How to write the College Application essay

The College Application essay.  Oh! the passport to my enrollment into MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Yale and Brown.  Yes, I am willing to give an arm and a leg to get into those Ivy League schools !!!   How do I go about writing an earth shattering essay ?  What can I write about that will floor the college admission officers, tip the scales in my favor and clear the passage for my entry into one of the topnotch schools ?

You have heard it all.  You have seen this before.  Prospective students scrambling at the last minute to complete the essay before the deadline, and sending it across to various colleges and earnestly hoping that the essay will get them a seat in those mouthwatering Ivy League schools or at the very least in some reputed colleges.  Students straining every sinew and nerve to get into the best colleges in this highly competitive and pressure cooker environment.

Relax and breathe easy !!!   The essay should not be a matter of life and death.  There are more important matters like SAT scores, AP performances, Class GPA, Academic Index and so on that are going to decide which college you go to.  However never underestimate the power of the essay.  For one, scholarships require essays.  That apart, in a close call, tight odds and stakes, at crunch time it is the essay that could be the deal breaker, the vital ingredient that could just give you the edge, the slender advantage over certain other students with similar credentials, candidates who are in your ballpark of performance.  You could get a slim but sufficient lead to nose ahead of the competition and prevail in the photofinish.  The essay could very well turn out to be the distinguishing and decisive factor in your acceptance into a major college.

But first things first.  How do you go about writing an essay, even a good one ?  I spent some hours figuring this out, visiting websites, watching videos, listening to lectures, and have come up with some pointers which I believe are worth reading.  Where do we begin ?  Let us start with a typical story and slowly build up the momentum.

A favorite and overused essay is one that begins with: "The cold wind was biting into our limbs as we struggled desperately to reach the summit" and concludes with something like: "I learnt that no matter how hard it is, if you really stretch yourself you will surely succeed."  A good percentage of the college essays are a variation on the above two lines, give or take some words, and will not help sway the college admission counselors to vote in your favour.  Another very common theme amongst students is writing about some community service they did, how they helped mankind, how they went to the Katrina-ravaged community in New Orleans to rebuild houses, how they found some wonderful people suffering there, got along well with them, and towards the end were feeling depressed to leave them.  Fairly predictable and monotonous.  Yet another ad nauseum topic is a kind of eulogy or obituary to a grandfather or relative who meant a lot to you: "I remember grandma telling me bedtime stories about how much difficulty she had to go through to raise three kids, and now they are all grown up but my grandma is no longer in this world".

While you can accuse me of stereotyping many candidates you can be sure that I am being blunt in stating the facts.   College counselors, in general, are not going to be all that impressed by these narrations.  They have seen hundreds of voluntary service stories and any number of want-to-remove-the-world-hunger and want-to-make-a-difference-in-the-world boring ideas.  Be aware that they have less than a few minutes to read your essay because of the huge pile in front of them.  You need to make your essay look less pedestrian and more eye-catching.  The college is trying to find out what the essay reveals about you, what makes you tick, what kind of person you are, if you are ambitious, how independent you are, how much intellectual potential you bring to the table, whether it reflects your passion, and how well you write, think, articulate and project.  Colleges are looking for people who have not had an easy ride in their lives and who can face adversity and prevail.  They are looking for students who are enthusiastic and can cope up with the rigors of studying in college.  Students who can make the most of the resources available.  There has to be a moral to the story you write in order to get full credit for your essay.  The topic chosen should be appropriate for college education.  If you write a seemingly silly essay about your little sister or your pet you are not helping your case.  Instead of showing yourself to be an intelligent student you will look pretty immature and will be conveying the wrong message to the decision makers.

The best essays would be to choose one from some of your it-happened-in-your-life stories and show what you really are.  Make a compilation of some isolated incidents in your life that shed light on your personality.  And it does not have to be on a gigantic scale.  The most effective essays can be written from a minute, seemingly insignificant passage or instance and built on it.  There is no need for you to try to fit your entire life story into one essay.  Instead, focus on just one incident or one instance in your life and water it to flower it up to make it come alive.  Remember how you wrote about a character in the novel when you were in Elementary school.  Now you need to step up and write about yourself.  You need to become the character in the novel.

You have to write an essay that defies categorization but comes from a flashpoint in your life.  Don't hesitate to be a nonconformist.  You don't need to write what your friends write.  You are your own person.  The essay has got to be unique since it is only you who went through it, nobody else has experienced it, and it should show your behavior, attitude, mentality, personality and approach without you having to enumerate it out.  You have to put it in such a way that it should capture their attention, and the officer reading your essay should start thinking: "My goodness, I never looked at the world that way. This is a wholly new and different perspective".  If you have done or achieved something truly remarkable, write about that experience so that they can see and appreciate the level of commitment and dedication you have shown.  If you do not have any outstanding achievement to talk about, don't worry.  You can still come up with a fascinating story.

Read the following extract before we go further:

------- Beginning of the essay:
Though we did not have the chance to regularly play fast bowling of international quality, I made up some unusual drills for myself.  I would tell my team members to throw down tennis balls from 15 yards, to simulate what playing the fast bowlers might feel like.  I got many puzzled looks, to many it seemed like a waste of time.  For me it felt like essential preparation for everything that was to come.  By this time I was being talked about as a national probable I even captained the Indian Under-19 team.  One question I got wherever I went was: "When are you going to play for the country?"  Now this is not something I had any control over but the question began to dominate my life and my game.  I ended up playing five years of domestic cricket before getting my national grade.  It was frustrating.  I remember putting a sticker on my Kinetic Honda which read: "God's delays are not God's denials."  It was a gentle reminder to myself to keep faith, when I started the scooter engine and loaded my kit bag in the morning.

Looking back now I don't think I would have been prepared for the battles and the success I had at the international level had I not gone through the finishing tool that domestic cricket provided.  Spin or fast bowling, easy or difficult batting conditions, I was well prepared for anything.  The opportunity that I had got to play experienced spinners in the Ranji Trophy helped me play Shane Warne and Muralitharan with confidence.  Those tennis ball drills did not seem all that silly when I played the likes of McGrath, Wasim Akram and Allan Donald on tough pitches.  When I speak to youngsters I like talking about this phase of my life, likening it to a fascinating plant which I am going to entangle.

You can take a Chinese bamboo seed and plant it in the ground, water and nurture that for an entire year.  You will not see any sprout.  In fact you will not see a sprout for 5 years.  But suddenly a tiny shoot will spring from the ground.  Over the next 6 weeks the plant can grow as tall as 90 feet.  It can grow as fast as 39 inches every 24 hours.  You can literally watch the plant grow.  What was the plant doing in those five years, seemingly dormant?  It was growing its roots.  For five full years, it was preparing itself for rapid massive growth.  Without its roots structure the plant could not simply support itself for future growth.  Some say that the plant grew 90 feet in 6 weeks.  I would say it grew 90 feet in 5 years and 6 weeks.  This period tested my faith and my willingness to believe in my own talent at the beginning of my journey.

----- End of the essay.

The above extract is not from an actual essay but from a speech given by the well known Indian Test cricketer Rahul Dravid.  It took Dravid a few years to break into the Indian team but he never gave up hope, as he mentions about the message sticker he put on his scooter to keep reminding himself never to lose faith.  And when he finally made it to the Indian team at the age of 23, he grabbed the opportunity with both hands and made it big.  The message is loud and clear !!!

I understand that most people will not have this sort of a dramatic story to write about ---- after all you are 16, not 40.  I know you will be hard pressed to come up with an episode that the college counselors will not have seen already.  However notice the beauty in this true life story.  The author did not weave or present a self pity or sympathetic thread about himself for us to feel sorry for him.  Although Dravid speaks about the hardships and frustrations he went through, he does it in an upbeat manner and in a subtle way.  We get an insight into how Dravid had to make himself mentally tough, keep the flame burning and boost up his spirits, and never lose the immense faith in his own abilities.  We get to know his passion and love for improving all the time and strengthening his game.  On every occasion that I read this article I feel like I want to fly down to India and shake hands with Rahul Dravid.   This is the sort of essay you should be coming up with.   If the reader wants to come and meet you in person no matter how far away you are, that would mean you have written a splendid essay and you can compliment yourself.  Any time I read this article I feel that I should have been the person who made this incredible journey through the trenches and could tell this cactus-to-roses story to my friends, well wishers, and grandchildren (may be in 2035).  That's the sort of mythical effect you need to bring upon the reader.

The essay, as you can see above is very inspirational.  Inspirational to you as well as to others.  The colleges are always looking for candidates who are well rounded, driven, self motivated, inspired and can motivate others to give off their best.  They are looking for students who are unique and who can bring a positive vibe, a vibrant diversified atmosphere to the community with their fresh breath of creativity.  People who can think outside the box.  People who can accomplish.  But before I go too far let me get back my feet firmly on the ground .  You need not have found a cure for cancer nor do you need to possess Albert Einstein's intellect.  The colleges know it.

When you start your essay try to grab your reader's attention in the very first statement you make.  You need to begin with a bang.  Go for the jugular.  Plumb your depths about what you want to say.  Don't have a timid opening in your essay:  "My name is Shreya and I am an 11th grader studying in ..........".  Get off to a rapidfire start.  Begin something on the lines of:  "As I got into the crowded train and noticed a short, young woman trying to hold on to her child while not letting go of her purse .........".  Spark their curiosity and make them hold their breath while reading your essay.  Maintain the tempo and never let it flag.  Show a keen sense of genuine interest in writing the essay.  Introduce some intrigue, bring in some suspense.  Make it colorful.  Give it a punch.  Add some humor for good measure.  A little levity can cover a multitude of sins.  The readers will love it.

Most importantly, sell your story.  This is your personal story, your personal life.  Don't hold back.  Be very forthcoming.  Pour your heart out.  Tell them your unique story.  This is not the time to be laidback.  Be clear about what makes you special.  Write about very specific situations.  Do not be abstract.  Feel free to state the facts.  Your perspective and presentation are much more important than the actual topic itself as long as the topic is not in the run-of-the-mill category that I mentioned earlier.  Do not brag or exaggerate.  Do not come across as stretching the truth or misleading.  Be as honest as possible but do your best within the framework.  Strive for clarity, vision and brevity.  Do not go out of your way to use impressive vocabulary words or complex sentences.  Keep it simple.  It does not have to be structured beyond a certain level.  Use anecdotes.  Avoid fluff and boasting.  Don't show prejudice.  It makes no sense to use Shakespearean vocabulary.  Do not use certain words in this article, especially the difficult ones that I have written.  I am an adult --- in case you have not figured it out yet !!!

Follow Ernest Hemingway's principle: "Show, don't tell".  Incorporate various kinds of texts to enable the reader to experience the story through action, words, thoughts, senses and feelings rather than through your elaboration, summary and description.  Your goal should be not to put the reader to sleep through overblown adjectives but rather to allow the reader to interpret and absorb significant details in the text.  Do not come up with trite and superficial statements like I am the leader of our organization, I have leadership skills, other students look to me for directions, I am a good mentor, I love to be challenged, and so on.  Be more on the side of writing about how you tutored some students, how you taught Calculus skills to a classmate, or how exactly you helped your group to ace the dance performance in the school event.  Or what thought process you came up with to beat those mediocre performances in your early years and turned the tables over the last few years to be able to get to the point where you are sitting pretty now.  Rather than explicitly explaining what sort of a person you are, let it come across in your essay on its own.

Have a trustworthy friend read your write-up and ask her the gut feeling she got about your personality by just reading the essay, as if she had never met you before.  Ask her to be as honest as possible.  This is not the time for diplomacy, white lies or being nice.  It's your life, your career that is on the line.  While the essay is not going to make or break your future it will certainly play a crucial role in shaping your path to a certain extent.  If the response from your friend is anything less than effusive praise it's back to the drawing board for you.  Ask your parents to proofread the essay but make it clear to them that it is you who is writing the essay.  Parents, being adults, have a tendency to edit your essay and inadvertently remove all the vitality and innocence in it and make it too polished and perfectly groomed.  I am sure this is true with all parents --- including me, of course !!   Admissions officers catch it if an adult has filtered the write-up.  Moreover if you have written a family story, parents may not feel comfortable about you airing your home grievances to an audience.  Exercise caution and just don't cross the line when it comes to a family story.  Remember, you are writing this to people who are deciding your entry into college.

Never treat the writing of the essay as a chore.  Think of it as a privilege.  Utilize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get across aspects of your personality that do not show up in other places on your application.  Look at it as an artist who would use a paint brush and paint a beautiful and scenic landscape.  Come up with a creative way to express your unique attributes.  You will be pleasantly surprised that you can pull it off.  And you will find that writing an essay is no longer confusing, daunting or overwhelming.  It is neither intimidating nor an arduous task.  On the contrary it is a rewarding experience and you will enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done.

I hope my write-up is going to be beneficial to all the youngsters who have taken the time to read it and apply at least some of the techniques and suggestions I have put forth here.  I also honestly believe that in my own, small way, no matter how minute it may be, I am preparing you to mentally gear up for the intensive challenges you will face in college and life beyond.  And that one day many, many years from now you will hopefully be able to tell your grandchildren how you aced the college application essay and got into the college of your choice.  Thank you, good luck and best wishes.

Improve your English vocabulary: Tips and techniques

The mongoose in the zoo would have died, and the zoo warden is obviously distraught.  He wants to get a replacement mongoose so that the visitors to the zoo are not disappointed.  The zoo warden reckons that he would not want to put himself in this sort of a situation again by having only one mongoose in the zoo.  So he takes a purchase order application and starts writing: "I am hereby placing an order for two mongooses."  And he then he starts thinking: "Oh, no, the plural of mongoose is not mongooses."  So he tears up the first purchase order and starts writing a new purchase order: "I am hereby placing an order for two mongeese."  And then he once again starts doubting his own grammar.  Being unsure whether the plural of mongoose is mongooses or mongeese, the zoo warden searches for the dictionary but he cannot find it.  He then thinks about it for a few moments, figures out what to write, and comes up with a new purchase order: "I hereby place an order for a mongoose.  Actually it would be better if you could procure two of them."

While the zoo warden's predicament comes across as funny and humorous we need to give him due credit for coming up with a work around so that he is able to convey the right message to his authorities without exposing his ignorance about the matter in question.  Doesn't this scenario look familiar to us ?  We have all been there, before.  We have been in situations where we wish to say something but we know, deep in our heart that speaking it out is only going to make it worse, not any better, and we look for ways to evade the issue.  Now, don't you think we would serve ourselves better if we learnt to say the right words at the right place at the right time in the right way to convey the right meanings ?  Dwelling on this topic reminds me of Sridevi's efforts to do everything humanly possible to learn English and get over the social ostracism with the society, in the movie English Vinglish; we learn a lot from her determination to break the language barrier and do whatever it takes for her to come to terms with speaking in English. 

The twin kids Rahul and Rohan return to class after a week long vacation, and the teacher asks every student in the class what they did during their holidays.  Rahul says: "Last week we had been to the place where the Battle of Panipat was fought."  Rohan says: "We had been to the place where the Battle of Panipat was fought last week."   Can you figure out who was right, who was wrong, what was wrong, and what was wrong in the manner in which he put the words, and what was the inaccurate interpretation derived by juxtaposing the words ?

We learn the vast majority of words when we understand them in some context.  Remember that all aspects of learning, recalling and retention are enhanced when you make sense of them in practical situations.  Essentially, you should not try to learn vocabulary from an isolated collection of words without connecting the dots to form a complete picture.  In this context, words are like puzzle pieces.  When you see the puzzle pieces scattered all over the place they carry no relevance.  However, once you start putting the puzzle pieces together you derive something meaningful and the end result no longer appears to be incomprehensible.

Regular reading exposes you to the same words used with slightly different meanings, thereby reinforcing the words and how you could use them in the future.  When you are reading,  pay close attention to words that you are coming across for the first time but there is no need to look up the dictionary for every word.  Instead, try to decipher and appreciate the narrative and try to figure out the meaning from how it is being used in the story.  Note and be aware that material on different subjects can be pretty complex, and the language used can vary a lot depending on whether you are reading a sports report, a fiction or a description of a real life crime scene.

Use every opportunity to learn new words and improve your conversations.  We have these frequent encounters in our everyday lives, be it in an elevator, in the public transport bus, watching a movie or a television serial or a political debate.  We often read debates and endless arguments going on in social media sites about various happenings in our lives and in our surroundings and in our home country but very often let go of the opportunity to add our inputs to it, thereby letting go of an informal way to improve our communication and vocabulary skills.  For example, the celebrity actress Sridevi died yesterday but all that I see on Facebook is repeated occurrences of those three meaningless letters "RIP" instead of people taking time to write what they are going to remember Sridevi for, in the coming years. 

When you learn a new word latch on to it.  If you come across a new word and do not use it again you will forget it within a week or so because it is in your short time memory now.  Anytime you learn a new word try to use it repeatedly until the word moves from your short time memory to your long time memory, and make it a habit to use until it becomes exactly that --- a habit.  Once it gets ingrained into your long term memory, using that particular word becomes as easy and as frequent as ABC.  

Speaking about reading, you tend to learn many words when you see them in a sentence, which is why improving your vocabulary while reading sentences is much more effective than looking up words in a dictionary where the meanings may not always be obvious.  Wasn't this what your parents and teachers advised you all those years ago when they kept encouraging you to go to the library and read all those Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and other stories in the Arabian Nights books ?

A very critical method of improving one's vocabulary, communication, choice of words and general flow of language is through writing blogs on technical and non-technical topics.  I do it all the time, and it's fair to say that writing blogs on varied topics has helped me a lot over the years.  When you write a blog you just cannot get away with some sloppy language and usage of words, and need to put in lot of effort into making the material presentable to a worldwide audience, for you never know who are the people who are going to read your blogs.   You can take your game to the next level by presenting videos on various subjects by doing some, formatting them for quality and uploading them on YouTube for anybody from Australia to the US to watch and benefit from your experiences.  On a similar note, never lose an opportunity to indulge in public speaking.  While it is not always possible to get an audience, you could always call up your local radio station or make friends with the local radio RJ and present programs that you are passionate about and that could appeal to the wider community.   Having done many radio presentations myself I can vouch for this.

It's amazing the human mind can remember whatever happened to you, say in an accident, every minute detail about it while it's pretty difficult for you to remember all the details of an accident that involved someone else and where you were not present but only heard about it from the person who experienced it.  You see that we tend to remember everything that happened to us because there is a personal, emotional attachment to our own experience which is why you can recall an incident or an accident months or years later.  You could use this psychological aspect of the human brain to your advantage.  For example, when you attend a social event, instead of reading someone else's feedback, write one of your own, how you felt about the program or what you got out of it, and you tend to come up with a better vocabulary than if you try to learn how to write by reading what someone else wrote.

Most importantly, use every opportunity to express your thoughts and feelings, without going overboard of course, and make the most of every situation you come across.  Social media is one place where you have tremendous freedom of expression, and you can come up with your opinions without the fear of offending somebody or having to worry about who is going to form a picture about you.  And writing in the Public comments section in various online newspapers is another sure-fire way of putting your grammar and vocabulary to practical use for your own benefit.  Do these, and stand to do yourself a big favor.  And when you find yourself in a crunch situation and are required to come up with the appropriate words you don't have to run around looking for the dictionary which our dear friend the zoo warden had to do while trying to figure out the plural of mongoose. 

High School teachers: Torchbearers of my life

Last month I had to fly to North Carolina for a weeklong training bootcamp.  I knew that the wait time at the San Francisco Airport would be a couple of hours so I prepared myself for the long haul by carrying along with me a book that would help me improve my knowledge on Virtualization and Networking.   One of the TSA officers who saw me reading the book was curious to know why I was doing this instead of spending my time browsing through social media sites on my mobile phone.  This made me recall a small but significant lesson I had learnt from my high school teacher B.N. Shankar nearly forty years ago.  Shankar, who was teaching us History and Civics, told us something that I never realized on that day all those years ago that I would carry with me for the rest of my life.  I never imagined that what he taught us on that day would have a profound effect on me for ever.

What Shankar taught us on that occasion was pretty simple, or so it appeared on that day.  He explained a scenario where you go to a movie theater.  You stand in the queue for about 45 minutes, then you purchase the ticket and watch the movie.  When you stand in the queue, do not waste time doing nothing or staring around.  Carry a book with you.  Read the book for those 45 minutes that you are stuck in the queue.  You may not be able to absorb the material in the book to the extent you would if you were to be reading the book in the quiet surroundings of your home.  Yet, whatever you read during this period of waiting would serve you in good stead and would make the time spent in the queue more productive from a knowledge derivative than if you were to idle away your time.  Today B.N. Shankar is no more but after all these years Shankar's words of wisdom still live in me and continue to be relevant!!!!!!!

This is after all one example of how my high school teachers influenced me during those formative years that I spent in Raghavendra High School, Malleswaram, when I was a green sapling, and how whatever I learnt during that vital three-year period has served me in good stead for a lifetime.  We never knew it at that time but what all our teachers were doing was that they were making us street smart, not just book smart.  Their thoughts, words and actions were making their way up our nerves into our brains, all the while happening in a slow, strong, insightful manner and getting hard coded into our psychology.  Our teachers were touching our lives and nurturing us into becoming adults with the right values and more importantly incorporating in us the tact, the critical thinking, and strategies that would serve us well in the yet-to-come forebearing future of our lives.  Unknown to us, our hidden treasures were being opened for us, we were being taught to take control of our lives and to be the custodians and torch bearers for ourselves and our near and dear ones.  Our teachers were compassionate about how they taught us and were always encouraging us to hold the candles and light the path ourselves into which we were walking.  To lead our lives with pride, dignity, integrity, determination and competitiveness.   It's amazing and mind boggling to imagine that a teacher's influence on a person is for ever and ever and not just confined to those few years when the students are learning from those teachers.

I am going to utilize this opportunity to talk about our Geometry teacher in our final year of high school.  B. Aravind Mitra was a godsend.  His name pretty much said everything about him, and his parents could not have chosen a better name for him.  For the connoisseur and the curious, Aravind means the Lotus flower and Mitra means friend.  Aravind Mitra was a once-in-a-generation kind of a teacher who knew what it meant to drill knowledge into the students's brains and who had his own, unique, innovative, unorthodox techniques to drive home the point.  To give you an illustration, before I met Aravind Mitra I always had difficulty comprehending how to express something in terms of something else, for example how do you express the volume of a 3 x 3 x 3 i.e. 27 cubic feet tank in terms of cubic metres.  This teacher knew how to break down the complex equation into a simple formula:

1 foot = 12 inches

1 inch = 2.54 cm = 0.0254 metre

Therefore 3 feet x 3 feet x 3 feet = (3 x 1 foot) x (3 x 1 foot) x (3 x 1 foot)= (3 x 12 x 0.0254) x (3 x 12 x 0.0254) x (3 x 12 x 0.0254) metre x metre x metre = 0.765 cubic metres = 1 metre breadth x 1 metre width x 0.765 metre height

Simple yet brilliant.  Plain yet meaningful.  Divide and rule.  Aravind Mitra showed that's there is no such thing as rocket science.  Nothing is impossible to understand.  Every complex problem is merely a mix and match of simple ingredients.  

No tribute written by me to our high school teachers is going to be complete without articulating on my Math teacher for three years, that is H.T. Kashi Venkatachar.  Of all the thirty or thirty five teachers during my academic run I consider HTK to be my favorite and the one teacher who influenced me the most in my life, who was a larger-than-life figure and who continues to be an inspiration to me right through my thoughts and actions.  HTK was everything that you could ask for in a teacher and much more than merely someone who taught in the class and walked away when the school bell rang.  He was a friend, philosopher, mentor and guide.  And a huge cricket fan too, something that strikes a chord in me and resonates with me.  HTK was one who went way beyond his call of duty, and like the saying goes, he was willing to bend backwards to do anything that would benefit his students.  I particularly remember HTK's efforts during the holidays just before our final year in high school started.  It so happened that our syllabus changed that year, and it was essentially back to the drawing board not only for the students but for the teachers too.  New concepts were introduced and they were intimidating enough to drive us scared.  We were lucky we had an exceptionallly brilliant student in our class by name Madhukar.  So while all of us, say 120 of us were on the streets playing cricket and enjoying our holidays, our Math teacher HTK and this bright bulb Madhukar used to meet every day, spend some eight hours together, resolving the puzzles in the Math, and bringing a method to the madness in those cryptic Algebra, Quadratic equations, Permutations and Combinations, nPr and nCr  --- enough to drive the brain go dizzy.  But for their efforts we, or speaking for myself, I would not have got through successfuly in high school and stepped into PUC and to Engineering down the road.  I am indebted to HTK and Madhukar for whatever they did, thinking beyond the horizon and outside the box to do whatever it took to get us over the line.  If there is one person on this planet that I would like to dedicate my lateral thinking skills to, I would give it to HTK.

When we were in high school we often used to take our teachers for granted but only when you look at them in retrospection way down the years do you realize how much of an influence they brought upon us.  The teachers were very empathetic, putting themselves in our shoes, looking at things and aspects from our individual perspectives, and rendering a powerful impact on us.  I left high school some 37 years ago but in a way I have never really left that school, and I still carry it with me in my mind, head, heart and soul.  The teachers did not merely teach.  They built friendships, they nurtured our childhood lives, they planted in us the seeds of curiosity, inquisitiveness, thirst for knowledge, and the ambition, motivation and intensity to succeed in life, and they made us better citizens.  And our teachers never expected anything in return nor did they get anything.  Other than the satisfaction of having made us better human beings amidst a collaborative community.  We owe it to our teachers.  All of us.  Every one of us.

My parents may claim that it was they who brought me to this world and that I belong to them.  However, no matter how much I owe it to my parents, a small part of me always belongs to my teachers.  And this is what makes me recall my high school teachers with pride, nostalgia and sentimentality.  For whatever they did to me and to us, we the lucky students who had the good fortune and privilege of coming under their tutelage.  It makes me emotional to talk about my high school teachers.  It's a sacred topic to me.  I remember my teachers every day.  Every single day of my life.  Without them I would not be here.

Explaining Kannada movie legacy to my new born American kid

The land of the American dream.  The country where you get to achieve whatever you dreamt as a kid.  The United States of America.  The haven of opportunities.  The place that everyone wants to visit and reside in.  Nearly twenty years ago I decided to take the plunge into the American waters and flew across from my dear Karnataka and India on the other side of the third planet from the sun, to this well developed country.   However, like most people from our state lineage, my footprints are still in the heartland of Kannada and Karnataka, and I remain tethered to everything that is Kannada — the language, the culture, and more importantly, closer to my heart, the Kannada movie panorama.  It is perhaps hereditary, drilled into our genes and passed on from one generation to the next and beyond which makes we Kannadigas to irrevocably and irretrievably fall in love with Kannada movie and its legacy, from the time our parents took us to the crowded movie theaters in Majestic’s sprawling and bustling area in our dear, old Bangalore.   When I had a kid nearly twenty years ago I started to ponder how I would explain to my little one our preoccupation and passion with Kannada movies.  To make her understand and appreciate the Kannada movie sanctum sanctorum.  And today I am reminiscing and revisiting the dilemma I faced in those days.

Almost inevitably, during our times, every child’s first encounter with the movies was in the competitive chaos that pervades all those theaters on Kempegowda Road.  The mad rush for tickets, the arm wrestling, standing in long lines, making it to the theater three or four hours before the curtain unfolds, wrestling with unpredictable elements to get those coveted last row seats to get a cognizant view of the larger-than-life screen, holding seats for family and friends by placing shawls and handbags on adjoining seats,  going to great lengths and leaving no stone unturned, merely to have an enjoyable movie experience.  A plethora of movies across different theaters across the street, multiple movies in three or four theaters within the same building, also known as complex, with each theater competing with one another to get the turnstiles to spin faster.  The primary objective of every movie goer always being to watch the movie at the first opportunity, or as some of my friends here say "FDFS", an acronym for First Day First Show, the primary objective being to earn bragging rights with family, friends and foes.  Traveling in overcrowded BTS buses, with barely one foot inside the bus, and the rest of the body hanging out and crying for dear life, doing whatever it takes or took to reach the theater, because how on earth could you afford to miss out on the movie experience of one hero fighting a dozen criminals, defeating them and making them run away scared, with not a scratch on his own body to show after the bizarre battle ?

Waiting with bated breath for the hero to show up, and you get variety across every movie, with no two movies showing the hero's first appearance the same way.  If in one movie the hero comes out tackling a criminal in the nick of time to save somebody, in the next movie he is right there at precisely the moment the girl's dad is looking for a bridegroom and life partner for her.  And there was no dearth for epic heroes from the royal ancestry, as in ಬಬ್ರುವಾಹನ and ಮಯೂರ, mythological characters as in ಸತ್ಯಹರೀಶ್ಚಂದ್ರ, or plain, old, simple, mischievous commoners as in ಗಣೇಶನ ಮದುವೆ or ಗೋಲ್ಮಾಲ್ ರಾಧಾಕೃಷ್ಣ where trouble begets trouble and more trouble, especially so when ಗಣೇಶ and ಸೀತಾಪತಿ are involved, with ಸಿಹಿ ಕಹಿ ಚಂದ್ರು caught in the mix for no fault of his, or the rip-roaring scenes when tenant ಗಣೇಶ decides to teach the apartment owner ರಮಣಮೂರ್ತಿ a lesson by christening a dog after the owner and causing havoc in the ವಟಾರ.

Every director coming up with his own idiosyncracies and injecting more and more of his legacy into the Kannada movie's bottomless well.  And every person in the audience having his own or her own anecdotal experiences.  Like watching ರವಿ ವರ್ಮ in  ಕಸ್ತೂರಿ ನಿವಾಸ being a generous man and willing to donate everything he has, even putting his own family and money in jeopardy, and breathing his last when the lady comes to him seeking her beloved dove, only to find our never-say-never magnanimous man having sold his bird a few moments earlier.   Or like in ಸನಾದಿ ಅಪ್ಪಣ್ಣ where the hard working single dad gets through umpteen difficulties in life and educates his son, only to find the latter betraying the faith the dad had in him and ending up being treated as a servant by his own son, the turnaround coming way too late for the son who ends up repenting his ill treating his dad and not understanding human values.

I have had my own, unique experiences with the celluloid screen and its offshoots.  Like when I used to walk all the way from my home near Navarang theater to M.E. S. College, from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., listening to songs as varied as the romantic ಬಯಸದೇ ಬಳಿ ಬಂದೆ, to Anant Nag traveling in a bus and bullock cart and crossing the river, all the while singing to himself on his way to see the beautiful ಚಂದನದ ಗೊಂಬೆ, to the blaring audio of ಭಾಗ್ಯಾದ ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ಬಾರಮ್ಮ during the Varamahalakshmi season, to the exhilarating ಬಾನಿಗೊಂದು ಎಲ್ಲೇ ಎಲ್ಲಿದೆ with the vintage Rajkumar in an immaculate outfit driving across his estate expressing his life's philosophies, and ending with ಮಾನವನಾಗುವೆಯಾ ಇಲ್ಲಾ ಧಾನವನಾಗುವೆಯಾ, with our quintessential hero the one and only ಬಹದ್ದೂರು ಗಂಡು teaching the princess certain basic civic, civilized norms and showcasing to her the harsh realities of the common man’s life, just as I would be stepping into the fortress that our college was.    Every house would be playing the radio program ನಿಮ್ಮ ಮೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಚಿತ್ರಗೀತೆಗಳು along the way.   Oh, I very well recollect that chastening encounter one day when I rushed across in an auto rickshaw all the way from my home to Geetanjali theater in Malleswaram and paid the driver one and a half times, not wanting to miss out on watching our angry, young, temperamental man ರಾಮಾಚಾರಿ getting into trouble with everyone in the small town of Chitradurga, and the indelible, legendary dialogues happening between ರಾಮಾಚಾರಿ and ಚಾಮಯ್ಯ ಮೇಷ್ಟ್ರು that’s part of the Kannada movie folklore.   Or the indelible impression the message imprinted in me when ಗುಳ್ಳ's poverty-stricken father draws the entire village crowd to his house the day he dies that's in total contrast to the episode where the entire community decides to keep indoors and shuns the rich but hateful ಭೂತಯ್ಯ when he dies of a paralytic stroke.

How will I ever be able to do justice to my kid and myself when I talk about the knapsack of memories of the ambience of the gushing river waters, banks and high mountains amidst the fall, colorful leaves and trees, and the awesome picturization that people from my generation got to enjoy in ಶರಪಂಜರ ?  All this before agonizingly being unable to bear the sight of ಮಿನುಗುತಾರೆ ಕಾವೇರಿ, that is Kalpana being dragged to the mental asylum after her traumatic exchanges with the society drives her to become insane.  And how we have had countless discussions whether the movie was good or bad or whether the victim woman in this movie had overacted or performed her role to perfection, all the time hoping we come across folks who think like we do.

How am I going to explain to my new born girl the nostalgia of watching Puttanna Kanagal’s movies ?  Time would stand still when I was there doing just that.  It would be a surreal atmosphere, beginning on a pretty light note but gaining intensity as the movie progresses and you get into the sublime zone as the movie gets into the critical junction.   You get transfixed as one scenario leads into another and before long we forget where we are and start thinking we are in a different age, different place and that everything is happening in real.   It's unbelievable how Puttanna Kanagal could pictorize the human psychology and showcase on the screen different aspects that we always knew were around us but never knew how we could portray it or express it to the outside world.  Or his ability to project something literal but making it indicative or symbolic of a wider meaning, like stumbling on the stone high up in the mountains, as in ಎಡಕಲ್ಲು ಗುಡ್ಡದ ಮೇಲೆ, or highlighting the paradox in how we see actors on the screen and think life is all hunky-dory for them whereas they go through difficulties like all of us do, which has been showcased in a splendid, albeit tragic manner in ರಂಗನಾಯಕಿ.

I reckon you would find it challenging to explain to any new kid on the block what it all meant to be a part and parcel of the rich tradition and legacy you were blessed with to enjoy and have now decided to forgo when you left the dear land of Karnataka, packed your bags and moved to the US for greener pastures and cleaner environment. Someone out there, can you kindly come to me and enlighten me how I should go about solving this conundrum ?  Please help me resolve this conflict of growing up in the Kannada movie culture and now having to readjust to the new way of life, and more importantly of having to imbibe and convey my lifetime, enriching, unforgettable experiences in the Kannada movie to my little girl.  This predicament I find myself in, which you could call as divisive, or perhaps, to give it a positive vibe, as unifying.  This paradoxical situation of a scenario I find myself in.  How shall I explain all these and much more to my new born kid in such a way that she can fathom how lucky we folks have been to be a part of all this melodrama ? Where shall I begin ?

The morning walk in Lal Bagh, and the conversations: an experience to savor

ದೇವಾಲಯ ವೀ ಹೂವಿನ ತೋಟಂ.  ಕೈ ಮುಗಿದು ಒಳಗೆ ಬಾ, ಇದು ಸಸ್ಯ ಕಾಶಿ.  Do these words look somewhat familiar to you ?  Does they ring a bell ?  Yes, you are right.  It's Lal Bagh, a place where beauty and splendor meet flowers and fragrance.  The haven where people congregate, an avenue where friendships and alliances are made.  The one place in Bangalore that has been left untouched amidst all the hustle, bustle and tearing down of roads, trees and poles to pave the way for the massive growth of the city to accommodate the crores who live, breathe and work in the garden city of Bangalore.  The sprawling garden where people of all ages and physique come together to spend an hour amidst the magnificent surroundings encompassing a beautiful, sprawling lake, a breathtaking hill top, the glass house, the gigantic clock, and a huge assortment of plants, trees and shrubs.  

Whenever I visit Bangalore one of the most important activities, or perhaps the most important activity on my to-do calendar is to take those early morning walks in Lal Bagh.  Oh, I am willing to give an arm and a leg for that refreshing experience of breathing the freely available, pure, unadulterated oxygen in the air, and it's a pleasant sight to see that there are at least a thousand people in those eery dusk hours who perhaps think like me and want to get that whiff of gardena, flora and fauna while strolling through the magnificence that this picturesque, world famous park is.  In the midst of all this, you get to hear all sorts of conversations related to sports, politics, science, art, music, literature and philosophy.  Not to forget movies and entertainment.  

My love affair with Lal Bagh takes on an elevated course when I have family and friends accompanying me during my walks, and we get to talk about the bat and ball game that's close to my heart and one that I have grown up with and been following passionately all my life.  We get to discuss how two mild mannered, stylish magicians who went by the names VVS Laxman and Dravid turned a Test match on its head 17 years ago one fine day in Kolkata, how a bespectacled, gentle-mannered lion-hearted working class hero from Karnataka destroyed the famed Pakistan batting line-up, wreaking havoc through their innings to claim all the second innings ten wickets to engrave the most remarkable day in his 135-Test career into the cricketing stonehenge, or how another erstwhile Kannadiga/Karnataka superstar with the last name Javagal struck lightning in the South African ranks on a sunny day nearly 22 years ago in the metropolis of Ahmedabad.  We get to relive those awesome memories when these cricketers catapulted our home country to some famous victories against formidable foes.   

There is always that odd, old gentleman in our group from the grand, old days of Karnataka and Indian cricket who recalls with pride how a five-footer, diminutive maestro by the name Gundappa Viswanath from our home state defied the voracious speedsters from the Caribbean island, standing like the little boy on the Horatio bridge, blazing his way to an unbeaten 97 out of India's meagre 190, in a Test match in the hot Southern city all those decades ago, 43 years to be precise.  And to tackle this gentleman is out there the greying head from the western metropolis of Mumbai who eloquently speaks about how his hometown hero Sunil Gavaskar from the 1970s and 1980s brought India to the doorstep of victory with a monumental knock of 221, defying all odds and taking it upon himself to chase 438 for a win at The Oval in 1979, only to stumble at the last gasp in what otherwise could perhaps have been India's most pivotal moment in their cricketing history, but unfortunately failing by a mere nine runs to attain glory.

Not to be outdone by sports fans like me, we have a small group of men in their 60s who could range anywhere from being diehard loyalists of Narendra Modi to vociferous critics of the current Indian Prime Minister.  For every argument put forth by Modi's fans as to how he has brought about a welcome sea of revolution in the Indian economic diaspora by bringing in Aadhar card and Japanese trains, we have at least one man shouting out as to how Mr. Narendra Modi has been unable to stem India's burgeoning issues in water and food scarcity and how he should be doing something different from what he is doing now.

To add to the mix, we have the movie passionate folks who can never agree as to whether Kishore Kumar was a better singer than Mohammad Rafi or vice-versa, or how the current line of singers like Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal compare against the versatile duo of S.P. B. and S. Janaki from the last five decades.  And we always have the "it was better in our days" trio who always feel that the current actors cannot hold a candle to the yesteryear heroes Dr. Rajkumar or Dr. Vishnuvardhan when it comes to presentation on the big stage while there are people who live, swear and die by Ramesh Aravind.  There are those who have settled here for decades and are aghast at the tearing down of all those old theaters on Kempegowda Road to build the megabuck Malls, thus robbing our dear, historic city of its pristine charm and glory for the sake of commercialization and trade.

We have a small group of teenagers with us who are in their own world, clicking away furiously on their mobile devices and taking undue advantage of the oldies's tardiness, by taking as many pictures as possible in front of the glass house and the peacock, and not one bit bothered as to why why one of the adults is unable to agree with the other about whether it is preferable to go and sit in the tailor's shop for hours to get the right size cloth stitched as against purchasing a readymade shirt from one of the Arrow or Louis Philippe stores near the Jayanagar shopping complex.  We always have people appearing or at least pretending to be oblivious to what one NRI lady thinks about purchasing sarees in the congested ಚಿಕ್ಕಪೇಟೆ area when pitchforked against another's lady wishes to buy from those multi-storeyed pricey shops on M.G. Road. 

It takes all types of people to make this world, as the saying goes, and that's true with walkers too.  We have people who are willing to give endless lectures on what needs to be done to improve our kids' education, what should be presented in job interviews to be able to land a position in these prestigious corporate offices, and topics as far fetched as how to remove pollution from the streets in India, and how to bring about a method to the madness that is seen in Bangalore's road traffic.  While we do have the less serious crowd too who are always having a problem with each other, each party trying to convince the other as why the Masala Dosa in Vidyarthi Bhavan, Gandhi Bazar is better than or inferior in quality to the one in Central Tiffin Room in Malleswaram, or why you should have your birthday parties in Food Camp or in Kamat Yatrinivas, discussing the merits and demerits thereof.

And when it's about time to conclude our walk, my stomach is gurgling at the salivating thought of being able to take my family members to the nearby ಸೌತ್ ತಿಂಡೀಸ್ or ಉಪಹಾರ ದಶಿ೯ನಿ to enjoy the morning hot, steaming ಚೌಚೌಬಾತ್, ಪೂರಿ and ಕಾಫಿ.   Our only problem in life, for the time being, being how to find a parking spot for the car in the crowded Jayanagar/Basavanagudi area close to the restaurant.  Life's simple delights ride on these small activities we do to unwind ourselves, not having to worry about what it means to come back to the United States a week later, and getting back to the routine of waking up early and getting ready to go to work.

Lal Bagh, the heavenly abode in Bangalore where the introvert can still experience serenity and tranquility, away from the myriad distractions of life.  And the place where extroverts like me can have endless discussions and chatter until the cows come home.  As the old saying goes, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.  What a tremendous pleasure it is to have all these conversations while taking a walk in the park, giving a cursory glance at the lake, taking time to smell the roses in the garden, shaking hands with friends and acquaintances, admiring the immaculately cut bushes, and enjoying the sight of the flowers in the glass house!!!   Have you ever given a thought as to what it means to spend an hour walking in the evergreen Lal Bagh garden, living and enjoying every moment of it, and finally waving goodbye to the park at the gate after reading the sign: ದೇವಾಲಯ ವೀ ಹೂವಿನ ತೋಟಂ ?  Do you want to give it a try ?

Unforgettable encounters with strangers

An episode from a Kannada movie from the 1980s.  The rich, old man Sampath is travelling in his car but the car comes to an abrupt halt with a screeching noise.  Sampath comes out of the car to find that one of the front tires is punctured, or as we say here in the US, had gone flat.  Unlike here, Sampath has no access to AAA to come to his rescue.  It so happens that Sridhar is riding on his bicycle and is coming in the opposite direction.  Sridhar sees Sampath on his haunches and make an enquiry.  Sridhar offers to help and fixes the tire using a couple of tools that he happens to carry with him.  A five-minute conversation takes place between Sampath and Sridhar, on the following lines:

Sampath: “Hello dear young man, where do you work ?”

Sridhar: “I am working in a small shop in the city.  Just trying to see if I can get a better job.”

Sampath: “What made you stop here and help me ?”

Sridhar: “Nothing really.  I saw you standing outside the car, looking helpless so I thought I could help you if I could.”

A few more routine, life situation exchanges take place between them, and finally:

Sampath: “OK, youngster, here’s five hundred rupees for you for having helped me.”

Sridhar: “Thank you Sir, but sorry, no need for you to pay me and I will not take money from you.  Whatever repair I did was trivial.  It’s getting late for me, I need to go home to take care of my family, bye.”

Sampath then gives Sridhar his office address and asks him to come to his office the next day.  Sridhar turns up at Sampath’s office the next day, and Sampath hands him an appointment letter designating him as a Senior Manager.  Sridhar is perplexed: “But Sir, how could you give me this job without having interviewed me ?”  And Sampath’s response is: “Whatever conversation happened between you and me yesterday on the street, that was the interview.”

While you may not take the above incident or anecdote seriously since it was in a movie,  encountering strangers and getting help from them is nothing unusual, and one can be certain every person would have received some unexpected help from a bystander, without the latter expecting anything in return.  And I take this opportunity to quote an incident from my childhood when a good samaritan’s presence of mind and positively desperate willingness to take proactive action saved my life.

This unforgettable incident took place when I was about seven years old.  My mother, sister and myself had gone to a distant provision stores to buy some groceries.  Since it was 8:30 p.m. and the weather was like freezing cold I told my mother that I would run home, and darted off.  I came to the main road opposite Navarang theater, that is popularly known as Tumkur Road.  I decided to dash across the street despite the heavy traffic but unfortunately a jeep coming from the left knocked me out all the way about ten to fifteen feet.  I fell by the wayside and started bleeding.  Thank my lucky stars or whatever you call it, there was an young man, around 30 years old who saw me crash.  And the next thing I remember is that he lifted me, carried me and started running to the nearby hospital managed by one Dr. Kasturi Rangan.  The doctor immediately attended to me, and it was a happy coincidence that this doctor knew my parents.  He immediately sent word to my parents, and what I remember next is my dad and mom anxiously sitting by my bedside, and I having wounds and stitches near my forehead and right eye.  I still have those marks.  Just pause for a moment and imagine what would be my fate if that 30-year old gentleman had not been present at the scene of the accident at that moment.  To this day I wish I could meet him and thank him but that’s never going to happen, unfortunately.  Wherever he is.

Let me recall another unique, and ultimately humbling experience one fine day long, long ago in 1992. I was working as Technical Support Engineer for Zenith Computers in Bangalore, and had gone to Indian Institute of Management i.e. IIM in Bangalore on the outskirts of Jayanagar on Hosur Road. I completed my work, and as I was coming out of the campus I realized that it would be difficult to get an autorickshaw to go to Jayanagar complex where I had to visit another customer. I happened to see a gentleman getting into his posh car and requested him if he could drop me at the complex. He readily agreed and I got into his car. I asked him his name and he told me that he was Professor B.K. Chandrashekar. We travelled the distance, say about 10 miles, all the time having a conversation on what I had studied and what work I did. I kept thinking that I had seen this gentleman somewhere earlier but could not recollect immediately. And then it flashed across my mind. I recalled that I had seen him in pictures on Deccan Herald along with other politicians. And I immediately asked him: "You are an MLA, right ?" And his cool answer was: "Yes, I was". And I am thinking: "Oh, my goodness, me, a nobody and a non-entity is asking a Professor and an MLA for a ride in his car." However Professor B.K. Chandrashekar was as cool as ever, extremely dignified. We had a great ride, a wonderful conversation about various aspects of life, and when it was time for me to alight, we shook hands with each other and exchanged pleasantries.

Needless to say I felt more proud than embarrassed for having met such a great human being. Later on, Professor B.K. Chandrashekar went on to become the Minister for Primary Education and also Minister for Information Technology for Karnataka. If I were to meet Professor B.K. Chandrashekar I hope he recognizes me as the person who asked him to give me a ride, once upon a time, 25 years ago!!!!!!

Fast forward to 1998, and another of those experiences that not everybody is destined to encounter.  I had come to the US and been here for a very short time when I got a contract opportunity in downtown Boston.  I had set up my residence in Nashua, New Hampshire, and had to drive from Nashua in NH to Lowell in Massachusetts before boarding the train in Lowell to go to Boston.  And in the evening I would leave my office at 5:00 p.m. to head to the train station to catch the train to Lowell.  On what was perhaps my fourth day on the job I left my office in the evening, came to the Boston station like everyday and got into the train hurriedly.  The train started moving, everything outside looked green and rosy as before.  However before long I realized that something was wrong.  The two stations that the train stopped at did not seem like I had seen those during the three previous days.  And it only started getting worse with every passing station.  It took me a while to realize that I was heading to the wrong station in an entirely different direction.  Instead of traveling north west from Boston I was traveling north east.  Feeling totally helpless I started to panic.  Forget having a mobile phone, I did not even known at that time that such a device existed.  I chanced to see an elderly couple, probably in their mid 60s, well dressed, and looking totally dignified, and since I was still new to the US I did not hesitate to speak to them about my predicament.  And being new from India my accent was, oh my goodness, let me say that they could understand whatever I said,  I was able to speak to this couple who were nice enough to tell me that I was headed to the wrong destination.  However to my utter bewilderment they asked me to accompany them to their car. 

Once we got to their car at the final destination of our train journey the elderly couple asked me to get into their car and the gentleman started driving.  He had a few AAA maps in his car, and with some help from his wife who was equally gracious they decided to take me all the way from whatever that station was, all the way to Lowell.  To this day I cannot fathom where I had landed, it was probably Bradford.  I do not know how much they could understand of whatever I spoke on that day but they were absolutely friendly to me, and they made sure they dropped me at the Lowell station, and even had the courtesy to get down from their car and shake hands with me and wishing me good luck, with the usual: “Nice meeting you, dear gentleman.”   I cannot help feeling that they took enormous pleasure in helping a stranger completely lost in an alien country, and in an indirect way I feel blessed to have given them an opportunity, although inadvertently, to do me a big favor but expect nothing whatsoever in return.  May that couple live for ever!!!

The three instances I have described above show that there is a great element of truth in the statement: “Cometh the hour, cometh the man!!!”.  Call it fate, call it luck, call it destiny, call it whatever.  Yes, getting help from a stranger is not something that you see only in movies.  It happens to every one of us in real life, and it could be something trivial or it could be as drastic as making the difference between life and death.  Like it happened to someone once upon a time.   What would have been my fate if this amazing act of kindness were to not happen on that cold, wintry, chilly night 45 years ago ?  Sometimes I sit down and ponder over what would have been the repercussions if that good guy had not been present at the right place at the right time for me.   All I get is an answer that you would not want to hear.   The answer is a frightening void.