SRI'S Blog

Over the last week end , I was flying back from Cochin and I had checked in and was waiting for the boarding call to Chennai .  I use this airline all the time ever since I flew with them for the first  in early 2007. They are normally “  ON  Or Well ahead of time” and   I also like them for the way they manage the process, everyone looks busy and are always “ raring to go’ kind of people  and there is no slackness in their routines. Neat and Efficient would sum their style of operations. Launched in 2007, this is one of the most successful private airlines from India .Most times , they would have either taxied on the runway or be airborne before the scheduled departure time. So, this Sunday , there was no call in to board – and it was past the time that the flight was to leave . I was surprised that they did not even announce a delay . However , in the next few  minutes which was past their flying time  , anxious  people started...

The West Indies had the last laugh in both forms of the T20 World Cup. First their Women out batted the Aussie Women to break the Aussie monopoly on Women’s T 20 World Cup  and  then their men blew hot and cold before a storm called Carlos Braithwaite  wiped England out . But before they got to the Finals , the West Indies ( WI ) , did the unthinkable – knocking host and favourite India out of the Contention. The semifinal between India and  WI was a great match . India batting first , put runs on the board—thanks once again to Virat—Exceptional batting and  superb running between the wickets, made sure India got to a total that to me was probably twenty runs short . Although we made good progress , there was no big overs in the innings that would have helped India get to a 215-220 and that probably cost us the match. WI although losing Gayle had enough hitters ( not batters ) who went about the task merrily to get them home very easily. Lendl Simmons wh...

I had restrained writing on this favourite Indian  sport  till the group league matches were completed and we had the four semifinalists identified ( West Indies , England , New Zealand and India ).  With that now cleared  , here is my take  : India came in to the tournament as the Favorites to win – Plenty of reasons : 1.        No reason – India will win, that is all. 2.        Home matches , crowd support , better equipped to manage the local conditions 3.        Run of the form – India have done extremely well in the lead up to this tournament – beat Australia at their own backyard 3 – 0 and then clinched the Asia Cup in the same formats. 4.        It was time to recapture the cup that we last won in 2007 in the inaugural tournament But the four matches that the Indian team played so far  , they would have pushed the...

Early in March  of this year , two events that I attended on behalf of Ford brought great happiness and smiles , Cheer , Joy and so much optimism. Just to give background , Ford distributes” End of Life Computers” to needy organisations – these could be schools , colleges , NGO ‘s across India  . Rotary is their partner in identifying the need and ensuring that the deployment takes place and the Computers are used only what it is meant for  . Over the last several years , this program has been a great success, benefitted many and given access to those who may have never been  able to access or touch a Computer. Several impactful stories can be narrated on the benefits of this project. With that background , my first stop was at a school in North Chennai – an areas that has its own challenges –  rusty background , low or nil income levels , people living on daily wages , closeness to Port and its impact on the society and lack of good , quality schools ...

I am sure the heading did make you open the link in to the blog.  A simple discussion and flow of events made me pen this down. The Security in my flat is taken care by people from a neighboring nation – do not let your imagination Go Green on where they come from  .   in fact , most of the security jobs in and around flats in my  locality are taken care by these people. Some are with their families here  ,  for most , the families are back home and they visit their families at least once a year. The two guys plan in tandem on their vacation planning ,arranging  substitutes  , transition when on guy goes off on vacation  is done so smoothly and we only see a new face for a two or three month period. No issue with payments . allowances , car washing allocation ( additional money they get when they clean cars of flat residents  and that is allocated to each Security guard) , shift planning ( they rotate from day shift to nigh...

 Last week , the Friday  was one of those days – I had an external meeting that ended slightly early and I reached home much ahead of my regular irregular time— The timing was like the Madura Coats advertisements of the late 80’s for their Business Clothing – the  9 to 5 Man  Advertisement ( how many of you remember this advertisement ? ) Having reached early , we decided to go for a stroll on the beach – just a stroll , walk on the sand and get back – As we entered the beach , the flower vendor ( lady ) was instantly selling Jasmine flowers to my wife. My wife ignored the call and walked past the vendor. After the stroll , as we made our way back to the parking lot , we had to pass the Flower vendor again. She was at it again.  Calling out my wife..” It would look great on you “( flowers )—that was the sales pitch. Again , my wife hesitated – the flower vendor then made the offer – I will give the Hair Pin for you to lock the flowers on your hair—that ...

T his is my first  blog post of 2016. I did not realise that I had missed writing blogs for the past three or more  months . ( last post was Oct 2015 ) One of my very good mentors at the Rotary noticed  that there was no posts from me  and prodded me –“ Do not stop the writing habit  in you” . The question was very timely from him.  And that prompted me to introspect – Was there any reason to stop writing ? I realised that there was a big diversion .. The rains of November and December and its  aftermath that had an impact on my daily schedule . That could have been the only reason for me to miss out writing .  Either way , I am back to writing and the post is about “ Open Defecation “ and how we ( Ford ) are trying to help avoid open defecation. Earlier towards the end of 3 rd quarter 2015, Ford had taken the initiative to build  Toilets and we looked around to see how we can do this effectively. There was a team that went aro...

They say time flies – How true is that ?  Very true is my assessment .The BSNL Sports Quiz – a dial in and answer a Sports Quiz Program that started in 2002  gets to it 700 the episode coming  Sunday ( 18 th October 2015 ) Originally  telecast live on Saturday , the program has now settled down to the  Sunday  9-10 PM Slot. Not an easy achievement at all to have this program delivered every week for the past 699 weeks .  Kudos to DD Podhigai  Channel for doing this along with Dr Sumanth Raman , the encyclopedia of Sports of all types. I have travelled this journey during the last 12 years or so week after week with great passion and trying to dial in and answer a question. It does not matter where I am but this one hour is a great way to complete the week end relaxation and enjoy and relish my passion . What ticks this  Program so well – Several things : The Anchor Dr Sumanth Raman Dr Sumanth Raman – you should watch the...

In my last post , I had reminiscent memories  about my school days.. This post covers my college days and the enormous bonding and fun that we had at College. ‘WhatsApp” was able to get us all connected --not all but most of us connected in to the group through the past year. The group was very active and it was a strange feeling as none of us saw each other but kept the group active. Finally-- after 29 years since we left college ,  the group picked the date that  all would meet . it was the Aug 22 nd and I was very excited to see how each one of us  looked  and how we  each one  made progress in their lives both Professionally and Personally Credit goes out to few of the guys who took the initiative to form the group and were keenly looking to add and bring back the batch mates  in to the group. Actually the group in the WhatsApp was a year old. I joined six months or so  back , just being added through a friend whose brother a...

Two events during the past week took me to my school days and the other one to my college days.. Those days were some of the memorable days that all will cherish .. you will never ever get them back . I will cover the first one in this post and the second one will follow . The First One : Last Monday ( 17 th Aug ) The  Hindu Newspaper  had a small column that indicated Alfred Burrows , former cricketer had passed away in Perth Australia – It was a very small caption and since I read through all that gets in to  the Sports pages,  it did not miss my attention . I was shocked but at the same time surprised at this small little article . Burrows passing away was a bit of a shock but  he getting attention in the Sports Column was indeed a surprise. Burrows  was not one of those cricketers who  made it big –  his passing away getting recorded in the major newspaper may have been an apt tribute to a man who had it in him to scale heights as a C...

It was an event that the whole family looked up to … It had everyone engaged.. While the siblings were engaged in how to do the celebration   the best they can to their parents , their children were engaged in how to please and make their grandparents happy. Well , it was the celebration of my father in law’s , 80 th or should I call it 81st birthday or half way between turning 80 and getting closer to 81 ? The reason I call it this  way is that the celebration was not on his birthdate. There were several discussions as to when to celebrate this – Astrologers were consulted , Pandits were consulted , several others who crossed 80 years were called to check on when the function had to be performed.  And there were several  others who gave their  ideas and opinion and recollections of how this was done when their third cousin’s sister in laws  , in laws turned 80 ! It was all confusing .However what settled it was my Sister in law’s ability to come to...

The Rotary year begins July and ends June every year, So, towards the end of June , it is the time for the Governing team to thank every Club/ President / Rotarians for all the good things that happened through the year. Everyone needs appreciation and although  Rotary is a NGO , it is not different to any other organisation  in terms of the way it is run and so there is a “Gala Awards Nite “that happens every year and everyone is excited and happy and of course there are few that are not happy as well . You cannot satisfy everyone but by and large the Rotary family enjoys this event thoroughly.  Last week end ( June 20 ) I was specifically invited to the Awards nite by one of the District official. I have never attended one so far  and so was confused by the specific invite and was not keen to go . But , landed up for the event and glad that I did .  Some statistics just to bug you as to how difficult it  is to make the awards work – 1. ...

The summer is always a tough challenge on the water resources at our flats. Every year , just to prepare for the summer , we desilt the well (we do have a well in our flat ), clean the bore and also all the incoming water pipes . And in spite of doing all this , there will be  a day when the metro water will not show up and your bore well motor packs up on  the same day-- leaving the residents with no water to use. This year , when we had the issue come up  , we got  a new guy ( highly recommended by the next door flat Secretary ). He manage to fix the  issue but it was short lived. My security guys were anyway unhappy with the new guy.They kept complaining that the water was not flowing from the bore well as before. And the said he will biding his time to claim the daily wage when he could have finished the work sooner ! So when the issue surfaced again , I called our old guy back. But he was in semi-retirement -- he said his son would handle but he wil...

My prediction in my blog of Feb 10 th in the run up to the tournament  was an Aussie – SA final with NZ being the  underdog to get to the final  . It turned out to be right. SA choked in the semis against NZ and so  it was an Aussie – NZ showdown. Aussies won the trophy in a thumping manner. The final was devoid of any  thrills , with NZ capitulating to the strong Aussie attack.If one expected a high octane final , it was not so . It was a dump squib and it gave the Aussie the chance to flex their muscles in front of their crowd. McCullum won an important toss.  But the first three balls he faced from Mitchell Starc probably dictated  the course of the match. I thought McCullum would change his approach for the final and would stay  at the crease  for a period of time before doing his regular attacking brand of shot making. . But No – The first ball he face , whizzed past him , the second one he charged down the pitch but Starc ou...