Meekani's writings

Waiting at the Air-port

2012-01-27T22:01:00.001-08:00

On the republic day,I left for Mumbhai to attend the Board Meeting

of Mafatlal Industries Ltd the following day.

I returned to the Air-port in Mumbhai on 27th Jan to catch the evening flight

to Bangalore. The flight was delayed and I had more than thrree

hours on hand. Initially, I thought of spending the entire time

sleeping in one corner. After ten minutes when I could not get

sleep, I becam restless. I went to the book-store and started reading

some magazines. First fifteen minutes, I read the Forbes Asia issue

of january 2012.

I read an interesting article written by Steve Forbes with the caption

"Obama-One Timer". In the article, Mr Steve has predicted that the

next American President would be a Republican. He is alo of the view

that after the election and Republican victory ,America will be put on fast

track on the road to recovery.

Mr Forbes does not endorse the German view that only strict

austerity will save Spain and italy. According to him, these two countries

should look at their tax structure and simplify laws to induce growth in

the economy. Only then, would there be growth in emplyment whether

through new ventures or existing business employing more people.

Here, I am remined of the the view of J.M.Keynes. He felt that

"wasteful spending is better than no spending at all." While reiterating

this, Mr keynes spoke of how Governemnts should pay for "digging holes

and then filling them up".According to him ,there should be some

economic activity always.Some of the European Countries like Spain,

Italy and Greece have landed themselves in big trouble because of

"wasteful spending" and by following the above Keynesian theory.

After fifteen minutes, I was still looking for some reading material.

Suddenly, I saw a book with the title "THAT USED TO BE US-

what went wrong with America" written by Thomas L.Friedman and

Michael Mandelbaum. As I had very much liked Mr Friedman!s earlier work

"The World is Flat" published in 2005. I started flipping pages. It got

very interesting. For nearly 90 minutes I read the extracts from this book

standing at book-shop.

I want to share his view-point with my children and friends.His comments are:

1) The US has stopped investing in the country!s traditional formula for greatness-

Immigration,education and sensible regulation. According to Friedman,if America

is to remain a great country,it must, while reducing debt and deficits, invest in education,

infrastructure,research and development as well as open US Society to

talented immigration.

2)Globalisation and It revolution have virtually put every US job under pressure

The challenge to America is now from low wage and high skilled workers

from across the Globe.It is in this context that US President Obama

has made the observation that "the country that out-educates us to-day will

out-compete us to-morrow".

3)The potential for individuals to-day to globalise their talents,hobbies and passions

into applications is unprecedented and unbounded in potential.

4) Mr Friedman feels that the US Public Policy has lost focus after the Cold War

ended. In the last twenty years,America!s biggest problems relating to education,deficit

and debt,and energy and climate change have been neglected to the point that

they cannot now be addressed without collective action

and collective sacrifice.

5)The "American Dream"--the glue that has held together a diverse and fractious

society depends on robust economic growth

There were other points mentioned in the book which I am unable to remember

now. The man at the book shop objected to my scribbling a few points in my

letter pad.

I agree with one important point mentioned by Friedman.IT revolution and Globalisation

have changed the nature of the job market-with routine workers being

replaced by non-routine "creators and servers" In time,this revolution will efface

the distinction between "developed" and "developing" countries with the world being divided into

high-imagination-enabling and low imagination-enabling countries.

The book made an interesting reading. The prohibitive cost of the book(Rs 799-for 630 pages)

prevented me from buying this book for one time reading.Besides, I had almost covered

70 percent of the book.

I never imagined that long waiting at the air-port can be this much informative and useful.

V.K.Balasubramanian

28th January 2012

Those Nine Days

2011-09-02T03:23:00.001-07:00

I chose to write on this subject for a reason. In my 71 years of life

I have never suffered so badly in health as between 23rd August to

31st August.By the grace of God, I was almost saved from

virtual death.

I had gone to see cricket test match at the Oval,Surray on Monday 22nd

August.I had to change two trains while going to the Oval and three

trains while coming from the Oval. Though I was able to climb the steps

without difficulty, I felt very tired when I started walking from the Rayners Lane

Station. It takes about 15 minutes to cover the distance from the station

to the residence. I found this 15 minutes walk very exasperating on that day.

The very next day,around 6 p.m.,I started getting unmanageable shivering and

fever. As it continued overnight, we went to consult a Doctor at NHS

(National Health Service) Walking Clinic. The Doctor was one Mrs Bala from

Coimbatore. After examining,she prescriped Amoxicilin (500) mg to be taken thrice daily.

The fever continued relentlessly. I started getting severe dysentry and after three days of

the medicine, I stopped the same.The fever continued unabated,followed by dysentry

and urination problems. I started getting up atleast ten times every day

in the night for either passing motion or urine.

I had a very bad night on 29th August. I was not able to pass urine. The next day, we decided

to go to a private hospital. Bala and Neema took me to Clementine Churchil hospital

in Harrow. We proceeded to emergency services where I was given drips. The hospital

also took some blood tests, scan of the abdomen etc. Initially, they said they

would treat me as an out patient. In the evening,I was admitted to a room.What followed on

30th and 31stAugust is an experience I will never forget.

Most of the nursing staff at the hospital are from Nigeria. I am not sure that they are as well trained

as some of the Kerala nurses.When they found out that my sugar level was

high, they tried to bring dowqn the same by administering insulin intravenously.

With this, sugar level came down to ridiculously low levels creating sweating,

uneasiness,gasp for breadth etc. My whole bed became wet with my swet.

My wife pointed this out to the Head Nurse. She immediately stoped insulin,offered me

some orange juice and started administering glucose. Sugar level again went up high.

This drama of alternating sugar level from high to low levels was repeated again

in the night,but this time with almost disastrous consequences.

I almost blanked out, gasping for breadth. I felt as if I had reached the Gates of

Heaven(or Hell). and that I was being denied entry by the Gate Keeper--as if to

suggest that it was not time yet for me to reach there. There is a belief that hospitals

kill 50 percent and save 50 percent. After my experience at this hospital,I began to

subscribe to this belief.. I was given Ciprofloxacin(500 mg) -two tablet to be taken every day.

I am recovering slowly. We pointed out the blunder to the visiting Doctor the next day. He was angry with

Nursing Staff and I returned from the hospital thanking God for HIS kindness and mercy

My daughter Neema and son-in-law Bala took good care of me. The concern and care shown

by Bala was remarkable.

I am now fully convinced that the best place to live after retirement and in old age

is INDIA. The very thought that medical attention is on hand readily available is

comforting.

Sivaguru and US National Debt

2011-08-06T02:55:00.001-07:00

You may be wondering why this title. What is the connection between
Sivaguru and US National Debt. There is a saying in Tamilnadu
~What is the connection between Amavaysa and Gulam Abdul Kader~
There are similarities in this case and hence I have chosen to write on
~Sivaguru and US National Debt~

I grew up in a village by the name Agaramangudi which had no electricity
when I was young. This place is about 15 kilometres from Thanjavur in Tamilnadu.
Our Village Headman was Mr Sivaguru.He was tall,fair and handsome. After
spending
the fortune left behind by his parents, he started living extravaganly with
other!s money.
He was the only man having a car in the village. He would be invited for all
functions and
marriages in the village and its neighbourhood,as the people considered it a
privilege
if Sivaguru attended the funcations at their homes.Using this clout,Sivaguru
would interefere
in other people!s affairs and land disputes. For some time, his judgements were
accepted
by the people.In due course, to prove his clout beyong the village and
district,he began to
spend indiscriminately with borrowed funds.These activities did not lead him
anywhere.

Mr Sigaguru piled a huge debt and he was not able to repay his creditors. His
credit dwindled
and he was not able to to maintain his life style. He disappeared one day from
the village
leaving his wife and sons answerable to the creditors. The meagre labnds left
behind were just
enough to feed the family.The wife and children died in poverty and to-day no
one remembers the family.

The moral of the story--- do not live beyond means. Do not borrow just to show
that you are
number one. Do not spend money by interfering in other people!s affairs. Avoid
wastreful expenditure.
Spend time and money for the family

What applies to individuals applies to countries as well.

US National Debt stands ar 14.7 trillion dollars.Normally Governmewnt Debt
is accumulation of Budget Deficits.Nearly two thirds of this debt is owed to the
people,
business and foreign governments who have bought treasury bills,notes and bonds.
Currently US National Debt is 95 percent of its GDP--up from 50 percent in 1988.
Interest burden on the debtis the fifth largest federal budget item,after
defense and
security spending.

What has caused this huge debt?. It is believed that the root causes are:

1)Wall Street bail-outs.

2)Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and militarism
.
3)Huge tax giveaways for Corporates and the wealthy.

4)Healthcare costs jacked up by insurance and drug companies

US Federal Debt has increased from 9.2 trillion in 2007 to 14.7 trillion in
2011--an increase of nearly 55 percent.

We must remember that if US becomes bankrupt,other big countries will follow
suit.
This is a really dangerous situation which is even difficult to think.

One US Senator has said ~~# As long as the out of control of multi-trillion
Corporate welfare handouts in the form tax giveaways and costly rescue/bail-out
packages are not curtailed,the national debt and deficits are bound to continue
their upward trends~

If this is true, then it is very alarming.

I feel sorry for President Barack Obama. He is being asked to swim with both
hand tied. I only hope he does not go the Sivaguru way.

V.K.Balasubramanian
London
6th August 2011

Looking back (this fortnight)

2011-03-14T20:57:00.001-07:00

I used to meet Mr Menon atleast for five days in a week while going for
morning walks. He was missing since the middle of January. I thought
that he may have gone to visit one of his sons either in Canada or USA.
Mr Menon is owner of a small mine taken on lease and is younger to me
by two years.

Last week, I was told by my neighbour that Mr Menon had returned home
after spending forty days in Manipal Hospital.We decided to visit him at
his place. He looked very week. His bladder has been removed owing to a
cancerous growth. Doctors have fixed a pouch alongside his left side.
This pouch stores urine and has to be cleaned twice a day. On the day we
visited,we saw his elder son from Canada doing the cleaning. I was shocked to
know
that there are 5000 people with similar pouch in Bangalore. In fact, there is an

Association ofpouch users and they meet once in two months to exchange
information.
Mr Menon burst into tears when he told me that it was only his wife!s prayers
that had saved him
As I was leaving his house, I was wondering why this had
happened to a well-disciplined,confident and god-fearing man like Mr Menon.
I also kept on thinking about two of my friends. One of them has all the bad
habits
in the world and yet is leading a very active and apparently healthy life.
The other was a very honest,god-fearing,well-disciplined and good natured man
who suddenly died of heart attack. It leads me to conclude that leading
a disciplined life is no guarantee to long life.

There was lot good news this week. We were very happy to receive good news
from our three children. Normally, I do not talk about my children.

First news from Kaushal and Vidya. They have bought a new and bigger house in
a posh locality for US 1.7 million.(Rs 8 crores). They performed the Pooja at
the new house.
On that day, we went to Dodda Ganesh temple at Basavangudi and prayed
for their good health,happines,peace of mind and prosperity in their new
house.Both Kaushal
and Vidya have not allowed their material success to go to their heads and we
are
very happy about this. I am confident that they will continue to be level headed
and bring up
Vishal and Kavya with the same good values.I was very happy to see the extent of
initiative
taken by Vidya in the whole exercise. I am sure she will provide great strength
and
support to Kaushal in the times to come.

Next news from Meena. She has received an offer for the post of Vice-president
in
Goldman Sachs,Bangalore.She has come a long way since her return to India
in March 2002,starting with a salary of Rs 10,000/ per month.. India has been
lucky for her.
She has been spending all her earnings on furthingr her education, including her
MBA programme
in the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode. Any other girl in her
position would have

remained frustrated, what with an estranged relationship with her husband.
She never gave up hope and continued her pursuit of education and knowledge
I am also happy to note the very high level of confidence in her to deal with
problems/issues.
She managed everything on her own while moving to Gurgaon from Bangalore. I am
proud of her.

Lastly,news from Neema. She has cleared her last paper and has become a
"certified Accountant"
with U.K.qualification. She has worked very hard,managing both her
house,education
and children.She has also been studying for one course or another for the past
so many years,starting with her Masters in Marketing Management in Middlesex
University.
We are praying God that she should get a good job shortly.

We also received good news that my sister!s daughter Deepa had left for Houston.
When I spoke to her some time ago, she was a little frustrated that she was not
able to join her husband in USA. I told her that she would soon go to Houston
and that
before leaving, she should call me. She kept her promise and called me before
her departure
It is their only their determination (and perhaps love) that led to the marriage
of Deepa and Raj
We pray God to bless themboth with a happy stay in Houston.

Lastly, we also saw the new flat being rented by my sister Vasantha. It is a
beautiful
flat.I got good vibrations when I entered the flat. I am sure my sister and her
family
will have a good time in their new abode. I am also confident that with their
entry

into the new house, the long overdue marriage of Karthik will take place.

What gives happiness to parents of my age. it is only good news from children
and good news from near and dear ones.

V.K.Balasubramanian.

-Thoughts on absolute ssurrender

2011-02-09T16:55:00.001-08:00

Mail sent to my children on 9th February 2011.

>
>
>
> I met my old friend Mr Nagarajan in June last year at the
> time of marriage > reception of my younger brother!s daughter in Chennai.
This meeting happened after a very long time.
>
> Mr Nagarajan had worked with me in the Zonal Office of UCO
> Bank and was elder to me by four years. He was staying in Eldams
> Road,Alwarpet,Chennai and we used to travel
> together to the office. He was unmarried and lived with his
> younger brother, who was also a bachelor.
> This younger brother had died some fifteen years ago when
> Mr Nagarajan moved to living in an Ashram on the outskirts of Chennai.
>
> When I met him in June,he looked very weak. I asked him
> whether he had any regrets about not getting married and not enjoying bliss
>of > parenthood..I also asked him whether he would blame anyone for remaining
>single or> whether he nurtured any > grievances against anybody. His answer
>was "No--
' I am happy the way Iam.Who has informed you that I am alone. I surrender to
God> absolutely. He is my companion. When there
> is no one to talk to, I talk to HIM. HE gives me company. I
> get up early in the morning
> confident that HE will take care of me. My surrender is
> absolute and complete".
>
> This did not surprise me. I have also been following this
> for the last so many years.
> Before getting up in the morning and before going to bed in
> the night, I pray
> with the
> following sloga:
>
> "Shri Narayana Saranow, Saranam Prabathye,Sreemathaye
> Narayanaya Namaha".
>
> This prayer has given me immense peace and confidence. I
> never get depressed
> becuase
> I am alone. There is a tremendous sense of security when I
> pray this way.
>
> Let me tell you about what is mentioned in
> Mahabaratha .Draupathi asked Krishna
> "Hey Lord, why did not you help me immediately when I was
> being humiliated"
> The Lord replied,
> "Hey Draupathi, you did not ask for my help in the
> beginning, Holding on to one
> end of the saree, you were first trying to resist. Then you
> were also appealing
> to wise men like
> Bhishmar,Drona and other elders for justice. Only when you
> threw up your both
> hands
> above your head and asked for my help, I did the needful".
>
> This concept of surrender is emphasised in a big way in
> Mahabaratha.
>
> Remember that God is your biggest friend and Benefactor.
>
> Love,
>
> Appa
>
>
>

Green card ---not so green

2010-12-17T19:19:00.001-08:00

I am writing this in my Blog so that it will be useful to those who may apply
for U.S.Green Card in future.

My son sponsored me and my wife for Green Card
some time in 2007 before his return to India. We started getting communications
from National Visa Centre,USA, some eight months ago. The extent of
documentation provided and the enormous procedures to be gone through made us
feel frustrated many times.

There are two ways of processing Green Card---one through
consular processing and the second through adjustment of status. The second
alternative is possible only if the Applicant stays in USA. In our case, we
had no

alternative but to go through Consular Processing..Surprisingly , the
National Visa Centre does not ask all the questions at the same. If two
questions are asked in the first communication and if we answered their queries,

they would come up with a fresh set of questions in their next mail. This
surprised me, to say the least. Either, they were alarmist or they were asking
questions just to delay matters. There is also some inconsistency in their
approach. For example, they do not accept the birth date given in the Indian
Passport, but they accept Police Certificate only from the Passport Office. I
was not sure whether they were trusting the Indian Passport Office completely.

In the first place, let me clarify that we did not have birth certificate and
marriage certificate. In our days, children were born in the house and the old
ayah who

delivered the child was given Rs 10/- for her efforts. Likewise, marriages were
not always registered in early seventies.

In their first communication, they The National Visa centre wanted to know
whether the sponsor ( my son)was born through a legal marriage or out of
wedlock.
We forwarded our son!s birth certificate issued by the Corporation Madras, in
which the
names of parents were given along with the
date of birth. Unfortunately, in the column for the child!s name, my son!s name
was not

mentioned. There was only a remark";Name not mentioned". This was not
accepted by US Immigration.. They maintained that the relationship is not
clearly established. To satisfy them, we forwarded a sworn affidavit mentioning
that we were married on 18th February 1970 and that the our son was born out
of proper marriage. We had also enclosed our marriage invitation. The affidavit
was notarised. We thought they had accepted our explanation.

In their second communication, they had asked for Marriage Certificate. In our
times, as mentioned already, marriages were not registered.We went to the
Registrar!s Office
in Bangalore and obtained a Marriage Certificate, duly incorporating our
photographs. The

Registrar mentioned in the certificate that the marriage, solemnised in Feb 1970
,
was now being registered at our request. This Marriage Certificate was accepted
by the National Visa Centre.

In their third communication they had asked for
our birth certificates, as well as Police Certificate from India and Police
Certificate from Singapore. As I had worked for more than five years in
Singapore as Chief Manager of a Nationalised Bank, they wanted Police
Certificate from Singapore. In their letter, they also advised us as to how to
get the Police certificate from Singapore. There are no birth certificates
issued for me and my wife. The birth date mentioned in our Secondary School
Leaving Certificate (SSLC BOOK) was accepted for all purposes in India such as
for issue of Passport, Voter Identity Card as well as for employment purposes.
We sent a communication mentioning this. We also forwarded a Police Certificate
issued by the Commisioner of Police,Bangalore (obtained from them after paying a

bribe of Rs 12,000).We received a communication stating that the Police
Certificate issued by the Commisioner of Police, Bangalore was not acceptable to

them. Instead, they insisted on a Police Certificate from the Passport Office.
They did not realise that the Passport Office also relies on local Police only
for issue of their certificates.

For Singapore Police Certificate, we checked the procedure in the website of
CID,Singapore. We applied for the same with two photographs, copies of Passport
and proof of our stay in Singapore together with employment pass details issued
by Singapore Immigration.. I could not get a letter from UCO Bank, Singapore
about
my stay in Singapore asrelevant records for that period were not available with
them.
Fortunately, I had a character certificate issued by Mr Manmohan Shenoy,
Chairman of the

bank,-- issued to me by him while accepting my resignation from the Bank. In
that letter, he had mentioned about my Singapore experience. The papers were
sent to the address mentioned in the website. There was a requirement of finger

prints to be submitted along with our application to CID,Singapore. We went to
the Finger Print Bureau in Chennai and obtained the finger prints. The Officer,
Mr Jothiramalingam, was extremely helpful.For the first time, I was seeing
a very honest government servant. My daughter-in-law, Vidya!s father helped us a

lot in the matter.

As there was no communication from Singapore Police for a
long time, I telephoned them. I was told that they had not received the papers.
I was told that they had shifted from the address mentioned in the website and
that they were operating from a new address. I then requested my friend Mr
Jayachandran to move the papers from the old building to the new building. He
helped me. Even then, I was surprised when CID,Singapore returned my two drafts
for Singapore Dollars fifty each, mentioning that they were not payable in
Singapore. In fact, the drafts were issued by the ICICI Banki Ltd,Bangalore
drawn on Chase, Singapore. Till to-day, I fail to fathom why they did why they
did. I then requested Mr Jayachandran to pay in person fifty dollars each for
the two applications to CID,Singapore.He not only paid the money, but also,
through his Secretry Sheila, expedited the matter. This ensured, I got the
Police Certificate from Singapore without any further
problems. That Mr Jayachandran is currently the Ambassador of Singapore to
Mauritius must have helped a great deal.

We then applied for Police Certificate to the Regional Passport
Office,Bangalore.We were promised that we
would get the certificate in three weeks time. In reality, we got the same after

two months. The papers were stuck in a Police Statiion, which again was shifting

to a new building.We went to the Police Station personally
and pursued the matter..

8) We sent the Police Reports from Singapore and India to National
Visa Centre along with copies of the first page of our S,S.L.C book together
with affidavits we obtained from my brother-in-law just to satisfy their
requirement regarding date of birth,

9)We received a communication for an Interview with the US Embassy in Chennai on

17th May,2010.

We were also asked to appear for medical check up at the Apollo Heart
Centre,Chennai. In their communication, they once again asked us to establish
that Kaushal is our son at the time of interview. I was wondering for a moment
that whether I should have tattooed on Kaushal!s back";Made by Bala and Anu
with great love and

efforts".He could then show his back lowering his pants,like Amir Khan in
Three Idiots. Fortunately for us,our names were mentioned in the cancelled
Indian Passport of my son. This convinced the Interviewing Official that Kaushal

is fact our son.

10)We spent two days in Apollo Health Centre and obtained the
medical reports to be produced at the time of Interview. As we did not have
vaccination records, we were asked to take vaccination. I was given three
vaccines and my wife,two. I belong to an era when vaccines were free. I was
therefore surprised when they charged Rs 4,600/- for the five vaccines. The
medical tests are aimed at finding out whether the potential immigrant is free
from TB, chest infection and venereal disease.. They take tests for VD and chest

X-ray. When the society has advanced from VD to AIDS, I do no know why they are

taking VD test instead of test for AIDS..

11)We were interviewed by US Embassy in Chennai on 17th May.
Though my son had filed US Federal Tax Returns for the last three years, there
was no Income
Statement attached for the last two years.

This was because of the fact that for the last two years,he had been working in
India. The Official wanted Indian Income Tax returns for the last two years and
an affidavit from my son that he is planning to shift back to USA. He was very
understanding and pleasant.He also asked that when we had visited US already
eight times under Multiple Entry Visa, where was the need for Green Card. I told

him that I wanted to spend the remaining few years of my life with my son,should

he choose to go back. For this purpose, a Green Card will be a better option
since we can stay for longer periods with our son (as against six months in
Multiple Entry Visa). I was not sure whether he was satisfied with my
answer.).

We submitted the papers on 18th May. We received the Passports
after a week without stamping for Green Card. We were informed that since my son

did not qualify under the "domicile" clause
the Embassy would not approve of Green Card.

My son and daughter-in-law returned to USA on 24th September on transfer---my
son to Yahoo,Sunnyvale and my daughter-in-law to Google,Mountainview,California.
We received an affidavit from him stating that his primary residence is now in
USA.
He had also enclosed his appointment letter from Yahoo. We sent the papers to US

Embassy in Chennai on 9th December December
along with our pass-ports. We received the passport with Green Card stamping
within ten days. We may have
to leave for USA within six months.

This then is our Green Card saga.Our experience has been very exasperating to
say the least.

We are not enamoured of living in USA. It is only because of my desire to spend
the last few years of my life with my only son, I went through the whole
process.

The Green Card formalities are not so Green after all.

V.K.Balasubramanian

Walking Companion

2010-08-16T22:21:00.001-07:00

I have developed a good habit. I go for morning walks at-least for six days in a

week. I walk for forty minutes from 6.45 a.m.

During these walks, I got to know a gentleman who must have been three years
older than me. We used to exchange pleasantries and normally walked together
at-least for three days in a week In the first meeting, he told me his name He
told me that he is a retired Head Master of a School from Davangere.

After some time, I forgot his name. Sometimes, he would come late for walks and
on those

occassions, I could not see him.He was capable of walking faster than me.
However,he preferred to walk along with me. Our views on politics,ethics and
religion matched and I began to believe that we were on the same wavelengths.

During such morning walks, he would talk very vehemently about the need to
resume dialogues with Pakistan. After what had happened in Mumbhai, he felt that

India should even ban export-import trade with Pakistan. In his opinion, ISI
(Pakistan!s Interservices Intelligence) should be declared a terrorist
organisation by India. He was not from RSS,but he held these strong views.

As he spoke very emotionaly, I asked him not to think about these issues as
these were outside our control. I advised him that we should think and worry
only about those situations where we can have some control and influence

From April to June, I did not meet this gentleman during morning walks. I
thought that perhaps he must have gone to London or USA,where his two sons were
employed He surfaced agin in July.

One day, he was walking very slowly. I asked him whether there was anything
wrong with his health. He told me that he has been diagnosed as suffering from
Lukemia.He also looked pale. I advised him to take a second opinion. He
mentioned that

there weret three doctors in the family and all of them, after seeing his blood
test

reports, had confirmed the worst.
He walked very slowly. He said he was not afraid of death,but looked worried as
tohow his dear wife would be taken care of by his children after him.

I was told last week that he had died a couple of days ago. Had I been informed
in time, I would have attended the funeral.
I wanted to offer my condolences to his wife. I did not remember his name or his

flat number.

With great difficulty, I found out his name and flat number from the Main Gate
Security.
I spoke to his wife. She said "yes, Mr Arunachalam, my husband had told me
about you".
I told her that my name was Balasubramanian. In-as-auch as I did not remember
his name, he alsodid not know my name. This, inspite of walking together for
three

years,exchanging views on all topics on the earth.

What a shame? What an irony? Personally, I was ashamed of this predicament.

My brother Ramani

2010-06-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

It will take some time for me to realise and accept the fact that my dear brother Ramani is no more. I was shocked to hear the news of his death at Singapore on 24th May,2010. When he left Mumbhai for Singapore towards the end of March, he was quite normal. Tests had revealed that he had been cured of hepatitis B.

It was heartening to know that his second daughter Mrs Sujatha Muthu and son-in-law Muthu alias Hemant took very good care of him, both at their home and the hospital in Singapore. It is said that the real character of a person is revealed in times of crisis. Both Sujatha and Muthu handled the crisis very well. I am sure God will bless them both for ensuring that my brother got the best medical treatment available.

My brother Ramani was like Lakshmana to me.(though I am not Ram). He always showed lot of respect and love towards me. He consulted me on personal as well as business matters. I cannot think of any occassion where he disregarded my views. It is indeed a very big loss to me. The sorrow has crept in slowly and time alone will help me to tide over the shock. He shared all my responsibilities. He was very religious. In his working life, he had trained a lot of people and got jobs for not less than 100 people in the Middle East. One Mr Shroff, a person trained by him, told me at the funeral ground that he had become "anatha" (destitute). One seeing my brother!s body. he broke down and wept uncontrollably. This is the impact created by my brother in his field.

Let me recollect some nostalgic moments.

Our bonding really started only after our family shifted to Tiruchirappli in 1955. We used t go to a lot of Tamil films together. In fact, in 1952, when we had gone to see Parasakthi",a Tamil film in which Shivaji Ganesan was introduced, he developed unbearable stomach pain, half- an- hour before the interval. I asked him to wait till the intereval. In the interval, I took him home and came to the theatre (Wellington Talkies) to resume watching the movie. Later, tests revealed that he had swallowed a safety pin.He became alright after two days. I literally carried him on by back from the theatre to the residence. (Uppu Mootai)

In 1961,he had completed his Pre-University Examination. He was good in Mathematics. He desparately wanted to become an Engineer. Though I also nurtured a similar ambition, my marks in Secondary School Examination did not help me to accomplish that dream. Early in January that year, I had taken up a job as Sub-editor in "The Indian Express",Madurai. I had come to Tiruchi on two days leave. During that time, the postman gave Ramani a letter at the Post Office informing him of his selection in Regional Engineering College,Surathkal. He came running to me with that letter.The money required for admission was Rs 835/- We did not have that money. It was only our Mother!s sheer determination that helped us to proceed further in the matter. While in the College, he was called "Thuppa" because of his fondness for butter/ghee. I still remember one incident. I had gone to his College to see him,but could not locate his room. I asked one of the students about his
room number. He replied "Around the corner, there are three rooms and Ramani willl be one of the rooms". When I asked him to be specific, he told me "If you find lot of un-wased clothes below the cot, that is Ramani!s cot". Thereafter, it was not difficult for me to find Ramani.Before leaving, I asked him to wash his clothes atleast twice in a week.

In 1964, I joined UCO Bank as a Prabationary Officer.I was transferred to Coimbatore in June 1964 at my request. I decided then that there will be no more borrowing for the family. My carry home pay was Rs 420/-. I would send Rs 80/ to my brother and another Rs 80/ would be spent on rent. In the balance Rs 260/- we lived very well from 1964 to 1967. Our family then consisted of my parents, my brothers Chandru and Nandu and sister Radha. During those periods, my younger sister Vasantha would also come periodically for delivery and rest. Ramani was very disciplined. He would never spend more than Rs 80/- and would never ask for more money.

After becoming an Engineer, he could not get a job immediately. There was severe recession then. It was this that compelled us not to admit my another younger brother Chandru in Karikudi Engineering College. Through the influence of our uncle Mr N.Balachandran, we could get a job for Ramani in Hyderabad Asbestos. He was paid on daily basis. After some time, they discontinued his job and he did not inform us about this immediately. We came to know after a month. He did not have enough money to buy ticket from Hyderabd to Coimbatore. Through a common friend, we brought him to Coimbatore. In 1967, I sent him to Mumbhai. I still remember the day when I went to Central Station in Madras on a rainy day to see him off. I gave him Rs 300/ and advised him to stay with our Chittappa in Ambernath till he got a good job. His first job in Mumbhai was with Blue Star Engineering. He stayed in Ambernath for three years.

Mumbhai would never let anyone down. Ramani prospered in the city. He bought his first flat in Sion,behind Roopam Cinema,and because of his good nature acquired a lot of friends. In 1977,he wanted to buy his present flat in Garodianagar. He was short of unds. He came to me in Pimpri,Pune and asked me to somehow arrange the balance amount of Rs 12,000/. He had already sold his one bed-room flat in Sion I did not have that kind of savings then. However, I sanctioned him two loans of Rs 6000/ each in two different names as loans to Professionals, though it was against bank!s rules to sanction loans to relatives without prior permission. I explained the position to Ramani and asked him to pay the loans within two years. To his credit, he paid the loans in 15 months time,just before my transfer from Pimpri to Madras. He always knew about his commitments and he kept all his promises.

In 1993, he was having high fever continuously. I went to wish him on a Deepavali day and I found him shivering. I immediately advised him to see a specialist. It was diagnosed that he was suffering from Hodgins disease. I accompanied him on his first visit to Hinduja Hospital. Doctors told us that he had to start chemotherapy immediately. While I was talking to the doctor in a separate corner, he told me that there was only 20 percent of chance for survival as he was in Level 5.. Unfortunately, Ramani had also heard this and he was naturally depressed. I tried my best during the next fifteen days to motivate him. I asked him " Ramani, give me one reason why you should not be in that 20 percent". This gave him confidence. I prayed to God then that my dear brother should be spared for another fifteen years-atleast till all his daughters were given in marriage. I even prayed to Sidhi Vinayak that HE should take ten years of my life and give it to Ramani".
Though it may be hard to believe this, it is a fact. My mother also prayed like"Take my life and spare my son". My mother died of cancer in 1997.

I was very closely connected with my brother in all his good and bad days .I had the satisfaction of playing some role or other in all the important phases of his life. I am glad that God has been very kind to him. All his three daughters and sons-in-law have done their duty to him. In fact all of them are exemplary children. May God be kind to them all.

There are memories and memories. I can still write a lot,but these thoughts and expressions will not bring back my brother.

May his soul rest in peace.

V.K.Balasubramanian
8th June 2010

A few Questions

2010-04-06T20:56:00.001-07:00

I have been listening to Velukudi Krishnan!s lectures in the morning telecast by Pothigai TV Channel for quite some. While I admire his erudite scholorship, I have a few questions which require some clarification. Here are those questions;

1)In his talk on "Bharathil Dharmam", Mr Krishnan talks about the Gods cursing Devas and Rishis. My first reaction is that why should God curse? Is HE not all merciful? .Is that being done to inculcate fear? Frankly, I can only think of God as ever so merciful and kind. Wlll any one throw some light on this?.

2)Mr Velukudi Krishnan maintains that one has to face the consequences of "bad karma" either in this birth or future births. He also talks a lot about Bhakthi and Prayer. If Bakthi and "gnana" can bring about Mukthi, will not prayers and Bakthi eliminate or atleast mitigate the effects of bad karma. In other words, can one eliminate the consequences of "bad karma" through bakthi?.. The route,according to Mr Krishnan,is Bhakthi-gnana-mukthi.

3)According to Mr Krishnan, true Bakthi is not possible without compassion,love and truth.When a human being has all these qualities, Bakthi will follow automatically. Therefore, the first step is compassion,love and truth.

4)If the body and soul are different,how come the sins committed by the body are transferred to the soul. Body, according to him, is only an instrument to achieve certain desires/goals. At what stage do we realise that body and soul are different?. I am reminded of the story of Shiva and Sankaracharya. Shiva, in the form of a Paraya, tries to cross a bridge which is narrow and where only one person can cross.Shankaracharya comes to the same bridge and asks the Paraya (Lord Shiva) to go away. Then Shiva asks Sankaracharya " Do you wnat my body or the soul to go away from here?". Immediately, Shankaracharya realises that such a question cannot be asked by a Paraya. He then realises it is Lord Shiva and falls at his feet.

5)Will doing one!s duties (karma) alone be enough to reach "gnana". Doing duties in a righteous way is very necessary. One cannot earn money in whichever way to perform one!s duties. The definition of Karma needs more clarification.

Mr Krishnan is a great scholor and whatever he tells must be true.

Yet, these doubts linger in my mind.

V.K.Balasubramanian
7th April 2010

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HARI--OM--HARI

2010-03-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

From the moment that I decided that I will take one day at a time, I am very happy. I do not plan anything in a big way.I begin the day by thanking God for extending my life by one more day. It is then that I decide that I should enjoy the happenings during the day. I bear no ill-will or hatred towards anyone and this makes my life easier. When you hate a person, lot of negative energy flows,thus spoiling your day. I surrender to God with the following sloka"
"Om,Narayana saranou,saranam prabathye.sremathaye,narayanaya namaya".The meaning is that "Oh,Narayana, I am surrendering to you totally,protect me"
While saying this slokam, I visualise the image of Thirupathi Balajee.

To-day, my grandson Harihar Subramanian has left for Gurgaon to pursue his studies there. He has stayed with us for three years. He is an adopted son of my eldest daughter Meenakshi.I brought him into our family when he was a little over one. To-day he is thirteen Though I was not against adoption. I warned my daughter about the boy not becoming normal, when he grows up and also about the limitations being brought about by genes.I held this view because I believed that adopted children are not cream of the crop.

Here. I must recall the story of "Awara", a brilliant Hindi film directed by late Raj Kapur. A case comes up before a Judge about a theft committed by a boy from a slum. He is being brought up by uneducated" parents". He is also not educated properly. His"father" is a declaed offender of law.
The Judge completes the hearing and postpones Judgement. In summing up his views before the Judgement, the Judge says that the bad habits come from genes and being a son of a thief, the boy, cannot be anything but a thief. During the time taken before the Judgement, the Judge comes to know that the boy is in fact his own son. In his younger days, the Judge loves a girl while studying law.He leaves for city without knowing that the girl has become pregnant. Later, he marries a rich girl to further his career in law.. The boy is brought up by some unknown people in the slum.

On the day of the Judgement, the Judge concludes that everything is decided by how you bring up the child and not by genes. Saying this, he refuses to pronounce Judgement and withdraws from the case.In this film,Prithiviraj Kapur had acted as Judge and his real life son, Raj Kapur had acted as thief. It is amazing that this film was produced and directed by Raj Kapur when he was just twenty-three. His attention to details and his ear for music made this film a phenomenal success. The song "Awara Hoon" was played in almost all marriagea/receptions in early fifties.

During the three years Harihar has stayed with us, we have loved him tremendously. In fact, we feel he is no different from Vishal,our natural grand-son through my son Kaushal. When I bid farewell to Harihar at the Bangalore air-port to-day,it was with a very heavy heart.

Harihar is smart, intelligent and affectionate. But for the fact that we have reached a stage in life where we are not able to take care of even ourselves,both me and my wife would have loved to keep him in Bangalore as he was studying in a good school. We had to spend a lot of time with him during his examinations. The one thing that bothers me is that he is not interested in studies.He feels very stressful when the examinations are approaching.

I am not able to firm up my views on adoption. I do not agree with the views of the Judge in Awara. Genes play an important part. It is only through careful monitoring of the child and his/her behaviour, that one can improve the child and make him a useful citizen of the world. For this purpose only, we felt that Hari should spend time with one of his parents.

Till to-day, we have not told the child that he is adopted.

However, I am sure about one thing. Hari is very street smart and if brought up properly in future, he will be very successful. Most definitely, he will not become a Professor. There is every chance of his becoming a CEO,given his leadership and social skills. For this to happen, Meena and Venkat will have to play a very major role. The next five years will be crucial. I pray God that Hari should bring lot of joy and happiness to his parents when he grows up.

Hari, we will miss you,

HARI-OM-HARI

Thatha
27th March 2010

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Strange,but,True

2010-03-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

I am beginning to type this mail in a very happy frame of mind.

Recently, through a friend I have come to know that my prayers made in 1959 have been answered.Let me explain in detail.

I had seen death from very close quarters in 1959, when my maternal grand-mother died in Tiruchirapalli. She died after lunch and I was given the task of informing all close relatives about the death. As we did not have telephone then at our house, I went to Teppakulam Post Office to send telegrams and also to talk to my uncle in Tirunelveli. On his arrival, we took the "body" to the funeral ground. There were only eight people present including me. As a 19 year old boy, that was my first visit to the burial ground.

When we were half-way through with the necessary religious rites, another "body" arrived and placed next to my grandmother!s body. It was that of a young lawyer by the name Sankaranarayanan who was a practising lawyer from Andar Street.I had seen him in Lawyer!s garb quite a few times., He had died very young. (he was 31 then).Suddenly, all of us heard a female voice crying inconsolably and in a very loud manner. It was the wife of Mr Sankarnarayan. She was just married a year before and was carrying a child. Her relatives tired to take her away from the "samsan ghat",but she stayed put holding her husband!s head in her hands crying very badly.In those days, ladies were not allowed into the burial ground. Even now, very few ladies are present in "samsan ghats". This created a deep impact on me. I prayed then that the child she was carrying should bring a lot joy and happines for the lady in future. I used to remember this scene whenever I visited
Tiruchirappali and passing through Andar Street.

A week ago, I was talking to a friend from Tiruchi.From him I came to know that the lady was blessed with a son after the death of her husband and this son was holding a number two post in a big I.T company in Bannerghatta Road, the same road where I live. My friend was not able to throw any light as to whether the lady was still alive. I am sure she would have been kept very happy by her son.

Genuine prayers are always answered. I believe in the famous words of John Galsworthy "more things are wraught by prayer than this world dreams of".

I am planning to meet this boy one of these days. How and when, I do not know.

I do not even know his name. All I know is that I will be very pleased to see him. I am sure that God will ensure that our paths cross each other in a few months time.

V.K.Balasubramanian
19th March 2010

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Union Budget-2010

2010-03-05T21:44:00.001-08:00

I was asked for my views by two of my friends from Mumbhai on the recent Union Budget. I told them I will give my views in my blog before 15th March 2010.I am going to use this write-up to explain in simple terms my views on the Budget so that all the youngsters will be in a position to understand.

First, let me make one point clear. Before the Budget, there are various expectations from different groups. It is impossible to fulfill the expectations of all the people. Budget making, in India, is therefore a very difficult exercise.

First,let me write about the Domestic Budget. If we spend more than what we earn, what will happen? In other words, if there is big gap between income and expenditure, what will be the outcome?. Only two things can happen. One is that we will begin to borrow from friends and relatives,if that is possible. The wisest way is to cut down the expenditure. Secondly, we will begin to dispose some assets like gold or family silver. The wisest way is to to cut down the expenditure to the level of income or atleast reduce the expenditure gradually
.
In rare cases, if we are lucky, our income levels will rise owing to promotion etc and bring down the gap between income and expenditure.

Using this analogy, I will write about the Union Budget

In the Union Budget. the Finance Minister gives an estimate of projected income and expenditure for the current year. If the income exceeds expenditure, it is Fiscal Surplus. If the expenditure is more than the income, it is called Fiscal Deficit. I have been following Indian Budgets since 1961 and I have not seen Fiscal Surplus ever.What is this Fiscal Deficit for the current year? . The Finance Minister expects the Fiscal Deficit to come down from 6.7 per cent to 5.5. this year. This figure of 5.5. percent is in relation to GDP.

There has been an over all increase in expenditure for the last two years owing to macro-economic crisis and a rise in subsidies due to high commodity prices.

The only solution to bridge the gap is to improve long-term finances. This long-term finance can be improved only if there is a growth in economic activity. The Government has to look into the demand drivers of the economy such as allocation to to various develpment initiatives ,infra-structure segments etc. Reduction in subsidies is not possible as of now. In an economy like ours, we can-not completely do away with subsidies.We have to look at providing a boost to private sector. Reduction in Income tax rates will put more money in the hands of the individuals and will drive demand.

Can the government achieve this reduction in deficit levels?. They are expecting to do the following:

1)Just like an individual sells his family silver, the Government is planning to collect Rs 40,000/ crores through disinvestment of their holding in Public Sector.

2)They envisage a less than expected increase in overall expenditure.Their efforts in this direction will not be very successul,particularly i view of the weak monsoon.

3)Apartment from disinvestment, the Government is also planing to raise big money though auction of 3G telecom licenses.

What will happen if the deficit is not 5.5. per cent as expected. Just like individuals, considerable percentage of current revenue will go towards payment of interest on Government borrowings. This again is a vicious cirlce.

The only way we can move forward is by gradually reducing this Fiscal Deficit. We should have targets for Fiscal Deficit for the next five years and achieve those targets. Unless this is done, our dream of becoming a developed country by 2020 will remain only a dream.

As for current budge,I feel it is growth enabling though the increase in central excise taxes will lead to mild inflation.

Given the circumstances, it is a balanced budget.

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Rise and fall of Nityananda

2010-03-02T20:26:00.000-08:00

During the last ten years in India, religion has become a big business. So many "spiritual" men have emerged,remained on the scene for some time, and then disappeared. You will find that nowhere else in the world, religion and "spiritualism" have minted more money than in India.

Why do people flock to see these "spiritual" men?. The answer is very simple. Human mind yearns for some solace and some comfort that the mysery engulfing them will disappear. To perpetuate the faith of the people, some "arranged" miracles attributed to these "saints" are spread by some unscrupulous men. I have actually seen some of these men/woman planted outside these ashrams spreading the news of the "so-called miracles'.

Let me come to "Swami Nityananda". I went to his ashram along with my wife and son to attend a yoga programme. The contents of the programme were good, though the teacher was immature.Particularly, some of the statements made by him elevating Nityananda to Godly status showed how immature he could be.After the programme, we waited for the "Darshan" of the Swami for two hours. When my turn came to see him,he kept me waiting. Instead of looking at me, he was conversing with someone behind him about late arrival of some license. After some time, he threw some "Vibuthi" in my hands. I then felt that the Swami was no different than me. He was as interested in worldly affairs such as license as any other ordinary human being. I expressed this opinion to my friend Sivaguru

Mr Sivaguru had worked with me in the Zonal Office of UCO BANK in Chennai for six months. In fact, he was responsible for my moving out of the Bank and looking for jobs in the private sector. He was constantly telling me that I should not waste my talents in a public sector bank. It was this that prompted me to think in that direction. After his retirement, Mr Sivaguru joined the ashram of Swami Nityananda to loook after administration. Not only that, he also asked his only son who was working in Wipro to resign his job and join the ashram. Such was his faith in the Swami.

It was at the instance and request of Sivaguru, we attended the yoga programme in the ashram at Bangalore. Before that, Kaushal had also attended a progrmme of Swamiji in Bangalore and he was impressed.

I was not overtly surprised when I saw some pictures of Swami Nityananda with a Tamil film actress, in unusual poses in Sun News TV. Initially, there was some doubt in my find as to whether the pictures have been taken with a duplicate. Repeated looks at these pictures convinced me that it was only the swami who was doing all these "blessings" to a female devotee..

What a shame ! What a come down?. Once the news spread, people started attacking his ashrams all over Tamilnadu,including some his disciplines

Jayendrar of Kanchi Mutt first and Nityanada now, have lowered the image of Indian saints.

However, I have still great admiration for Satya Sai Bhaba, Mata Amritanandmayee and "Amma" of Melmaruvattur. These hight motivated spiritual people are doing lot of social service. While Satya Sai Bhabha has arranged for irrigation facilities in some of the villages in Andhra/Tamilnadu, Mata Amridanandamayee and " Amma" have provided a lot for free medical facilities for the poor and good education for the under-priveleged.

In the past, great saints have lived in India. I can think of Sami Chandrasekhar Saraswathi of Kanchi Mutt and Sri Rmana Maharishi. And when these saints blessed, people really benefitted. It is only when the successor to the Seniro Pontiff at Kanchi started collecting money for the Mutt, all the problems started. I personally know of two Chartered Accounts who have mad immnse money using Kanchi Mutt

Money and woman have been responsible for the fall of all these new "spiritual" men.

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Political blackmail and goondaism

2010-02-14T05:32:00.001-08:00

Recently, I was happy--very happy-- on 12th February.

That was the day on which Mumbhaikars (people who live in Mumbhai) showed the world that Political Blackmail and Goondaism have no place in a civilised society.

It all started with a statement by noted film actor Shah Rukh Khan. To a question whether Pakistani cricketers should have been selected for IPL 3, he replied that "Yes-they should have been picked. I would have been very happy, if some Pakistani Players had been selected".This led to a strong reaction from Shivsena. They threatend that Sharukh Khan!s latest film "My Nam is Khan" will not be released in Mumbhai theatres on 12th February. Both Bal Thacxkeray and his son Udhav Tackeray have always behaved as if they own Mumbhai. They went to the extent oi asking Shahrukh Kahan to go to Pakistan..

Initially, inspite of the assurances given by the Maharashtra Government, theatre owners were not prepared to release the film on the appointed day. They were afraid that their theatres will be attacked by the Sivsena Goondas. Their faith in Sena!s retaliation was more than their faith in the elected Government of Maharashtra. The name "Shiv Sena" evokes fear.

However, on 12, the film was released in 13 theatres and on 13th in 45 theatres (as against 63). All the shows were houseful and people flocked to the theatres giving a big snuff to the Sena.People of Mumbhai once again proved that political goondaism and blackmail have no place in Mumbhai. While the Sena has lost its credibity,Mumbhaikars have shown that they do not submit to these external threats and pressures.

I was very happy that this had happened. I was reminded of the following instances where the Sena had earlier had threatened dire action:

1)Sachin Tendulkar had made a statement that he is an Indian first and a Mumbhaikar second. He also said that Mumbhai belongs to all Indians.
This invited strong reaction from Bal Thackeray who advised Tendulkar to confine himself to Cricket.

2)Udhav Thackeray had threated that Rahul Gandhi wil not be allowed entry into Mumbhai. The very next day Rahul Gandhi came to Mumbhai and travelled b a local train, even drawing money from an ATM in Santa Cruz.

3)Earlier, actors like Amitabh Bachan, Shabana Azmi and others were threatened. They solved the problem by visiting the Sena Supremo at his house.

4) Shahrukh did not offer any apology for his statements nor did he visit Bal Thackeray. The one other instance of an actor standing upto Thackeray was Dev Aanand who told openly that he could not be driven out of Mumbhai. If that were to happen, he averred, the Indian Constitution had to be amended. He did not even have any security with him

The events of 12th February pleased many Indians like me. I am not a political person, but I hope better sense will prevail with Sena and that they would make only sensible statements in future

Hats off to Mumbhaikars.

V.K.Balasubramanian

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Eat at your peril

2009-12-30T18:39:00.001-08:00

Eat at your peril

There is a saying "Eat at your peril". From personal experience, I have learnt how true is this statement.

We went to Coorg for a four day holiday immediately before Christmas. We had stayed in a Guest House in Madhikere,located in the middle of a Coffee Estate. Though we enjoyed visiting places, our stomach started bothering us from the third day onwards. There was somethihng radically wrong with the food we ate. On return to Bangalore,I started having loose motions early moring on Monday. In a matter of two hours, I had to go the bath-room atleast twenty times. At some point, I became so weak that I could not even walk from the bed-room to the bath-room. It was at this point, my wife and son compelled me to go to Wockhardt Hospital, a distance of two kilometres from my residence. Duriong this period, I was not ble to breath properly. I was also suffering from fever and shivering..

I spent twpo days in the Hospital- one day in ICU and another day in the Ward- -an eminently forgettable experience. I have realised that I have reached a stage in life where I cannnot eat whatever I like and whenever I like. I have always believed that body follows the mind. If we keep the mind healthy and cheerful, nothing will go wrong with the body.It is now clear to me that this is only partially true. There are other external factors which might affect your health very badly.. It takes a bad experience to learn a few good things. Food poisoning can wreck the body and the mind very badly.

With such a bad experince behind me towards the end of the year, I am hoping that 2010 will be good in all aspects.

V.K.Balasubramanian

Lobbying

2009-12-19T04:19:00.001-08:00

I have been following regularly the proceedings of Copenhagen Climate Change Summit.I do not want to write about the failure of Developed Nations to carry the matter forward.

What has shocked mt is the extent of lobbying or the fear of lobbying by world leaders.. Before the commencement of the Summit, Mr Barrack Obama proclaimed that he would change the way U.S. was conducting its business, Throughout, he was not able to keep up his promise. He behaved in the same way Mr Bush approached Global Warming.

What is global warming? It is caused by rise in levels of carbon di-oxide in the atmosphere, resulting in raisingi global temparatures to dangerous levels.As a result, it is feared that this will lead to melting of glaciers,rise in sea levels and change in climate patterns. The Conference in Copanehagen is being held to fix enhanced emission reduction targets for all countries, more particularly rich countries. The Conference has resulted in a big failure. It is unfortunate that the recession and financial crisis preceded the conference. The attention of world leaders was fixed more towards these earlier problems, They are more worried about employment figures and banking crisis.

Why did America behave the way it did? It is because of fear of lobbying.

What is lobbying?, Lobbying is the practice of influencing decisions made by the Government. It includes all attempts to influence legislators and officials,whether by other legislators,constituents or organised groups.We can find very high level of lobbying in Nobel Committee recommendations or Oscar Awards. Amir Khan paid through his nose for the lobbying he had done for Lagan at Oscars
.
In the beginning, Obama had promised to cut GHG emissions by 17 percent by 2020. Later he realised that he will face difficulties having the same ratified in the Senate. Last time Kyoto Protocol was negotiated by Al Gore,but it was rejected by 95-0 by the Senate. Why? It is because of lobbying. USA has too many big lobbies that are willing to spend over 300 million dollars a year to maintain status quo This includes a Coal Lobby that has influence in 22 out of 50 states. Besides, there are oil,( supported in a big way by George Bush) automobile and highway lobbies, The rejection by the Senate led to Mr Gore producing a documentary called "Inconvenient Truths". For this effort, he was given a shared Nobel Peace Prize for spreading awareness about Global Warming.

Decisions which will have to be made in the interest of future generations are not taken because of the influence of lobbyists. Is it not an irony?.Very rarely, lobbyists work for a cause; mostly they work for money. In USA and other countries, they make big money. Times of India has called Copenhagen as "Flopenhagen". It would appear that it will take a long time before emergence of a legally binding treay.

We witnessed extra-ordinary lobbying in India recently. To initiate Impeachment Proceedings against Justice Dinakaran, Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court, 75 signatures of Members of Parliament was required to be placed before the Chairman of Rajya Sabha. According to me. a judge should resign once people start suspecting his integrity. Even if the allegations are false, I feel Mr Dinakaran should have resigned. There is a saying "Caesar!s wife should not only be chaste, but should also appear to be chaste". Appearances are important. Now a group of Dalit MPs are championing the cause of Justice Dinakaran. This again is a result of lobbying by people close to the Judge.

Is lobbying good or bad?. I leave it for you to decide.

Just as I am about to complete the write-up, I have read about the lobbying being done in BJP for top vacant spots in the Party.

V.K.Balasubramanian
20th December 2009

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Communication

2009-12-11T21:06:00.001-08:00

What has prompted me to write on Communication is the recent thanks-giving speech given by U.S.President Barrack Obama accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. I listened to the speech from start to finish. It was indeed very amazing. Most of the U.S. Presidents are good communicators, but Barrack Obama is in a class of his own. His choice of words,diction,physical gestures, the deliberater gap given during sentences etc make his speeches extra-ordinary. Even his speech at the time of oath taking ws remarkable. The Chief Justice stuttered a little when pronouncing a muslim name "Hussain". In view of this, there was a second Oath taking ceremony within the precincts of White House.

One of the main reasons why Obama became the President is his Communication Skills. Without good communication,points of view expressed, will not be understood by others. I have great admiration for Obama. I am also impressed with his skills in International Diplomacy. There is a saying in Tamil "Palukkum Kaval, Poonaikum Thozhan" (care-taker for milk and a friend of cat). Obama is managing Us-China and INDO--_US relationship with such a fine balance. US recognised the importance of India at the time Bush, a Republican President. It is good that a Democratic President like Obama is following the good work. I was very pleaased when Mr Manmohan Singh became the first leader to be given a white-housew official dinner after assumption of office by Obama.

What is communication?

There are two aspects of Comunication--spoken word and the written word. While Obama!s spoken words are extra-ordinary, we may not come to know about his writing skils.

Effective communication is all about conveying your ideas/messages clearly and unambiguously. By successfully getting your message across, you convey your thughts and ideas effectively. When not successful. the thoughts and ideas sought to be expressed do not necessarily reflect what you think,causing a communications break-down and creating road-blocks that stand in the way of your goals--both personally and professionally.Not coommunicating properly or not chhoosing the correct words may causes problems even between husband and wife or between friends. In such a situation, we may have to offer a detailed explanation, as an after-thought.

Being able to communicate is therefore essential if you want to build a successful career.

What are the ingredients of a good communication?. Take care of the following:

1)What is the message?

2)What is the audience you are addressing to?

3) What is your perception of how your message wil be received?

4)Circumstance surrounding the communication--such as situational and cultural context. An example of wrong communication is asking for a pay rise when the Company has just announced a big loss.

I would advise youngsters to pay serious attention to developing communication skills. Develop this habit among children also. Give them a simple subject everyday and ask the children to speak five sentences on the subject. If you continue this for a year. they would have developed their communication skills. Also, when you are called to speak in an office party, do not feel shy. In your speech, give some interesting anecdotes.

Please remember that the ability to communicate is the primary factor that distinguishes human beings from animals.

And it is this ability to communicate that distinguishes one individual from another. A good communicator is always a happpy and successful social being.

Love,

V.K.Balasubramanian

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At 69

2009-11-28T18:25:00.001-08:00

I have not been writing in my Blog for some time.

I have completed 69 years of age to-day ( 29th November).. I am at peace with myself and hence I am happy. I am more than reasonably happy with the way I am placed in life at present and about what I have achieved. There are no regrets, desires and complaints. I do not hate anyone. This is the reason for my happiness. There is a famous Carnatic song " Santhamu lekha, Soukyamu lethu". The English translation would mean that there is no happiness without peace.

Human beings, according to Hindu religion, go through " Dharma" (righteopus conduct), "Artha" (wealth),"Kama" (sensual pleasures) and "Moksha" (Mukhthi). I am now in the last stage. I am trying to seek "Mukthi" (release from human bondage) through "Bhakthi" (devotion). I do not know whether I will achieve "Mukthi" though "Jnana". If you are wondering why I am using all these words, let me tell you I am currently reading English translation of "Deivathin Kural". My son has bought seven volumes of "Voice of God" from his friend. These books should keep me busy till July 2010.

Certain beliefs have guided me through all my life. Here, I want to enumerate them for the beneift of youngsters:

1) First Deserve and then Desire"-

I believe that before aspiring for anything, we must equip ourselves so that we can achieve what we want to.. Without being ready, if we aspire for anything, we may not get that ever at all. Before aspiring, we should examine whether we are ready and if not , then prepare ourselves for fulfilment of that desire.In a fast changing world, there is an imperative need to constantly update your knowledge and skill levels. It is only then that you will be able to compete. When we say that a person is "successful", we refer to his "position" and "wealth". Atleast this should be the goal till you reach sixty years of age. Even sastras say that you should go after wealth -"artha", but in a proper way. This success does not come so easily. It is ninety percent perspiration and ten percent luck.

2)"You become what you think":

I believe in this saying. You should set your goals high.If you have moderate goal, that is what you will achieve. And if you have no goals, you will achieve nothing. I have seen that a person wanting to be an actor becoming an
actorr and a person wanting to become a doctor , actually becoming a doctor. My friend Mr Bhaskaran!s brother-in-law used to express that he would become a doctor right from Class VIII. Believe it or not, he became a doctor, though many believed that, being a Brahmin, he would never get admission into M.B.B.S. He was selected for admisssion into Madras Medical College and to-day he is practising successfully in Mylapore, Chennai. Cultivate this thinking in the children also. You must believe that "Dreams come true" and work towards fulfillment of your dreams.

3) Be Positive:

Always be positive. Feel supremely confident that you will achieve what you have set out to achieve. Negative thoughts diminish your efforts. Besides, negative thoughts also affect your relationship with othersThe recent best example of "Positive Attitude" I can give is that of my brother,Ramani. Though he was sufferring from a dreaded ailment, he was confident he will pull through. Whenvever he talked to me, he always sounded positive. It is his belief that he will get through, that has resulted in his positive recovery. When in difficulty, we must think positive. My brother showed the same determination, grit and positive attitude when he suffered from Hodgins disease in 1993/1994.
IImagine what happened to Apollo 13 when it developed some snags at the last minute. It is just because that those in it believed that they could set right the snags, it landed safely.Tamil Poet Thiruvalluvan has said "Idukkan varumkal nahuka". ((when in difficulty, smile). Do not take the literal translation. The implication is that you should retain your composure when faced with difficulty.

Visiting temples regularly will help in development of Positive Attitude. Temples throb with positive vibrations because of the recitement of mantras by priests.Make it a habit to visit temples. Develp this habit among children. Just look at Muslims and Christian. Muslims pray for five times in a day while Christians go to Chruch every Sunday. I believe in the efficacy of prayers and more so in the efficacy of collective prayer. I subscribe to what John Galsworthy has said "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of"

4) Be humble:

Humility is an important virtue. Do not feel proud when you become eminently successful. I have seen many successful people having a strong ego--- an ego which runs faster than their thoughts. This is bad. You will be more at peace with yourself when you are humble. Chaitanya Maharaj has said "Live life like a blade of grass".
The best example I can give of a very humble person who has achieved great wealth and succees is Mr Shashi Ruia of Essar Group. I had the privilege of working under him for two years. To-day Mr Ruia is within the five richest men of India. According to Forbes, his wealth is around 13 billion dollars. It is his humility that has fostered good relationship with everybody,including Russians, Americans and other people of different nationlities. I can never ever forget Mr Shashi Ruia during my life-time

I would advise you all to save atleast 25 percent of your annual income. If husband and wife are working, then one salary should be saved.

What is my mental state at 69.?. I get up very early and pray for five minutes., I also plan what I should do for the day. I do not think beyond a week. Most surprisingly, I am not afraid of dealth, but I am afraid of pain. I cannot face pain like my wife who has endured enormous pain for one reason or the for the last so many years. Many times, I have felt helpless whenever I have seen her suffer.

Everybody should remain happy. That is my only desire. . I want you all to remain happy wherever you are..Lord Krishna asks in Bhagwad Gita "To the one without peace,how can there be happiness".?. Unless a person is tuned into God, he cannot have peace and without peace, he cannot be happy. I repeat once again the famous lyrics of the Telugu song "Santhamu lekha,Soukyamau lethu"

Love,
V.K.Balasubramanian
29th November 2009

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Visit to Gurgaon,Haridwar and Rishikesh

2009-09-28T10:01:00.001-07:00

We spent ten days from 18th September in Gurgaon, Haridwar and Rishikesh. We had planned these trips some two months ago taking into account the Dasera Holidays for the children. In between my wife underwent endo-laser treatment for Varicose veins at the hands of Dr Shoib Padaria of Jaslok Hospitaal,Mumbhai. I asked the doctor whether we could undertake these trips after the key-hole surgery. He confirmed that we could go ahead as she, in any case, has to walk for four KMS every day for two months.

We reached Gurgaon on 18th late evening. The highlight of our trip is our experiences in Haridwar and Risikesh. I want to start my narration with our visit to these two places. We spent three days in both the places.Haridwar is about 220 KMS from where we stayed. We reached Haridwar by car. On the way, we passed through Noida, Ghaziabad,,Meerut,Muzafarnagar and Roorkee.We checked into Ginger Hotel at Haridwar.

Vedic history describes Haridwar as the land of salvation.This is the place where Ganga joins the plains and forms an entrance to the various pilgrim centres of the holy land of Uttaranchal. It is known as the land of Shiva and Vishnu. It is also described as the land of Power-MAYAPURI.Haridwar is the ideal pilgrim spot for people who worry about death and desire Mukthi. This is also the first spot of visit for religious scholors and intellectuals.

We first visited Mansa temple in Haridwar. It is located on top of a hill. We travelled by car upto the foot of the hill. We went to the top of the hill by a winch. The temple was very beautiful. As we visited the temple on a Sapthami day, there was tremendous crowd. There were monkeys of all sizes and colours all through the steps leading to the temple.After the temple visit, we went to Hari Poudi-were Ganges flows with ferocious power. We took bath in the Ganges. The flow of water was so very fast and ferocious, we could not even stand for a minute in the water with our feet firmly planted on the ground. Around us, there were shouts of "Alak Niranjan"."Hari Har Mahadev" and "Jai Ganga Mayi". These,along with bells from the temple creates a very spiritual atmosphere. It is a tangible proof of Hindu culture which strives continuously to seek salvation amidst chaos, pain and confusion. After the bath, we also saw the"Aarthi for Ganga". It was a very
enchanting experience.

The next day, we visited Chandi temple. This is again located on top of a hill. We travelled by a winch. Along side Chandi temple, there is also a temple for Anjana Devi, mother of Hanuman.

From Haridwar, we went to Rishikesh- a distance of twenty KMS from Haridwar.

Rishikesh represents the site where Lord Vishnu vanquished the demon Madhu. A gate-way to the Himalayas in the Tehsri-Garhwal region of Uttaranchal, Rishikesh abounds in natural splendour. The spectacle of river Ganga gushing through the foothills of Himalayas surrounded by scenic beauty of the hills from three sides and the verdant forest all around provides a wonderful sight to Rishikesh.

We stayed in Paramartha Niketan,founded by Swamy Sidanand Saraswathi, also called Muniji. This is an ashram built on the banks of Ganges. The ambience in the Ashram and the food are excellent. We just sat on the last step with our feet on the Ganges water. The scenic beauty is marvellous. We watched the Ganga Puja and Aaarthi performed at the Ashram.With more than eight hundred people participating, most of them foreigners, it was a sight to behold.Songs sung,prayers offered and the flames from the Homa Kunda made an extremely spritual atmosphere. We were really thrilled.I recommend Paramarth Niketan for any future stay by any one of you
We saw Laxman Jhoola,Ram Jhoola and Nilakantha temple in Rishikesh,Laxman Jhola ia a suspension bridege in iron and is an architectural marvel,considering that it was built some two hundred years ago..Ram Jhoola, built later between Shivanand Ashram and Swarg Ashram is also very beautiful. (thougjh kept unclean). View of the Ganges from these two bridges reminded me of what I saw in Switzerland and Kashmir. Triveni Ghat is a place where pilgrims take bath in holy Ganges.

Our visit to Neelkantha temple was thrilling. It is about 30 KMS from where we stayed. There was only a single forest road of ten feet with barely enough space for two cars to cross through. It was indeed a dangerous drive. As the mythology says when amrita or the ambrosia was being churned out, the venom also oozed out in the process. Lord shive, in order to save the world, drank this venom. His throat became blue with its effect and HE got the name Neelkantha- one with a blue throat. This is believed to have happend at this place.

Rishikesh is usually mentioned in connection with four other eminent places of tremendous religious importance,namely,Badrinath,Kedar Nath,Yamunotri and Gangotri.

There is a great spritual atmosphere in the air surrounding Rishikesh.Before leaving Rishikesh, I took bath in the Ganges with my wife early morning at 5.30 chanting Shiva Gayathri.

Incidentally, some of the begggers in Rishikesh looked like scholors. There was no trace of worry in their faces. No position.No possessions. No worry about the future. There was happiness wirt large on their faces. I was almost tempted to interview some of them. To a question, one of them replied' "Are you sure you will see to-morrow?".With this, I was afraid of proceeding further.

After seeing the similarity in practices being followed in the North and South, I am inclined to believe that Hinduism is not merely a religion.

Hinduism is a way of Life.

Be proud to be a Hindu.

While in Gurgaon, we also saw different places in Delhi. We also went to Agra to see Taj Mahal. On our return from Taj, we also went to Gokul where Lord Krishna was brought up by Yasodha Mayi.
The Taj has lost some of its shine. When I last saw Taj some thirty years ago, it was pure white in colour. Now the colour is dull. I was tempted to say in typical Raj Kapur style, 'Shaji (referring to Shajahan), Teri Taj, maili Hai". The great Shajahan would turn in his grave very uncomfortably if he sees the present condition of the TAJ. But then, considering that the taj is as old as USA, may be this is how it will be.It is no doubt impossible to construct another Taj. No one, be it Government or individuals, will wait for 22 years to complete a structure.

And finally a word about Gurgaon. It looks great. I never imagined that there could be a place like this in India. In the evening and under lights, it almost looks like down-town Chicago/Atlanta.

We returned to Bangalore late evening on 28th September after spending ten wonderful days in North India.

V.K.Balasubramanian

"Wide Awake"

2009-09-01T00:44:00.001-07:00

The other day I was seeing a film called "Wide Awake". It is a very interesting film. It is about a boy's search for God. He is studying in a Catholic school and is taught by Catholic nuns. He does not want to accept their statement about existence of God. He wants proof that there is God. The nuns tell him to read the Bible where it is said " You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you".The boy also challenges a Priest when he goes for a Confession with the words " You and me are the same. Both are seeking God. If you find him earlier, please tell me". The Priest tells the boy that he would, if he found God.

The boy is very much attached to his grand-father. While walking together one day, the grand-father tells the boy that very shortly he will be going to God. The boy then asks the grand-father proof that there is God. The old man points out to the snow and asks the boy what caused snow. The boy gives a scientific explanation and the grand-father tells him that there is something more than a scientific explanation. Finally, the boy asks the question :"If there is no God who will take care of you there?". The film does not prescribe any solutions. It only raises some questions. Only when the title was shown towards the end, I realised it is a film made by Manoja Night S Shyamalan, maker of "Sixth Sense".

As a boy ten, similar questions also occurred to me. One day in the drawing class, I was asked to draw some pictures. Out of the ten pictures I drew, almost eight were the same --same nose, eyes etc. I then started thinking that if millions of people had different faces and looked different , then there must be some super-power guiding us.

As I grew older, I heard and read about the theory of Big Bang. The scientists claimed that the universe was created by a big explosion of energy and light, which they called Big Bang. According to them, this was the beginning of Universe-space and time. If the Universe had not always existed, it had a start at some point of time,. What had caused that?. Scientists have no explanation for the sudden explosion of light and matter.

Besides, there is precise mathematical calculation behind the creation of Universe. If we have to accept Big Bang theory, what caused this precise mathematics?.
The Earth- its size is perfect.If earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible like the Planet Mercury. If the earth were larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen like Jupiter. Earth is the planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gasses to sustain plant,animal and human life. There is mathematics in this.

WATER: -colourless,odourless and without taste and yet no living being can survive without it. It has unusually high boiling point and freezing point. Water is a universal solvent. There is mathematics in this.

The Human Brain-It can simultaneously process an amazing amount of information. Likewise, the EYE can distinguish among seven million colours. There is mathematics in this,

The DNA Code informs and programs a cell!s behaviour. Is there not mathematics in this?.If we accept the Big Bang theory, who created this precise mathematics?. A Nobel Laurate, Mr Richard Feyman, who won his prize for "quantum electro-dynamics has said"Why nature is mathematical is a mystery. The fact that there are rules at all is a kind of miracle".

As for me, I am presently in a state of of "absolute surrender".. I believe in the famous words ;' Faith is above all openness; an act of trust in the unknown".

"God loves us the way we are, but HE loves us too much to leave us that way"

DREAMS

2009-08-18T20:10:00.001-07:00

Here, I am going to write about the dreams we have while asleep-and not about day dreams.

For the last four months, I am getting frequent dreams about examination. Either I am not able to complete the paper or I miss the bus while going to examination hall. This "missing the bus" dream has come very frequently. In reality, I have never missed an examination. Nor have I missed a bus while going to an examination hall. I am not able to interpret these dreams. The last examination I wrote was in 1966- a Banking Exam called CAIIB.Many people are not able to remember their dreams. I vividly remember the dreams the next day.

While these dreams disturbed me, I took consolation from the fact that we sleep best when we have dreams. It is believed that the dreams occur only during deepest sleep. The sleeper is almost impossible to wake in this state. If there is a loud noise or if the sleeper is shaken, it will take the sleeper a few seconds to wake up.

Last year. I used to have dreams about snakes. When I discussed this with a friend he told me I may have "naga dosha". I stopped consulting these half-baked astrologers after this.

On an average, one third of our life is spent on sleep.During this one-third we have dreams. Essentially,dreams are our own method of relaxing and letting our minds drift away to a distant world. While dreaming, we can interact with various people,places or things. Technically. dreams are nothing but hallucinations.

Interpreting dreams is a powerful tool. We can find out deep secrets or several concealed feelings towards something or somebody just by analysing a dream correctly. Scientists believe that to keep our minds active during sleep, we must have dreams. There is a reference to interpretation of the dreams even in BIBLE. It is mentioned that one Joseph interpreted the dreams of two men correctly.

Believe me when I say that had dreams of Mayavathi, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. I had seen her unveling her own statue in a Park on TV and went to sleep immediately after that. I had immages of Mayavathi and Elephants in the dreams that followed. She has installed fifty of her own statutes in various parts of Uttar Pradesh. She had also installed statues of Elephants in all those places. Incidentally, Elephant is the symbol of her Party.( Bahujan Samaj Party) .Mayavat is no less than a grown elephant. Visualise a scene where Mayavathi and Elephats appear in the same park. It would be difficult to distinguish between the two. What surprised me most was Mayavathi unveiling her own statue in Gonmathi Nagar, Lucknow. I am sure that if she looses the next election, all her statues will be demolished. How conceated and self-opinionated one can be is best illustrated by Mayavathi.

I would have been much happier, if instead of Mayavathi, Madhuri Dikshit had appeared in my dreams.

I believe in the theory of Sigmond Freud on dreams. He says that "the purpose of dreams is to allow us to satisfy in fantasies the instinctive urges that society judges unacceptable"

I will be travellling in September and will resume writing in my blog in October.

Hats off to America

2009-08-10T18:28:00.001-07:00

Equality of expression and equality of freedom are enshrined in the Constitutions of all countries, but nowhere else is it practiced and accepted as widely as in U.S.A. (at least now). The case in point is the latest Tea Diplomacy of Barrack Obama, President of the country. The freedom of expression is so great that there were any number of jokes on Clinton and Bush--particulary on Clinton after his Monica affair. USA is one of the countries in the world where there is absolutely no press censorship of any kind.Look at the efforts of Bill Clinton in bringing back the two American Journalists from Korea---the same journalistic community which ridiculed him no end.

A small incident that happened on 16th July in Cambridge has caught the attention of the world. One lady, Mrs Lucia telephoned the Police informing that two black people were trying to break open the door of a house in the nieghbourhood. The Police Searjent who received the call was a while man by the name of James Crolly. The searjent immediately went to the spot and questioned the two men who were trying to break the door. The searjent asked for ID and one the men replied that he was trying to open the locks of his own house. The Policeman refused to accept the statement. He asked for ID Proof. The black man then tried to speak to a superior police officer. After much heated exchange of words, the black man produced an ID issued by Harward University. Yes, he was Professor Henry Louis Gates of Harward. The searjent then called the Harward Police. The Professor and his black driver were then taken to the police station and were detained for a few
hours. They were let off after some time. Here the important points to note are::

1)The lady who telephoned the Police believed either that a black man would not own a house in the neighbourhood. or house-breakers would be only blacks
2)The Police refused to accept the story of the Professor.
3)The Professor was detained because he initially refused to provide ID proof and used strong language. He used the words " Do you think that black man!s statement should not be accepted"
4)Another Police Officer who came on the scene after some time was a black man and he supported the stand of James Crolly.

This incident was widely published in all the newspapers of USA. President Obama made a statenent to the effect that USA was still not successful in overcoming racial issues. He also criticised the Police functioning in this case.

The Police Searjent did not accept the criticism of the President. He mentioned that the President was making a statement without knowing the facts.

The President immediately mentioned that he was not aware of the full facts of the case. He withdrew his criticism of the Police.

What happened next was most unexpected. The President invited the Police Officer and the Professor for TEA in the White House.. After the meeting with the President, both the Professor and the Police stuck to their respective stands.

That an ordinary police official could make a statement about the President openly is indeed remarkable. The President was also magnanimous in accepting his mistake.

Can you think of this happening in India?. Here even a very high ranking Police Official will be afraid of talking about even a Junior Minister or a bureaucrat. We are used to "Sir" culture. All the superior Officers are addressed as "Sir". In USA, they are called by their names. In India, if you call a Superior Officer by name, it will hurt his ego.

Here, I cannot but quote the folllowing famous words of Carl Schurtz:

"My Country,when right, kept it right. When wrong, set it right".

Efforts and Fruits

2009-08-07T02:14:00.001-07:00

I was reading an article of Swami Sukhbodhnanda on " Enjoy the effort no matter what effect" .

He has said " I will recommend another approach. You can have a desire. Put in your best effort to fulfil it. But make sure you enjoy the effort rather than its fruits".

I do not agree with his view. I feel that unless we pursue our goal relentlessly, the intensity of the effort will come down. If we celebrate only the march towards the destination, we may not ever reach the destination at all. My view is that if we fail, we should not get discouraged, We should make all out efforts towards reaching the goal. When we have a dream, we must believe that our dream will come true. We must plan and work hard towards the goal. Imagine what would have happened if leaders like Mahatma Gandhi,Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela had been satisfied only with their march towards destination and not the destination. It is essential to have faith in one!s own abilities. It is said "Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around".

Here, I want to cite a case known to me. One of my friends, from an early age, wanted to become a successful lawyer. He would tell me that he would become a Senior Lawyer of Madras High Court by the age of forty, After completing law, he became a Junior to Mohan Kumaramangalam. When his mentor became a Central Minister, he started his own practice, He struggled very hard. For some time, he was known as a 'briefless lawyer". He never gave up hope and never lost faith in his ability to achieve his dream. True enough, he became a Senior Lawyer before forty years of age. He also turned down an offer of a Judge of Karnataka High Court, as he was making big money in practice. Unfortunately,he died at a very young age of heart attack. His wife, who became a lawyer at his instance after marrige, took over his practice. To-day, she( Mrs Prabha SriDevan) is a sitting Judge of the Madras High Court. She may even become a Judge of the Supreme Court as she has age
in her favour.

I do realise that failure is a fact of life. There is a spiritual lesson in every failure. Failures are necessary to remind people of their essential human vulnerabilities. An unbroken string of success can create pride and a sense of invincibility about one self in a high achiever .Mohamed Ali bragged "I am the greatest". Such unbriddled pride precedes a great fall.

Humility is a necessary virtue.Surrendering to God is an act of bhakthi-devotion and surrender happens only in a spirit of humility.

Imagine a situation in the Office. A person works very hard and sincerely and always meets his targets. If he does not get promoted or does not get his deserved increments, will he continue his good work? If countries participating in Olympics are merely satisfied with their efforts, they will never win Gold Medal. It is only their zeal to win, combined with training and hard work, that can fetch them Gold.

Reaching the destination is more important than the march towards the destination.

Floods and civic administration in India

2009-07-28T02:02:00.001-07:00

I was just witnessing the scenes from Delhi where two hours of floods have played havoc with day-to-day life. In the Capital of the Country, we have not introduced systems to prevent flood havoc, even after 62 years of independence and self-rule.

This is the state of affiars in almost all the cities and towns in the country. The civic administration is so deplorably bad that we do not see any improvements during the last fifty years.This is a matter of great concern.
In Mumbhai, once in two years the rains destroy day-to-day life. The drainage system has not seen any improvements for many years. After the temporary disapperance of the problem, we forget about solving the problem for the future. Successive administrations, belonging to different parties, have failed miserably to grab the issue and solve the problems.

Civic administration in India is very corrupt. There was a report that only 50 percent of the money allocated for any Project reach the Project. The rest of the money disappears in the various corrupt hands.I can only think of the following steps:
1)The underground pipe-lines have to be replaced in stages in Mumbhai. For this, there has to be a time-bound action plan.
2)Effective steps have to be taken to prevent plastic bags from blocking the drainage pipes, preventing the rain water from entering the sea.
3)A high level commitee to be appointed with powers to take corrective action.

A bdul Kalam wanted young people to dream. His dream is that India should be a deveoped country by 2010. The way civic administrations function in India, this one dream, most certainly, will not come true. In Europe and USA even the most remote village has a proper road and drainage dream.

I am only reminded of the famous words of Victor Hugo:

"Nations, like stars,are entitled to eclipse. All is well,provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night"

Will the light ever return to our motherland?

"KHAMBHAKT ISHQ" (to be published in Blog)

2009-07-27T20:23:00.001-07:00

I had seen a dance sequence from a Hindi film of this name in Star Plus yesterday. From the mere song, I could guess the story-line. There was so much stretching of legs and throwing up of arms that I wondered whether the hero and the heroine would be left with any energy and time for love.The word "ishq" has a sinister implication. I will have to talk to a friend who knows Urdu to confirm my suspicion. I would rather prefer "Pyaar Mohabat" on any day to "Khambhakt Ishq".

What is love?. Erich Seigal is his book "Love Story" defines love as "never having to say sorry". According to me, love requires serious comimtment and determination. There was a famous Tamil movie hero, Gemiini Ganesh, who married so many times and yet called them "love' every time. He first married Babji and then Pushpavalli (mother of Rekha who was reigning queen of Hindi films at one time), After a few years, he again married Rajashree and called it as "love at first sight". Towards the end of his life, I saw him in a lift in Femina Hotel at Tiruchuirapalli with a twenty year old girl. (he was 78 ). There were reports that he had married this girl.. Is getting married (though illegally) to many girls over a period of time a sign of love or lust.

What are the famous examples we have before us of successful "loved and married" couples? I can think of Prakash Karat ( a Keralite) and Brind Karat (a Bengali). I can also think of late Vikram Sarabhai ( a Gujarati) and Mrinalinin Sarabhai (a South Indian). In Bollywood, I can think ONLY of Nargis (a Muslim)and Sunil Dutt (a Hindu). Their marriage was very successful because of the commitment shown by both towards marriage. Mr Dutt loved his wife so much that he spent eighteen months alone with her towards the end of her life,cancelling all his shootings, trying his best to save her from cancer. He even mortgaged his house in Bandra and raised money from friends for hospital expenses. Twenty years ago, he spent more than a crore of rupees for her treatment. He did not marry again after the death of Nargis and produced a film "yadein" in her memory. He was very much unlike Gemini Ganesh. No wonder the famous daughter of Gemini Ganesh, Rekha, wanted to
marry Sunil Dutt after her affair with Amitabh Bachan. I have great admiration for Mr Dutt, tholugh I do not think much his son.

We have also examples of J.F.Kennedy and Jacquline Kennedy, another case of "loved and married" couple. After the death of JFK, Jacquline two-timed Robert Kennedy and a Greek Ship Owner, Aristotal Onassis. As Rbert Kennedy was already married with nine children and a possible candidate for the post of President of USA, she eventually married Onassis for "financial security". She is the best example of how love could degenrate into" financial security".

I had also ocassions to "deal "with love. In my younger days, I was more keen to earn my lovelihood for the family that I had no time or inclination for love, We have three cases of "loved and married" couples in our extended family. My youngest daughter Nirupama had fallen in love with Bala Iyer, her College mate. As usual in most cases, we came to know about it last. Parents are always the last people to know. (and friends the first). I called Bala to my home at Chruchgate and asked him to wait for one year for my reply. I wanted to be sure that their love remained undiiminished after a year. When I saw that their love for each other only grew with lapse of time, I decided to get them married. I was recently in London with Bakla and Neema. I was happy to note that Bala reads stories to his two daughters every day before going to bed. The girls were also looking eagerly for the return from Office by Bala. This way, bonding between the father and the
children grows. And children remember this for a long time.

My brother Ramani!s two daughters, Lalitha and Vidya also "loved and married". My brother asked me to see Sunil and give my views before the marriage.. Sunil met me in my house at Churchgate. He impressed me as a young man was was capable of giving his commitment to love. I gave my views to Ramani. I did not have occassion to meet Aravind before marriage.

To-day, I am happy--enormously happy-- that Bala and Neema and Sunil and Lalitha are happily settled in their life. I pray God to bless all the lovers with long life and good health. After all, the whole world loves a lover.

I want to conclude with a little piece of advice, There is a tendency for young couples to turn to Laptop, immediately after returning from Office. This is not at all good. You must all spend quality time with children. You do all the work in the Office and do not touch laptop at home for any reason whatsoever unless it is very very important. Childen are more important than career and money. Do not become a victim of any habit and looking at Laptop, after return from Office, is an avoidable bad habit.

There should be no ego between husband and wife. Likewise, there should be no secrets between the two. Do not loose your trust and love for each other at any time,

With my blessings

EGO

2009-07-23T20:29:00.001-07:00

What has happened to former President Shri Abdul Kalam at the New Delhi air-port recently has led me to think and write about ego. Mr Kalam was thoroughly checked and frisked (including removal of shoes) by Continental Air-lines Officials. By convention and law, Presidents, former Presidents and Prime Ministers are exempt from security check. In fact, they are received at the tarmac, while in office. Mr Kalam, without raising any objection, subjected himself to security. The accompanying Z categotory Security Officials objected to the check, but the air-line officials insisted on doing their job. For a person who had occupied the highest Office in the land subjecting himself to such security check without any objection showed his character.. In a world full of people with bloated ego, Shri Kalam is indeed a rare person. In my life, I have seen and met people whose ego ran faster than their thoughts.

What is ego?. It refers to the good opinion you have of yourself. In many cases, it is misplaced. It then becomes exaggerated self-esteem. Normally people with a very high ego become egocentric. They think only of themselves.

They say that even an ant has ego. That is why we are reading so many jokes about an ant and elephant. In all these jokes. the ant claims it is stronger than the elephant..I had a friend who was always telling " I have done this. I have done that. I have achieved much more than the targets fixed etc". He was avoided by others and was usually referred to as "I" Specialist.

I do however feel that certain amount of ego is necessary. Though humility is a necessary virtue, without ego there is no growth or no incentive for growth. There are certain individuals like Shah Rukh Khan with a bloated ego who are big achievers. At the same time there are big achievers like Narayanmurthy without any trace of ego. The ego in a person should be related to his ability or achievements. Ego without ability or achievements invites ridicule/criticism..

Why ego is necessary? When you think high of yourself, you have to prove to the world that your ego is justified. You are then compelled to take efforts. If you succeed, your ego is justified. If you fail, your ego is misplaced. That is how the world thinks of you.

There is a famous statement on ego by ADLIN SINCLAIR. "Without ego, there is no faith in your ability. Without faith,hope and trust, there is no promise for the future and without a promising future, life has no direction and justification."

Physiachrists say that we always operate in three ego-states--CHILD (playful and child-like) ADULT (SENSIBLE AND LOGICAL) and PARENT (Controlling and Nurturing). All of us are alternating in these states every day of our life. A child goes to a parent mode when it tells another child " Do not touch fire. You will get hurt". Like-wise an old man goes into child mode when he enjoys a comic movie and laughs loudly

The one person I have loved without any trace of ego was my Papa Chittappa at Chennai. He was indeed a noble soul.

Give and Take

2009-07-17T21:55:00.001-07:00

There is a saying in North India "Kutch paane ke liye, kuch kona patha hai". This means that to gain something, you have to loose some thing.

This is true in most of the cases. There are two exceptions though---mother and teachers. A mother gives everything to the children not expecting to gain anything,.All she wants is that the child should behave and be "good" in everything. Likewise, teachers share their knowledge and wisdom without expecting anything. When you share your knowledge and wisdom with others, you may gain in that process.

In life, we have to decide whether you are perceived as a "giving" person or a "taking" person..If the perception is that you are a "Giving" person, then you will get spontaneous response and un-stinted co-operation from your staff.
The one who initiates something is a good leader. If you initiate giving things to people rather than you taking from others, they will give you before you take.When you follow the "take and give" policy,people may think bad of you and they will be really bothered whether you will be giving it or not.

In our life, we are both the employer and the employed. We pay for certain services rendered at home and get paid at the office for our services. In both the roles it will be better to be perceived as a "giving" person. I have heard some of my friends complaining that in personal relationship, they are always giving and not receiving. My view is that if God has placed you in a position to "give", we must do so without expecting anything in return. A question may arise that if the recipients are permanently ungrateful,but still need help, what do we do? The answer is that if they really need help and if you are in a position to do so, then "Give".It is very difficult to practice this, but if you try, you will succeed.

This "give and take" policy helps us in ever so many ways. From your own life so far, you can quote examples. Our Kashmir dispute would have been solved long ago, if both the countries had adopted a give and take policy.In Assam, people raise slogans that the Central Government and ULFA should adopt a give and take policy.

In a lighter vein,Bollywood adopts this policy. Salman Khan attends the premiere of Aamir Khan"s film "Jaane Tu Jaane Na". In return, Aamir agrees to participate in Salman Khan!s game show "Dus Ka Dum". Amitabh Bachan lets go off all past malice and attends the same premiere. Then, Aamir Khan comtemplates casting the BIG B in his next film. In Bollywood, everything is about give and take. If you agree to do a favour, it is probably in return for another.This way, it is good for all.

When someone asked Gauthama Buddha what he attained through "enlightenment", he said " I did not gain, but I lost. I lost my ignorance,my dreams,my likes and dislikes, my ambition". To get "enlightenment", he had also to loose something.

Alway be perceived as a "giving" person.

Good and Evil

2009-07-15T20:08:00.001-07:00

Let me at the outset tell you what prompted me to write on this subject. While watching CNN, I heard that "Bernie"Madoff has started serving his sentence of 150 years in prison, the maximum under US Law, What I could not understand was how a person,aged 71, could be punished when his life expectancy could at best be another 30 years.Probably, the Judge thought that under no circumstance Madoff should get out. Such was the severity of the offence, in the eyes of the learned Judge.

We have heard and read of a lot of Chit Fund and Finance Company Frauds in India and more particularly in South India.. We have also seen investors loosing money in a big way when the promoters disappear overnight. This happens all the time in all the places.As long as gullible investors, looking for higher interest out of greed,are in plenty, these "disappearing" acts will continue.

It is established that ill-gotten wealth does not stay with the persono for a long time. If a person earns money by cheating people and through misrepresentation, such wealth will not last long. Apart from not being able to enjoy that wealth, he may also land in prison, leaving his family with a bad name.

There are two ways of teaching business to new entrants. One is "what not to do" and the other is "what to do". I had worked in Punjabi,Marwari and Gujarati business groups. The Gujarathis always start with "What not to do". They clearly tell their children to avoid wrong business practices. While in ESSAR ( a Marwari group), we used to adopt two philosophies-- LDNK and BDJ. The word LDNK refers to 'Lekhe dekhe pakkhi karo". (Adopt a give and take policy--work has to be finished even if money has to be given). The second refers to "baadh me degha jayega".( First, do what is necessary, even it is illegal. We will worry about the consequences later).I felt that both approaches were wrong.

Bernard Lawrence "Bernie"Madoff and Warrent Buffet represent the two ways of doing business --the Good and the Evil. Madoff. a plumber-turned stock-broker. was accused of so many frauds-Securities Fraud,Investor Advisory Fraud,Mail Fraud,Wire Fraud,Money Laundering Ffaud ,Making Fase Fflings with SEC,theft from an employee benefit plan etc. He was convicted of operating a PONZI Sceheme that has been called the LARGEST Investort Fraud ever committed by a single persdon. What is interesting is that before this biggest fraud came to notice, he was already a convicted felon.He had confessed to committing 11 Federal crimes. He has also not appealed against the sentence.His is a case that has proved that you cannot cheat all the people all the time.

There are two good aspects,though, to the personality of "Bernie" Madoff. He was known as a prominent philonthropist. Following his arrest and sentencing, all his Charitable Trusts have been questioned. The second good aspect of Madoff is that he has brought up his sons properly. He confessed to his sons on December 10,2008 that the Asset Management of his firm was a giant Ponzi Sceheme-as he put is "one big lie". The sons, then passed this information to authorities. The following day FBI Agents arrested Madoff and charged him with one count of securities fraud. It is pertinent to note that earlier SEC had handled several investigations against Madoff so very incompetently that he was let off. He is now deserted by his family and all his wealth has been seized. This is the result of doing business in an "EVIL" way.

Compare "Bernie: with Warrent Buffet who represents the other end of the spectrum. Mr Buffet,rated as the second richest person in the world, is the largest share-holder and CEO of Berkshire Hathway. From an early age, he imbibed the correct values. Known for his "Value Investing", he filed his first Income-Tax Return when he was thirteen deducting his bicycle and watch as work expense for his work as news-paper delivery boy. Starting his life as a penny-stock-broker, he has kept all his investors/employees happy all these years,He has recently donated more than fifty percent of his wealth to a Charitable Trust run by Mrs Milinda Gates.Mr Buffet represents the GOOD way of doing business.
Mr Buffet proiudly declars " I am 15 percent Fisher and 85 percent Benjamin Graham. The basic ideas of investing are to look at stocks as business, use the market fluctuationsd to your advantage and seek a margin of safety That is what Ben Graham taught us. A 100 years from now, they will still be the coinerstone of Investing".

A spiritual Guru once wrote " Life has everything; all you need is to be able to connect the dots. You need to work out new combinations and for that, you need CREATIVE PERCEPTION"

The above aptly describes Mr Warrent Buffet who represents the GOOD way of doing business.

Let us learn from the epics-- Ramayana and Mahabharata. Both are replete with instances of triumpth of GOOD over EVIL

Managing Environment

2009-07-08T22:06:00.001-07:00

While discussing "Managing Environment", I am not going to discuss global warming,pollution etc. Substantial awareness has already been created about these by the media, though action being taken by developing countries
to address these issues is very slow.

I want to express my thoughts on how to manage the environment in our day-to-day life. While doing business with the Government, it is absolutely essential to manage the environment..Being aware of the environment in which business is going to be conducted is necessary for any successful business-man. One should be prepared to incur the necessary cost for such "environment management".Many multi-national companies opting to start business in developing countries include such costs in pre-operative expenses.My view is that this is applicable to almost all the countries of the world. The Bush family business dealings are one example of managing environment.

Is "managing environment" applicable in our personal life?. I would think the answer is "yes". When our child reaches the age of four, we want to admit the child in the best school nearby. All parents want to give the very best education to their children. Once we choose a particular school, we make enquiries as to who will be in a position to help us to secure such admission. We contact that influential person and through his efforts,try to get the desired admission. This is one aspect of "managing environment" in our personal life. This goes on and on in various other aspects also.

I can quote an example from my life. Early in 1962, I was selected as an Upper Division Clerk in Bharat Heavy Electricals,Tiruchi. Had I joined immediately, I would have been the first clerk in that organisation. As I did not want to start as a clerk, I rejected the offer. After some time, I became jobless, I then thought that it would be better to start with something.. I did not know how to go about doing this. I came to know that a sub-inspector in our locality knew one Achuthan Nair in BHEL who mattered. Though I did not know the police official personally, I directly approached him with a request to help.He appreciated the fact that I wanted to start working life as an officer, but lamented that I did not have the resolve to stick to that decision. I explained the family situation to him. He promised to speak to Mr Achuthan Nair.Here it was necessary to find out and determine as to who could help. I lasted in this job for just five months.

After a certain stage in official life, only man management can take you to higher levels. At very senior levels, man management is very necessary. In my career, I have turned foes into friends through "environment management".

For successful "environment management", here are some tips:

1)Be aware of the environment in which you operate. A proper appraisal of the environment (what they call as scannning the environment) is a pre-requisite for any movement forward.

2)Be flexible. Do not be rigid. Where money has to be spent,do so. Do not stick to high moral grounds. There is no such thing as an ideal situation in life.

3)Do not be reluctant to approach people. God helps only though people.

4)Be prepared to take decisions immediately. We learn in life only through wrong decisions. Also,be tactful.

5)Do not loose heart. Do not ever give up. Like the devil in the Vikramadityan story, pursue your goals relentlessly.

Even in the Army, there are four Lt.Generals of equal calibre, But only man becones the General. He is that person who is the bes t in "managing environment". This may be happenning in your Office also.

If you have listened carefully to the lyrics of the most famous song in the film "Slumdog Millionaire", it talks about "manaing environment".

JAI HO

Relationship with God

2009-07-06T03:36:00.001-07:00

Faith in God and belief in God is created amongst the children by parents and other family members. If the parents are religious or atleast have faith in HIM by offering some prayers (slokas) on a daily basis, the children will then imbibe that culture from early childhood. Absolute faith in God and absolute surrender are accepted in most of the Hindu Brahmin families in Tamilnadu,

My first visit to a temple is a Siva temple in Agaramangudi village. My mother was very religious. She got me admitted in special classes for Vishnu Sahasramam. when I was a school student. Though I do not remember the same now fully, I can still recite some slogas. From the beginning, I had immense faith in the efficacy of prayers. I firmly believe in the famous statement of John Galsworthy that "More things are wrought by prayers than this world dreams of". For quite some time, I used to pray God whenever I needed any help from HIM. I would also offer to pay some money in the "Undial" in case my demands were met. I do not know whether I had fulfilled all my commitments to God.

My school teacher once told me that "God loves us the way we are. HE loves us too much to leave us that way".

We visit our Kuladeivam temples almost every year. There is positive energy vibrating in all the temples. I visit our family temples to get my batteries charged. I am driven with positive thoughts whenever I return from such visits to temples. Faith is above all openness; an act of trust in the unknown.Adi Shankaracharya has said "Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around".

I have reached a stage in life when I firmly believe that God!s planning for us is much better than our own planning or goals. For instance in early sixties, my dream was to retire with a four figure salary. To-day when I realise where I am, I can only thank Him for his kindness. God is ever so merciful.

I was fortunate to have listened to the lectures of some eminent men on spiritual matters. (most certainly not Jayendra Saraswathi). These lectures have provided the answers I was seeking for. I have also read all the volumes of "Deivathin Kural". Personally I feel that all these volumes should be kept in every house-hold. These books provide answers for all the questions that have remained unanswered.

These days,I perform Pujas and offer prayers every day. In my prayers, I do not ask for anything. It is prayer for the sake of prayer. There is absolute surrender and this way I am very peaceful.

Have complete faith in God. Think of HIM atleast for a few seconds every -day."God does not ask about your ability or inability. He asks only your availability"

Have a fire in the belly

2009-06-30T22:56:00.001-07:00

I have read with interest a statement fromMr. Anbhazhakan, a Senior Minister in Tamilnadu Cabinet. When the Chief Minister promoted his son Stalin as Deputy Chief Minister,ignoring the claims of Mr Anbhazhakan, the senior-most Minister, reporters asked him whether he was feeling bad or left out. Mr Anbhazhakan replied " An 87 year old man cannot be a deputy to an 86 year old ".

Mr Anbhazhakan has always been a number two man in the Cabinet- always the bride!s maid and never the bride. He is one of the founders of DMK along with Karunanidhi and Annadurai. He never wanted to become Chief Minister and was content to be Number Two. Is this the right attitude?. Is he afraid of responsibility and accountability associated with the number one position?. I do not think so. Frankly, he does not have a fire in the belly.With Stalin becoming number two, he is now relegated to number three position. This is what happens when we do not have ambitions, That he is old and useless is a different matter.

It is necessary in life to aim high. If you are at the middle level in your chosen profession, you should aspire to become number one. Mere aspiration is not enough. One must develop capabilities to take on higher responsibilities. Apart from a stong desire to reach the top, one must also keep himself uptodate-developing knowledge and skill almost on a daily basis. It is only then that your dreams will come true. We should not be afraid of taking senior responsibilities nor we should we be afraid of being accountable.

The whole world appreciates only the winner. Even in horse races, only the number one position is mentioned. Other horses are included in the "Also ran" list. Do you want to be in the "Also ran " list or land on the winner!s stand.In Olympics, the number of gold medals won by a country is mentioned first.

While in London, I was reading a story about Michael Phelps. At the age of ten, he had told his mother that he will win five Olympic Gold Medals in swimming. This was at a time when his mother was struggling to pay his fees for his swimming classes. He had a dream, set his goals and worked towards achieving those goals.

Do not plod on and preserve.Prepare,perform and progress towards higher goals.

Have a fire in the belly.

Health is Wealth

2009-06-28T04:03:00.001-07:00

We realise the value of good health only when we don't have one. Unless there is a set-back, we take good health for granted.

In our pursuit of career and wealth, we tend to ignore health. It is said that"Health is Wealth" and it took me sixty years to realise how true is this statement.I knew of a very rich and sick cotton merchant. He was very frequently in and out of the hospitals for some treatment or other.When I met him one evening, he told me that he would very gladly exchange all his wealth for good health. He was tired and sick of spending time in the hospitals. This is true of all sick and wealthy people. They realise the importance of good health only when they are forced to visit hospitals.

Though I am obese, I have enjoyed good health all these years.I have very rarely suffered from common ailments like cold,fever and head-aches. I therefore feel that I am in a position to say a few words about health.

1)It is necessary not to eat for full stomach on a regular basis. Once I met a relative of mine who was 92 years old, Even his teeth were in tact. When I asked him the secret of his longevity and good health,he told me that he was eating four times a day, but only very limited quantity. He stopped eating when his stomach was half- full. He advised me to avoid spicy food and eat only upto fifty percent of my capacity every time. Eating this way also helps one to keep the mental faculties sharp.

2)It is necessary to go to sleep atleast two hours after dinner. When I was in Singapore, I knew of some Chinese friends who would eat their dinner by 7 p.m.One Mr Sia lived beyond 95 years by following this discipline. Till the end, he was doing all his chores without any help from others.

3)Avoid reading too much of medical journals. When we read about some disease or other, we, unconsciously, associate some of the symptoms mentioned in those articles with some symptoms we may have. This would not only confuse us but also force us to think that we may be suffering from some disease.We should not arrogate to ourselves the role of a doctor.

4)Avoid taking too much of medication,particularly anti-biotics, unless it is very necessary and recommended by doctors.

5)Never ever let the mind to become dull. I have always believed in the saying that "the body follows the mind". If the mind is cheerful, half the battle is won when we are facing a medical problem,

6) Whenever there are symptoms like high fever and pain for more than two days, we should consult a doctor. For any deeper problem, the first manifestaion is fever folllowed by pain. When my younger brother was suffering from very high fever for more than a week, he ignored the same. Later on, after tests, we found out that he was sufferrng from hodgin's disease.

Smoking and drinking on a regular basis should be avoided. Scriptures say only blessed people get "vinathianyena jeevinam,anahasyena maranam" (life without blemish and instantaneous death). I firmly hold the view that so long as we are alive and kicking, we should take care to maintain good health.Even in death, we should not become a burden to others.

Problem Solving

2009-06-24T18:34:00.001-07:00

I want to share my views on problem-solving.

What is a problem? It refers to a dilemma,complication,predicament,quandry or a difficult situation. It can also mean a situation which is very difficult to manage.Normally,we are used to a particular way of life or a particular routine. If things do not go according to plan or according to what we expect normally, then we are faced with a difficult situation.The problems can be minor or major. Also what is considered a problem for one may or maynot be a problems for others. To quote a case in point, a servant maid not turning up for work is a problem for my wife and not for my children. Likewise, to be in time for an important meeting is a problem for me; and most certainly not for my wife..

All of us have faced many problems in life. We have also solved these problems in our own way, In my official life, I have faced problems relating to labour (Dharna and ghero),targets,union rivalry affecting productivity etc while working in a bank.While occupying high positions in the industry, I have faced problems regarding raising resources within a given time,deadlines for project implementation,non-co-operative bankers,legal matters etc.Based on my experience, I am going to explain what is needed for problem-solving.

In my younger days, I used to avoid the problems or not recognise the problems. There was one Kamaraj Nadar, Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, who always said "parkalam".He believed that the best way of solving a problem is to postpone facing the problem. In due course of time, by itself the problem would be resolved, This was a negative way facing a problem.I have also seen quite a few senior officials leaving a company when the company is faced with serious problems. The late Dhirubhai, once described a Professioinal as someone who would leave the company at the first sign of trouble.

Our immediate reaction in most the cases when faced with a major problem is "Why ". If we are mentally tough in those situations, half the battle is won.

For solving a problem, one must have a flexible mind. Yet there are some problems which defy any solution-like Indo-Pak on Kashmir,Arab-Israel conflict etc.

When faced with a serious problem, one should not get worried or excited. It is at this time one should think positively.Here are the steps:

1)Recogniuse the problem. Feel positive and confident that you will solve the same.
2)Think of various options available to solve the problem.
3)Choose the best option in your judgement..
4)Monitor the solution/problem
5)Find out why the problem has occurred..

When faced with a problem, the first thing to do is to find a solution and think of various options.One must not waste time finding out who is responsible for the problem.Any analysis should be done afterwards.Find out the solutions first and fix up causes/responsibility later, Neither should we avoid problems nor be afraid oif facing the same.

Imagine a life without problems. It would be dull.

Here is a problem for you to solve:
"Mr X, a very young and dynamaic Charered Accountant is in good employment in Mumbhai. He lost heavily in stock markets. He had borrowed heavily from close friends and relatives. His borrowings were four times his annual income, His lenders were pressing him badly. He did not know what to do?"

At the height of his problem, he came to mw. He was working under me in Essar. I gave him a solution which worked,

What is the solution I gave.

Charity begins at home

2009-06-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

tThere is a famous saying that charity begins at home.Here the word charity does not only refer to financial help.The dictionary meaning of the word charity is "benevolence,kindness,goodness,humanity,compassion,alms-giving,tender-heartedness love,affection,indulgence etc.

Taking care of the financial needs of immmediate family members is one!s duty- and not charity, In view of this,I think that the true meaning of this statement is that unless one is kind and affectionate to people at home, he or she is incapable of showing love and understanding to others outside of home The training has to start at home with proper up-bringing. The word "family values" refers to this only.

Two incidents that happened when I was in school are etched in my memory. There was this neighbour in Ayyampet who used to beat his old and ailing father. I disliked him. My mother, later on, told me that the neighbour was beating his father to administer medicines to him. The old man was simply refusing to take medicines. My mother!s explanation did not convince me. I felt that the negative effects of beating will more than adversely affect any good effects of the medicine. I also saw my neighbour weeping uncontrollably when his father died. I felt at that at that time that he could have been more kind to his father when he was alive rather than showing his affection by crying. I felt that he was doing this to show to the outside world that he loved his father.
The second incident was also in the neighbourhood, A girl came home, immediately after marriage, complaining that her husband was beating her regularly. She showed her bruises to my mother also. Her parents did not allow her to stay in the house even for half-an-hour and drove her away to her husband!s place. We received news of her suicide after a month.
In both the above incidents, I felt the members of the family did not show any compassion.love and understanding.

In a household, where love and affection rein supreme, there is peace and happiness for all. Children brought under such an atmosphere also acquire these traits. This way, they are trained to face the outside world, Some of my friends did not treat their parents properly. They did not provide the required emotional and financial support. A close friend, who was the only child, did not stay with his parents even for a month after marriage. To-day, he realises his mistake when his only child is ignoring him totally. It is said "you reap what you sow"".If one takes care of parents and spreads love at home. then children also learn to behave like that.

Dalai Lama has said "There is no need for temples or complicated philosophy.Our brain and heart are temples, the philosophy is kindness".

I believe that the statement "charity begins at home" refers only to this kindness.

Destiny or Free Will

2009-06-19T01:36:00.000-07:00

Destiny and Free will:

I have seen many eminently successful people claiming that their success is due to their efforts. Like-wise, I have also seen many people who are failures in life blaming everything on destiny. "Thalai Vidhi" is what would say about their failures.

It is true that we measure success with the material wealth accumulated during our life time.This is true both in the East and the West.

I have often wondered whether late Dirubhai Ambani!s success is due to his efforts or due to destiny. Who created the circumstances and the environment for his over-whelming success?. Or is it he chose the right people at the right time. I was fortunate to work with Ruia brothers of ESSAR.When I was interviewed by Shashi Ruia, I found a board behind him with the word "Dreams come True". The brothers, through hard work and steely determination, exemplified the statement "Nothing ventured, nothing gained". They did not believe in destiny. However they took the blessings of their mother every day before leaving for office.

Mr Nani Palkhiwala, a famous lawyer of Mumbhai compared destiny and free will to a dog chained to the hands of the owner. What can the dog do? Its movements are restricted to the length of the chain. It cannot move beyond this unless the owner lets go the chain.According to Palkhiwala,the chain is the free-will and the leash on the hands of the owner is destiny.
Do I agree with this view? I personally felt that Mr Plakhiwala came to this conclusion because he had no children. He was a very successful lawyer and he had everything but children. He must have tried various ways to become a father , consulting doctors all over the world. He must have come to the conclusion about free-will and destiny after this. He donated all his wealth to Shankar Nethralaya in Chennai before his death.

As I believe in Karma, I should believe in destiny. But can we do nothing hoping that destiny will take care of itself. It would be foolish to adopt this attitude. We should have dreams and we should make efforts to achieve those dreams. Even when are met with obstacles/failures, we must be mentally tough to overcome these difficulties.If we constantly give our best,someday our dreams will come true.

I have also heard the story of how Arujuna lost his battle when he was a eunuch, though he had the same bow and arrow. It is said "samay,samay bahilwan,no manush bahilwan. Kove Arujun lootiyo, ohi Danbush and ohi Bann".

I am reminded of a story. One person prayed to God for long asking for wealth. Ultimately God appeared before him and blessed him stating he will get his wealth through a lottery. After some time when he did not win any prize, he prayed to God yet again and complained about non-fulfillment of his desire. God replied to him " For winning a prize, you must at least make the effort of buying a lottery ticket". This story makes the point very clear that must make all the efforts and leave the rest to Karma or destiny.
There is this famous statement:
"Some are born great (destiny),
Some achieve greatness (free-will).
and some have greatness thrust upon them (destiny again)",
Are we to assume that it is two-thirds destiny and one-third free will.
Frankly, I do not know,
All I know is that all of us should have ambitions and work hard towards fulfilling those ambitions.

Retirement

2009-06-08T03:33:00.000-07:00

Retirement:
I received a mail two days ago from my friend, four years younger to me, informing me as to how miserable he has been after retirement. From his mail, I realized he has not managed his "retirement" properly. His problems appeared to be both financial and emotional.

There is lot of planning involved for managing retirement. It has two aspects-financial and non-financial..Everyone, be it in Government or in private sector, knows about the date of retirement. Normally, this is not remembered ten years before retirement, but is never forgotten,say five years before retirement.Assuming that by the time one retires all responsibilities are taken care off, one must determine the monthly income required for expenses after retirement. The investments should take care of this and also make a provision for inflation. Normally prices double every ten years. With advanced medicines being available, one must assume that that he/she would live for at least fifteen years after retirement.If my monthly expenses are say Rs 6000/, then I should provide for a monthly income of Rs 12,000/ after factoring inflation,through my investments. If this is done, the financial aspect-,post-retirement-is taken care of.There should also be a
provision for contingency expenses like hospitalization etc.
It is better to ensure that the investments are in tax-free instruments of Mutual Funds- in debt schemes- where erosion of capital is very minimal.
During mid-seventies, a Bank Manager, at the time of retirement, was getting only around Rs 2 lakhs as retirement benefits. I know of many senior managers finding this insufficient post retirement.Some of them were lucky that they were blessed with very good children. The children took good care of them. The others were not so lucky. When I was working as Manager of UCO Bank, Mylapore, a retired Senior Manager, had come to me and asked for an overdraft of Rs 3,000/. When I declined, he told me that I had powers to give overdraft up to Rs 5,000/. I told him that as I was not sure of when he would re-pay this money, I could not give him the overdraft. He left looking miserable. When he was about to leave bank premises, I called him again into my room. I informed him that I could give Rs 1,500/ from my savings for a period of one month. He agreed and took the money. He also blessed me. I had heard of how this man lived in great style when he was working
in Nagapattinam. After three months, when he did not return, I made inquiries. I was told that he had died a month ago.When I went to offer my condolences to his son, I did not inform him of my loan to his father. I believed I had discharged one previous "janma karma". I am giving this example just to show that how miserable life becomes without proper financial planning for retirement.I have never found it easy to ask for money from others.In fact, I have never ever done this. Just imagine how small a person becomes when he asks for financial help from others.

They are some people who do not require planning at all on both fronts.. I remember my paternal uncle,known as "Meerut Kittu". At the age of 95, he has been getting pension for nearly 40 years. He once told me that his pension is five times more than his last drawn salary. Pension takes care of his financial planning and his emotional adjustment/planning is taken care of by his deaf ears.

Yet, quite a few do not get sufficient retirement benefits or no benefits at all. Those people are left with no alternative but to depend on children for financial support. Many children are very responsible. They will be glad to be of help to their parents. I used to derive immense satisfaction whenever I was sending the monthly remittances to my parents in my early years of employment.

Emotional adjustment to retirement is also very dfficult. There is an importance attached to the power associated with the position. When a person retires, the importance will vanish in no time. Before retirement, I used to receive 15/20 telephone calls every-day asking for instructions/opinions etc. Within a week of my early retirement, these phone calls stopped. I felt miserable for a while.. This adjustment process takes time. I know of some my friends who retired at the highest levels in Banks, and Central Government,Many of them had not conditioned themselves for a life after retirement. When they lost their importance, they lost themselves. In those times, yoga and meditation would help.Lord Chaitanya advised people to live life like "a blade of grass"-with absolute humility. If one has led such a life,-- position or no position-- he will lead a normal life without being affected by retirement.Even in films, no one is a hero for ever.

Developing a hobby before retirement is very important. My hobby has been reading books since I was young. This helps me.

Post retirement, I have personally felt very happy whenever I have no expectations. When there is no expectation, there is no misunderstanding and because of this, there is more internal peace.

Culture - East and West

2009-06-08T03:32:00.000-07:00

To-day, I have read a news item which is very interesting and thought-provoking.We all know that Carla Bruni (41) had maried the French President,Nicolas Sarkozy. The news is that Carlo!s former lover Enthovern (34) has joined the "kitchen Cabinet of the President. The report also mentioned that Carla is almost talking to Enthovern, on a daily basis, to enquire about their seven year old boy who is being brought up by the father.
I was just thinking whether this is possible in the Indian context and if so, how the Press would re-act to it.How many of us would accept the fact that a wife can have a former lover. Even assuming that this is accepted, how many would accept her talking to her former lover. How many many would agree to bring that lover in close proximity. It requires a very broad mind to accept a girl as a wife with a history of former love. It also requires a broader mind to bring that lover close to you. It shows enormous trust in the wife and her former lover. Is it not great?.
In our culture, we do not trust so easily. A wife is looked at with suspicion even if she talks, in a formal way ,with a neighbour who is a male.I have read somewhere that more than fifty percent of the married couples in India are unhappy with each other. They simply carry on for the sake of society. They spend rest of their lives simply trying to "adjust" without remaining happy.The main reason why such couples still stay married is because of the children.
What is culture? It is a set of unwritten rules which are prescribed for orderly living.Following such rules brings in harmony, peace of mind and stability. Does it ensure happiness? I do not know. Scriptures say that the object of human existence is to remain happy. When it is so, why should a man and a woman stay together when they are not happy with each another. I believe that when it becomes very clear that there is no happiness in marriage, such a marriage should be ended. We boast that our culture is the best and yet more than fifty percent of the married couples remain unhappy.
With girls becoming financially independent, this is changing.
We are entitled to say that our culture is the best, but we have no right to deride western culture. They are more magnanimous. They also pardon easily as they believe in "forgive and forget" policy.We keep a load of trash in our mind as to what is right and what is wrong. We pass value judgements very easily. I have rarely seen a westerner passing value judgement. If you see a Tamil movie, even the latest ones, you will find lot of "value judgements" remarks. These judgements apply to others-and not to us.

Why don!t we come out and be open and real. We cannot do so for the simple reson that is not in our culture to do so.We prefer to live a superficial life with a set of rules we want others to follow.

Am I advocating western culture? The answer is "No". What I am advocating is that without deriding western culture, we should take the good aspects of that culture and follow them. We should remain happy. That is the object of human existence.

In my younger years I used the to repeat a joke about a western man and woman,both divorced, marrying each other.The joke was "your children and my children are playing with our children". I am now ashamed that I was an instrument in spreading this canard..

Astrology

2009-05-31T06:47:00.000-07:00

Tryst with Astrology

I do not think of any family in Tamilnadu not consulting an astroger at some time or other.

The day of independence for India-15th August- was selected by an astrologer from Kolkatta. As Governor-General, Lord Mountbatten could not be in two places on the same day to give transfer of power, the option was given to Pakistan to choose either 14 or 16th. As Mohamad Ali Jinnah did not want to be left behind, he chose 14th Ausugt. He then wanted to prove that right from the beginning he was one-up on India. Pandit Jawaharla Nehru gave his famous speech "Tryst with Destiny" on an auspicious day chosen by an astrologer. Almost all the empires of the word had a court astrologer. Nosterdamus even gave predictions for the world.

Astrologers, according to me, perform the role of psychiatrists in the West.. They infuse a sense of optimism. When we hear good predctions, we feel confident that things would work out.The predictions are never one hundred percent correct nor are they totally wrong.I
once consulted a famous astrologer in Ahmedabad in connection with fixing of premises for Essar.Just by seeing me and my face only, he predicted my "lagna" and "rasi". I was amazed. Some of his predictions came true,particularly with regard to my date of retirement.Just out of curiosity, I have tried "Nadi Josyam" and "kili Josyam".

My first remembrance about an astrologer is about a visit to Ponmalai along with my mother. We went to consult a lady who had a big reputation in the neighbourhood for good predictions. She was also known as "Pooja Mami".When my mother consulted her with my horoscope and asked her whether I would become an IAS Officer, she said that whether or not I would qualify for IAS, she could not say. She, however said, that I would be successful in life,On our return my mother told me that we had wasted time by visiting this Mathaji. I could realise that my mother was saying this because the Mathaji did not confirm about my IAS aspirations. For my mother, IAS was the ultimate accomplishment in life.This happened when I had not even completed Intermediate Examinations.

In mid fifties,my paternal Periappa (father!s cousin) used to come to our house for teaching music to my sister Vasantha.He was more an astrologer than a singer. He did not have the correct male voice for a singer. He was known as "Sangeethabhushanam Mani Bhagavathar". My mother would consult him with my horoscope. He predicted that I would be very successful in life beacuse of the confluence of three planets, Whenever we met, he encouraged me, I began to dream. He had instilled in me a sense of optimism.When he came to attend my marriage after many years, I prostrated before him. When I gave him Rs 100/ for his return journey from Madras to Tiruchi, he had tears in his eyes. I have never met him again. Incidentally his prediction that I would become some-body big in Textiles and Steel came partially true in later years.I forgot to mention about this Periappa in "My Life Story".Though we never paid his tuition fees in time, my Periappa came to our
house regularly because he liked the food cooked by my mother.

I had consulted astrologers for matching horoscopes and for fixing time of marriages. Fixing time is very important for any auspicious occassions. I endorse the famous statement "Nallor Seyyathathai Neram Seyyum".

I want to mention about this astrologer from Madras. He had predicted that my brother Ramani would suffer from cancer one year before it had actually happened. He had used the words "Selgalil Balamillai". He had also predicted the actual time of recovery correctly. With this, the entire family began to have immense faith in him. We consulted him frequently. I also recommended him to my many friends. On his advice, I took Meena and Venkat to Rameswaram. In due course, he became an astrologer for Promod Mahajan and Vajpaye. When he began to ignore old customers after acquiring high connections, our family stopped seeing him.I do not know whether he had predicted the death of Mr mahajan by his own brother. I have not seeen him for the last ten years. I began to loose faith in him when his prediction that Meena would beget a child did not come true.

To conclude, I do believe that good astrologers can predict good/bad periods. They cannot make specific predictions.Most importantly, they cannot predict their own death. I remember one incident in my life. An astrologer from Kerala had come to our house in Mumbhai in 1994. He predicted that my son would go abroad for studies (this was before he got his visa) and return to India after 17 years.. Happy with his predictions, I asked him whether he would come again to Mumbhai. He replied " Do not worry Balu,I will live upto 2012 and most definitely see you after three years". He died in 1998 and I did not see him again.
I may recall a small story I had read in a Tamil Magazine. There was a very famous astrologer in Madurai. All his predictions came true. People flocked to him. The Police also came to know about his prowess. When they wanted to catch a thief, they consulted him. Sure enough, he predicted correctly. Based on the directions given by the astrologer, the Police caught the thief who was sentenced to three years imprisonment. After the release from prison, the thief went to the astrologer in disguise and consulted him. Before leaving, the old thief asked the astroger for how long he(astrologer) woulkd live., When he told him that there is yet another twenty years, the thief took out a knife and kiiled him,saying that he had only twenty seconds now. I think the story was written by Jeyakanthan.

Eminent playwright,William Shakespeare hightlighted his lack of belief in astrology with the words "The fault, my dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlinks".

To believe or not to believe in astrology-"-your take mate" (as the Australians would say).

My Life Story Part 6

2009-05-31T06:44:00.002-07:00

In 1990, I bought a flat in Shere-Punjab Society-a two bed-room flat of 900 sq.ft. We moved into the flat in April. My son Kaushal had just finished his Plus two exams. We were trying for admission into an engineering College. As our initial attempts were not successful, I got him admitted into B.Sc(Maths) in a college near my house. I wanted my son to become a Chartered Accountant, while my wife insisted that he should become an engineer. Suddenly, one Mr Krishna Rao, who was working in Essar along with me as an Engineering Advisor helped me.With his help, I was able to get admission for Kaushal into Manipal Institute of Technology in Mangalore.I had to give a donation of Rs 50,000/- to the Employee Welfare Fund of the Company which had a one seat quota for emplyees! children.They had earlier given donation for construction of a building in the College.. I went to Mangalore along with Kaushal and got him admitted into MIT in July 1990.When within
fifteen days, Kaushal came back from Mangalore, we were all surprised and shocked. He assured us that he had come only because he was feeling home-sick. After five days, he left for Mangalore.
The information regarding availabity of a seat was given to me by Ramani.He got this information from Mr Jayaraman, his neighbour.The sea was reserved for Jayaraman!s son and when the boy got admissioon in Mumbhai, it became available for outsiders.
Between August 1989 and December 1989, my wife underwent two operations-one for removing uterus and the other for hernia. Both the operations were performed in a hospital in Ghatkopar. My brother!s wife Revathi helped my wife a lot during hospitalistion. Susequently, she underwent another operation in a hospital in Shere-Punjab,Andheri for hernia.
In that year,my brother-in-law Vaidyanathan came to Mumbhai with his daughter Revathi and asked for financial help for his daughter!s marriage. I helped him with Rs 50,000/ which even after nearly twenty yearts is not repaid.
In 1990, I went to a village near Tirunelveli to attend Nadu!s marriage
We started looking for alliances for Meena from January 1992. We were told by an astrologer that if she did not get married in that year, she would never get maried for another seven years. She was in final year B.Sc. When Venkat came and saw her, his parents wanted to have betrothal on the same day. I was not very keen as my parents were in Calcutta with Nandu. Finally, after discussions with my wife, we agreed to have betrothal funcation at Venkat!s place on the same evening.To-day, I feel now that it was one of the biggest mistakes made by me in my life. I made extensive enquiries about Venkat from Malaysia. The marriage was celebrated on 18th october 1992 in the Murugan Temple at Garodianagar . It was well-attended

My friend Pasupathy attended the marriage with his wife. It was at this time I bought a flat in T.Nagar from Appaswamy Estates through Pasupathy.. I sent my draft for purchase through Pasupathy when he was returning to Madras after marriage.

Venkat looked like me when I got married (lean and thin).I thought, like me, he would take care of his wife.Venkat and Meena left for K.L. after marriage. My wife accompanied them.
Towards the end of the year I got some bad news. I was told that Mr Shah, a friend in Singapore, had become bankrupt. I had left sixty thousand dollars with him when I left Singapore, thinking I could use this money when Kaushal went abroad for study. This was a shocking news. After my departure, Mr shah led a life of luxury , borrowing more and taking more risks. Though he was talking to me once in a month, he never revealed his correct state of affairs. It is said that "trust begets trust". This was not true in my case.
Staying alone in Surat was very frustrating. I asked my Shashi Ruia to transfer me to Mumbhai. He said he would do so in six months. He also added that he would give me a "wonderful" posting.Besides, my cabin in Mumbhai was not occupied by anyone as I used to work from there on Saturdays.
As Mr Ruia did not keep his promise, I started looking for opportunities in Mumbhai. I spoke to Mr. Ganguly whos war formerly Director (Personnel) of Hindustan Lever and now a Placement Consultant. He arranged for an interview with Hrishikesh Mafatlal. Apart from Mr Mafatlal, the Interview Committee consisted of two former Chairmen of Hindustan Lever. I was interviewed for an hour. This happened in September.
My brother Ramani was sufferring from intermittent fever. On Deepavali day in 1993, I went to his residence. I found him very weak sufferring from very high fever. I advised him to consult a Specialist.
By end of October I went to KL to see Meena and Venkat. I spent five days with them. On my way, I spent two days with Bansal in Singapore.
I received an appointment letter from Mafatlal Industries Ltd offerring me the post of Senior Vice-President (Finance) on good terms. They asked me to report for duty on 2nd January 1994. I submitted my resignation to Essar. Immediately, they increased my cash salary by Rs 10,000/- thinking that I was changing the job for money. I got arrears of Rs 1,20,000/ in cah for twelve months.
Towards the end of November, I received a call from Nandu informing me of the death of my father. All of us--me, my wife, Ramani and Revathi-left by air for Calcutta. Ramani was sufferring from high fever thoughout the period of travel. We performed the final rites of my father on the banks of Ganges in Calcuttta. Nandu!s office friends helped us a lot. My father died on a "kirthikai" day. I have used harsh words to my father only once in my life and that oo when he was becoming senile. I sought my Father!s and God!s pardon on the day we were taking his body to the Ghat.From Calcutta, all of us went to Madras by train and performed all the rituals for my father including the 13th day.
On return to Bombay,I insisted on being relieved from Essar. Though they gave me an increase in pay, they did not offer any posting in Mumbhai. Even to-day I sometimes feel I should not have left ESSAR. Mr Shashi Ruia was extreme;ly kind to me and in my dreams these days, I get his image.

I reported for duty at Mafatlal Industries ltd on 12th January 1994. My immediate boss was Mr Praful Amin who was with the company for nearly 35 years.The Office was in Mafatlal House in back-bay reclamation. Within a week, I attended the farewell given by the company to Mr Nari Contractor, former cricket captain of India. He had worked in the company for 32 years. I also met Jayanthilal who was working in the company He had played as a opening batsman in a test in West Indies
In January, I went to Hinduja Hospital along with my brother Ramani. He was diagnosed as sufferring from Hodgins disease by Dr Asha Kapadia. She took me aside and told me that the cancer was in an advanced stage and there were only twenty percent chances of survival. Unfortunately, my brother also heard this. I asked my brother "why should you assume you will be in the 80 percent.. Give me one reason why you cannot be in the twenty percent". I thought my brother was comfortable after hearing this. We started with kemotherapy immediately. I prayed to God to spare him for atleast another five years taking away five years from my life.Within five years, I feltl he could marry off al his three daughters. I used to meeet him regularly. Besides, I also arranged for a special Puja for him in Kerala spending Rs 10,000/- We were extremely happy when in August , he was diagnosed as free from the disease.
I worked in Mafatlat from 12th January 1994 to 30th September 1998. I also worked as an Advisor for six months, on a part-time basis till May 1999.When I joined ,,the company had five textile mills employing 13,000 people and two chemical plants in Surat. The turn-over was Rs 1,200 crores. My experience in the company was not as enriching as in Essar. Mr Ruia had a fire in the belly, being a first generation promoter. Mr Hrishikesh Mafatlal was born with a silver spoon and hence had very little ambition .I remember my experience for the following reasons:

1)In the first year, I raised money by placing Mafatlal Shares with Financial Institutions. I asked Mr Parag Parekh to prepare a Research Report on Mafatlal Industries Ltd (MIL) and on the basis of this report, I approached financial instituions.This was done in one moth time. The money raised (Rs 120 crores) was used to acquire PIL shares from Shell. When this was achieved, I earned the respect of Mr Aravind Mafatlal. He would come and sit in my cabin for a long time twice every week. The Group was ranked third in India after Tatas and Birlas in early sixties. Mr Aravind Mafatlal opened the first petro-chemical plant in India in 1963 (NOCIL). This NOCIL Plant was inagurated by Jawaharlal Nehru. Because of in-fighting among the brothers, the Group could not raise any money through equity for nearly twenty years.There was resentment too about the importance being given to me. Staff members like Mr P.R.Gandhi gave me lot of troubles. More about him in
detail in susbsequent paragraphs.
2)I was involved in the attempted acquisition of a textile plant in Germany. This gave me opportunities to visit Germany,Switzerland and London on three different occassions.
3)I handled disinvestment of loss making divisions. Most of the negotiations were done by me.Mr Hrishikesh Mafatlal was a very humane person. He continued the loss making companies for an unduly long period thinking only about the future of the emplyees. He was reluctant to take action even against corrupt emplyees.
4)I obtained a letter from Hrishikesh Maftal in July 1994 stating that MIL would sponsor Kaushal! education abroad. This letter helped us in getting US Student Visa for Kaushal. He was keen on joining Maryland University. Unfortunately their I 20 form was not received by us in time. He went to Clemson University, in South Carolina,instead.
5) I lived in two beautiful flats- one in Churchgate near Eros Theatre and the other one in Prabhadevi, near Sidhivinayak temple.
6)Once I raised Rs 4 crores in cash in one day to pay to the Gujarat Chief Minister for disinvest of governent shares in Gujarat Gas.
..
I was made the Fianace Director in 1996 with enormous powers. Mr Gandhi was opposed to me, was asked to report to me . When he refused, the company asked him to resign.When I came to know about this I called Gandhi to my cabin and assured him I would treat him with dignity and that I would not keep in mind whatever had happened in the past. In fact when my brother Nandu was interviewed by him for a job in MIL, he did not recommend the candidature of Nandu. I had to speak to N.K.Parekh, Chief of Mafatlal Finance, to get Nandu a job in his company.Till this day, Gandhi speaks to me regularly and has become a good friend.

In June that year we took Meena and Venkat to Rameswaram. Venkat!s parents accompaied us. After the visit to the temple, Meena left for Maryland along with Venkat. We also went to US in Agust 1996. I was there for three weeks, while Anu stayed for a longer period. We went to Pitsburg first and along with Kaushal went to New York,New Jeresy,Florida and Nashvile.Kaushal had taken up a job in Pitsburgh with Fore System. His room-mate in the house was Kiran Pappu.On the way to US, we went to London. We stayed in YWCA guest house and went around London.

In Septmber 1997,my mother died in Ghatkopar at Ramani!s residence.Though I knew her physical condition, I was shocked. My wife was away in US.My mother!s contribution to my success is very great.She shaped my thinking and outlook on life. I imbibed her never-say-die attitude and this helped me in difficult situations.Even to-day I think of my parents before going to sleep every day.

MILwas loosing money very heavily. There were three CEOS tried for textile operations and all of them failed.The company had not modernised, Besides, there was very heavy interest burden on the money borrowed for buying PIL shares. I strongly opposed the policy of acquing companies through borrowed funds. Mr Mafatlal would not listen to me. He had soft ears and people around him advised him that I was introducing ESSAR way of operations.
With all this, he gave me cash of Rs 1,5 lakhs for Deepavali 1996. I used this money to buy a diamond necklace for my wife from M/s Tribhuvandas, famous jewellers in Mumbhai.
Early in January in 1998, Neema told us she was in love with Bala. I was reluctant because I was not happy with Bala!s qualification. I consulted Meena in Maryland and Kaushal in Pitsburg. Kaushal told me that even without my consent, Neema would marry Bala and therefore I should preserve my honour by giving my consent for the marriage.We had the engagement ceremony in a temple in Goregaon in May. Now I realise how wrong I was about Bala. He is very smart. He has good qualities of head and heart. He knows what is happenning around him and in the world. By his genial nature, he has acquired many good firiends, I am sure this will stand him in good stead in times to come.

Meena and Venkat visited us in Feb. from Maryland. Meena insisted on adopting a child. Earlier I had been introduced to Mrs Akhtar, who was running an orphanage. I met her twice. Venkat and Meena adoped a child. His original name was Swanand.. We named him Harihar. I got the adoption regularised through Court. Through Mrs Akhtar, I was also able to arrange for adoptioon for Nandu, Ramani!s brother-in-law.Hari was left behind with us.

In August that year, we again visited USA.Kaushal took us to West Coast this time. I received a phone call from Mafatlal asking me to cut short my stay and return to India. We were negotiating for dis-investment of Gujarat Gas then.After the visit, I started putting pressue on Kaushal to move to West-Coast.Hari came along with us and we handed over Hari to Meena and Venkat at New York air-port We also visited them at Atlanta. Kaushal took us to Clemson and showed his rooms, college etc.
The position of the company had become very bad, Maftlal would not listen to me.Even Mr Amin, my senior, would not raise his his voice. I became the black-sheep.On one day, Mr Mafatlal belittled my suggestions in front of some senior staff members.In August, I resigned my job. Along with resignation letter, I gave a 16 page letter giving my suggestions for improvement. Mr Atul Srivatsava was recruited by me two months before and I thought he was an able successor.I was requested to continue as Advisor for some time. I agreed. Inability to take crucial and hard decisions, diverting short-term funds for long term purposes (just like buying a flat with temporary overdraft),obsolete machinery, old and reluctant staff,low productivity, lack of quality awareness,corrupt officials at the factory level and lack of professional management were responsible for the poor state of the company and the group. In my letter, I gave very good suggestions for improvement.My
letter was a hand-written letter as I did not want anyone to know about what I had suggested.
In August I had bought a flat in Takshila by disposing off my three bed-room flat in Chembur. I also sold my Adayar house this year. We moved into our flat in Takshila in November 1998.
Within a week, my wife received a phone call from Madras informing her that my mother-in-law was critically ill in Madras. She left for Madras immediately. On reaching, she found her mother in coma, following an operation in Ramachandra Hospital. My wife asked me to go over to Madras immediately. When I went to Madras, my mother-in-law was still in coma. She died the next day. We waited for my brother-in-law Ramanathan to come from USA.. We performed the last rites. It was during this period Sujatha,my brother Ramani!s daughter, got married in Madras. My wife could not attend the marriage because of the death of her mother. She,however, attended the receptionnn held in Bombay subsequently. My mother-in-law was an exemplary woman.She remained for 32 years after her husband!s death. She was staying alone, most of the time in Madras.I admired her courage and will-power.She helped me when I needed help most. She would never see me directly
My wife felt miserable for some time.I have always considered my wife!s relationship with her mother as an ideal mother-daughter relationship .

We celebrated Neema!s marriage in Madras on 12th February 1999. This year was very important to me.We also arranged for Kaushal to see some girls with a view to matrimony before Neema!s marriage.The marriage was celebrated on a grand scale. Many of my friends attended the marriage, two of whom told me that Neema and Bala looked like "made-for-each other" couple.I took the couple to Tirupathi.

Kaushal saw some girls for marriage. He also saw a girl in Bombay. He left without taking any decision. On the day he left for Pitsburg, my eldest daughter Meena explained to him that Vidya was the best choice. Before his departure, I convinced Kaushal that he should move to West Coast immediately.Whenever he called me, I would ask him to go to Silicon Valley.
Kaushal give his consent on reaching USA. I conveyed the same to Vidya!s parents in Madras .We performed the betrothal ceremony in Bombay in May and after that we left for Nepal for a holiday.We flew over Mount Everest. Kaushal and Vidya got married on 29th October of this year.
Here I must say a few words about my daughter-in-law. She is very inteligent,confident and talented.She is very realistic and practical in her approach.. Her respect for elders and her values impressed us a lot.I am sure that with a confident wife by his side, Kaushal will do well in life in times to come.
Kaushal and Vidya left for San Jose immediately after marriage. Before the marriage, he had secured an emplyment with Juniper Networks and as per my desire, had moved to west coast.
We went to san Jose after my 59th birth-day and after performing the annual ceremony of my mother-in-law.. We stayed with Kaushal for nearly six months. I thought it would be better for Kaushal to own a house. My cousin, Krishnan, had come to our place for lunch. He informed me that his sister-in-law Nellie and her husband Ram were in real estate business. I had know Ram!s father as a client of UCO Bank, Mylapore. I had helped him in the sale of a flat in Purasaiwalkam,Madras in 1976.. I convinced another customer of my branch to buy this property from Ram!s father for Rs 28,000/- When we met, I told Ram about this back-ground and wanted him to help us find a house for purchase. We were invited by Nellie and Ram for a Christmas party where I again I reiterated my request.
We started going around every saturday and sunday looking for houses. Ultimately, Kaushal bough a house in Savannah Drive. After the purchase, we went to Atlanta for a month and stayed with Meena.We were shocked to find how uncomfortable Meena was with Venkat. On return to San Jose, we performed the Grahapravesam and hosted a dinner party. The party was attended by about 100 guests, including Lalitha and Sunil.
During this visit, Anu develped a serious infection on the outerside of the stomach. She was bleeding almost every-day. We showed her to a doctor who informed us that the virus was a bad virus. We decided to take care of this problem on our return to India.
During this visit, we also came to know about Vidya!s and Neema!s pregnancy. We were very happy and pleased that we would be becoming grand-parents for two children in the year 2000.
On return in June, I was informed of the death of my Chittappa at Madras over phone. I flew immediately the next morning to Madras .and was able to see his body. I was very close to him and was naturally upset. I did not find enoug words to console my Chithi
On return from Madras,I acted as a Consultant to Gujarat Spinners for a brief period. When we went to show Neema to a doctor, we also asked the lady doctor to examine Anu for the virus problem. We were advised that an operation had to be permormed immediately as otherwise the virus would spread and get mixed with blood. We were told that the condition was serious. Anu was operated upon for three hours the very next day. Doctors told us that she was saved in the nick of time.In times of crisis, God had always shown me the way.
We were glad to know about the birth of a boy to Kaushal and Vidya on 9th September. We named him Vishal. Neema and Bala were blessed with a girl on 23rd September.While Vishal was born in San Jose, Srinidhi was born in a hospital in Andheri. Immediately on birth she suffered from severe jaundice and required blood transfusion. My wife went and procured the necessary blood ,travelling in an auto-ricksha in the middle of the night.

I am leading a peaceful retired life for the last ten years. In 2001, we celebrated Vishal!s first birth-day in Madras. We also celebrated Srinidhi!s first birth-day in Madras.Kaushal and Vidya were blessed with a daughter,Kavya, on 10th March 2004. Earlier, Neema and Bala were blessed with a second daughter,Shriya,on 15th August 2002..Meena also returned from USA in that year and started staying with us
.Neema was able to get a job for Meena through a friend.
During my visit to Bangalore in 2002, I had paid an advance for purchase of a flat in Bangalore.We moved to Bangalore in 2004 after a stay of ten years
in Mumbhai. The city has provided me with wealth.Though I earned a lot of money in Singapore in commodity speculation, I lost most of it. Bombay provided me with stability and wealth.It is believed that whoever comes to Mumbhai is blessed by Mahalakshmi. It is true in my case. I had bought eight properties and retained four. My investments will take care of me and my wife for the rest of our life, though I hardly spend any money after the return of Kaushal to Bangalore from USA.The fact that my son is staying with me has given me courage and happiness.I also bought two commercial properties for my son in 2004/2005.. He sent money from abroad for these purchases. Except for very bad times, these investments should provide him with enough money.

I have loved my brothers and sisters. I have helped all of them , when they needed help. Unfortunately, I am not on speaking terms with Chandru because of a stupid remark made by him.However, I do not want to carry this grievance to the grave. I will make it up with him in due course.

In 2006, Mr Mafatlal called me and asked me to become a Member on the Board of Mafatlal Industries Ltd. (MIL). He informed me that most of the suggestions given by me in my hand-written note were accepted by Mckenzies and implemented.I realised it requires a brand name to be accepted. I was happy that both MIL and Mafatlal Finance had repaid all the depsoits with interest.Facing a very difficult financial situation, they have repaid customer!s deposits. In view of this, I accepted the request of Shir Hrishikesh Mafatlal. Among the top industrialists I worked with, he is genuinely humane I still continue on the Board of Mil and visit Bombay once in three months.
I am lucky to be blessed with three good children.They never created any trouble for me and my wife. Though not outstandingly brilliant, they are good children who know what they want and who definitely know what is correct and what is not.. I am sure God will be kind to them and my grand-children. Meena will require the emotional support of her brother and sister. I am confident that they will provide the same
In retirement, I have been visiting USA and London with my wife almost every year. I am spending a very enjoyable time with my grand-children in Bangalore.I believe my mother is re-born as Kavya and consequently my affection for her knows no bounds.
With good health,enough money,loving children, what more can anyone aspire? I fall asleep instantly and have never used a sleeping tablet to sleep.
I believe in the efficacy of prayers and Ispend atleast 30 minutes every day on prayers.My blessings will always be with my children, whether I am physically alive or not.
Life, no dout, is beautiful.

My Life Story Part 5

2009-05-31T06:44:00.001-07:00

n June 1976, I was transferred to Erode. This branch was to be opened by me. While on my way to Madras, this posting was cancelled and I was asked to open Annasalai Shopping Centre Branch,Madras. The branch was opened by Mr Dave ,who was the Advisor to the Governor. President!s rule was imposed in Tamilnadu following the dismissal of Karunanidhi Govt. I gave vote of thanks on behalf of the Bank .With this posting in Madras, I began to live in my own house along with my parents.
During August, Mr D.K.Gupte, who was my Divisonal Manager in Pune,became an Asst General Manager, in charge of Southern Zone. He felt that for a man of my experience and ability, I should not be wasting my talents in a new branch. I was posted as Manager of Mylapore Branch in August. This again was a prestigious branch with a large depsoit base.Opened in 1957, the branch was very well-know for customer service and had the accounts of all important lawyers of Mylapore. I also met Mr R.Krishnan, Tennis Player and his father for the first time in this branch. In 2007. I was invited to a celebration commemorating 50 years of service at Narada Gana Sabha Sabha,Alwarpet,Chennai. I spoke and I was given "Ponnadai".
While working in this branch, I was mentally disturbed for six months because of some bad advances. Ultimated, through tact and pursuasion, I was able to recover all the advances.My children were admitted into schools-Meena in Mayilai Karpakavalli,Adayar and Kaushal in St. John!s School.I also financed film distributors and through them met some actors including Sivakumar. Towards November, I was called for an interview for overseas postings. Though I was selected, I could not go to Hong Kong because of some cash fraud in coins to the extent of Rs 10,000/ I was asked to remain in India till the investigation was completed., I was feeling very bad.
I was also asked to finance 55 small business-men in one day without verification on the occassion of Indra Gandhi!s 55th birth-day by a congressman and our work-man director on the board.. I refused. Our Head Office transferred me to Calcutta as Faculty Member in Central Staff College for Officers at the instance of our work-man director, Mr Lakshmanan.
My Field Offficer Mr Jyothiramalingam helped me with a negative report on these loans. He remains a fried even to-day. Recent I was happy to attend the marriage of his eldest son.

I reported for duty at the College in November 1978. I immediately fixed a house in Lake Market and asked Anu and children to come to Calcutta. At the college, I was asked to conduct programmes in Credit Management and Foreign Exchange. To conduct these programmes I read a lot. My knowledge and confidence levels improved substantially. I admitted the children in Swarna School in Lake Market,After conducting a senior level programme in Forex Management, I became very popular. Very senior officers began to know me personally.After a year of stay in Lake Market, I was given Bank!s accommodation in Alipore Avenue. It was a good accommodation.I was asked to write two Manuals of Instruction by the Bank. After completing this job, our Executive Director, Mr J.N.Pathak called me to his cabin and complimented me on a good work. He told me he was including me in the list of candidates to be interviewed for Overseas Postings. Mr R.A.Narayan, Dy.G.M., was our
neighbour in the
flats and he recommended my name strongly to Mr Sastri who was the Chiarman of the Interview Committee of overseas selection.
I was interviewed on the day Sanjay Gandhi was killed in air-crash . I did very well in the interview, thanks to the knowledge and confidence leves acquired while working in the college. I was placed first in the interview and posted as a Manager in Singapore Main Branch for a period of three years. I used to visit Kali temple very frequently and believed that my overseas posting was due to HER blessings.I applied for work permit immediately. I had already acquired pass-ports for me ,my wife and the children in 1975 when I was negotiating for a job in Nigeria.We left for Singapore on 31st December 1980 by Thai Airways via Bangkok.Before leaving, I had to make arrangements for stay for my brother-in-law Balu. He had come to stay with us from early 1979.
We were received at Changi air-port by Mr N.V.Srinivasan.We were all aghast looking at the air-port. We moved into 25 B Fair Drive,Singapore 1543 not realising that we will stay there for six years.
.We admitted th children in Govt Schools where the fee was eight dollars for a child. My main intention of getting overseas posting was no to acquire knowledge but to save money for my children. At the time of leaving for Singapore, I had a bank balance of only Rs 18,000/ and a house in Adayar with a loan. This was my financial position at the age of forty
We had three branches in Singapore. I I reported for duty at the Main Offfice in Robinson Road.It was a fabulous Office with all facilities. Mr R.K.Sood was the Manager. I learnt the fundamentals of working in overseas branch from Mr Garudawjan, who was senior to me by three years. He had already worked in the branch for some years. I was sent to replace him..Mr N.V.Srinivasan ,Manager of Serangoon Road Branch had already resigned and wanted to be relieve immediately. His successor Mr A.Sunbramanian had not come to Singapore by then. I was asked to officiate as Manager of serangoon Road Branch for a period of three months when Subramanian took charge frome me. I came back to Robinson Road. In 1982, when Dwajan also resigned, I took his place and became No, Two in Singapore of a branch with more than 120 staff members.
Before going to Singapore, we went to Tiruchii in December 1980 to attend Chandru!s marriage.
By the end of my first year posting in December 1981, my bank balance was Rs 1 lakh. This was after remitting Rs 40,000/ to my father for the marriage of my sister Radha. Many friends used to come from Madras and stay with us.We had three bed-rooms in the flat and one bed-room was most of the time used by guests. My wife was very hospitable .Radhakrihnan!s wife and her friend Geetha (actor Jayashankar!s wife) came and stayed with us for a week. I also had a lunch with Jayashankar at Oberoi Imperial where he recounted to me his struggles before establishing himself as an acceptable actor.

I remained in Singapore from 1st January 1981 to 6th December 1986. I became Chief Manager of the Branch in 1984 on my promotion to Scale IV. My sister Radha got married in this year in August. I went to Madras to attend the marriage. I also attended the sacred-thread ceremony of my brother-in-laws!s sons, Anand and Aravind. This was held on the same day as Radha!s marriage. I remember my posting for the following reasons:
1)I set up the Dealing Rooom of the Bank. We started giving two-way quotes. I was the Chief Dealer. We made huge profits in the first two years.
2)We also started financing Indian Industrialists who were opening factories in Indonesia, Malaysia,Thailand and Australia.These were called off-shore advances. This gave me an opportunity to meetsome of the industrialists. I once had lunch with Mr Ashok Birla. I was very nervous sitting next to him.
3)Industrial relations were excellent. I introduced a new promotion policy. As the business was growing fast, there was a need for more officers.Singapore Govt had started putting restrictions on expatriate officers.
4)As my bank balance had swelled to Rs 5 lakhs by 1983, I bought a flat in Eldam Square in Eldams Road,Madras, for Rs three lakhs through Mr Natarajan of Venkatraman and co, a Chartered Accountant firm. I got bank audit for their company M/S . Navamani,Rajan and Associates. I had also become close Mr Somasekhar, partner of this audit firm. Till this day, I am maintaining relationship with Mr Somasekhar.
5) In 1984 one Mr Subramanian of Fraser and Ross, a big Audit Firm in Madras had come and stayed with me for a week. I requested him to get admission for my children in Vidya Mandir, a reputed school. I also asked him to take my brother Nandu for apprentice-ship in their firm.In November I received a call from Subramanian that he could get admission for my son in Vidaya Mandir in 7th standard. I immediately sent Kaushal along with my wife to Madras to get himl admitted in Vidya Mandir. As he joined the school mid-term, he was finding it a little difficult to adjust to the school.My brother Nandu also joined Fraser and Ross. I still believe that he could clear his CA because he joined this firm.
6) I made good money personally. With my friend Mr shah we started speculating in commodities and forein exchange.I began to feel comfortable by end of 1985.
Towards the end of 1985, my friend Subramanian committed a big fraud. This came to light in April 1986. Why he did what he did is still a mystery to me. Unfortunately, as Acting Asst. General Manager, I was asked to sit on judgement on him. I am reminded of the famous words of Thirumoolar, a famous Tamil saint and schlor "Deedhu Nanrum, pirar thara vara". Mr Subramanin was dismissed from service in due course.

All of us visited K.L and Penang for a week along with my mother-in-law who had come to visit us.
I had asked for a transfer back to India in Janauary 1986. As my family was in Madras since June 1985, I was feeling bored staying alone in Singapore. During the eighteen months I stayed alone in Singapore, my neighbour, expatriate colleagues and friends took care of my unches/dinner. To-day in Bangalore, there is no one who is inviting me as my friends are all scattered in different parts of India. Besides, there is a difference between being in power and retirement..I would play cards on holidays with some business-men friends.
As I was expecting transfer, I hadsent my wife and children to Madras to live in our flat in Eldam Square. As KaushaLwas staying with my parents, I wanted him to live with his mother. My wife moved to Madras in June 1985 and remained alone there till December 1986.Before leaving, I had kaken my wife to Indonesia for a holiday
I went to Madras in August 1986 for the sacred-thread ceremony of Kaushal. It was well-attended, with more than 200 people taking lunch. My wife handled all the arrangements alone. I returned to Singapore after five days...
I recived the transfer order in October 1986. I asked my wife to come to Singapore for winding up our establishment.,She came in November. We went to Hong Kong for a holiday before returning to India. We reached Madras on 6th December 1986. We were received by my friend Radhakrishnan, Collector of Customs. He took care of customs clearance.I availed of my three months overseas leave and stayed in Madras till March 1997 .
I received an order in January 1987 posting me as Chief Manager of International Banking Branch to be opened in Red Cross Place, Calcutta. I left for Calcutta in March to start preparations for opening the branch. The branch was opened in June.. This was the only new branch opened with more than 8o staff members. All the industrial accounts of Calcutta main branch with staff handling those accounts were transferred to this new branch. The Bank spent money lavishly to make this branch to look like a prestigious branch. I worked in this branch till March 1988. I set up the Dealing Room for which I trained Mr Uday Naarain Mitra and Chunny Goswamy. Mr Mitra is still in touch with me.There were serious staff problems.Staff would invariably come late and were indisclipned. When I took action again two clerks, our Head Office did not support me. This was the time I made my mind to look elsewhere for opportunities.. At 47 and in Scale IV, I had good growth
opportunities in the Bank. Having worked in Singapore without staff problems,I was sick of the politics in the Bank. The top management lacked the will to enforce discipline. My brother-in-law Balu came to live with me in Alipore Avenue. My wife and children came for December holidays in 1987.. While travelling from Madras to Calcutta,my wife heard the news of MGR!s death. She was afraid that the train would be stopped.
I reported for duty as Chief Officer at the Zonal Office, Madras, in March 1997. I was sent for a senior level training for four months at National Institute of Bank Management in Pune. Mr kuppuswamy also attended the training.,At the conclusion of the training, my wife and children came to Pune. We all went to Goa for a holiday.
I started looking for jobs in the corporate world. My friends in the Bank felt that I had no chance since I had no special experience other than banking.In September, I received a call from Bansal, my good friend, informing me that Mr Abheykumar Oswal wanted to see me. I went to New Delhi early morning one day. I met Mr Oswal. He offered me a position as Vice-President (Admn) in his company, Oswal Agro Mills located in Ludhiana on a good salary-thrice more than what I was drawing in the Bank. He also offered me Rs 3 lakhs as a bonus for taking up the job. The understanding was that for three months I would stay in Ludhiana after which I would be posted to Mumbhai. I came back to Madras and resigned. My friend Mr Ragupathi helped me in getting relieved from the bank within a month.
I was with Oswal from September 1988 to Mar 1989. I stayed in the company guest house. My wife and children visited me in Ludhiana and we went to Simla and other places in Punjab.I remember my experience in this company for the following reasons:
1)I was associated with the biggest rights Issue. The money was raised for acquisition of petro-chemical plants in Chembur and Rishra. The issue was a big success
2)I also gained some experience in Mergers and Acquisition. I was asked to deal with ICICI Ltd (now ICICI Bank), a term lending institution. I was involved in evaluation,bid and offer for LDP Plant in Rishra. Later, I was involved in the revival of this plant. I superv ised the re-commisioning of this Project under one Mr Hazra.
3)I got a job for Nandu as Manager (Accounts) in the Rishra Plant.He was working in a audit firm in Mumbhai and was looking for a good job.

I attended my brother-in-law Balu!s marriage in Coimbatore in May 1989. The marriage was initiated, organised and planned by my wife alone. I was proud of her.On my return to Ludhiana,an unfortunate incident happened in Ludhiana.
As Mr Oswal did not keep his promise of posting me in Mumbhai, I started looking for jobs. I never used to lock my drawers in the Office. When I was away, one subordinate, had taken out my application for a job and had handed over the same to Mr Oswal. The next day, Mr Oswal called me and asked me whether I was looking for an outside job. Before I could reply, he took out my application and started shouting at me, I told him that since he had not kept his promise of posting me at Mumbhai, I had to look elsewhere. My wife also did not want me to continue in Punjabo at the height of Kalistan Movement. My driver, a sardarji, was just then killed by some kalistanis.I also tod Mr Oswal that his management was not professional.He kept on abusing me and I felt he was acting like a scorned lover. He believed that he had treated me well and expected some loyalty from me,When I told that his management was not profesional, he got infuriated very badly. He asked
me to give the reasons why his management was not professional, I told him that other than him, nobody could take any decision and that no-body had any signing powers. He asked me to resign. I did so immediately on coming to my room. He also obtained a letter from me that I would return Rs. 3 lakhs within a week of reaching Madras. While leaving, I asked Mr Bhalla, waho was close to Mr Oswal, not to do anything with Nandu!s job. He promised he would help. When I reached the guest house, ny belongings were kept outside the room and I was asked to vacate the room. I took a rickshha and stayed overnight with Mr Sivaswamy, my subordinate, before leaving for New delhi the next morning. I was told later on that Mr Sivaswamy was also treated badly for permitting me to stay with him. I could not get air tickets to Madras for two days. On the third day, I left for Chennai and reached my flat in the middle of the night when my children were sleeping..The
next day, I sent a draft for Rs. 3 laksh to Oswal and forgot about my night-marish experience.
I did not loose courage. I was confident that I would get some job within three months. I went to Tirupathi with familhy. I then started my preparations to become a broker in Madras Stock Exchange under "professional" category. Early morning one day, I received a letter from Reliance Industries ltd asking me to appear for an interview in their finance company. I left for Bombay and at the Sholapur railway station, I bought Business Standard. While going through the pages, I found out that Mr S.V.Venkatesan, who was close to me in Singapore, had joined ESSAR. He had left his senior position in State Bank of India and joined the Ruias as Financial Advisor.After the interview with Reliancein Maker Chambers 3, Nariman Point,I was going through. the name plates in the ground floor. Essar was occupying offices in 13th and 14th floor. I went to meet Mr venkatesan. When he came to know that I had just attended an interview in Reliance, he told me to wait
in Mumbhai for
three days. He told me that Shashi Ruia would be returning to Mumbhai in two days time. and that after meeting Mr Ruia, he would appoint me as General manager.My experience of handling rights Issue in Oswal helped me. Essar was at that time planning a very big equity issue. I met Mr Shashi Ruia. He was impressed with me. Thus I landed a job in Essar within 45 days of loosing my job with Oswal. I was also given an accommodation in J.B.Nagar,Andheri,(three bed-room flat)Mumbhai. My daughter Meena came to Mumbhai and through IIT Raju. I got her admitted in B.SC (Mathematics) in Bhavans College, Andheri. Thus began my life in Mumbhai
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I arranged for the sale of my flat in Eldam!s Square. My wife, after finalising the sale,joined me at Mumbhai. My other two children, Kaushal and Neema were studying in Madras. They were staying with my parents.
I worked in Essar Steel from July 1989 to January 1994. It was an unforgettable experience. Even to-day ,sometimes I wonder whether I had made a mistake in resigning from this company. I consider my experience as very enriching for the following reasons:
1)For the first time I was a member of a three-member team that handled a very big equity issue.I involved smaller banks in different parts of India-such as Karur Vaiysa Bank, Lakshmivilas Bank and banks of this size in other parts-- in marketing the issue.. I travelled all over India. I attended Press Conferences along with Shashi Ruia. When we attended a Press Conference held at Chola Hotel, Madras, I practically answered all questions. Mr Shashi Ruia was greatly impressed.While staying in the hotel, I invited my parents, Kaushal and Neema for a dinner at Chola. I remember my father eating only "thayir satham" in this hotel.The issue was a tremendous success. The money was raised to acquire a sponge iron plant from Emden in Germany.I learnt a lot from Mr Ruia during the travels.
2)I gained experience in Project fund raising and Project Implementation. After the public issue, I was leading a team with Seshagiri Rao for negotiations with IDBI Bank for term loan-both rupee loans and foreign exchange loan. We used to meet IDBI officials very regularly. I used to met Mr Jitender, who was then a Senior Manager. To-day. he is number two in the bank.We were able to obtain the necessary loans in a month!s time.
3)The plant was located in Hazira,Surat. I was made the Head of the Team based in Mumbhai leading Project Implementation. I travelled to Surat a number of times, sometimes working till midnight. I gained the respect and admiration of the Ruia brothers. This created envy among others in the company. They were waiting for an opportunity to bring me down.I learnt as to how to set stiff targets and how to enforce such targets from Mr Shashi Ruia..I have never met a more humane and dynamic industrilist like Ruia before. Even under extremely difficult situations, he remained calm. I thought I should emulate him.
4)I was given the responsibility of signing the GAS Agreement with ONGC. Earlier two other Officers were given this job and they had failed.ONGC Office in New Gelhi was next to Hyatt Hotel.. I went to Delhi and stayed at Hyatt for ten days. I met the ONGC Officials every-day. going through documentation.With the connection of Ruia in necessary places, we signed the Agreement. I was the signatory to the first GAS Agreement with ONGC
5)I was transferred to Surat in January 1992. I stayed in the Guest House and was provided free break-fast, ,lunch and dinner. I stayed for five days in a week in Surat. I looked after all Project payments and sign all cheques. Without my clearance no payment would be made. Here, I helped Ramani to get an over-due payment for a job done by his company. I became the object of envy.
6)Mr Ruia took me to all meetings where he met very big people-people who mattered in business and politics. One one occassion, he took me in a two-seater plane to meet Mr N.T.Rama Rao. After this, ,my friends in ESSAR began to call me "Raja Veettu Kantrukutti".
7) I gained friendship of good peole like Waugh,Fatherpaker,Dhariwal,Venkatachalam,Sehagiri Rao and others.

My Life Story Part 4

2009-05-31T06:20:00.000-07:00

My Wife and kids:

Early in 1968, I informed my parents about my readiness to get married. They started looking for an alliance. Towards September of that year I went to Madras to "see" a girl. My father had come along from Tiruchi. She was just a matriculate and had a rural background. I gave my consent, though I did not like the girl directly looking at me. As I did not hear from my parents for sometime, I spoke to them. I came to know that the proposal had been dropped because my mother had insisted on a "silver Kudam". I felt bad. After some months, I also went to Calcutta to "see" agirl. Her father Rajan was a steel merchant. Here also I liked the girl, but as Mr Rajan wanted me to be a "Veettu Mappillai" to look after his business, I asked my parents not to proceed.

In 1969, Banks were nationalised. United Commercial Bank, being the fifth largest bank then, was also nationalised. We received directive to in crease our lending to priority sectors-agriculture,export,small-nusiness,small-scale industry etc. My Manager Mr Sonalker started lending to Andhra agriculturists located in Ramtek, forty miles away from the Branch.In no time, he built up a portfolio of Rs 1 crore.(Big then). I disagreed with his approach and recorded my note of dissent. I was considered by our Regional Office as an Officer not tuned to the new times and emerging situation. Though we personally disagreed, Mr Sonalkar liked me. He gave me an "exemplary rating" and I was promoted to the next grade. There was also an increase in salary from Rs 850/ to Rs 1400/- as a result of implementation of a wage award. I was now more determined to get married.

I went to Tiruchi for Deepavali. At that time, we had received the horoscope of my wife from Ashok Nagar,Madras. As the height mentioned was 5 feet 5 inches, I requested my parents not to proceed. My father told me that the horoscopes had matched perfectly. I left Tiruchi for Nagpur. When I was in Madras, I learnt that all the trains to Nagpur were cancelled for the next two days because of excessive floods in Vijayawada. I did not know what to do in Madras. I telephoned my father at our neighbour!s place and asked him to come to Madras to see the Ashok Nagar girl. My mother came and we went to "see" my wife on a rainy day. Her elder brother was not there.My wife played Veena. She did not even look at me. I immediately liked her and gave my consent to my mother through "sign". I left for Nagpur and there was no news from Tiruchi. There were some problems on dowry. I sent a telegram to my father stating that "If at all I marry, I will marry only that Ashok Nagar girl". My parents realised that I was serious and went ahead with the proposal.The marriage, initially fixed in January, had to be postponed due to the death of my Periappa (father's elder brother) in New Delhi. I got married to Anu on 18th February 1970. How I wish I had enough money to prevent my parents from asking for dowry. I could not blame them as there was an expenditure estimate of Rs 5,000/ for the marriage from our side.. I did not have that kind of money to give it to them. I decided then I will not demand or give dowry when my children got married in future. I remain eternally thankful to the floods for giving me a wonderful wife.

Here, I want to say a few words about my wife.She has been my guardian angel for past 39 years. She has provided stability,love and disicipline to my life.We do not converse much, but we do no know that we love each other.The disagreements, if any, could be counted on hands.She would exactly know what I though about a particular issue.She never demanded anything from me, except love and affection. She is very sensitive and emotional . The values imbibed by my children are all given to them by her.Her cleanliness and excellent personal hygene impressed me a lot during the early years of our marrigae. She knew how to run the family within a given income. Her religious nature ebbed one me and we began to visit temples regularly.Indeed, I consider myself blessed. There is a Tamil song "Manaivi Amaivathellam Iraivan Kodutha Varam". This is true. There is also a French Proverb that says "A man deserves the wife he gets". Perhaps, I also deserved such a good wife. We have led a blissful life for 39 years. We will be completing forty years of marriage on 18th February 2010.
After marriage, we went to Palani and Madurai for honeymoon. I could not afford to take my wife elsewhere. Early March in 1970, we left for Nagpur in Grand Trunk Express (GT) with the marriage bed on the upper berth. My mother accompanied us .
Before the marriage , I had fixed a one-bedroom flat in "Karvartkar Nivas" in a good locality in Nagpur. I had also bought basic furniture and a gas connection. We moved into the flat in March 1970. In the first week I invited all the members of staff for break-fast. My mother and wife cooked the food. All the staff member (35 of them including Officers) liked the food. My mother left Nagpur after fifteen days. I was alone with my wife.
There were no adjustment problems between me and my wife. I used to take my wife to a Hindi Movie every week. Before the movie, we would go to Shere-Punjap to get milk-shake. One big glass of milk-shake was costing only Re one at that time.One day when we were going to see "Aradhana", our Vicky Moped was chased by a group of young men. I dorve the slow vehicle as fast as I could. We did not realise that it was HOLI and it was not advisable to get out.Though we left only in the evening, we were still chased. The movie was good.
I just want to give one example of how I loved my wife. Our landlord at the Branch was one Mr Ranchoddas. He owned a big textile shop called "Bharat Stores", very near the Branch. An illiterate man, who could not read or write, he had acquired immense wealth. Whenever new sarees came, he would inform me. I would collect ten sarees on approval and bring them home. I would then ask my wife to wear them, one by one. We would finally select the one to be bought. After selection, I would return the remaining saree to Bharat Stores.
My carry-home pay was Rs 1,200/ per month. This was devided into three parts-one part to be sent to my parents at Tiruchi, one part for us and the last part to be sent to my Narayan Chittappa (mother's sister's husband) to repay the debt taken by may parents. I wanted my parents to live debt-free life. I also asked my brother Ramani to send Rs 200/ every month to Chittappa. Together, we repaid a debt of Rs 8,000/ in eighteen months with interest. We could lead a very happy life wihtin Rs 400/-, though the rent was high at Rs 135/ per month.

In june, we were happy to know that my wife was pregnant. I gave lot of calcium, vitamin C and Kumkuma Powder to my wife so that the child could be strong and fair. have never really fought in 39 years of married life, though there were very occasional misunderstandings. Even on those very rare occassions, I was at fault.
At the time of Deepavali 1970, we went to Tiruchi and Madras. We first went to Tiruchi. While there, we bought two golden bangales for three sovereigns and a gas connection for my mother - all at a cost of Rs 1,000/- I had received a bonus of Rs 900/ before we left for our trip. We used the entire money to keep my mother happy. She was very delighted.
We went to Tiruchi again in December of that year for "Seemantham". It was performed in our house at No 5, Tanjore Tank Street. My friends Pasupathy and Raju (later know as IIT Raju) attended the Seemantham function with their respective wives. All the three couples took a photograph at Venus Studios in Tiruchi. For a long time, I had kept this photograph. After the function, my wife stayed back in Madras for delivery.

A girl child was born on 16th March 1971 at Maruda Nayagam Hospital in T.Nagar. I could not go to Madras to see the child immediately as there were serious labour problems at the branch. There were three unions and they were fighting with each other constantly.
We named the child Meenakshi. My wife felt bad that I did not go over to Madras immediately to see them. She even felt that because it was a girl child, I did not go to Madras immediately. This was not true. She stayed in Madras for four months. I went to Madras after one month to see my wife and new-born girl child on one week's leave. I was received at the Central Railway Station by my wife wearing the same pink colour saree I had bought for her in Bharat Stores. I was very pleased to see her after four months. She looked like an angel to me. I also went to Tiruchi to see my parents. My wife returned to Nagpur in July. My friends and colleagues in the Office visited us to see the child. By this time, we had shifted our residence to a better accommodation in Ravi Nagar Chowke. As usual with first-time parents, we bought lot of dresses, toys etc for Meena.
Early in 1972, I was promoted as Manager of the Branch. It was a difficult Branch, but as I had already worked as an Accountant there, I was familiar with the environment. Without any efforts from my side, the deposits of the branch grew to Rs 80/ lakhs, thanks to post-oil boom. In those days, the performance of a branch was judged by the deposit growth, and not by profitability of the branch. Together with advances, the business of the branch came to Rs 2.5 crores.(1972).
I was considered a rising star. There was a Credit Management Programme conducted by the Indian Institute of Manager at Mafatlal Centre, Mumbhai, by the Bank. Only twelve Officers were selected for this one month course by the Bank from all over India and I was one among them. I never imagined that one day at a future date I will work for Mafatlal Industries ltd and that I would occupy one of the offices of this magnificent building.It was located in the newly reclaimed Nariman Point area.
I must mention here two very important incidents. One day a very young girl of twenty came to me and wanted to open a Savings Account. I told her she must maintain a minum balance of Rs 100/ if she wanted cheque-book facilities. She deposited Rs 300/ and opened the account. She would come to the Bank and deposit Rs 50/ every day. It was obvious she was a call girl. This continued for eighteen months. During this period, she would occassionally say "hallo" to me. After some time, she stopped coming to the Branch and the balance in the account had swollen to more than Rs 20,000/. This was a big amount then. After three months, a big Sardarji came to the bank and wanted payment of his dead wife!s account. Surprisingly, this was the account of the girl. I asked him to produce death certificate and succession certificate. He went away. Subsequently, he would bother me twice every week and put pressure on me to pay the amount. I refused. One day, he came with five hefty people and threatened me that if I did not pay, I would not go home alive. Just as a precaution, I used my land-lord's car on that day to go home, instead of using my vicky-moped. The next day, I complained to the police.
After a month, Police came to the Branch and wanted me to be a witness. They alleged that the Sardar had killed his wife ensuring that kerosene stove burst into flames when she went to the kitchen. I gave my statement at the Court. To a question by the Defense Lawyer as to whether I had seen the girl and the Sardar together at any time, I said "No". When I was a witenss, the Sardar gave me a very threatening look. I came to know after a few months that the Court had awarded life sentence for the Sardar.
I was gheroed for forty days for two hours after office-hours by staff of other banks. One day, a clerk belonging to AIBEA and a peon belonging to NOBW were both bleeding when I went to the branch, each claiming that the other had beat him first. This was sometime in the evening when both were woking over-time. Both the Unions were demanding that the member of the other union should be suspended. I did not relent . I maintained that if I suspended, I would suspend them both.Graudally, the number of peole gheroing me dwindled after a month and at atime when they decided to call off,the number came to five. I used to stand for two hours when pins and other small items would be directed at me just to provoke me.
During this period, I graduated to Lambretta from Vicky-moped.
I was sent to Korba in Madya pradesh in 1972 for a week in March to handle a difficult assignement. On my return, my wife informed me that she was pregnant again. I was happy as I believed in having two children, close to each other in age. I wanted a son this time. Surprisingly for me, one Sadhu came to the Branch. He was from Punjab. When I told him how much I yearned for a son, he gave me some white powder (something like vibuthi) and told me that if my wife consumed the powder with milk within sixty days of pregnancy, I would get a boy. Such a boy, would be very lucky and blessed, he said. I asked my wife to take the white powder after prayer. She did so without asking me any question. Our faith in the Punjabi Sadhu was vindicated when a son was born to me on 20th October at Marudanayagam Hospital in Madras . On both occasions, the lady in the next room was actor AVM Rajan!s wife, Pushpalatha, who also was blessed with
girls. The same Sadhu also told me, after examining my horoscope, that I would get an overseas assignment in due course. We named the child as Narayan as decided already. We also decided to call him Kaushal-both names having seven letters.

With two kids, my wife was very busy. At this time, the Bank was expanding rapidly in Maharashtra and we required lot of staff. There was no Banking Services Recruitment Board then. The Regional Office had powers to appoint clerks and peons. I have helped atleast fifty peole in life to get employment, either with the Bank or elsewhere, including my two brothers and brother-in-law.Many times, people would approach me with a request for jobs and I would appoint them after a few questions . I was given this job by the Regional Office. Among the appointees, I still remember TVS Rao and Harish Sahani. They are still in touch with me greeting me on every New Year.. A complaint was made to Head Office that I was preferring South Indians. This was investigated and I was not proved wrong.

In May 1973, my younger brother Ramani got married in Madras. While in Madras, my wife developed a problem on her left thumb. We went to Dr. Jagadeesan in Mylapore, While waiting for the doctor, I looked at the real estate column of the HINDU. I was keen to buy a house. My Housing Loan limit was Rs 45,000/
There in the paper, I saw the name "Raju Estates". He had advertised for houses within my range. On return to the Mandapam, I asked my cousin Visu whether it was the same Raju who had studied with us in Board High school, Ayyampet. He was not sure, but told me that Raju was working as Conveyancing Clerk in a Lawywer's office after S.S.L.C. After lunch on that day, we went to meet Raju Estates in Balaji Avenue, T.Nagar. We were surprised to see that it was the same Raju who was close to us in School. He had become a real estate tycoon. When I told him about my desire to buy a house, he took us to five different places and showed us houses. I liked the one in Kamaraj Avenue,, Adayar and another one in Mahabalingapuram. The house in Adayar was quoted at Rs 45,000/ and that other in Mahalinga Puram at Rs 60,000/. (beyond my reach).When I told Raju I had only Rs 500/- he agreed to show the price as Rs 50,000/ for the Adayar house so that margin
requirements would be met. We were required to pay ten percent margin for housing loans. As the house was being sold by one Mr D.S.S.Manian, who was an Associate of Raju, it was easy to convince him to mention Rs 50,000/ in the document, but accepot only Rs 45,000/. When this was agreed, I took my wife and parents to show the house. On return, I applied for Housing Loan of Rs 45,000/ to Head Office in June. Raju had provided me with all documents. The Housing Loan Section in Head Office was headed by Mr J.N.Pathak, who was Principal when I attended the Training College during my Probation.. I spoke to him. He cleared the loan in two weeks time. I got the house registered in August 1973. With just Rs 500/ in my pocket, I had bought a house (one ground with 850 sq.ft), within three months. Everything looked like a dream. I was happy that I had fulfilled my earlier dream of constructing a house for my parents. I named the house "Matru Chaya". We performed the Grahapravesam in August. My mother-in-law Lakshmi Ammal helped me with Rs 2,500/ towards registration expenses.At that time the registration and stamp duty expenses came to five percent. Raju did not collect any commission. He was the man who drafted the sale deed. For a matriculate, he dictated very stylishly to his stenographer. I was amazed.
I had asked my parents to shift to Madras from Tiruchi in June. My mother acted fast and by end of June, my parents had fixed a small portion in Mandaveli. My brother Chandran was not quite keen on this shift. My parents moved into the new house in August after a stay of two months in Mandaveli. With this, they have acquired a status in life. Our relatives began to look upto us with respect. I also got a job in UCO Bank for Chandru after speaking to Officers in Divisional Office. After completing his M.Sc in 1972, he went to Bombay looking for a job. As he did not get any, he was frustrated. I felt bad asking him to take up a clerical position in spite of his brilliant academic record.
We returned to Nagpur after Grahapravesam. One Mr Ramkaran Rajeshkumar gave me some books on Sathya Sai-baba. He also gave me a framed photographs of the Baba. I am still having that picture in my Pooja room. I was transferred to Pimpri, Pune Branch as Manager in May 1974. This was a prestigious assignment. My transfer was with a mandate that I should set up Foreign Exchange Desk at Pimpri. More than 40 people came to the Railway Station to bid fare-well to me. I was happy.
I reported for duty at Pimpri in May 1974. The branch, located in Hindustan Antibiotics premises, was in the ground floor. The residence was in the first floor.There were absolutely no labour problems. The staff was geared to give service to customers. As our Bank was the first to open in Pimpri, we were having all accounts of big companies in that industrial belt. I became a member of the Lions Club. The staff liked me and vice-versa. I opened the Forex Desk. I would obtain quotes from Mumbhai every morning and display the same on the Board. We also started negotiating export documents from Pimpri instead of sending them to Mumbhai. I spent a very useful and peaceful two years in Pimpri. With my residence on the first floor, I had more time on hand. My wife conceived again. We were blessed with a girl child on 18th April 1975. We named her Nirupama. On the day I went to the Hospital to see my wife and the new-born child, I moved into a running bus on return with my first two children on my hands. Fortunately, we were thrown into the bus. It was nightmarish experience. There was another incident when we spotted a big snake standing very near Meena in the garden in ground floor. My wife shouted from first-floor and Meena moved away.
I also befriended Mr.Marimuthu and Mr.Rajendran, both engineers from Hidustan Anti-biotics Ltd. Mr T.V.Ramachandran of Mahindra and Mahindra also became my good friend. Through his influence, I was able to get a job for my brother-in-law Balu in Vulcan Laval ltd in Calcutta. Marimuthu died two years ago, I am still in touch with Ramachandran.

My Life Story Part 3

2009-05-31T05:52:00.000-07:00

Post-College Life:

I started trying for jobs immediately after the final examination. I faced a frustrating few months. I used to go Madras for interviews and by the time I returned to Tiruchi, a regret card would be waiting for me. I almost got selected in Burma Shell. In the mean-time, I was preparing for my I.A.S. Examinations.After four months, I got a job as District Organiser in Bharat Sevak Samaj, which was sponsored by the Ministry of Social welfare. I had obtained a Diploma in Social Sciences while studying in the College. The posting for this job was at Tiruchi and the first salary Rs 150/ per month.In this job, I had to work as interpreter to an American Journalist writing a book on Indian slums.The journalist paid me Rs 15/ per day from his packet. This was a princely sum and we could buy our enire month!s requirement of oil with this money. When the journalist left, I was asked to teach in a Blind School and Old Age Home in the nights. These night schools were located in Tennur, near Ramakrishna Talkies. I used to walk from home to these places.

Early in 1961, my sister Vasantha got married. My father went from pillar to post to raise money for the marriage. No one helped us, including those who were in a position to help. Fortunately, two weeks before the marriage, we sold some agricultural lands at a lower price than the market price and the money came to our hands only ten days before the marriage. The marriage was held in the Medical Association Bldg and we spent nearly Rs 18,000/ on the marriage. My brother-in-law was a very tight-lipped and stiff-necked individual then, though we are close now.

After spending six months in my first job, I applied for the post of Apprentice Sub-Editor with the Indian Express, Madurai. I was called for interview, but there was no interview. The process of selection was through an essay to be written within a specified time on any given subject. After my written paper was examined, I was offered the job. Few of my friends were already working there. The salary was again Rs 150/ per month. We were given free accommodation (Six of us in one hall) and free transport to Pankajam Gardens, where the offices were located. I learnt a lot in this job. As I was also preparing for IAS examination, this experience helped me in a big way.Two experiences still remain in my memory.. There was a Meeting of the All India Congress Commitee held at Madurai, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru. Along with four others and with "Press Badge", I covered the proceedings. Editor Frank Mores, father of Dom Mores, guided us. I was also asked to write reviews of Hindi/Tamils films. Among the films reviewed, the film "Pachai Vilakku" had a deep influence on me., A song from that film "Oli Mayamana Ethirkalam" inspired me and I felt very optimistic about the future. Who says films do not have any influence?

After one year as a journalist. I got a job in Reserve Bank of India as Field Investigator. This was a one year job. RBI was conducting All-India Rural Debt and Investment survey and as a Field Investigator, I had to compile data of rural indebtedness in three districts -Musiri, Kulithalai and a third one I do no remember now.- We were given specific questionnaire for eliciting response from agriculturists. While on tour in this job, I used to sleep on the wooden benches of the Panchayat Office. I also liked the early morning break-fast in rural areas. I changed the job, as journalism was a poorly paid profession then. (Not Now). RBI job gave me Rs 250/ per month- an increase of Rs 100 per month with a posting at Tiruchi. Financially, this posting helped my family .

The job came to an end on 31st January 1962. Immediately I took up a job as Upper Division Clerk with Bharat Heavy Electricals, Tiruchi, which had just then been set up. I was the the first clerk assigned to Mr Achuthan Niar, Chief engineer. He used to make me stand before him giving instructions. When he came to know that I had passed the written Examination for IAS selection, he not only offered me a seat, but also started calling me "Neenga". I lasted in this job for five months.

In May 1963, I took up a job as Sales Executive with Addison Company Ltd, Madras. This was a company manufacturing cutting tools and was located in Smiths Lane in Mount Road. This was an Officer!s post on a salary of Rs 275/. I was offered coffee on tray with biscuts . I used to stay with my Chittappa in Ice-house, Triplicane. I used to go to Office by walk. My chitti woulld give me packed lunch. Both Chittappa and Chithi were very very kind to me. It was at this time that I began to consider them as next to my parents. Even to-day, I keep my relationship with Chithi. Whenever I go to Madras, I invariably see my Chithi. When my Chittappa died in 2000, I flew from Mumbhai to see him for the last time. I became blank when I saw his body. I remained in this job till 30th March 1964 when I got a job as Probationary Officer in UCO Bank,Calcutta, on a higher salary. Besides, I preferred Banking as a Profession. I joined the bank on 1st April 1964. While proceeding to Calcutta from Madras, I met Ragupathi in the train. He became my mentor, friend and guru in future years.

Here, I must mention about my experiences in Competitive Examinations. I passed the written examination for IAS twice and was interviewed by UPSC Selection Committee in New Delhi. In the first attempt, I got poor marks in the Interview. I went for the interview in half-sleeve shirt and tie and when I saw all six candidates in UPSC Hall wearing suits, I was taken aback I did well in the first part of the interview. In the second attempt,(this time I went in a suit) I got good marks in the Interview, but poor marks in two advanced subjects. This rejection affected me. However, on the basis of my second attempt, I got a job as Class II Officer in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh Civil Service. I rejected this as many of my friends, who were lower to me in the University, were in IAS/IFS. I cleared IPS, but for want of just one inch in height, I was not considered for selection. My getting a job in UCO Bank on a higher salary had something to do with my rejecting UPSC Offer for Class II post.

I joined UCO Bank on 1st April 1964 at Calcutta as Probationary Officer. It was then a private sector bank (owned by G.D.Birla) and was called United Commercial Bank Ltd. The Bank would recruit 16 candidates every year as Probationary Officers. and after training in Calcutta for three months, would post them to different branches in India. The probation period was three years and there was a condition in the Appointment Letter that the Officer should pass CAIIB Examination within the probationary period. Those who failed to clear CAIIB got their probation extended.

The training at Calcutta lasted three months. It was a very good training. We were all treated like royals by the Bank. At the end of the training, I gave vote of thanks to the Management. All senior exevutives ,including the General Manager, Mr Ramanbhai Shah, were present. In my speech, I mentioned that all the trainees came like Sir Winston Churchill and at the end of the training we were like Ramanujam. I repeated Churchill's famous words "I am more afraid of a pageful of figures than a field full of soldiers". The speech was appreciated by Mr Shah who kindly enquired me about my background. We were all given two choices for posting. I gave Tiruchi and Coimbatore. As Tiruchi was my home-town, I was not given Tiruchi but posted to Coimbatore Branch located in Oppannakara street. We were told that we would be retained in our place for three years at the end of which we would be posted in the North. When I heard this, I asked my parents to shift to Coimbatore from Tiruchi. My mother and Periamma fixed up a house within a week and by the third week of June, my parents had shifted to Coimbatre. My brothers Chandru and Nandu were immediately admitted into a good school in the neighborhood. When I returned from Calcutta, I went directly to Coimbatore, instead of Tiruchi. Thus we began our life there. My father stopped borrowing, starting with our stay in Coimbatore. My take-home pay of Rs 420/ was enough to maintain the family and send money for my brother Ramani, who was studying engineering in Surathkal Regional Engineering College. He was admitted into this College, after his Pre-University, in the year 1961.

Mr Alladi Natesan was the Manager of Coimbatore Branch. He gave me every opportunity to improve my knowledge. In the first year, we were asked to do only clerical work. One Mr Bhaskaran, a Senior Clerk,taught me all the procedures, We became close friends. We went to a movie every Saturday.. We also went to Guruvayur in a group once in three months. In 1965, I appeared for CAIIB examination. Senior Officers at the Branch told me that no one had cleared Part I at the first attempt.They discouraged me. However, I not only passed the Part I and Part II in the first attempt, but got distinction in "Monetary Theory and Practice. I also won the Calcutta Banks Association prize for topping the list of successful candidates. My image at the branch improved substantially after the CAIIB results. At this time, I used to write lot of articles in the House Journal of the Bank.

In 1965, I befriended Mr T.R.Radhakrishnan at a bus stop. We used to go to office together No 11 bus. He was a clerk in State Bank of India. We became very close and would play Chess for long hours on Saturdays. At my insistence and coaching, he appeared for IAS and cleared the examinations. I gave him all my old notes. He retired in a top position in Indian Customs. To this day, we have retained friendship.
My friend Pasupathy, who had become an Income-tax Officer, also got a transfer to Coimbatore because I was there. He occupied a house in Saibaba Colony near our house. He stayed in Coimbatore for 18 months.
During the period we were in Saibaba Colony, my sister Vasantha was blessed with a daughter. As we had bought a USHA fan, the previous day, we named her USHA
In 1966, my brother Ramani passed his engineering exams with first class. He started sharing my burden in a big way once he settled into a good job. I was glad he was as responsible as I was. Later on when he got a good job in Blue Star in 1968 I thought of marriage after two years.We enjoyed our stay in Coimbatore. I stayed there from June 1964 to January 1967 and my parents till June 1967. They moved to Tiruchi in June 1967 and my brother Chandran joined a College for higher education.
In January, I was transferred to Thambu Chetty Branch in Madras for training in Foreign Exchange. I acquired knowledge in Foreign Exchange under the guidance of Mr N.V.Srinivasan, from whom I took charge when I was transferred to Singapore. In September 1967, I was transferred to Nagpur as Accountant of Itwari Branch - a Branch where the previous Manager, Accountant and Chief Cashier had been summarily dismissed.

I was received at Nagpur by my friend Parthasarathy Rao. He had married by then. I stayed with him for a day. I moved to Agrawal Lodge in Sitabaldi area the next day. I took a room on twin-sharing basis with one Mr R.V. Sastry, who was to remain my partner for the next two years. The room rent was Rs 40 per month shared by the two of us. The Lodge had good common bathroom facilities. I used to go to Andhra Club on Sundays along with Sastri to play RUMMY. After a few months, our next room was occupied by Bhaskaran and Srinivasan, both of whom had been transferred from Madras on promotion as Officers.

I reported for duty as Accountant. The Branch was located in a dilapidated building in Itwari, a business area. As I did not know Marathi, I was finding it difficult to manage for a few weeks as all the cheques and pay-in-slips were written in Marathi. There was a fraud perpetrated before I dad joined and I was advised to be cautious. The staff of this branch were very cordial, though the branch was in very bad shape, with books not having been balanced for previous two years. I worked very hard during the first year---almost 12 hours a day--and balanced the books. We also shifted the branch to a spacious and modern premises. There was a Balaji temple near the Branch and I visited this temple every Saturday and prayed.

I can never forget one incident that happened within six months of my posting at Itwari Branch. One Burman Medical Stores had their shop in front of the branch. The owner would issue cheques without providing funds into the account. When his cheques were received through clearing, someone from the branch would inform him and after this Mr Burman would provide funds into the account so that his cheques could be honoured. I wanted to discontinue this practice of a branch official informig him. I returned his cheques one day. As no one from the Branch had informed him, Mr Burman did not provide funds. When he came to know about his cheques being dishonoured, he came shouting into the Branch. He stood before me shouting and abusing me. He was a tall man with a permanent beard and big booming voice. No one in the Branch came to my rescue as they were all afraid of his reputation, size and stinging words. I told Mr Burman that "IZZAT" (word used by him) lay in his providing funds before issuing cheques.and that in future, he would not be informed. He left shouting till he reached the doors of the Branch.. Other customers present were bemused and shocked. Mr Burman wrote a letter to our Regional Office complaining about me. His exact words were "Your new Madrasi Accountant is an upstart in life and he pretends to be bigger than his size". There was an enquiry in which our Regional Office supported me. Mr Burman closed his account and went to Bank of Baroda. After six months, he came to me in a friendly manner and told me that his experience with the other bank was worse and that if I opened the account again, he would provide funds before issuing cheques. I agreed. Mr Burman kept his promise and in the next three years, there was not an occassion in which I returned his cheque. We became friends. I was surprised when he came to the Nagpur Railway Station to bid farewell to me when I was transferrred to Pune from Nagpur .

My Life Story Part 2

2009-05-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

Move to Tiruchi and College Education:

We moved to Tiruchi in April 1955 to pursue my college education..For some time, my father had thought of admitting me into Sarafoji College, Tanjore. It was only at my mother!s insistence, we moved to Tiruchi. The previous year, my maternal grand-father had died of sudden heart-attack. He was a noted Criminal Lawyer and was called "Kodaiyidi Sharma" by his clients and admirers. He had just then returned from Court and while he was eating "Adai", he suffered a massive heart attack and died. My maternal grand-mother was looking for a tenant for the ground floor portion. My father went to Tiruchi and finalized the arrangement with her. The monthly rent was fixed at Rs 25/ by my grandmother. Being strict in money matters, she collected Rs 75/ from my father as three months deposit.. Thus,my parents moved into 24,Chinnakadai Street,with five children - me, Vasantha, Ramani, Chandru and Mythili.. I became close to my parents only in Tiruchi. Earlier, there were too many people in the joint family. While in Tiruchi, my parents were blessed with two more children - a son (Nandu) in 1958 and a girl(radha) in 1961. I also lost one of my sisters, Mythili, in 1957 due to small-pox epidemic in Tiruchi. In that epidemic, almost all the families in the street lost one or two children.

My father tried for admission into a College. Through some friends, we went to National College, Tiruchi. I was admitted into Third Group. The subjects were History,Economics and Logic. I belonged to the last batch of Intermediate students-(1955-57). In those days, there were three groups - First group consisting of Mathematics,Physics and Chemistry. Students aspiring to become engineers joined this group, Only students with very good marks in Mathematics were admitted into this Group. The Second Group, consisted of physical sciences. Students pursuing this group were eligible for admission into M..B.B.S. The third Group was reserved for just pass- candidates and these students were expected to become clerks either in AGS Office or Railways.
After admission and paying fees of Rs 41/, I was asked not to attend the College on the first day by my father. My maternal Periappa had some influence in St Joseph!s College and he arranged for an interview for me with Fr.. Erhart,a German and Principal of the College.I attend the interview. Fr Erhart asked me what I wanted and I told him that I wanted admission in the First Group. He immediately asked me whether I was aware of my total marks and more particularly in Mathematics. I told him confidently that past bad performance did not necessarily indicate future bad performance. He just laughed. I also showed him the article I had written for the School Magazine. After reading the article, he clearly told me that he would offer only Third Group and if I was interested, I should pay the fees within twenty-four hours.. I returned home to consult my father. He was more worried about refund of fees already paid to National College.It was in the corridors of St Joseph College, I first met Pasupathy. He did not reveal his marks to me, He however got admission into First Group. Later on I realised he had got the same marks as me, but as he was already a student of St Joseph High School, he got the preference. We became friends from that day. and close friends after two years. We used to go to together for College.
l took my studies seriously in the College. As I had seen how much my parents had struggled to set up family at Tiruchi, I became more responsible. When half-yearly results were announced, I had obtained 3rd rank out of 70 students. Throughout Intermediate, my College rank was either second or third. The first rank was always reserved for a Jesuit Priest, who was also a student along with us. My father used to keep the rank cards with him till I completed my College education.I was happy when I passed the Intermediate with the highest marks in the College, leaving the Jesuit Priest way behind. At College, I befriended Mr Rufus Charles. We became very close by the time the results were announced. We used to argue about Christianity and Hindu religions without either of us knowing much about both the religions. Mr Charles introduced me to Hindi Films. He used to take me to matinee shows at Gaiety Theater, which was showing only Hindi films. He funded the
cost and explained to me the meaning of words, as his second language was Hindi. I saw films like C.I.D,Pyassa,Mother India and Do Anken Bara Hath. I liked all the films and felt that Hindi films were better than Tamil films, which were loud. I felt very bad when Gaiety Theater was partially destroyed at the height of anti-Hindi agitation by students. I was convinced that one-language for the country was very necessary, particularly when job opportunities in Madras were limited.

We had bought a Radio after Intermediate. examination. I used to listen to Radio Commentaries on Cricket Matches.At this time,, I went to Madras to see a Test Cricket Match between India and West Indies at Corporation Stadium. My Chittappa was staying in Big Street, Triplicane and Mr Ramanathan, land-lord for my Chittappa, took me to the ground. In those days the Captain of West Indies Cricket Team was a white man. This west Indian Team was led by Geoff Alexander. In this math, Coolie Smith batted and bowled superbly. As an all-rounder,he was being compared to Gary Sobers. I kept on thinking about Coolie Smith on my return to Tiruchi. Within two weeks, Coolie Smith was killed in a motorcar accident in London in which the driver of the car was Sobers. There was a speculation among our college students that Sobers had killed Smith. Though I did not subscribe to this, I cried on hearing the news of Smith!s death.

In June 1957,I applied for obtain admission into B.A.Hons course (Economics) in St Joesph!s college. I also applied for B.Com Hons course in Loyola College, Madras.. I got admission in both the colleges. As I kenw the family condition and as I did not want to put pressure on my father, I chose to study in the same college for B.A.Hons (Economics). Only students with very high marks in Intermediate were admitted into Hons course. This was a three year course and the final examination by the University was the same as that for M.A.. We were allowed to get M.A. Degree by paying a fee of Rs 50 to the University after completing Hons Course. I did very well again in this course, securing either second or third rank.My friend Pasupathy would get 6th or 7th rank and Rufus Charles 20th rank.I also participated in the college debates in the Literary and Debating Society of the College which was headed by Pasupathy.When Russia sent a dog to the moon, both of us argued for and against this experiment. Our debates were very much appreciated by the College Principal. I used the college library extensively reading most of the works of 19th century English Prose.I passed the final examination with a very high second class, again securing the first position in the College and third position in the University.

While in Tiruchi, I had seen the suffering and troubles undergone by my parents to maintain and support the family. My father would get Rs 2000/ every year from agricultural lands. He would also borrow additional Rs 2,000/ every year to support the family. I used to accompany him whenever he went to sell the family silver and jewelery to repay these debts. We also visited the Sub-Registrar!s Office in Ayyampet every year to sell some agricultural land. Life was very difficult

My father was a gentle person with a great sense of humor.I do not remember any occasion on which he beat any one of his kids. He was absolutely free from jealousy and envy. Although he had nothing, he would never envy others who were better placed than him. He lived his life almost like a saint with only three dhoties and a couple of shirts. My mother was a tough person. She would never loose faith in God. Her never-say-die spirit pulled us through in times of adversity. Like all mothers, she wanted the best for her children. She was very hospitable. Sometimes, village friends of my father would come to meet him around 9 in the evening. My mother would immediately cook food for them. Sometimes, I resented her shouting at my father. Later on I realized she was only showing her frustration. Our grievance was my father never made an attempt to earn something for the children.. These experiences made me determined that I should do something for my parents. I also dreamt that I should build a house where my parents could live for a long time without any financial worries.

I remember one incident where I tried my hand at smoking.. I went to a movied called "Gulebhakavali" along with my friend Ammami Appalam Raju for the Matinee Show in Prabhat Talkies. He told me that I should start smoking as that is a sign of manliness. During the interval, I went to the balcony and lighted a cigarette. Coughing and puffing when I looked down I saw my father. He also saw me with a cigarette in my hand.I was scared and could not concentrate on the film after the interval. I quietly went home ,took early food and began to sleep. By the time my parents came home after the second show, they did not wake me up. The next day my father called me and told me that I should not smoke again as smoking was bad for health. Fortunately, he had not informed about what he saw to my mother.This created some responsibility in me - his trying to correct me without publicity. Had he told my mother, all my brothers and sisters would have come to know aboutwhat I did. I never touched cigarette again.

During this period, I also acted as an emissary for a lover boy. My friend Pasupathy fell in love with a girl called Pushpathurai Nirmala. She was fair, beautiful and had long hair.One day Pasupathy asked me to speak to my cousin sister Nirmala about his love for the other Nirmala. He requested me to express his love through my sister. Both the Nirmalas were good friends. After a lot of persuasion, my cousin agreed to speak to Puspathurai Nirmala. When the girl heard this, she was shocked. She reacted with the words "Who will marry this Karuppu Gundan. I want a Mapillai like Kesha Gopaldas". Gopaldas was a jeweller in the same street and all his children were tall, fair and good looking.When my cousin told me about what had happened, I did not have the courage to tell Pasupathy the exact words used by the girl. I simply told him that the girl was not interested. For my friend Pasupathy, all fair girls were beautiful. In his family, all were very dark. Eventually, he ended up marrying a fair girl and lived a happy life. When he died in January this year, I was shocked beyond words.

My maternal grand-mother died during this period. She was suffering from chest congestion. When I was listening to a radio commentary where Hanif Mohamed was nearing triple century, I was asked to go and fetch Dr Raghava Rao. When I came back with the doctor and when he was examining her, she died on the hands of the doctor. This was my first direct experience with death. My grand-mother used to stay in the ground floor with us most of the time, though she was supposed to stay in the first floor. She was alone and did not feel like cooking every-day. Most of the days, her lunch and dinner were with us.Ironically, just a day before her death an astrologer had predicted that she would live for another twelve years.I was convinced after this that no one can predit death. and an astrologer cannot predict his own death.
After the death, I went to Teppakulam Post Office and made phone calls to relatives. When I telephoned my eldest uncle in Tirunelveli, he asked me "what to do now". I replied that "the best thing for you to do is to catch any immediate transport and come here".He did not like my response and for a long time used to chide me quoting my words.While she was alive, my grand-mother also used me as a money-collector. My grand-father had lent some money to some small businessmen and my grand-mother used to ask me to go their houses and collect the dues. I had tough time collecting the dues. Perhaps, this experience helped me when I became a Banker and went to villages to collect over-due loans.My grand-mother's death affected my mother in a big way. She had to be treated medically for a year after the death. When she became normal. we all heaved a sign of relief.

Here, I must mention about the financial support given to us by our Chittappa (maternal). His name was R.V.Narayan. He paid my college fees for Inter-mediate as well as for Hons course.He encouraged me in a big way. In his memory, I have named my son as Narayan.
I used to see almost 20 films every quarter. Films and books were my pastime.. I remember two books which I had read duing this period that had a deep impact on me. They are "East of Eden" and "Wuthering Heights" by Miss Emily Bronte.

My Life Story Part 1

2009-05-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

Prologue:
During the last few months, I had lost four dear friends. Three of them died of heart problem and the other of liver ailment. All of them were close to me and were two/three years elder or younger to me. I knew Pasupathy from 1955, Ragupathi from 1964, Kuppuswamy from 1966 and Marimuthu from 1975. Their deaths did not shatter me,but caused immense grief.. I kept on thinking about them and what I have learnt from them.. I have always rated Raghupathi as the best among the various human beings I have interacted with. Whenever, I was down, I used to talk to him, be it from Singapore or elsewhere..I consider his death as the biggest loss to me. I went to Mumbhai in April to attend the Board Meeting of Mafatlal Industries ltd..There, during the course of conversation, my friend Ghia used the following words " Bala, every day after 65 years of age is a bonus given to you by God. Relax and enjoy. Lead a life free from worries". I was already following this line of thinking. My son-in-law Bala told me while in London, that I should write my life story. That set me thinking that I should share my experiences with my children. Vidya was always urging me to write something in my blog..
At the end of my story, I have included a paragraph about my expectations from my children after me. I hope at least six of them will read this story. Here is my Life Story.
Early Years:
I do not remember much about my early years.All I know is that I spent larger part of my time with my maternal grandfather in Tiruchirapalli, a place where I was born.I was a sick child sufferring from dysentry twice every week.As I came from the womb of my mother in the seventh month ( so I was told), I was quite weak. I did not go to school till I had completed seven. I was educated at home by my mother. I vividly remember her hitting me with a hurricane-light lamp when my responses were very poor when she was teaching me. Even at that age, I realized that whatever she was doing was for my good.. The only difference was that I made no efforts to improve my standards.
The first school I went to was Aryan Secondary School in Pathaikadai sandhu in Tiruchirapalli. My uncle Balachandran, who was ten years older to me, took me to the school. When he said that he wanted to admit me into fourth standard, the Head Master asked for the age. My uncle gave the age as 19th March 1939, which was the required age for admission into fourth standard.. In those days, age certificates were not insisted upon by schools. Whatever was declared by the parents was the age on record. Besides, as I was born at home and as there was no practice of registering the birth with the Municipality, I had no age certificate. This was the case with most of the children at that time. Eventually when I was admitted, my age at school was 21 months more than my real age. My actual date of birth was 29th November 1940. I was staying with my maternal grand-parents at Tiruchy when I was studying in this school. As a boy of ten, I had once traveled alone
from Tiruchy to Ayyampet by train, though at the station in Ayyampet, my father received me.

My parents moved to Ayyampet when I was about to start VI th standard. I also moved from Tiruchy to this place.We were all admitted into Board Hiigh School, which was a State Government run School. There were atleast twelve children staying with us---children of my Periappa, maternal grand-uncles, children of father!s cousins. All of them were two or three years older or younger to me. My mother was the only lady at the household cooking for all of us. All the day, she was busy feeding us. It was a happy joint-family.At this time of my life, I had never seen my mother with more than three saris. I studied in Board High School, Ayyampet from standard 6th to standard 9th. It was a Tamil medium school. Here in the school, I acquired friendship with three good people which has lasted a long time. -Raju (Raju Real Estates), Markandeyan (a retired school teacher staying in Tanjore) and Sunderraman, who subsequently became co-brother to my
brother-in-law. All of us (me included) were average students, excepting Sunderraman.
My cousin Visu was very close to me. Though he was older to me by one year, he was studying in the same class.
My remembrances about this school were:
1) A strike was organized by Raju against the transfer of a Head Master during mid-term.
2) I acted as Cheran Senkuttuvan in a school play.
3)Actor Muthuraman, who was a young stage actor then, came to our school and performed. I disliked him instantly as he was chewing "pan" continuously.

The academics at this school was deplorably bad. Only five out of 80 students used to pass the S.S.L.C. examination. In those days, we had eleven years of school and four years of College for a Degree, as against 12 plu three now. The School Leaving Examination at the conclusion of eleventh standard was called S.S.L.C. (Secondary School Leaving Certificate). In view of the poor standards at the school, my parents decided to shift us from Ayyampet to Thiruvaiyaru.
I was admitted into Srinivasa Rao High School in Thiruvaiyaru for my tenth standard. This was considered a good school.
At examinations, I used to score very good marks in English and very poor marks in Mathematics (like 81 and 18)...My mother was very disappointed with me.On 2nd January 1955, she took me to Mahalingam Vathiar for tuition in Mathematics. Seeing my pathetic record, he refusted to take me as a pupil.While we were returning dejected, he called my mother and told her that as only three months were left before final examination, he woud teach me only algebra. He also said that as 65 percents marks in Mathematics paper were reserved for algebra, I could at best expect to score pass marks in this subject. The minimum required for a pass was 35 marks. As my marks in English were high, he recognized that my problem with regard to Mathematics,was one of concentration and attention.The fees agreed for the tuition was Rs 15 per month. I attended the class every morning without fail. The teacher had just then got married and many times, I used to wake him up
before 6
a.m.
I began to like the subject and the teacher.Around March that year, he was quite happy with me and blessed me.Before the final examination for Mathematics, I went to Mahalinga Vathiar and prostrated before him. When the results were out, I had secured 65 percent in Maths, the maximum marks reserved for Algebra.. I secured the first marks in English in the school. I had total aggregate marks of 330 out of 600.
I remember our stay in Thiruvaiyaru for the following reasons:

1)The School introduced me to Cricket. We used to play Street Cricket with Tennis Balls. There were matches every Sunday between the streets . We used to stay in Mettu theru first and then Vadakku Veedhi. There were quite a few matches between the two streets. As I was the proud owner of a cricket bat brought from Tiruchi, I was always included in the playing eleven. It did not me take me long to realise that it was the ownership of the bat that assured me a place and not my cricketing abilities. I never represented the School, but I was always taken along with the team to various places.. I remember one match between our School and Kalyanasundaram High School, Tanjore, held at Tanjore. Almost all of the players were at least one foot taller than me. (like Hari and Sabareesh now).

2)During eleventh, one Srinivasan joined our class. He stayed in the same street. He introduced me to books,starting with Kalki's "Ponniyin Selvan". I finished reading all the volumes within a week.Srinivasan!s mother had arranged for binding of this book, taking pages from the weekly issues.This novel had tremendous impact on me. I kept on thinking about the various characters for a long time. With interest in reading historical novel, I began reading Sir Walter Scott at the age of fourteen. I borrowed his works from the School Library.Within a week of my finishing "Ponniyin Selvan", the author "Kalki" died in Chennai. I shed tears on hearing the news. This was the first time I shed tears for anyone.

3)While studying in eleventh standard, I saw a film, where the leading lady was Kusala Kumari. She was a beautiful girl. My first interest in the opposite sex was aroused by Kusalakumari. I also began to realize the influence and need for women at this age. However my knowledge of sex was very poor, I had seen a film, "Manithan" where T.K.shanmugam was the hero. In this film, they showed a man and woman touching each other and running around trees. The next scene showed the heroine crying and pleading to the hero that she was pregnant. I was afraid that when even touching a girl can lead to pregnancy, I should avoid touching girls. For a long time, I avoided seeing girls -eye-to-eye- and was very shy when introduced to girls.This was the level of my knowledge in sex at the age of fourteen, We had co-education in our school and the girls would sit in a different corner.. I used to like one Padma, a tall girl. I used to glance at her whenver she was not
looking at me. I also observed that she was surreptitiously looking at me whenever I was pretending that I was not looking in that direction. We never exchanged words and I never saw her again after we left Thiruvaiyaru. My fascination for tall girls started with Padma.

4)During the year 1954, Meenakshi Ammal, my paternal grand-mother, had come to stay with us for two months. Normally, she was residing in Delhi. She was extremely kind to me. She would call me by her side and say that I should study well and take care of my parents, particularly when my father did not study well. She would bless me with the word " You will do it". This was the first time an elderly person ,other than my parents, had shown some love to me. In fond memory of her, I decided to name my first girl child as Meenakshi at a later date.. When I explained the reason, my wife did not object to it.

5)I gave an article in English with the title "Superstition" to be published in anuual school magazine. I gave my own personal example in that article. Once when I was about to go to school to write an examination, my mother stopped me from starting as a cat had crossed me on the way. I respected my mother and left home after the cat had left..My performance in the exam was very bad and did not support this superstitious belief. I mentioned sarcastically that if I had shown my disbelief in superstition, I would have done better. I concluded the article by exhorting the students not to believe in superstitions and instead have more self-belief, supported by hard work. Our Head-Master, Mr Soundrraja Iyengar called me and asked me whether I had written the article or my parents. I told him I had not shown the article to my parents. He was impressed and said he would publish the article without deleting anything.He asked for some clarification as my
hand-writing was not clear to him. He also exhorted that I should improve my hand-writing. I had kept a copy of the magazine for a long time, but in the melee of transfers in official career, it got lost somewhere. After the School Magazine was released, my mother had shown the same to all people in our locality. Later,the same article was published in the House Journal of UCO BANK with some modifications. In the year 1997, after the death of my mother, I gave Rs 10,000/- to the School and asked them to institute "Jayalakshmi Ammal Memorial Prize" and give the interest moeny to the student securing highest marks in English in Class 12 examination.

6)One day ,me and my cousisns decided to visit Ayyampet to see old friends like Raju- a distance of six miles. We did not want to inform our parents as they would not agree. We left for school as usual and after leaving the bags with a friend at his house, took two bicycles on hire and wnet to Ayyampet.On the way, unfortunately we noticed our Sastrigal also traveling on cycle towards Thiruvaiyaru from Ayyampet. My cousin Visu assured me that though we had seen him, the Sastrigal had not seen us. We returned home in the evening after seeing close friends in Ayyampet. We were stopped in front of the gate, which was quite unusual. My parents asked me whether there was any home- work to be done. When I said "yes", they asked us to do the home-work from outside and closed the door. We had to wait for three hours outside and it was only after some tongue-lashing and whip lashing ("azha,azha soolluvar thamar, sirikka, sirikka solluvar pirar"-my mother!s famous
words), we were allowed entry into the house. This was my first and last adventure without the knowledge of my parents. This happened when I was fourteen.
While in Thiruvaiyaru, I used to visit the magnificent temple almost every day. We moved to Tiruchi in 1955.

Climate Change

2009-05-26T01:42:00.000-07:00

I was reading an interview by Steven Chu. He has been appointed as Energy Secretary by Obama. He is a nobel laurate who won his prize for work in Physics in 1997. After his work in physics, Mr Stephen turned his attention to molecular biology. While at Stanford, he formed BIO-X-a team of physicists,bio-technologists, engineers and medical doctors to study climate change. Before his appointment, Mr Chu, an American Chinese, was teaching physics and bio-technology in the University of California.

In his interview, he has emphasied the need for energy efficiency. This, according to him,is as important as reducing carbon emissions. He also advocates cut in energy consumption in a big way.-- a very very big way.
I am inclined to believe that Mr Chu!s appointment is the most significant appointment by Obama Administration. If the world listens to Chu, the Climate Change Issue can be handled in a proper way. We can then say " choo,choo" to problems arising out of climate change.

Ends and Means

2009-05-26T01:38:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I was walking on Kings Road,South Harrow,London, on my way to buy milk from TESCO. On the way, I was stopped by three girls who asked me whether I am a Srilankan. I replied that I am not a Srilankan, but a Tamilian. With this, they handed over a leaflet to me which described the plight of Tamilians in Sri Lanka. They also asked me to pray for Prabhakaran. I simply smiled and left them.
Do I shed tears for Prabhakaran? The answer is "NO". There is a belief that "the end justifies the means". Is it correct?, I think that means are as important as the "end".Gandhiji is remembered as "Mahatma" and "Father of the Nation" in India because he chose means which did not hurt people. His no-violent satyagraha inspired people like Nelson Mandela in other countries. In his auto-biography, Mr Mandela clearly describes as to how inspired he was after reading and hearing about Gandhiji. That Gandhiji had stayed in South Africa is a different matter. There are other similarities between Mandela and Gandhi-both were lawyers and both went to jails-Mandela for a longer period.

Prabhakaran chose violent means to achieve his "end". Though he was believed to be charismatic, he had a bloated ego. His ego ran faster than his thoughts. During the course of his fight against Srilankan Government, Prabhakaran had killed many people- Tamilian civilians included. He killed other Tamil leaders like Padmanabha and a national leader like Rajiv Gandhiji. He had totally lost sympathy of the Indian Public after the killing of Rajiv Gandhiji. He wanted to be the undisputed leader of the Tamil Cause. After acquiring one third of land, he ran his own Government-Tamil Eelam. This Government did not provide any improvement in the standard of life of Tamil People.I have heard and read stories about how Tamils in LTTE controlled territory always lived in perpetual fear. The civil war in Sri Lanka killed as many Sinhalese as Tamilians. With his death, peace has returned to Sri Lanka. The job on hand,namely the rehabilitation of the Tamils is indeed
very challenging.The whole world will be watching as how the Srilankan Government deals with Tamils now.Using innocent civilians as "human-shield" for his own survival was another high blunder committed by Prabhakaran.

I also believe that the Government of India did not exert sufficient diplomatic pressure on Sri Lanka. Karunanidhi failed to use his strength with the Centre to push them. He was more keen accumulating wealth for his family. How a man of 84 could be attached to wealth so much remains a mystery to me.I also sometimes feel that if instead of Srilankan Tamils, it had been Srilankan Punjabi or Srilankan Gujarathis, the Government of India would have handled the issue in a different way. This is my view. Prabhakaran missed the bus for a negotiated settlement when it was offered to him by negotiators from NORWAY. His dream was a separate Tamil Eelam where he would be the undisputed autocratic leader.
I repeat that the "END" will never justify the "MEANS",

Rituals, Karma and Beyond

2009-05-18T00:27:00.000-07:00

RITUALS:
On Sunday last, my son-law Bala took me to the Balaji temple in Birmingham. It is about 120 miles from London. The temple is beautiful and well-kept. It reminded me, in many ways of the Livermore temple in California.
In a corner , next to Navagraham, Bala performed the ceremony of his father in a "Hiranyam".way.This way of Shrartham is performed without raising HOMAM.Mantras told by the priest are repeated through which we show our remembrance to our farefathers and thank them for their blessings. We also offer some money,rice and Kela to the priest for being a conduit to speak to our ancestors.
With age not on my side,I kept on thinking that I should share my views and beliefs with my children.Till last year, I have performed the ceremonies in a proper way with HOMAM. Good priests are not available in Bangalore. Most of the priests are those who are pursuing this profession after retirement. Such people are half-baked and do not know the mantras fully. They also miss some stemps. Last time I had to put up with one priest who missed reading some pages. They do not know the mantras nor their meaning by heart. I have decided to perform the ceremonies in a "Hiranyam" way in future,I have performed my father!s ceremony since 1993 and my mother!s ceremony since 1998 with HOMAM and in a proper way..
Why ceremonies are necessary.? It is believed that our ancestors, wherever they are, will bless us and the children if we perform the ceremonies. We offer food for them through the priests and feel as if our ancestors have been fed. We also want to re-assure our-selves by asking the priests whether they have eaten satisfacotrily.When a person goes to an astrolger with some serious problem, the first question he will ask is "Are you performing the ceremonies and are you going to to "Kuladeivam" temples?. This is just the back-ground I am giving you.
As a Hindu, I believe in KARMA and re-birth.Karma is the only reason to explain why some peole are born being disabled and why some very good human beings suffer continuously.We can give scientific reason for why a person gets cancer, but not for why a person is born crippled.
What is Karma? Without being influenced by whatever I have read, I want to give you all my definition Karma. It is doing your duty-towards parents,wife and children,employer and society. I firmly believe that we should donate for charitable purposes or feed poor people .In a competitive world,we are very busy doing our duty to parents,wife and children that we are left with very little time to do charitable work. After the age of 60, we are physically not in a position to do so. If I have taken care of my family and if I have not done anything to harm people or do something to disturb peace, I have done my duty. This would mean that I have done my karma.
I have read a lot, but two questions still remain unanswered:
1)If I have done my Karma,are rituals necessary?.It is well-known and accepted even in Hindu scriptures . we sever all connections/relationship once we depart from this world. When I remain in suspended animation, before being assessed by HIM, am I in a position to bless my children when they perform ceremonies. To a question whether the PINDAM will go to heaven, Sankaracharya gave the example of how a telegram sent from Kanjeevaram reaches Delhi without the person reaching Delhi.
2)My second question is whether. the ceremonies performed will relieve me of the bad effects of Karma.When I firmly believe in Karma,rituals appear to be contradictory With rituals, can I alter the KARMA. According to me, the answer is NO.
What would I expect my son to do (both on the spiritual and material side) after me?.
With dwindling Sastrigal population and their inability to do their job with devotion and knowledge, It is enough if he performs the rituals till the end of the FIRST YEAR. From the next year onwards, I would be happy, from wherever I am, if he donates for charity on the THITHI Day--old age home,home for the disabled.etc. He can also feed the poor.
My son is an individual with his own mind. He can decide what he wants to do. I have given my views. Though I love my wife a lot, I do not want to force my views on her. I would expect her to convey to her son as to what she wants him to do..
On the materail side, I want my son and daughter-in-law to manage all my investments after me. I have kept them in a folder in Bangalore. I have also kept my will in a cover in a brief case in Mumbhai. My children should be guided accordingly. I am very keen that my wealth should reach them. They should not show lack of interest because they are well placed in life. I also want my son to insert an advertisement in the HINDU and Times of India with my photograph once I depart this material world so that my friends will know.

Stratford-upon-Avon:
On the way, Bala took me to Shakespeare's birth-place and the place where he died. I was surprised to know that there are no direct descendants for Shakespeare. Married at the age of 18, he was blessed with twins (a boy and a girl) and a son. He lost his two sons. His daughter Judith married one John Nash, a wealthy businessman and in twenty years of married life, they were not blessed with children. After the death of Nash, she married again. In this marriage also, there were no children. After the death of Judith,the property passed on to quite a few people. In the seventeenth century, when there a sale being negotiated, there was a public outcry to conver his birth place into a National Memorial. Many people including Charles Dickens,Thomas Hardy and Sir Walter Scott raised money for the purpose of converting the house into a National Memorial . Now, "Shakespeare!s Birth Place Trust" is managing five proerties being associated with Shakespeare. That Shakespeare !s direct descendednts are not there is again a proof of Karma. I read Shakespeare!s Will. Along with the original will written by hand, they have also kept a typed version. Shakespeare died in Nash House and did not leave any money for his second son-in-law because he was infidel.
On the way in the car, I visualized life in the times of Shakespeare. With no electricity,motorcar, how he was traveling from Stratford -upon- Avon to London.He lived in London for twenty years before returning to the village.
As a student,, JULIUS CAESAR. was included in English Literature .(Intermediate Exam). Out of interest, I have read MACBETH and TWELFTH NIGHT.

Bank Crisis in USA

2009-05-10T05:23:00.000-07:00

Your question on "crisis faced by Banks in USA" has
set me thinking. I am giving below my views.
First let us look at the source of funding for Banks. For deposit taking banks, the source of funding is deposit and inter-bank borrowing. For Investment Banks which do not take deposits, the source of funding is their equity,reserves and money of their clients. High networth individuals,known as HNI,keep big money with Investment Banks. Over a period of time, their clients were getting good returns. There are some families in USA who have kept accounts with Lehman Brother for nearly a century.Now they are wiped out. In India, if a Bank accepts Rs 100/ as deposit they can lend only 63 percent. Nearly ten percent is kept in Cash Reserves ,Known as CRR-Cash Reserve Ratio. This is fixed by RBI. This money lies in Bank!s vaults and with Reserve Bank/State Bank. Another 27 percent has to be invested in Central and State Government Bonds. These are known as Statutory Liquidity Ratios.In practice, the credit-deposit ratio of Indian Banks does not exceed 70 percent.The monitoring mechanism instituted by RBI (such weekly returns as of Friday) ensures this. In view of this, Banks in India have not failed after 1940!s.The regulatory mechanism in India is in place and is functioning.Consequent to this credit-deposit ratio, profitability of Indian Banks is not great.(unlike in USA).
Investment Banks in USA and Europe invest in Forex Market,deriatives and real Estate Bonds. While they have expertise to deal in Forex Market, their experiance in Deriatives is not that great. When there was a boom in real estate in USA, they expected their prices to rise over the next five years. They had large surplus funds to be deployed. They invested in real estate deriatives. As they cannot lend directly to a buyer, they lent through deriatives. Banks in turn gave loans without margins by inflating the prices of the properties. They also lent without much credit checking and to people who were not in a position to pay, should the markets drop. The market for real estate came down and individual borrowers defaulted in a big way. The Banks were sweeping the same under carpet for some time. When problems became unmanaegable, the cat was out of the bag. When Banks default and do not keep their commitments on due dates and defualt on deriatives, Investment Banking Institutions in turn could not keept their commitments. This set in cycle of defaults which became alarming as days and months passed. The main causes of this problem, according to me, are as under:

1) Failure of regulatory mechanism-such Federal Reserve. When the going was good, nobody felt the need to monitor and regulate.
2)Excesive greed of banks. There is a concept known as "Funding and Lending". Banks, apart from using their depsoit base, also borrowed in the inter-bank market in a big way to fund these real estate loans. The credit-deposit ratio of some of the smaller Banks in USA such Wachova Banks was more than 200 percent. This cycle will receive a big set-back if there are defaults and this will in turn set in motion a chain re-action.
3)Lack of leadership at the top level in both Banks and Investment Banks. Top Management was more concerned with their annual income than thinking about "what will happen if there is over-exposure" to one sector of the economy.
I think there will be more bank failures in USA. Some of the smaller banks will not even be able to re-pay their deposits. If you have kept money in a smaller bank, then withdraw it.Smallers Banks with potential will be taken over by big Banks or by the Government. In other words, there will be indirect nationalisation of smaller banks Providing 700 billion dollars will not solve the problems. The problem is more deep-rooted. The man
chosen to lead an independent institution to ensure distribution of 700 billion is an inexperienced Indian who is just 35 years of age. People like Paulson cannot think beyond their close circle of people. The saying "out of sight ,out of mind" applies to them in a big way. We are in troubled times. Worst is to come as yet. Hold on to your money and spend only on where you must.

The whole crisis has claimed a victim in UCO Bank Family. My good friend A.V.Rajaram!s son, Karthik, killed himself and other members of the family, in Los Angeles.Fortunately his father-in-law Mr Ramaseshan, who also worked in UCO Bank, was away in Chennai. If he had been with his daughter, he would also have met the same fate as his wife.Mr Rajaram is in Bangalore and is in a state of shock.I felt very sad that this had to happen to a an exemplary gentleman like Rajaram. Incidentally, I bought my first TV (EC TV) from Mr Rajaram in 1976.
These are my own views.

Jul 24th 2004

2009-05-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

There is a raging controversy in India about Mrs Priyamvada Birla!s will. She was the wife of late M.P. Birla. Mr Birla had left a will leaving everyting to his wife and after her death, everthing to charities. The couple were childless. The lady in question had prepared her own will leaving everything to her Auditor, Mr Rajan Lodha. The Birla clan members are contesting this as they do want Rs 5000 crores of Birla wealth to go an outsider.Late MP.Birla and Mrs
Priyamvada, controlled Pilani Investments. This company controls lot of educational institutions and hospitals-notable among them being Pilani Institute of Technology,Belle vue Clinic,Bombay Hospital etc.There is a news item almost everyday on this issue. I remember one Hollywood actress leaving 14 million US dollars to her cat. The basic premise of such wills is the lack of faith in fellow human beings. The poor actress did not realise that after all all the wealth will have to be managed by a human being for the cat and that the cat cannot act on its own. I remember
Robert Frost once saying " Half of our mistakes in life arise from thinking when we ought to feel and feeling when we ought to think".

Varanasi

2009-05-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

We returned to-day to Bangalore after visiting Allahabad,Varanasi,Budh Gaya and Gaya. It has been a very rewarding and enriching experience. We were lucky to have excellent purohits at all places. The highlight of the trip was performing three ceremonies in Gaya-two hiranyam and one with Homam-- which lasted more than eight hours. I give below extracts from my tour diary:-

29th September-Monday-First Day:
We reached Alahabad around 4 a.m.. We were received at the station by a representative of Subramanian Vathiar who had brought a taxi from Varanasi. We went to Shiv Mutt. After bath, we visited Veni Madhava temple and Panchamugha Anjaneya temple. After Sankalpam at the
Mutt by a priest, went to the river-bed.The priest explained the signifcance of the bath at
"Sangam"-confluence of Ganga,Yamuna and Saraswathi. He also performed some rituals.At the river-bed, we hired a boat. On the boat certain rituals were performed by
the boat priest.While the wife washes the feet of the husband with Ganga Water, the husband combs the hair of the wife.My feeling is that all the Hindu rituals are designed to assert male superiority, though concern and love for the wife and recognition of her status is accepted in Hindu rituals. We reached the "Sangam" by the boat. They have created a space between two boats at the confluence for the pilgrims to take bath. It was very difficult to get into the water from the boat. It was equally difficult to get out of the water and climb into the boat. We got down, took bath in the Sangam",holding hands to-gether. We then immersed the sea sand we had brought from Dhanuskodi into the confluence chanting "Om Namasivaya" all the time. Here at the Sangam, women do Veni Dhanam. They offer a part of their hair to the river praying for the long life of their husbands. The husband plaits the wife!s hair,decorates it with flowers and cuts off the tip of the plait and offers it to the river. This is called Veni Dhanam. It is an interesting fact that while hair normally floats on water, at the Sangam, it immediately sinks to the river-bed. Though almost all married women offer their hair here, there is not a single strand found floating on the river. Just as in a woman!s hair only two plaits are visible and the third one lies beneath, Ganga and Yamuna are visible from outside while Saraswathi water comes from the earth below. The three plaits in a women!s hair represents Ganga,Yamuna and
Saraswathi.We collected water from the confluence to be packed into tins to be distributed to close friends and relatives. At the end of the trip, there is a Ganga Pooja performed and only after the puja, the tins are distributed.
We returned to the river-bed, visited some temples including the the temple built by Adi Sankara on the banks of the Ganges. After returning to the Mutt, we performed Hiranya Shrardham,Pinda Pradanam,Khetra Pindam and Tarpanam for three generations of ancestors
from mother!s and father!s side.Before the bath,we performed Anugnai (Sankalpam), Vigneswara Puja and Prayachitta sankalpam (atonement for sins commited knowingly or unknowingly).The lunch was provided at the Mutt. After lunch, we went around Allahabad and
visited "Anandha Bhavan", the birth place of Jawaharlal Nehru, which has now become a National Museum.We could see it only from outside as Monday was holiday for the Museum. Adjacent to Aanand Bhavan is a small bungalow where Mr Harshvanshrai Bachan used to
stay when he was working as Professor of Hindi Literature at Allahabad University.Both Amitab Bachan and Rajiv Gandhi used to play around Anand Bhavan when they were below ten years of age.After all this we returned to Varanasi by car. The distance is 135 KMS and time taken for the travel is three hours. At Varanasi, we stayed in a fine bath-attached room provided by the Sastrigal. He has constructed a lodge with 14 rooms where he charges Rs 300/- only per day.
After some rest, we visited Kashi Viswanath temple,Anna purni temple and Kanchi Visalakshi
temples. At Kasi Viswanatha temple, devotees were allowed to even embrace the presiding deity. The decorum and discipline followed in South Indian Temples are not followed in these temples. Lastly, we went to "Kala Bhairavar" temple. This God is supposed
to be the watch-dog God of Varanasi. We bought "Kasi Kayaru" from this temple. This "kayaru" is supposed to ward off evil influences and instill self-confidence in those who wear the same.
We returned to the room around 9 p.m.. We were given Tiffin by one Lalitha Mami. While in Kasi, we were advised not to take hotel food. Home-cooked lunch and evening tiffin were arranged by the Sastrigal at a very nominal cost. When I retired to bed, I felt we had packed lot of activity for one sigle day. I was not feeling very tired either.

30th September-Tuesday-Second Day:
We went to the Sastrigal!s house at 8 a.m. after taking bath in the room. We performed
Sankalpam,Vigneshwara Pooja and Poorvanga Dhanam and Punyaka Vachanam. About 25 priests chanted mantras for six minutes. After this, we were advised to go the Ganges and take bath. The Ghat is just about five minutes from the residence of Vathiar. We took bath in the Ganges. Anu poured three sombus of Ganges on me and likewise, I was also advised to pour three sombus on her.
We returned the to the residence of Vathiar and performed Manikarnika Theertha Shradham (Anna Roopam and Hiranya Roopam). We took lunch with the two brahmins. I must say that the Vathiar did a very good job. I have never seen such a devotion even in the South.
After lunch, we visited the five remaining temples of Varanasi.Shiv temple buit by Birlas, known as as Birla Mandhir,Adi Sakthi Durga temple,(we were there on the opening day of Navrathri) Chowdhi Amman Temple (where prasadm given to the Goddess is CHOZHI), Sankata Mocha
Hanuman Temple and Satyanarayan Thulsi Das temple.
Though we have known Valmiki Ramayan and Kamba Ramayanam, Thulsi Ramayan is very famous in this part of India. The complete script of Thulsi Ramayan is written on the walls of this temple. Chowdhi Amman is the sister of Kashi Visvanatha and a trip to Kasi is complete only with the visit to these temples.
Old Kasi has very narrow lanes full of cow dung. Travelling on these lanes is not very easy. The only reason why more cows are seen in old Kasi is that "Pindams" are offwered to these cows and those cows who have lost their milk giving capacity roam around Kasi waiting for these "pindams". Walking through these lanes, I was remained of Pathaikadai Sandhu in Trichy, where more more than 60 percent of walking space used to be littered with urine and what not.I found lot of youngsters in these temples unlike in the South where you would find mostly middle-aged and older people. This is a refreshing change. We also passed through Banares Hindu University and the first and oldest Sanskrit College in India.I found statues for Pandit Madan Mohan Malavya everywhere. He is the founder of Banarees Hindu University.Surprisingly, I also found a statue of "Rashtra Kavi Subramania Bharathi" in Varanasi in a very dilapated condition. They are not doing Bharathi any honour/favour by keeping this statue in such a condition.

1st October-Wednesday) Third Day:
A Hindu is expected to offer pindam at five famous theerthams-Haridwar,Rudra Sarover,Vishnu Padha,Pancha Ganga and Mani Karnika, all located in the Ganges.After bath, we went to a Ghat, hired a motor boat and went around five diffeerent ghats.Pindams were cooked on the boat in a "Kumati Addupu" every time. One Sastrigal accompanied us on this trip. We offered Pindams in all these five theerthams. We had to take bath in every theertham. In other words, we took bath in the Ganges five time within a space of two hours. Before offering Pindams, we had to take a
bath. We also visited Bindhu Madhava Temple located in one of the Ghats. The Sastrigal, who accompanied, was excellent. He explained the significance of every theertham. The whole trip covering five therthams on a motor boat takes around two-and -a-half hours.After lunch, we left for Budha Gaya. It is a distance of 270 KMS and the journey takes around six hours. We hired a
taxi to Budh Gaya and reached that place around 6 p.m.Saw the Budh Gaya temple and the Banyan tree from where Lord Budha was supposed to have got enlightenment.It is a beautiful temple erected in 300 BC by emperor asoka. It was destroyed by Khilji and rebuilt by Lord Cunningham. Biuddism spread to Tibet,Thailand,Japan and other countries from this place.Only in India, it could not spread its wings because of the influences of Hinduism.Excepting idol worship, everything is common between Hiduism and Buddhism. The Maha Bodhi temple is very well maintained. Japan and Thailand have also built two temples for Buddha here. We found lot of foreign tourists praying at the temples. We reached Gaya around 8 p.m. and stayed at Karnataka Bhavan overnight.

2nd October -Thursday-Fourth Day:

We performed three ceremoneis-two hiranyam and one with Homam. We performed Phalguni and Vishnu Padha shradham on the banks of Phalguni river and Akshaya Vada shradham in Karnatak Bhavan. The whole thing started around 7.30 a.m. in the morning and by the
time we took our lunch, it was 3.30 p.m. It was difficult sitting for eight hours. We prepared 29
pindamsm for immediate ancestors and 64 pindams (16 for mother and the balance for any one close to us who have died one year ago). I offered Pindams to two teachers who have influenced me while at School in Thiruvaiyar and all other relatives. My wife offered Pindam to "Shortie"- a dog which was close to her while in Ashok Nagar.These Pindams were offered both in Phalguni and Akshaya Vada, where a Banyan tree is the central figure. This tree is supposed to have
helped Sita to testify in her favour before Lord Ram. That is why, this tree is reverred. We had to give up a fruit, a vegetable and a leaf in memory of our ancestors.
We left Gaya for around 4 p.m. and reached Varanasi around 9.30 p.m.

3rd October-Friday-Fifth Day:
We performed Ganga Pooja and Thampathi Pooja at the Vathiar!s place. It was over in an hour!s time. After lunch, we did some shopping and went around Benares in a cycle rickshaw. We left for New Delhi in the evening by Shiv Ganga Express. It has been a very rewarding experience. With all the external filth surrounding the place, there is an inner peace after the visit. If you were to ask me whether I would like to visi Varanasi once again, my answer will be "most certainly Yes"-given good health

Cornwall and the English country

2009-05-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

For a long time, I wanted to see British country-side.. Bala chose Cornwall as the right place for this purpose. Cornwall refers to a region consisting of small coastal towns. The place is 280 miles from London,. We left for Cornwall in Bala!s new Van on 30th May. We enjoyed visintg various places for five days. Here is my Tour Diary.

1st Day-30th May:
We left Bala!s place around 8 in the morning. We reached Cornwall around four in the evening with a few stops on the way. We passed through Bristol (Gloucestershire), Barnstable,

Taunton(Sussex), Cardiff (Glamorgan) and Somerset. When we passed though Taunton, I was reminded of the double century partnership between Ganguly and Dravid in a world cup cricket match against Sri Lanka some years ago.Both the Senior and Junior Nawabs of Pataudi played for Sussex. When we passed through Somerst, I was reminded the exploitsof Vician Richrds and Ian Botham who played Cricket for Somerset for a number of years. Seeing how small Somerst was, I was surprised how Ian Botham could make such a statement "Who will Tour India. It is a place where I will send my mother-in-law". After a few years when Ian Botham came as a commentator for a match in Mohali, Sunil Gavaskar, in a typical Mahastrian manner, asked Botham " "Hey,Beeefy,Have you brought your mother-in-law with you"?. Needless to say,Botham!s face became too very small.

After reaching Falmouth, a town in Cornwall, we checked into a Hotel.We decided that keeping Falmourth as Head Quarters, we would travel around every-dy to various places.There are enough places to see atleast for a week. Due to constraints on time, we decided we would spend five days here.
After taking rest, we went to two delightful beaches and spent some time. We wnet to a Thai Restaurant for dinner and celebrated Bala!s 40th birth-day..

2nd Day-1st May

After break-fast in the hotel, we went to a place called Eden park. Cornrwall is said to be the Garden Capital of the World. Eden Park is about forty miles from Cornwall. The largest rain forest in captivity, it is a remarkably well kept place.Spread over 35 acres of land, the whole Project consists of two very big domes. Inside, almost all plants and, flowers of the world are grown in natural settings -in an artificially created climate suitable for their sustinance and growth. We experienced different tempartures inside the domes at two different places. This is a Millineum Project along with the London Eye.. This place has been ranked as a Global must-see by New York Times. A beautiful and challenging horticultural landscape dramatically changes with each season here at Eaden Park.There are bus and train facilities within the Place to take tourists inside.. We returned around 6 in the evening and prepared food at the Hotel using their facilities.
Compared to what we saw here, Lal Bagh in Bangalore appears to be nothing.As I could not take long walks, I took rest in between, sitting on benches ,and observed people passing through. I found out as under:
1)Most of the fat ladies had thin husbands and vice-versa.
2)Most of tall men had very short wives.
3)Couples above 50 were rarely exchanging words, though some of them were holding their hands together.
4)The number of young people having tattoos on their fore-arm is increasing in alarming proportions.

Third Day-2nd May:
After break-fast, we did some shopping in the market place in Falmouth. This is a port-twon where British Coast Guards have their head-quarters.
We left for St Ives, another port town around 12. This place is about 45 miles from Falmouth. This place has a beautiful beach. It is a small town with a population of 7000 people. Many eminent artists and sculptors of Europe settled in this place for the sake of proper environment for their creative arts. We spent some time on the beach and also visited Kate Gallery, where paintings and sculptures belonging to 19th and 20th century are exhibited. As my interest in and knowledge of paintings is severely limited, I could not enjoy my time at the Gallery.

Fourth Day-3rd May;
After break-fast when we started, there was jerk in the car and a sign flashed on the dash-board "service-check gear". This resulted in a delay of more than an hour.
We first went to a palce called "Michael on the Mount". This is about forty miles from where we were staying. This is a Church constructed on a mountain some five hundred years ago by Duke of Normandy. It is just like any Murugan koil in South India. we could see pilgrims from Europe coming to this place to fulfill their vows.( like in Velankanni). When there is high tide, this place becomes an island. When there is low tide, one could access the place through walk. We had to reach foothills of the mountain through a boat.St Michael is regarded as the guardian saint of this place.
From here, we went to a place called Bridgeport to see Minimack Theatre. This is a theatre created out of a mountain on the sea. It is an open air theatre where musicians and violinists from the world perform. It is very picturesque and unbelievably beautiful. When we went there, a group of Russian artists performed theatre.The few minutes spent by me in this place will remain etched in my memory for a long time.

Towards the evening, we to "Lands End". This is a place where Land ends and see starts. It is the southernmost tip of United Kingdom. The northermost tip w be somewhere in Scotland. It reminded me of Kanyakumari. While in Kanyakumari, Thiruvalluvar stature is erected, here it is big pillar. From this end, New york is only 3247 miles.
We were extremely impressed with all the places we saw to-day.

Fifth Day-4th May:
We left for Traverno Gardens in the morning. It is about twenty miles from Falmouth. Set in natural surrrroundings, the garden and the park have been declared as Heritage Sites. This is the first time I have seen a garden of this size and magnitude.It is very beautiful. Seeing some of the locales, I felt somehow that I have seen them in some Bollywood films like Khabi Khabi and Lamhe.
After lunch we went to see the National Maritime Museum. Apart from highliting, through rexhibits and films about British Maritime Supremacy, there is also a show " Titani- Honour and Glory". Many times, in my younger years, I had wondered how England (now U.K),being such a small country, controlled almost all of Asia, excepting China and Japan, through sheer strength of their Naval Power. After visiting the Museum, the answer became clear.
I was very impressed with the "Titanic Show". James Cameroon, director of the film Titanic, had undertaken so far six journeys below 2500 metres below the sea leve to find out and explore about the Titanic, through wreckages left behind.. This film shows his adventures.
When the ship sank in April 1912, the fare for third class passenger was only 3 to 16 pounds- this, at time when a pund was equivalent to five dollors. The cost of the first class ticket was forty pounds. Out of 2200 passengers, more than 1500 had perished. There is still one survivor who is alive and stays in Michigan. One day before April 10 1912, there was a review about Titanic in "ship-builder" which claimed that the ship was meant "comfort and luxury" and not for speed. It is no surprise that the ship sank because the owner of the ship , who was also travellling, pushed the Captain to increase the speed so that the ship could land earlier than scheduled.No wonder, when the speed increased, the ship crashed against an ice-berg and met its fate.It is ironic that the next ship built by the same company,Starline,( by name "Oceanoic") also sank in 1914, two years after "Titanic"

After a very memorable tour, we left for London on 5th May and reached home in the evening.Fortunately, we did not have any health problems.Health held fort, apart from some discomfort here and a niggle there..