Social Media Marketing

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth – Muhammad Ali”

Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility has always been a key factor for every team member associated with Techdivine Creative Services.

This time one of our friends Ms.Dobani, shared with us something that was close to her heart and a very important aspect of life that many a times we tend to have ignored even without our own knowledge.

One of our team members had a long conversation with Ms.Dobani and we mutually shared our involvements across various NGO works over the years.

Which is what brought us today to share this important date.

Today on 1st October, we celebrate the very reason for our existence here on earth with “WORLD ELDERS DAY”

World Elders Day

The TISS group (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) batch of “TISS Gerontology – Batch 2009-2010″ has prepared a wonderful presentation that would take just few moments from your precious time to share something that is extremely valuable and very much in need of ATTENTION not in any other way, but in the form of your thought and your concern for the same, that’s all.

We are sure that you would take few seconds of your time and go through this wonderful presentation on “WORLD ELDERS DAY“ and share it with your friends too.

Always remember, Life will give you back everything you have given to it. So care while you share!

(You can download the Presentation from the link below and do keep your speakers on, if you can too)

Go To Download Page:
CLICK HERE

External / Related Links:

TISS

Social Corporate Responsibility Blog Post

Making the moments count

Have a wonderful life ahead.

Regards

Admin

Techdivine Creative Services

9 Tips on How to survive the Workplace:

Cubicle

“How to survives” have been part of each one of us at some point or the other in our lives, especially with regards to workplace. Today,  I bring out here certain tips which will help you to be at peace with yourself & others including fellow employees, subordinates and the most important of all – your boss.

The various tips listed below, mirror my attempts at survival at the workplace in the short career that I have had. This in no way can transform into the Bible or a magical potion to attaining nirvana at the workplace.  Kindly note, they are my personal views and as I would like to call them, the – golden rules to survive the workplace.

1. Never Compare: This is especially true when you have joined a new company which is more or less engaged in the same activity or in the same industry as your previous company. Yes, comparisons are bound to arise on the work culture, infrastructure, technology and other issues which one might find different from your earlier employer. However this does not go on to translate into a good company-bad company thing. One has to remember that every organization has its own ways of functioning and this may create limitations in the style of functioning. You will be required to appreciate the presence of certain things. However it is not necessary to get stuck at the things that you don’t like and crib about them especially to senior colleagues or other team members who have been there for a long time. Instead try to devise work around solutions to these things which will enable you to live the same or similar life that you lived in your earlier organization. Besides if everything were to be like your previous organization, Why Change in the first place??? Point to ponder isn’t it.
2. DO NOT enter into Conflict situations: A wise man rightly said – There are two things in life that you cannot wish for – A good wife and a good boss. If you manage to get both, then maybe you are dreaming! However most of the times, from my experiences, there have been differences of opinion between the boss and the subordinate (you). In such times, rather than a heated discussion on the subject, it is always better to put your point of view/justification across and then let the boss decide on the future course of action. This not only enables closure of the topic under discussion but also ensures a better working environment around you. One only needs to have two to three interactions with people to know their body makeup. Also most bosses are known to trust their instinct more than anything else. So rather than arguing on something and wasting precious time and peace of mind accept the verdict and move on. This may sound to be due to a lack of self confidence in your abilities to some readers but personally speaking, this is a much better way of being in a win-win situation.
3.  DO NOT cozy up: We may have seen many of our colleagues in action doing exactly this. These are people who may wish the boss hello in a more than endearing manner, carry their baggage, go to lunch with them, bend over backwards to do things for them, go to lunch with them and nod off their heads to every word  and every decision taken irrespective of the consequences. These are people part of the yes-brigade who may find themselves at cross roads when the boss just dumps them for a better opportunity. Though certain of the activities mentioned may form part of your routine unknowingly, but this kind of attitude brings you into a direct line of conflict with your colleagues and subordinates. This is what we call a “chamcha” in the colloquial language, here in the city of Mumbai, India. Also, if this guarantees promotion (as expected by some) you are better off being in a new organization than imbibing this quality. Always make your work speak for itself.

4. Never draw comparisons with anyone: This is especially true when we try to compare salaries, promotions, work profiles etc. These kind of comparisons will only end up in you being even more disgruntled and dissatisfied and may start affecting your performance. This will also lead to a stressful work life and you will end up a psychological wreck. Every man is there for a reason and you are also doing what you are doing for a reason. Just try to become the best in whatever you do and leave the rest to the others. Always remember we are never short of options. Give it your best shot. If it doesn’t work the first time, put in even more effort and if the outcome is still not up-to what you wanted, you always have the option of moving on. There is no dearth of opportunities in this world. Only require people to look in the right places.
5. Work-Life balance: This is the latest management mantra that’s going around. However rosy it may seem let me assure you, there is no such thing as a work-life balance. Work, these days has become so intense that it has started to seep into our daily lives. Also with the advent of nuclear families, family life has also crept into our line of work. When we crib about us having more work to do, we need to just stop for a moment and think about the last phone call or email we have had from our friends or near and dear ones. And I can safely vouch that there would be no man who has not received a call or an email from family or friends on a single day of his working life. I also do personally feel that we are always better off not scheduling any personal engagements on a working day even if it is after office hours. So stop cribbing and start working.
6. Stop looking at the watch: This is especially for those of us who are of the belief that office timings should be as defined in the company rule book. Had that been the case, India would not have been the outsourcing super power that it is today. Also, a work day should be defined by the activities at hand and ensuring completion of these tasks. In such circumstances, one needs to just stop and think of what would happen to the work left unattended at our table in case we are unable to resume the next day due to various strikes or disease or a family urgency and the additional burden it would create on our own colleagues and put ourselves in their shoes. I am always reminded of the opening scene in the movie Hollowman wherein Kevin Bacon ( the actor playing Hollowman) takes a break from his work and looks up and the sign pasted there says

“You should be working”

7. Resolve issues: Always try and resolve issues at your table itself. If it seems that an issue may go out of hand, consult your immediate reporting authority. Rather than letting an issue take its own time and getting escalated to various higher-ups and turning into a nasty situation, take control of the situation. It has often been seen that people take great pleasure in sending emails after emails on the same subject making it a pain in the eyes of the other people marked in the mails, without taking any action. This only complicates matters further and leads to frustration at the work place.
8. Enquire: At the cost of being branded an obtrusive colleague, enquire about what your fellow colleague is doing and what you can do to reduce his load. This is especially helpful in times when within the same team one of the guys is engaged in a demanding project and the other is having a relatively easy day. The very act of asking in itself helps soother the other colleagues nerves and help him in completing his work in a more efficient manner. Also, never be shy of helping out your co-colleague  in completing his work even at the cost of being late than usual in getting home. Remember this may happen to you too.

9. Remember: Finally remember the following two golden rules.

Rule 1: THE BOSS IS ALWAYS RIGHT

Rule 2: IF THE BOSS IS WRONG, APPLY RULE 1

So go ahead, work your worries away. Have a great day ahead!

Regards

Mani.S. (A.k.a Ananth.S.)

Related Posts:

Relationship called Love

Married, but to caste and religion

With so much of social media marketing, brand analysis, consumer needs statistics, product insight interactions etc the power of media & the number game online, it becomes a great everyday learning school and a wonderful experience. It adds so much of learning on the real meaning of the term BRAND with respect to different products and industries & what they mean to each of them.

The work is great and there is so much of research and new tools understanding happening here on a daily basis. We just finished 3 big marketing campaigns each for two of our corporate clients into the trading & retail industry last week. It will be going live the coming week from their end.

The first thing that we did after the campaigns is ask ourselves, “Isn’t the rent due to the “society” for some time now?”

That’s right, corporate social responsibility is a key factor for every team member associated with Techdivine Creative Services.

It’s been over 5 years since my association with varied NGO’s across cities in India. I am still deeply honored for being considered for the Rashtriya Gaurav Award for the varied contributions to different NGO’s. I remember my different experiences across well known NGO’s and I actually realized that not everyone associated with an NGO need to be understanding the cause fully or even caring about the same to the core. That brought me close to also understanding the fact that writing a cheque of X amount to an NGO does not fulfill your duty towards the family surrounding you and your loved ones, which is the society in general.

The works that I have associated myself with in the last 5 years have been from taking and educating the less privileged on different aspects and subjects to doing volunteering works during calamities to arranging IT literacy sessions for groups that would love to learn and grow with IT, but cannot reach the right source or afford the same, to just being there for those who need anyone just to be around them for some time. It’s only during these associations and interactions with scores across the cities of India, that I ran into massively big & well known names in our nation who have been doing this and lot more for decades. Their experiences have deeply humbled me over the years. I used to feel proud of myself when I began contributing my time or skill for those less fortunate, but when I realized the amount of efforts that I could have actually put into it over a period of time, I felt more humbled. It’s very true to say that, no amount of profits in life or number cracking achievements can give you a real peaceful sleep than knowing that you made a positive impact on someone who really needed it in their life that day and whom we have never known before.

Mother Teresa has been an unbelievable influence on my life and when I see the smile on the sweet mother’s face when she is with her children in her videos and across platforms, the aura of positive energy that already seems to surround her only gets bigger. I can never become or even fathom to do what she has done for billions across the globe, as I am like a candle in front of the sun when I look at her, but if I could while making the rightful contribution towards my family also always make that positive impact to those who are part of the society but not related directly to our lives, the feeling is amazing. At the end of the day, it is to make ourselves feel better that we do something for someone, well, for most of us. There are those around us too, who do it because it is their greatness to contribute without expecting pride feeling in return. They are truly the ones that are keeping the world in one single safe and sane place. Societal contributors and influencers like Mother Teresa, now being the mother that she was, is not a task that is easy or humanly possible to follow.  Even during our recent visit to one of their abodes, the air and the aura surrounding us were amazingly positive. Attached is a pic taken from their facility.

Mother Teresa

As more of these discussions and thoughts flowed across with our team at Techdivine creative services yesterday, (this happened after the team presented the marketing reports for the week, by the way, expecting  a pep-talk probably from my end on how to analyze and perform better, instead, this is what they got to hear). But they did not complain. Every member of the team here knows the importance that we associate to Social responsibility on a regular basis.

We are hoping to one day soon plan out a forum wherein we can coordinate, plan, invite and conduct lot of social initiatives on education, social abuse help groups & motivation events with the support of the entire team and good wishes from our members across countries.

No wonder that Corporate like TATA or Infosys today commands so much of respect across the globe today, with so much of social help that they have attached themselves in sincerely carrying out as part of their routine. They are great motivations and inspirations to any corporate today.

As the weekend draws to a close, I guess it is time for a real time social connect anyway.

Stay focused, stay connected & stay really social!

God Bless,

Ananth V.

—

Related Posts:

Be More Ambitious

Making the moments count

When I was 21

Everything I touch, seems to have life

Dear Friends,

This month marks our 3^rd Anniversary of the Creative Writers blog.

Creative Writing

The journey began with the first publication and the Times of India interview and coverage of the coffee table poetry book “Expressions“, but it was only by end 2008 that we got an idea to get other writers too to add their ideas, experiences and stories and share them in such a large platform.

As the readers and comments kept increasing, with more inputs, critique, suggestions from all of you, we added interactivity, free registrations for comments, Premium memberships and so on to the creative writer blog.

Today, we proudly stand at 183 –Posts, 973 Comments with 11 Authors and scores of Categories under varied subjects of “Technology, Career, Education, Gadgets, Life, Passion, People, Marketing, Online Media, Art, Legends, Freebies, Social Media Marketing……..”

We sincerely THANK all our dear readers and of course our wonderful authors who have contributed their time and skills to us and have been a part of the Creative Writing family.

Hope you have enjoyed a good read. It will only get better!

Feel free to write to us with any suggestions, comments or your views on the same.

You can reach us at:

Techdivine Creative Services

Facebook – TD Studios Group

Facebook – Techdivine Creative Services Page

Twitter – @techdivine

admin@techdivine.com

Below are the stats to the Top 30 Posts from all time:

Top Posts for all days “March 2007 to March 2010”

All Time – March 2007 – March 2010

Title                                                                                                                                        Views

1. Coffee – A case to begin all cases (2123 Views)
2. Why So seriousssah……. (493 Views)
3. SHOLAY in Facebook Style (388 Views)
4. Google wave – Part 2: Adding & tagging Attachments (331 Views)
5. My Trip to Aurangabad- The City Of Gates (112 Views)
6. Of Forbes India’s 100 Richest: Top 10 picks from our readers (197 Views)
7. IIM Indore my blog: The Life at IIM I (187 Views)
8. Online Creative Writing Contest for Students is HERE! (183 Views)
9. Charlie Chaplin (179 Views)
10. Married but to caste and religion (175 Views)
11. Twitter & Facebook: Why SNS? (174 Views)
12. Pulau Tioman, The great journey ( 170 Views)
13. IIM Indore – IRIS Break Free – Klueless Game (169 Views)
14. ET Awards 2009: For Corporate Excellence (158 Views)
15. ‘Kudos’ to an amazing artist “Kseniya Simonova” (157 Views)
16. Standard Chartered 2010 MUMBAI Marathon (155 Views)
17. Touching a million lives, but only ONLINE (154 Views)
18. A Southie’s Life Rocks (or is it on the rocks) (154 Views)
19. Transitions in Life (152 Views)
20. BLINKX: Video Search engine: Don’t “blinkx” anymore (153 Views)
21. 26/11: Mumbai Terror Attack – Saluting the real heroes (152 Views)
22. Warli Art India: UK Art Council: A journey, for Art’s sake! (152 Views)
23. Google Wave is here (150 Views)
24. Le Tour de France 2009 (145 Views)
25. Social Media Marketing for your business: Unleash….. (143 Views)
26. Working Women & Parenting (142 Views)
27. Social Media Marketing (SMM) – From root level, Why it will work? (141 Views)
28. The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2010: My Dream Run (138 Views)
29. Save Indian HOCKEY!!!!! (135 Views)
30. The Adventurous Land and the half blood Man: Having the Elixir (135 Views)

Most Popular Tags with us:

Life

Online Marketing

Marketing Services

Emotions

People

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Quotient

Hope

Career

And yes, our Blog has always been Mobile ready!

Happy reading!

Admin

TECHDIVINE Creative Services

Social Media, Design Services & Creative Writing

—

GET YOUR FREE COPY of YOUR SMQ: CLICK HERE

Love ....

Love makes life livable, said someone!

Somewhere here I am trying to decipher and decode the exact meaning of the phrase and yes before people reach to any conclusion on what kind of love that I am talking about, let me clear the air.

The Love that will be described and poured out in the coming lines, is the one that makes two people go “I Do” at the altar.

I would like to touch upon aspects in this post, about whys would two people who have nothing in common, become what they become, until they meet each other and discover a whole new world – together.

The very reason for undertaking this exercise is my own experience at this peculiar feeling which is known as LOVE the world over.

I am 25 and by the time this article is published, I will be a year older. I have had many crushes in the formative years of my childhood and have been seriously interested only once……….. ok…….. I am exaggerating, may be twice.

The feelings just fizzled out because I am the type of guy who lets things like love take their own way rather than forcing myself on it. This is what led me to ponder as to what makes people tick?

This article may have a subcontinental flavour to it due to the fact that I am quoting examples from the, up and coming land called India of which I am a proud citizen. It’s then that I have tried to get into the “What of Love” and to say that I got satisfactory answers in my quest.

I will be best based on the analysis of the cases presented here and the readers own judgement. (Do not Judge me! )

I believe that Love is an important part of any relationship and is one of the pillars other than trust and loyalty on which the tree of mankind stands. In this regard, I have had certain observations to make and will tell you real life incidents of which I have been witness to or been a silent spectator of.

Case I – A young man whom we all knew of as a studious and very intelligient person who normally kept to self and incapable of doing no wrong along-with being protective of a blind father and an illiterate mother shocks everyone by proclaiming marriage to a young lady whom he met at his workplace

Case II – A young man who is given all freedom in the house and is an intelligient fellow does well in his education, completes his Masters in Business Adminisration where he falls in love, joins a high profile company complete with a good salary and perks. Then he confides about his desire to marry his lady love.

Case III – A young lady born and brought up in a liberal family has had many affairs by the time she reaches woman hood and goes on and marries a person whom she met at the workplace.

Case IV – A young man who has both parents who go off to work leaving him and his younger brother alone meets his lady love in college and they tie the knot. The lady in question in this case was junior to him in college and lived in the same complex as him

These are the samples that I have delved upon and arrived at certain conclusions after making careful observations. These are real life stories with the proverbial “& they lived happily ever after” theme ringing true.

The following observations were found to be true in each one of the cases mentioned above.

Ability to take decisions: In all of the cases mentioned above, the individuals involved have had to take/make decisions at a very early point in life. Be it the guy in case I where he was thrust the responsibility of being the head of the household or in cases II,III or IV where the individuals were required to take decisions due to the fact that there was very little parental assistance involved. It may be noted that people love persons who make their own decisions without getting influenced by other factors especially those which are emotional in nature.

I hope me making points and taking you back to ‘cases’ does not make this sound like a court ruling, it’s just that I would like to share different such scenarios, based on which  began to quote this post on the most beautiful thing in the world, Love!

Read on……

Self-Confidence: All the characters mentioned herein have amazing confidence about themselves. It may have been the result of their minds not being clogged by parents constantly advising about what is good and what is bad, When should one call the stops, What should one do and the likes. As a result of these, an individual goes into a mental state of being wherein he prepares a checklist before making any decision and ensures that the checklist is strictly adhered to. This process ensures that such a person arrives at a decision, which may be right or wrong, much later than those who go by the gut instinct. Also many a times such decisions may seem to be erring on the side of caution so as to ensure that one is always on the right side of the universe whereas confident people may go ahead with a decision that may seem to bewilder many but get positive results. For these people there is the inner belief that they can do no wrong because they do not distinguish between right and wrong and also believe that they can always survive any bad effects that their decision may entail. This leads to the making of a very self confident individual who also appears to be confident with an ever warm smile that pleases most people and charms the toughest of ladies.

Unfettered Lifestyle: Due to the minimal parental objection in their lives, these people live life to the fullest. They work hard, make loads of money, party harder and are always enthusiastic and positive about life. These are people who want to live lives that are worth meaning to them rather than sulking around, thinking about others or about decisions that may have far reaching consequences. That’s the reason why, when one comes across such persons, one feels quite positive and they are like a whiff of fresh air that has invaded your senses carrying you along with it.

Here I would like to rest my case wherein I have always been smitten by some one or the other. However when the time comes to make a choice, it’s always about making them a part of my life rather than colonizing them. So my mind starts throwing up questions like Would she fit the bill, Will my parents approve of her, How would the elders react about the match, What mother tongue will the children adopt and so on till the mind is left totally confused. What finally emerges is a chaotic situation. If not that then by the time I make up my mind, the lady is already been taken!

So friends I think I have unraveled the human mindset about love to a great extent and its physiological aspects. And for those who try desperately to fall in love but don’t, may be now we know why…

Enjoy

Do share your views with me.

Thanks.

Mani (A.k.a Ananth S)

Thinking of my sweet memories with the rising sun

As i woke up today with the shining rays of the sun, I got a phone call. It was good news, great news, actually surpirisngly good news.

What I had just heard took me back the memory lane.

Just like our childhood, the Middle years too hold a very important place in our lives. These are the years when a man needs to grapple with his inner demons and make decisions that have a very profound impact on his future. These may be decisions both personal and professional and may be ridiculously easy or exponentially difficult.

This period in life which begins at 20 and ends somewhere in the mid 30’s is marked by various stages like higher education, employment, marriage, children, aged parents etc.

Against this backdrop, I would like to introduce to you one of my best friends who has a lot in common with me and I would like to take his case as an ideal one to see what it takes to make the most toughest decision of all time that many men shudder to even think of, many cower and others relish – MARRIAGE!!!!!

This friend of mine from, how do I put this, well, from pre-historic times, has got characteristics similar to mine.

He hails from an orthodox TamBram family, a very pious man who goes to temple daily and also on weekends, very particular about reaching a place in time and also a stickler to rules and regulations as well as one who thinks thousand times to cross that unquoted line that parents draw for their kids.

This friend of mine, Lets Call him Mr.A, was enchanted in our high school days by a girl who was far more superior in the academic field (crazy, how those things mattered then) & he was afraid to go and talk to her about his crush on her. The result being the girl getting married to one of his own classmates who would ideally not be seen as the perfect combination at that time.

Then another major crush happened when he was working in a premier financial institution wherein he fell in love with a young lady who was known to be a fierce individual and also was one step above him in the corporate ladder. Our man tried to open up to her many times but never could make it face to face resulting in yet another heart break. Last heard the girl is happily married for nearly a year and wonder of wonders has moved to a locality near our own hero’s house!!!!

I being a friend was always aware of his various crushes and out of curiosity asked him about the reasons for this since I knew for a fact that there would not arise any inter-caste repercussions if he were to go ahead and marry any one of them since both ladies in question were simple TamBram women. He was blatant enough to tell me the truth that these two girls whom he liked a lot had many things in common that he wanted in a girl –fiercely independent, go-getters and people on whom you can depend if ever you were in a life threatening situation that they would take care of your family and not bat an eyelid about their personal loss (at least that’s what he thought). He would tell me in is own humorous way Arrey yaar, ‘Imagine I propose to her and she accepts my proposal, then I will have to marry her. But afterwards, there arises a situation wherein I have to play the judge and juror in the house after a hard day in office that would lead to an unpleasant situation. Especially if it’s a case of mother pitted against the wife. Coz no matter what decision the man gives, he stands to lose either way, be it the husband or the son. So I always wait for them to come to me!’ Also his parents being real orthodox, there are quite a few rules in the house which may or may not be liked by all.

Then I put forth another question – How is it that you cope up so well with your so called loss since he has an ever smiling face except when he is angry or in one of his moods.

I even went to the extent of telling him that a man not mourning about his lost love ever thought about loving at all.

That’s when he repeated one of the oft mentioned cliches in Hindi films about Bus,train aur ladki – Ek jaati hai tho doosri aati hai!!!!. I was appalled at this emotionless (Though he is never an emotional being at least to the outside world) and seemingly childish answer to my question. The next moment he surprises me with – Tho kya karoon Suicide kar loon gham main doobke? I cannot even do that coz I am a coward. I asked him in what sense do you term yourself a coward.

He says – “Ask any man to jump from the top of a 10 storeyed building or to consume a bottle of rat poison or rather to shoot/knife himself and he will look at you like you are a crazy man. That is because every man however much obstacles he may face, loves his life. So men who are courageous enough to make that decision should be appreciated. I cannot bring myself to do it since the moment such a thought enters my mind, the sullen faces of my parents occupy center position and all such thoughts get blown away. However much I try to be emotionally un-attached, I cannot bring myself to do it.”

I do not know whether anyone else is satisfied with this explanation, But I sure was and these words coming from a man who I have known to be an emotionless creature. Now for the twist – Life sure has its ways of proving things wrong just when they seem to be right.

Last heard our man has married a Northerner, a Kashyap girl and is presently honeymooning in the backwaters of Kerala.

He married so suddenly that even friends like us came to know after 2 days.

P.S. – Mate, if you are reading this, Please don’t think of this as my way of getting back at you. Am waiting with open arms for your return to our world.

Tell me what you think. I had a great start for my day.

Mani S

I recently read an article about the lavish, partying and rocking life of mallus and tam brams (Of course I am being sarcastic).

The mail was hilarious. It spoke of the heritage names and remorseful work timings and really sad social life’s that “we” southies, live as routine.

I would like to disagree to it. Probably all the mail needed was a good laugh but when I received the same mail with a comment saying, “It’s so true”. I kept contemplating & pondering over the comment. (Ya, I know I could have just quoted there “I kept thinking instead of pondering” but I had this sudden urge to use big words as most readers of this post at this time would be southies sitting in offices as the Gujus, Panjus and other baniyas would be busy planning the evening for the day & also I needed to show off. Oh come on, Vocabulary is all I got). Anyways, read on…..

I think life’s a lot different than a mere southie’s routine mockery. Its, well…..  hmmmmm… how do I put this, …….it’s complicated.

Yes, even for those tam brams & mallus who have at least till date not ended up with love marriages (southies love marriages, wonderful usually. They are mostly with the same caste, community, the “gotram” needs to be different, carefully chosen, selected, discussed, horoscopes matched & agreeable to both parties, parents, relatives, neighbors whose opinions are equally important as a background check would also have happened of the couples, ahem)

Why even bother calling it a love marriage mate? I think this whole process has taken more time than actual courting. So where’s the romance. Naaah!

Can’t blame the poor chap though. How often does he anyway get to claim having gotten to get someone fall in love with him or at least remotely agree to him. After all, he must also have taken pains and been patient & careful enough to get across his job profile, designation, job security, mutual funds investment, idea of his probable salary, his investment plan, housing loan amount etc & such other details to the fairer sex and then woo her. Wow! How did I forget, qualifications here. Ya. That too. Phew! So that’s about a year till that time. & yes, he is a double MBA / Masters… Again, why?

Also, the south indian girl realizes that this dude, can I call this male human neatly oiled hair category, a dude, please, please… please let me Thanks …. Well so as ammai, appa & other family members would also agree and she is also sure to be with someone who can and has a stable job (remember, Home loans, mutual funds & PF – I am sure she also must have noted down the possible savings he must be making annually after tax deductions). & wow, how did I also forget, the guy has to be 5’8” at least. Why? Just make the criteria 6feet then. What is it, an oomph factor!

I just don’t get it, may be partly because I am not 5’8” but still. Why?

Why the criteria, at least “ “.

Is it like, if the calculatedly fallen in love couple get troubled by a dude, is this tall or taller guy gonna tap the tip of the other guys head before he succumbs down or faints (people who eat only curd rice, dosa & rasam chadham(rice) get bruised more easily, you see)

Anyway, it does not make any sense.

So the planned, arranged but loving couple say, the hell with love at first sight. We have taken into consideration all the factors that may or may not suit both of us. Now we will make this work, the girl says it with confidence. Yes, they are going to revolt and rebel, against … hmmm…. Against cruelty to animals. Lets not get offtrack, what else will they revolt to, how can they upset ammai & appa and family & friends and did I mention neighbours.

Little does she know that the tam bram / mallu dude might have even comp up with a probable percentage of risk involved in this relationship (he might just tell the statistics if pressurized, but I am sure he would have also made a pie chart of this analysis probably in SPSS software).

Anyways, with the money that both make, they can afford many such revolting romantic SRK movies on DVD at their 2/3 BHK homes that is of course only after both of them have finished reading their book / novel for the day (reading is very important for our cult, that shows we are educated and belong to a different class & category of people). Educated & class, I dun’t know, but different category…. Oh, I am so sure about that.

Ya, we southies need to have stacks of books at home from Crosswords & Strand book stall, nothing pirated. It has to be purchased for the original price. Hell, we even have hardback cover books. We don’t read it all, but those books are usually kept closest to the ‘Big glass’ door of the library at home for the world to see. What world, which girl is going to come to a southie dudes home first of all and even if she does, and the sweet dude shows off his massively huge and BIG, collection of books, trust me my friend, she is never coming back. So make sure & mark my words carefully, do not lend your books to her, she is never, ever coming back. Lets continue.

We have overgrown TV sets, but we make sure we put on our social networking sites status, “Don’t watch TV”, What? Why? Is it like a crime? I love watching TV & I grew up fine. Ahem! Let’s not get into the details here. Lets read on…

So now do you realize why these mails tickle our funny bones. ‘coz only the Truth shall finally set you FREE!

Also, did I forget to mention, unless we learn to accept ourselves how can we…. How can we…. How can we face god in the morning during sandhyavandanam…. J   Have fun

Yes, yes. My name runs over 50 letters…….. so I am not writing it. Vaise bhi, mera naam to suna hoga!

Do tell me your views…..

A trailer truck and my car fell in love with each other for a brief moment. The result was a dented door and broken mirror. The fall out was that the car went to rest in the garage and I travelled by Mumbai’s famed local train for few days.

So I trudged to the railway station a bit earlier than my usual exit time. I was out of breath but pleased with the less than expected crowd. I stood at the same place where I used to, when I was studying in a College in this suburb thirty five years back. What has changed? The tea stall still serves the same type of food (Thane Station – Platform No. 2 made good Batata Vadas, but not this Station). The circular dial clock is replaced with a digital clock. The indicator is also digital- of the newer type. The sign board is clear and legible. The 7.59 local had left at 7.58 (as per digital clock). The next train was at 8.04. It came at 8.06. There was no mad rush to pounce into the train and rush inside. I got in early and stood between the seats and attempted to read the novel I had with me.

A person nudged me to keep his bag. I kept it. Then another one nudged. Totally there were four such requests. All the bags were satchels and not the briefcases. In fact I could not find any brief cases in the luggage rack of the First Class Compartment. Four out of ten persons were speaking intently on their cell phone. One was explaining in detail what he intended to do after reaching his office for trading in some share or commodity. There was an unauthorized occupant in ladies first class who was being berated and asked to leave- at the next station. I believe that women are more particular and vociferous about exercising their rights.

I got a place to sit after thirty minutes of a fifty five minutes journey. I got down at VT Station (CST now) and walked to office. It is a ten minute walk the oldest part of the town. All are stone buildings made several decades back. There is porch in the front of most buildings, which gives shade during this walk. The street vendors were just opening their wares for display. In my younger days, Keralite vendors used to display covers of “foreign goods” such as ‘two in ones’, tape recorders etc. Today it is odd items of low value – including colorful foreign condoms.

I passed the Fort Branch of Bank of India where I was posted on my promotion from clerk to officer. I worked there only for fifteen months and had no great memories associated with it. On reaching Office, one security chap hesitantly asked whether I was an employee. I felt crushed and reminded me of the famous tweet by a Minister on travelling cattle class.

The evening journey was even more pleasant. I could rush into an empty compartment and get a sitting place and read my novel without jerks and jumps. The next three days by train were uneventful. One day I even got down at Dadar, did some shopping, got into a Dadar starting train and could get down comfortably at Mulund. A young pair was sitting in front of me. The boy was convincing the girl that the earth is flat and he would take her to the other end of it. The girl was listening intently and wiped a tear drop- perhaps thinking that her parents had mislead her by informing that earth is round. Then she received a phone call and was vehemently conveying some message with actions and all. I wondered whether there would be enough substance in their tale for one TV Serial episode.

The train journey takes around 55 minutes to traverse 34 kilometers. The road journey takes 70 to 75 minutes in the morning and 100 to 150 minutes in the evening. It is not a pleasure to take 20 minutes to travel one or two kms. A colleague who lives in the next suburb told me that he and his wife initially travelled by car to Office, but found it boring and tiresome and gave it up soon. I could understand it well. A comfortable and reliable public transport is far superior to a private transport if the journey is from point to point with minimum walking in between. Lack of investment in infrastructure (most over used word today) in the early years of independence has lead to the present abysmal state. Even cattle are not transported in goods train the way human being travel in local trains and buses.

The underground trains in London are in existence from 1920s. (See below)

Trams are found in most European countries. (See tram in Switzerland)

Metro rail is common in south Asian countries. India too could have had all these much earlier. All of it is a case of missed opportunities in India.

The car Dealer informed me that the car is repaired and I could pick it up. My driver, who was to go and pick up the car, rang up to inform me that he could not come due to an accident between Mulund and Thane. It was a freak accident in which a concrete slap fell on a running train. This hit a huge water pipe which burst and created a mini flood on the track. The motor man died as could be extracted only after four hours. One more person died after a day or so. The trains had to be stopped for a day for repair. Everybody now realized that the concrete slab was hanging precariously for quite some time and no one was really responsible for it. One political party threatened to tie the civic servant to the nearby tree till he assured that the entire pipe line and all would be repaired.

(Courtesy DNA Newspaper)

What are the lingering memories when compared to the past? The trains run at greater speed and do not stop abruptly in between stations for signals. The mega blocks for maintenance repairs have made a great difference to the time and speed of the journey.  The 12 bogie train is a great blessing as it clears more crowds.  The camaraderie of passengers travelling together every day is an enduring sight. Nobody plays cards now as it now may be banned. The ticket sellers sit in AC offices and give computer print outs for tickets- something quite common in South India. The foot over bridge seems cleaner and even.

I leave with the belief that in spite of all the drawbacks of a chaotic democracy, there is some movement forward- albeit a slow one.

Thanks

Anjeneyan

Do we notice the imperceptible changes taking place around us?  Mostly not; unless compelled to do so.

The most common culprit of almost imperceptible change is age. “Why do you wheeze when you climb stairs for just two floor?” My daughter asked me last week. I passed it off as a toll taken by age; though the reality is that this weakness is an old one and remained unnoticed.

Most resist the external symptoms of time and related wear & tear. A thumb rule is that the older a person is, the more time taken for formal dressing. So there is a calculated effort to impress- bright colors, branded shirts/pants, hair waved back carefully. Sometimes I wonder, whether the person is comfortable in the role being enacted (for the sake of family). Why not let go and be what you actually are? But then, do many of us know ourselves well to decide to be as and what we are?

God, with His sense of irony, has made human beings attach undue importance to parts of body which have limited utility. Hairs on the head is a classic example of a decorative object. It does not serve any great purpose (unlike hands or legs). But the impact a great hair style has on the subject and his/her viewer cannot be measured. So we find youngsters staring hard at mirror for long periods, patting their hair, men keeping tufts (meant originally only for certain purposes) like women, old men and women dyeing their imperfectly to evade the toll of time and all sorts of odd behavior if examined in the light of reason.

When I was a young boy (several decades back) only school boys and  domestic men servants (who washed clothes, vessels, cars etc.) wore half pants in Mumbai.  Now of course, it is a fashion statement to wear half pants and odd sized pants on all occasions (except job interview) and thereby attempt to belong to another age group. So, when I wear a shorts (called half pant in the past) to the gym, I have an uneasy feeling that someone would  call me to wash their car.

The real changes take place in our sub-conscious and then trickle down to external visibility.  This is noticed only if we meet the person after a reasonable gap. Mentally we slow down- that is reduce the pace at which we want to live hereafter. We see this around us but do not observe. We want less surprises- less changes – expected or unexpected. Life has to be same from yesterday to today. But God and the world around us have a gleeful pleasure in altering our well laid down plans.  So we find sedentary grandparents rushing off to USA/Gulf countries for a new career in babysitting (most probably no one sits, the baby runs around and we run after it continuously till our legs pain).

Did our parents sit back and ponder over their errors of omissions and commission? Did they even admit it to themselves? My son reminded me recently in non-judgmental manner of the instances when I beat him during his childhood. Did I beat him? Yes, I did. For what reasons?  I do not remember. Do I regret it now? Yes. But when I look at my daughter trying to tame my grandson (unsuccessfully at times) by oral requests and then resorting some small corporal punishments, I realize that these are inevitable and cannot be examined by hindsight.

Do we lose our ambitions, zest and enthusiasm with age? I would say they become more tempered. The  goal posts change. Survival up to the goal post  becomes more important than running past it. Some unexpected past time or interest catches serious attention.  So it could a social or a religious organization in which there is some lurking desire to play a more prominent role. I have seen several large institutions run  by persons most of whom had retired from gainful occupations long  back justifying to this logic.

But what is most important in all this is identifying what our heart really seeks- what is it that would give us great happiness. This is the most difficult part of life at any juncture. Long but aimless life serves little or no purpose. At each juncture of life, knowing what we want to achieve in our career, what we enjoy doing in our spare time, what relationships to invest in to make our life more beautiful is vital. This is more easily said than done.

I envy today’s youth some of whom are clear eyed to give up easy choices and seek for what they really want. India has given choices which did not exist some decades back.  But whether they are able to achieve a balance between their material success and mental happiness is a moot point. This perhaps applies to youth and younger generation in any point of time- yesterday , today or tomorrow.

So next time I visit the nearby shopping mall, I will take the plunge and buy the black shirt with stripes displayed at Zodiac shop. My family’s puritanical views on wearing such garments can take a back seat.

I will look handsome in that shirt- rather as handsome as I looked some decades back.

Anjeneyan.