Technology as we know it

My speech on technology at Toastmasters humorous speech contest.

Today, I wanna talk about technology. In particular I wanna talk abt this fine piece of technology - the mobile phones. We probably don’t appreciate this luxury enough. This is the epitome of technology as we know it. If we culminate all of human effort spanning the last 300,000 years into one technology, it is this - the mobile phone.

Let’s pause here for a second and go back some thirty years back to see how life was without a mobile phone. I wasn’t born 30 years back, but probably...

I was in the process of being created.

Anyways, this story is about my friend’s dad. He is on a visit here. He’s from India and he used to work in the OIl Industry in the middle east, in Dubai. Shell Oil Company. But there was a time when he was staying away from his wife for about an year. So every time he had to communicate to his wife, he used, what we call now as snail mail. It worked like this. Whenever he wanted to communicate something to his wife (my friend’s mom), he took a piece of white paper, wrote whatever he wanted to write, found an envelope, affixed a stamp on it, and drove to a post office, posted it and waited. His wife receives the letter after four days. And even if she decides to reply to that the same day, it takes another four days for it to reach him. So, it actually takes 8 days for you to get a reply for something he asked, and this applied the other way too. His wife received a response after 8 long days for something she asked.

This got me thinking,

“If I didn’t reply to my girlfriend for 8 days……

She would have broken up with me 800 times”.

Forget 8 days, the rule of thumb is if I didn’t reply to her within 8 seconds of seeing her message, then something bad is going to happen.

But the real question is how does she know that I saw her message?

This is due to the evil most invention of this millennia known as “Whatsapp”.  It’s not whatsapp which is evil, it's just a small feature in whatsapp that is evil. It’s called ….. the double tick. I don’t know who invented this, but whoever did this, he didn’t have a girlfriend.

Or if it was a girl who invented, she definitely did have a boyfriend.

But my girlfriend is cool, you know. She’s not around here, but still she gets to know almost everything I say or do. So she’s awesome.  If any of you guys didn’t understand my references to whatsapp or this double tick feature, you have something what i call as - uh a life.

But technology is awesome, you know. My dad used to end up in different town driving without knowing the direction. He drove off to meet a relative in a different city and he ended up meeting some other relative in some other city because he took the wrong direction. I am his son. And I don’t want to make the same mistakes. So I have used Google Maps to drive to Hacker dojo every single time for the past six months. My good friend Anish, his iPhone got blank one fine morning just this past week. It refused to charge up. He was out of clue. He was expecting his mom's call that evening, and he had to inform his mom that his phone doesn’t work. But the bad part is, he doesn’t remember her number. He didn’t have to. He tried to login to iCloud to retrieve the contacts, but to login to iCloud, you need to enter a two factor verification. First you have to get your Apple ID password correct, then you will have to enter the passcode sent to your Iphone; the ipHone which is no longer working. And there was another option to retrieve the contact, but basically, you have to walk a tightrope across Niagra to get your own contacts. So Anish wanted to buy a new phone the same day. I suggested Anish, to buy a cheap phone temporarily until he makes up his mind which smartphone to buy. So we went to Fry’s Electronics and found a 30 dollar phone. It was a nice flip-flop phone for just 30 dollars. Anish gave a look of disapproval saying that it doesn’t have maps. It’s a 30 dollar phone; of course it doesn’t support maps. And he’s good at directions, unlike me. He doesn’t actually need maps to go everywhere, but he can’t imagine the concept of a phone without maps. I mean, it good to use these mapping technologies, in fact i’m a big proponent of it. I work as a Geospatial Data Scientist and my field of work involves creating these mapping technologies for different apps. So, we need to use these mapping technologies more and more. For the greater good.

And for my job security.

;

Technology bridges cultural gaps. I grew up in a multicultural society. This might be surprising to some of you. You might think that everyone in India speak and understand the same language. But it is not true. Every state in INdia speaks their own language. And by language, I do not mean a different dialect. They have their own script and grammar. You still don’t believe me ? Let me speak to Siddhartha here in my language and see if he understands that… “Oonu kazhicho Siddhartha?” See he had no clue what I talked about.

But you know what? The translate app can do this for me. It can translate to and from my language and convert it into his language. So technology is the best language to communicate. It evens out cultural differences. Imagine a world without this translate app.  how confusing it would have been. I think that's why British left India so soon. They just stayed here for….. 400 years…

But the thing I always wonder is why the British left US as we know it, in less than 50 years. What did Americans do that Indians didn't?

Oh I know what u guys did… The British couldn't tolerate this stupidity known as American Unit system.. The American Unit system doesn't make sense to me.. it doesn't align with the decimal system. Decimal system is units expressed in multiples of 10 or fraction of 10. But American units doesn't believe in that. You wanna dispute me? If so, pls answer what's 5.353 miles in feet? No.answer? No.answer?..

But if u ask me what's 5.353 kilometers in meters, I can immediately say it's 5,353 meters. U want it in millimeters; it's 5,353,000 mm. U want it in nanometers, I can probably answer it in 5 seconds, without the pen or computer. But you guys confused the British with pounds and ounces and fahrenheit and inches and yards and miles. That the British couldn't take it.anymore…

But you know what… there's someone in this room, who can answer my previous question about mile.conversion. u wanna know who that is… “Ok Google, what's 5.353 miles in kilometers”... (Google replies.. ) “28.3k… feet” … see Technology can not just bridge cultural differences, but can also bridge American stupidity.

Technology, as we know it is awesome guys. We do have an obligation to use it responsibly, but it is making human lives better and more productive, it's bridging cultural gaps and democratising knowledge.

Thank you guys. That's my time…

The day I became JK

This happened 13 years ago. Jayakrishnan was an eighth grader in a school in the nice South Indian city called Trichy. During his seventh grade, he had a cat – a lovely, fluffy cute cat. He loved it. And his proclivity towards the cat caused him a fungal infection called “polyps” which led to tissue growth in the nose almost blocking his entire right nose. It seemed he was allergic to cat fur. His dad’s homeopathy doctor friend assured he could cure this. After 6 months, the tissue growth only seemed to grow more, effectively blocking his right nose and partially affecting his hearing. This meant, he struggled with his class lessons. He was at his academic low. His teachers had a condescending look for him every time the test papers were distributed. Friends, if any, were few. They called him “Jaya”. Of late, someone pointed out that “Jaya” is a feminine name. (It’s one of those thing with the Indian names; when combined with a male name – “Krishna” it becomes a male name in totality) He thought he was better off with the name his dad christened him initially – Vivek Rasdan, after a then Indian cricket player. “Jayakrishnan” was the name that his Astrologer-cum-Sanskrit scholar granddad christened him, based out of astrology and also half his name, which was Ramakrishnan. Some bullies caught upon the feminine part of his name. Scared, he tried to avoid schools on any possible occasion. On lonely days when he bunked schools, he used to solve crossword puzzles in the Young World paper which comes on Saturdays. He also maintained a dairy, where he noted down his observations, witty cartoons by Keshav in the Hindu, pictures of fast trains and the German landscape from the German News magazine which his dad had subscribed.  He particularly loved the cover stories on LTTE and other major national events which were illustrated creatively in the WEEK magazine. He used to wonder why India Today magazine always wrote articles supporting a major national party a.k.a BJP. He never spoke about these to anyone except to his dairy. His dairy was his only true friend. His dairy was the only one who would know what that boy was and what went through him. He was an introvert, at best. The only good thing that happened to him that year was that his parents decided to go with allopathic surgery to remove the fungal growth in his nose. And this put him on wheels of normalcy. Yet his introverted character remained the same.

He entered the eighth grade. He had chosen Hindi as a second language earlier when he was in sixth grade. But Hindi students were a minority. So were Catholic Christian students in his school. The school decided to put these two groups together in a same class for reasons best known to them. This was where he first saw Nancy Perira. She was a legend in that school. He had heard stories about her from his friends. She always gets the first rank; she has never known what a second rank is, in her entire life – that was her legend. She had a fierce competitive look in her eyes. And she was damn smart- the speed with which she talked made her seem extra smart. He looked at her with an awe and felt like a lowly being when she walked past him. Once, he was standing near the classroom door, unknowingly blocking her path. She said, “Hey, stupid, move away!” He felt bad for a moment, but gave her way immediately. He conceded to the adjective, the smartest girl in the school just gave him, because he thought it was his fault.

Arockyasamy, his social sciences teacher was his class teacher. Arockyasamy seemed different in his approach of teaching. He too had a legend – he normalized the social science marks of his students to 90%. The rest 10 marks would come from the Social Science notes that he asked his students to maintain. And legend has it that no one ever got those 10 marks; students who get 2.5 consider themselves lucky. This was because, the notes he asked his students to maintain was not book based. It was like, an entire chapter in Geography should be summarized in just 2 pages with any fact about the chapter NOT presented in the text book – all the extra details one can lay their hands upon. And he substituted Civics sections with GK sections and solicited newspaper articles for the Civics part. History chapters should be substituted with in-depth historic event analysis. Civics section carried 5 marks, History and Geography 5 together. He actually started teaching us at the end of first mid-term only. But he implemented his system no sooner. Nancy was even asking Arockyasamy on ways to get the full 10 marks.

The First mid-term exams were just conducted. Jayakrishnan got the 7^th rank. This was the highest rank he could imagine getting in a long time. Of course, Nancy got the first. But before the ranks were computed, it was time for evaluation of the social science notes by Arockyasamy. Nancy got 2.5 on her coverage on Historic analysis. Arockyasamy called Jayakrishnan out. He said, “Good work. You’re the first person to get 7.5 marks in the Social Science notes”. He got the full 5 in GK section and 2.5 on Geography. The GK section he covered was on a crucial judgment the Supreme Court had passed on the Ayodhya issue. Many students had the newspaper clipping of that judgment pasted in the GK section. But Jaya drew a timeline across two pages, demarcating the important events that led to the current judgment. A separate section was delineated at two different corners listing the key parties involved in the conflict. The other two corners listing the rationale and basis of the conflict as submitted by the conflicting parties. As far as the Geography section was concerned, he pasted a single stamp of the country that was being dealt, that he got through a philatelic exchange with some his friends the previous year. He explained the cost of the stamp. And a small box on the local currency and how it compares with the rupee and the dollar and Yen. He then explained the person on the stamp, the first prime minister after independence. A small box shows political system followed by the country and the current leaders. And two other boxes on the climate, it’s geopolitical influence on its neighbors and how it influences its economy. He felt so happy that day. He looked though his notes the whole evening and the words, “V.Good.. 7.5/10” embellishing the page. He wondered why Nancy gave a hateful look at him when returned with his note to his bench.

After that, Jaya was the one to answer the GK questions and current affairs questions posed by Arockyasamy to his class. It felt nice for him. And he made no mistake the second time. He got the full 10 marks in Social Science notes section, breaking his own record. He improved his rank by securing the 3^rd rank. But at the same time, he was being hated by Nancy like never before. Now, she knows him by name. But nevertheless, she found new situations just to call him “stupid”. He didn’t know how to react to that. Because every time, it was someway his fault. She was the ‘class monitor’. Persons who get the first rank get to become the monitor and she was the monitor by default, always. She wrote the name “Jaya” every other day on the board which lists the students who misbehaved during the absence of teachers. This ensured that Jayakrishnan got punished for a crime he grasped hard to understand when he committed. But it must have been his mistake; he never defended himself for any of that, because he was still scared to speak out to his teachers.

The school conducted an assembly every week. And every week, one class must host the assembly. And during each assembly, there’s a small speech on a topic. It was his class’ turn to host the assembly. The topic for speech was ‘The Crown and Glory of Life is character’. Arockyasamy, chose his favorite student, Jayakrishnan, to give the speech. Jayakrishnan was scared to death. He didn’t even dare to speak a complete sentence to his teachers. His dad penned his speech. Arockyasamy decided to conduct a mock trial in front of the class. Jayakrishnan never looked at any of the students while he spoke. He spoke looking down. And he couldn’t complete three sentences properly. Nancy was smiling at the sorry figure he cut for himself. He was sweating profusely. He gave a pleading look at his class teacher and cried, “I can’t.. I’m sorry”… He said, “It’s okay, we’ll do another session in two days”.

Two complete days of speaking with the mirror and his sister, he probably realized he could make it. The second time, he completed the speech with occasional stammering, but he barely looked at the audience.

Arockyasamy called him aside and gave a great piece of advice. “You’re doing well, but no one will listen to you if you don’t speak TO them. If you’re scared about looking at the audience, don’t really look at them. Just sway her head at all the audience constantly.” Jayakrishnan took the advice and during the third trial, he did exactly the same. It turned out well. But speaking before 60 students and before 2000 students is different. Jayakrishnan knew that.

On the day of speech, Jayakrishnan was standing behind the stage, wishing that the Master of Ceremonies would pace out their introductions; he literally prayed for each delayed second. Finally they called out, “Now Jayakrishnan from 8-A will deliver a speech on the topic, ‘The Crown and Glory of Life Is character”. Jayakrishnan waited for five seconds after he was called for. He realized that the entire school was ready to laugh at his folly. He wanted to run away from the place. At that time, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back at the tall figure of Arockyasamy smiling at him. He said, “The school is waiting to hear your great speech”. This brought a wide smile on his face. He decided, come what may, he is not letting this man down. He tread the stage towards the mike for the first time in his life. His first word was over amplified; someone came running to push the mike a bit away from his mouth. IN this process, he forgot his customary salutations which should invariably begin with “Revered Principal,…” Instead, he started with a line, he never rehearsed to speak about.

“When I was given this topic, I didn’t even understand what it meant. In fact, it was my dad who wrote this speech”. The whole school burst into laughter. After the laughter subsided, he continued, “But I’m here just for one thing, or rather for one person – Mr.Arockyasamy, my class teacher and guide who believed in me to deliver this to this august audience. So here I am to speak about the topic, which I now feel is so meaningful”.

When the speech was over, the 4000 pairs of hands clapped – all the sound directed at one person that was overwhelming for him. Arockyasamy patted his back. He smiled back at him. Back in the class, Arockyasamy distributed the Half-yearly rank cards. When Jayakrishnan’s roll number came, he called out, “Mr.JK…” (Jayakrishnan wondered that this is the first time someone called him JK, but it certainly felt nice), “You get the first rank this time. And that was a good speech by the way, I forgot to mention..”, he smiled as he handed him the rank card.

The whole class clapped except for the one girl. But then, at that moment, he realized, it’s not always his fault. And that he’s not a stupid. That day Nancy didn’t write down his name on the board even though he was talking happily with all his friends in the ‘absence of the teacher’ which was categorized as misbehavior during many such earlier instances. Just then he realized that he is the monitor from the next day. Remember, persons who get the first rank get to become the monitor.

That was the day Jayakrishnan became JK. Till this day, he carried that name as a remembrance of his first mentor. He became the monitor. No names on the board ever as long as he was the monitor. From then on, he grabbed any and every opportunity to give a public speech. Won some state level speech competitions. Be it Independence Day or Republic day, JK is solicited to give his passionate patriotic speech. And of course, participated in many quiz competitions and won some. He replaced Nancy as the person who never knew what the second rank was. Nancy tried to insult me by accusing him in front of the class he got the first rank by using ‘bit’ in exams. He still couldn’t defend himself or shout back at her. But he didn’t feel sorry. He was able to smile back at her. But none of that was important than the fact that none of this would have happened if Arockyasamy never believed in him. One person changed a boy's life. And that person was able to changed his outlook. By just believing in the other person. 
JK is still secretly an introvert. But when occasion arises, he can be the best extrovert around. And when the bullies tried to call him "Jaya" the next time, he retorted back, "There's no space between Jaya and Krishnan, you ignorant fuck…"

~~~~~~

Dedicated to all genuine teachers who are transforming young lives for the better…

~~~~~~~

MY OLD PUBLISHED WRITINGS :: NOSTALGIA

THE HINDU YOUNG WORD – VII Std (2002) (MY FIRST PUBLISHED WRITING)

THE HINDU METRO PLUS MADURAI EDITION (2004)

"VOICE YOUR VIEWS COLUMN" – IX STD TITLE : PROBLEMS IN POWER DISTRIBUTION

SCHOOL MAGAZINE – IX STD (2004)

                   “RELEVANCE OF GANHISM IN MODERN WORLD”

THE HINDU METRO PLUS CHENNAI EDITION

VOICE YOUR VIEWS COLUMN (2007)

“CHOOSING PROFESSIONAL COURSES - IS IT TRUE CHOICE?”

It is a fact that TamilNadu is having sufficient number of engineering colleges to satiate the demand. However, in medical field it seems to be limited. And regarding non-professional courses the situation is satisfactory. When it comes to specific branches in professional courses the availability is not satisfactory since it is not decided by the choice of students but by extraneous factors like management perceptions, parents’ ambitions and the current job market demands. This will neither help the students nor the nation. Also the choice factor must be weighed with cost factor to decide true availability.

JayaKrishnan,V I Yr. B.E. (Geoinformatics), CEG,Anna University.

THE HINDU METRO PLUS CHENNAI EDITION

VOICE YOUR VIEWS COLUMN

Meltdown and the changing job scene

Some economists had foreseen and predicted the economic meltdown in the western countries and the ‘bursting of the bubble’ in the financial and the IT sectors. This meltdown will help to bring a balanced view in career selection. It is better that we turn our attention to jobs related to our own country. Let us consider this meltdown as an ‘Oorvasi Shaba’ which will ultimately bring good to our country by bringing sanity in the youth. Let us hope that the government services will attract more talented and innovative people in future.

II year, B.E. (Geoinformatics) (2008)

THE HINDU METRO PLUS CHENNAI EDITION

VOICE YOUR VIEWS COLUMN

HAS TIME TAKEN A TOLL ON TRADITIONAL FESTIVITIES

Festivals to life are like lubrication between moving parts of machines to avoid friction, heat and wear outs. The grinding schedules of our work, the location of the work place and educational centers, travails of travel etc forbid us from festivities. The nuclear families in place of the traditional families, alienation from the native society and the general degeneration of youth who are in mad chase of material and monetary gains are some other reasons. Where is the simple man with his roots intact keeping his sensitivities and aesthetic mind ruminating the nostalgic feelings about our traditional festivities?

2nd year, CEG (2008)

THE HINDU METRO PLUS CHENNAI EDITION

VOICE YOUR VIEWS COLUMN

DISABLED CHILDREN MUST BE ADMITTED IN MAINSTREAM SCHOOLS

There are no legal hurdles in admitting disabled children in mainstream schools. The mentally retarded, blind and deaf may not be admitted because of the inherent difficulties. In all other cases there need not be a problem for such children to be a part of the mainstream. Only thing required is a little amount of compassion and special arrangements for the seats, vehicles, etc. Instead of looking at them with sympathy they should be treated as equals and the school authorities and teachers must imbibe these qualities amongst the students. They are not ‘disabled’ but ‘differently abled’.

II yr., CEG (2008)

THE HINDU METRO PLUS CHENNAI EDITION

VOICE YOUR VIEWS COLUMN

ROAD SAFETY

The roads are one of the important infrastructures of a country. It belongs to all like air and water. The concept that roads are engines for economic growth and the stress is on speedier vehicular traffic. The roads must be useful to pedestrians and cycles riders. Very often it is the elite and educated class with their private vehicles who are defying the traffic rules with impunity. The traffic regulators keep a Nelson’s eye towards such violations. A lot of students, many of them minors, drive motor vehicles recklessly. The system of issuing driving licences itself is riddled with corruption.

II yr., CEG (2008)

What's up with your life? Nothing Much...

When someone asks you, "What's up with your life?" or just, "How's your day?", have you ever tried telling the truth assuming the person asking the question really wants to know about you? We are much comfortable giving a meaningless answer such as "I'm doing fine" or "Nothing much", but is that really what your life and day is all about? I feel we take things for granted. There must be a hundred awesome things around us for any person at any given time.

• Try to wiggle your toes just as you wake up and feel the minute electric impulse running down your spine. 
• Try to brush your teeth using your other hand and give yourself an extra wide smile after doing that.
• Try to bathe in extra cold water and shiver a bit by turning on the fan - when your dry yourself; you'll feel extra comfy - the cold bath is worth it.  
• Try feeling the fabric of your cloth before wearing it. (Woah! the smell of the fresh detergent on the old linen shirt I'm wearing right now - ecstatic!). 
• Try to add a lil ginger in your tea or may be palm sugar in your coffee and try to deliberately savour the difference. 
• Try to read a quote by some dreamy poet before setting out to work. 
• Notice the first flower or patch of green. 
• Use a pencil and paper to write down the task list for the day; the bolder the pencil lead, the better. 
• Run your fingers over your keyboard and feel it before you fire up your laptop. 
• Smile at your co-workers like they told you a happy news, every day. 
• Lunch with your friends; change the location every other day. 
• You may have a car, yet try to use your bike(bicycle) often for smaller distances. 
• When calling your mom, start with, "Hey gorgeous..."
• When your junior calls you, ask them about their work, and say, "I'm proud of you!". And of course, mean it. 
• Endeavour to learn something new every day. Anything is fine. And log it somewhere. 
• Endeavour to cook your meal, at least once a day; eventually you'll get better at it even if you don't know to cook. 
• Plan for an awesome life-time vacation and learn everything about that place. 
• Install the Duolingo app and start learning foreign language - it's so intuitive. 
• Track your sleep; aspire for a good sleep and be happy in the morning if you got a good nigh't sleep. 
• Prepare a map of all the places you've visited and annotate it. Pin this at your work desk. 
• Step on a lush green grass barefoot wherever you're allowed to. 
• Celebrate the lil successes of your team members. 

Your life is awesome. Start noticing it. And the next time someone asks you, "How was your day?", surprise them with your answer. 

10 reasons y 2013 is a serendipitous year for me

1. Mumbai Meri Jaan in Jan

A few days after Bal Thackeray deprived us of his company, I was a month old resident of one of the greatest cities in the world named Mumbai during the new year day of 2013. In my earlier blog, I’ve described Mumbai as the the city of life coz Mumbai is where you can see life in action. This is a city which teaches you that ‘life moves on’ despite the terrorist attacks, despite the excruciating traffic, and despite the pervasive chaos. Also, I loved the breeze-laden moderately sunny climate of Mumbai.  But there’s one more thing that I reminisce about the city. This makes me nostalgic about the city. I was working as GIS Consultant for Reliance Infotel and the office starts at 10.30 (I read it as 11.30). And that was convenient for me as a chronic late riser. All my roommates would have left by the time I’d wake up. And you know the thing that wakes me up - the pigeons at Shree Ganesh Housing Society. On the first day, it was a bit scary. If you’ve heard the cooing of the pigeons, you’ll probably understand that. But soon, it became the music which woke me up in the morning. There was a pigeon which gave birth to cute little squab in the small verandah just outside my bedroom window. My morning ritual involved in watching the mother take care of it’s kid, rain or shine. I used to feed it a little since the mother never flew out for almost two months. Those mornings when I heard only the a gentle sea breeze fluttering my window panes along with the cooing of a pigeons would haunt me as well as make me nostalgic.

2. In the Garden City of Bengaluru

Though I stayed in Bengaluru for more than 3 months, I’ve never visited Lalbagh to praise it as the ‘Garden City’. But the lush green spaces at the ‘Silicon Valley enclave’ in the Electronic City Phase II of Bengaluru, where I stayed with my bff Delvin and five other awesome guys made up for all that. The climate was adorable and salubriously cool. Among the metros I’ve been (Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru), I’d vouch, Bengaluru has the best climate. I miss jogging around the the enclave through the parks with Pitchumani, my then roommate and an electrical engineer from my college, now working at Robert Bosch. The only difference was that, whenever Pitchu jogged, he made a 10 kilometer stretch, whereas my target was just 20% of that.

3. Met the Girl Next Desk

In my earlier blog, I’ve written about the Girl Next Desk and about the things that made her incredible. But the big take away for this year was that we were arch enemies turned awesome friends. Recently she visited our Singapore office on an official visit. She has a way with work - it’s simple, elegant as well as robust. Lately, I saw a macro developed by her which pops out at the end of the day to record her timesheet activities to an excel sheet, which is normally a painful process to fill up at the end of the month. It was simple, yet impressive.

4. At the Queen of Hill Stations with family

Taking out your innocent glib tongued mom and the unconventional genius dad for an holiday vacation is a perfect retreat and a really memorable moment. And you know the best part - you realize that your mom isn’t as naive as you might think. She actually explained how clouds can form below the cliffs without using jargons like precipitation and stratospheric condensation.

5. Yeh Dosti Hum Nahin Todenge

For all the stupid things we did, for all the fun we had, for all the awesome moments you gave, for all the meal we shared, for all the path we tread, you guys will always make up the best moments of any year.

From Right to Left: Sathyesh, Ashok, Damodaran, me, Bharath, Sambath, Delvin

Thanks Ashok, Bharath, Damo, Delvin, Kabil, Manoj, Sambath, Saravana, Gopi, Petchi, Deepa, Queen, Archana, Dhivya, Revathy, Vijaya, Arun, Pitchu, Subashini, Ganapathy and Ashwini. “Yeh Dosti Hum Nahin Todenge”. Promise.

6. In the Lion City

By the second half of 2013, I reached the ‘Lion city’, Singapore. The city nation impressed me in many ways. It was nation where crass commercialization never gave way for the environmental degradation. The city is abound with parks and lakes and nicely maintained with boulevards. Walkways and cycle paths have as much importance as the vehicular roads. This is a city which encourages public transportation than private transportation. They encourage it to the point where a metro ride into the Central Business district at peak hours is made free. And buying a private car is one of the most expensive things to do in Singapore. The license to own a car is almost five times the price of the car in many cases! I also like the hundreds of air bridges across the roads, which connects apartments from either sides of the roads. Apart from the things usually noticed about this city, I have three things that make up my nicest moments here:

Marina Bay Sands

The Bedok Reservoir - 500m away from my apartment is a serene park surrounding a lake with small water activities, jogging tracks, eatouts, and lots of green landscape. A refreshing place, whether you go there out with a buddy or alone.

The paper windmill outside my house - Once I step outside my house, I see these rainbow colored paper windmill stuck to pot plants. This sight invariably reminds me of how colorful the day is.

The wide windows in the hall: Gives an awesome view of the Pan Island Expressway as well as a steady inflow of breeze.

7. The Story of Mr. And Mrs.Udhay

Udhay is known as the Rajinikanth of our office. He’s so gregarious and keeps any group engaged. But behind all his gregariousness, is a melancholic story of strife to win his love, Revathy. I can’t do justice to that story writing it in this blog. Long story short.  His love story is 8 years long and faced all kinds of problems imaginable. He was chased for days together for trying to marry his love. He had to handle the police, immigration, corrupt registrars, thugs, communally fanatic relatives, all within a span of few days. But he received help from unexpected quarters. Friends of friends, who barely knew him, bet their lives, money and brains to get them married.

Now they’re happily married and blessed with an angel named Amizhthini (one who is like ambrosia). Udhay still faces a lot of problems due to factors he has no control over. But that never makes him less cheerful anyday. And that doesn’t make Udhay and Revathy any less than the best couple I’ve ever seen. Not surprisingly, I and Santhosh celebrated the new year night at Udhay’s place along with anni (sister-in-law) and kutti devathai (little angel).  

8. Met the Queen of Singapore

It was always a pleasure meeting the Queen, my classmate, friend and now a PhD researcher at NTU, Singapore. She’s fantastic for various reasons. One, she’s gonna be a doctorate by the age of 25. She’s a hassle-free organizer. She assumes a leadership position, wherever it is, be it in CEG or NTU WITHOUT throwing around much weight. She’s a girl who learns the Indian classical instrument, Veena in a foreign country and she’s already made a stage show here. Above all that she’s an awesome friend. Her parents named her so right. She is a Queen, wherever she is.

9. Travelled to Indonesia

Four crazy guys went to the equatorial indonesian island of Bintan this year. Thanks Jyoti, Anwesh and Sathish for the awesome moments.

From Left: Sathish, Jyoti, Anwesh and me

10. Lohith says hello to Planet Earth

On the 27th of August, 2013, Lohith receives the first rays of sun and says hello to the Planet Earth. I wanted my newborn nephew to be named like me. Any name with ‘krishna’ within it was my demand. It was granted and he was christened ‘Lohith Krishna’ soon. But soon after, I began to call him ‘KunniKuru’ rather than calling him by the name I wanted for him. Kunnikuru is a bright small waxy red seeds with beautiful black-dot in it and is considered to be auspicious in Kerala. His little tender body and his bright inquisitive eyes reminds me of kunnikuru. 

Kunnikuru

He’s a green lover. Anything green catches his attention. Be it coconut leaves or the mango tree, the hibiscus or the palm leaf, he stretches out his head in the intention of making friendship with the green soon. And he cries only for one reason. Food. He needs to be fed at the right time, not a second before, not a second after. German made pacifiers won’t do the trick. He needs to be fed on time. Period. And then he’s a sweetheart once he’s fed. And you better should read the language of his eyes when he’s not wearing a diaper. He gives a fair notice with eyes before he pees. And he’s gonna be a gregarious dude and an explorer (like me :P). If you think that you’re gonna have a tough time  controlling his crying in a crowded place like a mall, he proves you wrong. He’s more curious in carefully studying the anthropological traits of the people around him and gives an occasional smile to the ones who strike a chord with him. And there are certain problems he has to face from his creative mom, who happens to be my sister. Everyday, he is made to wear a fancy costume - some self stitched, some altered and some bought. One day he’s the Krishna, the other day an emperor; a priest one day and a Santa yet another day; a cowboy one day and a Parisian the other. Once he was adorned with a big moustache and then recently he turn into a girl! It’s too much for a acquiescent four month old. Spiderman and other superheroes are on cards.