What I Like About Countries

 The food, and foot massage.. in Thailand.

The Ha Long Bay, in Vietnam.. 

The discipline, in Singapore. Also the public transport.

The politeness, and the public baths- Onsens- in Japan.

The language, in Malaysia.

The National Parks, in the USA.

The pretty islands in Greece. And Moussaka, my favourite dish.

Simple, hospitable people in Cambodia.

Greenery in Sri Lanka.

The temples in Bali, Indonesia.

The openness in Holland.

Monuments in Italy. Venice too, though Bezos didn't invite me..

Of course, many things about India.. will list those out separately.

Anniversary Number 37

Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? 

Started in Pune, continued to a stay in the U.S. till we returned to India in 1991. Then, we went places within India. Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Harihar, Lucknow, Kozhikode aka Calicut, and on to Bangalore, Nagpur, Indore. Then, back to Bangalore and a second stint in Indore. Possible last stop is now Kolkata, for work.

Two daughters came along the way, and both are now grown-up young ladies with minds of their own. We are growing old and heading towards a sunset, but it has been an enjoyable time on the whole. Whether to marry is a personal choice that you have to make. If you do marry, you will more likely than not have kids, and take care of elders in either family at some point. Also make friends, and keep some.

It's an Endurance Test of a kind too, as there will be ups and downs of various types. But through it all, you have an assurance that you are not alone. That is a comforting thought, and makes it worthwhile. Just my view..

Oral and Written Communication

 Our (Indian) education system, in school particularly, stresses written communication much more than oral. As a result, when we get into higher education- college or beyond, our spoken skills are limited. Except for a few students who get into debating or speaking classes.

What I observed in the U.S. is that spoken skills are a lot better among undergrads. Maybe among school students also. Their society needs some socialising skills among opposite genders for dating and so on, which are accepted forms of getting to know potential partners.

Whatever the reasons, our students need a lot more prepping for communication skills. My MBA was the first time I was expected to really participate in a class discussion, and that was when I was 22 plus!

Some training, and opportunities for all through curricular and extra-curricular activities- drama, for example, may be great to develop these skills. Schools and colleges, and individual teachers, can do more in this respect, I think.

Not sure what the impact of social media is, on these two forms of communication among youngsters.. a research topic, maybe?

Memorable Moments - USA 1986-89

The day I landed. Sometime in June 1986, abroad for the first time, except a stopover in Zurich by Swissair). Went to New York, took a can from JFK to another airport, and caught a plane to Greenville, South Carolina. Was picked up by Alok and Satish. 

My first teaching experience for undergrads (BS in Management). At Clemson, where I taught computer applications. I barely had a month or two to prepare, but I managed reasonably well. Class size was small, and we had software and a lab. 

First football match with Clemson playing. This was American Football, handheld. Exciting, colourful, with cheerleaders at halftime doing some acrobatics. Great atmosphere, and Clemson was a Champion team from the same decade, a few years earlier.

First drive across the U.S., in a Ford Granada, which also conked out near Las Vegas. Had to change the radiator, which we found in a junkyard. On our way in a hour or so! 

Amusement Parks. Six Flags over Atlanta, Knotts Berry Farm, and Disneyland (last two in L.A.), NBC Studios, and Universal Studios.  Hollywood, a bit of a letdown. The animation studio at Disney was great to see.

Graduating in 3 years, August 1989! Got my name carved on a sidewalk at Clemson- coz it was a centenary year!

US Memories

Wannabe Mexicans.. in L.A. with Anil Lahoti and Satish Nargundkar

Indian artefacts and us..

Arizona, one of those landscapes.. near Petrified Forest National Park, and Painted Desert.
 

Loss of a Friend

 Losing family and friends is always tough. Around two years ago, my mother passed away at the age of 91. Though she had a full life, healthy and satisfying-pathbreaking in many ways too-it was not very easy to digest the loss. COVID saw many lose their life, and even hearing those stories was tough. Now, I heard about the loss of a dear friend who was a pillar of support, and a great joy to be with, in Greenwood, where I taught for a few years before returning to India. He was a prof. at the same place too.

We would land up at his house unannounced, any time we felt like meeting up, Indian style. He was always welcoming, and insisted on us having a drink. His wife also became a great friend, and continues online to this day. His sons were little at the time, and I remember them prancing around, or playing Basketball out in the lawn.

Well, it's true that the bell tolls for everyone, but still, hard to bear some losses of dear ones.

Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas

 Pals from various places. An attempt at a comprehensive classification of my pals, geographically.

Australia- Pooja Daniel, Sanjeev Undri

Dubai- Smita Mohan

China- Yapin

Sri Lanka- Samudrika

USA- Nidhi Kanungo, Annie, Samren, Leslie, Ron and family, Dr. Soni, and Athena, Kamalesh Nayudu, Avadhanulu, Seshu, Nandakumar (Junior), Jockey, Zoom, 

New Zealand- Chasha and Ruab, Gurvinder Singh

Canada- Vaseem, Tanya Shrivastava, Radhax, 

Finland- Anusha, Bhawana Moondra

UK- Senior (Nandakumar), Shuchi Bhatnagar

Hyderabad- Jogi, Venu, Nagarjuna, Nagu, Ramesh, Basudev and lots more, Pratima of Satara fame. HPS classmates galore, including Dattu, Krishna, Praveen (part-time resident).. Aditi Gupta ( lived in South Carolina too)

Lithuania- Natalija

Delhi- Shruti, Aditya, Nikita, Shweta, Sunil Kataria, Harish Chaudhry, Himanshu, Harish Arora, Pradeep Acharya, Kanika Mhendiratta, Padmapriya

Jaipur- Achint, Garima Shah

Bhubaneswar- Ramana, Banikanta Mishra, 

Lucknow- Bhuvneet, Anam, BK Mohanty

Mumbai- Bhagyalakshmi, Sheetal Garg, Abha, Meghana Joshi, Meghna Sinha, Pallavi Sharma

(Originally from) M.P. -Tosha Dubey, Anusha Soni, Pooja Shukla, Manuja Seth, lots in IIM Indore

Bangalore- Bharath, Nagendra, Shailaja Gupta, Anushka Mishra, Savitha, lots of IIMB classmates- Prabhakar, Himanshu, Ramesh, Lingu, Sid-Shubha,.. SP Kumar, Manasa, Sowmyashree, Rajiv Krishnan, Ram Seshu, Muthu

Chennai- Vijayakumar, Lady Daga (Bhawana)

 

Hyderabadi and Gun Control

 A blue-blooded American was trying to make a Hyderabadi understand the Gun Laws of his great nation- and not succeeding. We will try and follow the conversation, for a bit.

Hyderabadi- Kya pareshaani hai bhai, yeh bandookaan..

American- You see, we have the right to defend ourselves.

Hyderabadi- Kya bolre miyaan, humareku nahi hai kya? Ek ungli uthaake dekho tum, kya haal hota malum padinga..

American- No, no, I mean we can carry a gun to defend ourselves.

Hyderabadi- Aisa? Phukat mein milta kya ye bandook aap logon ku?

American (proudly)- Of course not, man. We buy them at the nearest supermarket..

Hyderabadi- Paise deke apne aapku barbaad karre bolo na phir..

American- You call that barbaadi? What if a thief enters your house and opens fire when you catch him? Don't you want a gun to shoot him?

Hyderabadi- Kya baataan karre bhai, usku chappal phenkke martun na main.. dekhe mera chappal? Bandook apne pairon mein maar liye to, chupke to bi lene ke dene pad jaate na..

American- Oh my God! You are impossible. (Exits)

The Younger Self

 I go back to thinking about my younger days, when I see some photos from that era.. and I have tons of them. Some memory is associated with many of the pics. In the U.S., we travelled a lot by car- gas was cheap, and we had the urge. Some pics from that era.. 

Classic Pics

 Some real classics I found recently on an excavation.

Last one has my maternal grandparents, parents, aunts, uncle and cousins of my age group.

Petrified Forest National Park Arizona

 One of the many impressive sights in the U.S. was the

 

Petrified Forest- a place where logs-turned-into-stone are lying around, in various sizes and shapes, broken or unbroken. Very well-maintained, with a visitor centre, like all their parks. 

Nearby was the Painted Desert, layered formations in different colours, that give you an impression it's painted. Seeing it in the snow just added the whites.

Digitizing Slides Part 2

 Some more slides which I recently got converted into digital photographs. Removes the need for a slide projector, though that is an experience in itself. Some of these digitized pics- 

The flyers- we actually took a joy ride in this Cessna (above). 

Below, the guys who flew first at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina- Wright brothers.

Picnic at a Clemson Park.

A real Golf Club where I learnt most of my Golf from Sadanand, and below, my Dad trying out Putt-putt Golf in the U.S.

Niagara, with parents (above) and Sravanabelagola (below) with friends from Harihar

On the Harihar Golf course, and below, Kirloskar Institute, at Harihar where I spent 7 years. (1995-2001)

Digitizing Slides

 I was quite a photography enthusiast, and continue to be one. One experiment I had tried out in the U.S. was to shoot slides which could then be projected on a screen or a wall with a slide projector. We never owned a slide projector, and occasionally borrowed one and had screenings.

I found these slides lying around and got some of the better ones digitized at G.K. Vale, in Bangalore recently. Pretty good, they turned out. Some of these-

Many of these are Fall colours in the U.S.- an amazing sight!