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.

The trip...an experience

The trip

“Our actions are governed by our expectation. Like the journey you took to Jim Corbett with expectation to sight an uncaged tiger in the wilderness.” Samaranand my alter ego told me smilingly by the bank of river Dat near Kyari Corbett resort. I was on a trek to the dried river where I located him serenely enjoying the sunrise. I sat by his side and was narrating him our previous day experience.

On the second day of our trip we took the safari trip to Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve and came back without sighting a tiger. The safari of 35 kms one way inside the forest was pretty exciting as the official spotter went on spotting enthusiastically dears, pheasants, wild boars etc. The canter in which we were travelling was a rattling contraption, appeared to be an army truck converted for the purpose of safari. The noise, dust and bumpy road sums up the journey. The 35 kms road was winding up through the forest of tall shaal,shagun trees. The ambience was cool, the aroma of moist forest wafting in with chirping birds flying above effected all of us. At times the loud sound of the canter would stop as the driver would have switched off the engine and spotter would be searchingly look for wild animals, we all would be craning our necks for the sight, thus we saw deer, pheasants, wild elephants, wild boars and reached the guest house for lunch. There we found other travelers like us either in canter or in jeeps taking lunch but could hardly hear any discussion about wild animals. To ginger up the mood I shouted at our group and said, “We were lucky to spot tiger!’ I don’t know whether others heard me or not but it was kind of self-satisfying statement of assurance may be in the return we could spot some of those illusive 200 plus rumored tigers. The return journey of 2 and half hours with same sudden stops near the streams to wait for a tiger to stroll out for water which really never happened. The driver went on telling us tiger tales to convince us that somehow that day of March,2018 they were not coming out.

Finally, we could see tiger in the museum near the gate. It was stuffed tiger.

I must be frank that I did not go for the tiger but the name of the park being Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve gave expectation to all of us. When I posted some pictures of our safari then almost all friends had only one question to ask “Did we see the tiger?” Surprisingly while interacting with others after our return it emerged no one has really seen any tiger in that park. I am sure tigers are there but the noise made by all vehicles, tourists kept them stay away from those waterholes by the sides of roads. They too don’t like noise, likewise to avoid noise and crowd we too chose to stay in Kyari Corbett resort which is so deep in a forest that one cannot find it till one looks down on boulders where the direction to the resort is written.

This experience of mine made me think about the village Gosaba in Sunderbans which is known as widow Village, there are 700 odd widows in that village whose husbands were killed by tigers. Recently I contributed some money to an organization which was distributing free sarees to those poor ladies. Here are those people who survive by staying away from tigers and in Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve the tigers stay away from humans for survival.

“I heard about Gosaba village and the widows, it is not only tigers but also crocodiles in those swamps have killed villagers.” Samaranand added.

“Have you ever thought about those wild life photographers who patiently wait for days to take snaps of new or rare species of birds. Patience is the key word. You came with a tight schedule and lot of expectations!”

“True! ‘I admitted.

“What you gained out of this trip is experience! The long arduous bus journey with all of your relatives did not tire you as you were heading for a new experience, the journey itself with the stop in between at Mama Yadav dhaba would have been a never experienced event. Then you reached Kyari Corbett resort which is in wilderness without any road sign but you did not feel bad because it was a kind of adventure journey in the wilds. The bonfire in the night with antakshri by those enthusiastic kids was a kind entertainment which you never expected. Think about those two treks by the side of rivers, wheat fields and forest , you might have felt as though you are a character in Discovery Channel. These experiences are bonus in addition to your safari trip in Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve!’’

Samaranandji’s this explanation made me see the trip from a different angle altogether other than a destination oriented satisfaction like as though sighting a tiger was the goal.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence

Many of the past happenings are so much deeply etched in my mind that those often appear as though it has happened only yesterday, kind of cached in my memory stick of my subconscious mind..

My walk in Shillong at the dead of the night in December of 1966 when i had just joined  Gauhati Refinery of Indian Oil Corporation is one such incident. Those days during 65 to 66 more or less every alternate month I would be in Shillong with my friend Pranjal Sen, he originally belonged to that place. Sometimes I would stay in his house but most of the time it would be hotel. It was my first job after finishing  engineering degree so hotels would be ordinary budget type, mostly wooden shacks, as a matter of fact those days most of the houses in Shillong were made of wood with slanting roof, typical of hill stations.

During that fateful trip I was staying in a hotel, it was within one kilometer from Pranjal's place. That night I had dinner in his house, it got late as we were having an excellent adda, he started insisting that I stay back but  I said bravely, “Come on! Don’t worry nothing will happen, I will safely walk down to my hotel!’’

It was freezing cold of December, I zipped my jacket up-to the neck, no cap or any scarf, it was the don’t care attitude of youth. The streets were deserted, the light from the incandescent bulb of the street light was throwing a cone of light in the mist ,  the light around was diffused, one side had houses and the other side the usual rise of hills along the  road. After walking for a few meters all my bravado evaporated, heavy fog was descending, the shadowy pine trees were appearing as giants ,I started cursing myself for taking such a foolhardy decision of walking back instead of staying back in the warmth of Pranjal's house. I was in half a mind to turn back but garnered enough courage to trudge the remaining distance.

After sometimes I started having a feeling that as though someone was following me,started getting goose pimple, i could hear a faint footstep behind, I looked back there was no one.I stopped,  the footsteps stopped. I was walking on footpath. A group of noisy Khasi boys and girls appeared from the opposite side, they  waved at me and went the other way, that interlude gave me some relief. I decided to walk on the road, , by walking in the center of the road I would be able to hear the  footsteps  on the bitumen topped road of the guy following me. Those days the heels of my leathers shoes would have metal studs to reduce the wear out, that was the style those days. In the dead of the night my shoes were making “khut, khut..” sound and which was sounding louder and multidimensional because of echo, the sound was bouncing back to me from the rocks of the hills surrounding the road . So it was me alone in that foggy road, diffused light and the echo of my own footsteps scaring me plus a nagging feeling that someone was following me, it was becoming too much for me to bear.  I more or less started running to reach the safety of my hotel. It was an uphill run , finally I saw the light of my hotel, that light acted as a beacon of hope to me, i steered myself towards the hotel and reached the hotel huffing puffing.. The manager was surprised to see me running in and said, “Sir, what happened?''
"I think someone was following me!I heard footsteps behind me."I said by moving towards the fireplace in the lobby to warm myself.
"No sir, you have been hearing your own footsteps, it is very common in hills when there is silence like now in the night, Shillong is a peaceful place , safe for people even in the night."
I thought to myself that he might be right, i was hearing echo of my footstep when it was bouncing on small rocks.

Though nothing untoward happened that night but still that half an hour walk has remained permanently etched in my mind and appears in my dream in various forms.

The other day I dreamt that I was walking on that same road in my that age of 1966, tight pants, jacket and studded shoes. Making that ‘’khut khut..’’ sound and then I heard a song playing at a distance…it was Hemant Kumar singing  ”Jane who kaisey..” I realized that somehow i have to reach the source of that sound for my safety, the sound of the song was becoming louder as i was nearing the source, i started walking faster. I woke up with a start and that song was still playing, it was 12.30 am in the night, my wife was asleep and the song was wafting from the drawing room. I got up , went to the drawing room, switched on the light.Looked around for the source of the song , found that it was the device in which i was playing songs from gana.com via WiFi in the afternoon, though i had stopped it but somehow it got keyed in to gana.com again in the midnight and started playing on its own. I am yet to find a conclusive proof of how it started on its own. I know in the night the cockroaches rule our house no matter how much Hit my wife sprays. I reasoned that those cockroaches might have triggered that device while running over it and which got lighted  to the Gana.com as it was already Wi-Fi enabled.This theory of mine of cockroaches causing the device to play is a far fetched one.  I took the device , stopped the song, disabled the Wifi of the device. After that incidence every night before going for sleep I double check all my devices and lock those down. No doubt that I was invaded by artificial intelligence that night!

Pagli

Pagli

I finished my morning walk around the lake, came out of the gate near CRC, Gopal was fetching the car, I walked towards the lone beggar. Every day I pay some money to that beggar plus a beggar woman. The woman was missing. I asked that beggar about her. He informed, “Both of us got 500 bucks from a gentleman yesterday, she must be boozed out.”

Those words “boozed out’ took me back by about 20 years.

Those days I was posted at Kolkata and would on some evenings stop at the lake for evening walk on the way home. It was one such evening when I was walking around the lake opposite Menoka cinema. Suddenly I felt that a few urchins were following me, those days the lake was not enclosed like what it is now. I sensed that those were snatchers, I was trying to figure out a way to get out of the predicament but suddenly a woman in trousers with a bidi dangling from her mouth, the hair tightly bound in a bun appeared from nowhere. She hissed at those urchins, “Back off

! Leave him alone!”

I stopped, wide eyed I was watching that tableaux. I was mesmerized by that scene unfolding in the semidarkness. The diffused light from the street lamps created an aerie atmosphere! She was poised like a fighter with her weight supported on her left leg and slightly bent forward, she had pulled out her long hair pin and held that in her fist, a desi Modesty Blaise I thought. Her this unexpected appearance stunned those ruffians, I started looking around for police. I don’t remember whether I shouted for police or not but I heard footsteps and whistle. Those rascals fled after cursing her in Bengali, they were calling her Mukhpuri ( in Bengali, it means burnt face). She gave a mock salute to me and vanished in the thin air.

After that day I stopped my evening walk around the lake. I encountered that woman in trousers again when I went for an English movie in Menoka. I found her selling tickets in black, I could make out that she was the ring leader of all those boys selling tickets around that cinema hall. She did not recognize me but I could, the event of that fateful evening was permanently etched in my mind.

I went near her at the teashop by the side of road, she came forward thinking that I was looking for ticket.

-No,no I don’t want any ticket as I have purchased ticket in advance but I want to thank you for saving me on that evening.

She looked closer at me and then carelessly told, “Oh! That’s nothing! Because of those rascals’ people are scared to come even for evening show in this cinema hall and if people don’t come then how do we earn? So me and my gang keep a close watch!”

-That day I could not thank you but I want to reward you for your that act.

I gave her 50 bucks and she accepted that nonchalantly.

I don’t remember the name of the Hindi movie for which one evening on a later date me and my wife thought of going to Menoka, purchase ticket from the counter. The “Houseful "board was hanging in front of the hall. At the tea shop I inquired about her. One of the serving boys said, ‘You are looking for Mukhpuri, she earned some big money yesterday because this movie has become hit, she must be boozed out!”

We could not purchase tickets in black even.

In the meanwhile, I got transferred and then retired, I had no occasion to go to Menoka cinema hall, did not see her again until I started my morning walk around the lake 3 years back.

But when I first saw that beggar woman who has white patches on her face and hands I was taken aback for a moment as I have seen that face somewhere. I asked Gopal, my driver to find out about her.

Later on Gopal informed me that she is the same girl Mukhpuri who is now known as Pagli, twenty years back she was like a don of Menoka cinema hall, controlling the black market of cinema tickets of the theatre.

I of course did not remind her of that day but started giving money to her every day. She is still sharp, she knows my car and when she sees me coming out of the gate of the lake she calls out for Gopal in commanding voice to bring the car. I found her to be in friendly terms with the guards and policeman at the gate. Even in tatters she is always in smiles and keeps commenting on those hawkers, drivers, guards.
In the meanwhile Gopal brought the car and i got in,from the window i looked at the vacant space of Pagli and tried to superimpose that with the vibrant young face of Mukhpuri which i saw 20 years back.

Disclaimer: Partly true and rest a spin.

Lesson of life

Lesson of life

Our learning does not stop , begins from the time we are born, those who are observant they learn more about life.

The above observation was by Samarananad , my alter ego on the ghats of Varanasi.

“Yes” I said and added “After graduating from IIT my real first hand lesson was learnt in Indian Oil Company’s Barauni Refinery from my workers and officers.”

-Is It? Give me some examples, Samaranand smilingly asked.

Ok, here are some which I vividly recall.

Kedar Singh…our jeep driver

He was a ruffian but was the best person around for emergencies. He would not attend his duty regularly, leave the key of the jeep with the officers and he would vanish. I remember it was a club night day, the Last Saturday of the month, I was a bachelor those days. I was tending the bar, it was about 10 in the night, Kedar Singh came laughing to me at the club and said,”There is breakdown of a pump motor in OMS (oil handling station) and no standby so I better rush.”’

There was no choice I got up in the jeep and asked him to start picking up riggers and technicians from their quarters or shanties. Picking up rigger from a slums near the refinery was the toughest. It was summer time and all were sleeping on charpais in the open and to escape from the bites of mosquitoes they were all wrapped in sheets from foot to head. Kedar Singh nonchalantly started lifting the sheets of those sleeping toughs from one end. Abusing us those guys would shout at us but no effect on Kedar he would just say,”Ok,go to sleep yar!”’ then proceed to the next. This way we could ultimately locate Amar Singh and Sucha Singh from those wrapped up bodies which were looking like dead bodies lying in a row.

Yes, we finally managed to drag a spare motor, removed the failed motor by working whole night with Kedar Singh giving hand to the riggers, a total team work.

This taught me that though Kedar Singh appeared to be a wayward fellow but at the time of emergency he got transformed to a work devil.I guess everyone has that good and evil both in them, it all depends on us to churn out that good .

Chaubey…the boiler operator

He was through and through a crook from UP. Those days I was a shift charge engineer of the captive power plant. It was my turn to prepare quarterly shift rota of operators. A complaint came from all the boiler operators that why Chaubey should not be given duty on Sunday, all the operators get their weekly off days by rotation from Monaday to Sunday. On checking I found that by showing a reason that he had to attend some Ayurvedic course on Sunday he wanted off and which was agreed by the rest 3 shift charge engineers. So I told all other operators “ You guys don’t want him to enjoy Sundays, is that the case?”

-No,Sir you have not caught the design of that wily character, by taking off on Sunday he makes sure that he is on duty on declared holidays so that he gets 4 times his normal wage as overtime than 2 times the wage on other days as overtime. There were 10 holidays in a year those days so his getting double overtime was certain, as holidays are declared on working days.

I started scratching my head when I understood the game plan, it was diabolical.
Apparently it looked that he was pursuing higher study but the devil had his ulterior agenda. 

So I learnt, what you see on the surface is not the actual, one has to go  deeper while dealing with human being. I guess that is what human engineering is all about.

AP Sahay….smooth technician

He was a typical smooth guy with ever smiling attitude. He would sell clothes at half the cost to his fellow workers. I asked him how he managed to do that. He told in hushed voice, “That’s a secret Sir, I can’t divulge.”

Later on some other operators told me that he had a relative who worked as a salesman in a cloth store in Patna.He would go to purchase cloth in that shop when his that relative would cut some extra cloth and pack the same with his purchased cloth. A simple stealing. Knowing this I shifted him from a job where he was fleecing the truck drivers to some inocuous  post in a substation. After a few months I got a feedback that there too he was making money. I asked them how it was possible.

-Sir, a new cable is being laid by a contractor and there he threatened them he would cut the supply to the temporary construction switchboard if he was not given money.

So the lesson is simple a crook with greed for money would always find out a way, or a dog’s tail cannot be straightened. So no use wasting time to correct such characters.

Bishwanath Prasad….Electrician grade 3

The most reliable technician I ever had. He was good in tracing fault in control circuits. In his locker he would keep copies of all vital circuit diagrams plus all kind of spare contactors,relays,jumpers etc so that for any minor repair he  would have those handy at odd hours when the store would be closed.

This practice of Bishwanath helped me to solve bigger problems. In my office I would keep copies of all circuits plus in the almirah would store fast moving spares like bearings, sleeves etc. other than electrical items.

Of course i must admit one particular lesson told to us by our GM Mr.R N Bhatnagar still lingers in my mind and which i have practiced maximum. He told, " If you find a man not suitable for his job then find a job for which he is suitable. His not delivering the task is the fault of manager!"

‘’True all those characters you mentioned are specimens in their own genre and roughly get classified for future reference. These observation of human nature are very important while dealing with people.” That was the stoic response of Samaranand.

-I must admit that at Barauni i became a professional before that i was living an extended student life as a Trainee Engineer of the refinery.May be in next meeting I would share more of my people observation, saying this I got up and started walking towards the boat in Dashashwamedh ghat.

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Dead Firangee's overcoat

Dead firangee’s overcoat

…………………………..

The months of December, January ,February would be very cold in Barauni Refinery and on the top of that attending night shift would be an ordeal. This happened sometimes in 1974 or so. I was posted as shift charge engineer for running the captive power plant of the refinery. The shift charge engineer would make round of the power plant starting with turbine hall,boile,water treatment plant, fuel oil station etc. These rounds in morning and partly in evening shift during winter was tolerable but in the night shift when temperature dropped to 4 something then taking round becomes a torture. The shift charge engineer is the lonely guy who makes a few rounds to check that all the equipment are running and operators are not sleeping during duty hours.

During winter I found most of the workers and officers would come wearing overcoat for shift duty. On inquiry found out that there was a guy called Bhagat who arranged those garments from Nepal. On checking I found those were to be second hand. To hell with second hand I too ordered one against all protests from my wife, I reasoned with her that such overcoats were not easily available in India and that too I would be wearing during night shift and keep that in my office almirah.

That guy got one grey colored tweed overcoat for me, it looked new. My operators joked with me saying now I too would be wearing a dead firangee’s overcoat. I should be careful that firangee should not claim his coat. No such thing happened to me, no nightmares or shadowy figure looming by the side of me during night shift.

One day I was on my round and reached the fuel oil pump house which was the farthest then, the operator Prasad got up and said, “Anything wrong?’’

“No ,why you ask?”

“One hour back I saw you going to the tank area.”’

“What nonsense! I have come now only.Have you been taking ganja on duty.’” I was irritated. Frankly one hour back I dosed off while reading a novel which I brought to keep myself awake.

Next night while I was taking round of water treatment plant then the operator came running, “Sir, everything is alright. You can see both cation and anion filters are ready after flushing.”

“Yes I have checked the water quality so what is your worry?”

“No sir I saw you near the tank half an hour back so thought something is wrong.”

“You saw me half an hour back? Are you mad, this is my first round.’

I did not bother much but then next week too the same story was repeated, that is seeing me in the plant when I was actually in my office. They remembered me wearing that overcoat walking around the plant. I discussed this with my operators, they advised me to keep Hanuman Chalisa in my pocket. One of them had a spare copy of chalisa and gave that to me.

Next fortnight there was no sighting of me and I was also using the overcoat sparingly. From the shift charge engineers room to the turbine hall there was á running verandah and it was a short walk I so would not be wearing the overcoat while going to turbine hall. My overcoat would be slung on my chair. During one of the  night shifts I was returning from my round of turbine hall walking towards my room, from the verandah one could see the desk of shift charge engineer through the window of the shift charge engineer’s room. I could see someone wearing the overcoat was hunched on my desk. The sight made me to stop on my track, I was getting shivers. I slowly walked towards my room which was adjacent to the main control room. I called out the name of my A grade operator Ansari from the central control room. Both of us stood at the door of my room. There was no one and my overcoat was hanging at the back of my chair as I had left. I was shaken so I went with Ansari to the control room. Was I hallucinating? I called some of the prominent operators for a discussion on this strange happening of sighting me when I was actually not there and then my seeing someone wearing my overcoat hunched on my desk. S P Singh declared everything was normal in my room who in the meanwhile had gone to my room to check.

The big question was should I get rid of the overcoat. I decided to sell off the overcoat to H P Sahay at half price. Nothing happened after that, I started bringing a woolen wrapper which I would wrap around my jacket during night shift. I spent my 3 years of shift peacefully without any abnormal sighting.

I resigned from refinery to join BHEL, during the farewell H P Sahay came to me with a big smile and said, “Sir I am not wearing that overcoat, we never wanted you to wear an old coat so we all planned to fool you in believing that coat was cursed. So the operators at various points were coached to say that they have seen you. That day when you saw someone sitting at your desk, that was me. By the time you came near the room I hid below the desk, Ansari was waiting for your call. I hope you will pardon us for the prank we pulled on you so that you don’t wear someone’s discarded overcoat. We believe that those foreign tourists give these away to the locals who in turn wash and spray essence to make these attractive.”

I let out a sigh of relief as the happenings of those nights would have still haunted me.

I patted H P, I knew he was a mischievous fellow and I had to upbraid him for his naughty actions against our Chief Engineer Subramanium but that’s another story for another day. 

Faith and belief

Faith and belief

Somehow when we put these two words together then the discussion tends to veer towards religion. Here I am trying to postulate that all of us have some faith and belief based on common observations or scientific facts.

The other day I was having this discussion with Dr.Kamal Chakraborty,the founder of Bhalopahar in Purulia which runs a free of cost education and healthcare for poor tribal children. He pointed out that it is the nature which is God for him. I fully agree with him as we could not have been there without sun, moon,soil,water,air,fire etc. any scientific minded cynic would agree with me on this as our very existence depends on these basic elements. So our ancestors be it in India or Greek or Egypt were not wrong when they were worshiping these. Every civilization worshiped these but they put some symbols or names to these elements.

In Hindu mythology we have Gods for all these or in other words our ancestors understood that these are higher forces on which we don’t have any control,  superior to us mortals. Giving form to each is something like making it available to all. For example Hanumanji is considered as Vayuputra means son of wind God, wind is everywhere practically excepting probably in vacuum chambers or some natural pockets of vacuum formed. Every civilization have worshiped Sun, it was no rocket science for those thousands years old civilization to understand that Sun rises on it’s own and sets on it’s own routine, so it is superior to human beings. Yes superior is the operating concept here which is termed as God.

Our setup is dealing with windmills we found that the intensity of flow of wind varies every year , there is no correct prediction. For example we are still trying to guess what will be the wind pattern next year. The factors effecting the wind pattern comes out after carrying out analysis of the event which had happened in the past but what will be the pattern  next year is any body’s guess. So wind is definitely a superior being than human beings understanding. So what do we do, last year I told my staff to carryout puja of Hanumanji  before the high wind season. Here I am not saying that because of that we got good wind last year  this year even after doing puja at the same period comparatively wind was less. It is my faith in Hanumanji which made me to carryout puja, it does not make me religious as some of my left leaning friends will infer.

We were to do acid cleaning of the first boiler in Singrauli Thermal Power Station of NTPC way back in 80s, the acid cleaning pumps were failing during trial and we could not start the activity. MrS K Dasgupta, the then O&M chief of NTPC came to me and said,” You have started the activity without conducting a ceremonial puja and so it failed!”

His second in command Mr.H P Das who had joined from Renupower said,”In Renusagar we would start any activity by doing a puja of Langtababa who is known to be the popular deity of the place !”

So we carried out complete re erection of the system and started the activity after conducting puja of Langtababa, on the first push itself all the four pumps ran smoothly and we completed our activity without any hitch.It was the result of our effort plus the faith, that puja did the bonding between all the workers , officers etc involved from NTPC,BHEL,Contractors etc c transcending caste,creed and religion. It was not a case of blind faith but bowing ones head to a superior being, all those involved were engineers from all possible reputed colleges. It is an accepted practice in the field to start of any major activity after carrying on a puja .

When I took possession of ED’s bungalow in Bhopal it was suggested by Buniyad Ali that I should do puja. I advised him to bring a priest and also a mauluvi and if possible a Christian priest. It was like all religion fare to drive out any bad spirit lurking around the house. I spent my time peacefully in that house and my father, who  most of the time was with me then, enjoyed his stay.

I have this problem with my big toe nail, I can’t clip it with the nail clipper. When this time I went to Varanasi I searched for the barber in Assighat from whom I had got my toe nail clipped in previous visit. His instruments were there but he was not there, I inquired from the people around and nobody seemed to know about his hereabout. By the way we were in Assighat after visiting Kaal Vairav and Sankat Mochan temples. We took a boat from Assighat to Dashawamedh ghat, after landing in Dashashwamedh ghat I caught hold of a roadside barber and asked him whether he would cut toe nail. He said, ‘’ Now a days we don’t do that!’’ So I returned to Kolkata without getting my toe nail trimmed.

Next Saturday after our return from Varanasi I went for my usual morning walk of 4.5 kms, my driver Gopal informed me that my wife has found out a roadside barber near the market who can cut my toe nail. We went to that barber , he readily agreed. On the footpath I sat on a stone and the barber started cutting my nail. He cut through my flesh and it started bleeding, I looked down and seeing blood I started feeling giddy, I asked the barber to stop cutting, asked Gopal to bring the car, I was feeling like lying down. He brought the car I got up to get in the car and fainted. I must disclose here that I have this phobia of feeling nauseating and fainting at the sight of blood. It had happened many times in the past.I go off for a minute or so and then become normal but for Gopal it was first time. He drove me home fast. At home I hit the bed and took a long rest.

Then I told my wife supposing we would have located that barber in Assighat and same incident would have happened then what would have been her condition alone with me out of senses.I explained to her it was Kal Vairav or the God of time shifted the event which was certain to happen to a more favorable time and place, I don’t have any other explanation than this. Why didn’t I get that barber in Assighat that day or why the barber at Dashwamedh ghat expressed his inability to carry on with the job? A rationalist may say it is one of those coincidences.

For me the Time is the biggest power , Time makes or breaks us. I believe we derive our fate from the good wishes of people whom we help, this trait i got from my parents.I always carry  some 10 rupees note with me to give to poor , practically every day i give those notes  during my morning walk around the lake. The giving gives me mental solace .
So why do i go to Varanasi every year? I don't carry out any ritualistic puja but i make it a point to visit Kaal Vairav and Sankat Mochan temples, i walk by the side of Vishwanath temple, watch people and their devotion. I love walking on Dashashwamedh ghat as i could see people not only from India but from throughout the world, it's amazing experience. I have spoken to some of those foreign tourists about their visit of Varanasi, all of them admitted to enjoy the ambiance of the ghats and temples. Yes i too enjoy the vibration which i feel when i walk on those ghats or those narrow lanes of Varanasi. 

What do i remember?

What do I remember?

Another year has started, not by itself but as declared by calendar. Like any other day there is no change of routine of the sun, it came up as per schedule but we human have the power of thinking so for us 1^st of January is kind of reminder that another year gone or another year has come. Our aging does not depend on calendar, we age by nanoseconds, our DNA,gene etc drive the process which depends directly or indirectly on our life style too.

The above preamble is just hard facts which are undeniable cutting across caste, creed,religion and region. The main operating system is our mind and which is the real driver. I have heard people writing or saying that they are happy, I think it is more of self-assertion for himself. If someone ask me today what has been my happiest moment, then I cannot reply immediately. The problem is that when one gets that happy moment then he does not keep track, it just happens. So looking back the year gone I would remember those physically satisfying things like purchase of latest gadgets, arrival of a new born baby, travelling to exotic places, chilling out with friends, playing a satisfying round of game, reading a book, hearing a new song etc…the list is long. As I was postulating that happiness is the moment and which does not get recorded in conscious mind but subconscious stores it. Somedays I get up feeling happy but I don’t know the reason what triggered it. May be the getting up, the sun light, surrounding silence, fitness of body, looking forward to something etc all put together created that oft mentioned cliche, feel good factor.

The other day while talking to Dr,Kamal Chakraborty I commented that I always find him happy, then I derived that as everyday he is not working for himself but for those poor 200 plus tribal kids in his setup Bhalopahar and that selfless deed of his keeps him perpetually happy. So looking back I can say I too felt happy whenever I was doing something for Bhalopahar or for those poor boys of Tollygaunge slums. Last year I started colour painting and while putting colour I was mentally transported to those places same way as I feel while reading a book, all these feelings again get lodged in subconscious and for which we don’t have a key to push.

It is simple, as they say, happiness is the state of mind. Try enabling that mind to capture more positive thoughts so that those are present predominantly in the subconscious.

A very Happy New Year.