Monthly Manthan January 2022

 We are at the close of January 2022. So what happened here? First, the great disappointment. We were hoping that classes would resume in person, but it was short-lived. I did manage to squeeze in my guest lecture in a colleague's class, but in the wake of rising cases, we had to shut down soon. Hope February brings better tidings, and we are able to look back at almost two years of disruptions with some hope ahead. 

The fact is Omicron was less dangerous than its predecessor, though it spread faster. The peak seems over in the cities in the North and West, and the U.K. has pretty much signalled there will be no more restrictions on movements of people. A booster dose is recommended, and I will take it when eligible. Maybe one each year will be needed for a few years.

But I did catch up with family and friends when it was safe to do so. In the process, made friends with a one-year old grand-niece right here in Bangalore. And friends from the past too, at small get-togethers. An online event or two, a Ph.D. student's thesis presentation.

Campus Blues

 Actually, that should be Leaving-campus Blues. Most freshly minted grads, including MBAs, go through this phase where they have just left their 'home away from home' and just got out into the big bad world. Could be for a job, in the case of some. Alien place, new colleagues, fewer friends.. you get the picture. And a boss!

No wonder, many get into a mini-depression- if not clinically- and wonder what happened. Songs like Koi lauta de mere beete hue din, start sounding loudly in their brains. Or if a Jagjit Singh fan, his ghazal -Woh kaagaz ki kashti wo baarish ka pani.

These are the Blues - true-blue blues. They don't match with the Reds, or Greens. They persist well into the first few months after the exit. So now you know how the U.K. feels after Brexit. Kyunki, har friend zaroori hota hai.

Why this piece? Because our MBA students are poised for their exit in a month or two, having placed in jobs that they had applied for from the Bangalore campus. Just empathizing. It happened to me in 1984, a long time ago.

P G Wodehouse

 He was the first author who got me interested in Humour, apart from the comic books. Later, Pu. La. Deshpande in Marathi too. 

PGW created a world full of English Lords, and valets/butlers which to us was completely at odds with our reality. Yet, it was a fascinating world, and kept me glued to these stories. The plots themselves were mostly predictable. It seems that the Lords had very little work to do or none at all. Their time was equally divided between dodging aunts and creditors, and getting engaged to various girls in the vicinity and trying to wriggle out of it.

The Jeeves character was a perfect foil in some of these stories, the all-knowing Man Friday who got the Berties out of jams. The delightful use of English was of course, a major highlight, and some descriptions and metaphors are just outstanding. 

To this joyous world, even if fictional, a salute. And to its creator.

Before The Coffee Gets Cold- Book Review

 A very interesting book of four short stories involving time travel. The author is Japanese. There are some tough rules that the time travellers must know and follow, while travelling back or forward. Does it still make sense to go for it, is the central theme.

Very emotional, it covers a wide range, from a Mother who is likely to lose her life while giving birth and wants to know what happened, to a story of two lovers, who may or may not re-unite after a break of three years away from one another.

Two other stories are equally interesting, about relationships-a husnabd who's getting Alzheimer's, and a girl who is estranged from her sister. Touching, and handled in a very empathetic manner towards all the characters. It's a surprising mix of high technology and basic humanity. A good blend.

Reminded me of a Marathi play about time travel- Amar Photo Studio- that I saw a couple of years ago at Pune. That was good too.

Poetry

 Attempt at putting to verse, my experiences at various places-

School

Burning the midnight candle at school,

But also playing cricket and all

Were my wonderful teen years 

That I spent at Ramanthapur

College of Engineering

Osmania was awesome on the whole

Hau, aisa campsich nahi milta bol

Ate a lot of bun omelettes and Sambar

But also explored the theatres with my bus pass

MBA

The band of Bannerghattans was a cool lot

and writing for Mural, I learnt a lot

The yearbook captured the years well

And I regret nothing at all

Ph.D.

Clemson had lakes and blue skies

And a student crowd from near and far

Driving on highways to Hollywood, and watching the colours of Fall

Those were dreamy days, Advisor, Budweiser et al

Rare Meets

 Meeting people used to be a lot easier, pre-pandemic. Nevertheless, some rare meetups are still held, and one with a few pals from IIMB was one such. Fun with Sid, Shubha, Prabhakar, Parvati. 

Gurdjieff

 His life has been a remarkable one, because of his singular quest. To awaken the "sleeping Man". Sounds grandiose? It was. One of the books that captures what he was trying to teach is supposed to be Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson. 

I first came across his name in a book by Osho, many years ago. Then, on a visit to a bookstore with a friend, I found a book on his life. It was too tempting to let go, and I bought and read it. It does not, of course, tell you how, but it does introduce you to his ideas sufficiently to see that his attempt was genuine..that's the book, on the right.

His basic theory, if you will, is that we all live our lives mechanically, even when we seem superficially immersed in what we are doing, and using 'free will' to choose our courses of action as we go through life. His premise was that we could achieve a higher level of consciousness if we 'worked' on ourselves- a kind of inner engineering, a phrase used by another guru more recently. 

He had a band of loyal followers, some of whom he tried turning away, and tested constantly. He founded a couple of centres in Russia, and then France, to teach them and others what he thought were ways to achieve that higher level of consciousness. One that might help prevent wars and other forms of inhumanity. He was not sure he had succeeded, but he tried all his life to achieve this. There were many parts to this teaching, including specific dance movements, and psychological experiments.

His life was nothing short of an adventure, and some of it reminded me of The Hundred Year Old Man Who Jumped out of the Window.. that I read recently. A good read.

Eating Right

 Among the pandemic's good effects (trying to forget the bad ones here, two years on) has been the return to recipes that were not tried often, as we were busy commuting to work and back. The saving on time resulted in some of us returning to some of those recipes. One or two that my household manager came up with in the last couple of days. One was a favourite of my Dad's and comes from the Belgaum region. The other, my wife learnt from her aunt, and is popular in Punjab/Delhi. 

Raw material.. mix in whatever proportion seems right.

and below, the finished product. Made out of raw poha. Kala/Sendhua namak is the secret sauce..

The last one features a karela and onion. Great combo, and there's a mirchi fry on the side to add to the zest.