Better late than Never! (An alibi for tardiness)

Many of us believe this as a truism and have at some time or other in our lives explained our tardiness this way. Is this okay? To my mind, no!

Often times we have seen people arriving late for functions – the more important (!!??) you are, the later will you attend the function seems to be the dictum!

When as a school boy I went to attend a meeting to be addressed by the late Shri C.N. Annadurai –popularly and affectionately address as Anna- a great scholar and a brilliant orator both in English and Tamil. I went because I wanted to hear him not because I subscribed to the beliefs of his party. He was supposed to commence his speech at 8.00 p.m. – an hour considered too late for a school boy to be outside his home but I had my mother’s permission to be late for dinner. 8 p.m. no sign of Anna, 8.30 p.m. no sign of Anna – the organizers were repeatedly telling that he was expected any moment (!) and so I waited. Then I heard someone – looking important and knowledgeable- tell another nearby that Anna had not yet left Kanchipuram – a place about 50 miles away from my place – which meant, given the transport facilities available those days, that Anna will reach our place only by about 10.00 p.m. – too late for an youngster to be out and I was also getting hungrier by the moment. So with lament, I trudged back home. Next day, I came to know that he arrived at about 10.45 p.m. I regret having missed his speech but at the same time felt that the organizers could have been more transparent!

And I learnt, of course, through experience that it was not only Anna who could not keep up time, besieged as he was by his admirers all along his route, others too have this difficulty. While I understand but do not necessarily accept such practice in respect of leaders of the ilk of Anna, I am unable to comprehend why ordinary people also do not keep up timings.

If you have watched the famous Telugu movie ‘Sankarabaranam’, you would have seen the village’s richest man arriving for the concert late, dragging a chair loudly and generally getting noticed by the audience and disturbing the flow of the artiste . And the performing artiste could be seen frowning. I have in real life too seen this. The artiste is engrossed in his/her alapana, niraval or swara and suddenly some commotion of someone coming late and wanting to occupy the first row – can’t he or she sit in the last row unobtrusively?

There, therefore, must be something compulsive  for some people (the ordinary common folk – I was tempted to say cattle class but knowing what happened to someone who used that word I am NOT using it) – to habitually arrive at functions later than the scheduled time.

My wife belongs to a singing group and she always refers to one of her group members as late M – thank God she did not mean that M was no more – she only meant that M was always late for all their singing classes whatever be the time fixed for commencement. If the class was scheduled for 4.00 p.m. M will arrive at 4.15 p.m.; if it was scheduled for 4.30 p.m. M will arrive at 4.45 p.m.  – a compulsive late comer!

Most of us know such people quite well. Every one of us have been late some time or other for our appointments – I still cannot forget how once I was late in reaching the railway station sufficiently late (!?) to see my train leaving the station fairly fast and missing it!

I know a friend whose wife has to goad him to get ready from 10.a.m. for a function at 6.00 p.m.! Such habitual offenders annoy me.

There are of course explanations that we offer – make a joke of it saying Indian Standard Time- as if that explains our tardiness. It has perhaps something to do with our culture where casual attitude to anything is the given norm. Then there are explanations as to why one was late – of course, in Bangalore it is convenient to put the blame on the traffic! But then do we not have to provide for that bit extra time to be in time and not use the traffic jams as an excuse. Will we use that excuse to the airlines and ask them to delay the departure of a plane? Will we miss ‘shubamuhurtham’ at marriages on this count?

To label such casual attitude as ‘inconsiderate’ towards the hosts is perhaps a correct description but that does not absolve them of the guilt of being tardy. We seem to accept this as okay because it is ‘better late than never’. I believe that this is a  much maligned excuse and therefore, move that it be scrapped from our ‘behavioural dictionary’.

Let us be punctual come ‘rain or shine’. Remember that for every 10 people who are on late, there are 90 who make conscious attempt to be at the place on time.

Let us shed our inertia, propel ourselves to be prompt and not inconvenience others.

‘They also serve who only stand and wait."

                  wrote John Milton, the great poet in ‘on his blindness’.

I am reminded of this line every day as I stand and wait for the pick-up vehicle that will transport me to my work place.

The provocation is the delay in the arrival of the vehicle at the spot. It is scheduled to arrive at 8.10 a.m. and your truly therefore, reaches the spot a few minutes earlier to that. But of late, the vehicle does not arrive till about 8.20 or 8.25.

So, I am forced to wait and what do I serve – nothing. No, perhaps!

I see some auto fellows slowing down on seeing me – hoping that I will hire them! I look the other way. So I serve this purpose of kindling hope of business for the auto driver

Someone, approaches me and asks me, ‘where is such and such school; I am knowledgeable about this and give the person the directions to reach that school. So I serve this purpose!

The waiting has unfolded quite a number of things to me! Most of the days I see the same faces, vehicles and there is some punctuality among these (this is contrary to my earlier blog – better late than never”).

I can set my watch by the school teacher hurrying to her school close by. The time is 8.12 a.m. A Swift car passes by - the time is 8.13 a.m. The security guard at the entrance of the building near which I wait climbs on to his bi-cycle – the time is 8.15 a.m. Still no sign of my vehicle!

A man with his Alsatian (that frightens me!) comes along – the time is 8.16 a.m. And so on….

Another person I regularly see is the one who seems to have lost his orientation with his unsteady feet – he will walk with his hands stretched in front of him as if to say, ‘please give way’. I have sometimes helped him to cross the road. So I also serve!
What intrigues me is that there seems to be regularity in the way people go about their business.

I am already worked up. I call my vehicle coordinator on his mobile – the msg. comes ‘the subscriber is busy; call after some time’. I call another of my colleagues. He does not respond. Try another number wondering whether the vehicle had arrived earlier and left without picking me up! Mercifully he responds, ‘we will be at your spot in another 2/3 minutes’.

I feel relieved.Otherwise I have to go home and take my car to the work spot and of late, I don’t relish driving in Bangalore. Or hire an auto who will want the price of an auto as auto fare and on top of that I have to describe to him the destination – my work spot is located far away from the city and not many are familiar with that area. He will start the auto and mumble along the way, ‘I will not get return fare so you must give me more than what I had demanded. I will have to agree. I have no other option and he is aware of it!

So I wait for the vehicle so that I may go and serve in the institution which prepares youngsters for careers in banking!

So, I, who stand and wait also, serve!  

(with apologies to John Milton)

 

Breaking Down

A few days ago, ‘The Economic Times’ carried a write up, in its front page, headlined ‘Breaking Down News”

Used, as most of us are, to ‘breaking news’ in the TV channels (that is an intriguing tag line – almost all news channels claim that they were the first to break news – the fact of the matter is that the event reported upon does not happen separately for each of the channels and all the reporters and the photographers happen to be accidentally at the ‘happening’ place), this head line intrigued me.

(Remember the recently departed cricket commentator and former captain of the England cricket team Tony Greig oft stated quote  - ‘It is all happening out there’ – Tony was merely commenting on the happenings in a cricket field but could bring lot of excitement in that simple statement. You felt you were part of the happenings on the field).

I lost the trail – Back to breaking down!

Rahul Gandhi, the press and the party to which he belongs would have us believe, had touched the hearts of everyone with his speech (the cause of breaking down) on being anointed the number two of his party; in my view it was only a formal recognition of what in fact was the ‘de facto’ situation. I do not propose to talk about his talk!

When I saw the head line ‘breaking down’ and the list and moments of those who had ‘broken down’ – there were 11 such moments listed – my mind, cynical occasionally, started wondering if this is great news. Every one of us has, at some time or other, broken down. It is normal and natural. We cry when we are happy! We cry when we are unhappy!  We laugh and cry; we cry and laugh!

As the famous Tamil lyricist Kannadasan said – ‘silar sirippar, silar azhuvar, silar sirithukonde azhuvar!

(Roughly translates to ‘some people laugh, some people cry, some people laughingly cry”)

Yet it is the emotion of the moment that makes us cry or laugh or break down. The only reason we are not seen to be breaking down is that over the years we have been schooled to believe  that it is not correct to publicly exhibit our emotions (particularly men – crying is seen as a trait of  the weak!). We, therefore, control our emotions in public and may cry in private.

But there are moments in one’s life when one can’t control – how many of us can resist crying when our mother is no more, our father is no more, our near and dear ones are no more. It is the human thing to grieve and cry – in fact often times we have heard people say ‘let him/her cry and get over it’.

So is it anything great if the VIPs break down. They are also human beings and are entitled to emotions.

Let us cry when we need to. Let us not increase our BP by bottling up our emotions.  The Good Lord will understand why we cry and give us solace.

 

Lift and the Elevator and so on.....

Today as we were coming to the fifth floor in the lift, I observed that our lift travellers were different from the usual lift users. It is said that even when the occupants of the lift know others well, not much of conversation takes place inside the lift. Everyone appears to be engrossed in his/her own world. But our lift users are a merry lot and there is lot of fun discussing how the lift accommodates more than eight people and how some thin and young people can manage to be inside the lift even if we exceed the limit of eight persons. We refer to them as weightless (is it because they wait less for the lift!) and the fun goes on.

This led me to think of an incident that happened years ago when I was working for a leading bank!  My immediate boss and I were waiting to go to the third floor where our bigger boss was holding his sway. My immediate boss (who had returned from US of A after a stint of 3 years) said ‘this elevator is very slow’ and immediately started correcting himself to say ‘lift’ and then said ‘habits die hard’. We in India generally do not refer to lifts as elevators – we are happy with the layman’s word ‘lift’. I said, ‘it’s ok. I understand (I was an avid reader of Perry Mason stories and was therefore fairly familiar with the American lingo).

He then talked about American offices – how the secretary to a chief executive has no hesitation in addressing the boss as ‘Paddy” if his name was Padmanabhan and the chief executive did not mind being addressed thus. However, the same ‘Paddy’ desired that officers from India posted in that foreign office had to address him as “Sir”. Our colonial mindset does not permit the Indian officers addressing him as ‘Paddy” and it is okay if a native (of USA, if you will pardon my usage) addresses him by such abridged and convenient tag! When will we change?

That brings to my mind the informality that Americans generally exude when interacting with others, whatever their nationality. Your truly has personally experienced the warmth displayed by strangers. My wife and self used to go for morning walks. A school, where my grand-daughter studies, is located in the route route that we used to take – my wife used to say that she feels like attending school again – the building is so inviting and attractive! At around 7.45 a.m. a police officer would be near the school directing traffic to ensure that the children cross the road safely, the school-going cars go in order etc. But when he sees us – we had to cross a main road – he will stop all traffic, wave his hands in greeting us and ensure that we safely cross the road. Such nice gesture – can we expect that here?

Then there are some parents (of the school children) who volunteer to be honorary traffic regulators. One such used to get down from her car, come to us and wish us ‘good morning’, say ‘have a nice day’. Total stranger but still so friendly – that is how the celebrated definition of ‘stranger’ has perhaps come – ‘a stranger is a friend whom you have not yet met’. And if we had skipped our walking schedule for a day or two, she was sure to ask us whether everything was ok with us.

There are lots of things that I may not appreciate about the USA but these nice gestures from total strangers are something that is heart-warming.

And the pride that most of these – remember, USA is a country of immigrants – is something that we need to emulate about our country. The mere slogan ‘Mera Bharat Mahan” is not enough.

Each one of us needs to feel that in our hearts and treat our tourists that way. But what do we hear – the tourists are fleeced by our transporter, make life perilous for them (we have heard of molestations and killings). Will these enthuse foreigners to visit our great country? Unless we really live up to ‘Aditi Devobhava” , India will still be seen as the land of snake charmers and the like.

Wake up India; make this a welcome tourist country. Let not our newspapers scream of atrocities on tourists but show India as a Nation that welcomes, respects every tourist.

 

The President of United States of America

I write this while watching the inauguration of President Obama's second term as the President of the USA.
USA does not claim to be a secular State. So, there was a prayer invoking the blessings of the Almighty. After a soulful prayer, a senior member of the Republican party (Obama, as you know is a Democrat) said a few nice things  and started the proceedings. My mind immediately went back to the not so savoury remarks that our opposition  make whenever a new President/Prime Minister/Chief Minister is sworn in. We carry  the bitterness of the hustings even after we have lost the mandate and tend to run down the elected personality. Or we immediately file a writ petition in the Court challenging the election. When will we learn to lose gracefully?
The speech of President Obama was not as soul stirring as the one that he delivered when he was sworn in four years  back. May be the freshness is lost. The cares and burden of office have perhaps mellowed the man. His speech was relatively sombre. But he emphasised the greatness of his country, the equality that any immigrant enjoys - he emphasised that the middle name does not matter. He was sworn in as Barak H Obama - you know why!
President Obama has created a record of sorts - on the first and second occasions, he was sworn in twice - last time because there was a doubt that the oath was not properly read out to him in the public ceremony and therefore he was sworn in again inside the White House; this time because the constitution demanded that he be sworn in before 12 noon on 20th January; you don't become the President of the most powerful Nation without taking the oath of office in front of your people and so a second swearing in on Monday the 21st January! The proceedings concluded with a prayer seeking the Almighty's blessings on the President.
The entire programme lasted for about 25 minutes and the simplicity, dignity and decorum displayed impressed me. Please don't conclude that I am a yankee lover - I am not even though my daughter is in the USA. The occasion only brought out in stark contrast how we do things here. That is about all!
Sure, we will change - signs of change are visible and this great land of ours will also rank as a super power soon - may be not in my life time - but it sure will. Man lives on hope and without hope you are a vegetable!

THE ART OF COUNTER- QUESTION

The title may have led you to believe that I am going to write about questions asked at a counter – at the bank, at the post office, at the railway station and the like. Sorry to disappoint you!  Read along and enjoy (or should I say suffer)!

Winston Churchill was once asked about his position on whisky.
Here's how he answered:
Quote: "If you mean whiskey the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean that evil drink that topples men and women from the pinnacles of righteous and gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, shame, despair, helplessness, and hopelessness, then, my friend, I am opposed to it with every fiber of my being."
"However, if by whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the elixir of life, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes;

if you mean good cheer, the stimulating sip that puts a little spring in the step of an elderly gentleman on a frosty morning;

if you mean that drink that enables man to magnify his joy, and to forget life's great tragedies and heartbreaks and sorrow;

if you mean that drink the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of pounds each year, that provides tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb , our pitifully aged and infirm, to build the finest highways, hospitals, universities, and community colleges in this nation, then my friend, I am absolutely, unequivocally in favor of it."
Unquote

This shows how great orators and scribes (Churchill was both - 'England expects every man to do his duty' - remember Sir Winston Churchill received Nobel Prize for literature) can handle any question deftly leaving the questioner dumb-founded (It is usually the recipient of the question that gets tongue-tied!).

Another such illustrious person was our own Shri Morarji Desai, former Prime Minister (of ‘pissky’ fame!). He could floor any press person with a counter question to every question that was asked of him. The questioner was none the wiser on the subject of discussion. And our dear Desai never gave away any information!

This is not easy because your counter question should be relevant to what is asked of you and should at the same time not answer the question asked of you – a tricky art! It is not simple tit for tat!

That reminds me of Bernard Shaw. A lady accosted him at a party and told him that she had wagered with a friend of hers that she will make Bernard Shaw say at least three words even though she was not acquainted with him. To which in his inimitable style, Shaw said, ‘you lose’. Such is the ready wittedness of Shaw whose quotes on several things like Oats, Cricket, Britain and America make delightful reading!  

I STILL LOVE TO BE AN INDIAN

 I received an e-mail from one of my good friends recently listing 36 items which are typically Indian. Of these I thought I shall discuss ‘You never learnt how to stand in a queue’. This is something that I have always felt very typical.

Go to the post office. You find a line and you think that people wait for their turns. But what do you see? One person will be transacting with the counter clerk and four hands (or may be more) will be stretched towards him/her asking for her transaction to be put through! So you realise that it is futile to be orderly and start stretching your hand too. When will we learn?

 Same is the case on the road. On junctions not monitored by traffic signals or the constabulary, you find that there is no concern for others and their vehicles. Vehicles will be moving from east to west or vice versa without allowing north bound/southbound vehicles to move and if they try to, you have four, perhaps more than that, converging not allowing any vehicle to go past! that is our civic sense! 

Result - traffic jam in addition to the one created by our ‘development oriented’ public authorities’ construction, digging, road laying, railway line laying and what have you. These seem to be endless projects – probably because we believe in the eternity of the soul and have extended the concept to our projects too!

 (Or perhaps like the rich man not stopping construction in his estate because his astrologer had told him that he would ‘kick the bucket’ the moment he stops construction. The construction never stopped but his Creator decided his innings in this world was to end and he was ‘out’).
The contractors engaged for these projects, I am fairly certain have been paid as and when they raised bills for the works completed (or not completed - as the Press would have us believe!). 

I travel every day to my work place in a vehicle (courtesy - the company I work for) and there is a small stretch of about 200 metres of road (I am sorry I am insulting the word ‘road’ by using it for this stretch) that has not been asphalted/macadamised for the last two years – I find the building materials heaped on either side and some of the stones have been scattered by the occasional showers (we did not have a good monsoon last year and the perennial Cauvery dispute is on because of that). If only we had had heavy rains, I am certain all the stones would have been washed away. Why this indifference? One of my friends who is worldly-wise (yours truly is not) tells me that this stretch is no man’s land – neither belongs to the city corporation nor the Panchayat and hence the delay. How can this be - it beats me – particularly when the materials for laying the road have been stored at the spot.  Just plain indifference to the comforts and convenience of the tax paying public!

Another classic instance is the CNR Rao under-pass. This has been going on and on and there seems to be no particular time line to complete this project. Prof. Rao must be flinching that his name has been used for this. Poor Professor – he would have wished that some scientific theory had been named after him and not this. Dear professor, I am aware that this was not at your request. The authorities thought that they are honouring you by this! All good things have to come to an end and I am reasonable certain that this phase shall pass (or should I say under-pass!) and the project will be completed sooner or later (definitely later!)

With all this, I STILL LOVE TO BE AN INDIAN