Empathy

Need to renew(passport office calls it reissue!) passport.

Started around 7.30 in the morning and reached the office maybe around 8-8.15A.M.

Biq queue as usual, i enquired with the parking attendant(one thing i take for granted is that i can ask any office staff for details.I know our people will definitely oblige, even though it may look emotionless).He told me that those with online appointment(i booked one) can go to 1st floor directly.

I was now at the second floor, seated and reading "New Earth" by western spiritual master Eckhart Tolle.I was reading about the different manifestations of ego and the caution to be aware of them.He said how the ego always takes a morally correct position and looks down upon others as if it is always correct.

   I was very tired for i did not sleep much and also did not do my asanas & yoga.But i was somehow determined to be aware for atleast some duration.This reading helped me alongwith  others that i had read earlier.Around 9.15A.M, a security person came and told us that all those seated, applying for new/reissue of pp, need to move down to the 1st floor.A commotion occured, people started to move down fast.I was unhurried and moved at a comfortable pace downstairs.

We were asked to stand in a spiral queue.

Sure enough, there were a group of people who would not obey this queue and wanted to sneak in first.The poor security got irritated and started raising his voice. The poor unruly group would have none of it and tested his patience:-)

Meanwhile. a sardar near me started taking a high moral position,usually done by most of us including yours truly.He said to his wife -"These unpad(uneducated) people will never learn, why can't they stand in a queue?" He went on and started making some sarcastic remarks.I was listening and was determined not to get involved in this(BTW,i 've played this moral game many times over & over.I do it even now even though to a lesser extent).

Somehow all of us went upstairs and broke into different "Q" for each counter.

The sardar was in my queue, just ahead of me.He was tense, making numerous corrections to his forms and enquiring about the supporting docs, order of supporting docs etc.He asked me - "what should be the order of forms?". I told "I dunno, should not matter" with a smile.

Then in the adjoining queue, someone tried to goto to the beginning of the "Q" from a nearby "Q".Reason - he is coming back to the office more than once since his form got rejected and he was told that he should stand in the same counter and meet the same passport officer.The poor guy was desperate and hence tried to do this.As expected, a person started objecting(i've done this countless times from time immemorial) and shouted at him to go back.

     I told - "It's ok, seems a genuine case, why not allow him?".

The person was not interested and started arguing back, i stopped with a smile.

To my surprise, the sardar came to the defence of that guy and said -"It is ok, please let him be in the line.He should have come back many times, He is unaware of the procedures.If at all some one has to be blamed, it has to be the PP office for not putting out clear instructions" in good tamil!Of course the other person was in no mood to listen and started arguinbg back.After the argument, i saw that the sardar was very cheerful and became very generous with people around.In fact, he was sent back to fill the form correctly and went back w/o a murmur to get it filled.

       By now, my tiredness had banished and many thoughts occured to me, but one thing was clear - "the need of the hour is clear understanding of the situation and treating people genuinely with real empathy not clouded by our own conditioned mind.If one does that it will definitely create a positive atmosphere and people will automatically respond accordingly".I really thank all the spiritual masters right from my guru(Sadhguru).It is they who show the path and it is for us to follow to make this a better life.

Crappy software can't replace manual efficiency

Well, i owe this entire post to David Platt(http://www.whysoftwaresucks.com/) . I just got inspired after listening to his interview on Arcast TV->http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/ARCast.TV/ARCastTV-Why-Software-Still-Sucks/

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Rewind to early 2008, i just came back from U.S with my family after 7 months.

Still getting used to chennai(no kidding, it's my place for sure but still 7 months was a bit too long),

i was chatting with my dad on a weekend.

Me -"where r u going?"

Appa - "To the telephone dept, to get a copy of the directory".

The software geek in me peeps out.

"Well, don't they have a soft copy, i mean a CD".

Appa - "They do, but i have opted for hard copy".

"C'mon appa, CD will be easy to use, just a click".

Realising my appa is not comfortable with PC, i added - "I can teach you, it should be simple".

Appa is not convinced, he is very reluctant.

I push  further - "Can't we buy both - hard & soft?".

"No, only one".

"Hmmm...Ok we will go for the CD.I will definitely teach you."

Appa is  still not convinced, but you see i'm a bit of hard-headed guy, kept pushing.

Finally, reluctantly he relents.

Appa comes back with the CD, i say -"Wow, see how compact it is compared to those bulky books!". I go up to my laptop, plugin the CD, install the software.

Ok time to play around, all numbers listed alphabetically by name, not bad...

I wanted to check the search  functionality.I searched for the list of keywords to search.

Horrors of Horrors - you can search either by number or address.No way to search by name.

What the heck!Phew, i was beginning to sweat as my appa came near me.

"Ok, let us see how  this works. Can we search for mama's telephone no. using his name?".

Game over....

After 2 days.....

Appa was happily searching for a telephone no using the same old bulky hard copy(he got it by handing over the user-friendly CD)

 

B'day gift

It was early october, rain had started it's dating season with Chennai.I woke up around 5.15A.M and left home around 6A.M to a nearby school.

Reason - to register an L.K.G seat for my daughter:-)

The climate was very pleasant and cloudy.I reached the school around 6.30A.M and i was probably 150-200th person in the queue(oh god!).I came to know the forms would be distributed only from 8.30A.M.So i assumed it would take atleast 10.30-11 to go home.I was waiting in the queue a bit impatiently with a book in hand.There was a guy  & an old lady before me. 

Old lady to the guy - "Looks like we need to get address proof?".

Guy to a bearded man before him - "Is it true?".

Bearded guy - "Yes, you need to provide photocopy of birth certificate & address proof like ration card, EB bill etc.".Now, the old lady & guy were really tense.

Old lady to the guy - "What do we do now? Our house is more than 10Kms from here".

Bearded guy(B.G) - "Don't worry.Why don't you go in your bike & come back.Anyway it loooks like it will take time.".

The guy, hesitantly - "Well, we came by auto...".

B.G -"Ok, why don't you catch an auto?".

The guy, more hesistantly - ".....I don't have that much money right now..."

B.G, w/o even blinking - "No issue, why don't you take my bike, it's the brown splendor on the outside".

The guy was now really hesitating.

B.G - "Ok, then here's some money, take it & go in auto"Saying, he opened his purse and gave 200 rupees.

Finally, the guy took BG's bike, went home & came back with the address proof.

Watching all this, i was astounded and thought to myself- "What kind of guy this B.G is? Does not hesitate to give his bike to a total stranger and on top of that offers money.I don't think i will do either of those.".

I slowly started talking to him(B.G), enquiring about other good schools in the area and also came to know he had come for his daughter's admission. The school, for a pleasant change, decided to open the counter @7.30A.M itself as queue was too big - i was very surprised, this usually does not happen in chennai.Then i filled the registration form(it was free, the school would intimate us later) and was about to leave.Then i noticed B.G(who was before me in the queue) still filling the form.Surprised, i went near him.He smiled & i saw he was filling the form in english for a person who knew only tamil.I was totally impressed and shook hands with him.

Me - "I'm Ramakrishnan.You?".

B.G, hesiated for a sec, & then said "Aslam, what do you do?".

Me - "Software engineer, you?".

Aslam - "I'm a cine director, waiting for the release of my first film".

Wow, i asked him - "What's the name of the film?".

Aslam - "MunPaniKaalam".

Me - "I wish your film runs more than 100 days". Saying that i left to home filled with joy.What an experience on a sunday morning that too on my birthday:-)

இஷா யோகா - வாழ்க்கை புரிதல்

நெடு நாட்களாக என் மனதில் ஒரு வெறுமை குடி கொண்டு இருந்தது.வாழ்க்கையில் உண்மையான நாட்டம் குறைந்தே காணப்பட்டது.என் மகள் பிறந்ததும் சிறிது அதிகமானது என்னவோ உண்மை. இருப்பினும் வெறுமையே வென்றது. அதனால் உண்டான தேடலில் நிறைய படிக்க ஆரம்பித்தேன் - கண்டிப்பாக டெக்னிகல் விஷயங்கள் இல்லை:-) முற்றிலும் ஆன்மிக விஷயங்கள் தான். படித்து குழம்பி தெளிந்து மீண்டும் குழம்பியதில் சில - Gospel of Sri ramakrishna, bhagavad gita, selections from the complete works of vivekananda, Can humanity change? - J.Krishnamurthi, An end to suffering - pankaj mishra.இவை எல்லாவற்றிலும் நான் நிறைய கற்றாலும் கூட, என் வெறுமை என்னவோ வழக்கம் போல் என்னை பார்த்து சிரித்தது. நாத்திக புத்தகங்களும் சிறிது படித்து குழம்பினேன். ஆனால் சத்குரு ஜக்கி அவர்களின் "ஞானியின் சந்நிதியில்" படித்தது மனதிற்கு ஒரு ஆறுதலாக இருந்தது. அவற்றில் சிலவற்றை அனுபவபூர்வமாக உணர்ந்ததும் தான் சத்குருவின் மேல் மிகுந்த மரியாதை பிறந்தது.பின்னர் என் தம்பியின் மூலம் இஷா யோகாவின் 13 நாட்கள் "சக்தி சலன கிரியா" வகுப்பில் சேர்ந்தேன். என் வாழ்க்கைக்கு ஒரு அர்த்தம் கிடைத்தது போல் உணர்ந்தேன். நாட்பட நாட்பட, நான் தினமும் யோகா செய்ய செய்ய, அந்த எண்ணம் மிகவும் வலுபெற்றது. என் உடல் மற்றும் மனம் என் கட்டுக்குள் சிறிது சிறுதாக வந்துகொண்டுஇருக்கிறது(இந்த பயணம் எளிதில் முடியாது).
வார்த்தைகள் is a poor substitute for the actual experience. ஆதலால் ஒவ்வருவரும் இதை அனுபவபூர்வமாக பெற இஷா யோகாவின் 7 நாள் வகுப்பில் சேர கேட்டுக்கொள்கிறேன். http://www.ishafoundation.org/Schedule/Isha-Yoga-Programs.isa இணைய தளத்தில் எல்லா விவரங்களும் உள்ளது.

Believe me, this is a gr8 oppurtunity to experience life.

அன்புடன்,
TR (எ) ராம்கி.

Long due

My daughter vivegha is chatting with her friend "You know, we(India) should have finished in the top 5.I dunno how we can finishat 6? I'm really disappointed". Her friend says "Yeah, the bar has gone down, hopefully india will finish in top 5 in the next olympics".I am listening to their conversation and i say - "Hey, 6 is not such a bad position, you know...". I am interrupted by my daughter - "Appa, 6 may be ok for another country but not for a country like us - so big in area, such a huge population,leaders in IT & research...", she goes on & on.I smile noddingly and i slip down the memory lane....
"Abhinav Bindra creates history, wins the first ever individual olympic gold" - screams all newspapers, people are jubilant, filled with ecstasy beyond words.I'm very happy as i get the news from my colleagues.I chat with my friends -"How many more do you forsee?". All of us agree anywhere between 3-5 medals and we are happy at that thought.
I come back to the present, oh, this is 2020 and the olympics just concluded.I just travelled down memory lane to 2008 when it all started...

Indian Muslims

Early days:

My view of muslims, during college days, was that of a typical hindu.They are anti-india by nature and for them religion comes before nationality.But one difference in my view was that i accepted any muslim provided he exhibited true loyalty to india.My anger was fuelled by some incidents given below:

a) one of my muslim friend(i really liked him for he was a good friend) openly supported pakistan during cricket matches.

b) one of my senior(muslim) again supported pakistan indirectly i.e., he used to speak ill of indian players, incl. sachin who was probably at his peak then.It made me even more angry as this person was really a noble person otherwise:-)

c) During an india-pakistan cricket match, a group of local muslims were openly cheering every indian wicket. All these instances were tied to cricket as i was a crazy fan(even now, but mellowed down considerably).I've to say here my room mate during the last two years was a muslim.I was lucky to have a muslim roommate as i got a first-hand chance to observe a muslim.I never had any problem with him over these issues - probably b'cos i was ill-tempered,would not hesitate to pick up a fight and my friend was aware of it:-) My friend was a very hard-working person, came from a lower middle-class and was very responsible.He did not watch any film with us ( we used to watch atleast one per week) thoroughout the 4 years of college life, except in the last semester.Since he did his schooling in tamizh medium, he worked doubly hard.He was also very religious, did namaz on every friday and fasted during ramzan piously.I was really impressed by his dedication for the almighty - i really felt hindus, on the whole, never had such dedication. But nevertheless, i never believed in any ritual, i only believed in heart-felt bhakthi.This association had a real impact on my view of muslims as i clearly felt that they are very much like hindus - with good family values, good manners etc.

Change of mind:

My opinion of a muslim or for that matter any non-hindu, has undergone a sea-change in the last few years.The reasons are many.To quote a few - the biographical book on gandhi(presented by my bro), Hey-Ram film, the documentary on Gujarat riots,my association with AID-India all helped me see the truth.I understood the danger of communal politics played by some of our national parties thru' the age-old divide & rule policy. Why this hatred? Why does an hindu, generally, not have a good opinion on a muslim?

1) Maybe b'cos most of the terrorist activities are carried out in the name of islam.

2) They support pakistan more than india as their religion gets higher priority than the

country.

3) Historically mughal kings were barbarous in nature - looting & killing many hindus.

I don't claim this is an exhaustive list but just what comes to my mind.Now,on the outset, all 3 above seems factually correct, so where is the problem? The problem lies in a simple fact of generalization.

1) How many % of muslims support terrorist activities? Probably fewer than 1%, if not there will be no safe place anywhere in india as it is the second largest muslim population in the world after indonesia.

2) Again what is the statistics for this one, should be less than 5%.Kaif, Zaheer khan, irfan pathan all have represented indian cricket with the same spirit as any other player.More & more youngsters opt to play for the country with the same zeal & enthusiasm like any other player.Many muslim armymen serve us in the border as well.

3) Here, i don't have much knowledge but i can say for sure that Akbar was a secular mughal king who had birbal, an hindu, as his minister.Of course there is an aurangazeb but still..Moreover, it is highly unlikely that every hindu king was noble & pious.

Finally i would like to end my argument with a simple question - how many of your muslim friends have similar aspirations like you w.r.t getting a good job & taking care of their family? How many do you think will end up as an anti-national?

Love for Tamizh and the national language question

As with my blind love for my country, i also had a gr8 love for my mother tongue - tamizh.I thought it as an insult to study tamizh as a 3rd language(English & say Hindi/Sanskrit/French ... as the 1st & 2nd).So i studied Tamizh as the 2nd language till my 12th std, i never even contemplated changing to French/Sanskrit to boost my overall score(these things are specific to my state where usually tamizh was difficult to score compared to the rest).
I've to confess that tamizh is not a easy language to learn, especially the grammar & poems are really tough.But nevertheless i scored high as i learnt the language with gr8 pride.Coincidentally my top score in 10th exams was in tamizh,i still feel really proud about it & also remember the marks that i scored:-) At the same time i never had an ill-will towards other language, probably due to my national outlook.So i learnt hindi privately and learnt till praveen purvadh - my teacher told me it's equivalent to an M.A degree. I even thought that every person should learn hindi also.
But i had a radical change of mind, during my college days, w.r.t national language Hindi.I no longer think it is necessary to learn it compulsorily.The reason being hindi is another language just like any other indian language.So there is no need to elevate it at the expense of other languages.I think all the indian languages, including hindi, are our national languages. The argument that hindi is spoken by majority of the people in india does not hold ground.It is used to justify but that seems a flawed argument.Simply b'cos the majority number of people speak a language does not mean it should be preferred over the rest.The same applies in the religious sphere as well - it is for this precise reason that India is a secular state not a hindu state.
All said, learning a language is a individual's choice. But what irritates me is projecting hindi as the language of our country at the expense of other languages.One example is the bollywood conducting indian cinema awards w/o entries from other regional languages and also the national awards which invariably goes to an undeserving hindi film very often(Hum Tum comes to my mind). After all i do know that language is for communication & nothing beyond, but still..:-)