After many years I got a chance to be at home during the karthigai vilakku festival..
This was shot during a random drive on a rainy day...
Lamp-Palm
After many years I got a chance to be at home during the karthigai vilakku festival..
This was shot during a random drive on a rainy day...
White Rangoli
One of the highlights of the festivals and occasions back home is the huge kolam. White Rangoli. The one below is a kolam painting.
Ridiculous banking
It is not advisable to post in a blog frequently. 1) It bores the readers 2) It makes the reader realise the truth that the blogger does not have any other job in life. But many big things happen in a short time...
What?!! Hari made the car come to a screeching halt on hearing the Kotak Bank customer relations executive say that over the mobile. I almost hit the dash board; they call it inertia.
{{
Due to some strong reasons I'm taking off the remaining portion of this lengthy post on Hari's banking experience. I hope I would get a chance to bring it back...Thanks.
}}What?!! Hari made the car come to a screeching halt on hearing the Kotak Bank customer relations executive say that over the mobile. I almost hit the dash board; they call it inertia.
{{
Due to some strong reasons I'm taking off the remaining portion of this lengthy post on Hari's banking experience. I hope I would get a chance to bring it back...Thanks.
M.F. II
I'm really surprised at the way the post M.F.Hussain has got connected with many of us. Firstly thanks to BlogBharti for linking the post.I'm very happy about it.
I'm also thrilled to get an extraordinary Comment[anonymous] to that post. I feel that Comment needs to be seen by more people; felt by more people. I do not want it to get lost. So here it goes...
"A recently turned 'civil servant', from a totally non - civil service background, my time in the district is showing me what I never ever saw, imagined sitting in a metro, even when I was studying for this exam. What I do see now is not something I can explain and thereby answer all the questions put up on the blog or reply to the repeated accusations of the terrible bureaucracy. But I can say, that there a million little and big things that the bureaucracy takes care of, every day, every minute, at least in the districts. People's lives are run by it, depend on it. What appears in the newspapers is always and only where the administration has failed. But each day, I personally see, so many people being helped, being protected by the very same bureaucracy.
In a short span of 3 months, I have seen and understood that, something I did, because of which an entire village came to thank me, took my side when local media and politicians came to accuse as usual, did not get published and will never get published and people at large will never know. BUT, I know, and that village knows, and respects me - as a bureaucrat - for what was done.
I can confidently say, that the bureaucracy is NOT the monster it is always made out to be. It has its shortcomings - many of them too - but it binds,coalesces and smoothens things out, in a way that people may not even realise. "
Thanks for that...!
People like you build that one village that fought Caesar...
I'm also thrilled to get an extraordinary Comment[anonymous] to that post. I feel that Comment needs to be seen by more people; felt by more people. I do not want it to get lost. So here it goes...
"A recently turned 'civil servant', from a totally non - civil service background, my time in the district is showing me what I never ever saw, imagined sitting in a metro, even when I was studying for this exam. What I do see now is not something I can explain and thereby answer all the questions put up on the blog or reply to the repeated accusations of the terrible bureaucracy. But I can say, that there a million little and big things that the bureaucracy takes care of, every day, every minute, at least in the districts. People's lives are run by it, depend on it. What appears in the newspapers is always and only where the administration has failed. But each day, I personally see, so many people being helped, being protected by the very same bureaucracy.
In a short span of 3 months, I have seen and understood that, something I did, because of which an entire village came to thank me, took my side when local media and politicians came to accuse as usual, did not get published and will never get published and people at large will never know. BUT, I know, and that village knows, and respects me - as a bureaucrat - for what was done.
I can confidently say, that the bureaucracy is NOT the monster it is always made out to be. It has its shortcomings - many of them too - but it binds,coalesces and smoothens things out, in a way that people may not even realise. "
Thanks for that...!
People like you build that one village that fought Caesar...
MCA
All of a sudden I realise I have been affected by a disease. I really don’t know when it happened. But am sure it has happened. Even a few in my close circle confirm that. I googled and to my relief I found that I’m not alone – there are many, many around. I have been living alone for quite some time now and in an attempt to break my monotony I met up with one of my uncles.
But you could have come in an auto rickshaw…you see the roads are clogged everywhere and…the traffic jam. And your bike..what’s the mileage? I gave a random number between 40 and 50. He continued, Yeah! That’s obvious. You see…the dense smoke coming out…and the noise. The filter needs to be cleaned…and the battery is also old. Once you do that mileage would reach even 80 or 90 (kmpl). I had a Bajaj Super scooter…it used to give me 75. It was excellent. I nodded. Laughed loudly; inside me. But these auto fellows…we should also go for CNG autos like in Delhi. But that was also not a success. In Sydney…
He continued his world tour and presented me a snapshot of the latest energy technologies. 20% fact. 80% fiction. I nodded. In the mean time I saw the neighbour barging in. He joined the talk. You read today’s [news]paper?! In the GH, they had interchanged two dead bodies…and only after the cremation the families found it out! Now looking at me, Where did you get that specs? I answered. You see there is a slight deviation in the power…I can see it from this angle. The image is abnormally distorted. My father was an eye doctor…Yeah…these days the opticians use computer, machine etc to check our eyes…during those days it was just a small lens and a newspaper…the prescription was perfect. You should go the eye hospital down the road here. They.. He continued. It ended in: Exams were difficult those days…not like now. I felt suffocated.
His wife joined us. The TV was on. A comedy show was going on. We laughed for a while. She started abruptly, looking at my uncle. Did you not try the v-si booster for your TV? Those grains in the corner…our TV is crystal clear. I wondered what that damn vsi-asi stuff was. You have spent 320 rupees extra!! Her talk ended.
The little kid who had been to the school, returned. He flung his tiny shoes in different directions, threw his bag and ran up to his dad to snatch the TV remote control. Pogo channel. Hey….kiddo. Get back from the TV…the UV rays are not good for your eyes. And give me the remote…we can watch Animal Geographic. The kid did not look up. I continued: We should watch TV from a distance of 6-7 feet away. But that LG DiNeX is fantastic…we can even sit with our noses touching the screen…it is a very advanced...yeah..TV. Advanced TV. I finished with: Exams are getting easy these days.
My google results made me know a few more things about the disease.
Name: MCA – Multiple Collateral Advicerosis
Whom it affects:Everyone is vulnerable.
When: MCA sets with age and reaches a peak around 65-70 years of age. However Sciences journal reports cases with double peaks, with the first peak setting around 40-45 years of age. In some highly exceptional cases triple peaks are also reported.
Symptoms: The patient starts giving out free advice (ineffective and boring counseling sessions conducted without any apparent need thereby inducing a feeling of suffocation to the victim). One more peculiarity is that the patient will cross the thin boundary between fact and fiction, in most cases unknowingly, due to the overwhelming desire to talk (or write*) and being heard.
Cause: APA’s Psycho and Hayward Medical Review 2000 point out MCA could possibly be due to the presence of the speech organ – mouth; also due to the improper affecto-cognitive behavioural tendencies bordering around narcissism and the lack of sympathy for others.
Diagnosis: Cellphone test, Newspaper test, FM radio test and Blog test*.
Treatment: A trans-national, multi-cultural, collaborative research in under progress in an undisclosed location in New Delhi, India.
Until then...keep giving!
But you could have come in an auto rickshaw…you see the roads are clogged everywhere and…the traffic jam. And your bike..what’s the mileage? I gave a random number between 40 and 50. He continued, Yeah! That’s obvious. You see…the dense smoke coming out…and the noise. The filter needs to be cleaned…and the battery is also old. Once you do that mileage would reach even 80 or 90 (kmpl). I had a Bajaj Super scooter…it used to give me 75. It was excellent. I nodded. Laughed loudly; inside me. But these auto fellows…we should also go for CNG autos like in Delhi. But that was also not a success. In Sydney…
He continued his world tour and presented me a snapshot of the latest energy technologies. 20% fact. 80% fiction. I nodded. In the mean time I saw the neighbour barging in. He joined the talk. You read today’s [news]paper?! In the GH, they had interchanged two dead bodies…and only after the cremation the families found it out! Now looking at me, Where did you get that specs? I answered. You see there is a slight deviation in the power…I can see it from this angle. The image is abnormally distorted. My father was an eye doctor…Yeah…these days the opticians use computer, machine etc to check our eyes…during those days it was just a small lens and a newspaper…the prescription was perfect. You should go the eye hospital down the road here. They.. He continued. It ended in: Exams were difficult those days…not like now. I felt suffocated.
His wife joined us. The TV was on. A comedy show was going on. We laughed for a while. She started abruptly, looking at my uncle. Did you not try the v-si booster for your TV? Those grains in the corner…our TV is crystal clear. I wondered what that damn vsi-asi stuff was. You have spent 320 rupees extra!! Her talk ended.
The little kid who had been to the school, returned. He flung his tiny shoes in different directions, threw his bag and ran up to his dad to snatch the TV remote control. Pogo channel. Hey….kiddo. Get back from the TV…the UV rays are not good for your eyes. And give me the remote…we can watch Animal Geographic. The kid did not look up. I continued: We should watch TV from a distance of 6-7 feet away. But that LG DiNeX is fantastic…we can even sit with our noses touching the screen…it is a very advanced...yeah..TV. Advanced TV. I finished with: Exams are getting easy these days.
My google results made me know a few more things about the disease.
Name: MCA – Multiple Collateral Advicerosis
Whom it affects:Everyone is vulnerable.
When: MCA sets with age and reaches a peak around 65-70 years of age. However Sciences journal reports cases with double peaks, with the first peak setting around 40-45 years of age. In some highly exceptional cases triple peaks are also reported.
Symptoms: The patient starts giving out free advice (ineffective and boring counseling sessions conducted without any apparent need thereby inducing a feeling of suffocation to the victim). One more peculiarity is that the patient will cross the thin boundary between fact and fiction, in most cases unknowingly, due to the overwhelming desire to talk (or write*) and being heard.
Cause: APA’s Psycho and Hayward Medical Review 2000 point out MCA could possibly be due to the presence of the speech organ – mouth; also due to the improper affecto-cognitive behavioural tendencies bordering around narcissism and the lack of sympathy for others.
Diagnosis: Cellphone test, Newspaper test, FM radio test and Blog test*.
Treatment: A trans-national, multi-cultural, collaborative research in under progress in an undisclosed location in New Delhi, India.
Until then...keep giving!
[*appended after the recent pathbreaking studies at the Linguistics dept, University of Blogotham, New Yolk]
M.F.Hussain I.A.S.
"How are you able work under corrupt, criminal politicians even after studying so much?"
My tryst with the creature called civil service began almost a decade ago when my brother got ready to take his UPSC exams. Today both of us are “civil servants”. (I’m yet to figure out who were Uncivil servants!) Over the last many years we and my other friends here, have come across those questions in various formats, from different corners. They usually move around –
o The system is beyond repair
o The system is corrupt
o You have to follow the orders of politicians
o Transfers and punishment postings
o No single man can make a difference
o Don’t waste your brain
Every morning the newspapers show us how the state has failed us – bomb blasts, lack of basic facilities, murders, communal clashes, leaking PDS, red tape, poor infrastructure, corrupt bureaucrats etc. Yes, it seems the state and a major part of its agencies – Courts, Assemblies, Bureaucracy – have failed. BUT we are able to hold together as one nation purely due to the fact that there are very honest, able men and women sprinkled here and there. These men and women ensure we do not lose hope, completely. I’m reminded of Asterix and Obelix. As it goes, during the time when a vast expanse of the known world was under Caesar, only one Gaulish village stood out; they gave Rome a real pain; these people made sure their independence was not negotiable. But for this one village Caesar would have been the real Emperor. Every soul would have been his subject. The people I’m talking about are like that village, without them there would be no hope. No future.
And, as we know, if all of us move away from the dirty world of government and administration for these reasons, our future will not have even one single village to fight odds…
Well, I do not mean that being in the civil service is the only way to contribute to the country. I don’t ask why M F Hussain is wasting canvas and cans of colours instead of being Sh.M.F.Hussain I.A.S., Secretary-Ministry of Rural Development. Also, there have been many officers who have quit the service to do better work! But civil service is not something one needs to avoid for frivolous reasons like “working under illiterate politicians, under constant fear of transfers and punishment postings”.
It’s good to remember our quotes-man George Bernard Shaw – Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.
Whether we like it or not, democracy is in the DNA of our Constitution.
My tryst with the creature called civil service began almost a decade ago when my brother got ready to take his UPSC exams. Today both of us are “civil servants”. (I’m yet to figure out who were Uncivil servants!) Over the last many years we and my other friends here, have come across those questions in various formats, from different corners. They usually move around –
o The system is beyond repair
o The system is corrupt
o You have to follow the orders of politicians
o Transfers and punishment postings
o No single man can make a difference
o Don’t waste your brain
Every morning the newspapers show us how the state has failed us – bomb blasts, lack of basic facilities, murders, communal clashes, leaking PDS, red tape, poor infrastructure, corrupt bureaucrats etc. Yes, it seems the state and a major part of its agencies – Courts, Assemblies, Bureaucracy – have failed. BUT we are able to hold together as one nation purely due to the fact that there are very honest, able men and women sprinkled here and there. These men and women ensure we do not lose hope, completely. I’m reminded of Asterix and Obelix. As it goes, during the time when a vast expanse of the known world was under Caesar, only one Gaulish village stood out; they gave Rome a real pain; these people made sure their independence was not negotiable. But for this one village Caesar would have been the real Emperor. Every soul would have been his subject. The people I’m talking about are like that village, without them there would be no hope. No future.
And, as we know, if all of us move away from the dirty world of government and administration for these reasons, our future will not have even one single village to fight odds…
Well, I do not mean that being in the civil service is the only way to contribute to the country. I don’t ask why M F Hussain is wasting canvas and cans of colours instead of being Sh.M.F.Hussain I.A.S., Secretary-Ministry of Rural Development. Also, there have been many officers who have quit the service to do better work! But civil service is not something one needs to avoid for frivolous reasons like “working under illiterate politicians, under constant fear of transfers and punishment postings”.
It’s good to remember our quotes-man George Bernard Shaw – Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.
Whether we like it or not, democracy is in the DNA of our Constitution.
Wallpaper
I don’t know about you, but I have always wondered how someone is able to have a crystal clear goal about their career. No, I’m not talking about the little kids who invariably shout out “Doctor”, “Teacher”, “Collector”, “Police” etc when asked about their ambition in life by adults, who themselves are confused about their careers. [Here again I'm not sure what the urban, gen-next kid has to say on Ambition. Probably she would like to become a Software engineer, Scientist, Fashion-model, Pilot, Prime Minister.] I’m talking about many of my colleagues, friends etc who often say their goal is to become – a successful and famous entrepreneur like NRN, the Chief Secretary of a state, the Managing Director of X company in Y years, the most popular doctor in the town, a millionaire before A age. I feel all these people are really lucky…they know where they need to go. They strive to reach their destination. They are busy in pursuit.
But some people like me are notorious for the wavering mind; the swinging career path. More than the euphemism of “Multi-talented” the straight, simple word “Confused” fits our category better. In fact one of my big bosses quipped “Would you be changing your wife too?” It was just his frustration that came out as I was overly concerned about the variety in my job, during a mid-year review many years back. Somehow this idea of a “specialist” does not go down very well with me. How can someone spend a lifetime doing just one thing? I wonder. So, sitting back and pondering, in a highly confused state, I was happy to get a call from a longtime friend. I would remember at least one line of the whole conversation for many months (at least) to come; she said “Life is not about reaching somewhere. It is about traveling happily”. Probably the original version was by Aristotle or Socrates or someone like that who had spent a lifetime giving out quotable quotes…but that does not matter now. I am taking those timely words anyway. I have already popularised this quote in my circle here; and everyone seems to be satisfied with it. They stop asking about my ambition, goal etc the moment I tell them life is an interesting journey that unfolds as we go. Probably they decide I’m too philosophical to give a direct answer; or they are trying to memorise it to pass on as free-advice to many others!
A few days back I got a mail from one of my earlier bosses (not the one who came for the mid year review!). He too helped me out of this confusion. His point was that we got to have a clear distinction between job and career. We often mix up these two and land up in a pretty job while the career chosen might not be to our liking. True. But please do not ask me more on that. Think for yourself – it will be much better than mine. For sure.
During our preparation for the campus interviews we were asked to be clear on the two main issues:
1)Why me for this job?
2)Why this job for me?
There was an enthu-pot in our gang and he used to say “I want a job that would either add value to me or a job to which I can add value”. That was his tagline immaterial of the company he was applying for. Based on the company his follow-up explanation would change course during the interview. He is with India’s most famous software company today. These days I’m highly inspired by his old words. But I have modified it to suit me; and shut mouths. It goes like this: “I don’t want a job that would bring me name; I’m looking for a job to give name”.
Have in mind I’m a hardcore Super Star fan.
Wondering what is that image of the hanging disco lights or aurora borealis or multi-coloured sperms doing here?
Osamu Shimomura, an assistant at Nagoya University, Japan, was put on a frustrating study of the glow on the remains of crushed molluscs, as his professor did not want to cripple the careers of his research students with this difficult, unrewarding task. It was 1955. That study lead Shimomura to the Friday Harbour, Washington where he collected about 50,000 jelly fish every summer and ended up accumulating 8,50,000 (!) jellyfish for his studies. Imagine waiting at a harbour, every summer, just to collect thousands of jellyfish! Heights of specialisation!
Today we all owe a lot to Shimomura for his discovery of GFP – Green Fluorescent Protein. He is one among the three who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year. To quote Frontline, “…GFP has become an extraordinary and widely used tagging tool in bioscience, using which scientists have developed ways to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or the spreading of cancer cells.”
These disco lights are my desktop wall paper now. They are the GFP planted inside a mouse’s brain!
When coming to talk of Shimomura’s drive to have shared a major part of his life entirely with thousands of dead jellyfish, he did not seem to have any great confusion or catchy quotations; he just got this to say – “…. The point is that… I don’t do my research for application or any benefit. I just do my research to understand why jellyfish luminesce and why that protein fluoresces. There are many, many [undiscovered molecules in nature that emit light]. Interesting at least to me.”
Wow!
Pudhiya Vaarpugal
“Dhom-tana dhom-tana…” – a dozen angels accompanied by this humming having a special place in our hearts as the eternal background for any romantic sequence is from Pudhiya Vaarpural (PV). One of the landmark films of Barathiraja, PV released in 1979 was also the launching pad for K.Bagyaraj as a hero. Late 70s was also the period when Tamil cinema was seeing a transition – both in terms of the filmmaking styles and the lead artists. MGR-Sivaji Ganesan era was gradually making way for the new combo of Rajni-Kamal – the twin stars that rein Kollywood till date. The movie themes that underwent a transition from mythology to raja-rani stories to social issue themes to the ones built around very strong characters, reached a new level with Barathiraja shifting the production unit from the sets and cities to real, live villages; creating a path breaking film – 16 Vayathiniley (1977).
The raw and simple village life – with people looking awestruck at anyone with a pair of trousers, little kids running behind the rare motor cars, villagers gossiping under the shade of huge banyan trees, old grannies giving out their readymade advice and proverbs, lush green paddy fields dancing like waves, little kids shouting out their lessons sitting in crude rooms called schools and the beautiful damsel singing amidst acres of bright sunflowers – was never thought to be a place for a successful cinema plot until Barathiraja’s entry. PV established this trend that had started two years earlier with 16 Vayadhiniley.
If 16 Vayadhiniley explored the interface of the villages with the city-life with a perverted doctor’s entry into the rural landscape and how he cheats a local girl, PV is about a nice school teacher who gets posted in a village. Here, fuelled by the womanising, widower village-head, the villagers manipulate the teacher’s good intentions leading to unexpected turns in the story. The village-head’s character is parallel to that of Parattai (Rajnikanth) in 16 Vayathiniley. Goundamani is cast as the yes-man of the villains in both the films. In a way both these films reflected the slowly changing socio-cultural milieu of a village due to the overall progress of our country.
Rati (Rati Agnihotri of the Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981) fame) is splendid as the village beauty Jothi. The director had put her to the best use by cutting short pages and pages of dialogues into just a few close-ons of her expressive face and extreme close-ups of her eyes. Sometimes her expressions are enigmatic. (The cutting short of dialogues was also another major trend that was gaining ground in Tamil films around that time) Bagyaraj, needless to say, has given an impressive debut performance. But as we are used to his typical voice these days, it is quite difficult to get adjusted to the stranger’s dubbed voice coming out of Bagyaraj’s mouth. However Bagyaraj scores full mark as the dialog writer for this film. The conversations look so natural; they are convincing; gripping; and even humourous. The social worker character though not well-developed, creates a pivot to move the story. Jothi's father - a nadaswaram vidwan - reminds us of Kamal Hassan's brother in Unnal Mudiyum Thambi, released more than a decade after PV!
An intelligent and soulful re-recording by Ilayaraja recreates the moods of a village and makes you a part of the life there. Remember, this was one of the early films of the maestro and one could feel the mark he would be leaving on Tamil movies in the years to come. The Barathiraja-Ilayaraja team continued to captivate us till as late as the early 90s with Nadodi Thendral.
Shots with the sun over-head could have been avoided. There are also a few continuity problmes with the light. Otherwise the cinemotographer has done a decent job. Many scenes have camera movements that add to the effect. The initial temple sequence where Shanmugamani-Jothi take lovely looks at each other from behind the tall temple pillars is done well. PV also uses symbolic scenes that were used quite liberally in those days. The one showing blood oozing from the mouth of the nadaswaram chillingly conveys the old man’s death. The burning of the chokkapaanai on a Karthigai Deepam day in the climax, and the lighting of it by the village-head’s son also stands out in meaning. In fact, even the insane son of the crooked village-head is symbolic in itself!
Another highlight of the film is the village festival sequence with transgender artists performing for the villagers. This lengthy folk sequence also manifests as the setting for the trigger plot for the climax. One is reminded of the opening sequence of Paruthiveeran (2007), released almost three decades later!!
The film gets built gradually with the unfolding of a beautiful love story between the new teacher Shanmugamani and the local beauty Jothi. The evil village-head who is attracted by Jothi, plots and throws the good-hearted teacher out of the village accusing him of a rape and murder; he also goes a step further by marrying Jothi off to Amavasai (Goundamani) and asks them to live in his house so that his lust can be satisfied at will. What leads to this point and what happens after this is the film.
Though there are not many sub-plots in this movie, the twists and the spontaneity of the film keep you glued till the end. And the end falls in line with the title.
Pudhiya Vaarpugal is a classic.
PS: Bagyaraj is presently making a movie with the same title. This movie is going to be a grand success if it matches even a quarter of the benchmark set by the original Pudhiya Vaarpugal.
The raw and simple village life – with people looking awestruck at anyone with a pair of trousers, little kids running behind the rare motor cars, villagers gossiping under the shade of huge banyan trees, old grannies giving out their readymade advice and proverbs, lush green paddy fields dancing like waves, little kids shouting out their lessons sitting in crude rooms called schools and the beautiful damsel singing amidst acres of bright sunflowers – was never thought to be a place for a successful cinema plot until Barathiraja’s entry. PV established this trend that had started two years earlier with 16 Vayadhiniley.
If 16 Vayadhiniley explored the interface of the villages with the city-life with a perverted doctor’s entry into the rural landscape and how he cheats a local girl, PV is about a nice school teacher who gets posted in a village. Here, fuelled by the womanising, widower village-head, the villagers manipulate the teacher’s good intentions leading to unexpected turns in the story. The village-head’s character is parallel to that of Parattai (Rajnikanth) in 16 Vayathiniley. Goundamani is cast as the yes-man of the villains in both the films. In a way both these films reflected the slowly changing socio-cultural milieu of a village due to the overall progress of our country.
Rati (Rati Agnihotri of the Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981) fame) is splendid as the village beauty Jothi. The director had put her to the best use by cutting short pages and pages of dialogues into just a few close-ons of her expressive face and extreme close-ups of her eyes. Sometimes her expressions are enigmatic. (The cutting short of dialogues was also another major trend that was gaining ground in Tamil films around that time) Bagyaraj, needless to say, has given an impressive debut performance. But as we are used to his typical voice these days, it is quite difficult to get adjusted to the stranger’s dubbed voice coming out of Bagyaraj’s mouth. However Bagyaraj scores full mark as the dialog writer for this film. The conversations look so natural; they are convincing; gripping; and even humourous. The social worker character though not well-developed, creates a pivot to move the story. Jothi's father - a nadaswaram vidwan - reminds us of Kamal Hassan's brother in Unnal Mudiyum Thambi, released more than a decade after PV!
An intelligent and soulful re-recording by Ilayaraja recreates the moods of a village and makes you a part of the life there. Remember, this was one of the early films of the maestro and one could feel the mark he would be leaving on Tamil movies in the years to come. The Barathiraja-Ilayaraja team continued to captivate us till as late as the early 90s with Nadodi Thendral.
Shots with the sun over-head could have been avoided. There are also a few continuity problmes with the light. Otherwise the cinemotographer has done a decent job. Many scenes have camera movements that add to the effect. The initial temple sequence where Shanmugamani-Jothi take lovely looks at each other from behind the tall temple pillars is done well. PV also uses symbolic scenes that were used quite liberally in those days. The one showing blood oozing from the mouth of the nadaswaram chillingly conveys the old man’s death. The burning of the chokkapaanai on a Karthigai Deepam day in the climax, and the lighting of it by the village-head’s son also stands out in meaning. In fact, even the insane son of the crooked village-head is symbolic in itself!
Another highlight of the film is the village festival sequence with transgender artists performing for the villagers. This lengthy folk sequence also manifests as the setting for the trigger plot for the climax. One is reminded of the opening sequence of Paruthiveeran (2007), released almost three decades later!!
The film gets built gradually with the unfolding of a beautiful love story between the new teacher Shanmugamani and the local beauty Jothi. The evil village-head who is attracted by Jothi, plots and throws the good-hearted teacher out of the village accusing him of a rape and murder; he also goes a step further by marrying Jothi off to Amavasai (Goundamani) and asks them to live in his house so that his lust can be satisfied at will. What leads to this point and what happens after this is the film.
Though there are not many sub-plots in this movie, the twists and the spontaneity of the film keep you glued till the end. And the end falls in line with the title.
Pudhiya Vaarpugal is a classic.
PS: Bagyaraj is presently making a movie with the same title. This movie is going to be a grand success if it matches even a quarter of the benchmark set by the original Pudhiya Vaarpugal.
Fashion
Madhur Bhandarkar has excelled the art of interestingly exposing the dark underbelly of a popular part of our lives with a strong female character. It was party journalism-Konkona Sen in Page 3; business world-Bipasha Basu in Corporate. Now, fashion industry-Priyanka Chopra.
Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) breaks away from her conservative home in search of her dream of making it big in the dark world of fashion and modelling. What happens to her is the story...
It is worth a watch.
Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) breaks away from her conservative home in search of her dream of making it big in the dark world of fashion and modelling. What happens to her is the story...
It is worth a watch.
Happy Diwali
Happy Diwali! Felt like bringing festive mood to the Chennai Clouds. :) I could hear a lot of cracker noise in the background now. By the way, I think I should have told you something more in my previous post. The Chennai Cloud snap was shot with a very basic Canon digital camera; and more importantly I had posted the snap without modifying it like - changing the bringhtness, colour, hue etc. It is actually a colour phototgraph, not a black and white one. On that monsoon evening with those intimidating clouds draping the west side, the whole world was in black and white...
I believe in destiny - not before venturing into something; but after things had happened. To me destiny is not something that controls us; it is just a supreme explanation of the past. Why all this now? Just before my Exams started a week back these things came and went -
* Usually I watch a film daily. The choice of the film is purely based on my mood. Sometimes I have a mood to choose films with peculiar titles. Just two days before the Exams, "Serpico" attracted me. It was based on a true story. Frank Serpico is an honest cop with the New York police. He pays a heavy price for being a straight arrow in a department that is entrenced in corruption. Serpico loses his dignity, girl friends, aides, and even mental balance at times. Towards the end he is decorated with a medal in recognition for his bravery in action. But he exposes the corruption in police; and quits the department! The film closes with Serpico waiting in a port - with just his pet dog by his side. He moves to Switzerland.
* Kiran Bedi's interview was in one of the supplements of The Hindu. She says earlier she was serving to earn; now she was earning to serve. Just check this out. She had spoken about the difficulties she had to face while cleaning up the police system here; and how she ultimately got to quit it!
* One of my friends had called up. During our talk I found out I had missed the police job last year by just 2-3 marks.
I like Thirukkural.
The one that comes to my mind now is "Though you guard it well, what destiny does not decree disappears. Though you cast it aside, what fate calls yours will not depart". Verse 376.
Chennai Clouds
After a gap of, I don't know how many years, I get a chance to be in Tamil Nadu during the monsoons here. While many treat these rains that come around the Diwali time to be a spoiler, to me - it adds a whole new mood to the festival. I still remember those wonderful days when we used to delicately fry (without oil, of course!) the damp crackers in a pan before using them on the pouring Diwali morning...
Plan B?
Some of my friends were quite eager to know what kind of questions one gets in the Civil Services-Main Exam (a.k.a. IAS exam) conducted by the UPSC. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Five papers. While the last two papers - English and any Indian language - were only qualifying in nature, the first three papers would matter a lot in deciding whether one got a chance to sit for the personality test in April 2009. Two papers of General studies (GS) and one Essay paper. As it gets boring to type as well to read the entire paper, I have given samples from the GS papers.
* "The emergence of new social classes in British India was the direct consequence of the establishment of new social economy, new state system, administrative machinery and Western education." Discuss. (150 words/15 marks)
* Golkonda Fort (20/2)
* Bring out the pros and cons of Special Economic Zones (150/15)
* Nor' westers (20/2)
* Discuss the major extra-constitutional factors influencing the federal polity in the country. (250/30)
* Discuss the composition and functions of the Union Public Service Commission. (150/15)
* Discuss the problems in achieving National Integration in India. (150/15)
* The conditions of urban poor are more deplorable than that of their rural counterparts." Give your views. (250/30)
* Lakshmi Mittal (20/2)
The above are from the GS - I paper. The GS papers are for 300 marks each, and one gets three hours for each paper. There is a two-hour break before one takes the GS - II paper.
* India and the New World Order (150 words/30 marks)
* India-Nigeria: Abuja Declaration (20/2)
* Indian diaspora and Bollywood (20/2)
* Access the performance of India in attracting Foreign Direct Investment(FDI). (250/30)
* NAMA (20/2)
* Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (150/15)
* INTERPOL (20/2)
* In what way "Medical Biotechnology" and "Bioengineering" are useful for technological development of India? (250/30)
* Spintronics (20/2)
* Sappan (20/2)
* Components of Robots (20/2)
* A question on representation of data by a suitable diagram.(like histogram, pie chart etc) (6 marks)
* The mean monthly income of a person is Rs.18190 and his mean monthly expenditure comes out to be Rs.17930. What is his average monthly saving? (2)
Essay paper. One gets to choose a topic from a basket of six topics. The essay paper is also for three hours. It carries 200 marks. No specific word limit.
* Is an egalitarian society possible by educating the masses?
* Discipline means success, anarchy means ruins.
* Urbanisation and its hazards.
Four more papers are remaining. Two each for the two optional subjects that one gets to choose from a range that stretches from Russian literature to Zoology.
Well, let me be frank and tell you what I felt during the Exam. I sincerely hope that the UPSC reduces the age limit for the candidates (without affecting the number of attmepts one gets. this can be done by shortening the cycle time of the Exam) I thought I was very old to sit and take this Exam, which anyone above 21 years can take. But at the Exam centre I felt I'm quite young! I genuinely feel hundreds of candidates are wasting the wonderful phase of their lives by mechanically appearing in the Exam, year after year, for many years. Some of my friends have spent more than five years in this Exam, without any result. It saddens me.
While I agree that dreams need perseverance, what hurts me is the fact that many candidates do not have a Plan B. So suddenly one fine morning, after exhausting all the attempts over the years, one realises one does not have a place to go. One is not equipped to find a decent job; an alternative career. My sincere wish is that the Civil Service aspirants while chasing their dreams, should also work on their fallback options - without mindlessly escalating their commitment year after year.
* "The emergence of new social classes in British India was the direct consequence of the establishment of new social economy, new state system, administrative machinery and Western education." Discuss. (150 words/15 marks)
* Golkonda Fort (20/2)
* Bring out the pros and cons of Special Economic Zones (150/15)
* Nor' westers (20/2)
* Discuss the major extra-constitutional factors influencing the federal polity in the country. (250/30)
* Discuss the composition and functions of the Union Public Service Commission. (150/15)
* Discuss the problems in achieving National Integration in India. (150/15)
* The conditions of urban poor are more deplorable than that of their rural counterparts." Give your views. (250/30)
* Lakshmi Mittal (20/2)
The above are from the GS - I paper. The GS papers are for 300 marks each, and one gets three hours for each paper. There is a two-hour break before one takes the GS - II paper.
* India and the New World Order (150 words/30 marks)
* India-Nigeria: Abuja Declaration (20/2)
* Indian diaspora and Bollywood (20/2)
* Access the performance of India in attracting Foreign Direct Investment(FDI). (250/30)
* NAMA (20/2)
* Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (150/15)
* INTERPOL (20/2)
* In what way "Medical Biotechnology" and "Bioengineering" are useful for technological development of India? (250/30)
* Spintronics (20/2)
* Sappan (20/2)
* Components of Robots (20/2)
* A question on representation of data by a suitable diagram.(like histogram, pie chart etc) (6 marks)
* The mean monthly income of a person is Rs.18190 and his mean monthly expenditure comes out to be Rs.17930. What is his average monthly saving? (2)
Essay paper. One gets to choose a topic from a basket of six topics. The essay paper is also for three hours. It carries 200 marks. No specific word limit.
* Is an egalitarian society possible by educating the masses?
* Discipline means success, anarchy means ruins.
* Urbanisation and its hazards.
Four more papers are remaining. Two each for the two optional subjects that one gets to choose from a range that stretches from Russian literature to Zoology.
Well, let me be frank and tell you what I felt during the Exam. I sincerely hope that the UPSC reduces the age limit for the candidates (without affecting the number of attmepts one gets. this can be done by shortening the cycle time of the Exam) I thought I was very old to sit and take this Exam, which anyone above 21 years can take. But at the Exam centre I felt I'm quite young! I genuinely feel hundreds of candidates are wasting the wonderful phase of their lives by mechanically appearing in the Exam, year after year, for many years. Some of my friends have spent more than five years in this Exam, without any result. It saddens me.
While I agree that dreams need perseverance, what hurts me is the fact that many candidates do not have a Plan B. So suddenly one fine morning, after exhausting all the attempts over the years, one realises one does not have a place to go. One is not equipped to find a decent job; an alternative career. My sincere wish is that the Civil Service aspirants while chasing their dreams, should also work on their fallback options - without mindlessly escalating their commitment year after year.
If-else
I had CP-I and CP-II during my initial years of engineering. CP = Computer Programming. We were taught C and UNIX. One of the special features of my college was that the students had the option of attending the classes of any lecturer (instructor), of their own choice. This was possible as the same course was taught by many lecturers. Based on one's convenience and need one was free to attend anyone. Convenience, because the different lectures handled the classes during different hours. Some of them in the mornings, some in the second half. Generally, most of us avoided the post-lunch classes - for the obvious reason.
This method of teaching was like a free market. It boosted the competition among the instructors; jacked up the quality of the lectures; gave consumer (us) choices. I guess around six instructors handled CP-I. The most famous one was a lady instructor. She was brilliant; her overflowing classroom stood testimony to the fact. Students used to reserve seats for her class well in advance. Even the carpet area was crammed. In fact, left with no choice a few even sat outside the classroom to just hear her! That was the price the market (students) paid for quality. I was like a venture capitalist. I attended a new comer's lecture. There were some three other students in his class. We felt privileged. Sometimes, lonely as well!
Wait a minute...I think I wanted to say something else in this post. Yeah..it was about choices. If there was something that we used in most of the programs it was the If-else loop. It comes quite handy in all programs. The syntax goes like this:
If (condition is met)
{do this}
else
{do this}
Right from the simple program needed to check whether a word is a palindrome or not to huge programs needed to hack passwords, one had to use the if-else loop. I wish real-life decision-making were so simple!
In real life the problem is not generally with "what to do" but it is with the "condition to be met". For example, on a Monday morning following an extended week end, if you are confused about which dress to wear the problem is not with the availability of choices, but with the "condition". For example, if (?) {khaki trousers, white full shirt} else {jet black formal trousers, sky blue full shirt}. Most of us have the choices, but "?" is the question mark! What is the condition to be met? Is it comfort/professional need/attitude/need to impress/something else? In this case, let us assume the "?" is to impress a team-mate. Based on this the if-else loop runs and we get to decide what to wear.
But the problem far from being over, as the answer to the "?" changes every morning. There are many other variables that go on to decide what comes in place of "?".
In fact we all have a separate program, whose output replaces "?" every morning. That program has many variables and a few more if-else loops! This coupled with an array of choices, especially for the ladies, creates a very complex multiple if-else loops whose output gets into the actual program, which again has multiple if-else loops that decides what one wears on a Monday morning! And just remember, after all this program was to decide which dress to wear!
What about the complexities involved in deciding, say a career or a spouse or a car? Mind-boggling! I do not dare to even attempt thinking of those programs in our heads that go into making such decisions! Added to the complexities is the fact that the output is highly subjective. What the programmer perceives as the correct result might invite insults from others. This typically happens when I see yellow Esteems with loud music! So, in many cases the outsider's perception about the quality of the output would also be getting into the if-else loop as a variable. But again, the weightage given to this variable varies from one to another. People with conformist mindset give this variable a very high weightage. On the other hand innovators and leaders might assign a default value, int wt=0. I say leaders because, though they might assign a good weightage to what others say they also a separate program to check up whether what is being said is sensible or not. For instance, there was a widespread dissent within the Congress party when Gandhi withdrew the Non Cooperation Movement abruptly after the Chauri Chaura incident. It was a highly unpopular decision during those times. But the leader, Gandhi, stood by that. That was because Gandhi had "filters" in his program. Those filters out rightly took the default value if others opinion swayed even a bit from his path of non-violence.
And that yellow Esteem was just to drive home the point; not to tell you that you could be a great leader if you have a car with a crazy colour!
But what decides whether one just follows or decides? I think education has a major role to play here. As someone had said Education is what is left once you have forgotten all the facts; education is not about asking students to memorise multiplication tables, the periodic table and the Clarke's tables! To put it simpler, the role of education is to shape one's personality. The teachers and parents are the ones who decide what type of person a kid turns into. Whether a kid becomes one more sheep in the herd or a pioneer depends on the kind of learning s/he is exposed to. Right from the nursery school days, importance is to be given to shaping a child's thinking. The child should be given more and more chances to take decisions; the child should also be made to know that it is okay to fail, as long as there is a learning from the bad decision. None can take 100% perfect decisions, all the 100 times.
Of course in shopping malls I have seen many tiny children instructing their parents where to go, what to buy, when to eat etc. The parents also oblige. I'm happy about it as long as it does not teach the kid how to be stubborn and win your way! It might be confusing, but yes - there has to be a delicate balance between being stubborn and being innovative; being a conformist and being an explorer. Who says parenting is an easy job?
But inside the classrooms, where the kids spend a major part of their lives, very little is done to kindle original thinking. In most of the schools the teachers' main goal is to keep the kids under "control". While I have a high regard for the teaching profession, I'm not okay with the system that makes a little kid memorise 16X16, but fails to make him/her ask "how?"; the system that helps little kids memorise the elements in a periodic table but fails to make them innovate; a system that wants you to follow others - not decide for yourself.
This method of teaching was like a free market. It boosted the competition among the instructors; jacked up the quality of the lectures; gave consumer (us) choices. I guess around six instructors handled CP-I. The most famous one was a lady instructor. She was brilliant; her overflowing classroom stood testimony to the fact. Students used to reserve seats for her class well in advance. Even the carpet area was crammed. In fact, left with no choice a few even sat outside the classroom to just hear her! That was the price the market (students) paid for quality. I was like a venture capitalist. I attended a new comer's lecture. There were some three other students in his class. We felt privileged. Sometimes, lonely as well!
Wait a minute...I think I wanted to say something else in this post. Yeah..it was about choices. If there was something that we used in most of the programs it was the If-else loop. It comes quite handy in all programs. The syntax goes like this:
If (condition is met)
{do this}
else
{do this}
Right from the simple program needed to check whether a word is a palindrome or not to huge programs needed to hack passwords, one had to use the if-else loop. I wish real-life decision-making were so simple!
In real life the problem is not generally with "what to do" but it is with the "condition to be met". For example, on a Monday morning following an extended week end, if you are confused about which dress to wear the problem is not with the availability of choices, but with the "condition". For example, if (?) {khaki trousers, white full shirt} else {jet black formal trousers, sky blue full shirt}. Most of us have the choices, but "?" is the question mark! What is the condition to be met? Is it comfort/professional need/attitude/need to impress/something else? In this case, let us assume the "?" is to impress a team-mate. Based on this the if-else loop runs and we get to decide what to wear.
But the problem far from being over, as the answer to the "?" changes every morning. There are many other variables that go on to decide what comes in place of "?".
In fact we all have a separate program, whose output replaces "?" every morning. That program has many variables and a few more if-else loops! This coupled with an array of choices, especially for the ladies, creates a very complex multiple if-else loops whose output gets into the actual program, which again has multiple if-else loops that decides what one wears on a Monday morning! And just remember, after all this program was to decide which dress to wear!
What about the complexities involved in deciding, say a career or a spouse or a car? Mind-boggling! I do not dare to even attempt thinking of those programs in our heads that go into making such decisions! Added to the complexities is the fact that the output is highly subjective. What the programmer perceives as the correct result might invite insults from others. This typically happens when I see yellow Esteems with loud music! So, in many cases the outsider's perception about the quality of the output would also be getting into the if-else loop as a variable. But again, the weightage given to this variable varies from one to another. People with conformist mindset give this variable a very high weightage. On the other hand innovators and leaders might assign a default value, int wt=0. I say leaders because, though they might assign a good weightage to what others say they also a separate program to check up whether what is being said is sensible or not. For instance, there was a widespread dissent within the Congress party when Gandhi withdrew the Non Cooperation Movement abruptly after the Chauri Chaura incident. It was a highly unpopular decision during those times. But the leader, Gandhi, stood by that. That was because Gandhi had "filters" in his program. Those filters out rightly took the default value if others opinion swayed even a bit from his path of non-violence.
And that yellow Esteem was just to drive home the point; not to tell you that you could be a great leader if you have a car with a crazy colour!
But what decides whether one just follows or decides? I think education has a major role to play here. As someone had said Education is what is left once you have forgotten all the facts; education is not about asking students to memorise multiplication tables, the periodic table and the Clarke's tables! To put it simpler, the role of education is to shape one's personality. The teachers and parents are the ones who decide what type of person a kid turns into. Whether a kid becomes one more sheep in the herd or a pioneer depends on the kind of learning s/he is exposed to. Right from the nursery school days, importance is to be given to shaping a child's thinking. The child should be given more and more chances to take decisions; the child should also be made to know that it is okay to fail, as long as there is a learning from the bad decision. None can take 100% perfect decisions, all the 100 times.
Of course in shopping malls I have seen many tiny children instructing their parents where to go, what to buy, when to eat etc. The parents also oblige. I'm happy about it as long as it does not teach the kid how to be stubborn and win your way! It might be confusing, but yes - there has to be a delicate balance between being stubborn and being innovative; being a conformist and being an explorer. Who says parenting is an easy job?
But inside the classrooms, where the kids spend a major part of their lives, very little is done to kindle original thinking. In most of the schools the teachers' main goal is to keep the kids under "control". While I have a high regard for the teaching profession, I'm not okay with the system that makes a little kid memorise 16X16, but fails to make him/her ask "how?"; the system that helps little kids memorise the elements in a periodic table but fails to make them innovate; a system that wants you to follow others - not decide for yourself.
My Hero
I was quite amused to see an exclusive showroom of Reynolds pens down the road. I still remember the little, fair kid who cutely stroked his face with his tiny finger, in that old Reynolds ball pen ad that ended with the tagline – Reynolds – The pen the world prefers. During those days I was thrilled by the ad; also by the lean white pen with the blue cap. I had it in my shirt pocket, during many days of my middle school life. It was a kind of fashion statement. The blue cap of Reynolds protruded elegantly out of the white pocket of my uniform shirt. Months rolled and dark pink or jet black cap of Reynolds pen replaced the blue ones. Reynolds had come out with pens that fully matched the colour of the pen’s soul – the refill. No more white body. The pen was of a single colour right from the head to the tail. Black was my favourite. The most frequently done activity with the pen was – practising various styles of my signature. Some were neat; some chic; some like the ECG report. Usually the last pages or the inside of the outer cover or some boring pages of the text books had such signature specimens. Signing in different fonts gave me a kick. It probably made me feel very important and popular. It probably gave form to the creativity inside. It probably told me, “Look, once you are a big man your signature is going to be a plain, boring one. Better try out many designs now and be happy”. Yes, I have a very bland signature now. I just write my name above the dotted line. In fact in one occasion the person collecting the filled application asked me why I had written my name in the box provided for my signature!
The pen policy of our school forced many of us to have two sets of pens. We were not allowed to use ball pen in the school. So, while Reynolds pen added to my style quotient the actual dog work was done by a good old fountain pen. It was usually a Camlin or King of Kings pen during the high school days. It required a lot of skill to fill ink in these fountain pens without turning the fingers blue with Bril. A kerchief or a bit of white cloth from an abandoned vest was always useful. Fountain pens also had another problem – they can go dry at crucial times. Some teachers do not like students to borrow pens while the classes go on. Some fountain pens found it interesting to go empty during such classes. During such times it required a specific knack to borrow a pen from someone, without getting the teacher’s attention. But as I grew up the Reynolds cap was replaced by the shiny, golden clip of the black fountain pen. It gave a high.
“Made in China” was not something really bad those days. Or was it “Made in Korea”? I’m not sure. But Hero pen was something that defined one’s personality those days. The dark brown(?) body and the golden cap can never be forgotten. The pointed nib produced an excellent flow of words. But the pen took some time to get “set”. During the first few days after purchase the writing was somewhat sharp and the flow was not very pleasant. But in a matter of another couple of days, Hero was one’s best friend. Hero just effortlessly swam on the white sheets of paper. I had my Hero with me for more than 5-6 years, right from my Class XI. I gave my XII Board exams with that pen. Apart from the classy touch and royal look another attraction of Hero was the ink filler it had. Though the capacity of the filler was not very much it ensured that Bril did not spoil our fingers anymore. Also, the capacity was quite sufficient to complete one paper of the Class XII exams. It was quite a delight to go to school with a set Hero in the pocket. It really gave me a kick. I had tried a black Hero too for some days; but it did not get set. My favourite Hero was with me well till the end of college life. I was quite sentimental about it. In fact, if my memory is not very week, I guess my Hero had found a place in our Class XII group photograph too. I’m happy about it. Generally, like many others, I too was not comfortable lending my Hero to someone. I had a spare one for borrowers.
It is a different matter that I did not get a chance to use that Hero extensively after the XII Board exams. My quality of preparation, intelligence level and the nature of exams in our college compelled me to settle for very ordinary pens like – the blue Reynolds!
The pen policy of our school forced many of us to have two sets of pens. We were not allowed to use ball pen in the school. So, while Reynolds pen added to my style quotient the actual dog work was done by a good old fountain pen. It was usually a Camlin or King of Kings pen during the high school days. It required a lot of skill to fill ink in these fountain pens without turning the fingers blue with Bril. A kerchief or a bit of white cloth from an abandoned vest was always useful. Fountain pens also had another problem – they can go dry at crucial times. Some teachers do not like students to borrow pens while the classes go on. Some fountain pens found it interesting to go empty during such classes. During such times it required a specific knack to borrow a pen from someone, without getting the teacher’s attention. But as I grew up the Reynolds cap was replaced by the shiny, golden clip of the black fountain pen. It gave a high.
“Made in China” was not something really bad those days. Or was it “Made in Korea”? I’m not sure. But Hero pen was something that defined one’s personality those days. The dark brown(?) body and the golden cap can never be forgotten. The pointed nib produced an excellent flow of words. But the pen took some time to get “set”. During the first few days after purchase the writing was somewhat sharp and the flow was not very pleasant. But in a matter of another couple of days, Hero was one’s best friend. Hero just effortlessly swam on the white sheets of paper. I had my Hero with me for more than 5-6 years, right from my Class XI. I gave my XII Board exams with that pen. Apart from the classy touch and royal look another attraction of Hero was the ink filler it had. Though the capacity of the filler was not very much it ensured that Bril did not spoil our fingers anymore. Also, the capacity was quite sufficient to complete one paper of the Class XII exams. It was quite a delight to go to school with a set Hero in the pocket. It really gave me a kick. I had tried a black Hero too for some days; but it did not get set. My favourite Hero was with me well till the end of college life. I was quite sentimental about it. In fact, if my memory is not very week, I guess my Hero had found a place in our Class XII group photograph too. I’m happy about it. Generally, like many others, I too was not comfortable lending my Hero to someone. I had a spare one for borrowers.
It is a different matter that I did not get a chance to use that Hero extensively after the XII Board exams. My quality of preparation, intelligence level and the nature of exams in our college compelled me to settle for very ordinary pens like – the blue Reynolds!
Cries and Whispers
I have been going through a mental turmoil since a few days back – some personal, some professional. While the personal category does not vary much in between us; the professional side might. Lying on a mat in a neat, owen-like room on an open terrace, I watched a few movies. Thanks to Lenovo. Well, the problem has nothing to do with the hot sun and humid air. But with what I saw. After having seen films like Pithamagan, The Silence Of The Lambs etc I actually thought I can endure any form of violence on screen. I, along with a few others, had also developed the knack of discussing blood on screen, quite objectively. Though I personally might not want them shown on screen; these bloody scenes did not actually terrorise me, or even move me.
I had been to the libraries of one of the film academies in Chennai and a friend gave me a few films that fell in his “Classics” category. The Green Mile. (1999/Eng) I am not someone who is up-to-date with Hollywood films. No wonder I had not seen this movie released almost a decade back. Excellent movie! The way Hollywood blends reality with fantasy is just amazing. The film is superbly realistic to the point of giving space for fantasy; the film is also a fantastic dream that permits practicality. The script maintains the "What next?" feeling till the last moment, and never lets you to take off your eyes. Casting of the film also needs a special mention, especially the person chosen as John Coffey. He clearly sends a chill down the spine; he is also pitiable. You feel like crying with him.
The film makes you hopeful; it makes you sick. It makes you cry; it makes you hate. It makes you see life. I wish I had seen this movie on the full screen, when it was shown in my college years back.
I checked out the Oscars 2000 list. I was eager to know The Green Mile’s standing. Any guess? If you have not seen the film you may do that before making the guess. Yes! You are wrong! Films like American Beauty, Boys Don’t Cry, The Matrix, The Cider House Rules etc ensured that nobody from the The Green Mile team was called on stage! Incidentally, The Sixth Sense too met the same fate that year.
Well, where is the turmoil I was speaking about? I also watched Cries and Whispers. (1973/Swe)
I had been to the libraries of one of the film academies in Chennai and a friend gave me a few films that fell in his “Classics” category. The Green Mile. (1999/Eng) I am not someone who is up-to-date with Hollywood films. No wonder I had not seen this movie released almost a decade back. Excellent movie! The way Hollywood blends reality with fantasy is just amazing. The film is superbly realistic to the point of giving space for fantasy; the film is also a fantastic dream that permits practicality. The script maintains the "What next?" feeling till the last moment, and never lets you to take off your eyes. Casting of the film also needs a special mention, especially the person chosen as John Coffey. He clearly sends a chill down the spine; he is also pitiable. You feel like crying with him.
The film makes you hopeful; it makes you sick. It makes you cry; it makes you hate. It makes you see life. I wish I had seen this movie on the full screen, when it was shown in my college years back.
I checked out the Oscars 2000 list. I was eager to know The Green Mile’s standing. Any guess? If you have not seen the film you may do that before making the guess. Yes! You are wrong! Films like American Beauty, Boys Don’t Cry, The Matrix, The Cider House Rules etc ensured that nobody from the The Green Mile team was called on stage! Incidentally, The Sixth Sense too met the same fate that year.
Well, where is the turmoil I was speaking about? I also watched Cries and Whispers. (1973/Swe)
Sadanand Menon
This gentleman is not a freedom fighter or someone like that, so don't feel bad if this name does not ring a bell. There are some people who are actually good at their job - be it dancing, driving, toilet cleaning, teaching etc. There is the next bunch that strives to be good at whatever they do. The third, funny group has people without any skill whatsoever. However this noisiest bunch craves for attention, identity. So how does this group go about making news? Just check this out.
Addendum:With reference to Muthuvel's comment - I would not have had any problems had that so-called film review been published under the title I hate Kamal. But when it is given as a movie review - it makes a mockery of the readers as well. I really don't know how this "movie review" passed the editor's desk!
And something interesting is happening here. Earlier I was irritated.Now am thoroughly baffled by the way the media's minds work!
Addendum:With reference to Muthuvel's comment - I would not have had any problems had that so-called film review been published under the title I hate Kamal. But when it is given as a movie review - it makes a mockery of the readers as well. I really don't know how this "movie review" passed the editor's desk!
And something interesting is happening here. Earlier I was irritated.Now am thoroughly baffled by the way the media's minds work!
First day, first row
I had the double privilege of watching the much-hyped Dasavatharam on the very first day of its release, from the very first row. The film opens like an epic and progressively falls flat till the end. However, hatsoff to Kamal and Co for executing such a complex script. Watch the film just to know there are still people in Indian cinema, who at least dream of global standards. Great efforts!
By the way looking at the blog archives I realise it has been more than two months since I did something here. And that's the primary reason for this post. Thank you!
The real me
I did not want to write on anything even remotely connected with the interviews as I felt it was already an over-dose of it. But the exigency of the situation warrants me to break this resolution!! The situation is this – after reading that series on interviews, and getting some tips over phone and emails some of my friends have concluded that I’m some kind of a superman of interviews. They think I have mastered some secret techniques to crack any interview. Initially I was happy with this image, but when I actually dug deep into my memories of interviews, what I saw was just ridiculous episodes full of naïve replies and brainless reactions. And thus was born this post.
I should have appeared in a little over thirty interviews till now, including the mock interviews I had taken for last year’s exams. Out of these a major portion – thirteen! – went in getting me a campus placement some four years back when I was about to passout of b-school. I should have been in the group of students having the poorest strike rate.
During those days Infosys, and BPCL were my dream companies. After sitting through the routine of PPT (Pre-Placement Talk) of Infy I was quite happy to hear that I was short listed for the interview. In fact there was no GD (Group Discussion) component; it was direct interview for some twenty five of us. After floundering with some basic info on my summer project the last question I faced was “Which career path you would like to take in Infosys?”. I was totally blank as I did not remember distinctly the two career paths these guys had explained during their PPT. Without finding a better answer, with a confused yet confident look, I just said “Sir, the consulting..er..the second career path that was shown in your presentation, I mean the analyst…mmm..yes sir”. “Okay, thank you Rajan”! Infosys dream shattered.
To make us (the MBA students) more sellable to the companies our institute had organised some mock interviews. These mocks were shot with video cameras and were then played in the classrooms – to practically show us where we failed and how to improve, how to refine body language etc. My mock went on well and I was as usual very confident inside the room. I was very happy that I handled well but there was just one thing that went off the mark, and this was shown to the whole class when the video was played. The panel was asking me something like this “Okay Mr.Sundar, tell us what kind of programming you would choose if you are heading a media organisation?” Here is where the innocence (brilliance?) of Mr.Sundar comes to play, beaming at the panel, “Sir it is actually a very difficult question to answer”. Laughter all over the classroom. The best part is that some even congratulated me for that smart answer.
A major debacle that refuses to go away from my memory is the interview with SRF, during my last semester of engineering. To put it briefly – irrespective of the branch of engineering, most of us were aiming to get into software companies. And companies too did not have problems picking a chemical engineer for java programming. The aptitude tests as well the interviews were aimed at checking only the logical/analytical thinking/programming knowledge of the students. Nothing connected to their actual branch of studies. As luck would have it was severe recession in the year we passed out, 2002. Software companies did not turn up.
I landed in the interview room of SRF ltd. The very first question “How was your apti?”, “Sir, the gen apti was okay. The technical apti was not that okay”. (The gen apti has mathematical/logical questions; the tech apti had questions on chemical engineering subjects) There was a sarcastic smile on the gentleman’s face. I got the signal that it is going to be a tough time recollecting those chemical fundas that are about to prop up now. Those stuff that I had learnt for a week the last week, those I should have learnt for a year, a year back. What happened for the next 10-15 mins was something like ragging. It started off with the basic question that one sees in the Std.VI science books “What happens when a ship enters a river, upstream from a sea?” I remembered the school book answer and gave it, quite excited that I could crack this fluid mechanics problem; forgetting I was expected to answer like a chemical engineer and not like a school kid. A battery of questions followed, just to re-establish the by-then-well-established fact that I knew just the spelling of chemical (is it not chemikal?) engineering and nothing beyond it. The difficulty level of the questions took an inverted-U shaped curve and ended somewhere close to the X axis. It was “Ok, at least tell us the author of your mass transfer book”. Having been through the roller coaster ride till now I was still feeling dizzy. “Sir….mass transfer..Treybal..Smith..Mm..sir..,TP1…sir..” Those gentlemen went mad. The next two minutes are censored here. I emerged out of the interview room with a nod and a sheepish smiling. Life is bigger than chemical engineering, I told myself.
My WIPRO interview during the MBA campus placements is a landmark episode in itself. After having cracked the GD – it was in fact one of my best GDs. (the other one was for BPCL) I as quite confident as if already I had made the job. To fuel my confidence level, there was no panel as such to interview me – it was only one interviewer. Can’t I convince just one soul to offer me the job? Of course, I can. Full of confidence and a little arrogance I happily took the Marie biscuit this person offered me during the interview. “Why do you want to join us?” By now I was very sure that I was already a WIPROite. Nothing that I had prepared for this question came to my mind, as an instant answer I just told him “..because WIPRO does not have any training programme for its fresh MBA recruits. I would like to start working rightaway..” I remembered hearing in the PPT that the training session was not conducted the previous year. But looks like it was a case of selective perception. He shot back, a little disoriented, “What! It was an aberration last year. In fact we are known for our training programme”. Needless to say what happened with my tryst with WIPRO.
Serendipity can kill. It was the summer placement season in the b-school campus and I, the smart engineer, was short-listed for one of the promising companies that also offered to pay us well– the same old SRF!! It is not over here. After the basic Hello, introduction etc of the telephonic interview, the caller asked “Do you remember me?” Within a second, though I hated to do so, I realised it was the same person who ragged..sorry, interviewed me in BITS some months back! He added “How is your chemical engineering now?” I said “Not any better than some months back sir, but my management is good”. He did not seem to bother about the second part of the statement. Anyway, I was not in a great mood to care for it. After all, life has more than chemical engineering.
I should have appeared in a little over thirty interviews till now, including the mock interviews I had taken for last year’s exams. Out of these a major portion – thirteen! – went in getting me a campus placement some four years back when I was about to passout of b-school. I should have been in the group of students having the poorest strike rate.
During those days Infosys, and BPCL were my dream companies. After sitting through the routine of PPT (Pre-Placement Talk) of Infy I was quite happy to hear that I was short listed for the interview. In fact there was no GD (Group Discussion) component; it was direct interview for some twenty five of us. After floundering with some basic info on my summer project the last question I faced was “Which career path you would like to take in Infosys?”. I was totally blank as I did not remember distinctly the two career paths these guys had explained during their PPT. Without finding a better answer, with a confused yet confident look, I just said “Sir, the consulting..er..the second career path that was shown in your presentation, I mean the analyst…mmm..yes sir”. “Okay, thank you Rajan”! Infosys dream shattered.
To make us (the MBA students) more sellable to the companies our institute had organised some mock interviews. These mocks were shot with video cameras and were then played in the classrooms – to practically show us where we failed and how to improve, how to refine body language etc. My mock went on well and I was as usual very confident inside the room. I was very happy that I handled well but there was just one thing that went off the mark, and this was shown to the whole class when the video was played. The panel was asking me something like this “Okay Mr.Sundar, tell us what kind of programming you would choose if you are heading a media organisation?” Here is where the innocence (brilliance?) of Mr.Sundar comes to play, beaming at the panel, “Sir it is actually a very difficult question to answer”. Laughter all over the classroom. The best part is that some even congratulated me for that smart answer.
A major debacle that refuses to go away from my memory is the interview with SRF, during my last semester of engineering. To put it briefly – irrespective of the branch of engineering, most of us were aiming to get into software companies. And companies too did not have problems picking a chemical engineer for java programming. The aptitude tests as well the interviews were aimed at checking only the logical/analytical thinking/programming knowledge of the students. Nothing connected to their actual branch of studies. As luck would have it was severe recession in the year we passed out, 2002. Software companies did not turn up.
I landed in the interview room of SRF ltd. The very first question “How was your apti?”, “Sir, the gen apti was okay. The technical apti was not that okay”. (The gen apti has mathematical/logical questions; the tech apti had questions on chemical engineering subjects) There was a sarcastic smile on the gentleman’s face. I got the signal that it is going to be a tough time recollecting those chemical fundas that are about to prop up now. Those stuff that I had learnt for a week the last week, those I should have learnt for a year, a year back. What happened for the next 10-15 mins was something like ragging. It started off with the basic question that one sees in the Std.VI science books “What happens when a ship enters a river, upstream from a sea?” I remembered the school book answer and gave it, quite excited that I could crack this fluid mechanics problem; forgetting I was expected to answer like a chemical engineer and not like a school kid. A battery of questions followed, just to re-establish the by-then-well-established fact that I knew just the spelling of chemical (is it not chemikal?) engineering and nothing beyond it. The difficulty level of the questions took an inverted-U shaped curve and ended somewhere close to the X axis. It was “Ok, at least tell us the author of your mass transfer book”. Having been through the roller coaster ride till now I was still feeling dizzy. “Sir….mass transfer..Treybal..Smith..Mm..sir..,TP1…sir..” Those gentlemen went mad. The next two minutes are censored here. I emerged out of the interview room with a nod and a sheepish smiling. Life is bigger than chemical engineering, I told myself.
My WIPRO interview during the MBA campus placements is a landmark episode in itself. After having cracked the GD – it was in fact one of my best GDs. (the other one was for BPCL) I as quite confident as if already I had made the job. To fuel my confidence level, there was no panel as such to interview me – it was only one interviewer. Can’t I convince just one soul to offer me the job? Of course, I can. Full of confidence and a little arrogance I happily took the Marie biscuit this person offered me during the interview. “Why do you want to join us?” By now I was very sure that I was already a WIPROite. Nothing that I had prepared for this question came to my mind, as an instant answer I just told him “..because WIPRO does not have any training programme for its fresh MBA recruits. I would like to start working rightaway..” I remembered hearing in the PPT that the training session was not conducted the previous year. But looks like it was a case of selective perception. He shot back, a little disoriented, “What! It was an aberration last year. In fact we are known for our training programme”. Needless to say what happened with my tryst with WIPRO.
Serendipity can kill. It was the summer placement season in the b-school campus and I, the smart engineer, was short-listed for one of the promising companies that also offered to pay us well– the same old SRF!! It is not over here. After the basic Hello, introduction etc of the telephonic interview, the caller asked “Do you remember me?” Within a second, though I hated to do so, I realised it was the same person who ragged..sorry, interviewed me in BITS some months back! He added “How is your chemical engineering now?” I said “Not any better than some months back sir, but my management is good”. He did not seem to bother about the second part of the statement. Anyway, I was not in a great mood to care for it. After all, life has more than chemical engineering.
First day, first show
My friend Sadayappan (BITS-Pilani, Dual degree - Chemistry/CompSci Engg) had his interview today. This was his first mains, second attempt. He had worked with an IT firm for some time before taking the exams. This is what happened inside Mr.E.Balaguruswamy's chamber today for about 40 mins, in Sadayappan's own words.
"Chairperson:
Did you have anything outside? How was the tea?
Tell me about your district (for 1 min).
You should have got a good placement in campus? Then why did you leave the job?
What is dual degree?
Which is the by-product? Chemistry or computer science?
What are your hobbies?
1st member:
Tell me about food adulteration. How it can be controlled?
How did coco cola give different test results in the span of one week?
What are the methods done in for testing these kind of beverages?
How would you stop food adulteration as a bureaucrat?
Tell me some of the problems caused by computers.
What is impression finding? How well it is developed in India?
2nd member:
What is governance? (I had already mentioned about 'governance' in one of my earlier answers)
What is good governance?
'The government which governs the least is the best government'. Comment.
What is literacy rate in your State?
How often it is calculated?
Do you find any pattern of literacy in your district?
What is the burning issue 'today' ? (inflation)
What is the government doing today to tackle this issue ? (cabinet committee)
Tell me where who have come close to the government.
Do you know that your financial benefits (w.r.t fifth pay commission not sixth) will be less here when compared to software job?
3rd member:
Tell me about Tanjore painting.
What was the issue of badminton and bird flu?
Which badminton event was stopped because of that?
What is your opinion about the coming up of malls?
Explain character, integrity and honesty.
4th member:
How is chemistry going to help computers?
Tell me about C 60 and its applications.
How computer is going to help chemistry?
If you become collector in your district which issue you would address which today's collector is not able to solve?
How will you tackle political pressures?
Will you resign your job when you are harassed and will you go back to software sector?
Chairperson:
What Sadayappan is the interview over?
Do you have anything to ask us?
Be frank..Do you think we five (referring to the interview board) can solve any burning issues?
..thats how it ended.
Many technical questions I flunked. Overall it was cordial. The board helped me to keep myself cool."
For more details sadayappan@gmail.com
"Chairperson:
Did you have anything outside? How was the tea?
Tell me about your district (for 1 min).
You should have got a good placement in campus? Then why did you leave the job?
What is dual degree?
Which is the by-product? Chemistry or computer science?
What are your hobbies?
1st member:
Tell me about food adulteration. How it can be controlled?
How did coco cola give different test results in the span of one week?
What are the methods done in for testing these kind of beverages?
How would you stop food adulteration as a bureaucrat?
Tell me some of the problems caused by computers.
What is impression finding? How well it is developed in India?
2nd member:
What is governance? (I had already mentioned about 'governance' in one of my earlier answers)
What is good governance?
'The government which governs the least is the best government'. Comment.
What is literacy rate in your State?
How often it is calculated?
Do you find any pattern of literacy in your district?
What is the burning issue 'today' ? (inflation)
What is the government doing today to tackle this issue ? (cabinet committee)
Tell me where who have come close to the government.
Do you know that your financial benefits (w.r.t fifth pay commission not sixth) will be less here when compared to software job?
3rd member:
Tell me about Tanjore painting.
What was the issue of badminton and bird flu?
Which badminton event was stopped because of that?
What is your opinion about the coming up of malls?
Explain character, integrity and honesty.
4th member:
How is chemistry going to help computers?
Tell me about C 60 and its applications.
How computer is going to help chemistry?
If you become collector in your district which issue you would address which today's collector is not able to solve?
How will you tackle political pressures?
Will you resign your job when you are harassed and will you go back to software sector?
Chairperson:
What Sadayappan is the interview over?
Do you have anything to ask us?
Be frank..Do you think we five (referring to the interview board) can solve any burning issues?
..thats how it ended.
Many technical questions I flunked. Overall it was cordial. The board helped me to keep myself cool."
For more details sadayappan@gmail.com
SadaiIntvw © pp2008
The D-day
CSE Interviews - concluding Part
The CSE Personality Tests start tomorrow. At this point of time there is not much to add but just that - Be yourself. Do not lose your cool.
Have in mind that you are already in the top one per cent and its just the finishing touch that is happening today.
Just be natural. All the best!
Have in mind that you are already in the top one per cent and its just the finishing touch that is happening today.
Just be natural. All the best!
The high decibel days
CSE Interviews – Part II
The results are out, and as usual there are many shocks that make us believe that the theme of UPSC happens to be “uncertainty”. Here I just have one thing for those deserving candidates who have failed to make it – something much bigger is waiting for you. Just take time out, and get ready for the next onslaught at the exams. Success is just a matter of time.
Here we will see what is to be done during the high decibel days – from the time of the mains results to the day before interview. To save my time as well make it more readable for you this is given in a kind of FAQs format.
Should I join coaching?
Yes and no. Yes – if you are looking forward to taking some mock sessions. No – if you are going to solely rely on the coaching to understand what is happening around you. Though the rapid current affairs classes are useful in making you aware of where to focus and where not to, they are not useful in terms of the depth of coverage. In fact it is not possible for the institutes to do that within the short time frame. The coaching classes are done under the presumption that you have done your groundwork well. Also try avoiding religion/caste-based coaching institutes.
“I do not feel confident, I’m overloaded with facts”
Unless one utters these statements, one is not going in the right track! Given the nature of the interview it is very normal to feel pressurised, insecure etc. Take it in the right spirit; the following steps might help boost your esteem levels.
• Be thorough with your mains form
• Be systematic in acquiring and absorbing information
• Take time out, think about key issues like – women empowerment, terrorism, corruption, democracy etc. (this would help in handling the third category of questions confidently)
• Maintain a positive outlook
• Visualise/Mentally create the interview environment while practising answers for the expected questions like Tell me about yourself, why civil services after BE-MBA? etc
• Give quality mock interviews
• Just have in mind that this is not a knowledge test
About mock interviews?
Never be afraid to appear in mock interviews. In fact mock sesions form the backbone of the preparation. One should definitely give 4-5 mock interviews. Do a benchmark mock interview in the next 3-4 days. Take another 2-3 mocks in the last week of March, depending on your interview date. And the final mock about 2 days before the actual D-day. Take the help of quality coaching institutes, seniors, and those who have appeared in the interview earlier.
Ensure that your first and the last mocks are with top quality people. A bad feedback can spoil your career! Take the last mock in your formal/interview attire – especially if you are not used to wearing tie, blazer etc – for men, and sarees – for women. (Am making it so explicit just to avoid some ridiculous comments from CosmicNoises)
How to improve communication skills?
This is something that is totally under our control, as we often see people from villages around towns like Tirunelveli start speaking US English within a few weeks of joining a call centre. If they can, why not you? The next two weeks are enough to significantly improve one’s oral communication skills / spoken English. Also, just remember that the interview is being conducted to recruit civil servants not news readers or receptionists – you need not have any hi-fi accent; just clear, confident, communication is expected.
• Read aloud for about 20 minutes daily. This can be a news item or the editorial. If possible record it once and hear it. This will come a long way in helping you.
• Speak slowly, do not rush while speaking.
• Rehearse/Visualise/Voice out. Especially answers for the expected questions like How will your hobby, watching films, be useful to you as a Police officer?, Why should you be made an IFS officer? etc.
During the interview -
DOs:
• Smile. Be pleasant
• Maintain a confident posture
• Listen the question carefully
• Take 2-3 seconds before you start answering. In fact, even for the questions like What is your name? take some time to answer
• Be flexible. If you really see a point in what someone else is saying, accept it
• Maintain eye contact with all the members from time to time
• Feel free to say "sorry I don't know", when you actualy don't know something
DON'Ts:
• Enter the room without the Board’s permission
• Take your seat without being offered
• Place your hands on the desk
• Speak fast
• Have a casual attitude. Don’t utter words like – ya / ok / cool etc
• Make bold body gestures
• Guess answers without the Board’s permission
• Argue with the Board. If you have to disagree with someone, do it politely
• Compromise on values
Just remember these points over the next two weeks, use in your mock sessions and by the time of your interview, these will be a part of your habit. Else one is likely to flounder under pressure on the D-day.
Keep head cool! Good luck!
Here we will see what is to be done during the high decibel days – from the time of the mains results to the day before interview. To save my time as well make it more readable for you this is given in a kind of FAQs format.
Should I join coaching?
Yes and no. Yes – if you are looking forward to taking some mock sessions. No – if you are going to solely rely on the coaching to understand what is happening around you. Though the rapid current affairs classes are useful in making you aware of where to focus and where not to, they are not useful in terms of the depth of coverage. In fact it is not possible for the institutes to do that within the short time frame. The coaching classes are done under the presumption that you have done your groundwork well. Also try avoiding religion/caste-based coaching institutes.
“I do not feel confident, I’m overloaded with facts”
Unless one utters these statements, one is not going in the right track! Given the nature of the interview it is very normal to feel pressurised, insecure etc. Take it in the right spirit; the following steps might help boost your esteem levels.
• Be thorough with your mains form
• Be systematic in acquiring and absorbing information
• Take time out, think about key issues like – women empowerment, terrorism, corruption, democracy etc. (this would help in handling the third category of questions confidently)
• Maintain a positive outlook
• Visualise/Mentally create the interview environment while practising answers for the expected questions like Tell me about yourself, why civil services after BE-MBA? etc
• Give quality mock interviews
• Just have in mind that this is not a knowledge test
About mock interviews?
Never be afraid to appear in mock interviews. In fact mock sesions form the backbone of the preparation. One should definitely give 4-5 mock interviews. Do a benchmark mock interview in the next 3-4 days. Take another 2-3 mocks in the last week of March, depending on your interview date. And the final mock about 2 days before the actual D-day. Take the help of quality coaching institutes, seniors, and those who have appeared in the interview earlier.
Ensure that your first and the last mocks are with top quality people. A bad feedback can spoil your career! Take the last mock in your formal/interview attire – especially if you are not used to wearing tie, blazer etc – for men, and sarees – for women. (Am making it so explicit just to avoid some ridiculous comments from CosmicNoises)
How to improve communication skills?
This is something that is totally under our control, as we often see people from villages around towns like Tirunelveli start speaking US English within a few weeks of joining a call centre. If they can, why not you? The next two weeks are enough to significantly improve one’s oral communication skills / spoken English. Also, just remember that the interview is being conducted to recruit civil servants not news readers or receptionists – you need not have any hi-fi accent; just clear, confident, communication is expected.
• Read aloud for about 20 minutes daily. This can be a news item or the editorial. If possible record it once and hear it. This will come a long way in helping you.
• Speak slowly, do not rush while speaking.
• Rehearse/Visualise/Voice out. Especially answers for the expected questions like How will your hobby, watching films, be useful to you as a Police officer?, Why should you be made an IFS officer? etc.
During the interview -
DOs:
• Smile. Be pleasant
• Maintain a confident posture
• Listen the question carefully
• Take 2-3 seconds before you start answering. In fact, even for the questions like What is your name? take some time to answer
• Be flexible. If you really see a point in what someone else is saying, accept it
• Maintain eye contact with all the members from time to time
• Feel free to say "sorry I don't know", when you actualy don't know something
DON'Ts:
• Enter the room without the Board’s permission
• Take your seat without being offered
• Place your hands on the desk
• Speak fast
• Have a casual attitude. Don’t utter words like – ya / ok / cool etc
• Make bold body gestures
• Guess answers without the Board’s permission
• Argue with the Board. If you have to disagree with someone, do it politely
• Compromise on values
Just remember these points over the next two weeks, use in your mock sessions and by the time of your interview, these will be a part of your habit. Else one is likely to flounder under pressure on the D-day.
Keep head cool! Good luck!
Before the results are out...
CSE Interviews – Part I
After silencing his critics with his bat in the final matches of the recent one-day series in Australia, Tendulkar had the following to say on his hectic season, “….These are the demands cricketers have to prepare for. Its tough when one plays a day/night match, gets back to the room, packs the bags and takes the morning flight, settles down again and be mentally prepared for the next match”. You have toiled your way through the tricky prelims and gruelling mains spanning over a year or many – Congrats! But the war is far from being over. Just get your body and mind ready for the last lap of the CSE. This is the shortest, yet the most crucial lap. Shortest, because in a matter of another 60 days one gets to know what had happened over the last many months of preparation. Most crucial, because there is a huge chunk of marks waiting to be scored. It might be needless at this point to remind that every single mark matters.
In this Part we would see what one needs to do / have done even before the mains results are out. The next Part would cover the high intensity period – from the time of the mains results to the Interview day. Part III would speak about things to be done on the D-day.
Firstly get the purpose of the interview very clearly. (By the way it is officially called the Personality Test) These are some of the pointers taken from the UPSC site about the interview “….natural, directed and purposive conversation”, “…to reveal the mental qualities”. This means that it is not going to be merely a question-answer type interview or something like the viva voce one gives in college. Interview is not a test of one’s knowledge – that has been tested thoroughly over the year – it is a test of one’s personality and suitability for the career.
Questions like What are your views on the Rs.60,000 crore farm loan waiver?, What do you think is the lasting solution to the Tibet problem?, Tell us something about the recent developments in genetics etc are not intended to check whether one is a walking wikipedia or not. They are intended to unfold one’s personality whether one is –
• having the capacity to provide social leadership
• showing interest in the world affairs across a variety of areas
• open to learning new things
• honest and value-bound
• able to make logical explanations/judgements
• able to communicate confidently
(Don’t waste your time wondering whether all the civil servants who have scored well in the interview possess these qualities or not. Though it is quite an interesting time-pass it erodes your belief in the system. And that’s not the best thing to do now)
Having got the purpose of the interview, it time to move on to the actual preparation stage. We can broadly classify the interview questions like this:
• Mains form
• National/World events
• Situational/Personal
Your Mains form is the primary tool of the panel to unfold your personality. Handle it well and more than half the battle is won. The most important thing is to be thorough with every single item in the Mains application form. Thorough means knowing at least two levels in that area. Every single item means, well, every single item. For example, if you have filled the mail address as abc@gmail.com, Expect questions like Why did you choose your mail address with google?, Do you think google earth is a threat to our security?, What are your views on MS-Yahoo takeover battles?. I hope “Thorough” and “Every single item” are clear now.
In your register allot a page for every item in your Mains form; brainstorm and jot down the most relevant questions under the item. At this stage your aim is not to look up for answers but just to think of possible questions. You may team up with 2-3 others to generate such questions. For broad areas like home state and district you classify the questions under categories like Historical/ Geographical/ Political/ Economic/ Social. This structured approach will help you in generating varied questions as well managing information.
Start looking for the answers from reliable sources like Government documents, authentic websites, college brochures etc. If possible just write down some pointers near the questions or just give reference to the answer source. Keep the sources ready in the form of printouts/paper clippings/softcopy etc. Be systematic; else be ready for nightmares towards the fag end when one finds it almost impossible to manage information. Prepare on your academic areas as well optional papers on similar lines. Get the basics right.
Once you are ready with your Mains form its time to move towards the second category – national/world happenings including science and technology, art, sports etc. Identifying the key areas for this section is also quite easy. For example – China Olympics/ Sub prime crisis/ Chandraayan/ Coral reefs/ Rural developmenmt/ Hybrid cars/ Judicial activism/ Kosovo/ AIDS/ Pakistan politics etc need to be prepared well. Sit as a group and generate such topics under some broad headings. Develop questions under each topic and be strong with the basics. Here again rely on authentic sources for information.
Don’t you think you are wasting your MBBS degree by opting for civil service?, As the PM's Special Economic Adviser what would be your take on balancing growth-inflation?, Whom would you prefer – an honest but inefficient officer or a corrupt but smart officer?, Why do you prefer IAS, is it because of the power and dowry it fetches you?, As a DM what would be your immediate and long term steps to curb naxalism in your district? Such questions fall under the third category. Generate many such questions, sitting with your group of friends. The answers do not need any help from external sources like the net, all answers are inside you. Probably you may speak with some seniors to get the process going. Just take time out, spend hours on such questions and develop a very clear thought process on issues like integrity/career preference etc. Unless one is ultra confident on such issues, it will not be very difficult for the panel to spot your weakness. Be careful!
While the third category can be prepared in the days after the results, the first two areas need more time and form the foundation. So get going….!
There is an interesting, very useful book “Interviews Redefined” by Sh.M.K.S.Sundaram. This book is a compilation of interviews of many civil servants. It can give you a very clear perspective about the nature of questions to be expected and more. My interview preparation started with this book; though I do not claim to have made some exceptional marks am kind of happy with my 195. Also go through "India after Indepedence" by Bipin Chandra, and "Development and Participation" by Amartya Sen/Jean Dreze. Need not memorise these books, but be selective and get your fundamentals clear.You may also check out Guhan, Anurag, Vivek.
In this Part we would see what one needs to do / have done even before the mains results are out. The next Part would cover the high intensity period – from the time of the mains results to the Interview day. Part III would speak about things to be done on the D-day.
Firstly get the purpose of the interview very clearly. (By the way it is officially called the Personality Test) These are some of the pointers taken from the UPSC site about the interview “….natural, directed and purposive conversation”, “…to reveal the mental qualities”. This means that it is not going to be merely a question-answer type interview or something like the viva voce one gives in college. Interview is not a test of one’s knowledge – that has been tested thoroughly over the year – it is a test of one’s personality and suitability for the career.
Questions like What are your views on the Rs.60,000 crore farm loan waiver?, What do you think is the lasting solution to the Tibet problem?, Tell us something about the recent developments in genetics etc are not intended to check whether one is a walking wikipedia or not. They are intended to unfold one’s personality whether one is –
• having the capacity to provide social leadership
• showing interest in the world affairs across a variety of areas
• open to learning new things
• honest and value-bound
• able to make logical explanations/judgements
• able to communicate confidently
(Don’t waste your time wondering whether all the civil servants who have scored well in the interview possess these qualities or not. Though it is quite an interesting time-pass it erodes your belief in the system. And that’s not the best thing to do now)
Having got the purpose of the interview, it time to move on to the actual preparation stage. We can broadly classify the interview questions like this:
• Mains form
• National/World events
• Situational/Personal
Your Mains form is the primary tool of the panel to unfold your personality. Handle it well and more than half the battle is won. The most important thing is to be thorough with every single item in the Mains application form. Thorough means knowing at least two levels in that area. Every single item means, well, every single item. For example, if you have filled the mail address as abc@gmail.com, Expect questions like Why did you choose your mail address with google?, Do you think google earth is a threat to our security?, What are your views on MS-Yahoo takeover battles?. I hope “Thorough” and “Every single item” are clear now.
In your register allot a page for every item in your Mains form; brainstorm and jot down the most relevant questions under the item. At this stage your aim is not to look up for answers but just to think of possible questions. You may team up with 2-3 others to generate such questions. For broad areas like home state and district you classify the questions under categories like Historical/ Geographical/ Political/ Economic/ Social. This structured approach will help you in generating varied questions as well managing information.
Start looking for the answers from reliable sources like Government documents, authentic websites, college brochures etc. If possible just write down some pointers near the questions or just give reference to the answer source. Keep the sources ready in the form of printouts/paper clippings/softcopy etc. Be systematic; else be ready for nightmares towards the fag end when one finds it almost impossible to manage information. Prepare on your academic areas as well optional papers on similar lines. Get the basics right.
Once you are ready with your Mains form its time to move towards the second category – national/world happenings including science and technology, art, sports etc. Identifying the key areas for this section is also quite easy. For example – China Olympics/ Sub prime crisis/ Chandraayan/ Coral reefs/ Rural developmenmt/ Hybrid cars/ Judicial activism/ Kosovo/ AIDS/ Pakistan politics etc need to be prepared well. Sit as a group and generate such topics under some broad headings. Develop questions under each topic and be strong with the basics. Here again rely on authentic sources for information.
Don’t you think you are wasting your MBBS degree by opting for civil service?, As the PM's Special Economic Adviser what would be your take on balancing growth-inflation?, Whom would you prefer – an honest but inefficient officer or a corrupt but smart officer?, Why do you prefer IAS, is it because of the power and dowry it fetches you?, As a DM what would be your immediate and long term steps to curb naxalism in your district? Such questions fall under the third category. Generate many such questions, sitting with your group of friends. The answers do not need any help from external sources like the net, all answers are inside you. Probably you may speak with some seniors to get the process going. Just take time out, spend hours on such questions and develop a very clear thought process on issues like integrity/career preference etc. Unless one is ultra confident on such issues, it will not be very difficult for the panel to spot your weakness. Be careful!
While the third category can be prepared in the days after the results, the first two areas need more time and form the foundation. So get going….!
There is an interesting, very useful book “Interviews Redefined” by Sh.M.K.S.Sundaram. This book is a compilation of interviews of many civil servants. It can give you a very clear perspective about the nature of questions to be expected and more. My interview preparation started with this book; though I do not claim to have made some exceptional marks am kind of happy with my 195. Also go through "India after Indepedence" by Bipin Chandra, and "Development and Participation" by Amartya Sen/Jean Dreze. Need not memorise these books, but be selective and get your fundamentals clear.You may also check out Guhan, Anurag, Vivek.
On Certainty
Uncertainty is something that makes most of us uncomfortable. Be it a train delay without any prior announcement or the exam results that takes us by surprise or presidential polls or the time someone takes before accepting the red rose you offer – we are not comfortable anywhere. The common theme here seems to be “control”, or “ensuring certainty”. So we have a battery of tools to make life more certain – beginning from simple checklists to six sigma techniques, from a price list in a mandi to high-end gadgets that guide nuclear missiles, from horoscopes to mega investments in branding. Life is full of practices that are aimed at reducing uncertainties. We want our environment to obey our orders, or at least intimate us in advance whether we will be in control or not.
So far it is fine, but we also derive significant sadistic pleasure when we see people who are surrounded by uncertainties. That explains why cricket is a very popular game. The game is built of uncertainties (glorious?) of different varieties – batting, bowling, fielding, running between the wickets and these days even sledging and umpiring uncertainties. Did the spinner abuse the opponent’s forefathers or not? Such news makes it to the headlines. This liberal mixture of uncertainties makes it an enjoyable game. Player’s uncertainty; viewer’s pleasure. The IPL auctions also prove an interesting point – it is an extremely well-paying job to handle uncertainties. The profits an entrepreneur reaps is also exactly for the same – the reward for the risk she takes, the uncertainty she handles. The same case with cinemas or a story – the more thrilling (uncertain) it is, the more complex the story gets, happier the audience become. That explains why the so called art films or documentaries generally don’t do well, while masala movie makers have a bull run. Masala, by definition means a mix of varied flavours. It keeps one guessing – there’s a song now, humour there, anger here, some romance sprinkled, sentiments and stunts strewn. The finer the uncertainties are blend, more the producer earns. Here again we can not take extreme uncertainties - we always want the hero to win in the end!
So why is it we love uncertainty in others lives and not in our own? Is it because we want to be the most dominant one? There are many millions who are not sure about their next meal or whether they will live to see the sun tomorrow. Here certainty has to do something with the very basic question of survival. The gene inside them wants to live and replicate, drives them to ensure food, water and family. Or even here is it the question of who is dominant – who can find food, water and the best partner against all odds? Does everything in life boil down to what the genius said some 150 years back?
Read Only Memory
One of the classy products of the massive, memory-machine factories that run across the country in the name of "schools", I thought it is not a bad idea to have a look at how a normal student is expected to learn here. (I would restrain from giving macro solutions) I still remember sitting with my incomplete Mental Arithmetic book - III as late as my VII standard. With dad near me, tears in my eyes, and total frustration in my heart I tried very hard to solve those nightmarish, yet simple problems. Of course by then I had memorised multiplication tables till 16 X 16, as expected. (By the way I do not remember beyond 11 X 11 these days.)Still there was neither confidence nor interest in me to take that III std book.
A very high score in my XII, engineering from a pretty impressive college, an MBA degree after that - all these things have not done anything to destroy my basic fear for fractions or percentages. Though somehow manage these things now, the basic hate remains. For your kind information, I have learnt French during my higher secondary classes. But today beyond "bon jour" I know nothing in French. This is because I just memorised those ten French lessons and the solved papers of earlier exams - and ended up making a decent score in the Board exams. Be it mathematics or language our system does not seem to differentiate - it is just the plain, vanilla Memory To Rescue. But even to memorise and remember things better there are sure shot techniques - our schools do not teach them also. So what exactly happens inside a school? I do not know much. While we were always asked to study well, how many of us were told how to study? Very few. Our society might not be really ready for an exploratory approach to education (the Tare Zamen Par - types), the schools can however ensure children get some basic tips on learning and remembering.
Here are some -
* Before starting to read any chapter, just flip through the pages of the chapter
* Read the summary of the chapter
* Go through the questions given at the end of the chapter
(These steps set the mind ready to accept and link information)
* Have a time-frame for each chapter.Realistic targets
* Avoid other distractions
(Our households strictly follow this point, by switching off the TV sets.Full marks here!)
* Do the chapter in manageable blocks rather than finishing at one go
* Try to read at one specific time period everyday
(The fixed schedule of schools and tuitions takes care of this)
* Wherever possible create personal relevance to the material studied
* Revise. Revise. Revise.
Above all just remind them life has more to do than school and exams. See I have managed my life without yet completing that III class Mental Arithmetic book!
No blogging
Blogging is like smoking. It is a good time pass essentially, and this made me pick the habit about a year ago. It is not that I have never written anything in my life before that. I have always been associated with some magazine/newsletter or the other, willingly or without choice, knowingly or innocently, throughout my school-college-b-school-work-GoI life. But this new phase of writing started as a time-pass tool, like smoking. For more on this you go to my first post, please.
Smokers, left to them, would not generally care whether the people around like the exhaust that comes of their mouths. I too, generally do not care whether the person sitting at the other end of the comp likes to read what I have typed. Of course there is a concern somewhere in the mind for the poor readers. But the concern is not big enough to make me more considerate with the keyboard.
Smoking adds to one’s style or the cool factor, and this is one of the main reasons why many teenagers light their first cigarette. Though long past the school days, this blogger also believes that blogging makes him cool! Not everyone is as stylish as Rajni when it comes to smoking; I have come across some really pathetic posts, even in this blog. However one always tries to kind of flip the cigarette or rub the matchstick on neighbour's arm hoping to light the stick. The same strive is there among many writers, including this one.
A smoker without a cigarette, standing next to a smoking smoker actually gets to smoke for free. And that is what many bloggers do - just lazily browse other blog sites. For that matter that is one thing I do when having lots of time, pretty decent net facility and neither any new mail or scrap nor the mood to write something.
I have seen many smokers put off or throw their cigarettes midway, abusing some distant relative or a neighbour who passes by. The power cuts and the network problems one faces in the numerous net cafes around remind this. I do not trust Autosave anymore, after having retyped two or three posts till now. Things beyond one's control, things that irritate the most.
Of course, the "kicks" given by smoking and writing can not be compared.(By the way, as late as my Tenth Class I used to write writing as "Writting". Looks like since school days, I was so interested in writttting!) But writers also get a kick after completing a work, regardless of the quality of the work. The only thing is that for bad posts the kick is from outside.
Some smokers feel that they are rebels; they do not want to be contained by the myopic definition given to "good habits", they believe that nobody can chain them or none can snatch away their freedom.Read my dear friend Muthuvel's blog and you will agree to what I say.
Smoking is a costly affiar. Who says blogging is for free?
Smokers, left to them, would not generally care whether the people around like the exhaust that comes of their mouths. I too, generally do not care whether the person sitting at the other end of the comp likes to read what I have typed. Of course there is a concern somewhere in the mind for the poor readers. But the concern is not big enough to make me more considerate with the keyboard.
Smoking adds to one’s style or the cool factor, and this is one of the main reasons why many teenagers light their first cigarette. Though long past the school days, this blogger also believes that blogging makes him cool! Not everyone is as stylish as Rajni when it comes to smoking; I have come across some really pathetic posts, even in this blog. However one always tries to kind of flip the cigarette or rub the matchstick on neighbour's arm hoping to light the stick. The same strive is there among many writers, including this one.
A smoker without a cigarette, standing next to a smoking smoker actually gets to smoke for free. And that is what many bloggers do - just lazily browse other blog sites. For that matter that is one thing I do when having lots of time, pretty decent net facility and neither any new mail or scrap nor the mood to write something.
I have seen many smokers put off or throw their cigarettes midway, abusing some distant relative or a neighbour who passes by. The power cuts and the network problems one faces in the numerous net cafes around remind this. I do not trust Autosave anymore, after having retyped two or three posts till now. Things beyond one's control, things that irritate the most.
Of course, the "kicks" given by smoking and writing can not be compared.(By the way, as late as my Tenth Class I used to write writing as "Writting". Looks like since school days, I was so interested in writttting!) But writers also get a kick after completing a work, regardless of the quality of the work. The only thing is that for bad posts the kick is from outside.
Some smokers feel that they are rebels; they do not want to be contained by the myopic definition given to "good habits", they believe that nobody can chain them or none can snatch away their freedom.Read my dear friend Muthuvel's blog and you will agree to what I say.
Smoking is a costly affiar. Who says blogging is for free?
Happy 2008!
The number of films watched in a cinema hall is a good indicator of how one's vacation/break has been. The scorecard goes like this: On a normal vacation time - without any festival releases - an average of three films a fortnight is supposed to mean a peaceful vacation, where one could do everything planned, at one's own relaxed pace. Going by that this has been my most hectic break. Considering the festive mood spanning across Christmas and Pongal for about a month - I have managed to see just four movies in cinema halls. The first one being Kallori, while the finishing touch was given by Pirivom Santhipom, a Pongal release.
Directed by Karu Pallaniappan I think this film tries to explore the plight of a gregarious girl when she is made to sit at home by her husband, who spends most part of the day at work. Complicating the matters is that there are not many neighbours in their area, also the fact that the girl got used to the happy joint-family of her husband before the couple got shifted to the new location devoid of friends. This concept has the power to create a psycho thriller or a new look at life style issues or a captivating family story. Even films like Chandramukhi can be made out of this theme. Caught between some of these ideas and that of making a realistic family drama the director ends up giving us nothing that stays with us.
For more than two hours of watching the film I was expecting some thing to happen - a twist here and there or an intelligent sub-plot somewhere or a refreshing song or some fine comedy that does not stand apart or an interesting screenplay - but what I got to see at the end was closing curtains. I think this film was made with the sole intention of making a contra film. With films like Paruthiveen/ Mirugam/ Polladhavan etc going rounds the producers thought it was the best time to make a family drama with no single negative character, thus breathing a new life into the Tamil cinema world. In short you feel like coming out of watching a few episodes of a typical mega-serial at one go. However this film does not exaggerate life. I also liked the novel way of the initial title rolls. The song sequence that shows the Chettinad marriage is well-done.
Bombay Theatre - this is the only DTS/AC cinema hall in our city. This was my main criterion while deciding on this film. The other one being the proximity to my home. My next choice was Vikram's Bheema.
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The Queen’s Gambit (Review)
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