School Musings - Ida Scudder Series - I

This would be the first on a series of posts about junior and senior school time

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I should admit that it was fun waiting for the roughly half an hour ride back home in the bus from my school. And this was during my preschool days (more popular as kinder garden). Most of us wanted a seat by the window while some just cared about being around with friends who reside in the same locality.

The preschoolers had a preferential access / early boarding to the bus - and every time I had traveled business class in one of the flights, I always think about this :D We get to form a line and march towards the bus well ahead of the 3:30 PM when the school used to end for the rest of the junior school folks (Grades 1 through 5). And I could be wrong with this time since this goes back almost a good 29 years back, though I do recall we were first to board and usually way ahead of the slated departing time as well.

Invariably, our class teachers used to assist us at times with the trip to the bus. And also spend some time with all of us - before she got down herself and moved on - since she (Ms.Anna) actually lives nearby and didn't have to take a bus to the school.

And there was this one time, when my classmate decided to ask our teacher, "Is the sun only so much big?" No prizes for guessing who was the kid most excited by the question that walked out to the center of the bus, literally yelling - "Don't you know? The sun is a HUGE ball of fire sitting up in the sky! It just appears small to us!", with arms stretched out as much as possible to signify the monstrosity of the size of the sun!! 

Our teacher took the time out to appreciate the answer. But also reminded how to ask softly for a turn to answer a question if desiring to do so!

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How do you explain to a group of 10 year olds, an answer to the question - "Why do you say the center of earth is hot?" And this question, was back in the early 90s in a small town far away from the large metro of Chennai, with the only prominent institution then as much as now, being the CMCH (Christian Medical College and Hospital)?

Well, it didn't seem so daunting for Ms.Eapen. All she did was to pose a question back to the class - "When you mom makes you some kheer and pours out the warm contents into your bowl, how do you start eating it? Do you have it slowly from the side and top portions or take a scoop right from the center of the bowl? And if you do take a scoop right from the center of the bowl, do you put it directly into your mouth or do you blow over it to cool it down?"

And then went an explanation of the earth's crust, the mantle, lava and magma..! 

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திருக்குறள் is a famous piece of தமிழ் literature. ஒழுக்கமுடைமை is a section / portion (அதிகாரம்) on it. The class started in the same place that was given evacuation orders a while ago since there was a snake that crept into the classroom from the nearby fields in the school. I was later told it was probably a 5 month old one. I don't know if it was just plain curious to come and see how humans learn together in a school. 

Most students in our class knew reasonably well by then that not all snakes are really venomous. But considering our age, there was not much divulged about the ongoing operation itself and we were still waiting to ask a question about the type of the snake, its nature, color and what not (alright, at least some folks and not all, to be fair to the group that was content to be left playing their own games!)

When the class resumed, the first குறள் had to be read out. And it went as "ஒழுக்கம் விழுப்பம் தரலான்  ஒழுக்கம் உயிரினும் ஓம்ப படும்". Now, its the turn of explaining this couplet to the classroom still trying to mentally settle down from the evacuation and subsequent resumption of classes.  And Ms.Ramani definitely knew this better than anyone else! 

It was a session in language classroom. But she started off explaining from the incident a while ago. She asked the class a simple question - "Why do you think, all of us were scrambling to get out for what is just another living creature in this planet that probably came into our way accidentally?" The question of course, was in தமிழ். I just translated that out in the interest of keeping this blog readable for as many as possible.

The answer was prompt enough - "What if the snake was venomous? Just about any one of lives could've been under a threat?". Our teacher continued to explain the couplet and said - "திருவள்ளுவர் is trying to state the same thing about ஒழுக்கம். It is supposed to be protected and valued even greater than our lives!"

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Donut! Donut! Donut!

For those that follow my sparse publications in the blogs, you must have hopefully read an earlier post I had about how I find fall season to be enchanting, always! This year, I had to sit and search for the choicest places for viewing a full scale fall foliage, never mind that when I move the blinds up my bedroom windows, I see the same sight in the maple tree lined avenue!

What can make a trip merrier than an ability to tag along a friend with you too? Thus go some of the the conversation!

"Hey, how about checking out upstate New York? Lake Placid? White Mountain area?"

"Umm.. Er. But wouldn't it take quite a lot of time Ravi? I have a pile load of office work and a conference where I have to present something in a fortnight or so"

"Alright, how about the Catskills then? One of Hudson's catchment area as well...?"

"Done deal. Come over to my place in New Jersey. We will drive up to Catskills and then return tonight"

All this was happening almost closer to noon time. This meant, by the time I get to my friend's place in New Jersey, it is already about 2:00 PM. And he was impatiently waiting for me. With everything already being in a delayed mode, there was no time to lose. Out we started... driving up the I-287 North. Lately, my mobile has been filled with a good deal of Tamizh literature lectures and I just choose to play some tracks from it while driving. Not that it was extremely fascinating choice for my co-passenger friend - but well, we are at least not falling asleep or quarreling over what should be playing on the speakers!!

The I-287 is one of those roads where I always find it a hard time to maintain a speed less than 70 mph - only because you might get either run over - literally, or keep getting some obnoxious honks - as if you were in violation of some unstated speed limits, which by the way, I suppose is at least closer to a 80 mph.

When I had watched the San Andreas movie in the theatre, I recall some of the opening scenes of the movie. A young girl decides to just listen into Taylor Swift and cruises in the highway - at least an empty one when she is stuck by a rockfall / stone hit and swerves and falls into deep valley. The only thing I was thinking to myself when I saw this scene back then was - Is this even possible in real life? I mean, a bird hit in an airplane - yes. A stone hit or an object hit for a cruising car on the road? Seems unlikely - and yes it did, until I found a flying bumper come in from nowhere right into my path at a good speed. It was too fast for any decision to brake or shift lanes (which was anyway not doable considering the parallel traffic was at an equally good speed). The flying object hit my front bumper. And before I even knew it, I was gone past the object and it was not visible any longer on the rear view or side mirrors.

The incident did jolt me a bit. What was this supposed to even be? A bad omen of sorts for the journey? Or karma deciding to give me a punishment for not heeding my dad's word in the morning not to head out anywhere but stay home and take rest? I wouldn't know the answers yet. But one thing was certain - intuitively, I wanted to cut my journey short and not be up at the Catskill as planned earlier. I had to settle on some other place. I am not going back home without having my share of trekking and walking either.

I glanced at the clock on the dashboard that I always keep to be a quarter hour fast on purpose. And I of course, know this too well that it probably doesn't make sense anymore than to have it running at the correct time! It was already around 3:15 PM now. We had another 100 miles left to hit Catskills area. And thus went another conversation series

"Hey, don't you think that the sun is kind of setting a little earlier these days than usual?"

"Yes Ravi, it indeed does!"

"So, what if we land up being at Catskills just around the sunset time? What do you think we might be able to see if a veil of darkness decides to descend earlier than usual?"

"Well, how about I check the weather app Ravi? Give me a second."

(Internally to myself) "Oh well... I am sure I don't want to be going far with what just happened..."

"Oh yes - but I think the weather app can be trusted only so much you see!!" 

(Lots of experience gets shared / quoted. Relevant. Irrelevant. Doesn't matter for now!)

"Hey... look at this signal on my dashboard. I am not sure I have seen this come on before in my car!"

"Ravi, will you stop freaking out and understand that its nothing more than stating one of your tyres have a low pressure? We can pull over at the nearest place where we can probably just fill up some air. I have done that several times. These are standardized systems"

"Alright, so be it. But tell me, don't you think, going back to the same topic, we might want to cut short the trip so that we can enjoy the foliage view in the sunshine?"

"Well.. it looks like you have quite made up your mind already to change the destination. So be it. Where are we going now?"

"Oh thanks a ton for the understanding. I am now taking the upcoming exit to I-80W. Let's hit the High Point Monument in New Jersey"

"Alright, whatever... I am game."

Nothing seemed out of turn for quite some time thankfully. We weren't able to spot a place for refilling air until we got quite deep into Sussex county area. 

"Hey, you just filled up the air, didn't you? Why am I STILL seeing this sign flashing on the dashboard?"

"Hold on Ravi. Sometimes, these indicators DO take some time to get reset. Just keep driving up for a little more time. We should probably be good in a while"

So, I kept driving up, up and away - into the long winding mountainous terrain. It was so much fun stopping over one place after another trying to figure a way to get to the parking lot nearest to the monument - until we eventually found there is one really close by to it. And WOW... this was worth every strain... Look at it from one side - complete view of NJ areas. Another side - NY. Yet another side - PA. It was a perfect junction of the states indeed..!

After tons of photography which both myself and my friend couldn't get enough of, we decided to head back home. Then begins the drama - of the same TPMS - Tyre Pressure Monitoring System. No matter what we did, the light would just refuse to shut out. We chugged slowly back into the same spot where we had filled air. All the while, my friend kept asking me - "Do you sense anything unusual steering?" I replied, "Nothing!"

When we parked ourselves into the spot for refilling air is when we noticed the air pressure was starting to drop drastically. It just was a little short of hissing. And I noticed it wasn't just the air pressure on the tyres that were dropping. With all the photographs that I was gleefully taking using my new 16 MP Moto 4G phone, the battery in my cellphone has dropped drastically too :D

"Its clearly a flat tyre on the front of the passenger side", my friend said. 

"Can you call the roadside assistance helpline?"

Fact is, I didn't note the number down anywhere to have it handy. I had to get onto my mobile's browser and pull it all up in a Google search. So far so good. We did wait about 45 minutes before we saw a gentleman from the toeing company walk up to the car with his toolkits. He took out the "spare tyre" in the boot of my car. And voila! That's the first time I learnt that the spare tyre is really not a proper spare like what I am accustomed to seeing back home in India. This one was supposedly a "donut" tyre. I had clear cut instructions not to drive above 50 mph and keep the drive to less than or equal to a 100 miles and get assistance with fixing the proper tyres before proceeding any further.

This was some totally new learning. And it followed up with a lot more. I was so exhausted by then from the trek, wait and everything. I literally wanted a donut - no, not for the car. But for myself - and on a plate :D :D

Thank You Series - a technology twist..!

Technology... Technology... Technology...!! Oh, how wonderful it has been! After all, we all enjoy the fact that we don't have to look forward to a physical bank office location being open and rather have these tiny boxes all over the roads and complexes, of various hues and sizes, dispensing cash, if we had it in our accounts that is, all through the day! The never ending rush and lines at payment counters for the utility bills are definitely a thing of past now, with the money making its way out of the accounts for several reasons - all over the wire again, little to do in terms of physical presence or geographic locations. Sometimes, technology can go real far beyond its limited roles of advancing and easing our lifestyles to remind us who we truly are - social creatures. In this blog post, I am going to talk about one such an experience I had.

During the end of week of the 14th August, I suddenly heard this murmur in my mind... "Ravi, start taking control... you are way long out of it". Control? But.. hmm.. er... of what? "Food, of course! You have been eating as if there is no tomorrow. Your stomach can probably digest off... I am not able to... You have been checking in at every other corner side restaurant all over the place..." Oh well, this is something sane. I cannot take to any sane advise easily! "Alright... listen carefully, how about you start reviewing your accounts at least? Do you even know what's going on with them... You have been way too much a consumerist... think about it!" OKAY! This sounds somewhat reasonable. But where do I begin? "Why not with the upcoming payment dues?" OKAY!

A perfect weekend night when I should've probably been humming and reminded of the Highwayman, an upcoming energy bill payment came to my mind. Oh well, I think I got the starting point..!! I will pay them a good two days in advance through my credit cards and retain my cash balance! Can there be a better way than a mirage of a higher bank balance as a perfect place to start feeling things are being brought under control? :D

Everything seemed good now. Credit card payments don't come due until a particular point in the month. And I am going to be lucky having to see extra money lingering in my accounts until then! Two days passed. The actual date of the electric and gas bill due came in. And its from that point that I would begin to realize how technology can have far reaching implications on anything that I would've ever known..! Thanks to my sense of starting to take tighter control, I was happily trying to move away from using my credit cards for some of my normal purchases and started to use cash. And invariably, there were places that definitely had better deals for cash payments as opposed to credit payments too. Wow! What a discovery!

Well.. not exactly I realized, until the time that my energy company deemed it fit to go ahead with the automated payment setup on my account regardless of the payment I already made. Well, so what? It should now be a $0 payment right? How can systems be designed to send over a $0 payment deduction? Come on, there should be something in "the design". Well yeah, logically! If not, someone should've definitely caught and found this - after all, who is to really validate and test the design?Alright, its becoming increasingly hard these days to talk about something without getting references back to work! Apologize for that.

So, what's the big deal? Well - the payment actually got deducted. Alright, what's the deal again? Just get that reversed? Now came the shocker to me... my energy company apparently prepares the "draft of folks" whose account needs to be automatically deducted for balance due. And this goes out just the two days before the actual due dates. OKAY. So what? They cannot "reverse" and had to send me a cheque.

Alright, here is what happened.... I got stranded with a mobile that went out of charge in the Journal Square Station of PATH. I had to travel to Seacaucus Junction. Train services had already kicked into the weekend schedules and my travel back to the 33rd Street was out of question with the weekend maintenance that seemed to have kicked in. Exhausted and still having to go for a good 30 miles before I can get to hit my place of stay for the rest of the night, I was definitely looking at the fastet choice to get to Seacaucus Junction, where I had parked my car. 

Alright, now these are usual commutes that most people do. And we are talking about cities that literally don't sleep. What's the big deal? Well... the deal is, I had to take a taxi... and taking it meant having cash on hand. I head to the ATM at the junction to withdraw cash and I was thrown an alert that I had to overdraw my account if I chose to pull cash (thanks to the energy company episode). I tried keying in a smaller amount and the same thing happened. Oh yeah, that phenomenal third try... and the big LOCKOUT happens with the message asking to call and confirm to release my ATM debit card since "fraudulent activity was suspected". Fair enough! 

Now, none of this is going to change the situation I had to deal with. I still need a way to get to Seacaucas. With still needing a way to get out to Seacaucus junction and having a switched off phone, my mind was racing quickly on what should I do. After some thought post walking up and down at the entrance of the station, I figured out I might as well ask the taxi if he would accept credit cards and if technology can rescue me somehow. "Credit cards? No Sir, sorry!" With a shut off phone and a shut off bank account as well (though it apparently didn't have the money I was requesting for, I could've at least incurred the wrath of fees considering the situation), I decided to give explaining my situation to the taxi driver a shot. He gave a patient listening to me and said, "Well.. I can do something for you my friend... If you can get my tank filled to the same amount as the travel to Seacaucus would take, I am good". Aaah..! What a big relief. Good old barter system! I definitely had all of the technology failures here to ultimately thank for the human connect built at 2:30 AM on a warm and sultry Saturday morning in a populous and bustling city, with a taxi driver whom I do not know if I might cross paths with again!