Some Sizzling Scintillating Speculations

  Memories: Reading : Focus on : Newspapers. The ubiquitous newspaper.. something that has always been a part of my daily life. Memories go as far back as to remembering Granddad lying down and reading the paper (Always used to be Times Of India back then). And of the paper causing detailed discussions in the house. Memories of the newspaper boy throwing the paper, tied with a piece of string or a rubber band, from the ground floor, to our second floor … on bad days, he would miss, and would have to make two three tries, or finally come up the stairs and give it.. sometimes it would go to the roof of the three storeyed building. Memories also of the ‘supplements’ the papers would bring out during times of riots (which used to be frequent in the city, during the seventies and eighties)… the supplement would highlight what was the latest situation in the city, the relaxation hours the next day for the curfew, etc. Believe me, those supplements of two pages, priced at the princely amo...

  15 06 88 was the day I began my career. Sharing that experience which always remains fresh in the mind. I was in Ajmer in May'88, visiting relatives, after Final Year Engineering exams. Got a call from Dad, that I had an interview call from BSL, for 4th June. In those days, interviews were few- and the first 2-3 I'd been to, had been just to get the feel of it. I reached there, having read up quite a bit on the final year subjects, and 'likely questions'  Loved the location at first sight-it was in Alkapuri, one of the posh areas of Baroda and a dream for those of us who were 'poor city dwellers'. There was a group discussion, followed by a MCQ(Multiple choice Question) quiz with the usual agility questions they have(Non-technical), like spotting the odd man out, etc. When this was over, we had a short wait, and then they announced that out of 64(original: 128) of us, 16 were shortlisted. And, the rest could go. We had an interview with my future boss- a frie...

  What a thrill that used to be.. reading that a competition I entered had won a prize.. Trying to recall the very first competion sometime back in year '87 or so. I remembered the folder of magazine clippings that I have here, and checked. However, I could not trace that particular first clipping.. maybe it's in some other file..it was in the magazine 'The Weekly Sun', one of my absolute favourites(I wish they would restart publication)... it was a pic of Rekha from the song'In Aankhon ki masti mein'...we had to guess the song and the movie (Umraao Jaan). That delight on winning the prize in a draw of lots - for the first time - it's unimaginable .. a real mood-booster it was. And, then, there was no looking back.. Sun used to have a number of such competitions . One was 'Spot The Ball'... a pic from a cricket field scene, and, we had to guess where the (hidden) ball was. The most accurate guess would win. The next one, as per my list was an article...

  I have very faint memories of the first mode of transport, which used to be someone from the family dropping me off to school(usually Granddad or Dad on their cycle) Then, there was this cyclerickshaw (risk-shaw, rather, the way he would pilot his vehicle) guy who was ‘appointed’, to do the task. Besides the overload of kids in his rick, he used to also speak bad words(Probably hangovers from previous nights), and, one day, I used one of the bad words he would speak, at home. I had no idea what it meant, however, the next day, he was terminated for teaching me bad words. Luckily, one of our teachers (KM) used to stay right opposite our house, and used to go to school via bus. Hence, she agreed to take me as well .. this was, I think Std IV or so. From Sursagar,(Next to Pratap talkies), we would get bus GRS 7613(Of course I remember the number)… and the same bus coming back as well, if lucky. Sometimes, if I was lucky, KM would be late in the morning, and I was accorded the lu...

 Digressing a bit from school memories. This incident flickered into my mind today. I had posted about it some years back. Some memories remain fresh in the mind, always… this is one of them… back in 1988, when I was a fresh trainee in BSL, first job. One day, my boss called me. He needed a drawing from a supplier in Ahmedabad,  and asked me to get one of the apprentices from the Service Department to go there and get it. I arranged it, feeling quite pleased with myself(Any small work done in those days, gave an immense sense of satisfaction, as you can imagine- those rookie days at work are the days when you want to prove you're worth every rupee they're paying you). Off went the apprentice to Ahmedabad. In the evening, the boss asks 'is the guy back?'- of course, he wasn't. I went to the workshop section of the office, and it turned out that no-one even knew the guy's name, since he was quite new. And, the senior service people had left for the day. Someone ...

  20 03 24 We are from the blessed people, who have seen music progressing from a simple radio, to record players, to audio cassettes, to the current forms. My first favourite, in the early seventies, used to be (like for many others), Binaca Geet Mala (Later Cibaca), with Amin Sayani. Wednesday would be a day eagerly awaited, time 8 PM, when we would hear the all too familiar voice saying ‘Namaskar, Behnon aur Bhaiyon’, on Radio Ceylon. We had a Philips radio, which had Short Wave bands(Not sure @ FM in those years), and, Binaca used to come on one of those bands. Luckily I found a pic of the exact same model via google, and it was this one, indeed.. it says it’s model LX4. (Now, an antique piece worth quite a bit, I am sure ). Sometimes the reception would not be too good, and the ears had to be kept right on the ‘screen’, in order to hear something. And, woe betide if the electricity went off during that hour.. everyone in the house would know how irritated I was. Ahahaha. At th...