I wonder how.....

I wonder how..I wonder why..yesterday you told me about the blue blue sky....
and all that I can see jus another lemon tree....
well....you might be thinking that I have gone mad. Not yet.This was a very popular song during our final year when we had a few hours in college and more of leisure time. Yes....I dont have that time nowadays.The leisure time or sit idle wondering what should I do next. 12 hours work including two hrs travel to and fro journey that too six days per week. Life is moving at an amazing pace.But enjoying the new life entirely.You don't have a single second to waste on thinking what to do next. Whoever said public sector job was a 10 to 5 job is proved to be wrong again. Working in a totally different work culture especially when you are coming from a private sector that too IT where you get the best of everything (of course everything has its pros and cons..but still)was like a cultural shock. When I was working in IT I could see most of them were if my age except a few.But here if there is one more person of my age its a miracle. But then the way the elders treat you as their own kid or how concerned they are about us are just amazing.Nothing can replace that love and care. Then the most important part. To deal with the public!I think I should have a new post only for that.I bet thats the most interesting and difficult part.

My training in SBT-An Intro

Yes...You heard me right.I am in SBT working as a PO.It was all of a sudden.Its been a couple of months I have been working here. A lot of confusions were surrounding on me whether to join or not. All the clouds are moved and the sky is clear now and am here in a nationalized bank in office cadre.Getting training in the head office located at Poojappura, Trivandrum after 2 months of joining. Trivandrum is a place which I have been only for writing exams or so. For that I dont have much things to remember about this place. Sure my one week so called Industrial Training in third yr summer vacation was an amazing experience I must agree. Other than that this place was special for some personal reasons. So as soon as I got down in Trivandrum a lot of memories flooded to my mind though it is more hurting now. Anyway all said and done the training seems to be a wonderful experience. And I am just comparing the way I was trained in IT, a private sector with banking happened to be a public sector.Both are service sectors. So ultimately customer satisfaction is the motto. This is just an intro. More things ll be coming in the upcoming days...

Anything for you ma'm - A review

Thus I completed reading a book after a long long time. The last book which I read was Dork by Sidin Vadukutu around three months before or more than that. Anything for you ma'm is an another IITian's book the trend which started by Chetan Bhagat and followed by many. Here the difference is that the author Tushar Raheja wrote this book during his final year. Ofcourse, for a debutante author the book may be good enough. But let me tell you the the book was very ordinary. The storyline of the book is that a final year student from the prestigious IIT Delhi skips his ten days industrial trip to Pune instead goes to meet his sweetheart who is in Chennai, well away from Delhi.The whole story revolves around the romance between Tejas Narula and Shreya.  All other characters are just a support and to give a foundation for this relationship. Apart from a very few funny situations and dialogues; indeed for the IIT background also, the book is very much ordinary. The author seems to be a lot attached to his family which is very obvious throughout the book. Another noticeable thing which needs to be mentioned is the poetry he has included in the book. In a nutshell the book could have been far better. Anyway I was disappointed to read just another love story I could have better opted for an M&B.

Here I am....

After a long gap I am back in blogosphere.Its been more than three months I have written anything in my blog. Though I wrote one in Sep it was just for namesake.My stint in Bengaluru erstwhile Bangalore was quite eventful. Bangalore is a place which I have been hearing since my childhood yet never had been to there. Even though I had got a chance before I declined and believe me I had to pay heavily for it. Then for some weird reason I was always in love with Chennai. Anyway this time when I was offered an opportunity in Bangalore I accepted it thinking that at least once I should be there and see hows the IT hub of India. Thus in June I bade adieu to Chennai and landed in Bangalore. I reached there at night. As the train nearing to the city I felt like I was entering into darkness. That feeling I always had whenever I was out in night. Then the most appreciated climate of Bangalore. I don't remember when was the last time I had a severe cold. But after two weeks in Bangalore I was in the hands of cold and was literally bed ridden. My office was near to MG Road so you can say I was in the heart of the city. There was no direct bus from my place to MG Road. So I had to go to Sivajinagar Bus Stand and from there get another bus to my PG. Whether you believe it or not I got the bus to stand the first week five different places. And the traffic police and bus conductors speak no language other than Kannada(Not sure they were doing this even after knowing Hindi or English) which was more or less like Greek or Latin to me.And if I ask someone who can communicate they are totally blank and say sorry.I wonder if only I had these problems. There is a mutual understanding between passengers and conductors by charging less but not giving the ticket. Nevertheless to ask where does this money go. In the signal there is no traffic police and you have to run if you want your life and cross the road. Most of the signals doesn't have a signal for pedestrians.


Wow....Now I feel like I have kept the burden down from my mind. Those who love Bangalore please do forgive me if the criticism is too much. May be I am being too much cynic wrote all these.Can you say these are just made up ones?Sure these are only one side of the coin. I hope I ll we ll see the other side of the coin in the next post.

Happy Teacher's Day..................

Well....I did not have a plan to write about teacher's day....But thenI got a mail which was the address of our former president APJ Abdul Kalam on the eve of Teacher's Day broadcasted on All India Radio.Just thought of sharing it with you....I have always thought teaching as a noble job. And all my teachers always have a very special place in my heart...When I was asked what would you become when you grow up, my immediate answer was to be a teacher though I am not one now. We have heard of the relationship between Drona and Arjuna in which the teacher loved his student more than his own son.But today neither the teachers nor the students have a cherishable relationship leave aside teachers considering their students as their own children. The whole education system has become a business. Teaching has become just another job. The one people prefers when they can't get any other job. They don't have the passion or commitment.However to all the teachers including my mom who have played a major role in shaping me the way I am, wish a very happy teacher's day.

Following is the Full text of the former Indian President's A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM address on the eve of Teachers' Day.
Dear listeners of All India Radio and teachers, my greetings to all of you.
I am talking to you on the special occasion of Teachers' Day. On this day, we gratefully remember the great educationist Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, whose dream was that "Teachers should be the best minds in the country". Hence, Teachers' Day is very important for all our people, for our students and even for all the parents, as the teachers lay the foundation for creating enlightened citizens for the nation. On this day, I would like to recall three teachers who helped me in shaping my life.
To begin with I am going to talk to you about my father Janab Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen, as a teacher. My father taught me a great lesson when I was a young boy. What was that lesson? It was just after India got Independence. At that time Panchayat board elections took place at Rameswaram. My father was elected Panchayat Board member and on the same day he was also elected the president of the Rameswaram Panchayat Board. Rameswaram Island was a beautiful place with 30,000 populations. At that time they elected my father as Panchayat Board president not because he belonged to a particular religion or a particular caste or spoke a particular language or for his economic status. He was elected only on the basis of his nobility of mind and for being a good human being. Dear listeners, I would like to narrate one incident that took place on the day he was elected president of the Panchayat Board.
I was at that time studying in school. Those days we did not have electricity and we used to study under ration kerosene lamps. I was reading the lessons loudly and I heard a knock at the door. We never used to lock the door in Rameswaram in those days. Somebody opened the door, came in and asked me where my father was? I told him that father had gone for the evening namaz. Then he said, I have brought something for him, can I keep it here? Since my father had gone for namaz, I shouted for my mother to get her permission to receive the item. Since she was also on the namaz there was no response. I asked the person to leave the item on the cot. After that I continued my studies.
I used to learn by reading aloud in my younger days. I was reading loud and fully concentrating on my studies. At that time my father came in and saw a tambalum kept in the cot. He asked me "What is this? Who has given that?" I told him, "Somebody came and has kept this for you". He opened the cover of the tambalum and found there was a costly dhoti, angawastram, some fruits and some sweets and he could see the slip that the person had left behind. I was the youngest child of my father, he really loved me and I also loved him a lot. He was upset at the sight of the tambalum and gifts.
That was the first time I saw him very angry and also that was the first time I had got a thorough beating from him. I got frightened and started weeping. My mother embraced and consoled me. Then my father came and touched my shoulder lovingly with affection and advised me not to receive any gift without his permission. He quoted an Islamic Hadith, which states that, "When the Almighty appoints a person to a position, He takes care of his provision. If a person takes anything beyond that, it is an illegal gain." Then he told me that it is not a good habit. A gift is always accompanied by some purpose and a gift is a dangerous thing. It is like touching a snake and getting the poison in turn. This lesson stands out always in my mind even when I am in my seventies. This incident, taught me a very valuable lesson for my life. It is deeply embedded in my mind.
I would like also to mention the writings in Manu Smriti which states that "By accepting gifts the divine light in the person gets extinguished". Manu warns every individual against accepting gifts for the reason that it places the acceptor under an obligation in favour of the person who gave the gift and ultimately it results in making a person to do things which are not permitted according to law.
I am sharing this thought, with all of you, particularly the young ones, do not be carried away by any gift which comes with a purpose and through which one loses his personality greatly. Do you think, you can follow this in your life? I will be very happy if you can practice this sincerely.
When I think of my second teacher, I am reminded of my childhood days when I was studying in 8th class at the age of 13. I had a teacher, Shri Siva Subramania Iyer. He was one of the very good teachers in our school. All of us loved to attend his class and hear him. One day he was teaching about a bird's flight. He drew a diagram of a bird on the blackboard depicting the wings, tail and the body structure with the head. He explained how birds create the lift and fly. He also explained to us how they change direction while flying. For nearly 25 minutes he gave the lecture with various information such as lift, drag, how the birds fly in a formation of 10, 20 or 30. At the end of the class, he wanted to know whether we understood how birds fly. I said, I did not understand. When I said this, the teacher asked the other students whether they understood or not. Many students said that they also did not understand. He did not get upset by our response since he was a committed teacher.
Our teacher said that he would take all of us to the sea shore. That evening the whole class was at the sea shore of Rameswaram. We enjoyed the roaring sea waves knocking at the sandy hills in the pleasant evening. Birds were flying with sweet chirping voice. He showed the sea birds in formations of 10 to 20 numbers. We saw the marvelous formations of birds with a purpose and we were all amazed. He showed us the birds and asked us to see that when the birds fly, what they looked like. We saw the wings flapping. He asked us to look at the tail portion with the combination of flapping wings and twisting tail. We noticed closely and found that the birds in that condition flew in the direction they desired. Then he asked us a question, "Where the engine is and how it is powered"?
The bird is powered by its own life and the motivation of what it wants. All these things were explained to us within fifteen minutes. We all understood the dynamics from this practical example. How nice it was. Our teacher was a great teacher; he could give us a theoretical lesson coupled with a live practical example available in nature. This is real teaching. I am sure many of the teachers in schools and colleges will follow this example.
For me, it was not merely an understanding of how a bird flies. The bird's flight entered into me and created a special feeling. From that evening, I thought that my future study has to be with reference to flight and flight systems. I am saying this because my teacher's teaching and the event that I witnessed decided my future career. Then one evening after the classes, I asked the teacher, "Sir, please tell me, how to progress further in learning all about flight." He patiently explained to me that I should complete 8th class, and then go to high school, and then I should go to engineering college that may lead to education on flight. If I complete all my education with excellence, I might do something connected with flight sciences. This advice and the bird flying exercise given by my teacher, really gave me a goal and a mission for my life. When I went to college, I took physics. When I went to engineering in Madras Institute of Technology, I took aeronautical engineering.
Thus my life was transformed as a rocket engineer, aerospace engineer and technologist. That one incident of my teacher teaching the lesson, showing the visual live example proved to be a turning point in my life which eventually shaped my profession.
A student during his school life upto 10+2 spends 25,000 hours in the school campus. His life is, more influenced by the teachers and the school environment. Therefore, the school must have the best of teachers with ability to, teach and love teaching and build moral qualities. Teachers should become role models. Similarly, the student must be alert to build himself with best of qualities and to get ignited with a vision for his or her future life.
I would like to share with you another experience with my teacher Prof. Satish Dhawan. First, I worked in Delhi with the Ministry of Defence. Later I joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in 1958 at the Aeronautical Development Establishment at Bangalore. There with the advice of the Director, I took up the development of hovercraft. Hovercraft design needed the development of a ducted contra-rotating propeller for creating a smooth flow balancing the torques. I did not know how to design a contra-rotating propeller though I knew how to design a conventional propeller. Some of my friends told me that I could approach Prof. Satish Dhawan of the Indian Institute of Science, who was well known for his aeronautical research, for help.
I took permission from my Director Dr Mediratta and went to Prof Dhawan who was sitting in a small room in the Indian Institute of Science with a lot of books in the background and a blackboard on the wall. Prof Dhawan asked me what the problem was that I wanted to discuss. I explained the problem.. He told me that it was really a challenging task and he would teach me the design if I attended his classes in IISc between 2 pm to 3 pm on all Saturdays for the next six weeks.
He was a visionary teacher. He prepared the schedule for the entire course and wrote it on the black board. He also gave me the reference material and books I should read before I start attending the course. I considered, this as a great opportunity and I started attending the discussion and started meeting him regularly. Before commencing each meeting, he would ask critical questions and assess my understanding of the subject. That was for the first time that I realized how a good teacher prepares himself for teaching with meticulous planning and prepares the student for acquisition of knowledge. This process continued for the next six weeks. I got the capability for designing the contra-rotating propeller. Prof Dhawan told me that I was ready for developing the contra-rotating propeller for a given hovercraft configuration. That was the time I realized that Prof Dhawan was not only a teacher but also a fantastic development engineer of aeronautical systems.
Later during the critical phases of testing, Prof Dhawan was with me to witness the test and find solutions to the problems. After reaching the smooth test phase, the contra-rotating propeller went through 50 hours of continuous testing. Prof Dhawan witnessed the test himself and congratulated me. That was a great day for me when I saw the contra rotating propeller designed by my team performing to the mission requirement in the hovercraft. However, at that time, I did not realize that Prof Dhawan would become chairman, ISRO and that I would get the opportunity to work with him as a project director in the development of the satellite launch vehicle SLV-3 for injecting the Rohini satellite into the orbit. Nature has its own way to link the student's dream and real life later.
This was the first design in my career which gave me the confidence to design many complex aerospace systems in future. The hovercraft could fly just above the ground level carrying two passengers. I was the first pilot for this hovercraft and I could control and maneuver the vehicle in any direction. Through this project I learnt the techniques of designing and developing the contra-rotating propeller. Above all, I learnt that in a project, problems will always crop up; we should not allow problems to be our masters but we should defeat the problems. Then successes will sparkle.
The three teachers in my life; what did they give me? In an integrated way it can be said, that any enlightened human being can be created by three unique characteristics. One is moral value system. That I got from my father the hard way. Secondly, the teacher becoming a role model. Not only does the student learn, but the teacher shapes his life with great dreams and aims. Finally, the education and learning process has to culminate in the creation of professional capability leading to confidence and will power to make a design, to make a product, to make a system, bravely combating many problems. What a fortune and blessing I had from my three teachers.
Among the listeners, there may be many parents, many teachers and a large number of students. Every one of us in this planet creates a page in human history irrespective of who he/she is. I realize my experience is a small dot in human life, but that dot has a life and light. This light let it light many lamps.
My best wishes to all of you on this occasion of Teachers' Day. Thank you.

I am alive!!!!!!!!

Yes..I am still alive..Its been almost three months since my last post...There were some valid or invalid reasons for me being absconded from the scene.Anyway now I am back. A lot of changes happened in the past few months. Some are very drastic some are not. One main thing is that I am no more a Chennaite and I do miss Chennai very badly. I never realised I had such a strong bonding with that city and with those people whom I have befriended, met or no connection at all. Its strange.I visited Chennai after vacating there. And let me tell you, to my own surprise the kind of comfortableness I had as soon as I stepped in Chennai was incredible. It was beyond my belief and I could express with words. It was just like its my own city. So that's one thing.I miss Chennai too badly. And to rub the salt on the wound, the new city where I am now is far beyond the standards. At least I feel so. On top of it the people are so unfriendly and fraud.

One good thing is that I started cooking. That was so unexpected in my life at this point of time. I was never prepared for that. But I had to since my PG does not provide food. The very first time I cooked I saluted my mom in mind for making those tasty foods in early mornings and whenever we want without complaining not even once. But it eats up almost all my time and I am not doing anything except for cooking and going to office. Even nowadays I sleep too less which I never foresee. Though cooking takes time I can't really blame it for eating up my time. Started watching TV lot too much especially late night movies. That's one reason for the deprivation of sleep.Still enjoying the food which we prepare without any complaints.

I think I wrote a whole lot which is too boring...Let me put a pause now to resume it soon...Till then bye..

P.S. Was this in my drafts for quite a long time....Just publishing it now as we have some movies which are being released after a long time of its production and making.:P

Infidelity among men and women

Today morning,in radio the topic for debate was "Is infidelity a territory of men?" Though always I wanted to listen to these debates most of the time it would be my breakfast time. So I won't be able to listen it. But today I decided to listen it at any cost. Sure, I missed some part of it still it turned out to be good. There were three panelists. A lady who is a counsellor, an IT professional who is also a member of All India Men's Welfare Association(I never knew such an association existed) and a psychiartist. The lady panelist told the men are more prone to infidelity than women. She quoted from history the stories like Kannaki. The IT professional told that in India the punishment for infidelity is only for men(Section 97) not for women.i.e. evn if a husband same to know that his wife is unloyal to him the person getting punishment will be the other man not his wife although she is also involved in it. Wow...I think when our frist law commission drafted IPC they would have never imagined Indian women will never be unfaithful to their men. Anyway today we know how the situation is and that debate ended with the conclusion that in the case of infidelity both men and women are equally responsible for a man is unloyal to his wife 'coz of another woman unless and otherwise he is a gay. Still all were happy for the fact that in the insitution of marriage Indian marriage is the most trust worthy than anyone else' in this world.I remember reading a survey conducted by a magazine which reveals appalling number of extra marital affairs in Indian metros a few years before.May be its a small minority but still that is the reality. We also have movies and daily soaps which endorses this and the TRP rate for all these we all know how high.So as the number of divorces increases day by day and trying to emulate all which is Western or American I wonder how long we can boast about the institution of marriage in India.