Tag: Chennai

Thriving in Times of COVID19 – 1

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  It’s been a long time since I wrote something or blogged. Have been thinking seriously about starting to write on a regular basis. COVID19 has turned our life upside down. The only way to maintain sanity is to focus on the positives in life and stay away from the negatives. As a result I have drastically cut down on daily news intake and cut down completely on arguing online (on WhatsApp) with friends & acquaintances. It been nearly two months since I started working from home. With the the lock-down and curfews, its become very difficult to go out and meet friends & family members too. While it did not strike me until this point, that blogging about useful activities that I and family members indulge in would be a good way to start writing once again. 
       

My eight year old daughter is having her summer holidays, without her usual summer classes, etc. She has not been able to step outside to play, go and meet her friends on their birthdays, visit malls & play areas; needless to say it’s been a very boring summer vacation for her. As a result, like most parents, I and my wife have been trying to keep her occupied with some usual activity or the other. My year old son is still using the entire day for playing and throwing things around as he like. One of the things that my daughter likes is drawing. She used to go for drawing classes for the past three years or so. My wife also draws from time to time. Since I am working from home, I have made it a point to encourage them to draw/ paint as much as possible. Just before the lock-down started I went to Odyssey and bought some drawing & painting related stuff. In hindsight it turned out to be a very good decision. 
     

  I keep finding  instructional videos for painting for my wife & daughter. A friend who knows about my wife’s interest in painting sent an Instagram link about Live painting instruction sessions conducted by Hindustan Trading Company @ 5 PM everyday during this lock-down. So, I created an Instagram account.   Yesterday my wife and daughter attended the live art sessions for the first time. Due to bandwidth issues, the video kept pausing quite a number of times. So, they decided to follow instructions from the recording of an earlier session about making bookmarks. I have posted the pictures of the bookmarks that they made. I read a lot of books, so they made the book marks as a gift for me. It was about an hour and half well spent for my daughter and wife. 

Painting by my Daughter
Painting by my Wife

My Daughter’s First Annual Day (Part Two)

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On 10th March, we reached the venue for the annual day exactly by the stipulated time which is kind of a cosmic miracle considering my life-long issues (should I say my legacy) with time management. Looks like the school authorities had accounted for Indians’ Standard Time (which is basically being at least 30 minutes late for any program) and the program was nowhere near getting started. Slowly the venue started getting filled.

The rebellious mothers of my daughters’ class decided to ditch the golden color overcoat for the girls and instead to use a mini-apron in the same color as the skirt. I basically left my wife to sit with my daughter, her classmates and their respective mother and moved to another row to sit with my daughter’s classmate’s father. As I looked at the bright and colorful costumes of kids in other dances, I felt that may be my wife was right about my daughter’s dance costume. Seriously, what was I thinking? I should have been extremely naïve or extremely audacious to doubt the judgement of an Indian Mom. Lesson learned: It’s ok to doubt the judgement of your wife in her role as wife, but it’s naïve to doubt her judgement in role as a mother. Thankfully my daughter’s class teacher did not object or question the slight change in costume for the girls and what could have been an unpleasant conversation was averted.

My daughter’s dance program was listed as the eleventh one in the itinerary. There was only one skit which was kind of narration skit that introduced each and every dance performance. In all there were eleven dance performances for songs including Barbie World, Macarena, Tarzan and Jane, Witch Doctor, etc. There were even a couple of Hindi And Tamil folk dances too.

Once the Annual Day Programs started they proceeded at a break neck speed. Each class had its own dance performance. The school authorities ensured that all the kids in the class including kids with special needs also participated in the performance, which is commendable. For all the dance programs the respective class teachers would also dance in front of the stage so that the kids follow them and dance. It was kind of funny and heartwarming to watch the activities of the kids on stage. The dances were far from perfect but even imperfection is perfection when it involves kids. Some of kids were distracted seeing their parents capturing videos of the dance performance, which was exactly what the school authorities forewarned and forbade.

My daughter’s dance performance went very well. The showstopper of the evening was a speech by a girl thanking all the teachers and parents. She spoke very well for five minutes with just one minor hiccup which for her age is a tremendous achievement. At the end of the Annual Day function after the National Anthem, most of the people were in a hurry to leave the venue which I could not understand as the program got over well ahead of time.

We went onstage and took a few snaps of my daughter with her friends, class teacher and school head. We also thanked our daughter’s class teacher for all her efforts. The Teachers should be thanked for all their efforts and preparation for the annual day. It is very difficult to make children of this age perform in unison and the teachers had done a remarkable job. On the way home, my wife sponsored our Celebratory Dinner at Cream Center.

My Daughter’s First Annual Day (Part One)

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On 10th March, my daughter’s playschool, ‘Eurokids – Kotturpuram,’ conducted their annual day. The event was held in another school’s auditorium in Alwarpet. The school had planned for the programs in such a way that all the kids participated in at least one program. My daughter was participating in ‘Tarzan and Jane’ dance. In the run-up to the annual day, my daughter kept us informed with the happenings in her dance practice sessions.

About ten days back when my daughter’s class teacher revealed the costumes for the dance, the mothers of girl children in the class almost blinked in sync in disbelief. Since the song was based on Tarzan, the teacher had chosen for girls’ black full hand t-shirt, black full trouser with a blue mini-skirt and a golden over coat. They had problem with choice of costume, the color, etc. My wife was one of the rebellious mothers who was hell-bent on ensuring that her daughter shines like an angel from another world.

My wife and my daughters classmates’ mothers were left fuming further when they came to know the choices made by other class teachers: Pink Barbie Gown, Colorful Beach Trousers and T-Shirts, Gagra-Choli, etc. In the days leading up to the annual day, I can safely assume that these mothers hated their daughters’ class teacher more than their respective mother-in-laws. There were suggestions and counter-suggestions going back and forth. Not a single day passed without my wife complaining about the dance costume and feeling bad that while other kids would have wonderful costume, our daughter would have a (a perceived) funny costume. I finally managed to pacify her saying that ‘we would buy all kinds of good looking costume for our daughter but not a jungle themed costume; so in way the teacher is doing us a favor!’

Two days before the event when the teacher handed over the costume to us, my wife’s blood pressure reached the stratosphere. I tried to reason with her and calm her down; however she suddenly took George W. Bush kind of stance against me, ‘If you are not with us you’re against.’ Not wanting get crushed under the wrath of the Lady Tsunami in the house, I basically chose to confine my logical opinion to the safest corner in my house, which is basically within my own head!!! My wife rang up one of my daughter’s classmate’s mother and the two moms brainstormed on how the situation can be salvaged.

My wife altered the length of the skirt and with the remaining cloth made head bands and rubber-bands of the same color for all the five girls in the dance. My daughter’s classmate’s mother went even further: she managed to trace down the cloth used in the skirt to a shop in T. Nagar and found a tailor who would stitch a mini-apron for all the five girls in one-single day. And on the day of the event they were getting ready to unleash a ‘Fashion Revolution.’ Wow, hats off to these Supermoms!!! Viva Fashion Revolution!!!

Well, what did the dads do? One, we never interacted much, so the idea of coordination between us is never going to take flight. Two, our fashion sense is as weak as the depleted knee bone of ninety year old man; so the lady in the respective household is never going to allow us to decide on something as important as the costume for the daughter’s first annual day. Three, we are VERY LAZY to do so much work in one single day; Therefore all of us should have independently come to the same conclusion: ‘we would buy all kinds of good looking costume for our respective daughters but not a jungle themed costume; so in way the teacher is doing us a favor!!!’ I think that was the right conclusion since we need not be disturbed from our state of bliss called as ‘Inertia!’

Sports Day at My Daughter’s School

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On Saturday my daughter’s playschool, ‘Eurokids – Kotturpuram,’ conducted their annual sports day nicknamed, ‘Health is Wealth Day.’ The event was held in another school’s ground in Adyar. Throughout the year for most days my daughter had been late to school because of me. However for the sports day we reached the venue well ahead of time. In the morning it was cloudy as if it was going to rain but when we reached the ground the weather was just perfect for a sports day.

As I entered the ground I was amused that the thought of the winds of change in my life. For the first time in our lives I and my wife were attending a school event as parents. Time just zips past us in a flash while we are barely aware of how far we have come in our life. It just seems only yesterday I was standing outside a delivery room in a hospital when the doctor showed my daughter to me and yet here we were after three years and eight months taking our daughter to her very first sports day.

The school’s official mascot was placed at the entrance of the ground. It was a fairly large ground for an event of a small school. I met many of my daughter’s classmates and their respective parents. Since it was school admission time most of the conversation was around which schools we had applied to and whether the kids have got admission in the schools that had completed the admission process as of now.

I have never seen my daughter so lively and happy and so were the other kids. The school had arranged for drills by age group and races (individual and team) by classes/ age group. My daughter and her age group kids had to wear the Eurokids official T-shirt for the drill and a theme T-shirt for the races. As we were helping our daughter wear the T-shirt meant for the race, we were pleasantly surprised to see her name printed on the T-shirt.

As for the actual event, the drills and the races went off without much hiccup. They were far from perfect but even imperfection is perfection when it involves kids. The school management, teachers and staff had done a tremendous job of putting together drills and theme based races and there were a mini quizzes to introduce each race. My daughter’s race was around bears competing to catch fish and trying to make it to the finish line first.

Like most schools conducting events for kids, my daughter’s school ensured that every kid participated. They also gave prizes for every kid. As there was no first or second prize it actually freed the event from needless judgements and complaints that would have been made by the parents. During the prize distribution ceremony the school head kept repeating multiple times that ‘this is the first prize that the kids were winning in their lives’ and at Eurokids ‘Every kid is a winner.’

As the event was progressing it was heartwarming to see some of the kids dancing even from the audience area for songs of all the drills. There were many a funny moment during the event. The only two problems at the event were not from kids or the school but from the parents group: In our enthusiasm to watch the kids perform, we were refusing to settle down in the seats and the applause from us was rather muted and lacking energy.

When the kids were not performing in the drills and races, they were conducting a parallel sports day in the audience area. As I watched the kids play I could not help but notice that so much group dynamics and personality traits were already on display even at such a young age. I also could see with my own eyes (as pointed out by researches) that even a couple of months of difference in age can result in significant difference in kids’ ability to understand and act. The kids were somehow lost in their own world oblivious to what was happening around them.

There were musical chair competitions respectively for the fathers, mothers and the teachers/staff. The school had thrown in another surprise element by arranging for pizzas for the kids which was a huge hit with the kids. Overall the event resembled a carnival more than a sports day and it was a welcome break to be spectator to the surprising world of tiny but sunny personalities. When it was to time to go home one of my daughter’s classmates was crying and complaining to her parents that she did not want to leave the ground and go home. What more can serve as testimony to the success of the event? Three cheers to the ‘Eurokids – Kotturpuram’ management, teachers and staff for making the sports day a grand success.

The Wise Angel

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In the book ‘Springboard,’ Professor Richard Shell narrates the story of an elderly man (from working class background) who walked into a Wharton School seminar on income and happiness. After listening to what was being discussed, during Q&A session the elderly man described that happiness is just three things: good health, meaningful work and love. Professor Shell who was also present in the audience that day describes in the book that the aura of the academic world had for a moment fallen away under the weight of those simple words. Professor Shell goes on to describe that anonymous gentleman as the WISE ANGEL.

Today as I was lost in a stream of random thoughts, my mind finally came to anchor at the ‘WISE ANGEL’ island. I was thinking if I had met such a ‘WISE ANGEL’ in my life; or did I have the fortune of meeting someone who came at least close to the ‘WISE ANGEL’ – someone who was able to express a profound thought in a simple way.  For a few minutes my mind circling just like a man stranded in an unfamiliar woods on a foggy day.

After a few minutes I remembered of my visit to a Homeopathic Doctor at Mandaveli, Chennai – a few months back. I generally avoid taking allopathic medicine for recurring and nagging issues. I generally try to find some natural cure or take Homeopathic medicine. After repeated failures to locate a Homeopathic doctor near my locality, I found one near my sister’s place.

On this particular day, I had gone to see this doctor for a bout of common cold. He asked me for my age (35 years) and other details. He was trying to explore my medical history, allergies if any, family medical history etc. Then I started explaining about the issues for which I had gone to visit him. Before prescribing me the medicine he said, ‘You should realize that your first innings is over.’ Puzzled, I replied, ‘I don’t understand.’

The doctor went on to explain: ‘Till 35 years of age we are in the first innings of our life. From 35 years to 70 years we are in the second innings of our life. If we are fortunate enough to live beyond 70 years, we should consider it as super over. Since you are past 35 years of age, it is better to realize that you are in the second innings of your life and make modifications to your lifestyle accordingly.’  For a moment I was like thunderstruck.

Looking at the rather strange look in my face the doctor went on to add, ‘Our health is the most important asset that we have. We should do everything under our control to ensure that this asset remains healthy as long as possible.’ The doctor went to on to explain some of the food items that I can eat to increase my basic immunity. Then then prescribed medicines for me; I paid the fees and left the clinic. That day as I was riding back home on my bike, I had mixed feelings.

But over the next few days as I reflected on what the doctor said, I realized that the doctor only helped me realize the reality sooner than later. And as I think back on the incident today and associate the incident that Professor Shell narrates in his book I can clearly see that the Homeopathic Doctor is one of the ‘WISE ANGELS’ that I have encountered in my life.

Car-free Sundays at Elliot’s Beach

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The Roads at Elliot’s Beach, Chennai are notoriously prone to over speeding and reckless driving. The problem gets aggravated further on Sundays due to increase in the number people coming to the beach. When I went to the beach for my morning walk today, I was hoping to see a mad scrambling for parking space. Instead I came across a different problem. The road leading to the beach road was barricaded and a policeman informed me that none of the vehicles have access to the beach road as it was Car-free Sunday. I parked my scooter in a different road and went about my morning walk.

The ‘Car-free Sundays’ initiative started in October 2015. From 6 AM to 9 AM on Sundays vehicles will not be allowed on beach road at Elliot’s Beach and the roads would be used for community activities. I had read about this initiative in newspaper but somehow I forgot about it today.

The scene at the road near the beach was welcome change from what one used to witness every day: Vehicles parked along the stretch of the road, the Vroom-Vroom sound of silencer modified bikes, vehicles coming to a screeching halt had all given way to sounds of laughter and encouragement. Youngsters were playing or competing with each other; elders were either applauding or taking snaps using mobiles.

Kids were even drawing on the road using color chalk. A bunch of Tai Chi students were even giving a demo of Tai Chi under the watchful eyes of their master near Cozee restaurant. A couple of youngsters were even displaying their whistling skills to a small but receptive audience. All along the beach stretch and the roads leading to the beach front, policemen were present in adequate numbers. Overall the Elliot’s beach resembled a carnival ground today. Hope this nice initiative continues in the weeks ahead. Three cheers to all those who were responsible for making ‘Car-free Sunday’ a reality.

Admiring the Sunrise on January 1, 2016

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In January 2015 I read the post ‘New Year: My One Word for 2015 and Why I Can’t Leave 2014 Behind’ by Lily Ellyn. Lily started the blog post by narrating a practice in Korea. Quoting from Lily’s blog: ‘In Korea people don’t stay up until midnight to ring in the New Year. Instead, they get up in the middle of the night and they hike a mountain. They climb through the dark, snowy pre-dawn hours and when they reach the top they stand with their faces to the sky to greet the first sunrise of the New Year.’

On reading this post I got inspired to not to stay awake until midnight on December 31st 2015 but wake up early morning on January 1st 2016 and witness the sunrise at Elliot’s Beach, Chennai. Somehow the thought stayed in mind throughout 2015. I have enjoyed viewing many a sunsets at Marina Beach, Elliot’s Beach (both at Chennai), Hussain Sagar Lake (Hyderabad), Pennar River (Nellore), etc. but have witnessed very few sunrises, being a late riser. I have been trying for quite some time to wake up early but have not able to implement it. By the second half of 2015 I was waking up early but not as early as I wanted to.

As the New Year approached I was doubly determined to view the sunrise on New Year’s Day. On 29th December one of my friend who is settled in Abu Dhabi called me and informed that he is in Chennai. We decided to meet for Dinner on December 31. Our families met at his place at around 7 PM and from there proceeded to a restaurant at 8.30 PM. Our respective families were meeting after more than 2 years and it was a wonderful get together. My daughter and my friend’s daughter enjoyed each other’s company very much. Post dinner as we were getting back home, the traffic jams due to mad rush of bikers proceeding to beach fronts for mid-night celebration ensured that we got back home only around mid-night. I think I slept around 12.45 AM but set the alarm for 5 AM but was not sure whether I will wake up so early.

However to my pleasant surprise I woke up at 5 AM, got ready and proceeded to Elliot’s Beach. A lot of morning people had already gathered at the beach front to witness the sunrise. But a thick blanket of clouds was playing spoilsport and ensured that there would not be a perfect sunrise. The sun which emerged from behind the clouds for a brief moment was very beautiful in reddish orange color. I took a few snaps at the beach front. Then I proceeded for my morning walk.

As I was returning home on my bike, I was determined to wake up early every day. When I reached home, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my wife had drawn a very nice New Year Kolam/ Rangoli at our flat’s entrance. I used a photo of the Kolam for my New Year Wish Blog Post. As the year progresses I am hoping to continue to wake up early and go for morning walks. Best Wishes to all of you for achieving all your goals and dreams in 2016. Have a Wonderful Year.

Note: I cam across a wonderful sunrise picture from January 1, 2016at Derwentvalleyphotography Blog. Enjoy the awesome sunrise photo.

A Time of Need and a Time for Greed

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‘The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.’ – Mahatma Gandhi

‘Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.’ – Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays

As the rains receded on December 3rd, I and my brother in law ventured out to buy essential household items. It was around 11.30 AM and we had to go from one shop to another as there was stock out situation for some of the essential items. I had walk the entire Kottur area in search of Milk and Candles. Not a single candle was available in any of the stores. A solitary vendor was selling milk outside a big vegetable store in Kottur market. But instead of the usual Rs. 40 per liter he was charging Rs. 100 per liter, a full 150% mark-up to the usual price. Most people were buying multiple packets of milk from him and yet after walking a few feet from the shop complained that it was wrong on the part of the vendor to hike the price in that hour of distress.

After an extended period of incessant rains, the prices of some of the vegetables had reached the stratosphere. On this particular day these darlings of every household’s kitchen were not even available at even these extremely inflated prices. Bread and Rice were running out of stock too. A couple of days later as I was standing in line to buy milk at another milk depot, a woman was hoarding about hundreds of packets of milk in her tricycle. When one of the customers asked why the woman was siphoning off milk meant to be distributed through regular channel, she hurled abuses at the customer. The irony was that within a few minutes she was selling the same milk packets in a nearby street with a fat markup.

Though most of us complain about the greediness of opportunistic vendors, we are opportunistic and greedy too. A case in point was a trip a petrol pump on the same day. My brother in law’s two wheeler was almost at the verge of running out of petrol. By this time most petrol pumps were closing down as they had no more petrol or diesel to sell. The unending lines of people outside petrol pumps rivaled the queues outside places of worship on auspicious days. I went along with my nephew to one of the petrol pumps near Royapettah. Among the crowd to my disappointment and chagrin, there were a bunch of guys who had come with multiple 30 to 40 liter cans. Why would anybody need so much petrol or diesel? Clearly they were greedy arbitrageur who was planning to sell the fuel at much higher prices in suburban localities. Even people who were buying for their own use too were buying more than necessary.

Around the same time, another irrational phenomenon was unfolding across the city. There was a run on the banks, no actually there was a run on ATMs. With most of the bank branches in Chennai on leave due to rains, the cash balance in ATMs was already low. The situation was made even worse by a lot of anxious people (foreseeing more rain and bank holiday) each withdrawing up to their daily permissible limit. The anxious withdrawal pattern resulted in most ATMs going out of cash by afternoon that day and as result the entire city was indulging a real life treasure-hunt, running from one ATM to another. Only after bank branches opened the following day and some of the banks started operating mobile ATMs the situation limped back to normalcy.

While it is understandable that there were long queues at grocery stores, milk vending booths, ATMs and petrol pumps to everyone’s surprise there was queue in wine shops too. And contrary to ATMs and petrol pumps that ran out of stock, these wine shops were fully stocked and was buzzing with so much activity and life that one could have easily mistaken them for an ant colony or a beehive. It is billion dollar puzzle that how in a democratic country there is stock out for essential commodities but wine shops are fully stocked.

No amount of technology can serve as replacement for irrationality of human beings. No amount of rules and processes can check human greed. As I think back on the events that unfolded during the recent rainy spell, I get reminded of a dialogue from a recent movie: ‘By eating even a single mouthful of food after our hunger has been quenched, we are ensuring that another person remains hungry.’ This principle is very apt in situations of natural or man-made calamities like the recent rainy spell.