XLRI 55th Convo - Distinguished Alumnus Award - A quich sojourn to Jamshedpur (26th March, 2011)

The Black/Yellow Calcutta Cab was thoroughly screened by the Taj Bengal security staff and so was I when I stepped in to the bright expansive lobby. Jaspal answered the house phone call. It was room 524 in the exclusive block where we were to converge. I finished my call and saw Ajay Singh sitting on a lounge sofa waiting for whatever!! Went up to him and then both went to JB’s room, while the others joined in at regular intervals. The evening was High in Spirits and we ended our party at 2 AM, though fully aware that the next day was going to be a long one.

Early morning on the 27^th, Sanjoy, Ajay, KD, NS Muthu, me and Jaspal the Great met at the Guest House of SCB for a cup of tea and then we set off for Jamshedpur. The first halt for food was at Shere Punjab near Kolaghat a place between Kharagpur and Kolkata. The menu was interesting...please do notice the first headline on top on RED. What does that mean?!!

We finally reached Jamshedpur at about 3 PM before another halt for natural biological reasons. We started searching for Rolls and Milk Shakes. Neither happened and we landed up in Kwaility and then the MDP at about 4 PM barely giving us time to occupy our seats at 4.45.

Thanks to Jaspal, we had all confirmed bookings and we suddenly saw Vineet Nayyar emerging from a room in the same block. Later on when we saw the program, we came to know the reason behind his arrival.

The auditorium was chock-a-bloc, with passing out graduates, their families and friends, and lots of other people and a few press guys. Muthuraman the Chairman of the Board of Governors spoke and then relinquished his post, the new one being Nerurkar, MD of Tata Steel. You would be pleased to know that both Vineet and Jaspal are now members of the board.

The graduation ceremony was long that was preceded by the Convocation address where Vineet advised the new graduates to be “catalysts of change”. He also said that risks should be taken and advised them to fly!!

We were however sitting quietly when the moment for Jaspal arrived. While he walked onto the stage I ran through the middle of the aisle to capture the moments. Jaspal’s speech was brief but it was humbling when in the midst of his encouraging words he suddenly acknowledged us five sitting in the middle and the whole auditorium turning around to see us!! I wish we were more of us from XI 84 present there!! It was like basking on your friends glory and we did get a tan!!!

The evening dinner at Muthuman’s bungalow was fabulous. All the students were invited there along with the faculty and it was a grand affair.

The night was of course a long session like we had when we were there in 2009 with Jaspal, Vineet, us and a few others again engaged with tales, gossip and lot of single malt!! Adieu!!

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Anne's Letter from Sendai, Japan

Acknowledgement : Sudhir Rao

Hello My Lovely Family and Friends,

First I want to thank you so very much for your concern for me. I am
very touched. I also wish to apologize for a generic message to you
all. But it seems the best way at the moment to get my message to you.

Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend's home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes.
People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens,
or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has
water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to
fill up their jugs and buckets.

Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in
lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, "Oh, this is how it used to be
in the old days when everyone helped one another."
Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often.

We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for
half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on.But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not.No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition,of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.

There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun.People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time.

Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No
cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled.

The mountains are Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently.And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if they
need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic,
no.

They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes,
for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls,
shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai
that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is better off than others. Last night my friend's husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.

Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don't. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.

Thank you again for your care and Love of me,

With Love in return, to you all, Anne Sphere: Related Content

Living Again!!

I was listening to the BBC Radio yesterday and there was this small chat with a Japanese earthquake survivor. The conversation somewhat went like this:

BBC: Hello, Is this the place you owned?

Jap: Yes. This my place. My house and company office.

BBC: So everything is destroyed.

Jap: Yes.

BBC: What is in your hand?

Jap: A plate. Cup No. Only Plate.

BBC: Why are you holding this plate.

Jap: Plate and Cup. Given by Daughter. London. Now no cup. Heh Heh.

BBC: You seem to be rather cheerful!!

Jap: Yes. All safe. My family safe. All company people safe!!

BBC: So all are safe?

Jap : Yes Yes. We will live again!!

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Lost in Comments

Today on television I saw some debates and discussion on the forged mark sheets produced by pilots to get their licenses. This piece is however not about that. I went back to net to read more about the news item and casually scrolled down to the comments section. Surprisingly there was none!!

The Tendulkar getting angry with his team mates had 184 comments. The Mao Killings had zero comments. Narendra Modi being praised by an army official had 39 while the Japan earthquake had 27.

I was quite amazed by these facts and it does reflect on us and who are we as people. The icing on the cake was of course when I read the comments on Japan. There was hardly any sympathy or concern in most of them. Rather everybody was talking about how Japan will recover in 2 years. No comments on the dead and missing now, the crazy humanitarian efforts required to battle the issue, etc.

The serious issues had less comments and whether Vidya Balan should sue for the bikini pics had more than hundreds of hits with a sizeable percentage being derogatory in nature.

And we talk about culture. Have we lost it already or are we losing it rapidly?

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