Why not Today?

Many of us want to follow the rules. To the letter. Even if the spirit is lost sometimes. A G Gardner's famous essay "All about a Dog" sums up this approach brilliantly. There are some rules which should never be broken. Otherwise it may compromise safety of life and limbs of persons. But there are many other rules which are not that sacrosanct. Breaking them would not amount to much violation and may even achieve the welfare of the majority.

I was directed to join the Bank at its Hubli branch fifty years ago. Chitradurga is half way to Hubli from Bangalore. My uncle and his family were living in Chitradurga in those days. I went to Chitradurga and stayed with them overnight and proceeded to Hubli on the next morning. The four hour journey after breakfast took me to Hubli just before lunch time. I checked into a hotel, had lunch and went in search of the branch. The idea was to find the place in the evening itself so that there won't be any delay while reporting on the next morning. I reached the branch when the business hours had just concluded and the employees were proceeding for lunch. I sat down on one of the chairs kept outside the counter in the banking hall.

A few minutes later, an elderly gentleman walked in and asked me what I was waiting for. I told him that I wanted to meet the Manager. He said he was the Branch Manager and asked me follow him into his cabin. He asked me whether I had lunch and when I answered in the affirmative he asked me to sit on one of the chairs in front of his table. I hesitantly sat down and handed over the letter of offer from the bank with instructions to report at Hubli branch. He enquired about my arrangements for stay in Hubli and whether I needed any assistance. He called for a file, verified my papers and said they were in order. I thanked him, got up and was about to take leave of him. "Where are you going?", he asked. "I am going back to my hotel. I will come in the morning and report for duty", I said. "What is so special about tomorrow?" was the next question. I did not know what to say. "You have come to join the Bank. Then, why not today?" he asked. "If permitted, I will join today itself" was the reply. "You have entered the Bank for the first time today. When you go out, go out as a proud employee of the bank.  Give your joining report and get to work without any loss of time", he ordered.

He called his next in command and instructed him to take my joining report and assign me some work. Branch Manager was himself ready but the others had their own reservations since it was already afternoon and more than half of the day was over. He understood their hesitation. "This boy has come all the way from Bangalore to work with you. He may serve the bank for thirty or forty years. What difference will half-a-day make? Why waste a day? Put him on the job. Make him work till the office closes today. Let him start learning from today. If you so desire, record that he has joined in the evening and pay him salary from tomorrow". The others complied without a murmur. I was put on rolls on the same day and paid salary from that day itself. I worked till close of office and went to Hotel thereafter.

All bank work was manual in those days and a good handwriting was an asset for bank employee then. Branch Manager had a very good handwriting and one could never find a mistake in any work he did in the bank. He had his own methods to check the working of different sections and correcting them whenever necessary. After observing my handwriting for a few days he called me once and advised me. "You have a very good handwriting. Keep it that way. It will take you far in life and career", was his advice. He was enquiring about my stay and food arrangements from time to time. He gave me some books on Banking and advised me to read them thoroughly. I worked with him for for about one year before my transfer to Bangalore. He retired shortly and remained my well wisher till he left for the next world.

His words "Why not today?" keep gently reminding me the importance of time and to have wider perspective in life than mere letter of the law or rules and look to compliance of their spirit as well.     

Change the rules, silly!

Indian Cricket Team Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was a Socrates like philosopher yesterday.  The same media which hailed him as an ice-cool leader till recently has now started finding an extreme "Inertia" in his leadership.  His strategy or lack of it in the present series between India and Australia has been attacked left, right and center.  And yet the unperturbed Dhoni gave a wonderful solution to arrest the free fall of the Indian team. "Getting a parachute will help (laughs). By parachute, I mean good performance in all the three departments - batting, bowling and fielding. It's something we need to address as quickly as possible. In recent times while playing abroad, we have found it a bit difficult to bowl the opposition out and also failed to consistently put runs on the board", he said.  I remember my mother's proverb; a housewife once said: "If only I had Til I would have made chigali, but I do not have Gud".  Chigali is a sweet made using only two ingredients, Til and Gud.  She did not have either, just like runs on the board and opposition's wickets, the only two things required to win a cricket match, which Dhoni does not have too.

Dhoni cannot be criticised for not giving answer to the point.  In fact, he should be credited for being very practical.  He has suggested a Parachute, not a light air (Hydrogen or Helium) balloon which can lift the team.  He is himself probably convinced that such a balloon may not be useful in the present circumstances!  Fall cannot be averted; what best can be done is to make the fall slow and secure.  As the famous advertisement said:  "Zor ka dhakka, Dheere se lage!", he believes fall may not be averted.  He has said something about batting, bowling and fielding only; he has not said anything about the fourth dimension - on field behavior.  What about Kohli and company?  It is well known that Australian players, fans there and their media believe in getting under their opponents skin.  They prick you and instigate you; their players themselves stay just within the limits of penal action.  For Australians it is a fourth generation perfected art, after all.   Remember Douglas Jardine, former England capain and himself the inventor of "Bodyline" bowling attack to control Don Bradman, once played and missed a ball.  An Australian fielder in the slips sledged him by saying "Oh, you lucky bastard!".  At the end of the day Jardine went to the Australian dressing room to complain about the sledging.  Vic Richardson, vice-captain then, heard him and went inside the dressing room with him and asked his team members nonchalantly, "Which one of you bastards called this bastard a bastard?".  Vic Richardson was the grandfather (mother's father) of the Chappell brothers and that art has been perfected over the generations now.  Also remember that Greg Chappell, the captain asked his younger brother and player Trevor Chappell to bowl underarm delivery to deny runs to a batsman and win a match.  Greg was a coach and got away but Kohli, the player,  crudely imitated Greg Chappell and got fined.   Should not our boys and veterans be taught the same art and if necessary by hiring past masters of the same Australian sledging team by paying some million dollars?   Or by making the Australian IPL players give compulsory lessons to Indian players in controlled sledging as part of their contract to play in IPL?

This is the same media which was baying for the heads of Ponting and Hussy ten days ago.  They failed for long and would have faded into history but for our injured bowling attack.  No, no, I am not referring to injured bowlers, but the injured attack itself.  Ravichandran Ashwin with single digit test matches behind him became the spokesman of the team on strategies and strengths even before his first lesson, that the best of the bowlers have to sometimes concede over hundred runs without a single wicket in a long test matches, was learnt.  Media had lessons for Ponting to learn from Dravid and Tendulkar and Hussey to draw inspiration from them ten days ago.  Two defeats and now Tendulkar and Dravid have to learn from the same Ponting and Hussey?

These are the perils of taking a game too far.  And of converting a game to a trade and business.  Four or five decades ago we watched the cat and mouse game called test cricket and 200 runs a day was never complained of.  Today ten dot balls cannot be tolerated.  We traveled  300 miles by overnight train in an unreserved compartment just to see how G R Viswanath moved into the line of the ball and let it go past him to the wicketkeeper in the last fraction of the second, let alone see his square drive hitting the boundary ropes even before the bowler and fielders realised what was happening.  He had no helmet or arm guard and yet was never hit by Lillee, Thomson, Roberts or Holder.   I mean Vanburn Holder, who was one of the finest old ball fast bowlers and not Michael Holding who came a year or two later. An attacking stroke was as much appreciated as a defensive stroke when Bill Lawry squeezed the ball to submission and jammed it between the ground and the bat, never letting it travel for more than a yard or two.  Or Ian Chappel and Doug Walters dancing on the pitch to Prasanna and Bedi's flighted deliveries.  It was a game played by  amateur gentlemen (barring some who were not gentle) and watched by amateur spectators and reported by amateur media, and of course, no television.

Two decades ago all members of our family were meeting in a common place to celebrate festivals and functions.  Lunch had to be served in at least two batches.  Many members of the family would say they would like to sit in the second batch.   Many spots in the first batch would lie vacant and filling them was a real task and members had to be coaxed to complete the line.  I would jocularly suggest starting service with the second batch straightaway.  Someone recently wrote that Indians should start overseas series with the second test match to avoid losing the first test match, reminding me of starting serving food with second batch.  All of us can come forward with some suggestions to improve the performance of our team in Australia, before it goes further down under.  Here are some of them.

• Opposition team batting should be restricted to 50 overs whereas our team bats just like in a test match.
• As we have "Creaking terminators", as Rahul Dravid said in his famous Bradman Oration, in our ranks and running between the wickets is not as free as in the case of youngsters, they should be credited with one run if the ball passes close in fielder and two runs if it goes beyond 30 yard circle.  For the opposition there should be no change in the rules.
• For all Indian players above thirty five years old (hereinafter called senior most players), fifty runs should be considered as a century, twenty five as fifty and scores below twenty five should be doubled.
• If the senior most players get their fingers or palm to the ball while fielding, it should be treated as a clean catch even if they drop the ball.
• Seniormost players will be declared out only when they are out third time in an innings.
• DRS will be accepted only when the decision is in favour of Indian team.  

This is only the beginning.  I know many more suggestions, some even better than these, will come up shortly.  Let the BCCI use all its powers, money and muscle, to implement them. Because it does not believe in the laws of nature that old will make way for new and that it is better to lose with younger players than continue with players whose reflexes have long back deserted them.

Even with these words, it is still a game and I would not be surprised if the veterans click together for one last time and win one or two matches.  But the danger is that the selection committee will continue to hope for the same miracle, forever thereafter.

Mother's SEVEN Golden Rules

Last week I met an elderly friend and well-wisher, after a gap of five years.   We talked about many thing and many other common friends.   He is a man who achieved many distinctions in his professional career amidst adverse and critical conditions.  Among his many achievements was a successful fight for getting a degree of respectability for people working with him and recognition from a tough management.  What struck me most was his eagerly looking forward to an urgent trip next month to his native place.   The journey would be quite long with more than twenty hours flying and ten hours thereafter by road, but he was looking forward to it with a great deal of enthusiasm.  "My Mother is there in my native town.  I have to touch her feet and seek her blessings",  he said with a boyish smile.  He is himself 75 years old and grandfather to three or four grandchildren.  How lucky a man, I wondered.  

Most people agree that to have parents with them for a long time is a big boon.  Very few may have some reservations on this.    Some unfortunate ones do not even remember the faces of their father or mother due to losing them at a tender age.  Some are fortunate to live with them during early years.  Very few have their parents alive till their own advanced age, like this lucky friend.   This incident brought up memories of my own mother.   I was also lucky enough to have our mother with us till I was forty years old.   Half of this period was spent in her direct care.  She herself lost her father when she was only seven years old.  Her two elder sisters were already married by that time and she was brought up by her widowed mother, along with her two younger brothers, during the difficult days of recession and drought.  Being from a village she could study only up to fourth standard and could read and write our mother tongue, Kannada.  She was initiated into taking care of young kids when she was herself a child, by being motherly to her two younger brothers.  Married very early, she took care of eight of us and led us along our lives in a way we cherish the upbringing.

Among the many lessons we learnt  from her was that formal education and knowledge were two different things.   She studied only up to fourth standard but was no less knowledgeable than people with college degrees.  She was well versed with our culture and had a through knowledge of our epics and stories.  She had a very rich voice and could sing for hours together.  She had a song to sing on every occasion, be it marriage or housewarming or naming ceremony or some other function.  Her singing would start with sunrise and continue with her daily chores side by side.  She had a different set of songs for each day of the week and song from any set was not repeated till the next week day.  Afternoons were reserved for reading from some books or singing from some epics.  She did not need a book or a pen but when she wrote letters, it was with a legible and neat handwriting.   She was available to her neighbors with a helping hand at all times of need.  Like most mothers, she had abundant patience but could be stern and tough when the the need arose.   She ran the family admirably during the critical years during World War II when my father was with the army and away in Burma.  

She had a set of rules to be followed at home.  They were golden rules. The rules were based on sound economic and moral principles.   No pressure or force was required to enforce them; they were automatically complied since they were fair and square.  First rule was that the use of bathroom and facilities at home should be regulated in accordance with the timings of persons going out for office or school.  Early goers get to use them first.  This way every one would have enough time to get ready and be on their way.  If some one still wanted early use, he should get up early and finish his requirements before others.  There could be exceptions but the general rule should be followed.  With a dozen persons at home, this was the easiest way to avoid friction and ensure fair treatment to all. 

Second rule was about serving food and drinks.  Food should be consumed when it is prepared and ready.   If anybody wants to take bath and say prayers before breakfast, it should be done before being called upon to take breakfast.  Kitchen head had to serve many persons and statements like "I have not yet taken bath or I will have it later" were not acceptable.

Third rule was about complaint about items prepared.  When there are so many people around and many items prepared, one may like some and may not like some others.  "Eat two spoons more of what you like and two spoons less of what you do not like", she would say.  It is difficult for a kitchen head to procure various items required, prepare the items and serve so many people.  Availability of items depends on seasonality also.  The difficult task of the person running the kitchen should not be rendered even more difficult by wild behavior and complaints.  Of course, with the variety of items she would provide there could be no complaints about quality or quantity.   Never.

Fourth rule was about the order of consumption.   Those were the days of  "No electricity and no refrigerators".  Monsoon months would be difficult as supply of items were disrupted for days together.  Items like Pickles and pappad were generally reserved for the tough monsoon months.   On regular days they should be resorted to only when other items were not available.  There was no point in wasting pickles or pappad when three or four other items are available.  "What will you do when it is raining continuously and vegetables and curds are not available?", she would ask.  If some one asked for them on a regular day, he or she would still get it.  But the rule will be reminded gently.

Fifth rule was about having breakfast, lunch or supper together.  As far as possible, all persons present at home should have food together.   This would render kitchen management easier and provide some rest for the kitchen incharge.  If the item being served is like Dosa or Rotti, made one at a time, the youngest will eat first followed by others in that order.  Exchange of order of serving by mutual consent was permitted, but the preparation should go uninterrupted.  There were no "switch on - switch off" stoves in those days and cooking was on firewood ovens.

Sixth rule was to be followed when visiting a relative or friend.  The items served there may not be to our liking.  But complaints should not be made.   "We do not know what constraints they had.  We should not embarrass them.   If you do not like something, eat it like medicine and manage",  she would say.

Seventh rule was about appropriation of resources in the family to match the needs of all family members.   Resources will be applied to meet the needs of the person whose need is the most and urgent.  Others will follow in the order of urgency of needs.  Or resources will be shared if all the needs are equal.  Needs of the younger and sick would override those of other members in the family.   She did not have any needs for herself.

Then there was a philosophy of life, which was somewhat universal.  "We should not trouble others.  We should not be troubled by others.  We should not be troubled by ourselves as well!"

All mothers may have had similar rules.   That is how they were able to manage large families over the years with limited resources and saw us through difficult times.