We have hired a cook who comes in every day. His value to our livelihood is immense – he ensures that the primary requirement in every day life is resolved by cooking our food. He has his quirks, we all do. He goes around to 12 other houses in a single day, repeating the task in a seemingly tireless way. He works hard. He is up from 6:00 a.m in the morning, reporting to his first house at 6:45 a.m, returning home for lunch and a nap in the afternoon before another bout of cooking across multiple houses resumes in the evening. He finishes the day at 10:30 p.m, returning home for dinner and a night’s sleep. He forms part of a large migrant community that moves from a smaller town to a big city in search of opportunities and a better livelihood than the one that they experience back home. The blueprint has remained the same through centuries and
Honor "No"
As a child, the Amar Chitra Katha was a major source of Hindu mythological stories. The stories often dealt with the kings and queens of the years gone by, part mythological and part historical. Now, the kings, being kings, would order things done and voila! there it would be. One such story narrated the happenings – the king would only have to shout, “Who is there?!” and there would be a few courtiers, soldiers that would come running to receive his orders. Nowadays, if I were to shout “Who is there?!” at home, I would hear back: “What is wrong with you? Who else will be here?” Indication enough that I am best off doing what ever task there was to be done, by myself. Move to the office, shouting “Who is there?!” whenever a task needs to be done urgently will return inquisitive looks from all within ear shot. Of course, the source of enormous levity at dinner table
Time moves slowly?
I often felt how time seemed to slow down when I visited my grandparents’ house. The pace of life seemed so much more relaxed in the smaller towns. Of course it helps when we are the out of town visitors once in a year, pampered to a fault. We would often visit the “native” town during the summer holidays. My grandparents lived on the seaside so the weather would invariably be hot and humid during the months of April and May. The freedom of the mind as kids would tell on us as we would be completely impervious to the heat, power cuts and even a supposed shortage of water supply! Those were the days of endless cricket matches – played with a rubber ball and a make-do bat. The wooden planks lying around the yard, the dried coconut tree leaf would serve as cricket bats good enough for us to re-live the latest exploits of Mohammad Azharuddin and Venkatapathy
Service Invisible!
Checking into a hotel, I look around the lobby area. I notice there are neat bonsai trees on the counter top, a few pots around the region, plush sofa sets. Minimalistic, modern and clean. Not many people mulling around, all looks good. We walk up to the room and the corridor is clean, the room is impeccably maintained, well aired, the A/C, TV work and importantly, the bathroom is neat, dry and clean. We walk down to the restaurant and once again, the ambience is neat and well kept. It all looks very impressive. The next morning, the story continues – the cleanliness is maintained. I notice janitors and cleaning staff only once in three days of my stay at the hotel. I have moved in and out of the room fairly frequently and uniformly, there is a sense of cleanliness right through. The cutlery at the restaurant is always clean, the plants always look impeccable, the newspapers in
Culture
Sebastian Vettel has won the 9th Grand Prix in a row this year. A feat that has been accomplished for the first time in the history of Formula 1. He also won 13 races over the course of the season – what a driver! When Michael Schumacher was winning all his championships not more than 15 years ago, it was thought unlikely that anyone could ever match those feats. Vettel has now won 3 World Championships in 3 consecutive years, the youngest ever triple World Champion. Of course, it is not just his accomplishment – it would be pre-mature to assume that were the case. The real story is that of the team – Red Bull Racing. Christian Horner is the Team Principal and to him must go the lion’s share of the credit for creating a winning environment in the team. Anyone in the sport, in any sport, will vouch for the difficulty involved in creating and sustaining a
Mithun's Musings 