Attitude, Relations, Helping nature ..

In the internet world, we often hear the terms of DIY. There are several interesting companies that are based on this concept. You will soon know why I'am talking about DIY.

I have still not published and made my blog public with friends, relatives ; However, my brother in law got to read the blog and he responded saying that one of the things that he remembered very well and which he admires was Pappa's DIY attitude. He remembers his climbing to nooks and corners of the under construction building when "SAARANG' was being constructed in 2005. His comment brought me memories of that phase of the life our family.

Infact, Pappa was the one who coaxed me and convinced me to purchase our site in classic orchards in Bangalore during 2003 , which possibly is the best investment in our lives so far ..Infact, if I had listened to him earlier too during 2001-2002, we would have been better off since he actually had started some periodic monthly investment into a site in Sarjapur road in Bangalore after his retirement. We infact, had seen the site along with one other respected and elder relative and I should admit it was my mistake that I did not continue with the monthly payments for some reason ( possibly because of lack of foresight ).

In any case, I was second time lucky when Pappa convinced me to purchase our site in Classic ORchards, where we were living now in 2003 post my marriage. Possibly marriage makes one more mature and gets in the sense of responsibility :-)

We eventually started the construction in 2004 - Sept after my return from Asian Inst of Management, Manila. We eventually moved into Saarang on 25 Feb, 2006.During this time, it was quite a challenging as well as exciting project to deal with the main Architect, his trainer architects, contractors, engineers and the workers apart from the finance folks ...

Pappa was so involved in the project that he used to deal with the contractors, engineers and the workers in the site on everyday basis. He used to be waiting to pounce on me when I used to return from the office to offer his views on the feedback about the work. Honestly speaking, I did not have or still don't have as much knowledge about these construction engineering aspects. His feedback used to be crisp, candid and upfront in terms on what was going wrong be it the engineering view or the productivity of the labourers and the contractors.

It was also his second experience of building a home, the first being 'Aashirwaad' that he built in 1995 in Hubli. I have rememberances of how he managed that construction in Hubli while we used to stay in Sambra. Sometimes, he used to drive in his Priya CRL 356 sccoter from Sambra to Hubli since he required to travel a lot within Hubli. It was a lot of hardwork to manage the same with smaller comfort on finances compared to the present times, when loans are easily available. He had taken a loan from Dewan Housing giving an exorbitant interest rate of 16%, which was probably the norm that times..His goodwill was so high that for almost every piece of work, he used to get some known friend or student who helped him during this stage..I know how his Hubli students helped him towards various stages - cement, painting, grills, wood etc ..It was the goodwill that he carried amongst his known circles that he used to find help almost everywhere he went..It also reflects that life always comes full cycle..One helps others and at some other point in time, you get help from others ...

I try to imbibe the same in my life in terms of managing relationships, helping others etc.

Teacher's day ..

My dad was also my teacher for couple of years. From that perspective, all of school KV friends were also his students. This day, every year,  few of friends either would call me or my dad directly to wish him on teachers day..We all are shaped by our teachers in our school days. I too usually talk or atleast send messages to my KV teachers ( most of whom incidentally are all family friends as well ).

I got one message today from Raghu Katageri ( my senior at school, family friend ) saying that he used to call every year wishing Pappa and hence he messaged me since he was remembering. I'am sure there would be others who would have been doing the same.

In KV, we used to have a very interesting custom of the senior most class representing all the teachers in school and run the school for the day. Hence, it usually would be XII class students who would represent each teacher on 5th Sept every year and they would take all the classes for rest of the classes.

Pappa interestignly began his career with 'BSNL' ( Indian Telephones ) after his graduation and was posted to Madras ( chennai ). It would have been a great career for him considering that all those in those times rose to become very senior officers in BSNL 'Indian Telephone'. However, it was not to be because he was destined to be a teacher. Apparently, he was so unhappy with the madras weather that he decided to come back to Hubli just after few days of training because of the extreme heat in Madras..

He later was in Kundgol for a short time and later in New English Girls school, Hubli and later joined Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan as a TGT, which eventually was his organization till retirement. He used to teach Physics, Mathematics mostly and infact taught me Physics and Mathematics in 8th, 9th standard..

His students were his great assets and he often used to locate atleast one or more prominent students wherever he was ..I have seen his students range from Prominent IAS officers, Businessmen, Doctors, Engineers and even one very prominent scientist who is well known globally ( Sreenivas Kulkarni was apparently his student and is a well known and acclaimed scientist in Astrophysics and professor in CalTech, USA, who is also incidentally brother of Mrs Sudha Murthy ) Ref : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinivas_Kulkarni

I'am sure there are many others whom possibly I may not know.