Sunday, April 19, 2009

Welcome to Thiruvananthapuram - Part 1

Taking off from my earlier post 'The day I received my transfer orders', which was written in August last year. The transfer order disappointed me for the place of transfer was more than 3200 kms from my house. At some level I also felt victimised for eversince the start of operations in the Bank's office at Thiruvananthapuram, no officer from such far off place had been posted there. The air connectivity is there but no low cost carriers. The fastest train 'Rajdhani' takes three days to hit Delhi. My wife was also visibly upset for the logistics as her father just had a kidney transplant not very long ago. I had already exhausted my resources for seeking a change of place of posting.
Among all these we had gone to the Naveen market in the city. I was rather quiet and uncommunicative that day. As I entered the Hindustan Store, the owner of the store gave us a very warm welcome. He was very happy to recieve us and conducted us well. While coming out she said that this is what you have earned from this city, the respect and admiration from the people. From businessmen to salesmen, from vegetable vendors to paani poori waala, you are the one point representation of your Bank. During the course of discharging my official duties, these were the people I came across; more so during the coin crises in the city, I intend writing about it in another post for it is classical example of failure of systems in our country.
The next day I booked myself on a connecting Kingfisher flight to Thiruvananthapuram as it reaches before the Indian Airlines flight. On landing at Bangalore where I was to change the plane, the heavy rain had caused some disruption in airport activities. By the time I took the next flight which was an ATR, I was sick of the ' ooh la la la' which is the signature tune of the airline.

Monday, April 13, 2009

धूर्त समागम

धूर्त समागम is a classical Sanskrit play written by Jyotirishwar Thakur. The hindi adaptation of the play was staged in our college in which yours truly played the role of the leading protagonist Sanatak (Duracara in the Sanskrit play). The play was directed by Prahlad Agarwal who is a well known personality in theater circles. The play had all male cast and was staged in 'स्वांग शैली' , an art form used by the people in UP and Bihar. The play had erotic undertones which was probably the reason of jam packed halls whenever it was staged. The play revolves around Ganika ( Ananagsena in the Sanskrit play) who floors everyone including Snatak and his guru by her charm. She keeps every man in a state of limbo. The play is a gripping narration and never looses its momemtum due to its contemporary theme.

Receiving the 'Best Actor' prize in the Youth festival from Rani Balbir Kaur. Also in the frame is Dr Attar Singh, Principal of the college.