This is my recollection of some events that had to do with shipping a package from Hyderabad, India to Maryland, USA. In summary, the story is fairly boring in that a package was shipped from the origin and it reached its destination. However, the details make it very interesting.
A dance teacher ordered some costumes for a dance drama by her students. The performance was scheduled on January 9, 2010 in Maryland. She ordered 18 costumes from Hyderabad sometime in December. They were going to be ready around the last week of December. She was looking at options for getting them shipped.
My family happened to be in India (Pune) at the time. My wife and kids were scheduled to leave for their return to Maryland on January 3 from Mumbai. I was staying until the 11th. The dance teacher contacted us and requested them to carry the package from India to USA. We gladly agreed to do that. We told her that the package needed to reach my cousin’s residence in Thane (a suburb of Mumbai) by January 3 for them to be able to bring it. She instructed her folks in Hyderabad to have it shipped to my cousin’s residence around the 30th of December.
On the 2nd of January, we reached my cousin’s place. There was no sign of the package. Normally the courier service in India is pretty good and packages reach their destinations within two days even with normal delivery. Obviously something had gone wrong in this instance. The 3rd came and went and my family left as planned. Still no sign of the package!
On the 4th, the package finally arrived. It was basically a sack with the dresses stuffed in it, and the sack was slightly torn making it useless for further use. However, the dresses in there seemed fine. I had to pay local duty (taxes) to take possession of the package which I did. Now the question was – what to do with the package since I wasn’t going to make it back to the USA before the dance performance. I wrote an email to the dance teacher with that question.
On the 5th, she called in the morning. She said that she was trying to get the package shipped via UPS, but was having a very hard time making progress over the phone. I suspect that language was an issue, as she only spoke English and things work well if one can speak the local language (Marathi in this case). She also told us that the package was late because of something called a bund (shut down) in Hyderabad for almost two days. A bund is a highly political happening and the timing in this case was just awful.
My cousin and I swung into action. We found phone numbers for the main UPS location in Mumbai, and they directed us to a partner outfit in Thane. After a couple of phone calls to this outfit, we made contact and relayed our need to them. They said that they would be able to pick up the package but they needed an authorization from the main location in Mumbai. They also quoted a price for a 10KG package and said that the payment needed to be in cash.
After a few attempts and several emails and phone calls, both the dance teacher and I obtained authorizations from the main UPS location and communicated that to the local outfit. We were told that they would pick up the package sometime during the day. It is impossible to describe the details of all the emails and phone calls, but those two hours were very interesting.
The whole day went by, and there was no sign of anyone looking to pick up a package. In the mean time, we celebrated my sister-in-law’s birthday with a nice lunch at a fine restaurant. At about 7:30pm, two gentlemen wearing UPS uniforms showed up. Before coming over, they called and said that they also needed a photocopy of my cousin’s ID. Another one of my cousins had to rush to a local shop to get the copy.
The UPS guys had the 10KG box with them. We emptied the sack and looked at the box – it became obvious that packing that box with the 18 costumes in hand was going to be quite a challenge. I tried packing them as best as I could, but I could only pack about 15. Then my dad came up with an idea of sorting the different garments by size and packing them. We got about 17 of them in. Finally, we just stuffed the 18th one in somehow and told the UPS guys to close the box and pack it with tape. We literally had to manhandle some of those costumes to get them in. While packing, fortunately, we also discovered a couple of packets of South Indian spice mix which we promptly removed as those would have been problematic if detected downstream. I gave those to my cousin as her reward for helping.
The box would not close easily, but we convinced the guys to take it anyway. They mentioned all sorts of downstream issues that could come up, but we just told them to go ahead and call us if there were problems. Then I had to do all the paperwork since this would have to pass through customs. More duty had to be paid. The UPS guys also said that the box felt heavier than 10KG and that they would call us if that were the case as they would need to charge more.
The box was taken away, and the UPS guys never called back. I found out later that the contents being shipped were only 8½ KG. I informed the dance teacher that the box was gone, and hopefully on its way to her.
Two days later, she informed me the box made its way to her safely and the dance drama was a success. It all worked out just fine in the end but the 5th of January pretty much became the story of the package for me. There were several challenges, but it all worked out fine in the end.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Carrying the weight
The FIFA World Cup 2010 concluded earlier this month with Spain beating Netherlands for the title in a rather unexpected finish to the tournament. The tournament had some great games, some great team play, great individual efforts by players, some good officiating, and some very poor officiating.
I am sure that it must be rather impossible for the Brazilian team (which was considered the hot favorite) to erase the bad memories of their loss to the Netherlands. The stakes are very high and carrying the weight of an entire country must be so difficult. But the one person I feel the most for Ghana’s striker Asamoah Gyan. With a semifinal berth at stake, he had the golden opportunity to take Ghana where they had never gone before. Not only was all of Ghana, but the entire continent of Africa was watching intently as Ghana was the lone remaining African team in the competition. Ghana was awarded a penalty kick against Uruguay in what would have almost certainly been the last play of the game. Gyan kicked hard but right into the crossbar. The rest is history as Uruguay went on to win the game in a penalty shootout.
I can’t even begin to imagine how Gyan must have felt then and feels now. Talk about carrying the weight of an entire continent on his shoulders. One always hears that these star players make too much money and that they don’t deserve much sympathy. Well, I don’t know how much money Gyan makes but to live with something like this for the rest of his life – I don’t care how tough one is, this is just too difficult. I can only hope that Gyan gets another chance to erase these bad memories and do something really special. I really feel for him.
I am sure that it must be rather impossible for the Brazilian team (which was considered the hot favorite) to erase the bad memories of their loss to the Netherlands. The stakes are very high and carrying the weight of an entire country must be so difficult. But the one person I feel the most for Ghana’s striker Asamoah Gyan. With a semifinal berth at stake, he had the golden opportunity to take Ghana where they had never gone before. Not only was all of Ghana, but the entire continent of Africa was watching intently as Ghana was the lone remaining African team in the competition. Ghana was awarded a penalty kick against Uruguay in what would have almost certainly been the last play of the game. Gyan kicked hard but right into the crossbar. The rest is history as Uruguay went on to win the game in a penalty shootout.
I can’t even begin to imagine how Gyan must have felt then and feels now. Talk about carrying the weight of an entire continent on his shoulders. One always hears that these star players make too much money and that they don’t deserve much sympathy. Well, I don’t know how much money Gyan makes but to live with something like this for the rest of his life – I don’t care how tough one is, this is just too difficult. I can only hope that Gyan gets another chance to erase these bad memories and do something really special. I really feel for him.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
A Good Experience
Recently, I had a very pleasant surprise when I had to go to a Quest Diagnostics Patient Service Center (PSC). My usual experience of these places is that you go there and wait and there is usually a long line of patients. Typically, it has taken at least 45 minutes to get done.
A couple of weeks ago, just the day before I planned to go to a PSC, I went to their website to check for locations. To my surprise, I found that I had the ability to schedule my appointment. I jumped on that immediately and set up an appointment. I didn't think that meant much and expected to go through my usual experience. I have been making appointments to see my doctor for years and that has never meant anything.
When I went to the PSC, I got there about five minutes prior to my appointment, signed in, and was immediately taken inside in a waiting room. In less than five minutes, a phlebotomist was with me and in another five minutes, I was all done. All in all, a great experience. If you are reading this, take advantage of this offering.
A couple of weeks ago, just the day before I planned to go to a PSC, I went to their website to check for locations. To my surprise, I found that I had the ability to schedule my appointment. I jumped on that immediately and set up an appointment. I didn't think that meant much and expected to go through my usual experience. I have been making appointments to see my doctor for years and that has never meant anything.
When I went to the PSC, I got there about five minutes prior to my appointment, signed in, and was immediately taken inside in a waiting room. In less than five minutes, a phlebotomist was with me and in another five minutes, I was all done. All in all, a great experience. If you are reading this, take advantage of this offering.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Me and My Tabla
Back when I was really young, my father asked me if I wanted to learn how to play the Tabla. The Tabla is a pair of drums, widely popular in the Indian subcontinent. I used to sing quite well since I was three, so it would have made sense to take vocal lessons. However, for reasons that I can’t recall any more (perhaps there weren’t any) I started taking Tabla lessons from Pandit Shambhunath Mishra. This was at a makeshift school operated by Prayag Sangeet Samiti (a music university) and I was the only Tabla student at the time.
I had one barrier to learning Tabla, namely that I was (and still am) bowlegged. This made it very difficult to sit with my legs crossed (the most comfortable and recommended position). So I had to first devise my own sitting posture, which, though slightly uncomfortable, worked for me. The classes with Shambhunathji went well, and I started learning how to play. The initial days of Tabla are the hardest, when you are learning to produce the most basic sounds. Over time (a few years), I was playing reasonably OK. I had a good work ethic, in that I used to spend a lot of time practicing. My prowess in Mathematics helped immensely, as a lot of Tabla playing is about understanding the Mathematics of the rhythm.
Over time though, the class schedule became somewhat erratic, as Shambhunathji wasn’t able to make it. After a few months of classes off and on, we decided that it was time to move on. I sought and got admission at the renowned Bhatkhande Music College (BMC) and joined the classroom of Pandit Sheetal Prasad Mishra, a very well-known Tabla player. He was a junior lecturer at the time. I had heard Sheetalji play several times and really liked his style so I was very pleased to be in his classroom. The college also boasted of highly renowned Tabla players like Pandit Ramkumar Sharma and Pandit Ranganath Mishra as faculty members.
The years at BMC were just wonderful. Sheetalji was a great teacher for me, and I learned a lot. I got to perform on TV and also won BMC’s annual open competition for my level. My learning was halted when I got admitted to the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. However, I never stopped playing and practicing and it has been 26 years since then. I am not a great Tabla player by any means, but I can play well enough to get by.
For the last couple of years, I felt that my knowledge was getting wasted as I was getting older, and I constantly thought about passing it on to others. Finally, this September, I started teaching Tabla. I have always been pretty bad when it comes to selling, and this was no exception. I did not try to advertise, other than telling a couple of people who are connected to the Indian music scene. Surprisingly, I now have five students, and a few others have also shown interest. Watching students learn makes the whole experience worthwhile, as does the challenge of teaching in a way that will hold their interest. Over the last couple of years, work has been particularly stressful, and this has helped a lot to relieve that stress. I hope to get a chance to visit Shambhunathji and Sheetalji one of these days and tell them what an honor it is to pass on the knowledge received from them to the next generation on the opposite side of the globe. I hope I will be a good teacher. I am not sure what to expect from this generation students who already have a lot of pressure on them with several organized activities. So the challenge in on!
I had one barrier to learning Tabla, namely that I was (and still am) bowlegged. This made it very difficult to sit with my legs crossed (the most comfortable and recommended position). So I had to first devise my own sitting posture, which, though slightly uncomfortable, worked for me. The classes with Shambhunathji went well, and I started learning how to play. The initial days of Tabla are the hardest, when you are learning to produce the most basic sounds. Over time (a few years), I was playing reasonably OK. I had a good work ethic, in that I used to spend a lot of time practicing. My prowess in Mathematics helped immensely, as a lot of Tabla playing is about understanding the Mathematics of the rhythm.
Over time though, the class schedule became somewhat erratic, as Shambhunathji wasn’t able to make it. After a few months of classes off and on, we decided that it was time to move on. I sought and got admission at the renowned Bhatkhande Music College (BMC) and joined the classroom of Pandit Sheetal Prasad Mishra, a very well-known Tabla player. He was a junior lecturer at the time. I had heard Sheetalji play several times and really liked his style so I was very pleased to be in his classroom. The college also boasted of highly renowned Tabla players like Pandit Ramkumar Sharma and Pandit Ranganath Mishra as faculty members.
The years at BMC were just wonderful. Sheetalji was a great teacher for me, and I learned a lot. I got to perform on TV and also won BMC’s annual open competition for my level. My learning was halted when I got admitted to the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. However, I never stopped playing and practicing and it has been 26 years since then. I am not a great Tabla player by any means, but I can play well enough to get by.
For the last couple of years, I felt that my knowledge was getting wasted as I was getting older, and I constantly thought about passing it on to others. Finally, this September, I started teaching Tabla. I have always been pretty bad when it comes to selling, and this was no exception. I did not try to advertise, other than telling a couple of people who are connected to the Indian music scene. Surprisingly, I now have five students, and a few others have also shown interest. Watching students learn makes the whole experience worthwhile, as does the challenge of teaching in a way that will hold their interest. Over the last couple of years, work has been particularly stressful, and this has helped a lot to relieve that stress. I hope to get a chance to visit Shambhunathji and Sheetalji one of these days and tell them what an honor it is to pass on the knowledge received from them to the next generation on the opposite side of the globe. I hope I will be a good teacher. I am not sure what to expect from this generation students who already have a lot of pressure on them with several organized activities. So the challenge in on!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Pan IIT Conference, Chicago, October 2009
Pan IIT 2009 was held in Chicago during October 2009. There were 1,500 to 2,000 people in attendance, most of them IIT graduates, some faculty members from the IITs including the directors and a few spouses and children. The conference was held in a nice convention center in Schaumberg in the suburbs of Chicago. The program was very impressive with speakers like Bill Clinton, Aneesh Chopra, Carl Schramm, James Lewin, Nathan Myrvhold and others. There were also some interesting panel discussions. The evening entertainment was also good with the most notable show being that by Kailash Kher’s band, Kailasa.
All the speakers were quite impressive and lived up to their expectations. Some of the panels on globalization and healthcare were also quite good. Of course, there were others that were not all that impressive. The award ceremony for Rajeev Motwani was very touching. It is a shame that the world lost him at such an early age to a freak accident.
For me, the highlight, as usual, was meeting some of my best friends from IIT/K after many many years. [This includes the world famous Manindra Agrawal (who, with a couple of students, proved that for any number, whether the number is prime can be determined in polynomial time).] It is great to see that they have all done well in life as one would have expected. We re-lived our IIT/K days by hanging out in a hotel room telling jokes and reminiscing the good old days.
Other highlights included Bill Clinton (well, as I had never seen a US President before in person, and he is a damn good speaker), Aneesh Chopra (his meteoric rise to this position in the Obama administration is quite impressive given that he hails from a small village in India and grew up like any other village guy), Carl Schramm and Kailash Kher. I was also impressed with the panel discussion moderated by Mohanbir Sawhney.
An important point is the fact that the registration fee was just $200 (for early birds) which is an amazingly low price considering that I have been to conferences and workshops where I have paid $1,500 or more and come away fairly empty with nothing gained other than some networking opportunities.
There were some low-lights as well:
• I went to register on Day 1, only to find that they don’t have a badge for me even though I was probably one of the first few people to register and my name was on their participant list
• People at the registration booth were asking for IDs and business cards and still giving the wrong badges to people
• I was told that they would set up a printer and print out badges that were missing – after two hours they still could not set up a printer and basically abandoned the idea; one was forced to ask: how many organizers does it take to set up a printer? And shouldn’t they have had one there to begin with?
• On Day 1, while registering, no one was told that we were supposed to pick up a ticket with a table number in order to enter the hall for Clinton’s speech. On Day 2, I picked up a ticket for Table 181, which I guessed would be in the last row. When I went in the hall, there was no table numbered 181. The good part was that we were told to sit anywhere, and I was lucky to find a table in the front.
• Only the first session of each day probably started on time, for the rest of the day you had to guess the schedule.
• People mobbed Aneesh Chopra after his talk, and while I can understand people wanting to make quick conversation with him and handing him a business card, two of the folks handed me their cameras and asked me to take a picture of them with Aneesh. Why me? All I could do was be patient hoping that I could at least hand him a business card! Anyway, I did take the pictures and probably shouldn’t complain. Some folks get excited about having pictures taken with important people.
• The food was the worst part – on Day 1, there was no breakfast and lunch was served at 10:30, and most of the meals were bad, especially dinner on Day 2. Potato curry consisting of large cubes of mostly uncooked potato was the worst item of all. Naan (bread) was served at the very beginning with nothing else but pickle, and many people just ate that as the rest of the food came after quite a while. By the time the rest of the food came, people had already finished the Naan. I believe that charging people an extra $50 for registration might help to ensure better quality overall.
However, between the highlights and low-lights which are always there in any such event, I came away with a lot. Just being around such a talented bunch of people lifts your spirits, gives you new ideas and energizes you. These people (IIT graduates) are all over the place, doing really great things. I feel honored to have had the chance to study and spend a few years of my life with this bunch. I’ll be sure to attend as many of these conferences as I can.
All the speakers were quite impressive and lived up to their expectations. Some of the panels on globalization and healthcare were also quite good. Of course, there were others that were not all that impressive. The award ceremony for Rajeev Motwani was very touching. It is a shame that the world lost him at such an early age to a freak accident.
For me, the highlight, as usual, was meeting some of my best friends from IIT/K after many many years. [This includes the world famous Manindra Agrawal (who, with a couple of students, proved that for any number, whether the number is prime can be determined in polynomial time).] It is great to see that they have all done well in life as one would have expected. We re-lived our IIT/K days by hanging out in a hotel room telling jokes and reminiscing the good old days.
Other highlights included Bill Clinton (well, as I had never seen a US President before in person, and he is a damn good speaker), Aneesh Chopra (his meteoric rise to this position in the Obama administration is quite impressive given that he hails from a small village in India and grew up like any other village guy), Carl Schramm and Kailash Kher. I was also impressed with the panel discussion moderated by Mohanbir Sawhney.
An important point is the fact that the registration fee was just $200 (for early birds) which is an amazingly low price considering that I have been to conferences and workshops where I have paid $1,500 or more and come away fairly empty with nothing gained other than some networking opportunities.
There were some low-lights as well:
• I went to register on Day 1, only to find that they don’t have a badge for me even though I was probably one of the first few people to register and my name was on their participant list
• People at the registration booth were asking for IDs and business cards and still giving the wrong badges to people
• I was told that they would set up a printer and print out badges that were missing – after two hours they still could not set up a printer and basically abandoned the idea; one was forced to ask: how many organizers does it take to set up a printer? And shouldn’t they have had one there to begin with?
• On Day 1, while registering, no one was told that we were supposed to pick up a ticket with a table number in order to enter the hall for Clinton’s speech. On Day 2, I picked up a ticket for Table 181, which I guessed would be in the last row. When I went in the hall, there was no table numbered 181. The good part was that we were told to sit anywhere, and I was lucky to find a table in the front.
• Only the first session of each day probably started on time, for the rest of the day you had to guess the schedule.
• People mobbed Aneesh Chopra after his talk, and while I can understand people wanting to make quick conversation with him and handing him a business card, two of the folks handed me their cameras and asked me to take a picture of them with Aneesh. Why me? All I could do was be patient hoping that I could at least hand him a business card! Anyway, I did take the pictures and probably shouldn’t complain. Some folks get excited about having pictures taken with important people.
• The food was the worst part – on Day 1, there was no breakfast and lunch was served at 10:30, and most of the meals were bad, especially dinner on Day 2. Potato curry consisting of large cubes of mostly uncooked potato was the worst item of all. Naan (bread) was served at the very beginning with nothing else but pickle, and many people just ate that as the rest of the food came after quite a while. By the time the rest of the food came, people had already finished the Naan. I believe that charging people an extra $50 for registration might help to ensure better quality overall.
However, between the highlights and low-lights which are always there in any such event, I came away with a lot. Just being around such a talented bunch of people lifts your spirits, gives you new ideas and energizes you. These people (IIT graduates) are all over the place, doing really great things. I feel honored to have had the chance to study and spend a few years of my life with this bunch. I’ll be sure to attend as many of these conferences as I can.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
I recently read The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. It is a great work of fiction that exposes some of the worst aspects of life in rural and urban India. In particular, it describes what the author calls the “Rooster Co-op,” which is a trap in which you fall when you are born (you have no choice) and it is extremely hard to break free from it. The narrator of the story, a character called Balram Halwai, hails from a village somewhere in India referred to as Darkness and finds himself stuck in the rooster co-op. The only way he is able to break free is by committing murder.
It is a very interesting account of his journey from the rags of the village to the riches he enjoys as a successful entrepreneur in Bangalore, the hi-tech capital of India. Those of you who have seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire can easily relate to the accounts in this book. The book made me realize that there is a reality in India totally different from what I experienced in my middle class upbringing. I highly recommend it to everyone.
It is a very interesting account of his journey from the rags of the village to the riches he enjoys as a successful entrepreneur in Bangalore, the hi-tech capital of India. Those of you who have seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire can easily relate to the accounts in this book. The book made me realize that there is a reality in India totally different from what I experienced in my middle class upbringing. I highly recommend it to everyone.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
What makes you happy?
Several motivational books scream about the importance of being happy and tell you how to achieve happiness in life. Of course, all that is easier said than done. I always wonder what makes people happy. I know people who would do anything to earn lots of money or become famous or have a high standard of living. I know others whose mission in life is to be good and to help others and that gives them pleasure. They do not want to be in the limelight at all. Many others are interested in arts and music, and dedicate their lives to these pursuits simply because they give them happiness. Since I grew up in an environment that was extremely competitive, I have always had the mentality to do things in order to be recognized by others. Only peer recognition gives me happiness.
Over the last few years my father has been quite instrumental in making me understand how important it is to do things just for your own happiness without regard to anything else. He is an avid reader, writer and quite a poet. One is pleasantly surprised to find out how knowledgeable he is about a wide range of subjects like physics, genetics, philosophy, astronomy, Ayurveda (Indian herbal medicine) and the Sanskrit language. Most of his knowledge has been acquired by thousands of hours of reading and probably from his very early days as a translator (from Sanskrit to Hindi), after the untimely death of my grandfather forced him to do all sorts of odd jobs. I still remember my childhood when he used to read for hours and hours late into the night and whenever else he could steal a few minutes from life that generally revolved around a very demanding job, and a wife and two sons.
While reading has always been a favorite pastime of his, I did not know that he had dreams of writing poetry in Hindi and Sanskrit. A few years ago, I became aware of some of his poetry that was in the form of handwritten manuscripts. To my credit, I encouraged him to get published. I know his personality; he is not the kind who would ask for help from anyone to get something like this accomplished. I encouraged him to learn how to use computers and to use typesetting software to create publishable versions of his creations. To my great surprise, and despite many difficulties associated with old age that usually turn people off from computers and software, he learned it all and has become quite proficient at it.
I know that the Sanskrit language in itself excites him a lot. He derives a lot of happiness from writing poetry and that has made it possible for him to create four masterpieces in the last few years. One of them called Vyavahaarsookti (literal translation instructions to live/behave) is a great compilation of things one should do to live well. Another one called Kaligeeta is a satire. Based on the holy book of Hindus called the Bhagvad Geeta, this compilation talks about politics and politicians of the present day (Kaliyuga) and draws humorous parallels between the teachings of Lord Krishna (Hindu God) and the behavior of politicians.
His latest compilation is what is called a Mahakavya, or epic. He has created an epic about Aniruddha, the grandson of Lord Krishna. The epic consists of well over 1,500 shlokas (verses), written in several meters. This epic has received tremendous praise from eminent Sanskrit scholars. He is currently in the process of obtaining sponsorship to get it published.
Writing all this poetry, typesetting it, getting it reviewed and critiqued, and making the effort to publish it has taken thousands and thousands of hours. For someone who is now 72, it is quite an achievement to do all this after turning 65, by the time most people have already given up such pursuits for several years.
I am very proud of his accomplishments and have seriously started thinking about what it means to be happy. The glow in his eyes and excitement in his voice is unmistakable when he is talking about his creations. I can see how happy he is in doing this. There are very few people who care about the Sanskrit language and probably an equally small or smaller number of people who have heard of Aniruddha but as I said before, my father is not about doing things to appeal to the masses or become famous. He is doing this because this makes him happy. I hope that some day I can feel so good about doing something that I have always wanted to do. I am still trying to find the way to true happiness.
Over the last few years my father has been quite instrumental in making me understand how important it is to do things just for your own happiness without regard to anything else. He is an avid reader, writer and quite a poet. One is pleasantly surprised to find out how knowledgeable he is about a wide range of subjects like physics, genetics, philosophy, astronomy, Ayurveda (Indian herbal medicine) and the Sanskrit language. Most of his knowledge has been acquired by thousands of hours of reading and probably from his very early days as a translator (from Sanskrit to Hindi), after the untimely death of my grandfather forced him to do all sorts of odd jobs. I still remember my childhood when he used to read for hours and hours late into the night and whenever else he could steal a few minutes from life that generally revolved around a very demanding job, and a wife and two sons.
While reading has always been a favorite pastime of his, I did not know that he had dreams of writing poetry in Hindi and Sanskrit. A few years ago, I became aware of some of his poetry that was in the form of handwritten manuscripts. To my credit, I encouraged him to get published. I know his personality; he is not the kind who would ask for help from anyone to get something like this accomplished. I encouraged him to learn how to use computers and to use typesetting software to create publishable versions of his creations. To my great surprise, and despite many difficulties associated with old age that usually turn people off from computers and software, he learned it all and has become quite proficient at it.
I know that the Sanskrit language in itself excites him a lot. He derives a lot of happiness from writing poetry and that has made it possible for him to create four masterpieces in the last few years. One of them called Vyavahaarsookti (literal translation instructions to live/behave) is a great compilation of things one should do to live well. Another one called Kaligeeta is a satire. Based on the holy book of Hindus called the Bhagvad Geeta, this compilation talks about politics and politicians of the present day (Kaliyuga) and draws humorous parallels between the teachings of Lord Krishna (Hindu God) and the behavior of politicians.
His latest compilation is what is called a Mahakavya, or epic. He has created an epic about Aniruddha, the grandson of Lord Krishna. The epic consists of well over 1,500 shlokas (verses), written in several meters. This epic has received tremendous praise from eminent Sanskrit scholars. He is currently in the process of obtaining sponsorship to get it published.
Writing all this poetry, typesetting it, getting it reviewed and critiqued, and making the effort to publish it has taken thousands and thousands of hours. For someone who is now 72, it is quite an achievement to do all this after turning 65, by the time most people have already given up such pursuits for several years.
I am very proud of his accomplishments and have seriously started thinking about what it means to be happy. The glow in his eyes and excitement in his voice is unmistakable when he is talking about his creations. I can see how happy he is in doing this. There are very few people who care about the Sanskrit language and probably an equally small or smaller number of people who have heard of Aniruddha but as I said before, my father is not about doing things to appeal to the masses or become famous. He is doing this because this makes him happy. I hope that some day I can feel so good about doing something that I have always wanted to do. I am still trying to find the way to true happiness.
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