Bangalore - Of Life at the Road, Flyovers and Rachna.

After almost three and a half years I got a chance to go to Bangalore. During the journey, I was asleep till we landed in Bombay. From Bombay we took off at about 5.00 PM and as I looked outside the window, I witnessed a spectacular panorama. The rays of the Sun playing hide and seek with clouds, the vast expanse of the blue and azure sky, the reflection of the Sun in the blue ocean waters and the changing colors of the clouds from white to silver and then to golden, as we moved further. It was as if I was in heaven. How much I wished I had my camera with me? When we reached Bangalore at about 6.30 PM the Sun was set. I had witnessed a most beautiful sunset as we had flown over Arabian Sea.
A car was there to pick me up at the Bangalore airport. As we moved on to the highway, I asked the driver how much time it would take to reach the hotel. ‘One and a half hours Madam’, he replied in a thick South Indian Accent. ‘Put on some music’, I asked him. ‘No FM Madam and no CDs’. This was Dr. Murthy’s Car. I asked Dr. Murthy later how he managed to travel so much without even having some music in the car. He replied that he generally dozed off, or he attended to his phone calls. That is Bangalore for you. People spend a considerable time of their day on road, and there are various things to do, reading newspaper, chatting, catching up with friends, making important phone calls, thinking(may be mundane day to day issues or some serious thinking), listening to music or simply getting off to sleep.
During my four day stay in Bangalore whenever I was on road I could not resist looking inside cars and buses to find out what people were doing. I found an Infosys Official Bus, full of people and more than half of them asleep. ‘A nap in the bus’ and its potential to keep you going- Looks like an apt article title in a Bangalorian Lifestyle magazine!. I saw couples into deep arguments inside cars, I saw young strategists doing some lateral thinking inside buses, I saw tired working women thinking about house hold chores, I saw students engaged in lively banter and I saw people chuckling and laughing over official jokes……or so I imagined.
The next day at the Hotel it took them an hour to bring me my breakfast order, a Grilled Sandwich and Orange Juice and that too, after having made two calls to room service. When it finally arrived I enquired why it took so much of time. ‘Madam grill karne me time lagta hai’ was the answer I got. Next day I ordered a Dosa and it arrived in ten minutes. Lesson – If you want to reach for your class in time – Have a South Indian Breakfast.
On Wednesday, we fixed up a visit to Bharathi’s house. I looked forward to meet her. I also looked forward to meet her daughter Rachna. Heard so much about her since the time she was very young. We met after a long time and were really happy to see each other. At her home, I met her mother in law and her parents. Rachna had gone out to play. Bharathi and I were chatting about old colleagues and common friends, when she said, “This lady has arrived”. I suddenly heard an uproar in an otherwise very quiet Bharathi’s household and in came Rachna - jumping, laughing, shouting and completely self-possessed. Bharathi took a backseat as she came and I had to spend the entire evening talking to her, listening to her stories, her songs, watching her drawing books, her paintings, her dance, and her cartoons and so on.
It was a delightful evening for me and Rachna made sure that I was kept a company all through. It was delightful talking to Bharathi’s Mother-in-law and also her father. Aunty has eighty years of wisdom behind her and yet is so simple and endearing. Uncle, retired as a professor of English, told me about his times in academics, which I found extremely interesting to listen to. Bharathi took me to see his Library as well. I could spot Rachna’s wall paintings also in the house and admired them. She turned magnanimous at this gesture of mine and gifted me some nine ten of her paintings to hang them in my house. I had a delicious dinner, an authentic Tamil cuisine, served graciously and affectionately by Bharathi’s Mom and Mom-in-law. Lucky Bharathi! To have two Moms around her to pamper her. When it was time to leave, Rachna refused to say a Good Bye to me and started crying. I felt bad and quickly slipped into the car for I feared that I would feel like crying too. Children have such a great ability to connect. Why do we lose this skill when we grow up?
Next day in the evening I decided to visit the Forum Mall. But before I could enter into the Mall, an Art Gallery caught my attention. It was a gallery of Vases, Pots, Sculptures and Decanters. I loved the display and the light arrangement inside the gallery, enhancing the beauty of each piece. It was a huge collection- Pots and Vases in terracotta, wood, crystal, metal, glass and papier’-mache’. I roamed around, admiring the texture, painting and the carving on pots. I particularly liked some floral designs done in red and white. The collection of crystals was huge and also interesting to look at. While one part of my brain took note of the design, colour and the artistic detail, the other part of my brain assessed the number of footfalls in a day at a place like that and the amount of possible daily and monthly sales, estimated possible markup to be around 50% on cost and finally concluded that perhaps a gallery like that at a prime location in Jaipur, would not be a profitable venture. Do I suffer from a split personality disorder?
There was a huge book shop at Forum Mall but before I could discover it, I had wasted enough time at the Art Gallery and the Westside store. I could barely take a round of the book shop housed in two floors and could not explore much.
Colleagues told me that Bannerghatta National Park was just five kilometers away from the campus and one could possibly see the tiger there. I was tempted to go, primarily to see how tigers and other animals managed to live peacefully in a jungle, just 5 kms away from civilization, away from the biggest IT hub in Asia. Who is more fortunate, I wondered? The Tiger in Bannerghatta jungle or the IT geek in Bangalore jungle!
We drove across a ten Kilometer flyover every day to reach campus in Electronic City. The flyover made on the BOT model. To me it was a symbol of a Twenty First Century Indian urban life, reinforcing one’s belief in India Shining. I saw Reva, the electronic car on the roads of Bangalore. Bangalore is so full of young people everywhere – in malls, on the road. I heard the stories of M.G.Road getting barren as a result of cutting down of the trees. This is true for the whole of Bangalore. You do not see too many trees around. Also the city is undergoing a climatic change, getting hotter day by day.
And finally, the journey back, the breakfast at the airport, as we started off early in the morning at seven to catch a 10.15 flight. Bangalore’s airport is like a Railway Station, so much crowded. It is slightly cleaner than the latter though. So when the aircraft took off, and as I watched the city from the window, I thought that in spite of its inadequacies, Bangalore still had a charm of its own. I would love to go back to the city again.

Big Boss

The House of Big Boss - Time - 4.27 PM, Date - December, 10, 2007
The house of the Big Boss has been inhabitated by 16 dynamic inhabitants. We expect a lot of action and drama in the house in the days to come. All the housemates will have to strictly follow the instructions given by Big Boss. A Special Task Force (Consisting of Black Cat Commandos) has been posted outside the house 24 hours for the security of the inmates and also to take care of any kind of violence, that may happen inside. Amitabh Bachchan will anchor the show in his famous baritone. Keep viewing for more action.

The residents

1. Mamta Banerjee
2. Ratan Tata
3. Aishwarya Rai
4. Raj Thakeray
5. Chatan Bhagat
6. Narender Modi
7. Bal Thakerey
8. Katrina Kaif
9. Arundhati Roy
10. Anil Ambani
11. Mukesh Ambani
12. Mayawati
13. Kiren Bedi
14. Shabana Azmi
15. Saurav Ganguli
16. Barkha Dutt

Tasks For Today

Raj Thakeray and Bal Thakerey - Practise singing National Anthem by singing it before Housemates ten times.
Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani - Make a bugdet for the whole week, And submit an Income Expenditure statement at the end of the day.
Arundhati Roy and Chetan Bhagat - Prepare a SWOT Analysis (IIM Style) of all the house mates , to be submitted at the end of the day.
Aishwarya Rai and Katrina Kaif - Give Tango lessons to other Housemates keeping in mind the phrase, It takes two to tango..
Ratan Tata and Mamta Banerjee; Narendra Modi and Shabana Azmi - Take Tango lessons.
Mayawati and Kiren Bedi - Prepare a draft for Anti-Corruption Act for the housemates. Give details of the offense and the punishment. Personal Inputs may be given by both of them.
Saurav Ganguli and Barkha Dutt - Write an essay on Sportsmanship.

All this hoopla about Slumdog Millionaire…

After all that Oscar hoopla I watched Slumdog Millionaire on Sunday.

One scene in particular refuses to get out of my mind. Two young boys standing on a high rise (being constructed) building are looking downwards at a slum where they lived a few years ago. One of them comments - Just a few years ago we lived in slums but now times have changed its all business now.

The movie is being watched world over. I try to watch that scene from the eye of a person in Germany, US, Russia, Brazil or Africa. To my mind the scene brings forward in subtle notes a fact that the recent development of India and its rise in the world as a prospective Superpower is a story of Slumdogs being transformed into business people - to a foreign eye.

To me the scene is symbolic of a nation being reconstructed. A nation being 'reconstructed in modern terms' keeping intact its rich traditions, values and culture. When I say in modern terms the connotation is about reconstructing a physical infrastructure. But a nation is not just a physical infrastructure. If we consider a cultural and philosophical infrastructure we are and were always a very rich nation. There is much more to India than a certain percentage rise in GDP growth rate or a rise and fall of a stock market. There is much more to India than what Slumdog Millionaire could possibly show.

Film is a powerful medium. Films are capable of registering messages in the subconscious mind, where they stay for longer than what we may perceive. They said they gave Oscar to Danny Boyle because the film was brilliantly shot. No doubt. Frame by Frame the film succeeds in attaining a space in the subconscious mind. Images, emotions, words ........

But with all the wrong messages.

Various scenes like a Tea boy searching information in a call center, a young girl relating a game show like KBC to a fulfillment of latent desires, the child beggar, the red light area, a sense of wonder in the eyes of a child and all set amidst universal human emotions like love, hate, hope, disappointment, agony, passion...................

When I say the film puts forward a distorted image of India, I feel I am using such mild words. Words are not enough to express a feeling that I have in my heart. I clearly see it as an effort made by a sharp mind, who knows what he can sell worldwide and can quickly get wide attention to and who is through in his art and technique.

When you tried to speak something about the film, your voice got lost in the uproar caused by a cacophonic praise about the film. But we need to speak about this and write about it. We need to continue to do that. The film, by virtue of it being a very powerful medium has already caused much damage.

And we need to make another powerful film, a film on my generation, the immense energy and confidence it has to rebuild the country (in terms of what is tangible) and all that my generation and yours too has got because we have been born in this great country, (in terms of what is intangible) to lead a the life of a happy, human being.

During the entire last century we had philosophies which focused on the tangible elements of life that I mention before. Most of those philosophies have recently seen an implementation failure. We have focused our attention on growth, GDP, wealth, capital, and economy for too long. These concepts are neither enough not sustainable, we have recently begun to understand.

We need a philosophy which brings about a combination of the tangible and intangible elements of life. Such a development paradigm will probably emerge from a country like India, rich in cultural and philosophical tradition. But that is something that will happen in future.

Perhaps we need to make a powerful film as an answer to a certain Slumdog Millionaire. And we need to get our own message registered in the subconscious of the people in the WORLD. And win an Oscar.
The plot is simple. A young man full of energy and confidence decides to build up his own life in set parameters based on his modern education. As he tries to do that he needs to break the set parameters to have a rich fulfilled life. Thus he needs to draw wisdom from his own tradition and culture. A young man's journey could be symbolic of a nation's journey. And all this can be set amidst universal human emotions like love, hate, hope, disappointment, agony, passion................... to have a wider appeal.

We need to give an answer to Slumdog Millionaire. We must.

“Cremation Speech” by Brutus

Students! Faculty!! Country Men !!!
Don’t lend me your contributions.
I come here to bury Efflux,
Not to praise it.

The evil that women do,
Lives in the memory.
The good is often interred
Along with their past issue(s).

So let it be with Efflux.
The noble committee hath told you
That the issue was too ambitious
As it was so, it was a grievous showoff.
And graciously have I answered it,
By calling the whole thing off.

Here I come to speak at Efflux’s funeral
Not for its praise
Monika is my faculty
Faithful and just to IBS
But the committee says the issue was too ambitious
And the committee is so obedient and gracious.

I come here not to reverse what Monika screwed up.
Here I am to speak on what I do know,
That you all loved Efflux,
Now all packed up.

What cause, I ask you, makes you mourn for Efflux?
Is it art? Culture? Vibrancy?
Forget it, these are bourgeois ideas
Long forgotten,
Since my term’s infancy.

Bear with me;
my head is in debris here
Together with Efflux
And I must pause
till it comes back to me.

Just yesterday,
the Efflux might have come out of Press
It now lies abandoned,
for it might have transgressed
all normal limits and done great harm
to all, including me.
It would have disadvantaged impressionable minds
And done the great committee wrong,
Which is, as you know,
Honourable and strong.

If you had any hopes,
Prepare to shed them now.
Remember how my face flushed with red
When the first issue came on show?
With it, Monika had so unkindly knock’d
At the doors of HO.

Ingratitude,
more strong than a traitor’s arms
Quite angered me
and burst all my plans.
And this 5 year special issue
Was the unkindest stab
of all. She was trying to grab
a piece of sunlight while
my position was drab?

How can that be,
Don’t you get it?
The leader’s position is always marked by greatness
Whether true or false
And let IBS be swept over by bloody
Backwardness.
(with apologies to Mark Antony and Julius Caesar)

“Cremation Speech” by Antony after Brutus has finished

Students, Faculty, countrymen,
lend me your ears:
I come to bury Efflux, not to praise him.
The evil that women
do lives after them;
The good is oft interred
Along with callous speeches;
So let it be with Efflux.
The noble Brutus
Hath told you Efflux was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Efflux answered it.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the faculty and rest of IBS –
For Brutus is an honorable man;
Come I to speak in Efflux’s funeral.
He was my Baby, Innocent and delicate
just like a new formed bud:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honorable man.

He hath brought many captive stories to home,
Stories of hope, of faith, of failures, of despair
Stories which, tored your heart apart
Stories which made you laugh so hard
Stories which made you feel proud
Stories which told you how to conduct
Did this in Efflux seem ambitious?
When that the students had cried, Efflux hath wept.
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honorable man.

You all did see that on the Lupercal
King presented Monika Examination Coordinator’s crown,
At other stance a Seminar’s honorary gown
Least did he present a chamber close to him
Which she did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honorable man.


I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did love Efflux once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
Harmless Efflux has been strangulated to death
Inspired by a baseless conspiracy theory
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason! Bear with me;

My heart is in the coffin there with Efflux,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
(With a very heavy heart and disgust for the king)

“Cremation Speech”

A New Session begins.......

The new semester begins on 3rd of June and I make my own preparations to begin my classes on Financial Management and Security Analysis.... same routine of starting with Time Value of Money, an important concept to let them understand the intricacies of Valuation later...... preparing III Semester students to work hard .. thinking how to load them with work right from the first class, Would CML, SML calculation not be the right project to be given in the first class?..... After entering into the class, I take a careful note of the enthusiam of the students about a new subject, their willingness to accept pressure, their ability to retrieve past information and based on that I will plan my future sessions.... The class is in a cheerful mood, I hope this mood prevails throughout the semester. One odd student is naughty, he/she is to be loaded with more work and responsibility, I find someone just on the verge of dozing off, heavy eyelids, a great effort to keep them open, I think of throwing a question at him but this is the first class so I decide to ignore.....
This comes as a part of a routine every year, when the semester starts and I have to make sure that students and I settle down in class and everything falls in place.
I try to step into the shoes of an individual student. For him its a new world opening for him. I will help him to expand his horizons, give him an understanding of basic concepts about capital markets, economy, open a new world for him to explore so that he is empowered to take a critical decision. Should he acquire this space as his future profession, his karmashetra? As I speak in class a forty pairs of curious eyes look at me trying to interpret what I expain. They put a faith in me and in what I teach them. I realize that I have a power to lift the level of general curiosity to a level of a persistant and indulgent effort to acquire knowledge, a knowledge which may in future help them in generating material returns out of it or probably generating a pleasure of having acquired knowledge itself, a knowledge for knowledge's sake.. I don't know how many details of this process of classeroom learning they will remember ten years later, or how much of it I will remember in future, but a forty pairs of curious eyes looking at me definitely motivate me to begin this process with conviction, a conviction of a Teacher starting a yet another session as part of a teaching routine, but still a very special and unique work in itself. I hope I am able to deliver up to what I am expected of.