Good Bye, Dear Friend

For a change, my blog title " raghuonthemove " does not reflect reality. For a change, raghu is stunned and still..

A good friend of mine, Ashish Chawla left us a few days back. An untimely death took away a good human being.

I first met Ashish in 2006 May, when i joined Accenture as an Associate Manager. He was a senior developer. In the first week of joining, we had a crisis. Ashish and I sat together for 2 days and nights to sort out it. During the entire fire fighting duration, he was calm, always smiling. Telling me not to worry and we will deliver. This was an early crisis in my new job and I wanted to prove that I can handle this. During that two days he kept insisting that we will deliver on time every time we hit a roadblock. Here was a guy who was very calm, composed under pressure. Something I learnt from him. 

We went through a lot of crisis over the next few years. I used to go to him whenever there was something big, knowing fully well he can solve it and bail me out of the situation. Despite crisis, he was always smiling. Always calm. 

Another aspect that impressed me was his ability to mentor youngsters. As a new team, we had a lot of youngsters (i used to call them my kids, sometimes even now), who were new to professional life, new to technology and had lot of doubts on how to approach things. He was always there for them. I used to tell him that he needs to guide these youngsters. He was always helpful, always there for these people. There were lot of times when I found him helping youngsters during the day, and staying pretty late in the night to complete his work. Here was a wonderful person ready to help others despite his own deliverables, problems & issues at work. This is something i learnt from him. To be there for people when they asked for my time.

He was a person who was never satisfied with doing work. It has to be done to perfection. I read somewhere that you should aim for perfection so that you reach excellence. But Ashish was one person who was not satisfied with excellence, he needed perfection. Perfection in everything he did.

After I moved out of accenture, i lost in touch with a lot of my team members, colleagues and Ashish was one among that group. But fortunately for me we got back in touch with me. He was going through health issues at that time but despite that he was always cheerful. I have called him a number of times when he was in hospital to inquire his health, and his response would always be a cheerful " I am fine, recovering" and more importantly a more cheerful " how are you doing" would follow.

We have been in touch almost every other week until last week of May 2017 when he was in one more of his numerous hospital visits and told me he will get discharged in a 3-4days.

Every time we spoke in the last couple of years, he always used ask me to come to his hometown, Dehradun to visit him and spend time there. Every time he would tell me, " I will take you to Mussoorie and we will go in my bike "".... I used to repeat the same thing, that I will come in 2018.

Some day, my friend, Some day, I will definitely make a trip to Dehradun. Not to see the town, but as a homage to you. May be, I will even make a trip to Mussoorie as per your request.

Until then, good bye.

God Bless you, Sachin

I still remember the 82 Sachin made as a opener. The match was played in New Zealand and when I woke up early, it was announced that Sidhu was out of the match with the injury. New Zealand did not make a big score on a that pitch helped the swing bowlers a lot. At the break, I was thinking that if we lose early wickets, we are in for yet another typical Indian batting in NZ. 

Come Sachin as an opener for the first time. Boy, that was probably the best thing to happen for Indian cricket in a long time then (or was it for mankind since sliced bread). Before you could think what next, Sachin was blazing. Anyone who came to bowl, was in trouble. The fielders did not have to move, and the bowlers had no clue. A well set Sachin was in for a blazing century but fell short of it, and if i remember correctly, a pretty soft dismissal. 

I am sure that many people watching that match felt that here was an opener who will change the game for sometime to come. In fact, I hoped to see more injuries for other openers, so that Sachin can become a permanant fixture at the top.

A few years down the line, the desert storm happened. No one in their right minds would have given India a chance to the reach finals. Fortunately, Sachin that day did not belong to the group with "right mind" and blasted a beautiful century, the sand storm break doing little to break his momentum. That day, one witnessed two storms - the sand storm and the bat storm. He repeated the feat in the finals to win the cup for India. 

Many dreams followed, keeping people like me entertained, cheering for India, switching off the tv after he got out, marvelling at his bowling (sometimes frustrated that he was not bowling enough), despair at his captaincy and tenacity at keeping himself fit at his age to play 5 days of cricket.

It was not an easy journey for a fan like me. There were times when it pained to see Sachin dismissed by lesser bowlers or getting bowled repeatedly. It was frustrating to see him getting out to bowlers who he would dismissed with nonchalance at his peak. I truly felt that he should retire, rather than being reduced to a mortal by the bowlers on the field.. It was past his time,  may be, i thought.

For over 20 years he brought cheer to fans like me, despite several big and small issues in the country and in our respective lives. He made us forget all that for some time. For all the achievements, what made him stand out was his humility. The mark of a truly great man. God Bless you, Sachin.

Autorickshaws and Chennai - Part 2

A few years back I wrote a post on the autorickshaws in chennai. With the recent rule of mandatory usage of meters, and after a few interesting experiences, thought would jot them down.

With a lot of fanfare and probably a bit of fear of the court censure, the government revised the autorickshaw fares and made the meters to be mandatory. For about a month, drivers could use the old meters with a rate card giving the equivalent fare and they were supposed to have the calibrated meter by 15th Sep.

Was everything going smooth? I had my own doubts.

My first confirmation that things might not change came from a regular driver that I used to go with. I told him that he cannot bargain anymore and had to use the meter, the reply - " saar meter illama than ottuvom, athu eppadi enga ellarukkum theriyum " (we will ply without meters, and we know how to get around the system).

After about 2 weeks of announcement, I had to take the auto for a coupe of rides. With the first guy, the usual bargaining happened and when I asked about the meter, he said he was yet to get the rate card. :(. He also said, " saar neenga ellam meter ketta, naanga enga saar porathu (if people like you ask for meter, how can guys like us survive).

The second ride also was without meter, and this guy said the battery was down in the meter. I was in a hurry, he said no meter, and I had no other option but to bargain :(

In the meanwhile, my mother had both experiences - the usual bargaining once, and surprisingly the return journey the guy straightaway put the meter and the fare was about 60% of the usual bargained fare. 

Sometime ago, before the fare was announced by government, my brother had the opportunity to go in " Namma Auto ", a privately owned service wherein the auto not only had a proper meter, it was also cheaper than what is announced now. The best thing was that he was given a electronically generated bill at the end of the ride. :)

So, will chennai change.. I guess but it will change slowly. A lot of people have to wake up to using meters.

Being open to surprises during travel

During my recent travels, I encountered a few surprises, some very pleasant and others not so.

After my day's stay at nagapattinam, I moved out of the lodge to go to the bus stand with thoughts of either going to Thiruvarur and from there onto visit divyadesams on the thiruvarur - kumbakonam route or visit Mannargudi Rajagopalaswami temple.

I came out of the lodge and started walking in the direction of the bus stand in the hope of getting a share auto for the trip of about 2 kms. I asked a guy riding a bike if I can get a share auto to bus stand. He seemed to be pretty young (probably was not old enough to get a license), with a big can to get diesel. He replied stating I will not get share autos so early in the day (it was around 6.30 am). After travelling 20 metres or so, the guy turned and came back to me and said, " sir naan bus stand pakkathula than poren, ennado vaanga, anga erakki vittuduren". ( I am going near the bus stand and I will drop you there). I was bit afraid since he looked like a kid, but he insisted. He dropped me safely near the bus stand. 

In kumbakonam, when I checked in a lodge, the manager showed me the tarriff card and said these are the rates. He then added, since we just opened a couple of days ago, some of the facilities are yet to be done and he will give me a discount. I was bit surprised by this as generally these are not told upfront and you have to haggle later, after a few complaints. Later in the evening, when I came down to the reception from the first floor to get some drinking water, the owner, an elderly gentleman was there with his son (about 35 years old). He asked me about the room the stay etc, and they said that I could have just called the reception to get water. He then asked his son to fill water from the filter in my bottle and asked his son to go up to my room and give it there. 

I was fortunate to have an unexpected and lovely visit to Thiru Mandangudi (Thondarapodi azhwa's birthplace). I was traveling to Thiru Pullaboothankudi by auto and saw a board indicating mandangudi. The auto driver to my query responded that the temple is about 1 km out of our way. I went there after bargaining for a total fare of 80 Rs. The big surprise at the temple was the bhattar (priest) gave me a big leaf with curd rice prasadam offered to the Lord and asked me to have it there and then proceed. Lovely prasadam, with no expectation in return.

When i got down at pullaboothankudi and gave the driver 100 note. He simple pocketed and said it covered the fare. Autodrivers, will be the same everywhere i guess...

Besant Nagar Beach - my Bodhi Tree

Besant Nagar beach has always and will always be a place that I go, when I want to be alone,  or I need to take a step back from my daily life. 

This is one place where you can view life in full - you can see old couples walking together, young family with the kids playing in the sand with a ball, group of young guys in the water having fun, couples some sitting bravely in the open others crouching in the dark behind an empty stall, groups of college / young office goers with a frisbee / volleyball / foot ball sweating it out and many more such scenes.

But to me, the beach experience is divided into 3 categories - the walks as part of my excercise regime (cutting myself from the outer world with ilayaraja on the earphones), the chat sessions with one of the very few friends with whom I regularly share the beach and every topic under the sun, and finally my long visits at the waterline with Velukudi Krishan (religious / spiritual discourse) and the vast ocean for company.

I have had some strong debates with friends, or silence alone. Sometimes i see a lot of scenes and feel happy or sad or whatever other emotions; at other times my mind is just blank concentrating on what I hear and contemplating on it, especially if it is a devotional discourse. At times, I am completely mesmerized by the beauty of the beach, the sun rise or the full moon. 

But every time I visit the beach, never do i fail to listen to Nizhalgal song especially ' pon maalai pozhuthu '.. and the as the line goes ' vaanam enakkoru bodhi maram, naalum ennakathu sethi tharum.. '

The vast ocean and the skies, never fail to make me happy. the vast emptiness - my bodhi tree.

Innocence Lost...

I spent a couple of hours at the besant nagar beach today, and most of the time near the waterline. During this time, i saw a lot of kids between the age of 3 and 7, liked their antics, their playfulness but most of all their innocence.

There were two father and son duos - the fathers in mid 30s and the sons around 4 years.  I watched this pair who were about 20 feet apart. In one pair, the son was very bold and brave. He kept pushing his father to go deeper into the water whereas the father was cautious in not venturing too far. The other pair, the son was very tentative. He was just getting his feet wet standing at the very edge of the water and whenever there was a big wave, he would rush back a few feet. I kept watching both these pairs and was very fascinated by the kids. The two kids were innocent and one in his innocence of danger wanted to go deeper into the water and the other in his own innocence of the safe hands he was in, did not venture beyond the water edge. After some time, i noticed a small plastic ball which was bobbing up and down in the water. The father of the brave kid also noticed and pointed to his son. In a short while, the ball came closer to the water's edge but a bit farther from where they were standing. The father & son ran to the spot and picked up the ball. At that point in time, the other kid noticed the ball and asked his father to get it for him. By then, the other pair had already picked it up.

The father of the brave kid noticed that the timid kid wanted the ball. He asked his kid if the ball can be given to the other the kid. Without a moment of hesitation, the kid told his father to give the ball. By now, the timid's kid father was saying not to ask and let the brave kid have it. But the brave kid, got the ball from his father and gave it to the other kid and gave a big smile. That was a fantastic moment.. of generosity built on the foundation of innocence.

I started to wonder when and where did we lose that innocence. All of us were like that when we were kids, and some us even until college when our friends were friends and not competitors. Innocence lost, by choice or by design.

Urban Landscapes - Photos of Chennai

On a cloudy evening, with the smell of rain still in the air, i ventured out to the top of my apartment for a photo session. Here is the best of the lot.