My father (80)passed away  at 3.25 am on Nov09  at Coochbehar. His Haemoglobin  level was falling  very low last few months inspite of repeated blood transfusions . Finally after a bone marrow scan Doctor traced it to Chronic Myeloid Leukemia ( CML) .By the time it was found out ,his health already deteriorated  with heart , kidney not functioning properly. He was under the treatmnent of Dr Subhash Saha . He was given imatinib by Dabur pharma – an oral chemo drug . After the fourth capsule , my father could not take it anymore and passed away. May be the doctor could have been more wise not administering this considering his health and prolong his life may be by another few weeks letting him taking the treatment from home. He was desperately pleading to  come back home but we persisted with the treatment at the hospital . He has been so active that we could never imagine he would be no more.

This August we celebrated his 80th Birthday .He has been the Commissioner at the Coochbehar Municipality . Earlier he held several important social  responsibilities  like being the President and Secretary of Coochbehar Kshatriya Samity , National Federation of P&T  Employees Union and so on . Born in Rangpur District in Bangladesh he was one of those taking the brunt of India Partition. He was a brilliant student never missing a centum in maths ! That’s why I felt so happy when my son too scored a centum in his 12th CBSE Board exam. However post partition he was forced to take up  a job very early during his graduation. He worked with the State Government for some time before joining the P&T department and  retired as the Head Postmaster of Coochbehar Head Post Office.

He was a person of extreme discipline , honesty and integrity . Disillusioned with the communist rule in Bengal he  joined the Congress party later in life. He always received tremendous respect and affection from everyone in the society irrespective of  their political affiliation. I lose count of how many needy people  he helped with his own personal resources . He never cared for his health when it came to duty for people’s happiness.

His leaving has been really royale .So many flowers , garlands and wreaths were placed over him  with  messages pouring in  and there are so many to accompany him till he is taken to the creamatorium made me feel proud of being his son. The procession carrying him went  past the entire city stopping at Coochbehar Municipal Corporation, Kshatriya Samity , Khagrabari Shiva Yagna  temple, and the district Congress party office   with his body wrapped in party tricolor and slogans of “Upen Barma Amar Rahe” .

As a father he always  gave me whatever I asked for since my childhood – right from toys  to expensiive  books , coaching or funding my studies at premier institutes ( education loans were not available that time) inspite of his very modest salary and many other responsibilities . Once he was to go to an outstation  for departmental training for six months when I was very young –about four years or so . Fearing he would go on training without taking me with him I used to tie my tiny hand in his sacred thread while sleeping ! I wish I could do so this time too  and not let him go – but  by now I lost the purity of childhood ! I keep praying that he is born soon in the best circumstance in my surrounding. My Daddy is the best. I really regret so many days I could not call him , I could not spend the kind of time he would have liked me to spend with him , I am really really sorry dad … but now you would be always with me through my prayers.

Last Saturday I was elected the Chairman of the SAE India Southern Section  for 2009-11. It’s a great honour for me to lead this esteemed organization – a position earlier held by many distinguished personalities.SAE India southern section has about 10,000 members with about 60 collegiate clubs – the largest SAE chapter outside Detroit. This picture has the new and the old managing committee members.

In my speech I stressed on the need to draw a Vision 2015 for SAE India Southern Section – how the section would look like  five years hence ? If India continues on  its growth trajectory , with the Detroit embracing a slow death , why cann’t SAE International HQR  be shifted to Chennai  ? With more than 30 % of its cost going into electronics /automotive infotronics , we need to discuss allied technologies around automotive engineering rather than focussing only on  core designs . With growing interest  in aerospace  engineering , proposed an additional conference on Aerospace technology besides holding the usual national students convention. SAE aims to advance the research, design and development of vehicles which operate on land,water,air and space.

•       I had  a great evening with Adam Gilchrist on this Saturday . Attended the event on an  invitation from the Australlian embassy.Gilchrist  came as  the brand ambassador of University of Wollongong, Australlia to promote the university in Chennai  . His brother was an alumni of the institute and Gil’s father  used to coach there.That’s how Gil got involved with the university . No prize for guessing that many of the questions they volleyed were around the recent attacks  on Indian students in Australlia. They downplayed the subject citing the stats that out of a huge Indian population in Australlia , number of such incidents are really very small and are usually blown out of proportion by media . They don’t know that my latest trick ( am sure many other Indian parents  also do the same) of keeping Aniket under check is to tell him that if you don’t make it to a good University in  US or IIMs , your next destination is going to be Australlia !

I asked him  what keeps him going ? He said , it was the desire to sacrifice for whatever you want to do. He feels , for success , there should be absolute desperation to be totally committed to whatever you are doing. He was citing the example of his missing a catch off  VVS Lakshman on one occasion ( world cup final or semi final)  just by a few inches and after a post match video analysis he saw he could have easily reached out by those  extra few inches  and taken the catch had he been totally desperate to do so . So his conclusion was that ,  to be successful , whatever you are doing , at that point of time that is the most important work for you  in the  whole world . While explaining what he did to bring a change in fortune for Deccan Charger  from IPL1 TO IPL 2 , he  gave two key reasons –(1) Leadership programme on cultural appreciation since there were seven different nationalities playing in the team including  the support staff , and (2) creating an environment where players would love to be in. To him ,  the shift from IPL 1 to IPL 2 was the biggest challenge in his cricketing career. While citing some of the difficult moments  of his wicket keeping he remembered  experience of  keeping  during VVS Lakshman’s  knock of about 290 runs at Eden and keeping against Michael Bevan , since Bevan himself  had absolutely no idea of what he was bowling !

Transformation of  Deccan Charger from IPL1 TO IPL 2 can definitely  make a good corporate lesson. I am sure  Gil  is writing on this .

In an utter shock to  human rights  supporters , Obama did  not  grant an appointment with the Tibetan Buddhist leader Dalai Lama who is on a tour to US now. This is the first time  in about ten visits Dalai Lama  made to US so far , he is  unable to meet the Highest Office in the US.Notably Obama does not want to offend  the Chinese just prior to his immediate visit to that  country. Or has China’s recent show of nuclear capable intercontinental ballistic missile passed on the chill to Uncle Sam? This incident is a major blow to the values  championed by US , the so called custodian of world democracy and human rights ! To tide over   wide spread bankruptcy and  economic slow down Obama announced historic stimulus package. For such morale bankruptcy or miscarriage of will  to uphold the human rights what could be the stimulus package ? Obama seems to be too much into the act of balancing ,  is this the change he was advocating ? Only history will say.

A few days back when my son asked me how to become a member of youth congress , I was convinced that  Rahul magic is  working in Tamil Nadu. There was a report of a few lakhs  of youth joining youth congress in Tamil Nadu. It’s a refreshing change. A vast majority of people in the state are looking for an alternative to Dravidian politics. They are also getting  sick of so called conscious keepers  joining politics such as Sharat Babu of Food King  as if highly educated ones  are beyond corruption ! The late P V Narasimha Rao was one of the most learned politicians country has ever seen but he was also the PM to be accused of being in a record number of scams. What about the ex external affairs minister Natawar Singh who was an IFS officer? Besides , smaller parties  in TN are devoid of any solid political ideology –  with many of them  trying to use their reel life celebrity status to influence voters. People , fortunately cannot be fooled in today’s i -Pod era !

Indian psyche adulates sacrifice. It is this state where Rahul’s father laid down his life trying to take the country into a new century. Contrary to his cousin Varun , Rahul has been  very matured ,striving to develop the organization , working with the Dalits and poor , understanding their problems  even though taunted severely by his  jealous peers in politics . The lure of a cabinet berth could  not deter him from his conviction . At 37 plus , he has sacrificed his youthful luxuries to stand by his mother and prove a point . He could have enjoyed a royal  luxurious life under  the Z plus security cordon  - there was no need for him to join politics with the damocles sword hanging over him. People cannot fail to take note of this sacrifice. You will not hear any scandal about him the way you hear about many of the politicians of his age. His personal integrity is beyond question . People found a Buddha in him who has left his royal abode to work with the people defying all threats and sarcasm . People especially the youth wanted such a leader – the state was starving so long for a youth leader who can be a role model to them.Naturally the response was simply unimaginable .The youth in TN found their role model – their leader , excited with the prospect of a change in the state. The worries  of a political tsunami in other political camps was quite palpable when one after another “celebrities  turned politicians “ were in undue hurry to issue their statements  denying intention to join the Congress. This further validates Rahul  magic is working in TN !