Saturday, October 17, 2009
DISTRUST
The place: The tiled class rooms behind the main building of Mar Ivanios College
Year ; Somewhere in 1971-72
It was noon - lunch break
The bell rings..
As if we eagerly waiting for the bell, we rushed down and ran towards "the place". Some students went home, some rich boys and their "tails" headed to Canteen.
The tiled class rooms were used as lunch rooms during luch break. The classrooms had windows on the eastern side..In between the two buildings was the pathway. The pathway was full of pebble like stones..
The noon time was the busiest time for the dogs and also for the two beggar boys whose attendance register can never show a "A" for absent if one were to keep such a register.
The boys did not have fair complexion and dressed poorly and all that can be related to beggarly.
It was a daily scene at the windows..
The students brought with them food neatly packed in plantain leaves. Plantain leaves were once in plenty in this part of the land. This packet were then wrapped in newspapers. The mothers took so much pains for this.. The boys had to got much to do during the lunch hour than during the classes and hence had little time to eat all the food the mother hopefully wanted the child to eat. Only half the food goes in and the plantain leave is again packed and thrown outside through these windows.. But many a day these remains were snatched from the hands by the beggar boys lest it falls into the wastewater pits (called 'oda' locally) and there is a big noisy scene of the dogs "grrrrr....r" for these left-overs.
My mother packs food in a stainless steel box. The slippery thing had given me lot of trouble while travelling in the KSRTC buses, which takes us more like a boat in water than a bus on the road..sudden brakes, swift sharp turns without applying brakes, and noises coming all through and above all from cries from passengers who fall from this side to that side, some gets a hit on the iron bars fitted on the seats.
One can laugh upto their imagination and visualisation..if you can imagine a four ft boy hanging with all difficulty to the long iron rod fitted at about 5ft on the buses adn with the rod so smooth with thousands of hands rubbing on them since inception. The smooth rods helped in shifting the poor hapless hangers smoothly from the rear end of the bus to the front end where the women stand. Added to these woes is the slippery lunch box i had to carry each day.
One day i felt bad of the poor boys eating left overs.. I opened my box and took a handful of the curd rice and asked them to take. You won't believe, the boy hesitated and when i insisted he ran away.
You are not TRUSTED..
Year ; Somewhere in 1971-72
It was noon - lunch break
The bell rings..
As if we eagerly waiting for the bell, we rushed down and ran towards "the place". Some students went home, some rich boys and their "tails" headed to Canteen.
The tiled class rooms were used as lunch rooms during luch break. The classrooms had windows on the eastern side..In between the two buildings was the pathway. The pathway was full of pebble like stones..
The noon time was the busiest time for the dogs and also for the two beggar boys whose attendance register can never show a "A" for absent if one were to keep such a register.
The boys did not have fair complexion and dressed poorly and all that can be related to beggarly.
It was a daily scene at the windows..
The students brought with them food neatly packed in plantain leaves. Plantain leaves were once in plenty in this part of the land. This packet were then wrapped in newspapers. The mothers took so much pains for this.. The boys had to got much to do during the lunch hour than during the classes and hence had little time to eat all the food the mother hopefully wanted the child to eat. Only half the food goes in and the plantain leave is again packed and thrown outside through these windows.. But many a day these remains were snatched from the hands by the beggar boys lest it falls into the wastewater pits (called 'oda' locally) and there is a big noisy scene of the dogs "grrrrr....r" for these left-overs.
My mother packs food in a stainless steel box. The slippery thing had given me lot of trouble while travelling in the KSRTC buses, which takes us more like a boat in water than a bus on the road..sudden brakes, swift sharp turns without applying brakes, and noises coming all through and above all from cries from passengers who fall from this side to that side, some gets a hit on the iron bars fitted on the seats.
One can laugh upto their imagination and visualisation..if you can imagine a four ft boy hanging with all difficulty to the long iron rod fitted at about 5ft on the buses adn with the rod so smooth with thousands of hands rubbing on them since inception. The smooth rods helped in shifting the poor hapless hangers smoothly from the rear end of the bus to the front end where the women stand. Added to these woes is the slippery lunch box i had to carry each day.
One day i felt bad of the poor boys eating left overs.. I opened my box and took a handful of the curd rice and asked them to take. You won't believe, the boy hesitated and when i insisted he ran away.
You are not TRUSTED..
Monday, October 12, 2009
small problems
Sreekumari a dy manager was attached to Credit Audit Department. Credit Audit for a temporary long period was attached to DGM (Audit and Inspection). Credit Audit dept was in 3rd Floor and Inspection Department was in the 4th floor. Other than Sreekumari, the other officers are AGMs who are Inspecting Officials. So Sreekumari is the all in all of the department. Sreekumari is sincere. She is seen always running between 3rd and 4th floor. I was concerned only of the memorandum to be put up by credit audit department, to the Audit Committee. I was coordinating the Audit Committee and hence Sreekumari is also a friend of mine. The DGMs room at Head Office has a small glass window kept at about 5 ft on the door, so that one can peep through the glass and see if the DGM is inside or not. One day this Sreekumari came to me and asked whether DGM is inside or not.. I was just 5.1 or 5.2 ft tall. So i went and looked through the glass window and informed her that DGM is not there. She came to me and told me "See I am too small and hence i am troubling you". Height matters..
and i rememberedYears back. I think i was in 6th or 7th standard in St.Joseph's HS Trivandrum. I was one of front benchers . in our class front bench is for pigmies.. I fancied of joining NCC from 5th Std as my scouting for joining Scout failed because Scout master asked Rs.5/- for a Scout Camp which my parents refused. On hearing that my friends were joining NCC Airwing I also went and stood in the queue. There wasn't any restrictions as such. On reaching one's turn, a boy will select a blue shirt (the uniform was blue and blue and blue cap) and then he is admitted to the rolls. When it was my turn, the selector tried two or three shirts and none matched my shoulders.. and i was declared too short for Airwing. The Master patted me on my back and asked to come next year after growing a little more .. My face went white..( i now feel that Complan could have hit the market years before)
Small is not beautiful..
How i increased my height withou complan is another story.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
please stand outside
This happened on 10th Oct.09
I was preparing papers for the upcoming Audit Committee of Executives (ACE) for which i happen to be coordinator. My Boss DGM(Audit and Inspection) is the Secretary of the ACE meetings and i have to get the Reviews from other departments and prepare a file for all Top Executives and has to be given at least a day before. This is a point of tension. In total there should be a feel of "all went well"..from the basic preparation of files, the inputs, the spellings, the quality of inputs, the jotting down of discussions, the preparation of minutes, and getting approval for all..
In between one of the answers for a last meeting query (this meeting should place a Action Taken Report on last meeting's questions and many departments would not have taken any action or probably many action points may require lot of time which the department heads would not like to tell public or give in writing) was for arranging for a booklet ,and our present MD is fond of books, on the various types of insurance available and meant for the common layman - the branch manager. The book to be brought out by a committee of Law dept and AGM (Training - now Learning Centre) By the incident happened to me today i doubt that the change in names would bring change in the attitudes.
I took the notings personally to Law dept where my friends were very helpful.. they asked me to write ..the process started..and also requested me to have a word with the AGM (Learning centre).
I waited outside his room. . there is nothing available to know whether he is inside or not.. and i suggested a small glass window of 1ftX1ft so that you can peep and decide whether to go in or wait outside.
My Y.K (AGM) came from outside..and my friend Mr.Sreekumar and myself went inside. I just waited near the door..after a few seconds i went two steps towards him and he asked "Entha.." I said Or cheriya kariyam.. and was beginning to tell..
Immediately, he said .. You wait outside.. I will call you...
I jumped outside..this is not the man who shook hands with me yesterday when I was the RBI Inspectors....this is not the type of AGMs who i visit earlier for such things..
I felt very sad .. I went to my dept and became formal..a letter from my dept to Learning centre requesting him to liaise with Law dept and bring a booklet on insurance and TEACH the officers who come for training. and i thought " a Learning centre is the seat of knowledge and the Head should be approachable even on mobile and any time..that's the way things are moving..and unfortunately he is a PO and POs are supposed to be broad minded ...
My usual conclusion : Things work because of personal equations; All the problems can be boiled down to "PERSONNEL - PLACEMENTS" and nobody looks into this.
I was preparing papers for the upcoming Audit Committee of Executives (ACE) for which i happen to be coordinator. My Boss DGM(Audit and Inspection) is the Secretary of the ACE meetings and i have to get the Reviews from other departments and prepare a file for all Top Executives and has to be given at least a day before. This is a point of tension. In total there should be a feel of "all went well"..from the basic preparation of files, the inputs, the spellings, the quality of inputs, the jotting down of discussions, the preparation of minutes, and getting approval for all..
In between one of the answers for a last meeting query (this meeting should place a Action Taken Report on last meeting's questions and many departments would not have taken any action or probably many action points may require lot of time which the department heads would not like to tell public or give in writing) was for arranging for a booklet ,and our present MD is fond of books, on the various types of insurance available and meant for the common layman - the branch manager. The book to be brought out by a committee of Law dept and AGM (Training - now Learning Centre) By the incident happened to me today i doubt that the change in names would bring change in the attitudes.
I took the notings personally to Law dept where my friends were very helpful.. they asked me to write ..the process started..and also requested me to have a word with the AGM (Learning centre).
I waited outside his room. . there is nothing available to know whether he is inside or not.. and i suggested a small glass window of 1ftX1ft so that you can peep and decide whether to go in or wait outside.
My Y.K (AGM) came from outside..and my friend Mr.Sreekumar and myself went inside. I just waited near the door..after a few seconds i went two steps towards him and he asked "Entha.." I said Or cheriya kariyam.. and was beginning to tell..
Immediately, he said .. You wait outside.. I will call you...
I jumped outside..this is not the man who shook hands with me yesterday when I was the RBI Inspectors....this is not the type of AGMs who i visit earlier for such things..
I felt very sad .. I went to my dept and became formal..a letter from my dept to Learning centre requesting him to liaise with Law dept and bring a booklet on insurance and TEACH the officers who come for training. and i thought " a Learning centre is the seat of knowledge and the Head should be approachable even on mobile and any time..that's the way things are moving..and unfortunately he is a PO and POs are supposed to be broad minded ...
My usual conclusion : Things work because of personal equations; All the problems can be boiled down to "PERSONNEL - PLACEMENTS" and nobody looks into this.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
undressed child
I think it happened during my third standard in Holy Angels. That was the time when the four storied building was under construction.
for this purpose there was a water tank. Some wooden logs was floating on the water. Some say the tank was about 4-5 ft. After lunch during interval, we played at the tank by pushing the wooden logs from one side to the other. Suddenly somebody jokingly pushed me and i fell into the water. but some other boy gave me a hand and i was pulled up. I was fully wet. The Head mistress (sister..i don't remember the name) asked me to go with two senior girls, may be in the 9th or 10th std. They undressed me and dried my uniform. after about an hour, i came back dressed with fear in mind.
for this purpose there was a water tank. Some wooden logs was floating on the water. Some say the tank was about 4-5 ft. After lunch during interval, we played at the tank by pushing the wooden logs from one side to the other. Suddenly somebody jokingly pushed me and i fell into the water. but some other boy gave me a hand and i was pulled up. I was fully wet. The Head mistress (sister..i don't remember the name) asked me to go with two senior girls, may be in the 9th or 10th std. They undressed me and dried my uniform. after about an hour, i came back dressed with fear in mind.
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