An ode to 87 years of experience, discipline, punctuality, honesty and undeterred shouldering of responsibilities

My grand father Sriman U.Ve. Vichanthangal Prathivadhi Bayangaram Srinivasachariar left the world today. He has left a void so huge that it can never be filled. To know him is to know what uncompromising discipline means, what timeliness means, what judgment about the hours' need means and what shouldering responsibility truly means. This great man retired from his services as the chief auditor from Defense Accounts of India in the year 1980. It was a retirement forced upon him by the government regulations. He truly retired from work and life with the passing away of our beloved grand mother, his devoted best companion for 64 years in their life ( my grandmother was 76 yrs old when she passed away 16 months ago). Even then, the values he carried did not see a curve.
Father of 10 children, eldest brother of 8 sisters and 2 brothers, he has seen his own people raise above him in the walks of life with a touch of his dedicated work, perfectionist attitude, honest dealings and the mountain of his blessings.
His care comes out in ways different than normal. When we say, "Thatha, naangalam sendhu coorg tour poga porom", he promptly would say "inum oru maasathula kalyanatha vechindu engalamo poindrukaadhey. Jaakrathaya poitu vaango. Andha Kannan payanuku vayathu vali varum. Kandadha sapdama irungo" and would take a Rs.1000 from his pocket and give it to us. This is the same man who commuted by 21G MTC bus from Triplicane to Chromepet at the age of 86 and preferred to take the ordinary service rather than the deluxe bus ( because in deluxe bus the ticket cost is Rs.15 and in ordinary bus it costs only Rs.10 and the 5 rupees saved could be used elsewhere)
Thatha, no matter what your modus operandi with us was, no matter if you were mad at us most of the time for lack of discipline, if at all we show any traces of doing the best, keeping up time, understand the value for money,thinking about others' needs, taking a task to completion if we have begun it, then it is through your influence and radiance. When you come and ask me "Computer-la enna velai dee panuvey? Edhuku ungaluku avlo sambalam kudukara? what is the nature of your job?" i can only look upon you with awe as to how you want to understand the dynamics of today even though you have a countless series of accomplishments behind you. You have left behind a treasure of values and an example for us to look upon in times of trouble. We have never felt like 25+ year old adults so far, because we always had you with us and we always will be children looking up to you and longing for your praising. If you praise us, it definitely means we have done something very good as you have set such high standards for us. We will try to be the people whom you will be proud of anytime. You have left behind a huge family and we miss the light house.

The man that is called "Roger Federer"

Watching the French open tennis men's finale yesterday left me thinking how important it is to feel good about oneself. It was a classic game of tennis and the King surrendered gracefully to the clay court champion Rafael Nadal after trying him as much as he could that day. Federer is a new icon of the sports world and the character that he shows on court is worth studying. After having won the Roland Garros three times in a row and going with an unconquered 21-0, Nadal said "Roger is a champion, no matter if he wins or loses". Should we talk about Nadal's modesty here or Federer's magnitude? If a champion can talk about his runner-up after making history, then the man who never touched the Coupe des Mousquetaires so far, has definitely touched the hearts and the game of tennis players. Dear Rahul Dravid and team, please take a break from all your shooting for endorsements and learn some will power and attitude here (sorry.. couldn't give up being a crazy Indian cricket fan ). Federer is a phenomenon to watch, excite oneself, learn from and contemplate. Sports sans fight , concentration sans aggression, disappointments sans grudges are the hallmarks of the man that is called Roger Federer. And the best thing is he has evolved to become what he is today, perhaps taking very less time than most of us do.
Congratulations Roger Federer on finishing second to Rafael Nadal, gracefully...

Saaaaaaaaar...........Post!!

When I was studying BE in the year 1998 ( The era when moms and dads could not send emails and when I didn't have an email account).., we used to receive letters, i mean, real letters from our parents and friends. Once in a week all the news from home, around the home and anything that would interest us would be written in a concise 3 page inland cover. I love those letters. And it was also periodical..like once a week and when we are very busy once a month. It was a good challenge to say whatever you wanted to say in limited space and yet keep communicating..I loved those letters, nothing forgotten to communicate, constant touch and not overwhelming...

These days, with the power of emails that provide instant touch and lightening speed replies, inland letters are forgotten. We have the freedom to communicate to anyone anywhere whenever at zero cost and no time delay..Suddenly, I'm feeling this freedom has taken too many sane things away from us....I miss inland letters

Thou shalt not sit in front of the computer

Ever wonder why somebody always focuses on how to use time efficiently and not about how time gets drifted away?I've come across hundred things that could be done to make best use of time. Plan, organize, prioritize.....
But today, I'm wondering what captivates most of my time which I could otherwise use to do the above.
Here is a list of things one can do to waste time.
Disclaimer: I do not do many or most of the things listed below. But yet let time fly by
1) Create email accounts with all free email providers- yahoo, rediff, hotmail, gmail etc..
2) Send at least 2 mails from each email id to all the friends and confuse them. This will make sure you receive email in all the accounts
3) Check all of your email accounts once in every 20 mts
3) Create accounts in communities such as Orkut
4) Add every possible person as a friend
5) Read the scrapbook of your friend's friend's friend's friend and gradually reduce down to your friend's scrap book. Do this with all the friends in the list of each of your friend. ( If you want to break your head at this point, please go to a nearby wall or if you don't want to get up try the computer table)
6) Play solitaire
7) If you win aim for 3 consecutive wins
8) If you lose keep playing until you win and repeat step 7
9) Create a blog and write a stupid post in it ( like this one)
10) Check the blog spot every 3 mts to see if someone has visited and left a comment

At this moment, I want to go away from the computer...am leaving this prison of computer chair and the monster LCD monitor with a vow not to comeback to do any of the above.........