Month: October 2019

I Am Dated.

A tube shaped fluorescent lamp is termed as tube light in India and someone who is slow on the uptake is also called a tube light as when one switches on the lamp, it takes a bit of time to light up unlike the other bulbs that come on instantly.

I had installed one in my bed room to give enough light to read while lying down inside a mosquito net. This lamp had given me long faithful service since 1999. I had to replace the choke for it a couple of times but, it worked perfectly well till just a few days ago. It simply gave up its ghost. Since it was during the Deepavali holidays, I had to wait till this morning to get an electrician to come and have a look.

The electrician, took one look at the ancient installation and smiled and said that the whole shebang had to be replaced as chokes and the tubes are no longer available. I was intrigued and agreed to replace it with whatever has come in the market in its place and this is what has.

It is a compact LED unit which actually gives more light than the old faithful and what is more important, lights up immediately on switching on.

I did not even know that something like this was available!

The Old And The New.

A friend of mine had posted this on his Facebook page.

I was fascinated with this observation for its depth and truth but also its appeal at the superficial level. I decided to change it to reflect  the physical aspect and came up with this one.

I wanted to insert an older photograph of mine but, I was too lazy to go to my collection of hard copies and spend time looking for one. Facebook came to my rescue and gave me this photograph with my siblings and two cousins which my sister had posted some years ago.

Rear row from the left, my late father, I, my late younger brother Arvind, my uncle’s driver Narayanaswamy;  front row from left, my younger brother Barath, my sister Padmini, cousin Gayathri and her elder brother Ramani.  Another important fellow, the brother between Gayathri and Ramani, Shankar, is missing as he was playing hard to get to pose for the photograph.  This was taken in one of the ubiquitous photographer’s studios that used to proliferate those days.

I took a cropped version of me alone, to show how I looked when I was about twelve, circa 1955.  The occasion, was a day’s outing to a temple outside Chennai, then known as Madras.

When I sent the middle image to my friends and family on WhatsApp I received some amazing responses about how either I have not changed at all (!!!) or, how I am still as handsome as I was then and so on!  Very flattering but, the point was totally missed!

The outer scores over the inner.

Success And Failure.


My readers will remember my blog post on how I was not an ambitious person but, events just happened and I became what can be called a success. Before that I was what most members of my extended family and some friends called a failure although I personally was very happy in that state of being. Now as then my attitude towards life itself is best explained by this image.

I therefore have rather unusual feelings about these two words and I hope that with this post I am able to get my thoughts across to my readers.

Before I proceed further, something came my way on ambition and madness that is worth sharing with my readers and here it is.

I was never mad nor am I, I think, now. Perhaps that is why, I am content with my lot which many consider to be the epitome of success. I have a roof over my head, I get all the food that I want to eat, and, I am blessed with great friends and family. I have enough income to afford my daily dose of newspapers and crossword puzzles plus the regular purchase of books to keep me occupied. I have enough to pay the electricity bills to keep my computer and internet connection going 24/7 which enables me to exploit all the advantages that I have enumerated here. I am blessed with a sense of humour that enables me to laugh at the things happening around me and stay cheerful. How much more can one ask for to be successful at the twilight of his life?

If I have failed, that was in taking care of my health in my youth and I am paying the price for it now. On the other hand, I am able to afford the medical attention that my condition demands and that, in my opinion, is also, a measure of my success. I also failed in some relationships but, they are too few to bother about at this stage of my life.

This is my take on the topic suggested by me for this week’s Friday 2 on 1 blog posts where Shackman and I write on the same subject. Please do go over to his blog to see what he has to say.