Virtually possible

Samaranand got down from the car in his fleece jacket , his favourite cap on for his morning walk at the lake. The night temperature has already dived to 13 degrees. Monkey caps are out but still there were those who were brave enough to defy the winter breeze in their shorts. Samaranand thought that the winter is the time to show off the latest woolens procured during European trips by the business community or those nouveau rich Bengalis. With all colour and shades on the morning walkers the lake wears a different look. As usual at the left side ground some youngsters were playing India’s favorite game cricket. He speeded up his walk on the walking track near the lake, two youngsters who were watching cricket broke away from the group and started walking behind him. It was nothing usual,Samaranad did not bother much. Slowly he started overtaking the other walkers, those two young men sat down on a bench which of course Samaranand did not notice. After his usual round he was walking out of the gate and those two youngsters followed him and watched him go out. As per his daily routing he gave alms to three fixed beggars near the gate and got in his car, Gopal his driver dove him back to his flat in Golf Green. In the car he was immersed in his thought about Babulal who had not met him for the last two months, he had tried to contact him in his mobile but it was switched off.Next day morning again like every day he came for his morning walk, those two young men again started following him upto the cannon and back, but this time he noticed them by chance, his shoe lace had come out so he bent down to tie when those two too stopped abruptly, though he noticed them but did not bother much. But the third day he became alert about those two as they would start shadowing him from the cricket field keeping a constant distance. To check whether he was being followed he suddenly sat down on one of the benches when those two stopped and looked up at the trees as though trying to locate migratory birds which come from Siberia in winter,they took a few snaps with their mobile, Samaranad immediately knew that they had included him in their snap. He wanted to confront them but then thought of observing their movements instead. He was missing Babulal, he would have used Babulal to find information about those two rascals. His mobile started ringing, it was unknown number, he generally did not attend unknown number but on an impulse he pulled out his mobile from his jacket pocket and pressed the green button. He was startled to hear the voice, it was Babulal.

“Hello uncle, you must be wondering about me and my this new number. There is some development with Soumeya, he is programming video game and has been able to create some simple games.!”

“Ok,so,why are you missing? I know every computer geek is fond of video games, no big deal.”

“No uncle he had found out a way to produce CGI (computer generated image) and mix it with existing videos. Right now he is on it and then would switch to game. I like a fool shared this information in that English medium school where we generate guess paper for examination, one of the boys started showing interest and started pressurizing Soumaya to sell the programme as they wanted to put that in commercial use. Then one day that boy with his elder brother visited my room in Tollygaunge slum  and started pestering me. We refused because Soumaya is not yet ready and we don’t know the real value of that software. These guys offered one lakh. I told them to give us some time to decide. They left, we vacated that room and moved to a slum near Sealdah station and kept my mobile off. This is my new number,please store this number.’

Samaranad felt as though he was getting pulled in some kind of cloak and dagger game.

“So you guys are in a jam, where are you now?”’

“I am in the lake a few benches away from you, I am in disguise. I have been coming to the lake to warn you but somehow those two rascals have come to know about you so they have started following you lest I come and meet you.”

“Ok, now I know why those two are shadowing me, now I will go back and will like to meet you to understand about that software.’

“Ok,uncle, I will meet you with Soumaya by tomorrow.”

Babulal disconnected the mobile but Samaranand pretending the talk was continuing held the mobile by his ear and kept talking. He suddenly got up and loudly said in the mobile “Ok,I am coming to the hospital!’

He walked fast crossing those two startled young man and went out of lake the lake.

Then he started making plan for meeting Babulal and Soumaya, he rang up Babulal and asked him to come to the golf club next day morning.

Samaranand generally plays solo golf. Babula and Soumaya got down from a taxi and met Samaranand near the course. Sankar,the caddy took the bag all four started walking to the course. He took them to the shack near 6^th hole. He ordered daab and asked Soumaya to tell him about the software.

Soumaya asked him whether he had seen the movie Forest Gump.Samaranand nodded his head.

“Do you remember in that movie Tom Hanks who acts as Forrest Gump is congratulated by the president Robert Kennedy ,that movie was made in 1994 whereas Kennedy was killed in 1963.So how was that made possible? Of course the programme which was used then is obsolete now, CGI has become like real. I am able to put any person in any 3 to 4 minutes shot of some film. Now supposing I ask you with which favorite film actor you want to be seen in a sequence then I will put your image in that sequence.”

“Is that possible? Ok, put me in a sequence with Devanand.”

“Ok, tell me some songs of Devanand in YouTube, then I will see where I can put you. I have your images in YouTube.”

“Mein Zindagi ka sath nivaataa, Mana janaab ne pukara nahin,Dil kaa bhramar karey pukaar….choose any from these three.’

“I will send it to your email address by tomorrow.’

They finished their daab and got up to go.

Babulal said, “I will not be able to meet you for some time, those boys will also stop following you when they will find that you are not meeting me.”

Babulal and Soumaya left, Samaranand played a few holes and wound up golf for the day.

Samaranand could not concentrate in his work that day, he was eager to receive the mail from Soumaya.

As usual next day he went out for his morning walk around the lake and those two young men as usual followed him, he did not bother much about those.

After returning home he accessed his mail in his mobile and found the mail from Soumaya with attachment of a video.

He excitedly like a child with a new toy downloaded the video and then played it.

Soumaya had chosen Mein Zindagi ke sath and Samaranad was thrilled to find his image as driver driving the jeep for Devanand during the song sequence. He played the clip a few times more to absorb the feel good emotion. Then he realized that this itself has a big market potential, who would not like to have himself seen with his or her favorite celebrity in a video clip for a tiddy sum also it can be expanded to many other use like say in ad films or in wave series which has become latest craze.

He rang up Babulal and said, “It’s amazing. Soumaya is a genius but ask him to work on variations. Let me think about its market potential but in the meanwhile you remain invisible, if you want you guys can go and stay in my Delhi flat.

Babulal said, “ ok,I will come back to you soon on that.”

  

It is the people

“What is your name?” the principal asked in English to the smartly dressed boy of class 5.

“Indraneel ,” was the smart and prompt reply .

Then the principal went on to ask some more questions in English and the boy replied in perfect English. Me and my wife were impressed by the English teaching standard of that school in Shivalaya, Gujarat. We had taken our son for admission to that school which had classes upto 8 and the building was not much impressive. I had my doubt about the school so I had asked about the standard of the school, it was the only English medium school in the vicinity of Wanakbori Thermal Power Station of Gujarat Electricity Board then in 1985. This was the only posting among my 8 transfers in BHEL where I went reluctantly because of no good school available for my only son to study. Later on I became close to Mr.Purkaystha, the father of Indraneel who was junior to me in IIT,Kharagpur. Mr.Purkaystha was site in charge of MAMC. When I narrated my experience with Indraneel to him and congratulated for having a son who spoke such a fluent English after studying in that ramshackle school in shivalaya. He laughed loudly and said that he had come only a year back and he had no other choice than put his son in that school, his son acquired fluency in English in his previous posting. Indraneel became a poster boy for the principal, whenever a new boy comes for admission then the principal does this drill of QA with Indraneel in front of the guardians to show the English standard of his school. Somehow my son completed one year in that miserable school and then me and my good friend M K Pathak, BHEL site in charge decided to try putting our sons in Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan at Baroda which was about 100 kms away. Finally in next year we somehow managed to shift my son and Pathak’s 2 sons to Baroda, all 3 boys were put in hostel.

Because of the school problem the guy who was to be posted in Wanakbori influenced management not to transfer him from Gandhinagar Power Station instead I was moved on my promotion to Gujarat after my brief 1 year tenure at Delhi,HQ. The township was at the center of nowhere, non veg items were available at labour colony market outside the township as nonveg was not allowed to be sold in the township. The only entertainment was a monthly cinema show by GEB for its employees.

In spite of all the drawbacks we had a very eventful stay at the remote power station because of close association with friends like Pathak, Late Rajaraman, Late Ramesh, Late KP Rao,Nanjundan, Shankarnarayan, Ashok, Satish, Anand and so many others. Pathak was a badminton enthusiast and so 4 sides covered badminton court was made behind his official quarter , I too love playing that game so evenings were engaged in playing shuttle. The ladies would play in the early evenings and we all would play in the late evenings after we would return from our field work. So our social life revolved around that game of shuttlecock , it was like Sanja Chullah for us and then other activities like New Year Eve, Diwali Meet etc evolved from the badminton court. I must admit my initial negative feelings vanished within next few months. This close bonding with BHEL and GEB employees resulted in various record breaking achievements in our work.

Lastly I must mention that we were lucky that Mr.Dharangdharia came as Chief Engineer of GEB replacing one Mr.Gandhi who was a good person but weak administrator. Mr.Dharangdharia was opposite of Mr.Gandhi, he was a tough administrator and quickly became our mentor. Here I must introduce A K Anand who used to host all our private parties with Mr.Dharangdharia in his house. Though Meena Ben , the wife of Anand was strictly a vegetarian but she would cook first class chicken and of course thin tawa phulkas. Because of our close social interaction ,Mr.Dharangdharia started having more faith on BHEL team  than on his own engineers.

So the life at Wnakbori became pretty eventful. Other than keeping ourselves busy in commissioning 3x200 MW the second phase of Wanakbori, the social events kept us occupied in the evenings. The cooperative movement in Gujarat is visible in every sphere of life, we were treated at par with GEB employees for cooperative procurement of wheat, peanut oil, mangoes and even fire crackers. They would visit our houses take our requirement and then all the items would be purchased from mandi at a bargain rates.

All those 3 years of my posting I did not take part in Durga Puja fully but enjoyed 9 days dandia in the township. Yes, me, Pathak, Dharangdharia would dance round and round of dandia circle in all the 9 days, It used to be so colourful and vibrant. Yes we became one with GEB employees, there were no distinction. As I said it is the people who make the place and not the facilities. When I was transferred to Vizag then Mr.Dharangdharia asked me to settle in Gujarat as my son was already in hostel and he would help me to influence BHEL management through GEB ,HQ but I did not agree as by that time die was cast , the transfer order had come. My posting at Wanakbori became the turning point in my career, I was made site incharge at Vizag Steel Plant within 6 months of my posting.

What to eat?

Till 1989 I was eating whatever I was getting excepting of course beef and pork. That time I was 46 yrs old posted at Vizag Steel Plant as Site Incharge for the captive power station supplied by BHEL.

It so happened the wife of horticulture incharge of the steel plant, Mrs Mitra had a mild heart attack, was admitted to the steel plant hospital and they were our neighbor. So me and my wife went to visit her in the hospital. After visiting her I found there was a nurse outside at the corridor with blood pressure measuring instrument. Just out of curiosity I had my blood pressure checked and by the way till then I never thought of consulting doctor for general medical checkup.

Lo behold my pressure measured was 160/110, the lady asked , “When did you stop taking medicine?”

I laughed and said,”I never started!”

She advised me to consult doctor immediately. Then my wife took hold of the situation and took me to the resident heart specialist of that hospital next day. I was given lot of medicine to control pressure and advised tests. Medicines were beta blocker, blood thinner etc and advised on diets.

Well folks that was when I realized that what to eat was no longer my choice but of the body. So went through the regime of low fat intake, controlled red meat, controlled egg etc. The pressure, cholesterol etc were brought within limits by regularly popping those tablets and controlling food habits with low carb, low fat.

But then last year onwards some new research items started appearing in newspapers, WhatsApp etc which stated that fat is not the real culprit but sugar is.It appears all these MNCs like Coke, Pepsi etc paid heavily to doctors to come out with report suggesting cholesterol,fat etc were the culprit for heart diseases and not sugar so that their cold drinks with sugar content get free run. So now it is no harm in taking ghee, red meat egg etc because sugar is the culprit. So I was back to square one. Now I apply thick layer of butter on my bread and take egg whenever I wish to eat. I am back on mutton eating but of course in a control way. This time control on meat stuff is not commanded by the doctor but the body or rather the ageing body, it says it cannot digest that fast as I was doing say some 30 yrs back. Three years back the doctor advised me to go slow on sweets, better to take tea without sugar and less of rice. So now again my food equilibrium was disturbed to control sugar. So now it is black tea without sugar, the coffee with milk but no sugar. Reduced the quantity of rice intake. But today I came across an article which says carb is as good as protein to block dementia. But now I take low quantity of rice in the morning, two chapatis at night to control carb and starch. So I am in a dilemma of deciding whether to increase carb intake to shield against dementia but then my ever expanding waistline will run wild, my belts have to have extra holes punched or maybe I go for free waistline pant with suspenders. I was cursing these medical researchers, pharmacists in short the whole medical fraternity for misguiding me and my food habits. Well readers I am sure you too will have similar tales to tell.

My near miss #metoo time

The lady was upset after all she was the central minister, how dare an ED of a PSU not attend her phone call, let it be Sunday, “So What?”

She thundered to her PA to connect the concerned minister MJ in Delhi as she was camping in Bhopal. MJ got an earful from the lady Miss UB. MJ gave a ring to KGR, the  CMD of the PSU. All this was happening on a fateful Sunday in 2002 .

The concerned ED ,SNR was busy playing his Sunday tennis with Anil and his friends in the officers’ club of the organization in Bhopal. SNR could see a bunch of retired employees shouting slogans in front of his bungalow. They were demanding that company should sell the surplus quarters to them where they were allowed to stay after retirement by paying a nominal rent. It is the real camel and tent story. First put the tail in the tent and then gradually the whole body.

When SNR returned home from the club through the shouting crowd then he was told by his wife, “ Someone from Bhopal was giving ring in the mobile.’ By that time he was told that there had been a suicide of a staff’s wife and he ought to attend that funeral. After taking a hurried lunch he left without the mobile. Once again the same ring came on his mobile and his wife informed the caller that he had gone out to attend the funeral leaving the mobile in the quarter.

The reader may note that two events are occurring parallel to each other viz SNR rushing and the ring from the lady minister coming which went unattended by SNR. By the time he returned an irritated CMD’s ring came in the evening who said settle the issue with Miss UB otherwise on her return to Delhi she would chew him. SNR called his PR and HR heads to fix a meeting in the evening but she had by that time gone out to Sehore and would return next day afternoon. Also it emerged the call was on the behest of those retired employees who had roped in some politician to reach that fiery lady.

Next day SNR arrived at the circuit house with his team where leaders of retired employees were already there in Shamla Hills. They smirked at SNR and loudly said, “Now he will get from her a mouthful!””

SNR and his officers huddled together started strategizing the response.

There was commotion, it was past 4 pm , the lady limping with a stick entered. SNR’s close lieutenant RG got up and contacted a staff known to him.

Suddenly a staff came and asked ,”Who is SNR, ED?”

SNR got up, others from his office too got up. That staff said ,”No, she would like to have one to one talk with SNR!”

That was the #metoo moment, knowing the temper of the lady through news channels SNR apprehended a stormy one sided session where he would be given an earful by the minister lady.

He opened the door and found that she was not alone, there was a volunteer from the political party massaging her calf which was dipped in a bucket full of warm water. He walked towards her , she glared for a moment but then her facial expression changed after looking at the face of SNR, she said, “I  called you alone as I wanted to scold at you in privacy but when I looked at your face then I realized there is some miscommunication somewhere. I can read faces, I read your face and found that you don’t have any crooked line on your face, it’s a smiling face. Why did you avoid my phone call. I am a cabinet minister so I called you if I would have been an ordinary MP then I would have gone to you quarter.” She offered him a chair to sit.

SNR responded, “Madame I am sorry if you thought deliberately I did not attend your phone call. It so happened that I got caught in some other semi personal business.” Then he explained the reason in detail. To cut the story short, she was satisfied by the reply. Then SNR cautioned her about selling official quarters to those retired employees as it was the subjudice as a few months back court has put a hold on a similar demand in Bhilai Steel Plant. Then she called her PA and asked the leaders to come, the officers who came with SNR too entered. She took the demand letter from the retired employees and handed over those to SNR requesting to look into the issue sympathetically. After everything was over she offered her ministry help whenever SNR needed.

Well folks by this time you know who SNR is but the rest names you have to figure out. But I must admit that before entering the room I was having nightmare knowing her mercurial temper.

Also I was pretty surprised she carried on the conversation in good English and the offer of her ministry help was a nice gesture. By the way during the conversation she said that she considered me as her elder brother, the partly greying hair and my portly look helped.

Learning

Learning

From my experience I can say that learning has no age and no teacher, one learns practically from everyone irrespective of his or her status. Here I am not articulating on learning from parents and teachers, apart from them the other tools of life we pick up by our observation and adopt by the flexibility of our intent to learn.

Yesterday I got the idea of writing this blog when I was posting obituary for my friend Arun Mathur who left for his heavenly abode on 6^th October. What did I learn from Arun? He was incharge boiler erection and I was incharge commissioning in Singrauli Super Thermal Power Station from BHEL way back in 1981. As commissioning activities were yet to start so I used to follow boiler erection jobs closely by going to field with Arun. He used to evaluate the resources of the subcontractor first thing in the morning and would prioritize those as per immediate and long term milestones and allocate accordingly. Having done that in the morning the rest of the day he and his erection engineers would keep close watch on each work spot by visiting those spots periodically. In my later years when I was made site incharge which was in Vizag Steel Plant in 1988 I adopted his style of monitoring of erection work , may not be to the last dot but the core issue was resource planning, which could be skilled man power, consumables ,hand tools or heavy duty cranes.

As a matter of fact, my first learning of BHEL make boiler was from Late Kandaswamy who was my boiler commissioning engineer. He would methodically take me through that mammoth structure which gets assembled in the field. I had earlier handled smaller boilers prior to joining BHEL but not of this kind of heavy duty. This learning was in Panipt.

I came across L D Nagpal in Singrauli sometimes in 1981 when he was posted as site incharge. There were many issues where we differed and which was an open secret with BHEL and NTPC engineers but then admired some of his managerial qualities which were like my first teacher Hajela of Indian Oil Corporation. In case of any kind of emergency Nagpal would be there, be it work related or personal issues. There was no day and night for him, he was available 24 hours. In a remote site like Singrauli knowing that there is someone to look after you was big thing, people were giving their best without any tension. So taking care of juniors in every way was the way to the heart of people. I am a people person so will not hesitate to admit that I added some tricks learnt from Nagpal in my management arsenal.

M Jagannathan was my boiler commissioning engineer in Vizag Steel Plant in 1986, he introduced me to management book by gifting me a copy of One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. After that there was no stopping me from acquiring other serious books of Drucker,Ghosal,Goldratt etc. So my reading horizon expanded from reading thriller,crime,adventure, romance etc to serious subjects. Thanks to Jagannathan.

Late G S Sohol was GM of NTPC in Farakka when I was posted there in 1991 as Incharge BHEL to complete 2x500 MW plants. I was moved overnight from Vizag to Farakka as NTPC had complained that BHEL was failing, the progress of work in 2 years was less than 7 percent. This was my first posting in Bengal when Left Unionism was in it’s peak. I consider this posting as the toughest, I was given a ramshackle team with key experts visiting from other regions. It was Sohol’s unstinted support and his handling of union deftly gave me strength to face the challenge. I learnt a trick or two in handling militant union from him which came handy while heading eastern region of BHEL ffrom 1996 to 2000.

Late S N Bose was my PA in Kolkata from 1994 to 2000, because of him around I could survive in that region. He not only kept me informed about various activities going on but often he would act in my absence and resolve issues beyond his power. He would only use my name for entry. This trick of acting beyond one’s power I learnt from him. I would jokingly tell our then CMD late RKD Sah that I freely use his name while dealing with various manufacturing units of BHEL. He would laughingly tell me , “ Don’t borrow money in my name!’’

In Bhopal my GM, G G Subhedhar guided me in material management. In any manufacturing plant controlling input cost of material is the key to control of operation. So he would guide in judicious buying and controlling the wastages. We all aimed to reduce so called technical wastages and succeeded to some extent.

I was not much in spiritual thing prior to my posting in BHEL,Bhopal in 2000. It was Vijay Joshi, GM (turbines) introduced me to spiritual lectures of various spiritual Gurus who often give prabachan in our cultural hall. He introduced me to Rajeswaranand who was Muslim converted to Hindu. These were no religious discourse but articulating incidences from the epic while comparing with our daily life, these discourses were more of stress reliever. This great man would quote from Koran and Ramayan in same breath leading to logical conclusion.

Then there is B L Choksi who would egg me to hold quality classes in shops and which we started with due seriouness. He had earned all possible Shram award in India and finally government conferred him Padamshree in 2004.

Finally I must mention about Vipin Rawat who was my TA in BHEL,Bhopal a MBA from IIM,Kolkata. During my frustrating hours of work, he would give calm advise of cooling down. He is much younger than me but his cool outlook would help me to cool down.

Well these are a few of my teachers who helped me during my service life in BHEL.

I am on learning trajectory as usual. Hyder, a caddy who was Amateur Golf Champion of India in 80s is my golf guru. His often used word “Eajy eajy” reverberates in my ears when I take a shot.

Finally the Guru of all Gurus is Google which is teaching me to paint and advising me not to cram when it is available there in the cloud.

  

Planchet

Samaranand was taking his usual round of lake, the previous day it had rained heavily, the broad road in the lake perimeter was still submerged, a very few morning walkers. He took his usual seat by the side of that historic cannon, he could see a sadhu like guy in beards,dhoti, kurta was in meditation  in another concrete bench. He also got in the mood of meditation when he felt someone came and sat by the side of him, from the fragrance of the deodorant he could know that his side kick Babulal had arrived. With his eyes closed Samaranand  said, “ Hope everything is fine? “

“Yes, I have been busy with Soumaya in preparing guess papers for schools, now we are preparing guess papers for 4 schools out of which 2 are English medium.”

“What is the striking rate of Soumaya?”

“He has honed his computer programme and getting about 80% success.”

“It means you are now earning a neat sum!”

Babulal shyly nodded his head.

Here the reader those who are reading this for the first time should know that Babulal who had been with a street magician in Delhi as assistant, later he was helping a fraud sadhu near Delhi and finally he ran away from Delhi and met Samaranand at the lake, became his assistant. Samaranand was supporting him by paying a monthly sum but now he does not require that as he had started his own side business of preparing guess papers for various classes of different schools with the help of Soumaya ,a computer geek who has created an algorithms for creating guess paper.

Babulal said, “While talking to a school student I came to know that his father attends planchet regularly to get in touch with his dead  elder brother Bishu who died in a motor bike accident 2 months back. He too was studying in the school but was in final year. I smell something fishy and Subimal also is worried!”

Samaranand himself a man of science does not believe in this type of supernatural things.

“There must be money involved, the medium must be taking a hefty sum!” Samaranand said smilingly.

“Yes, each sitting he charges 10,000! His father has a jewelry shop and makes good money.”

“Who took his father to this fellow?” Samaranad asked.

“Curiously it was this boy’s cousin brother! After every visit his father comes back pleased as he could talk to his dead son.”

Samaranand was curious about this case so asked Babulal to facilitate a meeting with that Subimal’sfather.

Next day Subimal took Babula and Samaranad to his father’s shop in Gariahat. Nirmal Babu was free as it was around lunch time, he was nearly 50 years old, there were pictures of god displayed in the shop.

As Subimal had already told his father about Samaranand who he introduced as uncle of Babulal.

After some small introductory talks Samaranand expressed his desire to go with Nirmalbabu in his next session with the medium. First Nirmalbabu was reluctant but on his son’s insistence he agreed to take Samaranand which was on next Friday.

The appointment was in the evening in a house in Elgin Road, it was one of those dilapidated houses. Samaranand and Nirmal babu went by Nirmal Babu’s car. They entered the old style drawing room with lot of antique furnitures and almirah full of books. A smart looking  young man in jeans and T shirt was waiting for them, as Nirmalbabu had already informed them that he would bring a close friend so that man was not surprised to see Samaranand. The light in the drawing room was dim, a round table with a few chairs was in a corner, a frayed sofa set was in the center. It had two doors, the door connected with outside verandah and the second door connected with the house. He invited them to sit on sofa and informed Nirmalbabu the medium would be coming soon. After about 5 minutes a frail looking mid age man of medium height ,disheveled hair in kurta pajama entered the drawing room from the inner door. Looking at him Samaranand thought that the man looked as though he was drugged. That youngman Sunny introduced the medium as Nishikant to Samaranand. After formalities Sunny said, “’Let us go and sit around that round table.It is good that Mr.Samaranand is there so I don’t have to organize a fourth person to complete the circle.”

Samaranand realized that Sunny was the key person in that event.

They all sat around the table.

Sunny said, “We will all hold next man’s hand and concentrate on the picture  of Bishu. I will put off the light. Mr.Samaranand if you have cell phone then mute that.”

Samaranand took out his Note 4, drew the pattern to unlock and dragged down the setting bar. He put his Bluetooth on and noticed that his mobile was catching a signal in the room, he put the volume in ‘mute” and kept the mobile on the table.

Sunny put off the light, the diffused light from the street light through the window was creating a mesmerizing ambience.They held each other hand, after a few minutes there was a faint coughing sound and aroma of a scent was wafting in.

Nirmalbabu whispered ,”Bishu is here, I can smell his scent.”

“Bishu how are you my son.”

The lips of Nishikanta was moving, his eyes were closed and looked as though he was in trance.

“Yes,Baba! I am fine.” The voice was appearing to come from Nishikanta but was sounding as though coming from a distance.

“Bishu, last time when I spoke to you then you wanted me to do something, what is that?”

“No,no I don’t want to burden you!” the faint voice floated in.

“Please don’t hesitate to ask, I insist!” Nirmalbabu sounded adamant.

“Ok, if you insist, please give Rs 10 lacs to these people so that they can perform some rituals to keep my soul happy.”

“Oh, don’t worry I had kept fixed deposit for that amount in the name of each of you brothers. I will organize that soon.” Nirmalbabu sounded relieved.

‘How is Subi? Is he busy with his computer game?”

“Yes, he is always with his computer. Your room I have kept as it is. The picture of Ronaldo is still there, your laptop is on the table as it was. Your bed is made every day as though you are still there. In the evening after closing my shop I spend sometimes on your bed.”

“Ok,baba ,now I have to go!” The voice slowly died down and Nishikant slumped in his chair.

Sunny quickly got up,switched on the light and escorted Nishikant to the sofa. He sprinkled water on his face, slowly Nishikant opened his eyes and came to his senses.

Nirmalbabu said,” I will try to organize the money as early as possible, I want Bishu to be happy, any way I kept that money for him only.’

Nirmalbabu and Samaranand walked out and started walking towards the car. Samaranand could feel that the whole thing was a scam to take money from Nirmalbabu .How to prove?In his mobile he has seen a Bluetooth speaker signal.

Samaranand said,”If you don’t mind I will advise you to hold on for sometimes. Don’t rush with money. I may come up with something.”

Nirmalbabu being a businessman realized that he should be cautious with money though during the séance he promised to act because of the spell of that moment while talking to dead Bishu,his eldest son.

Samaranand got down near the lake where Babulal and Soumay with Subimal were waiting.

While returning Samaranand had hatched a plan where he required Soumaya’s computer talent.

He asked Subimal,” Is there any chance that your cousin brother Biren has either audio or video recording of your dead brother Bishu's voice?”

“Yes, many recording as I would upload our videos of social events in YouTube which my cousin brother Shibu has watched.”

Samaranand then laid out his plan to Soumaya and Subimal.

“Subimal you put those videos of your brother in a pendrive and give to Babulal or Soumaya.”

To Soumaya he gave elaborate instruction what he should do with those videos. He also told him if he requires any guidance then he can contact his IIT friend Biswanath who is master in computer algorithms. He gave Biswanath’s mobile number to him and promised Soumaya that he would tell Biswanath that he would contact.

Soumaya was to act within a week and be ready with the software.

Samaranand advised Subimal to inform his father that they have found another medium and convince his father to give a try. Babulal would check with Subimal after two days  whether he could convince his father with the plan of alternate medium.

After two days Babulal met Samaranand to finalize the plan.

As usual they were sitting on a bench at the lake. It was cloudy but not raining. The weather was good, Samaranand was in his shorts,Tee and cades. Babulal was in black Tee, blue jeans, sneakers with spikey hair style.

The plan was very simple, there will be Jishu, Samaranand’s friend as medium because he was frail looking middle aged man ,widower who was staying in one of the MIG flats near central park of Golf Green with his servant. Soumaya would edit the recordings with the help of a software which he and Biswanath Chatterjee had developed. It will have only Bishu’s voice which would instruct something or will give short replies. Samaranand had already noticed what kind of questions Nirmalbabu asked.Babulal informed that Subimal has more or less made his father agree to go to another medium. Samaranand asked Babulal to fix  Nirmalbabu with the help of Subimal next Friday for the session at 7 pm with Jishu in Golf Green.

Next Friday in Jishu’s house Babulal and Soumaya had come earlier to fix Bluetooth speaker and digital playback system. They remained unnoticed in the bedroom which they were using as control room. Samaranad entered with Subimal and his father Nirmalbau in Jishu’s flat at 5 minuters to seven. Jishu was an avid reader so the drawing has two almirahs full of books and which impressed Nirmalbabu, he knew that he had not come to a fraud. After introductions they decided to proceed with the séance , Subimal got up and put off the light, it was full moon night, the room was lighted by the moon,it was pretty eerie ambience. All four Samaranand,Nirmalbabu,Subimal and Jishu held each others hand around the center table of the sofa. The smiling picture of dead Bishu was on the center table. They all closed their eyes, a faint music was wafting in from the next room. Soumaya was playing a record player for the effect,Babulal stealthily sprayed Bishu’s favourite essence in the drawing room. Nirmalbabu became alert by the smell and murmured ,” My Bishu has come?”

Jishu’s lips were moving, “Baba good to see that you have come here.”

Nirmalbabu’s body became taught, it was the voice of his dead son.

Nirmalbabu asked, “How you can come in this place, I thought that address of Elgin was known to you, that is what Biren told me.”

A slight laugh was heard in the air, a light cough and then the voice simmered in ,’” I am just a soul now and can be called by any medium but what address you are talking about? I have not gone to any other address.””Nirmalbbu was perplexed, he asked,’ The other day you asked for 10 lacs for those people so that they can do something for you to be happy.”

“No baba, don’t spend any more money for me, how any one can do something for afterlife, it is not possible. You have already performed Shradha which was to make my soul rest in peace.”

Nirmalbabu was totally puzzled and could not think of any more questions to ask.

Jishu’s lips moved,”Baba this may be my last conversation with you. My request to you is that don’t fall in that trap. Biren is using your weakness for me to extract money which they would share.”

Nirmalbabu as such knew Biren, his sister’s son was a good for nothing character but his son’s death had confused him.

Then Nirmalbabu asked, “I heard your voice there , how is it possible?”’

“”Here also you are hearing my voice.”

“Yes, then how is that possible?”’

“Ask Subi, he will explain.Now I have to go.”

Subimal got up and put on the light, Jishu was looking at Nirmalbabu who was looking confused. Samaranand then explained how voices can be doctored by using softwares and then took him to the bedroom where Babulal with a big smile was standing and Soumaya was operating the system. Samaranand told him, “Those rascals have used the same technique as Biren has downloaded the videos of Bishu and doctored those.”

It did not take much time for Nirmalbabu to understand the scam which was played on his sentiments for his dead son. He thanked Samaranand for exposing the reality by showing him the technology which was used. Samaranand told him, “’ It is a kind of phishing, which means by disguising as someone else to extract information, money etc from another person.”

Next day Samaranand met Babulal and Soumaya at the lake. Samaranand told them,’” Nirmalbabu wanted to give me one lac rupees as reward but I told him to give that to both of you. Babulal you better collect that.”

“’Yes I got a call from Subimal to collect the money from him.”

Samaranand patted him affectionately, winked at him and said,” I have a plan which I will tell you afterwards.””

Education in crossshair

India produces 17 lacs graduate engineers every year for an economy of 5 trillion dollar or so whereas US with 45 trillion-dollar economy produces less than 2 lacs engineer. The surveys show that out of 17 lacs engineer hardly 5 lacs get job related with engineering. Basically graduation is the minimum criteria for getting a job.

During my student days in Delhi we knew that one becomes graduate to get a job as clerk, for chaprasi class 8 pass was enough, which later on became matriculation. The career option were offered in form of UPSC examination for Clerical, Assistant grade and IAS. Then of course there were engineering, architecture, medical study were other options. Those who were not getting job would go on studying till master, Phd level which would lead to teaching job in school and colleges. It was pretty cut out, private jobs meant sales person in stores or in construction sector. My father used to tell my friends who were not good in studies to learn typing and shorthand, as per him be it private or government these two skills are must for office job. Those days every locality had typing and shorthand learning schools.

Now becoming graduate engineer is not targeted to become practicing engineer but a step to something entirely different which has nothing to do with engineering.

So my premise is that the graduation is the basic requirement for getting job but the subject of graduation has hardly any relevance with the job. The graduation does the screening so that the recruiter need not sieve through infinite number of applicants. The postulation is that whatever taught is hardly has use in real world. While selecting the recruiter looks at the capabilities like team player, leadership quality, initiative, sincerity, positive thinking etc which one does not acquire through formal education but from family and the environment where he grows up. Even mental mathematics is not acquired through education it is more or less in born quality. Our stress is more on rote system; we keep on testing general knowledge which one rarely uses in work place. The work place requires one to be disciplined, obedient, sincere towards the routine job given and which one learns within a few days. After the penetration of internet, when one has Google in his smart phone then all those unknowns are only a tap away on the screen. Recently in UK it was found that students are not aware about various towns in UK, when asked they said knowing about those is of no use to them, if required they can always Google that out. So Google has made life easier for students and they don’t have to mug, a smart phone has replaced that traditional knowledge based education. It is common knowledge that computer geeks are not gold medalists, often they are school dropouts. The other plethora of profession look for talent in a particular discipline, its tunneled completely. I came across an innovator of windmill in Australia who has done law and not engineering. Our jobs are so much mundane that most of those can be replaced by Artificial Intelligence, algorithms are the driver, machine learning is the threat.

I personally have come across many individuals during my working life those who are less educated but have more common sense. Yes common sense is the main requirement in engineering industry which comes through keen observation and absorption, unfortunately this cannot be taught. It’s either you have or you don’t. That is why lightly it is said that common sense is the most uncommon among individuals.

I know I am painting a very disturbing picture about our education system but to me it is only acting as a first level of screening but in real terms not making job ready. Every organization take the fresher through their own system, purge out the things learnt and coach them as per the requirement of the organization.  

Come to think of it all knowing Google is the disrupter, it has entered our daily life. Now I hardly devote any time to newspaper because of Google updates me in my device continuously, thus I have more time for doing my paintings which is my latest fad. I don’t give ring to my relatives or friends to find out about something which I don’t know because my Google Home is sitting there with all my answers.

It is time that in schools Google becomes a part of curriculum and thus the size of school bags will come down. The artificial intelligence has to be factored in our day to day functions. Friends this is my view and I am sure most of you will not agree with me.
I have not included specialization like medical, lawyers and some high skill jobs.

A neat little scheme

It has been raining incessantly since the day Samaranand returned from Australia but maintained his morning walk around the lake by carrying his golf umbrella every day. Babulal has been in touch with him through WhatsApp but he could not meet him face to face.

That day while he was completing his round in the heavy rain under his wide golf umbrella then he realized that someone has ducked below his umbrella, without looking he said, ‘So Babula ,finally you could find time to meet me.”

Babulal pressed his triceps and chuckled.

“Looks like you have been busy earning money, your new jeans, T shirt and the new pair of loafers indicate that.” Samaranad looked closely at Babulal and smiled with a twinkle in his eyes.

Baulal shyly replied, “Yes I have struck gold and I wanted to share that information with you!”

-You have struck gold or is it one of those dodgy schemes?

-This one is of altogether of different nature and I am only an agent in the scheme of things.

Samaranand was curious to know so he started looking around for suitable place to sit, the rain was continuing, luckily they could locate one of those newly built canopies with bench below to sit.

-Come Babulal let us sit on that bench and let me hold the umbrella at the left side so that rainwater blowing in with heavy gust of wind don’t drench us.

So from a distance one could have seen an elderly gentleman in shorts  sitting under the canopy by the side of the lake with a short young man in flashy dress talking inanimately, with an umbrella held in inclined position. The heavy rain was splashing on the canopy and producing that constant sound like drum beat. All the birds were huddled in the trees and chirping wildly.

-Yes tell me about this new venture

Babulal coughed lightly and started his story.

Do you remember once when we went to donate stationeries, geometry boxes to those slum children in that coaching class in Adarsha Vidaylaya in Tollygaunge where you were approached by a boy in high powered spectacles for a desk top computer.

Samaranand vividly remembered that day when this small stature spectacled boy approached him for a computer, it was about a year back. He had donated his old computer to him.

-Wasn’t that boy staying with you in the slum after he lost his mother.

-Yes the same boy, he then organized to get some Oracle programmes from his friends in his school. Now he has developed a programme through which he is predicting the mathematics question papers for the annual tests of class 8 in his school.

Samaranand knew that Oracle has developed ERPs for sundry use ,of course for which data have to be fed, he asked Babulal, “Your that boy Soumayya must have developed an algorithm ,he must be collecting mathematics question of weekly class tests, feeding those in his programme and then taking out a probable test questions of course he has the last few  year’s questions as reference.”

Babulal didn’t know the process he was scratching his head and said , “Yes, something like that!”

-So you are his agent and selling guess papers to whoever pays you a certain sum.

Babulal smiled shyly and nodded his head and said, “Now I am selling in his school for class 8 and 9. He studies in class 8 but I have caught hold of a class 9 boy for providing monthly questions, thus he is producing for class 8 and 9 for his school. Soon I will be rolling it out in some of the prestigious schools where rich kids study. So I have changed my wardrobe and visit those joints in Park Street where these rich kids hang around. I have already made some friends and may use you as reference!”He smiled mischievously.

“No, not at all, I don’t want my name to be linked to such scams, though it is not really a scam but an Artificial Intelligence helping to predict question paper.”

Then Samaranand realized that naughty Babulal was pulling his leg. Samaranad told Babulal about his trip to Australia and cycling expedition with his grandson Shuddy. Babulal was listening attentively and asking some probing questions about Australia.

In the meanwhile the rain had stopped, Babulal got up and said, “ Don’t worry I will not use your name but you have to guide me to the right direction. Now I have to meet Jan in CCD to plan for my next target school.”

Samaranand thought-He too has a plan for that boy Soumayya for which he requires Babulal to do more intense legwork.

Australia diaries..part 3

When my 10 yrs old grandson asked me how much do I earn then I could not reply in real terms of purchasing power of currency in their respective countries. The same question often my driver has asked about what would have been his salary in Australia.
Often I have heard parents in India boasting about how much  their off springs earning by converting dollar to rupees.
This has been the real issue,the value of money.
Coming back to my grandson I explained that when he goes for haircut he pays 10 dollars which in Indian rupees would be 500, remember it is the cheapest cut by Chinese hair dressers here in Australia. Whereas I get my haircut done at 50 rupees in Kolkata, the shop where for the last 25 yrs I have been going.
The other day we had a plate of aloo chat at 10 dollars or for 500 rupees here in Australia which in India would have costed me about 60 or so.
If you want to engage a driver for your car in Australia then you may have to pay anything between 30 to 50 dollllar an hour,so no wonder one drives his own car even in their old age. There are some old scoots here who are adventurous enough to divorce their old wives and marrying younger Filipinoes who not only give them company but also drive them around. As far as I am concerned I don't drive car any more,last time I drove was in 2000,my driver's license expired in2009 so for going long distance we are dependent on our son or daughter in law,of course sometime get picked up by DrTan,Keith, Tiare,Sharon etc.
Getting any work done by others one has to pay that 50 dollar or so per hour. So better do the cooking, house cleaning,dish washing,lawn mowing etc yourselves. Again I am unfit in this manual work department,back home we have masis for cleaning, washing etc and of course Gopal drives me around, it's company's car,I sold of my car in 2000,I don't own any car now. Whenever I am in Delhi I use battery rickshaw to move around of course mostly I walk.
I remember first time while I was playing golf here after tee off I started walking off when Amer my son's friend who was playing with us shouted at me," Baba,you left your golf trolley!" I turned back and started dragging my trolley,back home in Kolkata my golf bag is carried by my caddy who even locates my golf ball. While we were playing tennis here we had to pick our balls,no picker like what we have in Tolly Club.
In short it's do it yourself to survive with the salary what you get. Any service cost money.
So I really could not fully explain my grandson the purchase power of currency in respective countries. The services in US is comparatively cheaper than Australia because of parallel economy run my illegal immigrants mostly from Mexico.
In Kolkata where I stay there mostly NRIs stay,after retirement mostly have come back for this reason,here they get cheaper medical,driver,masis and the works.

Australia diaries..part 2

This year we came to Brisbane via Delhi unlike every year when we come from Kolkata. The lady sitting on the isle seat next to me was a young Indian woman and my wife was in the widow seat. During the course of the flight I gathered that she was flying to New Zealand via Singapore. She was having lot of Mehandi on her hands,she informed me that she was newly married since 3 months, went for honeymoon to Rome so it was not her first flight. I found her to be inadequate in speaking English.
I asked her,"What does your husband do?"
"A cab driver," was her reply.
"Have you taken any English lesson back home before proceeding for New Zealand?"
She nodded her head and found that she knows how to use knife and fork during on flight lunch.
I helped her at Singapore to get her luggage down from the overhead bin.
Both me and my wife wished her all the best in her new venture.
Everyday in the library after 12pm we find this group sitting around a table where either an old white man or white lady teaching conversation in English to a group of individuals from China,Philipine,Korea, Japan, Slovakian etc countries. Mostly old people and like children they are lapping up the words.
The old man pointed to his body and said ," This is called knee, down there this is called big toe, this is called ankle!" People sitting around him excitedly repeated those words.
He informed them that ," Today is the State of Origin match of rugby between Queensland and New South Wales,rugby is the most popular game of Australia!"
While all these were going on I would occasionally look up from the  newspaper which I was reading.
The old gentleman sauntered to me and said,"It's all voluntary if you two want you too can join!"
I thanked him and informed him that  I knew a bit of English  same goes for my wife and I have my own English blog page.
He got excited and said, " Oh; that is excellent then you can join me in teaching!"
I informed that it will be difficult for me to maintain regular hours and our stay is also short.
With a polite smile he left.
Then we noticed this chubby lady in typical Indian dress of Salwar
and Kameez walking in and joining that group of eager learner. After sometime she noticed us ,got up and walked to us.
She inquired whether we speak Hindi,was happy to note that we do speak.
She informed that she was from Uttarakhand and was in Australia since last 3 yrs,her husband an owner of an Indian restaurant is here since 1996. We have noticed she was hardly speaking in the group and was replying through gestures. She smilingly told us instead of getting bored in the house she comes here and sits with that group.
I asked did she learn how to speak English,she informed that she understands a bit.
She further informed us that there are some neighbors of her who are from Punjab have brought their parents who are illeterate and do all household chores and baby sit. As they can't speak so they don't even go out.
Yes, speaking English by the immigrant has become one of the biggest national issues. The immigration minister other day informed that about 1 million immigrants don't speak English and hence cannot join the work force. Australia allows yearly 1,90,000 immigrants. How have these English not knowing people come? Mostly foreigners come here with student visa or skill visa,over the time they get citizenship and then they bring their parents under parental visa or spouses under spouse visa, most of those coming under these dependent visa are from remote villages or from a country where English is not taught.
These people have sold of everything back home to be with their kids without having an iota of idea of what is stored for them in this country. Is it the lure of  first world,a better life or an Eldorado?

Australia diaries

We have been visiting Australia since 2005 and so far including this visit will be our 15th visit. Our son with family is located near Gold Coast so we camp here. Initial few years we took round of the amusement parks,zoos,museums etc and of course the sea and mountains. Australia is an open country full of nature's bounty so just walking on the streets gives the feeling that one is in some sort of  tourist spot in a remote place. We frequently come across various exotic birds like parrots,kakatuya,pigeons, magpie,ibis and host of other birds. This place is a nature lovers paradise. Though we drop in those numerous shopping arcades but love walking by the sides of woods.
Coming from India this country looks barren devoid of people. This country of 7 times the size of India with a population of yearly increase of population of India and that is about 25 million or so. The economy is latched with China,China imports ores, natural gas,wool ,chilled beef,dairy product etc from this country, practically the swing of Chinese economy very much effects this country.10 yrs back maximum immigrants were from New Zealand now it is from China,there was one flight to China 10yrs back to Shanghai and now there are 20 flights to Chinese cities.

Now the price of petrol is same as in India though this country does not refine. Driving car is a must and every household owns minimum a car as otherwise travelling by bus or train is pretty costly. The meridian salary per year is about 45000 dollar a year. If one does not get job gets dole from the government.
I have hardly seen anyone playing cricket in schools or in common play grounds and which are in plenty. The national game is rugby and people are mad about this game,a team game with brutal body contact.
I just tried to give some highlights of the country of friendly people. The moment we approached the lady behind the counter for coffee in Cuppa Coomera Cafe at Community Centre she gave us a broad friendly welcome smile and asked how we are and then with a twinkle in her eyes said, " Oh! You are back!The same cappuccino?" Mind it she is seeing us after a year. Later we found her name to be Heaven.
Then we have our extended families like Khan's,Sharon's,Eltons,Vishal, Tans,Dejan,Keith and Maureen whom we make it a point to meet every time we come.
I have heard from my friends whose kids have settled in US that their lives very much dependent on their kids, nothing much to do.
As such we don't have such issues as I am following my same routine as I do back home. Morning starts with yoga,breakfast,do cycling , visit social networking sites,walk down to the community centre spend hour or 2 in the library with my wife,have coffee and then walk back. By the time we are back it is 1.30pm,my wife had prepared the lunch before heading for community centre. Then have lunch,read novel,start painting at 3 pm and continue till 5pm, this routine is like spending time in office. In between check email to know about daily generation of Windmills as this is the high wind season in India. Reply to official mails or send queries about O and M of Windmills. We have our own close WhatsApp group of Techno windmill where I get the live input. As India is 4 and half hours behind so after 2pm here it becomes office time of India. My wife after lunch keeps watching TV,she loves English movies ,BBC ,Fox ,CNN news and there are plenty of choice .
By evening time my son and daughter in law are back.
Weekends are for visiting shopping malls,sea,watch rugby match of my grandson,biking with him.
We come across Indian youths mostly pushing trolley in shopping centres,the visibility of others are in restaurants. Yesterday while having breakfast in a restaurant found two youngsters Priya and Sunil in the restaurant. While Priya was serving English breakfast I mischievously asked, " Can I get aloo paratha?" She was happy that I spoke in Hindi,Sunil heard and said in Hindi pointing at Priya, " She prepares very good aloo paratha!" Priya said in Hindi ," initially I was bringing paratha for breakfast!" On further inquiry Sunil informed that he is from Ludhiana.
At Surfers paradise we see lot of Indian visitors.
Yes our life is pretty much like in India with the bonus of my son's family. We don't want to become load on anyone, I remember at my age my father would stay with me for 3 winter months,he would spend his time in his own way, occasionally will take the car for fetching medicine, in my absence my driver Gopal would take him to club, he never wanted anything extra from me, I gave my time to him, he had his pension and house to live in, I am pretty much following his footsteps.
We choose to come in May,June,July when it is summer in India but winter here in Australia. In Kolkata the winter is hardly a fortnight or so, we enjoy 6 weeks of winter as that is the length of our stay here. By the way don't try to keep in touch with all those political news of India though Google pushes some news on my dashboard or Twitter sends me alerts.
Well friends I am signing off as of now.,more next!

The barber shop

Barber shop

I was staring at my reflection when the barber was busy in sniping my hair. I suddenly realized that barbers mirror has been reflecting me from the very childhood but I never noticed the infinitesimal change which was taking place in my appearance. The mirror reflected a boy becoming young man, then middle aged and now old. The hair started becoming sparse then grey hair started appearing and finally mostly grey which is now. This transformation was so gradual that I never noticed when my first grey hair appeared or when the bald patch at the back of my head started taking shape though every time after a cut the barber holds another mirror at the back of my head to know if anything more I want him to do.While thinking about grey hair and baldness I started smiling to myself as I remembered an anecdote ,the barber looked at me through the mirror and raised his eye brows questioningly, he thought I was smiling at his some folly,he stopped. I told him the joke.

An old man was married for the second time to a young woman though his first wife was still there. He had mix of black and grey hair. After sometimes his friends noticed he was losing hair fast. They inquired from him whether he has some health issue. The old man replied sadly that he was alright but the second marriage is causing all the problem related with hair.

‘How?” the friends asked.

“See it is like this, the night when I am spending with my young wife then she will pluck all my grey hair!”

“And your first wife? She was ok with your hair!”

“No dear that is the sad story. As her hair has become grey so the night I spend with her she will pluck all my black hair. Thus I am becoming bald!”He said with a sad face.

By the time I finished my joke I found that barber next to my chair laughed out loud as he too was keenly listening. I heard a snoring noise and found that his client was sleeping peacefully while he was sniping his hair. I looked at him and said,”the days I don’t get sleep I will come to you for hair cutting as you make people sleep!” I gestured at the sleeping customer with a wink.

So friends the barber’s chair gives us an opportunity to look at us dispassionately and observe those changes occurring which are inevitable and we have no control on ravages of time. No wonder many customers spent extra money at the saloon to get back that youthful look by putting all kind of hair darkening creams and getting the face uplifting massage done.

My barber is pretty clever guy, I have been going to this shop since more than 20 years so he knows my head better than me, the other day he commented that there is not much change in my hair. I winked at him and showed the expanding baldness of my forehead and the sparse front hair and asked,” What about these?” He knew he was caught but maybe he too did not notice the infinitesimal change occurring in me.
For me each visit to barber shop makes me a wee bit of wiser, that chair in the saloon is like seat in front of a great monk, at times i get self hypnotized by staring at me constantly. 

The Booby trap

The booby trap

This incident is about my alter ego Samaranand which happened recently.

Samaranand has just returned from a religious trip to Varanasi, where for the first time he could reach the sanctum sanctorum of Kashi Vishwanath temple through the VIP gate. He could reach the courtyard meant for private puja by VIPs and from there he could get a full view of the Vishwanath temple and the Gyanvapi mosque (this mosque was built by destroying the original temple by Aurangzeb) .That VIP entrance is known as Gyanvapi gate. As mobile was not allowed inside so he could not take any pictures.

However, he sat and meditated for sometimes in the temple courtyard, tried to achieve zero experience but the thought of catching return flight to Kolkata kept nagging him, so subconscious was wrestling with that thought.

After reaching Kolkata on the same day next day morning he could not go for his usual morning walk around the lake. He was relaxing in his drawing room when his newly acquired AI,Google Home was playing his favorite songs. His mind was still lingering around Vishwanath temple and failing to achieve zero experience there. As a matter of fact, he has never achieved zero experience which is the state of mind when it becomes a vacuum without any fleeting thought. The harsh ring tone of the mobile broke his reverie.

It was Babulal his assistant, readers already have been introduced to Babulal who was assistant of a street magician in Delhi and later on he was in the entourage of cheat Sadhu.

-Sir I was waiting for you at the lake.

-sorry today I could not go to the lake, I was too tired after my journey to Varanasi.

-Have you read yesterday’s paper?

-No, I have not read even today’s paper

-Sir, can we meet today?

-Yes, come within one hour to our usual location in Golf Green,central park.

-ok,sir,I am coming. Babula disconnected the mobile.

Samaranand as you all know loves solving problems and Babula assists him but Babula never comes to his flat, they meet either at Lake or at Golf Green, central Park.

They were sitting on a bench under a tree, it was spring, not much hot at 10 am. From a distance they looked like an uncle with his nephew talking mundane things. At 10 am there was not much crowd in the park, on other benches some retired persons were gossiping. Yes, Golf Green has a good number of retired persons whose sons have gone away for job to Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai or to some foreign destination.

-Yes,tell me Babulal , what news do you have?

-Sir,Do you remember we were discussing about spate of snatching around the lake, especially during evening time?

-Oh,yes, I thought we must do something about it.

With a big smile Babulal said, “This time I worked out a solution on my own.”’

Samaranad was pleased that his side kick can now operate on his own.

-”ok,tell” me, eagerly Samaranand asked.

Babulal’s narration:

As you know I have good contact with all kind of fellows so I hatched a plan. I got hold of a wrist watch, removed its internals and put some RDX putty with a wires connected through a button cell inside. The contact is made when one moves the winding knob of the watch, I put a dial which looked like a FM radio dial.

-Smart idea, Samaranand patted him and then looked around to see if anyone is overhearing their talk.

-Then what did you do?

-After making my special watch I started taking evening walk  at the other side of the lake near those cannons. I would hold the watch near my ear pretending to listen to a radio and would hum some Hindi songs. One evening a gang of four surrounded me and threatened me with knives, they asked me to hand over everything what I had. I gave them my purse, I hardly had any money then they noticed my watch and one of them asked, “Is that a radio watch?”

“Yes, it is but please don’t take this as I got it as a gift.’ I had to act as though I would not give that watch readily.

They laughed like hungry jackals, “Gift! Look at the stupid fellow!” Saying this they approached threateningly with knives, I had no choice so reluctantly gave the watch. Suddenly footsteps of evening guard were heard, those ruffians ran away with my watch and purse.I shouted,”Thief,thief!” The guards came running and I narrated my predicament, they asked me to lodge FIR. I said “Ok!” and then vanished from there.

That evening I watched in TV a news about a minor explosion in the slum of Tollygaunge and some young fellow getting injured. I rang up police from a public booth and told them that those were pickpockets where explosion had taken place. They were nabbed.

This details came out in newspaper yesterday.

-Wait, wait I know what happened after they snatched those from you, they must have gone to their den and then tried to operate the watch thinking that it was a radio. So by rotating the knob the internal connection was made  with the battery , those two wires embedded in RDX sparked and which triggered that explosion. That guy must have lost his arm.

Babulal shrugged his shoulder. Samaranand advised him to go undercover for sometimes as after getting released those rascals may try to hunt him down.

-No worries, I was in disguise with wig and spectacles. As a matter of fact, I was changing my guise every day before the incident.

Samaranand patted Babula for his smartness and paid 2000 bucks as a reward.

Banku Babu

Bankubabu

By this time readers might have understood that I have varied interest and don’t hesitate to start conversation with anyone of any social strata. The morning walk around the lake gives me enough opportunity to strike a conversation. It is like this after completing a round I would often sit down near that historic cannon and then whoever comes and sits I would start conversation. At this place only I met my sidekick Babulal. The latest to add to my chain of acquaintances is Bankubabu.

It happened last week. I was having this toothache but I still kept up my routine of morning walk. I was sitting on that appointed concrete bench, rubbing the right side of my jaw, uneasiness was still there. I felt someone come and sit by my side, from the corner of my eyes I could see a middle aged man in loose pair of trousers, shirt out, disheveled hair, big round rimmed glasses , curiously looking at me. I turned my head and grimaced as the toothache was not subsiding.

“Toothache?” He asked with a smile.

“Yes! Since last two days I am having this intermittent ache on my right molar. I bit a gram the other day then suddenly I got this shooting pain!”

"I know how it feels, going to dentist is the only option now but some better option may come up in future." with a mysterious smile he said.

I raised my eyebrows and asked ,'What is that option?"

He was carrying a jute bag, he dipped his hand inside the bag and with lot of care pulled out a sealed container. He carefully opened the lid and asked me to look inside. I leaned towards him and peeped in, I could see some white enameled things looking like teeth.

“Are those extracted teeth?” I asked cautiously thinking that somehow that day I had stuck conversation with some eccentric character.

‘Yes, I am a biologist and my subject of research is stem cell. I have collected these teeth for my research. My assistants are collecting baby teeth.’

“I did not follow. I have heard of stem cell research and all that but where these teeth fit in?”’ I was bewildered.

“This time I can’t help you with your toothache but soon I will be able to help you with my new invention!”He repeated.

I was still not clear what was he trying to communicate.

“How can you help; you are not a dentist. From your talk I can make out that you are a scientist.”

“I told you my area of specialization is stem cell; now I am researching on growing tooth. From these teeth and baby teeth I will extract stems cells which I will first try on mice.’’

“You mean like that group of scientist in Tokyo University who have grown a human ear on the back of a rat in 2016 by using human stem cell.”

With a twinkle in his eyes Bankubabu said, “Yes, now you know the drift.”

“But that’s a pretty advanced technology and you require a modern laboratory to carry out such research.” I said doubtfully.

He laughed out loud and said, “That’s not a problem, I know how to get hold of a research lab in the city, I work in the night, a handsome tip to the night guards does the trick.”

I started believing him as I read a doctor called Barua in Assam tried transplanting a pig’s heart in a human body. There are many such eccentric scientists in India who in make shift laboratories do wonder. With cheap Chinese DNA splitter equipment or with some such lab instrument he may be able to grow tooth on a rat’s back to begin with.

“I wish you would have been successful in growing tooth then I could have lent my jaw to you as first patient. Now I don’t know what the dentist will do. It will be either extraction or root canal of that molar tooth.”

“Yes I know the ordeal, look at my teeth.” He opened his mouth wide. I could see he is having denture.

“”Yes at a very early age I had tooth , gum problem and then on I was obsessed in resolving this issue once for all. So once I develop the proper DNA then I will experiment on myself first and if successful then I will attempt on those bridged teeth of yours.”

That was smart, he had noticed my bridged teeth where I had extractions done.

“I have to go and organize some chemicals for my research in the night, I generally use herbs which one of my friends grow in his kitchen garden.”

He got up and offered his visiting card to me.

Banku Sen

Innovator

A logo (of a laughing skull with all teeth in place, a 2D digital x ray image)

I gave my visiting card to him, wished him luck in his endeavor, we parted.

After the above incident i went to a dentist and started my root canal ordeal.