Kgnzblog

தொழில்நுட்ப்ப கல்வி

2013-08-29T13:46:00.006+05:30

கடந்த 30 வருடங்களில் தொழில்நுட்ப்ப வளர்ச்சியும், உலகமயமாக்குதலும் பல நாடுகளின் வர்த்தக-பொருளாதார வடிவத்தையே மாற்றிவிட்டன. இக்காரணத்தால் உலகளவில் தொழிலாளிகள் சந்தை எதிர்பாரா நன்மைகளையும், மாற்றத்தையும், சவால்களையும் சந்தித்தது. இதில் முக்கியமான நன்மை 900 பதின்லக்ஷம் (million) (10 பதின்லக்ஷங்கள் = ஒரு கோடி) மக்களுக்கு வேலை வாய்ப்பில் முன்னேற்றம் ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது. இம்முன்னேற்றத்தால் முன்னோடி நாடுகள் புதிய தொழில்நுட்ப்பங்களில் முதலீடு செய்தும் வளர்ந்துவரும் நாடுகளின் தொழிலாளிகளை பயன்படுத்தியும் தங்களது உற்பத்தியை பெருக்கிக்கொண்டனர். அதே சமயம் வளர்ந்து வரும் நாடுகளில் உள்ள தொழிலாளிகள் தங்கள் வருமானங்களில் முன்னேற்றம்மும் வேலை வாய்ப்பும் பெற்றனர்.

1980 முதல் 2010 வரை உலக தொழிலாளிகளின் எண்ணிக்கை 120 கோடியிலிருந்து 290 கோடிகளாகியுள்ளது. இதற்க்கு முக்கிய காரணம் மக்கள் எண்ணிக்கை பெருக்கும், விவசாயத்திலிருந்து மாறி தொழிற்சாலைக்கு ஏற்பட்ட முக்கியத்துவமுமே ஆகும். இந்த மாற்றத்தினால் 62 கோடி மக்கள் ஏழ்மையிலிருந்து விடுபட்டு முன்னேறியுள்ளனர். அவ்வாறு பயன்பெற்றதில் சீனாவும் இந்தியாவும் பெருவிடத்தை பெற்றுள்ளது.

உலக தொழிலாளிகள் வர்த்தகத்தில் ஏற்பட்டு வரும் முன்னேற்றத்தை அறிய 96 விழுக்காடு பங்களிக்கும் 70 நாடுகள் ஆராயப்பட்டது. அவ்வாறு ஆராய அந்நாட்டின் தொழிலாளிகளின் வயது, சராசரி கல்வி, வருமானம் ஆகியவை கொண்டு அந்நாட்டின் தொழிலாளிகளின் உற்பத்தித்திறன் மற்றும் உற்பத்தி பரிசோதிக்கப்பட்டது. பின் 70 நாடுகளை 8 விதமாக பிரிக்கப்பட்டன. இதில் இந்தியாவும் சீனாவும் தனி தனி பிரிவாகவும், வளர்ந்த நாடுகள் 3 பிரிவாகவும், வளரும் நாடுகள் 3 பிரிவாகவும் பிரிக்கப்பட்டன. வளர்ந்த நாடுகளில் தொழிலாளிகளின் வருமானம் அதிகமாகவும் அதே சமயம் அவர்களுடிய நடுவண் வயதும் அதிகமாகவும் (சுமார் 45-ஆகவும்) உள்ளன. வளரும் நாடுகளில் தொழிலாளர் வர்கத்தின் நடுவண் வயது குறைவாகவும் (சுமார் 20-25) வருவாயும் குறைவாகவே உள்ளது. இந்தியாவும் சீனாவும் இவ்விரண்டு பிரிவுகளுக்கும் நடுவே உள்ளது. சீனாவை காட்டிலும் இந்தியா வருமானத்திலும், வயதிலும் குறைவாக உள்ளது. முக்கியமாக கவனிக்க வேண்டியது இந்த எட்டு பிரிவின் கல்வி திறனும் உற்பத்தி திறனும் தான். இவ்விரண்டிலும், இந்தியா இதர 3 வளரும் நாடுகளின் பிரிவுகளை போலவே, சீனாவை காட்டிலும் மிக பின்தங்கியும் உள்ளது.

இந்த கருத்தை உள்வாங்கி நாம் நமது பல சிந்தனைகளை மாற்றினால் முன்னேற வாய்ப்பு இருக்கிறது. இன்றைய வளர்ந்த நாடுகளில் தொழில்நுட்ப்ப விபுனர்களுக்கு கெடுபடியான கிராக்கி உள்ளது. ஏன், இந்தியாவிலும் வளர்ந்த நகரங்களில் தொழில்நுட்ப்ப விபுனர்களுக்கு கெடுபடியான கிராக்கி இருக்கத்தான் செய்கிறது. ஒரு புழம்பர் (Plumber / ப்ளம்பர்), தட்சர் வேலைக்கு நிபுணர்கள் கிடைப்பது சாமான்யமாக இல்லையே.

இந்த சூழ்நிலை அறிந்து, சீனா தொழில் நுட்ப்ப கல்வியில் கவனம் செலுத்தி உற்பத்தியை பெருக்கி உலகின் உற்பத்திக்கு உறைவிடமாக மாற்றிவிட்டது. இன்று நாம் உபயோகபடுத்தும் முக்காலுக்கும் மேலான இயந்திரங்கள்- சிறு ஊசி முதல் கணினி வரை, மருத்துவ கருவிகளாகட்டும், ஏவுகனைகளாகட்டும், மோட்டார் வாகனங்களாகட்டும் அனைத்திலும் உள்ள உபரி பாகங்கள் சீனாவிலிருந்தே ஏற்றுமதி ஆகின்றன. ஆகையால், 30 வருடங்களுக்கு முன்னால் 60 விழுக்கடுக்கும் கீழ் ஏழ்மையில் இருந்த சீன நாடு 2030-க்குள் 60 விழுக்காடு மக்கள் தொகையை பொருளாதாரத்தில் நடுத்தரத்திற்கு முன்னேற்றி விடும் என ஆய்வுகள் கூறுகின்றன. அதே 30 ஆண்டுகளில் இந்தியா என்னவாகும், என்னவாக ஆகவேண்டும் என நாம் சிந்தித்து இப்பொழுதே தகுந்த நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க வேண்டும். அவை தொழில் நுட்ப்ப கல்வியை பரப்புவதும், தரமான உற்பத்தியை செய்வதுமே ஆகும்.

1. இன்றைய பள்ளி செல்லும் மாணவர்களில் பலருக்கு தொழில்நுட்ப்ப உயர் கல்வியில் (டிப்ளோமா) விழிப்புணர்வு இல்லை.

2. அனைவரும் பட்டப்படிப்பு படித்து ஒரு அலுவலகத்தில் வேலை செய்யவே விருப்பப்டுகிரார்கள். இதை விருப்பம் என்று கூற முடியாது. மற்ற துறையில் உள்ள அருமை பெருமை அறியாமையால் விளைந்தவையே. இக்காரணத்தால் பட்டம் பெற்றும் சிலர் அலுவலர்களாக இல்லாமல் இதர வேலைகளை செய்கிறார்கள். திண்டாடுகிறார்கள்.

3. என்ன படித்தால் என்னவாகலாம் என்ற அறிவை நம் பாட திட்டங்கள் தெளிவுபடுத்தாதது வருத்தப்படவேண்டிய விஷயமாகும். இதை ஒரு பாட திட்டமாக ஏழாம்-எட்டாம் வகுப்பில் சேர்த்தால் நலம்.

4. மதிப்பெண் குறைவாய் எடுப்பவர்களே டிப்ளோமா படிப்பார்கள் நல்ல மதிப்பெண் எடுப்பவர்கள் அதை படிக்க மாட்டார்கள் என்ற அறிவீணத்தை மாற்ற வேண்டும். இவ்வாறான தவறான கருத்தால் தொழில்நுட்ப்பத்தில் நாட்டம் உள்ளவர்கள் நாட்டமின்றி பட்டம் படிக்கச்சென்று மேலோங்க முடியாமல் தடுமாறுகிறார்கள்.

5. பெற்றோர்களும், பள்ளியும், அரசும் இதை மனதில் வைத்து மானக்கர்களுக்கு நன்முறையில் ஆலோசனை வழங்க ஏற்பாடு நடத்தவேண்டும்.

6. வெளிநாடுகளில் வேலை செய்யும் நம் நாட்டு தொழில்நுட்ப்ப நிபுணர்களை கொண்டு பல விழிப்புணர்வு சொற்பொழிவு செய்ய வேண்டும்.

7. வெளிநாடுகளில் ஊடகங்கள் தொழில்நுட்ப்பத்தின் முக்கியத்துவம் செய்யும் வகையில் பல நிகழ்ச்சிகள் செய்து விழிப்புணர்வையும், ஆர்வத்தையும், கௌரவத்தையும் ஏற்படுத்துகின்றனர். அவ்வாறு நமது ஊடகங்களும் செய்ய முன்வரவேண்டும்.

நம் வாழ்வு நம் கையில். மாணாக்கர்களும், பெற்றோரும், பள்ளியும், அரசும், சமுதாயமும், சிந்தித்து செயல்பட்டால் நாளை நமதே, இந்த நாளும் நமதே.

மேற்கோள்: மேக்கின்சே குளோபல் இன்ச்டிடுட் (McKinsey Global Institute) (மேக்கின்சே உலகளாவிய காரணாலயம்- மே.உ.கா) ஜூன் 2012-ல் வெளியிட்ட (The world at works) என்ற அராய்ச்சி கட்டுரை. மே.உ.கா 1990-ஆம் ஆண்டு, உலக வளர்ச்சியை தெளிவுற அறிந்துகொள்வதற்க்காங்க நிறுவப்பட்ட ஆராய்ச்சி காரணாலயம (institute) ஆகும். ஆராய்ச்சியின் முடிவில் தெரியப்படும் கருத்துக்களை கொண்டு தொழில், சமுதாயம் வளர்ச்சி, அரசாங்கம், ஆகிய துறைகளில் இருப்பவர்கள் தாங்கள் எடுக்கும் முடிவுகளை செரிவர தெளிவாக எடுக்க பயன்படடுத்துவார்கள்.

Do you really know me?

2013-07-05T12:53:00.001+05:30

It all started like it always does. It’s a ritual. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?” —the ice-breaker question in the interview.

The interviewee took three minutes to cover an over-all “about-me” thing, and finally when it came to hobbies, he mentioned about reading books etc., but suddenly the interviewer interrupted and asked. “How was your trip to India last month?” The interviewee was surprised, eyes widened, smiled and was all enthused to tell about it.

When he finished that, the interviewer asked another question— “The guy you were teaching at the charity- did he pass the exam?”

And then another …“Why do you think the client appreciated your team member Mr. X and not you?”

And it went on like…

“Why did you choose to install TOR in your mobile phone?”

“Did you agree with Gary Vaynerchuck’s response to the question you asked?”

“Tell me more about the disagreement pyramid you responded to Jeff’s blog.”

“How far have you finished reading ‘how to win friends….’? Did you happen to get a pre-1964 edition? BTW, why did you prefer the old edition?”

“What did you learn from on-startup community? Why were you interested in it in the first place?”

“Why do you follow both Deepak Chopra and Richard Dawkins?”

“Have you seen the other responses for the question that you answered about Pivoting the database?” “Do you think your response was better or did you learn something new?”

…and the questions went on... They ranged from sports, to tourist places, to photography, to politics, to music for a good 20-30-minutes duration.

Some side questions that were picked during the conversation were like, “How would you have done it differently?”;

“How you pick the team?”;

“Your dream?”;

“Why do you think you are investing your time with us to catch your dream?”

Finally, the interviewer asked, “So, what do you think about this interview?”

And the interviewee responded saying “It didn’t seem to be like an interview. It’s like catching up with old friend. I am not sure even if my girlfriend knew about me this much. I had a good time.”

The interviewee curiously asked “Do you already know me?”

“You are all over the internet” said the interviewer.

Reluctantly the interviewee added - “But if I may ask, you did not deep dive into my current job details, my experience etc., so has the vacancy been already filled and you just had a chat with me(?) or I don’t know how to say… I did not expect… this is different… Normally I have seen the interviewer seeing the resume only during the interview… they just ask the question from the resume… and then they ask some technical questions.”

The interviewer smiled and said “whatever I need to know about you, I got it from the internet already… and I have got it cross-verified during our chat… and that is more than enough to form an opinion”

Later, the interviewee joined the organization and in the feedback for about the interview and selection process, the candidate mentioned that:

“I got two other offers but picked this one not because of the money, rather this one wasn’t competitive package, but got a feeling that people already know me and can relate to me better.”

Thanks to Shikha Ashok for reading the draft

Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow

2013-07-05T06:34:00.002+05:30

A fictional tale from the Great Mahabharata

To those who do not know: Balarama is elder brother of Lord Krishna, a great warrior and wrestler by profession. There was none in the world who could win Balarama in Wrestling. Lord Krishna needs no introduction.

On a full moon day, Balarama and Krishna was crossing the forest. Both have been walking for all day and was tired. As the sun set and started to get dark, they were searching for a place to rest.

“I know you are tired, so am I. But both of us cannot sleep at the same time. Let me sleep first and you keep guard of me. When you cannot control sleep anymore, wake me up and I shall guard you” said Krishna and went to sleep.

Balarama was guarding Krishna. Time passed by and it was almost midnight. The clouds were growing darker

All of a sudden, at distance, there was a huge roar of sound. Its neither sounds like human nor an animal. The sound was magnanimous and huge like thunder. Balarama saw a huge demon approaching.

The demon made a huge roar as if it was the biggest thunder one could ever hear. Balarama got scared. From the sound Balarama could feel that monster is approaching near. On its way the monster was uprooting the trees that was in its way. Another roar, Balarama was even more scared. Now he could see the demon clearly. The fear engulfed Balarama, the great warrior himself was surprised to see himself shivering.

The demon roared once again with its mouth too wide and the thick chain of saliva between the jaws were oscillating. The jaws were large, teeth were sharp and Balarama could see that they were in dark yellow. The eyes were red hot and its body was darker than the night. The nasty smell of the monster was overwhelming and it left Balarama suffocating.

Balarama and the monster was nearly face to face but at distance. The monster roared. At the sound of roar, Balarama, the undefeated wrestler, sweating and shivering saw himself diminishing in half of his size while the monster grew double its size. The monster roared once again. This time the sound was four times more than what he heard before. Balarama dreaded and shrink further half his size and the monster once more grew doubling its size.

Seeing the mammoth approaching near, Balarama ran near Krishna and cried Krishna’s name aloud before he fainted.

Krishna hearing Balarama woke up from sleep and saw Balarama lying down. Krishna was in deep sleep so he did not know what happen to Balarama and though that his brother was too tired that he was sleeping.

The monster followed Balarama’s trail and made the thunderous sound. This time it was not Balarama it was Krishna. Krishna saw a mammoth approaching him. Krishna shouted back “What do you want?”.The monster roared once again and Krishna once again asked “What do you want?”. Everytime Krishna asked “What do you want?”, he saw himself growing double his size while the monster shrinking to half its size.

The Monster shrank to Krishna’s thumb size and he picked it up and put the little monster in his waist pocket. Krishna kept guard of Balarama for the remaining night.

The morning sun glowed, Balarama slowly got his consciousness back. Suddenly the memories of previous night dawned upon him and so did the fear. Puffing and panting he ran to Krishna.

Seeing Balarama’s face gone white, Krishna asked “What happened?”

“Krishna, yesterday night, there was a huge demon, and it was roaring like thunder. It came to eat us both and last thing I remember is I came running to you. Did you hear the sound.. did you see the Monster?” asked Balarama.

Krishna smiled and said “Is this the little demon you are talking about” saying so, Krishna took the demon out from his waist pocket.

This is a fictional incident in the life of Krishna and Balarama story that the great Sage Vedavyas narrates using monster to be a metaphor for the problem we face. He beautifully explains…

If we worry too much, the problem seems bigger. Instead, if we stand up and face the problem, the problem becomes smaller.

Marriage is not for recreation, it results in procreation!

2013-07-04T18:29:00.000+05:30

Originally published in http://www.medium.com/@karthigeyans

A recent judgement by Justice Karnan in Madras High Court was made controversial, that it was covered in international newspapers, including NYT (see the epilogue on what controversy was made). This is a story about it in my words.

Few years back, two lovers —a Muslim man and a Hindu woman (to be specific) were in espousal relationship between them, but the relationship wasn’t solemnized or documented. With all true intention, there is nothing wrong in that, after all the rituals are for societal recognition.

Eventually they had their first child. Couple of years later, the lady delivered another child—rather a difficult one—through cesarean.

Few years passed by. The relationship wasn’t going any easy between them. The man didn’t want it anymore. For whatever reason, he decided to drift apart. But a cunning person he is, claimed that he was never married to the lady and the children were not his.

The only recourse for the woman and the children is to take it to court of law and judgement come in her favour.

Proving whether he fathered the child or not can be as simple as a DNA test. But How do you prove whether he was married to the woman or not? Especially when it was not solemnized either by ritual or by law or by any paper evidence! And none could be taken as witness in the court of law when they took their vow.

As the case turned out and argued, the facts presented proved without doubt: that it is fact that they have lived-in together; and it was not an extramarital affair; and before their live-in relationship the lady was a spinster and the man was a bachelor; and the children born were his own, through her.

He has signed the birth certificate of her daughter where he was mentioned as the child’s Father. He has signed the no objection letter in the capacity of husband when the woman delivered her second child by cesarean (he should have been a stupid to contest!).

By law, for a muslim, the marriage should be registered in a Mosque. For a Hindu, she has to circumference the Holy Fire and take seven steps of oath. Neither was done. So, the only question that needs to be answered is whether the man and woman can be called as husband and wife or a live-in relationship.

Live-in relationship is noble not rouge.

The learned Justice, saw the merits of the case and pronounced that that there is nothing in law that would object if both were to be called as husband and wife. After all, marriage is nothing but a relationship in which two people have pledged themselves to each other to share their life together and make a family. And that, the marriage rituals such as wedding or registering are only for the societal recognition.

When they have lived in together and have raised a family, the relationship should indeed to be construed as marriage. And the woman shall therefore derive the benefits a wife would otherwise derive in case of a marriage that was performed as per the rituals/ custom/law.

Marriage is not for recreation, it results in procreation!

Nevertheless, not having such ritual or not registering the marriage wouldn't be an excuse to absolve the man’s espousal responsibility as both intended and have had sexual relationship and procreated children.

This happened in Madras High Court- India, pronounced by Justice Karnan.

The rationale behind the judgement is terrific and is laudable.

Epilogue:

The wordings of Judgement was bit ambiguous at least for a layman like me, and the verdict arise lot of question like how to prove the intention behind etc., but instead of seeing the merit and spirit of the judgment, people started tweeting ridiculing the judgement. NYT also covered the story.

Supposedly a sensible Newspaper like The Hindu had their catchy heading “Couples who have premarital sex to be considered ‘married,’ says HC.”

And the twitter mafia punned it (#MadrasHC- around 20th of June) without even realizing the real facts! In the light of facts, they are nothing but a laughing stock.

Intend pun, but never become a laughing stock.

Purpose

2013-06-02T20:56:00.000+05:30

In many a times, for each and every action we do, someone asks why was it done and what is the purpose. Sometimes we do something for sake of doing and not for purpose. Sometimes, if we try to rationalize and invent a purpose of the action we do, it just belittles the whole thing.

A mother cares her kid- what is the purpose? Does she love her child because the child would grow and later would take care of her? Wouldn't it belittle the whole thing?

Rain showers-What is the purpose? Does the rain intelligently think of cooling the overheated place? Or does it discover the water scarcity in a place and showers?

Flower blossoms- what is the purpose? Does it bloom to give beauty? Does it bloom to give fragrance?

A dog wags its tail upon its master- what is the purpose? Does it knows that the master is a 'master'? Does it wags so the ‘master’ would feed?

A child makes a paper flower and gifts to mother-what is the purpose? So that the mother would feed he next time? Or the mother would use it?

A lover gets bunch of flowers to his love? What is the purpose? To show that he has money? Or that the lover would show it to other that her love got her the flowers? Or just so that others would envy it?

NO. Not everything in this world has a purpose. Perhaps, may be, but inventing a reason would just belittle the whole thing. Few things done are just done no reasons attached, no strings attached. It gets done for it is designed to be done.

Inventing a reason and attempting to justify the purpose just belittle the whole thing as then the reason is debatable. There are something that one could not ask what is the purpose and one cannot invent a reason why it is done.

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

Kurt Vonnegut in his Cat's Cradle narrates:

“In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in his cosmic loneliness.

And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close to mud as man sat, looked around, and spoke. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely.

"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.

"Certainly," said man.

"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God.

And He went away.”

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

It doesn't matter what I am good at, but what I am interested in matters

2013-05-25T10:14:00.000+05:30

Photo Credit :Andre Pan

One of the questions in traditional interview would be "what are you good at". Most of the response that we give / get is something in line with the job posting for which the interview is conducted for. Mostly it is not true state of affairs as there is a desperation to get a job.

In my view, it is not "what I am good at" that is important but "what brings me pleasure" is important. When something brings pleasure, then I may try to do it very often and by practising it over and over again, I may become good at it. After all practice makes perfection. But it need not be true that if I am good at something, then it brings pleasure. For example, I am good at Bank reconciliation, Trial balance tallying, financial projection, costing. I was interested in that and become good at that. Even now I am good at that. But I have NO more interested in that. Interest keeps changing. I then moved on. Now I am interested in setting up new business unit, a Start Up or something that I can make from scratch and make it functional before taking up another project.

For any activity the interest level grows until it hits the resistance levels. Once the interest hits that levels, it may start to decline. The quality of output will decline. Once we know that the interest levels are falling, you may have to watch out your support level and try to rise it to find a new resistance level by slightly altering the course / nature of task or to exit and start something new. If you cannot find the support level then there is no point in continuing it.

It's so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to. -Annie Gottlier

If you start feeling that 'I have to do" instead of "I want to do", then it is the sign that you are hitting a resistance level on that task.

Check the activities that you are doing routinely-- if no one is using it, you have 2 options try to either make the output more meaningful so somebody who was suppose to use it or politely highlight that task has become redundant and instead do something else that bring pleasure.

"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." -Aristotle

Identify those tasks that brings you pleasure. If you don't know what it is-- then think of something where you have lost sense of time while doing some activity--most probably that is the task that you might like.

Else, we would become like most people who work just hard enough not to get fired. By the way, if one become that kind of resource, mind it they would be paid just enough money not to quit.

For being a good leader,

While recruiting / selecting a team member, identify whether the person's interest is in line with the project in hand
A person may have many interests at the same time, check whether the 'interest' that you may want to use is having a higher priority- else the person may switch to an interest that is more enticing.
Oil his lamp and keep it burning- Motivate the interest, encourage, constantly poke the learning thing in the interests to keep it alive and going
Frequently evaluate whether the 'interest' quotient has increased or decreased and identify the reasons behind it

May be you want to make something differently for the person; or
he would be a better fit elsewhere

If the interest of some one has evidently changed, it is better to responsibly guide the person and help him to achieve greater heights rather to just curse with a bad ratings. It is not firing but just being responsible and highlighting. Rather it would end up being useful to both.

If you are a team member, just turn the table and apply the same principles.

Cost cutting, Firing and related impacts

2013-05-18T19:05:00.000+05:30

It is not new, to hear there has been pink slips in the name of cost cutting, neither it is new to hear that the employee is quitting for a better remuneration.

Employees quit a job because elsewhere they either get paid well, or given higher responsibility or they can grow knowledge or the job is more secure or many reasons or they just don’t like the current job or management.

The flip side of the story is the company sacks a person because they can get someone of the same quality with lesser cost, they bring in new knowledge, the bring more loyal people or simply the management does not like the outputs from the employee.

But why is employee quitting mostly ends up with “all the best”, and the company sacking ends up “to hell with the management” or many rumours?

If you have been in either of this situation, please share your thoughts in comments.

8 Essentials- Seeds for growth in Career

2013-05-08T15:39:00.000+05:30

YM Chong Fu Li

My boss, has retired recently. During lunch time, I visited him to pay my respect and courtesy. He recollected few instances from his life, few things that he practised. Following are summary of what I could learn from the discussion today. (I have added some example or sentences so that what I understood is made more clear).

1. Make your boss life easy. Go the extra mile

Assume yourself in your bosses’ position and receive your output as he would receive. Check if that is what you would want to see as output. Ask questions as if your boss would ask. Try rejecting your output with reasons. Then you would discover what needs to be done and that is doing extra and going extra mile. If you are asked to make a doll, make a doll and perfect it. Going extra mile is not making a spare leg or hand for the doll. But taking more care in bringing the output more than what it is. You are more capable of what you think or what others think. People who prove to themselves don’t need appreciation from others because it is not worth more than yours. Only those who cannot prove to themselves will expect it from others. So, time and again prove that to yourself by doing more and make your boss life easy.

2. Never hesitate but dare to take unpopular decision

For the sake of avoiding conflicts and bitterness, people generally tend to take a decision based on the popular choice of the options. But it is not necessary that the popular choice needs to be always correct. Dare to take unpopular decision which honestly you think that is good for the organization. Choosing a popular decision may postpone or reduce the severity of the problem for a shorter period but may not be helping in the longer run. If a popular decision fails, those who were favouring those popular choices were not going to stand behind you or take responsibility. Those who stick on to the popular choices remain, at best, as managers. Those who dare to take unpopular decision move ahead and make themselves as a leader.

3. Maintain your health and happiness

You may forget until it becomes too late to realize to chase your dreams, both the physical body and mind should be intact. Proper health makes a better body and happiness makes a sound mind. Never sacrifice health and happiness for the sake of anything else. But discover what is real health and real happiness. For some, doing work itself is happiness.

4. Never sacrifice your principles fearing accusation

People who bad mouth will bad mouth- do not try to satisfy them- you would never succeed. Never sacrifice your principles for anyone-- they are the one that defines who you are. By the way, principles are something that you honestly believe and adopted by practice over a period of time. Let people talk whatever they want, but they would someday realize the truth and intention behind. Anyway, it is irrelevant whether they realize or not so far you are true and honest and keep your head high and be proud of whatever you have done.

5. Do not be in your bosses’ black book

You don’t need to be in good books of the boss, never matter but never be in the bad books of the boss. Once you are in bad book, it is just enough that the sight of you or hearing your name would trigger the bad memory in their mind. Every time your bad avatar pops up in their mind, the more stronger it is stamped. It is going to be very tough to erase it and overcome it.

6. Be polite

Even if you want to give a bitter pill, you want to give a honest critical feedback do so but with politeness. No one deserves an impolite treatment. It doesn't mean that you should bend, you can be tough. But for being tough you don’t need to be harsh or impolite.

7. If you fall, get up first

If you fall in a ditch, first thing you would be doing is to get out of the ditch and then analyze why you fell in it. You don’t want to first analyze why you fell and then to get out of the ditch. Learning from mistakes is good but it should not hinder your advancement. First move ahead and make room for yourself and then think of the mistake to learn from it.

8. Apply Common sense

Common sense is something that is commonly uncommon. The first and foremost thing that you want to do is to apply common sense. Solution sans common sense is null and void.

My hypothesis on why vegetarian food is preferred over non-vegetarian food.

2013-04-24T09:06:00.000+05:30

Since my parents are vegetarian, I am also vegetarian. Though it was not by choice that I adopted, but it is a conscious decision to continue it. Initially my decision was aligning with the opinion that many people have: that is not to induce any pain for any living beings. Over a time, my rationale to the decision changed but the decision still holds good.

Long ago, I saw a movie Alive it is based on a real story about people who survive a plane crash. They eventually resort to eat remains of dead people as that's the only thing left. This made me to interrogate my belief and was thinking would I resort to eating dead people if I were in their position. I can’t really say unless I would be in that position but logically yes, after all one has to live. I don’t know how would a herbivorous animal would do in that situation.

So the question now is what makes one to choose Vegetarian over Non-Vegetarian? While thinking deeply on this and I did some research, I had formed my OWN hypothesis why one should resort to Vegetarianism instead of Non-Vegetarian.

Couple of weeks back I happen to bump into Madhav's posting in his blog-site and interestingly he also had the same question (sure many have) and discusses on why he supported being vegetarian over being non-vegetarian. In his childhood his reason was on the grounds of morality towards other living beings and he explains further how his opinion changed over period of time. He finally concludes that “ no living organism capable of feeling suffering, should be hurt for our own pleasure or for our nutrition”.

Though his arguments are interesting his conclusion did not convince me. I responded to his post with my comment which I summarize below:

The following are my understanding on why Vegetarian foods is preferred over Non-vegetarian. I would be happy if someone would either prove or disprove my hypothesis.

DISCLAIMER : I cannot quote anything/ anyone and I re-iterate this is my OWN hypothesis for having preferences on Vegetarian foods over Non-vegetarian foods

The whole thing about the pain / morality is absurd. Whether you eat plants or other animals its a life that is killed. If one cannot kill an animal so is a plant. My argument of preference to Vegetarian over non-vegetarian is based on the source of energy and its storage.

Vegetarian:

The definition is simple: Vegetarian is anything that originates from plants. Following are some of the characteristics of plant (please recollect what you learnt in Biology in school)

Plants receives and stores energy directly from five primary sources of energy viz., light, heat, air, water and soil. Plant does; neither animals nor eggs nor fish.
It has a peculiar quality to keep life in muted mode for example a seed has life in it even though they are not active i.e. it’s not dead yet. Plants, vegetables and leaves have live cells.
The chloroplast cells in plant continuously get energy from light and oxygen and stores it even though they are uprooted and generally don’t die for sometime.

Non-Vegetarian:

Once again the definition is simple: anything that does not qualify as Vegetarian is Non-Vegetarian. Following are some of the characteristics of Non-Vegetarian.

They acquire energy from secondary source or third source i.e. plants (secondary source) / animals (third source)
The Animal is killed before it is cooked/ except egg where it has life until it is cooked. The cells die because there is no chloroplast in animal cell.

Note before: Plant Cell is different from animal cell

Vegetarian is preferred because:

The energy is sourced from from primary source
And the plant cells have traces of active or muted life until cooked

The whole thing about pain does not fit into the logic as the plants can feel pain in spite of not having a nervous system. (For those who don’t recollect, search for works of Sir J C Bose and Sir C V Raman)

Therefore in my own way, the order of preference should be:

Plants- Fruits, Veg, Greens leaves (less than a day old), other plant parts, Flowers, Honey, Dairy products
Cereals, Seeds, Pulses, nuts
Dried plant origin foods
Treated plant origin foods
Egg
Products of Herbivores
Products of Omnivores
Products of Carnivores

Comments are most welcome :)

Investing in Share Markets

2013-04-19T09:25:00.001+05:30

My colleague and I were discussing some investment options. He is just venturing into stock market and was asking some advice on ‘which’ stocks to invest. Incidentally, my brother and I were discussing on the technical analysis, and how they predict the support levels and resistance levels etc. In this blog, I am just mixing up both the conversation so that it might be helpful for the readers.

At the outset, I am not an expert in investment / share markets. However, I do frequently invest in the equity. And the first advice is not to get advice on ‘which’ one to invest, but to do a research and make an informed decision.

I started trading a decade ago and realized that whatever theory I learnt about fundamental and technical analysis could not be truly depended upon as the markets are not participated only by investment experts but by many who are normally carried away by sentiments.

So the support levels and resistance levels based on the F/T analysis do not hold good as many of the assumptions are either not correct or there some aspects which would never be thought about would have a serious impact. Also, there are some specific software and Big Data analytic tools to perform those Predictive Analytic. It’s pretty hard to do it manually as well.

Funny part is my research paper for my master degree was about predicting the reactive support and resistance levels using swing lows / highs, candlepatterns, volume analysis, and thereby analysing the volatility. At the hindsight, I can only smile at my findings in the research paper.

While I started trading initially I bet on the market sentiments. But it never took me long to realize that to get the intuitive skill to predict the sentiments it would rather need lot of trial and error with real money over a long period of time—neither of which I have. My speculation based on other people predictions resulted in losing most of my portfolio and it took more than a year of stress full trading to make up the loss. I quit trading.

Lesson learnt on the predictions is: it’s like Astrology. While astrology can be true, astrologer can be a fake or subject to their limitation. For any stock predictions there are always 3 types of predictions positive, negative and neutral. For example take gold’s prediction few months back (around Sep 2012) there were predictions that a gram of gold would cost Rs.5000 by this year-end while some predicted it to go as low as Rs.2000 and some said it would stay put in the same Rs.3000 levels. The fact is it is now tanking. So, one can't really believe the predictors except for some movers and shakers in the market such as George Soros.

After a brief sabbatical, I returned to share market but this time as investor and not as a trader. I do the fundamental and technical analysis to a limited extent of common sense. For any company you want to invest, the summarized results of these technical analyses are given by ICICI Direct in their Do your research page. It’s simple and easy to comprehend.

I have read many tips/ rules/ principles but never really practised during my previous stint. But every time I lost, I ended learning the real meaning of some those principles which I currently follow. At least now, if I make loss or profit, I can be either proud of my own decision or learn a costly lesson.

I Target a company and start with small and over a period of time build a portfolio.
Age old adage- do not put all your eggs in one basket- so I do not invest all my money in single stock
In the same way I do not keep more than 6 Industry. I normally keep only in 3 Industry occasionally grow to 6 -Bank, IT, Oil & Energy, Telecom, Retail and Metals. I start with one industry and slowly grow into others. These are some industries which I can comprehend the business.
In each Industry I invest only in the top 1 or 2 companies. This will help me to keep track of market movements closely
I spread my investments so that I don't invest more than 20% in any one industry
I do not get sentimentally attached to the stock. I fix an expected return and stop loss trigger and exit when it hits either of it. I normally keep 20% and 8% stop loss. If I intend to hold for long, then these percentages may vary.
Out of my total investments, I keep the equities max of 60%. So remaining 40% I may invest in other investments like FDs, Savings, land.
I watch out the news for these companies regularly and watch out for the alternative better investments.
I don't panic or excited on the seasonal fluctuations. If I trust the company, I may keep some liquid cash ready to use the opportunity to buy more or sell.

These are some things I follow religiously--I neither loose much nor earn much-- I end up net of 10-15% return-- slightly higher than the FD rates.

Sharing this hoping it would benefit someone. Please share your experience as well as an opportunity for me and the readers to learn. Thanks.

Knowledge, Compassion and Wisdom

2013-04-15T08:39:00.000+05:30

What a start today, suddenly few dots got connected; I start to appreciate the link between knowledge, compassion and wisdom:

Dot 1. My friend posted a quote from Calvin Coolidge 30th president of US (1872 - 1933), in his face book status "I have never been hurt by anything I didn't say ".

Immediately I said to myself: No, to me, this is not true for all circumstances. Silence has many meaning according to different circumstances - it may mean I concur to a situation, I subscribe, or I am coward to raise voice, or I am indifferent to the situation, or I am being helpless. Many a times when I ought to say something and have not said, I have been hurt because my silence has either been detrimental to me or to others whom I care.

Dot 2. I was watching a review commentary by Prashanth about a debate in Neeya-Naana, a Tamil debate show in Vijay TV, about a topic of youth not having adequate knowledge. In which he was criticizing the way the show was conducted and asked one pertinent question. What is difference in outcome between a person who has NO knowledge about an issue and a person who has knowledge about the issue but DO NOTHING about it?

The outcome from both is same: former being ignorant or no wisdom so inaction and the latter being indifferent attitude or no compassion hence inaction. Unless one were to be indifferent, for which one ought to say but keeps silence, it will hurt.

Dot 3. His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, "According to Buddhism, compassion is an aspiration, a state of mind, wanting others to be free from suffering. It's not passive -- it's not empathy alone -- but rather an empathetic altruism that actively strives to free others from suffering. Genuine compassion must have both wisdom and loving-kindness. That is to say, one must understand the nature of the suffering from which we wish to free others (this is wisdom), and one must experience deep intimacy and empathy with other sentient beings (this is loving-kindness)."

Dot 4. Thiruvalluvar in verse 430 says “those who possess wisdom possess everything and whatever others possess, without wisdom they have nothing”; and in verse 571, he further adds that "it is compassion, the most gracious of virtues, which moves the world"; and in verse 39 he sums up that "virtue alone is happiness; all else—is else, and without praise."

Dot 5. Jeff Weiner, CEO at LinkedIn, in one of his posts wrote that his friend / guide Fred Kofman told him that “Wisdom without compassion is ruthlessness; compassion without wisdom is folly” which made him to change the vision of his company. I commented to his post where I congratulated and thanked Jeff for his great post but I also asked a question, but did not get answer. So, I was searching on wisdom and compassion. That’s when I bumped into Dot 3 and Dot 4 but could not appreciate more by then.

However today it dawned to me that the Dot 1 and 2 coupled with Dot 3 and 4, Dot 5 makes more sense:

Being compassionate is to alleviate one from suffering. There are two knowledge areas: Knowledge of the suffering and knowledge of ‘means’ that alleviates from suffering. But having these both the knowledge is useless unless one has the compassion which bridges these two knowledge areas. Someone who is compassion but has no knowledge can do nothing. Someone who has knowledge but no compassion can do nothing. Someone who has both compassion and knowledge can do something and such knowledge is wisdom.

இரண்டு நாள் யாத்திரை

2011-12-09T22:05:00.000+05:30

இரண்டு நாள் யாத்திரை

அவளிடம் பேச,

காத்திருக்க வேண்டும்

இன்று மாலை வரை

பேசும் தொலைவில் அவள் இல்லை

எளிதில் பேச கைபேசி இல்லை

பொது தொலைபேசி சிக்கும் பொது

அவள் கனவுலகில் தொலைந்து சிக்கும் பொழுது

பயணத்தில் களைப்பாற்ற நிறுத்தும்

இடைவெளியில் இடைவிடாது

தொலைபேசியை துளாவியது கண்கள்

கிட்டயும் பயனில்லை

மறுமுனையில் அவளில்லை

வெள்ளி முடிந்து

வெள்ளி முளைக்கும் வரை

வெறுத்திருக்க வேண்டும்

பொழுதை மறந்திருக்க வேண்டும்

கண்வரை அவளிருந்ததால்

தொடர்ச்சியை கண்களில் தூக்கமில்லை

கனவுகளிலும் அவளில்லை

விடிகாலை விடிவு வரும் என

வீதிகளில் விதியற்றவன்போல்

பொது தொலைபேசியை தேடி

அலைந்தேன் ஒரு கடையும் திறக்கவில்லை!

புதிய ஊரை சாடியும் பயனில்லை!

ஒன்றரை நாள் கழித்து பேச

இரண்டரை மைல் நடந்து, தொலைபேசியில்

மூன்றரை நிமிடம் கழித்து,

நான்கரை கட்டையில், ஹலோ என்றாள்-தூக்ககலக்கத்தில்

ஐந்தரை அங்குலம் விரிந்தது என் உதடுகள், அவள் குரல் கேட்டு

விரிந்து என்ன பயன்?

என் குரல் அவளுக்கு விளங்கவில்லை!

எனக்கிருந்த ஏக்கம் அவளுக்கில்லை

பேச்சில் சுரத்தில்லை -ஏமாற்றத்தில்

அப்புறம் என்றேன்!

விழுப்புரம் என்றுரைக்காமல்

ஏதோ வெட்டியாய் சில நிமிடங்கள்

ஏக்கத்துடன் பேசினேன்-அழைப்பை துண்டிதபின்

ஏமாற்றத்தில் முகத்தில் அசடுகள் சில வடித்தேன்

நான் சொல்லவா வேண்டும்?

2011-12-09T21:54:00.000+05:30

இன்பம் துள்ளும்போதும் துன்பத்தில் நொந்தபோதும்

உன்னை இறுக்கி அணைக்க ஏன் தோன்றவேண்டும்?

வம்பு தும்பு முதலில் சொல்ல

மனம் உன்னை மட்டும் ஏன் நாடவேண்டும்?

கள்ளம் கள்ளம் குறும்பு செய்ய

எந்தன் கைகள் உன்னிடையை ஏன் தேடவேண்டும்?

நட்டநடு கும்பலுக்குள்ளும் இரகசியம் பேச

நம் இருவர் கண்கள் ஏன் மோதவேண்டும்?

ஊடல் தினம் நாம் கொண்ட போதும்

அருகில் நீ இல்லையென்றால் மனம் ஏன் நோக வேண்டும்?

நாள்முழுதும் உன்கூட இருந்தபோதும்

விட்டுப்பிரிய ஏன் கசக்க வேண்டும்?

கேள்வி பல, விடை ஒன்று அது உன்மீது

நான் கொண்ட காதலென்று நான் சொல்லவா வேண்டும்?

How to pray to God- By Thirugayana Sambandar

2011-12-01T07:31:00.003+05:30

ஒல்லையாறி உள்ளம் ஒன்றிக் கள்ளம் ஒழிந்து வெய்ய
சொல்லையாறித் தூய்மை செய்து காமவினை அகற்றி
நல்லவாறே உன்றன் நாமம் நாவில் நவின்று ஏத்த
வல்லவாறே வந்து நல்காய் வலிவலமே யவனே ( திருமுறை 1-50)

ஒல்லையாறி- Controling those thoughts that impact external world and looking inward
உள்ளம் ஒன்றி - with concentrated mind
கள்ளம் ஒழிந்து- Even after practicing such control and concentration, at times, our naughty mind that has been hitherto wavering uncontrollably, would tend to get

attracted towards materialistic pleasures and therefore we have to remove such naughty materialistic attraction
வெய்ய சொல்லையாறி- When we are in the process of above three, we may tend to experience some improvement in the self (both spritual and Materialistic).

however, once again our untrained mind, will tend to compare self with others. Since there has been some conginzable improvements, one may get feeling of

greateness and start finding faults with others and become sarcastic. தூய்மை செய்து- Such behaviour should be carefully avoided.
காமவினை அகற்றி- Removing all attractions towards the materialistic and worldly pleasures
நல்லவாறே உன்றன் நாமம் நாவில் நவின்று ஏத்த வல்லவாறே வந்து நல்காய் வலிவலமே யவனே- guide thus to get a proper way to utter the name and proper way

to pray

2011-11-28T08:18:00.002+05:30

Good, Bad and the Inbetween

In “Bagavatham”- an ancient sacred text about the God and His various manifestation, a poem advises the king that in his kingdom people can be divided in 4 categories: Good people, Bad People, People who look bad but good, People who look good but bad. It further says that the king has to be very cautious about the people who look good but bad. A king can take obvious precautions against the bad but cannot take against those people who look good but bad. It continues: the king should also analyse people who look bad but good-- and adequately take caution that they are not penalized for they have nothing bad in them.

There has been always a grey area between the good and bad. Good and bad are not difficult to identify and are not difficult to understand as they are very obvious. But what we really get fooled at is the deceptiveness. There are ‘Good’ looking like ‘Bad’ and ‘Bad’ looking like ‘Good’. These can be identified only when the mask is removed.To remove the mask and understand the depth is an art which can only gained by experience, and perfect observation capabilities.

This principle applies in all parts of our life.

When we take a business situations, there are options that look good and bad and there are also options that fall in grey areas. We end up in losses when we take the option that seems to be favourable but turns unfavourable. And loose opportunity when we neglect an option that finally may turn to be profitable.
There are friends and there are enemies, also there are people who we think as friends but actually they turn out to be not as friends or worst as enemies and there are people who we don’t bother to care or ignore or think as enemy but they turn to help us better than any friend.

The lesson that we have to learn is "Looks are deceptive. Do not underestimate, look beyond the obvious"

The Importance of Six

2011-02-24T21:20:00.001+05:30

The number Six has some predominance in our every day walk of life- hold on I am not going to speak about numerology.

Work Life

In work life from the minute a new resource joins, the first 6 hours makes the impression about the place, in six days he should have an understanding what he is recruited for else he would be in the soup; in six weeks the reporting manager has to give feedback on the performance else the resource will derail from the normal course and it would be difficult for the manager to correct it; in six months the resource should know how he could build the career in the organization else there is no hope for the resource to grow unless luck favours; in six years the resource should have assumed higher responsibilities else it is the time for the resource to look for other oppurtunity elsewhere or it is the time for the management to chuck the resource out-whosoever initiates- pleasure is theirs.

Married Life

In married life, within six hours the bride overcome all the marriage ecstasy and comes to reality while it takes 6 days for a bridegroom to overcome the ecstasy in some worst cases, it takes 6 weeks to feel the reality. If the marriage is sustained in reality for six months without either of them hiding their ulterior thoughts then the marriage can be suspected to be sustained for atleast six years. And if the suspicion is proved the marriage is expected to continue until either of them aparts

Child Conception

If the sperm released germinates an egg within six hours probably the child is going to be a male or if it germinates in six days then the probablity is the child is going to be a female. Upon germination, the first six weeks the mother needs to be careful to avoid any chances of abortion. The quality and quantity of food the mother consumes in the first 6 months of the child will determine the growth and maturity of the child

After Birth

Once the child is born the first 6 weeks needs to be throughly monitored to detect any deficiency; the food that the child takes for 6 months determines most of the growth; the habits that it develops for 6 years sticks unto death

A love story...

2010-04-30T13:42:00.002+05:30

I got this as a forward and I liked it; could not stop posting in my blog. Due credits to whosoever written it (if it was a fiction) and my wishes (if it was a real story) and sorry for posting it without your permission—its already in circulation hence I don’t think it would affect the sentiments.

Rgds.. Kgn

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

It’s a story of a Brahmin gal who loved a non-Brahmin and due to father’s compulsion married a Brahmin guy and leading a perfect life with little happiness!! This may be a story, but the content, characters and the sentences of the story were “Heart Throbbing” and “Breath Taking”.. Do read it completely.. Its worth reading this story..

(Some tamil words included)

      Dearest Appa,
      27th Jan’1965

Hope this letter finds you, Amma, Raji and Seenu in good health. The weather here in New York City is icy cold. But Avar sollraar- I have missed this winter’s biting cold. I still wish I had seen the snow… But then, I still wish I had not left Trichy at all. I do miss Trichy, Appa. You, Amma, Raji, Seenu, pakkatthaathu Rama, Vikatan,Ucchi Pillaiyaar Koil, filter coffee, Holy Cross College, the Maths Department and of course Sakthi. I know you wish I hadn’t brought his name in this letter.But not to worry Appa, I understand that you got me married to Visu because you thought it was best for your daughter.

I still remember Amma wiping her silent tears with her madisaar thalappu and you shouting at me the day I told you about Sakthi.Later, when the initial shock wore off you patiently listed umpteen reasons why I should not marry Sakthi. I agree Appa, that 20 is too young to decide, that Raji and Seenu would have been affected greatly by my ‘mistake’, the Agrahaaram would have scoffed at you… a meat eater was not a good match for someone who had never even tasted onion and garlic. The reasons were innumerous. I knew you’d still have objected and offered other reasons even if he had become a Dhigambara monk.

Visu on the other hand, wore a poonal, he is the son of Neelakanta Sastri, an Engineer and he researched about computers which is what made you jump for this alliance. Am not complaining Appa, Visu is a nice man. Tell Amma that I could not try her kozhakkattai recipe this Pongal because coconuts were too expensive and Avar nenacchar that it was ridiculous.

Anyway, we went out on Sankaranthi day and dined out. He thought it would be a good idea to invite the Chatterjees also. But I didn’t speak Bengali and Mrs.Chatterjee spoke English in an accent that comes with living years in America. Hence I made myself busy with the menu card. They ordered various species of fish,shrimp and a lot more of items I had never seen in my life. I ordered orange juice and a sandwich. The other diners thought it was queer coming to a seafood restaurant and settling for a sandwich. That day, I learnt that Avar prefer pannradhu beef, pork, bacon and seafood.

Do you know, Appa… Sakthi gave up meat because of me? I didn’t ask, he just did. But then, Sakthi is not Neelakanta Sastri’s son and that made it imposible for Subramania Iyer’s daughter Kalyani to marry him.I will keep you posted on what happens here. I don’t think I can make it to Seenu’s Upanayanam. Tell Amma not to get me a pattu podavai for the poonal, I don’t use them here. I wore it once and felt like a clown here.

Your loving daughter,
Kalyani.

Dearest Appa,
20th Oct’1968

We are fine here. Gautam is speaking his first words and I swear they sounded like ‘Dosai’. But Visu claims it’s just gibberish. From your previous letter, I gather that pakkathatthu Rama is married and settled in Jamshedpur. Nice to know that. Please find out her address from Saarada maami and write it to me. I want to keep in touch with her. I hope Raji is happy with her husband in Madras. I spoke to her last month, great to know that she has a phone. Do tell Seenu to study well and prepare for his school final exams.

Raji also told me that Sakthi is married now. I wish him good luck, but I could not convey the message to him. Raji refused to be the messenger and I know you have severed ties with Sakthi’s father, your long term friend Sankaravel, thanks to me. I hear his wife is his cousin… He must have succumbed to his mother’s wishes.

How did Avani Avittam go? Visu’s mother gave me a bunch of new poonals for Avani Avittam but Visu was in Boston that day. He wouldn’t have used it anyway, I haven’t seen him wear one in the last three years. Gautam is now playing with the spool of thread- mere thread it is, what else can I call it? Gautam will not even know what it signifies, I guess.

Visu is making sure Gautam grows up listening to English only. He says it will make his life easier. But I do read out passages from Ponniyin Selvan and Bharathiyaar’s poetry when I am alone with him. It’s more of reading to myself, I guess. I actually got that poetry book as a present from Sakthi, it still has his scrawling signature in the first page.

By the way, Visu saw that book and asked me about Sakthi, I told him. Hold your breath Appa, he didn’t throw me out of the house. He is a good man, no question. He said it is okay and that he doesn’t mind. And then he told me of his American girlfriend whom he was once in love with, when he first reached America- Amy, a fellow Researcher who was in a brief relationship with Visu when she was in New York. They lived together for 3 months and decided against marriage, somehow. Amy once dropped home when she was in New York. Nice lady, she was.

Ask Amma to send me Sambar Podi for this whole year. My friend Sudha is coming to Madras next week. Ask Seenu to catch the Rockfort Express and give it to her. I will collect it from her here.

Your loving daughter,
Kalyani.

      Dearest Appa,
      3rd June’1974

We have arrived here safely. After two months in India, I find it hard to adjust back to normal life here. Gautam and Ranjana demand vadai,paayasam and vaazhai ilai here. Visu’s relieved to be back in America. I left a set of my books there. If it’s not in Trichy it must be in Visu’s parents’ place. If you find them, safeguard them until my next trip. They mean a lot to me since they were gifts from Sakthi. By the way, Appa, I found out Sakthi’s present address in Madras from Rama and Saarada maami. I wrote to him. I am extremely proud to know that Dr.Sakthivel is a cardiologist much in demand there in Madras. He was thrilled to hear from me after so long. You know what he has named his daughters? Kalyani and Raagamaalika. He called me. You know what, he’s still a practising vegetarian, Appa. He didn’t revert back just because he lost me… He asked me if I still sang and whether Gautam and Ranjana could sing. I could see a proud father in him, when he claimed his daughters could sing upto Rara Venu Gopala. That’s when I remembered that I was once a good singer. I wonder why I stopped singing, wonder why I never exposed the kids to Music and Dance. But then, I realize that I had buried all that deep inside me when I left Trichy; after bidding farewell to my best Rasika, actually. Sakthi. After the call, I tried singing ’Kurai Onrum Illai’. I could not rquite reach Charanam, because of the lack of practice and more importantly because of the tears that filmed my eyes and the constriction in my throat. I sang to Visu and the kids one of these days. Though Gautam was impressed, father and daughter could not just wait for me to finish! By the way, next time some friend comes to India, send me a Sruthi Box. I would like to start singing again.

Your loving daughter,
Kalyani.

Dearest Appa,
14th Aug 1978

Just back after our tour to California. Find our photos, picture postcards attached herewith. After you are done with showing all family members,relatives, friends and neighbours, pass them to Visu’s parents. It was a welcome break for the four of us. But I missed my paattu class students all along and was happy to resume the classes again last evening. Did I mention in my previous letter, before we left on the tour - I finally got my driving license here. I sent a few photos to Sakthi too. He has sent me quite a few records and cassettes. I loved it! I’m reminded of AIR, almost! I’m circulating them among my friends too. And of course, playing them for my students too. They are picking up beautifully. Funny news is, I, a Tamilian, is teaching Telugu and Sanskrit kritis to a cross section of Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada,Telugu, Marathi, Bengali students in an English speaking nation. The music sessions have resulted in a reborn Kalyani, Appa. Thanks to Sakthi, really. I would have never taken it up had it not been for his reminder. I am now thinking of what life would have been like if I had indeed married him. I would have of course lost you and Amma. But right now, with this life in America, Visu and these monthly letters to you, Rama, Raji and Seenu what have i gained? I don’t find an answer, Appa. Neither do I think I ever will. Again, as I have always reiterated, Visu is a good man, no complaints there. He is every bit the son in law you wanted. Researcher, American Post-Graduate Degree holder, a dutiful husband and father,earning a comfortable income. I know it is too much to ask for anything else. That is a fantasy I left midway in my life… Once upon a time in Trichy with someone else.

Your loving daughter,
Kalyani.

      Dearest Appa,
      14th Apr’1984
                           Met Dr.Sakthivel after 19 years… He had come to New York for business purposes and paid me a visit. Visu and the kids welcomed him home with great pleasure. And they liked him too. Infact, they did most of the talking initially. And of course, he got me a whole load of books, cassettes, Mysore Paak and lots more.

Your loving daughter,
Kalyani.

Dearest Appa,
20th Jan’ 1990

I just went through all these letters lying in my closet draw for years together. These are letters I started writing to you and then decided not to post. For obvious reasons. I could not mention Sakthi to you even though I was itching to. Not because I was afraid to invite your wrath. I just did not have the heart to hurt you, I know these letters would have hurt you. Because deep inside, I know you were disturbed- you knew Sakthi was a good man, you knew he was a man of substance, yet you didn’t want to go further. Society, I know. ..Family… I know… And all these letters would have only wounded you more.Today, 2 years after your death, and 6 months after Dr.Sakthivel’s untimely death in a road accident, I somehow felt like re-reading all these letters. To me, all these unstamped, unposted letters mean a life that could have been.

Kalyani Viswanathan.

Value, Values and Valuation!

2010-03-31T21:15:00.007+05:30

Well, I am as young as the average age of this country. Where are people in my generation leading to? How many of them are behind false glamour in life? Is life all about glamour? Are we camouflaging ourselves under the name of comfort and glamour and forget the common sense? There is an urgency for everyone to prove that they are better? Do you think, they are proving that they are better to themselves, are they proving that they are better from what they were yesterday? Or, are they proving that they are better than the others?

Well, its human nature to compare! People compare themselves with their peers, friends, relatives, neighbours-- and comparisons always happen on the apparent things like the status, the designation etc. To prove the point that people are in a superior status they showcase themselves explicitly glamorous in all possible way, right from the dress people wear, the car that they drive, the count of girl friends they have, and in worst case they make their spouse as commodity to show that he has married a beautiful wife or she has married a rich guy. And in the course, the guiding principles in life is lost. Are these things mortal? Or the change that we bring to the world in good would be mortal?

Most of the current generations are hyped by the stars from the glamour industry. The Movies, Tele-vision programs, Advertisements thrive only on glamour. Sadly, those self proclaimed God-mans who are supposed to have denounced all things in life too, to sell their concepts and market it, use glamour. Not only the current generation has lost themselves in the glamour but they are spoiling the new generation too.

To show the status, people go to the extent of spending all that they earn-- not the current earnings, but the earning that they would make for next 20-30 years. Credit is good for the economy to grow, but not for the individuals. Credit used for business will help the business to grow, Credit used for education will help the individual to get the immortal knowledge, but credit got for glamour-where does it go-- no where but that it vanishes, get disolved into our ego.

My boss, a profound thinker, use to say, that one should increase his value by strictly adhering to one own values and by this the valuation automatically increases. Whereas, in common, people think they increase their valuation by comparing with others, and by showcasing the glamour they discount all the values in life and never realize that their value finally become nothing.

Light at the end of the tunnel

2010-03-30T22:42:00.002+05:30

This one is ofcourse copied... Source unknown...

My desk... Clean desk policy

2010-03-30T22:37:00.004+05:30

Recently, i have started to re-kindle my interest on drawing. My small time, timepass. Some sketches that takes 3-5 mins. Few of them are my own creations, some are copied....So due credits given to original thinkers....

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

2010-03-18T13:12:00.004+05:30

Early morning today, I had a dream. I and my friends are playing in a lush green open ground. The image was so vivid… so something made me to draw this cartoon… in the board near my desk….

Manjunath Rao

2010-01-02T17:25:00.003+05:30

Manjunath Rao-- One of the great person, I have met. He was President of D & B Africa. He is a happy go lucky person, a perfect Marketing and Sales professional. I met him in Morocco for my first assignment. He was the one who gave the confidence in me as I had just joined the organisation and was with team to visit for a presales along with the CEO.

Two years back, when I was travelling to Libya, unfortunately, I got struck in Egypt Airport for nearly 36 hours without food, water, sanitary facility. I coudn't communicate properly to any one for language barrier. Nor there was any help from any other quarters. And he was the man who came to my rescue. He was very fatherly.

I am now in my vaccation and was checking my emails occassionaly. One message got me shocking-- conveying condolence. Mr. Manjunath has reached the lotus feet of almighty on 29th December, 2009.

The best I could do to convey my condolences is to post this blog. I am very sad.

May his soul rest in peace.

Let God give the courage to his family to accept his demise.

Neeya Naana: English- the way we use

2009-09-20T23:17:00.002+05:30

20th Sep 2009:

I missed the introduction part of this episode. The subject of this episode is to discuss about the way we use English in our day today life. Are we using English in appropriate places to appropriate persons? Are we misusing it against those who really don't use English in their day to day life? Is it really worth it or is really needed?

Side A: We misuse English to the commoners; unnecessarily using English to show the hep in us; we are trying to ape west

Side B: We are least bothered whether we misuse of not; and so be it, we are gaining out of it.

The views placed by Side A:

~While speaking Tamizh with friends, suddenly we start speaking in English when we meet someone whom we are damn sure that they too know Tamizh. For e.g. to the friends என்னடி மாதுளை ஜூஸ் குடிக்கலாமா? and to the shop keeper "one pomegranate juice please"
~Speaking English even to the less educated people such as door keeper, billing person in grocery shop, labourers, security guards etc
~Looking down at someone who cannot speak English properly
~Speaking with an air and showing off as if they were of high class

The Views placed by Side B:

~We get a kind of satisfaction and bring in confidence when we speak in English
~We use it as a weapon to have a upper hand in a conversation
~We get attention and get things done in a short time

The counter Views placed by Side A for Side B's views:

~The satisfaction or confidence should be accepted if they were spoken amongst those who are equally educated / professionals
~If they are using it as a weapon then what is the difference between the ruffians and these people-only thing is the weapon is different but the intent is no different.
~One should question their character if they would take other person's ignorance as an advantage
~If they get hurt / get injured if someone throws stone at them, would they be crying ஐயோ அம்மா or "Oh my god" / "ouch"

The counter views placed by Side B for Side A's Views:

~We use English in our day to day conversation so that we think high and want to get placed high
~ By passage of time, when we regularly converse in English, perhaps we would be crying as oh My my! Ouch! Oh my God! etc

Special Guests' take:

Guest A: Mr. Narsiah, whose mother tounge is Telugu, born and brought up in Tamilnadu, has written many books in Tamizh, well traveled person, a post Vietnam war social worker- says that it is due to Colonial Hang over. He also says that most of the Non-Asian-non-English countries do not speak in English and in fact they feel contempt when we speak to them in English.

Guest B: (I couldn't recollect his name) says his native language is not Tamizh but he could learn it from the common man and he also said that he felt sorry for the Tamilians as many of them do not know the richness of their own language.

My take on the discussion:

Many of them who know me a little would know that to the extent possible, I speak in Tamizh (though I am not good at it). From my personal experience, in most of the time in office, even in some meetings, while other speak in English, i have responded to them in Tamizh (if the whole of the members understand Tamizh). And none has objected it rather i have seen people immediately switching their conversation to Tamizh. Of course, I don't have any native Tamizh speaking female in my team.

I feel pitty for those who speak English to the commoners. Of course I don't mean to say that we have to speak only in Tamizh for many of the proper nouns we do not have equivalent Tamizh words or if used many do not understand. But even for அம்மா அப்பா if we start calling them Mummy and Dady it is ridiculous.

I do agree that one need to improve their English knowledge so as to maintain a statu quo with rest of the colleagues especially when we have team that is cross culture, cross races. But it doesn't mean that one has to speak in English even to the commoners. One should get the maturity of striking a balance between official environment and personal environment.

Confidence should come from the way we carry ourselves and the depth and breath of the knowledge we possess on the subject that we are experts and not by speaking English to the commoners.

Those who speak English to the commoners - How many of them know how to write a proper letter to any Officials? How many of them speak a paragraph without any Grammar mistake? How many of them can write without any spelling mistake (Had MS Word do not have spell check, career of many of them would have been a question mark)- how many of them know where to use commas and where to use semi colons -how many of them know what are the various parts of a speech?

We have to realize that we are not Native speakers of English. As a mater of fact, though i studied in a English Medium school, English was taught in Tamizh. So my English was pathetic until my higher secondary and it got improve a bit during these years.

Though one may feel elated when they speak in English, there is nothing gained when they speak it with commoners or when they speak it even though the situation does not call for it.

By acting ourselves as if we are Brits and Americans and trying to ape them-we miss the richness in both English as well as Tamizh.At the end most of them end up neither being good in Tamizh nor good in English.

Neeya Naana: Introduction

2009-09-20T22:43:00.002+05:30

Many of us would be watching Neeya Naana in Vijay TV. Some of the topics are interesting and some might not so interesting. This series of blog would be about those that i happened to watch and those that were interesting. I would be presenting my views and counter views; readers may also present their views or counter views on a given topic.

All the series would have the label "Neeya Naana" and the topic title would also start with the same so that the readers can easily filter it.

Bicycle Expedition: My return

2009-09-11T10:11:00.006+05:30

I have returned yesterday after cycling 220kms. My father developed an acute discomfort and we decided it was unwise to continue anymore as his discomfort would then aggravate. We cycled first to Madurantakam 75 Kms away from my house on the first day, then to vizhupuram 84 Kms away from Madurantakam and then to Vadalur 66 Kms away from Vizhupuram. From Vadalur we returned by bus.
All in all, it was a good experience testing our stamina, confidence and perseverance. It also shattered our ego- slept under tree on roadside; took food along with the laborers (idly costs Rs. 2 /-); but for once we did not buy any packaged water bottle and hence we have to ask someone in the houses on our route.

On our route we visited ‘Eri kaatha Ramar kovil’ in Madurantakam, ‘Panakattu Eshwarar’ in Vizhupuram and ‘Vallalar’s Sutha Sanmaarga sangam ‘in Vadalur. We also learnt about existence of very important (very ancient) temples in panruti (which were not listed in internet) but missed to visit those places.

Few things that I noted are (though many of them have noticed it before):

* Everybody have mobile phone- saw some unheard mobile models-Recollected Dr. Ashok Junjunwala’s speech in our company's function Unicode 2009
* Nothing moves without touch of political party. Everybody is associated with some or other political party.
* Lots of usage of English words in normal conversation.

* When we travel by car/bus/bike we miss to note how our city / towns were rotten by pollution-which is very apparent when we commute by some slow moving vehicles such as cycle. In many a places I couldn’t breathe because of the foul odor, especially

- From Madambakkam to Tambaram

- From Tambaram to Guduvanchery

- Singaperumal kovil

- 5 Kms to Thindivanam

That is all the places nearing the city/towns were polluted heavily.

May be our government is doing their best, I don’t know. But what I feel is, unless these are kept clean we are creating a very bad world for our generations to live. May be some trust/ NGO should take such activities and employ some labor to clean such areas. It cannot be done by an individual. It should be done by some group of individual / Government. Lot of awareness campaign is required in this area.

* In the route, every two kilometers, there is a SOS telephone call booth- I was not aware of that earlier. Such SOS phones are on both sides of the road. While appreciating the idea, the one who implemented it could have given little more thought to the idea and make it still more useful. Instead of having SOS phones on both the sides of the road opposite to each other it could have been kept at interval of one km on alternating side of the road. By this, with the same number of instruments, easier access to phone could have been made. After all, one who wants to make a call can always cross the road to use the phone booth.
* Few of the villagers, without any inhibitions, asked us why we were travelling in cycle. Few could appreciate the task and few criticized it. When our objective was clear to us, such criticism did not affect us (I was wondering why I was not hitherto reflecting it in work environment)

Thanks for your support and wishes.