Losing oneself

Although I update all the blog posts of Gnana Deepam Trust (www.gnana-deepam-trust.blogspot.in) they are technically not mine. So this is my blog entry after a long time... Really long time.

"WONDERFUL, it is to lose oneself in the work.
BEAUTY, it is to lose oneself in the duty. "

                              - Anon.

I should admit that I have been lost many a time when I worked on some projects of Gnana Deepam Trust. I never felt bad about that. On the contrary I was more than happy to lose myself in my work. I have immersed myself in the works so much so that at times I would be preparing a document for the trust regardless of an assignment that is due or without preparing for a test. Similarly I have lost myself while playing CHESS or VOLLEY BALL!

In the recent times I have stopped doing the things that I hold dear to myself.

• Writing.
• Playing Chess.
• My poems.

When I look back for the reasons that made me to be away from all these... I wasn't able to find (m)any. May be the different things that I had in my mind like the poems, project, story, Gnana Deepam Trust, Experience, Civil service, age etc. made me to think a lot & as a resultI ended up doing nothing. MAY BE...

It is true that I can never take Gnana Deepam Trust out of myself. It is also true that I fell in love with the ICICI Fellowship. I have this huge passion for the story that I have came up with. Also true is that I am completely hopeless in my project with Lok Mitra. Although I am slowly picking up Hindi, it is almost impossible to prepare a curriculum & a manual for the running of residential educational camps for the out of the school students. All these things have kept my previously occupied mind as completely occupied!

BUT...

Was I really that busy? Was I too busy to write my journal?

The answer is  NO. NOT AT ALL!

I have always had problems with priorities and prioritisation. I will be doing something important rather than doing the urgent things. I slowly tried to move away from that and in the end I think I made a mistake. I prioritised the project (URGENT) now rather than doing the book & the blog & the game(IMPORTANT). When the URGENT things hit upon a rock & moved nowhere... I too was stuck. In fact I was lost... I didn't know what to do... I was unable to finish the URGENT things & as a result I was unable to move to the important things too...

Recently I started feeling the difference... I realised that I lost myself "TO" the work rather than losing myself "IN" the work.  The difference is just simple. It is the difference between you holding your breath inside the water for pushing yourselves to the limit AND someone pushing you inside the water. When you push yourselves to the limit you feel happy to have surpassed what you have previously did but when someone else pushes you inside it feels very bad & life threatening.

So... I found myself... I decided to swim & sink myself in the work.
So... I decided to losing myself in the work because...

"WONDERFUL, it is to lose oneself in the work.
BEAUTY, it is to lose oneself in the duty. "

                              - Anon.

Why should we all SPARK?

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S-P-A-R-K - SPorts, ARts & Knowledge.

It feels good to write to you all from far away. Last night, I was speaking with Ram Subash, a trustee of our trust. We were discussing about the past experiences & the way forward for our trust and the new changes, improvements that are going to take place. Amidst all those things we started to speak about the SPARK 2013 & suddenly he asked me

“Why are we conducting SPARK & why can't we conduct something useful with the money? Why can't we sponsor for their educational needs or give them scholarships? What is the use in conducting SPARK?”.

To say truthfully, I was startled. I was literally taken aback as I always thought that the whole team knew about the rational behind the whole event of SPARK. I was terribly WRONG. Anyway this is HOW the rest of the conservation continued.

I asked 

"Subash, What do you think is the main difference between a city bred, private school educated child & a child brought up in a village who is educated in a government school? Are there any “ocean change” difference between the curriculum?".

Well, the answer is undoubtedly NO. I have read a same class in both the State board & Central board syllabuses. The broadness of the subject differs BUT in objectivity they both were almost the same.

Why were you (Subash) able to travel to cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Ernakulam & still continue your life without facing much difficulties? Was it because of the English language?

Again, the answer is NO. In fact if you speak in English in Chennai & Bengaluru to auto drivers, they will swindle money out of you. At times English can be the worst choice to use in cities.

You were able to travel across India (almost to all states) for service calls and you were comfortable with new places & cultures. Do you think a village girl/boy, taught in the rural areas of Madurai or Thirunelveli district be able to do it?

The answer to a larger extent was NO. I have friends, who were from places like Kovilpatti & still they found it hard to accustom themselves to their new college life & the exposure to other cultures.

.

.

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At last the answer turned out to be the SELF-CONFIDENCE & EXPOSURE. In my views what makes an individual is the self confidence & this stems out from the exposure to the new places, people, situations & the ability to successfully cope up with them. Confidences comes also from the feeling of success. How much soever small the success is, the feeling itself is like a seed which grows day by day & becomes a huge tree one day. That huge tree gives an enormous confidence to people.

Tree of Success!

The rational behind the SPARK is not to make Leonardo Da Vincis or Isaac Newtons or Ravivarmas or Bhaarathis out of children. It is not to make an immediate tangible change in the lives of the people/ poor. The word SPARK (suggested by Thennarasu) was chosen because it resembled the most to our ideal. The SPARK from the (Gnana) DEEPAM can light some one's path.

As far as the word SPARK is concerned, SPARK is an acronym of Sports, ARts & Knowledge. The event is aimed at conducting small inter-school competitions for the children and thereby exposing them to new children, new teachers, new places & also to something new called as the success at a larger stage. The competitions are not directly related to academic excellence & it gives the opportunity for the children to creatively express themselves. The prizes are given only to the top three participants but everyone is provided with a certificate of participation & some compliments. This infuses the feeling of success in them, which over a period of time will make them strive for betterment & give them the confidence to face the world. 

 

The success & effectiveness of the event SPARK cannot be measured in the near future. May be it can never be measured BUT our success is making success stories not succeeding for ourselves.

Kids that SPARKled in 2011!

Having said about the rational about SPARK, a lot of questions arose like

1. Why should we always keep it free & without an entrance/participation fee?
2. Why should we provide them with food?
3. Why should we conduct the competitions in a weekend?
4. Why should it be conducted somewhere near August or January?
5. Why should we continue with the project regardless of the fact that it had already failed many times since 2009?

Well the answers are not always black or white. At times they are also black & white.

1. We may lose out participants as not all families can pay for the competitions that are generally considered as “NOT SO NECESSARY”. The child who was left out due to the poverty can become someone like a Ramanujam or may be not BUT that is a chance that we cannot take.
2. Government schools provide mid-day meals & most children come to school to have that one serving of food. We cannot stress them to bring the food or go hungry on the day of SPARK.
3. Well, this is the golden question... We can have the competitions on any day of a week, given that the organising team can take a couple of days off, from their job & routine.
4. Operationally, that seems to be the most suitable time as they are either fresh out of the exam or yet to appear for an exam & there is no pressure on the side of the teachers to grant a day for us. Moreover as the two important national days Independence day & Republic day fall in the months of August & January respectively, it makes most sense that we use them to our objective. To make confident, successful yet patriotic & humane citizens out of children.
5. I am not being over-optimistic or looking to achieve something big. I simply believe in what a wise man once said.

“In a day, when you don't come across any problems - you can be sure that you are travelling in a wrong path”        

 ― Swami Vivekananda.

Subash too, at the end of the conversation believed that SPARK is an important event & we should conduct it. He is optimistic now or to be precise, he has the conviction to conduct the event now.

We are travelling in the right path & let us reach the destination. Sometimes the TRAVEL itself rather than the destination that makes the whole journey special. Hoping to see you all in the travel.

I know that to conduct SPARK is no small thing, it needs at least 15 members & more than Rs 35,000/- BUT I also know that it is necessary we do that.

Those who still believe that SPARK is something necessary and achievable regardless of all the earlier mishaps & flip-flops please reply.

Between 3 trips to Bengaluru

I must accept the fact that I started writing this on 23rd of May, 2012. After the completion of my 3 visits of Bengaluru. Let me try to give what all happened in between these visits. Well, for a beginning, I will say about the sea changes in the lives of my 3 friends. 

During the first visit - October 2011.

(Ram) Subash was working in Bengaluru.

Krishna (Kumar) was working in Obopay with a pay of around 3.5 L per Annum.

Soban (Babu) was in Chennai attending his classes.

During the second visit - Jan 1, 2012.

Subash was working in Chennai.

Krishna got a hike & was in the pay range of 4.5L per annum.

Soban was in Dharmapuri with his family & preparing for final exams of CA.

During the final visit - May 23rd, 2012.

Subash was working in Ernakulam.

Krishna lost his job & was searching for a new one.

Soban came back to Chennai.

NOW THE ONLY CONSTANT THING IN ALL THESE THREE SCENARIOS IS... MYSELF. (barring the physical changes which was always up the mountain!)

I was then an MBA student who was hoping to complete the degree, then an MBA student who was again hoping to complete the degree... & Now I am here still hoping to finish my degree! :D Of course stuck in the same Chennai, though I shifted my place of residence from Velachery to Saidapet recently! 

So coming back to the point of in between 3 trips to Bengaluru, I found the following to be important things that the Chennaiites or people of Chennai should learn from our Bengaluru counterparts.

1) FLEECE Uniformly.

I am in no way saying that the AUTO-RICKSHAW drivers in Bengaluru are better than the Chennai drivers BUT they do it with a just. They have all the crazy papers and notices and do the act of fleecing with some vague feeling of justice. They swindle the money with some sanity. They show you some papers citing the changes in the fare, rise in petrol price etc.

So, the auto-drivers of Chennai can fleece BUT they should do it uniformly!


2) CUT sensibly.

I know nothing of the eco-friendliness or the conserving nature of the Bengalurians BUT Bengaluru sure has more vegetation than Chennai. I heard that the people protested while the trees in the LAL BAGH were being cut for the city's metro railway project. Anyway from what I have seen the roads are far better when it comes to the canopy size (Only the canopy size! Otherwise they are as bad as the roads in Thiruvananthapuram. Small & dusty)

So, the people of Chennai shall CUT the trees BUT they should CUT them sensibly!


Similarly I will say the following point to the Bengalurians!

1) CONFUSE sanely.

I am not claiming that the buses in Chennai are completely passenger-friendly BUT the buses in Bengaluru are completely against the comfort of the passengers! In my travels I used the Bengaluru city buses & all of them had "NO ENGLISH" boards. They were completely in Kannada & even many natives were asking me for what was written on the board! I agree that the natives wouldnt be able to read the English BUT at least the "foreigners" like me could interpret it for them!

In Chennai, almost all buses will have English boards. Most of the buses will be bilingual! I would reckon such a change in the Bengaluru buses at the earliest.


In hopes, as of ever!

மாமல்லபுர... புத்தன்!

29-07-2012, ஞாயிறு.

என்றும் போலவே இன்றும் விடியும் வேளையில் விழித்தே இருந்தேன். முன்தினம் இரவு 10 மணியளவில், திண்டுக்கல்லில் இருந்து பேருந்தில் ஏறிய நான் எனது இருக்கையைத் தேடிக் கொண்டு இருக்கையிலேயே... இருக்கைகள் என் கவனத்தை இழுக்க முயன்றது. சற்றும் எதிர்பாராத விதமாக நான் எதிரில் பார்த்தது எனது பள்ளித் தோழன் நிசாந்த் அசோக் (ஆம் நிசாந்த் அசோக்... அப்படிதான் அவனது பெயர் முகநூலில் காணப்படும்!) நிசாந்த் என்னைவிட ஒரு வருடம் இளையவன். நான் மூன்றாம் வகுப்பு சேர்ந்த முதலில் இருந்தே எனக்கு பழக்கப்பட்டவன் இருப்பினும் அதிகமாக நாங்கள் உரையாடியது இல்லை. உண்மையில் எங்களது நட்பு, "நலம், நலமறிய ஆவல். வாழ்த்துக்கள், வணக்கம்." என்னும் அளவை அதிமாக தாண்டியதில்லை. பொதுவாக உயரிய தொழில்நுட்பக் கருவிகள் எதையும் உபயோகிக்காத எனது கைகளில் வழக்கத்துக்கு மாறாக எனது அண்ணனின் உள்ளங்கை கணினி விளையாடிக் கொண்டிருந்தது. எனது தோழர்கள் எழில், புவனா, கிறிஸ்டி, செந்தில், ஶிவ் ஆகியோருடன் உரையாடிக் கொண்டிருந்தேன். சற்று நேர கட்டாய அணுபவ பரிமாற்றத்திற்கு பின்பு "சரி அண்ணா, நான் தூங்குறேன்" என நிசாந்த் தன் இருக்கைக்கு சென்றான். திருச்சி கடந்து சற்று நேரத்துக்கெல்லாம் சயனம் தொடங்கியது. பேருந்து பயணத்தில் சயனம் என்பது எனக்கு மிகவும் பிடித்தவைகளில் ஒன்று. பேருந்து பெரம்பலூர் அருகே செல்லுகையில் விழித்தேன். ஓட்டுனரைத் தவிர அனைவரும் ஆழ்ந்த உறக்கத்தில் இருந்தனர். வழியெல்லாம் விழி வைத்து வேடிக்கை பார்த்துக் கொண்டு வந்தேன். உண்மையில் அந்த பயணத்தின் போது என் மனம் மட்டும் பங்களாதேசம், காஶ்மீர், பாகிஸ்தான், ஆஃப்கானிஸ்தான், ஈரான் என என் கதைக்களங்களுக்கு சென்று வந்தது. மீனம்பாக்கம் வந்ததும் நிசாந்திடம் விடைபெற்றுக்கொண்டு கத்திப்பாரா பாலத்தில் இறங்கினேன். என்னேரமும் பெட்ரோல் விலையேற்றத்தையே காரணம் சொல்லி குதிரை விலையில் ஒரு குறும்பயணத்தை தரும் சென்னை ஆட்டோக்களில் ஒன்றில் ஏறி சைதாப்பேட்டை ஜோன்ஸ் ரோட்டில் உள்ள விட்டிற்கு வந்தேன். காலைக் கடன்கள் சுமூகமாக முடிந்தது. வீட்டினருகே 5, 6 தேனீர் கடைகள் இருப்பினும், காவல்துறை ஆணையர் அலுவலகத்திற்கு அருகாமையில் இருக்கும் "ஹீரோ தேனீர் கடை"தான் எனது பிரியம். சூடான சுவையான ஒரு தேனீரை குடித்து விட்டு தற்செயலாக மாமல்லபுரம் பயணத்தைப் பற்றி விசாரிக்க நிவியை (நிவேதன்) அழைத்தேன். சற்றும் எதிர்பாராத விதமாக மட்டைப்பந்து விளையாட என்னை அழைத்தான். வரும் அழைப்புகளில் அநேகத்தை சம்மதிக்கும் நான் அதற்கும் சென்றேன்.

அங்கே என் வயதினரே அதிகம் காணப்பட்டனர் இருப்பினும் சற்று உரிமையாக பேசி எங்களை வரவேற்றவர் ஒரு நடுவயதவர். அவர் பேசிய இரண்டாவது நொடியிலேயே அவர் ஒரு மார்க்கெட்டிங்க் மானேஜர் என உணர்ந்தேன். மார்க்கெட்டிங் துறையில் அதிகமான நண்பர்கள் இருந்த போதினும் எனக்கு ஒரு இனம் புரியாத வெறுப்பு என்றே கூறலாம்... அத்துறை மீது! காரணம் பொறியியல்(Mechanical Engineering) படித்த நான் ஒரு பொருளையோ, ஒரு சேவையையோ செய்வதிலேயே மிகுந்த ஆர்வம் கொண்டிருந்தேன். எனது மேலான்மை கல்வியிலும் OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT யே எனது விருப்பப் பாடமாக எடுத்தேன். இவையல்லாது ஒரு விதமான போலி சிரிப்புகளையும், பொய்கள் பேசுவதையுமே தொழிலாக கொண்டிருந்தது இன்றைய MARKETING துறை. அவர் மீது எனக்கு எந்த வெறுப்பும் தோன்றவில்லை. உண்மையில் "அவர் பேசும் வார்த்தைகளும் சிரிக்கும் சிரிப்பும் உண்மைதானா?" என்பது தான் என் சந்தேகம்! எப்படியோ என் சட்டைக் கிழிந்து மட்டைப் பந்து விளையாட்டையும் முடித்துவிட்டு வீடு திரும்பினோம் நானும், நிவியும். அதற்கு முன் தினம் வீட்டில் எனது அண்ணனும் அவனது அலுவலகத் தோழர்களும் "பார்ட்டி"த்து இருந்ததை உணர்ந்த நாங்கள் மிச்சமிருந்த 4 சிக்கன்களை வெகு லாவகமாக உண்டபின்பு கிளம்பினோம், எங்களுடன் சேர்ந்த கொண்ட சந்துருவுடன். தியாகராய நகர் என்னும் T.Nagar ல் சுமார் ஒரு மணி நேர காத்திருத்தலிற்கு பிறகு ஒரு 599 கிடைத்தது. வழியில் ஒன்றையும் கவனியாமல் நானும் நிவியும் உறங்கினோம். உண்மையில் சைதாப்பேட்டை பேருந்து நிறுத்தம் வருமுன்பே உறங்கி விட்டோம். பின்பு அடையாறு பாலம் அருகே விழப் போன நிவியை தன்னிசையாகப் பிடித்தேன். அவனும் சற்று நேரத்திற்கெல்லாம் மடியில் தலை வைத்து உறங்கினான். மாமல்லபுரம் பேருந்து நிலையத்திலேயே விழித்தோம். ஆளுக்கொரு தேனீர் குடித்து துயில் முறித்தோம். உண்மையில் முறிக்க முயன்றோம். முடியவில்லை. எப்போதும் போல் சிற்பங்களை கண்டவுடன் சந்துருவிற்கு அதை விவரிக்கத் தொடங்கினேன். அந்தக் காட்சிகளின் புரானங்களையும் அச்சிலைகளின் இதிகாசங்களையும் விவரித்துக் கொண்டு வந்தேன். தலைவர் "கல்கி" அவர்களின் "சிவகாமியின் சபதம்" பெரிதும் உதவியது. பாதையை விட்டு பாறையில் ஏறுவதையே குறிக்கோளாக கொண்டிருந்த நாங்கள் வெவ்வேறு சாகசப் பாதைகளை தேர்ந்தேடுத்து பயணப்பட்டோம். இரண்டு புட்டி மோர் அருந்தினோம், மாங்காய்களும் நெல்லிக்காய்களும் ஊடே உருட்டிவிட்டோம், வயிற்றுப்பானையின் உள். சந்துருவின் கடும் எதிர்ப்புகளையும் தாண்டி ஒரு 50 அடி சரிவை ஏறுவது என முடிவெடுத்தோம். அவ்வாறு நான் முடிவெடுக்க என்னைத் தூண்டியது அதன் நடுவே இருந்த ஒரு மரம்தான். எப்படியும் அது எங்களுக்கு உதவும் என்பதால் ஏறத் தொடங்கி விட்டோம்.

 

 பாதி வழியில் எங்கள் கையில் இருந்த பிலாஸ்டிக் புட்டிகளை தவறவிட்டோம். எங்கள் வயிற்றுப்பானைகளை பிடித்துக்கொண்டு மேலே ஏறுவதே பெரும் பாடாக இருந்தது. சுவற்றில் பல்லிகளைப் போல் ஒட்டிக் கொண்டுதான் ஏறினோம். நடுவில் இருந்த ஒரு சிறு துவாரத்தில் இருக்கும் போது புகைப்படம் எடுத்துக் கொண்டோம். வெகு அண்மையில் கூடிய 10 கிலோவின் பாரம் வெகுவாக தெரிந்தது. மேலே ஏறுவதற்குள் நாக்கு தள்ளிவிட்டது. ஒருவாறு ஏறியபின்பு நாங்கள் செய்த சாகசத்தைக் கண்டு நாங்களே எங்களை வியந்தும் பாராட்டிக் கொண்டும் இருந்தோம். அப்போது எங்களை செருப்பால் அடிப்பதை போல் ஒரு ஆடு அந்த பாறையை வெகு விரைவாக ஏறியது. சுமார் 15 நிமிடங்களாக நாங்கள் ஏறினோம். வெறும் 15 வினாடிகளில் அதை ஏறி எங்களை அசிங்கப் படுத்தியது அந்த ஆடு!

பிறகு கடற்கரை வாசம், துப்பாக்கி சுடுதல், பல நொறுவைகள், இட்லிகள், முட்டைகள், மிட்டாய்கள் என நாளை முடிக்க ஆயத்தமானோம். கடைசியாக ஒரு தேனீருடன் மாமல்லபுர பயணம் முடிந்தது. 

(எல்லாம் சரி, மாமல்லபுரத்திற்கும் புத்தனுக்கும் என்ன சம்பந்தம்? இந்த தலைப்பிற்கும், இக்கிறுக்கல்களுக்கும் என்ன சம்பந்தம் என்று கேட்கிறீர்களா..? அப்படி ஏதாவது தென்பட்டால் தயவு கூர்ந்து எனக்கு கூறுங்கள். ஏனெனில் எனக்கும் தெரியவில்லை! :-P )

My tryst with GALAPAGOS...

It has been long since I had a blog entry... Being a (diary) WRITER, I always write, write & write. My friends can see me writing something even while I sleep in the classes. Anyway as far as my tryst with GALAPAGOS is concerned...

I came to my aunt's house and took it as our home! (Of course, for rent!)The house is situated in a place called A.G.S. Colony which is in noway accessible to the common man. You should either own a vehicle or should brave the mongrels in the midnight and walk. All forms of transports to the place stops by 22:00 hours. This should make the first point clear... Why I cal this place as my Galapagos!

Again when it rains, even the slightest of the drizzles can make this place water-logged. Nothing new... BUT the innumerable Geckos that invade my room?
Ok I can live with company. What of the noisy mosquitoes? Ok... I can live with a couple of bites & an ounce less of blood. Fine. What about the slugs that are all over the window pane & the doors? Come on... They are not harmful.
Now I get a slight feeling as if I am in Galapagos islands.
Hey... I forgot to say about the Snakes that keeps on showing up every time I go out to have a tea or buy something in the store? Now, I am sure that I am in GALAPAGOS. Only, not the island on which Darwin landed but the one where I ENDED!
END.

What can you do with anger?

Today while I was making my JOURNEY with myself, as of ever, I found a great deal about myself... I was penning these short verses which I always do... As FAR as my travel was concerned it was from திருச்சி to சென்னை. I was on my way back to attend the bloody Marketing Test after my CONVOCATION. I wish that the day had lasted longer. Had a great time with the guys... I wish I had furthered to  திண்டுக்கல் as I had always wanted to be there for my reasons! I wanted to share some pictures of the convocation and say about my joy!

Well, coming back to what I started... I am not going to do what I WANTED to do.

It was 01:20 hours, 26-03-2011.

The bus in which I travelled was near the Chennai AIRPORT(Heaven knows what its name was... I didnt care) & the driver stopped it as a couple of passengers wanted to get down there... On a second thought he asked the conductor to check the wheels... Crazy heavens... A tyre was punctured & so the great MAN stopped the bus as such... After a couple words from the passengers he moved it to the left end of the road! And so we were asked to get down and go in a different bus...

(Nothing new! In my 5-6 years of travel in the SETC & other Ultra DE-LUX-ED(Shine lost) buses I might have experienced this at least a dozen times!)
All the while I thought that I was travelling in an SETC... I didnt even notice it in the ticket... but it was an TNSTC bus of விழுப்புரம்.  As many as 4 buses made the same mistake of assuming it to be a SETC & sped away... A conductor was kind enough to say "TICKET, TICKET... TICKET vaanganum..." while the bus was on the go. An angry citizen(Hope he was sleepy like hell) got irritated and he started scolding the government... He was kind enough to scold only the DMK government & not the whole MK family
(Meaning that M.K family is far GREATER & LARGER & NOBLER than the whole DMK party... Because it is how the DMK government feels & I accept the sovereignty of the Indian Governement. I dont want to be held like Seeman!)

for this ATROCITY! The angry citizen was agitated with the passage of a couple of more buses. He banged a bus that didnt stop... & sure there was an usual war of words in which only the WOMEN KIND were scolded! Now the guy was angry over the crowd, of which I am one. The guy would make an excellent agitator! He started scolding everyone of us... (Translating)

Am I the only one who is to go home? Dont you guys want to go home? Cant you stop the bus? Cant we be responsible? Great state, the state is at!

Then the guy took a stone after a couple of minutes... (Which I didnt realise as I was sending a message to my brother, who miraculously agreed to pick me up from Kaththipaaraa at that time!) And again a bus passes without a pause. Now I heard a DUM! A dhum DUM... Only then did I realise that the guy had taken a stone... & thrown it on the passing bus. The ricochet was great & it went to the far end of the big airport road! A MISS, I guess, was his thought!

Again a bus... This one nearly slowed and the conductor was kind enough to say...

Sorry... it is a different corporation & we cant take you guys... You have to pay fare...

The angry supporters (agitators who joined him) threw a couple of stones on the front glass of the, by now stopped bus... & started scolding the WOMEN KIND! The conductor & the driver of the stopped bus got furious and the conductor got down. He was virtually attacked by the guys from my bus... The good guy(our first angry citizen?) was sonic enough to boost the adrenaline in the other guys it seems. There was the usual clash... both verbal & NON VERBAL...  (By this time a couple of lorries, 3-4 cars with passengers to some flight had been queued up in the road... & my brother rang me after looking at the message that I had sent. ) After a round of talks... The new conductor & driver came to realise that the bus in which we came belonged to the same corporation (TNSTC) & not the SETC! They agreed to take us in without the fare... FAIR DEAL for the fear of broken glasses & injured passengers! Still OUR guys were all charged up by the adrenaline flow... & were hyperactive. They were shouting, scolding, cursing....
The new conductor told

(Vaa.... Nee Koyambedu vaa... Anga vachchu unna naan paaththukkurhaen..) "Come, come to the CMBT... Let me take care of things there..." as the angry guy boarded the bus...

And sure again there was a  a clash in the bus... & the guys were all scolding the conductor... As far as my travel was concerned, I reached the end of my bus travel... Kaththipaaraa reached! A relieved guy... I relieved the bus of my weight... & attended my brother's next call... I came to the opposite end of the road to see the reckless behaviour of another EDUCATED man! My brother!

A small study of the case! (I am more into case studies these days!)
The guy was great for a moment with his ANGER, the second most powerful emotion! He was an agitator who rallied up fellows for the cause... He was deeply angry with the society & the government. I was happy as I have another guy with a similar feeling...

THE ACT
He banged the bus that sped away... He was running behind it! He had the guts to fight for his right!

THE MIS-ACT
He threw the stone on a bus full of people just like him & the rest of us... The moment the agitator became the arsonist.
Why should they pay in blood & time for something which they haven't caused or for which they werent directly or indirectly answerable? Had that stone broken the glass it sure would have hurt at least a hand full of people. At almost TWO in the morning(night) I wonder if we can get any quality attention in the hospitals.

MIS-ACT II
As the bus stopped he should have tried to stop his adrenaline flow in the body! I guess the aim of the stone-pelting was to draw attention and not make others suffer for his woes! The bus stopped, the conductor came down... He should have spoken to him... instead of fighting with him.

MIS-ACT III
Even after getting into the bus he was scolding the conductor, who by now had realised for his mistake of not noticing the corporation of the bus... & apologised.

ANGER?
His anger might have taken us to nowhere but the nearest police station or the nearest hospital! Luckily for my brother, nothing as such happened!
An unchannelled flow of whatever can never be productive... Be it the water or the anger. There should always be a control, for it is control that makes the things roll.

STUPIDITY.
An elderly man joined the procession... He, at least by his experience and supposed wisdom should have stopped him or stayed out of the proceedings. Instead he chose to side with him! I wonder if he was ready to go to a hospital or probably answer the police! It is the spontaneity that keeps humans alive but it what he had was stupidity not spontaneity... It was opportunism not optimum behaviour.

It is this emotional outbursts and spontaneity that has kept us as slaves all these years... & it will remain to do so. We are carried away by a smile & we bite the sugar-coated pill. We are carried away by a day long hunger strike by the CM of the state and we are carried away from the Thamizh Eezham cause. we are being carried away by the election freebies and we virtually forget about 2G scam, Coalitions of convenience & issues of national importance.

Now for all those of you who read up to here... & wonder what kind of guy I am. FINE, Here is WTF I did...
The conductor of our ORIGINAL bus... WTF was he doing? It was his responsibility to make us board the other bus... It was his responsibility to make the other conductor know that both the buses were of same corporation... It was his bloody responsibility to make the bus stop. Instead he was there as a statute. He should have did all this...Had he did at least one of this there wouldnt have been a necessity for those unasked vents of emotions...
I asked the conductor to stop the bus... & when nothing happened and when everybody got inside the bus... I was the last to get inside the bus... I told the conductor...

None of these were necessary had you spoken a word... Had you stopped the bus. Had you done your duty...

Then inside the NEW bus I said the same to the by now a comparatively calm passengers... Needless to say the guy was still yelling!

MEANS ARE JUSTIFIED BY ENDS... BUT ENDS SHOULD BE WHAT WE SEEK!

THE MEANS SHOULDN'T BE MEAN!

The "PAANI POORI" stall boy!

Yesterday, I was walking down the road to my "HOME" at A.G.S. Colony. (I wonder what that means... AGS?) Anyway as far as the day was concerned I was a bit relaxed as for the first time I had completed an assignment well before the deadline. I was walking in the road pondering about something… about the changes that took place in my life, in my attitude and everything that I had been MISSING… I bought the groceries for the night’s meal. Some vegetables, tomato, curd, eggs oil etc. I stopped by the stall in which I had my daily Samosas. I Thought that it would go well as the side dish of the meal. Anyway I asked for 4 samosas as Saravanan anna was also at home. In fact he is the main cook! Fine let us get back to the story of the blog.

           

            The stall is taken care by a north-Indian dude and (possibly) his brother. A boy of age 6 or 7. The boy will always bore a sad look on his face. I have hardly seen him smile. He does, of course when something funny happens on the road. He parcelled the samosas for me. I was always worried about his education… (May be as my trust is working on that issue…) I asked him “School Poriyaa thambi…”.

            That was IT! You should have seen his face! His face was radiating happiness in all directions. He was very happy to speak about his school… “Aama sir, padikkirhaen!”. I responded like “Yentha School…”. He replied in sentences! “Ingathaan sir pakkathila, D… school…”. I couldn’t even make out what he said. He was so fast & it flowed like a river. I couldn’t get hold of his words partly because of his Hindi mixed accent and partly because of the rate at which he spoke…

By the end of the small chat I found, felt & I was humbled by that small boys interest in school. I was walking back to my home with the thoughts of him and the ways to help the innumerous “HIMS” in my country… I sure, didn’t get a solid plan by which I should act but for sure, I know that I should act… I am looking forward to help the boy in his studies.