TIME

 

Time is an illusion. The distinction between the past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.  (Albert Einstein). That's a philosophical way to look at time from the relativistic perspective. For us humans who interact with other species on this Earth, that statement may not find much value. At least not on a day to day basis, especially when you are a student and expected to come to class on time; attend your work at the workplace by punching your card; or take a flight or train. Then the concept of time is the same across all the people who matter. We would look foolish if we were to quote Einstein to the person at the check in counter. She is likely to just point us towards the window to show our aircraft pulling out of the gate and say, "Well, that is the illusion of time for you".

Long ago, probably about 42 years ago, when I was in National Productivity Council posted to Hyderabad (this office was opened only about 1 or 2 years ago), our Director had come from Chennai to meet some industry heads looking for some assignments - consultancy or training. I was a junior and was with a senior consultant from Hyderabad office. We were waiting in the reception area since the Factory Manager was on his 'rounds'. We had already fixed up an appointment with his secretary. We waited for about an hour, but the Factory Manager was still on his rounds. We enquired if he would meet us. I was getting impatient and so was my colleague. However, the Director from Chennai was quite unmoved. He said we had gone there for seeking some work and the Factory Manager was not obliged to meet us as much as we were in need of meeting him and convincing him to give us some work! Patience.

Japanese are sticklers for punctuality and it is not a tall tale that the Japanese trains are known to be so punctual that you can set your watch by the train pulling into the station or pulling out of it. It takes a lot of effort for all concerned to be able to ensure these levels of punctuality and precision. We Indians are known to stick to IST (some derisively say that it stands for Indian Stretchable Time) and our clocks are not aligned with one another. Take the case of the three clocks in our home. At the moment each clock is showing the following time:

The bedroom clock : 1:40 pm

The hall clock: 1:46 pm

The clock in this room: 1:45 pm

How can I expect to stick to time with these clocks in our house. I do try and set them all to show one time, and I do this once in a while, but I think my clocks are inspired by some as yet unknown phenomena. The clock in this room sits on top of my professional book shelf that contains books on Quality and Six Sigma in addition to a few on management. The one in the hall is probably showing the correct time for the guests to know when they should depart for their home, especially since they shouldn't be blaming me for some problem that they may face if they went late or early from my home! The clock in my bedroom sits on the bookshelf containing fiction, some science fiction, and some history books too thrown in. I am sure that clock is influenced by Einstein and that is why it is running slow. The matter of when I bought that clock, and whether it is digital or analog; whether it is a reputed brand or a local clock is just nitpicking. I am convinced that Einstein has played a part in clocks in different rooms showing different time.

Look at the traffic scene in some major metros in India. There have been newspaper articles and messages on X mentioning in particular about Bengaluru that it has taken some people about 2 hours to travel a distance that should only take 15 minutes. Let us put ourselves in the shoes of one of the drivers in a car in that traffic in Bangalore. S/he has been at the same place on the road for a good 15 minutes. That is 15 minutes for me sitting in Chennai at home; but for them in the car in Bengaluru time and space have stood still. No wonder Bengaluru is the 'science capital of India'. 

Preserving documents

How do we know about the various dynasties that ruled over India many centuries ago? How do we know of our ancient history? Archaeological finds are a great clue; so are the structures built by the kings and queens during their reign. But if their names and their regnal periods weren't documented in some form, we wouldn't know about them. Some or many accounts of our glorious history have been 'documented' through oral traditions that have been preserved through the 'guru-shishya' parampara that was the norm. Many kings, especially Emperor Ashoka ensured that his commands were cut into rocks at various places across his kingdom. God knows how many rocks were destroyed over the years, but what remains is still enough to ensure that we know a lot about the Emperor. Probably he was among the early rulers to have multiple copies of his edicts across his empire, so that even if some 'copies' got destroyed or damaged, whatever remained would still give a glimpse into his rule. Emperor Ashoka, the first 'rock-copier'?

Paper came later and then the printing press. That revolutionized the writing and making multiple copies of events for posterity. The documents that we know as medieval history. However, the inherent nature of paper is that it is difficult to preserve it for long and it deteriorates. Compare that to the rock cut edicts to see which is more permanent!

Modern days have electronic means of documentation. This brings a new challenge. Can you access any old document or report that you may have written in electronic format on your old computer (PC XT or PC AT) using a 'primitive' Word software on your Apple Mac or Windows Word 2021? Proprietary software has its benefits, but also challenges in ensuring that important documents can be archived for posterity and accessed successfully decades later.

An article that caught my eye earlier today reminded me of this conundrum. You can read the article How to properly archive your digital files. We cannot be like Emperor Ashoka and chisel our documents on rocks, nor can we ensure longevity of our documents if we retain them in paper format. So what then should we do? Just read the article and follow the advise of the expert here.

During the pandemic year (2020), when I had nowhere to go and nothing worthwhile to do, I looked at all the old photo albums that I had collected over the years. The albums that 'documented' in pictorial form the 'history' of my family. I thought that I could use the time productively by scanning all the photos - some from the early days of my father, and a few of his wedding (that was in 1946, by the way). So I scanned about 1000 photos, categorized them into digital albums, and saved them in Google Photos which hopefully is open source and won't be impossible to open a few decades from now by my grandchildren and great grandchildren (my sons, Anirudh, Arvindh, and Sairam may please note!). If they are interested, that is!

 

Four Years on....

 

I came to Chennai in March, 2020. It is now 4 years since I settled in the city that was my home at various periods of time in my life. Initially from 1974 to 1977, while I studied for my under-graduation in Science from D. G. Vaishnav College, Arumbakkam. Then from 1981-82, while I did my post-graduation in Industrial Engineering from National Productivity Council's training institute in Kilpauk, Chennai. Though to be fair, I was in Chennai only for 15 months of those two years; the balance 9 months I spent in Bhopal where I was posted at the Regional Directorate there as a trainee. After joining NPC, I was posted to Hyderabad and I requested for a transfer to Chennai in 1986. So from 1986 to 1995, my base was in Chennai, but since the job required long absences due to consultancy assignments I used to be away from Chennai for months or weeks at a time. Anyway, home was Chennai. In 1996 I shifted my family to Bangalore and my home was there; though again my work would take me to different locations around India. Be that as it may, in 2019, my wife and I decided that we need to now come to our own flat in Chennai, where we hadn't lived at all since we bought it back in 1993. That's how after nearly 26 years, we moved to Chennai and now it is 4 years since we shifted home. Hopefully this would be my last 'shift'.

Even during the periods when I was away from Chennai, my parents, my sisters and other relatives continued to be in Chennai and that brought our family to this city quite regularly. I have seen the city grow (whether this is appropriate or not, it has definitely grown in population and area) over the last nearly 50 years since I came to Chennai as a young adult.

There are many things to like about this city; and many areas where the local government could do more to make our lives livable. This is also true of all cities in India, definitely; but could also be true of all cities around the world. One of the most important aspects that the local governments could do for major cities in India is lay decent pavements/sidewalks for people to walk. Most roads in Indian cities are poorly designed for pedestrians. It is as if the city is built, expanded, developed, and grown only for vehicles. If in any locality any road has to be widened, it is the pavement/sidewalk that is 'encroached' by the local government.

Anyway, my blog is about what my experiences have been over the last 4 years since I shifted to Chennai. I landed here with my belongings in the first week of March 2020. Within about 3 weeks Covid 19 struck the world and our PM announced lockdown across the country. We had about 3 days 'notice' since there was one day of a mock lockdown to test how the citizens would respond. The initial days were tough since we didn't know anything about this virus and its transmissibility. There were many TV 'experts' and YouTube 'advisors' videos about this; many honest attempts to educate the people, but quite a few were by half-baked idiots showing off their knowledge (later we realized that this was fear mongering). My wife and I remained confined indoors till August 2020 - a five month period when we both hardly ever stepped out of our doors. 

Covid 19 brought 'work from home' for many people who were employed and my children would often communicate with us about how they were coping up abroad. My elder son in Bangalore too followed our advise and remained confined at home.

Luckily processes were immediately put in place to minimise inconveniences regarding groceries and essentials and we were hardly ever put to any difficulty. I cannot vouch for other people around the country and images and visuals of migrants' return to their homeland on foot were heart-rending. But this blog post is not about others; it is personal. My wife and I escaped Covid 19 for two years. However, in early June 2022 we attended an event and I contracted Covid. That wasn't severe since I had already been vaccinated in 2021. The illness was mild and within a short while I recovered.

What changed within me due to Covid 19? That is the question that I have often thought about. So what changed? I think we saw what a pandemic can do to the common man and what the challenges were posed to the administrators around the country. Importantly, I stopped believing the 'experts' and 'advisors' on YouTube and WhatsApp forwards. On medical and science matters, I refer to my friends who have been studying and practicing their expertise. I have started being careful about cleanliness - more than what I used to practice earlier. I buy hand sanitizer and carry that during my journeys and travels and sanitize my hands. I also became regular in writing my blogs (thankfully! 😊). I have started listening to political speeches, press meets, and interviews on YouTube (experts, not pseudo experts) during my morning walks. Hopefully in our lifetime this will be the last pandemic that we will face! 🤞