She is Hot and Addictive

The glass windows sweated with chilled vapors. It was snowing outside an hour ago, and as the train caught up more with the tracks, all that was left of the snow was on the windows. Tempting to spiral our names on the dripping water. Touch of cold. Even the tracks would be praying for the wheels to friction over and see the warmth.

First time, a heater or bonfire made sense than a cooler. Morning broke and first rays were still a little distant. The speeding snake was whistling through and if not for the closed hazy windows, wind would be throwing ice cubes at us.

Then She entered the bogie and all eyes were on her. Escorted by an elderly man, she was damn hot and cherished for. Phew! How could she be, for such a long time in a hostile and chilly environment was the question. She was a fine mix of qualities and complexion and just had the perfect sweetness to her voice. These characteristics were independent of her nativity.

I stopped fiddling with the glasses. I looked at her and was pondering.

World over, She has this knack of making Men queue up for her. No woman can deny that she is addictive. No matter how much progress and advancement our world makes, she’ll manage to not only retain but increase the number of addictive eyes set on her.

She is the morning and evening for many. She sets the tone for the day. She is the primary reason, why men are a little more awake in their lifetime and more so when darkness sets in. She has the purity of a cow, the sweetness of sugarcane and the freshness, fragrance and stimulant of a finely picked lush-green and watery leaves.

My thoughts returned to the present and I could see the shivering beings waiting to have a glimpse of her warmth.

Some time elapsed, and the hands gripped her. She was close and personal and the lips had the privilege of first touch on her.

Never thought Coffee had so much to offer.

It’s amazing how 'Hot Coffee is so cool' and 'Cold Café is real hot' to have.
Sip on...

The Gift Back

It was a small closet, serving as the staff room for two teachers. He spent most of the time referring to knowledge world wide, and trying to improve the quality of common man’s life getting involved in social projects. Certainly a lot more than what an everyday professor does. And that too an old one. Sticking to a couple of books was the last thing he ever did.

He was more than a professor to me. In fact professor would be a misnomer, but rather a teacher. Absolutely implicit teacher. Went on to inscribe a lot in me, cannot be reciprocated in words.

His lectures throughout the two years saw the necessary attendance but not the necessary attentiveness from all. (That’s the case with all I guess) But he was happy with the few who managed to be in sync. And the singular thing, he never cared what the students did. His point, ‘If you do not want to listen, you are free to do any other thing. (Games, puzzles, dozing etc) I will overlook, rather not even look’.

One fine afternoon, I found myself beside him. “Do you listen?” he asked. I said “Yes.” “Is it helpful?” “Yes”, I said.

“That is enough. One is my goal. Anything more than that is a bonus.” He said. I knew people with such thoughts existed, but saw one for the first time that day. Molding a character was his only concern. And the most unnoticed one.

It was the last day of my graduation. I went to him with my results. He knew what they would be. He was sincerely happy for me. Maybe even a little fragile too, if I read him correctly. Just a couple of months ago, he had asked me for something and I had obliged in my progress report.

“I don’t know when I’ll see you next. But our bond reminds me of one I had with my teacher (Henry, if I recollect). Now I know what he felt and why he was fragile on my last graduation day”, he said. The words in the next half an hour will remain close and fresh with me forever. With that, I left and stepped out of the staff room.

‘Intelligence is God’s gift to man. What he does with it is his gift back to God.’ And there are an elite set of people in this world who must have made God happy. And the greatest of them all is one who not only exhibits unfathomable treasure himself, but also helps to shape up millions of those who come across his path.

One such gift was my teacher, Prof. K.G Balakrishnan, to whom these feelings are dedicated to. With others, out of sight is out of mind. But with such set of people, out of sight is more into our Hearts.

He expired last week. And I took notice of the bright shining midnight stars, for a couple of hours. I could imagine every one of them on earth, at one time. I spotted the addition. HE takes his gifts back.

Dedicated to thee,
From Raja…

What’s in a Head Count?

‘Processes kill Innovation’. Do they? It was the first question raised in a recent CMMi training attended by me. After all, who likes rules and regulations? They only serve to hinder creativity and freedom. The battle is in being disciplined or being shackle-free. The aim is to achieve a Goal in either case. How can it be best achieved?

The trainer gave this trivial example of a scenario. A Head Count being taken before any Flight takes off. The Goal is to ensure and verify that all the Passengers are in. To take this Head Count, every time the official starts to count beginning with the A-1 seat, 1..2..3..4 and so on. She takes the count; tallies with the total Passenger count in the Booking List and off you go. So what’s the point and the big deal? She is supposed to follow this routine and hence she is doing it. OK, no issues.

The question is can we bring innovation into this seemingly irrelevant routine? Yes, we can.

The process is to get the Head Count. It should be our responsibility to define how we can get it:

1. We can start from 1..2..3 and so on, if the total passengers are apparently less than half the flight capacity.

2. If the flight is near to seating capacity, we can always count the empty seats and knowing the total number of seats, we can easily get the Head Count.

3. If the flight is full to its capacity, there is no point counting. A simple scan should confirm this.

This is ridiculous. What innovation can be achieved by changing the way a Head Count is taken?

Nothing tremendous, I know.

But once we enlarge the scenario:

1. We knew what the Goal was. (Ensure and Verify accurately that all the Passengers are in)

2. We can define ‘N’ ways to do this taking the known constraints. (Time)

3. We can give additional provision to suit our method based on the context

4. We know what the Goal is now. (Ensure and verify quickly and accurately that all the Passengers are in)

OK. Enough of processes and innovation. In fact, I have called it innovation. You may call it Common Sense (I know it’s so uncommon). Maybe even stupidity in being so trivial.

But what we lacked and lack in all our undertakings is applying common sense. Be it traditions, rituals, way of thinking or every day routines, there was always a ‘ALWAYS DO THIS WAY BECAUSE IT IS DONE LIKE THIS’ and ‘THIS WOULD BE BETTER BUT LET US NOT DO IT’ conflict. At every stage, when a change was desirable we failed to adhere.

For a society like ours (Indian), we should have evolved at every social milestone. We would have been oblivious to Caste and Creed discrimination, gender inequality and several social issues. As a simple example, it was common for a Man to re-marry when he became a widower. But it was considered a Sin if a widow did the same.

If only common sense came to the rescue at all those points of our society and civilization’s progress….

What did Morpheus Say?

Being a school kid, college student, G or PG fellow is not easy. Neither it is to be single, a married being, working professional, a homemaker, an executive, a mother, a father, a shoulder, a retired person. Also difficult is to be illiterate, educated, stupid, intelligent, quiet, chirpy, dumb, witty, rural, and urban. Not to mention, the worst part is it is so difficult to get what you want, be happy with what you have got, or to dream about what you can get. We have all the reason to crib.

For when I was a kid, I wanted to be with Mom. But they sent me there with double the baggage. When I was a child, I wanted to play. But they sent me there with loads to study. When I had grown up, I wanted to learn and they said you just have to study. For when I was no more a child, they said you are no more a child. For when I had to shape my education, they told me lets all be together and jump into the same stream. For when I had to shape my career, they distracted me and I ended up compromising. For when I was single, they did not look for me but I was all eyes. For when I wasn’t single anymore, they always looked for me but I was frozen ice. For when it was my last educational day, they told me this phase has gone forever.

For when I was not working, they made me see the clock. For when I was working, they made me beat the clock. When I was a homemaker, they donned me with infinite roles. When I was to be an executive, they wanted the strongest shoulders. For when I was a mother, they wanted me to be GOD. For when I was a father, they told me I don’t understand. For when I was the caring shoulder, they forgot me after some time.

For when I was illiterate, they teased me by being up there. For when I was literate, they said being up gets you head weight. For when I was stupid, they warned me of being deceived. For when I was intelligent, they thought I was manipulative and deceptive. For when I was quiet, they took it for rudeness. When I was blatant, they said you lack emotions. And when I was chirpy, they thought of hollow vessels. Dumb I was, and they said be cocksure. Witty I became and they tagged me with Vanity. Rural I was and they asked me to be civilized. Urban I became and they reminded me of my roots.

For when I got retired, they made me think it was from Life, and not Job.

All throughout, I chased them and followed them. They made it very difficult for me to get what I want. They ensured I am not happy with what I have. They assured that I don’t dream anymore of what I want.

Game set. Lock, stock and barrel. I have all the reasons to Crib. They dictated and I followed. That ‘I’ which followed ‘THEY’ failed. That ‘I’ which tried to satisfy ‘THEY’ fails. That ‘I’ which needs the support of ‘THEY’ will fail.

‘I’ is smiling. And 'I' is perennially smiling. This life is different. THEY don’t exist anymore. THEY never did. Free the shackled and sugar-strangled Mind. “Free your Mind”.

I do not understand. Still don’t do. But now I don’t need to. What about you? Still have 'THEY' all over your mind?

Lights off! Door shut!