Best time of the year….

It is that time of the year when the world is under the spell of that feeling of joy, peace and goodwill! It is the season of Christmas!

In the words of Norman Vincent Peale, “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful”!. How very true!

Wherever you went, you could experience that feeling of expectation of that one day everybody was waiting for, to celebrate the day when the angels heralded the message to the shepherds that the savior was born in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes!

The shopping malls, the airports, the churches, homes and pretty much every place you could see, adorned with Christmas trees and colorful decorations, the happy and excited faces of men, women, and children, busy preparing for and awaiting that special day.

No matter how many times you listened, you never get tired of listening to the lovely Christmas Carols, some of them so heart mellowing! 

I was quite surprised to hear Christmas Carols being played at Hyderabad Airport as early as 22^nd November. It was such a sweet surprise especially when “bigotry” is rearing its ugly head all around us.

This is the time when people, in whichever corner of the world they may be, flock back home to be with their loved ones to share the joy of celebrating the birth of the One that gave the world the message of unconditional Love! It is the much awaited homecoming,  not the “ghar wapsi” touted by the “crazy bigots”!

This Christmas is more special, when ruthless and murderous men are besotted with mindless and wanton killings, not even sparing women and children, quenching their thirst for blood and selfish motives, when crazy bigots are going around disrupting social and communal harmony, when the world just watches helplessly. It is a special gift to share and cherish the blessed season at home with loved ones!

The day we have been waiting for, is finally here! May this day, touch our hearts in a special way, filling our hearts and home with God’s blessings, may it help us to take time to slow down and enjoy the simple things that life has to offer, may all our wishes and dreams come true, and may this happiness last all year round!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Mayhem in the pantry

Word spread around the office that it was the birthday of one of our colleagues at work and there would be cake and drinks in the pantry. 

We filed into the pantry in groups of twos and threes, wishing the Birthday Boy "happy birthday"!

On the table was a big cake. Somebody whispered that the Birthday Boy's wife surprised him with the cake. She had an insider who smuggled the cake into the office.

The cake looked quite lovely with white marzipan icing and blue flowery design around the edges. In the center there was a candy doll, the figure of a nerdy looking boy with mop hair, wearing spectacles, white shirt and blue knickers, sitting on a chair and holding an Apple iPad. In front the of Nerdy Candy Boy was the inscription in blue flowery letters "Happy Birthday Husband"! It was  quite a  warm and touching sight! 

As we were inspecting the Nerdy Candy Boy closely, I whispered to the Birthday Boy "your wife is obviously trying to convey something"! He answered "yeah, she complains that I am always with my iPad".

Someone said it was time to cut the cake as most of us had already assembled there. Usually the bakeries supply cute plastic cake-cutting knife along with the cake but we did not see any around. Someone found a butter knife. The Birthday Boy very slowly moved over to the table and very gently and neatly made a wedge in the cake. There was clapping all around. Some of us started to sing the "happy birthday" song but it faded away by the time it reached "...to you...". I did not understand why the guys were so embarrassed to sing the birthday song. There were shouts all around "take a bite, take a bite". The Birthday Boy nibbled a tiny piece of the cake. Some more claps went all around. 

Everything was going alright with smiles and excitement until, the Birthday Boy asked this Huge Guy, who was standing close to the table, to cut pieces of the cake and serve in the plates. That is when the mayhem started!

The Huge Guy wielded the butter knife in his hand as if he was getting ready to slaughter a goat! The knife hovered on the cake for a moment, then with his left hand he flicked the Nerdy Candy Boy which came off the cake tearing a bit of the icing. The heart of the Birthday Boy must have skipped a beat, with a "tut tut tut" he tried to put the Nerdy Candy Boy back in place and asked the Huge Guy to slice the cake along the edges.

The Huge Guy stuck the knife into the cake and slashed across, taking off most part of the marzipan icing. It reminded me of pictures after cyclone Gonu uprooted the roads of Oman, leaving layers of asphalt lying around crumpled like the icing of cake. The Huge Guy again tried to cut the cake but this time he went for the neck of the Nerdy Candy Boy. There was screams of "no....no...". Then he simply yanked the Nerdy Candy Boy off the cake and threw it aside. He followed it with crisscrossed slashes across the cake. And then he placed the knife down as if to say "mission accomplished"!

The whole scene looked so sad! Minutes ago there was this lovely cake, testimony of a wife's love and sentiments for her husband. Now it lay there butchered mercilessly. Yes, I agree at the end of it all the cake has to be cut, but there is a method of cutting a cake. What we witnessed in the last few minutes was nothing less than mayhem or "Hara-Kiri".

I was very glad the Birthday Boy's wife was not around to witness the mayhem! I am very certain, her heart would have bled!

Metathesiophobia

"Metathesiophobia" is defined as the persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of change. Over the years of my work experience, I have seen such fear among users while implementing systems.

Years ago a very funny incidence took place while implementing a project for one of the clients. 

The objective of the project was to implement an integrated system across 50+ departments of the organization and thereby eliminate sporadically spread systems that were generating islands of information isolated from each other. 

One of the managers of a department called me over the telephone and sounded quite disturbed. When I met him he explained that one of his Senior Staff was quite upset because he could not find "his" screen for entering invoices. Assuming that the Manager was not fully aware of the new system, I explained that earlier, there were individual software for stores, purchase and finance, hence some data was being entered in all these old systems. With the new integrated system, there was no need for his Senior Staff to enter the invoices because it would be entered by the stores staff when goods are received from suppliers.

The Manager nodded indicating he was aware of that but he said "Please do something. This man has been with us for a long time. His friends are telling me that he has started drinking heavily every day. I am afraid he may end up doing something desperate. Please let him enter the invoices". I refused accede to his request because if I did what he was asking me to do, I would be violating my contractual obligation by not delivering an integrated system. He seemed to understood my stand and the meeting ended at that.

The concern of the Manager was quite understandable, he might have feared that his Senior Staff might end up doing something stupid, not knowing how to cope with change.

I remember one incidence narrated to me some years ago about a man who was working for an oil company. He had been in the job for over 20 years with a good salary and other facilities. On a fateful day he received a letter from personnel department informing him that his services were not required anymore. The man was devastated. He did not talk to anybody and went totally silent. That evening, his friends went to his room to console him but the room was closed but they could hear the air conditioner running. They knocked the door for a long time, and finally when the door was force-opened, they found the man sitting in a chair with the termination letter in his hand, tears still fresh in his eyes, dead! Perhaps he could not handle the shock of losing his job, the shock of his life getting uprooted from his comfort zone!

Telling somebody that they are sacked must be one of the most difficult things to do. This was very nicely portrayed in the movie “Up In The Air”. Wonderful performance by George Clooney as the guy who has to pass on the pink slip with the “bad news” to the guys being sacked.

It is very common that job insecurity starts kicking in with some employees when a new system is implemented. There is a general assumption that whenever a new software application is implemented, some employees would lose their jobs. Such users pose a big threat to the success of the project especially if they are placed in critical positions, working with important information of the organization. But as the training starts they begin to get assurance that their job was safe, that the new system provided new opportunities for doing work in a better way. But there are some users who do not even want to look at the new system. They blindly assume that they are going to lose their jobs!

Most of the time, it is to do with being in a comfort zone after holding the same job and same function for years. When their position gets threatened they become quite disturbed and desperate, not knowing how to handle the change, just like Hem & Haw of Dr. Spencer Johnson’s "Who Moved My Cheese?".  Sometimes some end up doing desperate things.

I ran into the Senior Staff few times after the meeting with his Manager. He would give me such a deadly glare as if he was going to kill me. But in the end, he had reconciled himself to the change and accepted the new system. Good for him!

I am sure many organizations experience such situations. A lot of money is spent in acquiring ERPs and such high-tech systems but some departments succeed in retaining their own systems, with or without the knowledge of the top management! A total waste of investment!

Puppet On A String!

Another day of closely watching the impact of technology on human behavior.

As I walked into the eye clinic, I saw the place quite crowded with close to a hundred people, ladies in the left wing of the waiting section and men on the right.

I got myself registered after a long wait. In between registering the patients, the clerk was busy with his smart phone, answering his "whatsapp" messages and sharing the messages with his colleague sitting next to him and both having a laugh. 

As I took a seat after registering, I noticed that the place was absolutely quiet. No one was talking to anybody. The only sound I could hear was that of technology.

A couple of ladies in wheel chair seemed to be just staring into space.Few older men were looking at the program on TV. One man was dabbing his eyes and waiting perhaps for the eye dilation. Everyone else seemed to be hunched over their smart phones or note pads or tabs, some poking with their index finger, some with both their thumbs and some just swiping the index finger left, right, up & down.

Now and then I could hear the sound of the default whistle notification ring tone. There was a time when whistling was considered to be an act of indecency, even a crime. Even pursing the lips in the shape of whistling was considered as a sin. By mistake if you are caught whistling, then you had it. But how times have changed! The whistle ring tone does not bother anyone these days. It is cool! A definite sign that you are using a smart phone!

There were two girls smartly dressed in some kind of a uniform, must be in the security services, intently hunched over a "tab". The one holding the "tab" was vigorously swiping across the screen, as if she was playing some game (maybe “candy crush saga”!). The other girl was having a tough time containing herself from having a go at the screen. The girl playing the game paused just for a moment, then the other girl could not resist anymore, she swiped across the screen. It was so amusing to see the two enjoying themselves!

Three adults, two men and a woman, sat huddled close together. No prize for guessing what they were doing! Each was bent over, busy with their smart phones. They reminded me of a famous three-some!

An old man sat by himself with a small phone held close to his eyes. He seemed to be playing some kind of a game, I could hear the "plop, plop" sound. After some time, as of his hands were tired, he hunched over, almost doubling himself up, with the phone on his lap. Finally, the game ended or he got tired, he put his phone in his pocket, then he looked at the TV, squinted, put one hand across the left eye, then the right, then put his head on one arm and heaved a long tired breath.

The whole scenario looked quite unnatural especially for a place from these parts where people have been known for their social and civil behavior. There were hundred odd people in the room and yet during the whole time I sat there, no one was aware of or even cared to know who was sitting next to them! No one greeted anybody. Maybe, it is a good thing that everybody was minding their own business not prying into others business. But then, whatever happened to the good old “civil or social human interaction”! I realized how chill the place was, not because of the air conditioning, but because of the deafening "sound of silence"!

From time immemorial, inventions and technological developments have played a big role in our lives, bringing personal comfort and economic and social development. There is no doubt that if used properly, technology will continue to serve humanity. 

But it is the misuse or improper use or the addiction that is really scary! The scariest of them all is how our social behavior has gone through such a drastic change since the invention of "personal devices"! 

Years ago, I had the good fortune of working with a Plastic Surgeon as one of the co-consultants for a hospital project. We hired his services to strengthen our experience in the "medical domain". When I went to receive him at the airport, I saw him standing outside the arrival lounge totally tilted to one side. He looked as if he was in some kind of pain or discomfort. As I walked closer, I noticed that he had a laptop hanging on his left shoulder. Those days, the laptops were quite heavy, weighing few kilos. His left shirt pocket was sagging under the weight of his PDA, which was again a very heavy thing. He was tilting to his right side, desperately trying to balance the load of the gadgets on his left shoulder and his left shirt pocket.

I felt very sad for this man, standing there sweating and looking very tired and obviously in pain. It made me wonder, do we really have to carry a yoke around our necks, however exciting and fantastic the gadgets may be!

With the advent of smart phones and online social networking, social interaction has moved from the "one-on-one personal domain" to the "virtual domain" and how it has moved, it is quite sad! The elders cannot give any advise anymore on how to behave in this virtual domain. They used to advice "not to talk to strangers"! But that advise does not matter anymore! It is all about having more and more "friends" in your network, does not matter even if it is a stranger. You cannot even be sure that the person is really who he or she claims to be. Anything goes in the name of "networking"!

Popularity is based on the number of people you have in your network and how many of these friends are following you. According to a study released late last year, about one in five users were willing to add a complete stranger as a friend on social networks. 

There is no doubt that the Internet and social networking has more good than bad! The speed at which communication takes place is incredible! We can instantly get in touch with our friends and loved ones, communicating and sharing unforgettable moments through text and pictures. But it is the obsessive nature and how it has altered our social behavior that is attaining scary proportions!

Today's technology is so compulsive, so pervasive, so invasive and so intrusive, we seem to have lost total control over ourselves. One blogger compares people's addiction to social web sites to "Pavlovian Dog Response". The very sight of the smart phone makes us want to check our status on the social web site, just as a dog starts drooling at the sight of the food bowl or any other such stimulus. This response seems to be affecting people at work quite adversely.

Fred Stutzman, a software developer, created an application called "Anti-Social" to combat his "time wasting" habit. He realized that every time he wanted to check something on Wikipedia, one page turned into two to five to 10, and then end up spending hours learning about things but not necessarily getting his work done. When he came to know that many like him were suffering from the "time wasting disorder" and were desperately looking for help, he made "Anti-Social" software into a successful commercial product.

Some people seem to be endlessly obsessed with themselves by posting pictures of self. Psychiatrists and mental health workers are linking excessive addiction to posting of photographs of self and addiction to "selfies" to mental health conditions related to narcissism (excessive obsession with one's looks). Some experts are linking such behavior to "Body Dysmorphic Disorder". According to an expert,  “selfie-ing” is a sure sign of how lonely the person is!

Some social web sites and other experts provide tips and guidelines on safe and ethical usage of internet and social web sites. But they will not tell you anything that would affect their business. After all, their business thrives on the number of users subscribing and getting “hooked” to their technology and applications. They cannot afford to scare away the users talking about bad things that could happen.

In one of her recent talks, a "User Experience Master" of one of the social media companies, says that one of the things required to design applications for the Internet is the "audacity" to believe that the thing being designed is what the entire world wants and needs, to live better lives! Simply, amazing! How can someone sitting in some corner of the world, know what the entire world needs? The plain truth is, most of today's corporations just churn out stuff to get maximum number of people hooked to their applications and they grow and grow. There is no need to attribute any philosophical justification behind it!

Our social behavior seems to be determined and controlled by few handful corporations. It is very sad, but with their so called "smart devices" and "cool apps" these companies have got us by the scruff of our necks, dangling like a "Puppet on a String"! They pull the strings, we dance!

These are our new masters, the modern pied pipers. They play the tune, we follow them like hordes of mice. They tell us that it is cool to behave the way they design the applications and we accept them, we feed and gorge on their hype.

A new idea has been brewing since few years to connect "everything" to the Internet. It seems to be quite close to becoming a reality. As if it is not enough that they got us by our throats by giving us the smart-phone, perhaps now they want to get their hands on our television, our refrigerators, the coolers, the cooker and everything else in the house, may be even the combination to the door and the "safe". The day may not be very far when we will have a "numbered micro chip" embedded in our bodies to be part of the "things" connected to the Internet!

During the eighties, I watched a science fiction movie called "blade runner". The story was about few "mega corporations" manufacturing genetically engineered "replicants" endowed with extraordinary powers. These "replicants" were so close to humans, it was difficult to distinguish them from humans. Only special police operatives known as "Blade Runners" could identify them through special interrogation techniques by monitoring retinal movements in response to questions.

While the very concept of that movie sounded quite dark and scary, today's situation looks much more scary! The way they have been successful in altering the human behavior, could it be a grand plan of some mega corporations to turn humans into "submissive robot-like things"!! Considering the way we are ceasing to exercise our wisdom and our individuality and becoming slaves of technology, it looks quite a possibility.

From time to time the world has experienced and survived behavioral changes, some fascinating, some crazy, some abnormal and some outright scary. The world survived the hippies, their concept of "free love" and their LSDs, the long hair, the tight pants, the pointed shoes, the pedestal shoes, and the bell bottoms (I shudder when I see some of my old photographs! How did we wear those things!).

Can the world survive this so called "social" menace? Only time will tell....or will it!


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Curiosity does not always kill the cat!

“Curiosity killed the cat” is a famous saying used to warn people not to get too curious because it could get them into trouble.

It is not always so! I personally know of two persons, Inquisitive Driver and Inquisitive Helper, who reached from "nothing" to "something" all because their curiosity got the better of them.

Few years ago we had implemented a system for tracking the movement of the company fleet vehicles. During one of the training sessions the trainer was giving orientation to a group of drivers on how to record the trips they made. 

He explained that details of the trip is entered by identifying the vehicle through the Fleet Number. A meek voice came from behind “Is Fleet Number the Primary Key”? The trainer stopped dead in his track as if someone had knocked on his head, then with a surprised look on his face, he turned around to see who the Inquisitive Driver was. The other drivers giggled thinking that the Inquisitive Driver who asked the question must have said something silly. The trainer looked at the Inquisitive Driver and said “yes, Fleet Number is the Primary Key”. With that, the other drivers fell into an embarrassed silence.

It is quite understandable why the trainer was surprised at the question. Primary Key is a technical term used by database designers and computer programmers. A lay person is not expected to know about it.

We were quite keen to know how this Inquisitive Driver came to know about such a technical stuff. The explanation he gave was simply amazing.

He told us that before joining our organization, he worked as a driver for a software company. While transporting the programmers from the office to clients and back, he used to overhear the programmers discussing about their work. The driver was quite curious about some words the programmers used in their conversations.  Somehow, “Primary Key” caught his fancy. 

Out of curiosity, he asked one of the programmers what “Primary Key” meant. And, thus began his journey of learning, culminating into his becoming a programmer. By asking many more questions and with the help of the generous programmers he became very much interested in computer programming.

Later, he took up a job as a driver when he got a better offer from our organization. He also told us that after joining our organization, he had requested the management to give him a chance in the IT department but it was rejected  as he did not have the basic qualifications as required for even the junior most post in the IT department.

As he started telling his story, we realized that he had a very good concept about databases, programming languages and even Lotus Notes. It was his lucky day that this episode took place during the training session.

The trainer took up the issue with the management by conveying the passion and the tremendous potential this driver had for learning. It needed special recommendations to push his case forward. Finally, the management agreed to send him for a basic qualification course. Inquisitive Driver has been given a chance to pursue his passion, all because of his curiosity to know something. I am sure, in due course he will be a very good programming resource for the IT department.

The second story is about the Inquisitive Helper who joined the organization as a “helper”, many years ago. At that time, the bar attached to our club needed a helper to assist the bar tender. The club management was trying to implement a Microsoft Access based system to keep track of the stock. When the system was ready for implementation, the Inquisitive Helper volunteered to do the data entry. 

Whenever there was a problem, as the programmer would try to debug the programs, the Inquisitive Helper would peek over the programmer's shoulder trying to figure out what he was doing. His interest in programming started to increase and he desperately wanted to learn more. 

He borrowed books on programming and with the help of the programmer, his journey of learning began. In due course of time he started doing some very basic programming with the generous help of the programmer. Soon, word spread that the helper was some sort of a computer wizard. 

Few years later, the management decided to do away with all desktop based systems by  consolidating the applications into the enterprise system. The management decided to give a chance to the Inquisitive Helper to work in the IT department. He grabbed the opportunity with both his hands. He spent hours, learning from books and other documentations, on his own, by staying late after office hours. This man with just secondary school education, with no formal IT education is today a very important programmer in the IT department.

According to a Danish Proverb “he who is afraid to ask, is ashamed of learning”. Millions saw the apple fall, but only Isaac Newton asked “why”. Because of that “why” today we are able to fly in the sky, in a mass of metal, comfortably sitting in a chair, thousands of feet high, defying force of gravity!

"Curiosity does not always kill the cat!"

According to a Chinese Proverb “Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere”. How true! It is not just the curiosity but the thirst to learn, that makes a person successful! Learning is "an endless, incredible journey", age, color, creed, nothing matters!

Bravehearts.....

It is so easy to sit in the comfort of the home or office, feeling great for sharing pictures and slogans on the social network of so called “injustice” being done, asking everyone in your network to share and support, screaming for blood and clamoring for revenge. You think you have done a noble thing by even contributing some cash for these so called “causes”. You cannot even be sure if the money is used for the rehabilitation of any lives or for buying more arms and weapons of destruction. Sometimes you are not even sure what cause you are supporting, caught up in the euphoria created by the mass media and created on the internet by few people with their selfish motives.

It is entirely a different thing to be out there helping the victims of man-made atrocities and calamities created by nature. As I watched the reports on Ebola Virus that is currently ravaging western Africa, I was overcome by this incredible feeling of awe, looking at dozens of doctors and hundreds of health workers and volunteers working hard to help the people who have fallen victims to the deadly virus. They know their fight is against a disease for which there was no cure yet. 

It is reported that Ebola was a highly contagious disease which can easily spread from the affected persons to anyone who came in contact with their bodily fluids. I felt feverish just watching the news, listening to the effects of the virus! A young 33 year old doctor, a 53 year old nurse and over hundred others have fallen victims. But these people worked relentlessly, undeterred by any kind of fear of contracting the deadly virus. Religion, community, nationality, politics, nothing mattered! For them it is about saving human lives! Once in a while they pause to take that well deserved break, sitting quietly or talking to reporters

Dozens of reporters from the various international news channels cover these unfortunate incidents, undeterred by the risk of contracting the deadly virus. I was pretty amazed looking at the young Tulip Mazumdar of CNN talking to one health worker without even wearing a face mask.

Hats off to these Bravehearts! They believe more in deed than words!

“It's not our job to play judge and jury, to determine who is worthy of our kindness and who is not. We just need to be kind, unconditionally and without ulterior motive, even - or rather, especially - when we'd prefer not to be.” – great words from Josh Radnor, the guy from “How I met Your Mother”.

 

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
One of The Eight Beatitudes Of Jesus, (Gospel of St. Mathew 5:3-10)

Political Novice!

It came as a big surprise to a "political novice" like me that a political candidate may get rejected by the people and lose the election but he or she can still become a "cabinet minister"! Anyway, it doesn't matter, as long as they serve the country and its people with honesty and deliver anything close to an efficient governance. Good luck to Arun Jaitley the new Finance and Defence Minister and to Smriti Irani the new Human Resource Development minister!

If general elections are meant only for getting head count for deciding on who will run the Government, then there should be more inexpensive way of making such a decision!

There was so much noise in the past few days regarding the education of Smriti Irani and the rejoinder of BJP ministers regarding Sonia Gandhi's education. It is quite pathetic how grown ups can behave like immature brats! 

I came upon quite an interesting and revealing summary of the education of the members of cabinet. It seems that Uma Bharti, the current water resource and ‘Ganga Rejuvenation’ minister, is the least qualified, having completed formal education only till class six. 

I wonder what made a Ph.D in Cardiac Anatomy from the University of Denver to become a politician!

The members of Congress party should just shut up and refrain from making stupid comments and getting their foot in their mouth. They had their chance for ten years but they totally messed up. They should take this opportunity to learn their mistakes and do penance for their sins! They should let the new government do its work. If possible, contribute in the rebuilding of the country in whatever way they can and hope that the people will forgive their misdeeds. 

The Congress party should learn a lesson from Chandrababu Naidu who rose like a Phoenix after going into political wilderness after he was vanquished from the political scene in 2004 assembly polls. But he did not give up. He realized his mistakes, he went back to the people, especially the farmers who felt ignored while he was in power. Now he is back as the Chief Minister of the depleted new Andhra Pradesh. He has been given a second chance and I hope that he will grab this opportunity and regain his lost glory!

1st June 2014 is a landmark for people of "erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh".  Now we belong to the new state of Telangana! Is it for better or for worse, only time will tell! All we can do is just hope that it is the dawn of a new beginning, for good! 

I do not know how costly the formation of the new state is going to be for the country. The cost of printing new government stationery itself may run into several crores of rupees. 

How will it affect us personally! Do we have to change the address in our passports and other documents, I wonder! 

Unsung heroes!

It was a warm and bright weekend morning. I started for the usual weekend shopping at the local mall trying to beat the weekend crowd but the place was already teeming with crowd, mostly families.

People were strolling across from their cars to the entrance as if it was a moonlit night. Kids were scampering across to get hold of the trolley for the family shopping.

Actually the heat here is quite bearable even with high temperatures. There is not much humidity most of the time. No complaints at all!

Fruits were in high demand even with such high prices. Somehow the price of most food items has sky-rocketed quietly. Watermelon seemed to be the most in-demand fruit. The moment the mall helper emptied the cart, they were disappearing into shopping carts.

I do not know if it is an acceptable thing or not in other parts of the world but here I see people, both kids and adults, drinking or eating stuff while still shopping around or while waiting in line at the cash counter even before paying for it! I haven't seen such a thing anywhere else!

When I came out of the mall, the hot air hit me like heat from a furnace. The car's temperature gauge showed the temperature peaking at 46° centigrade.

As I started driving back home I couldn't help feeling sad for the dozens of  men working on the road project, in the searing and sweltering heat. The poor souls start work at dawn and finish at dusk, working tirelessly, day after day, for a meager salary. Yet, everything gets stacked up against them whenever there is a change in recruitment policies!

In the coming days they would have some respite when work has to be compulsorily stopped from noon for three hours during the summer. That should bring a bit of a solace for them!

Soon the road project would be completed. It will be a big relief to the commuters as the overpass will ease the ever increasing traffic problems. It will be another milestone for the state. For the companies involved in the project, it will be another achievement, another feather in their cap, and lots of money.

But the sweat and blood of these men would be buried deep under the concrete structures. No one will even remember the hundreds of nameless faces who toiled day in and day out under extreme conditions. Truly, these are "the unsung heroes"!

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The Duty Free Shop incidence.....

During one of my trips home, after all the boring rituals, we finally boarded the aircraft and things were getting ready for the take-off. After some time we realized that something was wrong. We were well past the departure time but the aircraft door was still open. Couple of flight attendants were standing near the aircraft door peeping out as if expecting somebody.

The delay could not have been for some VIP, as such things do not happen in these parts. Most probably it could have been for some poor soul who got drunk and lost the way to the boarding lounge. Such things do happen often!

I remember, during one of my earlier trips, as I was waiting in the lounge, I saw couple of airport staff going around calling out a guy's name on their walkie-talkie. After searching the whole airport they found the missing passenger somewhere in an isolated corner of the airport fast asleep after taking a few shots from the liquor bottle he bought from the duty free shop.

Coming back to the current incidence, the clock ticked away and by now we were getting quite restless with the waiting. After what seemed like an eternity, there was a commotion at the entrance to the aircraft. A man walked in with his trolley bag and a huge duty-free bag in his hand, accompanied by two official looking men on either side of him. As they paused at the entrance of the aircraft the officials seemed to be admonishing the passenger who was apologizing profusely, almost touching the official's feet. Soon the officials left and the man was escorted to his seat by one of the flight attendants who helped him put away his luggage in the overhead storage compartment.

The man sat down and immediately was on his mobile phone and called someone and started saying "Brother you won't believe what happened! God put me to test today... I was at duty-free shop and while paying at the cash counter they found some items in my bag....no...no...no brother. I came to this place to do God's work, why will I steal...God came to my rescue...He saved me.....". The flight attendant asked the man to switch off his mobile phone as the flight was ready to take off. By then he had made another call and started repeating the whole thing again "brother, you know what happened....God saved me.....".

No one around asked him how the items got in his bag, for everyone must have assumed the obvious, including me! How judgmental! But, how can some items just get into somebody's bag! Did someone put them in his bag to set him up! Did he upset someone so much that they went to such an elaborate plan to get him trapped!

Could he have deliberately stolen the stuff , very confident that he will not be caught! Such things happen with some people who think that they are very holy and very God fearing. They consider themselves as different from others, that they have reached a level above the rest, very close to God! Such belief becomes so strong that over time, the line between righteousness and self righteousness starts becoming very thin. So thin that they start believing that whatever they do must be right! After all, with all the service and good work they are doing for God, how could they do anything wrong! If something were to go wrong, they even question God with "why Lord, what wrong have I done?".

I do not know if God had saved him that day or not but he was surely saved by the generosity of the airport officials. Otherwise surely he would have faced couple of months of jail time including deportation! Could the man have learned his lesson that day! I wonder!

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