The Year that was...2012

It is more than one year since I wrote my blog  here.  The first resolution that I have taken this year, 2013, is to start writing again here, registering my thoughts and views.  What else to write on the first day of the year, except the summary of the last year....here I go.

2012 was an eventful year...the main points are:

a) Affected by Rheumatic Arthritis
b) Got my first Ph.D. Student
c) Fulfilled Sheila's long standing wish

In January 2012, on a trip to Chennai for a NABET assessment I noticed that my thumb was swollen and it was so painful that I wondered if I could carry out the assessment on the second day.  But to my surprise, the swelling and the pain disappeared once I reached the site of assessment.  I could complete the work;  but I did not realize that that was an indication of  what to follow. In the next few days the pain spread throughout the body, on all joints - knuckles, wrist, shoulder, knee, elbow, ankle, jaw - one after another.  My doctor thought it was a virus attack and treated me with antibiotics; I was OK...only for a few days.  One day when I was at IndSearch, I could not move my leg; I had to be helped to move to the car; on reaching home, I had to be in bed as the pain was unbearable.  My doctor advised rest and to take "combiflam" whenever pain was unbearable; and it did work.  I was OK in a couple of days and started my routine, only to be bed ridden again in a week with unbearable pain in both the knees. Again Dr. Pandya advised rest and said that we would consult a specialist too.  Once I was able to move, I consulted Dr. Parikh, an orthopaedic specialist; he advised me to take a test for the RA factor; the RUBY HALL test report indicated negative for RA factor. Dr. Parikh declared that it was NOT Rheumatic Arthritis.  He asked me to do more exercises and to walk a lot to avoid getting pain in the knee; he confirmed that it was nothing to do with bones.

All the while I was travelling for various purposes; on a trip to Surat I found that I could not sit on a chair; my  shoulder was so painful that I could not lift my arm; I was lucky that at least the other should was OK.  But by the night the pain moved to the other shoulder too.  It was unbearable; but I had to travel from Surat to Baroda, Baroda to Mumbai and then from Mumbai to Pune in one go.  Immediately after returning to Pune, I had to travel to Delhi; while in Delhi, suddenly my right foot got swollen and I could not wear the shoe.  I managed the day with my bathroom chappal and travelled to Pune with chappals on.  After returning to Pune I had again gone through a set of tests and found that there was no RA factor in the blood serum.

At this point I decided to give a try to Naturopathy; I went through a 6 day Naturopathy programme - it consisted of different treatments like full body massage, partial massage, magnetic therapy, wax therapy, mustard padding, steam bath etc.  I had taken a month training programme on Yoga (I could attend only 20 days); I had also taken a week's Ocupuncture treatment.  All these gave me some relief; but they were useful to the extent of managing the pain but not to avoid the pain.  The Yoga training helped to develop a daily regime of exercises for about 30 to 40 minutes every morning.  That did give me some relief and the occurrence of sudden pain in various joints had come down significantly.

In the meanwhile, around July/August 2012, I suggested to Dr. Joshi that I should be relieved from my regular job at IndSearch so that I can take care of my ailment; he readily agreed (probably he was also waiting for such an opportunity !) with a request to continue as a Professor, need not be as an employee.  Once it was agreed, there was a relief all over; all my near and dear have been advising to quit IndSearch as it was not adding any value to my life.

By October I thought I should check for arthritis and approached Arthritis Research Centre in Pune; they confirmed that my problem is Rheumatic Arthritis; their blood test did indicate RA factor.  Till today I am at a loss to know why /how Ruby Hall tests indicated negative RA factor.  If this had been known we would have started the treatment at least four months ago and by this time I would have seen some effect.

Dr. A. Chopra of Arthritis Research Centre appears to be a confident person; he gave me an assurance that I will be OK in four months (two and half months are over now); there appears to be some improvement with his medicines and with the additional physiotherapy programme.  Now I have added the exercises taught to me under physiotherapy into my exercise regime and it now goes for an hour.  I see some improvement in pain management.

That is about the first point...it is a work in progress.

The second point is that I got a student for Ph.D. under my guidance....but it is a farce.  The student is from an influential family and he is not interested in Ph.D., but in Civil Services.  Even though I had two vacancies, I did not get the second one as it is reserved for Scheduled Caste/Tribe and no such candidate had appeared for the interview !  As of now, my entry as a Ph.D. Guide is in a limbo.

This is also a work in progress......I can take up to 8 students for Ph.D. at a time and I have time till 65 to take students  Let me see how this progresses.

The only thing that happened as per plan  is fulfilling the long term wish of Sheila; indeed it had been fulfilled in spite of my pain and her health.

Overall, 2012 had been a average year

27 years in Philips....a quick reflection

Hyderabad to Loni Kalbhor

"Why are you so late?"

This was the question of Dr. Vaid, the Chairman of the Selection committee for the post of Head, Materials Test Lab.

I was taken aback ! "Sir, I have asked to come for the interview at 4.00 pm and I have come at 3.00 pm". I showed the telegram that I had received from Philips.

Now he was taken aback !! "We had Dr. Sinha from NCL in the committee; he had left already as the interviews were over. We have shortlisted one candidate for the next stage. I am not sure if we can continue with interviewing you. Still we will give a try". He consulted his committee members and agreed to interview me. At the end of the interview, when I demonstrated my knowledge of analytical chemistry, resins, laminates, printed cirucuit boards etc., apparently Dr. Vaid and Dr. Bhide were impresssed (especially with my work on flexible laminates and phenolic foams) and selected me for the next stage. I am sure I spoilt the day for someone else - but that was not my mistake.

I was taken by Dr. Vaid to Shanbhag who was then the Plant Manager for the final interview; Shanbhag, mumbled something which I did not understand, but agreed to appoint me; while leaving he told Dr. Vaid in an authoritative tone to take care of the candidate who did not make it to the final interview with him. I knew by that who was the BOSS. I was asked to go to Mumbai to meet the HR guy to finalize my salary etc., the next day.

I landed at the Philips HQ at Shivsagar Estate, Worli, in time to meet Mr. HR. After making me to wait for the mandatory one hour (to show who is the boss and who is busy), this guy asked me wherefrom I was coming. On hearing that I was from Bakelite, he told me with empathy: "why are you joining this wretched company from an excellent company? You will regret your decision". It was a shocker....Here I am after 27 years with the "wretched" company, retiring without much of a heartburn. Lesson Learnt 1: Go by your decison; don't get confused by unsolicited advises.

House Hunt and Sheila's move to Pune

I joined the Central Chemicals and Materials Development Laboratory, Philips India, on 18 October, 1982; I left Sheila at Hyderabad and came to Pune alone to search for a place to live. The moment I joined I could see some people looking at me and behaving with me funny; the one to identify now is Hebbare....a "politician" out to create problems for a new entrant. I was also told by people in the lab to be careful about Sudhir Joshi, a hardcore union man. In the meanwhile Ranjan Joshi was helping me to find a place. I also visited Kalyani Athai (Aunt of my mother-in-law) seeking her help in getting an accommodation. Apparently nothing moved...time was flying. Ranjan Joshi offered me a Guest Accommodation at his house as he had a two bed room apartment and he was able to provide one bedroom for me (of course without any facility); I agreed to his offer with the condition that I would pay for the stay. Later I came to know that Hebbare tried to influence Ranjan Joshi not to provide me accommodation....so that he could see the fun of an "outsider" struggling to establish (Later I shall write about each of these characters that I came across at Loni). Lesson Learnt 2: No change is painless; there are people always out there to create hurdles in your way. Go ahead; don't be upset by these hurdles.

My search for a rented house took me to C.R. Venkataraman, Puchasing Manager, Philips Components, Loni. After the introduction CRV talked high of Bakelite and said the house where he lived earlier was ilable for rent in Ravi Bhatia, his assistant and the owner of the house, for further discussion. The house, located at Lulla Nagar, a God forsaken area, was the rear portion of a Bangalow with two bed rooms; it was OK for me and a deal was stuck. That enabled me to bring Sheila to Pune along with Indhu. Sheila was pregnant with Maya at that time and we had not announced the pregnancy to anyone till later in the year.

(Incomplete...published now so that I can complete it later)

Nataraja Service !

A blog post by Ashwin on his bus travel to/fro schoool inspired this short blog post.

The period is between 1959 and 1962.

Appa was transferred from Nellikuppam to Pettavaithalai in 1959.  Mani was studying (?) B.Com at Vaniyambadi; I am not sure about Chandra - probably studying at ER High School, Trichy, staying with Swayambu Mama (Amma's uncle of sorts).  Cheena and I came to Pettavaithalai with Amma and Appa.  Cheena was in the 6th Class and so he was admitted in a High School at Kulithalai (a town some 6 miles from Pettavaithalai).  I was too small to be sent to the High School.  I was admitted to the "great" Pettavaithalai Higher Elementary School in Class 3.  For the first few months we stayed at a big banglow near the school and I used to walk to the school without much of difficulties.  In those days we did not carry Kgs of books to school; I had a slate and a few "balabams" in a yellow bag; may be a two or three books.  Things were OK till we shifted to the Managers' Quarters.  The new place was about two miles off the school (through short-cut).  As Appa's Jeep would have left for the office much before I got ready for the school, it was almost always "Nataraja" service for me.  Cheena, however, had his three wheeler van ferrying children from Pettavaithalai to Kulithalai and back.  The Nataraja service, therefore, was unique for me.  None of the managers, except Appa,  living in that Quarters deemed it fit to put their children in the Great PHES.  I was almost always alone to walk to / fro the PHES every day; I was also supposed to come back home for Lunch  during the lunch break.

The Nataraja service was great fun.  The first thing I used to do, on the way, was to get some "raw" tamarind (Puliyankai) by the then available method of throwing stones to get the target down and stuff the "crop" in my drawer pocket.  That used to give me some thrill on the way; of course I used to avoid all those trees which were supposed to be abodes of "Puliamara Pei" (clearly marked by nails fixed on their trunk with human hair wound over the nail head); luckily no Pei had ever objected to my fetching the Puliyankai.  In those days of "barter system", the puliyankai was my currency to get "avichcha verkadalai" or "kodukapuli" or something like that from other students of my class.  I used to wonder why my mother was not making Avichcha Verkadalai (Paththu !!!).  My route to the school passed through paddy fields...full of snakes and frogs.  In those days I did not have fear for the reptile.  I don't remember as to what kind of slipper/chappal I was wearing; but I do distinctly remember that the half pants was always loosely stitched and it remained in its place because of the cross-belt attached to it.

.......I stop here now...as my memory is failing.  But I am publishing so that I can complete it later.

(By the way, I visited this school last year... a great feeling to be there again!!!)