Mohammed Rafi

 

 

 Mohammed Rafi, 24-Dec-1924 to 31-July-1980

 

NOTE TO READER: There are YouTube videos embedded in this blog. By clicking on the play icon, you would be able to play the song within the blog itself. However, some of the videos do not open within the blog because of copyright (?) issues, but you, reader, will be able to open the video through the YouTube link that appears. I am sorry for this issue, but it has nothing to do with me, I assure you. I am unable to bypass this without avoiding the songs themselves, which I am loath to do because I like them so much. So bear with me please!  If you are opening this on your mobile and cannot see the embedded videos, please first scroll down and tap on "view the web version". Then the embedded videos can be seen.

As we come closer to the legendary singer's 96th birthday, I thought I should post some of the songs that I absolutely love and like to listen to multiple times. I will be only posting the YouTube links of those songs with a brief description of why I like that song. 

 
1. "Madhuban mein Radhika naachey re". The combination of music, lyrics and vocals make this song among the best. Dilip Kumar's expressions during the song add to the beauty and picturisation of the song. Right from my childhood, I used to love listening to this song when it was played on radio. This song is set to Hameer raag and the gati of the song is drut, which means it is sung in a fast tempo.

 

2. The next song in the list has to be another Dilip Kumar number from Ganga Jamuna. Nain lad jaihen to... The song is in Awadhi dialect and the whole film had characters speaking in that dialect. This was probably the first attempt by a film maker to produce a film in a dialect of Hindi rather than the Hindustani language that almost all films are made in. Rafi aced the song in that dialect. I almost forgot to mention that here!

 

3.  Rafi saab created a stir with Baiju Bawra. The songs composed by Naushad with lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni topped the popularity charts the year the film was released. Among the many songs that Rafi sang for Bharat Bhushan, the most famous song is "Bhagwaan, bhagwaan, O duniya ke rakhwaale". The song starts with a slow pace and pitch and goes to high pitch, which in my opinion no one else could have achieved. The story that Rafi had blood coming out of his mouth towards the end of the song, has been rubbished by Naushad in an interview. 

4.  A change of scene here. After a serious song, let us come to appreciate the range of Rafi's singing for Johnny Walker in Pyaasa. Sar jo tera chakraaye. This song was No. 2 in the annual list of songs in Binaca Geetmala, the unofficial ranking of songs of the year. Pyaasa had some really soulful songs including the iconic song, Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai. Wonder why that song didn't hit the popularity charts that year, but this song did! Anyway, coming back to this song sung so wonderfully by Johnny Walker on screen, I always wonder how Rafi could modulate his voice for various actors, including Johnny Walker and Mehmood. 

 

5.  Next is a duet with Asha Bhosle for Kala Pani. The movie was released in 1958 and had that fantastic song with so much "nakhras" by both Rafi and Asha that the actors on screen - Dev Anand and Madhubala - had to only imitate the voice with their expressions. One of my favourite songs of the duo. Accha ji mein haari chalo maan jaao naa.

6. Still sticking with Dev Anand, the next song is from the film Kala Bazaar. Apni to har aah ik toofan hai. Dev Anand sings the song in the first class compartment while travelling from Bombay to Ooty (no direct train existed then, none does so now too; but for a movie, I suppose anything's possible). Dev Anand knows that Waheeda Rehman is in love with Vijay Anand, but he still serenades her and this song has a double meaning. Though on the face of it, it appears that Dev Anand is praying to the God above, he is actually requesting Waheeda Rehman in the upper berth to show some "mercy" towards him! Well picturised by the director Vijay Anand - the king of song picturisation. As for Rafi, his singing in a soft voice was just the voice that Dev needed.

7.  I will go to Pradeep Kumar next who had Rafi sing most of his songs. Among the songs that proved to be a big hit, this one is up there. Ab kya misaal doon mein teri... from the film Aarti.  The composer is Roshan and lyrics are by Majrooh Sultanpuri.

 

8. The next song is from the film, Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi. The film was produced by Guru Dutt films with Guru Dutt in the lead and this song would have been different if it was picturised on Guru Dutt. But unfortunately, Guru Dutt died without completing the film. After a while and with some difficulty in looking for another actor to play that role, Dharmendra was chosen. He performed very well in the film; though one question would always remain as to how would Guru Dutt have been! Lyrics by Anjaan and music by O. P. Nayyar. The song is Aap ke haseen rukh par aaj naya noor hai. Ignore Dharmendra's poor attempt at convincing us that he is playing the piano! Focus instead on the beauty of Mala Sinha and Tanuja. Both look ravishing in the movie.

9.  I cannot exclude this song from Mere Mehboob. Mere mehboob mujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam. The ghazal with inimitable poetry by Shakeel Badayuni and music composition by Naushad saw Rafi sing with such pathos that it is impossible to imagine anyone else singing this song - even today with all technical assistance available for the singers. 

10.  The song Din dhal jaaye, haaye from Guide is my next choice simply because it is a sad song and the first sad song in this list. I recall a comment by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, himself a popular and excellent singer, compliment Rafi's sigh when he says "haaye", and explains for us laymen how difficult it could be for a singer to bring out that expression in the song which would reflect the position that Dev Anand found himself in that situation.

11.  This romantic duet from Kashmir ki Kali with Asha Bhosle, Deewana hua baadal has always impressed me with the ease with which both singers bring the romance through their vocals and modulation! S. P. Balasubrahmanyam sings this on stage quite effortlessly and also comments about the range of Rafi while saying that he would listen to this song during his college days without understanding the meaning, but with tears in his eyes.

12.  Who can forget Dosti and the songs in that sleeper hit film (third highest grosser of 1964). Though 'Chahoonga mein tujhe' was more popular during the year it was released, I much prefer 'Jaanewaalo zara mud ke dekho mujhe'. The voice that attracted the crowd and made the two boys earn some money! One of the earliest films of Laxmikant Pyarelal duo, who finished with the  maximum songs sung by Rafi saab.

13.  A Qawwali  to bring some variation in the songs of Rafi. This song Parda Hai Parda from the film Amar Akbar Anthony brings out the fantastic ability of Rafi to sing qawalis with equal elan. There are a few other qawwalis which Rafi has sung in the company of Asha Bhosle or Manna Dey, but I am choosing a solo by Rafi.

14.  Next is a soft song by Rafi from Oonche Log (a remake of the Tamil original Major Chandrakant). An interesting story line. But the song is a romantic song by Rafi for Feroz Khan. Jaag dil-e deewana, rut jaagi...Music by Chitragupt and lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. Rafi's soft voice to welcome the dawn is so soothing!

15.  A patriotic song now. Hum laaye hain toofan se kashti nikaal ke from Jagriti. Lyrics by Kavi Pradeep and music by Hemant Kumar. This song used to be played on record players in our childhood during Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations in the township where I grew up. 

16.  A fun song to end this blog. Bade miyan deewaane, aise na bano. Joy Mukherjee in Shagird trying his best to make a gentleman and lover-boy of I.S. Johar. Some passages of the song bring out the fun very effectively. Lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri and music by Laxmikant Pyarelal.This is a duet by Rafi and Manna Dey! There was a toss up between this song or the other Duniya paagal hai, ya phir mein deewana. But my vote is for Bade miyan deewaane for its fun factor; and not for the slapstick!

 

 

17.  The best song that I like is a bit rare song, hardly played on TV or on radio nowadays, but I used to hear the quite frequently in my younger days on Vividh Bharati. Kahin ek maasoom naazuk si ladki from the film Shankar Hussain. Lyrics by Kamaal Amrohi and music by Khayyam. This soulful rendition of the nazm is among the favourites of Rafi saab also. 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this collection. In case of any comments, please do write in.

A blog a day (#25)

I MISS YOU

Have you ever told anyone, "I miss you" when you didn't see them for sometime, or didn't hear from them in a while? Have you informed them of your desire to remain in touch with them, either meeting in person, or speaking with them, or receiving a message, an email, or just a "Hi!"? I am not much of a sociable person. I do not go out of my way to establish contact, maintain the contact, or remain in touch with many acquaintances; but friends is a different story.

I  miss my elder sister, Dr. Shanti, whom we all lost in 1985. It has been 35 years since she left us, but hardly a day passes when I do not remember her fondly and miss her. But did I tell her that I missed hearing from her when she was alive and well? I wrote letters to her and she to me; and I have preserved some of them. Their value to me increased manyfold once she left us. I keep in touch with my other sisters and nephews and nieces often and when we haven't exchanged any messages or haven't spoken in a while, we do get in touch over phone and talk. But I hardly say, "I missed you!" though in my heart I feel that I missed them.

My elder son, Anirudh, lives in Bangalore and says quite often over phone when we speak, "I miss you both (my wife and I)." I hadn't thought much of that statement of his till today, but now I understand the import of why he says those words and what I should say in response. i have never heard my father say those words, nor I remember saying them to my parents when they were alive and I was living elsewhere. Those three words would have made a world of difference to them, I think. I miss you appa and amma!

I miss you may be a romantic way of a couple who have been apart and I am no romantic, nor have I ever romanced anyone to have said this to any person of the opposite sex. My reference in this blog is with respect to missing a friend, a relative, an associate, or a colleague. What happens when we say, "I missed you"? What would be their reaction to a comment like that? Said in all sincerity and honesty, I am sure the other person would feel elated and happy. What if we don't say that, but nod our head, say, "Hello! Hope you are doing well," and pass on? What would the other person feel? Do both the greetings mean the same thing? In my honest opinion, saying, "I missed you" would mean more to the other person than a mere greeting.

While I was studying for my masters programme, there was a subject "Organisation and Methods", which referred to the study of office procedures with an aim to simplify the work. There was one topic, Forms design. This referred to the study and analysis of "office forms" and examining the design and layout. Additionally we would need to also see the number of copies of the forms circulated to various people and what they did with their copy! More often than not, multiple copies with colour codes could be simply reduced by eliminating one or more copies and examining if the "recipient" missed his or her copy. If there was no word, it would be obvious that they didn't need the copy! If they did, they would come back and ask for it and their copy could be restored. One way of saying to the copy of the report, "I missed you!"

In my quest to complete writing a blog a day for 100 days, I intentionally missed writing a blog yesterday (blog #24). I expected a few of my regular readers to get back to me with a message asking if I had forgotten to post that in my WhatsApp status and in Facebook? Except my younger sister, Raji, no one else missed my blog! That is what prompted me to write on this topic!

Do you miss me?

A Blog a Day (#23)

TEAM

This blog will be about teams in business - more specifically manufacturing or service industry. We have been hearing this term during the last quarter of the last century. Maybe earlier, the industry believed more in individuals carrying out tasks and responsibilities assigned to them. So we had people saying, "No, this is not my job." We may still see such comments from staff in government and bureaucracies where individuals have to complete their assigned tasks.

Back in the 1980's trade union leaders were powerful and there were many instances where they could hold an organisation to ransom by demanding wage rises. I am not against unions in organisations, since before unions were formed, the employers took undue advantage of workmen and exploited them. We had instances of coal-mine workers who worked in unsafe conditions and died because the employer was more interested in mining away all the coal without leaving anything for holding the tunnels.

Be that as it may, the discussion about Teams cannot be complete without mentioning the influence of Japanese management concepts in business.  Toyota Production System, Total Productive Maintenance, and TQM came to be adopted by industry from the 90's and they brought with it the concept of team work. Many engineers in the industry who would work on their own now had to work in a team and contribute so that the team output would be much more than the sum total of what each individual could do. It also brought in the need for implementing improvements in processes and complementary skills were brought to the team meetings thereby ensuring that the implementation of improvements were successful. In any team sport we see a team comprises of people with unique and often complementary skills and they all come together during the game to ensure victory for the team. Business organisations have emulated the concept from sport and have been quite successful.

 

 

A blog a day (#22)

PERFECTION

Is it good to aspire for excellence in one's activities and seek perfection in whatever one is doing? Does Excellence equate Perfection? If not, what are the differences? Let us try and examine them. In this blog, I will be attempting to reference some published material to understand these terms.

We will not be referring perfection with respect to sciences since there are perfect numbers, perfect models, etc in sciences. I am confining my blog to perfection in carrying out tasks or being part of process in any organisation.

Perfection is a state, variously, of completeness, flawlessness, or supreme excellence (Wikipedia - Perfection). So perfection can be understood as something that is impossible or extremely difficult to improve upon. As an Industrial Engineer, I am always led to believe the axiom, "there is always room for improvement".

Since the definition of Perfection contains the term, Excellence, let us also look at how Excellence is defined. Excellence is a talent or quality which is unusually good and so surpasses ordinary standards. It is also used as a standard of performance. (Wikipedia - Excellence). Now this definition is more to my liking, since it does indicate that there is no room for improvement. 

There are Business Excellence award systems in vogue in various countries and I have been part of a team that was tasked to design and implement Business Excellence award system in Oman when I worked in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry there. Among the many criteria there, one important aspect that we looked at were the processes for identifying areas of improvement and implementing those improvements with quantitative measures in place to show the extent of improvements completed. 

Aamir Khan is often referred to as a perfectionist and that moniker is given by the media to him for the way he approaches any role he undertakes - movies as well as TV programmes. Is he a perfectionist who, as per the definition we saw above, "flawless"? Arguably not. The blog is not about the actor, so let us stop with actor references here.

Is the goal of perfection good? Is it a healthy aspiration? What about the people around such persons? Do they have a pleasant life living in the presence of a perfectionist? Many psychologists advice us against the pursuit of perfection cautioning us that such behaviour leads among other aspects (Signs of perfectionist) to:

a. Expectation of perfection from others;

b. Struggling to complete tasks in which one doesn't feel one can do well;

c. Any mistake as a proof of inadequacy;

d. Any self worth depends on the achievement.

Do you still want to be a perfectionist? Or would you rather pursue excellence?

A blog a day (#21)

SHORT STORIES

Right from my younger days - school days to be more precise - I have been fascinated by the ability of writers to convey so much in a few pages. The protagonist, other supporting characters, if any, and the denouement, if the writer wants a closed end. There are stories however, which leave the reader pondering of the end, since the reader didn't find any resolution to any conflict. Such stories have a more lasting impression in me, at least, since I keep replaying the story in my mind; picturing the various scenarios presented by the writer, and trying to complete the story myself. Probably that is what the writer intends in the first place. Total involvement by the reader; bringing him/her closer to the scene of action and making him/her a part of the whole narrative.

Some authors have argued that a short story must have a strict form. Somerset Maugham thought that the short story "must have a definite design, which includes a point of departure, a climax and a point of test; in other words, it must have a plot". This view is however opposed by Anton Chekov who thought that a story should have neither a beginning nor an end. It should just be a "slice of life", presented suggestively. (From: Wikipedia)

Among English short story writers, my favourite has been O. Henry. His life was interesting, to say the least and some of his stories were ones where there wouldn't be any conclusion with the reader left to ponder regarding what would happen next. Among Tamil short story writers, Sujatha (Rangarajan) was a master with his simple writing style and various genres that he explored. Jeffrey Archer is another master story teller and his short stories have been quite popular. Our Mahabharata contains so many short stories told by various characters during the exile of the Pandavas that they form the moral fibre of our culture and tradition. How can one forget R. K. Narayan and his Malgudi Days collection of short stories? The stories featured a small boy, Swami, and his interactions with various people who came into his life in the small fictional town, Malgudi.

Advertisements are another form of story telling. Now this is done in a few seconds and those ads that convey a story of sorts, capture our attention more and we look forward to the ads reappearing again for us to understand the 'story' embedded in the advertisement.

Sometimes when we read long novels or watch full length feature films, we tend to think that this would have made an excellent short story or a short film rather than the boring novel or full feature length film. Haven't you felt like that?

 

 

A blog a day (#20)

PODCAST

I have been listening to some interesting podcasts of late and I am happy to say that my son, Sairam, was instrumental in introducing me to this medium.

I had heard of podcasts earlier, but didn't know the wealth of information available there across various platforms. Seems podcasts are springing up by the day.

A podcast is an episodic series of spoken word digital audio files that a user can download to a personal device for easy listening. Streaming applications and podcasting services provide a convenient and integrated way to manage a personal consumption queue across many podcast sources and playback devices (from Wikipedia).

Podcast was first mentioned in a 2004 Guardian newspaper article by Ben Hammersley. The “pod” of the podcast is borrowed from Apple’s iPod; the “cast” is taken from the term Radio broadcast. To clarify, however, you can listen to a podcast in any digital media player. (from https://itmunch.com/future-podcasts-2020/)

Well, so I started off on listening to some interesting podcast like Guy Riaz's Ted Radio Hour. Each episode was for about 50-60 minutes and that was convenient since that was the time for me to complete my morning walk. I would plug my earphones on my phone and while listening to the podcast, complete my walk. Beats the boredom of walks.

Then my cousin's son-in-law suggested that I could listen in to a retelling of the classic Tamil novel by Kalki - பொன்னியின் செல்வன் (Ponniyin Selvan). A story retold by Kavita who tells the story in an easy to understand Tamil. The episodes were available thrice a week and there were more than 200 episodes! I enjoyed listening to the retelling of that classic. Reading may give more pleasure to the more literary kind who can understand and read Tamil fast; but given my speed, I preferred the podcast. Currently I am listening to another podcast by the same person - சிவகாமியின் சபதம் (Sivakamiyin Sabatham - again by Kalki). These are classics set in the times of Chola and Pallava empires about a thousand years ago. Not only is the story a classic in Tamil, and Kalki may have written this about 60 years ago, but these hold the attention of readers and listeners even today. Such is the power of a good story, well told.

There are podcasts of Mahabharata which is again well retold in simple English and I have listened to about a 100 episodes of that classic. 

I suppose these podcasts could have been more popular in cities where people usually commute to work and the drive could take between 30 minutes to about 120 minutes! What can one do productively during this time - other than nap? Listen to one's podcast of choice! But during these pandemic times, did the podcast customer base dry up a bit? I don't know anything about this. But I continue to listen to podcasts during my walks - which have resumed after a break of about 4 months!

Those interested in this topic may refer to this for more guidance. Indian Podcasts

HAPPY LISTENING!

A blog a day (#19)

ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA

"Can you please stop staring at your phone now. It is already 10 pm. I have read somewhere that one shouldn't look at devices and displays at least three hours before one's bedtime." 

"How long will you continue to sip coffee? Are you drinking coffee or drinking all the messages on your phone?"

"How many updates will you keep looking at on Twitter or Bitter or something like that? Isn't it enough if you see that once in a day?"

"Are you still on Facebook? Your face will resemble a book if you continue to check Facebook. Come on stop that and help me here. Please throw the vegetable waste in the small dustbin. The small one, not the big one! Didn't you listen? The big one is for dry waste and the small one is for wet waste. You are wasting your time, aren't you?"

"How many Whatsup (yes, many people call it like this only) messages do you get? You are looking at your phone and laughing the whole day. Not talking to me, only talking to your phone! Remember we are married and you are my spouse."

"Have you finished your vegetable booking on big basket? Oh! This time you are going to book on Spot Seva, is it? Have you done that? No. I knew that. When will you finish that job? I have to keep reminding you ten times, then only you will take your eyes off your phone, is it?"

Of course, not all the dialogues are true in my home. Well, I got hooked onto Facebook about 10 years ago and for a few years I was posting something every day till I got bored and then stopped completely. Nowadays, I browse the site and copy paste some jokes on Whatsapp groups. Whatsapp is the current addiction and I have a few groups in which I am a member. The total number of messages across all groups and individuals sometimes exceeds 100. I may not look at all videos, but all text messages I do read and that takes a substantial part of my day.

Inspite of all the evils that my wife (or your wife, dear reader) may have pointed out, you will agree with me that it has brought your long lost friend nearer and your other friends closer - even if they are not in the same geographical location as you. Anyway, a few similar comments from my wife died down substantially once she started getting addicted to Whatsapp. Nowadays she is part of a few groups and gets so many messages from her friends, old classmates, and office colleagues that she doesn't remember to berate me for the time I "waste" on social media. 

Image source: Internet

Most technology solutions offer convenience with some trade offs. Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram, and other such social media platforms offer a lot of information, interactions, and posts by some smart and intelligent people. But reading those takes away your time. 

If you have the time, the social media platforms have the content. Browse at your own risk.

A blog a day (#18)

DRIVING

Back when I was in school (mid 60's), my father bought a scooter - a Lambretta. 

Now this scooter wouldn't start so easily, especially during winters. It needed at least about a hundred kicks to start it. I was given the responsibility to start the scooter and keep it ready for my father to ride that to office. Kickstarting that vehicle almost everyday gave me some pain - physical and mental. Why me? Well, I was the only boy in the house and my father was nearing 50 then, so I had to do that job. I think I may have demanded an incentive to help my father. After some thought about it, he decided that he would teach me how to ride the scooter and thus began my driving lesson on a lambretta when I was about 14 or 15 years old. No license, no learner's license also. With my father behind me, I used to drive the scooter in our township in Ranchi and he would guide me as to when to apply brake, when to accelerate, when to change gears, and how to balance properly. This gave me an incentive enough to kickstart the scooter everyday for my father. Over time, my father would also ask me to drop my sister off to the main road - a distance of about 2 kms from home - so that they could take a public transport to college. I think I got a hang of riding a scooter. Never  mind the fact that I got a license only when I was 30! Now this is bound to rankle my children since after I bought a car, I didn't allow my children to drive without a license. 

I did get into some embarrassing situations whenever I gave a ride to my sisters. There was at least one occasion when a colleague or classmate of my sister asked her if I was her husband! Couldn't that chap see some resemblance between me and my sister? And did I look that old? 

Every opportunity comes with some risk, I suppose.

A blog a day (#17)

PONGAL

This blog is not about the festival; it is about the dish. 

Pongal is a breakfast dish very popular in Tamil Nadu. It is made of rice and lentil and spiced with pepper and jeera. The garnishing of cashews in liberal quantities of ghee makes the breakfast wholesome and very tasty. The taste is generally enhanced multifold with the two most common accompaniments - coconut chutney and eggplant-onion 'gotsu' (stew). The ingredients done, now let me say why I like this item.

Pongal is the only breakfast item I prefer when I am on vacation in Tamil Nadu and have to eat in restaurants. Cooks in Tamil Nadu are the only ones who know how to cook this dish well. The pongal available in Karnataka (especially Bangalore) are runny and accompanied by onion raita. Now that is one side dish that should absolutely be kept away from pongal. I think pongal in Karnataka cries when it sees the raita, that is why it turns runny!

My wife makes a decent pongal, but of late she has been rather stingy when it comes to adding ghee and cashew. That doesn't bode well for the pongal and in my honest opinion, that is why it isn't as tasty. I am sure the pongal gods are unhappy as well. Maybe after reading this blog of mine, she will go back to her original ratio of ingredients.

Wedding events in Tamil Nadu generally have a breakfast menu which includes pongal. But the gotsu is absent; instead we are served sambar with pongal. Now that isn't such a great thing as gotsu and one helping of pongal is enough for me. Very few restaurants in Tamil Nadu also serve gotsu; sambar is the preferred option since it reduces the variety of items prepared! But inspite of such shortcomings, it is anyday more welcome than idli, dosai, or vadai!

I have heard my ex-colleagues from Bangalore who have echoed similar sentiments regarding pongal and the variety that is prepared in Tamil Nadu. So there....you guys in Bangalore need to stop calling your dish pongal. Instead call it khichdi, which it really is!

My appeal to the government of India. Please make pongal the national breakfast of India. After the national bird, national animal, and national flower, let us have pongal as the national breakfast!

The dish of the gods, by the gods, for the people of India!

 

A blog a day (#16)

PUNCTUALITY

Place: A company in Hyderabad
Year: sometime in 2006

We were meeting an executive in an organisation where we were engaged by the company to help them implement Six Sigma. As part of our contract, we were supposed to meet with each team every week and mentor them for about 2-3 hours by going through their work over the past week and guide them in their process understanding and analysis. 

So the person says, "We will meet tomorrow first thing in the morning, Sir!"
We say, "Fine, thanks for your time. But at what time?"
"Sir, at 10:30"

We came out of his office and smiled and asked each other, "Is that first thing in the morning?"

Another occasion. Our meeting a team had to start at 2 pm. So I reached the person's office and found him missing from his office. I waited in the visitor's chair for about 15 minutes, no sign of the person. Then I went out to the factory area and searched for him. Found him. Asked him if we were meeting that day. Sheepish grin. He had forgotten all about our meeting.

I am sure such scenarios play out almost every day at various places in India and in some countries abroad also. Why is punctuality so difficult for most of us? Agreed, there could be some emergency meetings, activities, events that require individual attention necessitating the person's absence from his office. A phone call in advance helps the people who have sought an appointment to reschedule their own meeting in the event there is a delay. Why do many of us not show enough courtesy to others for their time? Why don't we value others' time as much as we value ours. Or don't value ours!

Do some organisations instill the value of keeping to schedules and appointments for their new joinees? I am not aware of this. Maybe some do? 

I was a faculty for MBA students in a management institute in Bangalore for many years. My classes were generally for 2 or 3 hours with break for 10 minutes in between. Agreed a class for this long is difficult to maintain attention and students would feel sleepy, hungry, thirsty, or simply bored. Anyway, all this is AFTER the student has entered the classroom, not before. Hence, I wouldn't listen to any excuse for latecomers. I wouldn't send them back; I would just ask the class to leave the front row vacant for the latecomers and insist that they sit in the front row. Punishment? I don't know. But over time, the number of latecomers reduced significantly!

With my children away in different cities, we have a scheduled video chat every week on Sundays at 8 am India time. Many times all are not available at 8 am! There are some reasons for not meeting or being delayed. This punctuality issue is as personal as it gets!

A blog a day (#15)

PANDEMIC BUYING

Period - March 2020. We were in the midst of lockdown I. Most of us were quite unprepared for this form of 'incarceration'. We didn't know what to expect, how long this would last, how to combat the boredom of staying in, and lastly how to purchase our essentials.

My wife and I had just shifted to Chennai from Bangalore and we were not settled fully too; but there was no option. We had to manage the situation. With the help of our neighbour we bought some provisions to last a couple of months and vegetables from a nearby shop which was open. This was godsend and we thought we could manage with this till we were free of the pandemic or the e-commerce sites opened up and started delivering without delay or without mentioning that no deliveries were possible.

Having got used to online purchasing, it was a bit difficult to go back to ordering from local shops where we were unsure of quality of the food items.

Lockdowns came and went; more came, and then some more. This lasted about three to four months. My elder sister has been more enterprising and located an online store for groceries and vegetables where we could order through a whatsapp message and they would deliver within a couple of days. This was godsend and we patronized the e-commerce organisation. The only drawback was that it didn't have any website where we could ourselves select the item and hope to get the same brand and product size that we wanted. But at that time, our requirements were tailored to get what we could and not be too choosy about brand and product size!

With restrictions being periodically lifted by the government, our preferred e-commerce supplier too come online with deliveries within a couple of days, so our choice widened.

Did small shopowners suffer due to the pandemic? The answer to this has to be an unequivocal YES. Did those people who patronized the small shops during the lockdown, continue to do so after lifting of restrictions? I haven't got any answer so far to this question. I have gone back to online e-commerce platforms for my purchases. 

A blog a day (#14)

KEEPING CHILDREN ENGAGED

I hear a lot of comments about how to engage children in activities that ensure that they do not cause any disturbance or trouble either to their parents or others in the household. Sometimes their tantrums and behaviour hassles parents no end and they find themselves at their wits' end.

I have a special knack with children and have been quite successful in engaging them in stories or activities that ensures that they aren't troubling me while I care for them.

The trick is to think like children do, act like them, and talk similarly. There was an occasion when I was accompanying my three sons by train from Chennai to Bangalore. They were about 6-8 year olds and ensuring that they stayed in one place in a crowded train was a challenge that needed some planning. My wife and I bought a few books (children's books) and thought that handing the books over to them may solve the problem of engaging them. However, that was not to be. Soon enough I could see some restlessness creeping in them. The signs are a bit of argument and some fight among the three sons. Hmm. My thinking cap had to be put and I had to think quickly of something new.

The game that is still popular with us when we are with kids is a "three clap game". I hold the child's hand and ask him to clap thrice. Naturally most children know how to clap. So they go about doing that. My hands control their clapping. I let them clap their hands twice, but at the third attempt, I ensure that their two hands do not meet. I say, "Come on! You need to do better." We keep trying and they keep succeeding twice, but at the third attempt they are unable to clap. We laugh and keep trying. Sometimes, I ask them to hold my hand and say, "See how I am able to clap." Obviously, I do that. But soon enough the kids learn the trick and try to pull my hands away from each other preventing me from clapping three times. It now becomes a fun activity.

In the train when I devised this game for the first time with my young kids, many onlookers were laughing with us at this simple trick.

This game doesn't work with children beyond a certain age, say 8-10 years. With them, one has to be more creative. But that is a subject for another blog!

Suffice it to say that all my sons are now adept at engaging young kids and playing with them.

A blog a day (#12)

RESILIENCE

Resilience: The ability to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

While browsing through a post on Quora, I came upon an incident regarding a child being taught by his mother to ride a bicycle on a road. The person goes on to say that the child fell down from the bicycle and started crying. The mother was not near the child; and the person witnessing this incident thought that now the mother would spring to the child's help; lift him up, and put him back on the bicycle. But the mother did nothing of that sort; instead she just sat there while her son bawled on the road beside his fallen bicycle. After some time, the kid stopped crying when he realized that no one was coming to his aid either to help him up or placate him. He not only stopped crying, but he also got back up on his bicycle and started cycling again. The child showed resilience. More importantly the mother intrinsically taught the child resilience.

My friend and partner always used to include a similar point during his training sessions on Six Sigma (a process improvement methodology) by telling the trainees that they shouldn't be afraid of failing in whatever improvements they were attempting to bring about in the processes they were managing. Sometimes our ideas don't work; our analysis of the root causes of problems aren't what we thought they were. Should we give up under the circumstances? Now this is what a few of us may do saying that whatever we do, we aren't likely to bring about any improvements since this process will work like this only. The analogy that my partner would say would be about a baby which is learning to walk. After taking a few steps, the kid may fall, but immediately the kid would get up and begin to walk again. The ability to balance itself will never come easily for the kid; but the kid will never give up. That is resilience.

I looked back upon my parenting days when my children were young and apt to fall and hurt themselves either while playing or just moving about inside the house. They would cry and as parents, we thought we had developed a good idea to beat up the floor and tell the kid that now the floor had been punished for hurting the child. Did the child learn resilience? Did we do the right thing by telling the child that if they fall we are there to punish anyone who made my child cry? Falling is not a problem; it is how long we take to get up and continue doing what we were doing before falling down that shows resilience.

A blog a day (#11)

 COFFEE

In my childhood, I never got a chance to taste coffee. In our home, coffee was for my parents. As children we used to get only 'kanji' made out of wheat and other ingredients. It was a filling morning drink and I never had any desire to have coffee. The interest and habit started when I joined college and was in the hostel. Morning coffee was a routine where we went to the mess in the ground floor and met other hostel-mates over the drink. It wasn't a great coffee, I realize now; but then the new found freedom to have what one wanted was magical!

I am somewhat of a coffee fanatic nowadays and like the South Indian filter coffee. Other ways to prepare coffee including the instant variety aren't anywhere near the taste of the freshly brewed coffee with milk and sugar! The less said about the Starbucks and CCD's the better. 

The above picture captures my thinking about coffee which is not the South Indian filter coffee!

The essential ingredients for a freshly brewed filter coffee are the following:

That's the coffee filter.

...and then you need this...the coffee powder.

Narasu's is just a brand that I got from the internet. Any brand is fine with me as long as there is no chicory mixed.

These two are more than enough to get the perfect brew that one needs in the morning. At home, I am the person getting up early for preparing the "decoction" and then enjoying my cup of coffee with a couple of biscuits.

Note: All images from internet

A blog a day (#11)

PEDESTRIANS, BEWARE!

A news item in the Times of India woke me up from my slumber. Huh! Bangalore Traffic police are booking pedestrians for jaywalking! Now this news may be old, but it does crop up more often than we can care to remember.

Jaywalking is a term originating in the United States and widely used elsewhere that refers to illegal or reckless pedestrians crossing of a roadway. (This definition is from wikipedia.) Be that as it may, are our roads in India conducive to pedestrians? I have seen many roads where the original footpaths are encroached upon by a myriad of objects and people. In busy roads, one is likely to see street-vendors occupy a portion of the footpath selling their wares - mostly street food. The waste of the food items are strewn about near the cart. Then come the flower vendors and fruit sellers. We have an occasional cobbler - but that skill is vanishing and I don't think young guys are interested in repairing their footwear any longer. The life of a footwear is directly proportional to the changing tastes of the millenials. I have seen trucks being parked in the space meant for pedestrians (not a footpath really; the place is just a muddy space between where the road ends and the compound wall of the house begins. 

There was a news item recently in The Hindu with an accompanying photograph showing how the footpaths are designed and built. Are they really meant for people to walk? Can one display one's gymnastic skills while walking on the footpath? No wonder children walk on the side of the road endangering themselves.

Certain cities do not have a park in each locality. That feature is present in Delhi and Bangalore. It is quite easy to find the nearest park and go for the morning walk there.

Some city planners are working on removing all vehicles on congested market places and making them pedestrian only. Chandni Chowk (New Delhi) is an example of one such change. The revamped plan looks wonderful and make the life of the shopper and the traders very pleasant!

Chandni Chowk after redevelopment to make it pedestrian only.

Church Street, Bangalore and Pondy Bazaar, Chennai (not for pedestrian only, but wide footpaths and all encroachments removed) are some areas that I have myself seen that are pedestrian friendly. Hopefully this trend continues and more and more areas are improved for pedestrians to walk.

A blog a day (#10)

COMMUNICATION

As a trainer and consultant, I have prided myself in being able to communicate quite effectively and persuasively during my interactions with people. The strength that one possesses comes with a certain assurance that one can speak quite well with anyone on a subject one knows to a certain extent - even if one isn't quite an expert there! 😀 This was put to a severe test about a decade and a half ago by a group of school children in a train!

I was based in Bangalore those days and a partner in a consulting organisation. I was returning from an assignment in Hyderabad. Those days, to save some money, I used to travel by II Sleeper in train. I had boarded the train in Secunderabad station and was enjoying the solitude of a lower berth-cum-window seat. When the train arrived at Kacheguda station, there was commotion and a group of raucous school girls got into the train accompanied by some elders - their teachers, I thought. There may have been about 20 girls who got into the train and occupied various seats. Around me, probably, there were more than 10 girls laughing and enjoying their train journey! After some time, I realized that the girls were specially-abled (speech and hearing impaired). Being alone in their company gave me some opportunity to observe them closely and I realized that they were conversing quite rapidly in sign language. Suddenly a girl sitting beside me 'elbowed' me and asked me my name. I told her my name. She could lip read as could all other girls. We were introducing ourselves and it took me some time to understand what they were trying to tell me. They were patient with me, though.

It was then that the girl by my side said she would teach me sign language - primarily alphabets - so that I could sign whatever I was trying to tell them. They also had a small quiz at the end of their tutorial and laughed hysterically when I blundered and couldn't remember how to sign for the letter 'G', for example. This went on...they asked about my job, where I lived, about my family members, and also shared some information about their family. I came to know that they were returning from Hyderabad to Bangalore after participating in a cultural programme.

The girl by my side, while telling about her brother, told me his name and said that he is 'normal' and that he could hear and speak! When I heard that, I had tears well up in my eyes. I could only mutter that they were equally special and had a talent that we guys didn't possess.

Suddenly the girl by my side asked me another question (can't remember now what the question was) which made me think of the answer and, as I usually do, I looked out of the window to collect my thoughts. I felt an elbow sink into my midriff. When I looked at the girl, she said that I shouldn't look away, but maintain eye-contact with them so that they could lip-read my response! I apologized and said that I had looked away only to collect my thoughts. But this small incident is still imprinted in my mind and I learnt an important lesson on communication from some specially abled children.

One has to keep an open mind and learn from those around us. Learning is a continuous process.

A blog a day (#9)

 HANDWRITING

Do parents and/or teachers guide young children how to hold a pencil while writing? Is handwriting even considered one of the most important steps in primary learning? Given that we communicate electronically, is that even important nowadays? These questions assail me when I see poor handwriting among adults. I notice that many people do not even hold their pencil/pen in the "proper" way to enable good handwriting to result.

Before writing this blog, I did a search on the proper way for holding pen or pencil for good handwriting. I was a bit surprised to learn that there is no "right" way to hold a pen or pencil! But among all the ways, there seems to be a "gold standard". That was interesting.

The "gold standard" method is called the "Tripod" method. This method consists of holding the instrument about an inch from the tip, using the thumb and index finger with the pencil/pen resting on the middle finger. The points of intersection of pencil/pen with fingers are separated by about 120 degrees ensuring that the pencil/pen  is firmly held and doesn't move. (for more information refer:  https://www.insider.com/whats-the-right-way-to-hold-a-pencil-2019-7)

While reading the article referred above, I looked at how I hold my pen while writing and it seems my teachers may have done the right thing in my primary classes!

The grip issue being out of the way, let us come back to "good handwriting". Is that really important nowadays since we do almost all our communication over electronic media? What benefits do good handwriting give us? Some American states have done away with the requirements of teaching "cursive writing" to students; while some other states continue to lay importance to that. (more here:  https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/16/cognitive-benefits-handwriting-decline-typing)  While it is incontrovertible that keyboard, computers, and smartphone communication have overtaken the written word in most interactions, school going children do continue to write in notebooks - at least in India they continue to do so. 

What do you think on this subject? Does promoting good handwriting with a proper grip help students do better in their education? Is that an indicator to success for the person? My personal opinion is that a better academic performance in school/college does not necessarily lead to success. It would be interesting to know more from my readers. Do comment.