Kirukalgal turns 3

Ha its been 3 years now , What started as a casual avocation during those long airport transits/ hotel stays during my business tours have been a medium to vent out whatever I felt at that point as well stay networked to my GUMBAL ,which I treasure than anything .

Though no specific traits in these posts have been followed , it always ends up putting something close to heart .I still remember when I first sat to write this on 12th April 2007 ( incidentally happens to be the day when a great soul stepped in to this world :- ) ) during my return flight from Delhi . Adi would later pick me up from the Airport and drop me at home on the day ,enabling me to meter out airport – residence :-)

What else I could have thought about than our game of cricket at mottai madi when i toyed for the first time. . Then followed others close to my heart..., Coffee , Mechanical Engineering , Formula 1 , The great summer of 2003 .

Then there were a few , I wrote after reading something or having created a perception about the same . One such thing was on " Its not about the bike.. " (http://natrajvenkatraman.blogspot.com/2007/07/its-not-about-bike-my-journey-back-to.html) . This was in July 2007 . I had quit Hyundai & was in the interim break before joining Tata . The book and the very idea of single parenthood in the book really shook me. Its not something new to us as we would have fore sure encountered persons with similar background . I too had the opportunity to move with such people and adore their solid self made personalities. This is one of the entries I really relished writing and do the same whenever I read it

More recently I was able to connect again with all in the GUMBAL ,with the 6A Natesa Nagar entry (http://natrajvenkatraman.blogspot.com/2009/05/6a-5th-main-road.html). Iam sure this would have bought back those nostalgic moments in many of us. It was indeed a pleasure to receive a comment from Major Bala who took time from his arduous treacherous schedule to read this after hearing from me .Many of my colleagues at work were baffled to see that somebody who is in touch with their childhood friends , which I feel is rarely seen out there.

In short , this has seen the sinusoidal of my personal & professional life and would continue to do so, I would be happy writing as long as the purpose of this as in the opening lines is served

6A ,5th Main Road

Was at 6A after a 5 months hiatus . Have never been ever since I changed my coordinates . This surely would be one of the places I frequented the most

This house has seen the Childs fight to the street fight , the fall & rise , the ups & downs ,the ego & the sacred self of each one of us in the GUMBAL .

During the school & college days , when we were not that privileged to flaunt the mobiles we do now, one number which my parents knew by heart apart from my residence was 24790725.

This place was also a temple of all leisure activities , people would be playing tennis , cricket on the narrow pathway as well as the terrace ensuring the ball only to be hit in to the next locked apartment in the 2nd floor or to the adjoining house guarded by 3-4 dogs . people would fight to decide who would jump and pick up the ball.

I had also spent many afternoons ,sleeping at this house ,when others would be preparing for the 10th Board ,12th Board & TNPCEE exams . Infact I had many night out at this place , the only motivational hygiene being the biscuit packet & hot tea that PP’s father would get us for staying awake.

This Is also the place ,people would make it a point to drop in religiously whenever they are in India from whichever place on the world map.This place for the last 20years had played a pivotal role in forming many relationships . Though I wont say , that the 3 are the best friends (which isn't ) , but then this place finds a mention on the Trio's ( Vidhya - PP - Natti) life.
Now 6A is all set to add one more new member to the family . Though many of our fellow chininmates have moved on to the next phase of family life , Iam still pinching hard to believe our Pradeep Parthasarathy is all set to shun the elite single tag .
Just as the famous lines goes :-

We are all a little weird And life's a little weird,
And when, like you, you find Someone whose weirdness is compatible with yours,
You join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness & call it love.

Pink , Dont Panic ! ! !

Crisis and adversities are an integral part of life and so is recession. The toughest situations and problems also give learning, to look back and correct ourselves and also giving strength mentally and emotionally.
A few precautions and suggestions for difficult times during recession and lay off for everybody,
a) Don’t panic; have confidence that you can face any situation. The trend of people getting mentally disturbed is peaking up because of the worst fears of recession.
Let’s see some examples,
Think of our soldiers based at the border… who knows when somebody would attack. Imagine the plight of the people in POK, or any other war stricken area…
What would happen if there was a severe earthquake with highest impact levels? You would have to face the outcome of it right? And earth quake ; It just strikes…it does not happen over a prior intimation like a planned power cut
Then why panic to a situation which you are aware of. Why die a slow death by panicking
Apply "What worse can happen?” theory and build up your confidence, get prepared MENTALLY. "What worse can happen?”, theory is one serious thought which can mentally make you very strong and give all the courage to face any situation that comes. Think what could be the worst possible options, will I loose my job? will the financiers acquire my property? THINK; what is the worst possible event that can happen, and START FINDING ALTERNATES for the same.
Media repeatedly highlights the bad part of the scenario, and so our peer group discussions…Don’t heed much attention to that. Think for yourself around you. Has life stopped? No, rite? Move on.
b) Your family and friends would be of a great support to face any scenario, discuss with them. Involve them in your scenario. Lot of Ideas pop up, And remember “An idea can change the world”.
c) Don’t be ashamed to ask for help. Open your mouth, who knows somewhere, something better might be waiting for you.
d) Networking; Not just in recession, networking is a greatest tool available for mankind. Man is a social animal , so start socialising. Dig up your old friends list whom you would have forgotten over a period of time... and never shy to say "I need help ". ( I strongly believe in this , Natti works on Network , its not just adding up ur friends list on the orkut or facebook , try to be in touch)
e) Slowdown the life style habits... i mean 'daru, hookah, Suttah, and the eat outs. This can save you significant amounts.
f) Financials: discuss this with your family, instead of making it out alone. Build up your cash reserves (liquidity) enough to take care of your fixed commitments and the family requirements for at least 6 months. Build on this. Let the cash reserves be in an arms reach in the banks – better to have it spread between 2~3 bank accounts.
g) A rupee saved is a rupee earned. Think of all the possibilities where you can save.
h) Investments in lifestyle luxuries can wait.
i) You can and have to bring down certain fixed commitments, viz, If staying in a rented house, check out if you can move on to your NEEDS ( from a 3bhk to 2 bhk ). Move to a little far off area. Never shy away from re-negotiating. Dont get easlity convinced that you are paying the right price, negotiate negotiate hard . The little u save , that little u spare
j) Move out of mortgage. This can give a good amount of liquidity in hand for sometime.
k) If things are not working out well… what for is that fancy car of yours, is it really required.

Some thumb rules, even if it’s not recession;
1) Save for the rainy day (you should have at least a saving of 6 months salary in Cash, be it Convertible Fixed Deposit or cash in your account)
2) Always ensure that your fixed financial commitments are always under your capacity . As a thumb rule never have loan / borrowing repayment commitments more than 40% of your take home.
3) HAVE A PLAN B ready. An alternate plan must be ready all the times. Now that’s the difference you find in the small eyed people who have made a great difference in the world, the Japanese & Koreans. Their philosophies review the PLAN B even before the normal plan is seen.

( I remember my old boss who alwasy used to block tickets on the same sector ,same day on 2 different flights)
4) Some innate talents in you can also provide for alternate options, think…

( These are reflections of thought @ my workplace ,with friends , with pickups from real life practices . Write up courtesy : Avinash )

My Tryst with those 3 Letters

After those initial rounds of appearing all those entrance tests ( including CAT ) and debacles of not taking up anything , having heard enuf from buddies on " natti got in to this , Natti didn't take this... " ,Natti got admitted in this school , natti didn't take up this program " . " Mein abhi bol raha hoon ki Nattu kuch nahin karega , sirf bhat aur sabko goli doonga " , First it was NUS ,then NTU , then SMU , Great Lakes , REC Trichy , Take it from me Natti's list will go on , " I finally sat & decided that atleast I shudn't be wasting up all the time on what next & I decided to enroll myself at the 2 year Twinning MBA of pondy uni. at Loyola chennaiNow it has almost come to the fag end , and eventually natti would end up adding those 3 letter degree to his folder if everything goes well.

Its been a nice experience going back to the classroom after 6 years hiatus ever since i laid rest my engineering books & my drafter /drawing board .People from diverse background (social / cultural / educational/ demographic) with varied employment get to meet in a cubicle once in a week ,with very little room to have a batch buddy connection. Profs come and talk , run thru ppts and circulate handouts .

Many of those participants come up, wile away the time ( but end up clearing the papers). Sometimes I had felt very awkward in opening up and answering , as the whole class would look at me and the prof would later keep repeating my co' name ( Tata ,Tata... n times) .I had decided not to answer / interact many a times , as i never felt of a conducive environment where in others hadn't participated .This was in contrast to my engineering days sessions , when the whole lot used to just crack numbers and gobble complex kinetics or be it Heat .

Though its not a top notch prog & thereby nothing much to be pondered or talked about , this course has created an impact on me , which off late i have realizedBy gods grace , I had never been devoid of things i had aspired for ( modest aspirations )..A decent upbringing / schooling / a bunch of good child hood friends ( the network is still intact even after these 27 years ) & in pretty decent job at hand to fend for myself .

But this is not the case everywhere , ppl running away from home , having to discontinue regular stream and take up a job to support the family , ppl completing theri basic degree at their prime 30's , having in at a not so attractive job , so on a so forth .So these may be a series of abstract events , the bottom line is the same .This post is not intended on anything ,all I request is that , We the privileged lot have to time and again think , things are not the same with ppl around. The world is only gonna be even more worse . Always have a intro / retrospect on things around you. Now that many of our buddies in the GUMBAL have entered in to the parent hood , it would only a prudent task to take ur kids planning .

Inflation . Rava Dosa & Kaapi

Indian inflation at its all time high and is heading towards 13 % . Prices of food, oil ,steel and cement , the prime movers of any industry & the key indicators of any robust economy have hit their all time high.

Oil first crossed the magic number of $100 a barrel and now hovering at a little over $145 a barrel . It was exactly at 1/3 a little 5 years back.

I had been recently to a jewel shop along with my friend & was surprised only to find it packed to its full. I also happen to visit a revenue sub registrars office and the place was swarming with its usual crowd , touts & brokers. The day I visited around 9 properties in the range of 50 – 90 lacs got registered.

Recently one of the leading realty promoter came with big ticket investments costing up ward of 1 crore for a 3 BHK apartment and another in the range of 15 crores for an high end condo. I also got to know that majority of these got booked in the first 10 days.

RBIhad increases its Prime lending rate upwards, PC in his Endeavour too increased the excise duty on the automobiles , in an attempt to put a brake ont he inflation. This coupled with high interest rate coupled with excise increase and the spiraling fuel could have only painted a grey picture fro the auto industry , but then the auto industry too fared pretty well last month

In actual terms , we see only the demand – supply equation perfectly well & its gonna be n exclusive growth , with the below poverty line crowd bearing the major brunt.

The fact is the crisis could have been still worse.,with the US economic slowdown & possible spillover to the developing economies. India has manged to remain greatly unaffected,owing to its nascent credit/ derivative markets and a good regulated securities trading.

Well whatever the case may be I could say , I too had been victimized in the present schem of things. , For what I got for 20 bucks ( 1 Onion Rava Dosa & a Coffee ) once upon a time ( 2 weeks back.....) , I have started paying up 22.50 ! !

Whats in a Name

On 12th April,1982 , a great soul stepped in to this world and was then named
Natarajan Venkatraman Sarmanaha :

Then dues course of time it took various etymological twists

Nat
Natti
Natty
Nut
Nut Bolt
Nutz & Boltz
Natti kutti
Natti patty
Natti Shitty Patty
Nadarasa
Natu rotti papu rotti
Mech Nut

And after entering the corporate world and being for 5 years ,Be it Indian or a korean this is what reverberates everywhere

“Nattu “

The Summer of 2003

It was way back in 2003,When we were all out of the college & were either placed or being in the process of hunting for a job . A typical day would start at around 5 30 in the morning , when all would assemble at either of Natesa Nagar mottai madi and would play a great game of cricket ,this would go on till 9 .

After an interval of say 2 hours all would again confluence at place for the never ending brain biting literature sessions laced with ultimate comedies . This would be wound up say at 4 ,when people shift to out doors ,and the hands that held the cards would start wielding the ball and bat.

This would continue till 7 , people would disperse soon after ,only to reassemble at the park at 9 .Long chat sessions on job,Interviews,movies ,out bound visits would soon churn out , and this 2 kms walk would have taken us to the “ Happy Cool Inn “ by then .
All would treat themselves with the great Fresh Lime ( Rs.5 a glass was the only affordable on at that point of time ) .Walk back and to crash at respective homes only to start the routine ,the very next day .

The Summer of ’03 (I would cherish this the same way as summer of ’69) was indeed a memorable on in all our lives. This was the longest summer hols we had enjoyed.The game of mottai madi was devised in this summer ( Also check http://natrajvenkatraman.blogspot.com/2006/04/tryst-with-mottai-madi-cricket.html) . This summer also bought out all the old chininmates once again back , who otherwise were forced to part or found little time for their buddies ion the 4 long grueling UG .”Kaakha Kaakha” got released . Many started to earn their own first penny in this summer.

Those were the best days of my life ................ oh yeah .............
Will it come back ???