11-11-11

So, this is a unique day. It's not going to come again for a 1000 years as pointed out by Blogfriend Bikram. Since this is unique day I am thinking of doing something unique and new to me. Any ideas?

There is a movie also called 11-11-11. But I have seen the trailer and I don't fancy wasting 2 hours of my life on this unique day.

I was thinking of doing something crazy, but then I just remembered. Next year it'll be 12-12-12! And that will also be a unique which won't repeat for a 1000 years.

Moral of the story is that each day in your life is a unique day as it gives you an opportunity to do something new, to start over, to make a fresh start, to create new dreams, to build on old dreams and to let go of the past and create a wondeful future!

It's going to be Legen-wait for it-dary!

My Teachers: Kaushik Sir

I have this great way of starting new series and then abandoning them. So, let's start another one - my teachers. May be 3 days late after Teacher's Day but better late than never.

I think you'd agree that teachers play a defining role in our life. I have been blessed with some great teachers in my life. Actually most of them were great for one reason or another, but some were outstanding! When I decided to write about Kaushik Sir, I thought why just him, I have had some other teachers as well that I would never forget, so why not make it a series? And so, here we start another series, My Teachers, with the first instalment as Kaushik Sir.

He was my English teacher. I had him in more than one classes but the most memorable was the period of 11th and 12th standard. During these 2 years most of my classmates who were serious about school were focusing their energies on Physics or Maths and the interest in English was quite low. It was stupid of them, no matter whether you go for engineering or medical, you still needed to pass English and get good marks in it. I saw several of them suffer because of this shortsightedness when the results were out.

But the low attendance didn't bother Kaushik Sir. He loved to teach and he taught with the same enthusiasm if the number of students was 4 or 40. His period was 4th, the last one before recess and by 11th class the fear of teachers and school discipline kind of wanes. We think of ourselves as almost-college students, not school students. So people used to feel quite free to leave before the 4th period started.

However, Kaushik Sir never missed a class, even if there were 2 students in the class he would teach. I know this from experience. There was one time when only I and another student were there in the class but Kaushik Sir didn't even raise the question of "Should we continue the class?" He just took out the book and started teaching with a smile.

That was another thing - his equanimity. Never a shout, never a temper tantrum, and never a harsh word. Always a smile on his face and always a dedication to doing his best in making us learn.

His teaching style was simple and effective. He always went beyond mere translation of the lesson and question-answer. By that time I was good enough in English that I used to read all the stories in the text books in the summer vacation itself and then enjoy them immensely when they were taught in class one by one.

For me, after wading through Physics, Chemistry and Maths, English was like a picnic! It was a reward! It was a joy! So, I never missed a single class.

I don't want to keep repeating that Kaushik Sir was an amazing teacher and a great person so let me illustrate with a couple of examples.

We were studying this story called "The Coin Diver" which is a great story. I still think of it as one of the best stories we read in school. In the story, there is scene where the 3 main characters of the story, Diamond Jim, Nancy and Charlie (names from memory) are on a single path and their placement relative to each other was important to the story.

When Kaushik Sir started explaining that passage he changed their positions from where they were in the story. I interrupted and called him on it immediately. When the discussion started, another student, the other guy who never missed a class, also supported my view.

Kaushik Sir said he would get back to us tomorrow.

Now here's the beauty part. He didn't forget, and he didn't try to roll past it. The next day, right as rain, he just ambled into class, opened the book and in front of a full class (about a dozen or so students) admittedthat we were right and he was wrong! I mean who does that? What teacher sets aside his ego like that and just concedes so openly? He told us that he had read the book last year and was thinking he didn't need to again this year to teach.

More than The Coin Diver, that was the lesson I learnt, be willing to admit your mistakes and don't get bogged down in ego!

Next instance was also during the same story. In the last passage the author used the word "breast" for the male character. That confused me. So I asked Kaushik Sir and he told me that sometimes the author goes by the quality of the person's body as in, it is a female quality to be able to love so much, and here Charlie has shown that quality so the author used the feminine word for his body. I accepted that.

He repeated that with slightly different words that gave me enough of the clue that I realized the difference later. (In both males and female the bone structure etc. is called chest and the flesh part on top is called breast). It was not him bullshitting me, it was just him stepping around a sticky topic, but not at the cost of leaving me in the dark. That was another lesson I learnt from him, though later, honesty in a difficult situation!

My memories of Kaushik Sir are like that, a man with immense knowledge, a really mature character and a great teacher!

If this reminds you of your teachers or a particular teacher, feel free to share with us in comments. 

Let's test your Hindi

So you think you know Hindi? Let's see how much....

What is this sign called...in HINDI!!

Ice cream is life

I planned to write this post before but AH's post reminded me to do it now.

I have told you before I love ice cream and also shared the thought that "Life is like an ice cream, enjoy it before it melts."

But why do I say that Ice cream is life, or like life..here's why:

• * Ice cream doesn't have a real meaning, it's not part of a breakfast, lunch or dinner, but you can still eat it when you like. Just like life, if you go seeking its meaning you could spend centuries looking for it, yet if you want to enjoy it, it's right here, in this moment.
  
• * You must enjoy the ice cream as soon as you get it, you can't keep holding it hoping to eat it later, it'll melt. Just like life, if you don't live it right now, enjoy it in this moment, it'll pass you by.
  
• * It is possible to gulp down the ice cream without really tasting it. Very much like life, if you are too busy to notice it, you wouldn't really enjoy life even though you pass through it.
  
• * Ice cream is full of calories. And you think life isn't? Then why do people gain more weight as they age? :)
  
• * Ice cream comes in many flavours. So does life. And in both, different people have a liking for the different flavours and they claim that's the best.
  
• * Ice cream and life both taste more delicious when we share them with near and dear ones.
  
• * If you pay attention, each bite of ice cream tastes subtly different. Do I even need to say it? So does life, each moment is different and each moment is delicious.
  
• * If you eat it too quickly, ice cream gives you a headache, so does life.
  
• * Ice cream is a guilty pleasure. When done right, so is life. ;-)
  
• * Ice cream must be high quality for it to be enjoyable. Quality of life is equally important. 

I rest my case.

When you comment, do share what's your favourite flavour...of ice cream. 

The Missing Voice

The Missing voice

कमरे में सन्नाटा सा है

छत पर पंखा कड़-कड़-कड़-कड़

अपनी धुन में चलता जाता

शीतल मंद हवा के झोंके 

दबे पाँव खिड़की से आते

फिर भी पर्दे हिल जाते हैं

मोटर कारें चलतीं नीचे 

शोर मगर ऊपर तक आता

फ्रिज की घूं-घूं चलती है अविराम अकेली,

चाहे दिन का कोई पहर हो

मेरी खिड़की के नीचे बच्चों ने फुटबॉल उछाला 

उनके कोलाहल ने जैसे दीवारों को हिला दिया है

इतना सब कुछ होने पर भी,

कमरे में सन्नाटा सा है...

कैसी है वो ध्वनि जिसे मैं सुनने को आतुर बैठा हूँ 

कौन सा ऐसा सुर है जिसकी कमी मुझे खलती है इतनी

नहीं नहीं, 

छोटी सी वो चिड़िया मेरी खिड़की पर आकर गाती थी, 

दो पल का विश्राम ढूँढती 

अपनी व्यस्त ज़िंदगी से जो, 

मेरी खिड़की की छजली पर

चुव चुव चिव चिव कर जाती थी?

मेरा उसका क्या नाता था

मैं क्यों उसको याद करूँगा?

उसके नन्हे से गीतों का

मुझसे क्या संबंध भला?

फिर भी सच है, 

कई दिनों  से उसका गीत नहीं सुन पाया

शायद उसकी व्यस्त ज़िंदगी बहुत व्यस्त हो गयी कहीं पर

शायद मेरी छजली ही अब  दूर हुई उसकी राहों से

या फिर उसको फ़ुर्सत ही ना रही कि आकर गीत सुनाए

क्यों मुझको विश्वास है फिर भी,

अभी कहीं से वो आएगी, 

फिर अपनी ही भाषा में वो 

चुव चिव का वह गीत गाएगी, 

सोच रहा मैं भी उससे 

अपनी भाषा में पूछूंगा  

“क्या इस छजली से मोह नहीं है,

क्यों इतनी दूर चली जाती हो?”

How is your index finger?

दुनिया ने तेरी याद से बेगाना कर दिया, 

तुझसे भी दिल-फरेब हैं ग़म रोज़गार के 

                                                              फैज़ अहमद फैज़ 

These Urdu shayars are called ustaad not because they were a master of Urdu poetry (which they were) but because they were masters of human psychology and behaviour. 

Let me translate the sher first then we'll come to my actual topic. Faiz says that the world actually made me forget your memory, because the hassles of work are even more attractive (?) than you. Here Faiz uses the word Dil-Fareb. Dil of course is heart, and fareb means deception. I think Faiz uses "Dil-fareb" to mean "attractive" in the case of the beloved and "distracting" in case of the hassles. So, in short, "Dear Love, you are so attractive that you have taken my heart but these hassles of employment are so distracting that they have made me forget everything including you." Of course, it's a thousand times more powerful in the original Urdu. :)

Now, to my topic. If you read it in Faiz's words it sounds callous to forget a loved one for practical matters of the world, but is it not true in the case of each and everyone of us? 

When the boss's call comes on the call waiting, do you not hang up with the girlfriend with, "I'll call you back, baby." Do the family matters not get pushed back when the project hits "urgent"? 

The weird thing about it is that projects have a "red" or "urgent" indicator, personal relationships don't. They hit red when you find out your wife is having an affair or your girlfriend dumps you, or the friend you never got around to emailing, is no longer in a position to receive emails.....

By then it's too late. You can't put more manpower on that project, you can't make people work in shifts, and you can't increase the budget....

Interesting, no?

Let's be fair, work is important, projects do need time and attention, but so do family and friends, and life partners.

How often have you heard this from a friend when you called them, "Arre yaar, so sorry I haven't called you in so long, but I have been so busy!" And how often have you said it yourself?

Sometimes it is indeed true that one is simply swamped with work and personal stuff that takes up all their time, but more often than not, it's just a question of sorting out your priorities and managing your time effectively in order to achieve them. I mean, really, how long does it take to shoot off a two-line email or a one line text message?

I am sure at one point or another you have sorted out your work things and created a to-do list. May be even for your personal "business" stuff. Ever made a grocery list? I bet you have. Well, surely a friend who lends you his ear, supports you in bad times, amuses you in good times and loves you despite yourself cannot be less important than a carton of milk?

मुद्दतें गुजरीं कि तेरी याद भी आई न हमें 

और हम भूल गए हों तुझे ऐसा भी नहीं 

One question I am sometimes forced to ask my friends is, "How is your index finger these days?"

And once he/she says, it's okay, I demand, "Then why the hell didn't you use it to dial my number?"

So, look at that index finger, if it's fine, use it for something other than picking your nose. 

And with the delightful image I will leave you to do with it as you like. 

Slice of life: Swimming

This is an incident from long time ago when I used to live in Delhi and still had the desire to learn to swim. I still have the desire, I just don't bother to do anything about it.

So, I took membership in the local govt.-operated sports complex and started learning swimming from this teacher who I suspect was just a guy who knew swimming and thought this was an easy way to make a quick buck. I say this because his teaching methods were not all that good and my progress was slow. Having taught for a few years myself, I know when someone is cutting through the crap and when someone is just passing time with the minimum of instruction. Since then I have learnt from other people that that's not the best way to learn.

Despite that I was still making progress and had learnt how to float, face down, using my feet to propel me. I could do it as long as I could hold my breath and could float from one side of the pool to the other side, widthwise.

Then one day, he told me to stand mid-way down the length of the pool on the edge. I should explain that this pool was regulation size with the maximum depth 12 feet and the minimum 4 feet. Where I was standing, I was abreast of the middle section about 7 feet deep.

My instructor told me to dive from there and then swim towards the shallow end. He reminded me several times, "Use the feet. Don't forget to use the feet like I have taught you." I nodded and dived in!

I floated using my feet as long as I could but soon ran out of breath and tried to stand up. Blurghhgh! What? No ground? I prodded with my feet but try as I might I could find no solid ground to stand on! And I panic very easily in water. No, not in the shower, thank you very much. But when I am out of my depth (literally) I lose my wits.

If I had tried to be sensible about it, I could possibly have taken a half-breath and managed to float further to the safety of the shallow zone. As it was I flopped around, arms flailing, feet kicking around a commotion underwater, like a drowning man, as a drowning man, for technically I was drowning. I was scared!

My teacher was right there and when he realized I wasn't gonna do it myself, he pulled me by the arm to the shallow zone. It was only a foot away!

He asked me, "Why didn't you use the arms?"

And I replied innocently, "But you didn't tell me to use the arms!"

He shook his head, "This time use the arms AND the feet!"

He didn't have to tell me twice! This time when I dived I used both arms and feet and swam like hell! I was literally swimming to save my life!

This time not only did I make it into the shallow zone, I almost head-butted the end wall!

Moral of the story: While it's good to follow instructions faithfully, when you are in deep water, use your head!

Slice of life: Lockout

Last night I had a class. It was not a usual class, it more like work. But hobby work. I'll actually explain in another post what the class was about since I have been keeping that under wraps for a while.

We were supposed to work together from 6.30 till 9.30. We were all pretty engrossed in our work when around 8.30 someone closed the door to our room, probably not noticing that we were inside. One of my team members cried out, "Are we being locked in?"

That panicked the others and one of the other guys went to the door and shook it. He couldn't open it. He knocked loudly on it from the inside with, "Hello? Hello??"

Then he tried the handle again and lo, it was open! Phew, what a sigh relief we all breathed. Could you imagine being locked in an empty London office at night!?

I should explain that this was not the usual venue for our class. Our class had overrun its time so we were using the institute's own offices to finish the over-budget work.

Well, anyway, we knew the work we had wasn't going to be finished tonight so we scheduled to meet again another evening and decided to call it a night about 9.45 since almost everybody had plans.

The teacher needed a hand with his equipment so laden with all his stuff, computers and whatnot we went down the stairs. Only to find that the main door was locked!

Well, the first impulse was to jiggle and jangle and pull and push and twist the doorknob. Nothing happening. I went up and tried the buzzer that opens the door when someone rings the bell. It worked but the there was another bolt operated by a key that was locked!

Next we started looking for a fire escape. We wandered around in the recesses of the building with our cellphone camera flashes for illumination but there was nothing we could use.

We were officially locked in!

We went upstairs and in the office where we were working found a couple of large windows that were not barred or locked. It was only an 8 feet jump to a hard pavement. Two or three of us were confident that we could jump that much. But it wouldn't help the others and what about the computer? So that was not even discussed.

Then started the hunt for information. A phone number. Any phone number that could get someone with a key to come and rescue us. We started calling people, direct, indirect, in-indirect contacts who could help. Finally, we found a business card with a mobile number of a person we knew would have the key.

The call was made. The estimate was 20 minutes of wait. Whew, not so bad!

Now where is the point of all this? The point is this - even though were locked in and almost everybody had something or someone to go to there was no real panic in the room. We were total 6 people and not one of us said, even once, "Oh, I am starving!" though we all were.

Nobody complained, nobody said, "Oh God! Why me?"

Instead we just settled back down into our chairs and chatted. One girl found the coffee and milk in the fridge and she made coffee for anyone who wanted. Not me, I am off caffeine as you know. And we all chatted about the projects we had done or we want to do and all around it.

One thing that was mentioned several times was that if we had just carried on working, we could have gotten more done. :)

Calls were made to partners, girlfriends, boyfriends and the situation explained.

And I was thinking, "Wow, these people are cool! They are not a bunch of grouches!" Indeed all of us just took it in our stride and enjoyed a chat with colleagues.

That's my whole point - circumstances happen to all of us, how we react to them decides what we take away from them. Personally, I benefitted immensely from that lockout, I learnt some more stuff, I got some networking opportunities that I would not have gotten had we just walked out and gone our separate ways. I wouldn't be surprised if in the recent future I get some wonderful opportunities that can be traced back to this one instance!

In the end, it was not 20 minutes, but finally at 10.55 that person came to rescue us with the key but did we mind it? Nah! 

Meme - Whackjob

I am creating this meme and calling it whackjob because it has all whacky questions. Try and answer them honestly, if you can. My answers are below -

1. If you could go back in time to relive one moment, what would it be?

2002 - When I got the first promotion in my martial arts class in US.

2. If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?

Can't think of a thing to change, since it's all contributed to making me what I am.

3. What movie or TV character you think you resemble most in personality?

Ross Geller from Friends

4. What movie or TV character would you really like to be like?

Transporter from Transporter Series


5. If you could push one person in the whole world off a cliff and get away with it, who would it be?

George Bush, too late now though

6. Name one habit you want to change in yourself.

Better time-management.

7. Describe yourself in one word.

Driven

8. Describe the person who named you in this meme in one word.

Not applicable, I created this silly thing.

9. Why do you blog? Answer in one sentence.

It lets me be creative with very little effort and quick turnaround.

10. Name at least 3 people to send this meme to then inform them.

Always Happy 
Irfanuddin
Ritu
Red Handed

11. Link back to the person who tagged you in this meme.
Not applicable for me :)

Yoon hi - Ye jo wolled hai na wolled..

Yes, world is spelt like that because I am quote Bunty and Babli from the movie Bunty Aur Babli. This is something that's used as a profound, deeply inspirational concept throughout. Let me quote this as best as I remember then I'll poke holes in it.

"Ye jo wolled hai na wolled, isme do tarah ke log hote hain, ek jo saari zindagi ek hi kaam karte rehte hain, aur doosre jo ek hi zindagi mein saare kaam kar lete hain. Ye main nahin wo dono kehte the, aur kehte kya they karte they..." This is Amitabh's voice.

But it's not true. These two didn't do everything in their lives, they did just one thing - they conned a lot of people. While conning and robbing people they did pretend  to be and do a lot of things, but as any actor knows pretending is not being. 


If you played the role of a doctor on screen would you become a doctor? Would you have any idea of what it's like to be buried in so many books that they weigh more than you? Would you know what it is like to work 36 hours non-stop with so much responsibility that you can't even think about taking a break? Would you know what it's like to be woken up in the middle of the night because someone is going around calling, "Is there a doctor in the house?"

If you played a cop would you suddenly transform into a cop. Would you know how it feels to be feared and respected at the same time? Would you know what it feels like to be on-duty 24 hours a day? Would you understand what happens when you get caught in a bank robbery and you are only one who has to be try and be a hero in front of automatic weapons simply because it'd look ludicrous of a cop was present and did nothing?

No, you would not!

Similarly, if you pretend to be someone in order to con people, it doesn't mean you are doing that job, you are doing only one job, yours, and that's stealing.

Well, it has no relevance and no connection to anything I am doing today, but things like this get under my skin and annoy me. :) And that's why I have this blog. ;)