The women's day business and the women I wish I had known better!

Another usual day. The dad called as usual as soon as his evening walk started. It is international women's day today, said he! Ya, I read about it, I replied nonchalantly. They don't excite me anymore as much as it used to. Then he said, it was his mother's death anniversary as well! That got me going.

She was one woman who I wish I had known better. 

Working in one of the leading medical colleges in the country or even the world, sometimes makes me lift my collar up. Not a big deal; More than 10,000 people work with me. Yet, there is this sense of belonging to a prestigious organisation with such repute and history. And this woman, my grandmother, belonged to the first batch of MBBS, which Aunt Ida, the founder herself started. Isn't that something?

Many times as I walk through the streets of the small town of sivakasi, I have had people ask me, "Gnanadurai amma peron ah nee(Are you the grandson of Dr. Gnanadurai?). And this almost 15-20 years after her death.

How I wish she had been here now? I would have asked her how Aunt Ida looked like?How hard she worked? What was it to be the lone lady doctor in those parts of South India? Why did she chose sivakasi? Or did Sivakasi choose her? What made her give away the plenty of opportunities to go abroad and live life there? How was it to be married to a maniacal economist? a strict pastor? And more importantly, a writer? How close was she to her brothers, and the sister ( Who was stopped from continuing medical studies, since my gandma could not be married off easily)? How did it feel losing a brother so early in life? 

Oh yes, I would definitely have asked how it was growing up the three children? How different was the girl from the boys? 

I have had questions on how difficult it is to be one of the few women who went to college rather than get married and settle down. I would have surely asked her that. When the world around thought women were not good enough to study, what made her decide to go on? Surely there would have been the societal pressure. Questions, questions, questions! I would have bombarded her with so many of minds crazy questions.

Well, Grandma, the world celebrated women's day on your anniversary! May be just to remind us, the children, the grandchildren and the great grand children, that there once lived a woman who fought all odds, and lived life on her terms, because of whom, in whom, and through whom we all came into existence. 

BJP and the 'Development'conundrum!

Well, we have all heard that word! Haven't we? Development! One man sold that word from every nook and corner of this country. We believed him. Of course, we din't have an option. Yet, I'm still confused on what in that word made us believe in him. Come let us do an analysis.

So I think the definition of development included bringing in more Jobs, which means bringing in more private companies. And that means enticing the companies to set up shops in India. But sadly according to the labour bureau reports the last year has seen the lowest year on year growth since 2009 barring 2012 for which the data is missing.

The other major charge which the now ruling party and all of us had on the then ruling party was the depreciating value of rupee! And the increased cost of petrol, diesel and the Gas. Well, the less said about the prices of these three, the better for the current govt. The sad part is the global prices of the oil contents have come down and yet not ours.

Yes, we wanted the bullet trains, the smarter, cleaner cities. With due regards to the PM, they take some time to come and he has started the process I presume.

Has the corruption come down? May be yes. May be no! No big fish is being caught. But that may also mean the big fishes are escaping the catch.Oh ya I forgot the black money! The election commission has caught 3 times more money in this elections than in the previous elections, which means the demonetisation has not worked well.And in fact demonetisation surely makes people think that the GDP growth is fudged.

The education budget has been reduced! For the first time ever since I started following budgeting. Not that our govt schools have started doing better.

Health care, Well, I have been in that sector now for a few years to know that we are going fast in to a deep pit.

So what exactly was the development he meant? What did that word mean, that attracted us to him?

Market capitalism, which I think is what people wanted out of Modiji and BJP cannot co-exist with the religious fundamentalism ideology of the current ruling party. And elections funded by the capitalistic bigwigs cannot repay us in the kind we want.

Next time when he comes riding on that word 'development'again,ask him clearly what and whose development he means?

May be he meant the development of 'Religious fundamentalism, fascism and bigwig capitalists'.

Letter to my dear Tamilian!

Dear Tamilian,

I'm Tamil and I am having a mixed feeling on seeing all that is happening around! A feeling of helplessness, anger, confusion and even hatred. I know a lot of you share my feeling as well.

That Sasikala cheated us by entering through the back door is hurting. Yes, really hurting. That some body who did not win an election, corrupt and in Jail could lead us by proxy is really unfortunate. Life in Tamil Nadu is not fair, I presume. Life in India is not fair, for that matter.

Friends, I think it is time, we take up the cause and fight for our right rather than trusting these morons. I, intentionally include OPS and the opposition party chief in to my categorisation of morons as well. Let us not fool ourselves again by voting for a man who bent his spine backwards for a corrupt woman or for a man whose only claim to power is his dad.

So, what do we do next? I seriously seriously don't know. I'm sorry, I'm in the same frustrating boat of not knowing what to do next.

Yet, getting that eerie feeling of doing something. Do you have that feeling as well? Cheers! Write back to me. or ping me. At least we will pull each other's brains off till we get a solution. Let there be solid discussions. Let us take this opportunity to become responsible citizens. Citizens who are more involved in the day to day polity of this country.

And one final warning, let us be wary of the men in front off and behind the camera. We worship them enough already. And let them not be rulers just because they look good on the screen. I know there are good people in that arena as well. I just wish they don't take advantage of their cinema stardom to become rulers.

We are a developed group of people, friends. Much more developed than any other state in the country. That due to some good politics, sometimes despite bad politics. We fought and won a brave fight for the cows. We withstood a furious nature and stood strong. Let this bad phase make us better people and lead us to greener pastures.

Democracy & Sasikala!

Democracy and Sasikala? I know most of the modern generation youth acquainted with blogs will surely sneer at the title. They should not go hand in hand. I mean, they do not.

But why don't they? What is the problem? My maniacal mind is just refusing to accept the common man's verdict. I think, the democracy which gave Jayalalitha a chance in the first place, should give Sasikala a chance as well.

I understand you don't like that! Jayalalitha won elections. She was adored by the people. What has Sasikala done? Sasikala has got the mandate of the 100 odd elected representatives, which you and me elected. Of course yes, she will have to get the people's verdict within 6 months. I don't see absolutely anything wrong in that. If you don't like her being the CM, throw her out. I mean, vote her out.

I understand most of you also hate democracy. Yes, we don't get to participate enough in this model of democracy. I'm sorry, but this is the best we have! Imagine living under an autocratic Modi or Kejriwal? Democracy with all its flaws is the best we have.

Jaya was an actor! A non tamil. Arrogant. Corrupt. We gave her a chance. In fact we dared to call her 'Amma', a word I reserve for greater souls.Yes Sasikala has come to the throne through the backdoor of democracy. Yet, to get to the throne, she has to enter one more gate for which the keys are with you. If you think she is good enough, vote her. Else throw her out.

I repeat! Don't frown at democracy. For all its nonsense, that is the best we have. And don't fret at Sasikala. Throw her out.

RIP Nirmal Sekar! You made me believe in the pen.

"The higher you soar, the smaller you appear to those who cannot fly" wrote Nirmal Sekar in the late nineties on Pete Sampras, the greatest tennis player before the millenium.

I read that quote again. And again, and again. What a profound thought. I fell in love with that article and then that man. Greg "Nobody" Rusedski had said about Sampras, that he is done and should retire. Pete "Greatman" Sampras, replied in the only way he can by winning the US open one last time before bidding good bye. Nirmal Sekar was sublime on the day after Sampras had retired. Those philosophical words had come then.

Reading him was pure joy! Every time he wrote an article, I read it once, then twice and thrice. The words he used, they spoke to me. It was pure magic. I close my eyes and imagine his thoughts. And they were profound. Always. They spoke to you in deeply philosophical language. They showed me the power of the word. The power of the pen.

He made me do this crazy thing! To sit and play around with words at half past ten, when the world around me had slept off, after a crazily busy and tiring day. Most of my sports philosophy are copied from him.

RIP Nirmal Sekar sir! You taught me, that words have beauty. I wish you had lived on for many more years. Your writings though will. For a very long time. At least in my heart.

Dream Team! My work place!

Those sports fans out there, have you heard of this team? The dream team? They went out there and defeated its opponents by an average of 44 points en route to the Olympic basketball gold medal. That team is described as the greatest sports team ever assembled on planet earth.

When my boss, who is embarking on a two year study leave said this about the team I am part of now, it got me thinking.

Dream team? Are we? What makes us special? No, the team does not have the talents which the original team of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson had. Not even a semblance of that. Not one, except may be the boss herself has the charisma that will turn the eyes on you.

The team contains a bunch of ordinary mortals. Yet, they pull off works of the magnitude that, believe me, has set standards very high. What makes this team great? My mind repeated the question again. What makes me want to go back to work day in and day out? Though many times, it is bloody hard work. What makes the team attractive that I don't mind being part of this small group of people all my life, and gives me immense Job satisfaction

I have worked in good teams before. Have had really good bosses. Have seen the best of the IT world and also the best of the NGO world. Have been in the poshest of cities, also been in the remotest of villages. Yet, dare I say, these two years are the best I have ever had. The question beckons me again! What makes my team good? I mean, great!

I doubt the answer is that simple! Yet, that word 'Simplicity' as a noun may be the answer. "Simplicity is the virtue of removing the extraneous to reveal the essence. In other words, every body is just their innate self in this team. Nobody hides. Nobody plays otherwise. Everybody is just themselves. And that I think is the greatest advantage. Nobody has to hide anything. The team works around weaknesses. Works with them. On them. Through them. In fact, weaknesses are sometimes boasted about. That makes people secure.

Make people secure in their work place world! And you will have a dream place and team to work with. A lesson my boss taught me in the last two years. 

Cheer up 30s!

It was a mad summer of 1999! Steffi Graf was playing her final wimbledon. I had just entered my teens. Graf was the first teenage crush. But the entire media attention was on this little 15 year old kid who was playing her first Wimbledon semi final.

Lucic Baroni played her only other semi final two days ago in the 2017 Australian open! Yes you read it right 2017 it is! after 18 years.

In the post match interview, she said this and I quote! "I can't tell you what happened to my life in between. But I am back here!" At the age of 33. She is back in a grand slam semifinal. After messing up most of her twenties. Life!

And whom did she play in the Australian Open semi final? Venus Williams! That girl played her first final against Martina Hingis in 1997. Phew. And Venus has a sister called Serena who is 35 herself playing her umpteenth final.

And even as I'm typing this, Nadal has booked a place in the final against the ageless Federer.

What's up 30s? You don't quit when you are 30, do you?

I was a loser. All my 20s went away in my own pursuit of what I thought was life! The world suddenly started looking old. Everybody around looked better, coz they handled life better in their 20s. The paunch slowed me down. The face became round! Well, more round. The specs became bigger.

Are you in the same boat friend? Belonging to the generation which has just entered the 30s? And look around lost at the fast paced world? Do you look at the younger lot with envy? Is the mind quitting more often?There is hope! 30s is not the end of it. You can begin life at 30. So showed Baroni, Williams, Nadal, Federer and the ilk.

I'm not quitting on myself anytime soon!