Escaping from Yourself

Now I am losing track of the topics I have written about………..not sure about this topic which I think is new though. This is the challenge when I start to think anew every weekend morning on what I wish to write about. Sometimes it is based on what happened the previous week in my life, or some esoteric philosophical thought, or some movie that I had just seen.

Today’s topic is none of the above. It is real concrete stuff, though you might ascribe it to another kind of philosophical musing. It might be. But let us not worry about the classification per se.

One of the central tenets of Buddhism or Hinduism (these are similar in many ways) is the renunciation of worldly, materialistic pleasures and then shifting one’s focus towards the path of self-enlightenment. Big words, but there is some meaning in trying to build out a sense of detachment from the material things which dominate our senses and mind all the time, don’t you think? Otherwise, we will be driven constantly by greed and anger in case we cannot get what we want.

Let me try to explain the need to at least visualise this sense of detachment. It is not difficult, though it appears to be so.

All of us want to be spiritual at some stage in life. We wish to have a sense of peace and serenity in our life. We wish to be happy.

What does “spiritual” mean? Does it mean alignment to a set of religious imperatives that you think will guide your life in a better manner? Does it mean absolute surrender at the feet of God, expecting Him to set you on the path towards self-enlightenment? Does it mean performing a series of rituals on a regular basis?

“Spirituality” is none of the above, though devotion does help. In my view, here are the few steps that you can take towards attaining a sense of spirituality within yourself. I am not a guru, please check out through other sources for yourself. I can only speak from my own studies and attempted experiences.

The very first step is “Control of the Senses – your sensory organs” – this is the most difficult part in the journey towards spirituality. It is easy to get tempted, for example about good food. It is easy to get tempted to buy a good-looking handbag or a car. Our senses convey to our mind that these material things are good and “necessary” for our living. Nothing wrong with that suggestion though.

What does our Mind do? It listens to our senses closely, and many a time accede to their demands to obtain the materialistic things that they recommend. “Mind control” therefore becomes important. The mind reminds you that these materialistic pleasures would be even better than the last time you had similar experiences.

Does the mind listen to our Intellect? Rarely. Our intellect and rational thought try to take control of the mind. But it is always an uphill battle all the time. The analysis of our intellect often does not cater to the pull of our heart which is often controlled by our senses and our mind.

Now you see what is happening. Senses dominate the mind and our intellect succumbs to the mind. You see how powerful our senses are, never underestimate their influence in our lives!

But, if you bring your senses under control (even partially!), then you start to have focus or concentration on the issues at hand, which will then lead to clarity of mind. We all have experienced this focus and clarity in our lives, these are not new. You would have seen the importance of focus and clarity especially when you have successfully avoided a bad decision in your life.

Now what happens after you attain clarity of mind?

Here is where meditation comes in. Again, meditation is not a religious thing. It can be as simple as closing your eyes and keeping a blank mind for just 5 minutes; avoid distracting thoughts. Easier said than done, of course. But with practice, it is possible. I listen to a Gita podcast when I close my eyes. Sometimes I listen to my favourite Bee Gees songs. Just keep your eyes closed and sit on a comfy chair, or even better, on the ground with a backrest. Avoid any other kind of distracting sounds.

What is the need to meditate? There are a million answers, of course. For me, the clarity that I am struggling with comes into a clear, absolute focus. My mind takes a rest, and is not “exercising” over sensory inputs.

Try extending this meditative posture to 10 minutes and then to 15 minutes. It has a stabilising influence on your mind and body.

After this experience, when you open your eyes, what do you see? In the mental picture, you should be able to “see” peace and serenity of mind, which is our objective from the start of this process.

In a nutshell, you can and should continue to engage with the surrounding world around you in the normal manner, but with one serious exception: your mind should be completely devoid of likes and dislikes. Otherwise, you will lack peace and serenity while dealing with the world around you.

I know it is not easy at all. But if you can keep this detached posture, you will see and feel that you can have a more productive engagement with people around you, a more positive experience. You can do no harm. All you think will be for the good of others.

It may or may not be possible to achieve self-enlightenment, which is the ultimate goal of the spiritual journey. But that is absolutely fine. You have taken the first baby steps, it is important to keep moving along your spiritual journey.

You need no one else except yourself on this journey. You are on your own. Take guidance whenever necessary, but ultimately it is YOUR journey.

Try it out and let me know if it works for you.

Have a good week ahead,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

21st May 2023

Woman’s Choices

No, this is not about the raging topic on the expected decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on abortion rights of women in the U.S.

I was talking to my wife and she mused on the challenges, trials and tribulations faced by a woman in a typical household. We keep conversing about this topic on a number of occasions. She brought to my attention a thesis on “the economic value and contributions of homemakers” that she found in her research. It was fascinating to apply economics principles to the specialised situation in a household, where the major portion of the work is performed by the housewife (whether she is working elsewhere or not). The rest of the family contributes to a much less extent in most families, claiming usually that they are busy in various other pursuits. But the woman of the house has no such choices – her primary choice is to run the household and run it well. Even if she works in the corporate world, her first priority always remains as the successful management of the household to the satisfaction of the rest of the family members.

Do you disagree? I hope not.

When a woman makes a choice to marry and then have children, there are two inevitable dimensions to her life. In one specific dimension, her life has just started (on a happy note) with a partner of her choice. However, in yet another dimension, her life just stops.

Wonder why?

What I mean here is that she leaves behind a cosy life with her parents and jumps onto the unknown, unpredictable new life which she hopes would turn out well. So, she stops her previous life in one instant, and presses the start button on the new married adventure. When she decides to have children, she is expected to hold herself steady at the till so that the surprises that are endemic in a new family are avoided. The children need a safe and secure environment, and despite all the efforts of a good dad, the centre of gravity is firmly held by the woman.

This is a new ship that she is steering and navigating in unknown waters. She builds out a life of minute details (only a woman is capable of “details”), which she portrays as learning opportunities for her children. Her children learn from the experiences afforded by the steady captain of their lives – their mom. I am not dismissing the role played by dads, but they seem to be always busy in external situations, and new dads in their early thirties have their most challenging and busiest times in the corporate world. The aspiring women also face the same corporate challenges, but their fight is accentuated by the fact that they are also running the household (which makes it two jobs with single pay for them).

Then what happens?

As the children grow up, they migrate out of the house to universities and then to wherever they can get jobs.

The house is now getting increasingly empty. In many homes, only the parents are left behind, and they are older by some twenty years between the time they got married and the time the children leave the house.

Sometimes, you get a sense of emptiness, though you are constantly in touch with the children. But nothing replaces the collegial spirit of face to face interactions and love.

Let us not forget one important thing – your children picked up lots of valuable lessons growing up, especially from their mom. Especially the way she managed the home under trying circumstances. Especially the life of “details” that she built for the family.

They will always remember those lessons.

As parents, are we expected to move on to a new phase of our life?

Yes, we do, but we may not. We relish the old times. We stay in the past as much as we can. This applies a lot more to the woman of the home. Don’t forget, she still runs the household in the same manner with a lot of attention to details, which the man of the house almost always lacks.

Like what my wife told me, the woman never gets “asked” by anyone about the changes in her life. From the life which stopped before marriage, to the life which began anew after her marriage, to the life dominated by the children, to the life which tends to be controlled by the man of the house in most families.

So, the question begs: why did the woman make those original tough choices to get married (before establishing her own academic, corporate or business success) and have children early on (though the marriage age, even in India, is shifting towards 30 years and beyond)? Why does our traditional culture looks askance at women who choose to pursue other things in life?

This question applies all across – even in Western societies. I think we are at that point of inflexion when a woman has as much liberty as a man today, to do what she wants in her life, without the constraints imposed by her own parents or society. This is already happening everywhere. When I see the confidence of women today, it is a sea change from where they were just a couple of decades ago.

If a woman chooses to get married, that is fine, but it is not a necessity to stop her own previous life and start a new one. Life has to be a continuum without much of a disconnect between the various phases.

So, in a nutshell, the woman of today has many more choices to run and manage her own life; she cannot allow anybody else to dictate terms, and that should include parents, government and the supreme court.

And if she is married and had children, then she would always keep her doors open to welcome them home at any time. Only that they are coming home to a life full of minute details that their mom had perfected. They have to conform (!), enjoy her affection, and head back to implement the learning from her in their own lives.

Hope I made some sense.

Have a good weekend,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

18th June 2022

Take an inventory of life

Stop doing what you are doing at this very moment.

Take out an inventory of your life. Like what we do during spring cleaning, this inventory taking affords an opportunity to clean out the useless and unnecessary baggage that is constantly piling up along our life’s journey. Do that – throw out the things you do not need for your life. Keep only things which you think will be useful for your life going forward. And, make a fresh start in life. Decide to do something radically fresh and new.

I have done this a few times, and today was one such time when I felt I needed to stop and do something about my life’s clutter.

Obviously, during this process, it is inevitable that you fall into a self-perpetuating accusatory cycle – things flood into your mind on what you could have done differently or better so that the outcomes could have been more beneficial, for example. Around 50% of the time, things do not go well, on an average. Isn’t that a correct estimate or an assumption? If things go well, there is no problem. But when things falter, there is only one thing that you can possibly do – pick yourself up and push back on the negativity in your life aggressively. Because there is nothing more destructive than negativism and self-accusations.

You must gather yourself up and swim more firmly and aggressively against the turning tides of life. The entire manoeuvre is to be designed and executed by you, and not by some unseen hand. Not by your relative, friend, or colleague. Not by God. Not by a religious guru. Only by YOU. No one else can deal with your problems, or decide your life for you.

If you keep worrying about all the things in your past that you obviously cannot change, it will drive you mad, and you will not be able to carry on with your life.

It will never be easy. But the struggle will be worth it. You can achieve anything in life if you give it a sincere and hard try. What drives someone to failure in life? Not fighting and giving up easily. Yes, if you do not fight for what you want, then you don’t deserve it. Quitters will never succeed.

Someday you will look back on such days of struggle. Your fight against life will then resonate strongly in your mind, giving you even more fuel and determination. If you can wage one fight successfully, that example is going to drive an even better performance in the future. The failures are not bad either – they provide teachable moments in life, from which you should learn.

The bag of memories always feels heavy. Everyone’s life has its share of ups and downs. But you should not stop (except to take inventory!), you should keep moving and pushing. No success is a given. Failure is automatic if you do not try hard. You can make wrong decisions, but that is fine. Just keep moving and pushing ahead in your life.

The other key factor is judgement, which sometimes I have lacked, and many of us lack. I have always wondered at people who exhibit a keen sense of judgement on situations and other people. The ability to see through the intent of others is key to establishing the right kind of partnership. If you have the right partner – whether in personal life or business life, you are destined to succeed.

Now, back to the inventory matter. I know it is always tough to pause what we are doing as at this moment, and apparently indulge in a fishing expedition. It is a rather difficult exercise when it calls for serious introspection. But, the benefits are so huge that you should not discard this crucial act of looking inside of yourself. This is not a waste of time, this is not crying on your deficiencies and failures. This is for the purpose of securing a “new hold” of your soul and psyche – it is more serious than looking just at your past successes and failures.

You need to be able to set a new goal for yourself – a challenging one. An aimless life is no good. Otherwise, you will be patting your back for achieving the previous goal, or crying hoarse on a missed goal. A new goal is always exciting if it is relevant to you and your life purpose. Set a new goal and devise a plan to go towards achieving it in a defined time frame. This is the ultimate purpose of taking inventory of your life – it is not just a review of the past. You want to change your inventory for the future success!

I last took inventory in 2019 and decided to change the course of my business life. That decision changed my life, and now that dream is taking shape. Doing this every year, or once in a couple of years, is very meaningful and productive. I am sharing from my experience. It is something that you can easily do, if you dedicate just a few hours on a Sunday, like today!

What I am doing today might turn out to be the subject matter for one of my future blog posts!

Have a great week ahead, folks,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

18th April 2021

Life is full of accidents

Isn’t our lives littered with a variety of accidents (also can be called accidental incidents!) that we have hardly foreseen?

How our lives take shape is not always in our hands. Sometimes, it is – as we decide a particular course of study or choose a specific vocation, etc., For most of us from the so-called “baby boomer” generation, the opportunity to customise our lives was presented for the very first time simply by virtue of the overall progress and social changes happening in the world when we were young. Otherwise, we would be following mostly the footsteps of our fathers or forefathers.

The opportunity to chart a course for our own future and the ability to do so are taken for granted by today’s generation (the “millennials”), but during our early years, it was a fantastic revelation – at least to me. I never imagined I would become a lawyer like my father was – I did not have any inclination towards law, though it is funny that I am able to understand legal documents much better than most others in my circle, and even improve upon the language sometimes! May be it is in the blood?

I chose engineering, then I selected electronics engineering, then I went into semiconductors and then into MBA program and finally into the exotic world of IT by the late Eighties. I made my own decisions along the way on many things which in the usual course of life, my parents would have taken. But then I was on my own most of the time. The ability to make decisions when I was in my late teens and early twenties gave me big confidence. It changed my life.

However, many unforeseen accidents do happen in life, and sometimes it will appear that we are not in control. Most people call such happenings as “fate” or attribute the same to the “hand of God”. I do not think so.

In my life, I have had many accidents – completely out of my self-control, and totally unexpected. Most of us would have had such occurrences. Nothing unusual about it. As I contemplate upon those accidents, I have come to the conclusion that most of those happenings have had positive impact on my life, though I had not planned any of those accidents. I could have easily dismissed them and moved on, but I had the habit of thinking through and figuring out the reasons behind each one of them.

Meeting my future wife was totally unplanned, for instance. Getting into IIM Bangalore was however, the result of my very hard work but it might not have happened as well. Choosing IT as a profession of choice was also accidental, as my first preference was Banking & Finance. It could be a confluence of factors or circumstances, no one knows.

You steer your life as it comes along in uncertain scenarios. You plan for your trip when you know where you are going and what you wish to accomplish. These two ways of life are entirely different, and both could bring surprises.

Now I am having more “accidents” as my life takes a turn, hopefully for the better. Many a time, I think accidents are a result of the environment or because of the network of friends that one has built up over the years. A chance meeting at an airport or a chance browsing of rolodex could lead to totally unexpected outcomes in life. I am sure you all have come across such incidents in life.

As I sit here at my home contemplating my next course of action for the upcoming week, I could clearly see that certain events have been planned and scheduled with predictable outcomes, and most of the rest of the week is unplanned for – could be full of “incidents” which could lead to new insights or revelations. I wonder how many times my eyes have been opened to something that I had known and felt all along, but never tried to experience – it is also wonderful to see how close associates could bring some new perspectives to business or your own life.

Think about it, and you will see that I am not venturing into the land of the unknown. You should create more opportunities for more accidents in your lives, and you will see you have more enrichment and enjoyment.

Have a wonderful weekend folks,

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

15th December 2019

North Asia Troubles

North Asia, with the exception of North Korea, had been an economic tiger for a long time spanning several decades starting in the Eighties. I have to exclude Japan as it went into a long decline from the Nineties, though it performed an abundant role from the Sixties to the Nineties as a world-beating manufacturing powerhouse. However, the combination of Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Mainland China proved that nothing is beyond reach when the governments put their minds to addressing economic growth drivers and removing the hurdles for investments. To a certain extent, South East Asia copied from the successful North Asian Tiger model, though Singapore joined the bandwagon early on.

After almost 40 years, despite several setbacks, the resilience of North Asia as one of the main economic engines of the world has consistently proved its worth and reliability for the world’s supply chain. The economic gains for the peoples of these nations are there for all to witness – just travel around these countries and you would see that they are far ahead of the West in infrastructure, though not in per capita income.

However, 2019 is turning out to be quite challenging for these countries.

Hong Kong is going through anti-government protests for the 12th week running, almost grinding its economy to a standstill, with no end in sight so far. Though commercially minded and economically driven, the Hong Kongers are realising that they have no choice left but to challenge the Hong Kong government which is aligned with Mainland China. There is not much hope but the protesters are trying with all that they have got.

China is facing heavy trade winds in the midst of a bruising trade war going on with the U.S., its biggest buyer of goods. That is apart from the Hong Kong protests that it has to deal with.

South Korea has multiple problems – the North Korean imbroglio with missiles flying all over, a mini trade war with Japan, intrusions by China and Russia into its air-defence identification zone, etc.,

Taiwan is in its usual spot – facing off a belligerent China always threatening its existence, and buying more and more U.S. arms in preparation for an eventual assault by the PLA. Japan, though not part of the economic tiger bandwagon, is showing some economic resurgence after almost a quarter century of decline, but is having its own share of problems.

All in all, North Asia does not present a pretty picture to any outsider who is looking in and trying to make sense of what is going on. Russia and the U.S. are watching closely. Many South East Asian nations are in a dilemma, as they are close allies of the U.S. on the one hand, and now dependent on China for economic prosperity on the other hand. Some of these countries are desperate as they are not able to challenge China even when it tramples on their territories. Not a good situation to be in, right?

With an assertive China flexing its military muscles and economic investments, and a suddenly aggressive U.S. wanting to place missiles in every allied partner country, the seeds of an inevitable conflict between an established, old super power and a newly anointed emerging super power are being laid. China invading Taiwan will be a sure flashpoint, as the U.S. is destined to protect Taiwan as per a law enacted by the U.S. Congress in the Seventies. China sending its para military forces or even police into Hong Kong to control the anti-government protests could lead to blood shed and desertion of Hong Kong by multi-national corporations and economic powerhouses. South Korea firing at Russian and Chinese planes will lead to a powerful retaliation, which will then involve the U.S. forces, as they are supposed to defend South Korea from any attack. North Korea launching an ICBM, or a missile that drowns a South Korean or U.S. or Japanese ship will surely lead to war, ending all the bonhomie between Chairman Kim Jong-Un and President Donald Trump. And so on and so forth………

So, now you tell me: where in the world are we going to see/get peace? The super power rivalry will expand well outside of the North Asian arena into all regions of the world, leading to fights, conflict, economic wars, cyber wars, and what not. We are surely heading towards a rather unbalanced time of our lives as we navigate our way into the next decade.

North Asia is surely in trouble, and we are seeing multiple evidences of the eventual conflicts which could derail what is widely seen as an economic miracle.

Does anyone want it that way?

I hope not.

Cheers, and have a great week ahead,

Vijay Srinivasan

18th August 2019

The Passing of an Eventful 2017

Today is the last day of 2017.

What an eventful year it was – every year has some significant events which define it. However, 2017 was one of those years which had multiple significant events trying to define it, the most important one being the coronation (!) of Donald Trump as the President of the U.S. in January 2017.

That changed almost every other significant event in the entire world – Trump changed the world order for everything significant. It became a topsy turvy world defined by uncertainty, chaos, confusion, war-mongering, spiced up elections, enhanced killing of civilians, increase in the number of refugees, increase in the severe perpetration of atrocities on ethnic minorities, diplomacy torn to tatters, more urban violence, intolerance towards minority races, testing of long-established alliances, threat to dismantle trade partnerships, ruinous twitter shots, anti-immigrant rhetoric, vilifying genuine polictical opponents, and what not. The list is endless, but the defining moment of the year was the unexpected anointing of Donald Trump as the most temperamental power-mongering trigger-happy IDK (I don’t know or care) president of the most powerful nation on earth.

If the U.S. is making diplomatic and militaristic waves in the North American continent, the U.K. is making a different set of waves in an economic and trade sense, in Europe via its Brexit separation from the European Union. While massive chaos has not followed the Brexit vote, it is likely that the full impact of this separation would be felt in 2018/19, as both entities resolve trade, immigration, security and other issues between themselves. In Asia, the country which is making most of the persistent waves of a destructive impact would be none other than China, which is intent on flexing its military and political muscle towards an unreasonable, unjustified nationalistic expansion into the South China Sea, to the detriment of the South East Asian countries. While Japan and India are acting as joint counter-balance to the rising influence and belligerence of China, they would not be able to match China, without the active involvement and participation of the U.S.

The most peaceful economic rise is that of India. While marked down by the demonetization and the national goods and services tax initiatives, India is recovering and is on the verge of exceeding a 7% GDP growth rate, soon to reclaim as the fastest growing large economy on the planet. Such a focused, sustainable growth rate is expected to lift 200 to 300 million people out of poverty in the coming 3 to 5 years.

2017 saw military conflicts in Yemen, Iraq, Syria – all in the Middle East. An accurate tally of the human cost of these conflicts is not available, even from the United Nations, but it is safe to assume that a million or more civilian lives has been lost in these countries. It appears that human lives are the easiest expendable commodity that is available to policy makers in both political/government and military circles. This is a pathetic evolution of unnecessary warfare on civilians who cannot defend themselves, or who cannot be defended by their own weak governments. A totally ridiculous situation which even the most sober people in the world are not able to address and resolve to this day.

The ejection of the Rohingya Muslim community by Myanmar is another sad refugee story, which is tainted by lots of blood in the hands of the government and the arumy. The glorified leader and Nobel peace prize laureate, Aung Saan Suu Kyi of Myanmar, has not done herself any favour, by not speaking out loudly and clearly on the ethnic cleansing which has characterized the army operations against the Rohingyas. The United Nations, again, is unable to do anything except giving media interviews.

2017 was positive in many aspects as well. Stock markets everywhere created huge additional wealth during the year. There was strongly positive action in corporate market, with several major mergers and acquisitions announced/completed. Tax rforms in the U.S. have been a positive news for U.S. corporations. Climate change initiatives are in progress, despite the lack of U.S. support and participation. Trade initiatives are in progress, despite lack of U.S. participation (Trans Pacific Partnership, Belt & Road initiative, etc.,). GDP per capita is firmly rising in Asian countries.

So, in a nutshell, 2017 while being a dramatic and significantly eventful year, has not diluted the human confidence on the criticality of economic growth, alleviation of poverty, elimination of wars, sustainability of peace, trade, manufacturing, healthcare, etc., At the end of the day, people need more bread on the table, and if governments can help in achieving that goal so much the better for everyone.

I think we can learn a lot from the happenings of 2017, and could plan execution of important events in our life a little better. Lack of study, analysis and preparation hampers our execution many a time, and we should not let that happen. However, we almost have to pray that a nuclear war is not unleashed on Asia (again). Only one country has suffered from a nuclear war, and that is Japan. Do we want the second such country in Asia as well?

Surely not. Let us hope better sense will prevail over hot heads who have been given the mammoth responsibility to make epochal decisions which affect all of mankind.

I hope you all had a good 2017, and here’s wishing you an outstanding year in 2018 and more success, peace, and health. Forget the money and focus on these three things. You will come to the conclusion that your money priorities were not the right ones to lead a positive and cheerful life.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

31st December 2017

Update on Rev Fr Felix Joseph, S.J.

Many of my St Marys’ High School classmates reverted on the post I published recently The Loss of a Great Life Teacher

I had obviously missed out on some of the key teachings of Rev Fr Felix Joseph, S.J. Here is a summary of the comments provided by my esteemed classmates from those impactful, influential, and most remembered days at the school in Madurai, that I am publishing on their behalf:

Ganesan says – “………the first thing he wrote on the blackboard was ‘I expect great things from you‘………shall always remember him”

Chander says – “………the 4C of Fr Joseph are ‘Critical, Creative, Cultural and Communitarian‘………”. This needs no explanation, we all understand what the Rev Fr was trying to say.

Chakravarthy says – “………...whomever he has vented his anger on have done well in life. Even if he is harsh, he will come back next day with his trade mark smile. Once he even left our class in anger saying that he didn’t want to handle this class any longer. Very next day he forgot everything and proceeded as usual. That’s him”.

Ramesh says – “………….the drama show for the inmates of (Madurai) jail (prison), put up by Rev Fr………..a great philanthropic deed for those inmates……….”. Ramesh also says – “…………he was the first teacher who visited his students’ houses in those days……….he was a great lover of fine arts………..he introduced the habit of House Magazine,……….and our class was chosen to receive the first prize……..I remember to have received the prize on stage on behalf of our class in 9th standard………..”

Ashraf says – “……….he always used to say ‘I expect great things from you‘……….”

Shihan Hussaini says – “…………..LOSS OF MY FOUNDATION! There are people who are truly responsible for your foundations in your childhood. Fr Felix Joseph was my strongest foundation. He groomed me, moulded me, helped me, supported me and guided me all through my life. When I was in school and when I was out of school. When I was in touch with him and even when I was not. His powerful influence has chiseled many a young mind in St Marys’ Higher Secondary School where he was the Assistant Head Master and my class teacher. His ability to identify talent was phenomenal. I was cast in the lead in two plays that he directed – ‘Punnagaiyin Pugal’ and ‘Nulainthae Teeruvom’. His dramatic portrayal of the various characters and his acting every character out to teach us is vividly in my mind. His love and motivation for English vocabulary and his emphasis on all of us learning new words was legendary. When I expressed my love for oil painting and my inability to afford the materials, he gifted me my first oil paint tubes box and hog hair brush. He encouraged the pursuit of reading. He always gave me a pat on th eback and a word of appreciation when he found me in the school library. Can’t forget how he took the entire class to director K. Balachander’s movie ‘Tappu Taalangal’ and encouraged us to participate in a national film review contest. Individual boys were assigned to write criticism (critique) on various sections of the movie. I was asked to review ‘art direction!’. We won the contest and the first prize of Rs. 200 was shared by the boys. In later days when I was introduced in movies by K. Balachander, I narrated this to the director and he was keen to meet Fr Felix Joseph. Incidentally my first play with Fr Felix was called ‘Punnagai Mannan’ and my first movie with KB sir was (also) ‘Punnagai Mannan’. Fr Felix helped me to connect to Dr Michael Debakey, the pioneer of open heart surgery from Houston USA (after my childish, failed experimental open heart surgeries with white mice) and was instrumental in getting a personal scholarship of USD 100 every year from him (for me). When I met Dr Debakey many years later during his visit to Chennai for a seminar and thanked him, he was keen on meeting Fr Felix. Fr was personally responsible for evolving my acting, mono acting, painting, writing, oratorical, debating and other skills. When he visited me at home in Chennai, he presented my wife with a picture of Mary. He was in touch with my wife frequently as I was not reachable on phone many a time. It’s truly sad that he is no more. He lived a fruitful life shaping young minds and creating moral foundations for his students. I see his influence in every creative work I have done and will do. He will be remembered. Truly, Father, rest in peace………”.

Nanda Kumar says – “………For late comers in lower classes who come to get his signature, he used to tell them ‘Thank You sollittu poda‘……………”.

Anthony Jayakumar says – “………..God bless his soul! He was a great teacher and a wise man. He led a long and fruitful life………….”

KS Sekar says – “………..I can never forgive myself for not visiting him in my numerous trips to Madurai despite Ashraf offering to take me. He was committed to our batch like nobody I have seen. He pushed us to succeed on our own efforts. He beautifully handled academic slackers and extraordinarily brilliant and eccentric minds alike. I interacted with him extensively while at St Marys’. Not once did he try to impose his religious beliefs on me or criticize mine. I will never forget his rule to include vocabulary words in our essays. In my humble opinion, he was a true guru I was blessed to learn from………”

I have tried to capture as much as I could from the various WhatsApp messages. This is a summary which hopefully will stay in one place on the internet for all of us to refer to……..and show to our children and grand children.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

24th December 2017

 

 

The Loss of a Great Life Teacher

My most impressionable years were spent at the St Marys’ High School in Madurai city of Tamil Nadu State in India. Those days it was a different society, a different education system, and a different method of teaching. I spent 6 crucial years in the secondary school (6th grade to 11th grade), and for three of those years I went through a transformative experience under the tutorship of Rev Fr Felix Joseph, S.J.

I am a member of the WhatsApp group of St Marys’ of my batchmates, and it was through that platform I learnt of the demise of Rev Fr. I also saw his pictures, and it brought back a lot of memories from those days which continue to influence me even today.

Rev Fr Felix Joseph was a firm assistant head master, and a teacher for our class. He displayed immense strength in character while showing his kindness in many ways. Our class comprised of students with varying degrees of talent and naughtiness, and he dealt with each and every student in his own personal style, without causing a fear psychosis. Students were, of course, afraid of him due to his firmness in demanding discipline and class work quality, but that never detracted the students from demonstrating their talents to the Rev Fr. He had a strong interest in literature and cinema, and also in journalism. He published his movie review in a local Tamil magazine, which attracted widespread attention, as Jesuit Fathers are not known to be very social and cinema-oriented.

Rev Fr Felix Joseph took personal interest in the development of many students – he specifically encouraged students with talents in extra-curricular areas such as sports and games, art, dramas, painting, writing, film critique, public speaking, etc., I know of my class mates who have benefited in a significant manner due to his personal involvement, guidance and mentoring. He shaped so many of us who were struggling to find our feet in this world, while goading us towards a better academic performance all the time.

He never tried to instil any Christian religious values – but, he emphasized the importance of a value system to be developed by oneself and to be followed. This is an important distinction when over 90% of the students were from the Hindu religion or philosophy. In this context, I would point out that Indian parents, of the educated variety, mostly preferred to send their children to Christian schools those days. When the school asked us to bring used clothes for charitable purposes, we all brought without any question. When we went around the statue of Jesus Christ with candles in hand, we did that without a religious orientation – we knew that all religions were the same (and still, remain the same).

Rev Fr Felix Joseph was well known for his love of the English Language, English Literature and English Vocabulary. He insisted that we broaden our knowledge of English and its application, by learning a lot of words and reading a lot of books. The value of that work was revealed during later part of our respective lives, when we could all stand our stead proudly in front of any one from around the world and hold our heads high.

A life spent in moulding young minds and lives must have been a rather enjoyable and fruitful life for Rev Fr Felix Joseph. He was a wise man and an excellent teacher of not only the English language but life skills. As a batch of students in a formative stage of our lives, it is not an exaggeration to say that he was the one single teacher who was instrumental in positively influencing all of us and guided us towards the next stage in our lives. I would say most of us survived successfully thanks in no small measure due to his unselfish contribution to our lives.

Rest in Peace Rev Fr Felix Joseph, S.J.

Cheers, and Continue to follow his guidance in the rest of our lives St Marys’ friends,

Vijay Srinivasan

17th December 2017

India needs Free Internet

More than any other country on this planet, I would say that India needs free access to the internet to help it leapfrog to the next stage of its already large economy (the Indian GDP just surpassed that of the U.K.). In order to sustain its economic growth, remove system inefficiencies, open up new opportunities for entrepreneurs and alleviate poverty levels, India needs to subsidize access to the internet for citizens earning less than USD 10 per day.

That figure is a mind-boggling 500M people in my estimate, mostly based in rural towns, and villages. Even large cities have huge populations of people with no access to electricity, or even potable water. Given this situation, is it not laughable that I am suggesting internet as a free (or almost free) utility for the people to use ?

No, it is not a matter to be sniffed at. Given that tablets are now available at less than USD 50 (though not great looking), access to the internet utility becomes the major constraint for those masses of people who are at the fringe of the Indian economy which is still slated to grow @ 7.5% or more this year. The key enabler for these people is going to be knowledge and application of knowledge to their vocations and school learning. And, how is India going to deliver knowledge and actionable learning to the masses when its educational infrastructure is so weak ? How is India going to develop its intellectual capabilities beyond the IITs ? There are many questions but it is unquestionable that people provided with opportunities at the right times in their lives make it to a successful life later in their lives. Opportunity is critical and the Indian economy would not be in a position to deliver opportunities to the roughly 10M people coming into its workforce every year, most of them waiting for a job. That is close to 1M people every month!

Facebook and Google are opening up the airwaves in India by offering WiFi access in railway stations and other public places. While their goals are not entirely philanthropic, such initiatives by private corporations have to be commended when the national resources are tight to deploy access throughout the rural areas of India. I believe that India stands to benefit in a huge manner when all its villages and rural population are connected via satellite-based internet. Already 400M Indians are connected to the internet via their mobile phones.

India is not only a huge consumer market which is becoming more knowledgeable about the products the people wish to consume. It is also a melting pot for all kinds of experimentation that companies would like to pursue in the interest of testing their offerings. India is also an entrepreneurial nation of youngsters rushing to launch their new ideas or adaptation of ideas which have worked elsewhere. Given that the government is pushing the idea of a “Digital India”, it is not surprising that the population is warming up quickly towards the concept of all time and real time connectivity to test ideas, consume products, evaluate anything and everything. This is nothing short of a revolution in the making.

The good thing about India is that there is space for everyone. With its English-speaking workforce and modern orientation, India will become the third largest economy of the world by 2030, if not by 2025. It is critical that India offers opportunities to its aspiring people via the concept of free internet. Such an offering can even be positioned as free for 3 years, followed by USD 1 per month thereafter, for segments of the population which has an annual per capita income of USD 2,000 or less. For people earning above this figure upto a cap of USD 5,000 per capita, the rate could be fixed at USD 3 per month. People outside this cap would have to pay the commercial price. Such a subsidy scheme would go a long way in facilitating internet access to the teeming millions of Indians, transforming the country towards a Digital India.

I do hope this happens for the benefit of all Indians.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

11th June 2017

 

 

The Fitbit Challenge

It has been just about two weeks since I started wearing a Fitbit Alta device on my wrist in my quest to measure my walking performance.

I have seen an amazing change in my otherwise staid walking behaviour. For the record, I walk for about 2.1 KMs every morning (Fitbit measures this distance and also says that I walk for around 3,000 steps) of the working week, and almost 5 to 6 KMs for the weekend morning. So, I approximately walk around 21 to 22 KMs every week.

My challenge has been on setting a target for the number of steps. Initially, I set 7,500 then increased it to 8,500. I realized one day that this figure is not good enough as the American Heart Association says the average number of steps a person needs to walk everyday should be around 10,000 steps. I kept looking at that message from Fitbit for a few days, and then decided to increase the target to 10,000 steps.

It was easy to achieve between 6,000 and 7,000 steps during the period from waking up till returning home in the evening from office. However, I found that I am not that great a walker in the evenings, and could barely ratchet up another 1,000 to 1,500 steps in the evenings. This resulted in couple of behavioural changes.

I started walking within the office more than I usually do. I started walking more often to get a glass of water, for example. That might add some 300 steps. I also started pacing around a large room or meeting area or pantry when I got a call, or I had to make a call to someone. I found that this added a substantial amount of steps, sometimes in excess of 2,000 steps – instead of sitting and taking calls or making calls, I started walking every time. Together with the water trips in the office, I was easily able to add a minimum of 3,000 steps a day, which took my average walking measure close to 9,000 / 9,500 steps.

The balance was easy to make up by walking around the house in the evenings, pacing while taking calls in the evenings, etc., So, I started doing above 11,000 steps a day. I saw this kind of improvement in just about couple of weeks after starting to wear Fitbit.

The other important and somewhat compelling reason for wearing Fitbit was the comparative measurement of other folks who are connected to oneself and using Fitbit. I was able to see how I was doing compared to a few of my friends and colleagues. As it happened, several of my friends and colleagues were veterans of Fitbits, and have collected many badges on the way. They were clearly above 80,000 steps during any preceding week, while I was barely making it to 70,000 steps. This gave additional push to my behavioural change, and I have just started thinking of adding more steps to my daily rigamarole.

My estimate is that 85,000 steps in any one week is a very good figure to achieve for most folks (average of 12,000 steps a day). During the weekend day, I am also trying to ensure that I walk for over 6 KMs at the minimum. There is enough motivation to do so, given the nature trails in Singapore. I get into issues only when I travel, as I have to replicate the steps measure over a treadmill in a gym which is not exactly equivalent to open air brisk walking.

Overall, Fitbit is a good gadget addition to the list of gadgets we all end up with. May be I should go in for the latest device which also has heartbeat. I noticed that the Health app in my iPhone is not exactly producing the same as the Fitbit figures (the app produces far lower numbers as compared to Fitbit numbers). I am going to check out the latest Fitbit device or any other device which can give me more parameters.

Walking makes one feel good (I am sure running also does that). Walk more and eat less is my new motto.

Cheers,

Vijay Srinivasan

23rd October 2016