Those Good Old days

I would like to start this blog with a very good forward which a dear old student of mine, Mahalakshmi , who is now teaching in the history department in the Jawahar lal Nehru University , has passed on to me. Though based in a western context many of the things that this forward is talking about are real. The times that I am talking about was really an earlier time. This was a period , to quote this forward, was much before, television' penicillin' polio shots' frozen foods' Xerox' contact lenses' Frisbees and' the pill. There w ere no:' credit cards' laser beams or' ball-point pens. Humans had not invented:' air conditioners' dishwashers' clothes dryers' and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air . Man had put his first step on the moon . People got married first, . . And then lived together.Every family had a father and a mother.Until we were 25, we called every man older than us, "Sir" or "Uncle"."We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycarecenters, and group therapy.Our lives were governed by good judgment, and common sense.We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and tostand up and take responsibility for our actions.Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was abigger privilege.We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when theevening breeze started.Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings andweekends-not purchasing condominiums.We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters,yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speecheson our radios.And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening toTommy Dorsey.If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junkThe term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and10 cents.Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi wereall a nickel.And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel onenough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, . . . But who could afford one?Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.In my day:' "grass" was mowed,' "coke" was a cold drink,' "pot" was something your mother cooked in and' "rock music" was your grandmother' s lullaby.' "Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office,' " chip" meant a piece of wood,' "hardware" was found in a hardware store and' "software" wasn't even a word.And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady neededa husband to have a baby. No wonder people call us "old and confused"and say there is a generation gap... And how old do you think I am now ?

Student Days

Mother Teresa admiring my watch

In the company of Mother Teresa

Prof. HansRaj Gupta:

One of the earliest memories , when I was eighteen, is of Dadaji, Prof. HansRaj Gupta who was in his seventies and had retired as a Mathematics Prof. He had worked on the theories of Ramanuja. We lived in Mudford Gung in the second floor and he lived in the next house on the ground floor. My mother had told him that he should take me for a walk with him in the morning. He would start tapping his stick at five in the morning and I would just shout wait Dadaji and go off to sleep. Some times this drama would continue till about six thirty but dadaji would refuse to budge. He would keep shouting Rekha, Rekha and tapping his stick. Half the neighbourhood would get up but there was no way Dadaji would keep quite till I got up and joined him. I had no alternative but to join him in his walks because meanwhile in between my sleep I would get a lot of scoldings and shouting from my parents and sister. When I joined him for the walk I refused to talk to him and made a very angry and gruff face for having had my beautiful sleep disturbed. After we walked for five minutes he would say, "Ab Theek ho" and then we would start talking about Politcs, economy, society, ideology. He hada view on every thing and i responded with my own thoughts. He emcouraged me to move beyond my immediate surroundings and look at the larger world. I enjoyed the morning walks but hated getting up in the morning. I had read some where and found this statement so appealing, I wish God had found some other way of starting a day than by asking people to get up. Dadaji introduced me to the writings of Vivekananda, Ramkrishna Param Hans. He made me read Vivekananda's address at the Chicago Conference loudly, more than ten times and as a result though I got very irritated at that time I could by heart it. He lent me many books on philosopy and marked portions which I had to read and explain to him what I understood from that. He would take me to Gandhian Philosopy clasess every wednesday. I was the only girl in a group of twenty to thirty. I tried to ask many of my friends to come but their interests did not move beyond the home and they did not find time to come out of the house. When I told this to Dadaji he would say, you are interested and this is all that matteres, Why do you bother about others. On our way back five to seven of Dadajis friends would join him , all were very old and had retired from various professions, some government services, some University Professors, some business man and some from the IAS. I was the youngest member in this group. I found a lot of interest in their conversations though my friends could not understand and often teased me about my friendship with all old men. My friends teased me and said, what else will these old people talk about except their frustration at the present day world and wth the present generation. However I could participate as an equal member in this group and when I said some thing all of them listened to it seriously and made comments. I became the grandchild of all these old men. I wish I had remembered some of their names. Today I do not know the names of any one except Dadaji but they have all played a very important part in the beginning and in the formative years of my life by making me see things beyond my immediate neighbourhood and inculcating a strict moral values, a sense of what is right and what is wrong. I borrowed a lot of books from Dadaji and what was interesting was that when I returned a book to him I had to tell him what I liked about the book and what I found difficult to understand. I think he was very lonely at one level and would love to talk and teach to who ever came in front of him. All the children were scared of going to him saying he will catch hold of them but I did not mind spending hours with him talking about any thing under the sun. My first interest in religion as an academic discipline really began with him. It was with him that I attended the World Conference on Hindu Religion organised at the Prayag Mela.

Mother Teresa:

Another interesting thing was that the Gandhi Bhawan had organised an International Essay Competition. I won this and got to spend three days with Mother Teresa. This was before she had received the noble prize. From Allhabad , in a car I travelled with Mother Teresa to Lucknow, Kanpur, Benaras. I think a Father from San Joseph also accompanied us. I was very much touched by Mother Teresa and her concern for people. We visitedf many orphanges, schools, homes and in between a couple was married and blessed by mother Teresa. I published an article in the daily Newspaper, Northern India Ptrika on my trip with mother Teresa.

Marriage and after

Initially life was ands is still blissful. We were based in the beautiful hills of Almora and one could walk in the Jungles for long distances amidst the Pine trees. We had got a house in the outskirats and coming from the city i found it very difficult that even if one had to purchase matchsticks or Salt one had to walk two to three kilometers. Sunday mornings were spent going to the temple at Doliri Danda and this was a beautiful walk amidst the Jungles. On return one could stop at the small tea stalls and have Pakodis and chai which was served hot.Another beautiful memory is of having travelled to Jageshwar temples and staying there amidst the deodar trees and then in the early morning walking nearly for three hours to Vridh Jageswar. I am sure now there must be a road there and one can reach in a short time but those were the days when tourism was not developed and one had to walk and admire the beauty of nature. After this we walked another fourteen kilometers to Mritula Ashram and on our return had to take a ride in a tobacco truck and reach Almora. I have fond memories of this place because it was here in the outer room which had all glass windows and looked into the valleys down I gave final touches to my Phd. chapters. Academically it was a very confusing period because one was not clear what was relevant to the chapter or not and there were many pages which were blackened with ink and then thrown away. There was a lot of trial and error but finally some sort of a plan did emerge and the chapters became clearer.

Today I see many of my phd students very confused and gropping about. Each has their own strengths and weknesess. I try to mentor them and give them advise and I often wish there was some kind of a trainning workshop for students to deal with all the stress they face while writing a Phd thesis .There is a proverb in Kumaoni that one cannot see heaven till one dies oneself, so may be this is a lonely battle and one has to go through this all by himself or herself.

Marriage

It was on 28th February, 1979 that this marriage was solomonised. As happened in those days the photos were all in black and white. This colour has its own charm and reminds one of yester years when life was simple and there was no multi tasking and multiple colors.

Life through a digital eye

Bittu and the twins Tarun and Varun
We were still staying in Amirpet and when we would visit Gachi Bowli area it was covered with rocks. The children loved walking around in these rocks. Hyderabad of yore and of tofday is recognised by its rocky landscape. These huge boulders are millions of years old and are more ancient than Indian civilization. Geologists date these rocks to 2,500 million years back, amongst the oldest and hardest rocks in the world.Today I see this heritage of million years old being demolished by construction all around. Most of these rocks are cut into small stone slabs and sold as granite but just two decades back one could walk around these. When institues like EPTRI. Housing Colnoies, and the games village and the Gach Bowli stasdium came up many of these rocks were destroyed for ever. Only tode that were far away from civilization could survive. We gave our own names to many of threse rocks from the shapes that they appeared to us. Hence one was a laddu rock, another a samosa rock, another a gun rock, another a drum, a mushroom rock,a sleeping rock , a dosa rock and an idli rock and so on. A fovourite game of the children was to identify the shape of a rock and give it a name. The person who named the rocck fist felt he owned that rock.

Early days at Nagarjuna sagar
(Nepal 1998)
The handsome trio

Life at the end of year 1995

Why Survasant Pande's

The title of this blog comes from Survasant Pande's. There are 5 Pandes who make this blog ,These include Su-Suresh,r-Rekha,va-Varun,sa-Sankalp,and t-Tarun.All five of us are very independent individuals and yet combine togeather to form the different voices and colours of vasant that stands for spring.We come from Kumaon the beautiful valleys n the Himalayas but have now made Hyderabad the most happening city in India our home.

We are today scattered in diffrent parts of the world for career,academics and jobs.This Blog shows you our journey through life...This blog is for my children, relatives, friends and my numerous students, from six different Universities and spread across different parts of India and the world.

In Shimla

 We atteneded our  dear friends,  Sashi and Jagdeesh Guptas daughteres wedding in Shimla on 17th April, 2008  and then traveeled around the place and met many friends and relatives. It is always a pleasure coming to the Hills and breathing the fresh and crisp air.