Customer WoW - A first hand experience!

Out of all the brouhaha happening around the country, I would have ruled the possibility of a breaking my blogfast with a non political blog post as pretty close to NIL! But, U2 know that the mind works in Mysterious Ways right?

Moving on, my dinner experience today has two excellent parts - one of which goes to facebook and the other one is the subject of this blog. Lets start with the experience first.

At a restaurant we first ‘orrrdddeeerrrred’ a couple of combo dishes. The waiter didn’t know the menu book and add to that he couldn’t understand the local language. It took quite some dumb charades skills to reconfirm the order from him. Now then, One of the dishes was provided in a lesser quantity than normal. The other was a different combo than ordered. Though I can empathise with his situation, my hungry tummy just left me pretty frustrated. One hand, this guy couldn’t understand my order, theother part was he was not even aware of what was there in the menu which added to my anxiety at the prospect of arguing over sloppy billing as well. Add two other hungry diners, I leave the rest to your imagination. We were staring at the perfect Customer Service Disaster and could pretty much recognize it by the face.

Now kicks in the best part, pretty much the light at the end of the tunnel (aka cancelled order and angry walkout like in the parliament). Understanding the problems of the new waiter in serving our table, a wiry guy in formals walks up to us from nowhere and enquires us about the problem. We parrot our dinner order again and compare it with the items that we just received. He leans forward and listens intently and translates the order to our waiter and promises to set things right and leaves towards the kitchen with our waiter. He ensures that the waiter fills in the missing pieces of the order and nearly when we have finished, prods us gently about our next set of orders. He suggests some dishes which are special for the day and locks our order. He proceeds to order the same for us and comes back to inform of the estimated wait time for the dish. And the dinner proceeded to end happily ever after and the bill was called for. All this while it was difficult to not notice that, our original waiter was accompanying this gentleman and was briefed on the order in the short walk to the kitchen. The bill came and so did a short apology on the miscommunication earlier. Unbelievable it may sound, but his polite service and clear communication, turned, metaphorically the tables and literally our mood.

As South Indians, we generally suck at giving and receiving compliments in general. I actually got up and started to compliment him on his prompt service and how his hotel generally provided consistently good customer service. He pretty much didn’t know to respond and gave such an uncomfortable expression that I pretty much stopped my compliment and turned to “Thanks, Bye”! After all, the best compliment is the one we understand and not necessarily the one expressed.

Now to the the learnings from my experience,

1. There is no such thing as a Customer Service Disaster that cannot be salvaged if detected early.

2. Did my happiness at the customer service stem from the fact that our earlier waiter was pretty much a tragedy? Remember, hot water cools faster than normal water when stored in refridgerator!!

3. I doubt if this guy would have studied the virtue of customer service but the way he focused on making the customer comfortable proved that the best Customer Service is not born out of theory but out of intent.

4. Customer service knows no bounds, this being a pretty nondescript hotel at a town. The best learnings can come from pretty much anywhere as long as you are willing to observe.

5. When you suck at giving compliments and the other person equally is uncomfortable at accepting them, better never compliment! A satisfied customer can easily be identified than heard!

5 ways how PK dialled the wrong number

Lets agree on the fact that PK's storyline from a bird's eye level was great. A alien getting confused by Human interpretation of God! Now we have agreed upon that we can also agree looking at the details why by a wierd twist of fate PK movie makers (including the director/producer and hero) had slipped seamlessly into the seat of the movie's antagonist by deliberately dialling the wrong numbers to mislead the audience!

What could have been a classic ended up being a unfortunate sham of a movie intent on pressing on vested interests than being true to the story's heart!

1) The Makers have shown an apalling lack of understanding of Sanatana Dharma (I would call it Hinduism henceforth to facilitate better typing speed)

Sorry guys. Wrong Number "Number 1". We have no prophets. We have no bishops, rooks or queens. Yet it is we who have been made pawns in this unfortunate endeavour.

There is no messenger of god whose way is the only true way for us. What we say is "Every soul is potentially divine". The concept of Advaita and Dwaita are the core and mostly followed philosophies in Hinduism. Advaita - Everyone and everything is a mere extension of the same spiritual being. There is no difference between the Creator and the Created. The Created (whether living or non living by our scientific classification) is just the same person in different forms. So, the more we realise this truth, the earlier we reach the Divine.

Difficult to digest? No worries. We have another philosophy that simplifies the same for us to digest. Dwaita - There is this one spiritual being of which many parts branches out. Just like the fire and the sparks. We (again both animate and inanimate) are miniature versions of THAT single being (with varying levels of awareness of it). Example: We have sea water. Suppose, i get a tumbler, a tank, a water bottle and cup and pour the same sea water in these containers, the name changes but the inherent characteristic doesnt. It is the same sea water that we call as the container's water.

In our case, we are like the water in these containers which have the power to merge with the sea depending on our effort. Again, the more we realise this truth (realise not understand), the more easily will we be able to get back to our 'mothership'. There is this thing called death in between which is nothing but a facilitator for change in form. For example, lets again take water. We freeze it, its called ice, we heat it its called gas, all it needs is a process to help it get back to the form we want. That process can be equated with death in the larger picture.

Sorry, RKH and Khan sahaab, we DO NOT need any mediators between God and Ourselves as per our culture itself. In fact, we say that we and God are the same. 

2) Wrong Number "Number 2"

Unfortunately on this earth, we need to leave a place to reach another. When you have not seen the destination earlier, it becomes far more difficut. Suppose i send you to a room and say "Take things. We will go on a vacation". You will naturally be confused.  Where is the destination? How do we go? What do we need to go there? 

On the other hand, If i say, "We are going to Paris. Take things and Get ready.". First you will look at what is Paris? How do i go there? Air or flight or Road or Train? (Obviously different ways of going to any place. There is NO ONE TRUE WAY to reach Paris) What do I have as my resource? How do I use my resource to get there? If I need the additional resource, lets say money, i work to earn more money and make myself financially stronger and procure items required and then start my travel.

Okay. If i dont give you a computer, or a data connection. How do you now get to know about Paris? Ask some third person if he has been to Paris or heard about it and then prepare yourself. 

You meet someone who has been to Paris or heard of it through someone, you ask them, how did you go? How much did it cost? How will the climate be? How should I prepare myself?. You get the responses and learn from his experience. This is the concept of a guru. He is a guide through his or known experiences to help you tread a spiritual path.

In Hinduism, the guru is a guide and not a messenger of God. Messenger of God comes in man made religions and there were 2 from the desert who fall in this category. Lets save that for later.

3) The technique called Idol Worship

Nothing fruitful in this world is simple at the outset. We need to make it simple through breaking down a complex activity into a number of steps and stages. In fact, why dont we write 12th exams in our 1st standard? Human brain can accept only limited information within a given time. We need to develop the knowledge in stages. Sounds Obvious right? Seems like the Makers of PK missed it. 

In Hinduism you see Idol worshippers, non idol worshippers both. The starters usually are idol worshippers, the masters no longer need one as they have found the next clue. Both are not at logger heads with each other because they understand the need for each other. 

Practical example, try focussing on nothing for 30 seconds. Try focussing on the image of Lord Shiva with a Trident in a meditative pose for 30 seconds. Which gives you more focus? The latter obviously. Focussing on nothing from the start tends to frustrate our small brain and usually makes it violent. So our mind trains to focus on some physical object or picture or person first which develops the powers of concentration of mind and this focus when turned inward leads to deeper spiritual insights. 

Our brilliant forefathers linked this special technique with the concept of a Ishta Devta with whom we can share our happiness and sorrow, requests and wishes and thank yous to give a sense of companionship and belonging. This is called a technique -  a gradual process to channel your spiritual energy. Okay, why do you need n number of gods for this purpose? No two persons share the same interests. The biggest strength in this technique is that they have identified and addressed the need to recognise and harmonise diverse human belief systems. People who idolise strength and boldness can focus on shiva, those who like intelligence can focus on ganesha, those who love "self-consciousness" can focus on vishnu, and similarly for female deities like Lakshmi to Kali to Saraswati etc. The more you think about these things, the more pieces will fall into place. Nay, we discover that they were already in place

Unfortunately, when you have ulterior agendas to address, you have to miss the real science and focus on the frills instead for the sake of sensationalism. This is Wrong Number "Number 3"

4) Miss the science, Guess the farce

"Why are Gods subjected to sacred bath (ABHISHEKAM) in a routine?" The answer lies within our self. We take bath to get ourselves fresh and the same is applied here, but with some added advantages. The idols are used to store the cosmic energy and dissipate them. We know that energy transfer occurs only when there is a potential difference exist. Here in this case the idols are the high potential dissipaters and we(humans) are the low potential absorbers. The amount of energy an idol can store in them varies with respect to the size of the idol. (Sorry that I couldn't give the exact mathematical expression between the size and the storage capacity of an idol.) Hence if the number of absorbers increase, the amount of energy lost by the idols will also increase. We know that an average count of people visiting a temple may be 1000/day. And as the count is pretty high the idol is pushed to its limits of transferring capacity by continuously getting energy from the Khumbam and supply it to the devotees visiting the temple . This phenomenon would eventually make the God to become powerless within a day. To be scientific, the composition of the idols would lose the capability of storing the cosmic energy within itself.

In order to replenish the cosmic power & vibrations of the idols, the idols are subjected to the ritual called Abhishekam. This is a ritual in which the idols are made to take sacred bath not only with water, but also with Vibhuti, honey, milk, turmeric etc. Each of these items, provide different nature of vibrations and energy and provides differing degrees and aspects of the positivity of the radiation based on each item. After the Abhishekam(Holy Bath) is done, the composition of idols gets prone to the radiation again. And since they had been replenished with rich ingredients, the capabilities of God gets restored. Thereby our God starts blessing the devotees again.

A similar bath is done to the idols present in our home also. But we usually don't do it daily. That's because the idols present in our home has only few numbers of devotees.(less absorbents and hence less lose of energy )

Usually after the Abhishekam is done, the spent liquid is passed on to the devotees for them to drink or to apply on their heads. Since the liquid is made to flow over the statues, it is believed to have the energy collected by them. And making use of that liquid(locally called as TEERTHAM) may certainly have some good effects on us. And this Maker of the movie, without having an iota of brain to look at the science, he looks at the 

For some more rituals and their significances, check this reasonably good blogpost : http://online-raj.blogspot.in/2012/06/ancient-tamil-traditions-customs-and.html

4) Fake Spiritual Leaders

Lets use the same Going to Paris has become a fad and many people plan to go there. There is so much craze that you are willing to shell money to get someone tell about Paris. Also this means, you are not patient enough to search for a person who has genuinely gone to Paris (How do you know whos genuine, experience and inquiry - which are already prescribed in Hinduism). You want a quick fix where there is none and get the wrong guy's idea to make your trip, it is bound to affect you. 

Also, if someone says to you that 

(a) HE ALONE is the person who has gone to Paris 

(b) If you DO NOT FOLLOW path specified by HIM ONLY

(c) He is the LAST PERSON who has gone to Paris

you obviously know he is bluffing. Why dont we apply the same logic while seeking our spiritual prophets and gurus?

And you know who are the two most famous personalities who fall under this bracket?

(a) Mr. Muhammed and (b) Mr. Christ

Former - A cursory reading of the former will tell you that he was indeed bluffing. His actions did not show any renunciation or disassociation towards material life but it surged towards it. Be it in the form of paedophilia where he married a 6 yr old Aisha (and this guywas 51 odd yrs old that time) and had consummated when she was 9 till she was 18 or the fanatical blood thirst whereby he asked his followers to execute those who didnt believe in HIS ONLY way and unleash bloodshed or the way he proclaimed that HE IS THE LAST Messenger of God to supress any claim to his seat of power. And Mr. Khan religiously believes these kindergarten stories while criticising something much much more scientific than his "broker" even imagined. The book says even vile things but lets not digress.

Latter -  The lesser said the better - Old testament being as bad as a rough cut of the Former's book. Full of scientific inaccuracies and obsolete statements and cock and bull stories like Adam and Eve that even the followers felt that they had to rewrite the same. And saying of Man-Made religions! If only Jesus was a hooker, he would have been the richest hooker in the world going by the number of times, he has been sold by his "missionaries".

Where both share common ground is that they are shallow in their analysis of life after death, simplistic concept of Heaven and Hell. Which in fact shows that there are two power centres in the world -  the Creator and the Saitan or Satan. They own distinct territories namely Heaven and Hell. If Satan is in charge of Hell and God isnt, doensnt it beg the question "If God is Supreme, is Satan God too?" Basic inconsistency not addressed. SImply because, it is man-made. We tend to leave loose ends. Nature does not.  No wonder they share the same place of origin, same phonetics (Ebrahim vs Ibrahim) etc and same culture. I sometimes wonder if they were competing power hungry leaders of political parties than spiritual guides. You can just see their spiritual impact on the number of lives claimed by their followers in the past 1000 years. From America, to Africa to Australia to more recently Kashmir, Iraq & Afghanistan, wherever you see, you see them spreading blood than brotherhood.

Now looking at the film, the antagonist is more of an exception that has been blown up into being shown as a mainstream one while the major culprits whose concepts reek of mediation between Man and God and of artificialness are let loose. So, either this shows inadequate research or deliberate attempt to malign one way of life while not even using the available real life examples.

Are you deliberately dialling the Wrong Number, makers of "PK" just like the antagonist in the movie?

5) Misusing tolerance - Wrong Number "Number 5"

The problem with Hindus is that we had placed a heavy reliance on trust and did not join the bandwagon of religious players competing for space in terms of no. of followers count. This resulted in allowing the agnostics to continue as he is without helping him out with regard to gaining a better understanding of the religion. And, our trust and other factors like invasion and genocide during Mughal rule resulted in us not actively procuring knowledge of the ancestors and drifting away (made to?) from the core thought process and the science behind our way of life. Best way to remedy it would be believing our ancestors practices and following it and seeing the results for ourselves.

Unfortunately in the absence of reposing that trust in our ancestors than modern science, media & left influenced pseudo intellectuals like the makers of this movie, would continue to target Hindu tolerance and focus on chipping away at our core belief system and way of life.  I guess all they want is us to become agnostic before joining their circus because as they say in Tamil - Where the whole town is running naked, the one with the underwear would be called an fool"

Of Opinions and Judgments

As i was speaking to my friend the other day, i realised that what they said in the tyre adverts were right. - "The roads are filled with idiots". I also realised that Kaliyuga is one where the sinners would be hailed and the purer souls would suffer.

I increasingly find that though there is greater dissemination of information due to the great advancement in technology, they have definitely failed in intellectually empowering the people and as per my sample, the Indians.

What the technology has created is a place of venting out the mud in our hearts and the idiocity of our brain. I would say that the technology has dramatically failed on account of 2 reasons:

1. In a new twist to the age old adage, "When one door closes, the other opens", the more open information has become, the more closed our minds have become to accept or even acknowledge the opposite point of view. (As i read somewhere - "Read a lot, argue, discuss and explore new ideas a lot and that is the only way to knowledge")

2. As a general law of nature, we have lost the basic ability of reason, colloquially called the common sense.

How else do you explain that a terrorist is hailed as a freedom fighter while an organisation that had actually fought for freedom being branded as terrorists. 

I would love to quote a recent conversation in this regard. While having discussions with my friend, i was told -

"I wont vote for BJP. Modi has been responsible for killing 1000s of people."

I told him, a court of the land has acquitted him. ( it is alarming to note that people disrespect the judicial decisions and publicly say - "whatever the court may say, its decision is wrong" . That is a dangerous precedent but can be disussed over in another post)

He now got to his second argument - "BJP is associated with RSS and RSS fuels casteist hatred and is extremist"

I told him, that an OBC candidate has been elected the PM candidate and RSS has only welcomed it and in the idea of inclusive Bharat, it has never talked casteist separatism.

Now he told "RSS is a religious organisation and BJP is a political organisation. Why should it help a political party. Why is it interested in politics and wants to poke its nose there?"

And now I asked him -"Why shouldnt it back it? As a public of India, they are people too. They have their political preferences. When an individual like you can back a party, why not an organisation?"

Now I continued - "How do you know that RSS is an extremist organisation?". He told " I know it". I shot back - "From where did you get that info. Did you base it upon any reading?"

"No"

"Did u base it upon any News channel or news paper?"

"No"

Thankfully we got interrupted in the middle. Else, i am sure it would have been a funny situation there. 

See. thats where i am coming to. This is just an example. People hear things, they believe it to be true. People read content lacking credibility and believe it to be true. People half hear and half assume their sweet little brain's content and believe it to be true. That is the problem, neither are they well read nor even half read. Nobody thinks of 2 different sources of info before forming sensitive opinions. No first hand experience. No application of common sense. yet they BELIEVE. And that is where i say that technology has failed. "I am sorry technology. You cant challenge our basic right to be a willing idiot."

My friend couldnt quote any basis for his judgement and yet BELIVED his opinion without bothering to fact check.

(I was actually pained to see that my friend did not even bother to read up before forming an opinion on one of the most patriotic organisations while i see other friends  with similar amount of reading supporting extremist ones in other countries. You ask - Why is this statement relevant to this post? Its my blog and my anguish, so it is :-) )

I assume this is what had happened - "If you  are continuously fed with negative news about any person or organization  you will start believing in it. Eg. Narendra Modi is a mass-murderer or  All Muslims are terrorists, both of them have never been proved but whenever you hear "Narendra Modi" the first thing that comes to your mind  is "riots" and when you hear about any terror attack you are likely to  blame a Muslim terrorist organizations only." 

Those who doubt my  arguments are welcome to visit any RSS shakha in their area and have a  look at the social service they do irrespective of caste, creed,  religion of people living in those areas.

Those who haven't visited a shaka/don't know a swayamsewak/haven't seen their work shouldn't be allowed to hate RSS anyway.

Speaking about RSS, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh roughly translates into National Volunteers Organisation. A trained cadet ( swayam sewak) of RSS does not learn to hate any religion or class. He is taught the love for his nation and to stand for the nation until your last breath. 

Why you shouldn't hate RSS without knowing enough about them?

The communist, "seculars" and liberals are notorious for their ability to twist facts and suppress history which tells unpleasant stories which  are not politically helpful for them. The victim of this propaganda by  leftist historians and others, who we now call Seculars, was the  Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu nationalist organization, which  is still the largest organization in India. 

These seculars abuse RSS, as a communal fascist organization. Seculars are of three types : Apolitical, Communists, Congress. The first category, apolitical is a non-existent one. They simply hide their politics. The communists, who are pretty becoming  irrelevant in the world, are the second category. If you go deep to communist history, we can see that it is full of blood. Be it from  Cheguvera, who murdered his own people, accusing them of treason, be it  Stalin, who also did the same to his own followers, because he doubted  them. Be it Mao or Lenin, whose economic policies lead to great famines  and caused millions to starve and die. The Congress party, India’s  largest political party, is no different. Be it the partition riots, Sikh riots, Hindu Muslim riots in Indira Gandhi time, the congress party  can be held in many ways responsible. These are the people who accuse  RSS of terrorism and fundamentalism."

Congress and Digvijay Singh in particular has always accused RSS of saffron terror which they were never ever able to prove despite all the government agencies working under them only. Also it would be wrong to blame the entire RSS for wrong-doings of its less than handful of fanatic members. I always admire them for their social services, RSS members run several affordable private schools, ekal vidyalayas (lot of them in Muslim majority Kashmir), hospitals etc.Latest addition is unconditional services in Maharashtra Drought. 

How many of you know that Registered Companies prefer RSS over typical NGOs for CSR projects because of their wide network and high success rates. (Communal?)

How many of you know Gandhi has said "“When I visited the RSS Camp, I was very much surprised by your discipline and absence of untouchablity.” and Mr. Ambedkar has said and i quote "This is the first time that I am visiting the camp of Sangh volunteers. I am happy to find absolute equality between Savarniyas (Upper cast) and Harijans (Lower cast) without any one being aware of such difference existing.”(Casteist organisation?)

Dr Zakir Hussain the former President of India once told in 1949 “The allegations against RSS of violence and hatred against Muslims are wholly false. Muslims should learn the lesson of mutual love, cooperation and organization from RSS. The way RSS cadres remain calm and at peace even while dealing with crisis is commendable. They never have any kind of hatred feeling for any human being and serve all."

For their self-less welfare work for 1963 war victims and army personnels, Prime Minister Pandit Nehru felicitated them personally and asked them to join the republic day parade along with army squad and appreciated their efforts to work for the upliftment of India; irrespective of caste, creed and race.

In 1967, Jahanara Imam, said “If RSS was as powerful as Congress then partition of India and Pakistan would not have happened, and innocent killings had been avoided”.

How many of you know that when no organisation came forward to support Sikh victims in 1984 riots conducted by Congress under leadership of Rajiv Gandhi, RSS was the only organisation to come forward and whole-heartedly support Sikh victims.

It is conceded by even their worst detractors that the RSS has been in the forefront of the non-official rescue and relief (operations). 

Some of the statements made by RSS guys are not worth appreciating[like Hindus should have 3 children] on the face of it but once you go deep you realize they have a rationale behind that which is quite appealing at its own level.

Lastly RSS doesn't believe in the philosophy of 'show off'  that is being practised now a days by fake NGOs and so called socialites. RSS has selflessly helped the Republic of India at various occasions but salute to these guys they have never boasted of it. 

So whatever we get to hear is only the 5% bad news and not the 95% awesome news

There would be always a small % of people who get passionate and be extreme in their views but that should not cast a shadow on the whole organisation. If your idiocy is most important to you, their passion is as important to them. You say your idiocy never hurt anyone? Their passion too never hurt anyone. How else do you explain that there were only 2 cases of blasts "alleging" a non Muslim Hand that was blamed squarely on the RSS and consider the fact that they have been in place for over 70 years. It proves that they have never been violent.  In case, somebody pops the question on Nathuram Godse, request you to read up Judge Thomas' views on the relationship between RSS and Mr. Godse.

P.S: Those who know me might ask a question on my wariness towards a religion and equate it to my sympathies for the Sangh. The problem with that religion is that its history, the past and its present is filled with blood, conquests and conversions. There is never peace in the country which has that religion as a majority except for Indonesia. That is because, the Indonesians accept their Hindu roots. Ok. I am not saying that Hindu roots has everything to do with it but by nature our religion is based on tolerance, hence even being passionately attached towards Hinduism never results in violence unlike in others. In case, you want to ask about Guj Riots, i feel no religion is tolerant enough to bear 59 of its members killed just because they were from that religion and the only way to vent the anger was the riots. Govt did its best, but couldnt help. As they say - "saadhu mirandaal ....."

P.P.S - I dont expect people reading this blog to sympathise with RSS and that is not the object of this blog. I never challenge the ability to choose. :-) 

Lessons on a stretch of Road

Today, while a casual stroll with a temple prasadam in my hand, i started to walk towards the corner of my street. The prasadam got empty and the 'Dhonnai' flew down unwittingly. I bend down to pick it.

Suddenly i see an alert street dog watching me very closely. Clearly its flight or fight hormone secretion had started.As i walked further slightly towards it, it was ready to bound out or bite me. I chose to ignore and walked past the dog. Unfortunately, it seemed that me and the dog had to walk in the same direction. I am afraid of dogs, for the simple reason that it doesnt give me a letter of intent before its animal instincts take over nor we have a communication medium to talk it over before the attack.

I shooed off the dog which retraced itself by a couple of steps and the moment i walked ahead, it started following. I kept looking back to avoid any confrontation with the creature while it was focussing its attention on how aggressive or non aggressive my body language was. After all, it is used to get stones thrown at and expects the same from me. I shoo it away and it waits or moves around 5 steps back and the moment i return my back, it starts following me to its destination. The moment i turn my back, i am ready to bound out or kick my attacker in case of any signs of danger.

That set me thinking. The whole of the stretch of the road, despite me having no animosity towards this animal and vice versa, both me and the dog had felt insecure and vulnerable. It was insecure since i was seemingly more powerful than it and is used to confrontation and attacks from humans. I was insecure since i felt that it being an animal, its primal instinct could take over any time and i for no fault of mine could be bitten and affected when my back was turned. Was there any hatred between us?? Nope. Neither had any grudge against each other :-). We both had no intention to hurt each other though we both feared getting hurt.. The insecurity lasted till we both crossed to our particular destinations. But one wrong signal and one of us would be carrying an injury.

Moral of the day:  The dog is a metaphor. Do I learn? No!

Of conspiracy theory and whatever'cide' it is!

I always used to think, the youth of the 1960s and 70s were the one who pulled Geographical India down to what we are today – unempathitic, morally bankrupt, divisive, greedy and corrupt. The recent student protest reminds me of another eerie similarity between them and the youth of 201x – Anti Hindi Protests vs Small kid dead protests – Both being unwise, imprudent and rash resulting in a damaged reputation  taking years to get repaired. Just while the ill-effects of the former started wearing down, there is another shame to our student’s Hall of Shame!

I have been pessimistic of India’s older populace and their contribution to national degradation in all fronts. I however had a slight dash of hope in the 40% population under 25 today. I thought them as their image was - Cleaner, innovative, with a contempt for ‘politics’ especially having seen the worse of Indian Political Tamasha.

How wrong was I? The recent protest against a particular nation showed encouraging signs at first. Students taking up the issue of genocide and forcing Central Govt to act upon it. Wow! I thought! Time moved on. One former party as usual made loud noises to centre to capture this votebank! The ruling party added pressure to the Indian Govt to act!! They were dismissed in contempt by the student leaders!! Wow ! I thought!! Time moved on ..The Indian Govt did their best to even back the UN resolution!!The protest was silent yet strong!! Wow ! I thought!! Time moved on .. No political leader was allowed to share stage with the Students!! Fantastic.. Till now!

Post the Resolution! The protest still continues for God knows what reason! On hindsight, on reverse engineering the path trodden, I understand that the reason is not exactly driven by concern on how our ethnicity lives across the sea!! Here’s why:

      1)      Today’s generation is known for being self contained. Most of us do not know even our neighbours professions!! We do not want disruption of our routine! This has been a change since the youth of the 1960s who were I assume through hearsay better at interpersonal interactions since the only way they interacted was that! If the sense of self isolation is growing rapidly, how can there be a real concern for people living across the Palk Strait!!

      2)      We live in a country where atrocities in broad daylight are being spectated upon rather than being acted upon. We love apathy! Don’t we? How many of us, on seeing somebody being beaten up / violently acted upon in broad daylight, take courage to act to deter the same?? If this is the case with people from our own country, how can we be empathic about someone living across the sea?

      3)     Hypothetically, if a town captured by M-ists and M-ists are killed to recapture the town, there will be collateral damage since war involves adrenalin. There may be a couple of human rights violations by overzealous individuals but hey, if you fight a war, you face the consequences!

If, the M-ists were replaced by people of some ethnicity, you would get a feeling of dislike which leads to violent crimes against them and that is because, we love to differentiate &discriminate! True not only for India! If someone sensible (Read: the ethnics) had opted for a political solution than all out war at some point of their long history, the process would have been much more peaceful and would have had a realistic solution  for the conflict!

Warring against your own country and threatening its sovereignty is a crime punishable by death in any country in the world! Supporting the war? Do you allow Gurkhas to claim Gorkhaland? What happened in Telangana separatist movement? I hear the Nagas are asking for a separate state!! Nobody in the country other than those involved are bothered.  If this is the case for your country, is it plausible that you react so strongly in case the issue is in another country?

     4)      China has protested for owning Arunachal, can you expect Indian Govt to heed to it? This despite fighting a war and losing it? [Loss of lives in either case]

Same for our other neighbour!  Use your 'fresh' brain people?

     5)      The reason I am able to zero in on is not empathy  but a distinct intent to evade exams and a misdirected ego to show student power! (13 players in not playing in one venue in IPL would make a difference ah? Po da! Lose-lose situation). All i guess is sane youth are not bothered on this agitation while the morally light may be deeply involved !

     6)      What worries me is not only the lack of brains or lack of skill to use it that plagues today’s youth! What worries me is that either of these show a political brain (ergo: selfish brain) behind it being fuelled by malafide intentions or hoping for the best – dumbness in understanding international relations! (Personal suspicion: Political leaders fuelling this or an aspiring politician fuelling this)

IT being a very close neighbour, we would do well not to let it be enslaved by the dragon economically and politically which is exactly what is being done due to the rash and unwise nature of protests being held!

Some selfish ‘leader’ would do well to stop this farce and get his monkey forces back to studies which has a realistic chance of creating a positive change! Oh… is it what he is escaping from?

Captaincy Trail - Gully Cricket

Captaincy in competitive cricket is all about making the right moves to win the match. Very few get that opportunity. However, gully cricket gives chance for most others. This ramble seeks to explore my mind and get some rationale as to how I approach my decisions in tennis ball cricket.

First of all, how is a 'Captain' chosen? Not definitely based on tactical finnesse .. Either the one who sets up the match or who knows most of the guys in the team.. If the team is familiar, the best player or the person with the best people skills..  I am sure I have one of the best people skills (on a cricket field), pride myself as having tactical nous similar to atleast George Bailey. I am a very good all round player on a cricket field.. I know I can make decisions that turn a game on our side (on a cricket field).. The (on a cricket field) phrase is to be read similar to the phrase 'Paatle.. Paatle' in Thillu Mullu (the movie). My people / social / soft skills are well known for its mediocrity otherwise. (It is said smarter the people are, the more difficult it is for them to get on socially!! Possibly that explains my social awkardness?!!) That, though is a subject for another day!!

But, how did I get to captain a side in a tennis ball match.Possibly as the one who knows most guys in the team!!?!?!?

The team composition is mostly decided with the known guys part of a team.. Smooth..

But.. But.. But.. In case, my team is a person or two short, I need to loan a guy from the opposition. That sure is going to make my life tougher because I need to give him a bat or a ball without knowing his skill and my vantage point in removing him in case he bats /  bowls detrimentally is greatly stunted. The reason for which is documented below.

In my aarvakolaru to start off with the post, I left out an important portion of the topic.. My philosophy of playing tennis ball cricket!!

Tennis ball cricket is played to enjoy and have a good time. Everybody wants to play because that makes them happy. They want to contribute. They want to either bat for around 10 balls or bowl a couple of overs. Winning has its importance.. But ask any guy who has not bowled or batted in the match on his team winning, the enthusiasm is not quite There. Win or lose, he wants to contribute.. My way of thought - Let them have that feeling of contribution. Let them feel included as a part of the group. The focus is on winning too.. Not only on winning..

There are some who overly try to contribute and make their team win that they dominate the bat and the ball. Winning is very important to them.. Agreed. But is it competitive cricket that you are playing? Nope.. And the common denominator to those guys who dominate, they are all mostly very very average players. Not those who change the game.. but think themselves as to they need to do the batting and bowling to make the team win.. Sad, isnt it?

I generally plan for / prefer two matches back to back. One for chances, one for winning feeling. What I have noted during the previous experiences is that batting at the top of the order gives the feeling of being important. (My personal choice - 3 overs of bowling)

In case I am left with a guy who I know will not contribute substantially to a match, I try to match up a guy to whom I wont be giving a bowl too, to bat at the top with a guy who can actually bat. This way, the not-so-good player has a better opportunity to get out early and give chances to others. In the first match, a normal batting order can be used while I hold myself back. Not that I blast the ball out of the park considering I am more of an accumulator than hitter, but I am sure I will be giving myself a bowl. Let others get the feeling of getting a decent bat. The guys who are sure to bowl will get to bat mostly at the end.

What follows will mostly be mostly a win in the first match. An issue arises with the fact that one or max two players may or may not get a contribution chance due to a higher focus on winning. They get to open the batting in the next match.. If they bat badly and get out, it is fine.. In case they waste balls and yet somehow manage not to get out, I leave it to fate. Believe me, giving a chance to mediocre players to open the batting Chasing 44 in 10 overs and getting stuck at 5/0 in 4 overs is not a pleasant place to be.  What do you do then when a guest has overstayed his welcome? Aditaled or in worst case run him out by bad calling!! (This is Chennai - we value sensible cricket than flashy tries.. If you dont play using your brain but only your bat, we do not prefer you playing cricket at all)

The next batting position will go to the guy who has not bowled and batted only for a couple of balls in the previous match...Match is sure as lost. Try to compensate by sending the big hitter next. But the winning the game is not the sole focus of the endeavour! Inclusion is!!

The other way round, in case I am not able to give a guy a bat, I try to ensure he gets atleast an over to roll his arm over to ensure he did something to get involved.

If I am unable to accomodate either the batting or bowling of a guy, give him a fielding position preferably near the batsman to cut singles. Atleast he feels involved in the game.


The worst feeling I got when I am playing under another person in a cricket field is that on the pretext of winning the match, I dont get a chance to contribute. I ensure that not happen to a guy who plays under me!


Another interesting aspect of tennis ball cricket that, most guys will keep asking to get a bat or a bowl!! The first thing is to instill a confidence that they would get their chance to contribute. This is one of the reasons that even at the cost of the team's victory, I do not try to dominate the proceedings by being all over the game. Once they are secure of their chance, the chance of getting them satisfied at the end of the day remains high. Even if they do not get a chance, by my abstinence to indulge myself I ensure that they do not feel left out of the group imagining the others getting more chances than them rather than on cricketing reasons.

That is a person, a group wants to play under. No one has a problem of being left out.

Tennis ball cricket is not all about winning or playing to indulge. All about inclusion and the feeling of doing what you like. Trying to Ensure that, and thereby every outing turns a good experience irrespective of victory or defeat..

(P.S: This is not a suya-puraanam of sorts but as mentioned earlier using myself as reference point. I have written this PS so that I feel good imagining that I am humble.. In our societal structure, humility is a quality that is more preferred than efficiency. Also, I have ensured I have just documented my thoughts without undue interference from my brain by following just my thoughts and not grammer.)

Growing up with God

Words are not enough

May be the timing is not right? When the whole world which was urging "you know who" to retire a day earlier, have started hitting the post button from their drafts thanking him for the memories... Should I too join the bandwagon?? May be once everyone is back to the senses on their hypocrisy, I should have started this..  But let it be.. Even He got his timing wrong at times. And I am just another man!

There are some things you know will never change.. Programmes in Podhigai TV, public and civil apathy in India, BSNL broadband connectivity playing hide and seek when you are online etc. In this list was Him creating the equivalent of a 99.94 in ODIs.

When the news first broke out via sms, I plunged headlong into grief.. Just to imagine that I wont be seeing God striding out to open the batting for the Men in Blue..  Still has me in a daze.. I immediately went online and started reliving his innings via scorecards on cricinfo.. What was his last ball in ODIs? What was his last ODI score, how get got out.. My own memories of seeing him @ MAC in the World Cup.

Next was the newspapers the next day. Clinging on to each and everyword  that evoked nostalgia about The God.. I first remember cricket as a match on TV. The day we got a Telephone in my home was an India vs SL World Cup match in 1996. I was in middle school.. Sachin's Century.. The famous Jingle "Sachin aayare bhaiya..". Once I started  following cricket, I was in love with The Superman from India. His pleasant nature in presentations, his focus on the field made him a larger than life role model.. Then came the moment.. For Indians, Desert storm has got nothing to do with geographies.. It represents the blade screaming MRF. Though I could not see the match, once I read it in newspapers, I knew it was a superhuman effort. Fortunately I got an action replay in the final. I need to thank Tony Greig capturing the appropriate mood and making it a timeless classic. You just cannot forget "Its gone wayyye over the stands!!" chant, can you??

Lest you forget, The way he brought Henry Olonga back to the earth... Coming down the ground and late cutting Paul Strang fine of third man.. Those arms having bat and a helmet instead of a conch and a discus. Eye towards the sky... I came to live through him. I still regret not being able to see His hundred for MCC XI as a captain.

My earliest recallable hobby of collecting pics from newspapers and sticking it on a book was born there.
Love became devotion.

The power to make a billion smile and change the mood of the country was remote controlled by one man.

Then comes the 1999 World Cup, Ganguly-Dravid-Taunton Classic and the lump in the throad when he scored another hundred against Kenya. When he looked at the sky, we had a lump in the throat..

I was changing school for my 7th standard.

When he scored a 137 in Chepauk and yet we lost, I had tears brimming in my eyes. Here is one man battling back spasms and feeding you the match and another 10 men like a 6 month old swishing hands on a cricket field wasting his effort.

His effort in Australia in 1999-00. One man vs 11 Australians. 0-3. World's finest art has to come with a melancholic strain, does it?

His Triple strike in THE Greatest test of all time.. How easily it slips to the backseat in our minds?

2003 World Cup.. After the effigy burning, One superman took it upon himself to make amends and inspire another 10 more to the final.. In the space of a month, he changed public mood to the other extreme.

I was changing schools for my 11th standard.

2004-05 series in Aus... The 241 showed us what discipline is.. When you need to discipline your self, I can challenge you, there is no better inspiration!!

I had finished my schooling and joined college.

A rough patch in 2005-06, tennis elbow, I was one of the billion who were used to seeing him superhuman that we just couldnt accept him as a mortal and shamelessly wanted him to retire. The 141 on him comeback match against WI gave me a slap on my cheek and said that God is one who need not prove himself to  our pointless rationalism. Devotee again.

He was back and How...  What a 3 years that was... (Forget that 2007 WC) 2008 series in Aus.. A classic in Perth. Amends for the Sydney test in ODIs. CB Series finals. 117 & 91.. Lest you forget. He took it upon himself to win the Cup. Three bullets against Lee. Upper cut against Mitchell Johnson.. Arrival of a young squad had reinvigorated God.

College over by 2008

Another great 2009. A day before CA final exam was the 175 which brought me back to 90s again. 19 from 18 and these ******s couldnt do it for Him... Couldnt get the sadness out of it for 2 days.

Cleared my Professional Exams

After all the years of Watching him on TV, decided to see the God in IPL. The date was Apr 6, 2010. Informed of the decision to watch the match almost a fortnight in advance in office so that I wont be disturbed. Sadly enough, I am to go outstation on 30th March and hopefully would be back by 4th or 5th. I had planned even if it took 7th, I would catch a 3 hr bus journey back to city and be back the next morning. I was never going to miss it unless by some bad stroke of luck.. Unfortunately, I had that stroke. Review was to be conducted on 6th and I would be returning by night. I was so angry and frustrated at life that day that it still ranks among my top 3 bad days in life. I was never going to forgive myself. I still dont. I was lucky to have my colleague who was n times more responsible than myself that the job was completed without hiccups. Everything from Apr 4 to Apr 6 was a haze. But I remember coming home to Him speaking on the presentation. The match was a classic.

I was only happy when God dragged his team to finals against CSK that year just as he had done with India. That was one rare match, I didnt bother CSK losing.

Joined employment
Determined to see him, especially in the WC, tried all avenues but the ticket was sold out days before the match.. Where there is desperation, there is a solution. Just a couple of days before the match, online booking was opened for the match and I jumped at it.. 2k+ tax was never going to stop me this time. Finally got to hear the Chant "Sachinnn Sachin" - Goosebumps. A short while it lasted (2 balls to be exact -  A golden flick and a caught behind) that was enough to provide me with a lifetime experience.

IPL presented me another opportunity but his team wasnt schedule to visit Chennai in 2011 edition. But they had a match in Bangalore. I was neither going to miss him. Only a fifty or more would quench my thirst! April 13, 2011. Bunking office on health pretext, visited Bangalore for the match. God answered my prayers. An unbeaten 55 off 46. All shots in his book unfurled. Pulls, Hooks, Cuts, Slogs, drive over the bowler's head, coverdrives, flicks, sweeps, one legged swipe and the Straight Drive!!! My salvation was attained.. On returning back to office, another experience to laugh about over the years was awaiting me.

Now, One thing yet to see was a six from his blade. That happened in IPL 2012. Though He retired hurt in that match, a divine and cover drive & another loft over the extra cover boundary.. I was consumed. I knew it. Felt as if my bucket list has been kicked up..

I shifted jobs.. Still growing up with Him.....

Just as another die harder will expect, despite his serious lack of form, I believed he could make it to 2015 WC in Australia.  Thats when the thunderbolt struck. When your constant companion is never available again, it hurts. Gives .. for lack of a better word, "Grief". But brings out the value in the memories gathered. The phrase"India score enna? Sachin evlo?" wont be heard in ODIs now and in Tests possibly another year later.

To savour it while it lasts. After all when we grow old,not money or relatives, but Memories are our only companions.. To live up to one billion aspirations in one life.. That is what you are all about!!

Thanks Sachin.. You have meant a lot to me!!  Praying to Father Time that we catch up during India-Australia Tests in March!!
Respect!