This isn't the way!

The Mercury has been rising steadily, the heat has gotten to be oppressive and the water table is tending to shrink at an alarming rate. I really feel bad to see workers, braving the heat, to work on the agricultural fields, on the constructional sites and on the railway tracks! They've to go through the hardship for earning their daily bread and butter and have no other choice.

Meanwhile, the electioneering has also attained fever pitch. Politicians throw no-holds-barred-punches, trade invective that border on the bizarre and pour out statistics that are not verifiable. In fact, at times, while viewing them on debates, beamed in by the television, their viciousness seems to be so lethal, so dirty. Neither civility nor propriety seem to be in their minds because I've this sneaky feeling that many of the lower minions follow this track to impress their 'leaders', who've anyways shed them a long while back.

Winning an election is important but it's fighting on issues rather than taking it on to personal levels that's the sine qua non of an election well fought. It should never be forgotten that the treasury benches, along with a responsible opposition, that is needed to work together in Parliament - post elections - to bring about fruition of good policies and meaningful legislation in providing efficient governance to the people who've voted them in.

But from what one sees is going on, the mudslinging has reached such a nadir that one wonders whether they can ever work together, after having made the allegations and counter allegations.

To all the participants, this is an earnest request by a patriotic citizen. "Shun personal slang matches, tell us your USP and your ideas to make this country strong and prosperous. We know where each one of you stand and leave the decision making to us - rest, assured our vote will be for the best man".


Tailpiece.

The BJP, which was till not very long back a political untouchable to many, seems to have come a long way in eager supporters wanting to clamber onto their juggernaut and they've managed seemingly impossible coalition partnerships in say, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. So much in glee at the changed fortunes, they seem to have made quite a few wrong moves in getting people like Muthalik and Sabir Ali in, only to dump them like hot potatoes the moment the backlash had acquired tremendous proportions!           

My follies of the day!

I'm prone to making a number of errors these days and what embarrasses me most is that many of them are due to sheer forgetfulness. Is Alzheimer's approaching? Or is it that most of us go through this process on a regular basis? But suffice to note that many of my missteps bring mirthful laughter when I go through them, later at leisure and especially, when I try to justify them. Without much ado, let me go through my follies of the day:-

  (a) The missed morning walk.

   I'd got up around a half past three to go round the corner and after satisfying myself that I'd a good couple
   of hours to wake up for my morning work out, I'd knocked off in deep slumber. And when I woke up
   much after 6, it's daylight and had to rush to switch off the external lights which looked really out of place!
   It also meant shoddiness on my part apart from the fact that it would inflate the month's electricity bill. I'd
   also come to the conclusion that it would be too late for my walk as the heat was beginning to be felt and
   consequently, decided to skip it satisfying myself that it was a Sunday, after all!! I could afford to go easy
   on the exercising bit.

          *                                            *                                           *

  (b) Reciting the morning prayers like a stuck record.

   I'd earlier said on this forum that I recite my prayers - the Vishnu sahasranama sthothram' - without fail
   every morning. The verses are deeply embedded in a part of my brain but they turn out to be blank when
   my concentration gets affected by some other(?) thoughts or even due to an innocuous distraction like a
   phone call or a query of a passerby. This morning I'd the privilege of repeating the prayers about four
   times and was damn angry with myself!

          *                                             *                                           *

   (c) My games with the water motor to fill up the overhead tank.

    In fact, this invariably has two parts and they take place with a remarkable regularity which are:-
       
        (i) Washing down the house. After switching on the motor, I've this funny habit of latching on to yet
             another job which I'm sure could be juggled well, but end up with being unable to keep tab on
             either resulting in overflow - my weak alibi being that I was trying to wash down the terrace which
             was dirty! ......Washing down every third day?

        (ii) Flooding the lawn. Mexican grass has been laid on a small patch of land around the well in the
             courtyard. After watering the patch, by turning a couple of valves, the water from the well can be
             diverted into the overhead tank. Quite often, the turning of the valves gets conveniently forgotten
             resulting in the flooding of the patch which begins to resemble the submerged paddy fields of  
             Kuttanad during monsoons!

           *                                            *                                           *

     (d) The parking of the car.

      I'd to make a visit to the nearby department store to buy grocery as well as some fruits from a
      frequented vendor. The car has to be parked a bit far away from the shops and I'd forgotten to lock
      the vehicle. Worried about the unlocked car, I end up leaving a pack of grapes at the shop which,
      to my misfortune, I realise only after I park my car on the porch and had switched off the ignition!


Tailpiece.

There, I suppose, you now understand my predicament. ..........And I end up getting angry with myself!

PS.

I seem to have missed the real one....the actual reason for this story. A few weeks back, Lekha's dad had come to visit her at the hospital. During the interaction, I'd registered that his 'saarthi', Maari's seventh wedding anniversary was on the 30th and as is my won't, I'd noted it in my diary so that I didn't miss out on the date at any cost. And therefore, I'd prompted Lekha in giving him an early morning call so that we could surprise him and got surprised instead!

His WA was on the 07th of Mar. How I'd registered the date as 30th is something that even I can't understand! Is it an ENT specialist's problem?     

A day of many hues.

It's a long day that was a mixed bag of routine stuff coupled with the unsuspecting tugs and by the end of the day I felt that I'd been through a roller coaster of emotions.

It's the turn of Lekha's review by her doctor and we'd set off for the hospital, 25 km from our house, a trifle after 9 and since the traffic was smooth, we'd reached our destination within 45'. Our stay had taken over two hours, but the nursing staff went out of their way to look after us and even gave one of the rooms that had been vacated around that time to tide over the monotony of waiting on account of the doctor's morning schedule. And he's indicated that the healing process is on the lines that he'd expected it to be, outlining further steps towards attaining normalcy and has given 12 Apr as the date when he'd see her next.

It's late in the afternoon when I'd called up my cousin to inquire about her mom's progress at the ayurvedic clinic, when she broke the news of AP Chandrasekharan, an advocate in his early 80s, being buttoned on to a ventillator for life support after a massive cardiac arrest and brain hemorrhage. His liver had just given way and the doctor had said that there was nothing more that could be done but wait for the inevitable end. I couldn't believe that the affable and likeable 'Chandrettan' was vegetating in an ICU. The last time we'd met was at a wedding reception at Kochi when he'd expressed a desire to spend an evening with me as he always felt invigorated(?) after an interaction. This was in November last and the last piece of conversation that I'd with him was during last month, when he'd chosen a 'grandfather clock' for us with a promise that he'd visit 'The Quarterdeck' pretty soon. I never realised then that he'd made a promise that he'd never keep!

By a quarter to 7, I was told that it was all over. RIP, Chandretta. I shall always cherish my times with you and may chechi and Anand have the strength to tide over their loss. And my humble prayers.

At 2030h, it was time for the simulated 'black out' on account of the 'earth hour'. I felt a bit of satisfaction towards doing my bit towards the cause of saving energy! And it's during the black out that Sabu and li'l Madhav had dropped by, to spend the night with us, to visit the temple. And by the time they'd returned, we'd just about time to exchange notes because I'd wanted them to have a good night's sleep as they're driving off at the crack of the dawn.


Tailpiece.

It was also a day when my friend, at Delhi, had to be talked to who was celebrating his birthday after having done his last official tenure! And wasn't he thrilled?     

Has good parenting been thrown out of the window?

I've been watching a reality show on the Surya channel - not regularly, though - where tiny tots are the stars on stage. I must say that the hostess does her job pretty well as she manages to get the best out of the little children with the parents and the relatives - hogging their fifteen minutes of fame - in attendance, as the audience for the show!

And mind you, such shows are, indeed, getting to be popular because many channels churn out these reality shows! I've scratched my head to find out as to what could be the real purpose of the show and am yet to get a definitive answer. Let's try to hazard a guess, once again, as to what is being achieved through this type of entertainment(what's given in italics is the counterpoint):-

      (a) to nurture 'self confidence' in the young ones as it's  a very, very competitive world.
           Then, what about the majority of the children who don't have access into the world of 
           television? Aren't the schools doing this anyways?
      (b) is a platform to rub shoulders with power and glitz which can catapult the performers to better
           life, mediocrity be damned!
           A false notion and just by being around with known personalities cannot wipe off the 
           deficit of talent and the lack of wherewithal for sustained performance of an acceptable
           standard.
  
And may I ask as to how're the kids selected? I suppose by their singular ability to chatter.Many of the answers given by the little ones show the following:-

       (a) they've been tutored because they don't seem to know what they're uttering.
       (b) almost within the same breath, I must say that many others among them are sharp and observant
            about the things happening at their homes.
       (c) the parents give enormous freedom to their children where guidance and corrective action should
            have been provided.
       (d) a few of the conversational pieces that come out of the children's mouths are so 'heavy' and
            totally out of place!

My take.

Let the children enjoy their 'childhood'. Do not convert them into mechanised robots lest they lose their childhood innocence and charm. What's the tearing hurry to advance their maturity? Are you, the parents, trying to regain your lost opportunities by putting your children through a pace that would ultimately bring about his/her early downfall? Sad!


Tailpiece.

I'm reminded of an incident of my childhood though I don't remember as to when exactly it had taken place. My parents had been invited for a dinner and I was also taken along. On return, my mom seemed to be rather amused by the fact that the aunty - who'd invited - had put raddish in the 'sambar', a fact which she'd shared with my dad leading to a bit of mirth between the two of them.

When the uncle and aunt had come home visiting, a day later, somewhere in the course of their conversation I'd interjected to tell them about my mom's amused demeanour about the 'raddish in the sambar'. I was too dumb to register the tremendous embarrassment caused to the elders by my unwarranted, uncalled for inputs.

Later on, after the guests had left, I'd received the worst drubbing from my parents with the final statement, "You, as a child, have no business to listen in to your elders' conversations. You study, play and do the right things that you're meant to do and from now on, you shall not be visible when guests are visiting until you're specifically called for".

I learnt my lesson!  

The 'thick hide' brigade.

I'm amazed at the manner corrupt and tainted people strut around with their heads held high so as to indicate that they're 'clean' and all the brouhaha in the form of hard evidence, pointing to their proclivity, is just nothing but cooked up stories dished out by their haters! Must concede that their hides are too damn thick. But what amazes me more is as to why we can't have laws that speedily close in on these thugs and hand over justice for the sake of setting an example to the younger generation and also act as a deterrent for probable crime doers. Here are four of the kingpins, among the many, that continue to have their names pop up every now and then on today's media:-

  (a) N Srinivasan.

  His shapeless figure, coupled with the red vermilion mark on his forehead, epitomises all the ills that are
  known to be plaguing Indian cricket. That he has been sitting at the helm of the treasure chest that's the
  BCCI despite wrong doings, show his clout and the 'not-so-clean' state of the other members of the board!
  He's seen to be haggling for a safe way for himself, despite the Supreme Court's harsh observations and
  I'm sure he still harbours the thought of being the boss of cricket's apex body, the ICC, in June this year.

  (b) Subrata Roy.

  The disgraced chairman of the tainted Sahara empire has expressed inability to pay Rs. 10,000 crores as
  repayment money to the lakhs of investors that he's looted to set up 'the mirage of his glittering empire'
  which would have seen him come out of jail on bail. It's but common knowledge that without that money
  that he'd acquired through dubious means, he'd be like any other man trying to eke out his living! He
  deserves to languish in jail till he liquidates the debt that he owes to his customers, many of whom, who'd
  entrusted him with their hard earned savings!!

  (c) Suresh Kalmadi.

   One of the ignominious faces that quickly come to mind whenever the Commonwealth Games organisation
   and the corruption surrounding it is thought of. He'd harboured delusions of fighting the forthcoming
   elections. What can one say about his cheek to even dream of such a thing?

  (d) Ashok Chavan.

  The less said the better about the prime mover of the infamous 'Adarsh scam'. I'm sure he'll be taught
  the lesson of his lifetime at the hustings. If the verdict were to go in his favour, I shall be very, very sad
  as a sincere and simple citizen of this country! The Congress party seems to be saying that what could a
  'clean' guy like him do when he'd been prompted to do wrong things by a bunch of corrupt professionals?


Tailpiece.

The first dish, out of the bunch of 'Ladys' Fingers' from our kitchen garden, was served on the lunch table today. Felt proud about the results and mind you, no pesticides have been used! 

At what price, gallantry?

This forenoon, I'd received a missive from Thiruvananthapuram that the Kerala Government has sanctioned me a sum of Rs. 55,790/- on account of my being a gallantry award winner! I was thankful that the prize money was not further, accurately broken into decimals like say, Rs. 55,790/57 only!!

But couldn't they have rounded it off to Rs.55,800/-? Probably not, because of a possible 'audit objection' in future!? On further queries as to how the magical number had been arrived at, I was given the breakdown as follows:-

                  (a) Cash award                                                                Rs. 3,790/-
                  (b) Cash in lieu of land                                                      Rs.22,000/-
                  (c) Lumpsum annuity                                                        Rs. 30,000/-
                                                                                                       ---------------
                                        Grand total                                                 Rs. 55,790/-

Backdrop.

I'm one of the recipients of the Naosena Medal(Gallantry) for my exploits during the Sri Lanka Operations(Code named 'Aman' initially and as 'Operation Pawan' subsequently) during the late '80s. I was the captain of the 'Indian Naval Landing Craft Utility L36 and my ship's operational achievements in the Palk Bay/Sri Lankan waters had fetched me the coveted medal, which was announced by our government of the day during the Republic Day honours of 1988.

I can't blow my trumpet or sing the ballad highlighting my achievements, can I? It's the purview of the others who'd the ringside view or the historians to do so and I would like to leave it at that! There were very many difficult situations during the course of the lengthy deployments but I'd let three factors decide upon my actions, which were:-

     (i) to the extent feasible, try to apprehend the boats/suspicious craft by stunning them with my
         superior fire power.
     (ii) avoid any sort of danger/damage to my men or my ship and
    (iii) my conscience had to be clear that I wasn't doing anything for my personal glory. 

Back to the present.

I wasn't elated! I wasn't sad either!! But I definitely felt dirty for having my difficult times and complex decisions taken, during the time, at having been pegged at a mere Rs. 55 grand!!!



Tailpiece.

What the civilians, the landlubbers or the bureaucrats can never understand are the three sayings that a serviceman is always bound by and I list them all over again:-

  (a) "The safety, honour and welfare of your country
           come first, always and every time.
        The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command
           come next
        Your own ease, comfort and safety
           come last, always and every time".
                                                              - Brigadier Chetwode.

   (b) "Service before self".
                                                               - the NDA credo.

   (c) If you're a gentleman, nothing else matters
        If you're not a gentleman, still nothing matters!
                                                               - author unknown.

And finally, the guiding factor in my life has always been an old Quaker saying and I quote,

     "I expect to pass through this world but once.
      Any good work, therefore, any kindness or any
      help that I can render let me do it now. Let me 
      not neglect or defer it, for, I'll not pass this way
      again". 

Et tu Brutus?

Every generation is expected to usher in a freshness of thought and ideas for the betterment of the people. It, therefore, becomes incumbent on the freshers entering the political arena to dump the past that everyone's been crying about. To achieve that, it's very important that they do not carry the baggage of their forefathers'.

'Reservation' on government jobs for the dalits was a noble thought on the part of our forefathers to bring up the 'not-so-fortunate', downtrodden population which had long suffered from the oppression and the exploitation of the privileged classes simply because of the accident of their births in lower castes. And it was supposed to have been tapered off after a decade of independence when it was estimated that the dalits would have had the necessary impetus to gain an advantageous position in society.

Unfortunately, that was not to be. The compulsions of vote bank politics saw successive governments hang on to the 'reservation' policy and ridiculously increase the 'quota' system, so much so that the forward castes have been left with very less vacancies for themselves. Many of the castes clubbed under the heading of the Other Backward Communities(OBCs) also have been done without careful thought; just to suit the interests of the political party, in power, seems to have been the raison de' tre!

The Congress party's latest gimmick that it will ensure 'job reservations' in the private sector, should it be voted back to power, announced by none other than Rahul Gandhi is worthy of condemnation outright. It's to be nipped in the bud and it's my opinion that the existing reservations on the basis of caste be dumped and perhaps, reservations based on the economic status of an individual be considered in lieu. Otherwise, the beneficiaries could be the real privileged ones for example, the children of Ram Vlilas Paswan, a dalit but economically well off and his wife, a brahmin! It just isn't fair!!


Tailpiece.

1. Film actress Nanda, who'd given many memorable performances on the Hindi movie silver screen, had passed into the mist of time this morning after a massive heart attack. RIP, Nanda. You shall continue to live on in our hearts for the years to come, through the characters that you'd portrayed!

2. Finally, after an agonising wait, it has been officially announced by the Malaysian authorities that the flight MH 370 had ended somewhere in the inhospitable seas of the southern corridor of the Indian Ocean, roughly about 2,500 km from Perth, Australia.