My Alchemist Moment

Ever since Corona hit the shores of UAE, we’d confined ourselves to the safety of our home. To be precise, from March 2020 till today as the calendar announces the beginning of a new month, September 2020. New ways of life demands new ways of passing time. How else do I justify my new found interest in balcony gardening? Something I never paid attention to and left as an exclusive passion by my sweetheart. My involvement was limited to appreciating the beauty of the flowers and clicking a few pictures occasionally.

All these got changed with the extra time I had in hand as there was no travelling to and fro office. It all started by seeing the tomato plants blooming and eventually producing beautiful looking baby tomatoes. The happiness of plucking tomatoes that grew in our own balcony was beyond words. There were a few other pots as well, some with plants and others empty. The sack of potting soil was lying in one corner of the balcony.

As the interest in gardening started budding in my mind, I searched for the packets of seeds we got from a local supermarket a while ago. Among the packets there was one of cucumber. Since the hot summer season was still a couple of months away I decided to plant them in one of the empty pots. Never did I imagine that filing a pot with some soil, planting a few seeds and watering them every day and waiting for a sprout can all be such rewarding feeling. The happiness was multiplied to see lots of tiny yellow flowers filling the pot. I could sense my better half watching all my excitement akin to a little boy who got a brand new toy!

The cucumber plants with their yellow flowers gave us a lot of joy for a while. Then it started dying down one by one. The increasing temperature was one of the reasons I believe. Nevertheless I was not going to stop with one set back. Seeds from every other fruit and vegetable we bought at home started to find its way to various pots. Some of them sprouted and others didn’t even bother to show up. Many of them followed the path of the cucumber plants.

Planting of seeds became such a frenzy that I soon ran out of pots. I started thinking of getting bigger pots as I was determined to recreate a ‘Hanging Gardens of Babylon’ in Dubai! As the summer months hit Middle East it was getting even more of a challenge to grow the plants with temperatures climbing and was soon going to cross 40 Degree Celsius! Hence every time I raised the point of buying new pots, my sweetheart shot the idea down stating it’ll be a worthless effort and convinced me that we’ll buy it closer to end of summer.

I visited the Hypermarket nearby, though rare, during these Corona times. Every time I walked past the aisle where they placed gardening items, the pots there seem to beckon me. I’ll stand there and look at them with the dream of a blooming garden and almost immediately the image of a hot summer sun breathing down an intense fire put a burning hole in my dream. In between, an opportunity even came up when one of the occupants from the next block was moving out and were selling their big porcelain pots. The asking price was quite high and considering the summer story, the thought of buy got a thumbs down. The game continued and my dream remained at large.

While this was going on, a thousand miles away near the shores of Mumbai, Shabana Begum was restless at her home. She was stuck in Mumbai for the past three months due to Covid while her family of husband and two grown up boys were in Dubai. They stayed a couple of blocks away from us though we had never met them. In addition of being away from her family for this long, Shabana was equally worried about her other ‘children’. She had a lovely garden in her balcony with a variety of plants, flowering and otherwise. Her major concern was that in the entire home she was the only soul who showed some concern towards the plants. She was truly worried about their plight especially with the summer hitting its peak.

Shortly enough she managed to get onto a flight to Dubai and as soon as she reached home, a heart breaking sight greeted her! What remained of her beautiful garden to which she put her heart and soul was reduced to a handful of plants which luckily survived the heat despite of being rudely ignored. Soon, another unpleasant news also was broken to her. The family had to shortly shift out of the apartment due to personal reasons.

With an aching heart, Shabana posted in the women’s WhatsApp group of our apartment about her intention of giving away her pots. There were no pictures though. As luck would have it, my sweetheart was one of the first ones to see the post and even before anyone else could lay claim on them, she was quick to respond. It was agreed that we’ll visit Shabana next day and take the pots.

We reached there thinking of a couple of pots and what greeted us was nothing short of a jackpot! Multiple outdoor type large pots with such assortment of plants, that even belittled by dreams, were waiting for us to be grabbed, all for free!

I stood there in her balcony awestruck in silence! All what I could do was thank three people. God first, then my wife and finally Paulo Coelho!

The Universe conspired! 

A dad’s dilemma!

It was bedtime again the other day. Our son had slept off already and our four year old girl was on the bed, but as usual resisting sleep big time with her condition yet to be met that Amma (mom) needs to cuddle and be with her till she sleeps!

Here is exactly how the conversation went between mom (M) and daughter (D):

M: Why don’t you sleep dear? Amma needs to finish something.

D: No! I need you here next to me.

M: Wait, let me ask Appa (Dad) to come and join you.

D: No, I want you.

M: Oh, so you don’t want to cuddle Appa and sleep?

D: No, I want to sleep only with you.

M: Shall we then send Appa away?

D: What?! Send Appa away? No!

M: Why not?

D: Of course not! Because he is our Appa!

My heart was filled with all the love this sweet little world could offer! But soon came the remaining part of her statement.

D: Who will then drive us around?

Dedicated to all the loving dads around the world!

The story in between...

It was bedtime. Our elder one being blessed with the ability of instant sleep was already half way through his slumber. The younger one had developed an insatiable appetite for bed time stories. This time she wanted to hear a story involving an animal.

I tucked her under the blanket and started telling her an adventure her appa was involved in, many years back. I told her about a visit to an uncle’s place at Koottikal, a beautiful hilly region in Kerala. There was a large rubber plantation there. At one of the corners of the estate there stood a cave which very few had explored till date.

It was a considerably big cave and I was all excited at the prospect of getting to explore a natural cave right in the middle of wilderness! As I was about to step into the cave, my cousin who was with us stopped me. There were certain sharp looking objects lying around the mouth of the cave. He carefully picked up one and showed us. It was a quill of a porcupine!

My four year old didn’t quite understand what a porcupine was and so she stopped me promptly there. It took a few minutes before I could make her understand what a porcupine is and how it uses its quills to attack its enemies.

I told her that the porcupine had gone away and we collected a few quills. By the time the narration reached this point, amma, her mom came back finishing her bath. It was time for me to go and shower. So amma took appa’s place with the offer that she will complete the story.

As I moved out of the room, I could hear my daughter tell her mom. “Amma, the porcupine just left. You continue with the story"! 

No Vs Know

We recently went on a vacation to a beach destination. The place we stayed was a lovely house situated right on top of a steep hill overlooking the lovely blue-green waters of Indian Ocean. After getting refreshed, we got out to explore the nearby places. Mia, our little one, was all excited that the steep slope down the hill was something she didn’t pay much attention to. She rushed to the slope and before we could even stop her, had a painful fall. It took a while for us to pacify her. But the fighter spirit in her didn’t let the fall drench the spirit of adventure and the trip went on to become a huge hit!

A few days later, we were back home from vacation and were walking to the parking lot to take the car out. There was a slope that led to the parking lot and Mia was running towards the car. Quite naturally I stopped her by saying, “Don’t you remember what happened during the trip? You’ll fall again”. She looked into my eyes and made a statement that literally left me with a profound thought. She said, “But Appa, I now know how to walk carefully on a slope.”

These are the times when your so-called wise brain gets a shock treatment from a tiny brain as little as a four year old one. It really sends an electrifying pulse to your brain that you have no choice but to sit and think about it. How many times have we stopped a dear one from doing something for the fear of them getting hurt? How many times have these resulted in them losing an opportunity to learn and overcome a fear factor? In fact our action of stopping someone from doing something due to our fear is in fact instilling fear in them as well. If they yield to our request, it is highly likely that they’ll never do that ever in their life, especially if this happens in their childhood.

I’m not generalising. I know quite a few people who have dared their loved ones to go beyond the comfort zones and get themselves experience what’s beyond usual. But if you are someone who set a limit to our dear ones, knowingly but at times unknowingly, we need to be aware that this results in them not getting moulded to overcome the challenges in life.

I remember a cousin brother of mine who was crazy about Navy that he got himself enrolled in a defence academy. One of the initial drills they had was being taken to the open sea on a naval ship. As soon as the ship reached the outer sea, they were asked to jump into the wild waters. Those who showed reluctance were mercilessly thrown into the sea and were left to experience how life will be for a Navy personnel.

While we do not necessarily have to be ruthless as the Navy, the question from my little one was a jolt for me to think differently. I realized the need to unlearn a few things I’ve been following. I really need to give my loved ones the space to learn and succeed than to stop them from doing something and be a perennial failure from not attempting the task.

The attitude becomes so positive when we let people ‘know’ something than saying ‘no’ to them which by nature is quite negative. Having said that, we need to make sure that we don’t cloud our common sense and let our loved ones go into dangers that are evident. The point is to realize the fact that we have a responsibility to make our dear ones experience certain aspects of life and not to deny them an opportunity to make their personalities better.

We all are what we are today, due to someone taking such decisions way back in the past. It could be our parents, teachers, siblings or friends who influenced us one way or other to either stop doing something or jump into and get the experience yourself.

Hence on this Valentines month, here is a warm wish to each one of us to extend our love to dear ones to let them experience what they rightfully should all the while keeping an eye on the boundary of risk by applying our common sense. 

Age no bar

One of the most common terms you see in a traditional matrimonial advertisement is ‘Age no bar'. It is a declaration of zero conditions regarding the age of a potential future partner. While this is to find a possible match, I was fortunate to witness another flavour of ‘Age no bar’ during my school days. This time it was all about love, the love I was quite lucky to see between my dearest uncle and aunt.

Chittappa, that’s what we call dad’s younger brother in Malayalam and Chittamma for his wife. This was a time when internet slowly started making its presence felt in the houses in our town in Kerala. Chittappan and family were settled in US. One of those days, Chittappan had to travel alone to India. It was quite unusual to see them not being together since they were seldom seen apart when they travelled.

Chittappan that day, reached our home after a tiring flight. He freshened up and got me to connect the internet for him. Soon Chittamma was online on Yahoo Chat, one of the widely used chat engines those days. Voice chat was yet to be common and hence Chittappan had to type the statements in the chat window.

Let me give you a social background in Kerala while this was happening. I’m talking about a Kerala that was 25 years back. Those were the times when most parents very rarely expressed their love openly for each other. Words of love were hardly spoken, especially in public between the father and mother. I don’t really recollect my parents giving a hug in public. Any behaviour otherwise were not among the accepted norms in our society then.

While such a social behaviour existed, it won’t be an exaggeration if I say I was absolutely stunned when I saw the words Chittappan typed on the chat window. It was that time of the year when jackfruit was available in plenty in Kerala. As expats they must have shared a special love towards this fruit since it wasn’t that common in US. He asked her, “Chakka venodi chakkare” literally translated as “Do you need jackfruit darling”?

It may sound quite silly to be surprised at so simple a statement. But honestly, it was one of the biggest shockers of my life that someone who were of my parents’ age can speak like this publicly. It was something short of a taboo in a society where I lived. That day, I guess, changed my perspective about life. A realization of the meaning of love hit me hard. Chittappan and Chittamma, through their expression of love taught me one of the most valuable lessons in life. There is no age limit for love and more importantly do not hold yourself back from expressing your love to a dear one!

They were one of the earliest love birds I’ve seen. They taught me the happiness of being together. In a world when people get scared to be in a commitment let alone getting married, Chittappan and Chittamma were God sent real life examples for me to strongly believe in the beauty of a married life. The joy of the life they shared always reflected in the smiles they adorned. I’ve never seen either of them walking around with a frown. They appeared to me in a perennial state of bliss.

The flow of life is such that two distinct streams of water join hands in Holy Matrimony and flow together as one river. The love for each other nourishes the banks of this river thereby sharing the happiness they experienced with others. I’m so thankful to God that I’ve been a recipient of such endless love from a very beautiful river that flowed through my life.

A couple of weeks back, Chittappan slightly changed his course to join his Creator leaving behind a legacy along with Chittamma for an entire generation to learn and live on in the spirit of love.

May you all be blessed in this New Year with the presence of such wonderful people who enrich our lives while they are around and even after that!

Hot & Spicy!

A few months after I started with my Post Graduation course outside Kerala we got our first holidays. It was my first experience of staying away from my family and I was super excited to head back home! Nothing during that age was better than having the lovely food prepared by my mom. Needless to say, she had prepared those stuff which I loved the most.

Quite a few dishes awaited me at the dining table and was anticipating an attack any moment. The saliva was creating Mexican waves in my mouth and soon enough I started with my most favourite dish. As soon as I took the first bite I could sense something wrong! My taste buds were on fire and the entire food pipe experienced an intense burning sensation. That’s when I truly realized how spicy the food back home was!

The few months I was away being deprived of mom’s food and my taste buds experiencing an almost bland food from the college hostel, the spices back home became unbearable. That’s when my dad told me this story about one of the boldest grandmothers we’d in the family who was a connoisseur of spicy food! Kunjammachy was her name.

Kunjammachy was far beyond her senior citizen age at that time and it had been a few years since her eye sight failed her. But her taste buds still rocked big time! She loved spices and wanted everything served to her really spicy. One day she got a chutney made by one of her granddaughters. The chutney made for Kunjammachy was already extra hot that usually the rest of the family wouldn’t even attempt to try that.

The chutney was served to Kunjammachy and she had a spoonful. What followed next was a rhetoric of blasting to her granddaughter citing that the chutney is nowhere near being spicy. A lecture followed as well on how to make real spicy chutney. The granddaughter was quite taken aback with the lashings and she went back to the kitchen, doubled the spice quotient and served the dish again.

A quick tasting of the chutney by Kunjammachy and what happened next was unprecedented. The granddaughter saw a ‘flying saucer’ coming right at her and sure enough it didn’t miss the target. Her forehead received a massive blow with the saucer in which she served the chutney. Just like thunder following lightning, promptly came the avalanche of yelling and screaming!

“That’s it!” The granddaughter said. She went out, right into the backyard and searched for a specific genre of chilli the name of which literally translates as ‘Cheek Buster’. You touch it with your bare hand and you’re done for a few days with extreme burning sensation from the chilli. The granddaughter was so miffed that she got a couple of those deadly chillies and grinded them along with the chutney and promptly placed it in front of Kunjammachy.

The eyes that couldn’t see twinkled! Kunjammachy’s senses became all alert. She took a spoonful and tasted a little bit of that fiercely spicy chutney. All what it took was a few moments before tears started rolling down those cheeks. Blood rushed to her face. Her whole body was heated up like crazy. The entire food pipe and the internal organs must’ve got a flash fire shower! She was absolutely shaken.

Surprisingly she didn’t stop there and in fact had a few more spoons of the chutney. Then came the statement, which from that day, became a folklore in the family.

She told her granddaughter these words, “Good one dear, now it is a little bit spicy at least!” 

Angels in Disguise

Article for Bethlehem Matrimonial - Feb 2016

Right from our childhood we’ve been hearing about different stories of angels. Among the different type of angels, ‘guardian angels’ was one of the most commonly referred kinds. The belief is that each one of us have got a unique angel assigned to us as long as we are here on Earth to protect us all the time.

Have you ever believed in angels? Have you ever experienced the care and love of your guardian angel? The fact of the matter is you’ll possibly never see an angel coming to you in a lovely wardrobe with large fluttering wings and a magic wand that can protect you from all troubles. But if you really observe you’ll still be able to experience the love and care of your guardian angel in one form or other. This is what is ingrained in the prayers after the vows in the Christian weddings which goes like, “God bless you with lot of genuine friends in your life especially during when you need them”. Here are some of the beautiful moments in my life when I experienced the love of my guardian angel.

A few years back I had my very first ever travel outside India and that too all the way to the other side of the world, Atlanta. I was feeling totally home sick and was really lost with everything around being totally new and strange. Those were the days of Orkut where I posted a picture of a nearby Pakistani restaurant named Lahore Grill. I gave a comment stating how much I missed food from home. Within a few minutes I got a reply from a school friend of mine whom I’ve not met for ages who happened to be in the same city. The next day he was at my place! For the next three months while I was there in Atlanta he made sure that I never felt home sick.

 

Some years later I got married and after a while we decided to move to Dubai. It was the first week in the new country with no one for company and a hard timeline of two weeks to find my own accommodation. I was reminded of Atlanta days with the exception of food since Dubai had more options for Indian food than maybe even what India could offer! I was running around with hardly any guidance on how to find a good accommodation. Facebook was popular by then and I posted a comment about being in Dubai. Lo and behold there comes a call from a college mate whom I’ve not been in touch since college days! He came over and from that moment I didn’t even have to worry about even the smallest of needs of settling down in Dubai.

Almost half a decade in Dubai and with two kids, life was going on pretty well with God’s grace. One fine day our elder one being four years decided to explore the sofa a little more and started jumping up and down on two big pillows kept on top. One of the jumps went wrong and he ended up hitting the hand rest of the sofa with face first. Needless to say he was bleeding profusely with a nasty cut on one of his gums. I rushed him to a hospital from where got redirected to a pediatric dentist who will do nothing less than stitching up the gums. He suggested meeting a plastic surgeon who went a step ahead and said he wanted my little one to be admitted, given anesthesia and undergo a surgery. I was sitting next to the emergency room completely feeling helpless. While my wife and I were discussing what could be the best way forward, we got reminded of a fantastic dentist back home in Kerala. A quick phone call to him and a few exchanges of pictures over WhatsApp, a simple solution was proposed by him. No stitches, anesthesia or surgery was required!

Believe or not, your guardian angel is always in the lookout for you. See for yourself the ways your angel works in your life through the people around you, some of them you may not even remotely imagine will influence your life!

May the good God help you experience the love and care of your guardian angel through such selfless people in your life and more importantly, may you be the face of guardian angels for many! 

My Narrow Escape!

My mom had promised to gift me a gold ring with my birthstone when I turn eighteen. It was one of my long standing wishes to have a ring with a stone on it. The day I turned 18, I promptly took the opportunity and headed to one of the jewellery shops named after a legendary Titan in my small home town of Changanacherry.

The shop owner knew me very well and received me with great joy and listened to my need to get the ring with my birthstone. I had done a bit of research before heading to buy the ring with the stone. As strange as it might sound today, those were the pre-Google era where people had to ask others to get the required information. I was aware of my birthstone as Aquamarine which was supposed to have a marine blue sheen.The owner asked me a few questions about my date and time of birth. It didn’t sound strange since I thought he was only reiterating the details to ascertain my birthstone. Things started looking a bit odd when he asked me questions on my astrological stars and a few other details. I shared with him whatever little I knew about them and without delay he got into the act of referring certain astrological books.

A few minutes into his reading, the fellow came up with a suggestion which sounded totally bizarre to me! He stated that based on my astrological stars I’m supposed to wear only a pearl on my ring and no other stone. The thought of wearing a ring with a pearl didn’t sound appealing to me at all. I badly wanted a ring with a stone and preferably my birthstone itself.He refused to accept my wish and almost confirmed the order with what he suggested. He was about to sell me the ring when I found a bit of courage from somewhere and told him, that was not what I wanted. I categorically laid down before him the need to have a ring with a stone and not a pearl. He continued to respond negatively and said if he was to sell a ring to me it’ll only be one with a pearl on it. So much for customer being the king!

The argument went on for a while. I tried my best to convince him about my long standing wish to have a ring with a stone on it and my dislike towards wearing one with a pearl. He was absolutely adamant on his decision and didn’t seem like budging at all. After a few minutes into the discussion he made a weird suggestion. He proposed continuing the discussion on the upstairs of the shop. I for a moment was not sure what his intentions were. I even wondered about a secret collection of rings with stones on the floor upstairs which he probably didn’t want to reveal to the other customers around.

With a bit of apprehension I followed him to the section upstairs. I was quite confident that he was not going to act smart since my family knew where I was at that given point of time and he knew that too. Expecting an array of mirrors reflecting immense wealth of precious jewellery in diamonds, gold and silver, I climbed the stairs to the second floor. I was almost sure of finding my Aquamarine studded gold ring awaiting my arrival to be part of my finger as my eighteenth birthday gift from my mom. We landed on the top floor and what in actuality welcomed me was totally beyond any of my remote faculty! It was neither the glittering gold nor other jewels that presented themselves in front of me. Rather a completely empty hall which was merely plastered with absolutely no furniture whatsoever greeted us! I was startled for a few moments that the shop owner had to shake me back to reality. 

What followed after this was even more shocking! He laid down a bamboo mat in front of us and invited me to join him. Till date I’m not sure from where, but by the time I blinked my eyes there was a bottle of Honey Bee brandy and two glasses right in front of us. This was followed by a statement, “Now, let us discuss”! I seemed to have lost all my abilities to speak at that moment. My vocabulary appeared to have deserted me forever. An innocent boy who just turned eighteen who visited a jewellery shop with a simple wish to have a gold ring with a birthstone was made to sit in front of a bottle of brandy being insisted of having a peg or two before striking a deal to agree on an unwanted item from the store! What a wacky world of business it was!

I came to a quick conclusion that I won’t be able to resist the action with words. There was only one thing left to do. A flash of a second is all what it took. With less time than required for a cracker to burst after set to fire, I ran holding my life and was out of his sight in no time! I was literally flying down the stairs and was out of the shop as well, before he could even say ‘stop’!

What a way to get a simple birthday wish fulfilled?!

PS: I later got my wish granted from another shop with a beautiful looking gold ring decorated with an Aquamarine stone.

Perceptions

I remember eagerly waiting for summer vacations during school days. A whole year of classes, tests, punishments and all gets into the oblivion with the onset of long holidays. The feeling was quite similar early in the morning today when I woke up at my home in Dubai to a beautiful sight.The roads and trees were all fresh with the rare event of rains in this part of the world! Lovely drops of rain were lashing the roads and everyone driving seems to feel quite happy about not being indoors. I wanted a piece of the happiness pie as well and got ready quite quickly and headed to office. My red beauty from Toyota seems to be dancing in the rain since all what she usually gets is a bucket of water on alternate days.

 

The traffic was quite lean today with schools closed and people perhaps feeling lazy to get up from the bed in such an awesome weather. The drive to the office was very smooth and I thanked God for gifting me such a beautiful day. The excitement was even greater when I thought I’ll be onboard an aircraft in a few hours heading straight home to my sweethearts!

The half empty parking lot welcomed me and I got out inhaling the fragrance of the desert rain. It was slightly drizzling as though the Goddess of Rain was embracing me with her tender love. There were beads of raindrops that laced the border of my office building and I hopped across each time a droplet came down and playfully avoided them from hitting me. I reached office and for a moment thought of having a hot cup of tea with some breakfast which will complement the gorgeous weather, instead of my usual oats. I overcame the temptation and walked directly to my desk and unlocked it to reach for my laptop. Alas! I was greeted by an empty space. A moment of panic struck me. Losing an office laptop is not a major concern since all the work has a back-up created; nevertheless losing was scary!

My gaze was directed to the window while I tried to deduce what could’ve happened. The dark clouds outside now appeared to me like a devil with an ominous cloak on and performing some black magic ritual, the result of which poured down as drops of fire. I suddenly realized that my laptop didn’t get stolen; in fact I had taken it home last evening assuming that I may need it to do some checks for remote mail access. In all the happiness and excitement early in the morning, I conveniently forgot about it while leaving to office.

I was really upset for such an oversight. This will now mean I’ll have to drive back in the rain which now annoyed me big time. The rain drops that earlier felt like a soft feather touch, now were like sharp needles pricking me. I scolded myself for not getting an umbrella and somehow tried to protect my head with a handkerchief. The droplets continued to fall from the office building. I cursed the maintenance department for not doing a proper job. Ducking down to the falling drops and jumping across pools of water thinking about the poorly designed drainage facilities of this city, I reached where the car was parked. I was about to get in when it dawned on me that I forgot the house key in my bag that I carried to office! It didn’t matter that temperature outside was coming down closer to a single digit; I was boiling from within.

All that appeared beautiful a few moments back were turning out to be an eyesore for me. All the exhilarating experience of the rarity of rains went down the drains of despair. I went back to the office, got the home key and headed home to get the laptop. While waiting at a signal on the way I overheard the last bit of a conversation between my heart and my mind.

Heart said, “I was jumping up and down with joy a moment back and now I don’t even feel that I’m moving.” Mind replied, “It is all about perceptions my dear”. 

The Push!

Year 2001, first year in the new millennium and I was happily walking towards the terrace of my college hostel in Coimbatore along with a bunch of my friends. We were to attend the flag hoisting ceremony to mark the 54^th year of Mountbatten handing over the baton of power to Nehru.
 

The college principal being the ex-officio warden of our hostel was the one to hoist the flag. The ceremony was done with due reverence in the presence of hundreds of hostel inmates. The hostel building which reminded me of the cellular jail in Andaman, though not exactly in terms of the structure, was capable of accommodating more than 400 students. A learned discourse followed in perfect Tamil when the principal of course highlighted the struggle our forefathers had gone through to get us this freedom which we now enjoy free of cost.

Being my first year in Tamil Nadu and not that proficient in Tamil yet, I experienced the same struggle my forefathers did to perhaps understand the emotional words of wisdom that came out from the veteran principal. Nevertheless since patriotism does not need a language to describe I could still manage to figure out the critical aspects of his speech.

It was customary for someone from the hostel to give a return address after the principal finishes his speech. I was standing right in front of the crowd who had gathered in a circle around the flag pole. I could see a whole bunch of seniors and super seniors standing right behind me and was expecting any one of them to start with their return address.

Those were the days when you were expected to be quite respectful towards your seniors lest invite their wrath which will prove to be pretty difficult to survive in the hostel later. Hence seniors used to be in the limelight for all possible functions and juniors will await a day when their turn will come for taking the centre stage. Such thoughts went through my mind and were probably even thinking of a day when I’ll step forward to give a wonderful speech filled with patriotism uplifting the spirit of the nation and reminding everyone to be thankful to our previous generations for the freedom we enjoy today!

What happened next was not even in my wildest of the dreams! All I remember was feeling a very powerful hand right on my back which pushed me to the centre of the circle where the principal was eagerly awaiting for someone to come forward to give the return address. All these happened in a flash that it took a few seconds for me regain my composure. I could suddenly feel 400 pairs of eyes directly staring at me as if an animal of prey is about to pounce on its victim! All my words that formed the soul stirring speech that was part of my day dream a moment ago seem to have gone into an eternal hiding. I could not even utter a single syllable; forget about natural flowing sentences which have to be contextual as well.

Guess times like these generate a very specific hormone in human body which initially creates an excessive amount of fear which either turns you into a zombie-like mental state or wakes up the Phoenix within you which arises from the ashes of the fear that is burned! Goddess of fortune was with me on that day and out came the very first extempore I delivered in my life till then.

The Phoenix continues its flight till date and I’m happy for that hand-of-God that pushed me to the unknown territories which I explored quite heavily afterwards...

Lessons from School Dropouts

Have you ever had an experience with the school dropouts you interact every day, which made you ask the question, is my college education worth anything? Some of these guys are so smart in striking a deal that I feel every Business School need to have a course of practical wisdom. Talking to these folks will provide you with such insights which no university in this world can offer.
 

Our Middle Eastern stint crossed its second year and we had planned to shift our house. We found a place and planned to shift in the next couple of weeks. While being there checking out the house and talking to the main security guard about the details of rent and other facilities I met one of the cleaners there named Gani. He approached me earnestly and put across a request to give him my car for regular washing and almost politely asserted that I give only to him. I didn’t commit anything that day since the rate he was quoting was quite high that what I was expecting.
 

A couple of days later when I revisited the apartment, there was another security guy who also requested me to give him the car for washing. When I informed him that I am already in talks with Gani, he said we’ll somehow work that out though the rate this guy quoted wasn’t any different either.

 

We moved in to the new apartment while the negotiations were on, with respect to the rate of washing the car. Gani seemed to have made some progress showing some flexibility while the other guy was busy showcasing all his worries in life and trying to prove a point that why I should pay him the same amount as he initially quoted. After a few days even he had decided to bring down his stakes. But that’s when the brilliance of a deal breaker was seen from Gani!

 

When I came out in the morning, the day when I was supposed to finalize a rate for the car wash between the two guys, I saw the car waiting for me, sparkling clean! Standing beside my bright red dazzling beauty was Gani with a smile on his face with the confidence of a deal breaker. I asked him that we never finalized the rate, but he gave me such an answer with which I was so convinced about his capability to wipe out the competition with a swift move! He said, “Are you happy with the work sir? We’ll talk about the rate later”.

 

The deal was his and a fair one for me too!

Tea Time

It is a very interesting sight indeed to watch a whirlpool getting formed in the sauce pan when you boil tea with milk along with shreds of cardamom. The aroma of boiling tea seasoned with the best of breed cardamom from the winding ghats of Wayanad brought back a hoard of memories during tea time at various stages of life.

I remember reaching home after school around four o’ clock in the evening where a hot cup of milk mixed with the likes of Complan, Bournvita or Horlicks awaited me. There was hardly a day when this delicious cup of milk was not accompanied by any of the traditional tea time snacks from God’s Own Country. I was so excited when we got a free cup along with a one kilogram pack of Complan. I recollect the writing on the cup with Complan written in red color. That was meant to be my favorite cup for years to come.

Time flew by and I graduated from shorts to pants and so did the evening snacks. If frequent visitor programs existed at that time of history for retail outlets, I would’ve definitely been at least a gold member with the local bakery. The options you could get were minimal compared to these days though I distinctly remember having a huge craving for delicacies like butter buns, sweet nans, puffs and similar such stuff. The budget available of course was very minimal that you could hardly have one or two of these and that too occasionally. Probably that’s why these were precious and tasted heavenly!

Stepped into the campus mode where college canteens and other similar hangouts became a part of life. Tea time with family was becoming a rarity with this change. Nevertheless in that age and psyche it never posed any kind of regrets. That was the order of the day. Soon it was time to leave the town I was part of for 20 odd years and migrated to a totally alien city, the Manchester of South India - Coimbatore.

The steel tumblers of the college hostel welcomed us with options for coffee and tea with unlimited supply. We had formed a core group of friends and soon realized that the tea shops at the backyard of college campus hold much better goodies than the liberally liquidated tea or coffee which the hostel mess could offer. There I discovered to my amusement a wonder called half-tea! The hot samosas, chewy mushroom Manchurians and the little wonder served in the tiniest glasses called half-tea filled our evening discussions. The random flights that take off from the Coimbatore airport in the backdrop gave the whole evening a dramatic experience.

The garden city of India was my next destination. Bangalore redefines your way of life. My days there started with some learning at NIIT when I was staying along with my dearest cousin sister at our aunt’s place. Needless to say most of the tea time was back at home and I was happy to reclaim the days with family during evenings.

This was followed by a stint of project work at a small IT firm, one of the multitudes of technology companies in Bangalore, which if laid down on a map will give competition to the herds of wild beasts treading the Sub-Saharan terrain. I had moved to single room occupancy and the nearest tea shop became my usual place for evenings.

My career got officially kicked off shortly and the distance to office meant that I reach back home only for dinner. The catering company operating the office cafeteria was destined to get the tea bills paid by me for the next few years. Colleagues and friends were the tea-mates during this part of my life. The cups of tea witnessed the debates surrounding why that was a great place to work and why that wasn’t.

Seasons changed fifteen times and I was slated to take my first ever international flight as part of an assignment. Residence Inn, a property by Marriott was to be my abode for the next quarter. Here happened the biggest change in my tea time life. Marriott offered good options for tea and coffee. But it wasn’t that which attracted us the lesser mortals, from the land where you get to drink this only by paying a handsome amount. Beer! It was flowing and plenty that too! Tea time gave way to the sparkling yellow chilled drink and that was promptly supported with chips and hotdogs.

Few months down the line life took a full turn with marriage on cards and tea time resurrected with the concept of family taking center stage. The flavors of tea and coffee filled the home since the preferences were different. A middle line was drawn during this stage as depicted in an earlier post. Believe there is a direct proportion to the grey hair and the grey matter. As every other couple we also evolved. The middle line was not required any more. The tea time was unified again.

The land where ‘1001 Arabian Nights’ was born, laid down the magic carpet for us. Evenings in Dubai became even better with office hours finishing early, giving us ample time to be together and tea time has become even more fun. With the kid growing up it has turned into a full-fledged game of acrobatic-tea where you try your best to have a sip from the cup by skillfully avoiding the little fingers holding it and dragging it towards him.

I think it is all about life. Tea time.

When I told the Indian High Commissioner to go away!

A not so small question-mark with a bright halo formed right above my head when I got a call from Dats, my boss, one fine morning. He wanted me to come down to Phase 1 to Faculty room immediately! Though it had been two years after I passed out of college, this suddenly reminded me of the many occasions such calls came from professors in my department. Imagine my plight when Dats added the statement that Subroto wanted to meet me! My first ever personal encounter with the man who made MindTree!

It turned out to be a very interesting request from Subroto which I grabbed even before giving him an option to think again. The Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia was visiting West Campus along with his family and Subroto wanted me to give them a Campus-tour. He also told me about a leadership session he'll be involved in, till 5 PM and wanted me to bring the High Commissioner and family to him sharp at 5. I was all thrilled and made the necessary arrangements to welcome the high profile delegate and his family.

The hot afternoon sun gave way to a much pleasant weather. The High Commissioner arrived with his wife and two children. They were given a good reception and the Campus-walk plan was put into action. As it was usually done, we started at the Living Logo, proceeded to the History Wall and gave them a glimpse of what made MindTree as it stands today. They were further escorted to one of the most happening locations in the campus, The Orchard! I took them around to various other attractions in the campus all the while being conscious of the time limit which was soon approaching.

Quarter to 5 we were at the fag end of our campus-walk. With the successful completion of the visit I took them back to Kalpavriksha and reached there exactly at 5. Subroto seemed to be in his charismatic best having a bunch of top leaders as his audience. Since it didn't look like he was going to wind up the session any time soon, I decided to show up myself and informed that the High Commissioner and family was outside, waiting for him! He said something which I could not comprehend even with the remotest possible logical sense, at least at that moment! He just told me to ask them to go away! I stood there for a couple of seconds genuinely hoping that he would have an after thought. Neither did he have nor did he seem to be concerned about repeating the same words to me!

I got out and tried to mask all the embarrassment on my face and told the Indian High Commissioner to go away! I don't recollect even a single other instance in my life when I felt so weird. The feeling became all the more intense with the delegate and family taking it very lightly and thanked me for giving them a tour. We exchanged our cards and then they were gone.

While Subroto continued with his leadership-team session, I walked back with a bunch of much larger sized question-marks, minus the halo, all over my head. I met Sachin Joshi who earlier gave me some ideas on the campus-walk and told him about how it went and especially the dramatic ending. I still remember the smile he had in his face when he made a statement that made my initial embarrassment practically insignificant.

He said, "The High Commissioner is Subroto's brother-in-law"!