This imortal sung sung b Kishore Kumar is from the film Safar starring Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore. The music is scored by Kalyanji Anandji and lyrics penned by Indivar. This flm became a hit in the 70s and the songs were liked by one and all. This is one of my favorites and I keep singing this whenever I get time....... so much of meaning contained in this little song!!

You come across different kinds of people in your day to day  life with different brain quotient, mannerisms and completely different ways of thinking that may be just the opposite of what you think or have in mind!  During my 20 years of banking career with Oriental Bank of Commerce, I dealt with thousands of clients and staff and enriched my experience of dealing with each one of them not necessarily in the same way and often indulging in compromise for the sake of managing the branch affairs!   One such personality whom I can not forget  in the bank while working at Chennai was a Tamilian, quite fragile looking, advocate like behaviour and a strong memory power which could not be challenged at any point of time!  This gentleman named Mani(name changed) always had to say the opposite of whatever you say and used to insist that his view point is correct!  The net result was that you could never extract what you wanted from that particular person and it became a known phenomenon in the bank that Mr Mani would never listen to what seniors said ?  All the branch incumbents started ignoring this person for the simple reason that he will try and reason out not to fall in your line of thinking!  Quite often I was  pleasantly reminded of a joke that was in circulation in the 80s which goes like this:
Ram Lal a Jat from Haryana, an uneducated youth in his early 30s went for a job of manning  a Railway  level crossing.  He was confronted by a jury of higher officials and Engineers from the Rail Ministry  who posed a question to him.  Given a situational cloudy dark evening  with expected  thunder showers and gusty winds, you find that the fish plates of the rails near the level crossing  have been removed and in a matter of 15 minutes some Express train is going to pass by?  You as a  responsible gate keeper of the level crossing  notice this grave situation  and want to prevent the train from  passing and resulting in accident.  what will you do?

Mr Ram Lal  blinked for a while and mustered courage to say that he would immediately alarm the station master of the previous station by ringing him up on the railway phone  and urge him not to green flag the train as there are rails which are removed nearer to his level crossing.  Not to get convinced by the explanation that came forth, the officials again come up saying "Supposing the telephone lines are all down because of heavy showers"?

Pat came the reply from the eager youth in Mr Ram Lal saying "I would run towards the previous station shouting not to flag off the train"!

No, the interviewers remain stubborn not to get convinced and to rekindle the thought process,  pose a question back"suppose, on that given day  you are sick and down with fever and your voice is choked and down in the bin"?

Not getting worried, Ram Lal says I will hold some Red cloth and wave towards the train indicating danger ahead"?

The Railway officials quickly fires  yet another salvo"suppose there is no red cloth available in your vicinity"?

Disgusted with the officials not seeking solutins to the problem, he says"Sir, I have given some solutions with proposed actions and nothing seems to convince you all.  In that event,  I will wake up my wife and children and tell them to come out and see a real time train accident that they have been wanting to see for a long time"!!!

you come across so many faces and multiple personalities in your walk of life and there are so many with whom you would like to converse and there are equal numbers from whom you stand to gain experience!

my friend Su Ravi, a great pet from Pune wanted me to add this too:

n a 5th Grade Class room:

 

வாத்தியார்:   ராமு, உன்னை காட்டுல சிங்கம் துரத்தினா என்ன செய்வே?

ராமு:              பக்கத்துல இருக்கற மரத்துல ஏறி தப்பிச்சுப்பேன் ஸார்!

 

வாத்:             பக்கத்துல மரமே இல்லேன்னா?

ராமு:            சட்டுனு குளத்துல குதிச்சு மறைஞ்சுப்பேன்,

வாத்:            அங்க குளமே இல்லேன்னா?

ராமு:           ஒரு புதர்ல ஒளிஞ்சுப்பேன்

வாத்:            புதரே இல்லேனா?

 

ராமு,கடுப்பாகி : யோவ், நீ யார் கட்சி-என கட்சியா, சிங்கம் கட்சியா அத மொதல்ல சொல்லு

 

சு.ரவி

 

Political leaders Bee-line to Putaparuthi to be seen with Sai Baba!

Amongst various scams and charges the political leaders including the CM of Karnataka and the defacto CM of Tamil Nadu were seen alongside the great saint of the century Satya Sri Sai Baba at his abode in Putaparuthi to seek blessings to get out of murky waters that they are in and to win sympathy overall.  Hindus in general have a great quality to pardon and forget any body's sin if repentance is shown in such religious forms!

Sai Baba who celebrated his 85th birthday could have utilised the opportunity to advise the politicians to refrain from such scandalous acts of money making or creation of wealth in any form.  He could have talked about living a simple, spiritual life and working relentlessly for achieving social and economic goals for the well being of human beings. He could have highlighted the Bakhti Marg to achieve objectives and goals in life and lift the spirits over and above the worldly pleasures which is called "Maya"!

Unfortunately, none of our swamijis or God Men preach anything about cleanliness in public life and the necessity of being sincere, disciplined and honest to attain a place that will be closer to God, once the soul leaves the human body.  It is essential that such noble and Holy  people utilise the opportunity to show good  directions to all our politicians who scurry for cover and blessings whenever they are trapped in scandals.  I bow my head to Satya Sri Sai Baba and offer my sincere pranams and wish for meaningful life which will take me a step closer to God?

Guzaarish

Jodha Akbar created waves in recent times with Hrithik and Aishwarya leading the movie in box office collections and both came to be remembered as the ideally suited lovers on the screen!  Not wanting to allow Aishwarya to age, Sanjay Leela Bansali and Ronnie screw wallah quickly applied their minds to spin out yet another movie with the same pair and make a quick buck!  Sadly, the theme selected is a heavy painful story which may win some filmfare or National awards but not the Box office.  Hrithik as a quadriplegic patient has shown what acting is all about siting on a wheel chair or lying on a bed purely with his facial expressions and makes even hard core men jerk their tears with his acting.  Aishwarya as a nurse treating Hrithik for well over 12 years is fully decked up and dolled to make any paralysed men to wish for a nurse like Aish!!  Aishwarya as a serious nurse devoted in service of Hrithik does well when she argues a point in the court for the quadriplegic patients who opt death instead of undergoing the secluded life and inevitable slow death!  The following Spanish dance in a pub explains the talents of this world beauty in dancing, foot tapping and  the understanding of the rhythm.  The graceful actor does a dance which is the only main  entertainment in the whole film!!  The editing of the film is wonderfully mixed with scenes depicting Hrithik as a magician and the performances which are magical and captivating. The 3 scenes of magic that's is pictured is absolutely amazing and the audience watch it with awe! There was an expectation that more of such magic with Hrithik will be shown to keep the audience amused and be mesmerised under the aura of Hrithik who looks more an Italian with his long curls and unshaven beard stubs!

 All the other performers justify their roles in the most befitting manner to support the main roles played with such ease and perfection by both Hrithik and Aishwarya Rai.  It is worth mentioning that Aish has picked up some great nuances from her actor father-in-law Amitabh and applies it correctly wherever wanted to leave an impression on the audience.  The music score is soft and melodious and brings more melancholy to the already tear-filled story!!
Those who have not washed their eyes for many days can watch this movie to wash their eyes perfectly and for at least 2 hours of the movie.  The movie will be liked by all matured audience who understand the spectrum of Paralysis and quadriplegic world.  For the common man, despite the presence of Hrithik and aishwarya, there are no romantic scenes or songs shot on outdoors and there is no trace of comedy anywhere in the whole theatre!!  This is a  movie which thrills your heart and brings down a bucket full of tears but there is no happiness at the end!!

Oman- the great nation!

I visited Muscat recently.  One thing that amused me the most is the behaviour of the Arabs and their friendliness!  Arabs have their own style of greeting people with  their  friendly gestures.  I was in the super market looking for some biscuits when at least 3 Arabs came up to me and shook hands saying Salaam walekum!!  I was just thinking if I had become so popular for the Arabs to greet me?  Later on I came to know that if you meet the eyes of people coming in our way, that's how you get greeted! Oh well, it was a good experience!

I was told by my son that even if there is an accident between two motor vehicles, the Arabs are so cool that they first shake hands and enquire if every thing is well in the family and get to know each other well before they call the police as it is mandatory for the police to clear vehicles after certifying the accident to enable processing of insurance claims!!  No one swears at anyone and people generally are cool!

The entire country of Oman is filled with our brothers from Kerala who almost run every business right from the Coffee shop, the Sikhs engaged  in A/c and fridge repair works, Gujus running Pharmacy and restaurants!
Our south Indians, most of them employed with Saud bhawan LLC and  other Building contractors!!  I was quite amused and pleasantly taken by surprise when I found Malayalees working in almost all departmental stores and super markets!! On a lighter vein, so much is the Kerala power felt that if one day they decide to get out of the country, the entire economy of Oman might collapse!!


Trees are being planted all over the Kingdom of Oman and beautiful parks and gardens are being  developed where you can find absolute green grass to walk or sit on?  The trees and the grass are being watered regularly by sprouting sprinklers all over!
In contrast, trees are being  felled in India and the fast fading greenery is visualised in almost all the cities! It will be worthwhile if this act of wiping off greenery results in oil find as in Oman?   There are no wine shops anywhere in the country in contrast to what is being seen in India and in particular reference to Tamil nadu.   In India, the political parties lack will to introduce family well being measures and prefer to stick a label on the whisky bottle highlighting the ill effects of drinking instead of prohibiting production of alcohol.   Permission to manufacture high end foreign cars which can zip @120 kms/hour are given but restrict the public from driving beyond 40 kms/hour by obstructing roads with speed breakers and speed limits!  Smoking is banned in Public but the factories are flourishing and expanding pouring the exchequer with income generated from the Excise-duty!!  Our political leaders are old and carry old school of thoughts without realising the progress made by other countries that were way behind our great Nation!  For instance, even until about a few decades back, the gulf countries depended solely upon India for virtually every thing to live and the freely accepted currency was  our Indian Rupee!! Today, our Indian Rupee has no value anywhere in the world and once you step out of India, you realise that our currency has no value  and to match a wad of Omani Riyals, you need to carry a sack full of Indian Rupees!!!

sometimes, I wonder as to what is wrong with our Indian Rupee?  In 1972, the U S dollar was trading @8.60/Rs100, the Deutsche Mark was trading @4.32/Rs 100 and the yen 3900/Rs 100.  Now, after 40 years we are so low in comparison to all other currencies to make us think what is our Finance minister and the respective ministry doing about it?

I was told that the King of Oman,  pleased with some Indians who have been loyal to his Majesty Sultan qaboos for many years, have been granted the citizenship with a right to live peacefully. They can acquire property and build their own houses but certainly not outside the fundamental designs  and concepts approved by the authority! They are a lot of lucky Indians, oops.. lucky Omani! People are made to work hard to earn their decent living with comforts!  The Sultan stands up tall to look after the developments of the country and helps his citizens!! There are no taxes of any kind and all that you earn is all yours without the tax men cutting into your cake!  sometimes, you wonder if India is taking cues from his majesty the sultan  of Oman to form dynasty rule in many of our states?  ahhhhh.... one such state that I know for sure is Tamilnadu!!!

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Oman should merge with U A E for issuance of Visa

Oman is one of the largest countries in the Gulf abutting the UAE which consists of  7 states termed Emirates!  Buraimi is a place which is included in the state of Oman and is hardly an hour drive to Dubai, the show case of Emirates!  People with an UAE visa can travel freely within the 7 seven states of the Emirates.  The locals and Ex-pats with their employment card can also travel freely not only in UAE but also to countries like Qatar & Saudi Arabia.  The people who get stuck are the visiting family members of people working at these places who are contained with a particular visa of a particular country. It will be a welcome change if Oman and UAE visas are merged so that visitors can travel across without much problems.  As such, prior to 1971 UAE was known as Trucial state or Trucial Oman in reference to a 19th-century truce between the United Kingdomand several Arab Sheikhs.  Buraimi as such is part of Al Ain oasis which belongs to UAE and where most of the things to be seen are present!  It is said that Al Braimi was given to the ruler of  Oman by the ruler of Abu dhabi as a gift in one of the marriages within the family.  It will be a welcome proposition if both these countries acknowledge visas issued by the respective countries  and allow tourists to travel freely within these two states which will only bring increased revenue to the exchequer of both UAE and Oman!

Buraimi- a sweet Dessert in a Desert!

The hang-over of diwali celebrations continued to occupy our minds and resisted our moves to shift the focus!
The wonderful people living in Muscat, Oman made available everything to make the celebrations unique and an affair to remember for ever!  We drove down to a place known as Buraimi, about 335 kms from Muscat bordering U.A.E. where my son and his wife are settled.

The cool breeze from the mountains surrounding the so called tiny town of Buraimi,  stirred the peaceful sands on the roads every now and then.  Life continues as normal and by evening temperature drops down to a cool 24deg Celcius!!  Its quite mystifying to understand the weather patterns that rule the Middle East!!  Its a lot better than our Chennai which is always humid and straining on the muscles and the brains.  The mood is better if the climate is pleasant and thats the crux of the whole life?

We decided to pack some dinner consisting of Puliyin sadam and curd rice with Potato curry and chips to go with and drive to a garden which was about 20 kms away from Buraimi. It is also a pleasant news for all those living in India that bottled water of 1.5 litres costs only around Rs 20/- in a desert  as compared to Rs 30/- to 40/- priced in India which is considered a land of rivers!! This is a public park which looked like  a carpet of grass to squat and sleep on and had benches to sit all over for those who wished it.  When we reached the park, it was around 9pm and we were the only visitor in the park besides a couple of tents pitched in from which no one emerged or got in while we were there!!  After some time came an Arab with his spouse and 3 small children who came from one end and disappeared into the garden only to return after an hour or so!! The garden was big enough for any Honey-Moon couple to coochie-coo and no body can even notice!! The climate was so cool and pleasant to support the drill of taking out plates, serving the delicacies and continue our unabated talks and we never got tired!!  There was absolutely no disturbance from any quarter and mosquitos were not to be seen at all! This appealed to us the most. We felt having come to the garden of Edens!!  It was more than atleast 20 years that we ventured into such an outing and daring to go to a garden- a phenomenon that does not exist in Chennai and even if it does at some important places, there is no solace from the "Malarial" stings of the Coovam mosquitos or the menace from the beggars who would not allow you to eat or talk in peace!

Looking at my awe my son explained to me that there is nothing called as way-laying, mugging or eve teasing in the entire Gulf and that it is very safe for family, children and women to go out at any time!!  I wished India becomes one such country in the coming decades!

Endhiran-the Robot!

The biggest show room of Toyota cars in Muscat! I was in for a pleasant surprise when I was greeted by this young Robot saying "good morning , Raju"! I was pleasantly reminded of the recent movie Endhiran which is making waves all over the globe. This Robot held its hands to shake and also talked a few things about Toyota cars!! You can ask the robot about the cars on display and he does reply you with details and makes you more spell bound!!! After a brief conversation, he asks you for Tea/coffee and begs leave and walks away in his usual mechanised manner marching with both the hands! Amazing is the word and this Robot was specially imported from the U S by M/s Saud Bhawan automotive LLC in Muscat. The show room is absolutely heavenly with modern architecture and robotic surroundings indicating the futuristic world that we are in for?

One thing that keeps you wondering is why are the prices atleast 50% cheaper than India? Is the WTO listening? Is there a remedy to save the poor Indian customers from being over-taxed?

Technical education in Tamil Nadu

The wash basin in your toilet is leaking and you look for a plumber desperately.  There is no one around?
The ceiling fan suddenly stopped working and you are in desperation because of perspiration!  You are looking for an electrician and there is none immediately to come to your rescue.  The doors of the toilets is not closing properly and you want a carpenter to fix it.  There is no one around?  This is a common recurrence in all households and makes us wonder where are these guys gone?  Why the sudden shortage of trained men to fix household jobs and you realise that Life is not all that easy in the modern world and will be tougher in the coming years!

On analysis you find that the state is not showing any interest to develop technical skills amongst the youth who find it difficult to pursue higher education due to various reasons beginning from  financial problems to disinterest in studies.  The younger generation do not find enough motivation to get trained in Technical education and rather choose to find easier ways and means to make money without having to study or work hard.  Auto Rickshaws are one such easy  money spinning mechanism by which the drivers earn or rather fleece money from the passengers and  make a quick buck for their living.  It is evident from the number of such vehicles plying on the roads of Tamil Nadu and particularly in Chennai .  It is on the increase every day and every month choking most of the vehicular traffic in Chennai. The government should realise the changing trend amongst the modern youth and suggest quick healing and attractive remedies to lure them back to getting trained in technical skills.  One such method could be free compulsory training for all the students passing out of the school to learn the technical skills so that the younger generation have the option of choosing their career for a good living and focus on it.  The government will do well  to stimulate the youth to take up self employment and do well in their life.  Such attracted youth may become industrialists at a future date and help the state in improving the economy by providing employment to numerous persons.

The State plays a major role in shaping up the mentality in the younger population.  For instance, video clips of infrastructure, industries, automation, environment of developed countries can be shown to the younger generation at centers that interest the youth so that they get motivated  accordingly.

Unfortunately, in Tamil Nadu, the film culture is so rampant that every boy aspires to become a la-Rajinikanth and roll in imaginary  luxuries!  Little do they realise that films do not shape a career and the probability of success is negligible and minimal as is evident from the reality that we are seeing everyday!

The State government can announce free or subsidised technical education in the newspapers/media and other electronic mediums so that the message reaches the youth loud and clear.  The idea of "over night rich" should be weaned away by suitable messages from the film stars themselves and people encouraged to take up Technical education which will not only give them a strong fundamental but also help the youth to settle in life!

Tamil Nadu government can take lead and show other states that it can deliver and re-write the destiny of many younger generations who are the pillars of strength for a economically stronger Tamil Nadu of tomorrow!