Good Old Days!

GOOD OLD DAYS

Ha, just finished with the event for the year at the school the kids are going to. The Annual Concert, titled “Think Out Of The Box”. Now I can breathe easy till next December, hopefully. The whole thing was by the children of the school – the scripting, directing, organizing, designing, et al. A wonderful effort and major confidence booster. It’s just that when watching the plays that I got a little rattled. And let me not even go close to discussing the dresses, the songs they danced to, the dialogues in the skit and of course the costumes. Did I just time travel or is this the actual reality? I mean the kids were mouthing dialogues which even my college plays didn’t match in content. They were talking about boyfriend ditching, father cheating on mother, etc. So yes, I was a wee bit disturbed when I heard them. I fail to understand the rush the li’l girls are in to grow up. You have got your whole life for that. Enjoy your childhood and adolescence and allow us to enjoy having you around as kids. No wonder it’s called the jet age and I just don’t like travelling at this speed.

The long ride back home in the cab got me thinking about the many Annual Days (well that’s what it was called in our days) I had participated in my school days. School days were fun. Some of my close friends are from my school days.  Life was rocking and oh, so simple. Annual days were school events - for the parents, by the school. No cleaning the bank accounts to pay for everything from the costumes to the venue or the snacks. Phew, it would’ve been cheaper to go on a small vacation!  Parents would happily cramp up and settle down under the shamiana erected in the school playground. The stage would be made up of the school desks put together and tied up. Of course, we (I mean the school) later graduated to using the local tent walla to do the job, so we had one less job to do.

Preparations would start off a month in advance since we had to make the props and decorations. I remember in one of the school’s I had attended, the primary classes were tasked with making the multicolour streamers and ribbons, and the senior classes had to make the props. The artistically gifted children did the drawing and the lesser skilled ones filled them with colours. I don’t remember any themes or titles for our Annual Days. We did plays, which were shortened and rewritten to fit the time allotted. There was always one comedy and one thriller. The parents of the students participating in these plays would be sworn to secrecy not to reveal the story or the ending. The parents promised and we, in all our naivety, believed them. Those were the days! Alas, how I miss them.

The children with good English writing skills were roped in to do the script, with the help of the English teacher. Those were some really high standards to maintain, believe me when I tell you that. In my last school, we were taught English by the Principal and nothing would please her. And when she expressed her displeasure, well we needed a translator (I don’t think Shashi Tharoor is in any way related to her but I won’t be surprised if they are!). So, with such expectations, we worked and delivered.  

And then there were the dances. No Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga or Bollywood numbers please. There was always a welcome song and dance, with girls dressed up in tradition dresses (mostly resembling the bharatnatyam costume). The rangolis had teams of children slogging over to create visual masterpieces. That was rivalry at its creative best! Then followed the remaining programs. They were mostly folk or tribal dances. The accompanying songs were normally folk songs, sung by the students. I remember one bhangra dance where the kids were dancing with so much gusto that the stage started shaking dangerously. The all-time favorite Goan dance would have a peppy number in Konkani language. We had even done the famous Cheraw dance, or more popularly known as the Bamboo dance, from Mizoram (I’m wondering if our kids know where this state is?). It was a herculean task managing the traditional costumes but we did it. It is still one of my most cherished memories. It was just a wonderful learning experience. No wonder we learnt so much about our country without even the internet or google!

At the end of the programs, the children waited with bated breath for the chief guest to make THE announcement, that it would be a holiday the next day. And the hall would break into a rapturous clapping and shouting as soon it was announced! It all looks so funny and silly now, but back then it was close to heaven. The camaraderie shared with the teachers on those days was so uncomplicated. No WhatsApp, no Instagram. Just them and us. No wonder they knew each one of us inside-out, much better than we did ourselves. They knew our strengths and how to use it for our own betterment. I remember once the complete responsibility of managing the backstage was given to a group of notorious boys from the senior classes. It was a big risk but our Principal (Father Francis, God bless him!) stuck to his decision. The results were totally unexpected. Not one item lost or misplaced, the programs progressed seamlessly with no chaos behind the scenes. Their organizing skills would put our present grossly-overpaid event managers to shame. I don’t know where those boys are now but I’m sure they are doing well with the lessons learnt then.

I know, I know I digressed but can’t help it. Every time I start off about my school days I just can’t seem to stop. So many memories, each jostling to gain a few extra seconds of my attention. I guess we each feel that way. But will our children also feel this way? I mean it’s all so disconnected and commercial now, will they feel this nostalgic years later? Their minds are so visually overloaded because of the myriad options, they will need to declutter their minds before they can preserve such gems for posterity. Either ways, at least now I don’t laugh or smirk when I hear someone older say “In my time….”

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Happiness At Your Tips

1. Jumpstart your Day!

Your attitude when you wake up sets the tone for the day. So start your day with a smile and a happy heart. Mornings are best if you want to do some exercising. 30 to 40 minutes are enough to elevate your mood and make you feel better. This should be an absolute must-do on our daily schedule. After all the excessive indulgence of food and drinks and fast-paced lifestyle, exercising will lead you to be more conscious about your body. Exercising need not be restricted to the high-end gyms with the expensive personal trainers. It need not be a HIIT circuit or running a marathon. It could be anything that you enjoy which would make you sweat it out. A yoga session, a game of badminton or tennis, a few laps in the swimming pool, a run around the playground. Anything but something meaningful, something focused, with honesty. The only person reaping the benefits is yourself. Our lifestyles don’t allow the luxury of time to indulge in “me-time”. Let’s not use that as an excuse. If we can make time to sit and relax before the TV, watching senseless, mind numbing programs being repeated in different formats in different channels, I’m sure we can manage a few minutes to do something more useful for our own self. The changes will not be restricted to just the physical but will also extend to our mental health. We will begin to feel nice about ourselves. Our posture improves as we walk tall, indirectly impressing everyone with our growing confidence. The calmness of the mind reflects on the face. All this happens because we decided to love ourselves and spend some quality time on nurturing our weary body, heart and mind.    

2. Food for Thought

While some people live to eat and others eat to live. Neither of the options is a healthy one. Enjoying eating and trying out new things is a passion incomparable. But that doesn’t mean we have to gorge on unhealthy food right from the time we wake up. It’s important to understand food and make the necessary changes towards a healthy balance. Skipping breakfast is an absolute NO. On the contrary; breakfast is and should become the most important meal of the day. Various studies have time and again proved that breakfast should not be avoided. It’s the first meal of the day, after a long gap during the night. A balanced breakfast provides the body with the much-needed energy to start off the day. A well-fed stomach will prevent distraction because of hunger pangs when you should instead be concentrating on work. The type of food we eat also affects our mood; like rich heavy food makes us sluggish and dull. Instead on gorging on oily burgers or chole-bature during the delayed lunch break, develop a habit of having small meals at regular intervals. This way your stomach is always full, and you don’t have to stuff yourself because you are starving. Include healthier options like salads and yogurts. Avoid bakery products which are full of white flour and sugar. Small changes can slowly but surely bring about big differences in our lives.  

3. Don’t be shy. Be heard

It’s nice to express your opinion or thoughts, and not keep them to yourself at all times. There’s a difference between being assertive and being aggressive. Being assertive needs you to be confident of what you are thinking, of knowing what is correct and what is suitable for the situation, of being in tune with the requirements and feelings of the others around. The person who is aggressive would be operating with only himself or herself in mind. This kind of attitude certainly doesn’t help in building a strong team or fostering team spirit. In a team, everyone matters. So speak up. Your thought counts. People who tend to keep to themselves, seldom speaking out, get ignored and gradually fade into oblivion. This leads to isolation, both social and emotional. These people are more susceptible to suffering from depression or low self-esteem. So, first step to feeling better is to talk; talk to your family, your peers, friends and colleagues. Whenever possible, step up and contribute to the discussion, express your ideas doesn’t matter how weird or funny or irrelevant you think they are. Let people notice you. Being heard makes one feel more important and increases our self-worth.

4. Enrich your Life by investing in Experiences

There’s no escaping the realities of life – the mad rat-race, to come out on the top. But is it all you want to do with your life? I mean when you encapsulate your life, it should not be restricted to just going to work and back. Travel, see new places, explore the lesser known. There’s so much to see and explore that even a lifetime dedicated to it is not enough. Studies have shown that travelling is one of most favoured forms of destressing and always ensures a sense of satisfaction. Choose your style. Or pick up a hobby you have been wanting to learn for some time. Join some classes – baking, painting, dramatics, languages. Don’t restrict yourself to the same old rut. Invest time in yourself. It’s the best form of investment, with assured high returns in the form of happiness and contentment. Every time you look back, it’s bound to bring a smile to face. Material acquisitions bring temporary happiness and have a shelf life, which lasts as long as their requirement exists. So, don’t be miser when investing in experiences. Surround yourself with happy memories like photographs and memorabilia from various trips or celebrations, or of your family and friends. It will never fail to bring a smile to your face. Happiness depends on small things, if only we knew where to look.

5.  Let the Challenges test you and make you Stronger

One who said life was a walk in the park, has either never lived or hasn’t been born. Life is all about challenges - big, small, beautiful, horrible, enriching, depressing, learning, unlearning. In short it is full of experiences. And it is these experiences that make us who we are. Challenges are seldom easy and often test you. The only choice you have is to face them. Running away does not make them disappear; they just become more daunting and overwhelming, waiting to devour you. So the simplest thing to do is to first accept it and then work towards resolving it. Procrastinating or ignoring it magnifies the challenges at hand. This leads to unnecessary building up of anxiety and stress. Work on the problems. What needs to be done, how to go about it, when to start work on it, etc. - all these questions require your attention. Making a list always helps organise your work and also makes it look doable. Prioritise the jobs for better results. Find out what calms you – many agree that listening to music is therapeutic. Try it. Maybe listening to your favourite tunes will make the work more enjoyable, and assist you in completing a task that was otherwise a dreary challenge. Look at it as a path to rediscovering yourself, learning more about who you are and what you are capable of.     

6. Be Grateful.

Feeling grateful is the first step towards becoming a better person. We need to understand that we do not work in isolation. There are many seen/unseen people assisting us as we go through our day. So often we tend to take things for granted and notice them only in their absence. Being grateful makes us more humble and empathetic. One is better able to appreciate others and look beyond ourselves. Our daily lives are structured and moulded to make us the centre, self-involved and selfish people, with little time for anyone or anything else. And time is off premium value. In these circumstances learning to be grateful is important. It is not only the acknowledgement of the contribution of others in our lives but also creating an awareness about our surroundings. Start off with simple changes like smiling more often, being nice to people you meet, greeting them with a positive vibe, using those magic words we all learnt at school, saying thank you and please generously, and most importantly being grateful. There’s enough anger and negativity without you trying to add to it. So try sincerely. You will notice the wonderful results soon enough, encouraging not just you but others, those who have benefitted from your benevolence, bringing forth more such changes.   

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Not Another Social Gathering

Gathering of any sort, where there are more than a few unknown faces, is certainly not for me. I prefer the comfort of friendly known faces where each one is stripped of his or her mask. I enjoy and cherish the time spent with the few friends I have.

Social interactions are not one of my favourite activities and I have over the years put in the very best efforts to be as inconspicuous as possible. And what gets my goat is the first thing people, the unknown, never-met-before, ask is if I’m on FB or Instagram or twitter?  I mean ask me my name and interests and hobbies and qualifications and I can start connecting with you. But why the social media handles (I hate this word - I mean handle to what, my life, your control?) excuse me Mr/Ms Sorry-didn’t-get-your-name, don’t you have anything better to do than to peek into my life?    

I joined FB after a lot of persuasion and cajoling from my friends since all, yes all of them without fail, are inhabitants of this virtual world. Even my ground floor neighbour has sent me a request and I’ve met her just a couple of times when going to my car. Thankfully my dhobi and sabjiwalla haven’t sent me any requests (I'm still reconciling to my maid sending me Whatsapp messages and forwards!)

So back to attending social events. Yeah would love to attend some book releases and something related to books. Had attended a few when I was working for a publishing house. Thoroughly enjoyed the interactions. (Even more the wonderful spread of snacks and beverages. Absolutely heavenly!) I did make some contacts there, actual contacts where I physically sighted the person, introduced ourselves, exchanged cards and later kept in touch. But that’s it. I prefer this kind of connecting. I attended a book reading once. I came back with a bunch of complimentary unsold or unpopular books by the same publisher. Some were interesting but the rest went into the trash bin. 

So, yeah, I guess social events are not my scene till it’s something that gets MY attention, not my social media handle’s!  

Book Review of VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED – Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts

The opening phrase on the cover describes it as “a shocking true story of hope, betrayal and Nazi terror”. It’s that and much more. It’s about people. Good people, bad people and, the worst of them all, the indifferent people. Voyage of the Damned is another beautiful book describing the Nazi politics. It brings to light an important point, which normally tends to get ignored in most of the books with similar settings, that not every German was a Nazi or Nazi follower. There were good Germans, who were proud of being Germans and were also good human beings.

The book is about a shipload of Jewish passengers, escaping persecution by the Nazis. Some of the Jews had been released from concentration camps and given a few days to move out of Germany. In the case of them being found after the stipulated period, it was back to the concentration camp and the gas chambers. Some of the passengers were luckily not arrested but were trying their best to escape from Germany before the Gestapo caught up with them. Some were trying to escape alone, some with their families. They came from diverse background. Some were well established professionals and had enjoyed moving with the crème-de-la-crème of the society. Some belonged to the middle class, working hard to provide their families with a decent life. But it didn’t matter what they did in another lifetime. Their biggest, and only, crime was that they were JEWS. And that made them the target for oppression and exploitation of the worst kind.

St Louis was helmed by Captain Gustav Schroeder, a man who took pride in his work and the efficiency of his crew. A thorough gentleman and decent German soul who “loathed the Nazi ideology” so much so that he briefed his crew to treat the passengers with the same attention that they offered their regular passengers. The crew respected their captain and did their very best to make the passengers comfortable once onboard. There was, unavoidably, a party leiter onboard along with a dozen party workers. Their only job was to constantly remind the passengers about their status and the Nazi dominance. On the part of the Nazis, under the instructions of Joseph Goebbels, who was their Minister of Propaganda, propaganda agents had been sent to Cuba to create an anti-Semitism atmosphere and spread misinformation about the arriving refugees.  

The ship sailed from Hamburg on May 13, 1939,  for Havana in Cuba. The book covers a few passengers and their experiences, both before and after, embarking the ship. After an uneventful passage they reached Havana and that’s when trouble started. They were not allowed to come alongside at the port as the Cuban officials did not find the visas issued to them ‘correct’. The truth being that the propaganda machinery had successfully planted doubts in the minds of the otherwise compliant nation. Days of negotiations between the rehabilitation committee and various government officials went round in circles but to no avail. The desperate passengers sent cables to as many world leaders as possible to help them out. US was adamant about not taking any more Jewish refugees for political reasons. UK and France were in two minds. The ship had to sail out of the Cuban territorial waters to avoid any further complications. They sailed around aimlessly, with depleting fuel and food stocks, while the refugee rehabilitation committee worked relentlessly to get some country to accept them. Finally the governments of Belgium, Holland, France and England agreed to take the refugees. The story ends with the passengers being sent to the various refugee camps in the respective countries. On Jun 21, 1939, the last of the refugee passengers stepped ashore in Southampton amid great fanfare. 

The narration is crisp and to the point. The events were described as they had actually happened. The humanness of the ship’s passage touches you as you feel their happiness, sadness, desperation, frustration, anxiety, hopelessness and despair. Each one them, the passengers and the crew, was a victim of circumstances beyond their control and understanding. One cannot ignore the efforts put in by the crew. They were commendable and brave. Going against the Nazi policies and helping the Jews was not for the fainthearted. It’s a well-documented and researched narrative, given along with photographs and timeline. A must read for all who enjoy the World War II genre.