Preparation for Kural

Like lovers- true, genuine lovers of Sangham Literature variety ,I have been also reading my subject for more than forty long years .Like the lovers, fuse themselves again and again and understand that each time the kind of pleasure derived is newer and far richer , I also get more pain and pleasure by reading again and again for classroom purpose . I cannot say that I have handled by subject at a very sophisticated level but definitely I can dare say that most of the fundamental and foundational side of my discipline, economics I could relish, savor and teach without any trace of tiredness or uneasiness thus far. To lend a helping hand to my first daughter, M.A, M.Phil in English literature, I did work along with her jointly on the treatment of love in Tirukural, classic text on wealth, dharma and love .I did some translation at that time before entering into the translation arena , a few words on Tamil as a language and tirukural as a classic Tamil treatise.

From My Dateless Diary (31.07.2010)

A Few Auto Suggestions for Stability-From my dateless diary

Self admittedly, there’s no time to socialize, spend time with ailing wife or aged mother. Eating junk food, experiencing sleep drought, and not going for morning walk or more feverishly, more foolishly I have been blanketing with evening stroll ‘Dollar’.

This fierce romance with my discipline, my love, my passion, my feeling, makes me more diffident, nervous; while millions of butterflies are flying with infinite speed, in a tiny stomach, I understand that like Japan, I too have fallen into a bottomless pit of a prolonged tailspin of Academic depression.

The other day, when I narrated my academic woes and physical tiredness and inexplicable sadness clouding my thought process, my students showed me the light from what I have taught.

A few samples from their lecture:

Sir, while we decompose ‘Price effect,’ substitution effect always pushes in a positive direction towards enhanced demand in the wake of price fall. But unless ‘income effect’ is sturdy enough, it can’t outweigh helpful substitution effect.

“We know the campus chaos, the denial of your legitimate, academic entitlements, has caused much wrinkles on mind, nerves and all the complex circuit system of brain. The only way to get out of this cobweb of Academic Mischief is to go back to your roots: Your first and last love, our affectionate baby of International Finance; caress it, kiss it, gently embrace it, mildly pamper it. You have to just press the accelerator of friendly molecules in the brain, only to find the overflow of a substantiative stuff.

“Again to go back to your insightful lecture on Japan-A boat floating in Pacific Ocean, has the decade old depression, affected its currency, morale, credibility”. It will be always a good economy. Yen will be a candidate for purposeful stay for a longish period. Have some fun and yen and jest for life must come back to the academic arena and play your full game. You can’t go Tendulkar way of not finding rhythm.

I started off very well, teaching with passion and involvement, enjoying work and getting energized by it. At times even socializing and par-taking lunch with the souls pleasantly meditating on political manuvore.

The years rolled on. It was clearly evident, that the friendship was a farce. The laughter was not only meaningless but also sterile. Beneath the fair face, there was always something- ill will or hatred??. I tried my best to adapt and adjust to experience only minimal social tie. It was pretty disappointing at the end for having come to this world, lacking authoritative tone and arrogant behavior.

My gentlemanly behavior must have seduced them to do more mischief, carry tales, specialize in slander campaign. Give them a standing ovation. With all sheepish smile, with all inclination not to work, but carrying all ‘business work’ to office, and profusely relishing the pleasure of not doing work at workplace. For ages, these wise people have proved, work is not a necessary or a sufficient condition to climb up the Administrative/or Academic ladder. That’s the exclusive domain of ‘effective fools’.

Where are you My Friend, Srivatsava in the United States of America?

The positive fallout of waking up at 3:30 am and not going to bed again was that I stumbled upon a letter, written by one my MIM students some five of six years ago. I want to post his letter in the blog for many reasons the principle one being, to reach him. Will not by strange quirk of fate, he be united with us since all of us are floating around the internet. Now, his letter.

“Dear Sir,

My association with you, and my own life taught me a few lessons which I would like to share with my juniors in the international studies programme.

Never lose your integrity

Believe in God and yourself

Know what you want to do in life and work towards it.

There is nothing more important than your good health

With your blessing I am in the number one school I the United States for the Industrial and Labor Relations Programme. I should be graduating in December 2006 with a specialization in Human Resource and Organization and minor in collective bargaining. This degree would be a stepping stone for a good career in the U.S or anywhere in the world. At this point I am content with what God has given me even though he tested my patience quite a bit.

I am happy to share with you that I am visiting India for two or three weeks between August 10^th and 28^th. I will definitely call you and talk to you during my stay. Please excuse me for my bad hand writing. But I wanted to write it in my own hand to give it a personal touch and not just type a brief mail.

With warm regards,

Srivatsava

We shall Love All like We have never been Hurt

Today I got up at 3:30 am. Yesterday- the May Day which celebrates the value and dignity of labor – both physical and mental, my two students lent a helping hand in putting some order in a chaotic home filled with academic debris accumulated over four decades.

That was also a day when one of my children was in a tormented state of mind and because of my stupidity and immaturity or more maturity and more eagerness, I did not allow the other side to ventilate her problems and feelings more freely . “How can you know unless I tell you?”, she might have felt . When I knew everything what she was going to say, I felt that the conversation must be short circuited for her own good. The result, quite inadvertently the problem was compounded and her finer sensibilities were wounded. There was no way to console or explain my true intentions. Even the KFC Chicken could not play any cementing role and she hardly touched it although the grand children chewed them to the core and enjoyed themselves . Later they also found fault with me that I have not adequately listened to their mother . A person, who had enormous amount of patience and concern for others and had played a role of a psychologist besides his teaching assignment, could not replicate the same at home, where it mattered most on a fateful day. The simple truth that even a fraction of the concern shown for the vast army in the society was conspicuously absent when his own children were involved in the game .The ways and the means of the cruel and wicked fate are indeed mysterious.

As the world is undergoing an unforgettable recession with all the inflationary pressures and speculative tendencies are inherently built into that evolving economic order, individuals too, our nearest ones and also the most dearest ones have been afflicted with inexplicable sorrow, unease and unhappiness .In the early years of new millennium, I too have tossed and turned into a tailspin of serious academic recession, sorry Tsunami. By the grace of the Supreme, whom I am yet to romance with, more feverishly, I survived. For the sake of all – those unfortunate ones – You and Me an many Others for whom life is always fused with the spice of suffering the following quote of the actor, Ravina Tandan would show the path of happiness .

“There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like we don’ need money, dance like no one is watching and love like you have never been hurt”