The New Cricket Hero and His BA.

Unmukt Chand, is the captain of the India under 19 cricket team (this information is for those who are worse than me in keeping up to date with cricket). His team managed to beat Australia and lift the world cup - under 19. Great and congratulations. The whole team is assured of a great future in cricket, fantastic sale prices in IPL, endorsement  offers by  ‘Youngistan’ Pepsi and what not. Very good.  Let them enjoy. They deserve it.

Now, what concerns me is the hue and cry (lead by our media) regarding the captain of the team being denied a chance to appear for and clear his BA exam. I appreciate the college authorities who stuck to rules and refused permission to appear for exams. Chand was playing cricket, no time for attending classes, lack of attendance (less than 33%), and so can't take exams. Right. What irks me is the apologetic utterances by the VC of Delhi university (I don’t know his name) and the Minister for human resources (Kapil Sibal) and their determination to set things right.

I do not understand what is there to set right? Unmukt Chand could have given up cricket and remained in his class like we fools and could have got his BA, BDS or whatever. He was good in Cricket, selected cricket and assured himself of a great career. Fine. But if he wants his BA, he should attend classes, study for exams and pass. That should be the stand of the University. If the university wants a share of  Chand’s glory it can offer him a Hon. Phd. and the minister can recommend him for 'Padmashri', both of which are available to all our cine actors, politicians and other popular folks. 

The university and the government should try to save what little credibility our  university degrees still have. Let we mortals have our degrees and the cricketers their glory.

The VC and minister are not trying to set things right, they are trying to set things wrong. 

Tamdi Surla - Water Falls

I have written about the first outing of 'The early birds of Ponda pool' (EBOPP) for short, to Dudh sagar falls, a trek of approximately 25 kms up and down some time earlier in this blog. I had also mentioned about the next two outings to Molem and Bondla where the focus was on restoring the energy lost during the first trek by consumption of lots of  fluids stored in different couloured bottles to go with other unfortunate leggy birds and legless swimmers of this universe. Now, having convinced themselves that they are sufficiantly restored, the EBOPP decided that they are in a condition to embark up on the next trek where focus will once again be on the use of their own legs and zeroed up on a visit to a waterfall near Tmbdi surla, a village in Sanguem taluka, South Goa, on the 15th Aug 2012.

Tambi Surla is at a distance of 38 kms from Ponda and is well known for the twelth century Shiva temple, supposed to be the oldest temple in Goa. It is Lord Mahadev's holiday home.

The trek begins single file after paying respects to the reigning deity of the place.

Surmounting the obstacles or tamely going under as it suits each individual

 Crossing  a dozen cool, pleasant, clear water streams in the path

 Keeping in mind that there are other occupants of the place who need to be treated with respect and regard, this one possibly a pit viper, located by one of the sharp eyed in the group,( lucky it did not cross my path, either pit viper would have ceased to exist or Raghunandan. More likely Raghunandan)

getting a first look of the falls from a distance, egging us to move faster

 we are there after an hour and fifteen minutes.

And immediately the swimmers  freak out and enjoy an exhilerating shower

A sedate walk back after an eco friendly trek (note the carry bag carrying tetra packs and other trash)

and after a relaxing swim in tamer waters near the temple, the swimmers return to their daily grind once again.

The Reis Magos Fort

Once in a way our family manages to shrug off the built in lethargy and gets out to spend an evening together. Last Wednesday was one such day and the shrugging off of lethargy was aided to a great extent by my wife’s statement/threat that whoever stays back home in the evening will cut the vegetables for curry, mix the dough for chapattis and make other arrangements for preparation of dinner.

We unanimously decided to spend the evening out and were trying to find a place worth visiting when the name Reis Magos Fort sprang up. I had read recently in the news paper that the old fort which was being used as a prison and later was allowed to rot had been restored and spruced up. We did not know if it would be worth going there and since the location map showed it to be on the opposite bank of river Mandovi, close to Panaji, we felt that we could take a chance. A drive along the river Mandovi is always welcome.

We managed to start at half past four and reached the fort at half past five wondering what the timings would be. The new board in front of the fort said that we need not wonder for long and showed the timings 9.30 AM  -  5.30 PM,  and the lock on the gate indicated very clearly that the timing was being strictly followed.

I felt bad for having missed it and we walked to the ‘Three Kings church’ just next to the fort and spent some time admiring the view of river Mandovi from the church.

The gate to enter the fort was closed but there was nothing to prevent me from walking around the fort and while doing so, at one point I found some stairs going half way up the fort.

I climbed up and sat there enjoying the cool breeze when my sight fell on a half open door next to the landing.  I tentatively stepped in to appease my curiosity and found that it opened onto a large terrace from which there was a good view of the fort itself

and another flight of stairs that lead to the top. We had made a back door entry into the fort!

The small museum at the top was closed but we were rewarded by the wonderful view of the Mandovi   estuary and the Cabo Raj Nivas - the Goa governor’s residence. The governor stays at the tip of the land mass you see projecting into the river at a distance, in a beautiful bungalow overlooking the Murmugao port and the arabian sea. Lucky governor!

We climbed down, spent some pleasant time on the terrace where one of my sons got himself occupied exploring the prison cells which now contained paintings of old time Goa and the other  was happy just roaming around  talking on his mobile phone.

My wife's observation and objection always is that we are together just as long as we are in the car and not a minute later. We decided to make an attempt to dispel the thought and managed to sit together a minute for a family photo.

It was getting dark by then and we started back thanking our luck for providing us an entry into the fort and on reaching the door, found it closed and bolted but fortunately not locked.

We offered our thanks to the carpenter who had fitted the padlock in a way that cannot be locked and attempted to open the rusty bolt. It screeched aloud and protested our furious attempts but gave up after five minutes. Even after releasing the bolt it was not easy to push the door open and the use of my children’s might only made it groan and brought down flakes of mud from the roof. We hastily moved back, thought of shouting for help and decided to do so after another attempt. With some gentle but firm persuasion my children managed to open the door keeping the fort intact. We thanked our luck once again for not locking us inside and returned home with a nice feeling and a set of  pictures to keep the memory of a pleasant evening alive for a long time. 

Job Satisfaction

James Alfred Wight’s (James Herriot) animal stories,  named “All things bright and beautiful” “All things wise and wonderful”  “All creatures great and small” and “The lord god made them all” are one of my all time favourites. Even though they are known as animal stories, they are more about the owners of the animals and other human characters that the author came in contact with and are endearingly written about.  The stories in

general give a beautiful picture of life in early 20^th century in Yorkshire, always making me feel “oh, I should have been there, then”.

There is a vast difference between his time, society and patients and those of mine but I come across many things that I can relate to his work as a person providing and living on providing health care. A few decades into the profession, many a times he mentions about the new techniques, materials and medicines available to him, which were not there when he began his work and wonders about the huge difference that they made to his life as a veterinarian.

Thirty years after beginning work, I can count a few such things in my life as a dentist, one of which is the availability of the composite resin or the light cured acrylic for dental fillings which I had never heard when I began my work.

The broken tooth in the picture would have required placement of a crown or ‘cap’ involving considerable amount of work spread over a few days and the support of a very good lab technician to get the result which I managed to obtain in an hour by rebuilding the broken part over the stump using the composite material.

Fee received - Not worth mentioning.

Job satisfaction - priceless.

Mysore Zoo And The Slide

During my school days Mysore was our permanent holiday destination and a trip to Mysore was never complete without a visit to the Zoo. Even though we continued to visit Mysore at least once a year, visits to the Zoo were less frequent after I crossed primary school. It once again appeared on the ‘must do’ list when my children were young. I had not been to the Zoo after my children grew up (may be last fifteen years).

I went there last week during my recent visit to Mysore and was happy to find many changes for the better. Better enclosures for the animals and better toilets for the visitors to name just two of the most important. Also, I noticed that two things have remained unchanged.  One was the behavior of the animals and visitors - animals behaving as gentlemanly as they used to be and the visitors behaving like animals shouting and gesticulating in front of the enclosures.

The other was this slide.

 I had completely forgotten about it till I saw it next to the aviary. It stood as it did decades ago, the very sight now bringing a flood of child hood memories. It is the tallest and the smoothest slide that I have ever slid down and I remember that we used to immensely enjoy the slides. We used to slide on our bottoms, stomachs and backs and return home happy with sand and mud in our hair and pockets. I had an urge to climb up and slide down at least once but better sense prevailed and I just stood there happy with my memories and seeing children enjoying themselves.

It has been there for more than four decades and I don’t think that it has required any repairs or resurfacing. I hope it stays so forever, a source of pleasure for the young and an object bringing back pleasurable memories for the old. 

One For Me - One For You.

This papaya fruit is as small as a guava. It was green yesterday and had turned almost orange this morning. Ripe overnight without giving any indication. Reminded me of “neladinda moLakeyodevaaga tamtegaLilla, phala maaguvandu tutturidaniyilla” -  DVG.

Coming to the Guava, many people advised me to tie a plastic cover or a sock over them to protect them from Bats. I decided to do that only if bats turned as destructive as monkeys. I would not grudge them getting their fair share. It was as though the bats read my thoughts. Guava’s usually grow in pairs and the bats eat one and leave the other. This is the fifth. So it is one for me, one for you. I hope the understanding continues to work. 

'Phirbhi Dil Hai Hindustaani'

By about half past four on Sundays, after our afternoon nap and tea, we start thinking about spending the rest of the evening. After going over all possibilities like the beach, movie, temple, friends and shopping, we reject them all for one reason or the other. Then my wife goes for a walk with a MP3 player for company (She always complains that when I accompany her for a walk, which is actually a talk disguised as a walk, she has to do all the talking and that I never open my mouth! So if and when she is in a mood to listen, she finds a MP3 player better company) and I stay back watering the plants and washing the car. Since it had rained the previous night, there was no need to water the plants this Sunday and there was no point in washing the car during the rains. So, I just walked up to the ‘Sateri’ ( Durga) temple near my house and sat on the small platform built under the tree in its precincts, attempting to look inwards, contemplate on life and get some enlightenment if I could reach that stage.

Even though my eyes were closed the ears were open (I should have carried my ear plugs) and I was trying hard to ignore the noise of the passing bikes, trucks, and humans and focus my sight inwards when I heard a female voice close by.

“Namaste uncle”

On opening my eyes I perceived the owner of the voice, a stylish young lady, attired in Levi’s jeans,T shirt and Nike shoes. She would have merged effortlessly into any scene at Cross roads, E square, or Forum but looked totally out of place in front of the ‘Sateri’ temple in Ponda. As I wondered what made this piece of Bollywood lose its way and end up in front of me, she spoke again pointing to the tree across the road.

“Sorry to disturb you uncle. Is that tree a ‘Vatavriksh’?”  (Banyan tree)

I answered in the negative and told her it looked like a ‘Peepal’ tree to me.

“I am supposed to perform ‘pooja’ of a ‘Vatavriksh’ tomorrow morning and I was searching for the tree. Someone directed me to this place. But this is not a ‘Vatavriksh’. Can you please tell me if there is one anywhere around here?"

I had a hunch that I had seen one somewhere close by but could not pin point where it was. I told her so and she seemed disappointed.

“I thought you might know. You look so religious (!). Tomorrow is ‘Vatapoornima’ and I have to worship the tree early in the morning for my husband’s well being. Where do ladies in your family go to perform that ‘pooja’?

I was about to tell her that the lady in our family worships her husband in flesh and blood and does not believe in worshipping trees, but I checked myself.

Though the young lady seemed freshly airlifted from Broadway and was attired in ‘englishtani’ ‘joota’, ‘patloon’ and ‘T shirt’ I could sense a real ‘Hindustaani dil’ under the trimmings - as Rajkapoor very effectively put it in his song decades back- and I did not want to hurt her feelings. I told her to wait a bit and called my wife.

The wife who worships me helped me out.

“A Banyan tree? The big tree you pass by as you turn towards the main road from our street is the Banyan Tree. You would not recognize it of course. You will be lost so much in your thoughts that you may not even recognize your wife if you meet her on the road. By the way what do you want a Banyan tree for? Sit under it and hope for salvation? Forget it and come home. I have been telling you since three days that the rice is over and you have ignored it. You have to go to the market right now and get rice if you want your dinner tonight.”

This I conveyed (location of Banyan tree, not that I have to buy rice urgently ) to the grateful young lady who was extremely pleased to find the tree which ensures her husband’s well being and hurried homewards to comply with the orders and ensure my dinner.