27 Oct
Yarlagadda Prasad did not make it to the class today. He was busy with medicals...Like 'need to know operations' in the Armed Forces we entered our classroom not knowing what the class was about. At this stage it could have been anything - economics , finance, marketing, Human Resource Management, or for that matter we could have been part of the two day conclave for top officials from Andhra Pradesh. Prof Mahadik was playing cards close to his chest. We were totally in the dark. We congratulate Prof Mahadik for draping a cloak of secrecy on the classes today. Earlier in the day to induce a change in our daily route of travel we took a circuitous route to ASCI. We headed from Trimulgherry secunderabad to chinna tokatta to Bowenpally to Balanagar to Kukattapally to Gachhi Bowli - it was here, that under the bridge that we saw a funny advertisement.There was this ad for defoliation for a lady on one side with her arm raised and a guy with a bald head on the other side of the advertisement. This side of the Advertisement claimed that the bald chap would get hair in a reasonably short time. Both panels of the advertisement combined together presented a very funny picture. As aptly brought out By Jaggu " It almost seems that the hair from defoliation would be used on the head of the bald person" he said with a twinkle in his eyes. We needed that mood alleviating bit of fun to take our mind away from the fate that awaited us at ASCI. We were still not aware of the classes for today. On reaching the college we were heartened to see Prof Chandrasekhar. It did us good to see him after 09 Jun again - that was when he took our last class. "No I am not taking your class today" he said - much to our disappointment. After exchanging a few pleasantries with him we headed to our class. We still did not know what was in store for us. For a change the entire class was in attendance - even Sandhya and Himanshu , prior to the arrival of the instructor.
"Good Morning" said Prof Swarnalata as she entered our class. "Are you taking our class today Ma'am?" said someone inanely. She gave us a look of disbelief - as if to say - " what do you think I am here for"? The mystery was solved . It was a class on communication. It was ironic - to say the least - and funny; we were kept in the dark about a class in communication! We were very happy to have Prof Swarnalata. She is the one person who gives us the maximum leeway. and her class is full of give and take. In spite of our gentle raillery she is one instructor who keeps her cool and tackles us with ease. She straight away got down to business, and said that we had to give a presentation of fifteen minutes each , which would be recorded and then discussed threadbare. There were groans of "no not today" ." We are still recovering from the dusshera break" and so on, Having faced similar situation earlier she would take no dissent from us. " You can take a horse to the water but not make it drink" someone muttered from the back of the class." Oh yes you will drink whether you are thirsty or not" was her quick retort.
And so started the tug of war. I tried to pass of an earlier presentation and she shot it down immediately saying that we had to work on a new presentation in the class itself. Anyway we got down to working on the project. Perumal presented his viewpoint on how the farmers were being looted by the middlemen and how he would sort the whole thing out by being a better and fairer middleman. " The input by the farmers is not commensurate to the output" he thundered; " I plan to set it right by providing a better and a more level playing ground for the farmers" We wish Perumal all the best in his chosen vocation, Sandhya talked about the stress levels in the armed forces and how she would put a plan in action to alleviate the stress levels of both the soldiers and the officers - an action plan we are sure will reap rich dividends in times to come.
Sivaram was busy remotely managing last minute details about his retirement - he is retiring at the end of this month. He was wisely left alone. Himanshu spoke about space , settlements on mars and spacecrafts which would be used many times to transport people from earth to mars. His main subject was a private entrepreneur who was his idol and was involved in this project. Someday we hope to see Himanshu come to visit us from mars - with an alien Passport... More about that later.
In conclusion it was vintage Prof Swarnalata - negotiation at its best with a bunch of students who were still in a relaxing mood. In the end four presentations were delivered - and recorded. Time will I am sure bear out that similar patience and negotiation skills would stand us in good stead when we venture into this civillian world...
Yarlagadda Prasad did not make it to the class today. He was busy with medicals...Like 'need to know operations' in the Armed Forces we entered our classroom not knowing what the class was about. At this stage it could have been anything - economics , finance, marketing, Human Resource Management, or for that matter we could have been part of the two day conclave for top officials from Andhra Pradesh. Prof Mahadik was playing cards close to his chest. We were totally in the dark. We congratulate Prof Mahadik for draping a cloak of secrecy on the classes today. Earlier in the day to induce a change in our daily route of travel we took a circuitous route to ASCI. We headed from Trimulgherry secunderabad to chinna tokatta to Bowenpally to Balanagar to Kukattapally to Gachhi Bowli - it was here, that under the bridge that we saw a funny advertisement.There was this ad for defoliation for a lady on one side with her arm raised and a guy with a bald head on the other side of the advertisement. This side of the Advertisement claimed that the bald chap would get hair in a reasonably short time. Both panels of the advertisement combined together presented a very funny picture. As aptly brought out By Jaggu " It almost seems that the hair from defoliation would be used on the head of the bald person" he said with a twinkle in his eyes. We needed that mood alleviating bit of fun to take our mind away from the fate that awaited us at ASCI. We were still not aware of the classes for today. On reaching the college we were heartened to see Prof Chandrasekhar. It did us good to see him after 09 Jun again - that was when he took our last class. "No I am not taking your class today" he said - much to our disappointment. After exchanging a few pleasantries with him we headed to our class. We still did not know what was in store for us. For a change the entire class was in attendance - even Sandhya and Himanshu , prior to the arrival of the instructor."Good Morning" said Prof Swarnalata as she entered our class. "Are you taking our class today Ma'am?" said someone inanely. She gave us a look of disbelief - as if to say - " what do you think I am here for"? The mystery was solved . It was a class on communication. It was ironic - to say the least - and funny; we were kept in the dark about a class in communication! We were very happy to have Prof Swarnalata. She is the one person who gives us the maximum leeway. and her class is full of give and take. In spite of our gentle raillery she is one instructor who keeps her cool and tackles us with ease. She straight away got down to business, and said that we had to give a presentation of fifteen minutes each , which would be recorded and then discussed threadbare. There were groans of "no not today" ." We are still recovering from the dusshera break" and so on, Having faced similar situation earlier she would take no dissent from us. " You can take a horse to the water but not make it drink" someone muttered from the back of the class." Oh yes you will drink whether you are thirsty or not" was her quick retort.
And so started the tug of war. I tried to pass of an earlier presentation and she shot it down immediately saying that we had to work on a new presentation in the class itself. Anyway we got down to working on the project. Perumal presented his viewpoint on how the farmers were being looted by the middlemen and how he would sort the whole thing out by being a better and fairer middleman. " The input by the farmers is not commensurate to the output" he thundered; " I plan to set it right by providing a better and a more level playing ground for the farmers" We wish Perumal all the best in his chosen vocation, Sandhya talked about the stress levels in the armed forces and how she would put a plan in action to alleviate the stress levels of both the soldiers and the officers - an action plan we are sure will reap rich dividends in times to come.
Sivaram was busy remotely managing last minute details about his retirement - he is retiring at the end of this month. He was wisely left alone. Himanshu spoke about space , settlements on mars and spacecrafts which would be used many times to transport people from earth to mars. His main subject was a private entrepreneur who was his idol and was involved in this project. Someday we hope to see Himanshu come to visit us from mars - with an alien Passport... More about that later.
In conclusion it was vintage Prof Swarnalata - negotiation at its best with a bunch of students who were still in a relaxing mood. In the end four presentations were delivered - and recorded. Time will I am sure bear out that similar patience and negotiation skills would stand us in good stead when we venture into this civillian world...
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