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pravasichhokro · 2 years
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Job Hopping...
On graduating from BITS Pilani in 1972, many of my classmates (mostly Gujaratis) decided to go to USA for further studies and a couple went for management courses. I had to take up a job as my parents could not support my further education and those days, there were no loans available for further studies. From childhood, I had seen most people taking lifetime employment, so job hopping was unknown.
I got my first job in a small company in Delhi. This company was established in August ‘71 by a Dutch company, which had secured a couple of EPC contracts in India for petrochemical/fertilizer plants. Indian company was to take care of construction and Indian supplies. It had only 12 employees and I got to learn process engineering, proposal making, construction coordination and some development work to substitute expensive imported materials. I also was the main person to develop a skid mounted inert gas plant with German technology. All the clients were big names- Fertilizer Corp of India, NOCIL, GSFC, Rourkela Steel Plant. Scope appeared limited for growth. Hence, I changed.
I took up a job with Engineers India Ltd, a big engineering company in Delhi, Initially I was in foreign procurement (import) but was able to shift to project group for one of the petrochemical plants (part of India’s first Petrochem complex) in Baroda. I got experience of working on a big project and also on feasibility studies with foreign companies. I learnt the planning tools like PERT/CPM and monthly progress report with percentage calculations. I learnt how an office could function without peons.
After my marriage to a Bombay girl and my inclination to move to private sector from public sector, I took up a job with a British joint venture company in Bombay. It was established as a British company in 1908. It was head quartered at Calcutta and branch in Bombay. Bombay looked after new projects in chemical process industries on EPC basis. I got to handle the commercial side of projects and how to manage cash flow by changing priorities of engineering and deliveries. I was able to know how DGS&D worked for DGOF for projects in Ordnance factories (Kirkee and Arvankadu, near Ooty). I could see corruption in govt purchases. I also was exposed to new technology using industrial glass equipment. I recall that in BITS Pilani laboratory we had such glass equipment.
I went briefly to Iraq only to collect money for buying an aparment in Bombay which then required 40 pc in cash. HDFC Home loan was limited to white portion only and that too @13.5%. I owned my first aparment in 1982.
I returned to my earlier employer in Bombay and was able to execute a world bank financed project with Japanese partner for NFL,Guna. In those three years, I tried to imbibe the qualities (meticulous documentation and timely action) most sought after in Japanese by interaction with monthly visit of Japanese team to Bombay and two Japanese site supervisors for one year deputed at Guna.
The virtual take over by a Marwadi businessman and financial crisis made me move to a job in Pune. This move proved beneficial to my family as we got a big, rented apartment to live, a car, a land line and a good school for my daughter. The division was new in the company, and I got a good opportunity to show my merit.
I got a call from the Japanese company, which was partner in the Guna project earlier, to come to Japan and join them to execute similar projects in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh. My family and I enjoyed the tremendous change this re-location offered. I could practice the Japanese way to work in an office –do it yourself, deal with vendors, correspondence with customer and licensor, discipline and most importantly learn Macintosh desktop. A few years later, the Japanese company decided to establish a joint venture with Land T in India. I returned to India to help and join the new venture. It also helped my daughter to experience competitive schooling in India. For family reasons I did not join L&T-Chiyoda at Vadodara but took up a job in Pune.
At the new company, I was able to lead a team to export project equipment worth USD 8.8 Million in 8 months to the Philippines. It was a big learning experience and faced innumerable hurdles, especially after working in Japan. After a brief tenure I took a challenging job in Oman for a local contractor to execute oil and Gas projects for the local Shell joint venture. We enjoyed the stay as Oman respected the Hindu religion and rituals. Indians and its passport had respect. I had to leave Oman in 1999 as the oil price dropped to below USD 10/bbl. and most projects got shelved.
On return to India, I joined back the Pune company and was able to participate in its growth from 40 Cr company in 1999 to 850 Cr company in 2008. I was in-charge of delivery chain and was able to supervise, guide and control project execution, not only in India but some 40 countries worldwide. This gave me tremendous opportunity to explore new methods and meet different type of clients. Special mention is required for chartering ships to export large process equipment to Latin America, Thailand, USA and Europe. I retired in 2012 after a couple of extensions.
After retiring, I took some consulting assignment but was not very successful. I tried to teach Project Management at a skill institute to employed people.  In conclusion, I can say that I changed my jobs when I was convinced that such move would enhance my prospects professionally or financially. In some changes I had given priority to my family before my interest. On two occasions, I had to leave the job as the work visa/permit was not made available.
I look back upon the past and feel that I have done best with available opportunities and met many of my aspirations. My father, unfortunately, was not so lucky when he changed jobs in his 50s.
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pravasichhokro · 2 years
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Process of choosing a life partner (Better Half....)
I am going to attempt to scribble down from my own experience on a subject which is normally very personal and not open to one and all. I may hurt feelings and ego of some but that is unintentional.
I belong to a middle class family. My father was a PhD in English literature and teaching at University but my mother was a home maker. We are four siblings- two brothers and two sisters. Each of us academically chose different branches- elder sister became a Doctor (MBBS), my brother became a banker and younger sister, an arts post graduate. Yours truly became a chemical engineer.
On my graduating 1972 and taking up a job in Delhi, I was enjoying my bachelor days. The first marriage in our family was that of my elder sister in 1973. She chose to marry someone the family knew. He was highly qualified (M Tech from IIT Bombay) and teaching at a local college. Second marriage was of my younger brother, who chose to marry his college sweetheart. That was in 1975. My parents permitted him to marry the girl of his choice and also before me. These marriages in the family started to put pressure on me.
I had co-education till I joined BITS Pilani but there was no girl friend to talk of. My first job was in small company with less than 20 employees and only a couple of females. My second job was in a large company, Engineers India Limited but did not find the inclination or incentive to befriend female employees. Both the jobs required that I travel a lot out of Delhi (almost 20 days in a month) and that might have been the reason for no friendship with females in the office.
Around 1976, two of my office colleagues got married and their wives found me to be a good “catch”. One was a Maharashtrian from Thane who came up with a proposal of her sister. Another was a Tamilian from IISCO, Asansol. She brought up her friend’s proposal who was a Goan Marathi. Both proposals were not considered seriously by me as I did not think the newlyweds new me well enough. I was also not willing to put my friendship at stake if the marriage did not go well in future. Ironically, I met the Thane girl later in Mumbai as neighbor’s wife. I also accidentally met the father of the Goan girl during a business meeting later in life. He had joined a Goa shipping company to put up a Sponge Iron Plant. Both seemed happily married.
My being away from home from the age of 15 did not allow my relatives to know my likes and dislikes. My family doctor was my well wisher and he brought up two proposals. One was a Gujarati girl, a doctor ( M.D.) and his student. Her father was a social worker then. I did not think she would be able to change her settled life to my unsettled life in Delhi. Another was a daughter of an industrialist from sugar belt and related to wife of a successful orthopedic surgeon. I did not think much of her after a meeting. I doubted if she could move to my small income household in Delhi. Both did not check my feedback, so the story ended in peace.
My friends did not propose their sisters for me, and it gave me an insight into their logic. I was a good friend, but I might not be a good brother-in –law. They did not want to risk their friendship.
My parents issued an ultimatum and I agreed to meet three short listed “candidates” in a one week visit to a city convenient to all. My graduation in Chemical Engineering from BITS, Pilani, living in Delhi and working in an engineering consultants’ company were not so known areas for many middle-class Marathi families then. Hence, I believe short listing would have been tough.
I went to Bombay and met the three shortlisted girls in January of 1977. The first girl was a CA from Poona and was referred by her relative who was CMD of a PSU insurance company. She looked a good professional but did not seem too keen to move to Delhi. Second girl was from a royal family of Aundh (near Satara) and was referred by one of my relatives who knew her uncle. She came with the glow of her wealth and I doubted if she would be able to settle in my middle class setup. The last one was from Bombay and from a similar financial background as mine. She had lost her father two years before our meeting. The family was known to my family doctor. She had studied up to post graduation. She had played badminton at college level. She was not ambitious.
I had given my preference to my parents and given them full authority to proceed with one who contacts them first. The engagement took place in March, and we got married in June ‘77. We are married till today.
In the meantime, two of my close friends were friends with girls of their choice and one succeeded in marrying her, but the other did not go ahead.
In 80s and early 90s, a new entity called “marriage bureau” started helping youngsters to find their mate. The bureau kept biodata with photo of boys and girls who sought a mate. Parents, friends, and youngsters would visit and search through files. Next the internet provided new tool in the form of “marriage.com”. Now all the information shifted from hard copies to soft and access was at a click. Both means were using unedited or unauthorized data and that was a problem. In 2000 onwards direct chat sites made it easy for the youngsters without a mediator. All the three means were mainly used in metros of India, and I suspect that rural India still follows the traditional route.
In conclusion I can say that arranged marriage was my choice by default. I believe that success of marriage (married life) depends on the two and not on others, who are around.
PS: Each reader may have a different story about their own marriage and variety is spice of life.
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pravasichhokro · 2 years
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Languages I learnt over the years

The clichĂ© goes like “language is a means of communication” but for me, a language was more than that. I am a Maharashrian and hence my mother tongue is Marathi. I only spoke my mother tongue for the first couple of years of my life in childhood. I grew up till the age of 16 in Gujarat, mainly in Ahmedabad. I went to Gujarati medium schools till I passed standard XI (SSC). Hence the main language of communication outside the home was Gujarati. I was proficient in reading, writing and speaking Gujarati as well as any native. Even during these years, the “kitchen” language at home was Marathi as my grandmother and mother did not speak Gujarati nor I knew the names of Marathi food items in Gujarati. I also heard my father speak Kannada with his mother (our grandmother) when a “secret” topic was to be discussed as both had lived in Dharwad.
Hindi was introduced as a language in Standard V and I learnt a new script and could read Hindi. Before that I had heard only Hindi film songs. I was not yet able to speak Hindi fluently. In the Standard VIII (high school), I was to learn two completely different languages – Sanskrit and English. The scripts were different, the grammar was quite illogical and pronunciation a big effort. I was lucky to focus only to read and write these languages. Sanskrit could be crammed but not English. In SSC (Std. XI), the board syllabus expected a student to know only 1800 words of English. Gujarat Govt followed this low priority to English as a policy. I recall my father (Ph.D. in English) jokingly told me that I would know more words that President Charles de Gaulle used in his public speeches, which was 1600 word of French.
I wanted to join Science stream after SSC in 1966 and that too St. Xavier’s college with English medium. I was requested by my father to read all English medium science textbooks in the summer vacation before results were out in June. This helped me a great deal to improve my English as I already knew the subjects. Once in St. Xavier’s college, I was admitted to a division where all other students came from English medium schools. I took extra efforts to prove my merit and was among first 20 students (Roll of Honor) in the first Unit Test among more than 450 students. English was still a subject, but Gujarati and Hindi had disappeared. But language to communicate with classmates was Hindi or English.
I then joined BITS, Pilani in 1967. I was to improve spoken Hindi and English on the campus (read hostel) and there were a limited occasions to use either Gujarati or Marathi. Two of my friends helped me a great deal to improve my English, specially spoken by suggesting me to read English fiction books (Perry Mason and Western) loudly. Only for first year, English was a subject. In all, I studied academically Gujarati for 11 years, Hindi for 7 years, Sanskrit for 3 years and English for 6 years. I never studied Marathi. On the campus I heard many Indian languages and was taught Punjabi (mainly abuses) by my classmate and a close friend, who hailed from Amritsar. Those days Haryana roadways ran buses between Pilani and Delhi. The driver and conductor used Haryanavi dialect, which was fun to hear. English remained the main language as it was the medium of instruction. I started thinking in English language from Gujarati, a major shift.
I took up my first job in Delhi and use of Hindi became the norm. I heard Bhojpuri at my friend’s residence for the first time. English was the language for business- commercial and technical documents were in English (for next 40 years). When I got married in 1977, my wife spoke Konkani (coastal/ Goa dialect of Marathi), which was unknown to me. Luckily, she spoke and understood Marathi. We moved to Mumbai in 1979 and Marathi re-emerged as a language of communication but the Mumbai (bhai log) variety. Later we shifted to Pune and a purer Marathi was being used. Since I always was associated with execution of projects located in various parts of India, I got a chance to hear local languages. I did not learn any new language due to limited use of them in my work. I also found that the unfamiliar and complicated scripts of many languages was a hurdle to learn a language.
Coming to foreign languages, I first heard German and Dutch from my Indian boss at the Dutch MNC I got my first job in 1972 in Delhi. Later I came across Japanese when a Project Coordinator from Kobe Steel, Japan was deputed to Engineers India Ltd., New Delhi in 1976. In 1979 I heard French when I was coordinating a feasibility report being prepared by a French Company, Aluminum Pechiney. Later I was coordinating a project with a Japanese company and had frequent interactions with Japanese people in 1985 for three years. I also joined this company in Japan and lived there with my family. My work did not require me to know and use Japanese, but I took to learning it as a hobby. Japanese is very unusual language. It has three scripts- Hiragana (old), Katakana (used for foreign words) and Kanji (Pictorial, like Chinese). All three get mixed while writing a sentence which can be vertical or horizontal. Hiragana has only 10 basic alphabets and each has 5 variations. Katakana has similar alphabets. This limited sounds make it difficult for Japanese people to speak other languages, especially English. Kanji has more than 8000 pictorial “alphabets” but only 1000 or so are in everyday use. I could write Hiragana and Katakana but no Kanji. I spoke a few sentences for everyday use but could not master it to converse.
I executed projects in the Philippines, Thailand and Latin America. This gave me an opportunity to hear Spanish and Thai languages. But I had no incentive to learn them.
I spent a couple of years in Oman but had no need to learn Arabic as English and Hindi were spoken by many. The business language was English for contracts, commercial transactions and client was Shell Oil promoted Omani Govt company.
In conclusion, I can say that most languages are easy to speak but many are difficult to read and write.
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pravasichhokro · 2 years
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Experience of living in different cities
In my life of more than 7 decades, I have lived in some 8 cities starting from Ahmedabad, Pilani, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Yokohama( Japan), Muscat (Oman) and Bangalore, in that order. I will make an attempt to pen down the “trivial”, but not so common, features of my experience.
I was brought up in Ahmedabad from 1954 to 1967, which were mostly my student days. We lived on the outskirt of the city and our society of bungalows was surrounded by open fields where still farming was going on. Other than school and college, I was busy playing different games with my neighbors. I enjoyed Gujarati snacks and would take extra efforts to get them. Our neighbors were very kind and did not complain of our cricket or other games played anytime of the day. City had a very good bus service and it was our main transport. Our bungalow had a few tenants like us but it did have a problem of water and sewage. Water supply was short and erratic, and septic tank sometime spilt over. We loved the festival of Navratri ( Garba/Dandia) and kite flying on Makarsankrant. 
I shifted to BITS, Pilani hostel for five years from 1967. The change from day scholar to hostel life was huge. I could do what I wanted and when I wanted (freedom) except class attendance. Other than academic pursuit, I was able to indulge in sports/games. I learnt how to play basket ball, table tennis and contract bridge. I improved my ability to play carom, cricket and hockey. Being confined to the campus for a couple of months at a stretch, I enjoyed food in the mess and also outside at Nutan market/dhabas. I was introduced to black (udad) dal, lemon rice, mawa mutter, stuffed parathas and stuffed capsicum/tomato in the mess. Outside the campus got to taste Titar (partridge), reportedly a banned bird. I was bombarded by Hindi movies as every Saturday a movie was screened for students. I probably saw more than 125 movies in BITS in five years, compared to less than 20 movies seen earlier. Initially the old movies were screened in 16 mm in a quadrangle of the main building but later new movies in 35 mm in a huge auditorium. Once in a while, we escaped the campus life to see late night movie in a makeshift shed called Jayashree talkies.
After graduation in 1972, I lived in South Delhi till the late 70’s, initially as a bachelor and then a family man. Major problem of Delhi was public transport as I did not own a vehicle then. City bus (DTC), autorikshaw or yellow taxi were most unreliable and the operators ( drivers and conductors) most non-cooperative and rude. My wife, who joined me from Bombay, was most shocked as she compared this scene with BEST of Bombay. I did not face much problem as I used a contract bus to go to office. As a bachelor, I used to join others on most Saturday night’s for a party. The liquor law did not permit drinking in public so we sometime managed to cross into Haryana (Faridabad) and consumed beers and chicken. Returning after the fling was not a problem as “drive after drinks “was not an offence. In Delhi, we enjoyed different types of food –Punjabi and Chinese. Our favorite places were Lajpatnagar market, M block market in GKI, Narulas and Hongkong in GKI. Most tasty samosa was made by a small vendor in East of Kailash A block market. At residence, we faced water shortage and had to cook on kerosene stove.
We  shifted to Bombay in early 80’s and lived there for 8 years. Biggest difference was a moderate summer compared to Delhi and very efficient city transport whether bus, taxi or autorikshaw. We also enjoyed the sea and its beeches- Girgaon, Dadar, Juhu and Malad. We, however, had to face some water shortage. We once again were able to enjoy street food like batata vada, Frankie, bhel etc. We also loved Irani cafĂ© menu of maska pav, kheema pav, baida( egg) roti etc. We started going to Marathi plays often and enjoyed the change from Hindi movies. I got to own a flat in 1982 and a Bajaj scooter in 1984. That made life easy.
We moved to Pune in the mid 80’s for a brief period and are staying there till date (more than 20 years) except our breaks to go to Japan, Oman and Bangalore. In first phase, we got to live in a bigger place, owned our own Premier Padmini car and telephone line at residence, all thanks to Thermax, my employer. The major sigh of relief was water availability and good round the year weather-moderate summer, monsoon and winter. These advantages remain even today. Pune offered the advantages of a village and city. Distances were short and day out picnic spots in the surrounding hills were approachable and affordable. I got introduced to music (performing arts) of all kinds –classical, light, gazal, filmy and non filmy. I was able to attend live performances of stars like Pt. Jasraj, Kaushiki Chakravarty, Shaunak Abhisheki, Hariharan, Raghunandan Panashikar, Jagjiy Singh, Alka Yagnik, Shankar Madhavan,Shaan, Sarod by Amjad Ali, dances by Hema Malini, Minakshi Sheshadri. Also new upcoming stars like Vibhavari Joshi Apte, Hrishikesh Ranade.Pune reintroduced us to Lord Ganesh and we love the ten day special festival of Ganpati. I was and am able to indulge in outdoor activities like walking, swimming and going to hills. We got introduced to YOGA-pranayam, Omkar, suryanamskar etc. We do it regularly even today. Our health received a boost as we got to know more about homeopathy medicines as my wife has seen lot of benefits to this alternative therapy. I was able to afford and enjoy different cuisines. My membership of a club once again enabled me to see a Hindi movie every week. Since it was free, one had the luxury to walk out of un-interesting movie without feeling guilty.
We moved to Yokohama, Japan during the 90’s. The change was huge-from “stone” age of Pune, India to space tech level in Yokohama,Japan. The weather was excellent and all the utilities-water, piped gas, electricity and land line were reliable and affordable. First time we used a Microwave oven and rice cooker with a timer. Only my daughter’s international school fee was a huge dent on my pocket but she had the best quality of education. We got initiated into Japanese food and loved visiting China Town for authentic Chinese cuisine. My daughter enjoyed the American fast food at McDonald’s and Pizzas at Shakey’s. Surprisingly there were more than fifty Indian restaurants in Tokyo area and we loved the Naan served there. The public transport (bus, train, taxi) was reliable, clean and convenient even for foreigners like us despite the language hurdle. We also enjoyed a ride on the famous bullet train (called Shinkansen) from Yokohama to Kyoto (400 kms). Like Japanese people, we also started visiting and appreciating the nature in the hills near Yokohama including hot springs and Mt. Fuji. We were surprised and shocked to find all public places-footpath, roads, stations, bus stops and toilets were spotlessly clean (clean like home). Another surprise was that weather forecast was very reliable and available in the lift lobby of the buildings. Being an island country, it would rain any time and this forecast helped. We also got introduced to huge superstores and malls.  Some malls were part of railway stations e.g. Yokohama. We also got to know the vending machine culture of Japan. Many daily required items (soft drinks, coffee, tea, snacks, milk, beer, cigarette etc) could be purchased from vending machines which were all over- on footpath, near stations, lift lobbies, parks etc.Even train tickets were on a vending machine. We also made our first visit to entertainment parks like Disneyland. We also got used to the deep tub (OFURO) bath that Japanese used to keep warm during winter. I got introduced to Sumo, the Japanese wrestling and professional baseball.
We moved to Muscat, Oman for two and a half years in the late 90’s. Other than the high temperatures (summer could be + 50 Deg C), the life was very enjoyable. Oman was an exception in the Middle East and it honored Indians and Hindus. The biggest hurdle to mobility was a driving license and I got it fast luckily. I was glad to drive around in a Camry, poor person’s Mercedes. We were regular visitors to 200 year old Shiva temple and newly built Krishna temple, both built and managed by kutchi community. We were able to buy Indian vegetables and fruits easily and reasonably priced. There was easy access to Indian restaurants and street food. We got introduced to Kerala paratha (laccha paratha) and some tandoori roti from Pakistani outlets. We got introduced to Lebanese cuisine and we loved it. We could go out for dinner, which also offered Indian music or Egyptian belly dance. We were privileged to see Hindi movies on Thursday night, a day before they were released in Mumbai. We were able to drive down to Dubai in 4 hours (400 Kms) and enjoy the shopping. Driving was a pleasure as all had to follow the traffic rules and they were followed. Muscat had lovely road side greenery and flowers, and they were maintained with great efforts. Muscat airport restaurant was open for non-muslims during Ramadan and that was a big relief.
After retiring from a Pune company in 2012, I took a short assignment in Bangalore. We were lucky to stay in huge residential complex in Whitefield. First time in our life, we stayed in high rise building on the 11th floor. We enjoyed the famous Bangalore weather but had to face mosquito menace. The complex had a zero water requirement as it treated and re-circulated most of the sewage. It, however, gave a bad smell in parking area (basement). We had to bear bad water quality. We used aqua guard treated water for cooking and bought Bisleri for drinking. The water quality also reflected in poor quality of green vegetables. Another problem we faced was traffic jams- it took almost 90 minutes from our residence to reach the airport. Most facilities in our area were catering to IT crowd and hence it was re-adjustment for us.
In conclusion, I can say that present day life style is a mixture of what we picked up from different cities. Ironically my wife always wanted and wants things from the cities we left behind. For example, she wants palak, green peas and fulgobi (vegetables) from Delhi, Fish from Mumbai, Farsan from Ahmedabad, Miso soup and Yakisoba from Japan, Mysore pak from Bangalore. These small things keep us connected to the cities we had lived in.
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pravasichhokro · 3 years
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My experience of Project Management
I graduated as a Chemical Engineer but was placed in charge of a project in my first job and first year of employment. During my post graduate diploma in business management in 1976, I prepared a project report of project management through PERT/CPM as I was working as a member of a project team in Engineers India Ltd. I learnt that there were many definitions of project management (PM) but I was impressed with the one which stated that PM is nothing but managing three M’s (1) Men (2) Materials and (3) Money. But I understood over the years that PM means – plan, monitor and control- in a cyclic way. Control means correcting the situation or activity by changes. “Control” is the most difficult part of PM. I plan to place before you all my actions or actions of others seen as “control” in PM during my four decades of experience limited to projects in chemical process industry, oil& gas and utility.
The first project of my career was for Rourkela Fertilizer plant in 1973. I was stationed at New Delhi but the site was at Rourkela and most vendors were in Calcutta. The job was to be executed in shut down period so I decided to move to site in the last two months so that I could ensure smooth supplies from Calcutta vendors and provide some help to construction team. Similar action was taken by IPCL CMD for Engineers India project team for Baroda Petrochemical (IPCL) project. He ensured that one member of project team from Delhi was at site 24x7, 7 days a week. That made me live in Baroda every third week for a week for a year or so. Please note that we did not have mobile or internet then.
During execution of a large project for NFL, Guna in 1984-87, we were importing refractory materials for the reformer (kind of furnace). I discussed with the Japanese partner how the huge quantity of refractory would be stored at site and the huge expense to create a temporary waterproof shed. I was told that the refractory materials will be mostly in cartons and PP bags stuffed in wooden crates. These crates would be then placed in a marine container for shipment. Normally the containers would be de-stuffed and the inner boxes and bags need to be transported from Bombay to Guna (approx. 1200 kms). I got a “brain wave”. I told the Japanese to drop the wooden boxes and use the marine containers as outer package materials. They used second hand certified for “last voyage” marine containers for us to keep at site and it solved the storage problem. These containers faced the problem at customs and we had to pay customs duty for “durable” packages. The company got 54 containers almost free and we used ten for our site office and stores. The rest were sold to other construction companies generating unexpected profit of INR10, 000 per container.
While working in Japan for two international fertilizer plants, one in Saudi Arabia and another in Bangladesh, there were three instances where ‘control” action was initiated. The company had arranged a heavy lift crane from Singapore for Bangladesh project and some heavy items were to be delivered from Houston. These were delayed and would miss the “window” of heavy lift crane if transported in shared special vessel. The project team decided to hire a chartered vessel at a cost of almost half million USD to ensure delivery was in time for the “window”. For same project, progress payment was held up for two months and the Japanese company decided to suspend the work on the project, though the Japanese company was an equity partner in the project. Suspension lasted for a year.
For the Saudi Project, some structural steel fabrication was ordered on a Saudi Company (to meet local content clause of the contract). The Saudi company was manned by Indians and Pakistanis but owned by a Saudi royal family relation. The company could not submit fabrication drawings as required and hence an Indian company was inducted to carry out the drawing work as a sub contract. This resolved the big hurdle in execution.
I was associated with construction of a gas based power project in Oman in1998. The heart of the power plant was a gas turbine of General Electric (GE). GE was to supply this from USA factory near Boston by sea transport. While transporting it from factory to port, it met with an accident on the road and it required some repairs. This meant the Project schedule was upset. The Oman Company asked GE to air freight it at their cost so that the project would be commissioned on time. GE had to agree and had to use a special transport aircraft to execute it. We completed and commissioned the project on time. For another oil field project in Oman, we had to decide to air freight the control panels from the Netherlands to Muscat in Oman. We managed the logistics so efficiently that the panels took only 48 hours to be delivered from factory in the Netherlands to site (500 kms from Muscat airport) in Oman including customs and airport clearance.
When I started my career, it was handmade bar charts and then with computers and digital invasion, there were other tools for project management like MS Project, Primavera, and PS-8 etc. These tools did provide a frame work to plan a project but the corrective/control action had to come from the Project head or his team.
I am sure readers, who have experience in other sectors (electronics, IT, auto or packaging), may have similar stories to narrate of the “control” action taken or observed by them. In India, most public projects are never finished on time because there is none to take the “control” action so necessary to complete a project on time. Delayed projects also mean they overshoot the original sanctioned budget and benefits are lost to the consumers or client.
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pravasichhokro · 3 years
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My dealings in Foreign Exchange or Currency....
Till I graduated in 1972 from BITS, Pilani and took up my first job with an MNC in EPC contracts in Fertilizer and Petrochemical industries, I had no clue of importance of foreign exchange or foreign currency in the commercial world.
My first encounter was when I had to procure imported naphtha pumps and burners for a reformer project for Rourkela Fertilizer Plant in late1972. We finalized import of pumps from Sulzer, UK and burners from John Zinc, USA. In early 1974, I got a chance to import molecular sieves from Bayer, Germany and special blower from Siemens, Germany for a skid mounted Inert Gas plant I was developing for the company in collaboration with Caloric of Germany. All these required me to understand, not only the foreign currency and value of Indian rupee, but also import procedures.
In my second job with Engineers India Ltd, New Delhi from 1975 onwards, I was involved in importing a lot of items made compulsory by the process licensors like UOP for India’s first petrochemical complex at Baroda. India’s Foreign exchange position was very precarious and some USA vendors would quote on telex validity of 24 hours. Normal time to finalize an import order then was 6 months for a PSU. For one of the projects, Japanese Yen credit was used and a lot of proprietary machinery came from Japan without any hassle.
My personal experience of handling foreign currency was when I went overseas in 1979 to France and UK.I was then on a USD 70 per day allowance (RBI rules). We tried to save 30 USD of it to do sight-seeing in Paris & London and shop. The clients were very generous with their hospitality and it helped.
The next big lesson was in dual exchange rates- official and black market during my contract employment with Toyo of Japan for a site job at Basra, Iraq in1981-82. Iraq had an official exchange rate for its dinar at 3.35 USD but black market rate was one equals one. For expatriates, Iraq had a duty free shop all over Iraq including Basra. The prices of all imported items were at official exchange rate in these shops. I had exchanged USD 100 to 100 Dinar in black market and was able to buy a Rado watch (Swiss make) for my wife for 30 Dinar (officially at USD 100). It gave her some relief from being separated from me for a year.
I had undertaken a trip to UK in 1983 with my director and the company had applied for USD 500 as tourist allowance for me, though I had to stay for three weeks in UK. Till our departure, RBI permit was not received, so we left India without any foreign exchange. On arrival at the office in Stockport, near Manchester, the next day, we got a message to collect the foreign exchange from a bank nearby. My director arranged a handsome (cash) amount from the collaborators. I became aware of ingenious ways to beat the RBI restrictions. I could spend a weekend in London.
Another shock was waiting for me. When I was a project manager at Simon Carves, Bombay, I had to face the change in exchange rate of Japanese Yen under Plaza accord in 1985. Overnight the rate was revised upward to 185 yen to USD from 256 under USA pressure. We had a subcontract with a Japanese company (our partners in the bid) at 6 million Yen prior to change and it would have increased our outflow in INR by 35 percent. If the Japanese company had insisted, our company would have gone bankrupt. Luckily they accommodated us, being partners in the bid.
I took an employment with a Japanese company in the early 90’s and my salary fortunately was in Yen. While leaving India, USD was at INR 19 but within six months, INR was devalued to 27 per USD. Even Yen became strong from 118 JY to 100 JY to one USD by the time I moved out from Japan. My savings, though small, went through the roof. In Japan, I realized the power of hard currency (J Yen) vs. the poor soft currency (INR). I also took advantage of high interest rate of 18 pc on FD in Bank of India for NRNR (Non-Resident Non-Repatriable) INR deposits. Around mid 90’s, one Japanese bank introduced a vending machine to dispense USD currency against Yen notes. That is the advantage of hard currency.
During my employment and stay in Oman in the late 90’s, I could take advantage of weakening of INR. It started at 40 and ended up at 45 to USD. Omani Rial was fixed at USD 2.58. I also tried hawala route to get advantage of 5 % but was not very comfortable to handle cash in India.
During my various overseas trips, I used to buy coffee and snacks at transit airports with cash USD.I invariably got change in local currency, mostly in coins. These coins were a dead loss as they could not be converted back even to INR. Soon I got hold of an international credit card and saved this loss, which used to be at least 10-20 USD per visit.
In spite of my past experience, I faltered during my visit to Jordan/Israel in 2017. I changed 100 USD to local Israel currency at the border crossing but spent only 30 pc in Israel. Balance was to be changed back to USD but I forgot to do it at the border crossing. I tried at Aman Airport in Jordan but was shocked to learn that I would get only 10 USD instead of 70.
Over the years the instruments of foreign exchange for travelers-business or pleasure- have changed. I started with cash and travelers cheques. I felt very comfortable but my sister living in LA, USA, during my first USA visit in 1992, warned me not to “display” my cash or travelers cheque while paying at hotels. Then I moved to international credit cards and discarded traveler’s cheques. Today I carry travel card and feel very safe. Today one can pay overseas hotel charges by internet. We have come a long way.
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pravasichhokro · 3 years
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Moments of Happiness in my Childhood
In complete contrast to today’s digital entertainment and modern transport systems, my childhood was simple but I enjoyed some special moments and activities. I will pen down the experience from 1955 to 1965 (my age from 6 yrs to 15 yrs). Those were my school going days in Ahmedabad.
The first priority was sports and games. I was an avid fan of soft ball (tennis ball) cricket and played it with friends almost anywhere and anytime. We played on streets, in compound of bungalows, in open fields, on terraces and in balcony. We adopted the bat size (small or big) and bowling style (overhand or underhand) to suite the space. I picked up, after class 8, field hockey under an able coach, who was an ex-India player. I excelled in hockey to represent Gujarat State in inter-state school tournament in Shillong, Assam. Other games were desi. We played team games at school- Kabbadi and kho-kho. We played marbles and gulli danda. We also played a game where 7 flat stone pieces were heaped like a pyramid and two teams were involved. The defending team will use a ball and try to topple the pyramid. The other team will hit with the ball the members of the team who toppled it. The first team will try to resurrect the pyramid without getting hit. It was an interesting game. Unfortunately I forget the name.
I also enjoyed indoor games –playing cards, carrom and chess among others. All these games were gender neutral and could be played with family or friends. One family, our neighbors, played chess with passion. The game would extend from one day to another and the chess board would remain untouched overnight.
Today’s kids play mostly games with smart phone, laptop and computer in the comfort of their home. Most of these games are foreign to us. Some Desi versions may be available.
Second on the list was outside food. My grandmother and mother cooked traditional Maharashtrian food at home so outside food had to be different. Once in a while we went to Havmor (Gujarati spelling of HAVE MORE) restaurant, which served variety of ice cream, Dosa and Punjabi Samosa. Their Cassatta and truti-fruity ice cream were popular and our favourite. Occasionally, we would go to Chetna Restaurant, which served unlimited Gujarati thali. In summer, we would go to Law College Garden (popularly called “Love” Garden for obvious reasons) in the evening. We enjoyed the pot ice cream, bhel and ragda pattice. The garden had a restaurant where there was an imported juke box. The machine played selected song once you put in a coin and press the number against your choice. The robotic arm would pick up the LP disc and place it on turn table. The movement of the mechanism was fascinating. I also enjoyed going to the famous night market at Manek Chowk for titbits. Please note that pav bhaji had not appeared on the scene then.
Today eating out is no more an attraction as most urban families eat out once a week when Lady of the House keeps the kitchen closed, her off day.
I was fortunate that my father took us once in a while to see Hollywood comedy films of Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Norman Wisdom. These films were either silent or English but neither hampered the laughter that got generated naturally. My father also introduced us to wild life through movies like African Safari and Hattari. The wild life depiction was so real and very engrossing. This experience was reinforced with visits to Kankaria, Ahmedabad zoo and Byculla, Bombay zoo ( Rani chi bag).One movie, which was most educational, was “Around the World in 80 days”. My father had briefly told us the story but the picturisation of various countries and the difficulties faced en route were very mind blowing for a child. I still recall the train being held up due to thousands of wild cows/cattle crossing the rail track in USA. After age of 12, I was allowed to see two Hindi movies a year (one after half yearly exam and another after annual exam) with my friends. Present day kids enjoy cartoons and other animated movies on TV or internet at home.
We eagerly used wait to go to a circus, which happened once a year. I have seen most of the famous circus of those days- Gemini ( Mera Naam Joker fame), Rajkamal, Appollo. As a child, I was quite impressed with the acrobats and animals showing their skills. But the most awaited act was by the jokers- small and tall or fat and thin as the pair might be. We enjoyed these acts so much that we used to try to enact them at home with friends after coming back. Today I never hear any urban kid having seen a live circus. My wife keeps pressing me to take her to a circus when we see advertisement of it in Pune local newspapers. We saw one virtual Rambo performance last year on laptop during lockdown.
We, as kids, looked forward to two festivals – Divali and Makar sankrant (Uttarayan). Divali meant new clothes and fire crackers. Shopping for the fire crackers was exciting as we would go late at night to a whole sale market to seek bargain and rub shoulders with the crowds. Makar Sankrant meant kite flying day. The preparation would start with getting the “manja” (special thread) and then buying various types of kites from the night market. On the day (Jan 14) kite flying would start early morning and end late evening. The food, Undhyu (a Gujarati mix veg specialty) and Jalebi, would be served on the terrace. I believe kids enjoy these festivals, on a smaller scale, even today.
I enjoyed various rides (not roller coaster type). I started using city bus to go to school from age of 8. I started using bicycle in high school. I recall our long cycle ride to Theur Ganesh temple in Pune during summer holidays. I used to look forward to train journey to our native place in Maharashra for summer holidays. We made transit halt at Bombay (Mumbai now). I loved the ride in horse carriage (called Victoria) from Chinchpkali to Bombay Central or Byculla Zoo. I also used to take ride in double decker bus in the front row on upper deck from Chinchpokali to Ballard Pier and back. Once in awhile I took the double decker tram from Lal Bag to Fountain. Both these rides gave a good view of the major parts of Bombay and were the best time pass.
In conclusion, I can state that the academic performance, where I excelled, never gave me the kick (happiness) as the above mundane activities did. I had no access to TV, WiFi-smart phone, tablet, and laptop. For some readers, it may be difficult to appreciate my feeling of happiness at such most common acts. Each person finds his own moments of happiness, I guess.
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pravasichhokro · 3 years
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Productivity and Quality- The Japanese Way
During engineering college days and first few years of working in engineering companies in India, I always felt that productivity could only be improved at the cost quality-inversely proportional.
This perception changed once I got a chance to know the Japanese people and experience the Japanese industries –small and big. I started this journey in 1975 while working in Engineers India Ltd. in New Delhi where a Japanese coordinator was stationed for a manmade fiber project in Baroda.
Later I executed a big EPC project for NFL, Guna in India with Japanese partners. The final change came when I lived in Japan with my family and worked at Japanese EPC company for fertilizer projects in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh.
I will start from small scale. The chopsticks are extensively used in Japan and they are made by cottage industry for day to day use. A one man set up with two simple machines do the job. The tree truck (soft wood, probably imported from Indonesia) is cut on a saw for the exact length of chopstick. Another machine removes the hard bark and then the truck is sliced to a thickness required for the chopsticks. A rotary wheel with knives cuts the sliced “wooden flat” into 100 percent cut and 90 percent cut alternately. Chopsticks are ready for packing and shipment. High productivity and quality was assured.
Another instance was the use of technology in a restaurant (then there was no internet). The menu gives the list of items with a number, picture of the dish and price. The waitress used to take the order from us and punched the information in handheld device. The information would go to the kitchen and cashier instantly. This helped any waitress to bring the dishes to our table. Also, when we go out to the cashier, he produced the bill instantly. Even today I do not see similar set up in India. Again, high productivity and quality.
We used to go out to fun fete (mela) on some local festivals in Japan. One such fun fete was held in an old/dead volcano crater. It was like a football field with stalls (mainly food and kid stuff) on the rim and the playground or games in the trough. The Japanese cookie (outer cover would be wheat or rice flour and center would have sweet potato based sweet) are extremely popular at such places. The set up was a conveyor belt with molds (two halves) mounted on it. There were two stations- one to pour the dough or wheat/rice flour in both molds and another to place the sweet ball in one of the two halves. The molds would close after the two stations and go through an LPG fired furnace/tunnel. Once cooked the molds open up to discharge the cookie. One got fresh cookies all the time. Only one person to man it all.  The area was less than 8 ft by 10 ft and conveyor length app 12 -15 ft. High productivity and quality. I have yet to see such arrangements for, say, batata wada or Samosa or laddu in India.
Japan and its auto sector was world famous for assembly lines and our visit to Nissan factory in 1992 reinforced the popular belief. The assembly line started with plain sheet metal stack. First activity on the line was to make the shell from sheets by pressing, cutting and welding by robots. The shell then was subjected to a 24 hour cycle of primer coating, furnace/oven setting and two more coats to reach the final colour. This shell was the base to assemble the car. In next 16 hours, the shell gets all its accessories and the engine fixed as it moves on a conveyor. The unbelievable actions were the supplies would come from both sides of the line and each work station had an LCD display to instruct the worker what to do. The worker could stop the line from moving if any hurdle is faced at a work station like no supply or missed fixing. Also the line had different car models and different colours being assembled one after the other. For example first could be a Nissan Sunny red with right hand drive and next could be a black left hand drive Nissan Micra. The assembled car would be tested on idle rollers and then driven to a waiting ship less than 500 ft from end of the conveyor for export. Once again high productivity and quality.
I had been associated with refractory procurement including inspection at factories in Burnpur/Asansol area and ACC, Katani, MP. All of these made bricks required for heaters in fertilizer and refinery by the traditional way-using wooden molds and firing in a heap or igloo kind of dome from within. Most fired using coal but ACC used producer gas. The brinks were having different shade (due to uneven firing) and the corners/edges were broken. I went to a refractory manufacturer in Japan and was awe struck with the automation. There were three silos with raw materials and the computer controlled ratio delivered the basic mix in a trough. The mixture was turned around with addition of water and the wet mix was dropped on a conveyor carrying the steel molds. The molds were removed, and the bricks (larger than the final size) would go through an LPG fired tunnel/furnace. The fired bricks were cut to shape and inspected for release to packaging and shipping at the end of conveyor. The conveyor was more than 300 ft long. The result was almost no edge or corners were broken and the colour was uniform. All these operations were managed by 30 people producing 30000 bricks per shift. Japanese brick was priced Rs. 10/each but ACC brick Rs.25/each. Once again high productivity and quality.
I strongly believe that Japanese people understood and followed the saying “it takes same time and efforts to make a bad/defective job as it takes to make it defects-free”. We need to cultivate such attitude in Indian workforce.
PS: Some readers may find the above a lot more technical than they can digest. All I can say is ‘please bear with me”.
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pravasichhokro · 3 years
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Craze for Western Dreams
.Phir bhi Dil Hai Hindustani!!!
Indians in general; particularly Gujaratis & Punjabis, have been very keen to migrate to foreign lands. From time immemorial, Indians had migrated to foreign lands. For example, Gujaratis had gone to East Africa & UK from say 18th century and Punjabis (majority Sikh) to UK and USA for last 100 years. I recall that even Mahatma (M K) Gandhi, a Gujarati, went to Durban, South Africa after becoming a barrister from UK. I am going to pen down my own experience with immigrants in last fifty years.
I went to France and UK in 1979 as a member of a team from Engineers India Ltd. We were staying at the University town of Aux en Province, near Marseilles. As we were mostly vegetarians, we went in search of it on foot near the hotel. We chanced upon a van serving Pizza and were pleased to get vegetarian pizza. I came to know that the couple operating the pizza van were Gujarati of Indian descent from Madagascar, a French colony. They had come only a couple months ago, and this was the best means to earn livelihood they had hit upon.
During the same trip, we were departing from Heathrow, London for India. I was a bit taken aback when I saw two ladies of Indian descent working as cleaners. One was a Gujarati lady of more than 50 yrs of age, who had apparently come to UK from Uganda after Idi Amin threw them out. The other was a newlywed Punjabi girl in her wedding attire- fully decked in red salwar kameez and jewelry in her hands and neck. She was angry with her husband, who came to meet her, as she was obviously cheated about the “luxury” of the foreign land.
In 1980s I heard an interesting story. A rich businessman of Ahmedabad had a craze to migrate to USA. He owned a bungalow in a posh locality of Ahmedabad and a single screen cinema hall. He managed to go to USA on tourist visa. Once in USA, he vanished in thin air only to re-appear with a valid document to live in USA. He started a business of laundry service to earn a living. I think it was a big price paid to be in USA.
In 1990’s I lived in Japan and used to meet, by accident, Pakistani youngsters at supermarkets and Indian restaurants. I came to know from them that Japan was granting 90 days tourist visa on arrival to Pakistani passport holders. The racket was very well organized. The agent in Pakistan would send these youngsters and the Japanese agent would receive them at Narita, Tokyo airport. They would directly be taken to rural area to work in machine shops as machine operators. They would earn a lot by working 12 hours a day and stayed if they did not get caught. The earnings got remitted to Pakistan through Hawala. Some smart boys managed to marry Japanese girls and stayed on.
In 2007-08, I was working for Praj Industries Ltd., Pune and we were executing a project of fuel ethanol at Lake Charles in Louisiana, USA. A team, headed by me, went there for a site kick off meeting and the client booked us at a nearby Howard Johnson motel. While checking in, I noticed the name of General Manager as Harry Patel. I desired to meet him, and I did. He was a very warm host and invited all of us for a Gujarati home cooked food and beer. I gathered that his real name was Hira Bhai Patel, and he came from Navasari.  He had worked as a diamond courier in Mumbai before leaving India with his wife and a daughter to Canada around 1995 (12 years before we met). He sneaked into USA with family and now was settled in Louisiana. He had another daughter by now. He also was planning to set up two more motels in the neighborhood. I asked him about IRS and his not having the required documents. He told me that he was good friends with the governor. His only problem was that he could not leave USA and go to India. Otherwise, his family and he were enjoying, all the facilities and livelihood of being in the USA.
Around the same time in 2008, we had gone to Toronto to see Niagara Falls and stayed one night with our friends, a Sikh family from Pune. I chanced to meet a youngster in his late twenties at their residence. He had migrated to Canada from Chandigarh a couple of years ago. He was on his way next morning to Calgary to finalize a transport contract. His story was interesting. A couple of years before we met, he was a branch in charge for a Pizza Hut outlet in Chandigarh. Like many Punjabis, he also applied for migrating to Canada and he succeeded. On arrival, he did not know what to do to earn his living.  On advice of some Indian, he started driving a truck after obtaining a license. In a year or so he got the hang of transport business. He started his own company and was operating more than 3 trucks with Punjabi drivers, who he brought from Punjab. He had chosen the most difficult track in the middle of Canada and near the shell oil business. He was doing very well.
Above stories may not represent the Indian diaspora abroad but they are interesting. Immigrant Indian population is app 17 million. In my opinion: The blue collared workers  (masons, carpenters, plumbers, drivers) from India migrate because (1) the working and living conditions are very poor and unsafe, (2) the earnings are meager and not commensurate with hard work and (3) no respect for work in society. On the other hand white collar workers ( engineers, doctors, chartered accountants, para medics, I T experts) decide to migrate because (1) over worked and the living conditions are not reliable and safe, (2) civic amenities (water, electricity, roads, sewage) are not up to the mark (3) difficult to pursue hobbies or (4) change profession ( IT expert can become an estate agent or a chemical engineer becomes a doctor) from the academics. In all most migrants have done exceedingly well in the chosen field. But Indians abroad miss, if not all but most, the social life, festivities, the crowds and not the least, Indian food.
In conclusion, I can say that Indians were attracted to the foreign lands in the past and they continue their efforts to migrate in present day. In future also, the urge to migrate will not subside.
Please Note: Some of the readers may find this topic a bit out of context due to prevailing restrictions on international travel and visa. I am sure normalcy will return sooner than later.
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pravasichhokro · 3 years
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My childhood summer holidays! à€Čà€čà€Ÿà€šà€Șà€Łà„€à€šà„€ à€‰à€šà„à€čà„à€Żà€Ÿà€łà„à€Żà€Ÿà€šà„€ à€žà„à€Ÿà„à€Ÿà„€
I will try to pen down the highlights of summer holidays I spent during 1960 to 1965 when I studied in standard 6 to 11 (SSC) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The schools would close for summer vacation around April 15 and reopen around June 15. In most summer vacations, our destination would be my mother’s native place Karad, about 100 miles South of Poona in Maharashtra. To maximize fun, we would leave on the last day of school exam and return only one week before school reopened.
Train journey from Ahmedabad to Karad would take app 20 hours, if non-stop and required change of trains at Bombay and Poona. Interestingly Ahmedabad to Bombay and Poona to Karad would be steam locos but Bombay to Poona would be electric locos. (even today it takes 20 hours, though we have no steam locos and no changeover at Poona). Except for the first leg, journeys would be in unreserved coaches and an adventure for a family-my mother and four children. The last leg from Karad railway station to residence of my maternal uncle would be by horse driven cart (à€Ÿà€Ÿà€‚à€—à€Ÿ). While writing this blog I am reminded of a marathi song popular then and now which goes as â€à€à„à€• à€à„à€• à€à„à€• à€à„à€• à€…à€—à„€à€šà€—à€Ÿà€Ąà„€.........à€źà€Ÿà€źà€Ÿà€šà„à€Żà€Ÿ à€—à€Ÿà€”à€Ÿà€Čà€Ÿ à€œà€Ÿà€Šà€Żà€Ÿâ€ For non-Marathi readers, it means let us go to the village of our uncle (mama) by the steam engine driven train.
The residence of my maternal uncles was a palatial ancestral house, called Wada in Marathi and Haveli in Hindi. It was a two storied house with all main load bearing members of wood. The floors were wooden covered by mud and the walls were mainly of mud bricks, app 4 feet wide. All the bathrooms used the stones from the hills. The house was located on a hillock, near the confluence (Sangam) of rivers, Krishna and Koyana. The carpet area was more than 10000 sq ft and the open space around it would be easily another 30,000 sq ft. The premises had more than 25 trees and a Datta temple. There was cattle shed for bullocks and buffaloes. It had electricity only for lights and there were no ceiling fans. The ceiling was more than 20 ft high and kept inside cool.
In the summer vacation, our other cousins and aunts would also come to Karad from Poona and Dombivali. Sometimes we would be around 25 kids and 15 adults in the house. The logistics of managing the household work including cooking was a herculean task and well managed by the ladies. We had limited domestic help -part time help for cleaning utensils and washing clothes, and one full time servant, who would help the ladies. He would also care for the cattle.
Our day would start normally with going to the river for a bath and /or swim. I learnt swimming in the river from my uncles, who were expert swimmers. In about 3 yrs, I mastered the art of swimming in the river and was able to cross the river spanning more than 500 ft without any help of inflated tube or drum or another swimmer.
The major time pass activities were playing carom and cards in the temple, which was a cool place in the afternoon. Sometimes we would play tennis ball cricket in the evenings or mornings. We also played matches with the local boys for fun -home team vs visitors.
Sometimes we went to my (junior) uncle’s school and played badminton and table tennis. Actually, I learnt how to play these games there and then slowly got the hang of it.
My junior uncle was a very skilled person in addition to being a good teacher of mathematics /science and sport/physical training. He had studied agriculture and was in charge of the family farms. Those days the main crops were Jawar, ground nut and sugarcane. Farming was contracted out then. Once in the summer, we all would go to the farm, which was about 10 miles, using bullock cart and tractor etc. The farm had a team of contractors to make Gul/Gud (jaggery) from sugarcane juice. We enjoyed the fresh sugar cane juice, adding lemon and ginger taken from home. It was a full day picnic. Even today we get our annual stock of Gul/Gud from Karad.
We had some outings during our holidays. The regular visit to Ogale Glass Works, Ogalewadi, near Karad railway station was looked forward with keen interest. We could visit the plant and see the glass bottles, containers etc being made by manually blowing the molten glass. I think it was a rare industrial township by a Marathi industrialist. Another attraction was a sumptuous meal at my grandaunt, who lived in a staff quarter.
We also were able to visit the Koyana dam and Pofali power station when they were being constructed. One of my uncles in PWD was posted at Koyana dam site and he took us around the construction site. Another relative was the chief engineer at Indian Hume Pipe, who were constructing the electric generating room inside a mountain. The dam water would be brought by a tunnel in the mountain, and it would drop more than 1000 ft to generate power. The machinery was from Switzerland. We were taken to the machinery installation room from the tunnel, which would allow water to go out after turbine. It was very educating to see such construction at a young age.
I had not seen any Marathi play in Ahmedabad but during the summer holidays an amateur group would stage famous Marathi plays in the open area on a makeshift stage in the town square free for all. My senior uncle (a bank manager) and aunt (a school teacher) were highly active and used to play the lead roles. I remember to have seen â€œà€Šà„à€°à€żà€€à€Ÿà€‚à€šà„‡ à€€à€żà€źà€żà€° à€œà€Ÿà€“ (Duritanche Timir Javo)” in one summer starting from rehearsals till final performance. A great learning experience.
I was exposed to some other activities where I picked up some skills. My junior uncle and we boys replaced a mud brick wall with new bricks and cement mortar. I was able to “drive” a bullock cart after riding with the “driver” for a couple of days. I was gifted a Afga box camera in one summer. My uncle’s friend, who owned a photo studio, taught me how to take a good photo. My junior uncle owned an ex-army BSA make motorcycle of 500 cc (like one we see in WWII movies). He taught me how to ride once I was able to handle the weight. I rode it, with my uncle on the pillion seat, to nearby villages on the tar and dirt roads.
We boys did help in fetching water from the only tap in the front of the residence to kitchen and bathrooms. I also helped and learnt how to stitch on a paddle sewing machine from my aunt. When old enough, I helped my uncle in correcting annual exam answer sheets of his school and compiling the marks sheets.
Towards end of the holidays, the school results would pour in and we would celebrate the achievements. Our favourite was to make pot ice cream at home and enjoy almost unlimited scoops. My uncle and we boys would take turn to churn the pot in the wooden drum (vat). Another way to celebrate was to go to see a Hindi (then it was not Bollywood) movie in one of three movie halls.
Towards the end of holidays, my father would join us, and we would go to Sangli, his native place. For me, Sangli meant that I could spend hours watching two elephants in their shed in Ganesh temple. I also recall that we used to go to Sangli railway station in the evening to watch the turning around of the steam loco as Sangli was dead end. A turn “table” was used to turn the loco by 180 degrees manually by two rail employees.
In all, it was a different world from the one in Ahmedabad and I picked up a lot of skills, knowledge and human values from these holidays. They are part of my body and soul even today.
The ancestral residential house was replaced about 25 yrs ago by standard concrete bungalow’s once the four brothers (uncles) divided the inheritance. Luckily the temple remains as it was.
Many readers, who grew up in cities, may not find the above of interest or difficult to appreciate the details. These are memories I would like to cherish.
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pravasichhokro · 3 years
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My Tryst with Passport(s) and Visas.....
I am an Indian citizen, by country of birth and the most important document to possess is an Indian passport. I got my first passport in 1975 and it was a cake walk to get it then. Father of my best friend had just retired as Regional Passport Officer and I submitted a signed form, birth certificate, a degree certificate and an NOC from my employer, Engineers India Ltd (a PSU). Within a month I got my passport delivered at home with an all important noting of “emigration clearance not required” (ECNR). I know others had to struggle then to get it.
On this first passport, I made my first overseas visit to France, The Netherlands and UK in 1979. We had to get visas separately for France and Holland as then it was not part EU. Surprisingly UK permitted employees of EIL without a visa but just with a letter from EIL that the person is an employee and his repatriation was guaranteed. EIL had an office in London then. Please note that I did not have a government passport.
My next overseas visit was to Iraq when I took a contract employment with Toyo Engineering (TEC) of Japan in 1981-82. We used to fly to Kuwait and then go by road to Basra, Iraq. Air India would issue a ticket to Basra and we would transit through Kuwait. Some Indians using this route lost their checked-in baggage as they did not bother to tag it for Basra. One first time traveler lost his bag and money (USD) kept in it as it was not correctly tagged to Basra. In Iraq, the Indian Passport was respected unlike other countries. During our bus trip from Basra to Baghdad, police check posts (it was Saddam Hussain’s rule then) did not bother to check our Indian passport and greeted us.
During my first visit to Japan in the early 80’s, we made a stopover at Hong Kong as Hong Kong permitted Indian passport holders to stay for 7 days on arrival.
In 1988, I was selected to visit ACHEMA trade fare in Germany and I did not have a valid passport. Luckily, Thermax, my employer at the time got me one just in time for me to get the visa and I could visit Germany and UK.
I accepted a job with a Japanese company in June 1990, and I was to take my wife and daughter with me to Japan. They did not have a passport. I employed an agent who got passport for my wife quickly but the problem was to get a passport for my daughter who was just 10 yrs old. Passport office in Bombay refused to issue a separate passport to her and asked for parents’ passports to be submitted for endorsement. Surprisingly her name was put on my passport and not on her mother’s. In any case, we rushed to get Japanese work visas and departed to Japan. On arrival in Japan, I went to Indian embassy and asked for a separate passport for my daughter as I was likely to travel alone and she may travel with her mother often. To my surprise, I got the new passport for my daughter in less than 48 hours, delivered home by a courier.
During our stay in Japan, I had asked my wife and daughter to apply for USA visa in Bombay in 1992 so we could buy cheap tickets from India to USA via Japan. Their application was rejected without any logical reason. On their return to Japan, we as a family applied for USA visa in Japan. We were granted the multi-entry visa without any questions. The USA officer was apologetic that he would have to ask me to pay fees as per reciprocal arrangements with India. With this visa, we could make our first USA trip but had to buy an expensive ticket as compared to India.
My daughter wanted to appear for TOFEL test in the late 90’s but her passport as an ID was not accepted as she looked much different from the passport photo. Passport was issued in Japan. I was then working in Oman and I asked her to come over to Muscat. My administration department got her a new passport with her latest photo in 24 hrs. It was a big surprise.
During my long innings with Praj Industries Ltd. Pune I had two instances of interest. One was to get visa for Guatemala. We had to either to go their embassy in USA or UK. We used to stay in London for two nights to obtain visa and then proceed via USA. This meant we had to have UK visa and spend money of stay, food etc.
Another mishap in 2007 was when my hand bag was stolen from the hotel lobby in Bangkok with passports of my wife and me. Luckily the hotel had Xerox copy of the passports. We, therefore, could make a police complaint and also report to Indian Embassy. We also obtained a temporary exit permit from Indian embassy as we were leaving next day. Fortunately, we received a call from the embassy that they had received the passports in the mail but no valuables. We rushed and collected our passports after fighting with the embassy staff. We just managed to board the flight to Bombay and escaped scrutiny by immigration staff as police complaint had not reached the airport. Since I never cancelled my police complaint in Bangkok, every time (at least ten times) I visited Thailand I was asked the same question on the police complaint and I had to tell the whole story before being allowed entry.
Earlier in 90s additional visa pages were attached to valid passports but this practice was objected by many countries and hence discontinued. As a result, I had to get a new passport almost every year from 2007 till 2011. The visa pages were exhausted fast, considering two pages for each visa and random stamping of immigration stamps by different countries on different pages. I used to make an overseas trip every month in those years.
When we applied for Argentina tourist visa in 2017, we were asked for an in person meeting by the consulate in Mumbai. When we met the officer and told him that I had worked for Praj Industries Ltd., he granted visa immediately without any question but wanted us to extend our stay in Argentina from four days to ten days at least.
I have travelled to about 60 countries and that too with Indian passport requiring visa in every country, barring a couple of them. My take is that Indians are not trusted in India but when they are overseas with valid visa of that country or USA, Indian mission respects them.
Someone else should certify my honesty or truthfulness as I am not trusted in India?
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pravasichhokro · 3 years
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Japan & Japanese through my eyes........
I wish to give you a brief background of my association with Japan & Japanese. It began in 1975 when I worked for Engineers India Ltd. in New Delhi. I was part of a project management team to look after a petrochemical project called “Acrylic Fiber” at IPCL, Baroda. The process technology came from Asahi Chemical and Front-End Engineering was carried out by Kobe Steel. They had deputed a full time Japanese at EIL office.
Next association was in 1980-81 when I took a field engineer job withToyo Engineering at Basra, Iraq. For about 15 months, my immediate bosses were Japanese, though there were many Indians on site.
My close and strong association was from 1984 to 87 when I was a project manager and managed a collaboration with Chiyoda Corporation of Japan to execute an EPC project at NFL, Guna.
I along with my family moved to Yokohama, as Chiyoda Corp. offered me a direct employment. My office and my daughter’s school were also in Yokohama.
I again had a chance to work with Japanese when Chiyoda set up a joint venture with L&T called L&T –Chiyoda at Baroda in the 90’s.
Lastly, I was asked to manage Chiyoda’s liaison office at Bangalore for two years in 2012-14.
I will segregate my observations in two parts- one from the people and another from the country. Most people know of the punctuality of Japanese and discipline at workplace Hence, I will not dwell on these.
Most Japanese are concerned and sensitive of the discomfort or needs of fellow person. You can see that a Japanese not only picks up used plates and tray with trash in a McDonald’s but also wipes the table. You observe that a mother carries two types of napkins – one wet and another dry- when she takes her kid(s) out to play in the public garden. She cleans the child’s dirty hands with wet and then with clean napkin so that it does not dirty the rails or seats of the garden. Even in 90’s I saw Japanese wearing mask when they suffered from cough and cold. It was a common sight to see the dog owner carrying a paper bag and some broom to pick up poop.
Japanese people do not commit petty crimes or cheat which makes life so stress free and safe. My wife used to leave the apartment door open to go shopping nearby for 30 to 45 minutes. She learnt of this practice from neighbours. Initially we used to keep the money in our palm and the shop keeper would take the appropriate amount. All the shops-small or big – always charged us the VAT, whether we wanted a receipt of not. First time in my life I was offered a printed receipt of fare charged by a metered taxi without asking.
Japanese introduced us to see the beauty in the nature. The first time in our life we went to the mountains to see the autumn colours. There were conducted tours for local people to come to the mountains and soak in the beauty of the shades of colours from green to golden. We were also witness to the fire which is light up to dry leaves/grass on the mountain sides. The fire is light and controlled to spread in artistic way and you watch it from across the valley. Another experience was of hot (sulfur) springs in the mountains near Tokyo (Hakone). Our company guesthouse had a huge pond kind of hot water spot where natural spring was brought in. We soaked in this pond in the Japanese way-no clothes and separate areas for women and men. In five-star resorts, one could soak in the hot spring and sip from a glass of beer.
Japanese were also very health conscious. Our office had an indoor all weather Olympic size swimming pool and full-fledged gym with an instructor. Some of my colleagues were using this during lunch time before eating lunch. I used the facility on weekends. I went to a gym first time in my life and swam when there was almost zero-degree centigrade ambient temperature outside.
Japanese also retained some of “Indian” habits which may have reached them through Buddhism. Outdoor footwear cannot be used indoor whether in the residence or Japanese restaurants. We must leave outdoor footwear at the door and use in house slippers to go in. Most Japanese prefer to sit cross legged and ladies in Vajrasan. They do not shake hands or hug when the meet but bow and greet. Most prefer to sleep on the ground on a mattress rather than a western bed.
Japanese also have found ways to de-stress after an incredibly stressful office or factory workday. Karaoke bars are popular and now world famous. The normal bars without karaoke are also popular. They had huge halls with “ball” machines when they play a special game with stakes to lose or win, like what we played as a child. They also enjoy comics and there are comics to entertain all age groups.
Japan as a country is different from India. India is heterogeneous whereas Japan was homogeneous. This one feature made a lot of difference. They had only ten public holidays every year. Japanese was the main language for locals and it was developed to ensure that students get the latest information also. Japanese language also brings a very peculiar character to the people. The language has three alphabets-Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Kanji has no letters but only Chinese characters/pictures. There are over few thousand kanjis and a child takes more than 8 yrs to know them all though only a few hundred Kanji is extensively used. To write Kanji one must be precise and take care of the different strokes. This focus on details and accuracy is reflected in everything they do in my opinion.
The police in Japan were extremely helpful and friendly. On two occasions I got their help. Once I was lost in the central Tokyo area and I went to the police station. The policeman there came with me to show me the address. On another occasion, my family and me went to meet my friend but my Casio watch, which had his telephone no. ran out of battery and I was lost. I again went to police station near the rail station. He permitted to call my office to find out the contact no. of my friend (office colleague) but the office security refused. Then he opened the area map with names of the residents, and we located two Tanaka-san. I dialed the first one and fortunately he was my friend. In India, such help was unthinkable, going to the Police station for common man for help is a far cry!
I came across some interesting leave/holidays rule. Most Japanese joined a company for a lifetime and the company was expected to take care of the individual. After about 20 yrs. of service (mid-way I guess) the employee get paid leave (about 6 weeks) and a huge payment (app. one year salary). He is expected to enjoy with his family and many of colleagues went to Europe, USA or Latin America for two to three weeks with family.
I was happily surprised that most school students including my daughter walked to the school. My daughter walked about 20 minutes each way, there were volunteers on the route to guide the school kids. No school bus or parents driving to drop or pick-up kids.
For common people, the basic unwritten rule was- provide goods and services which are high quality and reliable. All public phones (as the world was not exposed to internet or mobile phones at the time) were in working order with coins or prepaid cards for both domestic and international calls. Such phones were plenty and located at all convenient locations like rail stations, supermarkets and including lift lobbies in office buildings. ATM rooms of banks had ATM machines for withdrawal and transfer facility. There were two other machines-passbook printing and change dispensing. ATM rooms were open 24x7. Japan was most known for vending machines- variety and exceptionally reliable. Vending machines would dispense soft drinks, beer, hot and cold coffee, tea, small snacks packets etc. These machines would not be out of stock and returned change.
Japan acts in unison for trade/commerce without side world. Immediately after WWII, their economy was shattered but soon they got on their feet. The five trade houses –Sumitomo, Mitsui, Marubeni, C Itoh and Mitsubishi- were the marketing agents for both import and export. The manufacturers were concentrating on design, engineering, and quality products. This brought down costs. The trade houses would bring enquiries and orders. They will also take care of payments. Each manufacturer will join a trade house so that there is no competition among the trade houses.
As a country, I saw Japan converting research output in other countries to application/products for common use. The classic example was digital watch from Texas Instrument to Casio. Another could be Video players. Even some collaborations were made successful and eventually did better than the collaborators. The classic example is of Toyota Car Co which had started with GM collaboration 1950s.
In all the efforts of private sector in commerce the Govt played a particularly important and positive role. The banks were ready to help exporters/vendors with five-month credit as L/C or other kind of payments after shipment may take 3 months.
I hope you like what I have scribbled above as much as I loved it writing.
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pravasichhokro · 3 years
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Communication –Hello! To 

 😊😊😊(emoji)
In today’s digital world a simple handheld device, call it a smart phone, can allow you to talk, send messages (text) as SMS or WhatsApp, receive, and send emails, take photos, or shoot video and send them to anyone anywhere.
I am reminded of my first twenty years (1955 to 1975) of life from childhood to first employment when the means to communicate were limited to Post &Telegraph and so-called telephone (better known as land line today). Both these were government-controlled departments in India. This covered personal, social, and business communication.
Written communication was with the sole help of Post & Telegraph Office. Post office had three types of stationary- post card which was open, inland letter (closed but single leaf and envelop wherein you can enclose a leaf of paper. All three had printed postal stamp which was the fee for the carrier. The tariff was same irrespective of destination within India. Post card was for paise five (now Rs. One), inland letter was Paise ten (now may be Rs. 2) and envelop with 10 gms weight for Paise twenty-five (now Rs. 5).
I recall, as a child, that my father and mother would receive a letter (mostly inland letter) once a month from their relatives from Karad and Sangli (both in Maharashtra). News mainly pertained to evens like birth or marriages or deaths and some about education of children. I had to resort to written communication once I left home to go to BITS Pilani and became a hostelite. I usually wrote once a month and received one in return. Once in a while I received my money by Demand Draft.
All postal documents were transported by trains and State Transport (S.T.) buses. Some trains had special compartment or bogie assigned to Postal department. Hence these trains were called Mail e.g., Frontier Mail, Toofan Mail or Gujarat Mail. There were some places not having its own post office and hence the address must include both place and post office e.g. At Thakurali but Post Dombivali.
Another fast method of written communication was telegrams by Telegraph Department. Most used the Morse key contraption to transmit the messages. The post or telegraph office had persons who could code and decode the messages for Morse key. My personal experience with telegram was bad. I sent a telegram to my parents who were still in Maharashra village after I got my SSC (Std XI) results in June,1966. It did not reach them in time before they left hometown and that worried them a lot. They made a frantic call from Bombay on their way back to find that I had done quite well. Another instance was when I sent a telegram to my friend from Baroda on his engagement in Delhi. I got my interview call in June 1972 by a telegram from Delhi and we used to send telegram later for interview calls till about 1980.
Voice two-way messages were by telephone (called land line today). It was quite an achievement to own a telephone at residence. Most offices had telephones and only Govt. Servants, Doctors, Lawyers and very senior staff of private companies or businessmen had one at home. I got my first residential phone in 1987 at the age of 38. All long-distance calls (called trunk calls) were to be routed manually through telephone exchanges. It would take enormous time and effort to succeed in getting the connection. I recall one of my classmates used to call his parents in Ahmedabad from Pilani some time. He would spend the whole day waiting at the telephone exchange as the call was being routed via Chirawa, Sikar and Jaipur.
During these days (till I think 1975), it was exceedingly difficult to make copies of a message if it needed to go to more than one person. We had carbon copy, photocopy, and ammonia printing then. That was very cumbersome and not clear copies. For more copies, one had to depend on printing and stenciling. I remember in 1979, DGSD purchase orders were stenciled and copies distributed to various parties within Govt and outside.
One major improvement happened with introduction of telex services around 1975. Telex was like two typewriters being linked so that message can be transmitted fast. Only disadvantage was it was mainly for commercial use by offices.
Around the same time (1975~) I think Xerox copy became available to many and copying became easy.
The next major change got introduced in India when Subscriber Truck Dialing (STD) was introduced around 1985. This permitted calling out station and even overseas parties by directly dialing from your telephone without going through an operator at the exchange. But scarcity of land line connections remained a reality. I had to get a radio operated phone connection in 1998 as I could not get a land line connection from Pune telephones after I returned from Japan.
In early 1980s, a small handheld device called pager was introduced and it helped travelling people to be contacted from a landline so that they would call back. It was an improvement over only landline option. It lasted for a couple of years but mainly it was for commercial use.
Around 1985 another big leap was taken in communication when a facsimile (fax for short) was introduced. When connected, fax machine could transmit a document and a drawing or even a photo. The instant sending and receiving was a great leap forward. Initially it was only for commercial use but later it became extremely popular.
On another front, the computer got introduced and made strides. We had a main frame computer in BITS Pilani around1970 (with inputs by punching cards) and by 1987 desktop computers (with complex keys to operate) were available in offices. When I reached Japan in 1990, the laptop had made its appearance. I bought my first laptop (Macintosh) in Japan in 1993.
In Japan, the telephones (land line) were quite easy to get and I got one in less than 24 hours of arrival in 1990. The public telephones were very efficient and easily accessible. The pre-paid cards were extremely popular and most public telephones could be activated by coins or prepaid cards. On Valentine’s day, Japanese girls would gift a prepaid card to boys which would dial only their number.
Communication got a boost when in 1990 the satellite was used to transmit messages and documents. The Indian IT industry benefitted from it and some engineering companies also started using VSAT. I got my first TV satellite dish in Japan to view many European channels in 1993.
When I was in Oman in 1997, I got internet access and to use email. I believe it was just introduced. It was a good facility as my daughter was in Australia and contacting became easy. I also got my first mobile phone in Oman in 1997.
Mobiles became easily available and affordable by 2000. I got my local mobile connection in 2000 and I still have the same mobile no. Then mobiles were used for urgent calls and to send text messages (called SMS).
Internet connections were made available on desktop and toggle for laptop in the initial phase for office use. Internet connection for home use took some time and till then toggle was the only option.
Due to popular and affordable cost of mobile phones, the landline lost its place of importance. Even govt (Pune Telephones and then BSNL) started offering mobile phone connections.
The other development was mobile phones started having more features. The camera was in built in the mobile and one could take pictures. Further development allowed video shooting by mobile phone camera. Next to come was back and front camera.
The service providers started (I think by 2010) to link internet to the mobile and provide data transfer. With this facility, one handheld device could make calls, send text messages, take photos, shoot videos, send messages by internet connections and also view one’s emails.
Around 2005 the international calls were expensive from India, so we had used Skype as paid calls and conference tool. There were some doubts about its security and many other options were being opted for by international companies from UK and Belgium that we worked with.
The introduction of smart phones (compatible to various band widths like 3G /4G) the ease and speed of communication of all types became a reality and affordable. The social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp) became popular. For children and youngsters, the various games and educational videos became extremely useful.
Then came cloud technology and a boom of Artificial Intelligence. Everything done on virtual, digital, and social networking platforms gets tracked, analyzed, and thus used to help with recommendations as appropriate.
There is a security threat while all our banking and credit card information is easily available on various Apps. Along with our personal information which is available on social platforms. Hence, cyber security is a thriving business opportunity and interesting working opportunity.
In 2018 the telegraph department finally closed its services and it got replaced by speed post or mobile connectivity. Today post office continues its traditional job of delivering post card, inland letter and envelop but started using air transport for bulk movement.
The biggest benefit of the digital world was during the lockdown due to COVID-19 19. With only a smart phone (tablet or laptop may be better) and Wi-Fi connection, it was possible to conduct classes by teachers for students who were locked down, business meeting with clients and panel discussions among business associates or experts or politicians (elected) or friends. I was able to view virtual musical shows and new released movies and serials on new platforms like Netflix or Amazon Prime etc. also attended virtual birthday and wedding anniversary parties online.
In conclusion I will edit the words of Elon Musk:
If you go back a couple of decades, what we take for granted today would seem magic-being able to talk to people over long distances, to transmit images, accessing vast amount of data like an oracle or google. All this progress in communication is easy to use, quick and affordable. Also, its reach is worldwide across countries, regions, languages and people.
Another issue, which has surfaced due to the pandemic in India or similar developing or poor countries, is the divide between haves and have not. Traditional divide of have and have not was based on the wealth/money but present-day divide is based on whether one has a smart mobile/laptop/tablet and Wi-Fi connectivity with adequate data.
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pravasichhokro · 3 years
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Schooling Then & Now...
During the closure of schools due to pandemic from March 2020 till date (End Oct 2020), I have heard how classes are being held and attended from home at least in Metros. I am reminded of my school days during1954-66 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
My first school was a family run primary school in the residential complex that we lived. I studied there as it was convenient to attend and my elder sister also went to the same school. It was housed in a bungalow with four to five rooms, each housing one standard. It was from 11 am to 5 pm. It was a traditional school with standard syllabus. The school was co-ed and we sat on floor. Our school bag had a book or two and a slate (black stone) and white chalk. We walked to the school. The medium of instruction was Gujarati
Then I went to a special primary school run by Sarabhais (Vikram Sarabhai’s family). The school had four classes, one each for one standard. Each class had 10-12 students only. The school started at 8.30 am and till 4 pm. On arrival all children would be given a glass of milk and then academic lessons would start till lunch at 12 noon. The children brought roti/chapati from home but all else was served by the school-Dal, Rice, Vegetables, Papad, pickles etc. Children from class 4 normally managed the lunch service, though food was cooked by others. School was co-ed and we hardly carried any books or other items in the school bag except a box of roti/chapati. I travelled by the city bus to commute to school. The medium of instruction was Gujarati.
After lunch, the non-academic activities were the main focus. These included music (mainly folk), folk dance (garba/dandiya), painting, carpentry, stitching/tailoring etc. the teachers of high caliber came to teach these special skills or hobby. Our music teacher was an AIR (All India Radio) artiste. We also undertook projects of a long duration. For example, in carpentry class we built Sam’s Cabin on the treetop (the school had a large area). We also staged plays in open air once a year. Each and every student must participate in the play and hence they were selected accordingly. One was “Alibaba and Forty Thieves”, and another was “Gulliver’s travel to pigmy land” (a shadow play).
The school also imparted general knowledge in the most effective way. We once slept in the school so that we could be taken to an observatory at 3 am to see the sky and the stars. We were once taken to the Municipal office to see the model of Nehru Bridge under construction (before1960) followed by a visit to the riverbed to see the construction. Children were encouraged to explore and most of us would sit on the wall (on the riven bank) just watch the Sabarmati river in flood. We were allowed to climb trees and play with our teachers. I found it to be a good place for an all around development.
Then I was admitted to a popular Gujarati medium school which boasted of the large area (I think 300 acres or more) and it followed Gandhian philosophy. Our uniform was from Khadi. The trust was Jain. The school was co-ed and I commuted by city bus or walked the 3 km short route on some days with other students and a teacher. Theschool was from 10.40 am to 5.10 pm with two short breaks. Saturday was half day- 7.30 am to 11 am.
The middle school (std 5 to 7) was in a separate building about 500 meters from either entry. We sat on floor with a wooden stool in front. The school bag had textbooks, notebooks and a pencil box along with a snacks box. In addition to academic classes we had optional selected non-academic courses. Music was compulsory and my weakest subject. One could choose from music, painting, stitching/tailoring or agriculture. I opted for agriculture. I was given a piece of land (5 x 10 ft) and allowed to grow vegetables etc. The vegetables were available for sale and I used to take some home.
The high school (std 8 to 11) was in a larger building near the main gate. The compass box was added to books and notebooks. We used to write with an ink pen.The classes had a bench. Between these buildings was a huge playground for volleyball, kho-kho and kabaddi etc.We had a prayer hall covered but open from sides where all students would gather first thingin the morning and pray. At this gathering, we were also able to enjoy cultural programs based on the festivals and some speeches by leading persons- politicians, writers, thinkers, and ex-students.
During the entire school years, I attended classes regularly and was not permitted to attend any private tuition, In any case private tuition was not so popular then, My father insisted that I asked all my doubts to the teachers in the class or after class in the teachers (staff) room. I hardly recall any parents’ teacher meeting. Strangely I had not spoken to any girl student at my school or class throughout the eleven years, though it was co-ed. I loved outdoor games and in the eight standard I joined a hockey coaching center (outside) run by an ex-India player. This led me to go for state school level hockey tournament and participated in all India school meet in Shillong in Feb,1966.
My daughter went to an international school in Japan and her experience was different than schooling in India. She walked to school everyday for 20 minutes and carried only an umbrella and lunch on some days. She played basketball, hockey, and volleyball. She would go ice skating or on over night trips to gain knowledge not just from textbooks but from experiences. When she came back to study in India, she found the education system hard and competitive and teachers had minimal interest in teaching except for scoring high marks.
I now will attempt to compare the above school life with present day school life in metros before COVID-19 (March 2020). Though I have no first-hand experience of it, I have gathered it from parents of school going kids. Most of these go to a private school and not municipal or govt school in various parts of the globe.
Before COVID-19 struck, the school time was 8 am to 2 pm and probably five days a week. Kids must carry a huge/heavy school bag containing water bottle, books, notebooks, compass box, lunch box (for two breaks). Kids do use ball point pen or gel pen. The school bag weighs a lot and there are complaints of kids, but no solution seems to be in sight. Most kids go to school by school bus or auto-rickshaw or dropped by parents. Hardly anybody walks to school. A lot of focus is on academic work and homework. Most schools lack a playground. Some schools do encourage extra-curricular activities, but most kids take up extra-curricular activities because of the parents or peer pressure. Some govt or municipal schools run two shifts to make maximum use of the infrastructure- school building. Most classes have 50 children in each room.
Many of the schools have annual day and they are a huge burden on parents both in terms of time and expenses. Most items on annual day celebrations lack heritage or folk influence on dance or music or singing.  Most kids (also their teachers) do watch tv and are influenced by its content. Many kids have the luxury of travel domestically or internationally with their parents on holidays. I do not see many activities among school going kids in residential complexes. Rural schools might still be following the historical timing (11 am to 5 pm) and the syllabus with almost poor teachers.
After March 22, 2020 the schools were closed, and students and teachers were encouraged to attend online classes. In last six months (till Oct end) the schools are closed and online classes have become the routine.
In metros, many private schools are actively following the online class concept. I understand the online class can be attended provided one has a laptop or a tablet or a smart mobile with adequate data and speed for Wi-Fi connection. The classes are for four hours a day. The homework is also given online and submitted online. In most cases projects given seem to be done by parents and not children which is not the best way to learn. While writing exams adults at home keep prompting the child to ensure high score /marks are achieved. Teaching a child short cuts or to cheat is not beneficial in the long run. Parents forget that getting marks above 90% should not be the only aim for the child.
Many families are facing the shortage of hardware as the parent or parents attend office from home (WFH) and they need the same hardware- laptop or tablet and a strong WiFi connection. If there is more than one child attending class/school from home the shortage of hardware and infrastructure is felt more and is also a financial burden too.
Poor people are finding it hard to attend classes online. My domestic help has three children going to school and that is either municipal or govt school. They also hold classes online. But the poor family has only two mobiles and only one is smart. Her husband is a driver but has lost his job.
I dare not imagine what is happening at rural schools and their classes with no infrastructure like WiFi connectivity or smart mobile at home. Some may not have even electricity at home. I hope that large IT firms instead of running schools in rural India under the name of NGO’s should have ensured a good e-learning system but that seems like a dream. This would have been helpful during these times and need not depend on poor quality teachers.
In all the above activities the major problem is that children have lost physical touch with school, class, and teacher. They surely miss outdoor activities (sports etc.) with their classmates. They also must be missing the cultural activities on the festivals.
The mental stress of being confined to a residence for so long must be very real and parents must be finding it difficult to attend to it among their children and themselves.
Conclusion

.
I do believe that old time classes at school and freedom to mingle/play with classmates and children from neighborhood were great contributors to develop a child’s all faculties. The emphasis was outdoor activities and non-academic interests to be followed. The child was not stressed with pressures from parents, siblings, or peer day in and out.
Prior to lockdown due to pandemic, the metro school going kid was stressed with many issues- get up early, catch the bus or transport or do homework or dress properly with or without makeup for girls, etc. Parents were also stressed to see that their child is not lagging only in academic pursuit but also otherwise.
After lock down the situation has worsened for the child. The child is confined to the four walls of the residence with same family members and has no chance to go outdoors. (recent relaxation may permit going out but many parents do not want to take the risk). Outdoor activities are almost none and 24x7 the child is using handheld devices –Laptop, tablet, or smart phone to do schoolwork and to play games, also to see cartoons or other entertaining content on TV.
I pray for early release of restrictions due to COVID-19 and restoration of schools to normal working in general and in rural areas in particular.
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pravasichhokro · 3 years
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Water Water everywhere but
...
In the present times of COVID 19 pandemic, one of the many guidelines at health centers and by medical practitioners is to drink at least 1 to 1.5 liters of water, warm if one can get. This triggered my memories and experience with drinking water.
In school going days of 1950s and 1960s, I used to drink tap water everywhere and whenever I got thirsty.
I often travelled on long journeys of approximately 24 hrs by train in summers to go to my maternal uncle’s town (Karad, Maharashtra from Ahmedabad, Gujarat). All along the route, we drank water from taps of the railway stations. We boys brought the same water in bottles or lota for the women- mother and sisters- who travelled with us.
At our residence at Ahmedabad, water was scarce as tap water was limited to 1 to 2 hrs in a day and we depended on hand pump to bring up water. Despite it, the water was ok to drink without filtration but sometimes stored in earthen pots to cool during summer months. As children, we played outdoor games and whenever thirsty, we went to anybody’s house and asked for water to drink.
In those days, we did not mind drinking water from a tap while standing but nowadays they insist that we should sit and drink!
In Gujarat and Maharashtra, it is customary to offer water to every guest and now I can appreciate the importance of that custom.
When I joined BITS, Pilani in 1967, on the train journey of 24 hrs we drank water from taps on the numerous stations which we passed. I do not recollect having carried a water bottle. This continued for five years till we passed out of BITS on both way journeys.
In the first semester at BITS, Pilani, my three best friends (roommate and neighbours) were down with jaundice, one after another. I was spared by the grace of God. Each was hospitalized for a week or so and then they decided to go home for recouping as the Malayali nurses were not so attractive at the hospital.
During this period, I got a valuable tip from the compounder of our health clinic on the campus that in BITS Pilani, one can eat anything and any amount (Hogg) but must drink a lot of water after each meal. Water of Pilani, though subsoil, was the key to good health. I followed it up and most of my friends did so. As a result, there were no major illnesses thereafter. In Pilani, we always drank tap water except outside the mess. There was a cooler in summer months, but water quality was same.
While working in Delhi in 1970s, I used to buy cold water for Paise 5 from the hand cart during summer and I am sure it was ordinary water.
I was fortunate to make a trip to France and UK in 1979 as a member of a team from Engineers India Ltd (EIL). On that tour, we drank more table wine than water as water was expensive. Also carbonated or sparkling water was popular to our disbelief.
I stayed in Bombay in the late 80’s and the overhead tanks provided water to the flats and that too for a limited period. I faintly recall that in 1980s we started filtering this water for kitchen and drinking use, especially in monsoon months to remove fine dust particles. Most used a stationary candle filter of two compartments- upper and lower.
At most of construction sites which I had to visit as project in charge, drinking water was from unknown source but it was still not bottled.
I lived in Pune before going to Japan in 1990’s and we still continued ordinary filtration of tap water. In Japan like many developed countries, tap water was potable but the water management was very elaborate and expensive for the residents. Water supply was from one pipe, but effluent (waste) water was segregated in three different categories 1) water from kitchen 2) water from bathroom and wash basin 3) water from WC. Kitchen effluent was treated and sent to non-civil use. Bath water was treated and fully recycled. WC waste was treated and probably used for irrigation or gardening. There were four meters and I paid for each consumption and effluent stream.
I came across a contradictory custom in Japan. In the residences/homes, Japanese would invariably drink warm water or preferably drink Japanese tea-Ocha or Miso soup-with warm water available from an electric kettle 24x7. In contradiction, the dine in restaurants (Red Lobster) would serve water with lot of ice without asking (like the custom in India). We had to ask for water without ice.
My Japanese boss would stick to beer or scotch with chilled soda and he avoided ice cubes when in India. When I asked him the reason, he mentioned that he was not sure of the quality of water used to make ice cubes. He also told me that families of Japanese staff of Sumitomo in Mumbai washed vegetables bought from Crawford market with bottled water-Bisleri.
I spent a few years in Muscat, Oman in the late 1990’s. The tap water came from the desalination plant, but the potable water had to be from a packaged jar or PET bottle. This water came for desert streams called WADI.
I do not recall when we started using UV filtration in Pune and buying drinking water from outside when travelling or visiting. Probably in the mid1990s.
My daughter mentioned that while in school in Japan (early1990s) and University in Australia (early 2000) she never carried any drinking water. But in India she carried a bottle of water as there was no way she would be drinking water from a tap!
In the last ten years or so, we have started using RO Green Aqua guard filter and it throws out rejects to the tune of 40 percent. Anywhere outside, we demand bottled water (wrongly called mineral water) or at least Aqua guard filtered water.
I have experienced the potable water being supplied at taps in developed countries like Canada. I believe that the water is heavily treated with chemicals and does have an adverse effect on the skin and hair. Many Indian women complain of their hair falling or becoming very rough after a head bath in these countries. Finally, it boils down to “what is the quality of water that is potable?” Also, such heavily treated water loses its natural taste which we find in streams in the hills or Himalayas or Alps or Rocky Mountains.
It is reported that the first distillery/brewery of Mohan Meakins was established at Solan, near Shimla purely to take advantage of the natural stream water. Cool climate added to its advantage.
In conclusion, I can say that, in India, most population- urban or rural – is getting the water for daily use (washing and potable) from the same source over the past couple of decades. The sources are river, dam, its reservoir, and canals (mostly irrigation schemes), lakes and wells including bore wells. Over the years, the population has exploded and there is more migration to cities. The new settlements of people in areas near dams and lakes or rivers have introduced pollution to the sources of water. Earlier these sources delivered almost pure water but now the same sources deliver impure water. We, in India, waste the rare resource of water instead of managing it as a priceless commodity. Israel experts have opined that India should be able meet its needs with 10 percent of the water available, but we have water shortage and water supply cuts in many cities in summer months when water is most needed.
It is also a fact the younger generation and the foreigners who visit India have lower immunity and hence must be careful in choosing drinking water quality.
It is time (may be already late) that we, in India, wake up to the importance of water as a scarce resource and manage it prudently.
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