An Evening with " Dr. APJ ABDUL KALAM

The stage was set for His highness or rather the most simple selfless ever working man i have seen in my life; to visit our campus for receiving Honorary Doctorate in Engineering
The moment i say i got fortune of a life time to meet Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam friends have been asking me- "Wow how was the experience ?" , "Hey did you really meet him?", " Great how was he?"..... and so on.
So i key down the most cherished moment of my life in this post.
Here goes the sequence of events:

We go to the venue dressed completely in formals [ first time i went in complete formals to the university] the scheduled time for the commencement of the event was 6 PM Local Time, but we were so excited that i and a bunch of like minded were there in the lobby of the auditorium at 5 Pm.
First Look: One of the security officials asks me "Are you here to meet Dr. APJ ?" i was so excited since it was an hour early and the place looked deserted with only cops settting up their metal detectors and various security arrangements in place, I enquired back skeptically " Has he come already " the reply was affirmative and with in No time the head of the security officials Echoes back into his Communicator "Lobby Clear" and elevator door opens and I saw impeccably dressed as ever, in black suit with shining white hair just like his wisdom; in uniquely combed style, beaky nosed Dr. APJ waving at us !!!! i alerted my friends "Hey See there". That was the first look at the "Missile Man of India" -I skipped a hear beat.

I was replaying the moment in my memory for a few minutes and then the security team were all set to allow us into the auditorium and i was the first to enter the auditorium [proof to your right]

The ceremony kicked off with the packed auditorium in the meticulous fashion as ever as if some one has programmed it with no bugs.

If you have time you can have a look at the ceremony video which is the courtesy of NTU website.

SINGAPORE-THE FABRIC WOVEN BY CONTRASTING CULTURES

DISCLAIMER: Opinions are like Watches each one has one and thinks "Mine is showing the right time". Below is my opinion it might not be right but this is how i look at the glass its half full for me. [Assuming that chinese and indians form the significant population of this small country]

This post of mine shall be about the the two neighboring states whose cultures have same origin yet they have a difference of light years.

I am fortunate to have a peek at both sides of the coin.
I happen to be witness of this mere incident that gave me vital insights of the yawning difference in the mindset of the people who are the citizens of the two most promising economies.

I was at the convocation of my friend at NTU which ended with snacks, i got to see this incident, here it goes: "There were Indians who were abandoning their used plates wherever they could think no one else would see them leaving and there was a professor who was chinese; seeing a fork on the floor which others were willfully ignoring, picked it up and dropped it into the trash can-its rightful place". Inference is self explanatory.

I witnessed people following the rules on the road just as one brushes his/her teeth; its so natural and its seems so organized and fascinating to look at and admire, to be a part of. which can even be done in India or any other country for that matter but its by birth, we find the illogical reasoning so natural to pass the onus/blame to "xyz". I wish some day that every city in my country, every citizen of my nation adopt this attitude.

The whole city looks so clean and litter free its proud thing for any resident to boast of, However i do not nullify that my fellow Indians don't have this sense, but there are not enough trash cans on the Indian streets to dispose the litter and adding salt to the wound is the ever increasing population.

Further, as the say nothing is ideal in this world i would like to jolt down some not so good things as well, These people have been virtually invaded by the western influence they are more liberalized in so called "western sense" when it comes to their attire.They are far from satisfaction when it comes to communication; they get very skeptical and over-cautious if any stranger approaches them.Also they are not so energy conscious [ not sure where we stand ] because i have seen lot of vehicles turned on with driver on a stroll.

Above were the few observations i could make during my brief stay here so far
Concluding i quote Shakespeare "There is nothing bad or good in this world; its all how One sees it". So every place and its inhabitants have something at offer for -to learn and adopt either good or bad . So, the onus is with the individual like an independent variable to take either negative or a positive value. I have taken the positives what would you like to have ???

[to be continued]

- Tamasoma Jyothirgamaya

ಕಾಣದ ಕಿರಣ.......

"ಬಾನಂಗಳದಿ ಉದಯಿಸದ ತಾರೆಯೊಂದ ಕಂಡೆ ನಾ;
ತೇಲುವ ಮೋಡಗಳಲಿ ತುಂಬಿರುವ ಹನಿಗಲಿ ಮಿಂದೆ ನಾ;
ತಾಯ್ಕಣ್ಣಲಿ ಜನಿಸದ ಶಿಶುವಿಗೆ ಮಮತೆಯ ನೋಡಿ ಬೆರಗಾದೆ ನಾ;
ಜ್ಯಾನಿಯ ಕೈ ಲೇಖನಿಯಲಿರುವ ಶಬ್ದ ಸಾಗರದಿ ಮಿಂದೆ ನಾ;"

"ಜನಿಸಿದ ತಾರೆಯ ಮುಚ್ಚಿದ ಮಾಲಿನ್ಯದ ಮೋಡಕೆ ನಿಂದಿಸಿದೆ ನಾ;
ಕಲುಷಿತ ಕಾಲದಲಿ ಕಾರ್ಮೋಡಗಳ ಹುಡುಕಿದೆ ನಾ;
ಸೌಂದರ್ಯ ಸೆರೆಯಲಿ ಕ್ಷಿಣ್ಣಿಸಿದ ವಾತ್ಸಲ್ಯಕೆ ನೊಂದೆ ನಾ;
ಧನದ ಅಲ್ಪಮೋಹಕೆ ಅಡಯಿಟ್ಟ ಜ್ಞಾನಕೆ ಶಪಿಸಿದೆ ನಾ;"

ಈ ಅಲೆಗಳಲಿ ಸಿಲುಕಿದ ಬುಧಿಗೆ
ಬಂದೊದಗಿತ್ತು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಯೊಂದು ಹೀಗೆ
ಹಿಡಿಯಿಥೆ ಹುಚ್ಹು ನಿನಗೆ ?
ನಗುತ ನಾ ಉತ್ತರಸಿದೆ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗೆ ??
ಮೊದಲನೆಯದ ಕರೆದೆನಾ "ಆಶಾ ಕಿರಣವೆಂದು"[Hope]
ಎರಡನೆಯದು ಪ್ರಸ್ತುಥಿಯಲಿ[present] "ಅದರ ಮರಣವೆಂದು" [Dead Hope]

ಕರುನಾಡ ತಾಯಿ ಸದಾ ಚಿನ್ಮಯಿ........

"ಆ ನಾಡು ನನ್ನ ತಾಯ್ನನಾಡು ಅದನಾ ಹೇಗೆತಾನೆ ಮರಯಲಿ"
"ಆ ನನ್ನ ಜನರ ಜಗ್ಗುಲಿ, ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಬರಿ ಯಂತ್ರದ ಧಾನ್ದಲಿ;
ಆ ನನ್ನ ಊರ ಸಂಪಿಗೆಯಾ ಸುವಾಸನೆ, ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಾಣಿ ಪಕ್ಷಿಗಳ ಪಕ್ವದ ದುರ್ವಾಸನೆ;
ಆ ನನ್ನ ಸುಮಧುರ ಕನ್ನಡ ನುಡಿ, ಇಲ್ಲಿ ತಿಳಿಯಲಾರದ ಸ್ವರಗಳ ಛಡಿ;
ಆ ನನ್ನ ತವರಿನ ನಿಷ್ಕಲ್ಮಶ ನಾರಿ, ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಆಧುನಿಕತೆಯಿಂದ ತತ್ತರಿಸಿರುವ ಕುವರಿ;
ಆ ನನ್ನ ಬಾಂದವ್ಯಗಳ ಹೂಮಾಲೆ, ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಾರ್ಥದ ಸೇರಮಾಲೆ;
ಓ ವಿಧಿಯೇ ಪ್ರಗಥಿಯಂಬ ಹೆಸರಿನಲಿ ನೀ ಎನ್ನ ಎಲ್ಲಿ ತಂದು ನಿಂದೆ.."