In other words!

It was surely not just another day at office. I was extremely excited, ever since I learnt that Sudha Murthy would be coming down for a 'Literati' session. 'Literati' was the initiative by the Books Interest Group @ SAP Labs India. I have never been an avid reader, although I have great interest in reading articles and analysing the emotions any writing piece/movie has to render. I am not sure why I never picked up this habit of reading, although my mother was an avid reader herself and had her own collection of books, in Hindi though.

I had eagerly been waiting to hear what Mrs.Murthy had to share. Ironically, I had never read any of her writings barring a couple of articles here and there, which appeared in newspapers the famous ones being about her letter to JRD, or how she went dating dutch with Mr.Murthy.

Considering that I have to commute 4 hours which ate away 2 hours of my working day, I still thought this would be a session worth attending. It was a session supposedly more focussed on her books/writing, however she chose to stay informal, answering our questions.

Overall it was a very practical talk, by a lady who quoted herself as 'impractical'. She seemed to be a strong, sensible and simple person who had simple dreams. I did have a couple of take aways from this one hour of Mrs.Murthy.

Of late, ever since Ferose took over as the MD of SAP Labs , we had the opportunity to meet several celebrities. I was happy about this initiatiave and in fact wanted to suggest the Marcomm team to have a place where people could state whom they wanted to hear in the next few interactive sessions. I had my own list to start with, Narayana Murthy, Chethan Bhagat, Dr.Devi Shetty and many more.

Recently, Dr.Kalam had come over and in fact it was a session in high demand. After all, who wouldnt want to watch him speak in just a few feet away from yourself. Getting back to take aways from Mrs.Murthy's talk, she had some sensible things to say which we quite often forget, although we know it.

1. Chidren are not your unfulfilled dreams - Like it or no, it is very natural for many of us in a society like ours, to have dreams for our children much before they are born. As they grow up, the dreams only become strong. We least realise, children have their own dreams as they grow up.

2. Take it easy - This was the advice for parents of today. She highlighted the fact that nowadays, most of us have just one or two children and we are monitoring them too much. Maybe it is because of our long absences at home, considering the mother is a working mother mostly. She asked us to stop being too conscious about the child and allow them to live/do things at their own pace. I quite agreed with what she said, as I have seen myself over-reacting to silly things, which often my spouse points too as well. However, at that point in time, if you react so you do it, because thats the way you feel. She conveyed, that children would also not like being
patrolled, just like how we would not want to be watched by our bosses at work or MILs at home ;)

3. Age no bar for learning - I was surprised when she said, she was still pursuing a diploma in some subject and had 3 teachers currently. I appreciated the urge in her to learn. I had several times mentioned to my colleagues, that I have this strong desire to learn to play the guitar. I am no music person but for the fact that I am a good bathroom singer and have my own set of favourites. I have stored this desire to be fulfilled when life is not fast paced unlike now.
I have been wanting to do reading of late, but it never happened for whatever reason.Maybe this will inspire me to start reading.

4. Writing - I have always wanted to write, but have never done it in a big way. Ever since I was in higher primary school, I have penned silly four line poems which have been lauded by my father. Appreciation is his forte`. I am very special to him and it is reflected in his little gestures.
Like wise, my mother has been very critical and encouraging. The right mix of appreciation, criticism and encouragement has made me the person I very much am today. Mrs.Murthy said another statement "Everybody can write". Probably, this is why I revisit my blog which I had long forgotten about more than a year ago. I always felt, if not for an engineer, I surely would have opted for journalism or would have been a critic. The writing juices always wanted to flow out.

5. Richness of a house is judged by the the number of books it has, and not the riches.
This was an impressive statement which surely not many in our country understood. It is indeed true that there is no wealth like knowledge. I developed this wish of giving my child the liking to read and develop this as a hobby. I surely will try my best to do this.