Characters

I have been travelling a lot these days and come across a lot of people. I love this. I love meeting people, talking to them and trying to know what goes in their minds. It is interesting for me.

Bus from Tadpatri to Prodattur, I got a seat to sit with the help of my colleague who rushed into the bus fast and "reserved"a place for me with his bag. It is fun travelling by APSRTC buses in rural Andhra. The conductors have hand-held terminals using which they issue ticket and give a print out! Some buses have only the driver who issues ticket on entry and drives the bus non-stop - point-to-point. APSRTC buses are clean and well maintained. I am happy to see such good transport facility to common public!

Coming to the point, a very young girl - almost child - was sitting next to me. I put on my sun-glass as I am not able to take the harsh heat there. This child got curious and I could sense that she is dying to talk to me. So I asked her "perenti"... she was so thrilled to be talking to me ( I was so happy to give such open happiness to someone with so little effort). Rajani is her name. I asked for her full name - meaning with surname. She replied S.Rajani, which is not to be expected, as in AP you have proper surnames unlike Tamilnadu. I asked her again what the S stands for. She said it stands for Sanapindi - which means besan( hindi) in Telugu and she gets teased for this surname it seems. We both giggled like small childlren and said that is a nice way to get noticed in a group - when you have a funny odd surname! She was so happy to get that comment and started telling me her story. She had just passed X standard with 473 out of 600 and her father is too happy for this and wants her to become an officer in the Thermal power plant in her town!

Her father was sitting next to her. She said he is a farmer. I started speaking to him and he was happy to reply. He grows Thurdhal in his land and til-seed crop sometimes. His wife helps him in the field. His son passed X standard - but is not so studious as his dear daughter. I could sense his pride and affection to his daughter in his eyes. His sons opted to join the nearby factory in lorry-weighing department and earns Rs.1500/- per month working 3 hours a day. He does odd jobs in the available time and has managed to buy a Colour Television and Fridge(!) on instalment basis in the last 3 months. Quick actions - I thought.

She got admission in the Government Polytechnic in Vijayawada. She has to stay in the hostel sharing the room with others. I asked her what is the difficult part in this "free"life of being away from parents! She did not really understand the question, as she wondered where is the question of freedom... I know that it is a difficult concept for a child of her age, as she herself still feels that the protection of home is the best thing that can happen to anyone...

She has to plait her long hair herself - is the only difficult part, and of course, she misses her parents and brother in the hostel. In fact, she was home, as the college itself has given one week of leave for the first year students as "home-sick-leave"... strange though!

I asked her what she wants to be. Prompt came the reply, that she wants to work as an officer in the Thermal power plant of her hometown. Yeah, that is what she has seen all her 16 years and that is what is the "big world"for her.

Drifting from the world of this Prodattur girl, my thoughts come back to my thoughts when I was her age. What did I know of the outside world? What was my ambition? What I wanted to be?

Frankly, all I wanted was to be able to earn a lot of money so that me and my family should never face shortage. That is all I wanted; how I had not given thought. I knew that I had to study well and then things will fall in place. Again, what study, where, how, what is the way - nothing. No awareness.

Compared to Uma of 1976 in Madurai, Rajani of 2009 Prodattur is better informed and better focussed!

Let me conclude with the thought, is the world shrinking for the children, or expanding?? Is it same for city children and village children??

Warangal - Poetry in stone

I got one extra day in Hyderabad on a personal visit. On googling the tourist attraction places around Hyderabad, I came across Warangal. These sites gave information on the 1000 pillar temple, the fort, Badrakali amman temple and also Ramappa temple at Palampet. The various sites talked about Hanamkonda, Warangal, Kazipet and nowhere they had mentioned that all these 3 places are within 10 km distance from each other.

Anyway, a request for a trip to Warangal to my cousin at Hyderabad was accepted with the condition that we should come back the same day.

We left Hyderabad by 6.45 am with a grand plan of having only fruit diet the whole day as we were just two adults ( without any children travelling with us - we wanted to enjoy the freedom of not packing food, water etc.)

By 9.30 we were in Hanamkonda and thought of reaching the APSTDC office - but we learnt that it will open around 11 am - a hoarding on Poonam Hotel approved by Tourism Dev.Corp attracted our attention and trying to reach that hotel, we reached another hotel on the way. Suprabha Hotel is a good one right on the main road with modern amenities ( I mean, a clean toilet with toilet paper and bidet with running water ) which we were not expecting in a tier II town!

We had pesarattu and Guntur Idlis and should say that we were not disappointed. We engaged the hotel manager in conversation and learnt that Hanamkonda houses the 1000 pillar temple. He told us that we should go to 1000 pillar temple, then to Badrakali temple, fort and then Palmpet in that order.

We drove upto the point where we saw arrow mark towards 1000 pillar temple. We went ahead and then realised that we are not in the right direction. On enquiry, we got a reply "chakkaga" and nothing else from an auto-driver. We went back and - the temple was right on the main road inside a small lane. We were expecting a huge complex where a temple with 1000 pillar can be housed. No, we were absolutely wrong. It was a temple and of course with pillars - but not 1000. Nobody knows how it got this name.

As usual, the tourist guide in the area tried to tell us stories that he had heard and he admitted that he says what he has heard from others and is not sure what he says is the right information.

To enjoy the beauty in the pillars, columns and the Nandi, no guide was needed. Very elaborately carved pillars with patterns of Rudraksha and garlands, dancing girls, percussion instrument players, floral designs were arranged in such beautiful order on the pillars that are still standing.

Nataraja

We were in Chidambaram, Tamilnadu.

In the afternoon, Shruti got blessed with an opportunity to dance right in front of the King of Dances - who makes the whole world Dance around Him!

It was my dream come true! Moorthy sang and Shruti danced. No other pakavadhyam... no electrical appliance. Simple songs and divine dance! Once someone gets to stand in front of Him all attired to dance, He makes them move!

It was Chithirai, Thiruvonam. The Moolavar, Nataraja in Kanakasabha came out of His usual seat and was smiling happily with His Sivakami from an elevated seat outside!

That day evening around 9 pm ( night), the abhishekam started. Nearly 4000 litres of milk, 1000 litres of curd, 1800 tender coconuts and 500 litres of honey were used to do abhishekam for the Nataraja.

It was possible to see Nataraja in the true-form - without the ornaments and silk clothes ( which generally covers Him so much, one wonders whether He would be suffocated in all that alankaram).

I wish I get to see the Gods and Goddesses in their true form ( if not "the " true form) - without the clothes - the sculptor has poured his heart into the metal or stone and has come up with the form to the formless God. I think it is a crime to cover it all up!

I thought tuition is needed when additional tutoring is needed if the regular teaching is not understood by one. No, I am grossly wrong. Tuition ( tution... the way it is spelt in Mumbai) is for the whole student community as such without any differentiation.

One would have joined Jr.KG or Engineering ...... it does not matter. You can get tutored. Who would tutor you? That is an interesting question.

The other day I met my ex-employee whose daughter is just 2 years old. She has resigned from my office to take care of her baby. If you are someone like me, you might assume that the word 'take care of the baby" would include things like feeding, bathing, reading stories etc. I learnt that it includes dropping the baby to tuition class and picking her back. I asked her when she is at home full time and has noone in the house other than her husband and this only baby, why she needs to put her 2 year old in a tuition class.

Prompt came her reply that she does not want her daughter to lose out on the opportunity of mixing with other kids of her age who are getting ready to go to a particular private school. This tuition teacher knows exactly what to do to get her daughter admitted in this school. She will be ready for the Nursery class even before she turns 3!!

Do I know the meaning for the words "pressure" and "competition" now? I think I have started understanding now.

The other day I caught up with my college-mate and our conversation went from our days in college to our children's college. One fine day she calls me to enquire whether I know someone who can come home to teach her daughter Mathematics. I know that she sends her daughter to a private school and shells out nearly 5 lacs per annum! Then why a tutor at home? What the school does after collecting 5 lacs? This is not even a residential school?

Children cannot clarify their doubts in the class-room as it might sound very "silly", to raise a doubt in the class or question a method with the teacher! Where else you are supposed to do that? The child is not comfortable going to group tuitions and hence the requirement for a private tutor who would teach her one-to-one.

Did I hear someone saying that teaching profession does not attract talent as it does not pay to be a teacher? no... that is "the" profession to take up in places like Mumbai.

We have this pleasant young guy in our colony who completed his engineering with a rank in the university. Everyone presumed that he would do masters in management or masters in science and take up a career suitable to his interest. He did take up a career immediately after graduation, in teaching. He started tutorials for high school students and before we could count the number of students going to his house for the classes, he set up his class-room and office in a commercial complex! Within one year, his class-rooms multiplied and within 3 years, he is proud owner of 3 classes and teacher for nearly 500 students.

The other day, a friend of mine met me in bank and informed me that she is happy that her only son managed to get admission in one of the city colleges and also in one of the good tutorials which would guarantee her son a good placement. I was supposed to know that admission to engineering college and to a tutorial is done in one go... how can I even think that a student capable of getting admission in engineering college does not need additional help for studies? Too old-fashioned ?? Why should he trouble himself learning the subjects with the help of college lectures, self-study and with reference material from libraries? Why should he not be spoon-fed by an experienced person who churns out students for these exams year after year? What is wrong in using expert help? I am all confused ;-((

I have been running an organisation where young boys / girls join with very little or no knowledge of computers or outside world. I take the pain/pleasure of training them into acceptable young people by teaching them all that is needed to be successful in a marketing career. I have not charged them fee, instead, paid them salary to learn and work. I believed that this is an investment into human resources ! They do work for us for sometime and when they turn really good, it is time for them to leave and they do leave for greener pastures. We have earned a name for churning out quality people for the industry..

I am wondering now, whether I should have started a training academy and not a marketing organisation? Whether I should have charged my new entrants fee for the course and not paid them stipend for training? Is it time for me to change my mind-set about tuition?