What's common between a helmet and a birth-control device ?

For starters, both helmet and condoms have been invented to save lives, the former by saving
your head (and life) incase of accidents, while the latter could save you from STDs like AIDS.
But this topic was inspired by my friend headers (not real name, but his id on team-bhp), whose current signature on the forum reads as :

Wearing a helmet is like using a condom. Unless you know how to use it, it is useless !!!
HELMET - Strap up for safety !!!

So, you have started using your helmet religiously, after the Chennai cops started fining
those who don't wear one while riding a bike. But do you strap the helmet securely ?

If not, you could as well not wear one because, in case of an accident, the helmet would
just slip off your head and not be the life-saver it should have been.

Thus, even when the intent was there, the purpose would not be served, due to not doing it
correctly. So, the next time you are out on the road, feeling the wind blow in your face, just
remember to strap up.

For, as the CCTP (Chennai City Traffic Police) says, you need hardware (helmet) to protect
your software (your brains).

You guys never heard of silent mode ?

This interesting incident happened at a friend's workplace. Their VP was visiting their Chennai
operations and last Wednesday, he was to have a meeting with all the Chennai staff. Given the
fact that cellphones are all over the place in India, with some people even carrying more than
one phone, their local manager was apprehensive about phones ringing during the meeting with the big shot.

So, much in advance, he made it clear to his staff that they were not to bring the phones to the
meeting and should instead leave them at the receptionist/secretary's desk. Since the meeting
included the secretary also, the office-boy was asked to man the reception for the duration of
the meeting.

The meeting goes peacefully without any intrusive cellphones ringing and the manager is
happy. The staff come to collect their phones from the secretary's desk and find that one
of the phones is missing. And it so happens that it was the most expensive of them all,
costing around 18000 rupees (around 460$).

The office-boy insists that he never left the reception area for the duration of the meeting.
So, where did the phone vanish ? Then he remembers that there was a visitor who came in during the time everyone was at the meeting. A physically-challenged young guy, who had
come in to solicit financial help.

Since everyone was at the meeting, the office-boy asked him to come some other time.
Just as he turned to leave, the office-boy got busy with a telephone call and did not notice
the guy pick up one of the cellphones lying on the desk, on his way out.

When my friend narrated this incident to me, I was like, "Have you guys never heard of the 'silent mode' feature available on almost all phones ?" Just put the phone into silent-mode
and you could be in the meeting with the phone on you, but without disturbing anyone.

They were surely aware of the feature, but since the boss ordered something, they decided to
humour him, instead of suggesting this more practical option to him. If they had, they would
have not had to lose that cellphone. I am sure the lesson is learnt, though a costly one.

Silent-mode (or manner-mode, as it is known in Japan) is big in Japan. In the metro trains,
there are signs requesting cellphone users to put their phones in manner-mode while commuting, so as to not disturb others. After three visits and countless trips on the metro,
I am yet to hear even one phone ring, let alone see someone talk on the phone.

Which is so unlike the mobile users in India, who think it is their privelege to talk aloud on
their mobiles, irrespective of the location, be it a hospital or theatre or for that matter any
public place. Infact, to me it has always looked like most of them derive some kind of perverse pleasure in talking louder than required, just so that those around them can hear their talk, which could be about something as trivial as what they had for lunch.

Ofcourse, when it comes to cellphones, the Japanese are heavy users. Infact, to me, they look
like they are addicted to mobile phones. On trains, you could see most of them playing around
with their phones, mostly sending / reading SMS-es or playing games. But then, like always, they take care to respect other's space and thus not only do not not talk on their phones, but
also ensure that they do not even disturb other commuters by their phones ringing.

While India surely has caught up with the world as far as embracing cellphone goes (actually
we lead the world in cellphone usage minutes, as per the latest figures), we are yet to learn
cellphone etiquette.

Back in Tokyo

I am back in Tokyo for a 2-week official trip. How I wish, I could be here on a vacation,
even if it is for a week or even few days. Hmm. I guess instead of just wishing for miracles,
I should start planning for the same.

As usual, Tokyo is clean, beautiful and the denizens are courtesy-personified. Well, nothing
new in any of that, because that is the way Japan is and maybe one of the main reasons why
it attracts you again and again to it.

Like it does to my American colleagues, who can never tire of Japan and keep looking for a chance to drop in. I heard that William is somewhere here - not sure whether he returned
back to Canada. If not, it would be great to do the rounds of the karaoke bars with him this weekend.

The only difference between this visit and my last 2 visits, is that it is winter here and pretty
cold - it was around 2 deg Celsius when I landed at Narita. And the friendly hostess at the
Hilton mentioned that it even snowed in Tokyo yesterday. Snow... Now that sounds cool.

The only other place that excites me so much, at just the thought of visiting it, is Europe.

Hopefully, I will have quite some stuff for my posts here, in the coming 2 weeks.

And they were dunked in the river. To be born again.

I was at the river with my niece Divya to give her some swimming lessons. Actually, more
than learning swimming, her interest was just to splash around in the cool water, float on
the bike tube and try to catch the small fish that swam around in the shallow water near
the river bank.

Divya would normally not stay away from her mother (my sister) for even a day and a
swim in the river was the bait that I used, to have her visit and spend a few days at my
parent's home for Christmas. And it worked. From the initial 3 days that she agreed to,
she ended up spending 5 full days at our home.

And I am sure, going forward, she would jump at any chance to come over to our place,
just for the chance to have some fun in the water. It was also a chance for me to refresh my
swimming skills, which I had not had a chance to use for quite some time now.

So, for all the 5 days that she spent at my parent's home, we would go to the river in the morning and evening and spend a couple of hours there. And even after such a long duration,
I had to literally drag her away from the water. Given a choice, she would just remain there
all day.

We even brought Ann (my younger niece) to the river one day. She was initially frightened
at entering the water. So, I took her on the boat across the river and back and then slowly
she warmed up to the prospect of entering the water, though she was scared of the fishes swimming around. She did spend some time with us, mainly lying on the tube, and though
she looked very happy, it somehow did not do it for her. So, she chose not to join us for our subsequent trips to the river.

It is like 11AM and while Divya is splashing around in the shallow water, I swim to the middle
of the river and back. I have never had the courage to swim to the other bank and back, but these few days have given me the confidence to attempt it during my next trip to Kerala.

We are enjoying the warmth of the sun and just lazing in the water, when a group of two men
and five women come to the river bank. We think that they are waiting for the boatman to take them across the river. But, their motive was different. One of the men, a young guy of 35 years or so, calls out to us and asks if we mind them using the shallow end of the river bank for a few minutes for the purpose of baptism.

I reply that we have no issues and infact if they so desire, we could even get out of the river
till they are done. He has no problems with us being in the water, so I move a little away and also tell Divya to give them some space. I have seen the Pentecosts (a Christian denomination) doing their baptism at the river before. But for Divya this is something new and she is all eyes.

The guy (must be the Pastor) wades into the river till the water is till his chest. One of the women is sitting on the river bank, while the other four follow him into the river and stand in front of him, till they are waist deep in water. He chants some prayers and then one-by-one dunks the four women into water for a few seconds and brings them up. See pic.



All this time Divya is staring wide-eyed at the proceedings and asks me if this is the same thing that John the Baptist did, which is mentioned in the Bible. I reply that it is and she is all excited at having been witness to a real baptism. Other Christian denominations (especially Catholics) have the baptism in the church itself and it just involves splashing a few drops of water on the baby.

The baptism done, the pastor prays for having had a chance to baptise four believers and for having made them born again. He thanks us and the group moves to a neighbouring house to change their wet clothes, leaving the whole river bank free for us again.

An example worth emulating

There are some people who impress you by their response to the odds stacked against them
by the power above. Inspite of being at a disadvantage (when compared to the rest of us) due
to no fault of theirs, they do not sit and sulk, but look for ways to live as normal a life as is
possible under the circumstances.

We have one such person back home in our neighborhood at Kerala. Physically-challenged at
birth (one leg shorter than the other), he still refuses to live on sympathy or on other's sweat,
and takes pride in earning his own bread. And he is not young either.

He is the boatman who rows people across the Achenkoil river, that flows behind our home.
He rides to work on his 3-wheeled cycle (see pic below) on his own, which he parks near the river bank and gets onto the boat to row people across the river and back.

Whenever I see physically-fit young men/women panhandling, I am reminded of this man.

Pic-1 : The 3-wheeler parked on the river bank, while our man is at his job.

Pic-2 : Our man at work. At the other bank, you can see women waiting for him to take

them across the river.

Pic-3 : A close-up shot.

Pic-4 : Taking a well-deserved post-lunch siesta.