AMMA - MOTHER & MOM

A beautiful sound when you say Amma, Mother or Mom. These are not just words. Most exalted feeling that reverberates throughout your body when you utter Amma or Mother or Mom. The sound touches the softest cord in your mind, heart or soul.

Whoever floated the idea of Mother’s Day? The origin lies in the period of Lent observed by the Christians. The fourth Sunday in Lent is observed as “Mothering Sunday”. The day May 11 had come and gone this year 2008. Oblivious to what was happening around, abruptly woke up to see my son and daughter-in-law giving a small gift for the occasion. A nice gesture indeed. It was joy to see the smiling face of Padma, my wife.

Me was not asleep and me was not awake either. The atmosphere in the room was calm. But, an ethereal feeling was enveloping my soul and body. The thinking symptom got stagnated. There was a gurgling sound of something percolating within me. From nowhere someone said “Ranga, take it easy”. From a blur to clear vision, my mother’s face appeared with a smile. That was a smile that could get me through the toughest times of the life.

Television was not there in those days. Only odd homes had the radio. For the males the only recreation was procreation. With the fearsomely low income my father made my mother to be delivered of eight children with just two years gap between the each. Today while thinking about it, me feel an excruciating pain in the soul.

My mother suffered a lot at the hands of her brother, who denied her the property rights, and at the hands of her husband. She suffered silently. By the time we grew up, she became a hysteria patient.

She stayed with me for a month. With the love and affection showered upon her by my wife and children, she became normal and started enjoying the freedom of life. But, it was not to be for a long time. Since she became normal, my eldest brother took her back to his home. She did not want to go and said “Ranga, keep me here”. Me said to her “Amma, you will come back here shortly”. My wife and daughter wept. My son stood dumbfounded. Me simply stared.

She again suffered in my brother’s home and breathed her last in a pitiable condition. Me could not fulfill the promise. The agony still persists in my mind.

KALEIDOSCOPE

As per Oxford dictionary the kaleidoscope is a toy tube containing mirrors and colored fragments reflected to produce changing patterns. In this episode you will find me narrating one of my various childhood activities.

Probably it was sixth standard me studying and kaleidoscope came to occupy my fancy. The urge to create and show it to others occupied my all waking hours. It has to be done. How could it be done? My brothers derided me and the friends made fun out of me. The ability to create has to be proved. It is a challenge. Taken up it seriously.

Mom was watching from the sidelines fearfully lest me may ask for some money. We were not economically well off and she has to guard every “Anna” (erstwhile Indian currency coin). It happened. “Mom, can you give me two annas? (in the present day context it is 12 paise Indian currency coin). Smiling with some difficulty she said “Okay, take two annas and nothing more”. Today when me think of my Mom, tears well up in the eyes.

Moore Market used to exist by the side of the present day Chennai (Madras) Central Railway Station. This was named after some Englishman famous for something in those days. This was demolished for the expansion of the Chennai (Madras) Central Railway Station. This may not exist now.

It is about six miles (roughly 12 kilometers) to the Moore Market from my home. Me walked the distance in the scorching of the summer, wearing an half-pant and half-sleeved shirt, holding the two annas safely. Scoured the market. Bought two pieces of glass – one is a mirror and the other is a plain glass each of one inch diameter. The plastic magnifying lens came into the bargain. My cousin broke her bangles and gave them to me (very sweet of her).

Tore off the cover of an old full scale note book. Made a tube of it. With the home made paste fixed the mirror first. Then the broken bangle pieces went in. The plain glass was fitted to hold the bangle pieces in place. On the top fixed the plastic magnifying lens. Hurray! the Kaleidoscope created for everyone to see.

Mom saw it first. She felt very happy and gave a kiss which was very rare. My cousin got the peek for her contribution. She looked at me in such a way which today I realize an expression of love.

Those who derided me and made fun of me had to eat the humble pie. Me showed this kaleidoscope to the Science Teacher. He gave me extra five marks in the science subject.

THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE - 3 - BIAS

Long long ago so long ago there was a saying that the Sun never sets in the British Empire. There was a competition between the Britain and the France to occupy territories in the African and Asian continents. While the French could give a good fight in the Africa, it lost to the Britain in the Asia. The Britain, the France and the Spanish competed with each other in the Americas. Later on they became dependent upon the United States of America. Sixty-six years back the Sun had set down in the British Empire. The British Empire became the Britain or the United Kingdom.

The bias is a diagonal of cross threads in a woven fabric. The bias is to influence either in favour or against someone. The Bangalore is the fabric. The diagonals are those who moved into the Bangalore because of the IT and ITES industry. There are other industries too. The Devil’s Advocate’s attention is riveted to the IT and ITES industry.

The western countries preached the mantra of Global Economy. They vociferously demanded the developing countries to open up the trade. The diametrically opposite happened. They found that their industries are losing money. Without looking into the sensitivity of loss jobs, they looked at the sense of outsourcing their jobs to India. The pink color denotes love and affection. Sadly, the IT and ITES workers in the western countries got the pink slips i.e. they lost their jobs to India.

There is a bias. The IT and ITES workers in the western countries are biased against India because of the outsourcing. The western countries’ industries became biased in favor of India because of the cost economics. They have to show profits to their shareholders.

Within the Indian context there is a bias. The bias of gender. The bias of language. The bias of the region. The north Indians who moved to the Bangalore make every effort to brow beat the south Indians. Among the north Indians, Punjabi and Hindi belts compete with each other. The people from the Bihar bear the brunt. Among the south Indians, there is a contest between Andhras, Tamils and Keralites. Andhra people try to undermine the Tamils. Keralites are suave and subtle in whatever they do against anyone. Some of the Tamils cannot just tolerate the sight of the Kannada people.

The higher-ups in the industry talk about the cohesion and cooperation amongst their work force. This is a white lie. There is no cohesion. There is only BIAS. Instead of living in the ivory tower, they should prevent the coal being carried to the castle. To them it is a “wake up call”. Awake and look around. Set your house in order.