ExpertDabbler

This just goes to show why a project has to be completed and delivered in time.

Ok. lets be clear. Sachin looks like he is fading. Sooner or later, the booings are going to get louder, his place in the team will be questioned, unless he scores a hundred that is. When he does that I, for sure will write a post ridiculing those who were baying for his blood. I have my own reasons. I am a sachin worshipper and i make no bones about it.

But let’s face the worst case scenario. Say sachin is out. What next? Do we have a player good enough to replace him? If yes, who?

Those who want Sachin dropped may well think about someone specific. It’s just not done to say “some youngsters”. Which among those crores of youngsters will replace Sachin? Say someone specific.

Say someone who can bat under any conditions, with no known technical weaknesses. and who has performed consistently in the last few years?

How many in the Indian camp can handle the Shortpitched stuff well? How many can move their feet well?

I want to know.

To my mind, we still cannot replace Sachin. Sure, we can drop him. But replace? Hell No. This is reality.

Ponting. Whatever has happpened to this guy? Is he not the one who Harbhajan almost called his bunny when the Steve ‘Great’ Waugh’s gang toured ‘Final Frontier’ India in 2001?

Ponting is all the more a phenomenon because, he was a good player for a considerable period of time, but how come some he suddenly switched gears mid way through his career to be reckoned among the best?

His Highness’s scores begin not from 0 but on 100, or so it seems. I never thought scoring hundreds in Test cricket was so easy. With the way he is batting, Lara’s tally is under serious threat in the very near future. And the test centuries record? Oh comeon! its another test series away at the maximum.

I would say his stature in the last couple of years (i think he started off in that phenomenal knock against India in world cup Final 2003) has grown to bradmanesque proportions.

I think its almost like a ponting hundred is not news at all anymore, maybe a few of his failures would be more newsworthy.

Great going Ponting, i am not your fan but i think performance of your dimensions has got to be saluted even if it comes from someone I may not exactly die for.

I was thinking about some of my friends; some who are my best buddies for the good part of two decades while some others are relatively new. One aspect literally baffles me. It is also similiar to what Gladwell talks as Warren Harding Error in BLINK.

I’ve been wondering why most of my buddies are quite contrasting in their behavior and attitude to what their appearances suggests. The most pazham looking ‘indha cat um milk kudikuma?’ types are by far the ones with all sorts of mischiefs and habits.

And usually the ones with a serious intellectual look turn out to have great sense of humor.

I can think of only one who looks and acts like a rowdy. But then, even in his case, no one would believe if I tell that this guy actually scored a 200 in Chemistry during 12th finals. Again deceptive appearances.

And no prizes for guessing the worst judges- mothers. It’s usually my own mom when it comes to my friends.

Usually the dialogue goes like this.

“Oh, M? evlo thangaamaaana payyan, avan tour ku varaanaa neeyum poittu vaa!!!”

Oh yeah!, poor M has so many responsibilities. Several TASMAC shops’ prosperity and future lies on his tender shoulders!

The ones with a rugged look are usually judged upon as “Avan mogaraye seri illa!!”
But its those RK in RM looks types (Raj Kiran in Raasavin Manasile) who are invariably the most helpful, reliable and samarthu guys.

Actually this contrarion theory can also be extended to tenants too. I shall never forget one tenant of mine who looked like a ‘gyaana pazham’ till he got the house keys. Only later did i come to know that this guy is actually a Lalu Prasad Yadav of TN.

One the other hand, i had a stern looking guy who came after “Lalu” vacated, he really scared me so much so that i almost rejected his offer but he never posed any problem to me during his stint.

Even in office if one notices, the one who is all concentration would be actually writing blogs (like i am doing now) while the one who walks around might be seriously thinking about deadlines and deliverable.

So the message to my readers is NEVER TRUST THE OBVIOUS.
If only you remember this, Indha Naal oru iniya Naal
(One can even take even this post as an example, did it not start off like one intellectual discussion on GLADWELL? See how it progressed and how it ended!)

This is one of the best shots I’ve ever seen of the Taj.

This is a classic too.

Thanks to Saanga

I’ve been following the developments at Sathyabhama deemed university with some curiosity following the AICTE approval issue. It just reiterates what my ex-boss and mentor Ramesh Srinivasan used to say about threat.

My previous office theoretically starts at 8:30 AM in the morning at Navalur. In the beginning I was going at 8:30, then after some time at 8:45. Since nobody questioned my timing got revised to 9:00 and so on. At one point I was entering the office at 9:45!!

One day Ramesh called me to talk about this. He also went on to tell something which I remember till date.

“Dei Prabu, threat is a very effective measure, but only for a short period of time. I can very well say ‘From tomorrow onwards if you are not in on time, you will be in trouble!’ But you will adhere to that for 1 week, say maximum a month and then you will lag behind as usual. You will give me some excuse or the other. Whenever you are late, and whenever I scold you, you will curse me in your mind. I don’t want to threaten you with this and that. It’s upto you to think on this and decide. You should affirm yourself that a ‘A professional like me should always be by such and such time’. If you respect yourself enough you will live up to that.”

As much as I like to say that I was on time from the next day onwards, I was not. It took me some time to reign in and change my habits. But there was a definite improvement in my office timings. Gradual but steady and voluntary improvement without any ‘I will mark you absent if you are not on time’ threats.

This just goes to show any lasting change should begin from within the individual and almost always gradual.

Any organization, institution may have to resort to threat as a means to reign in control at some point of time. But to be effective, it has to be used very sparingly and more often when all other means of bringing in control has failed.

But the people at the helm of affairs in Sathyabhama have been resorting to threat as a primary tactic since time immemorial. From what I hear, the institute has been run in a Taliban like manner.

It is the task of the educational institutions to instill good behavior in the students. By instilling I mean where the students are disciplined and well behaved even in a free environment. If that’s not the case, it’s a failure on the part of the institution.

I feel sick when colleges enforce compulsory attendance. Do they realize that if the classes and curriculum were interesting enough, students will be more than willing to sit up and listen? It’s his life after all and I firmly believe college going students are mature enough to understand their family responsibilities and the importance of education in this competitive world. One does not have to resort to childish threats for 18, 20 year olds.

To the best of my knowledge BITS Pilani does not have any attendance requirement for the lectures. Does that make the students of BITS less disciplined? IS not BITS still one of the most reputed institutes in India?

If students do not turn up for the classes, does it not reflect anything on the quality of the lectures and the drudgery of the syllabus?

What we are seeing in terms of violence at Sathyabhama is more of a reaction to all the unwarranted threats and insults inflicted on the students. All those collective pent up hatred towards the management are seeing an outlet now.

It’s sad to know that parents have been patronizing such money guzzling institutes in the name of ‘place of good discipline’.

We could do well with a little less of the so called “discipline” evangelised by the likes of Anna univ. Vice chancellor and Jeppiaars!

How I wish educational institutions are run by people who are wise and truly educated!

Got this from an SMS

Teacher:
Unakku Thamizh Mozhi Pidikuma Aangila Mozhi pidikuma?

Student:
Unga ponnu ThenMozhi yai rombo pidikkum teacher

:))

As I came out of the Chidambaram temple and gathering my chappals, I asked one Iyervaal nearby to suggest a place where I can get good tiffin. He immediately suggested Krishna Vilas. He also clearly mentioned that he did not mean the Udipi Krishna Vilas nearby but the plain Krishna Vilas which was further away (300 metres maybe).

Whoa! Simple and very good stuff. I loved their Idly podi, chutney, thanni parkadha sambhar and a special onion chutney. The dosai they bring is so huge i was wondering if this is for eating or for spreading and lying down.

My dinner bill was just for 15 bucks. I just thought about the chennai vasi’s plight. Sigh! One glimpse of the crowd in front of the Murugan Idly Shop in T Nagar would tell a tale of its own.

What’s more the food did not irritate my hyper-sensitive stomach, which means it has been prepared without compromising on cleanliness and hygiene.

The next morning even as i had my breakfast there, i could see maamis coming one by one and getting coffee in a huge jug!

Maami ke coffee kudukaraangana that shud be good too, though i did not taste their coffee.

Way to go Krishna Vilas! I would surely recommend someone to try this eat-out in Chidambaram.

BAH! guess i am awefully bad at milestones. Just now i realised i’ve crosed 500 posts in this blog. So this is super 501.

This blog wud not have crossed 500 posts without you dear readers. So a zillion thanks to all of you.

Add to it the hike i got from my employer and add to it the bonus i recieved too. Not to forget the spot excellence award to a work i did sometime back.
Boy! I am in good mood today. So a bit of trumpet blowing is not out of place.

Anyway thanks again folks. And to all of you who might want a treat,
spell H-A-L-W-A
:))

It was about 7:30 PM last Sunday when I entered the famous Natarajar temple in Chidambaram. Even well after dusk, the sheer layout spread of the temple was stunning. What can I say about the brilliance of the ancient hindu temple architecture! Those things are all too obvious.

But I noticed a few things there within that half an hour in the evening which made me write this post.

I have nothing to complain against the maintenance of inner prahaarams.

But what I saw in the outer prahaaram made me squirm. It’s hard to believe its part of temple premises even as I write this. But common sense suggests it is. I was made to remove my chappals before entering this portion. Is not any area within the main gopuram walls falls within the temple premises? If it is then I don’t know what to write about their present state.

I could find stray dogs and cows loitering freely. People were sitting there after their darshan amidst cow dung. Someone temple insider was riding his bicycle.
There are some corners where its really not advisable to go especially at dark as there are no proper lights in those corners. My heart sank when two old fellas were using the corners as a public toilet. What was even more shocking was that no one who saw dared question them. And this included the deekshitars who crossed by. They are responsible for maintaining and administering the temple. It all looked like its the way it has always been and there’s nothing untoward at all.

Forget aacharams and anushtanams, we don’t seem to value the heritage that we are born into. Is it not the equivalent of allowing someone to use the hall/drawing room as a toilet inside our homes? Will we ever allow that? Do these people ever realize that this temple attracts visitors from all corners of the world? What kind of an advertisement is this for our religion if we cannot even maintain one of the most famous temples in South India properly?

If this is the state of affairs in Chidambaram, I shudder to think what is in store for thousands of less patronized temples all across India. Forget communalism and vote bank politics by politicians. I think its high time the Hindu community comes together and does some constructive work to uplift and maintain their neglected temples at the very least. Until we do that, it would mean that we don’t respect and value our roots. If we don’t respect ourselves, other’s respect does not matter at all.