai, breathed her last at the age of 74 on November 18, 2010, at 2:30 p.m. at our house in Vidyanagar Hyderabad.

She raised her seven children to be successful. We grew to be engineers, a banker, schoolteachers and a social worker. Though she only studied until the fourth grade and only knew to sign her name (a skill that took her five minutes to do), our mother made sure all of her children were educated in good schools without compromise.

Mom (Amma in Telugu) came from a wealthy family and was married off at the age of 12. My father's side was strong in education. My father completed his civil engineering diploma during Nizam Era in Urdu. My brothers and sisters and I grew up in Aliabad in the Old City, a mile from Charminar on the way to Falaknuma Palace. Due to an early split in family property, my father had to move out of the ancestral house. He built a new house close by under difficult financial circumstances.

During my childhood, there were moments of poverty -- sometimes we finished off our meals with just chili powder and cooking oil . The financial planner under these extreme conditions was my mother, who had neither a counting nor an accounting background. For one of my cousin's marriage, all my brothers including me got flowers print cotton shirts. After many years, I learnt that my mother instead of buying from an expensive cloth store, she bought white cotton cloth and got flowers printed at a sari printing facility. She was extremely good with money matters and understood interest rates and mind-boggling chit funds. Frugality guided her decision-making.

I remember her typical day would start at 5:30 a.m. and she worked unflaggingly till 3:30 p.m. Her workday included heating water for showers, tea, breakfasts, packing lunches for seven kids, a special meal for my father, cleaning clothes and dishes and finally getting time for her own shower and prayer and a quiet, small meal at 3:30 in the veranda sunlight.

During the summers of my childhood, she would volunteer to make the yearly supply of chili powder for our relatives. It used to be a days-long project to pulverize the dried red chilis into powder using round wooden posts (rokali in telugu). The supervisor for Operation Chili Powder was always my mother. I used to hate those days because children couldn’t play on the verandah and could not walk into the house without having tearing, irritating eyes. Throughout my life, I never heard my mother say, ”I am tired today”. She would face down big projects like summer cleanups or house painting and, without procrastination, immediately tackle the work for hours.

My grandparents were from another Old City bastion called Dhoolpet - place notorious for illicit liquor in Hyderabad. Our summer vacation was mostly spent in Dhoolpet. The journey from Aliabad to Dhoolpet was always interesting. Those days in the Old City, we used to have rickshaw pullers. My mother, a brother and two sisters would sit on the main seat. Our eldest brother used to stand on the rickshaw top -- the premium seating. Three of us brothers would sit on the tray below the seat and hold the seat rings. I wish we had cameras those days. It would have been an fantastic visual . The journey would almost take an hour to travel 5 kilometers. We would pass all the important Nizami milestones -- Mecca Masjid, Laad Bazaar, Mir Chowk, Hussaini Alam, Purana Pul and Jaali Hanuman before finally reaching Dhoolpet. The journey was always marred with interruptions like us getting down to push the rickshaw during steep inclines. Once we arrived at our grandparents’ home in Dhoolpet, it would take the next half-hour to bring our numb legs to life.

My mother had an amazing presence. During my childhood, if she had gone to the city and was late coming home, our house would be dull like an abandoned house . I used to wait at the door anxiously, looking out at the street. Suddenly, she would emerge from the bus stand, her walk home brightening up the whole street. She had a calming, exuberant presence and could ease everyone’s anxieties.

She was also persistent. During our house construction in 1975, she wanted to change the staircase plan. She discussed her plans with the site supervisors. Finally, everyone, including my engineer dad, had to agree with her suggestion.

She was also the most organized person. She would recycle almost everything, making quilts out of saris, transforming wood from chairs into beds and making innovative use of boxes. Our typical family vacation when I was a child was to either Yadagiri Gutta or Tirupati. She would pack for everyone. During the journey, if you needed anything – a safety pin, comb, hot tea, a snack – she would provide it.

Amma had many strengths, especially courage. You might think, “What does a housewife know of courage?” The role she played in life was as challenging as that of a war general. She was like a rock in the face of calamities, dealing with her daughter's unarranged marriage in 1980, my father’s psychological bouts, the loss of her brother and, finally, my father's sudden death in 1996.

Amma always had a giving hand despite her own struggling finances. She always fought for the underprivileged in family and beyond. She would give them comfort, a listening ear and as much financial help as she could afford. She could detect worries just by looking into someone’s face. She took a keen interest in fixing marriage alliances, mostly representing girls' families. She also gave the gift of her eyes to help others. In one of the free eye camps that I sponsored few years back, Amma signed up to donate her eyes after her death. Because of her generous act, someone can see today. That is her last gift to this world.

When she visited me in the United States in 1997, she would fold the kitchen paper towel after drying her hands. She said, “How can you throw away a precious thing like this in this country?”. I still remember after I picked her up from the airport and we sat down to eat at our dining table. Suddenly, I see her hand reach to serve me rice and curry. Having lived in this country for so long, I had forgotten I have someone other than my wife to serve me dinner in my house. I realized that it was my mother sitting next to me and she raised us even before our wives entered our lives. In the United States, she would visit my friends. If anyone was looking for a job, she would ask me to find a job for them. I would reply that in order to get a job, one has to have additional skills like good communications, maintain eye contact and a strong handshake showing confidence. She would immediately cite a couple of my other friends who don't interact much and question how they got a job without having such skills.

She was very jovial and open to listen to our personal and professional issues, including layoffs. She was equally fond of politics and ETV serials

She never hesitated to stand by someone during their bad days. She took a personal interest in my friends' families and their children. As a mother-in-law, she was very commanding and always above petty kitchen politics with her five daughters-in-law. She was empathetic and compassionate. She lived to see her granddaughters marry, too.

Every month, she would plan a visit to the Old City bank to draw my father's pension. I accompanied her once during my trip to India. It was indeed a full-day job. She would take me to see my cousin who fills out bank withdrawal forms. I offered to help, but she said, "You don't know. It has to be in a particular order and only he can fill out the form". Then we wait in a long line at the bank until it is finally her turn to draw money. In the evening, she would celebrate with her sister-in-law and my cousin in the Old City for a successful pension withdrawal. She was always contended & self-sufficient with finances.

She had excellent memory. She would recognize her medications just by the colors and patterns of the medication strip. Once while in Hyderabad, I went to the nearby medical shop to get her prescription filled. She looked at the medication strip for some time, then said, “This is not mine.” I went to the shop and the pharmacist apologized for giving me the wrong medication.
One of my proudest accomplishments was that, despite living in the United States for the past 12 years, I celebrated almost every New Year’s with Amma in India. While in US, I used to talk to her almost daily.

I learned many important life lessons from my mom:

• Never lose courage in the face of calamity. Always remain calm and tackle a problem head-on instead of running away or avoiding it. Her life was filled with new situations and challenges. She always approached these courageously. She never had a sleepless night. No matter what, she always fell into a deep sleep within seconds.
• Have empathy and compassion for the downtrodden and poor. My mother once traveled by road to Shirdi. She was sad a whole week after her return. I asked her the reason and she said she couldn't bear the sights of poverty she passed on her route, especially in Maharashtra
• Have fun in life. My mother was the first one to organize a party and never missed an opportunity to attend marriages, birthdays and other celebrations. Even in the midst of life’s problems, she would surround herself with her children, laughter and celebrations.

• Always love your family members, no matter what .She was the only girl in a family with seven sons. She always looked out for them and their children.
• It is very expensive to maintain enmity. Make every effort to clear up misunderstandings and always take the first step to befriend an upset friend or relative.
Her only solace in life was God and she was a big devotee of Lord Shiva. My father introduced her to Kundalini yoga, Hare Krishna, etc.. All her life, she fasted for Ekadashi (Lunar 10th day) and I remember that she would have a sumptuous lunch for Dwadashi (Lunar 11th day) after prolonged pooja and 24 hours of fasting every fortnight. Many said she died on an auspicious Ksheerabdi Dwadasi day in divine Karthika maasam due to her spiritual lifestyle.

Though it is painful to accept that she is gone, mom had a full life, one of challenges, courage and lots of fun. Prolonging her life would have been excruciatingly painful for her and all of us because of her medical condition.

God's greatest gift to mankind is Mother and she will always be in her children’s hearts while on earth or in heaven.

- Venkat Aekka
please add your comments or send feedback to: vaekka@yahoo.com

Famous Indians

2011-07-01T14:09:00.000-05:00

Amarajeevi – SivaRathri connection

2011-03-02T13:16:00.000-05:00

From my childhood, I wanted to fast on Sivarathri day. During my school years, I used to make big "early morning" announcements that I would fast along with my parents. I usually start off well in the morning, ready to say "YES" to typical Sivarathi question "Are you fasting today?" Somehow thoughts of food, hunger would finally overwhelm me and meekly would go in for "fast-break" @3:00PM. This used to happen almost every year. It was always an insurmountable target all my life.

Couple of years back, I tried again - with some peer pressure (friend visiting me from India). I took up this personal maha-yagna called "Upavasam" on SivaRathri.

For SivaRathri Day, I was on my ritualistic annual SivaRathri Journey - "Upavasam". Late in the evening, somehow I started thinking about Amarajeevi Potti Sreeramulu. If I can barely make it thru' a day, how could have he made it thru' 58 days and eventually die for the cause of a separate state for Telugu people.

What I accomplished yesterday was 1/58th ( 2%) of Amarajeevi's penance for my own personal cause - one day package deal with Lord Siva for betterment of my personal life. Imagine the cause in Amarajeevi's mind, his physical state thru' 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, 28 days, .. Imagine every second on the 57th day, where he is fighting an internal battle and calming down "hunger outcries" within himself by a dream called "Andhra Pradesh" for Telugu People.

I googled on "fast undo death" and all you get results like "began fast undo death", "continues into 3rd day", "relay hunger strike" (innovative version wherein no one dies eventually). The only hero is Amarajeevi to successfully not make it to 58th day for the cause of "Telugu People".

Excerpt from an article on Potti Sreeramulu's life and his last days …
-------------------------------

Born to Potti Guravayya and Mahalakshmamma in Madras on March 16, 1901, Sriramulu had his education in Madras. His ancestors, who belonged to Guntur district, had migrated to Madras in search of greener pastures. He did his diploma in sanitary engineering from the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute in Bombay. He worked in the G.I.P. Railway in Madras and Bombay for four years for a salary of Rs.250 a month.
In 1928, his wife gave birth to a child and died. Within a few days, the baby also died, leaving him grief-stricken. The subsequent death of his mother made him lose interest in worldly pursuits and paved the way for his entry into and active involvement in the non-violent movements led by Gandhiji.
On August 15, 1951, Swamy Seetharam launched a fast-unto-death for achieving the demand for a separate Andhra state. The Central Government did not take notice of the agitation. The fast continued for 35 days. Sensing danger, Acharya Vinobha Bhave apprised Nehru of the situation. The two leaders met Seetharam and made him give up the fast, promising to get statehood for Andhra. Nehru, however, did not keep his promise.
Potti Sriramulu decided to undertake a fast-unto-death. He began the fast in the house of Bulusu Sambamurthy in Madras city on October 19, 1952. Several people thought that this would be another fast that would be given up after some days. After 20 days his health deteriorated.
Tanguturi Prakasam Panthulu used to visit the hunger-strike camp daily and inquire about his health. The Gandhian, Yerneni Subrahmanyam, used to shed tears secretly seeing his plight. Though Sriramulu became physically weak, he was mentally strong and declined to give up his fast.
On the 56th day, he passed into a coma and a couple of days later, he developed breathing problems. On December 15, 1952, Sriramulu breathed his last, after 58 days of fasting. On the intimation of Yerneni Subrahmanyam, the legendary singer, Ghantasala, and freedom-fighter and singer, Moparru Dasu, rushed to the place. They composed and rendered a song in honour of the immortal leader.
The body was taken in a procession. When the procession reached Mount Road, thousands of people joined and raised slogans hailing Sriramulu. Later, they went into a frenzy and resorted to destruction of public property. The news spread like wildfire and created an uproar among the people in far off places like Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Eluru, Guntur, Tenali, Ongole and Nellore.
Seven people were killed in police firing in Anakapalle and Vijayawada. The popular agitation continued for three to four days disrupting normal life in Madras and Andhra regions. On December 19, 1952, Nehru, agreed to grant statehood to Andhras
The State of Andhra was formed on October 1, 1953, with Kurnool as its capital. On November 1, 1956, Andhra Pradesh was formed with Hyderabad as its capital.
----------------------------------------------------

The difference between then and now is our political leaders first think about "What is in it for me ?". Instead Amarajeevi made an unprecedented down payment - his life, at a prime age of 51. As you might know, Amarajeevi relocated to Sabarmathi Ashram and worked with Gandhi in the freedom struggle. Amarajeevi took an approach wherein he would make an upfront sacrifice - "his life", to get national attention. Great leaders like Pandit Nehru started seriously thinking about AP and announced state for Telugu people within 4 days of his death ( state was formed formally on Oct 1, 1953 with Kurnool as capital ). Eventually we got our state on November 1st, 1956.

I checked on google, Amarajeevi is one of the very few (IRA leader Bobby Sands, Cuban revolutionary, etc.) in the history of mankind who died fasting for a cause. We should all feel proud to live in a state called "Andhra Pradesh" and I personally started remembering his great sacrifice on Maha ShivaRathri every year

We have taken pains to name districts, stadiums, airports after leader's maternal uncles, speakers, state ministers. He gave us a state for Telugus and in return we didn't do anything to commemorate him correctly. Naming Nellore district after Amarajeevi is a good first step.

Telugu Kavitha - Tolstoy KathaNaayakudu

2010-05-13T10:29:00.016-05:00

Countries Debts

2010-02-17T22:25:00.015-05:00

USA
debt $12.3 Trillion
GDP $14 Trillion
Annual Budget Deficit:

$1.54 Trillion
Debt as % of GDP 80%

India
debt $696 Billion
GDP $1.2 Trillion
Annual Budget Deficit $96 Billion
Debt as % of GDP 56%

China
debt $600 Billion
GDP $4 Trillion
Annual Budget Deficit $80 Billion
Debt as % of GDP 15%

Greece
Debt $332 Billion
GDP $343 Billion
Annual Budget Deficit $41 Billion
Deficit as % of GDP 97 %

Country debt can make or break any country. In 2002 Argentina defaulted on $90 billion external debt payments. This resulted in economic isolation of Argentina by bond holders and IMF. The currency (Peso) got devalued 75% making essential imports out of reach. It took 4 years for the country to stabilize and still struggling to have balanced budgets and clear off debt.

World economy is like living in a community of different families. Imagine a street with diverse neighbors. The street has a small community bank IMF.

One guy Mr. Greece makes 34k but has 35k credit card loans. Do you think this family will fall apart or since he lives in EU apartment complex, other rich flat owners will rescue him. do you thing whole apartment complex will lose its realestate value because of few flat owners living beyond means. Look at the chart above

How about wealthy neighbor Sam who is powerful and everyone in the street somehow linked in business with him. He makes around 1.4 mil p.a more than anyone on the street but also has equal amount of debt. He continues to make loans every year 10% of his pay. People are lining up to lend him. Do you think one day people stop lending him if he continues to live beyond his means. What happens to the debt he owes to the complete community.

What about the neighbor who used to be poor few years ago and now is on par with anyone. Currently he makes 400k and has just 60K debt. He is only one who saves money annually to lend it to others specially Sam.

What about Mr. India who has only 120k pay and has 60K loan. every year he adds 10k to his debt. Do you think he will soon work harder and pay off his loan and takes care of his big family

He has 10 children and 2 of them barely affording meals. 3 children cannot even read. Other 5 kids are doing fine with stable jobs and are recently able to afford new comforts like cars, T Vs, cell phones.

Tribute to an Artist:T Sunder Raju (1957-2007)

2010-01-30T14:03:00.000-05:00

T Sundar Raju, my first cousin (Mena Bawa), suddenly left this world without any hint. Things got triggered from a chest pain in wee hours of Jan 28th, 2007 to a second fatal stroke at 10:00AM same day.

Association with him is a private experience. I thought, I will take few moments to pen fond memories and introduce who he was.. posthumously. it is my way of paying homage and last respects to my affectionate "Sunderanna"

I always feel that our generation is crossover generation, the one that lived thru' transition between centuries of lifestyle changes and always acted as a change agent. We are the last ones who still go back and forth between distinctly different generations ..our parents and our kids.. One of the fighters of the our generation was T. Sunder Raju. He waged this war of life with his own set of unique weaponry made of art, emotions, sensitivity, humor, love and affection. That old world of ours starts with a brother (my dad) and sister (my aunt) building houses next door in Aliabad, old city of Hyderabad. We are 5 brothers and 2 sisters and my aunt has 5 sons and 4 daughters. A total of 16 kids grew up together on the same street and had matched pairs according to the ages. I am the youngest of the team at 44 yrs and the oldest is now 60 yrs. The team of 16 included entrepreneurs, govt. employees, bank managers, NRIs (like me), nurses, teachers, housewives and one great artist T. Sunder Raju.

The artist is so picky about everything, that he added "Raju" to his original name "Sunder" in 70s. Somehow "Sunder" sounded too stale to him. Remember he is an artist.

In my childhood, he ran the idea by me - of officially changing his name (most of the time I was the scapegoat). I reacted that "Sunder" sounds OK to me, but still he insisted that he need to add "Rao" or "Raju" to it. We went all the way and released the mandatory name change advertisement in Deccan Chronicle in 1977. It was funny to read the ad. "T Sunder hereby should be addressed as T Sunder Raju". While reading his obituary of T Sunder Raju, I thought at least this dream of his life came true, as a last gift from this world.
Sunderanna was always creative and fun loving. I recently told my kids a story about him. Though he was studious and hard working, he struggled at clearing SSC exams first time. Our house (next door) was under construction. To divert "dreadful" discussion about him on results day, he enacted a "suicide drama". he made a noose made of white rope. He slowly walked upstairs with a full display of noose on his shoulder. He also made sure that we all had sufficient visibility to comprehend his "impending actions". Then we all went upstairs along with my mother and saw him slowly walking in "deep thoughts" with noose on his shoulder. My mother consoled him "Sunder, pooni raa..exams fail aithey ye maindi.." and both of them walked down with all cousins giggling in the back for his "ritual". He went back to his room and carefully hung the noose in his closet ..for his drama next year..just in case.

I wish it were another "suicide drama" from Sunderanna. Unfortunately there were no visible hints .. he was serious this time.

He went to Viveka Vardhini School. After inter, he joined B Com in Agarwal Signodia College. He used to speak in impeccable telugu just like my aunt. He always liked old telugu songs like "Joruga Husharuga Teli Podama", "Ee Vennela ja ja ja". He used to convert family anthakshari sessions to his non-stop songs medley..we had to physically stop him from singing by holding him and shutting his mouth.

His first job was in APSTC overseeing "Bhagyalakshmi Lottery". His working hours started at 5:00PM. His job was to inspect @40 lottery outlets in old city for sales, collections, etc. I used to join him on his old city bicycle tours areas like dabeerpura, yakutpura, charminar.. the trip would culminate in a watermelon treat for me in front of Mecca Masjid (10 paise a plate). He later resigned APSTC job and secured admission in Degree of Commercial Art in Fine Arts College, JNTU.

His first art work that I have seen was for a Diwali Festival in 1973…both families would compete for the "bommala koluvu" display. Sunderanna was always the best in his displays in terms of theme, concept, colors, etc. It would be a serious competition with Sunderanna leading the opposite team and my brother Rajanna leading our team. The decoration theme & material was always kept a secret till Diwali night. Kids used to spy by walking around the houses and asking around what Sunderanna is working on, everyone including elders guarded the secret and material ..

Finally on the Diwali night when the decorations get unraveled, it was a thrilling sight for both the families .kids will make umpteen trips between houses and make assessments.. For one Diwali night, Rajanna made replica of houses on our street. The display was stunning with exact dimensions, colored houses made of card board, roads and small street lamps. We thought, Sunderanna would not be able to match us. We went running to their house.. He unraveled his decoration .it was a sight that I won't forget in my life..the theme was "landing on the moon" .. Big round surface (5x5 ft) with replica Apollo 11, miniature astronauts climbing down the stairs..American Flag..moon surface made of sand ..Sunderanna won that year hands down. Next year, we tried even harder to beat him. Our display was fantastic ..we were thinking he will play some trick on us as there was no sign of any preparations ..finally on diwali night ..he personally decorated his niece Pallavi and made her sit as display …he won second time too ..we were no match for his creative mind ..

I started growing taller and always measured myself against him. One day I declared ."Sunderanna ..look I am taller than you .." he quickly retorted "Thaati Chettu kooda podugga untadhi ..kaani eimi laabham..". He was always delicate in his style. He would never take more than a glass of beer. Most of the time, he liked to wear Jeans and T shirts. Even in my last visit, I saw him in Jeans. I asked "Sunderanna..nuvvee jeans eisthe..mem eimeyyallee". Even in this picture he wears a T shirt..he always looked young ..

As an artist, he used to draw few sketches now and then, the first art work I remember he did was a collage in 1976. All pictures were taken from Filmfare and other magazines with his picture on the side sipping coffee with big classes. In 70s, he painted his living room. On one of the walls, he used a primrose red color…contrasting with light colors on other walls. I vehemently opposed the dark color choice of his, until he explained what "contrast" is.. In real life, he was the contrast supporting light colors around him.. always different ..in life as well as in death..

I have never met an artist like him…He made a dining table out of 2 big tree barks ..personally went into wild and located the trees, cut them, seasoned them and then painted. The table surface is a glass and one can see all the tree rings from top. In his flat at Sithaphal Mandi, instead of regular calling (door) bell, I saw a decorative rope coming thru' the wall adjacent to the front door. When I entered the apartment, I found a small temple bell ..I stood astounded and he shook me back to normalcy by saying "it works even during power cuts". In his new flat in Barkatpura, he made almost 8 ft tall & 2 ft diameter HP pencil out of wood. It leans against the wall next to TV and changes your perspective about simple things in life. I have never met a genius like him before ..

He got married around 1985 to Madhavakka. He started an Advertisement Agency "SM ads" focusing on commercial ads. He did little business in commercial art work and then shifted his office to Himayathnagar flat. The first interior designing project, he took up was for his office (425 sq ft flat) in late eighties. He showed me around ..small recess lights, low ceiling roof. In business, he slowly moved away from screen printing / brochures to more interior house designs. Though he struggled in his initial years in business, past few months he has been very successful in interior design projects in Hyderabad.

Last September (06), when I visited his flat for breakfast & enquired about business, he said "I have sufficient projects and I cannot handle more than 5 projects a year". That's a very comforting statement coming from Sunderanna, after so many years of struggle. He tasted success in his life only in the last few months. I always used to ask him "Sunderanna when are you buying car ?". During Sep 06 visit, he replied "definitely this year raa".

I was told he bought a new car in Dec 06. He made a CD of all his interior design works till now. He recently threw a party to all his old pals from 1970s. People say it almost appeared he had premonition. He chatted with his sons night before. watched TV till 1:00am with them .. Kissed them good night, very unlike of him that night.

Stress was always his enemy. He took to heart small issues that bothers everyone which we all ignore.. whether it is an apartment association issue or a general social issue. He habitually called TV9 and other shows expressing his opinions. If he disagrees with something, he can't sleep over it. This month (Jan 07) during TANA members visit (my friends from Detroit, US) to Hyderabad, he heard about someone from TANA supporting "Jai Andhra" on TV news. That night, he called visiting TANA team every hour till midnight to seek clarification as he was against split of any kind in our state. Finally TANA president Dr. Hanumaiah Bandla garu issued a statement next day in favor of One State for all Telugus - "United SwarnAndhra Pradesh". Later that night, Sunderanna spoke eloquently at the TANA meet honoring my friend and ex-TANA President Gangadhar Nadella and also recited a poem on the subject. that's how he was ..

Though health wise he was not doing great, he looked energetic and passionate. In 1998, he had a serious pancreatic problem and recently I was told he developed Diabetes and BP. I never imagined for a moment that he will leave us like this .."Sunderanna, We miss you in this life"

- Chinna (Venkat Aekka)vaekka@yahoo.com

FEEDBACK

-----------------------------------------------------

Chinna,
Your Blog on sunderanna is very touching, thanks for your efforts.
Yesterday I spoke with sister-in-law (Madhavi) and she advised to make the following changes in it:
> Interior decorator should be replaced with Interior Designer

> Year of marriage is 1985, but not 1982.
>Screen printing should be replaced with Advertising Agency. Also wedding and greeting cards printing was small part of Advertising Agency and no need to show up separately.

Still not able to immunise Sunderanna's demise, it's a great loss to all of us.

Thanks,
Srinu

Srinivas Thokala (brother)
SPRINT, Kansas city

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chinna,

It was a shock to me when i saw his photo in news paper obituary column.We immediately called your home only to know that funeral already took place on Sunday.Bindu visted Aliyabad yesterday.

I met him along with you in Devender's office and we had lunch together..during that time only you were talking about his car..Bindu bumped into him in Bhavani furnishing shop in Liberty..when we were doing up the home.. Further to this,he came to our home along with his wife early in the morning to advise on our colors/interiors..etc He saw the whole home and didnt say much..( I m sure he didnt like )..He encouraged Bindu and quitely left the home..

tears rolled down my cheeks when I read your mail on him..you are a sensitive and a humane person..someone who has a "feel" for others feelings..fortunate are all those who know you..thank you for being my best buddy..

Babloo

Sudershan Murthy
Genesis Computers

------------------------------------------------------------------
Very well written piece! I like the flow of the piece. You may want to correct liver disease to pancreas disease also the year 1994 to 1998.
Love,
Aditya
-------------------------------------------------------------
Venkat,

My heartfelt condolences . I can appreciate how much you must have liked him, by reading the narration of key events and pleasant memories.

Regards,

Nambi.
Geometric Software Systems
--------------------------------------------------------

Dear Venkat,
My condolences on your loss.
Its a very touching article. May his soul rest in peace.
May God give you the strength in these tough times.- Amol

------------------------------------------------------
Chinna,

What you wrote is very touching. I am sorry to hear about this loss.

--Arun Mandhania
Xilinx

------------------------------------------------------
Venkat, Sorry to hear the news. I know it is terribly bad thing to happen at this age. We can only pray god for his soul peace. Now let us see how we can help family/kids to settle. I will call you.
Thanks,
Prasad Deva
Vasudeva Realtors

--------------------------------------------------------------

While reading the memoir I felt you have penned an heartfelt honest feeling about Sunderanna.
Regards,
Pramod Agarwal
Microsoft Corp.
Hyderabad.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Chinna,
Every letter and spirit of your homage to our beloved Sundaranna is touching. It is a grave and irreparable loss to our Vasudeva Realtors in general and to me in particular. I have lost a lovely brother, great guide and above them all a great human of our times.
There is a small correction in our article/homage where in it is quoted as "United Andhra" instead of "Jai Andhra". He was very much for a united Andhra and deadly against split of any part of Andhra pradesh. He spontaneously penned a poem titled " Oka samanyudi gunde chappudu" in support of United Andhra.

Devender Reddy
Vasudeva Realtors

----------------------------------------------------------
Venkat anna, my condolences. – Koty Velivela

------------------------------------------------------
Venkat, Sorry to hear about your loss. The obituary is quite touching. 50 years too young - probably a warning sign to us all to take care in earnest. Please convey our deepest condolences to the family.
Regards,
Dr. Ramana Kappangantu

-----------------------------------------------------
It is very sad to know about sudden demise of T.Sunder Raju and is no more.I have noted your feelings that you had expiriences in different way of his artistic life style and are unforgetable during our life time.I sincerly requst your goodselves to convey my condolence to their family.

MAHATMA.

-----------------------------------------------------
Anna,

It was really painful to read your synopsis on a close relation.
I pray sundaranna's soul rest in peace.

Regards
Madhu
Inknowvate

---------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Chinna, I am sorry to here about this news.
Thanks for sharing your cousin's personality with us.

-Sreedhar (Boys Town)

---------------------------------------------------------
Venkat,

Sorry to hear the loss of your cousin. Based on what you written about him he sure was a kind man and you were very attached to him. I hope you will deal with loss appropriately. You have been through before. I am sorry.

Regards,

Sudhir Kulkarni

---------------------------------------------
Dear Venkat
Sorry to hear the sad news. Our prayers and thougts for his soul in peace. You have very good memories and narrated very well in an orderly manner.
We never know how ones life changes with out any signal. On the same day(1/28) my cousin in M.Nager died in a car accident. He was almost 70 + years.
We have to deal with all these situation staying far from our families
take it easy
Prabhaker Dhanwada

--------------------------------------------------------
Chinna Uncle,

This news is really heart-breaking for all of us. A very touchy but true reflections about Sunder babai.In my recent visit to India I could spend some good time with him and throughout our conversation, we had a difference of opinion but we still continued our chat till late midnight.

Both myself and Gopi have enjoyed a special relationship with Sunder babai. He was more like a friend to us and a good mentor to me. In my recent visit he was appreciating the way I have come up in my life and even commented that both of us have comeup in our life with many hardships.

I even had done my interiors done with him for my new apartment in Nallkunta and did not give any suggestions but left the total task of finishing the project to him and he had compeleted it with a great passion.

There are many fond memories which I have associated with him and it is hard for all of us to believe that he is no longer with us. Let us all stand in support of his family and give our best to help them regain the strength to live without Sunder babai.

Regards,
Ravi Thokala
630-400-1331

--------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Venkat,
My heartfelt condolences on the demise of Sundranna.
If you were lucky to have an 'anna' like him he too is fortunate to have a 'tammi' like you.
Your piece on him was really very touching and brought out evocatively the life and times of a sensitive, talented person who was perhaps anachronistic in this callous and cruel age.

Ramendra
http://www.ramendra.com/

------------------------------------------------------
Chinnanna,

Its very sad to hear that. I'm sorry and my condolences for you loss. Will call you soon. I don't know whats happening, but all sad news lately. Feels so depressing these days.

Chandu.

------------------------------------------------------------
Chinna,

My condolences to you and your family on this loss. We at Canon Health Care
deal with the loss of life of near and dear through professional counselling. After Katrena, there were several people who walked into our premises wanting to talk to which lead to a free service named "Grief Resource Center". You ar most welcomed to use the service or add to its resources.

We also have childrens camp to those kids who have had these sad experiences.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shiva Kumar Akula
Canon Hospice Center
New Orleans

--------------------------------------------------------
Venkat Garu,

Sorry to hear about it.May his soul rest in peace.
Manorama Gondi

-----------------------------------------------------------
Hello Venkat,

I am deeply deeply saddened by this news. It is extremely shocking to me. When I went to India recently, Deva introduced me to him. Sundar helped me a lot, alot .. I can't even tell you. He was so reliable and so helpful. I don't have words to express. I will get in touch with Prasad tomorrow and will talk to him in detail. I will ask my brother to pay respects on my behalf.
I share and feel the loss with you
Uday Kumar Chapalamadugu

---------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Venkat

Evidently he was very close to you. My condolences and May his Soul rest in Peace

Dilip Kuchipudi
---------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Venkat garu,
I'm so sorry to hear your loss of Sunderanna. What I am feeling right now is hard to put into words after reading your fond memories and thoughts of your cousin. Though I haven't met him in person, reading your email gave me an experience of personally knowing him, h e was such a creative person, and I am so sorry.

We will keep you and your family in my prayers.

Regards,
Ravi (Charlotte, NC)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Venkat,

I am very sorry to hear loss of Sunder Anna. So unexpected and such a young age.

My heartfelt condolences, I will call you today.

Sunil
Global Manufacturing Director,
Electronics Electronics Product Group
Visteon Corporation
---------------------------------------------------------------
Venkat,

Sorry to hear your of your loss. Nice eulogy. All though I never met him, after reading it I all most feel like I have known him forever.

Regards,
Poorna.
------------------------------------
Venkat,

This is a very nice tribute to your cousin. Although he has passed this world and this body, he will be remembered for his actions and himself by all those touched by his life in this world. So, he will be with you always.

I wish you to cherish his memory - he is still with you.

- Subbarao
-----------------------------
Venkat Garu,
Sorry to hear about the sudden demise of Mr Sundar Raju garu.

My heartfelt condolences to their family members.
Regards

Sarma
----------------------------------
Venkat - Sorry for the loss. I am in FTSI chennai for last 2 weeks and will be leaving for pune tomorrow.

Sanjay Kulkarni
---------------------------------
Great Job Chnna!

It was very touchy and emotional. I appreciate you remembering all the event and drafting such a big mail.

Thank you very much for letting us know his background.

Praveena Aekka
------------------------------------
Hello Venkat,

We are sorry to hear about the news that your cousin T.Sunder Raju passed away. I appreciate your time and efforts in putting together his legacy into an amazing story. May his soul rest in peace.

Regards,
Andy Chiranjeevi
KBTS Technologies, Inc.
http://www.kbtstech.com/
----------------------------
Please accept our condolences.

Regards,
Doraswamy Morasa
Ford Motor Company

------------------
Venkat,
I read your 'heart' from your email and can understand how you feel. Your Sunderanna may not be anymore physically, but he is always alive in the hearts of those people like you who love him and adore him.
My heartfelt condolences on the death of your beloved Sunderanna...... My prayers for the Soul to rest in peace as well as give you the strength to rebound soon......
Thanks & Regards,
Siva Adusumilli
Uvis - Server 313 39 09629 313 62 18492 (Fax)
------------------------------
Venkat, Sorry to hear the Sad news neverthless your eulogy is very thoughtful and articulate. May his soul rest in peace. Thanks Ajay
-------------------------
Venkat!Hats of you sir!!
I read most of it and i really liked it.. and definitely we need to learn a lot from you.

Thanks!Manoj
------------------------------

Dear Venkat, I am sorry to hear of the breavement. My short acquantence with him has left great impressions. In fact I have replecated a similar calling bell. Sincere condolences, life is full of suprises. take good care.
your pal sam.
-----------------------
Venkat Garu,
Read your document on Sundar Garu. It is very sad to know he is no more available. A great interior decorator is no more. Thank you for sharing the article. Please use Ramesh@Rameshkaza.com email id or mail2kaza@gmail.com in future
Regards,
Ramesh Kaza
--------------------------
Venkat: This is a beautiful homage and tribute straight from a loving heart. It is sure to reach heavens for your beloved Sunderanna. My condolensces and prayers. - Harish Patel
-----------------------------
I can comprehend what this loss means to you all.
Personally I had very few interactions with "Sunder Anna", The way i know him most is beacuse i have heard about him, day-in day-out from you all. I think he was the most talked about personality in your group ourside your immidiate family.
I have heard about his creativity from lot of people especially the Dinning table that he made out of the tree trunks and the sofa's that he decorated in his drawing room.The latest that i knew was that he was the brain behind Rajender babu's ( No offence ,I am trying to avoid Uncle word) new house at Medchal and i was told about the beautiful art work that was done in the false roofing.
Definetly now it makes sence to the words "Life comes fast at you "
Please convey my respects to his family .
ANILRAJ AKULA
----------------------------------
Venkat,Sorry to learn about your loss. Your article was very touching and it gave me an idea of someone so dear to you even though I never met him. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and fond memories about Sundar. It's one of best ways to remember someone.Sorry for the delay in reading/replying to your mail. Just didn't get around to this email earlier.

Best Wishes,
Tarun Mandhania
---------------

Greater Hyderabad Opinions

2009-12-12T22:57:00.016-05:00

Reporting from Hyderabad - Dec 13th, 2009
Last 15 days have been historical ..on Nov 30th, 2009 the announcement of fast unto death by KCR was initially treated as another gimmick and was riddled with false starts like drinking juice by KCR on 2nd day itself ..Students who took out mock funeral processions of CM Rosiah and Sonia Gandhi, suddenly took KCR's mock funeral after they heard he broke the fast.

KCR soon became lead character "Raju" of RK Narayan's classic novel "The Guide" where villagers forced Raju to take up fast for rains and eventually see him die making him a martyr. Well this is history and not a novel .. the second time KCR took his fast seriously and this time he was willing to give his life for Telangana..all prior allegations like he took 100 crores from TeluguDesam for being part of "MahaKutami" slowly fizzled and replaced by his near death visuals from NIMS..it is grave mistake if someone says it is acting ..man with several ailments did not listening to doctors to break his fast..

NIMS visuals slowly transformed "canny and articulate" politician into a "Mahatma" and "Potti Sreeramulu"..another couple of days would have driven frail KCR into coma or other health situation where we could have lost KCR to the cause.

Congress was very quick and impressive in averting the tense situation in Hyderabad on Dec 10th, 2009 by announcing "process to separate the state has been intiated" statement by P Chidambaram. Protest Rallies turned into Victory rallies.. Everyone in AP was dissecting words like "process" and "resolution" and started interpreting them to their own advantage ..

Again like another unpredictable turn, there was huge uproar from Andhra and Rayalseema regions on the "Telangana" announcement.

Though parties have expressed support for Telangana formation including TeluguDesam, apparently no one saw it coming..In fact there was the assumption that there will be somehow status quo and they can continue to express support for Telangana without any consequences..

But KCR's fast has changed everything..Political leaders were changing tones like there should have been prior consensus from public..In all party meeting by CM Shri Rosiah everyone expressed support to abide by the decision from High Command.

After the decision, they have started questioning powers of Sonia, asking what she knows about AP history ..Naturally Sonia Gandhi will look at her party's future interests and doesn't have time and energy to learn about AP history.

Then started the Samikhya Andhra rallies followed by resignations from 130 MLAs from 190 Andhra and Rayalseema MLAs..22 ministers are planning to resign today including possibly CM also ..

Noone saw this coming ..such a huge response to keep our state in tact and as one Rashtram..I am thinking that there are compelling reasons for these reactions ..

> contributes about of total AP employment. IT sector alone is Rs 8000 crs ($1.8 Billion) which is predominantly based in Hyderabad

>Out of 63 lakhs Hyd population, 40% are Muslims, 10% are Andhrites and rest from "core" Telangana. Telangana people are the most affectionate ones and go about themselves with their grand "Daawats" and "Mandu parties" for even small milestones like "Vollelu or "Dhootulu" ceremony with thousands of guests. They are never divisive in nature and always accommodating of any culture whether it is Marwadi or Gujarathis or Andhras.

They make special efforts to change their slang like "cheppandi, vachaaru" before an Andhrite and turn to "cheppe and vachindu" as soon as he leaves.

There is no region in the world where locals modify own slang just to please an outsider..that is the greatness of Telangana people.

That's why Samikhya movement is gaining traction because Hyderabad has quickly become more than hometown for most settlers ..we are all used to see "rallies" to seperate regions..nowhere in history there were "protests" for uniting 2 regions of people .. ..that's the greatness of Andhra Pradesh.

Looking at students in Vizag and Vijayawada, their expression is very genuine to keep the AP united.

> There are several proposals flying around like "Dual Capital", "Union Territory" to retain status quo on today's Hyderabad.

Change always is harsh and it is naive to imagine that there won't be any change. As KCR says we can't reverse a released arrow.

Now time only will decide how much of a deviation KCR and people of Telangana can make to separate state announcement to appease all groups.

2 weeks back no one imagined president's rule in AP and destabilized Central Govt due to one man's fast in a remote town of Telangana.

I am sure there will be deviations to the proposals specially looking at nation's and state's interests.

My proposal
We should look into making Hyderabad as "dual capital". The only objection from KCR last night was geographical nature of Hyderabad not allowing Chandigarh like capital where is it accessible from Punjab and Haryana.

Along the Hayathnagar Highway to Kodada of present Nalgonda, declare 20 kms on each side highway as extension of Greater Hyderabad and develop a new capital for Andhra near Kodada.

New Investments shoud be made in the new capital for Andhra, which will also develop backward region of Nalgonda

Hyderabad will serve as dual capital and cater to all Telugus as before.

One should look at history before embarking on defining boundaries.

East Germany was like Telangana of Europe and after Berlin wall construction became one of the most ignored and backward region in Europe. Only in 1989 and after merger of East and West Germanies, East Germans seeing growth prospects and even elected Merkel, The first lady Chancellor from East Germany.

Regds,
Venkat Aekka
vaekka@yahoo.com
http://vaekka.blogspot.com

91 80990 36160 (Hyd Cell)
001 734 674 5060 (US cell)

Chaalisi Mein Aashiqui

2009-11-17T15:10:00.000-05:00

Bahut saalo baad, Nazar se nazar mili..
Chaalis saal ka pyar, Ek din mein jaag utih..
Bahut ummid se , Meri dil ki baat kahi..
Bahut bechaini se, Aap ki jawab ka intazaar kiya..
Naa jawab hai, Na kuch ishaara hai..
Maana ke aap bahut khubsoorat hai..
Hum bhi tho kuch bure nahi..
Khoobsoorathi mein aap Madhuri Dixit nahi..
Umar mein hum bhi M F Hussain nahi..

Venkat Aliabadi

telugu poetry published in Palana Baasha of Andhikara Baasha Sangham

2009-02-28T00:38:00.003-05:00

my interview on teluguone..click on the link

2009-02-08T00:57:00.004-05:00

Excerpts from the Book - Vivekananda - The Living Vedanta

2008-06-10T07:13:00.000-05:00

Swamy Vivekananda ..The Living Vedanta ..by Chaturvedi

Little known facts about Swamy Vivekananda

1) I never knew that he fought for women so much ..he thought America has progressed a lot because of women liberation whereas in India, though we all prey to Shakti as our creator and destroyer ..we still ill treat our women and that's bringing down India and Hinduism.

2) His sister commits suicide (Sati) and that disturbs him a lot during his penance in Himalayas

3) He was born on Jan 12, 1863. His dad was a rich lawyer and was giving away property and money to relatives and Vivekananda asks him why he is wasting money on relatives and what he plans to give him as a son. His dad takes him to the mirror and says " I gave you him - Narendranath (Vivekananda). You don't worry about money"

4) He loves his mother so much that after becoming Vedanta, he never meets her. Few years before his death, he takes his mother and her friend for 2 months vacation to Kanyakumari. When Ramakrishna mission asks him to visit Chennai center, he says I am on vacation and I can't visit Chennai center

5) His friends in Chennai (he used to address them Madras Boys) raised money for his trip. in US, his savings dwindles down to $140 dollars and he writes a SOS letter to Madras Boys to send him money and he can survive till their reply

6) His had same issues like you and me, his brother was in UK looking for jobs and he supported and gave him accommodation in his room and started referring him to his friends

7) After Parliament of Religions in Chicago, he was a big hit in US. He used to stay in Michigan Governor's house for lectures. he charged $1400 per lecture in 1890s. He sent all earnings to the poor in India.Vivekananda successfully introduced yoga and Vedanta to the West and lectured around America introducing the topics (1894-6). Later, he started Vedantic centers in New York City and London, lectured at major universities and generally kindled western interest in Hinduism. His success was not without controversy, much of it from Christian missionaries of whom he was fiercely critical. After four years of constant touring, lecturing and retreats in the West, he came back to India in the year 1897.

8) He was against brahmins. He said they created barriers between man and God. He started eating non-veg and occasionally smoked pipe. He wrote about harsh weather in Chicago specially during winter.

9) His life was for 4 decades. His first 2 decades was consumed in childhood and learning, his 20s was transformation into Advaita Vedanta and 30s spent in US/UK trips. He came twice to US/UK. His started in a boat from Chennai to Vancouver and travelled to Boston by train.

excerpts from his wandering days after Ramakrishna's death ..

---------------------------
During these wandering days, Vivekananda stayed in kings' palaces, as well as the huts of the poor. He came in close contact with the culture of different regions of India and various classes of people in India. Vivekananda observed the imbalance in society and tyranny in the name of caste. He realised the need for a national rejuvenation if India was to survive at all. He reached Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent on 24 December 1892. There, he swam across the sea and started meditating on a lone rock. He thus meditated for three days and said later that he meditated about the past, present and future of India. The rock went on to become the Vivekananda memorial at Kanyakumari.

Vivekananda Temple on Vivekananda rock at Kanyakumari, India
Vivekananda went to Madras and spoke about his plans for India and Hinduism to the young men of Madras. They were impressed by the monk and urged him to go to the United States and represent Hinduism in the World Parliament of Religions. The Raja of Ramnad, who was originally invited for the conference, promoted Vivekananda as the right person to represent the views of Hinduism in the Parliament. Thus, helped by his friends at Chennai, Bhaskara Sethupathi, Raja of Ramnad and Maharajas of Mysore and Khetri, Vivekananda set out on his journey to the USA.
In one of his lectures in California, the swami described about his condition during wandering days as follows: [2]
“
Many times I have been in the jaws of death, starving, footsore, and weary; for days and days I had no food, and often could walk no farther; I would sink down under a tree, and life would seem to be ebbing away. I could not speak, I could scarcely think, but at last the mind reverted to the idea: "I have no fear nor death; never was I born, never did I die; I never hunger or thirst. I am It! I am It! The whole of nature cannot crush me; it is my servant. Assert thy strength, thou Lord of lords and God of gods! Regain thy lost empire! Arise and walk and stop not!" And I would rise up, reinvigorated; and here I am today, living! Thus, whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything adverse must vanish. For after all, it is but a dream. Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Maya. Fear not, and it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies.
---------------

10) Official Indian representative for (PoR) Parliament of Religion was a Bengali. He goes to Boston in Aug end 1895 and meets PoR coordinator and gets himself permission to speak at PoR on Sep 11, 1893. The first week of Sep, he travels back to Chicago and loses his friend's address. He lives on streets of Chicago for few days. His sleeps in cardboard boxes. In the suburbs of Chicago, weak with several days of hunger and cold, they mistake him for a homeless man. He knocks several doors and finally one old lady open the door & sees a glow in his face and takes him inside her home on Sep 10th. He goes to PoR with her the next day ..Sep 11, 1893. The rest is all history ..When he started his address by "Brothers and Sisters of America", there was a standing ovation & applause for 2 mins
11) He was good singer and he was introduced to Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa by a common friend in Nov, 1881. First time, when he met Ramakrishna takes him to a room ..says "where were you all this time" ..Vivekananda himself says his first time interaction with his guru was weird and he thought he was a madman. In his first meeting, Ramakrishna tells him that he is avatar of Narada Muni and he has a mission in this world. Ramakrishna treated his wife Sharada Maata as Kaali and preys her daily like mother. Sharada Maata takes care of him till his last breadth (1886) as he suffered from throat cancer. Instead of critiquing other religions, Ramakrishna converted himself into Sufi Muslim for 6 months and Christian for sometime. He came to Ashram and preached about Advaita Vedanta. Once Vivekanda goes to a bar in Calcutta and Ramakrishna sees something different during evening prayers. Vivekananda admits his mistake and Ramakrishna says he is proud of him as his disciple is courageous to admit mistakes.

12) Vivekanda senses his last days during last phase of his 2 nd trip to US/UK (1899-1902). He was in Greece during June 1902. He tells his friends that he needs to go back to India soon. He says that can't die anywhere else other than his MathruBhumi. His friends in Greece raised money for his trip to India as he needs to pay first class to travel unreserved. He reaches India last week of June, 1902. After reaching, he tells his disciples that his last day is July 4 th, 1902. On his last day takes a walk with his disciple and gives him instructions about Ramakrishna Mission and Mutt activities. He watches Ashram kids sports competition from his window in the evening. He last breadth was at 9:00PM on July 4th, 1902 at 39 yrs of age.

Regards
Venkat Aekka

NRIs dos and donts

2008-06-10T07:12:00.001-05:00

Recent months, there is a significant jump in number of accidents/violent incidents/crimes committed against/by NRIs in North America.

I don't have to enumerate them as they are all over the web and newspapers in India.

What's going on..

As with any systemic issue, it is very tough to pinpoint the tipping point for a trend like this. There could be several reasons behind spike in these incidents. The question to ask is why now.

I came to this country in 1991 to pursue MS. I personally think NRI landscape starting changing between 1998-2003 when H1 quota / offshore work got substantially increased providing increased opportunities in IT.

In the process, we didn't have sufficient time to take new comers thru' the vetting process with American etiquette and culture. For us, who came on F1 visa in early 90s, we had a different orientation and introduction to American culture. We got crammed into student dorms where in seniors / friends constantly coached on do's and dont's of this Great Nation. Since we were under severe financial stress to pay college tuition and loans, affording cars in first 2 years was a distant dream.

In the process, we had time to learn how strict US laws are, not to chat on line with any strangers, not to drink and drive, etc.

I am thinking there are large numbers again entering US on F1 and there are few seniors to coach new students as most of them have come thru' H1 visa in the past decade.

Added to this, we specially NRIs are adventurous, have inner competitive spirit to settle down faster, acquire new luxuries like car, condos before our first cousins.

In the process we cut corners in not spending required time to understand all US laws, driving skills, ..

I sincerely think that everyone of us specially new F1/L1/H1 visa holders should take a moment and look at followin dos and donts

Importance of planning a road trip is not assimilated among Indian students. In India, asking directions, following safety rules like seat belts, sleeping before long drives are either frowned upon or made fun of. After securing visa, suddenly young desi students lives are getting transformed from BTech to MS within weeks, and they still think it is OK to voilate safety rules. More information on planning for long drives is at http://www.independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=34&category=2
Plan ahead if you are driving by taking sufficient rest/sleep. This I think is the biggest cause of accidents for Desis. We suddenly plan to meet someone in other city during the weekend and all roommates jump in last minute. After reaching, we will have fun ..bdays, movies, drinks, night long cards, partying..we never get sufficient sleep for the long drive next day. If everyone needs to be at school or work we start like 3:00am the night before for 90 mph drive increasing vulnerability for accidents.
Make sure everyone wears seatbelts and always signup for sufficient driving lessons even if your roommate makes fun of you..it is dangerous to drive on freeways without proper skills
Make it a rule not take any cell phone calls while driving or any other form of distraction like food, music, navigation maps,

Other Safety issues for Desis

Get to know about American laws. One example is that everyone should know that there are always cops online as "disguised teens" responding to your chat requests.. definitely it is not worth it to chat on line. ..it is a trap ..if you are bored go to a Desi movie or Telugu Assn function, Temple or visit a Friend or subscribe to MAA TV or watch Brahmanandam comedy clips..lot of fun-filled activities to kill boredom
Laws here are very strict. Even pushing someone in anger results in a "aggravated assault" felony charge. Property damage, slips on walkways / driveways can result in law suits. That's why Americans are extra cautious about law and very rarely indulge in risky behaviors like arguments in public, road rages, domestic voilence, etc.. They know one can spend years in jail if the other party chooses to press charges.
Get to know American culture. There are stark differences between our cultures. Americans are good in planning ..recently I was in a salon, someone was calling a stylist for an appointment. She gave 2 appointments 3 months apart. I curiously asked her why the 2nd appointment. She said he wanted to book next appointment also.. he knows when he will be ready for next haircut..how many of us do this kind of planning. Dress code is another big thing in this country. Benjamin Franklin in 19th century itself coached young entrepeneurs how to dress and communicate to be successful in life. We fail to recognize that dress code/maintaining eye contact during conversations/firm shake hands are something that are engrained in this society for centuries ..
Make every attempt to make new friends and try to be a good listener.
Never aspire for all the things in this world overnight just because you have a monthly paycheck..sometimes even if you can afford to spend, you might be buying new risks ..like stocks, houses, condos, cars. It's OK to drive around old Chevy Your parents understand you better in an old Chevy ..be yourself and take time to relay your successes backhome> most importantly enjoy your life, celebrate your friendships, get involved in the community..signup for local Telugu Assn, Local Temple membership, volunteer in charity organizations like SpreadIndia, Asha for Education
Always be connected to our Motherland whether it is visits, calls, reading, movies etc..

Regards,
Venkat Aekka
vaekka@yahoo.com
http://vaekka.blogspot.com/

First Day on the Job - Oct 24th, 1984

2008-05-30T11:47:00.000-05:00

Today is my 29th anniversary of my first day at work .

On Oct 24th, 1984, I joined Sriram Refrigeration, Balanagar.

Prahlad and myself have started our careers as (GET) Graduate Engineer Trainees (with Rs1400 per month stipend) and never stopped working since then ..It has been a long journey ..

Our designation was graduate engineer trainee with a salary of Rs 1400 per month (Rs 8.75 or 21 cents per hour..wow ..it increased by ~350 times in 29 yrs ..outpacing CPI ..). I was posted in R and D and Prahlad was in maintenance dept.. My job was to help Dr. Bannerjie (my boss) run experiments in reducing heating of motors (in hermetically sealed compressors used in Refrigerators and A/Cs).

We used to start at 6:50 AM from Chikkadpalli on Prahlad's scooter (Bajaj Priya) to reach the Balanagar at 8:00AM.

We are supposed to reach the plant sharp at 8:00AM.

The company rule was to accumulate all tardy minutes from punch card and if they exceed 15 minutes for the month, you will loose 1/2 day vacation (15 minutes late equivalent to 4 hrs of salary deduction ..isn't it harsh).

For example, if you show up at 8:01 on first day and then 8:10 the next day and for the rest of month ..you are on a borrowed time of just 4 minutes ..one more 8:04 ..you are doomed ..

One day I made a bold decision to sacrifice 14 minutes in one day itself for the sake of .... none other than actress Sridevi ..my engineering classmate Premnath was going to US (Dec 84) and I went to see him at the airport at 7:20 AM.

I knew it would take exactly 20 minutes to reach Balanagar from airport. After seeing him off at 7:40AM. I was walking out of the aiport lobby and saw Sridevi waiting for her Madras flight Suddenly I was in a dilemma thinking about my monthly quota of 15 minutes vs looking at Sridevi.

I stood there for 14 extra minutes (till 7:54) and took next 20 minutes to drive to Balanagar . Rest of the month I had to eek out on the remaining one minute .. never regretted on throwing away 14 minutes in a day .. well deserved ..

It was almost a prison once we entered Sriram. We couldn't go out and lunch was exactly for 30 minutes and we would leave only at 4:30PM. Weird thing was the week off used to be on Mondays. When the whole Hyd watched Ramayana Serial on Sundays, we were taking assembly rounds in electrical motor winding shop.

I have learnt a lot from my boss Dr. Bannerjie. He was a UK returned Bengali and originally migrated to UK in 1940s

He married a Britisher and had 2 children.

After 35 yrs of British life and family, Dr. Bannerjie decided to return to India in his early 60s.

He joined Sriram Refrigeration as R and D consultant.

Despite so many constraints to settle in India, he was determined to start a new life in Hyderabad at almost his retirement age..

He had to lower his living standard to make his Indian dream come true.

He went down from 4 wheels to 2 wheels.. Lambretta in Hyderabad ..

One defining character of Bannerjie was that he would never pay bribes..

imagine in 1984 getting (Road Transport Authority) RTA driving license without paying any bribe ..

The whole RTA (license brokers and staff alike) went crazy to see this Bengali old man
..not accompanied by any broker ..talking fluent English ..filling in and submitting applications thru' RTA office windows with no references to "commission"..

It was bringing down a big bribery engine to a screeching halt to let go one application with exact Govt fees with no other accompanying cash/letters or phone calls..

RTA staff never imagined to see a day like this in their lifetime of service ..

Finally Bannerjie came out in flying colors with his license ..

following are his travails ..

First time his license was rejected because application was not submitted thru' broker..

he contested the decision on the grounds that he drove for 40 yrs in UK.

RTA was confused as the customer was offering to take driving test and they had to find the driving test examiner / scorecard for this customer..

Finally he was asked to come with his Lambretta to the open field in front of the office .

He was asked to take his scooter around a tree.

As instructed, he carefully drove his scooter around the tree and came back to the examiner. The RTA examiner again failed him.

Bannerji asked "What happened this time ?"

RTA examiner replied "When you took turn at the tree, you never waved your hand indicating your turn"

Bannerji "Indicating whom ? That stupid tree ?"

They got tired of him and finally gave him the license.

There are many more stories that we can share ...

Hi Prahlad, Have a wonderful 29th working (son, husband, dad) anniversary ..

Venkat Aekka

P.S. Prahlad Venkatapuram now lives in San Jose with his family. His startup Mediaq got acquired by NVIDIA in 2004 making him a wealthy guy.

down to earth

2006-01-20T11:38:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday, I was taking Anuraag (my son) to the soccer game near my house. This is an indoor soccer field in Canton, MI.In the parking lot, 2 cars away from my car (Jaguar), I see a Lincoln Zephyr (smaller, less expensive car than Jag) and middle aged dad with his son coming out to the soccer game.
He resembled our (Ford Motor Company) chairman Bill Ford Jr.- great-grandson of Henry Ford. The chairman who represents Ford Family (owns 40% of FMC) and the company has presence in 23 countries.
He was going to same soccer field as Anu. I introduced myself and he asked me which organization do I work for. He enquired about the soccer score and Anu briefly and left to watch his son's game.
The following day (Jan 21st), he had to make big announcements like plant closings etc. which was covered in the media all over the world. The incident has broken lot of myths about people and their lifestyles .. The incident reinforced hard to believe facts like ..
> Son's soccer game is more important than anything else

> Rich people do not necessarily drive expensive cars nor employ chauffeurs, while employees are parking Jaguars next to owners of the company

> Weekend before major media presentations affecting 30,000 families is like any other weekend

> Rich people do not necessarily live and commute in rich neighborhoods (Canton, Ann Arbor are mediocre communities in MI)

> Successful people take time to be acknowledge and talk even in a uncomfortable setting

> and many more ..

Down to earth living and taking time to appreciate all aspects of life is key. You can deduce & learn a lot more from this incident.Sometimes we strive so much for things that are not necessarily important like money, social status, etc. The guy who has everything in life is spending time understanding soccer game plans for his son.

The key is to prioritize and control what is driving your life.
Please do not forward the email as it is a personal experience.

Hiroshima, Japan

2005-03-04T04:58:00.009-05:00

Please visualize this ..

An ATM machine in Mumbai has unclaimed cash at night. There is a passerby who saw the money,
called the cops about the ATM. Since there is no one to claim the money, the ATM is shutdown temporarily ?

You are in a cab in Hyderabad and you have asked the driver to take you someplace. The meter
showed Rs 500 and cab driver is insisting that he needs only Rs 300. Upon relentless questioning
he meekly admits that he had made a wrong turn and hence the fare is Rs 200 more.

Imagine you are traveling by Minar express from Hyderabad to Mumbai. You got off at Pune and realized that you forgot your expensive jacket in the train. You pick up a phone and call VT station, Mumbai about the jacket. VT station officials call you back in few hours and ask you few questions about the jacket and send you the jacket by mail.

Are you wondering if this is possible at all anywhere in the world …

Having visited Hiroshima, Japan, I wiould say that this is exactly like Japan.

Japan is very very different .. I wanted to add few more verys and one go so far to describe Japan.

Country with few natural resources, no army to defend, so little land (30% livable and rest mountainous) and still is the second dominant economic force of the world. That's only possible with hard working people with strong values engrained to the core. The people are bound, secured and protected by the Japanese culture. Plain hearted / soft spoken people and always ready to help others. It is not putting an act for few hours but being themselves every second of their lives. They will do their best and never get annoyed by anything.. No need of motivational speakers to change thinking as they are natural in thinking positive.

No customer satisfaction training / seminars for the sales guys, would yield the customer satisfaction results seen in Japan. They literally fall over you, keep running, asking bosses, and will get you what you want with a smile. I heard that customer is God and in this trip I have seen and experienced worship (feeling Godly)

This is an attempt to capture my limited understanding of Japan seen in 2 weeks and I think there is nothing different these 2 weeks in Japan and never has been for thousands of years.

90% of Japanese believe in God and at the same time not religious. They are honest to the core, hardworking, respectful of everyone especially to elders like bosses, parents. They don't look into adopting any western cultures and never have immigrated to any country and at the same time never allowed anyone outside to settle in their country. Even child born to a Japanese parent may not be get citizenship automatically..
Trains, Planes and Automobiles ….

I never realized the importance of ISO 9001 until I saw the taxis in Japan. They recently got ISO 9001 quality certification. Cab drivers with white gloves, emaculately clean cars, laced seat covers and dress in Boeing 757 captain like uniform (suit, cap, shoes). I have seen heard a honk and anyone getting upset over his own or other's driving. Driving is a non-event in every day Japanese life. No stress, no construction signs, no peak traffic chaos. Oh God! I miss my construction signs, honks, stares, fingers of Michigan

I have had my visions about Bullet Train. I missed that 70s movie very badly and had to listen in to second hand versions from my friends literally hundreds of times. How one bullet train at 300 km/h speed cannot stop and the rescue train travels at the same speed and someone crosses over using a ladder with two trains at 300 km/h .scary stuff...
While my Bullet train ride was uneventful at 300 km/h and I slept most of the time … relaxing after the ladder episode maybe.

I have seen people mention about train timings and punctuality. Never seen / heard the timing culture of the Japanese. On the dot and the dot is very very small...
Bullet trains going over 300 km/h and are spaced 10 minutes apart.

My friend (who lives in Japan) went to the station and enquired about an 8:30 train. The information desk said there is no train at 8:30. While he was waiting he saw a train go by towards same destination. He asked again about the train that went by. The information desk reminded him that he asked for 8:30 train and not 8:29. The moral of the story is 8:29 always comes at 8:29 and not 8:30.
Prior to this episode, he used to read train #, platform # and time of arrival. Now he always reads time and then finds out about platform # and train #. Suddenly unique key is switched from train#, platform# to train time .. more granular key …

One of the Desis at a party mentioned about the Indian style of re-confirmations every step at the railway station made him miss his Bullet Train. He meticulously planned to catch his Bullet Train and was on the right platform in time and did several reconfirmations at the information counters, stalls, coffee shops and co-passengers. Finally when the moment arrived, his Desi "no-confidence in any system" hormones kicked in and he wanted to confirm one more time with the train official at the platform who would signal the train. He thought who else knows about the train better than the one signaling it. While few passengers were getting in, he took his own course towards the Official...

Desi: Excuse me, I want to go to Hiroshima, Does it go to Hiroshima?
Official: one minute, Sir

waves his flag at the train and replies
Official: Yes, it left for Hiroshima.

The official thought, everybody got in and train is ready to leave and there is no way this Desi will get into it on time. Moral of the story, shed your Desi fears and start believing what you read at the station.

Hiroshoma Bombing .. 130,000 killed. The whole city brazen to ground .. first time in history an atom bomb was tried on humans. black rain after hours more deadly than the Bomb. Unbelievable destruction to human bodies, skins .. Many school children going to schools got killed (8:15 am).. Current Nukes 1000 times more deadly.. Few cities short listed for bombing on July 25th. 1945 and Hiroshima was picked among them due to its unfortunate clear weather on Aug 6th 1945.

I did mention about mannerisms and friendliness about Japanese people. I was also curious about what is more important to Japs. Some of things that caught my attention while in Japan

Ø Sakhi (rice based) and Soochu (Vodka like) drinks are very popular Japanese drink. BTW it is served cold or hot in small cups (like tequila shots). Sipping hot Sakhi, I felt like getting high drinking tea.
Ø Karaoke rooms are very popular. Family, friends rent Karaoke rooms (sound-proof small rooms) and start singing taking turns in singing.
Ø They are many activities for kids at schools. There are many schools, after-school activities which parents participate. The education, I heard, focuses on character building along with learning subjects.
Ø Desis have slowly started percolating into the system (H1 like visa) and contracting companies take care of the housing, admissions into schools (more support than our US Desi employers)
Ø After work parties are popular – usually 7:00PM after work on Fridays and they meet in a bar and have some drinks and catch the midnight Shinkansen (Bullet Train). Japanese say it is a good communication tool for discussing office politics. No one discusses personal issues, politics, not even make personal calls at work. I went to after-work office party with my Telugu friend and his colleagues and had fun trying all Japanese delicacies and drinks. Everyone splits the bill equally (ABVP – Avery Bill Valley Pay). There is the blow-fish which only few Chefs are certified to cook. The fish apparently has poisonous glands and if he makes any mistake in slicing the fish, he will take down his customers along with the fish and his license.
Ø Work culture is different. The day starts with some announcements at 9:00AM (PA system). People arrive at 8:45 AM and get their coffees etc. and will be at the seat 9:00 A.M. sharp. The boss leads the whole group in few warm-up exercises. At NOON, there will be lunch break for 45 minutes. At 3:00PM people discuss about safety precautions (mandatory safety rule) for 5 minutes – should share few safety tips / stories from home, neighbors, schools etc. At 4:00PM, everyone cleans the workplace and everyone take turns to pick up papers, trash for the aisle. The day closes at 9:00PM except for Wednesdays (6:00PM). Between these breaks, I have never seen anyone taking their eyes off their terminals.
Ø There is no office cubes concept even for the managers. Everyone gets to sit in hall with few conf rooms along the wall. One can make out the position in the company on where he/she sits in that hall. Manager sit along the wall and direct reports take the next row and so on. An Aerial shot of the floor plan can also be the updated org chart
Ø The killer-app "Excel" is making a killing at Japanese work places. Every monitor has Excel open with few numbers / graphs. They write memos, letters in Excel. My friend asked his Japanese friend take few digital pictures and asked him to send pictures next day. Boom .. next day he got a note with Excel attachment. He immediately called his friend and his friend replied the pictures are embedded in Excel
Ø Fashion is a big industry in Japan. Everywhere you see you find people wandering in malls (malls (underground, strip, 100 yen shops). UniClo is a Chinese brand name of T-shirts with good quality/price.
Ø I didn't any see any cop on the street for the whole 3 weeks - no one getting ticketed, no speed chases, no mob controlling cops, no cops on bikes, none what so ever )
Ø Bike is basic means of mobility. Children come back alone at nights from friend's home and get to stay home alone – no laws around child care ..
Ø TV is not as big as you think, no unending soap operas, only few game shows, local news..
Ø Base ball is big and a very popular sport. Golf is picking up.
Ø Lot of recycling at work/home. Cans, coffee cups, burnable trash. Every floor has different recycling bins, you need careful read before you get rid of your trash (almost has as many selections as a vending machine). Talking about vending machines, one can get cigarettes, beer at the vending machine. Wonder how under age drinking is controlled without anyone regulating/monitoring it.
Ø Like every country in the world, there are social changes. We heard that women are opting to separate from husbands in their sixties. They make sure kids complete college and get married before the separation. In western countries, people separate as soon as they disagree while in Japan they wait for decades to separate. For a strong family man like me, it is a tough choice. I told my wife that both look appealing to me ;-)
Ø During my stay I tried to learn Japanese Kanji (symbol language). I asked a Japanese to write Hiroshima. He wrote 2 symbols. One stood for Hiro (means big) and the other one for shima (means island). Since each symbol gets differentiated by # of line, dots, ticks, Japanese are natural artists. Some of things we all need about Kanji
o Kathakana and Hiragana are 2 languages. A mixture of these languages is Japanese. Kathakana is written only with symbols and Hiragana is phonetic (like TV, fox channel, etc.)
o Obviously you can write the language vertically or horizontally (left to right or right to left)
o Water drop , cloud, rain use the same symbol with small variations. You will know the context as you soon as you look at the symbol.

Bridegroom Venkat Aekka singing in his marriage reception - Nov 1989

2005-01-01T08:33:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4-OfRn6PH8

Sweden trip

2004-07-24T05:49:00.000-05:00

The moment I entered Gutenberg (Sweden) airport, many small things caught my attention. After the passport verification, I found that they have to open a door to let us in. Every other airport I visited have immigration officials sitting in glass cubicles, whereas in Sweden they have doors, officials sit on the other side of the door .. door to heaven perhaps ..

On my way to hotel, I saw a 2 storeyed sized SKF ball bearing with caption "We reduce friction in the world". As you might know, SKF originated in Sweden.

The technology advancement in little things are amazing. Every hotel I visited elsewhere has plastic cards with magnetic stripes whereas Sweden switched to paper cards with digitized personal information. To avoid strangers entering hotels, the elevators start only if you insert the card, I didn't see any stairs next to elevators.

The bathrooms are innovative too.. There is no Left Hot, Right Cold water rules you need to remember .. Temperature setting is on the right and water flow control on the left.. simple and you need not remember "water rules" that change by state in US. In hotels, they solved a big problem of energy wastage. Guests usually leave the lights on when they go out. In Sweden, the lights come on only when you insert the access card. Since you need access card to go, the lights are automatically switched off when you take the card out

The cheapest car on the road is VOLVO - government subsidized. Offices have made lot of small improvements which are simple and innovative. First time I have seen bar stool computer desks. I was familiar with walkups but not "standups". How many times you run next cube for erasers, markers in offices. They solved the mysterious "missing markers/erasers" problem by making them magnetic. They all stick to the white board.. where they belong

The richest man in the world today lives 1 hour away from Gutenburg, IKEA founder. It's like brahmam gari sooktulu "wadla waadu bhoomini palinchunu". He started making furniture in the garage and now is the richest man leaving windows inventor Bill Gates & Walmart owners behind. If you want to be rich make real windows for people.. BlueTooth technology inventor is from Gutenberg.. The list goes on.. Astra, VOLVO, HasselBlad cameras, ASEA, computer mouse. Everything is so relevant to our everyday lives ..

I was so surprised to see everyone with "contended" and "not having issues" look. May be that's key to innovation. In Sweden, mind is doing what it is good at - innovation. We tend to give it a different job .. bring bread to the table .. pay that mortgage every month .. and cool it down with beer if it complains too much about "job satisfaction".

What amazed me the power of socialist economy. The income tax are at 60% to 70%. People give everything to Government and Goverment gives everything back .. The benefits' list goes on and on
> free health care - best in the world
> free schools (best schools afforded by any common man .. no private schools)
> 3 PCs per family provided by goverment
> 18 month paternal leave (for dads too..) per child. If you have 3 children, you can pretty much sit at home with full pay for 6 years at the brim of your career

The taxi driver was telling me that the benefits are so good that he can go to a doctor and complain that he has headache.. after 3 months again complain about eyes..
Obviously doctor will not be able to diagnose and finally puts him on the benefits program .. Life long pay worth $800 per month, free pass to ride taxis anywhere in the city .. paid apartment for life .. One of the managers at Gutenberg said "our definition of poor is not the one who can't afford food but the one who can't afford vacation" I don't think I will hear anything close to this in India in this century

In my own capacity, I tried to rationalize why the country was so advanced. Sweden is a peace loving country. They don't get into wars like we do .. The last war they fought was with Napoleon 200 years back .. World war I and II, Vietnam, India Pakistan, Gulf, Iraq wars have been just evening news to them all these years.

Overall I was lucky to visit "Land of midnight sun". I timed my watch during sunset.. It went down at 11:30PM and came back at 2:30AM. If I traveled 1000 kms north, people said I would see sun going round the horizon 24 hours a day for 6 months ..

Chinna

Crossover Generation

2004-07-16T14:28:00.000-05:00

This is an effort to capture changes during 80s and 90s. I call our generation as crossover generation because I think it has seen most changes due to the IT boom in these two decades. I graduated in Elect. Engg. from Osmania University, Hyderabad India in 1984. After working for about five years in Hyderabad (then APSEB), I migrated to Detroit, US in pursuit of greener currencies.

We are typically reaching 40s, have 11 year olds and are deep into the jungles of married lives. We are just hearing rumblings of “uncle” now and then from kids, which I quickly ignore obviously. I don’t see myself aging (It’s like I am watching an aging train full of passengers go by, and I am not traveling in it). Enough of digressing, I am talking about some things which were real precious in 70s/80s are now commodities today.

Let me start with Hyderabad and things that were cool back then.

Luna/TVS 50/RajDhoot were in-things. Upgrade for Luna had springs for the rear seat and you can imagine the horse’s power in 50cc. The fuel pipe would almost fill the fuel tank. Does anybody remember the moped “Suwega” ? may be the name (Su-Wega) stood for good speed .. Colorful Chetaks with it's razor sharp edges were accessible to only newly-weds or someone who had access to foreign currency. Today you can trade your old car for a brand new two-wheeler. It has the power of all of the traded 4 wheels.

Maheshwari theatre was just inaugurated and biggest attraction was escalator. The escalator was meant for the highest class - one way only for the last few steps. After the show one has to walk down the regular steps like a pauper. Look at what happens today in Somajiguda’s Life Style mall, you hardly find stairs anywhere

Telephone was a rare commodity. The telephone number to PP number ratio (I don’t know what it stands) was running at 1:10 (could easily be one of the economic indexes). The whole apartment floor would give a number as PP number (neighbor’s number).
Let me digress, my friend’s dad was extremely generous to allow everyone in the street have his number as the PP number. One day it was raining heavily, there was no electricity and someone couple of streets away got a call. His dad finally convinced him to take an umbrella and asked him to inform the called person. My friend reluctantly (almost cursing his Dad and PP guy) walked to his house in darkness. After several knocks at the door, the PP guy opened the door, looked at the sky and said “can you ask him to call me tomorrow”. Nowadays people are talking on cell phones (while driving two-wheelers).

W.r.t IT developments back in early 80s, we saw glimpses of stacks of punched cards being carried by serious programmers in colleges. Keyboard/terminal was a rare sight.
In APSEB It was highly a hierarchical structure in computers. Only senior programmers would touch the keyboards, rest of us were asked to debug by marking COBOL code on print-outs and handover to senior programmers. They would enter the code and tell us next day whether the code ran OK. It was like performing archana in a temple handing over coconuts/flowers and waiting for prasadam back from chief archakas. In fact compute center was like a temple with all chappals near the door.

Most IT changes started in 1996 when Redwood Shores released Oracle
Version 7 & Forms 4. Thanks to stored procedures, event triggers and LOVs that magically brought bread onto the tables of many families here and abroad.

For pre-92 US families (F1 breeds) like ours, the biggest change was having family members / friends around. Social life is richer nowadays unlike early 90s. We don’t have to pleadingly look for potential desi friends in malls. I still have long distance bills (to India) charging $2.50 for the first minute and $1.80 for the rest. They used to compete head-on with the apartment rents. It was earth shattering when MCI announced $1.32 / minute during weekends. Prices have been falling ever since. Calling cards are taking back us into our living rooms back home. The only negative aspect of calling card is by the time you enter the toll-free and pin numbers, you tend to forget the name of the person you want to talk to. I just called Hyderabad @ 9c / min and bored the heck of my family members .. money does many things .. The first browser (Mozilla) I have seen was in 1994. Prior to that I was addicted to soc.culture.indian newsgroup following all the threads and infighting among newsgroup contributors. Slowly Mozilla morphed into rich browser, search engines, travel reservations, e-commerce, online trading, venture capitals, and incubators. Hundreds of start-ups slowly disappeared in the IPO bubble burst resulting in financial misfortunes to lot of our folks. Look at 5 years charts of any big tech company, they all look like a Grand Canyon mountain range that slowly peak and suddenly drop into a valley.

I don’t know what is in store for future, outsourcing & education. With most US universities having tie-ups in India, we will have the same experience as our parents did, see off kids pursuing higher studies at Detroit airport (instead of Hyderabad). With so many IT outsourcing initiatives, they may not come back at all. The generation that has initiated US migration (IT wise) might get stranded in US.

Venkat Aekka's quotes (2007 AD)

2002-10-30T14:31:00.000-05:00

There might have been a woman behind man's success..there is definitely one behind his failures

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.. but my lifetime savings translate to only one egg .. I move the same egg between baskets

I would rather die but dye

In marriage, you need to earn respect..If you ask for some midstream..you will loose whatever you have earned ..

If you don't have plans to spend your lifetime savings ..the unspent monies will end up as numbers in your account ..