Then and Now

Then and Now

It is a nice feeling to recall (g) olden days and trace how ways of living have changed over the last 50 odd years. Whether the quality of life has changed for the better or worse is a debatable issue. However, this blog provides me an opportunity to share some of my observations on living in India then and now.

As I recall, people then seemed a lot more contented in their lives. The pursuit of wealth and other materialistic pleasures was certainly less aggressive in those days.

Years after my father retired, I asked him one day “Appa, how would you like to lead your life if you were to live all over again?” His spontaneous reply was “Exactly the same way I have lived”. His response reflected the supreme contentment he had in his life. He often said “one can buy the best of dunlopillow beds (it was a craze then) with riches – it still doesn’t guarantee him sound sleep”.

In our home near Pune, an elderly man delivered the newspaper and magazines. Judging by the geographical area he covered on his bicycle, my guess is that he pedaled over 20 miles a day. Rain or shine, he never missed even a single day to deliver the morning paper. As I remember him, he was a very contented man who performed his job with absolute dedication. He was a great soul!

In those days, people socialized a lot more with their families and friends. My parents regularly hosted dinners to families of friends and in turn we got invited to their homes.

I think people trusted the government a lot more than what they do today. Bureaucracy was not all that complex and corruption was much less. In general, there was a higher degree of mutual trust and people were more tolerant of one another.

Employment opportunities were very limited. Government jobs were preferred for the security and perks they offered. Even in the dullest professions, the dignity for work and the sense of responsibility ran pretty high.

I was often amazed at the variety of professions people pursued to make a living. I use the word “profession” because people who were in it hardly ever changed their line of work.

The breed of workers who made a meager but honest living included: fruit sellers; vendors of bread, eggs and vegetables; milkmen; ice-cream and candy sellers; snack vendors (typically carrying their wares in a large basket over the head); carpenters, barbers; ear cleaners/masseurs; door-to-door sellers of fabrics, bangles, utensils and household items; street entertainers like rope walkers, snake charmers; tongawalas – the list is almost endless. I have hardly seen them exploiting the consumers to make a kill for themselves. The relationship they built with their consumers was based on mutual respect and trust.

More later……..

My teachers

My teachers

To continue with the Sanskrit adage, “Acharya Devo Bhava” – meaning “Revere your teacher as God”.

Teachers mould a person. They provide not just education but a great deal of inspiration and motivation to a child. It is also true that some of them can hurt a child’s sensitive feelings. To be honest, I detested some of my school teachers because they imposed harsh punishments on erring students. Many students faced the humiliation of caning, slapping or standing on top of the bench for failure to complete homework or doing some mischief in the class. Such punishments are unthinkable these days. However, looking back, I think the teachers meant well for the students. They really wanted to discipline them as they do in the armed forces to make good soldiers.

Some of my teachers were the best. They laid a solid foundation for my higher education in the colleges. I can vividly recall how my physics teacher taught me the fundamentals related to light, sound and motion. Perhaps, his teachings inspired me in later years to take up studies in engineering. History, a subject that I did not fancy much, was made lively with lots of humorous talk by my teacher from Karnataka. To facilitate easy remembrance, he had very innovatively composed a musical poem to describe the sequence and chronology of British viceroys in India starting with Lord Cornwallis.

My Sanskrit teacher (he hid his tuft under a cap) struggled to drum the grammar into my thick skull. If I am able to read the ‘Devanagari’ script and understand many of the Sanskrit terms today, the credit goes entirely to him.

It’s a pity that I do not have even a single photograph of any of my teachers. It does not matter. I can visualize them in my mind and pay my respects.

Some of you may be wondering if I am writing my autobiography. Well, I am just setting a background of older years to progressively lead into the future.

Au revoir- as they say in French!

My parents

Having begun blogging with Lord Ganesha, I move on to remember my dear parents.

As the old saying in Sanskrit goes, "Mathru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava". Here I present a picture of my parents taken in Madras sometime in1940 before World War II.
I found this picture from my father's treasured possessions.

My father had an excellent set of teeth, and my mother quite the opposite. That's why my father is smiling while my mother is tight-lipped.

Men in those days of British regime were switching to western dress - long trousers and full shirts - while women continued with the traditional Indian saree (I think this is largely true even today). The striped tie my dad is wearing was a gift that he received for his wedding. My mother is wearing a simple 6-yard silk saree.

In those days, color pictures were unknown. What you see is a black and white picture taken by a professional in a studio. The camera used for taking this was one of those large contraptions with a fixed focus and mounted on a tripod. To expose the film, the photographer had to take out a circular lid out covering the lens for a few moments and swiftly replace it over the lens. The exposure time , and consequently the picture quality were entirely dependent on the skills of the photographer. This picture must have taken by a skilled photographer.

I got interested in photography when I was 8 years old when I made a pinhole camera using a small cardboard box. Later, after pleading for months, and a strong recommendation from my grandmother, my father bought me a Kodak box camera. It was one of those simple devices that had a fixed focus focus lens and a click button. It would take a roll of eight films. I clicked hundreds of photos with that camera and became almost a pro at weddings and public functions.

More later.... 

Subispeaks

Subispeaks

January 25, 2006

Thoughts for the day

Beginning with Lord Ganesha

I felt great this morning having unusually risen at 4:30 AM. It is pretty cold outside with temperature in 30s. Fortunately, our home is comfortably heated.

It is my practice to begin the day by praying to Lord Ganesha- called by many names such as Pillayar, Vinayaka, Vigneswara, Ganapathi and so on. According to our ancient scriptures, He is the one who clears obstacles. In Chennai, almost every street corner has a temple for him. In some of them, there are two idols of Ganesha that led me to think why two of them. Do you know why? Let me leave the readers to think about it.

There is also the practice of doing "Thoppikaranam" before the Pillayar. It is a unique exercise wherein one holds both the ears with crossed hands and move the body up and down (is there a single word for it?). The story goes that Ganesha pulled out the Chakra from his uncle Vishnu's hand and put it in his mouth. Vishnu pleaded with Ganesha to return the Chakra- you know how hard it is to extricate anything from a child! Eventually, Vishnu did "Thoppikaranam" - In Sanskrit, "thorpi" means hands, and "karnam" means ears- Ganesha started laughing and out came the Chakra. Vishnu grabbed the Chakra and vanished.

So much for now. Enjoy the day.

Greetings to All!

Greetings to everybody who views this blog!

Though I have heard the word 'blog', I did not know what it was. I assumed it must be one of those difficult-to-understand technical expressions like 'cache' or 'cookie' used in the computer world. So, I did not really venture into deciphering what 'blog' meant. However, events today turned out in such a way that I decided to become a 'blogger'. Let me tell you what happened today and how I was led into the 'blogworld'.

This morning, I received an e-mail from Ranjani- my dear`brother-in-law Ravi's charming daughter (a budding journalist)- inviting me to view her newly created blog. It was then my curiosity got ignited. Immediately, I shot off an e-mail to my son Kumaresh who is an electronics engineer and generally well-informed on the latest developments in the fast-growing field of electronics. His response was pretty swift. He briefly defined 'blog' and provided me the links to educate me further and help me to create my own blog. So, here I am speaking to you as a brand new member of the amazing blogworld.

More later!

S. Subramanian