Searching for Solutions in Life : Sea also cries

When the things go wrong as they some times will
When the road you are trudging seems all uphill
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don’t quit.

Author of this poem is not known. Every one of us will have some problems or other at each moment .Especially when you set a high target in life or practice rigorous work ethics, You have and inevitable stress and welcome uneasiness. Rather than sighing we must smile. We can’t afford to quit the game, although periodical rest is a must.

Long ago I read a story in Tamil. I don’t remember the title of the story or its author. But some passage in that story struck me very much and I vaguely remember now. However. I would like to recollect the essence in tranquility and transform them into readable English.

It is all about the Sea searching for a solution for its problems. No doubt there was a great deal of dramatization in those sentences and I was mesmerized by them .Now the roaring waves of the sea have their own agony and despair. They seek peace and solace from a person who came over there to get some peace and consolation from the sea. Just imagine the vast expanse of the sea feeling lonely and asking for some strength and support from the visitor, who is perplexed by the predicament of the sea.

“Are you sure that I should comfort you? Do you know? I came here to derive some supportive words from you .I am now bemused and bewildered what to say.” The visitor counters the sea.

The roaring waves of the sea just envelop his leg. Unable to speak and fully choked with emotion and in an excited state of frenzy and sorrow, the sea finds itself imprisoned into a state of despair and unrest.

Each person has his own or her own agony and anguish. Who will console whom? Where will salvation come from? Who will extend support and strength, as each one of us is sailing in some boat.

Any adversity in life or a series of defeat and failures that we encounter are only a pointer to draw limits to our so called intelligence. To stamp out the cult of intellectual arrogance and bury it once and for all, these defeats are needed and most welcome.

Our visitor hero in the story with all sympathy under the Sun is helplessly looking at the sea which is crying wildly and kissing at his feet. There comes a revelation for him, something like a streak of light within him or a door opening with creak sound . What kind of secret the sea conveys to him? In life, all trials and tribulations including all kinds of humiliation and deprivations are also a kind of comforting pleasure. Even occasional wild cry is also a soothing element to lighten our heart. While crying , the accumulated dirt and filth just melts away . The debris generated by cumulative defeat also get weeded out for our own good.

Personally speaking, even while floating on the sea of inexplicable sorrow, many a time I have given the much needed encouragement/ solace to others . It’s strange, but true that I have given something to others, which I do not have in abundance. This is the magic of love and finer feelings for fellow human beings, which we should internalize in our day today life. Advaita Vedanta is all about this care and concern only, for fellow travelers on Earth. Indeed if all of us get reasonably involved and get connected with others, most of our own problems will take a back seat and there will be little time to worry.

There is so much to Do and so much to Read

My classmate in undergraduate course was a journalist in the prestigious daily of Chennai until recently. I have student friends, spread all over the world, many of them are in good positions. I am posting some excerpts from my student who is also flowering as a journalist in the south.

The author of this e-mail is a very affectionate boy, having all sentiments and quick energetic intelligence. If you go through his brief write up about Pondicherry,, now called puducherry, you would know how much he loves this place.

There is still some residual flavor and spiritually seductive influence of Puducherry. I am afraid, given the heavy pressures of urbanization, escalation in real estate values, heavy congestion in traffic and rise in pollution, this will become one among the crowded cities/ towns in the country.

In his e mail, sent recently, he was sharing his insight and a feeling of infatuation –a kind of falling in love with Pondicherry city, which I would like to share with my fellow friends.
“I love the place, not as a tourist but as an interested observer of its society and polity. There is a utopian element to Pondy’s politics. The ability of a government to run public services quite efficiently without great taxation, the pitched battles for constituencies which often cover just a couple of streets , the recent rise of the radical left, the parallel polity of French citizens.. The city never fails to amaze.

It is perhaps the isolated rule under the French that not only gives the place its distinct character, but also a unique political culture. I must admit that my professional interest in the union territory was kindled when I studied under Dr. B. Krishnamurthy.

The tales of Subbiah and Goubert and the social churning soon after the British left, make an interesting read. It is a joy to walk down the cobbled streets and see the buildings that witnessed history still standing tall.

I yearn for the sea, the smell of dry fish, the blaring radio on the local buses and the reassuring pink walls of the Science & Humanities block of our university. I miss Pondy, my friends like you and, the joie de vivre of the town.”

I want to end this post with a sentence with which he began the letter. “There is so much to do and so much more to read”

At sixty. I also feel that I must read a lot, enjoy and assimilate ,ruminate and reflect upon them and also share them with a larger audience-This academic greed, is a welcome proposition and I will add more strength to this attribute unmindful of all the hurdles on the way.

What we need in Life is‘Some Food, Some Sun, Some Work, Some Fun, Some One’

The doyen among music, Illayaraja came to our campus very recently as a chief guest to add more color, festivity and all creative energy to ‘Tamizhar Festival’ . It was a great surprise for me as a celebrity figure of his stature, who normally shuns the public stage, accepted the invitation and graced the function. He was honest enough to identify the professor-who was instrumental for his arrival in the saintly soil of Puducherry.

He was so blind folded and bemused in his love and appreciation for that great Tamil scholar, who is adoring a prestigious Tamil chair in our university that , even he was prepared to visit the hell if commanded by him and then hasten to add that his sense of humor should be taken in proper spirit. I could not see Illayaraja as I was seated on the wrong side of the auditorium but still I was enjoying his celestial voice and the supremely divine music.

In the course of his short lived speech, he told the truth/ reason, as to why he avoids public stage: “either one blows ones own trumpets and or invariably he or she undermines others being very critical or cynical”, he mused .He profusely showered praises on Kannadasan, as the best poet, the world has ever seen.

Praise, “is the sweetest of all sounds”, which every one would like to hear. But are they happy while receiving it? The interesting answer from the great thinkers is that once we get these compliments we rarely know what to do with them. To be honest, we don’t know to what extent we deserve them I would say.

A few days back, while returning from morning walk, a classmate of mine (during the mid 60s in the undergraduate course) joined me and he was telling a few good things about me to my university colleagues, standing by my side.

Though it was a reasoned an objective appraisal of my personality and that my friend was not at all conducting an exhibition in the art of flattery, I was still feeling mildly uneasy. Hearing nice things from people is like a moderate diet, and it invigorates our health and sense of well being. But one should not be seduced by that kind of praise as it would inflict the egocentric segment of the personality. As someone said, “Direct praise of personality, like direct sunlight is uncomfortable and blinding.”

One must have the stamina and strength of character to feel humble even while praised and also learn to live with all criticism, without suffering from any identity crisis. Ultimately what every human needs at any point of civilization is ‘some food, some sun, some work, some fun, some one”

(Courtesy: William Cole in poems: One line and longer)

Our Life is dependant on the infinite of labor of many

Sleeping more than usual during the daytime in the weekend and not sleeping well in the night on many days, I understand the devastating consequences of this disturbed, inadequate but more shallow sleep. I read more about this in a recent article too. There are many things which we fail to do when needs to resolved at the earliest. People go through life wondering what we are supposed to do when it is always right in front of them. But they do not normally do unless that particular defining moment comes. If they are strong willed individuals, they defy fate and take proactive decisions.

Sometimes bad things happen even when you do every thing right. Long ago I read that when a child lost her mother, she was told that God did not take her mother but only received her. “If God knew if she was going to be sick, why did not he make her better? Why pray at all if people are just going to die any way? Why do so many good people have to die?” someone asked seeing and sensing the young child’s loss. You will never find answers for these questions. You have to let go of the idea that everyone is going to live because the crude fact is people would die one day. That is the only certainty in life. We apply everything we know to help people suffering but after that we have to let things go. “No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently” says Agnes De Mille.

Like every man I also think that I should have done more things academically but the fact is many of us fail to do those things at right time and I guess there is reason for everything.So instead of getting displeased or disappointed , we have to handle the pressures very well and keep the frustration to ourselves without transmitting to others. We should only do what we are good at. I know, I will never be as strong as my father and mother but the real consolation is that their genes, combined with the grace of wise providence will help me in good stead to tread on the right path. One has to trust oneself and march on seeing some positive benefits in each act of adversity.

C.S.Lewis says, “We do not meet ordinary people in our lives.” The whole system has been structured in such a way that the infinite labor of many, inclusive of their emotional warmth, condition our life and add more beauty and color to it.

We need to write more and more in order that we can communicate and get connected with the cosmos

When I visited Europe, the first overseas trip in my Sixtieth year I was optimistic that I would narrate my experience later. But now, after a lapse of few months, I am unable to have a full and vivid recollection, as I had not noted down in my dairy. My memory is hazy and unreliable. Perhaps, as a few things I might write later, a lengthy conversation I had with a 29 year old French girl executive.

I do have dairies and notebooks. When I was at Madras Presidency College, I wrote dairy for three months in my mother tongue. I am unable to locate it. As a teenager, studying in a capital city, I had recorded my feelings. I was critical of both Congress and DMK, although our political background was rooted in our fascination for C.N.Anna durai, fondly called C.N.A.

Since 2009, I have started downloading from my scribbled notes and dairies, which stumble upon me, while putting order in my bookshelf-actually cement slabs in various rooms comprising on 1,200 Sq feet first floor. Virtually there is no space constraint to keep them. But Alas! Like orphans they are scattered on the floor and many a time taking berth on cot, sofa and even chairs. I realize now that I must put some order and also some of the scribbled notes should eventually see the net, internet. I will share selectively what ever I have enjoyed and suffered.

How many people do write now? Do they have a habit of dairy writing habit? Not just recording the daily events but looking at themselves and also society. I am doubtful. With the emergence of e-mail facility, we hardly write letters to our friends. Come to think of writing letters, long ago I wrote a lengthy verse on the need for letter writing, largely inspired by one article in Readers Digest. I must locate those papers.

All of us are obsessed with so many daily events, some are significant and others are trivial. We don’t have the habit of recording them. I have not kept all my lecture notes and other piled up informations in a structured way. As and when I stumble upon them, I will update and document .My love for my subject and my modest reading in the subject are not matched by the writing about the subject. Although there are huge amount of accumulated materials and notes are in abundance. This by itself places me in a state of anxiety. Eventually, writing alone can reveal who we are today and where we will be tomorrow and tomorrow’s tomorrow.

Accepting the award as a representative of Hardworking Teachers

It was an embarrassing day in the opening days of 2010.A local chapter of Psychology Association gave me the Best Teacher award. For quite some time I did not give any immediate reply to the organizers. At long last I agreed to accept. All through my life I have lived in a shell, being content with reading my subject, Economics in a more modest way. I spent more time in reading for teaching and not for writing. I know, the divine has given me the stamina and inspiration all along to remain as a shy individual, not clamoring for any instant fame .I articulated this feeling on that day.

A few weeks earlier, I had gone to deliver a memorial lecture at Political Science department of AnnaMalai University. In the course of the lecture, one gentleman asked me a question, “what’s your opinion about Obama getting Noble Peace Prize?”
I merely replied, “Obama has not done much to deserve this prize now. Given the position and stature of the American presidentship, this prize has been conferred on him.” I added furhur, “relatively he is a good man, but sitting on the chair of American President he cannot afford to remain as good as he was earlier. And yet, I do not have any major quarrel with him in getting the prize. In any case if he’s not American President today, he would not have been given this prize now.”

There is always an element of connectivity and networking in giving prizes and awards although merit of a person does play its own role. At that time I just made a mention to the audience about the award which was going to be given to me. I told them that those who have known about me are coming forward to give out of love. I have said ‘yes’ to respect their feelings. Furthermore, while I get this recognition, I acknowledge this only as a representation of many who are definitely better teachers than me. In the whole process, I give credit to all my teachers who taught me and all my students who would get some short run satisfaction.

I am sure about one thing about my passion for teaching the subject. I do have my constraints now .I also know that I must create my own environment to spend more time with books and students. It was just an accident that, I had to share platform with two politicians, one in the forenoon and another in the evening in a star hotel. If anyone had told that I will be having this kind of meeting earlier, I would not have believed it. In any case, this award in my sixtieth year and fortieth year of teaching will infuse more energy and academic integrity into my body and mind and I will attempt to practice the Academic Thapas, which is expected from us. I only pray to the Lord, he should give strength to my knees and eyes.

Like the new Sun, We can be also radiant, despite the ageing process

“It was morning, and the new sun sparkled Gold across the ripples of a gentle sea”, Richard Bach begins thus, his best selling piece, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Is the Sun appearing everyday old or new? Everyday when it appears on the horizon, like a super fine orange, it appears new, vibrant, and more radiant than what we have seen earlier. Is it really new? Does newness depend upon our vision/ perception? How can it be new, when it has been there for many many years! How old is it? No one can give precise answer. We can only produce some estimates about its age.

Are we old or new? We shall also say that like Sun, despite all ageing process, and wrinkles on face and so on, we are also new, vibrant and radiant. Nobody can dispute that we are growing old. And yet, we can become new, young, and sparkle like Gold, creating happiness and ripples of laughter around us. When Sea is also gentle, can’t we make our environment also gentle, co-operative, regardless of its inbuilt violence.

Living in beach town, I am less fortunate in not visiting the Seashore as frequently as one should attempt to do. If only I could internalize the habit of going for a morning walk and watch the rising Sun and walking beauty, the life would be healthier and happier. After all one needs fresh oxygen floating in the morning sky which will invigorate our body and spirit.

Before taking off towards Paris

These lines were written when there was a clear uncertainty in getting the visa for the Paris trip. Although the trip was planned long ago, there were problems in fixing accommodation and in a naïve way I did not bother to understand the intricacies involved in the process of obtaining visa. Further more I could not read more as I would have desired. At this juncture, I should state that in all the poems, sorry the feelings in free verse, the central common element would be my perennial lamentation over my critical inability to read more, although I have been spending my time only in reading and assimilating the academic materials . This feeling of despair is something natural and normal for a person of my academic temperament and perfectionist attitude.

Ever since Paris university 13 visit
Has shown some resemblance
Of materializing, I have been busy and uneasy
About a variety of inexplicable things.
As a mild anticlimax,
There are problems or issues at stake
To get visa.

If only my coordinator had
Marginally responded to my
July mail and also developed
A minimum concern for the aged
Pondicherry ‘Fellow’.
Really a fellow in the subject
And given some useful guidelines
What a nicer and richer situation
Would have been for that ‘Professor’
Of naivety and clumsiness
Undertaking his first overseas trip.

Sangeeth at Bangalore
Pannerselvam at Pondicherry
Jason and others at computer desk
Have done overtime,
To finally give shape to those
Formalities for that express way
Towards visa.

I have my usual butterflies in stomach
Nature will show the way
As it had shown all along my life
I couldn’t have time and mood,
A congenial environment at home or office
To think, meditate and ruminate
Over the infinite variety of the subject.

By sheer habit, work ethics,
I have been reading/writing/
Assembling notes, with all
Academic greed under the sun
To equip myself adequately.

I miss my mother,
I am sure she will bless me
From above, provide me a warm blanket
To insulate me from winter
And save me from devilish force
Which might derail me.

(From my dateless Dairy in the recent times)

Birthday Greetings and Musings on World Recession -Part II

The essence of life is
It appears, to face every kind of, adversity
And live with smile and courage.
Besides loving and laboring,
Sharing and caring,
Laughing and dancing,
Crying and worrying,
There must be time,
To contemplate, and
Ruminate over the “very life itself”.

Though, still young, you are ahead of age,
Vastly matured and greatly balanced,
It’s too early to turn towards
Basic facts of life or
Rather to understand the mysteries of life.
As 1945 marks year for the benchmark
Launching world monetary reform
Two thousand one September birth day
Represents a great divide.
First fifteen years of life
Have been spent, consumed away
In pursuit of simplest pleasures of life.
Befriending people,
Enjoying dance
And indulging in
Occasional deep slumber.

You were not that lucky
To enjoy peace and bliss;
Of late I have also become,
More of a nuisance
Shouting at you, faulting you
For not keeping the house today.

It’s time you changed
Gradually and gracefully
To take care of your
Clothes, book and also kitchen.
I don’t demand any discipline or
Conventional role of a girl at home.
But still, after the marriage of selvi
You have to reign in and manage.

The collapse of the US twin towers,
Continual earth quakes,
Savage violence sweeping across the globe,
Anti globalization riots and demonstration,
World recession and loss of job and market,
Clouds of war gathering over Afghanistan
All are pointers to the grim reality:
There are so many things in life,
We can not control or comprehend
And there’s some karma theory at work
Or even of you are not believer
Certain chain of actions or series
Incidents do occur and impinge on us.
There are always shocks and adjustments to it.
I am not saying, we have to
Meekly submit to it and surrender
World politics functions in mysterious ways

Eventually everything depends on
How do we negotiate, manage
And just live, with all shocks and disturbances.
The need for harmonization with Nature,
Putting a lid on
Indiscriminate industrialization and greed
And making market economics
Work for the poor by the state,
Must gather more force and momentum.

In an age where global capitalism
Has silently killed socialist empires,
We shall inculcate into our heart
The leftist shade, colour and strength
Wishing you all the best
Shiva! My Sakthi! My Child!

(From my dateless Dairy)

Birthday Greetings and Musings on World Recession-Part I

My Dear Joe,
In the early 2000s, I wrote this piece for my youngest daughter. It is one among the many that I wrote to my children. It makes a pointed reference to the mysterious way in which both the ‘nature’ and market economy behave. At a time when the world has not fully recovered from recession and Keynes is fondly remembered for his relevance, I feel that I wrote nearly a decade ago has a contextual relevance now.

That day in September in early 2000s
In an unusual way in many ways:
A disturbed dream woke me up
I found myself surrounded drenched by water
Courtesy: tap water has encroached the hall
Like an uninvited guest
Encircling around the bed sheet and pillow.
After cleaning up the mess
A job neatly done by aged mother
These was the plum cake to eat
To mark your birthday.
That went along with tea very well.

I just shook hands with you
A casual indifference, and
An inexplicable pain, hidden
In that simple hand shake.
I must hasten to add
Not to mistake me.

It has nothing to do with you
As a person or daughter.
Nor is it an expression of my
Frustration and disillusionment
With your grade/performance
It is all concerned with me about me.
So, don’t worry.
Enjoy the day with friends.

Last night, I experienced a mild tremor
A giddy sensation and
Subtle trembling inside my body
While sitting on the chair
‘Earth quake’, we were told later.
Anything can strike at anyone,
No region can escape from
Predetermined game plan of the creator?
It’s all natural and normal
In the adjustment mechanism of earth
And spontaneous evolution of planets,

A real cosmic dance of the universe.

‘A Farmer‘s word on work ethics helped the world to prosper’- A story told by Ki.Ra

Yesterday, Swamy Chinmayananda’s story was retold by me. I took more liberty, while translating from Tamil to English. That was a story where the Swamiji made the poor farmer to realize that his hard labor was assisted by God’s grace, which eventually facilitated the garden to crop up in all its majesty and glory.

The story that I am posting today was written by one famous Tamil writer K.Raja Narayanan,shortly Ki.Ra. .It appeared in one short lived numbered Tamil journal, Tamil journal namely ‘Kadai Cholli’.

Way back on 17.8.1999, I translated this story into English. It was revised on September 29, 2002. Today I did some editorial correction. I have taken nearly a decade, to put this before a broader audience.

This story deals with a altogether different theme. Here the rain God is made to feel ashamed of himself by the hard work ethics of a poor but an enterprising farmer. It would be very difficult to come across a farmer narrated the story .

Now, the story:

For twelve long years it was not raining. Not even a drop of water fell on the land. And yet, that farmer was ploughing.

Seeing and sensing his strange behavior, the village folk teased him. But hardly he bothered about their ridicule or reactions. “I should not attach any significance to their remarks”, he told himself. He was doing his work, more orderly, regularly, with feverish interest.

That is all.

That summer too, as usual, he began ploughing the soil and completed his work. Thereafter, he would wait for summer rain but weather gods would cheat him.

During rainy season, again he would attempt to plough, expecting copious rain. But, again, the monsoon rain would play truant with him.

Undaunted by the cumulative failure of monsoon, the farmer was doing his job for 12 long years, without much fuss or bother.

In the thirteenth year, the farmer persisted in doing what he had been doing all along his life. He was ploughing his land, without losing his hope.


The rain God was astounded by his tenacity and determined efforts.
“Could it be true that a farmer of this sort still exist on Earth?” the rain God seriously pondered over.

Soon God incarnated himself into human form, came down and walked to him.

“Hai, the hard working farmer, it seems, you are ploughing,” god began his conversation.
“Don’t you notice it,” the farmer quipped.

“Ya, Ya, I do understand. But gentleman, aren’t you stupid enough to plough, knowing full well that for 12 long years, it hasn’t rained? Your behavior is ridiculous. Why do waste your labour?”

“Oh, you are teaching me how to behave? Wonderful. Look here gentle man, I do my work. I know only one thing in life that’s farming. So I plough every season, without blaming the failure of monsoon. If I don’t perform my work, I might even forget my farming skills. One should do work, regardless of adversity. Then only it is work”.

Hearing this sermon from the farmer, the rain God got perturbed and became panicky. His conscience too pricked Him that he had not done His job for twelve long years .No sooner he thought of his deficiencies than began a heavy down pour, lest he would also forget his job of quenching the thirst of Mother Earth.

This is how a farmer’s word helped the world to prosper.

Courtesy: Kadai Solli.

When will a barren land bloom into a beautiful garden?

The story which I am going to narrate was once told by Swami Chinmayananda, a real guru.
Once a poor fellow approached a swamiji for help. He was fed with good food.Swamiji also wanted to give him some money to meet other expenses during his journey.

But the poor man refused to accept. He said , “give me a piece of land, Even if it is a very small piece, say half an acre of land, that is sufficient. I will somehow manage to live.”

Swamiji thought for a while and told his disciple standing by his side, “Give him that small piece of land at the border of this village.”

When the poor man saw that landscape he was upset. It was a barren land, and not even a single blade of grass was there. It was just a flat land and he was certain that nothing could grow there.

But he did not want to lose his hopes. He worked hard and dug a well. He collected all green manures and cow dung enriched the soil. He worked day in and day out. In six months time, a beautiful garden was ready .It flowered on that erstwhile land.

One day, Our Swamiji was passing that side and got attracted by that beautiful garden Mesmerized by that, he just stood there, blindfolded and bemused.

Our poor farmer immediately recognized swamiji and fell at his feet.
“Who are you? Why are you falling at my feet?” Swamiji asked him

“Sir, have you forgotten me? You have only given this land. “

Swamiji got excited:” Is this land that? I am not able to believe.
How that barren land has been transformed into a beautiful garden? Oh you have done a miracle by working in close collaboration with God. I don’t find words to appreciate this marvelous creation.”

Hearing this kind of interpretation, the farmer became little uneasy and told with all reluctance, “Swami! You have told that God and I have created this garden. Swami, kindly note that labor was only mine. Six months ago, God alone was here . No one was here, even to listen to anyone?”

Swamiji merely laughed.

“Yes, my dear man! God alone was here .This land just remained idle, unattended by anyone. A barren piece of land. You say, you have labored more and did everything. Just think for a while. Can you give life to a seed ? Can you bring out a plant from a seedling stemming out of the soil? Your existence and labor alone cannot suffice. Your labor has to be fused with grace and kindly gestures of the creator. You must be lucky to enjoy that grace. Only then a barren land can bloom into a beautiful garden by your magic toner. I hope you understand now.”

The Farmer felt ashamed of his misplaced arrogance.

The creator of this universe resides in us. With his grace, we have to purify our thought process. Once the mind is free form all kinds of dirt and filth fully cleaned , the spiritual crop will automatically bloom there, as a barren flat land became a garden.

Let us start cultivating Gardens.

What one should not lose in Life?

“What one should not lose in life” was written after reading a write up very recently .I felt like putting the idea in a free verse, adding my own poetic imagination. Words like peace, love, knowledge and faith must eventually emerge as propellers of life. When we are living in turbulent times, we need more faith in ourselves and also in the goodness of the universe. Having suffered on many fronts, including the world of finance, by not managing well, I feel that some how or the other one must have faith to withstand all strains of life.

Four candles were lighted in a room
A heavy wind blew, posing
An existential dilemma for all of them
No one was there to shut the windows

The first one said, “Peace
It’s heavy/fierce wind, I can’t face it”
So saying, it soon folded up
The next candle uttered “love”,
With all grace and piety
And yet, it also could not succeed
Against the onslaught of the wind.

The third one ‘knowledge’also miserably failed in
Waging any meaningful war
Against the sweeping wind
And soon it also perished.
The fourth one saw
All the three falling,
Without much fight.
It also faced the catastrophic wind
Only for a few seconds.
And then, it soon steadied itself
Like a solid rock
And survived.

Just then a small boy entered into the room
And lamented over the fate of all the
Three candles, with great sadness.
The surviving fourth one
Coolly consoled him by saying:
“Don’t worry my dear boy,
Nothing is lost now.
To light them up,
Those three candles,
Use me, I am still burning.”

The boy asked with all eagerness:
May I know
What’s your good name?
Pat came the reply:
“I am confidence, my boy
You want to have ‘faith’ in yourself”
Yes of course, confidence said the boy
“Besides ‘faith and confidence’ in myself
I will also practice love, peace and
Enjoy the freedom of wind
To realize myself.
That true wisdom,
I will internalize
For my own peace,
As also for the happiness
Of mankind”

Mr. Einstein jokes about Economists.It was very much true in the 1990s and the 2000s

Let me begin with a story, I learnt long ago.
While Albert Einstein is queuing to enter heaven, he meets three men. He asks about their IQs.The first replies 190. “Wonderful” exclaims Einstein. “We can discuss my theory of relativity”. The third mumbles 50.Einstein pauses “so what is your forecast for G.D.P growth next year?”

Serious economists, doing wonderful work of Econometric forecasting should not jump from their chair and get angry. This old joke only sums up the futility or rather frustrating experience of both good economists and also the people’s view of their economic forecast. The reputation of the tribe called economists, especially those who adored the chair of high sky scrapper buildings dealing with the fate of global finance was severely dented, both during and after the Asian currency meltdown.

The crude irony is that they not only failed to predict the scale, scope and severity of the crisis, but quite a few IMF economists and other policy entrepreneurs contributed to the crisis, by their words and also their official role of market watchers and economic guide. This is not to blame them or ridicule their caliber/ intellectual strength; financial deregulation and globalization of finance have rendered the Asian economies more vulnerable and the quantum of mischief by global fund managers and professional speculators in precipitating the crisis, was only expected, as a logical corollary.

This is what I wrote in my academic diary more than a decade ago. The content and character of global finance has changed for the worse in 2000s.Alan Greenspan,as chief of the Fed, who unleashed low interest rate policy did not bother to check asset inflation, once it was going out of control. Despite clear warning signals given by young economists including those who were trained in Keynes/Minsky tradition, Alan refused to yield.

The regulators abdicated their social responsibility by allowing the Housing and real estate bubbles to acquire a monstrous proportion, which eventually proved to be more devastating not just for U.S financial system but for the entire world economy. Even good intended advice from people like Roubini was not taken seriously and Economists trained in Rational Expectation Models and Efficient Market Hypothesis, gave tremendous support by way of their theoretical underpinning by positing that derivative financial instruments had an inbuilt mechanism to manage and diversify risk. Now it is history that there was no risk cover for the original clients, mortagage borrowers and those people who purchased mortgage based securities. Recent events show that much corrective mechanisms are not put in place to salvage the reputation of U.S. Banking and financial system. It is an irony of fate, all through the history of the financial crisis, ‘the dishonesty and fraud’ have been rewarded with bonus via rescue measures while the tax payers have been penalized.

Books are better than Gold for they provide company and comfort

In my sixty years of life, just gone by . I have spent more time with books and students than with my family and friends. Indeed with all my love, concern and respect for my childhood friends, and friends formed and continued, all through my academic journey, I would say that books gave more company and comfort than friends. I can’t blame any one, for they would also say that I have not spent more time with them .

All relational attitudes and company are only short lived, in a journey on Earth ,which is more like a picnic. After the show is over, we say good bye. It is very difficult to define who is a good friend? When will a true friendship flower? What must be the crucial element adjustment process. I was lucky to have good friends right from childhood. At various stages of life, books and friends saved me.Dr.M.Varada Rajan’s novels, almost all his novels I read at the very young age thanks to my village library.Dr.Muva writings were simply premieres for youngsters like us to tread on good path, in the 1960s.

Education, sometimes described as an escape route from the life of coal mines, meaning hard labor opened an express way for me to caress and embrace many books, text books or otherwise. I have not read many books both, old and new. I only envy people like late C.N.Anna durai and a professor in my own university for devouring books like a favorite food .Not books taken from library, but purchased from publishers/ wholesale book stalls.

Though book defies definition, like friendship, Earnest Hauser says that it is “part matter, part spirit; part thing and part thought.” He continues; “It is a vehicle of learning and enlightenment, an open sesame to countless joys and sorrows. At a touch, our books spring open and we slip into a silent world-to visit foreign shores, to discover hidden treasure to soar among the stars.”

A dramatic paradigm shift has taken place in our own university library in the last few years. Thanks to the boss,CEO of our university, whom I have described as a gentle breeze sent from heaven, and also the Lady librarian, who was described by some great scholar in one academic meet “ wherever she goes, she does good things”, we have a great library with books in physical format and e books. There was a time, when I found myself all the time in library…..Now, for the last so many years. I hardly go there, given my pressure of work.

While saluting the books I am reminded of the words of Gilbert Highet.While elaborating on books which gives a natural pleasure to the vast human rave for ages, he says :“Sometimes when I stand in a big library and gaze round me at the millions of books, I feel a sober, earnest delight hard to convey except by a metaphor. These are not lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. From each of them goes out its own voice, as inaudible as the streams of sound conveyed by electric waves beyond the range of our hearing; and just as the touch of a button on our stereo we will fill the room with music, so by opening one of these volumes one can call into range a voice far distant in time and space, and hear it speaking mind to mind, heart to heart.”

Before I close let me say that there is one writer by name S.RamaKrishnan, who writes marvelously in Tamil, and I am a fan of that great soul. .Indeed I have imbibed his spirit and style of writing. He fuses his writings with cinema and famous novels .I shall write more about him later.

Shall I salute the books now, for the time being, from “One old English song”, quoted in “pleasure of life”, chapter III, A song of Books edited by Sir John Lubbock in 1887.
“Oh for a book and a shady nook,
Either in door or out
Where I may read all at my ease
Both of the new and old;
For a jolly good book where on to look
Is better than gold.”

"What do you want to be, when you grow up?”

What do you want to be, when you grow up? I asked this question to my second grand daughter who is by nature an active child. She is three years old. She couldn’t fully understand the impact of the question. ‘Engineer and Doctor’ words also she couldn’t tell correctly. Instead of Doctor she remembered big injections, and told that she would administer it on grandmother. While closely watching our room, she commented, “You are not keeping the room clean-Books are there on the cot. There’s no bed in the place. Computer is closed/covered with clothes. There is more dust on the table. My mother keeps our house clean” and so on…. She was in full form, bristling with enthusiasm and energy.

Now a days she spends time with me on Saturdays, when her mother usually comes and helps us. It is always a pleasant moment to be with kids. They are innocent, and at the growing stage are talkative; they also crave for good food too. Today she was commenting on food too while taking lunch. Though her mother, in her house too prepares, she told today that preparation was nice here. A keen sense of observation and more important plain talking. After lunch I went upstairs; she followed me. She did not want to sleep while I was getting tired. She reminded me of my mother .My mother never slept in the afternoon, especially after taking lunch. This attribute, I want to internalize in my life and still it’s an elusive goal. I am learning from my grand daughter, as to how to remain active on Saturdays. Children are always active, vibrant and dynamic. After troubling her mother for a while she went for a good sleep, in the late afternoon.

The first grand daughter phoned up and told in pure and chaste Tamil, that she would come along with her mother and meet me positively. She told, it was more like a promise. At 10 o clock in the night I again phoned and asked her why she had not come. She replied with all seriousness that her father had not returned yet and mother was tired at home and she was very keen to keep up the promise of visiting and advised me to remain awake, until their arrival. I merely told her: Thank you for your stubbornness and tendency to keep up the promise.

Going back to the question asked /raised at the beginning, Muriel Anderson has narrated the experience in a party. It appeared in Readers Digest long ago. The guests were asked to answer this question on a piece of paper. Here are some insights, given by the guests on the theme, what so you want to be when you grow up?

Allow myself to get angry without feeling guilty
Trust the running of the Universe to God instead of trying to upstage him so often.
Be able to cry when it hurts
Say no to my children and stick to it
Make peace with death at 29 .. ..I don’t have to waste time for the next 40 or 50 years.
Laugh at myself more often
Be able to pray again
Refuse demands upon me that destroy my inner peace.
Be able to give my family less affluence and more of myself
Take as good care of my body as I do of my car.
Tell people that nice things I often think about them but all too seldom say.

We shall revisit to all these at a later date. At 60 plus I want to do a lot of reading and writing. The first step is to clear my academic debris and locate my dairies and edit little so that they will reach a larger audience.

Understanding Life at Sixty

Life at sixty,
Reveals many hidden truth
I have understood,
‘Love’ and ‘labor’
Are the true sources of
Life-both personal and worldly
They’re fundamental and foundational
If one could communicate
Pure love and honestly stored
Energy neatly transferred into right labor
And delivered in abundance to
Friends and Fellow human beings
Including the family circle
Life would be wonderful
And also worth living
Life reveals its secrets,
Only in suffering and distress
Living and laboring in a
More inimical environment,
One could taste peculiar
vital lessons of life
Sometimes blissful
But most of the time
Hurting tolerably,
Causing mild discomfort.

Accumulated books, Notes,
Have all become a
Big Burden.
Trapped for long.
With all my Academic greed
And thirst for my subject,
I couldn’t go beyond
A minimum limit.

Can I realize now
What I could not
Accomplish for long?
Will ‘sleep’ and ‘walk’
Be regular, deep and
Supportive to my fragile body.


All of us came alone.
I know, I am a loner,
With all crowd around me
All friendly, the so called
Relational arrangement
Appear to be illusions.
If it is not so, if it’s not so
Welcome life with both hands
And clap until
You are tired with happiness and peace

Entering into Sixty: Tasting that Magic Moment

I don’t know when I wrote these lines.
The wicked fate snatching my mother away from me
They’re just ideal setting for me
To write a few lines now
The clock is ticking towards 12
To announce the arrival
Of Midnight.
I am just stepping into
My initial moments of
60th year.
I thank the Creator
For having allowed me to
To travel thus far
And also for having enabled me
To live amidst pain, and
Suffering, with dignity and
Honor.

New positions have come
It’s really a time for rejoicing
But, somewhere something has
Gone wrong in a more
Mysterious way.
No great feelings of elation
Or excitement.
Even without it, I would have
Lived in my shell,
With books and students.
Titles and designations
Positions and power
Are instruments for doing
Greater good to the system
My strong parental genes
And carefully calibrated, limited
Academic side,
Will place me in proper stead
And help me
To tread on right path.
No quarrel with Creator
More begging from Mother/father
For forgiving and blessings
I don’t know whether
I trouble the soul
By thinking more about her
I can only cry and
Shed copious tears.
Thinking about her
Many a time in life
They are good for my heart
They will give strength to my bones

2008 delinked my Mother, with adequate warning signal

Every year passes off
Leaving behind good and bad
Memories, events and incidents.
How can 2008 be an exception?
But for me, personally,
It was a devastatingly sad,
Frightening experience.
The opening days of 2008 saw
My mother exiting from this
Beautiful planet,
More gracefully and with
Of course little suffering,
Towards the end
Which ought not to have
Visited her.
Come to think of it
My heart shivers
And silently cries

Ways of the world are stranged though,
As a son, I couldn’t accept
The suffering inflicted on her
By cruel fate.
For no fault of hers
The irony is, I was part of
The Drama,
The wicked fate used me as an
Instrument for her fatal fall
From which she could
Never recover;

Getting rid of Ashes of Memory

Everyone has a truckload of thoughts
Revolving around the past
With its hurts and failures,
A fine hybrid breed of
‘Ashes of memory’
Can they dissolve into thin air?
In order that one can meditate
On the Absolute,
And understand one’s own real self
I was not destined to be
To evolve as an exalted soul
A blessed child of the Lord
To get liberation.
The mind is crowded with
All events, agonies, and anxieties
With little elbow room for
Spiritual pursuits.
Hence this small adventure to
Wade through the experience
And translate them into a
Poetic prose for
Relief, release and a little peace
( January 8th 2006,)

From My Dateless Dairy -The Day after May Day –Prayers for the arrival of grandchild!-part two

We know the saintly soul is there,
As a savoir, Protector, guarantor
To carry out your will
And lend a helping hand
To weed away,
Our anxious thoughts
And calm us down
Give us the strength,
Both physical and mental
To withstand all the ordeals of life
To face it stoically
And live happily

The happy news of
The Arrival of Twins
At capital city, Delhi
From my beloved student,
An I.E.S officer now
Augurs well and gives a green signal
At the French town of Pondicherry
Everything will end well, here too.
With hope, prayer and
Cautious, moderate expectation
We shall move on,
Without doing any
Trade off in love
With the Lord
When time is ripe and ready,
We shall be delivered
Our dues for the
Honestly stored energy,
Expended in work.

By instinct and temperament,
Despite parental goading,
I hardly had the habit of worshipping you
By visiting temples on
Daily or a weekly basis
I have been always at a
Great distance from you
No craziness to meditate,
And contemplate on
The infinite variety of the supreme
The mind is still soaked
In lusty thoughts and ruminating on
Barren marital sands.

To kick start
The morale and provide some
Comfort and solace
And redirect the engine of life
And make it moving
We need your accelerator.
Let there be more
Copious summer time rain.
We shall learn to
Rejoice and learn more
About laws of life
Whatever happen…
Let things happen
In a natural way, a normal way
As they are destined to
Happen….. (02.05.2005)

From My Dateless Dairy -The Day after May Day –Prayers for the arrival of grandchild!

For quite some time,
There have been butterflies
In stomach,
A mild pleasant tremor
In all our eyes,
A heightened expectation
From all our well wishers
With all moderation,
Prayers, emotive feelings
A feverish hope
Envelop all of us
With a boyish enthusiasm
Looking forward to
The finalization of the script
In the drama of
Conceptualization of life,
A delayed conceiving of life,
Our prayers for the
Arrival of grand child
To be solidly anchored
On secured foundation
Without any fault line
And also without
Much pain around the waist line.

Many a turbulent storm
Has she not weathered
Successfully Thus far?
Pain and suffering must be
The residuals of life, oh God
But not to be accorded
To any centre stage dominance
All through the life
To sap all the energies of life
And to take away
All the simplest pleasures of life;
But alas, in life it is so, it is so
You can’t have complaints .

We do agree, understand
And acknowledge
Mountain like soaring of dusty clouds,
Stormy Iraqi clouds
And an half an hour
Deadly brush with people
And property on East Coast Road
On one summer morning of 2005
The famous Tsunami
We were told later,
Are Nature’s way of
Teaching /educating
The Laws of Motions of life,
The inherently stormy
Nature of life
With all goodness of the universe
And its niceties on the surface.
(02.05.2005)

Fusing Friendship into love and sex – An ideal Medicine for peace and bliss

“If two persons are into something by mutual consent, I do not find anything objectionable. After all this has to do with the very basic instincts in men and women, and artificial restraints cannot make much of difference,”says Bengali literatures Sunil Gangopadhay.

Unfortunately, in concrete jungles, hi-tech air-conditioned Ashrams ,I.T Parks,and exalted academic corridors, the crucial words “mutual consent” seemed to have been taken for granted and some recent and past episodes are shocking and disturbing.

More recently, the television Media unmasked the other side of one Swami, an young man found himself in a compromising position with an actress of South. Ever since that news channel exposed this scandal, the Ashrams of the said Swami have been ransacked, as general public is unable to digest the deeds of a person who preached sermons about Bhagavat Geeta and celibacy.

Gresham’s law meaning, the bad driving good from circulation seems to have entrenched more in politics and religion. I wonder why the scholarly Sways desire to lead an incredibly luxurious life and accumulate properties running into crores, perhaps even outsmarting the marginal propensity of enterprising politicians to earn money by all unscrupulous means under the Sun.


Long ago, a Vice-Chancellor of a University in the North was put behind the bars, for molesting a girl. When two people (students?) were sharing their privacy in Poona University campus, it was disturbed by a police man, asking their identities. He showed his arrogance and power against the powerless girl, after driving the boy from the scene. For these rascalised individuals, “sex is a monotonous routine like brushing your teeth” and they don’t have any guilt.

At other extreme is an interesting case of a girl cajoling a boy, to ‘maximize pleasure’, by obeying to the dictates of basic instincts. Then comes a bolt firm the blue from the boy that sex was just a “package in inter-personal relationship”, and he did not find anything objectionable, when she reciprocated. How can it be logically taken to marriage ? He merely asks .

Yes! Values have changed. Liberalizedand globalized Indians do not hesitate, to embrace permissive feelings, when former Chief Minister J. H. Patil’s wife was asked to comment on her husband’s fondness for wine and women, she merely replied: “He is free to do what he wants. Besides all this is so common these days”

Mr Clinton’s belated confession about his inappropriate relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, must have angered enormously his wife but she was quick to realize that her husband was “inescapably prone to infidelity and their ravenous political ambition” kept the marriage going. Raj Mohan Gandhi aptly summed up long ago: given an opportunity, there is always prosperity in a male to do mischief with a girl. The tendency towards impulsive, reckless flirt has become more pronounced, with the spread of globalization into the drawing room.


The older generation, brought up in a conservative mindset will be shattered and shackled by watching the incidents and reading the reports which they could never have ever imagined. Fortunately there are still many young boys and girls who are reasonably matured, smart and well informed about the inherent danger behind flirting. The opportunities to mix and mingle, to create magic and music might open the land mines, especially when they are starved of love and affection at home. When things go wrong, as they usually do, dreams turn into disappointments. Those who have walked with careless abandon realize the futility of short lived relationship, ending up on a weepy road.


“Sex was a sublime science in the Vedas, today it has become an appendage of a degenerate culture”, so goes a saying. Love and sex are important in life, as air and water, in adequate doses. While sex without love, is just a trade, one can envisage love without sex and the latter belong to the gene of friendship. If friendship is built into love and sex, that’s the ideal medicine for peace and bliss. But that is a very rare assemblage of tonic, available in today’s world.

Revisiting an Hurriedly delivered Talk in an International Seminar

Day before yesterday after attending the inaugural ceremony of one international seminar organized in our school I wrote this note. The theme was Rajiv Gandhi’s Disarmament Initiatives: Global and south Asian context. There were many celebrity figures on the stage, including former ambassador A. P. Venkateswaran, retired IFS. My role was just to deliver the felicitation address towards the end. Since, the inaugural ceremony nearly lasted for two hours, when my turn came I had to be brief, very very brief.

This brief note is just to share some Notes that I took from my academic dairy, which could not be delivered due to paucity of time. If only I had delivered in a relaxed way perhaps, the speech would have contained the following points which now I would like to recollect in tranquility from memory.

Ø At the very outset, I would like to confess that I am only a student of international finance and hence, I do not have any expertise to articulate on this subject of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. However, I would like to look through the issue from the commonsense view point which is of course the economic lens.

Ø Can we imagine a capitalist global economy today which will not undergo any major financial or currency crisis? One can say an affirmative ‘No’. All of us know that right from 1987 stock market crash through the recession of 1991, September 1992 British pound coup by George Soros, Mexican Peso collapse of 94-95, Asian financial earthquake of 97, its aftermath and spillover into Korea, brazil, Russia and finally to Argentina, the dot.com bubble of 2001and the more recent global financial crisis of 2008, made in U.S.A. –all these crisis have highlighted that a capitalist economy can survive only with a series of devastating financial earthquakes –the familiar Boom and Bust cycle. In the same way I can say that it will be very difficult to imagine a world today without nuclear weapons. Dreaming of that kind of world by whatever means, would be only a utopian goal.

Ø The end of Cold war and the emergence of unipolar world has not lessened the intensity for accumulation of nuclear weapons and also indulging in many military misadventures. For the U.S. the world is not enough, and China is all set for a hunt in Africa for acquiring command over resources.

Ø Countries like India had advocated a policy of non-alignment and nuclear disarmament for long. Like India of the distant past, the U.S. in close company with Russia, sitting on a mountain of nuclear weapons, desire to strive for a world without nuclear weapons and preach sermon to others through summit and other means. Indeed it is very strange but true that the nuclear super powers are talking about the need for a peaceful nuclear order for humanity. They are too eager to set Safeguards, Safety and Security (3 S) for nations becoming nuclear. The race continues because each wants to frighten others.


Ø Very recently, I read that Australia and Japan have taken some initiatives to take up the cause of total nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Everyone knows that Japan was a victim of nuclear holocaust during second world war and Australia which has more uranium resources wants to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes. These two countries can afford to speak and dream about nuclear weapon free world as they can always take shelter under U.S. nuclear umbrella.

Ø These two countries are extremely unhappy with North Korea and Iran which are in the process of equipping themselves with more nuclear weapons; what about Pakistan Which has become the breeding ground of terrorism.

Ø In one of the recent articles Mr. Graham Allisen of Harvard University has drawn attention to the fact that Pakistan increasing instability will pose a challenge not only to south Asia but also to the current, fragile, global nuclear order. The main concern is; “If Pakistan were to lose control of even one nuclear weapon that was ultimately used by terrorists, that event would change the world and alter the conception of viable nuclear order.”

Ø The issue of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament is not only tricky but also ticklish which cannot be resolved that easily but the most important thing today is how the much talked about three ‘S’- Safeguards, Safety and Security in the nuclear non-proliferation literature are going to be managed by the nuclear super powers and who has the critical capability to moderate the nations craving for acquiring control over nuclear weapons? Kindly remember there is also an additional problem of helping the countries which are not willing to enter into nuclear race but very much interested in deploying nuclear power for generating electricity which will be environment friendly.

Ø The need for holding three ‘S’s mentioned above are also related to other areas like sustainable environment, food security, financial stability, climate change and a global financial architecture. Unless and until visionary leaders adore corridors of power and develop a sense of commitment to promote world peace and harmony, all the three ‘S’s will not have any substance and be treated as a matter of no consequence .When will planet friendly leaders emerge and take charge? When will madness in methods of deploying nuclear weapons end in order that one can get out of this hellish situation? How can we dispose off them fully and feverishly? Perhaps in a dream like state.

Ø Achievements of Science and Technology are just intimidating rather than mitigating a host of ills and evils afflicting the broader humanity across the globe. Is God playing a game of dice through nuclear superpowers and smaller terrorist groups competing for more honors in nuclear arena? You can’t give a simple answer or straightforward solution for this puzzle! However let us not lose our faith in the goodness of the universe. We should strive for solution, though it’s elusive.

Our precious Dad On his 60th Birth Day

Sixty long years have gone
You smiled them away with your own song
It is this integral part in you
Which has stunned us and many a few
Though life has not given you much to relish
You have successfully tasted different aspects
Of life which we will cherish

While Economics could give you adequate
Company throughout this life till date
We daughters feel bad we could not contribute
In any way in lightening your suffering which is pure fate
Since strained relationships with fellow beings has
Inflicted more pain and agony which cannot be said
We should learn to accept their inability to
Understand and establish a compatible
Companionship for we are all well read.

This auspicious day, let us pray
“Siva Sakthi’s wedding
Love and understanding of Akshya and Priya Darshini”
Should give you and all of us ,an immense pleasure which
Cannot be equated with anything in life.

-Understanding daughters.
22nd February 2010

This poetic note was by my first daughter, the English literature girl, on behalf of her sisters.

Everyone Needs a Tonic

In the recent times statutory positions and titles have provided me an ‘enabling environment’ to speak on varied themes on the stage in the campus and also outside.
Even earlier, when I functioned as an ordinary faculty, I had plenty of opportunities to articulate on important platforms. My first public speech as Assistant Professor began on 15th August 1970, and I can proudly and confidently say that I was academically reborn on that day.

Since that Independence Day speech at M.G.G.A.C, Mahe under the benevolent guidance and encouragement of principal Ravindran, I began my journey as a voracious reader and speaker since then the wise and benevolent destiny has not abandoned me. Every time, I stand before the mike, I do have my normal butterflies in the stomach .This habit to take each meeting or rather each class room lecture seriously has disciplined me so much that on occasions even with very little preparation, I could speak. One such great occasion came very recently when I was called upon to deliver the valedictory address, which was more like a concluding technical session in a conference.
My strength was that I could always connect with some contemporary developments in my field, International Economics and looking through that lens. I would deal with a topic in question .Without being an expert, it’s always easy to indulge in a discourse in a more relaxed manner. That’s my comfort Zone .Speaking is an art .Unless there is some grace from above, this cannot be neatly executed.

Hailing from village background and being born to hard working parents who have not had any formal education and receiving school education in mother tongue, transition to college education and entry into university was smooth. Thanks to academic solidity provided by the Head Master of my village school and also enterprising professors I had at Puducherry and Madras. I could wade through the slippery waters of academic life. Thank you Lord ,for all the academic stimulus. Goad me to action always, by giving strength to my eyes and knees. Being greedy academically, I am in perpetual poverty and higher yardstick of standard that I set for myself always dwarfs me; “She makes hungry where she satisfies”,- Shakespearean statement will fit into my discipline which has given a lot of peace in life.

A few words of appreciation from a lady staff on the Administration side at the bus stop and a student hand shake this morning just now, -all related to a very short speech delivered on two different occasions in the last 48 hours, triggered me to ruminate and reflect my past and remember my teacher principal (1970) and the creator.

My student’s write up(edited) on “what Keeps you going?”- My questions to Corporate Sector

Today (10.03.2010) I received a mail from my former student who is more like a friend and family member. He has sent a narrative ‘what keeps you going?’ It is all about the motivating factor .I would like to tell readers that the author of this piece has played an instrumental role in goading me to action on many occasions, virtually pushing me into hectic work.Santosh is one who wants me to have a wider interaction through media network. Given my constraints, I would like to remain on the sidelines for some time .I feel delighted by posting his write up with a little editing and raising a question to our corporate leaders. His letter took me to my M.Phil/PhD days at Pune (1978-82)-a lovely academic soil enriched by great souls- a region which gave me academic solidity.

“Over the weekend, I visited Pune – one of the biggest IT-related success stories of India of the past decade. Over there, I went to this ‘Neera’ (a fruit extract which is served cold and acts as a rejuvenator) shop run by a physically challenged person. He was an old man , probably over 65 years of age and I have seen him selling Neera over there atleast for the past 7-8 years. During my chat with him, I asked him – ‘Aap itne saal se Neera bech rahe ho, aapka koi yadgaar khsan bataiye’ (Tell us some unforgettable incident you must have had while selling Neera) . He narrated that incident and then said something that made me think.

“That I am quenching the thirst of so many passers-by and seeing the feeling of satisfaction on their face after having Neera is what has helped me continue selling Neera for so many years.”
Here is an old man, while rendering his work wants to see smiles on his clients “How many people in the corporate world do internalize his spirit?Are they highly motivated enough to practice business ethics?” I mused ‘What keeps you going?’ For at least 90 pc of people in the world (maybe even more) , the answer to this question is extremely straight-forward – Money! For some the answer is “proving themselves” to the world. For others, the answer is achievement of any kind.

The question – what keeps you going!
Shall we say,all these people are successful in life! Why there is differing levels of success? Maybe it’s about how badly do you want success and how hard you are willing to work for it… Take the story of Steve Jobs, who to my mind, has been the CEO of the decade. What drove Jobs back to work after the liver transplant? What kept him going ? Isn’t this a tough question to answer? What’s more, if a person who underwent such a major surgery can motivate himself to take up a position of such public glare – why can’t we do the same?
Let me conclude this with this quote by Wallace Spearmon, US sprinter who came in third in the 100M race to Usain Bolt in Berlin in a time of 9.85 seconds -

“Just because you get beat doesn’t mean you stop trying, it just means you go home and work on your own résumé. When I go home this off-season, I’ve got to go home and work twice as hard, three times as hard and put a picture of Bolt above my bed.”

Thank you Santosh for sending such a motivational stuff. All of us will have to march on , unmindful of any unfavorable wind that might blow. What keeps you going should remain as a question for there are infinite routes for realizing a sense of accomplishment, peace and happiness.

A University Professor remembered my 1997 lecture and sent me a mail .

On 14th February 2010, a week before completing my sixtieth year, I received a letter through e-mail from one university professor, Heading Management department in Chennai suburb. That gave me an inexplicable joy that one can only feel and not put it in words .A kind soul remembered me after thirteen long years and wanted to hear my voice again in a campus where he is a professor and head. If you go through the excerpts of the letter given below, you would note, how much pain he has undertaken to locate me, remembering only my voice and unable to recall and remember my name. I thank the Lord for having given a flash like a lightening memory to recall my name and draft a few lines, bristling with love and affection. Now excerpts from his letter.
“Dear Professor,
Greetings.
(1) First of all, my regards to you. You may not recognize me. I was one of the teacher-participants in the AICTE sponsored refresher course in management conducted by school of mgmt, under the directorship of Dr. S.V.Narayanan, way back in 1997. One of the very few lectures that remained permanent in my memory was yours on economics. For many years, I kept on discussing with my teacher friends and students about the very resourceful, innovative and thought-provoking lecture you had delivered with the speed of light, keeping the entire audience in perfect attention.

(2)Recently, after reading the news item about the sad demise of the veteran economist, Prof. Paul Samuelson, I felt that I, should organize a seminar on "Samuelson's contribution to economics", as a tribute to the great Nobel prize winner. The fact that a few teachers who are graduates / post graduates in economics but eventually got shifted to other fields like management, computers, etc. do not even remember Samuelson made me feel sad and I strongly felt the need to organize a seminar to recreate / reinforce awareness among the young management teachers about the great personality and his valuable contribution.

(3)While attempting to search for right resource person, I tried to recollect the names of great professors / speakers whose speech on economics I have heard recently. But I remembered your speech given long ago and that lecture struck my mind. But, sadly and surprisingly, I couldn't recollect your name. I made vain attempts for 10 days to get your name from a few teacher-friends who also attended refresher course in 1997 along with me. None of them could recollect the name. While I was on the verge of abandoning my attempts to recollect your name, by sheer luck your name struck my mind, an hour back, today.

An immediate active search in web enabled me to confirm your name and also get your e-mail ID as well as other details from the website. I am very glad to see, in PU website, your position as Dean, School of Social Science and Intl. Studies. My congratulations (may be belated;).

I hope I am mailing / writing to the same Professor whose lecture I heard in '97 in SOM, Pondy.

(4) Who else can be my preference, professor, than you to address the teacher participants during the seminar on "Samuelson's contribution to economics". And, who else can be a more fitting person than you for this seminar?”

I accepted his invitation and visited his university on 1st March 2010 and to the best of my abilities and constraints I articulated on Prof. Samuelson in the context of Global Financial Crisis. My former teacher, Prof.Shanmugha Sundaram of Madras University, who taught my optional paper, Economics of planning was also there to deliver the keynote address. On the whole it was a satisfying experience to meet a person who knew me long ago and fulfill his wish. Life is only a summation of this kind of small experiences which give more color and festivity to an otherwise an insipid life.