Cast Away

I am not a big Hollywood buff.  But Tom Hanks is one of my favourites.  Cast Away is a Tom Hanks movie which depicts the life and struggle of a FedEx executive whose plane crashes in the Pacific, and he is washed ashore an uninhabited island.  Slowly he makes a living out of nothing in that island.  He spends four years in that island before being rescued by a passing ship.  Tom Hanks carries the entire movie on his shoulder.  One can see only the character played by him on the screen for more than an hour!  He was nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor for this movie.  (Tom Hanks has won Academy Award twice, but not for Cast Away).

I had a similar experience last year, of course, not as tough and testing as that of the character in Cast Away.  No, my plane didn’t cash land in an ocean.  I was forced to isolate myself for fourteen days as part of the Covid protocol.  I travelled from Tumakuru to Thiruvananthapuram during the last stage of the first wave of Covid-19.  I didn’t want to take the risk of isolating myself at home, because there were elderly people at home.  So, I decided to stay in a hotel, which was earmarked by the government for quarantine for travelers from outside Kerala. 

I drove straight to the hotel from the airport.  I was given a room on the sixth floor.  I was told that no room boy would be available, and I had to carry my baggage to the room.  I noticed small tables kept near the door of each room in the corridor.  I realised its use little later.  As I reached the room, I got a call from the Manager explaining the Covid appropriate behaviour that I was supposed to follow.  I was not allowed to come out of the room, not even to the corridor.  I could order food from the restaurant.  The boy would keep the food on the table near the door, ring the bell and leave.  I was supposed to pick it up and eat.  All food was supplied in disposable containers.  A set of crockery was available in the room, which I was supposed to clean.  No housekeeping service.  There was a broom and a mop for me to clean the room.  No laundry service either.  So, I had to wash my clothes.  The only sight of outside world was through the large window of the room!

Of course, my experience is in no way comparable to that of Tom Hank’s character in Cast Away.  I had a television, laptop, my phone and even free Wi-Fi.  I took few online classes sitting in that room and attended some webinars.  But I lived for fourteen days without seeing a human being face to face.  I definitely didn’t find it tough, instead, I got lot of time to contemplate on many things.  On one side I could imagine the lives of monks who perform ‘tapas’ in isolation; and on the other side, glimpses of lives of those prisoners who are not allowed to interact with anybody. 

‘Loneliness’ and ‘Solitude’ are two sides of the same coin!

Prof. Thiru - The Marketing Wizard

I was one among the first few faculty members to join the MBA Programme of SIT in 1998.  The programme was launched a year ago and the first batch of students were already in the second year of their course.  Since the first-year courses were mostly handled by visiting faculty, the pass percentage in the university examination, especially in subjects like Accounting, Statistics etc.  was low.  This is the background in which I joined the Institute.  I was asked to teach Accounting for the new batch.  When the results were declared, there was 100% pass in Accounting.  Few days later there was a meeting of the advisory board.  I was told that Prof. P N Thirunarayana from IIM Bangalore, who was a member of the board would be addressing the students before the board meeting.  Though I had heard about him, I had never met him before.  As soon as Prof. Thiru reached the campus, he wanted to meet me.  When I met him in the board room, he shook my hands tightly saying, ‘I am told that you have achieved 100% results in your subject.  Congratulations. Keep it up. Do this for two more years and you would have made a mark’.  There was lot of warmth and affection in his words.  These words from Prof. Thiru were like getting an award!

After this, I attended the lecture that Prof. Thiru delivered to our students.  I was very much fascinated by his teaching style, his ability to explain tough concepts in simple manner and his deep knowledge in scripture which allowed him to easily connect management concepts to lessons from the scriptures.  Even today I remember a couplet from ‘Katopanishad’ that he had quoted on that day.  After this, I had the opportunity of meeting him several times and every time, he showed the same warmth and affection to me.  Whenever I met him, I could feel a positive energy and I was highly motivated to do better in my profession.  He strongly believed in encouraging youngsters who chose academics as profession to excel in teaching.  Since I was not his student, I had attended only few of his invited talks.  But that itself was enough for creating a lasting impression in me.  There are many aspects of his teaching that I have carefully imbibed into mine.    

In December 2010 I visited IIM Bangalore with my colleague Vivek for some work in the library.  After finishing the work, we went to meet Prof. Thiru.  We didn’t have an appointment.  His office was closed.  His secretary informed us that he had gone to take a session for the executive training programme, and he would be back in an hour.  We decided to go around the campus and return after a while.  When we returned, his office was still closed.  His secretary told us that he came back from the class and left the office for the day.  I felt, I should have left my card with his secretary so that when he came back from class, he would have called me.   Three months later, Prof. Thiru passed away on 22 March 2011.  I was shocked to hear the news.  I felt extremely sad that I missed one last chance to meet him, and Vivek, who had never met him before, lost a golden opportunity to interact with him.  Had we waited near his office, we would have met him.

Prof. P N Thirunarayana, son of the famous Kannada poet Sri. Pu Thi Narasimhaachaar, was a professor of Marketing at IIM Bangalore.  He was considered as one of the most popular teachers at IIM.  Last year the alumni of IIM Bangalore raised Rs.2 crores to dedicate a classroom in his memory.  Great teachers continue to inspire even after they are gone!

 

 

‘Aashiqui’ in Kodaikanal

1990: I was a student of B.Com at The Cochin Arts College.  The college used to organise excursion for students every year and the destination for that year was Kodaikanal, a popular hill station in Tamil Nadu.  I was really excited as that was my first tour with classmates and my first visit to Kodaikanal.  We started the journey in a bus around 10 in the night from Kochi.  As the bus started moving, all of us started shouting, singing, dancing, and howling.  After a while the bus operator played a movie.  By the time the movie got over, most of us were fast asleep.  Early morning, we were awakened by devotional songs played in the bus.  We had reached the temple town of Palani.  We had an early morning darshan at the Palani temple.  After the breakfast, we started our journey towards Kodaikanal.

The operator started playing an audio cassette with melodious Hindi songs which caught out attention.  None of us had heard those songs before.  When we asked the operator, he said the songs were from a new movie, the music of which was released few days ago.  He showed us the cover of the cassette – it was ‘Aashiqui’.  All of us were captivated by the songs.  We told the operator to play the songs again and again.  I still remember, the bus was maneuvering hairpin bends enroute Kodaikanal, the nature was in full bloom, there was chill in the air and romance in the hearts of everyone!  We spent two days at Kodaikanal.  Whenever we were inside the bus, we made the operator play songs from Aashiqui.  By the time we got back to Kochi, all songs of Aashiqui were byheart for us.  First thing I did on the next day was to buy the audio cassette of Aashiqui. 

Aashiqui was a Mahesh Bhat movie, which represented the beginning of a new trend in Bollywood music.  It catapulted the music directors, Nadeem-Shravan and the singers, Kumar Sanu and Anuradha Paudwal to fame.  People loved the music as well as the beautiful singing style of Kumar Sanu.  This movie holds an all-time record of selling maximum number of soundtrack albums in the history of Bollywood.     

I didn’t watch the movie in theatre.  Many years later I watched it on television.  But the songs remained close to my heart.  Even today when I hear the songs like ‘Dheere Dheere Se Mere Zindagi Mein Aana’, ‘Saanson Ki Zaroorath Hai Jaise’, ‘Dil Ka Aalam’ etc., my mind immediately goes to Kodaikanal.  I am sure, we all have few such songs that kindle our memories, instantly take us to a different world and make us highly nostalgic.  Only music can do that!

(Note: At least few of you would have started reading this expecting a narration of ‘Aashiqui’ in my life. Sorry to disappoint you!)

Cycle – The First Act of Balancing

Cycle is probably the first vehicle that we all learn to ride in our life.  The pride of riding a cycle without falling off is something inexplicable.  Our first lessons in balancing came from the cycle.  I started riding cycle at the age of ten.  It used to be a small cycle, almost half the size of the regular one.  But I didn’t own a cycle.  Those days, it was quite common to hire cycles from a local cycle shop, which used to charge on an hourly basis.  After the school I used to rush to the shop, take cycle and ride for an hour or so.  Once, in the month of December, I took a cycle on hire and rushed to a nearby shop to buy new year greeting cards to be sent to my friends.  I was riding fast.  As I took a turn in a junction, suddenly I rode into a heap of sand, lost my balance, and fell off the cycle.  That year I celebrated the new year with bruises on my hands and legs. 

Gradually I migrated to the regular big cycles.  The popular cycle brands were BSA, Hercules and Atlas.  BSA was the most common, while Hercules was considered to be sturdier and heavier.  My father gifted me a cycle in 1988 when I completed my school and joined the college.  It was a brand new BSA Deluxe cycle.  That cycle was my companion for the next seven years, till I moved out of Kochi. 

When I joined IIM Ahmedabad in 1996, I was staying at Vijay Char Rasta, almost 3 kilometers from the campus.  I couldn’t afford a motorcycle those days.  So, I was depending on the city bus to commute to the campus.  The frequency of buses plying though IIM was very less those days.  If I remember correctly, Bus Number 46/1 was the only bus connecting Vijay Char Rasta to IIM.  All other buses passed through Panjarapole Junction, from where I had to walk more than a kilometer to the campus.  Bus Number 46/1 was irregular and always crowded, making my journey uncomfortable.  One day a friend told me that he wants to sell his old bicycle.  Without thinking twice, I bought the cycle.  That too was a BSA Deluxe! I started cycling to the campus.  I used to take the short-cut to IIM through the campus of Gujarat University and Physical Research Laboratory (PRL).  It was a great experience to ride though the vast and beautiful campus of Gujarat University.  After almost a month I got typhoid.  Since I had consulted the campus doctor, I left the cycle in the parking lot of IIM and returned by a rikshaw.  I didn’t go to the campus for almost a week.  Even after that I continued to go in a rikshaw for few more days.  One day when I had completely recovered, I decided to return to my room on my cycle.  When I went to the parking lot, my cycle was not there!  I enquired with the security guard who said he had no idea.  Someone must have noticed it lying there without being touched for many days and would have stolen the same.  I felt extremely sad.  Withing a month I moved to a house at Vastrapur, which was just 5 minutes’ walk from the campus.  Hence, I didn’t feel the need for a cycle. 

When I came to Tumkur, I was always fortunate to stay very close to the campus and thus, never needed a vehicle to commute.  So, the last time I rode a cycle was in 1997 at Ahmedabad.   In a way, the one who stole my cycle did not just steal that cycle, but stole cycling itself from my life!

February 13 - World Radio Day

My earliest memory of radio is my father listening to news bulletin by leaning over a wooden stand on which a big radio set was positioned.  It was a radio set made by Telerad (looked almost like the picture that I have shared below).  When the radio was switched on, a green light used to appear indicating the signal quality.  It used to take a while for the radio to catch the signals and start playing.  Radio was the only means of entertainment those days.  We depended on it for listening to music, cultural programmes, drama, news, commentary of sports events and much more. There were small tea shops in my area where radio used to be played continuously.  People used to gather in the morning to sip hot tea and listen to news in the radio.  All India Radio stations used to start their broadcast in the morning with a signature tune, which echoes in my mind even today.

Another fond memory associated with radio is that my uncle was a radio mechanic.  He had a shop at Kollam, my mother’s place.  Whenever I visited them, I used to go to his shop and observe him repair radio sets with amusement.  Those were the days of valve radios.  Most of them used to be big in size, with a wooden cover and reasonably heavy.  

Once when I was helping my father clean his cupboard, I saw a small blue color book, on which ‘Radio License’ was written.  My father told me that people had to pay license to own a radio set in India and the same had to be renewed annually at the nearest post office.  That system was abolished in early 80s.  I am sure the current generation can hardly believe that one had to get a license to listen to radio!

Apart from the local radio stations, we used to regularly listen to Radio Ceylon.  Based in Sri Lanka, Radio Ceylon is the first radio station in Asia.  They used to broadcast programmes in Sinhalese, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam.  Gradually we migrated from big radio sets to small transistor radios and portable pocket radios.  

Radio became an integral part of my life when I moved to Ahmedabad.  I was sharing an apartment with three of my friends and we didn’t have TV.  So, after the dinner we used to head straight to the terrace with a transistor radio.  All India Radio’s Vividh Bharti was our favorite station.  Geetmala, the legendary host Ameen Sayani’s programme of Hindi film songs was very popular those days. 

FM radio almost revolutionized our radio experience.  Today we get radio in our phone, vehicles and even in the television.  Probably there is no other medium which is so popular, affordable, and accessible to millions across the world.  Radio must have gone through lot of changes in its broadcasting technology, but it remained and will remain an integral part of our lives.  In 2011, UNESCO declared February 13^th as the ‘World Radio Day’.  This year’s theme for the World Radio Day is ‘Radio and Trust’.  

You can read more about the World Radio Day here: 

https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldradioday

You can listen to the AIR's signature tune here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuS-UiaKiVk

Cry My Eyes!

A Sunday evening, I was relaxing in my balcony.  I heard a feeble voice, ‘Hello, can you hear us?’ I looked around. There was nobody.  I slipped back to my chair.  I heard the voice again.

‘Hey please listen to us’

‘Who?’

‘Your eyes’

‘My eyes?’

‘Yes, your eyes. We want to tell you something’

‘Yes, please go ahead’

We want to share our life with you.  We were very happy and comfortable during your childhood.  You know, we help human beings to see the objects around them and to read.  We were happily doing this duty till you were 14.  That is when our first enemy came to your house – the television.  You stopped reading and started watching TV in the evenings.  Do you know that the bright screen of TV causes lot of strain to us?  To make things worse, you switched off the lights in the room while watching TV.  We somehow managed because you were watching TV only in the evenings and on holidays. During the daytime we used to enjoy helping you see what was happening around and read books, papers etc. 

When you completed your college and started working, our second enemy entered your life – the computer.  Computer screen was smaller than the TV screen and was positioned much closer to your face.  This caused us lot of strain.  At times, we used to turn red due to over-working.  Though it was putting lot of pressure on us, we were at least happy that when you were not at the office or at home, like when you were travelling or attending some functions etc., we could relax. 

Few years later, you brought the latest and our deadliest enemy into your life – the smart phone.  All hell broke loose.  The screen was much smaller than that of a computer.  You always kept staring at the phone, you started reading news, watching TV, watching movies, chatting with friends, attending meetings, reading assignments of your students, sharing pictures, monitoring time – almost everything on phone!  Added to this, even at bed you keep using the phone and your sleeping pattern became bizarre.  Whether you are in the office, or at home, or travelling, or attending functions, or doing anything else, you are always staring at the phone.  Can you imagine what we are going through!  It is beyond what we can take.

Unlike your nose and ears, you can instantly close us anytime and give us some rest.  But why are you torturing us so much?  Please keep the phone away for some time, please sleep on time and sleep well.  If we are not healthy, how can we perform our function?  When you feel sad, you cry through us.  When we are sad, what should we do?

I was stunned.  I couldn’t speak.  After taking a pause, my eyes continued, ‘We know what is going on in your mind now.  You are planning to write this in your blog and give strain to the eyes of your friends, who would read your blog on their phones’!!

Physics to Finance

In 1988 my cousin Abhay Kumar introduced me to Saraswath Youths’ Association (SYA), a voluntary organisation at Kochi.  Founded in 1964, SYA was actively involved in socio-cultural activities.  It was functioning from ‘Hari Shenoy’s Bungalow’, an ancient building at West Kochi.  (Later when the Department of Tourism decided to renovate this building and preserve it as a cultural monument, SYA moved to a building of its own).

One of the main activities of SYA was providing tuition for school children free of cost.  Teaching was done on a voluntary basis by members of SYA, most of whom were college students.  When I joined SYA, I was a student of Pre-Degree (equivalent to Plus Two).   Abhay Kumar was in-charge of tuitions at SYA, and he wanted me to teach there.  Though I had always cherished the dream of becoming a teacher, I didn’t have any experience of teaching.  I was allotted Physics for ninth standard.  I still remember my first class, which was on Optics (to be specific on the properties of convex lens).  There were ten students in my class.  I was literally shivering when I entered the class.  As time passed, I started thoroughly enjoying my teaching.  I continued teaching there till 1996 when I moved out of Kochi.  The experience I gained by teaching at SYA made me more confident about choosing a career in teaching. 

SYA celebrated silver jubilee in 1989.  Many events like science exhibition, quiz competition, arts and cultural shows etc. were organised as part of the celebrations.  I took active part in organising all these events.  Another activity that comes to my mind is the weekly Group Discussion (GD) sessions.  There was only one channel in television those days – Doordarshan (DD).  A show called ‘The World This Week’ anchored by Pranoy Roy, who was producing shows for DD those days, used to be telecast every Friday.  We picked up one or two topics from this show and arranged GD sessions at SYA every Sunday.  Many college students like me, and my cousin Anil Kamath participated in the GD.  Our seniors like Ram Kamath (my cousin) and Rajendra Bhat (my brother-in-law) guided us in the process.  This activity helped us in improving our communication skills, enhancing our ability of logical reasoning, and kept us updated with the latest happenings around the world.  All those who were involved in such activities reaped the benefits later in their careers.  At a time when jargons like ‘soft skills’, ‘employability skills’, etc. were not even heard, SYA provided us a platform for improving our skills.  SYA was silently contributing towards shaping our future!

I continue to be associated with SYA in whatever limited way I can.  With over 26 years of career in academics, I remain indebted to SYA for providing me the first platform for testing my teaching skills.  SYA to SIT (Siddaganga Institute of Technology) – it has been a wonderful journey.  SYA and SIT – both are three letters and the first one is common.  From a Physics teacher to a Finance Professor – at least in phonetics, both Physics and Finance start with the same sound.  What a coincidence!