Personal: Memories as a Class Monitor

I have been appointed as a class representative in most of my schools and colleges. I think it was because I was always a more sincere student than most others. In school, my important role was limited to maintaining the attendance register and making some announcements. But in the high school, perhaps my role reached a pinnacle. I remember the days very well.
 

That was first year of my high school days, means I was in class 8th. I had done best in the exams and that made my teachers appoint me as the class monitor. In those days very less things interested me apart from studies. I was a serious student, exceptional for others, very introvert, very well mannered and these qualities definitely make us favourite of teachers. In those days whenever a teacher was late to report for the class, the class would become a pitched fish-market and the noise would reach even the Head Master’s cabin. So our class teacher fixed my major role as maintaining discipline in the class. In between two classes, no one would make a noise and if one does I would note his (it was all boys’ school) name on the blackboard. The next teacher who comes to the class would punish those guys. I came out as a very strict monitor. I didn’t allow anyone even to make a minute noise. For example, no one could even ask another for a pencil. The boys asked me to allow them to chat with each other in the lowest of voice possible, but I won’t accede. Some guys threatened me but I won’t budge. In those days it was not uncommon for some guys to even beat up opponents. But what came to my support was that I myself was always high on moral sense and always practiced what I preached. But for sheer sympathy towards the guilty, some times I would erase all the names before the teacher came. But many times I won’t show mercy and the guys would be punished, mostly by being made to keep standing up in front of the class. I can feel the silence that prevailed in the recess.
 

I now remember those days and can laugh at myself. I had taken the role so severely which my class mates didn’t deserve. If I allowed them to talk in whispers or to move around a bit by asking permissions, no great indiscipline would have happened. And I feel it was important to allow them to unwind in between the classes. What I did was to discipline them at the cost of them losing their humour and fun. And I now wonder at the patience of my class too – why they never revolted!

Book Review: Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy

Father Sergius is a wonderful story of human dilemmas in front of divine expectations. It is the story of an ordinary man on which greatness and sainthood was thrust upon. He continuously faced dilemmas of life, also because he had a genuine and pure heart which always did introspection. At the end, he found the true peace in most unexpected place and way, which he never got in the Church. During the course of the story, the book details what is wrong with the Church, and also with the organised religion in general.
 

When I finished reading the book for the second time, I wondered if Leo Tolstoy was inspired by Hindu philosophy. The crux of this story can be summed up in what Father Sergius realises in the end. He realises that one small act done without selfish intent is far better than prayers. “One good deed — a cup of water given without thought of reward — is worth more than any benefit I imagined I was bestowing on people (by praying for them)” This is exactly what Bhagawat Gita teaches us. Also, there is a comment which tells God is within us. “The less importance he attached to the opinion of men the more did he feel the presence of God within him.” Now this is Hindu philosophy which tells us not to seek God outside but within us. That we need not worship or believe in those who claim to be God’s only son, or real prophets, but each one of us have God inside us, waiting to be realised by our own efforts. 
 

Some excerpts:
 

“But as soon as he left the church the crowd of people rushed to him soliciting his blessing, his advice and his help. There were pilgrims who constantly tramped from one holy place to another and from one ‘starets’ to another, and were always entranced by every shrine and every ‘starets’. Father Sergius knew this common, cold, conventional, and most irreligious type. There were pilgrims, for the most part discharged soldiers, unaccustomed to a settled life, poverty-stricken, and many of them drunken old men, who tramped from monastery to monastery merely to be fed. And there were rough peasants and peasant-women who had come with their selfish requirements, seeking cures or to have doubts about quite practical affairs solved for them: about marrying off a daughter, or hiring a shop, or buying a bit of land, or how to atone for having overlaid a child or having an illegitimate one.” 

“So that is what my dream meant! Pashenka is what I ought to have been but failed to be. I lived for men on the pretext of living for God, while she lives for God imagining that she lives for men. Yes, one good deed — a cup of water given without thought of reward — is worth more than any benefit I imagined I was bestowing on people. But after all was there not some share of sincere desire to serve God?” he asked himself, and the answer was: Yes, there was, but it was all soiled and overgrown by desire for human praise. Yes, there is no God for the man who lives, as I did, for human praise. I will now seek Him!”

Robustness of Software

Recently I read someone saying that he preferred a particular piece of software over the other because the former was more ‘robust’. That made me think for a moment about ‘robustness’ of software. Robustness of a tangible thing is easy to comprehend, but how do we understand robustness of software? And more importantly, how do we measure it, or compare robustness of two pieces of software?

Robustness of software is a very important concept. Robustness can be defined as the property because of which a piece of software runs and functions correctly even with unexpected or invalid inputs or in stressful environments. So every time your laptop’s Windows stops working (is hung), or a program crashes and stops working until you restart it or reboot, you witness poor robustness of the software or a program!

The main reason for software crash is that it comes across situations where the programmer’s or designer’s assumptions have been violated. Every piece of software has a number of errors. It is virtually impossible to debug and clean it from all errors. There are errors which occur in unusual circumstances which are beyond a human mind to be predicted. So now the question which comes to mind is: How can we ensure robustness in our software?

Unix philosophy says that robustness results from ‘transparency’ and ‘simplicity’. If a programmer can examine the source code and comprehend easily how it works, there are more chances that the errors would be fixed in advance. Another obvious way is to write codes accommodating a wide range of situations. Having small, modular programs which are connected to others is also a good way. Another very path breaking method makes use of ‘redundancy’ to ensure robustness.

Errorfree programs and hustle free operations are not only good but also very critical in many situations. Do you know that Ariane 5 spacecraft exploded 36 seconds after its start because its software contained an error which changed its direction and the spacecraft broke down due to aerodynamic forces? Therefore, the best thing to do is to let the software undergo a proper robustness test. Or should I say a ‘robust’ robustness test?

- Rahul


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Magic of Questioning

Yesterday a question came to my mind. We had noticed since childhood that whenever a fan is run slowly through what we call a 'regulator', the regulator gets heated. Why does it get heated? I knew the difference between AC and DC motors and difference between variable speed vs. fixed speed drives, but I was not sure what kind of motor a fan had. I called up my younger sister who was more qualified to answer this. But she too was not sure. She promised to read about it and tell me.

In our childhood whenever we went to naani-ghar (maternal grandmother’s place) our nana would ask us some very practical questions. When we would be around bonfire on winter nights he would ask us questions from history, science, or mathematics and we were always fearful of the ones which we were not able to answer. He did it with the grownups too whenever he met some family member who was highly educated. I guess they always dreaded him because he would put them in very embarrassing situations with his smart and practical questions.

I think questioning and quizzing is a very useful method of learning for anyone. The trick is to try to explain every doubt that comes in our mind. We should also realise that if we don’t find answers to our own doubts then someone else would challenge us sometime. And we should also ensure that our children take such questioning in the right spirit. In case they don’t answer, we should try to encourage them rather than causing humiliation in any way.

Magic of questioning comes to play when a scientist or a person with master’s degree is not able to answer a naïve question from a kid. Magic of questioning shows it when a child develops the spirit of reasoning and fact-finding from very early stage in his/her life.

Btw, I found answer to the fan regulator question here http://2wayswitch.com/terminating-the-fan-regulator-wires/

- Rahul

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Cynicism

Many times our friends and relatives ask us for suggestions. I hope we give suggestions without any hidden intentions or bias and our suggestions are made to only benefit our friend from our knowledge of the matter. It is up to the seeker whether to accept or discard the suggestion.
 

But I have observed a new trend these days. In many cases, the seeker takes decision which is opposite and in conflict with the suggestion one has received. The underlying cynicism is that the suggestion must have some hidden intent.
 

I think I can guess the reason behind such cynicism. Some times we come across people who give suggestions which are either biased – made keeping in view the selfishness of the person giving the suggestion rather than the one seeking it, or they are conspiring – made to confuse and harm the person seeking suggestion. If we come across many such persons then we start thinking negative about the process of suggestions itself. (We still ask for suggestions because it is human nature.) And this negative thinking makes us see hidden intent even where there is none.
 

I think we should be careful in this regard.

Sushma on Price Rise

I could listen to parts of Sushma Swaraj’s speech in the Parliament on the issue of price rise (or high inflation) yesterday (Aug 3). And I was thoroughly impressed by her vision and her awareness to the ground realities. I would quote two very good points she made.

In the rural areas, previously when the women used to cook on earthen ovens (chullahs) they used to suffer from the unhealthy smoke. With economic growth in India, they started cooking on gas-ovens. But now the price of cooking gas has become so high that they are going back on wood as fuel. They say that they would make only minor items like tea on the gas-chullahs and would rely on wood or charcoal based chullahs for cooking, because these fuels come free or are very cheap. In a way, our government is forcing them to go back on the timeline.

Sonia Gandhi had accepted that the big projects and welfare schemes (like employment guarantee scheme, waiving loans, etc) require huge funding because of which petroleum prices needed to be increased. There is a phrase, “Aaj raat jiyenge to kal shahar dekhenge”. The poor are starving and not getting nutritious food because of high prices. They won’t be able to get medical treatment too because of the high costs. In such conditions, first they have to survive the price rise; then they would think about taking benefits of welfare schemes!

What Sushma Swaraj said was so true. I have always held that it was our governments incapability to plan properly and failure to recognise the problems and plug the loopholes which led to this situation (it has been going on since high inflation in 2008, then India becoming undue affected by global recession in 2009, and now again we are suffering from price rises). And it is a shame that in these challenging times our government is focussing on trivial issues like caste based census, quota for Muslims, debating on women’s reservation bill, or having talks with Pakistan.

- Rahul

Sushma on Price Rise

I could listen to parts of Sushma Swaraj’s speech in the Parliament on the issue of price rise (or high inflation) yesterday (Aug 3). And I was thoroughly impressed by her vision and her awareness to the ground realities. I would quote two very good points she made.

In the rural areas, previously when the women used to cook on earthen ovens (chullahs) they used to suffer from the unhealthy smoke. With economic growth in India, they started cooking on gas-ovens. But now the price of cooking gas has become so high that they are going back on wood as fuel. They say that they would make only minor items like tea on the gas-chullahs and would rely on wood or charcoal based chullahs for cooking, because these fuels come free or are very cheap. In a way, our government is forcing them to go back on the timeline.

Sonia Gandhi had accepted that the big projects and welfare schemes (like employment guarantee scheme, waiving loans, etc) require huge funding because of which petroleum prices needed to be increased. There is a phrase, “Aaj raat jiyenge to kal shahar dekhenge”. The poor are starving and not getting nutritious food because of high prices. They won’t be able to get medical treatment too because of the high costs. In such conditions, first they have to survive the price rise; then they would think about taking benefits of welfare schemes!

What Sushma Swaraj said was so true. I have always held that it was our governments incapability to plan properly and failure to recognise the problems and plug the loopholes which led to this situation (it has been going on since high inflation in 2008, then India becoming undue affected by global recession in 2009, and now again we are suffering from price rises). And it is a shame that in these challenging times our government is focussing on trivial issues like caste based census, quota for Muslims, debating on women’s reservation bill, or having talks with Pakistan.

- Rahul

Appraisal

Today I happened to read some of my two years old conversations with some other fellow bloggers. And I was surprised at what I read and understood.

What one of them tried to make me understand in her writing, was really useful and so true. And my subsequent reply to her also appeared ‘wise’ and interesting. But now I could evaluate myself and see the conversation in a different light. I realised that at that time I had not properly understood what she wanted me to. It had created a bit of misunderstanding in the end. Today, by virtue of having experienced more I can understand better what she had said. This is also true about another conversation. What the person told at that time, still applies to me today but I haven’t thought about it properly.

I think it happens because many times we ‘read’ more and ‘understand’ less. We ‘speak’ more and ‘accept’ less. Now I also realise the virtue of speaking less; something that I realised I completely lacked in those days.

I think reading our own past communications can be liberating in some ways. If we observe properly we would note how we have been growing up with time, whether we are changing with time (which is very important), or whether we have been repeating the same mistakes again and again.

- Rahul

If you got it Easy

There are some universal laws which apply so perfectly to the human nature irrespective to the variations in culture or in background. One of them is that we value less what comes easily to us. To some extent we capture it in the Hindi anecdote “Ghar ki murgi daal barabar”. It can also be described by the tendency to undermine self possessions.

This maxim applies to all aspects of our life. What we get after much struggle, feels dear to us. But what we got by chance or by gift, loses its sheen after some time. It also applies to relationships to some extent. Friendships which happened by chance and without any efforts from our side may lose our attraction but for whom we ‘tried’ to reach out, no matter what the outcome, may seem dear to us. In the times of matrimony, if an offer came to us easily or without our efforts, we tend to be casual about it no matter if it was really perfect for us. In matrimony matters many times we realise later on that we had ignored some very good initial offers (we ignored, may be, because they came easily to us). Or a person who got unexpectedly better or superior spouse may also start valuing him/her less because of this very psychology. The sad part is that this tendency only makes our life more difficult because we ignore the true merit in most of the cases and don’t take decisions rationally.

This is why decision making remains the toughest task in any job or in any relationship.

- Rahul

Personal: Memories of those fateful days

In those days I was studying in the 12th. I and another cousin (brother) used to stay in the same room. It was winter at that time. One morning, while he was heating bathing water with an electrical heating rod, we had a discussion about the device. I said that I would check if the water was hot by touching it while power was on. He asked me not to do so otherwise I would get an electric shock. I had read about the heating effect of current and I said that I believed there should not be actual currents running in the water but it was the rod which was heated and conducted heat to the water. When he didn’t agree, I said that I would demonstrate it. I went ahead and touched the water. He didn’t stop me from doing so. When I touched the water I didn’t get any shock. He was surprised and checked the heater. And he said, “Rahul, God saved your life. The plug was not fitted well.” Later on, I realised that I had a near miss. I don’t know what would have happened if I really touched the water while current ran through it.
 

Afterwards, I had at least two serious near death experiences in my life. Once I had a close pass from a luggage train. And another time my motorbike slipped on a crossing of a highway, and thanks to my helmet I was saved because my head (helmet) banged on the road many times. Also, fatefully, there were no trucks on the road at that time.
 

Our life is full of uncertainties. No matter how much we try to control the events, we won’t be 100% successful. Those who think of themselves as too powerful should think about the kings who have died having fallen from a staircase or from a horseback. It makes us realise the importance of the good days in our life. We should be grateful to the fate or to the God that we are safe, alive, and in a state of peace. Because, the good days are neither permanent nor given.

Memories of Early Self-respect

I must be in class III or IV at that time. We were a gang of boys (the rival gang was of the girls) and I was suspected to be their ‘leader’. In those days, after every lunch we used to play some indigenous games like chhua-chhuant (chase) in the crowded playground. I was more sober than others and took part only occasionally. The Headmistress of our school used to sit at her chair overlooking us. She was dreaded by students due to her nature and her physique (she was the bulkiest woman we had ever seen). I remember that afternoon.

We had finished our lunch and I was just roaming around when I saw one guy running after the other. The guy who was trying to catch the other was a short and popular one. He was called Sushil Pandey (there was another guy who was called simply Sushil). I don’t know what came to my mind but I ran after Sushil Pandey who was already trying to catch the other guy. In the confusion, perhaps, he lost his balance and fell down. He rose quickly and resumed his run. But it was our bad luck that Madam had seen us. She called both of us and asked me why I had pushed Sushil Pandey on the ground. Now I had not done anything like that and hence tried to explain how Sushil was running after the other guy when I started after him and a fraction of second before I could touch him, he by himself fell down. Madam was not impressed with my detailed but interesting (and factual) explanation. Friends are friends and Sushil proved it in time of need. He told her that it was not my fault but he had fallen by himself. But Madam won’t even listen to him. She called me near to her and hit me with a duster (eraser), once each on both my palms, as a punishment.

Not many had watched me getting punished but it seemed as if I was branded guilty in front of the whole town. The burden was immense.

Despite a child’s nature to forget things, I think I realised two things after that event: (1) People can be insensitive. Though I didn’t know anything about sensitivity or absence of it at that time, I just couldn’t understand why Madam would completely discard what I was trying to explain and what Sushil too approved of. And (2) People may not care for your reputation. I don’t know if all children think that they enjoy some repute and have a personal stature, which can be harmed, but I definitely was one who did. I was hurt from the fact that despite I being one of the most disciplined students in the school and despite the fact that I never told lies or did tricks like pushing others, I was not believed.

The day passed like any other and I forgot the incident. But after some years I realised that I had not forgotten it. It may be because of the fact that it was one of the very few occasions when I was punished by teachers. But it may be more than that. It was mainly because I had felt ‘insulted’ as a child; I was not believed despite my truthfulness and that event remained in some corner of my mind. I don’t know if the event also shaped me as a person but consciously I would never be in the shoes of our Madam.

While dealing with children, some times we forget that they too have ‘self-respect’. A child’s world may be different from ours, but among their friends, they too enjoy a reputation. In games they try to emulate us, the grownups. If we want them to grow up as sensible persons, we too have to practice what we teach.

- Rahul

Visit to Baba Dham, Deoghar

There are few temples which are as passionately revered by devotees as is Baba Dham of Deoghar. Baba Dham means place of Baba Shankar (Shiva) and Deoghar means abode of gods. The temple is so important because Vaidyanath Jyotirlinga temple, popularly known as Baba Dham and Baidyanath Dham is one of the twelve sacred Jyotirlingas. Every year in the Shravan month, devotees (called kavarias) throng to this temple from all over the region to offer water (jal) to the sacred Shivalingam.

I visited Baba Dham at Deoghar for the first time this year. We were visiting Baba Dham before Shravan month and hence the crowd was slightly less. We reached the town of Jasidih by train, which is on the Howrah–Patna–Delhi line. Deoghar is about 6 Kms from this place. We took an auto-rickshaw to reach there. After much search, we were able to find a hotel with a vacancy. Even though it was not the Shravan month, hotels were all booked due to some Satsang. We went to the temple in the morning, on foot. And it was an experience to remember.

The temple town of Deoghar is a small one with clean air and a pleasant environment. It has the beauty of a small town and also the facilities of every need. In the middle of the town, all lanes converge to reach the temple of Baba Bholenath (one name of Lord Shiva). In the main temple, the sacred Shivalingam is situated. To read about the legends behind this Shivalingam and the temple, you can see the Wiki article on Vaidyanath Temple. The origin belongs to Treta Yuga. The temple is thronging with devotees most of the time and it is very difficult to do darshan or to worship the Lord. There we found many Pandas who were sitting round the temples, with their names and mobile numbers written on the walls. Father tells that each family has a particular Panda ji assigned to it. We got to know that one Shree Dhwajadhari Panda has been the one for our family. Later on we got to know that he was no more and another of his children was carrying out his work. These Pandas also visit our families in our villages and maintain a good relationship. This is the tradition for generations. Then one boy was assigned to us as a guide. There are so many temples for almost each and every god including Ganga ji (the river goddess). The main temple where sacred Shivalingam was situated was too crowded for us. I thought it was a miracle that we came out without being hurt or falling down. And as if to confirm the miracle, I had by chance kept a mobile phone in my pocket, which remained intact. While going through the melee, I doubted if I would wish to come back again. In the centre of the temple, the sacred Shivalingam was there, to which we offered water and prayers. Later on, we visited many of the other temples inside the premises.

Another aspect of the experience is that you would see Pandas and priests in each and every corner of the temple-cluster asking for money as offering. For a moment, it doesn’t look nice. But on a second thought, it was the temple which was giving them the employment and I think there was no other way for them to get compensation. The main temple had only one door and the crowd was always in over capacity. In those conditions if there are some guys to manage everything, it seems they deserved a few coins from the devotees. Good thing was that they received whatever you gave and won’t ask again even if you didn’t offer anything. Another interesting scene was when some of those guys were hitting the unruly crowd with thin (non-harming) sticks, to bring them in order. To a large extent, it reminded me of Shiva’s army. Lord Shankar is also called Bhootnath. To expect order and discipline from his army is a misplaced expectation, perhaps. Also, the whole chaos and crowd reminded me of our world where we have to find inner peace in the midst of the outer bedlam. We have to find inner order despite outer disorder. We have to search for inner stability from within outer mayhem. And there, in midst of chaotic crowd, when money seemed far too apparent, there lied the sacred Shivalangam. Unaware of the chaos, yet aware of everything; unshaken by mayhem, yet touched by each moving heart. That is how we can take it. To me, the temple with all its crowd and chaos stands for victory of spiritualism over disturbing materialism. Otherwise, the ocean of devotees won’t be coming in streams to this temple town year after year.

There are markets selling hosts of items like bangles, toys, pictures, and sweets. Peda is the most favourite prasad which is bought by the devotees. Mixed with chuda (beaten rice) and ilichai-dana (a kind of sugar), it forms the typical prasad which people take back home to distribute among relatives, friends and neighbours.

We returned back with a resolve to come back soon. The experience was one to remember forever. Jai Baba Vaidyanath! Jai Shiv Shankar!

- Rahul

Some Websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaidyanath_Jyotirlinga,_Deogarh

http://www.babadham.org/

http://babadham.blogspot.com/

Visit to ISKCON Temple, Juhu

I had visited ISKCON temple first about four years ago. I was not so impressed with the experience and had written a critical review. Afterwards I visited the temple twice and was completely infatuated with the visits. There was not much crowd (though it depended on occasion and time), photography was banned (earlier people would stop in front of the deity and would shoot with digital and mobile-phone cameras, thereby stopping the queue), shops were peaceful (earlier ISKCON members would stop you and request you to buy a copy of Gita for Rs 100, or a jap-mala) and there were less sweets-shops (earlier the exit space near the temple looked like venue of a feast). Now the experience is very nice and different.

The temple is situated very near to the Juhu Beach. You can even walk the distance through a narrow lane, or can take an auto-rickshaw. The temple is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The snap with this article is taken by me. The whole environment is very peaceful and soothing. As we enter the temple, after the security check and depositing shoes at the stall and washing hands and feet, we enter the main hall. It is a big hall in front of the deity with the floor adorned with white marble. The deities of Radha Krishna, Sita Ram and of the founder of ISKCON are splendid. One can simply get lost in the beauty of Radha Krishna. I read that the present clothes of Radha are designed by one of the best fashion designers of India. There are murals on a wall, describing the avatars of Lord Vishnu and some teachings and life sketches. Devotees normally sit on the floor looking at the deities and listening to the live music. Many times there are foreigner-devotees who would play bhajans and songs in love of Krishna. It is a wonderful experience to be there and soak oneself in the devotion of Lord Krishna.

When we come out of the main temple, we pass through a number of shops selling religious books, copies of Bhagawat Gita, posters, paintings and many other gift items. I have found these posters as the most beautiful I have ever seen. My favourite is the picture of Radha Krishna deity of the same temple. Then there are shops which sell some ready food items and all sort of sweets. Coming out of the temple, we find a place where a member would be distributing prasad, which I have normally found as a tasty halwa.

The whole experience is so wonderful and refreshing that instead of going to any other place on a weekend, one should go visit this temple. Apart from Juhu beach, the legendary Prithvi Theatre is also very nearby, giving you more reasons to reach here frequently.

Hare Krishna temple
Hare Kirshna Land, Near Juhu Beach, Juhu Rd, Juhu
Mumbai, Maharashtra 400049

http://www.iskconmumbai.com/

- Rahul

Picture: ISKCON Temple, Juhu, By Rahul