Emotion Erosion

The other day, Mia, my daughter who is in Grade 5 was studying for her upcoming exam. The chapter she was reading had a section that spoke about soil erosion and the impact that had on mother nature. The key aspect of soil erosion is that it deprives the nutrition rich topsoil that the fertility of the land gets directly affected.

As she continued her lesson, I could not help but think about a travelogue I read two days ago. It was written by a friend who loved traveling and kept writing about his trips. While I enjoy reading travelogues, this time something was different. It lacked the usual warmth. Somewhere the emotions were missing. I immediately checked with him and understood that though he wrote the initial draft, further refining and the outcome was achieved with the help of an AI tool.

When it comes to using AI for writing, what I mentioned above is just a sample. These days many of us use AI for several types of activities. Especially when it comes to writing, I know a lot of people who use AI for drafting E-mails, sending minutes of meetings, and even authoring articles. Of course, many follow the path my friend took. But have you ever thought what truly happens each time you use AI for any of the above actions? Your content gets created one way or the other, but you deprive the outcome of your heart and soul.

Now, you could argue very well that for an official E-mail or minutes of meetings, why do we need to worry about emotions. From a pure business perspective, it makes sense. That is perhaps how the future is going to be. Maybe the writer in me is yet to accept the fact that I need someone or something else to do that job for me. Hence, I am yet to take the help of an AI to do that job for me.

I also strongly believe that the process of writing itself is a mini evolution. You do not just write and send something. When you write, you go through multiple rounds of thinking, iterating and re-iterating the thoughts in your mind and finally by the time you send the content to the intended recipients, the points are deeply etched in your mind that you can recollect them anytime in future. I really doubt if the heavy reliance on AI will help with this. Time will tell.

As we are at a transition point in our lives with AI looming over everything, I could not help but remember another major transition many of us who were born before 90s have lived through. We had seen how the age of writing letters using letter pads and pen or inland letters or airmail gave way to E-mails and subsequently to instant messages. I personally feel, none of the electronic form of communication were ever able to replicate the warmth those physical letters. For all that matter, we all have heard the anomaly that when the world got smaller, people shrunk even further into themselves.

Just ask us this question. If you were one who used to write letters on a regular basis to your family or friends, do you do the same with E-mails or WhatsApp? Do you remember the feeling you had when you were anticipating a reply from a dear cousin, and the excitement when it was nearing the day when the letter was expected? Do you remember waiting patiently for the postman to showup and either feel elated to see him handing over to you the much-anticipated letter or feel dejected not to have the letter arrive that day? Do you remember the feeling of happiness seeing a new stamp affixed on the cover and the postal seal which had the place name where the letter was posted? I am sure that some of us even felt the warmth and scent of the person as soon as the letter was opened. These and many more were the lost experiences when E-mails and later instant messaging replaced traditional letters.

If AI makes life easier, I am all for it. But if I can help it, I would prefer not to lose the human touch forever. I am also aware that certain changes are inevitable in life, and I will eventually accept that. Just the way I do not write letters anymore and be content with the deprecated emotions brought to me by the digital self of people who write to me than let their physical-self converse with me. Just the way soil erosion can create new landforms and landscapes, these emotional erosions may create new avenues for us humans.

Let us ensure that while AI leads the change, humanity still wins!

The Money Trap!

There used to be a tradition followed by children in many families in India during the 90s where kids tend to follow similar career as their parents. This was either due to lack of opportunities in the region where they lived or reduced awareness about what the world had to offer, often backed by limited financial support parents could offer those days.

Things were not too different for me. As soon as I was in my tenth-grade, questions started popping up about what my plans for future was. Those were the days when we finished with grade ten at school, we moved on to a college campus where we did a course called pre-degree for the next two years preparing ourselves for future courses, such as three-year graduation in streams such as Science, Arts or Commerce or four-year Engineering or even longer Medical courses. The options were limited to these.

My elder brother had opted for Commerce, and my dad was a graduate in Economics. So naturally, I ended up with these choices and finally decided on Commerce assuming that job opportunities were better with that stream.

Soon, I joined the pre-degree course in Commerce at St Berchmans (SB) College, one of the most prestigious institutions for higher education in Changanacherry, my hometown in Kerala. After two years, I continued with the graduation stream in Commerce. Before even I knew, three more years went by, and I was in my final year of Commerce. The same year, I got elected as the Commerce Association Secretary of SB College, an assignment I deeply cherished since that was the beginning of many such responsibilities that came my way in future.

One of the key events I was responsible as Association Secretary was to organise an inter-collegiate event named Commerce Causerie. We formed a good team from our final year class along with a few of our juniors to drive the event. A considerable amount had to be raised in sponsorship from institutions in and around our small town. Invitations were sent to multiple colleges and universities across the state. All preparations were done. With the support of the team, we raised enough funds to conduct the event.

The money raised was utilized for various needs including prizes for event winners, facilities including renting of acoustics, travel expenses for invited dignitaries, printing of flyers, posters, banners for sponsors, setting up stalls and many more. Togy, one of my classmates was responsible for the funds as official treasurer of the event. I was equally required to oversee the expenses in the capacity of Association Secretary.

Finally, the big day arrived. All events were picture perfect. As the day progressed, Togy and I started settling the bills with various suppliers. Everyone except the acoustics provider was cleared. His bill was Rs 2000 and I looked at Togy, but all what happened was that we exchanged blank stares. To put it simple, we were broke! There was no money left in the purse to settle the last guy.

Commerce Causerie was an event completely conceived, planned, and executed by the student body of Commerce Department, and hence it was not prudent to reach out to our faculty for help. 25 years later when I look back, moments like these defined true leaders in us. Good leaders are always around. Great leaders are born when a crisis stared down on them.

For a moment we wondered what really went wrong. We were quite sure that we had raised enough money through sponsorship and even after the planned expenses we were even expecting certain surplus. Those were the days we rarely carried extra cash with us, and credit cards were even unheard of. The acoustics guy started to get uneasy. We had to do something before he decided to head to the Commerce Department and complained to our faculty.

That was when we realized something. A few weeks back, as part of the sponsorship trips I did along with a few of my classmates, we had visited the branch of IDBI bank at a nearby town and met the manager. After a few minutes of convincing he agreed to sponsor us with Rs 2000, but with a caveat. He said he would release the cheque for the amount only after showing him the photographs of the event where the banner of IDBI was prominently displayed. Never knew angels came in the form of bank managers!

Since there was no way to get the liquid cash required at that moment to pay the acoustics guy, we were still stuck. That was the exact moment, the proverbial idea bulb showed up above my head. My dad used to work in a branch of Dhanalakshmi bank near our college. I had a savings account in the same branch which I knew had more than Rs 2000 in it. I rushed to the bank, filled the cash withdrawal form for Rs 2000, and waited for my turn for the teller to call out my token number to receive the money. Imagine a world without ATMs!

My dad saw me coming in and he obviously asked me what the urgency was to withdraw the money. I gave him a quick update about the situation and as soon as the teller handed over the money from my account, I rushed back to college. The acoustics guy was finally silent.

A few days later, as I handed over the cheque for Rs 2000 from IDBI bank to the teller at Dhanalakshmi bank to deposit the amount back to my account, he could not help noticing a smile on my face. It was the smile that appeared from reliving the experiences of an occasion that turned out to be one of the greatest learning in terms of not just organizing a large-scale event but helped me with lessons in money management that remain etched in my mind forever.

നാർമടിപ്പുടവ

 ഒറ്റ ഇരിപ്പിന് ഒരു പുസ്തകം വായിച്ചു തീര്‍ക്കുന്ന സവിശേഷ കാഴ്ച ഞാന്‍ കണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നത് എന്റെ നല്ല പാതിയിലും മകളിലും മാത്രമാണ്. എന്റെ ഓർമ്മയിൽ ഈ അടുത്തകാലത്ത് എങ്ങും തന്നെ അങ്ങനെയൊരു വായനാ അനുഭവം എനിക്കുണ്ടായിട്ടില്ല. അങ്ങനെയിരിക്കെ കഴിഞ്ഞ ആഴ്ച മാത്രം വായിക്കാനായി എടുത്ത ഒരു പുസ്തകം ഇന്ന് വായിച്ചു തീർത്തു എന്ന് ഞാൻ പറയുമ്പോൾ അതിലെ അതിശയോക്തി നിങ്ങൾക്ക് മനസ്സിലാകും എന്ന് ഞാൻ കരുതുന്നു.

പലതവണ പുസ്തകങ്ങൾ കണ്ടിട്ടുണ്ടെങ്കിലും ഒരിക്കൽപോലും വായനയിലൂടെ പരിചയപ്പെടാൻ ശ്രമിക്കാതിരുന്ന ഒരു എഴുത്തുകാരിയായിരുന്നു സാറാ തോമസ്. നാർമടിപ്പുടവ എന്ന കൃതി ഇതുപോലെ ഒരു അസാമാന്യ അനുഭവം പ്രദാനം ചെയ്യുന്നതായിരുന്നു എന്ന് അറിഞ്ഞിരുന്നെങ്കിൽ പണ്ടേ ഞാൻ അതിന് ശ്രമിച്ചേനേ!

ഒരു പുസ്തകത്തിന്റെ തുടക്കം മുതൽ ഒടുക്കം വരെ അതിതീവ്രമായ വികാരങ്ങൾ അതേ തീവ്രതയോടെ വായനക്കാരുടെ ചേതനയിൽ ഉണർത്തുക എന്നുള്ളത് ഒരു അസാമാന്യ എഴുത്തുകാരിക്കു മാത്രം സാധിക്കുന്ന ഒന്നാണ്.

തമിഴ് ബ്രാഹ്മണ സമുദായത്തിലെ കാലഹരണപ്പെട്ട ചില ആചാരങ്ങൾക്കെതിരെ പിടിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന ഒരു കണ്ണാടിയാണ് ഈ കൃതി. പക്ഷേ എന്നെ ഏറ്റവും അതിശയപ്പെടുത്തിയ കാര്യം 1978ൽ എഴുതിയ ഈ പുസ്തകത്തിലെ പല അവസ്ഥകളും വിവിധ രൂപങ്ങളിൽ ഇന്നും നിലനിൽപ്പുണ്ട് എന്നുള്ള യാഥാർത്ഥ്യമാണ്. അതിന് മതത്തിന്റെയോ, സമുദായത്തിന്റെയോ വ്യത്യാസമില്ല എന്നുള്ളതും ഒരു സങ്കടകരമായ വസ്തുതയാണ്.

ഇന്നും വായനയെ സ്നേഹിക്കുന്ന ആരെങ്കിലും ഈ കുറിപ്പ് കാണുകയാണെങ്കിൽ സാധിക്കുന്ന ഏറ്റവും അടുത്ത സാഹചര്യത്തിൽ ഈ പുസ്തകം വാങ്ങണമെന്നും വായിക്കണമെന്നും ഞാൻ അതിയായി ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നു. ഇല്ലെങ്കിൽ അതൊരു തീരാനഷ്ടം തന്നെയായിരിക്കും.

സാറാ തോമസ് നിങ്ങൾക്ക് എന്റെ ഹൃദയം നിറഞ്ഞ കൂപ്പുകൈ 

When Yesudas failed to impress me!

K J Yesudas is one of the most celebrated singers India has ever produced. He is estimated to have recorded an overwhelming 50000 songs in more than a dozen Indian and foreign languages.

He was already a living legend by the time I reached my middle school. This was year 1993. That was when one day, dad came home with a breaking news that Yesudas was to perform at a musical concert in Assumption college, one of the most famous colleges in Changanacherry, my hometown in Kerala. Naturally, everyone got excited because you were getting an opportunity of a lifetime to listen to a musical icon in the country performing live!

For me personally, that was not the real excitement. It was also the first year after my dad opened Adens, an ice cream parlour and restaurant, in our hometown. After breaking the news about Yesudas, dad also mentioned that we were going to have a food stall inside the college where people could walk in and buy ice creams and snacks. Yay! We were going to run a shop inside one of the biggest colleges in our small hometown.

Dad also offered to pick me up from school in the evening which was a rare occurrence since I used to commute daily to school on an auto rickshaw. I felt happy that my dad was coming to pick me up from school that day! Small happinesses in life.

By the time I reached the age of middle school, dad used to give me a small amount as pocket money. Nothing fancy, it was about Rupees 2 a month. But the value of that was so high those days, that you will not believe me if I said, I was able to buy twenty candies for just one Rupee! So, on the day of the concert I ensured that I bought a handful of those candies from a tiny shop behind our school where I waited for my dad to pick me up.

Soon we reached the college where the musical concert of Yesudas was about to begin. As soon as I stepped into the campus, what greeted me was a large make-shift frame which connected two of the main buildings of the college. The frame looked as though it was painted in pure white and there were images of bright red apples placed at equal distance from each other across which the word Adens was engraved. It was the beautiful logo of our business. Everyone who walked through the gates of the college that day, stood and took notice of the shop and the brand Adens. 

It was a pure marketing genius of dad to secure a stall there in college for the event, which was the only food stall available in the campus that day. Not only did the day end up as exceptionally good for the business but also gained much needed publicity for a new brand in town.

Meanwhile, the concert was an equally big hit and soon after the event, Yesudas headed back home. So did I, with tummy filled with candies and mind brimming with business ideas.

Thanks again to dad for instilling such brilliant marketing lessons right from our childhood in my brother and me. I am sure his soul must be rejoicing up in Heaven for a life well lived!