Tech it or lose it

 

Ashwin Dani – Ashwin bhai as he was popularly known, was a passionate technologist at heart. In my early years as a product manager one had heard of his key role in making the company get into new categories like wood and automotive finishes. I first interacted with him over the development of exterior paints - a category the company was looking to enter, by seeding major projects.

One of the earliest things I learnt from him was the discipline of respecting others time. I was few minutes late to meet him and he unthreateningly asked, if you wanted to, could you not have made it on time? That moment has stayed for ever. He was an ardent practitioner of yoga and truly promoted it. No wonder he was a very alert and active person.

He believed in the strategic strength Technology brought to business. As my exposure to international markets went up, my interactions increased on what we were facing in those markets and the need for technology to make us face competition overseas. From developing resins for international markets to making wood finishes for coating lines abroad, he would be inquisitive and ensured R&D supported these well.

He was keen on the shift to plastics for packaging water-based paints. It was a huge ask given the issues and scale of change it called for, but looking back, it was one of the key enablers for growth and value addition in the paints industry.

While he had stitched the automotive roadmap for India with a joint venture, he was keen on something for international markets and enthusiastically travelled to Europe with me and Khannaji in our efforts to cement one, which we eventually could not. He was one of the earliest visitors when I relocated to Cairo, then the largest investment for the company into a single country and I remember him saying get your products right first.

Humble to interact he was socially active. He took great interest in having a get together with family at his home every year during Diwali and took care to make it different and memorable year on year.  I was touched when he remembered me and called a few years ago when he had just turned 75.

Ashwin bhai leaves behind a legacy of ‘Technology is at the Core of every Business’ he passionately lived!

Like the Crescent Moon!

 

Always a child, young at heart 

Smiling at every challenge 

Unique, rare and incomparable  

Ushering in hope, prosperity

Sharp, definitive and to the point 

Ageless, fresh in every phase 

you left early while all wanted more

But true to your name, Mouli, you shine 

           

like the Crescent moon in His crown

Keep smiling, keep shining - in the hearts of all you touched!

Chellamma, what you taught us 50 years ago!

Chellama Sundaresan
circa 1958

Chellamma Paati (Grandmother) or Chellamma as she was fondly referred to was a towering personality. My grandfather passed away a couple of years before I was born (I was named after him). Chellamma spent time with her children as she felt like – my uncle at Arumbakkam, my aunts in Chennai and our family at Coimbatore. My father was the youngest and I think she spent more time to be with us as we were the youngest bunch of grand children in the 60s and 70s.

Chellama Paati circa 1970

My earliest memory of her is like she is in the picture here. We grew up with her telling us stories in the evening – mainly from Ramayanam, Bhagavatham and Mahabaratham. She had home schooled and as I grew up will she will surprise me when she will prompt or correct me reciting Tamil poetry – At school in languages you had to remember and recite/ quote from memory and so mugging up poems was necessary. But she could not just recite, but also explain the meaning. Some where I early 70s I remember she came back from a trip to Kashi etc. and had taken to an orthodox way of living. May be she was like that before too but this is when I started noticing (I must have been 6 or so then, just started going to school).

I remember her for all the things she taught us and observed herself till she breathed her last in the late 80s. It was very strange and many times restrictive but as one reminisces there is so much in it which is good and probably these were unwritten but empirical codes they adopted and made all of us adopt and there was no option. There was a fundamental reason of keeping self and home pure and clean.

So if one goes out and comes back, you had to go wash your feet and hands before even sitting. Kai Kaal Alambinaiya (did you wash your hands and feet?). If you went for a haircut it is Theetu (something very unclean), you cannot even enter the house (those days we lived in independent houses). One had to go on the periphery to reach the bathrooms at the back, wash the clothes separately, have a bath and only then enter the house. No going out after sunset (or when the lamp is lit at Puja in the evening). Nor was it good to get visitors except maybe during Pujas like Navarathri. Houses where the toilet was inside or attached was not preferred. And going to toilet meant washing hands and feet before entering the house. And if you did not, it got observed and called out. A great sense of sanitising the living space for all.

Food had to cooked fresh – Those were days of Kerosene and pump stoves, refrigerators was a luxury. But there was this concept of “Patthu” – I think it comes from the work “Pattru” meaning sticky. So anything once cooked became Patthu and you had to wet or rinse your hands after handling Pathhu stuff before touching anything else. So nothing passes from something which is cooked to something that was raw. If food was left over, it would have to be given away in the evening itself to beggars who would come in the evening around dinner time. So food from one meal (break fast or lunch etc.) was not carried to the next meal. The only thing which sometimes spilt over was rice – then had with curd as Pazahayadhu (Old food). The stoves and cooking place used to washed/ wiped clean before even coffee could be made at tea time. So the concept of Patthu extended to the cooking space too. Looking back my mothers and aunts must have managed this with her but no other choice.

Then was this concept of “Madi”. It basically translated to being untouched and only being in touch with things clean. In a sense it is like when you go to a place of worship you don’t touch the priest or go inside the shrine or come in physical contact. As little children, once Chellamma had her bath she was in a state of Madi. She wore clothes which were washed or finally rinsed by her and dried in a place which remains untouched, till she picks it after her bath. Then she goes through her puja and rituals, lunch – a siesta may be or other house chores and then the evening prayers. Only after that can she be touched or played with. The only license could be if as little we too had our clothes handled the Madi way with hers. If for any reason this is breached (which I have seen happen sometime) – She will go and have bath again and repeat the rituals. Well it was an orthodox practice but was a way of maintaining a pristine and clean way of living for most part of the day – What we are calling now social distancing.

Then there were the whole lot of personal hygiene stuff. She would say Kadikkadhae (Don’t bite) while eating. For a long time it used to be very confusing to me as a kid, how can you eat without biting – because she would ask us to go and wash hands if we did it. The distinction was between biting and chewing. Her code was don’t bite. You cut (a fruit) or break (a biscuit) and put the piece in your mouth close and chew. Very basic but technically sound – when you bite, something from inside your mouth stays with the food in hand but when you put a piece in mouth and chew. So what’s in –is in and what’s out is out. It was hard to appreciate then as kid but we did realise as we grew. Also if you have taken a bite then you cannot share it with other – a strict no because it is Echhal (Jhoota in Hindi) and only you can have it and should not be given to other. So this extended to the eaten plates having to washed by whoever ate in a place outside the kitchen and only once it is clean can it come back into the kitchen. So the cutlery used for eating (each one has their plates) does not mix with what is used for cooking and they are stored separate too. And when it came to clothes the inner garments had to washed by each one and washed separately – not mixed with other clothes and as it si personal to you, you have to take care (especially as you grow up). Simple codes that isolated contamination or things getting passed on.

And if anyone fell sick, they were kept in a separate room, not allowed to eat with the rest – food would go to them. The utensils used to serve, washed separately. Simple but effective separation and giving things their importance for isolation or cleanliness. The only major disinfectant was water – wash repeatedly and don’t mix things.

I am not sure how much of this came because of orthodox practices driving by divinity or the need to stay pure for your prayers and service to lord, but the aim was to stay purer. When I reflect lot of these may also have been empirical practices which they would have picked and learned to keep the deadly illnesses those day like small pox, Polio, measles, malaria etc.  

But be it washing, sanitation, personal hygiene, social distancing, eating or isolating what can create trouble without alerts, shut downs, lockups – Dear Chellamma, you taught us things which have made us grow and live healthily, some 50 years back…and we are still learning…

Chellamma with family @ her grand children's wedding

ps: Chellamma means (my) Fondest girl

28 Years of Home & Hand Made Ganesha!

The first one circa 1995 @wadala

As we grew up at home (Coimbatore) Ganesh chaturti was always a festival at home. Early morning one could go to the vegetable market or outside some temples where the idols would be getting made fresh from clay. There were some precast (in clay) or you can wait as the vendor will make one for you. This fresh clay Ganesh was used for pooja and the next day was visarjan, which had to be done in a waterbody not stepped on. So we would find a well- house with a well nearby and go and drop the idol for visarjan. No public worship or pandals were there and certainly no painted Ganesha.

Cut to Mumbai, the bachelor days went by experiencing the festivities in Mumbai especially at

2002 - here is Thejas's (3 yr old then) 

2002 - 3 Red Ganeshas home made

Chowpathy. Post marriage, 1995 was the first year at home and could not find anyone who makes Ganesha with fresh clay in Mumbai - no google, green-ganesha etc. those days. But we had an enterprising househelp who said he can get us clay. And the practice of Home made Ganesha started.

Every year we celebrated at home, the Ganesha has since been home made. As nomads we have moved around Mumbai, Cairo, Delhi, Chennai and everywhere it has been home made. Initially it

2004 @ Cairo - an array of handmade
Ganeshas by kids and a Pro (the main one)

2004 @ Cairo after Pooja

was me and later the kids got into it. The big task was always to find who can get the clay in time. We learnt there are different types of clay and making it from each can be a different task. From white, to grey to brown and redbrown. The ordeal itself can take just a hour or sometime longer. The sheer feeling of a fresh and Ganesha shaped in front of your eyes, pure for the Puja is a wonderful experience

2008 @ Mumbai- after pooja

2008 - star studded Ganesha

Being amateur clay modellers, we could never pick up great skills (doing it just once a year) but the kids experiemented with something from time to time. Sometimes we would feel is it the same as last year - however we may try to make it different, but that was fun. The last few years has been more done by them. It has been 25 years. I dont seem to have pictures of every year but a simple showreel puts up what I could pull out. In 2018 the MEraki kids got to make their own first handmade Ganesha - had great fun and wonderful to see children make it!

Happy to share! Happy Ganesh Chaturti to all - From here on it is a picture essay - the comments have trivia.

2009 after Pooja - Notice the Handmade umbrellas (by Kids)

2009 was Football Ganesha @ Mumbai

2010- a simple Ganesha @

Gurgaon

2011 @ Chennai only by kids - Mouse us Modak carrier

2011 @ Chennai after Pooja

2016 - Modak art Ganesha

2017 @ Mumbai Charturmugha Ganesha

2017 Chaturmugha after Puja

2016 - Bal Ganesha with Tablet and Settee

2017 - Fourfaced Ganesha

2018 - Ganesha with Saurn's Tower (Lord of the rings) as crown 

2018 @ Mumbai after Pooja

2018 - The Meraki Kids made thier first Hand made Ganeshas

2019 - A simple but better shaped Ganesha by Thejas

2019 Ganesha @ Mumbai

"Work From Home Ganesha" of 2020 - Cool all natural made with Atta, Milk & Haldi, by Thejas! 

Puja spread for Ganesha 2020

After a couple of years, Mumbai is vibrant with the celebrations for Ganesh Chaturthi, feels great to see life's back to normal. At home too after a year's break of Pujas, Ganesha made his presence. Kids are away this time but Amma is with us. With Thejas not around to make the Ganesha at home, I had to get back to making one. 

Remembering Surya, this year's Ganesha is made of Sundrops resplendent with the colours of Sindooram and Sunlight showering blessings to one and all. 

Nile Cruise

Fixing an AC

The Nile Cruise and the Pyramids come to mind the moment you say Egypt. It is a tourists’ paradise with a rich variety of experiences to offer (with the exception of snow-caped peaks). Tourism contributes to almost 1/3^rd of its forex earnings and is an extremely tourist friendly place. Being one of the oldest civilisations which has seen the Pharaohs, Greeks, Romans, Turks, French, Brits and Socialism, it is a cultural cauldron. Add to this, the people who are fun loving, enjoy good food, music, art, are reasonably Westernised looking up to Europe - just across the Mediterranean. Here is a look at the variety we experienced and some interesting trivia. Egyptians liked weekend breaks and the two Eid breaks in a year gave expats two week long breaks too, something we used well to explore Egypt.   

To start with, I was sent this pic early on in my Egypt sojourn, for me to understand anything is possible in Egypt. It was really funny pic as to what Egyptians can do to fix an AC – acrobatically hilarious – notice the guy who is stretching from balcony to offer a Rajni like touch - as if that is sufficient to support the guy upside down! 

Nile in Cairo from a hotel

Cairo is where the Nile Delta starts and Nile breaks into two distributaries, the Rosetta and Damietta. The river truly is its lifeline and just a few km away from it, it is all desert. A host of hotels along the Nile in Cairo offer lovely views of the river and a Falouka (sail boat) and evening cruise with dinner and belly dance thrown in is a must do when in Cairo. Best to time to go to Pyramids is in the evening around 4 and stay back to watch the sunset and view the sound and light show at the pyramids. If adventurous, one can try a 2 hour trip to see the inside of the pyramid of Khufu (the largest) and a tough trek which needs advance booking. Don’t know if it still on, but while I could not do it, I am told it is a unique experience. The pyramids themselves are magnificent and the more you stand by them and look at its enormity, it makes one wonder of the human will and skill millenias ago – How powerful the need must have been to preserve the body for after life to do such a thing and do it over generations! Various prototypes (like the one Step Pyramid in Saqqara before the Giza one got made. There is this interesting read https://www.ancient.eu/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza/ and if you have not seen it yet, take this panaromic 360 view which will make you take a flight to Cairo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4hg31ozDyU . If keen on knowing about the history in detail, you should do a fair bit of reading yourself before landing there, as guides are largely populist and not that informed on details on history. 

@ the great Pyramids of Giza

The Step pyramids of Saqqara

en route to Ein Sokna

@ the Suez Canal

 Quick getaways for the day trip or weekend were many. Fayoum the closest oasis, was just an hour drive away. Enroute was this lovely kids/ family stopover called “Fugnoon”. Set in a farm it was fun place where kids could do pottery, paint Tshirts, have mule and camel rides, roam around the farm and pluck vegetables and some fruits. Ein Sokna ( Hot springs) was the closest beach with a 8 lane expressway that Cairo flocked to, where the rich had their weekend chalet and partied. The drive and Stella De Marie the iconic resort was the happening place. And you could drive down to Suez where the Suez canal starts and sit and watch merchant and cruise ships pass by the canal and get a sense of the importance of this small canal’s maritime importance for over a century now. And of course you could also go to Alexandria the second largest city for a weekend.

@ Fayoum closest oasis to Cairo

@ Fugnoon - a fun place for kids

 And then there were the places where you need a few days, preferably a week to drive down the desert roads to reach them, spend a few days and get back.

To the East was Red sea and the Sinai Desert. These had lovely resort towns of Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Hurghada, Marsa Alam. These were truly beach oasis, far from the madding crowd, popular with western tourists.  It is like goa but without the crowds and a lot of shallow sea waters. Their sole purpose was tourism and packaging what red sea had to offer. Luxury resorts, snorkelling, water sports and deep sea diving and lot of sun was always on offer. The Dahab ‘Blue hole’ is considered one of the most unique as well as dangerous deep sea diving sites. Well the kids had their first snorkelling experience on the red sea. We also had our only submarine ride so far.  

Read to Snorkel !

@ Sharm El Sheikh on Red sea

In a submarine ride @ Hurghada

@ Hurghada by the infinity pool

To the west were the oases. The closer to Cairo at a drive of about 3-4 hours is Baharia with hot springs and the famed Black and white desert. The Hot springs hotel is quite an experience -not luxurious but comfortable. Baharia itself has hot aquifers which are rich in minerals and a dip in the hot spring water is quite refreshing. Like an oasis should be, it is in the midst of desert and you stay there and drive into the desert. Baharia is known for what is called the black desert and white desert.  The winds are so strong that over years they have eroded in parts black igneous rocks and shifted them over the desert. At other places they have eroded limestone making the desert white and leaving the stones carved in various shapes most of them mushroom like. The other far away oasis which is in the western edge of Egypt and borders the Sahara desert to its south is Siwa. Known as Alexanders favourite oasis, it is straight line drop from the Mediterranean town of MArsa Matrouh and is a good 900 km from Cairo. Being so remote, if you want to see a place a bit far removed from civilisation, still having dominant remains of the past and where you can catch crystal clear skies, amazing sunsets on a sea of sands.

Baharia Oasis in the western desert

@ the Black Desert

@ the white desert - K3G Suraj hua Madham fame

@ Siwa - Alexander's favourite oasis. Note the old clay walled houses 

North of Egypt is the Mediterranean a cool sea and the vast north coast being just a couple of hours from Cairo and is home to large townships which come alive only in the summer as vacation homes. As cairo gets hot and summer holidays start for children all those who can afford own or rent their holiday homes and spend time in the north coast. Starting from Alexandria to Marsa Matrouh the sea is lined with resorts and townships. Without doubt a great pace to spend summers. North coast has this place called Al Amein where one of the important battles of world war two was fought and hundreds of Indian soldiers too fought for the British in this battle. There is a memorial to date for them. To the easterm side of north coast across the suez canal and north of the Sinai is Al arish which borders Gaza strip and is the main connecting route to Gaza strip in Palestine and Israel.

@ the border post with Gaza Strip

@ Al Arish beach on North east Egypt

Beach art by kids at Al Arish

The lovely Mediterranean @ Al Amein. The water is cold 

South of Cairo is what is called Upper Egypt. Though on the map it looks below Cairo, from the pharaohnic days it is called Upper Egypt as it is upstream of Nile from where the waters came and flooded the plains. This long stretch is fertile on the banks of the Nile and is agriculturally rich. But also because, it is long and surrounded by deserts, it has been difficult to develop. This is where comes the Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan. Before the Aswan Dam was built the Nile used to flood the banks. But once it was built, not only is the water better, managed, it also generates lot of power. Historically the Nile flooding drowned erstwhile temples and palaces which got buried in sand and silt. The temples of Luxor, Edna, Kum Ombo and Abu Simbel lay a rich treasure of architecture and structures from the Pharoanic era. Upper Egypt also is home to valley of kings and queens. The tombs in the Pyramids, despite the best efforts and secure design, got looted, were expensive and time taking to build. The later pharaohs discovered hills in the desert as natural pyramids and had their tombs built here for kings and queens. It is from here that the most preserved treasures of Tutan Kamoun was discovered. And from Aswan you go further south to see Abu simbel where the statues of Ramses were relocated to preserve them from the back flooding of Aswan Dam. It is amazing to see them. It is said that originally it was designed for the first rays of sun to fall on the face of Ramses every year on his Birthday.

@ Luxor temple

@ Hatshepshut temple

The only temple dedicated to a Queen- Hatshepsut Temple

Cruising through the Esna water lock on Nile

@ Luxor Temple

Cruise racing on the Nile

@ the magnificent Abu Simbel

@ the grand  Abu Simbel

One of the popular Koshary place at Cairo

A frequent question to me for people travelling from India is about veg food. Being a veggie myself, I can only say, if you are not a fussy vegetarian wanting only curd rice of dal-roti-sabzi, Egypt has a lot to offer. The staple break fast and lunch of most Egyptians is pure-vegetarian. Breakfast starts with Phool (broad fawa beans), Tamia (Falafal) or Batatis (potato) sandwich (in pita bread). The staple lunch is Koshari (means potpourri or kichadi). Both the sandwich and koshari joints serve only that and they are pure veg. And in all their main meals the starters from hommus, labneh, cheese samosa, tabbouleh – what they call as mezzeh are all pure veg stuff. And add to this their range of sweets and a few vegetarian gravy dishes of pasta or moussaka – a vegetarian cannot go hungry in Egypt if he is not fussy. 

Egypt has a lot to offer to see and the Nile cruise is just one of them…