Saturday 31 May 2014

'Breaking The Leg' of English Language

As we know, India's talent in IT (Software Services) is world famous. Being an IT professional myself, I have worked in many Indian Cities (Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Bhubaneswar) and also for long periods in UK & US. In the course of my career I have had colleagues/customers from all parts of India and also from different parts of the world.

One of the reasons cited for India's dominance of the IT Industry worldwide is our knowledge of the English language, a legacy of our colonial past. It has stood us in good stead in competition with (say) the Chinese.


No doubt this is an advantage. But as we know in different parts of India, the English language is spoken differently. The local flavour and accent comes into English as well. We also take all kinds of liberties with the language. In doing this, I believe, we have enriched the English language.

I would want to share some vignettes I came across during the course of my 16 year in the IT industry.



When I was in US, a guy called Poorna joined us from our Offshore (India) team . The practice we followed was, the manager used to issue a laptop to the new joiner. Our manager was a guy called Johnson Kumar. He had all the laptops with him. Poorna used to remind Johnson everyday to get a laptop for him but Johnson kept forgetting. This went on for a few days, till Poorna got a bit agitated. He told Johnson one day when he was leaving for the day 'Johnson, I hope you will be remembered'  (he actually meant, 'I hope you will remember!!).
To  this Johnson replied 'Man, I am still alive'..........

Poorna's use of adjectives was limited to the word 'Beautiful'...........everything good was 'Beautiful'.....
We were in a meeting with our American customers when they raised an issue that our team lacked expert Automation testers. Poorna totally disagreed with this and retorted - 'Sorry, but I think we have absolutely beautiful automation testers........we can supply as many as you want' !!

There was another lady colleague whose colourful phrases had me stumped many times. Once when I asked her what her brother did, she replied 'He is in Sierra Atlanta'. I was left wondering whether he is in Sierra Atlantic (An IT Company) or in Atlanta, USA!
On another occasion, in a meeting with our British colleagues she gave an update on her work 'We had an issue with this server for many weeks which increased the workload for Fraser. But i have solved this problem with the server and hence I hope now Fraser will be relieved of his pressure'.
Poor Fraser was left in an embarrassing situation in the meeting!

She once gave the reason for her absence the previous day 'I was so sick of yesterday'...........When asked for status of her work, she will frequently say 'I am still working out on that'. Some other gems from her -
'Just wanted to make sure you are sync with me and I am sync with you'
'After long back I am doing this'
'My outlook is overflowing'

I had another colleague, Sakthi, who was my offshore (India) counterpart when I was managing the team in UK. There was this girl in our India team who was very keen on coming onsite (UK). She had raised this many times with us. In a meeting with Sakthi, I asked him what are her core skills, to understand if we have any positions in UK where she can be placed. To this Sakthi replied - 'Sorry Alam, I am not sure, I have only touched her lightly' !! (He meant he hadn't interacted with her much!).............
On another occasion he told me - 'Alam, we need to work neck & neck' ......which I was able to decipher later, he meant 'shoulder to shoulder'. He can be pardoned for that one, neck being very close to the shoulder.

In my first job, when I joined straight from college, my Project Manager was one Mr Himanshu Giri. Giri Sir (as we called him) was a very a amiable man. He has a few gems to his credit too. Once when asked to felicitate some clients who were visiting our Bhubaneswar Centre, he started like this 'I, on behalf of myself, would like to present this bucket (bouquet !!) of flowers..................'
In our group of new joiners he particularly liked one Rajkumar Sinha. One day he addressed us, 'You should all try to be like Raj. He is the prototype of this team.'

Another colleague of mine Kamesh was famous for his murderous assaults on the English language. Once I asked him - 'Kamesh, I am unable to install this softwrare on my machine. How did you do it?'. He replied in all seriousness 'It was easy. Dhananjaya was installed on my machine' ! (which can be deciphered as 'Dhanajaya installed it on my machine'). He would consistently use such language in meetings to leave our British colleagues flabbergasted !!

Another friend of mine, Madhu Shanmughan used to tell us about some 'gaffes' he committed when he came first to UK. The first day he came to office after coming from India, he was feeling very jet lagged. In office, he met an English lady colleague who he already knew while he worked from India on the same project, being on conference calls with her. She greeted him warmly and they chatted for a few minutes. Then she told him, 'Madhu, nice meeting you, will catchup with you later, I need to go to the rest room'.
To this Madhu replied 'I am feeling very tired myself, can I come with you to the rest room please?'

After a few weeks, Madhu's wife Sudha came from India to join him in UK. That afternoon, Madhu was quite happy and told his colleague Matt, 'I need to leave early today, my wife Sudha is coming from India'....
Matt replied 'That's great, Madhu, have a nice evening with Sudha'......as a matter of habit Madhu responded 'Same to you too, Matt'...............-:)

My friend Vineet Panicker had a Manager who had the habit of cutting short anyone indulging in a long winded explanation with 'kachche main baat karo....kachche main !!.,,,,,,by this he meant 'talk in brief'.....he would make a word by word translation of this into Hindi -:)

None of us are perfect. I have committed a few 'gaffes' myself............perhaps this is one of the ways in which we Indians are taking revenge for the two centuries of British Raj !

The secret of success of the Indian IT industry is, despite the fact that we keep 'breaking the leg' (अंग्रेजी  की टांग तोड़ना) of the English language, we are always able to get our point across, anywhere in the world.

And that, friends, is what communication is all about.

Posted by at No comments:

Thursday 29 May 2014

Mohd. 'Bhaskar' Khan !!

In response to my earlier blog -
Khassi Tournament, Mohd, Daniss Khan and Other Stories

 My friend Pradipto Chakrabarty has written this, which I thought deserves to be included as a separate post.......his insights and memories of the 'Khassi Tournaments' are even more interesting................this should resurrect the forgotten career of the 'Khassi' winning player of BFC (Bariatu Football Club) , Mohd. Bhaskar Khan !!!............Thanks a lot Pradipto....................

******************************************************************************
I must admit that this post by Azfar is quite nostalgic besides being exceptionally well written. After reading through his memoirs of the fascinating adventures of the three zealous, yet unassuming boys of Ranchi, I thought that I should paint some lines on the memory lane.

My tryst with the hallowed BFC (Bariatu Football club) began in 1988. Being an ardent football fan and having played the sport for most part of my school life, I was left with a void after I passed out.  None of my colony mates played football and I was deprived of running wild with the ball for hours. Not that I was a great player like Danish, but they were those adolescent years when I day dreamed of playing for Calcutta’s (now Kolkata) Mohun Bagan Football club. In fact, once after a fight with my Mom, I picked nothing but my football boots and started walking out of house and much to my embarrassment, I am still teased for that filmy drama. Anyway, let’s get back to the story. That was the year when the bonding between the three of us did not yet take shape. We had just met and our sojourns were limited to meeting for few hours in college.

While loitering around near our Bariatu Hill one evening ( you can see that on Azfar’s post) and trying to steal a smoke or two from prying eyes of our colony uncles, I chanced upon a ragged group of guys playing football in the ground. As usual, I got attracted and took a few shots on the ball and sheepishly asked if I could be a part of the game. This was the first time after about a year that I got a chance to shed some sweat and ran around with the guys. After the game, they asked me my name and my mind went into an overdrive. In the two seconds that I took to answer, I had put across a distorted logic to answer the simple question. My dilemma was something that you might appreciate if you are the son of a Bengali professor and that too in literature. If I answered Pradipto, I knew they will murder the pronunciation of the poetic name my father kept (I knew it since I experienced this all through my 10 years of schooling). Chakrabarty, I assumed would face similar consequence and I could not stand the idea of my surname being ruthlessly slaughtered.

All of sudden I decided to use my middle name – Bhaskar, which I usually avoided with the intellectual elite. Also, it crossed my mind that Bhaskar Ganguly was an exemplary East Bengal FC goalkeeper of the time, who, on many occasions stood as a wall between victory and Mohammedan Sporting Club, which the entire BFC supported. I was sure of acceptance. And guess what, as expected, one of them replied – “Bhaskar Ganguly?” “No”, I said – “Just Bhaskar”. So, from that day I was initiated as Bhaskar of the Bariatu Football Club. It turned out that in the documented history of BFC, I was the only sample of my community to be a part of the team. Please don’t get me wrong – BFC was not communal, but I would say it was just coincidental or maybe law of averages.

This name continued for some time till I played the first “Khassi tournament” which I think was a couple of years later. That momentous occasion resulted in a major twist to my nomenclature that established my identity across the residents of Bariatu Basti.

While announcing the BFC team, the Master of Ceremonies  (quite a fancy designation for a biri smoking, chequered lungi clad person holding an astoundingly creaky mike) started announcing : Mo. (Short form of Mohammed which I am using to elucidate the pronunciation) Sabbir Khan, Mo. Sakil Khan, Mo. Akil Khan, Mo. Arif Khan, ……and …….. Mo. Bhaskar Khan. I am proud to say that although my field presence were limited to the occasional replacement for injured players, Mo. Bhaskar Khan was indeed a member of a Khassi winning team. The victory was followed by a series of celebrations, but that would be a subject of another post……..




Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday 27 May 2014

Papa - My Grandfather


I called my paternal grandfather 'Papa'. To his children (4 sons and 2 daughters) he was 'Papa-Jaan'. But for all his grandchildren he was just 'Papa'. It was the same for all the kids in the neighbourhood too.


Papa was Prof. Syed Monazir Alam (S. M. Alam), Principal of Ranchi Agricultural College (RAC), Kanke, Ranchi (now capital of the Indian State of Jharkhand). This college has now become an University, Birsa Agricultural University (BAU). Papa was instrumental in its establishment and growth.

He was born in 1917 in Mangal Talab, Patna, Bihar to Mr M. Yahya and Salma Bibi. This is part of Patna City (old part of Patna). He went to Patna City High School, which is situated overlooking the tank. He excelled at studies from childhood and frequently won scholarships. 

He was very active in extra-curricular activities and was an excellent football player. He also organised social functions with his friends. Some of his childhood friends went on to achieve very prominent positions like Mr Ahsanuzzafar became the Mayor of Patna and Mr. Jameel Ahmad became an MLA.

My Dadda (grandmother) used to tell us that Papa was so handsome in his younger days that when he would be walking on the road, the ladies would secretly look at him from behind their 'purdah'..........!

Papa has been called the FIRST Agriculture graduate of  the state of Bihar as he received first position in first class in the first batch of the first agriculture college !!

He eventually was granted a scholarship to complete his masters degree from USA. He went to America in 1949 and did double MS, one from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the other from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
As usual he excelled and won many admirers there. One of his American professors, a renowned man in his field, complimented Papa by saying that he has not met a better student and a better gentleman!

He returned to India in 1951.

He was posted at Sipaya Farm near Chhapra, Bihar. He also worked at Pusa Sugarcane Research Institute, Samastipur; Bihar Agricultural College, Sabour; as well as in Patna and Muzaffarpur.

                                       
                                   Papa & Dadda with their children and elder son-in-law 

In 1955 he came to Ranchi and was instrumental in establishing the Ranchi Agricultural College (RAC), in Kanke. He was one of the founding fathers of RAC, which he served with complete involvement and dedication. It became his life's work.

He was a strict disciplinarian and was an extremely able administrator. At the same time he was self-effacing and often laughed at his own cost. Hence he was loved by the students and the staff too, a rarity in today's times. They could clearly see that this man was prepared to go to any lengths to help and serve them without expecting anything in return.
  Main Building of Ranchi Agricultural College, Kanke (Now part of Birsa Agricultural University)

On many occasions he would send his own car at his own cost to the Railway Station to pick up or drop students and staff coming from far off places. He would be ready to come to their aid any time of the day. All this was not strictly part of his responsibility but he personally felt that the students are like his children and he treated them as such.

Many years after Papa passed away, I saw his erstwhile students, who were now in high places, come and touch the feet of my Dadda (my grandmother). This shows the esteem in which they held Papa. On one occasion, again after many years of his passing away, we had moved into another house in a different part of Ranchi (Ashok Nagar), a man stopped in front of our gate and asked me, 'Is this Alam Sahab's house?’ , I said yes and I told him that I am his grandson. With a lot of emotion he told me that 'Alam Sahab made my career by guiding me in the right direction, and I owe a lot to him'. There are many such stories. He built many careers.

Another interesting facet of his personality was the fact that he wrote plays which he would direct himself. These would mostly be hilarious comedies and will be played by the students in the college auditorium. He also penned humorous parodies of popular film songs too. This was the lighter side of his personality. 

He was an extremely upright and honest man. Even when he was the Principal of the college, the car he had was a very old model Hillman car, when many of his juniors colleagues had Fiats and Ambassadors (the in-cars of that time). This Hillman car looked a bit like a vintage car but this never bothered Papa.

His human qualities were remarkable. He treated big and small alike. He would make a point of leaving all guests till the gate. People just felt attracted towards him.

We had an 'adivasi' maid servent whom we called Jamuni Bua. Her husband had passed away and she had a son, named Birsa, who was 4-5 years. Papa would treat Birsa with much affection and love and would keep him next to him even when he was receiving important guests. Birsa was treated like any other kid in the family and had access to all rooms and areas of the house. 

He treated people from all religious faiths, castes, statuses, alike and actively participated in the festivities of all. In fact, when he was Principal of RAC, the Holi celebration of the whole campus used to start from our house. I remember, we used to accompany Papa to the houses of all his Hindu colleagues and friends on the occasion of Holi, Diwali, Dussehra and so many other festivals. In fact we wholeheartedly participated in all these festivals and looked forward to it. 

On the occasion of Christmas, Papa would ask my mother to bake many cakes and would instruct me to deliver these to the Christians in our neighborhood. These included the poor labourer Sushil who lived in a hut, driver Joseph and other fourth grade employees in 'Warder Line' to Prof. Kerketta (who had done his Ph. Ed from England). When I would deliver these cakes, these people would be overcome with delight. Just imagine a Muslim sending home baked cakes to all his Christian neighbours, rich or poor. Quite a rarity.

In this context I recall another incident. When I was 8 or 9 years old, a Christian from Kerala, whom we called James Sir came into our neighbourhood. He wanted to start an English Medium school called Jehovah Jireh. Kanke being a small place where Christians were in minority, James Sir faced a lot of resistance. Papa believed this school will be good for the community and supported James Sir. Since Papa was a prominent and highly respected figure in Kanke, his support helped James Sir start the school. Papa even got my sister Saba and myself enrolled into this school as its first students! At that time it was in a single room. Now this school has a large building of its own and is well established. 

Papa was closely involved with Madrasa Aaliya in Kanke too. He laid the foundation stone of the Madrasa. Maulana Akhtar, who was the head of this Madrasa, took Papa's advice on important matters. 

In fact, because of growing up in such an atmosphere of religious harmony, when in later life I came across certain people with communal feelings, it came as a shock to me.

When Papa was the Principal of RAC, he was instrumental in creating such an atmosphere of fellowship and intermingling among the staff and their families and the students that the whole campus seemed like a big family.

                                          Papa after retirement - surrounded by his family

No wonder so many people adored Papa.

Papa's love and generosity would be reciprocated by people from all communities on the occasion of Eid in our house. Our house would be jam packed with guests on Eid, some 400-500 people will come to greet us mostly non-Muslims. Remember, this continued long past Papa had retired. Hence people came purely out of love and affection for him, not to get any official favours.

Papa just loved children. He would do anything to create an atmosphere where kids can have fun. After he retired in 1975, he moved into a house near Boreya Road, in Kanke. Though the house itself was quite modest, it was surrounded by a big orchard. He maintained a huge kitchen garden and also Cows, Chicken, Goats, Dogs etc. It was surrounded by huge maidaans, there was a pond and a river nearby. We kids enjoyed thoroughly spending a lot of time on the trees and playing various games. He gave us full freedom to enjoy ourselves. The time me, my sister and my cousins have spent in our childhood in this house, is cherished by all of us. Papa had a lot to do with that.

He suffered a heart attack and passed away on 26th July 1986 in Kanke, Ranchi. He was 69.  

I remember, in his 'Janaza' (funeral), a huge number of people participated, Hindus, Christians and Muslims. They all went to the Qabristan (graveyard) and after he was laid to rest, prayed and sprinkled soil on his grave. We all could feel the acute sense of loss.

By all accounts, Papa was a rare human being and a remarkable man. And I am not saying this just because he was my grandfather. I consider myself lucky that I spent my childhood with him. I hope the generation after mine (like my son Ammar and others) get to know about Papa's personality and human values.
                  

******************************************************************************
My sister, Saba Alam's memories of Papa -

A tribute fit for a wonderful man like Papa...You've written it beautifully...Ihad tears in my eyes while reading this...Ihave so many lovely memories of him, a gem of a person...I have yet to come across a more beautiful soul and such a complete package..Papa it's been so long since you left us but it seems you were always there, in our thoughts...I very vividly remember the way he used to ask me if I have money while going to school and quietly slip a two rupee note in my hand which was enough for a scrumptious dosa those days, the way he taught me to cut wires and repair an iron plug, the way he used to mischievously ask me 'Mobi po' which was our code word for 'ask your mom to prepare pudding'...and so many exciting picnics I had with my cousins which were arranged by him. we had such great days with him











Posted by at No comments:

Monday 26 May 2014

Cambridge

Today me and Ammar had been to Cambridge to my cousin Filzah's place. I had gone to meet her father Hashmi Mamma (Prof. Seyed E. Hasnain) who is my maternal uncle. He is a scientist of international fame. His area is Biotechnology. He established the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting (CDFD) in Hyderabad, India. He was appointed the Vice Chancellor of the Univ of Hyderabad by the then President of India APJ Abdul Kalam. He is now a professor at IIT, Delhi.


He has been awarded most of the top prizes and awards in his fields including the Padma Shree.

He is a great human being too. Extremely down to earth and ever ready to help anyone. He is an inspiration for all of us in the family.



The long weekend is over and it is back to work from tomorrow. 

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday 25 May 2014

Godzilla

Today Ammar and me watched the movie 'Godzilla' in 3D. Ammar described the movie as 'Epic'.  If he really likes something then he pays what for him is the highest compliment 'It was epic'.....
These days 'Minecraft' (a computer game) is epic, before that it was Ben 10, before that it was Mt Tumble......

It is also interesting to see how much Americans love to see their iconic cities and landmarks being destroyed/attacked in the movies. We have seen that in the 'Day After Tomorrow' and so many other movies. I think this is fascinating to a world wide audience and not just Americans........



It is fascinating to see how movies are using computer graphics to create things which one could only imagine. 'Life of Pi' was another marvel of great photography and use of graphics. A boy and a tiger spend a lot of time together in a boat. If you see the movie, both appear absolutely real, but actually the tiger has been added through graphics.

I heard from Vineet that Mumbai Indians pulled off an absolutely amazing win against RR today to qualify for the last 4, similar to what KKR did yesterday. Public just loves the big hitting and the sixes, but I feel the game is becoming more and more lopsided in favour of the batsman. This balance  is what creates the contest and stretching it too far will ultimately harm the game.

file:///C:/Users/Hp/Downloads/googlea5053a7f077419fb%20(1).html
Posted by at No comments:

Saturday 24 May 2014

A Bold Invitation and a Bolder Acceptance

It was a very intelligent and bold move on the part of Narendra Modi to invite the leaders of the SAARC nations to his inauguration as Prime Minister on the 26th of May. There is no precedence for this. The big question was will the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif accept the invitation and come.



Modi has achieved something of a diplomatic coup now that all of them have agreed to come, Including Nawaz Sharif. This is a huge thumbs up for Modi as he been a controversial figure in the past and was denied a US visa for more than 10 years.

Unlike other SAARC nations , it was a very complex and tough situation for Nawaz Sharif. Modi has an image of being anti-Muslim who always took a very hard line on Pakistan. Modi has now emerged as the leader with a huge mandate. Pakistan has to engage with him. Nawaz Sharif in turn wants closer ties with India. He in fact invited Manmohan Singh for his inauguration when he became the PM in 2013, but Mr Singh declined.

Though Nawaz Sharif personally wanted to come, but he has to contend with the military establishment who might view this as Pakistan being treated like any other SAARC country like Nepal or Bhutan, unlike their view of Pakistan having a special status in the region, especially vis a vis India. They may also see this as Pakistan's endorsement of Modi. These may be popular views in Pakistan but a leader has to tide over all this to take the country on a future which has peace and prosperity. Nawaz Sharif could easily have chosen the easy way out of not coming himself and sending his president or his brother Shahbaz Sharif. The fact that he has decided to come despite running the risk of raising the ire of the Army and the ISI is extremely commendable. This may just be the decision which may take the two countries on the path to a long awaited breakthrough. Only time will tell......

It seems the inauguration is going to be a huge event which the world will be watching. 

On the cricketing front, Yusuf Pathan went on the rampage today in a way only he can getting 72 in 22 balls and hitting the fastest 50 in IPL history. When he is on song, he is comparable to Gayle and Yuvraj Singh and now Glenn Maxwell.....in the process he hit Dale Steyn for 26 runs in one over....I doubt if Steyn who is the number 1 fast bowler in the world, has ever been hit like that. But then T20 is a batsman's game and bowlers are like lambs for the slaughter .I hope he continues his good form and stakes his claim for national comeback. KKR has now won 7 in a row and have got 2nd place for the knock-outs.
RCB despite all the big guns in their team are out.




Posted by at No comments:

Friday 23 May 2014

Khassi Tournament, Mohd. Daniss Khan & Other Stories

My friend Pradipto called me today morning and that triggered a conversation which has resulted in this blog........

********************************************************************************
When I was in St. Xavier's College, Ranchi, doing my Intermediate and Bachelors, I used to spend most of my time in the company of my friends and classmates Pradipto Chakravarty and Danish Ahmad. I am related to Danish as well and he is now married my cousin Nadia also.

The three of us were inseparable.

Danish & Pradipto used to live in Bariatu (a locality in Ranchi). Danish's parents at that time were living in Daltonganj. When he came to Ranchi to study, he first lived in hostels. They had land in Bariatu and Danish supervised the building of their house there while he was still a student. Once it was built, we used to spend a lot of time there.

This house is just below Bariatu Hill and there is a big football ground in front of it. Danish and Pradipto were good football players, particularly Danish.



Danish was part of the local team of Bariatu.

                                                           

                                                                            Danish

Now every year there would be a 'Khassi' Tournament on that ground. (Khassi meaning a male goat). As you must have guessed, the big prize for the winners was........a hale & hearty 'Khassi' !! (a far cry from IPL !!)
It was a very seriously conducted and hard fought tournament with many teams of the city including teams from the military contonments participating. There was a lot of local interest in this tournament.

The team Danish played for mostly comprised of 'khans' from the Bariatu Basti. Before the match, when the names of the players were called out on the loudspeaker, it will go something like this .........

Aur Bariatu team ke khiladi hain..............

Mohd, Hashim Khan, Mohd, Faiyaz Khan, Mohd. Junaid Khan,......(and many other 'Khans' and then) .....Mohd. Daniss Khan........

In the audience I would wonder why 'our champion player' Danish's name was not called out.......only to realize that he has now become 'Mohd. Daniss Khan'.....to gel onto the Basti team......
The people in the Basti took it for granted that if you have a Muslim name, it must have a Mohd. at the beginning and a 'Khan' at the end !!

So for the duration of the match Danish will become one of the 'Khans'.......

Coming back to the trio of Danish, Pradipto & me.....our B.Sc (Bachelors) which is normally a 3 year degree, took 5 years for us. Not just for us but for the whole batch. The reason being 'Session Late'. Most people other than us find it hard to understand what is 'Session Late'........some people even think we flunked !! But strangely and sadly all of us were robbed 2 years of life because the University could not conduct exams in time.......

To while away the time, we would have endless discussions on Cricket, Football, Politics, Movies and many other pastimes college going guys normally indulge in. Our Carrom Board games in the college common room would go on for hours. Also bunking classes and going to movies.

In St. Xavier's College, though it was co-ed, the authorities actively encouraged segregation between the boys and girls. Once a 'No Dupatta, No Entry' policy was imposed against which the girls protested a lot. Girls were supposed to assemble under something called a 'Girl's Shed', while not in class. When I think back this seems a bit like a 'Cow Shed'......very sexist!

A guy who was able to make it to the 'Girl's Shed' to have a conversation with a girl would instantly become a hero in our eyes........also there were instances of guys being beaten up for talking to a girl who another guy secretly pined for (without ever having spoken to her) !! Those were the times in small town Ranchi !

Pradipto and myself were very good at quizzing and we normally won most of the college quizzes and state level Quiz Competitions.


                                                            Pradipto

On one occasion our B. Sc. exams were going on in Gossner College. After one of the paper was over. we were in animated conversation while riding on Pradipto's scooter (2 wheeler). We were about to enter the Main Road when Danish & me reminded Pradipto that we are doing 'Triple Riding' on his scooter. In Ranchi in those days the Traffic police would let you go if you were not wearing a helmet, didn't have a licence even, but 'Triple Riding' on a 2 -wheeler was unpardonable.

Pradipto brushed aside our warning and retorted 'Arre Thulla Log (slang for police) se darte hain kya. Tumlog baithe raho, hum thulla log ko dekh lenge.....'. We were reassured by his confidence. The moment we came onto the Main Road, the inevitable happened.........Pradipto was stopped by a Traffic Policemen!
Danish & me were asked to step down and he asked Pradipto to come into the lane leading to Sujata Cinema were some senior officers were waiting.
Danish & me waited for some time and then slowly walked to where the traffic police had taken Pradipto. Based on the bravado he showed earlier, we expected him to be putting up a brave front. What we saw was totally the opposite.
Pradipto with folded hands was pleading with the Senior Officer 'Sir humlog student hain, sir....humko maaf kar dijiye' !!

We would pull his leg later for the volte face he did in front of the Police.To this Pradipto would justify his behaviour ' Arre yaar situation kharab ho to aadmi ko badalna parta hai'.........!!

As is obvious, we certainly didn't make the best use of our time while in college as far as studies are concerned. Our parents were quite worried about our future, and rightly so.......but I think largely due to the prayers and blessings of our parents, things turned out ok in the end.

Danish now works for Microsoft and lives in Seattle,Washington and Pradipto is heading the Indian Subsidiary of an American Company........









Posted by at No comments:

Thursday 22 May 2014

European Elections & Other Thoughts


Today I voted for the European Elections. It seems a bit odd to vote for the European Parliament as normally voting is associated with a country or a state. But anyway it was good experience.

As Farah is in India, it is very hectic for me here, balancing work and house-work along with Ammar. But I am able to manage. Farah has made things easier by cooking a lot of stuff and putting it in the freezer.

Today, I came across a video (shared on FB). This is an analysis by Fareed Zakaria of how Narendra Modi should interpret the mandate and also on how he should move on economy and foreign relations. I found Fareed Zakaria's views very well informed and pragmatic......
http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/473676/narendra-modi-should-revive-us-investment-fareed-zakaria.html

Came across a beautiful story today, want to share ...........


Beauty Remains; the Pain Passes

Although Henri Matisse was nearly 28 years younger than Auguste Renoir, the two great artists were dear friends and frequent companions. When Renoir was confined to his home during the last decade of his life, Matisse visited him daily. Renoir, almost paralyzed by arthritis, continued to paint in spite of his infirmities. One day as Matisse watched the elder painter working in his studio, fighting torturous pain with each brush stroke, he blurted out: "Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?"
Renoir answered simply: "The beauty remains; the pain passes." And so, almost to his dying day, Renoir put paint to canvas. One of his most famous paintings, The Bathers, was completed just two years before his passing, 14 years after he was stricken by this disabling disease.
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday 21 May 2014

The Struggles of a new Driver



This one is about my Manjhale Abbi (Dr. Naiyar Alam).

About 30 odd years back, he had decided that he had to learn to drive a scooter ( 2 wheeler). Having never driven anything (including a bicycle) and height wise being on the shorter size, this was a major challenge for him.  But he never let these hurdles deter him and continued to take his Bajaj Scooter out in the unruly traffic of Patna.



This landed him in many strange situations. Once when he was passing near a sabzi market he lost control and found himself face to face with the flabbergasted sabzi-waali. She asked angrily – ‘Sahab aap gari leke yahan kaise ghus gaye’.......maintaining his composure Manjhale Abbi replied – ‘Do neembu dena’...........that is grace under pressure for you !!

The story has a happy ending.......he did become an expert driver !!


Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday 20 May 2014

May 20th 2014

Well, don't feel like writing much today......don't know why.
Farah had left yesterday on a 2 week trip to India.
I was feeling a bit out of sorts today. I was finding it difficult to concentrate on work..........got to pull up my socks quickly.......

KKR beat CSK today, Robin Uthappa getting 67 no in 39 balls.

Mr Modi broke down during his speech to his party in Parliament Hall.........that's the big news of the day.....

Don't know why, today my thoughts go to another Gujarati..............MKG............






Posted by at No comments:

Monday 19 May 2014

The Fine Art of Patang-Baazi (Kite Flying)


In my childhood in Kanke, Ranchi, one of our favourite pastime was Patangbaazi पतंगबाज़ी  (Kite Flying). We used to call this 'Guddi Urana' गुड्डी उड़ाना . Unlike other sports and pastime, Kite Flying needs a lot of upfront preparation and the skill of flying a kite successfully and cutting other kites 'Guddi Ladana' गुड्डी लड़ाना  (Kite Duels), is a fine art and science. It is not everyone's cup of tea.

For the layman, let's introduce the key concepts first -

Patang/Guddi पतंग  गुड्डी 



Lataai लटाई 

This is where the thread is wound and as the kite flies higher and higher, the thread is let go.



Uchka उचका 

This is the bigger form of Lataai and it serves the same purpose.
This was used by the more professional patang-baaz. We would not be able to get this in Ranchi. We used to especially buy it from Patna City (old part of Patna). These were really big, some as long as 5 feet. To make them heavier we used to slide iron nuts into its sticks. To be honest it used to be so big and heavy that I always struggled with it, hence ultimately the more practical Lataai found favour with us kids.



Dhaga धागा 

This is the tread or the string which connects the kite with the Lataai. In my childhood बेलचा (Spade) brand dhaga was the one we coveted.


Manjha मांझा 

Now this is the interesting part.To win the kite duels (पतंग लड़ाना ) and to cut the rivals kite, the string needs to be extra sharp. And to do this Maanjha is applied to the string. This is a very elaborate process, like coloring cloth which in old days was done by the rangrez रंगरेज़. I will talk about this in detail below.



Guddi Larana

This is also called Patang-baazi. It is said that this was the favourite pastime of the nawabs of Lucknow. But it is now as popular among the commoners.One person will deliberately entangle his kite in another's kite and will try to cut the string of the other. In turn this person also runs the risk of his own string getting cut in this duel. It is a combinations of the skill of kite flying as well as the quality of the 'Maanjha'.



My Memories of Patangbaazi

 A Guddi (Patang) would cost 10, 20 or 25 paise depending on the size & quality. They will come in all hue & colour.


Depending on the colour and the design they had names like Ekranga एकरंगा , Adhkapari अधकपारी etc etc.
After buying a patang, the first thing to do was to 'Kanna Marna', this was to tie the thread to the wooden sticks in the kite. Then it would be knotted to the rest of the thread in the Lataai.

There were many other technical terms associated with the flying of the kite -

Kanni Marna कन्नी मारना - This is to correct the kite always moving in one direction.
Latt लट्ट  - This the kite rotating while you gibe dheel ढ़ील
Dagg डग्ग - This is the kite swaying from side to side while in air

I forget many other fascinating terms we used..................

There is no need for Maanjha if you are flying the kite just for fun and there  is no intention to get into 'Guddi Larana'. But it was considered infra dig if your dhaga had no Maanjha. You would not be considered a real patangbaaz without the Maanjha. It is like claiming you you are a good cricketer without ever having played with a leather ball !!

So the day of the Manjha would be planned with 3-4 of my other friends/patangbaaz. They were typical characters from Chooritola Mohalla, one was called Jumma....another one called himself Oonus (real name Younus!!).........Maanjha has to be done in a group, it is such a elaborate activity. It was no less than cooking a elaborate meal.

Typical ingredients for the Maanjha will be collected in advance -
1. Fused Tube lights, Light Bulbs
2. Arrowroot, we used to call it Ararote अरारोट
3. Sabudaana साबूदाना
4. Rice
5. Eggs
6. Bhindi (Ladies Finger)

And there would be a couple of secret ingredients also which like a Michelin Star chef, we would never make public !

The tubes, bulbs will be covered with cloth and would be broken with a stone and then the glass pieces will be ground further on a sill-lorha सिल्ल लोढ़ा. After all glass gives the cutting edge to the Maanjha hence it was the most important ingredient,

All the others like ararote, sabubaana, rice, eggs etc would be boiled with water to make the super glue mixture by which the glass powder will stick to the string.
For this purpose some kids used secret ingredients which will give them the 'cutting edge'. One of my friends Munna, once gave out his secret ingredient - it was Aloe Vera plant !!

Anyway, once all these ingredients are ready, applying the maanjha on the thread will start. We used to select 2 light poles to do this. This would be a relay activity. The person with the lataai and the thread will go first, then behind him would be the person applying the 'super glue' to the thread and immediately behind would be the person applying the glass powder. The last man in the relay would the one applying the 'Bhindi' to the thread. This was done to smoothen the glass powder on the thead, it would do the work of 'surkhi'...........I told you this was a super slick operation !!

This whole thing was quite a sight !

Round and round we would go around the two poles with the thread hanging and drying. This will go on for 5-6 hours till the thread of every participant is covered with maanjha and it left hanging between the poles. Once the drying is over, then everyone would take turns in wounding their dhaga back in their lataai.

I was never the assertive type, and hence my thread would invariably be the one at the end. Once by the time my turn came to wound the 'Maanjha- waala' dhaga into my lataai, it was late evening with darkness descending. A cyclist came and didn't see the dhaga in the darkness and went right through it, falling down in the process and also destroying all my dhaga with the 'maanjha'. Once the dhaga breaks, that causes a knot, and a knot (गाँठ ) is the death knell for a patangbaaz.
I was totally crestfallen and cried at the cruelty of fate !!

But this incident apart, I fully indulged in the thrill and joy of cutting another ones patang, running after a cut 'patang' to 'looto' it. The pride one felt when ones patang would fly so high and so far in the sky that it will become a tiny speck, was unimaginable.




Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)