Chetan Bhagat @ Symbiosis Pune – Awesome Speech.

Chetan Bhagat @ Symbiosis Pune – Awesome Speech.

 Chetan Bhagat – writer of a novel based on which current very successful Hindi film

Three Idiots

Thanks Chetan. You’re a fabulous speaker!
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Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates – there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party — several months in advance — just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp’s flame. The first aspect is nurturing – to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn’t any external measure – a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement. But it isn’t the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr. Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won’t be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday? They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current level s feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature’s design. Are you? Goals will help you do that. I must add, don’t just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

Ther e is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes – Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark – don’t take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said – don’t be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worke d up? It’s ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I’ve told you three things – reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don’t go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades — how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you. But it’s life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember – if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that’s where you want to be.

Disappointment’ s cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don’t know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me fi ve years to get close to a release. Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved — movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result — at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan — I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life – friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness – this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it — not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you. In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty damm lucky by Indian standards. Let’s be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don’t. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don’t get literary praise. It’s ok. I don’t look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It’s ok. Don’t let unfairness kill your spark.

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I’ve told you the four thunderstorms – disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, your eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying – I come from the land of a billion sparks.

The Tata Gesture

Courtsey – Shri Yogendu Joshi

We get lots of disturbing negative inputs about Indian way.

This is a pleasant, positive deviation.

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This is the story of 26 th November 2008 terror attack on Taj Mumbai.

1. All category of employees including those who had completed even 1 day as casuals were treated on duty during the time the hotel was closed.

2. Relief and assistance to all those who were injured and killed

3. The relief and assistance was extended to all those who died at the railway station, surroundings including the “Pav-Bhaji” vendor and the pan shop owners

4. During the time the hotel was closed, the salaries were sent by money order

5. A psychiatric cell was established in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences to counsel those who needed such help

6. The thoughts and anxieties going on people’s mind was constantly tracked and where needed psychological help provided

7. Employee outreach centers were opened where all help, food, water, sanitation, first aid and counseling was provided. 1600 employees were covered by this facility

8. Every employee was assigned to one mentor and it was that person’s responsibility to act as a “single window” clearance for any help that the person required

9. Ratan Tata personally visited the families of all the 80 employees who in some manner – either through injury or getting killed – were affected.

10. The dependents of the employees were flown from outside Mumbai to Mumbai and taken care off in terms of ensuring mental assurance and peace. They were all accommodated in Hotel President for 3 weeks

11. Ratan Tata himself asked the families and dependents – as to what they wanted him to do.

12. In a record time of 20 days, a new trust was created by the Tatas for the purpose of relief of employees.

13. What is unique is that even the other people, the railway employees, the police staff, the pedestrians who had nothing to do with Tatas were covered by compensation. Each one of them was provided subsistence allowance of Rs. 10K per month for all these people for 6 months.

14. A 4 year old granddaughter of a vendor got 4 bullets in her and only one was removed in the Government hospital. She was taken to Bombay hospital and several lacs were spent by the Tatas on her to fully recover her

15. New hand carts were provided to several vendors who lost their carts

16. Tata will take responsibility of life education of 46 children of the victims of the terror

17. This was the most trying period in the life of the organization. Senior managers including Ratan Tata were visiting funeral to funeral over the 3 days that were most horrible

18. The settlement for every deceased member ranged from Rs. 36 to 85 lacs in addition to the following benefits:

a. Full last salary for life for the family and dependents

b. Complete responsibility of education of children and dependents – anywhere in the world

c. Full Medical facility for the whole family and dependents for rest of their life

d. All loans and advances were waived off – irrespective of the amount

e. Counselor for life for each person

Epilogue

1. How was such passion created among the employees? How and why did they behave the way they did?

2. The organization is clear that it is not something that someone can take credit for. It is not some training and development that created such behavior. If someone suggests that – everyone laughs

3. It has to do with the DNA of the organization, with the way Tata culture exists and above all with the situation that prevailed that time. The organization has always been telling that customers and guests are #1 priority.

4. The hotel business was started by Jamshedji Tata when he was insulted in one of the British hotels and not allowed to stay there.

5. He created several institutions which later became icons of progress, culture and modernity. IISc is one such institute. He was told by the rulers that time that he can acquire land for IISc to the extent he could fence the same. He could afford fencing only 400 acres.

6. When the HR function hesitatingly made a very rich proposal to Ratan – he said – do you think we are doing enough?

7. The whole approach was that the organization would spend several hundred crore in re-building the property – why not spend equally on the employees who gave their life?

River walk and a closed window

I am sitting on a steel bench on the pleasant river walk of Austin watching the surroundings and activities

On the opposite bank are the skyscrapers of the Down Town. Some are twenty stories high; some are forty or fifty. As anybody would do, my attention gets focused on the largest one – maybe fifty stories tall. All its windows are closed – without any life and inactive. I can’t see, what is happening behind those windows. Maybe one of them belongs to a business tycoon, doing international business, worth billions of dollars. That tycoon may be sitting in his ultra luxurious office chair and mocking over the insignificant Tom, Dick and Harry; wasting their energies on the river walk.

…

Colorado river is flowing between the river walk and the down town. Its waters have been flowing like this for thousands of years. Various types of boats are gliding over its waters, up and down the stream.

On my side of the river is the passage way for pedestrians – the river walk. Many people; men, women, kids are jogging, running there. Some are speeding up on their bikes. Some have with them various pedigrees of dogs too.

…

The steel bench, on which I am sitting, is a dead piece of furniture. It is totally lifeless. Nothing is mobile about it. It is going to lie dead and still, like this for years. No perceptible change is possible in its being. Lo! I can think about electrons and protons zooming at ultra high speed around the nuclei of its atoms; on the strength of my imagination and little bit of scientific knowledge about physical structure of materials.

But, is the bench aware of its structure and being?

….

My attention now shifts to the tree, just behind the bench. Its branches are cooling me off from the piercing afternoon sunrays. Its leaves are being swayed by the gentle breeze, breathing in bright sunshine and producing the life nectar for the tree. On its seemingly dry branches, offshoots are about to sprout at a few places. In a few days, new buds will sprout out; giving fresh birth to a new branch or a flower.

But the tree is neither capable of seeing nor hearing anything. It can neither  feel a touch nor smell. It is not capable of any thoughts. It can’t move even by fraction of an inch. Its consciousness has just gone  a bit beyond that of the steel bench and then has been halted forever at that level.

…

At that point of time, a dog with a lash round his neck, dangling from the hand of his owner approaches the bench; running and panting, with his tongue dripping out from his mouth. Albeit off his nature and instinct, he goes on nosing all around him and roams here and there. He noses my feet too; but on a nudge  from his owner, he ignores and leaves me.

That dog’s consciousness is far more complex than that of the tree. He can see, hear, smell, taste. He can bark and bite; and run and jump.

But his capacity to think is very limited.

…

Watching all these, I think that I am capable of doing many more things than that dog. I have the greatest asset that all humans are endowed with – a highly complex mind.

If I determine, I can tear this bench to pieces and heat and reshape its parts. In a roaring furnace, I can melt it outright and cast its liquid matter into a beautiful sculpture.

I can axe the branches of the tree and ignite a tall fire out of it. Or, I can take its seeds and plant them, miles away in a different park and grow many more trees like it.

I can keep dogs or many other animals like that dog and satisfy my instinct as an owner.

Feeling of subtle but certain pride that  ; ‘My consciousness is far, far superior than that dog.’ – has started taking shape in my mind.

…

But…

Is it not probable that a being far, far superior than mine is also hanging around all about the space – a being that  has such a supreme consciousness that, it does not need any form, shape,  color or even an existence? Is it not feasible that such an element does not have the limitations like those of human mind or being? – an element that envelops everything or is imbibed within all and is making all living and non living to exist, walk, run around, breathe? – an element that makes everything to exist or perish with or without any reason?

Just like that unseen tycoon at the back of that closed window, high up there?

War babies

Story sent by : Shri B.G. Jhaveri, Delhi

Source : Not known

There were four War Babies. One girl and three boys. Infants at the start of the story, they gradually grew up to youth. They were almost of the same age, the girl was eldest and intelligent.

The Almighty looked after the war babies.  They should have been looked after by the super power, otherwise how they should have survived in the forest! There was no human being to look after them. Still, they survived through winters, extreme cold, heat of summers and rains. Who fed them? What they ate or drank? Who protected them from the wild animals and difficulties like sickness? Let it be mystery. It is unimportant in the story.

And let it be mystery, whose children they were, except that each of them had different parentage. And let it be mystery how they happened to be at the same place and at the same time.

They gradually became young enough to roam nearby places to collect fruits and to play and to pass time happily. They always remained united and moved together. When they became old enough to climb the trees, they saw remote areas from the tree tops. They ventured to roam further, climbed hills, swam rivers; enjoying the adventures and merry making.

They lived as close relatives. They loved each other. One day they reached outskirt of the forest and arrived at a village. There they saw human beings, persons like them. And they saw domestic animals cows, buffalos, oxen, dogs and goats and vehicles. They got afraid and flee.

After few days in the other direction they reached similar village. After many visits they became familiar with the worldly affairs. They learnt the spoken language and dwelling habits. They started earning by selling wild fruits and woods of the tree branches.

They built a hut in the region they used to live in the forest. The girl learnt to cook and thus happy days passed on.

Time passed on. Boys stepped into manhood and the girl stepped  into womanhood.( Still we shall continue to call them boys & girl). A separate hut was built for the girl. Their love bond was strong and pure. Slowly nature (rather cupid) started playing its part. The girl started shyness and boys boldness. Boys were experiencing curious feelings towards the girl.

More waters flowed in the river of time. By the time each boy had expressed his platonic love to the girl in secrecy.

The girl was in dilemma. She loved each boy profoundly and equally. She was not able to weigh any one above the other two. She could not establish the family affairs with all of three. And to choose one might develop tension.

She could not decide any thing for few days. One night she got brilliant idea. At the breakfast she declared them about developed situation in details. She also cleared to them that she could not grant her favor to any one on her own. After lapse of some moments she told them that she wanted to leave the matter to the Almighty. And as the superpower had shown her the way, she would, at the lunch, put a coin in one of the breads, which she would serve. The lucky (?) one to get the coin could claim her hand. She told them that with heavy heart.

She served them bread as per preprogrammed decision. After few minutes, while having lunch one of the boys cried with joy that he got the coin. The girl and two other boys looked at each others with dismay. The girl understood the look of the other boys.

They, the lucky boy and the girl, got married in simple ceremony. They started their wedded life happily. They lived in the hut of the girl. Though they all four remained united, lived, roamed and had their meal as usual. The girl was as friendly with all the boys, as if no marriage happened.

More waters flowed in the river of time. Then a problem got crawled, which Sir Thomas Hardy had included in one of his novels. Many more authors may have considered the same in their works.

Gradually the husband got jealous. He did not like his wife to be friendly with two other boys. He tolerated for few days. One night when they were alone he discussed that with his wife. The wife did not take it seriously, dismissing his fear that they were their family members and her relation with them was innocent. The husband was not satisfied. After that same was discussed between husband and wife many times. One night the quarrel reached extremity. The husband slapped his wife. She wept whole the night. In the morning the husband was apologetic. The wife stared at him stupendously for few seconds and told him, “Shall I tell you the truth?” It was the turn of the husband to stare at her stupefying. She continued, “That day, I had put three coins, one each, in each of three breads and served each bread to each of you.”

Interlude

The Story Teller concluded his story with a question.

He did not narrate what happened afterwards. Whether their marriage, happily or other wise, continued or not. Neither was narrated, that whether the other two family members, continued to live with them as that of previously or they shifted to some where else on their own. Will any of our nice friends be kind enough to satisfy the query of the story teller!

The Question

“The girl announced that she would put one coin in one of the breads. Then why did she put three coins, one each in three breads?”

Fundamentalism will damage society

Courtsey : Shri Prabhulal Bharadia

The existence of a supernatural being in the form of a god who can dish out punishment in the afterlife may have been an important force in the past that helped to keep societies together as co-operative entities – but not so in the future.

Lord May

Lord May of Oxford, the president of the British Science Festival, said that although religion may have once helped to stabilise human societies, the rise in fundamentalism could make it more difficult to bring about the sort of high-level co-operation needed to tackle the global problems of climate change and a growing human population.

The former chief scientific adviser to the government warned that the rise of fundamentalist religions in both the east and west will have a detrimental impact on the ability of the world to cope with the problems of the 21st Century.

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Read the full article

HBD – Internet : 2nd September

Courtsey : Shri Kishor Barhate, Ahmedabad

It may sound surprising, but the Internet is actually 40 years old today. Len Kleinrock, a computer scientist and his team at UCLA began experiments, laying the foundation of what later became the Internet.

On September 2, 1969, two computers send out meaningless test data at Kleinrock’s lab at the University of California, Los Angeles. In the present day, it is well nigh impossible to imagine a world without the world wide web.

And which are the countries with the best Internet connection speed? No, it’s not the United States.

South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Denmark and Taiwan are the top five countries listed in terms of access to high-speed Internet.

The United States ranks 28th in the world in average Internet connection speed according to a report by the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

The average download speed in South Korea is 20.4 megabits per second (mbps), four times faster than the US average of 5.1 mbps.

How it began

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) created by the United States Department of Defense during the Cold War, was the world’s first operational packet switching network, and the predecessor of the global Internet.

ARPANET became the technical core of what later turned to be the world’s favourite ‘Internet’.

The Internet and Transmission Control Protocols were initially developed in 1973 by American computer scientist Vinton Cerf as part of a project work of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and directed by American engineer Robert Kahn.

Vinton G. Cerf, known as the ‘father of Internet’, is now the vice president and chief internet evangelist for Google.

He is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies and applications on the Internet and other platforms for the company.

The birth of www

The Internet began as a computer network of ARPA (ARPAnet) that linked computer networks at several universities and research laboratories in the United States.

The design of the Internet was done in 1973 and published in 1974.  The roll out of Internet took place in 1983, after ten years of research and hard work.

Later, the domain names system was proposed. This was followed by introduction of suffixes .com, .gov and .edu in 1984.

The world wide web (www) was developed in 1989 by English computer scientist Timothy Berners-Lee.

He came up with the idea of a project based on ‘hypertext’ while working at CERN, the European Organization for Particle Physics Research.

Berners-Lee’s aim was to enable sharing and updating of information among researchers.

He joined hands with Robert Cailliau to build a prototype system named Enquire. This programme formed the basis for the World Wide Web.

The first browser, WorldWideWeb was developed on NeXTSTEP, and the first Web server was called httpd.

By December 1990, WorldWideWeb became the first successful demonstration of Web clients and servers working on the Internet.

The first Web site built by Berners-Lee at info.cern.ch went live on August 6, 1991. Berners-Lee also made his site the world’s first Web directory, adding a list of other sites.

The most remarkable fact about Berners is that he gave it away, without any patent and royalties.

He wrote the first server client programme, the first version of the document formatting language HTML (hyper text mark-up language), and initiated the specifications for URLs (universal resource locators, HTTP (hyper text transfer protocol), and HTML.

With the introduction of the World Wide Web, the Internet gained popularity. It enabled the internet to store text, images, sound and video.

It used a system of hyperlinks (links) using a web browser. The earliest web browsers were Mosaic, Netscape Navigator and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

In 1993, Marc Andreessen and his colleagues at the University of Illinois created Mosaic, the first web browser that combined graphics and text on a single page.

E-mail, a killer app!

The killer application of the Internet was is the e-mail. However, work on creating e-mail started much before the Internet. The Internet was a crucial tool in making the process faster.

E-mail started in 1965 for multiple users of a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate. MIT first demonstrated the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) in 1961.

It allowed multiple users to log into the IBM 7094 from remote dial-up terminals, and to store files online on disk.

This new ability encouraged users to share information in new ways. E-mail started in 1965 for users of a time-sharing mainframe computer to communicate.

The ARPANET computer network helped in the evolution of e-mail.In 1971, Ray Tomlinson created what later became the standard Internet e-mail address format, using the @ sign to separate user names from host names.

Addicted to the Net

The Internet has hooked billions of people in its web. According to the latest figures, the number of internet users in the world is whopping — 1,596,270,108.

The number of internet users is expected to double over the next few years. According to InternetWorldStats (IWS), China tops in the number of Internet users.

China has 298,000,000 users, followed by US with 227,190,9893 users. Japan comes next at the third place with 94,000,000 users. India comes next with 81,000,000 users. Brazil takes the fifth place with 67,510,400 users.

Internet faces space shortage!

After forty years of existence, the Internet is running short of space. The internet is facing an IP address exhaustion, a fall in the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses due to the dizzying pace of the Internet’s growth. Internet Protocol version 4 provides about 4.29 billion addresses.

IPv4 addresses are likely to run out by 2011. This will affect the connectivity of the internet and curb its further growth.

The answer to this crisis is Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) which will provide an unlimited number of addresses. It will also enable efficient rollout of broadband, Internet-connected mobile phones and sensor networks.

Many existing networks would need to be upgraded to accommodate the new protocol to growth further and make better and faster technological advances in a medium that unites the world.

Tea – three observations

2009

Tea is ready. Three cups of tea are lying on the breakfast table, full of steaming hot tea, and rich with aroma of fresh mint. But tea is not visible at all – the cups being covered by plastic coasters. The pan, tongs, filter and spoon are lying in the sink, ready for being cleaned. The gas stove is cooling down, having finished its morning chore. Containers of tea and sugar have gone back to their scheduled locations. The one gallon, 2% fat carboy of, bought from WAL-MART has been returned back to its rack in the fridge, slightly emptied. A ceramic plate containing warm, toasts of bread is lying by the side of tea cups, along with a knife and butter spread. My darling notebook computer is waiting, a few feet away in the living room, inviting me to switch it ON.

All seems well organized. The breakfast table is keenly awaiting its morning participants. My wife is enjoying her early morning deep slumber. My daughter and son-in-law are getting ready for post-breakfast commute to job. Their two sons are in deep, carefree vacation recluse in their own, separate rooms.

But two minutes back? Everything was topsy-turvy. Tea was boiling hard in the pan. My hands were ready with tongs in one hand and filter in the other; All around me on the cooking platform were lying the containers of sugar and tea, milk carboy, a plate containing ginger, the hand chopper for ginger, empty cups and saucers. A toaster was busy with bread slices, on a side table, adjoining the breakfast-table. The kitchen was hot with all these morning routines.

And an hour before? The kitchen was in deep, dark slumber. All these things were also at rest on their respective positions. The mint leaves were gently being swayed in light breeze of wind in the backyard. The tiny world of our home was dormant in its early morning sleep. The tea maker and users all were lost in sweet dreams.

And I go on sliding back… and back… and back… in yet distant past.

1979

A morning thirty years back; I am sitting on the dining table of my posh quarter, surrounded by a garden, as also a kitchen garden; well dressed up to go on my job after a refreshing, hot ware shower bath. I am superfluously glancing through the headlines of a Gujarati daily, keenly awaiting call for tea. Mu wife is busy in her morning chore of tea making on a roaring primus stove. A maid servant, living in an attached servant quarter is mending the vegetables for lunch time in the kitchen. A milk man, on a bicycle had just delivered fresh milk of more than 10% fat, which the maid had received, much before we got up. That milk has been heated and is awaiting storage in the fridge after cooling. A portion of similar milk of yesterday, has already been dumped into today’s tea; after skimming out an inch thick layer of cream. My wife is instructing the maid to boil collection of such cream for last ten days and boiling it to make Ghee (saturated butter). A small containing special spice for tea, ground by hand by the maid is shining beside the containers for tea and sugar, on the cooking platform. Just opposite me, on the dining table, is a pot containing hot, spicy and delicious Indian breakfast made from rice crispy and potatoes.

Our daughter, presently working as software manager, forty miles away, is only nine years old and is lost in her fairy tales world. She is going to wake up much later to attend a nearby elementary school. Our twin-sons, only four years old are snoring in bed, with their governess.

But the tea is going to be of the same taste.

1949

With the fifth child in her womb, my mother is sitting on ground floor of a three storied, narrow house of a dense residential locality (called a POL). She has barely been successful in lighting up a heavily smoking, charcoal stove. My father has just returned from his overnight job of a railway wireless operator and is keenly studying the fresh news in a newspaper, waiting for tea to be ready. All of us four siblings are deep asleep on the second floor in beds on floor aligned in a line.

Just a few minutes back a shepherd woman has delivered fresh milk from a brass, country milk pot. ( Bogharana), of course abundantly diluted by water ! As if obliging us, she has given extra milk in less than a quarter full of milk measuring bottle! There is no cooking platform here. All items needed for tea making are brought and placed by her side from a store room behind kitchen. A glass kerosene lamp is hanging dead from a wooden peg on the side wall of the kitchen. The lamp has just been put off after daybreak: the same lamp with the help of which , I had finished my home work, yesterday evening and copied numbers ONE and TWO with earthen chalk on my slate.

But that tea is not for us siblings. Our parents somehow managed to ensure that all four of us drink milk and milk only – morning and evening – though they themselves live frugally. A little away from her lies a round, brass box with lid, tinned by my mother herself; containing dry tortilla, roasted by herself from the leftover tortillas of yesterday. These will constitute our breakfast with milk, when we wake up.

The charcoal stove is not going to coo, down (like the primus or gas stove) after tea is ready. It is going to get its siesta only after lunch has been cooked.

However, tea is going to have the same taste.

………………..

Three cups of tea: one by a mother, another by a wife and the third one by self.

Shall I say frankly? I like the taste of tea made by myself.

…………….

I remove the plastic coaster from my cup of tea. I see droplets of water from condensed vapor. I see the tears of mu mother, formed in her eyes, due to the irritating smoke of the charcoal stove.

Translated from

ચા તૈયાર છે – ત્રણ અવલોકન

21 year boy at Google

Naga Naresh Karutura has just passed out of IIT Madras in Computer Science and has joined Google in Bangalore.
You may ask, what’s so special about this 21-year-old when there are hundreds of students passing out from various IITs and joining big companies like Google?
Naresh is special. His parents are illiterate. He has no legs and moves around in his powered wheel chair. (In fact , when I could not locate his lab, he told me over the mobile phone, ‘I will come and pick you up’. And in no time, he was there to guide me)
Ever smiling, optimistic and full of spirit; that is Naresh. He says, “God has always been planning things for me. That is why I feel I am lucky.”
Read why Naresh feels he is lucky.

Childhood in a village

I spent the first seven years of my life in Teeparru, a small village in Andhra Pradesh, on the banks of the river Godavari. My father Prasad was a lorry driver and my mother Kumari, a house wife. Though they were illiterate, my parents instilled in me and my elder sister (Sirisha) the importance of studying.
Looking back, one thing that surprises me now is the way my father taught me when I was in the 1st and 2nd standards. My father would ask me questions from the text book, and I would answer them. At that time, I didn’t know he could not read or write but to make me happy, he helped me in my studies!
Another memory that doesn’t go away is the floods in the village and how I was carried on top of a buffalo by my uncle. I also remember plucking fruits from a tree that was full of thorns.
I used to be very naughty, running around and playing all the time with my friends. I used to get a lot of scolding for disturbing the elders who slept in the afternoon. The moment they started scolding, I would run away to the fields!
I also remember finishing my school work fast in class and sleeping on the teacher’s lap!

January 11, 1993, the fateful day

On the January 11, 1993 when we had the sankranti holidays, my mother took my sister and me to a nearby village for a family fun ct ion. From there we were to go with our grandmother to our native place. But my grandmother did not come there. As there were no buses that day, my mother took a lift in my father’s friend’s lorry. As there were many people in the lorry, he made me sit next to him, close to the door.
It was my fault; I fiddled with the door latch and it opened wide throwing me out. As I fell, my legs got cut by the iron rods protruding from the lorry. Nothing happened to me except scratches on my legs.
The accident had happened just in front of a big private hospital but they refused to treat me saying it was an accident case. Then a police constable who was passing by took us to a government hospital.
First I underwent an operation as my small intestine got twisted. The do ct ors also bandaged my legs. I was there for a week. When the do ct ors found that gangrene had developed and it had reached up to my knees, they asked my father to take me to a distri ct hospital. There, the do ct ors scolded my parents a lot for negle ct ing the wounds and allowing the gangrene to develop. But what could my ignorant parents do?
In no time, both my legs were amputated up to the hips.
I remember waking up and asking my mother, where are my legs? I also remember that my mother cried when I asked the question. I was in the hospital for three months.

Life without legs

I don’t think my life changed dramatically after I lost both my legs. Because all at home were doting on me, I was enjoying all the attention rather than pitying myself. I was happy that I got a lot of fruits and biscuits.

The day I reached my village, my house was flooded with curious people; all of them wanted to know how a boy without legs looked. But I was not bothered; I was happy to see so many of them coming to see me, especially my friends!
All my friends saw to it that I was part of all the games they played; they carried me everywhere.

God’s hand

I believe in God. I believe in destiny. I feel he plans everything for you. If not for the accident, we would not have moved from the village to Tanuku, a town. There I joined a missionary school, and my father built a house next to the school. Till the tenth standard, I studied in that school.
If I had continued in Teeparu, I may not have studied after the 10th. I may have started working as a farmer or someone like that after my studies. I am sure God had other plans for me.

My sister, my friend

When the school was about to reopen, my parents moved from Teeparu to Tanuku, a town, and admitted both of us in a Missionary school. They decided to put my sister also in the same class though she is two years older. They thought she could take care of me if both of us were in the same class. My sister never complained.
She would be there for everything. Many of my friends used to tell me, you are so lucky to have such a loving sister. There are many who do not care for their siblings.
She carried me in the school for a few years and after a while, my friends took over the task. When I got the tricycle, my sister used to push me around in the school.
My life, I would say, was normal, as everyone treated me like a normal kid. I never wallowed in self-pity. I was a happy boy and competed with others to be on top and the others also looked at me as a competitor.

Inspiration

I was inspired by two people when in school; my Maths teacher Pramod Lal who encouraged me to participate in various local talent tests, and a brilliant boy called Chowdhary, who was my senior.
When I came to know that he had joined Gowtham Junior College to prepare for IIT-JEE, it became my dream too. I was school first in 10th scoring 542/600.
Because I topped in the state exams, Gowtham Junior College waived the fee for me. Pramod Sir’s recommendation also helped. The fee was around Rs 50,000 per year, which my parents could never afford.

Moving to a residential school

Living in a residential school was a big change for me because till then my life centred around home and school and I had my parents and sister to take care of all my needs. It was the first time that I was intera ct ing with society. It took one year for me to adjust to the new life.
There, my inspiration was a boy called K K S Bhaskar who was in the top 10 in IIT-JEE exams. He used to come to our school to encourage us. Though my parents didn’t know anything about Gowtham Junior School or IIT, they always saw to it that I was encouraged in whatever I wanted to do. If the results were good, they would praise me to the skies and if bad, they would try to see something good in that. They did not want me to feel bad.
They are such wonderful supportive parents.

Naresh at IIT- Chennai

Life at IIT- Madras

Though my overall rank in the IIT-JEE was not that great (992), I was 4th in the physically handicapped category. So, I joined IIT, Madras to study Computer Science.
Here, my role model was Karthik who was also my senior in school. I looked up to him during my years at IIT- Madras.
He had asked for attached bathrooms for those with special needs before I came here itself. So, when I came here, the room had attached bath. He used to help me and guide me a lot when I was here.
I evolved as a person in these four years, both academically and personally. It has been a great experience studying here. The people I was intera ct ing with were so brilliant that I felt privileged to sit along with them in the class. Just by speaking to my lab mates, I gained a lot.

Naresh in wheel chair

Words are inadequate to express my gratitude to Prof Pandurangan and all my lab mates; all were simply great. I was sent to Boston along with four others for our internship by Prof Pandurangan. It was a great experience.

Joining Google R&D

I did not want to pursue PhD as I wanted my parents to take rest now.
Morgan Stanley sele ct ed me first but I preferred Google because I wanted to work in pure computer science, algorithms and game theory.

I am lucky

Do you know why I say I am lucky?
I get help from total strangers without me asking for it. Once after my second year at IIT, I with some of my friends was travelling in a train for a conference. We met a kind gentleman called Sundar in the train, and he has been taking care of my hostel fees from then on.
I have to mention about Jaipur foot. I had Jaipur foot when I was in 3rd standard. After two years, I stopped using them. As I had almost no stems on my legs, it was very tough to tie them to the body. I found walking with Jaipur foot very, very slow. Sitting also was a problem. I found my tricycle faster because I am one guy who wants to do things faster.
One great thing about the hospital is, they don’t think their role ends by just fixing the Jaipur foot; they arrange for livelihood for all. They asked me what help I needed from them. I told them at that time, if I got into an IIT, I needed financial help from them. So, from the day I joined IIT, Madras, my fees were taken care of by them. So, my education at the IIT was never a burden on my parents and they could take care of my sister’s Nursing studies.

Surprise awaited me at IIT

After my first year, when I went home, two things happened here at the Institute without my knowledge.
I got a letter from my department that they had arranged a lift and ramps at the department for me. It also said that if I came a bit early and checked whether it met with my requirements, it would be good.
Second surprise was, the Dean, Prof Idichandy and the Students General Secretary, Prasad had located a place that sold powered wheel chairs. The cost was Rs 55,000. What they did was, they did not buy the wheel chair; they gave me the money so that the wheel chair belonged to me and not the institute.
My life changed after that. I felt free and independent.
That’s why I say I am lucky. God has planned things for me and takes care of me at every step.

The world is full of good people

I also feel if you are motivated and show some initiative, people around you will always help you. I also feel there are more good people in society than bad ones. I want all those who read this to feel that if Naresh can achieve something in life, you can too.

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See Video Interview in USA

Courtsey – Shri Prabhulal Bharadia

Travel in Canada- Moiz Khumri

Shri Moiz Khumri was my classmate at  last year of Electrical engineering class. We studied together only for one year – 1965 . I joined Ahmedabad Electricity Co. Ltd, as a Technical Astt.; wheras he  joined Electrical Deptt. of Govt. of Gujrat as an Asstt. Electrical Inspector after a few years of working at various places.

So he became inspector of our Electrical plant and machinery – a very honorable person for us! When he retired, he was Commissioner of Electricity – a very important person at  Secretary level in Govt. But our friendship has continued and blossomed,  over all these years.

After retirement I have settled near Dalls, Texas, USA , wheras he flip flops between India, Canada and USA.

This narration of his recent travels in Canada with his daugher’s family is the first one from him on the net.  I am sure that, he will not stop at this and we can very reasonably expect many more writings from him in future.

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We left Ottawa on 3rd July 09 in Toyota Highlander with our daughter Tasnim on steering wheel all through out the round trip of around 6500 KMs.The last leg of return journey on 18th July was a drive of 1250 KMs.

The greatest entertainer during the entire trip was our grand son Ammar (6 years).In all five of us, me, Zainab, Tasnim, her husband Mohammed and Ammar had great fun during the trip.

The first halt was at Quebec city.Here we saw light and sound show of about 50 minutes on the banks of St.Laurence river covering the history of 400 years of the city.We have seen such shows in Red fort,Jaipur,Gandhi Ashram and Singapore.But this was far superior.Anyone visiting Quebec city has to see this.The Basilica here is also beautiful.We can not forget the delicious Tunisian dinner at “Carthage”.

The next halt was at Fredricton,the capital of New Brunswick.From here we visited the historical village “Kings Landing”. Here it was shown in real form how the artisans of the past era were carrying out their jobs.The dance at the theatre in Kings landing was also quite entertaining.

Thereafter, we visited port city of St.John (Bay of Fundy).The city market here is the big attraction.However the most important place is “Reversing Falls”.Here we see the water current going very high in the direction of the river during high tide and then the reverse flow from the river during low tide bringing down the level much lower.This is nature’s delight rarely observed.Smaller attractions like “Martello Tower” and Irving Natural Park were also good fun.A further smaller delight was a big group of baby foxes just around our vehicle.

Watch a video clip

Helifles Citadel Historical Park

Further halt was at Halifax(capital of Nova Scotia). Our stay was at Dartmouth, a suburb of Halifax.The attractions here were Halifax Citadel,Halifax harbour and Maritime museum of Atlantic.Here we saw the salvaged remains of “Titanic”.The light house on the rocks at “Peggys Cove” about 60 KMs away is a wonderful sight.THe only operaional post office is below the light house on these rocks.On the way further, we visited memorial of Swiss Air flight 111 wrecked in the ocean in the horizon on 2nd sept 1998.We then visited beautiful harbour city of Lunenberg.

Our next stop was at Sydney(Cape Breton).The harbour here is also nice.The big “Fiddle” erected on harbour is a good attraction.While we were strolling in one of the parks, a family just walking behind us stopped us and asked whether we were talking Gujarati.The lady was so happy that she could meet some one from Gujarat and just wanted to talk in Gujarati.The lady’s forefathers were living in Madhapar(Bhuj) and she was born in Uganda and studied in London(UK) and staying in Sydney for last 35 years.Her husband is a Pakistani doctor.They insisted upon us and took us for tea at their huge house.Meeting some one from your motherland at such a distant remote place made us all very happy.

We then visited Louisbourg.The fortress of Louisbourg is a big attraction there.

We then took world famous lengthy “Cabot trail”(298kms long) on the hills around the sea shore.The scenic road all along was breathtaking. Here our stay was at village “Meat cove” in the cottage on beach shore for 2 days. In this tiny village only 20 families live.The sea shore on this cove was serene.A small restaurant prepared special fresh fishes for our 3 meals there and for the first time I enjoyed the sea food. Normally,I avoid sea food. However, I can not forget those delicious fishes made by the chef Derek with all the love. The charges were unbelievably low at such a remote place.

We then drove again from other side of “Cabot trail” and reached Pictou.The car along with other travelling vehicles was shipped in a Ferry upto the shore of Wood Islands ferry terminal of Price Edward Island and we further drove upto Stratford. On the first eve there, we enjoyed Lebanese food.The capital of Prince Edward Island is Charlottetown.The light and sound show here though nice can not be compared with the excellent show at Quebec city.On this island we enjoyed at famous beaches of Singing Sands, Red point park, Cavendish, Rustico, Murray and other smaller beaches. While we were in Charlottetown we visited famous “COWS” hand-made ice cream factory.Though I am a big fan of Amdavadi Havmor Ice cream,the cows ice cream was exceptionally tasty. During 3 days of our stay in PEI we enjoyed this ice cream.

We also visited Penmore Island light house and the famous Cap Bear light house where first distress signals from the Titanic, while sinking near adjoining New Foundland sea, were received. On this island Acadian and native Mi’kmaq cultures have been thriving. This province is also famous for potato farming.The biggest attraction on this island province is the visit to famous Avonlea village recreating the ambience of famous stories for children- ”Anne of green Gables”.About 5 hours spent in this village were most entertaining.Evening dinner that evening at “Captain food” was also very delicious.

The visit at “The Bottle houses” at Cap-Egmont made of appx 10,000 bottles can not be missed while you are at PEI.

While leaving PEI we passed through a 13 KM long Confederation bridge across the ocean. We then stayed at Shediac of New Brunswick.It is adjoining Moncton.The largest structure of Lobster erected at Shediac is the biggest attraction.The  historical Pascal Porier house of Shediac gives the glimpse of that area. The hand embroidery by ladies of that town is attractive. However, magnetic hill at Moncton is really enjoyable.The car able to roll “uphill”; is an experience of life. They say that similar uphill rolling can be witnessed at British Columbia and Australia.

The most important attraction of the trip near Shediac and Moncton was “Hopewell Rock” at Bay of Fundy where during high tides water level reaches upto about 11 to 13 metres and at low tides you can walk on the ocean land.Many visitors come everyday to observe this magnificient wonder of the nature.During low tide you can see plants grown on the rocks of the ocean bed like flower pots.It is a “must” visit site while you are on East Coast of canada.

The important experience on this tour was our stay at most of the places in private homes offering “bed and breakfast” service. We had similar experince during our trip of West Coast in 2007. But this time, it was much better. These services are not cheap and comparable to good hotel prices. But in this case you come in contact with Canadian families and interact with them while enjoying the morning breakfast freshly prepared personally by them.

This concept may also be seen in a very limited cases in US but in Canada it is very popular.

Mob Mentality- Nitin Naresh

Today I was travelling by bus from my home to some place approx 30 km. The bus went on highway and I was about to get down. I was just crossing the road when I saw that a speeding honda city car hit a girl riding the scooty and crossing the road in the middle of the highway. The girl felt down and she started bleeding heavily. She was hit by the car so badly that she become unconcious and was bleeding heavily from head and neck.

The driver out of the humanity came running to see the girl and went to pick the girl and take her to hospital in the car. I was just helping the guy to pick the girl but suddenly some people out of public came near to us and started beating the man, who was driving the car. I was seeing all this drama of the public. They were very much interested to beat the car driver but did not bother that in all  this nonsense they were unnecessarily making delay for the treatment of the girl. No one bothered for the bleeding and unconcisous girl.

Suddenly I took a iron rod from a near by place and started beating some people of the public. I know this was wrong but at that time this was the only way to stop them. I shouted on them that they were so idiotic that their main priority was not to beat the man, but to take the girl to hospital.

I told them that, ” The man could have run after accident, but instead he came to help her. Is this not enough. What we would have done, if he might have run? “

Then I took the girl along with the help of this man to the hospital. There the doctor told that it is too late to bring, as she already lost so much blood. But they will still try for it and asked for the blood. All the people who were almost ready to kill the man over the accident spot denied to give the blood and slowly and slowly tried to escape

But this guy who made the accident asked the doctor to take his blood. All this was running in front of my eyes as a movie. The doctor told the man that he can’t give the blood, as he himself was so much injured due to the public hitting. But he said it did not matter. His main aim was to save the girl’s life at that time and urged doctor to take blood. I was also ready to give blood but my blood group was different.

I called the girl’s family and told them every thing.  When they came, we left. The man who hit the girl gave 10,000/- Rs.  to the family for the expenses and told that right then he was in hurry and would come back in the evening to see the girl. He also asked me if he can drop me in the way. So I got ready.

On the way he told me that he was driving fast, as his wife was in hospital and was about to deliver the first baby and her case was complicated.

I thought why people hit this man for what mistake. He was not driving under the effect of alcohol, he was not driving rash. He was not talking on phone while driving. Instead it was the girl’s mistake, as she tried to cross the road from wrong side and that too on a highway.

What could have happened and what we could have done, if he had run away, after hitting the girl. The situation might have got worse. She may even have died. With all the problems and tensions due to the complications over the delivery of the first child and seeing the wife’s condition, he could have simply escaped. But he gave the best of the time and energy till the family of the girl arrived.

I went to the hospital where his wife was admitted and came to know that his wife has successfully delivered a healtly baby boy. I felt, as if god has blessed him just because he helped some one in need instead of his own urgency. But are we all so much blessed by god.

You know in every human we have a soft heart. We all feel sad when we make mistakes,  hit some one or do something bad. We all have a sense of humanity inside us. Still many people run from the accident spot. Not because they are devils, but because of the fear of stupidity of the public; who do not have any relation to the injured or the accident, but try to indulge themselves without any reason in such things and interfere in between.

More than 90 hit and run cases happen just because people fear that public might beat them to death after the accident. They really want to help the accident victim but can’t help them and rather run away. Due to such stupidity of the mob, many precious lives are lost.

So friends! I request you all to please help the accident victim and dont over react over the people who make accident. Accidents happen by mistake and not intentionally. That is why they are called accidents. So try to keep yourself calm and help people so that we may be able to reduce hit and run cases and people help the victims of accident.