BLURRED VISION: 2015

Friday, October 2, 2015

GRATITUDE: Letters from a Grandfather to his future generations n friends. Newsletter No. 3

Newsletter 3.

Dear Family n Friends,

On Gandhi Jayanti day, the though upper most in my mind is:

Do we still live in Gandhi’s India; or for that matter in Tagore’s India?

Let me first dwell on the Macro issues concerning the polity that we live in. I am a confused over the actions n policies of the GOI. I must confess that I had healthy respect for NaMo’s administrative acumen. Yet the functioning of the Government has shown lack of coordination between various arms. To wit Finance Ministry and RBI; Committee on P Notes n SEBI n the flip flops; MHA awaiting details of the Nagaland accord. And a lot of ham handedness: Maggie Ban, Porn Ban, Mynmar Hot Pursuit. And all this despite the oft heard complaint that there is utter centralization of all power in PMO and other Ministries are throttled.

UPA would have been hard put to find Scams in the regime of avowed corruption fighter NaMo. But they managed to corner two senior lady BJP leaders and a Chief Minister. Vyapam in MP has been a case study of how deep corruption prevails in every walk of life. It is so deep that I despair of ever finding my beloved country free of corruption. BJP has managed to tough it out and refused to do anything about the issues raised by Congi. Absolute Power corrupts absolutely.

Finally the penny dropped as to how a life long Sangh pracharak has shown so much interest in things digital. Smart cities; Digital India. Google, Facebook n Silicon Valley. The IT boys who were on Obama Election Team, had joined NaMo Team prior to election. Having won the election, they are now the Golden Boys and get to steer the PM. Hence the high priority to things Digital. Crowning glory is the Mecca of Digital world. Silicon Valley.

On the other hand, the super fundamentalists are going berserk: Ghar Wapsi, Porn Ban, Beef Ban and criminalization of the disobedient, nay, lynching the ‘suspect’ disobedient

The Telecom Mission had really brought the Digital age to the villages, without becoming the be all n end all of the UPA regimes. But all things Digital, is hardly the priority for India. Bread Butter Issues vs Digital; Domestic issues vs International. I confess, I am not able to fathom the wisdom.

I only hope n pray that all this will come together to be the salvation of this Country.

People had lots hope that AAP might become the 3^rd option. Alas! Hopes are dashed. Inexperience will tell.

Dear Family and friends, that should be enough of the Political. Let me update you on the personal arena.

The apartment at Lavasa is now ready… bar a bed for the guest room and some small details. Finally we bought the white goods/TV from Croma Bandra; they managed to deliver thru Croma Aundh and handled the installation quite efficiently. DTH Tv has yet to happen; it is promised this weekend. There is no internet cable service here. I manage with 3G on my phone and visit the Maintenance office to do any important transactions that require wifi for the Mac.

Around that time, Harjit Singh, Sukhjit’s brother was here and paid a visit to Lavasa. He helped with the lay out of the furniture. More importantly, he brought with him the painting of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, which was commissioned by the late Baba Nand Singh ji of Kaleran. It has been in their family and is a treasure. Thereafter Gurbir Singh, their younger brother had joined us for a short trip. We celebrated Sukhjit's birthday at Ashiana. Luckily Dr and Mrs. Hozdar and their friends were at Ashiana. They dropped by in the evening loaded with Parsi delicacy: Patra ni Machhi. We contributed Sukhji Gaothi Chickedn from a Marathi dhabha they had suggested. Lovely evening that was. For the record, I acknowledge their contribution to our acquiring the apartment at Ashiana.

We were hoping that Gurbir would give me company as I camp in Lavasa. But, it is not worthwhile since my coming here was delayed due to delay in commencement of the repairs to the Mumbai home. He returns home on Sunday.

Ganpati Festival and Mount Mary Fair have gone by. Anu and Vicky had brought (a green) Ganesh ji at home and it was a nice interlude. The ‘service’ of the volunteers at the Visarjan of their Bappa was so awesome:- two boys took the idol beyond the tidal line, jumped into the deep and immersed… to avoid the tide bringing the idol back. And Vicky had to call them over to give them some money. They never asked for it.

With the 2^nd home being operational, we have vacated the sea side wing of the Mumbai home and structural repairs have commenced. I have come over to Ashiana Utsav Lavasa, in order to be saved from the dust that the repairs will surely entail.

It has been a horrible year for my lungs: I have been continuously sick most of the last 6-7 months. It is really a serial occurrence. I am hoping that a longish stay at Lavasa and its pollution free air, should help to break the cycle. I should be here most of October. Meanwhile Sukhjit is holding the fort in Mumbai. Fortunately neighbours are very helpful and that eases her task a little bit.

On my part, I am busy learning household duties: a bit of cooking, operating washing machine, supervising the cleaning maid et al.

Lavasa seems to have a weather system all its own. Today the temperature during the day has been in mid 20s. and we had thunder n rain. All this, while nearby cities continue to sizzle. Thank you Mr. Sharad Pawar for dreaming up this new Hill Station.

By now Simran and Harkirat have got back to University. Harkirat has joined Queens at Kingston Canada and seems to be enjoying himself. Simran is enjoying his status as Senior at Wharton. God Bless you Boys.

Tomorrow, I expect to welcome to our 2^nd home, Mrs. Tejaswini Joshi, a Twitter friend from nearby Satara and her son Bhibha. Look forward…

That is it for now.. More later.

I have some pix to accompany this. I shall post them later.

Some political cartoons reflecting the current unrest among non-bhakts. Of course for the Bhakts, NaMo can do no wrong. I am hoping that NaMo Sarkar's policy steps will come together at some future date and the naysayers will be proved wrong.

a rather extreme view

The fringe is a millstone around GOI

Question of Priorities

Seems like a neglected problem.

Picture Gallery follows

Two sticks supporting each other:
Sukhjit with bro Harjit Singh at Lavasa

Harjit Singh resting afterwards

the Iconic picture of
Guru Nanak Dev Ji

Happy Birthday Sukhjit

Party time with Hozdars and their house guests
Acknowledge Hozdars' contribution to our getting here.

Gurbir Singh on extreme left.

Bappa chaale aple gaon...
l-r Sister Sarno, Vicky, Anu n nephew Vineet
at the Bandstand for Visarjan

The neighbourhood

panoramic view from our Balcony

Learning household chores

Dishwasher (manual)

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

GRATITUDE: Letters from a Grandfather to his future generations. Newsletter 2.

FOR TEXT N PIX.

September 2, 2015

My dear Family and Friends:

I am back!

It has been a long hiatus in my golfing outings. Rains and sickness have conspired to keep me at home. I took Simran out to the Golf course in May. But I was strong enough only to drive the buggy whilst he hit the balls out of the park; long hitter that he is. He has now got the Golf Club membership in his own right. Then came Hark and I was in better shape. We played nine holes together. I would have been beat, if we had kept score; but not too badly. It was a mixed blessing that rains had taken a long break in July; so buggies were allowed on the Course. Both the boys are now ready to go back to School: Simran to his graduate year at Wharton and Harkirat to his first year at Queens University Kingston Canada. Their parents are right now with them. Good luck and God Bless boys.

The rain Gods have been less than generous. Mumbai region has had decent rainfall; but not the countryside. The cloud seeding in Nashik did not quite bring down the much needed water supply. It is always a story of drought n floods in India. And this year is no exception.

My golfing friend Tara Chand had lost a grown Daughter and is making valiant attempts to get over the grief. His younger daughter is proving a great bulwark of support to him. She organised a family trip to Kashmir and onwards to Kedar Nath. Daughters' love for their father is something very special. No offence meant, Mickey, Vicky or Simran n Hark; Nor to the many Nieces or D in laws.

Just a few days ago, we heard of the passing away of another colleague of mine: VG Mulloth. He was Director Technical and Manufacturing and retired as part of my Team. A solid Technical expert he would resolve complicated problems without much fuss. RIP my respected colleague.

We took possession of our apartment in Ashiana Lavasa on 12 August. The Management there did the handing over with a lot of pomp n show. We revelled in the attention.

Having got to this point, focus shifted to fit out and furnishing. We are still not savvy enough to depend on the mail order suppliers and buying durables sight unseen. So we have been doing the rounds of showrooms. Also our choice is narrowed by the remote location to be serviced. We selected Godrej Interio for modular kitchen and the big items of furniture. Smaller items are being procured from Ekbote of Pune who were warmly recommended by our friend Sanjiv Sain. In view of heavy rainfall in that area, we have tried to get wooden furniture and avoided MDF etc.

We shall get the electrical equipment from Samsung or LG in Baner so that we have a better chance of after sales service. So we are well on our way to have the apartment functional Come September.

One thing led to another, and the structural repairs to the rest of the Mumbai apartment have been getting pushed further n further. We are now hoping to get the repairs started soon after Ganpati and be done before Diwali.

I had changed my Chest Specialist a few months ago. The new doctor is quite accessible. However all this has not reduced the frequency of my infection episodes. In fact in some respect these are more acute. He had hinted that he may have to resort to Bronchoscopy to get a better idea of what we are up against. I am ready n willing.

Our sister Jasbir returned to India after over five months stay with her son Mintoo in Melbourne. This was just in time for the Rakhi gathering at our home last Saturday. The whole clan turned up to celebrate her 75^th landmark birthday which went by whilst she was in Melbourne. Both Sukhjit n I were a bit under the weather; but our younger sister Guljit took charge n the younger brigade pitched in. It was good to have a gang of small kids doing what kids do. They were excited to connect with each other. Good time was had by all. It is such a blessing to have a large extended family and a united one at that. It is the biggest blessing from the Gods on High.

To round off: a Twitter friend decided to visit us the other day and we were happy to have another friend in real life. Ahmed, you were most welcome. It is good to connect with young people who are starting out on making a life for themselves… entrepreneurs at that.

It was heartening that another Twitter friend, an Indian, in far away USA heeded my advice and gave up smoking. Well done! Kumail.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

GRATITUDE: Letters from a Grandfather to his Future Generations.

I have now shared with you the story of 37 years of my working life i.e.1951 to 1988. The story saw a lower division temporary clerk in a military office poised to join the board of a public limited company.

The job at the Military office taught me basic office routines. Just as well, it was a military office, for it taught me discipline right in my first job.

Then luck in the shape of pen friend Ramdas Iyer took me to Stanvac-Esso. This was my real life Management School. My business writing came of age. I learned the Fundamentals of Management as well as Best Practices, which I did not see replicated in the decades thereafter.

It meant a huge scope for me to make a difference in my subsequent stints at Crompton n Forbes Group. I succeeded in that task thanks to the support of the Top Managements and their willingness to accept new ideas.

So what I learnt at Esso, I put in practice in my subsequent jobs.

I am grateful to so many people who have been instrumental in nudging my destiny forward and supporting me in my journey.

During these near four decades, I got married; raised a family. So did all my siblings and many of their children. By a stroke of luck, all of us remained in the Maximum City of Mumbai. We are therefore, today, a large clan closely knit, thanks to the strong family spirit imbibed by three generations. A few of our Gen Next have gone overseas and given a good account of themselves.

In the same four decades, Sukhjit and I lost our grandparents n then parents. She also lost a brother, a sister n a nephew. On our side we have lost two dear Jeejas.

So is life. It gives n it takes.

What remains of my work life is 9 years in Goodlass Nerolac, 6 years with Thakral Bros in Viet Name and 12 years of retirement. Much has happened in these years too. I shall continue to pen the story of these years and share it with you once it is all done.

I shall continue to write to you to share the happenings in our Clan, in the world at large. Do let me know if there is anything you wish to share with ‘Blurred Vision”.

The last couple of years I have become a bit more active in Social media, especially Twitter. I have a few ‘flocks’ of Tweeps that are constantly in touch with each other. I have a fair sprinkling of people from India, Europe and the Americas.

It is an educative medium. The ritual ‘good mornings’ apart, important news come to me in Social media first. Then I look up the web or the newspapers to fill myself up. Jehangir Bisney is one of the first providers of news. He has mentioned lifting of the Maggi Ban, though I have not yet seen it in print.

This exposure to Social Media has led me to take minimal interest in the morning papers.

As most of you know, a sad highlight of my post retirement decade has been my lungs ailment: an asthmatic condition known as Bronchiectasis. I have been prone to serial lung infections and prolonged usage of antibiotics. The moist, pollutant laden air of Mumbai city is an aggravation.

I have been on the look out for a place where I can escape the pollution. I have finally bought an apartment at Lavasa, a hill station in-the-making 220 kms from Mumbai. We plan to spend a week each month over there. Maybe more in winter, when Mumbai air becomes intolerably smoke laden. We should be getting possession during this month. Ideas of fitting out n furnishing the apartment are a major preoccupation. We should have it going in a couple of months. You folks are welcome to join us, the times we are in residence. There are a few pictures below.

Later this month, we are expecting my sister Jasbir to return after a long stay in Melbourne with her son, Mintoo. While she was away, she crossed the landmark 75^th birthday. End of this month is Rakhi and that is one occasion when the Clan assembles in one place. We have suggested that this time let it be at our place. We are so looking forward to a reunion.

That should be enough for now. More later. I will be in touch.

Au revoir! Phir Milenge!

Photo Gallery