Happy Birthday from my Mutual Fund Company

Got this email from Unit Trust of India, the mutual fund company. First, I thought, it has come wrongly to me. But, then I realised, it was indeed my Official Birthday ! On 25th July.

Like most children in India, my real birthday and the official one (that is recorded in my school certificate) are different. Legend goes that I was even named by the Doctor, who conducted the delivery for my mother. After delivery, the doctor issued a prescription for some medicines, it seems. Since the pharmacist wanted to know the patient's name, the doctor wrote 'Manoharan', it seems. Thank God, she didn't write some complicated name !



Similarly, when we kids in India are taken to the school for admission, the parents realise that there is something called Date of Birth. The Teacher will ask, "What is his age ?" or "She should have completed 5 years on the day of admissionl". So, the parents are supposed to tell the Date of Birth. As many of the parents those days did not remember the date of birth, or the kids might not have completed the mandatory 5 years, the teacher will decide when we were born. He (or She, in my case) will grandly decide that we were born on so and so date of July !

As July is the school admission time those days, most of the kids in my generation were born either in June or July. And, I need to maintain that lie throughout this life. Because, later that date of birth entered into my college records, then later to the passport, ration card, driving license and what not ! That is how, I came to be born on July 25th.

Poor UTI, they took it so seriously and wished me ! Feel sorry for them ...

Here, almost all our adivasi team members do not remember their dates of birth. When we apply for their passports, it is a nightmare. To complicate things further, their names also get changed by the school teachers when they get admitted in the school. (What big difference ? Instead of my Doctor, they got their names from the Teachers !!) The age and name in the ration card will have nothing to do with the details in their school certificates. Of course, their actual name and birthdays will be entirely different from these two.

With the Government making registration of births and deaths mandatory, things probably will change for the next generation. But, they will lose out on some fun all of us had, I am sure ...

Here is a cartoon, which nicely describes the year of birth and death !

New IPL (or) T-271

We witnessed a new game by IPL during the last one week in India. No, No, this IPL is Indian Parliamentary League. An organisation flush with more money than the other IPL, the Indian Premier League. And, the game played by them - T271, was much more pulsating than the other T-20 Cricket ! My God, what nerve-wrecking turns and twists, and till the last minute, no one could guess who will be the winner.

The odds swung from opposition to the Government dramatically in the last two days; with the target of 271 fixed, the government and UPA worked on the required run rate quite well and reached their goal post in time. And, won ! Dhoni and Co. should learn a thing or two from these political managers how to pace their innings, exploit the weaknesses of the opponents and win games ! If there is a world championship for Members of Parliaments in all democracies, our MPs will win that trophy hands down, I am sure.

The No-Confidence Motion was supposed to be on the Government's move to go ahead with the Civil Nuclear Energy Agreement between India and America. But, the discussions and all the tamasha for the last two days hardly had anything to do with the Agreement. As one Member of Parliament even claiming openly that he does not know anything about the Nuclear Agreement as he is coming straight from the jail ! And, many others showing clear signs of confusion and lack of knowledge. It was atrocious.


BJP initiated the nuclear deal when it was in power, but today opposed it. But, they didn't want to go the whole hog, as they didn't want Mayawati and Left to benefit. Chandrababu Naidu, the US pet when he was in power, is now talking about US hegemony. The only consistent people are Left and Manmohan Singh - however wrong their convictions might be.

MPs were switching camps, talk of crores of money changing hands, dramatic display of the bribe money in the parliament itself by the MPs, allotment of Ministries, sanction of projects - all to get the support of votes of MPs ...


I thought, we have reached the limits of parliamentary democracy. And, I am convinced once again that this is not a good governance model for a big country like India. The governance methods of indigenous people - equality, consensus, small decentralised consultation, etc. should be the best method. The political party-based, representative democratic system has failed us totally.

Spelling Championship

Samir Mishra, a 13 year old boy of Indian origin won the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee in USA. The final word he spelled correctly was "guerdon" - which means 'something that has different language roots'.

The 3rd place winner spelled 'opificer' correctly - a word which means a skilled or artistic worker, it seems. In 2005, another Indian boy won by spelling correctly the word 'appoggiatura'.

How young children know the meaning and spelling of such greek and latin, I wonder. And, there was one boy who can tell a region name in Bolivia - and, he is just eight years old !


I compare myself with these superkids. Even after discounting that I belonged to stone age, they are too much. The longest word we had to remember the spelling was 'geography' or 'pronunciation' or something like that.

Tamil, of course, is phonetic and spelling is not that much of an issue. Even though we have our own share of confusions. We have three 'la's, (ழ ல and ள) three 'na's (ந ண and ன) and two 'ra's (ற and ர). My schoolmate Krishna Prakash used to say, "I will have a doubt which 'la' to put, my mother will pinch me so hard and tell me, 'the la that will come for laddu'. But, in that pain, I will forget which is the la for laddu !"

For our modern VJs and DJs, these distinctions are immaterial. They have only only la - the laddu la.

To complete, came across a nice poster on spelling mistake !


Sea Yu Nest Weak !

Old is gold - 2nd Innings

When the whole world seems to be thinking old people need support and they are at a disadvantage and what not, and people are even thinking of putting up traffic signs like this,
Anita sends an email on the virtues of growing old. It has a quotation from a book 'The Age Heresy' by Tony Buzzan and Raymond Keene. It seems, in this book, the authors explain why the best part of a man's (and, a woman's) life is from the age of 60 onwards.

Here is that quote :

Old Age, I decided, is a gift

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't agonize over those things for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.


I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon ?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60&70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.


Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I feel like it.

As for me, I am eagerly looking forward to old age. (Hmmm .. that is a clever way of asserting that I haven't become old already !!)


There are lots of plans in mind. But, going to spend the next 10 years planning for the old age. Once in a while, I think with concern that no financial plans have been made for the old age; but, wish those things away by saying, "it is more important to plan for things to do. Money probably will come some way or other".

In Munnabhai-2, they have a house called 'Second Innings', in which some oldies live. I liked their motto of 'First Innings is finished anyway. So, let us play the second innings front foot !'. (For those who are not cricket maniacs, playing backfoot is considered defensive and playing front foot is going ahead and playing your shot aggressively over the top of the bowler !) And, each of the old man has a terrific plan. Someone wants to go to Lahore in Pakistan, and one wants to see his photograph in the newspaper. One wants to get married again and another wants to become a star.

Anita's email too seems to suggest that the second innings can be much more exciting than the first one !

Any interesting ideas for Manoharan (60) ?

Left Vs Right

Have been reading a bit about the right and left hemispheres of our brain and what not. In the process, got a bit confused and ended up with this gruesome joke !

Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off?

He's all right now.

It seems, the left and right hemispheres of our brain process information in different ways - in general. We tend to process information using our dominant side, it seems. However, the learning and thinking process is enhanced when both sides of the brain participate in a balanced manner. This means, strengthening our less dominant hemisphere of the brain.

I decided to strengthen my less dominant hemisphere and decided to pay attention to it. And, there were tests to find out which is the dominant hemisphere, I was told. There were more than 20 questions, starting from 'which side do you prefer to sit in a theatre ?' to 'do you like algebra or geometry ?' etc.

To my horror, the final result was that I have only one hemisphere of brain.

I am all right now !

Cars running with just Air !!

While traveling from Gudalur to Trichy, yesterday, I was wondering whether the cars can run on just air. That is, how wonderful it will be if they can just breathe oxygen from the atmosphere, get their energy and run few kilometres. But, within few minutes, I thought it is a dangerous idea and decided to pursue further ! Now, we are fighting with the cars of our country for physical space all over - in roads, parking spaces, markets. And, we fight for energy to do things other than transportation. Now, if cars can start breathing oxygen, then we have to fight with them for our very survival.

But, today, came across a newsitem that was precisely on this idea. A breakthrough they claim. And, what more, this idea is there for many years, it seems.

Tata Motors is set to introduce the car that runs on air, compressed air to be specific. With fuel prices touching nearly $150 per barrel, it is about time we heard some breakthrough !

India’s largest automaker Tata Motors is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets in August of 2008.

The Air Car, called the MiniCAT could cost around Rs. 3,50,000 ($ 8177) in India and would have a range of around 300 km between refuels. The cost of a refill would be about Rs. 85 ($ 2). Tata motors also plans to launch the world’s cheapest car, Tata Nano priced famously at One lakh rupees by October.

The MiniCAT which is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis that is glued not welded and a body of fiberglass powered by compressed air. Microcontrollers are used in every device in the car, so one tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, indicators etc.

There are no keys - just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees per 100Km (about a tenth that of a petrol car). Its mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car (200 to 300 km or 10 hours of driving), a factor which makes a perfect choice in cities where the 80% of motorists drive at less than 60Km. The car has a top speed of 105 kmph. Refilling the car will, once the market develops, take place at adapted petrol stations to administer compressed air. In two or three minutes, and at a cost of approximately 100 rupees, the car will be ready to go another 200-300 kilometers.

Do you think it is good ? Now, the world food crisis is blamed on the invention of bio-fuels. Next is going to be the world air crisis ?

Jargon - 2

There seems to be paparazzi in Australia too. And, they are peeping into the private life of Symonds, the highest paid cricketer. He is not happy about it and this is what he told the Sydney Morning Herald, it seems :

"People want to know what goes on behind the man. I suppose, which to me, I think is, probably, slightly rude."

Political correctness ? Hesitation to shout at the Press ? Why can't he simply say, "No, it is rude", instead of all these verbose comments ...

If any of you happen to see Symonds while taking your morning walk, ask him to click here.

Beans and our kitchen garden

Durga has worked magic in front of our house. The mess between our house and the road has been converted into a nice kitchen garden now. Beans, Brinjal, flowers and Banana trees.

There was all round excitement when the beans seeds germinated. They are almost 6 inches tall now. And, Vennila took this nice photograph focusing on the plant and house in the background.

People may get a false impression from the title 'our garden' that I am one of the prime movers of this project. No, not at all. My contribution to the kitchen garden till now is next to nothing. I am planning to do my two bit by eating the beans when they grow, of course, later. But, till now, nothing.

And, this issue has been bothering me of late quite a bit. People do all the work and I am just documenting things. People who read my blogs, my mails or reports may get a wrong impression that I am doing lot of stuff. Not only at home, but also in the office. When the doctors and nurses do all the work, I finally end up taking the photographs and write a nice report about 'our health programme'; and my friends reading it may think that I am doing everything. The same goes to many other activities as well.

Sometime I honestly mention the names, but many a times that does not happen. (For example, if I had not mentioned that Vennila took this snap, you would think that I took it). So, let me confess publicly through this blog that when I write 'We', it means others.

Square Watermelons

Nambi sent a mail from Chennai, praising the creativity (and ingenuity) of the Japanese farmers.

A round watermelon can take up a lot of room in a refrigerator and the usually round fruit often sits awkwardly on refrigerator shelves.


Smart Japanese Farmers have forced their watermelons to grow into a square shape by inserting the melons intosquare, tempered glass cases while the fruit is still growing on the vine.

And, our Bala (also from Chennai) also thinks that it is a great idea.

The watermelons was a great space saving work – it helps to reduce the storage space in transport and retail.

Bala also mentioned that all our Indian farmers tie stones to Gourds so that they grow longer. Our snakegourds grew longer due to the weight of the stones


I never felt that I am interfering with God's work with stones tied to snakegourds, but, with the square watermelons, God may feel that we are getting into His / Her territory. Compared to the news of 'Pregnant Man delivers a baby', these square watermelons are nothing, of course.

I was just wondering, why stop only with watermelons. Let us play it square with other species as well. If it is a good idea to grow them square so as to minimise transportation and optimise storage space, how about growing children likewise ? In countries like India, we need methods to store / stack children so that they occupy less space in the schools, buses and cinema theatres. Probably, we have more children than watermelons, and hence our scientists should pay immediate attention to their design.

Someone suggested whether we can make our kids elastic and compressible. No, no, not combustible, (that they are already), I meant Compressible. In Japan, they will surely do it...

Percentage Problems

Here is a news item from Washington. By AFP. Published in The Hindu on 28.6.2008

Do genes affect voter behaviour ?

Genes play a role in voter behaviour, determining whether people tend to vote in elections or not, according to a U.S. study released this week.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego studied the voter turnout patterns of neary 1200 twins and found that genes were a key factor for more than half of them (53 percent)"

Am I missing something ? If genes were key factor for 53% people and not so key for 47% people, then it is not a key factor influencing the behaviour for the entire population, isn't it ?