e = mc 2

Most things in life are relative. So is intelligence. In my two years of Fergusson College, due to my mother's foresight, I was undeservedly bumped up to the offfical Business Class of FC, a.ka. Division C. You had to get more than 88% in your 10th standard exams to make the grade and I had 80%. By logical deduction, I was the dumbest student in my class of 144 students. No exagerration, no bullshit.

I remember the panic attacks durng the exams, the blacking out, the lies and the cheating. I remember not coming to collge the day the marks would be displayed and the papers discussed.Of course, I would get the least marks in my group and in my class. I scraped through 11th standard using questionable methods. Some of my friends got dumped to other divisions. I felt pretty rotten about it for a while.

The next year was no different. And not that I tried. I put in an honest effort whenerever required. The regular blood,sweat and tears.But the impact of being the dumbest student in class stayed with me.

Then, everything changed.

In BVU Dental College and Hospital, I witnessed a whole new world. There was no scrambling to get the first row seats. If you didnt land a perfect score, it was actualy pardonable. And, miraculously, I suddenly emerged to the fore as a clever student. I barely made the top ten in my first year, but no one seemed to notice. I was still given the tag of a topper.

Even more surprisngly, I rose in the ranks for the following two years. And trust me, I was exactly the same person, giving the same priority to studies, with the same intensity of concentration.

So what was the difference? Not to be impolite, my company wasnt as illustrous as FC Division C. Relatively, I was suddenly very intelligent.

A parallel story can be told about my oration. Throughout my 8 years in dental college, I was considered as one of the best orators in college. In my years in Loyola High School, I wouldnt have even made the top 15.

Does that speak not-too-highly of my college? Yes, maybe. There were other talents in abundance though.

If you can look at your skills and talents from an outside frame, from a exterior perspective,comparing yourself with a larger group of people, you realize really how good (or average) you are. Try it.

e= mc2 ? Not quite, but then I guess Eisntein would have been a genius in any class.

One step at a time...

When you are travelling by a vehicle, you miss a lot of unimportant things. Everyday, you zoom by on the same roads you take everyday. You take a lot of things for granted. The pavement, the signals, the little shops lining the roads, and of course the people.

Try taking a walk on the same road. You will be amazed at the amount of things you notice and remember. Yesterday, I took a walk down one of the most popular roads in my city. I started at one end, and went down the entire length of the road. it was a route that i must have traveled a million times, especially since I studied for two years in a very famous college on the same road.

The walk brought back some great memories.I walked past the bookstore, where I had bought all my school books,for 10 years straight. I remembered coming there in the rain, dashing from the car to the safety of the shop. Passing on the list to the same person who used to be there year after year. I remembered the distinct smell of the newly opened text books. Wrapping them in bags and running to the car, hoping them stay dry. I looked up at the shop now. It had a strange, new name and a couple of youngsters standing outside were smoking. I walked on.


A few hundred feet later, I passed the coffee shop, and I remembered being there the first day it had opened. I was in the long queue, jostling amongst the crowd. Coffee was 25 Rs a cup, a significant dent in the weekly savings in those days. After we had managed a table, I remember the smirks on our faces, looking at the surging crowd below. We were there, we had made it. As I passed it, there were just a few tables occupied and the window panes looked as if they hadnt been washed for weeks. Of course, there were at least 2 such coffee shops on every road now. I somehow didnt feel like going in.

A little later I reached the main gate of my college. It was a late hour of the day and there was no sign of life. I remembered vividly walking in through that very gate for the first time in 1997. I didn't know at that point, that the next two years inside that gate would change my life forever.

As I walked back home, I thought about how all these places had changed so much. About why some things couldn't stay exactly the way you remembered them. I wondered why change was so inevitable.

I didn't have the answers. But I was glad I had taken that walk.

62 years...

When you are in school, there aren't too many options. When its the morning assembly, you have to line up and recite the prayers, whether you like it or not. When its 15th August, you have to come to school for the flag hoisting, and recite the national anthem.

The idea behind this compulsion, is that when your a kid, you don't have the common sense and the moral/civic responsibility to do so voluntarily. It is expected that when you grow up, you do. But thats really not the case.

One of the negatives of having a choice, is being able to make the wrong one.

Junior college, professional college and then the place where you work... all have the flag hoisting ceremony on 15th August. But none make it compulsory. And you dont end up going. Excuses range from wanting to sleep in because of a tight schedule, or having other ways to respect the flag, or simply being out of town on vacation.

From 1996 (my last year in school), till date I havent attended a single flag hoisting ceremony. Because I had a choice not to. This year, and last night, I really dont know why I changed my mind, but I felt like I had to go. It could be the Mumbai Terror Attack, or the recession, or the drought, or the swine flu.I just felt the need to be a part of, and show some unity to no-one in particular, but everybody in general.

So I went. Surprisingly, the actual ceremony wasnt really awe-inspiring. There was the hoisting of the flag, the singing of the national anthem and a speech or two. But standing there, silently with hundreds of others, I finally understood why people gathered on 15th August for just 15 minutes.

In the turbulent times that we live in, we need to find such occasions to come together. To silently share pain, joys and sorrow. To make new resolutions, and to try and not break old ones. To look at our flag with new respect. To actually sing the anthem and mean every word.

And most importantly, to celebrate and understand our independence. Jai Hind.

Servicing People...

So the dust has finally settled. I thought I would be back blogging by the 1st of July, but things took a little longer to settle down than I anticipated.To cut a long story short, I have a good routine now, which will allow me some time to put down my thoughts. So here goes....

Some time back, I caught up with a friend of mine who works in Goa. We were talking about this and that, when he said " I have finally realized, I am good at servicing people".

That day, I realized that not many of us are really good at servicing people. We might be hot shots at our respective professions, but do we really rock at servicing people? And how important is that?

Very important. Some people have the in-born knack of making you comfortable when you are with them. Ive noticed it while talking to waiters, to salesmen,a few teachers too. This makes them special. And this quality is what you remember in them

Unfortunately,there is no formal training in this regard that you can get. Either you have it, or you dont. My friend does, and he has intelligently made full use of this quality.

I realized that day, it is really hard to make people happy. And even harder, to keep them happy. Its one thing just doing your job well, but making the people you work with comfortable and happy is something else. And we dont always manage to do that.

I envy people who are good at "servicing people". Its one quality that will never go unnoticed, never go out of style.