JOB P K AND ME

 

TRIVANDRUM THAT IS THIRUVANANTHAPURAM  MARCH 2026

 Job P K: Is it part of your autobiography?

Me: Not yet

Me: I wrote what was within me. It's a rambling style.

It begins abruptly. Ends abruptly.

The advantage is you can either balloon it or reduce it or constrict it.

 Job P K: But Govindan may not remember any of this

Me: At least you do.

U C COLLEGE ALWAYE THAT IS ALUVA NOW

Let me reminisce.

The period begins from June  1965

From a cocooned life at Munnar, I found myself plucked out and planted at the New Hostel, UCCollege.

Away from home for the first time in life everything was new to me. 

I was scared.

There was the minor matter of the change in medium to English

While at school at Munnar I had read about ragging in colleges. I was afraid someone would do scary things to me.

First Predegree, I moved around without attracting anyone's attention.

I must say I was unfit for College and especially Hostel life. 

Then I watched from a distance two aggressive seniors of 2nd predegree, residents of Skinner Hostel. 

I could see them moving around making a lot of noise. I still remember the red tight pants and the pointed shoes of the shorter among the two. The other too wore tight pants. They would shout galliyam always. 

If I found them anywhere, I used to keep myself away from them and kept always a safe distance from them. 

I was successful. They never saw me.

They were inseparable. The shorter of the two was Job and the other was Govindan

One year over, I was in the 2nd year Predegree 

Predegree over, I went to join BSc chemistry at UC collge. There he was, Govindan in my class. And at the hostel, I found Job. He was in special BSc Physics. 

They had shed their pants. Mundu was the costume most of the time. 

I found out they had failed in the 2nd year Predegree. They passed it when they wrote again.

Now they were nonviolent. Very friendly. Totally transformed. They were studious. They had good results. I heard the short man joined BARC and my classmate joined some Eloor company.

Around 2 years ago MIThomas contacted or it might be the other way. He said Job and Govindan are Americans now. But Job had a flat in Trivandrum.

The long and short of it. MP reconnected us. 

And we are connected now.

WE ARE TWO

 

We are two

We are together

                                                                          

                                                                                 

                                                                                          

THE SMILE

  

The ever lasting smile. 

Lonely it stands

The smile 

Mesmerises you

                                                                 

God's wonderful creation

     

                                                                    Look at this beauty.

                                                     It's God's wonderful creation. 

                                              No man can create something like this.

                                                                 Majestic it is.

                                                                     

  

GOOGLE PAY

 

Google pay

The tubeless tyre on the rear left of our Maruti Swift was showing a disturbing picture.  Against the mandated tyre pressure of 33 PSI, the reading was 16 PSI around three weeks ago. The front tyres read 35 PSI against the mandated 36 PSI. And the rear right was 31 PSI.

Nitrogen was filled to the indicated levels. A week ago when I  checked the left rear tyre it had  read 24 PSI whereas the rest had the mandated values. . I took the car to the workshop two days ago.  There was no loss of nitrogen  except in the rear left that read 30 PSI. The tyre technician told me it seemed  there was nothing wrong

But I insisted that the tyre was taken off for inspection. The technician complied. I saw him inspecting the tyre. Initially he said there was no puncture. But he continued with the inspection. Then he said there was a leak  at the  valve stem or tire valve. 

I enquired whether he had the spare. He said yes. The valve stem was replaced. The tyre technician refitted the wheel. Nitrogen was filled in all the tyres.

I asked how much I should pay. He said Three hundred Rupees. I took out a Rs. 500 currency note. He said he had no change. He advised me to pay through G pay. He said it is what everyone did. It preempted the need  for the counting of cash and keeping physical cash balance. I took out my phone. The amount was paid. 

The tyre technician said GPay was convenient as all his payments were through the innovative medium.

I enquired whether he was able to save some funds this way. He said nothing. At the end of the day he was observing that  whatever had come in was vanishing as fast as it appeared in the bank account. 

I replied he had to tweak his cash management.  I advised him to open four Recurring Deposit accounts with his bank for a period of one year. He could submit standing instructions to the bank to transfer Rs.1000.00 every week to  the designated Recurring deposit accounts. It meant a monthly savings of Rs.4000.00 and an annual availability of Rs.48000.00 that could take care of his larger needs. I added if he felt Rs.4000.00 would be  difficult, he could limit it to Rs.1000.00 per month. 

The tyre technician said he was unaware of the potential as no one had oriented him like this way,  beforehand. 

I said no one could survive without saving in trickles.

When I reached home I narrated the incident to Lila. She said this was exactly why she had been clamouring we should have UPI payment facility. Earlier, she had been blaming me for not joining the GPay band wagon when it dawned in India. According to her we had been losing out on  opportunities because of my adamance. She explained that the major chunk of Ashwin's business was through UPI that had been adopted by the commonest of common people as well as the well off.

I told her I had refrained because we could manage without the UPI facility. Further it was flattening out the savings of the people. However, I had shifted from my views on her suggestion and had jumped into the UPI like everyone else.

But it wasn't that simple.  We had to apply for  debit card first. Once we had it we were able to key into the GPay segment.

Armed with the GPay, Lila went to purchase some fruits. But the GPay did not work. The shopkeeper told her to take the fruits home and make her payment from home. At home she paid the bill through GPay.

But she was shocked when the shopkeeper rang her up at 11.30pm after two days and scolded her for not making the payment through GPay as she had been advised. The call didnot inconveninence her as she was a late sleeper. 

Lila is always game.  She retorted like the  smilling assassin. She told the shopkeeper to look at his bank statement and revert.

The shopkeeper didnot call her again.

But Lila said she had enough of GPay and she was scared to employ GPay anymore.

We assured her it was a one off failure and that such issues would never visit her again.

 

EVANA PICTURISES HER FRIEND

                                                       EVANA PICTURISES HER FRIEND

                                                           

 

WHO HAS THE FINAL WORD

 

2033 years ago, a man named Jesus, claimed the Jerusalem Temple for God.  The Temple was a large space with a central sanctuary and ancillary buildings. Pilgrims gathered there.

Jesus made a point when he acted against the business in sacrificial animals and against levying of a fee for supplications or prayers.

The Temple was the power base of Jerusalem's top priestly families. To them Jesus was a dangerous irritant. They considered him a loose cannon. An unstable maverick, they did not want him on their turf. They hated him for drawing crowds and disrupting the trade at the Temple. They were furious towards Jesus for the disturbance he caused in their  sedentary lives.

They acted with all their might against Jesus. And we have the blessed  Easter that succeeds the cruelties and sufferings of   the Good Friday.

The Jerusalem Temple is in our midst.

The posers are, "Where is the Church headed for, today?"

"And who has the final word here, the power brokers or the affluent  or Jesus?"