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Thursday, April 29, 2004 ( 8:04 AM ) sankar Her last working day Tomorrow is Susan's last working day. Suddenly I realise that I will be missing her a lot. In The Prophet, a book of Khalil Gibran, which I am presenting to her, I find these words: "When you part from your friend, you grieve not; For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain." # Friday, April 23, 2004 ( 6:48 AM ) sankar IKKA - This evening, I was at Fruit Shop on Greams Road (this generic name sounds good!) and while chatting with friends, I remembered Ilaya Perumal, editorial in-charge of Vanigamani, a Tamil magazine that used to be distributed on a weekday along with Dinamani. He encouraged me very much by publishing my articles on covers. He was the only one, among my Tamil journalist friends, who wanted me to focus on writing in English. Most others were jealous that I was slowly becoming an English journalist. Ilayaperumal said, "There is no future in Tamil journalism. You become an English journalist. If you try, you can even join Indian Express." Senthilnathan, who was working with India Today then, introduced Meera, who was a reporter with Data Quest Week. I thought getting an article published in English would be a dream come true. Finally, in 1998, it really happened. My first article in English appeared in this weekly (which was just launched). (I think Meera now works for a corporate communication department of some company. Recently someone said she works for a dotcom. Anyway, she could hardly remember me.) How special that I am blogging this from the same DQ Week office! I think in 1999 I joined Trinity Mirror, thanks to Muthukumar (I think he is a publisher), who recruited me. The salary was Rs.1,500 ("We do have to pay atleast Rs.1500. Because he is staying in a mansion and has to pay for food," Muthukumar recommended Jeeva (his boss) when the latter was contemplating to offer Rs. 1000). While working here, I approached Madras Plus for freelance assignments. I came to know of this Economic Times' pullout through Suresh Kumar. He was a freelancer then and at that point of time, we both were searching for a permanent job in writing. We had attended several walk-in interviews (ads appeared in The Hindu classifieds under "general" section, every Sunday). Sometime at the end of 1997, we both were hired by Evening Madras as reporters. However, Suresh also attended another interview conducted by News Today and was selected by it. Hence, he joined News Today, a better brand. I was very happy to see my article appear in Madras Plus. I think it was about noise pollution. However, I was sure about my first story idea I discussed with Sandhya, editorial incharge of Madras Plus. I said I wanted to refute a Time article which, as I understood, said there seemed to be a genetic reason why there were very less number of women smokers. She wanted me to take that up later. Totally, Madras Plus would have carried a dozen stories. It paid me well. (Rs. 400 per article then). But I had difficulty in finding the right theme for this colorful issue that was meant for hep readers. Sandhya once said, "you are good at reporting. But as far as presentation goes, you have to go a looong way." My stories really tested her patience. I knew that but could not help it. Language proved to be a problem. I used to go to Land Mark, find out from posters they stick at its entrance about some funny events like fusion music, crazy hobbies, weird clubs - all those hep stuff, and then walk to Madras Plus office (it was a couple of buildings away from Land Mark) to tell Sandhya whether I can write about them. After collecting the inputs from sources, I would go to American Embassy's Library to use its spacious reading hall, dictionaries, reference books, etc to write stories. This was again a few minutes walk away from Sandhya's office. (This way I could proudly say that I was working from a modern, sophisticated, airconditioned office, where I even had secretarial assistance!) A couple of stories appeared in The Hindu. Sandhya was surprised - and I was even more. At that time, I was staying with Kutti Durai at Kotturpuram, my classmate who is now an architect. He was happy about it. Monday Mart was The Hindu's IT supplement that carried by stories - one was on ERP and the other ....forgot. I joined Industrial Economist in mid-1999. The Madras Plus stories helped me to get that job. The salary was Rs. 4,000. The previous night I was telling my room mate, Durai, who was a driver that I would refuse to take up the job had the offer was anything less than Rs. 3,500. I did not expect more than that. S Viswanathan, editor, surprised me. I worked there for just 6 months. In 2000, I joined Indian Express Newspapers Bombay Limited. Jai and Bhuvana (now she is in the US) interviewed and offered the job. The salary was Rs. 5,000. I worked with Anita (she is in Australia) and Sunita (in the US). I learned a lot from both of them. I was not a polished person, urbane or senisitive. But I guess I was manageable because I got along with them perfectly. We were a gang! Life was full of fun! My first media job was with Madras Noon Times as a correspondent of its neighbourhood magazine, Adyar Noon Times. It was in 1996. Even Suresh was a freelance contributor, while I was a staff. The salary was Rs. 750! The office was at Moogambikai Complex, Myalopore. I could still manage my life. My luggage was with my friend, Jagadeesh (he is no more) and Kareem. I used to visit his room, at Sabthagiri Mansion, behind Jam Bazaar police station, to wash my clothes for the next week's use. I stayed at office without the knowledge of my boss, Rajalakshmi. My colleague, Ashok, would hand over the office key in the evening. I used to leave office at 6:30, 7:00 and wait outside for Ashok for the key. And go back to office for the night stay after 8:30, 9:00. I used the complex's bathroom (mm...actually toilet!) to take bath. I cannot recollect a single instance when I felt sad or home sick. Whenever I had no money in my pocket, I was thrilled that I was leading such an cinematic like life. Life as a freelancer was great. I don't feel I am doing 30 percent of whatever I used to do then. My first job in Chennai, a direct marketing job with Avalanche Marketing, was even more great. It was in 1996, I guess. I sold many items like shoe shocks, toys, etc door to door. (This was only for a few days, though). Here is where they taught the law of average. "If you want to sell a product to one person, meet 10 people" - this is the gist of it. Then I worked for IMRB, MBA, ORG-Marg as freelance investigator. # Thursday, April 15, 2004 ( 9:56 PM ) sankar Isn't it science? "Meipporul kanbathu arivu" - Valluvar "Suththa arive Sivam" - Bharathiyar I had the following chat with a friend the other day. The topic is spirituality and science. He seeks anonymity and hence I replaced his name with he. He he he... umgsankar: is there MSc Economics? he: thats an academic question - some even ask if science is art or science. it depends on how u define umgsankar: and what about business writing? umgsankar: MSc- Business Writing sounds ...? umgsankar: when it involves so much of analysis why should it be an art umgsankar: ? he: The basic thing is how you approach a subject. he: Science is when you look at some facts, arrive at an hypothesis, test it, test it, test it, test it, test it, test it, test it, test it, test it and so on under various conditions and if the hypothesis holds good even then, you call it a law and build on it further umgsankar: but to excel in one field one does not need to know whether what he does is science or art as long as he does his job well...right? he: you didnt get my point. Sceince is an approach he: A way. umgsankar: i think i got it he: There is nothing sacrosanct. Every thing can be questioned. Has to be questioned. Thats how science developed umgsankar: i said that one does not need to bother to figure out whether it is science or art he: ok umgsankar: i first asked this question because someone sent a resume mentioning MSc Economics umgsankar: It was news to me umgsankar: I was thinking about it - biz writing is science or art. umgsankar: i wanted to know ur opinion umgsankar: as you said it all depends on approach he: ok - when the stress is in Maths, its MSc Economics/ In fact. almost all Nobel prize winners in Economics are mathematicians he: Amartya Sen is among the few exceptions umgsankar: oh ok he: Approach is in a broader sense. umgsankar: btw, i want to blog on how spirituality helps one to think critical he: But awarding degree is based on specifics such as the subjects one studies umgsankar: oh ok umgsankar: because, as i find it, spirituality is totally scientific umgsankar: and this neti neti actually insists on questioning umgsankar: i will mail you the link once i post a piece on this... he: Again Sankar, not all approaches in spirituality will help one think critically. Bhakti approach needs a kind of thinking that wont come under normal definition of critical thinking he: You are talking about Gnana marga - which requires some kind of critical thinking umgsankar: yes umgsankar: even bakthi marga sounds scientific. bakthi says "believe in what you do not see and the gift is you will see what you believed." suppose some scientific mind wants to know whether it is right or wrong. in this experiment, he stops being critical, stops questioning only in the pursuit of finding the truth of that statement/hypothesis. do you think it will be unscientific? he: "believe in what you do not see the gift is you will see what you believed." THIS IS NOT SCIENTIFIC. Look at the implications. Tommorow, if a pharma company gives you a drug saying that it will work if you believe. (if you dont, you will get green spots all over your body, and you might loose your eyesight too) Will you take it. umgsankar: we are not taking about material things here umgsankar: take the case of meditation he: AH ahh... umgsankar: ? umgsankar: even gnana marga says that this body is not real... umgsankar: body is real for us but that does not mean that body is real for a yogi. with our ego we cannot see atman but that doesnt mean there is no atman... he: Marga is an approach. It doesnt say anything. It just asks you to question whether body is real or not. If you conclude that body is real, Jnana marga will say thats quite fine umgsankar: hey...my time is out..i am in a browsing centre near home...call me whenever you are free...btw...your jnana marga definition means it will not lead one to an inescapable logical conclusion...i dont think it is correct... # ( 9:06 AM ) sankar IKKA - Veerabaghu Nagar Till I was 13, Veerabaghu Nagar, Pettai was my whole world. I studied in Siva Nursery School till fifth. The school was just a few meters away from my home. Vairamuthu in one of his poems wrote that for children their school teachers are the most beautiful. May be it is true in my case? I do not know but I remember my teachers: Radha, Sheela and Komu. I vividly remember the face of Radha, the fairest of all. They were kind to me. The school headmaster was Kaliappan sir. I became very popular in the colony when I acted as Dharumi (of Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam) in a school annual day function. Even my father became popular as people identified him as my father. Sadly, I think that was the first and probably the last time I made my parents proud! (Also, that was most definitely the only pleasant stage experience I ever had.) My best friends at nursery school were Arasu, Jawahar, Prema and Mangai, residents of the same colony; Nawaz, Sailaja, Kasi, who came to study at my school from nearby places. Seelan, Selvaraj and Akbar became friends later when I studied at Kamaraj Higher Secondary School, a government school. Kamaal and Kasi were my other classmates. I had a number of friends in my colony. They were G (a Christian friend and his name was just that single letter!), Palani, Jawahar, Siva (Arasu's elder brother), Chemba, Kutti, Venkat (Palani's brother), Singh, Chini, etc My neighbours were Rani akka, Sekar annan, Usha, Kala. Nan Sigappu Manithan I was (and is) a Rajini fan. My friend Singh was a Kamal fan. I was the treasurer of Nan Sigappu Manithan Rajinikanth Rasigar Mandram. We tried to apply for a proper registration with the thalaimai mandram (head club). We printed club posters - and I still remember its layout, the print shop, etc) and pasted them on compound walls. Once, I tried to make Singh, a Kamal fan, feel shame by saying "You know, your thalaivar Kamal is a womeniser." I do not know how I got such an impression about Kamal! I must be 12 or 13 year old then. Singh said "Fine, what is wrong with that?" I was not prepared for this answer. This reply came as a shock to me! Parotta Parotta was my favourite food item. There were two parotta stalls. The name of the one was Asslam ..the other I do not remember. A parotta cost 50 paise then, I think. We, friends, used to buy parotta parcels and taste without our parents knowledge. But it was very rare. Hi Arasu I still have the phone numbers of Arasu (he is now in Mumbai) and my neighbours (Usha, Kala, Chini). It is very much possible to collect their addresses and through them, probably, Jawahar's. # Wednesday, April 07, 2004 ( 9:38 PM ) sankar Intha Kulaththil Kal Yerinthavargal (IKKY)* I want to invite everyone I remember for my marriage. I've started writting their names in a note - simultaneously, I have to collect their addresses. To remember as many people as possible, I am going far down the memoray lane. (*This is the title of collected poems of Vairamuthu (a Tamil poet) in which he writes about people who influenced him. The literal meaning is "people who threw stone in this pond.") IKKA- 1 Chekkadi This is a place at Tirunelveli where our family lived briefly, when I was so young (May be till I was 4 or 5). I could remember the frontal view of the house we stayed and my neighbour who had a son (Bala) and a daughter (Indhra?!?!?). Both of them were older than me, may be, by 10, 12 years. Their father used to be very strict and my folks used to tell me that I should emulate Bala. I don't think it is that easy to find their address now. # Thursday, April 01, 2004 ( 9:23 PM ) sankar Beyond God This is my understanding: A believer in ‘God,’ a delusion, repents/asks for forgiveness the moment he realises that a mistake is done. Or expects rewards from Him for his good deeds. However, a believer in Brahman never owns ‘himself’ in the first place and hence is not affected by ‘his’ actions – ‘good’ or ‘bad’. # |
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