NEED Vs DESIRE

I need to do this; I need to do that! And, I need to write this today!
Life is revolving around satisfaction of basic necessities. ‘Someone said, ‘Cause of every need is for the cause of satisfaction of such need!’ Well, desires are always beyond the basic necessities or needs. The moment you satisfy one desire, another will crop up. Can we distinguish need and desire? May be desire is a greedy version of need!

I was staying away from my family some time when I was transferred from Mumbai. At the new place an acquaintance enquired about me, to which I said, ‘I am fine. I have every thing I need for a person living alone; good house, a vehicle and food that I make for myself’. This acquaintance said, ‘well 'man do not live by bread alone'!

Most of the time, we are contented with mere satisfaction of basic or bare necessities. Of course, one can eke out a living with the fulfillment of bare necessities, if one needs to do just that, like in today’s world; completing a basic Engineering degree!

I met a friend having a lavish lifestyle. Any new gadget in the market will be seen at his home within a week. I gently prodded him by saying that ‘you not only have desires but really go an extra mile to fulfill them’. His reply was interesting; he said that unless you satisfy your desires as they come up, they would never give you another opportunity to accomplish them. ‘Each and every desire has a timeframe, for e.g., you will not want to ride a motorcycle at the age of 50 as you would like to do when you were at 20’!

I had a childhood friend with whom I visited a restaurant. He repeatedly ordered a dish he liked for 3 times! He is a kind of person that, if he liked coffee, he would not hesitate to order it again!
I met him again after several years. He told me about his son who had the habit of sharpening pencils using sharpener until the pencil is reduced to a bit. To curb his habit, he gifted a box full of pencils and half a dozen sharpeners. Result, the boy learnt to use sharpener judiciously on his own! Incidentally, I also noticed that the friend has shifted to a finicky diet regime now!
In short, needs arise due to basic necessities, whereas desires are triggered by ‘basic instincts”!
• Needs are static or constant whereas desires are dynamic;
• Needs are boring where as desires are invigorating;
• Needs are a few whereas desires are plenty;
• Needs are repetitive in nature whereas desires are innovative;
• It is essential to fulfill needs whereas it will be nice to satisfy desires;
• If need is a shelter, desire is like multiplex!


After all, you need shelters as well as multiplexes in this world!

Impromptu....

Impromptu is an attempt to render a song or a speech without any preparation or referring to any text or written script.

Thesaurus explains the word impromptu as something Spoken, performed, or composed with little or no preparation or forethought: ad-lib, extemporaneous, extemporary, extempore, improvised, offhand, snap, spur-of-the-moment, unrehearsed. Informal, off-the-cuff.

Most of us would get in to a situation when you are asked to say a few words in front of a gathering, a formal or informal group.

I observe that in earlier days, i.e. prior to the invasion of internet and computers, impromptu speeches were quite common and people were not uncomfortable doing it. But now with social networking sites making people glued to their seats in front of lap tops/computers, the changes in life style have almost made them recluse and not ready for such adventures like addressing a gathering. Even if pushed to make a speech, they make awkward attempt and fail to impress the crowd.

Impromptu is also a wonderful word as it can be used as an adjective, adverb or even noun! Impromptu means improvisation. Therefore, a person attempting it should have creativity. But to say that creativity can be only with a select few and not with all is simply wrong. Every one can make an impromptu, with a little bit of effort.

We have heard lot of folklores which are nothing but impromptus! Something which happens on its own without any special preparation, pre-meditation or prodding can be termed as impromptu. In a way, the revolution that happened in Egypt is also an impromptu!

My own attempts at impromptus have been fairly good but there were occasions when I could not make a free flowing speech as well. I have now learned to use a technique whereby if the topic is not really a comfortable one, dwell around it by frankly admitting my lack of knowledge, in a self-deprecating way, to make it interesting!

Well, the topic I chose to write was not prompted by anybody or pre-planned but popped up simply like the word itself, an "Impromptu"!

keys keys

World of Competition. Ask your children what it means to know all the keys? They cram a lot of information in their tiny heads that it would be next to impossible for even adults to emulate them.

As parents, teachers, managers, we all know how to ask questions! Never for once we blink to think the plight of those to whom we direct those questions, whether they are supposed to know the keys to those questions or not?

Whilst we know that no one will have keys to unravel the future, but the fact remains that the 'Present is the key to the past'; at least this is what the Geologists tell us. So do we hear a famous song, saying, 'future is not us to see.. que sera sera!'

On this valentine day, I think that only pure love can be a key to the heart of beloved!

Never in my life have I seen any other place abound with shops making duplicate keys. I used to wonder why so many shops are here only for making duplicate keys. Then I realized that the key is for comfortable living! Yes; many keys are used for one home so that the family members, when they return first, can open their door!

Keys are so important that one has to safeguard it from being misplaced or lost. Insurance will not pay in a burglary loss, if original keys were found to be used to gain access.

For any lock you may have duplicate keys, you must safeguard the spare key from un-authorized access. I find two or even three set of keys are provided by the manufacturer of Locks and safes. Whilst this may be useful in an emergency, one has to be careful that the duplicate keys are not reaching the wrong persons.

Well, KEYS ARE KEYS TO SAFE LIVING. LIKE ELECTRONIC PASSKEY or PASS WORD, ONLY THE OWNER SHALL HAVE THEM IN HIS CUSTODY!

எ BUCKET FOR contentment

A friend met me recently and started telling me a story. In a village people would be seen carrying bucket in hand in large numbers. Every day,they walk 4 miles to the 'big lake' to bring a bucket full of water to their homes. During their journey back home, the bucket full of water will spill along the way and, by the time they reach home, they will hardly have any water left in the bucket.

Fed up with this perennial problem, the entire village assembled at a place to discuss the issue. They decided that they will create a channel from the lake to their village and also dig a community well at their village were the water can be collected. One year of hard work was agreed as contribution for each family member. After one year passed, the villagers became the talking point for the rest of the country men.

The friend went on to say that our routine, 9-5 job is like carrying a bucket, which is our usual rut. At the end of the month you are left with hardly any residual amount which you can count on for support during an emergency. His story and the comparison really convinced me about the futility of our 9-5 jobs. What is the alternative? I asked him.

Here he gave an option to enroll myself into a pyramid scheme, narrating many more success stories. Although I agreed that there will be good possibility of an early mover to greatly benefit from the scheme, my own conscience somehow did not favour the idea, as it kept me telling that the weaker links in the chain would be affected.

I then took a vow that whatever be the situation, I shall never enroll into a pyramid scheme till 'I kick the bucket'!

I am quite happy with the little 'bucket' that I have, despite the inadequacy or limitation it may have. I convince myself by reassuring that buckets are enough to save lives... like the fire bucket you see in Malls, public places or in Cinemas!

A bucket somehow reminds me of the limit of contentment, basic necessities and thrifty life stye!

CHAIR

Chair is very important in our life! From 'Walking Chair' to 'Easy Chair' we occupy a chair almost from the infant stage till we call it a day!

Imagine a job without the chair. Such a job would be very difficult and arduous to perform. Even a lift operator or a security personnel to be provided with a chair, if he has to be effective. In most companies, chairs and tables are given to employees according to their category or positions. People get emotionally attached and tend to identify themselves with their chairs.

I know a person who has occupied one chair for over 3 decades in his office. Even when the entire office was refurbished, he refused to change his chair! Some people will never leave their chair, come what may! But some will sense trouble in between and run away! Well, does it sound like something that we heard from Egypt and Tunisia?

In a meeting you rise to make a point with the permission of "The Chair". Nothing in a company moves without the approval of the Chairperson! Human beings are so attached to their chairs that they would go to any extent to retain it! We also observe people who occupy their chairs day and night and, throughout the year, thereby their bodies take the shape of their chairs! Now with the invasion of computers and laptops in every day life, even children refuse to move away from their chairs in front of the computer! They also develop neck and shoulder pain and other funny problems like Corporal Tunnel Syndrome!

In the living rooms, the chairs in front of TVs are never unoccupied, unless the TVs break down!

At Corporate Board rooms, you have many battles for occupying the coveted Chair! Whatever be your position or social status, we can give only one simple advice: Please choose your chair which will suit your back! In literal as well as in euphemistic sense! If you occupy a chair which is not suitable to you, i.e. in tune with your qualification and skills, then you would find it difficult to take decision and do justice to your chair. Here also your spine will be at risk as you may have to take some bold decisions! If the chair is not ergonomically suitable, then also it will create trouble to your spine.

The first thing I did when I joined the new office was to closely examine the chair given to me. I immediately realized that I needed a back support! (Literally, and not euphemistically!). I bought a back rest from the market and started using it from very next day!

Well, from that day onwards, I could take some bold decisions without injuring my back!

அமேசிங் places

Never before I had a vacation like the one I just had on the eve of New Year! Yes; this time my visit to India was fully packed and memorable.

On 31st December, we left for Mangalore from Mumbai. From the Airport we went straight to Sringeri in Karnataka which is on the banks of river Thunga. We stayed at the guest house called Rishi Valley Cottages. We could breathe the fresh air with sweet smell of flowers coming from the beautiful garden inside the compound. When experiencing the serenity and tranquility of the place, you are convinced as to why that saint had identified the place and made it his abode for reaching to the heaven! Yes! This place, I swear, is the one stop destination for reaching to the heaven!

The caretaker who knew only Kanada language could communicate what he can offer for breakfast, "Avalakki Uppittu" or iddlies besides coffee or tea for beverage. Whilst we enjoyed his coffee, my daughters simply went around clicking the flowers and the surroundings, some of the photos are posted here.





Next place I can never forget is Dharmastala. This is about 100 kms away from Mangalore. We reached on Monday evening-4th January. Somebody advised us to meet Mr. Veerendra Heggade, who is the Dharmathikari (Trustee) of the heritage. I should say that rather than being termed as a religious place, this place is the final destination for dispute resolution for scores of people. Yes people come here to resolve their disputes or problems and go back happily by reaching an amicable settlement! The judgment obtained here is valid and widely accepted.

We met Mr. Veerendra Heggade who not only engaged us for over 10 minutes, he also suggested us to stay overnight and proceed the next day after seeing all around the Dharmastala. We readily accepted his advice and stayed overnight at the "Netravathi"guest house. Mr. Heggade also sent a representative who took us around Dharmastala and also to the massive kitchen and the dining place, showing us how the food is prepared for the visitor and served free. Earlier Mr. Heggade told us that on that particular day of our visit 53 quintals of rice was cooked, enough to feed about 45000 people!

People of all faiths from all over India and abroad visit this place. Any amount of words will be insufficient to express the greatness of this place and the tradition followed by the family of Heggade for almost 700 years now.

Whilst returning, I was just thinking that if more such dhamastalas are founded in various parts of the world, then there would be no one going to bed without having one square meal in a day!

Myna Musings

There was a function to felicitate the Director-producer of the new sensational Tamil movie, Myna, at the Ajman Royal Palace Hotel. The meeting was hurriedly conducted, inviting only a few members of Humor club.


The director had come to Dubai for the screening of the movie at the 7th International film festival-DIFF2010.

Before the meeting, I was interacting with the director Prabu Solomon about his journey to success. He was quite philosophical in saying that 'successes don't come by luck but only earned by the dint of hard work'. If one has to wait for luck to favor then it is almost impossible to achieve success.

He also pointed out the habit of many people who would fall into a trap of superstitions and beliefs about the influence of celestial forces. They would not take up any venture during such 'bad period', fearing that they will fail.

Talking about the movie, he said that the main reason for the success was the choice of location and, the cast who are new faces, synchronising very well with the local charactors. He was quick to add that the beautiful locations of the movie worked out to be the 'second hero' of the movie, which was so refreshing and never picturised by other cinematographers.

My journalist friend was probing the director very enthusiastically. I whispered into his ears that he could bag a grand-father role in his next film, whilst I may settle for a slightly inferior role of, say Hero's....... father!

Onions and Tomatoes

Never gave much attention to Onions and Tomatoes although they are the most important ingredients in every day diet. There was a politician in Tamil Nadu who would use the word 'Vengayam', meaning Onion, as a cliche in his speaches. This word is also used to tease or to be-little anyone or any matter, including Onion!

On the other hand, tomatoes are used to show public anger if the speaker goes astray in his speaches! There is a famous tomatoe festival celebrated in Spain every year,in which public make merry by taking bath in 'tomato slurry' and throwing tomatoes all over the town!

Tomatoes and onions are popular crops found in most of the kitchen gardens. Whilst the desi variety of tomatoes are almost extinct nowadays, the desi variety of onions have taken a prestigious place in the hearts of connoiseurs and culinary experts!

Why suddenly the prices of these vegetables have shot the roof in India is a raging debate and a hot media attention now. Maharashtra is the major Onion producer in India. There is a small town on the way to Goa, which is the capital of Onion wholesale trade. I hope readers would identify and respond about this onion capital in their comments. Sometime back, I had an opportunity to visit this town on a business visit(not for wholesale purchase of Onions!).

At that time I came to know from a local that the richest in town are those Onion wholesale traders. They procure onions directly from farmers and hoard it until it is'right time' to sell. They control onion prices and make unbelievable profits!

When I hear the news about the soaring prices of Onions, I am convinced that the households will switch over to 'Jain' preparations,i.e total ban of Onions from their every day menu!


Needless to mention that Onions have become highly potent now, in that one can get tears from the mere feel or thought of it rather than from the peel of it!

Moral Grounds

In the seventies, during our school days, we used to eagerly await classes like the Physical Training period(PT) and Moral periods. PT classes were mostly held in the evenings, whereas moral classes will be held on Mondays first period and, Fridays last period.

We liked the moral classes not because there will be no tests but because of the teacher who would handle those classes. On Mondays, the moral period cannot be extended further as all other main courses would follow. But on fridays, being the last period of the week, invariably it would be extended by another 60 to 90 minutes on popular demands!

The teacher would tell stories and interesting episodes from epics with such details and drama that the students would get engrossed in it and would invariably request the sessions to be continued! There will always be liberal doses of good virtues, moral values and life skills interwoven in those stories. Integrity, honesty and good behaviour building were the objectives of the moral classes in schools.

Of late, we hear people lamenting that there is no moral values in society!

The curricula have undergone sweeping changes over the years to accommodate a lot of 'portions' under each subject that school authorities hardly find any time to accommodate moral education classes. Moreover, Moral Education does not carry any 'weightage'.

The other day, I was watching a TV program in which a police commissioner was being interviewed. The interviewer asked question about how to control the people from violating traffic rules, causing nuisances and committing petty crimes. In response, the commissioner said that preventive policing is more difficult than managing crimes and went on to say that to prevent crimes only moral education at primary and secondary schools would help!


I find morality has become a personal choice of people rather than being the guiding principle in life. Many would argue that if bad practices are not personally committed, then they are on high moral grounds! With this premise in mind, they would hire others to do such practices for them! A corollary is that you are a honest person unless you are caught otherwise!

Well, moral grounds will be in its ideal place, if all players are found there and ready to participate in the game with same set of rules!

Whale of thoughts

The other day I received a forwarded email with the heading 'Big Cruelty'. It also urged the receiver to forward to all friends so that the same can reach to members of 'PETA' and other animal rights activists.

The pictures were so nauseating and heart-rending, that I decided not to forward it.

Yes; the picture showed an entire village involved in this act of'pilot hunting' in which hundreds of Dolphins on the coast of Faroe Island, Denmark were killed in a most crude manner. The coastal waters not only turned red in colour but thickened by the concentration of blood derived from killed animals.

Whilst I saved my friends from the gory sight of the pictures depicting the cruelty committed to hundreds of defenseless, but beautiful and most intelligent animal species, I could not keep quiet without thinking about it in a bid to reason out such practices in this world.

Well, the nature and life cycle involving the biodiversity has its trappings & designs that the so called higher order lives feed on other weaker links for survival. But humans, being on top of the life chain, should be able to live with more responsibility by displaying care and dignity to the environment,viz., the flora and fauna.

However, we do find this responsibility taken up Governments and various activist groups who are now promoting various campaigns and awareness programs.

Thinking about the issue, one has to come to terms with the fact that it is not possible to ban killing of whales as it is also a major source of supply of meat product. But a more refined approach can be introduced so that age old and undesirable practices are replaced by practices that would protect the environment and also ensure that the animals lead a peaceful life till the end.

Here I would like to add that this piece is not triggered by the story about whales but about similar minds having a whale of thoughts.

Leaks are inevitable!

The mini shower in the toilet was leaking. I called the plumber who fixed it with a new Shower head. After a week it again started leaking. This time the plumber changed the leaking one with a plastic shower head he had as a spare.

I think it is time for leaks. The shower started leaking again. This time the leak was profound like the wikileak!

In a movie, a comedian undergoes a surgeory after receiving an accidental electric shock. As a side effect of the operation, he gets a strange power in that he can actually read what is going on in the minds of others!

With this strange powers he meets people who are actually scheming within whilst they put up a friendly disposition with others. His exposures of people give some hillarious moments.

Like knowing the timing of ones end, if all of us can unravel the minds of others, it will become too difficult to have a peaceful social life!

In the days of Vikramatitya, a courtisan complained about a poor man of being intimate with her in his dreams for which she demanded 1000 gold coins as fee! This complaint she made based on the information she received through her cronies who over heard the private utterances of this poor man. The court ruled that it is enough the poor man pays her in his subsequent dream!

Way back in 88, a young and pretty woman officer joined our office. It was quite refreshing time that we got along so well to the envious eyes of others in the office! A concerned and caring staff member told me to stop being close to her, citing the rumors floating in the office.
I told him that we cannot stop people from carrying tales or rumors as we have no control over what others think and,in the same manner, they may even spread rumors about others. Within a month he came running to me complaining about the new rumors going around, linking him and a typist!

Well, leaks are the results of curious minds and spurious materials! So I have come to this conclusion that rumors, gossips and leaks are inevitable!

Please adjust your seat to upright position!

Whilst on board an aircraft, you are asked to remain seated with your seat belt fastened in upright position, during takeoff and landing. Once the warning light is switched to green, passengers can take off their seat belts, though it is safer to remain seated with seat belts fastened all through the journey.

Very few people continue to travel with the seat belts on and in upright position.

In our day to day life, there is no such messages but a small section of society are always found to be in upright position. There is an old saying that rains shower in order to please that one person who is upright and in the process entire society gets benefited!

Why is it that we find honesty and integrity is becoming a rare commodity? what should we do to make honesty and integrity a way of life? People tend to follow the paths frequently used by others. Even children follow by observing their environment. We need to have cleaner environment for healthy society.

Day in and day out we are seeing new campaigns introduced to protect the planet and the interests of the world like, poverty alleviation,Sustained development, green and clean campaign, campaigns against pollution of air,water and earth, Food adulteration, protection of animal species and numerous campaigns to control various deseases.


We need to have campaign with educational interventions that will become a movement and eventually lead to clean society. Although the path to achieving this will be a long one like the poverty alleviation campaign, considering its huge impact it will have on our society and the world at large, this campaign for clean society should be kick-started.

Well it is too old fashioned to write about such utopian thoughts! Let me lighten the mood by giving an excerpt from a haiku poem, translated from Tamil, which goes like this:

'I watched my young maid clean up my house with her swift and lovely movements. She made the hall spick and span but my mind corrupted!'

Let us adjust our seats to upright positions!

Action in Inaction

Take a train and settle down in your berth. Now sleep well till your destination is reached, without any need for any action from your side! Should I say that this is an example of your action in inaction? Your action is to reach the planned destination yet you accomplish it without any action on your part,once you have boarded the train!

Well. In work situation, taking decision in matters would require both action and inaction. In some matters the best solution is to leave it without any action from your end! For example, some vexatious matters which will become troublesome if you attempt to deal with it.

But inaction when action is demanded by the situation would invite liability due to negligence. For example, you know a toddler is about to trip over a parapet wall from your arm's distance. If you fail to act to prevent the toddler from tripping, then you are clearly negligent. This is what is known as the principle of liability. A liability can arise due to lack of duty of care. Here one should see if there is a duty of care that is required to be fullfilled by a person. A differently-abled person is not expected to have the same duty of care that is required in such situation as against a normal person.

Some people think that best way to avoid any trouble is to simply desist taking any decision. People in sensitive offices are often found to resort to inaction, for fear of courting trouble!

Height of inaction is to ignore something happening under your own nose that would bring serious consequences for the institution itself, say your home or office or any public utility. It is like walking off ignoring a dangerious material found on your way, unmindful of the harm it would cause to the society.

We all read from news nowadays that how those found to have resorted to inaction is being seriously questioned than those who have found to have taken wrong action!

Although it would be challenging to differentiate and decide on action or inaction, one must do due diligence by bearing in mind the duty of care expected on oneself.

So readers it is needless to say that even inaction is actionable!

Luck quotient!

Humor club meeting on Diwali day brought smiles to me not just for its usual humor content. Although I could not participate in the procedings as a contestant as the event was mainly for couples who were present on that day, I received a surprise gift from a Lucky dip draw!

I could not wait longer to see the content which I opened the moment I reached home. I am sure you would also like this nice set of swans in crystal...

The best place to find them now is just in front of my TV..

Humor club has discovered my luck quotient as well!

Rebooting the 'Robot'

Sometimes you just don't have an urge to do what you wanted to do!

I saw this movie 'Endhiran' at Concord cinema on 7th October. I wanted to write a review immediately but desisted from doing so for fear of an adverse impact on the collections at box offices!

Now that the box offices have more than reaped their quota, I can jolly well write the review, without worrying a legal action!

Majority of unmarried girls would love this movie for one reason! Yes; there is now an option of falling in love with a machine than experiencing the same predicament of their mothers who have married 'living things' that seldom emote!

Older women will regret for having aged, but there is a solace in that mature Robots may come up for sale soon.

The story goes like this. One scientist, obsessed in artificial intelligence, creates a Robot which can actually emote and fall in love. Poor scientist did not realize that his fiancée, who is the most beautiful woman on the Earth, can fall in love with his creation! The scientist was so passionate with his work, whilst the robot quickly wins the heart of the Beauty.

Now the Beauty is bit confused, if she has to marry the un-interesting character or the new found 'vibrant'lover, the Robot!

The Scientist out of sheer jealousy dumps the Robot in a dumping yard only to be picked up by a rogue Scientist, who not only gives it fresh life, but also injects a villainous mind using a RED CHIP!

Now the new avatar, the Robot which has developed a fatal attraction for his master's GF, sets out on a blitzkrieg pursuit of its love!

Suddenly for some inexplicable reason, the Beauty realizes that machine is after all a machine and switches her loyalty back to the Scientist. Rogue Robot abducts the Beauty like a Super Ravan!

By switching off the electricity, Robot demon was made to loose its vigor and some how, the Scientist removes the RED CHIP from its abdomen.

Beauty now reunites with the Scientist to live boringly ever after!

Enjoyed Ash dancing with young 'llama at machu picchu' at Kilimanjaro! Robot Rajini is better than the Scientist Rajini! In the next film, Rajini can be replaced by Endhiran! Appears that story of the movie was a teamwork-hap hazard!

You can watch the movie so that 'art and money' goes to Kalanidhi!

H A P P Y D E E P A V A L I to Blog friends!

Summary on Seminar

Just attended a seminar at the Atlantis, Conference Hall. For a change, the registration formaility was done away with. Since the attendance was by invitation only, cards for invitees were ready to be picked up from the alphabetical arrangement. The delegates had good time in searching their tags and absolutely thrilled when they traced their cards!

Although, the seminar started 10 minutes behind the schedule, like an aircraft, it picked up speed during the journey and finished in time!

The gathering was very impressive, so much so that if some one goes out to attend the call of nature,well, by that I mean attending a call on handset, somebody else would come and occupy his place! It happened to my guest who had to settle at the backside row when he came back after attending his call.

The seminar was on a topic called 'STRATA MANAGEMENT' which is about the recent introduction of Strata Law in UAE. Strata law is concerned with Realty sector and its purpose is to manage, regulate, control and govern various aspects of property related issues including transfer of property besides defining the rights and responsibilities of various stake holders.

The seminar was organised by Oman Insurance Company. Speakers were from companies that are into Strata management, valuation, Law firms specialising in Strata and, not but not the least, from the insurance industry. Of course, the aim was to finally drive the point to the audience about the importance of availing a special insurance cover developed for the Property Owners Association.

The seminar ended with a luncheon at the Ballroom. A scottish couple from Australia, who were part of the delegates, shared the same table with me. Ms M quipped, if the Strata law was clear to me after attending the seminar. I sort of mumbled to the effect that 'everything was absolutely clear'! The conversation continued by recollecting some valid questions raised by the audience during the Q & A session, and then moved on to recent cricket matches between India & Australia, in which, for a change, India white-washed Australia.

We exchanged contact details promising to be in touch. I told Mrs M about my weekly contribution to short take and urged her to read one, if she can and give her comments. This piece is dedicated to the serendipitious friendship of scottish couple.

The question Mrs M asked me is still bothering me into thinking if I have this problem of attention deficiency? I then comfort myself by reasoning out that mere attending seminars would never give detailed insight, but only kindle your inquisitive mind into making further probe on the subject.

Well, to summarise, seminars do desseminate information!

COMMONWEALTH GAMES

Once I had to drop a guest, at the Mumbai Aerodrome, who had to catch a flight to Tiruvanathapuram. We left home sufficiently early with two hours gap.
For the flight scheduled to leave at 1130hrs, we left home at 0930hrs with only 30 minutes drive to make on normal traffic conditions.

I was driving the car happily chit-chatting on various topics. I even recited my own 'haiku' that I drafted on Mumbai! Suddenly we realised the journey to Airport was unending due to the traffic jam. The road was dug up in the middle for some work and the vehicles were at loggerheads.

Our joyful conversation suddenly became not so joyful before it turned to silence and anxiety. We reached the Aerodrome with only twenty minutes for the takeof!

The ticketing Supervisor bluntly told that 'we are shut out for any more passengers and the flight is ready to takeof'. No amount of pleading was working until we heard that the flight already left Mumbai Airport.

Now the guest started enquiring about the next flight in Indian which was available only in the next day! I suggested that we will go to the other terminal to find out Jet or other Private airline before claiming refund from Indian. That is when we found out there was a Private Airline flight in the evening to Tiruvanathapuram.

Now I said we will go and get the refund from Indian. When we approached the counter, the supervisor came towards us running and announced those sweet words,"the flight returned due to some technical snag.. and she will leave again at 1:30 pm!"

That was just after marriage. We were catching a train in the night having left home just 30 minutes prior to the departure. Whilst on our way, my wife remembered to have left the wedding ring on the mantle over wash basin! Racing against the time, we reached the platform after recovering the ring from home. The train barely pulled out of platform when we hurriedly boarded the train!

It so happened again in Mumbai, sensing that our taxi cannot reach the CST station to catch our Chennai train, we decided to board at Dadar station, which is 10 km nearer en route. Due to the unprecedented traffic bottleneck, we had to jump on to the already moving train when we reached the platform!

Recently last year, we landed at the Mumbai Airport just 25 minutes before departure of the flight. Obviously, the counter was closed. A daring supervisor took a quick decision to grant us upgraded business class status to us, relenting to my request! There, I think, the lady luck helped too.

All these events have made us to think that there is no great need to waste time at railway stations or at Airports!

I started to write this when received an sms from my wife yesterday ..that she has done it again!
Yes; she boarded the flight in similar finish like Commonwealth games!

All is well that ends well! Let the good luck continue for ever.

Well readers, shall we rename the word 'brinkmanship' to Commonwealth Games!

You have ear for (bad) music?

There are several occasions in which one can become a victim of bad music. Visiting my blog would be one such thing! Yes. Having bored enough with all my rantings, I thought I would spare you all from reading lengthy blogs! But if you have to gain some, you have to lose some! I roughed it out with an attempt to sing an old song... I hope to improve with some practice.. but not before creating a list of several victims in listeners like you!

Yes; previous Humor club program on 17th september witnessed a long awaited performance(?) from pretending singer, subu! Mr Guna the master of ceremonies, yielded to my pressure into giving a slot for my music (mis)adventure. He announced with all hyperboles and 'build-up' that a new generation "PBS" was waiting to enthrall the audience.

I went on to the stage and made all caveats and preludes to the effect that although I am good at singing another "AM Raja Song", since that track was not available, I would be singing this one from the feature film, "Pava mannippu".. and, even if the rendition did not turnout good, the audience still could generously (bestow their 'Paava mannippu') pardon me!

Now the pendrive I brought with the track music refused to open. I had to later on sing the other AM Raja song..."paatu padava" without background music. I give the link to my rendition of 'pava mannippu' for those who have ear for music!

Copy paste this address link in your browser and click 'download' and wait for 45 seconds to listen to the music!
http://www.zshare.net/download/81079182662d01e8/

Post Script:- Mr Suresh, the president of the Humor Club told me in no uncertain term that the platform is not for people like me who are trying to take the audience for a ride!

I think this would be the end of my play back singer dreams!

Beaming sense of humor

Last friday I had been to the Emirates Humor Club's 22nd meet. The new talk show plan unveiled by the Humor Club made me think why not I put these topics to a wider audience so as to propagate this Humor epidemic!

The talk show topics are as follows:-

Sense of humor refines family life
sense of humor helps professional life
sense of humor is simply recreational

The participants are to take up one topic and impress the audience with their arguments humourously.

All the above statements are real facts and are very useful, if we practice them for increasing the overall happiness quotient. Like the Butan king's campaign for Gross National Happiness, if we all follow the above three humor statements, one can really achieve overall happiness.

For that simple reason, a famous poet had advocated the practice of humor even in adversity i.e., to laugh it out whenever somebody is in trouble, to be able to surmount such difficulty.

Humor requires a little bit of effort on the part of oneself. That is what the sense of humor is all about. Whilst humor is everywhere, we need to discern it to enjoy the same.

There are several people who refuse to get amused over any issue! such people radiate a sense of glum and seriousness around them and also vitiating the entire atmosphere.

How many marriages have happened through letters of love, for the sheer humor content despite the bad grammer!

A person who is humorous not only himself happy but also propagates the happiness all around them by creating an 'aura' of happiness to all!

Like the quality of mercy, the sense of humor is also doubly blessed; it blesseth the one who transmits it and the one who receives it too!

So friends, shall we start beaming our sense of Humor every where?

Corporal Punishments

There is still a school of thought that one cannot bring in discipline in children without the use of corporal punishments. To support this view the advocates of this theory still harp on old proverbs, like the one in Tamil 'adiyatha madu padiyathu', to the effect "beat the animal so that it doesn't go offbeat!"


I still remember my maths teacher Mr JV in 10th standard. He had an obsession of buying different kinds of canes from his own funds that he would flaunt in his class. He was like, say the character of "Gabbarsingh" of Sholay to all of us. We would be holding our breath every day in fear to find out who was his prey on every class. He would first choose his prey and call him to his side 'lovingly'. Then keep showering with pleasantries like 'your shirt is very nice.. where did you take it.. did you go to the shop yourself or you went with your parents'.. all such enquiries he will make whilst he would teasingly run his newly acquired cane on the body of the boy(Thankfully it was a boys only school!).

He would extract a confession that the boy did not complete the homework. He would then cane him at the most unexpected moment and inflicting excruciating pain.

This was in 1974!

Now I wonder if this person could have gone scotfree, had he been living now. There were several instances of suicides by young children due to sense of humiliation and loss of self esteem, due to corporal punishments or just due to the fear of an impending one. world over, Governments have now brought in strict rules prohibiting corporal punishments not only in schools but applicable to child abuses happening anywhere.

We all know that several old beliefs have been replaced over the years based on new findings about the ill-effects of following such beliefs.

There is a direct relation to the childhood experiences in the development of human personality. A child growing fearlessly grows in its natural behaviour and becomes a well-rounded personality.

In a forwarded mail, I read this heartrending story of a boy who inscribes something in the new car, using a nail. The father of the boy, in a fit of rage, punctures his hand only to learn later that his son had inscribed on the fender of his new car, "I love you Pappa"

Let us say no to corporal punishment, be at home or at school, or for that matter anywhere from the area of influence of children!