Kavariars

not sure what the reasons are, but it looks like the Gods are also vying for the mindshare of mankind.

Recently i had been to chennai and visiting a relative after many years. their house was close to a 'mariamman' [local village goddess] temple. this was one of those temples that had become very popular over the years. i remember that during my school days, it was quite neglected and used to have some activity only on special days.

that day seemed to have been a special day. there was a lot of crowd in front of the temple, waiting to get in. there were people carrying some 'kavadis', accompanied by their near and dear ones. effectively, the road was completely blocked - which was otherwise a two way street.
the police personnel watched and cajoled raffic and the people to keep on moving and after about 10 minutes, somehow, we were able to get on to a side street and take an alternate route.

I had a similar experience the next day in front of a sai baba temple, also in chennai.

the following day, we were driving back to bangalore from pondicherry via tiruvannamalai. it was a full moon day. i was told that the tiruvannamalai town could be crowded, as many devotees undertake a 'giri valam' - circumambulating the mountain, barefoot. so, we wanted to cross the place well before evening.
but, unfortunately for us, it appeared that they decided to block the main road a little earlier that day - as they probably anticipated a larger crowd.

we were approaching the town from the east, needing to go west. we were asked to turn back and take a detour.no further details or instructions, even from the policemen. there were no signs. a couple of auto drivers we asked for help, started arguing amongst themselves if we would be able to find our way, as it was a very narrow road, that had most of the length dug up.

we decided to brave it amd followed a bus to salem, assuming that he would know the way.
after a couple of kilometes in the wilderness and a very small village - where we could see a peacock, with its feathers spread out, that posed for us, to take  pictures..
we got on to a main road that took us back to tiruvannamalai!

this time, we were approaching the town from the south. another detour and a few kilometers later, we were guided to take another road - a paved one this time, but just about as wide as the car! with hardly a soul insight, we would stop whenever we saw someone, just to reassure ourselves that the road did have an end on the other side, and connected to a larger road that would eventually take us towards our destination.

it was also very interesting to listen to how the people we crossed gave us directions. from the language - with a strong local dialect, that had some words that we could not understand - to the asumptions they made about our knowledge of the local topology as well as simplistic directions that we have to take three turns forward and two turns that would bring us back to almost where we were [or at least that was what we understood] and then the second turn would take us to the road connecting to the main road!

anyway, we finally crossed tiruvannamalai after spending more than an hour and about 12 kilometers, to crossed a distance of about 2 kilometers in 10 minutes.

with this experience, when i heard of the kavariyars that go to haridwar, i was somewhat relieved that what we went through was much milder.

while this is a regular event, it was not clear why the authorities have not managed to find a traffic regulation pattern - as i was told that all roads to haridwar would be completely taken over by the kavariyars and nobody can predict the delays.

the same question that crossed our minds about tiruvannamalai - as to why that could not have been managed better - as that seemed to be a regular occurrence, every full moon.
when we can manage kumbh mela without any major incidents, i am sure this should be a cakewalk.

when i wanted to check out more on the kavariars, google turned up with just one result!
that i could not register it as a googlewhcak was a disappointment,though.

modernizing languages

the recently concluded world tamil conference evoked varying and extreme positions from different groups.
from the comments on inconvenience caused to the public to the non-inclusion of the former president of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam among the invitees / dignitaries, there were enough controversies.

in one of my recent visits to chennai, i noticed that there were many 'tamilized' name boards all over.
among the interesting ones was:
'alai pesi' - wave speakers - for mobile phones, a variation of 'tholai pesi' distant speakers [for normal phones].

but, on the TV commercials, i notice that still many english words were used in their native form.
one of the mobile TV ads spoke of 'kaal rates' [call rates] - where 'kaal' in tamil means a leg!

i am not sure if the renaming of streets is to keep the language current. my feeling is that many of the old names represent significant aspects of the local history that would be lost forever.

languages need to evolve, by absorption of newer terms to keep with the evolving technological and social trends.
why can we not just accept the words from other languages - where these would have originated - and localize it in terms of pronunciation.

how would facebook sound, when it is referred as 'mugha puttakam' or blog as 'inaya thala aettu kurippu'..

Counting people in cups of corn

Last week, made a quick trip to yercaud.
the drive was good, with the roads and the weather in excellent condition almost all the way.
the last few kilometers on the 20 hairpin bends uphill, it was raining heavily with very little visibility.
the hotel where we stayed was small, but functional. one of those ecology themed hotels, close to the lake.
with very misty weather, took pleasant walks the next morning - but the view points - the pagoda point [invariably spelt as pakoda point - pakoda being a local snack!] had only the view of the mist.

we found very few visitors at the view point, and the local dog at the temple could also not be bothered from its sleep.

there were a few vendors who had their stalls - though on push-carts and makeshift sheds, they had screen-printed banners with names such as steam and roast - for steamed corn and roasted peanuts!
their steaming equipment was a hand operated blower!
i was wondering how they plan their quantities - as it looked like the corn would feed a battalion. i tried to imagine how the vendors would feel as they see visitors coming there. they surely welcomed us very enthusiastically and expectantly.. though we were not good customers.
i was tempted to try the fresh fig and honey combo, but decided against considering the cleanliness aspects.

on the way down, as the sky was also clearing up a bit, we saw many vehicles - cars, buses, two-wheelers going uphill. tried to visualize the emotions and expectations of the vendors at pakoda point!

like in cartoons, the image that flashed before my eyes, were that each vehicle was equivalent to a number of cups of corn..
2 for a 2 wheeler, 2-4 for a car and 10 for a bus....
i am sure they would have done good business for the rest of the day, going by the number of strewn paper cups and plastic spoons we could find along the way back.

June tunes

June is here.
I love the smell of the earth with the first fresh showers followed by the fresh plant smells.
June is also the time when the schools re-open in Bangalore and one can see children getting ready to go to school in the mornings.
with the new school session starting, it is also interesting to observe the proud, dreamy and anxious parents, getting the kids ready for school, on to the bus etc.

as i wait for my company bus in the morning, these scenes not only provide some diversion, but also interesting insights.

like the mother of a small boy - who spotted another older boy going to the same school - and quizzing him on the school, teachers, bus timings etc.
or the father who gets a kid on the bus, then crosses over to the other side, to wave 'tata' to the kid, as the bus makes a U turn after picking up some other children.
or the very concerned mother who argues with the bus driver every day, as to why he cannot drop the kids back on the same side of the road - rather than the other side, in the afternoon - as it is not safe for kids to cross the road, particularly when the parents get a little delayed
or the patient 'ayahs' who get the little kids and their school bags + lunch boxes well settled before the buses move
or the impatient drivers, who play a teasing game with the kids who come late, by raising the engine, to make them run faster to the bus..

among all this, there are also these occasional drivers - both bus drivers and others - who drive into dirty puddles and splash water over others waiting.

evenings are wetter, with regular rains that time themselves with the office timings, to make two-wheeler drivers take shelter under trees - or the elevated roads and fly-overs, to wait out cloud bursts.

this is very different from the Mumbai culture, where life goes on, in spite of the heavy monsoon downpours.
in fact, the culture is so different in Bangalore, that - soon after we shifted here about 20 years ago - we would be among the very few that carried umbrellas - which were very common and a mandatory accessory in Mumbai, during this season.

that has changed a lot in the last 2 decades. while the acceptance to live with nature has increased, the awareness and responsible use of water has yet to catch up.
i have seen the ground water table dry up and go lower in our area. the recent rule about rainwater harvesting should show some results in the next few years, like it has helped chennai.

Exam

one of the side effects of long air travel is an 'opportunity' to watch movies - some which one may not have watched otherwise.
last week, i watched this movie called Exam.
very interesting and absorbing. a simple theme. simple setting - all of the story is enacted in a windowless room.
it is about 8 candidates who come to the final stage of a selection process - without knowing much about the organization or its business, except that one winner would be the assistant to the CEO.

i was reminded of the 12 angry men.

not sure if I would have noticed this movie when released in theaters. maybe it already had its run.
on the topic of movies, i noticed during my recent trip to the US, that the pre-release promotions such as actor / producer interviews in the media, 'creating' some news about some of the characters or the movie itself - is not uncommon in hollywood also.
with so much money at stake, such promotion as well as in-place branding for products in movie scenes are becoming more common.

currently, i am also eagerly waiting for a positive result in another area. the top kill exercise being undertaken off the gulf of mexico. this has to succeed to not only limit and stop further damage to the environment, but also restore confidence in technology and engineering.

splitting hairs

as i was at my monthly haircut session, i noticed some news stories [in the old newspapers and magazines that are a part of the salon visit experience] in the last week about some innovative solutions for the gulf of Mexico oil spill.

the most interesting one - which was contextual to where i was, was about using human hair to absorb the oil.
it sounded very logical.
i have heard of the tonsured hair from Tirupati being exported for making wigs, but this seemed to open up another market.

that set me thinking if my habit of keeping my hair short [full-short, in the language of the hair dresser] was not very social. if i grew my hair long, surely it would help the shampoo industry also. but then, would it mean consumption of more water that would only be polluted by washing the hair - as i am used to having head baths twice a day? also, with less frequent visits to the hairdresser, how would that industry survive? with a high level of attrition or shuffle among the technicians, and the growing costs, they already operate on hair-thin margins - mankind cannot afford to make them an endangered profession.

that is why, when some of my follicular-challenged friends say that they are charged more on their visits to the hairdresser, i can understand the reasons they are given ranging from an MBA-like answer such as since their visits are less frequent, and the annual RPC [revenue per customer] need to be at their industry norms, that have to charge higher, to a more frivolous reason that the hairdresser needs to spend more time searching for the hairs to be cut!

before i could get more confused, another report resolved the dilemma. with about 210,000 gallons of oil spilling every day, this was not a practical solution.

it was time for my turn and i decided to let this global problem be solved by the experts, while i relaxed and got my monthly 'full short'.

very different customer experiences

yesterday, i had two very different customer experiences.

the first was very pleasant - and something that i was not expecting - or rather was expecting it to be much more gruelling. this was about a college admission.

going through the admission formalities, i was prepared for a 4 hour process, as the communication mentioned. the set up was very structured, and well coordinated. right from the security guard, who was very courteous, was aware of the process and proudly explained that there were 4 steps and the as we move from one stage to another, we would not have to retrace our steps.
it turned out that way - well documented steps, with the staff involved knowing not only what they were to do, but also the previous and next steps.
in fact, we were taken on a slight detour of the stages for the counselling step, and were taken to the department instead of the generic institution overview - as, we  were told that there could be overlaps and the time would be more effectively spent if we had that discussion only at the department.

the last step also included a feedback seeking session, where the feedback from the parents and the students was sought - even if only informally.

compare that to a less than overwhelming  experience from an institution that ought to be extremely customer focused - a bank.
getting an account converted from a junior account to a major account exposed the inadequate training to the staff on the process, the documentation required, the next steps etc.
having already made 2 trips to the bank on this activity, i found that even the branch manager was not very well equipped in terms of the wordings of declarations to be provided..
the TV ads from this bank talk about being sensitive to small things - such as wishing the customer who comes to the bank on his birthday - i found that the staff were more preoccupied with their promotion letters than customers waiting for more than half an hour to make deposits.

my hope is that the educational institutions like this one would turn out more customer focussed or customer-responsive graduates that would make a significant difference to the service industry.