DEMS School..

Defence Employees Matriculation School (DEMS) which was formerly known as Cordite Factory Employees Education Society School (CFEES) is the place I wish to go back someday... This was fondly called by people as "society school" and its where i have lots and lots of sweet fond memories... The little town aruvankadu boasted of about 5 schools and easily this was the best primary school I would say (though lot of KV students might disagree)....

Name anything good and this school had it... Starting from standard of education to moral ethics to discipline, sports to culturals, arts and crafts - everything came as package for a DEMS student.... This was the place which taught me what co education is all about... how to keep oneself clean, tidy and healthy... If a school that cared for students and competed with many "convents" it was this lovely little school..... The school was affiliated to CBSE when it was CFEES and in 1991 it became DEMS in affiliation to the matriculation board... The name, uniform and affiliation changed but not anything else... It was still the same fun filled strict school.....

Mrs. Sreedevi Raja was the principal who admitted me in class 1 in 1988..She taught us hindi and incidentally that was her last year there. She was soft, kind and calm and I dont remember seeing her being harsh on any human being..Mrs. Malathi Subramaniam took over as principal in 1989 and she served this school till 1998 (I studied there only till 1993)...

A book can be written about her, for all that positive influence she had on each student under her.... She was fondly called as "MADAM" by everyone....She was much different from the previous principal and under Madam DEMS transformed from a kindergarden to a school that became a competition to even "convents"...If Sourav Ganguly transformed Indian cricket, Madam did it several times better than that to DEMS.

She was an epitome of sincierity, dignity, discipline, perfection and affection.... It was her creative ideas and freedom she gave the students/teachers that made DEMS the most attractive school in any events celebration.. The thought of standing in front of her itself terrorised students and that kept them within lines. She never hesitated to cane the whole school of 200 odd students... all at same time!!! Such an disciplinarian she was. . . She was equally caring too - took all efforts to make sure that somebody ill got the proper attention and treatment...

The annual days and sports days were grandeurs is the least one can say about. . Infact celebrations in the name of rehearsals would start about a month before and it was always festive mood there. Every student was given opportunity to showcase their talent, at times forced as well. . Events like independence day, republic day, teacher' s day and children's day meant there was something or the other to be celebrating all time. . .

The other events that made the years activity filled were elocution competition, memory test, drawing competition, general knowledge test, fancy dress competition, mono acting, whoof..!!!!! and many more to mention.. .The day began with assembly during which madam said a "thought for the day" and we were also allowed to say short stories and thoughts. . . Birthdays were made special with the whole school wishing the birthday baby during the assembly; the person celebrating birthday was treated royally in the sense never got punished for any offence that day - i mean it really...

In a place where everything was good something wasnt ok... Yes!!!! and that was the main and foremost reason I wanted to switch over to other school, probably the biggest mistake of my life for a long long time...While all other schools had holiday on Saturdays, DEMS seldom gave holiday on a saturday and that made me hate this lovely little school and all the good things there. Here I have to mention that DEMS was actually generous in holidays but for saturdays..Heavy rains and a tree fall were sufficient enough to declare an holiday...Till date I wonder why such a generous place acted like a miser with regard to saturdays...

All said and done nothing can even come close to what DEMS was... This is something al the DEMS pass out will agree. Particularly all those did the same mistake as me and moved to the dirty CFHSS at various stages of life.....

Eclipse...

The longest solar eclipse of the millennium occurred on 15th January 2010 and I knew nothing about it. Just a day earlier one of my friends told me about the eclipse and as usual I did not bother to know if it is a solar or lunar eclipse, after all a night duty for me meant I could comfortably sleep without any worries... I woke up at my usual time, logged into internet, read about Ricky Ponting's 200 and yet another familiar pakistan collapse...With another 4 hours to duty I slept again... Amidst such a busy schedule I missed the eclipse totally....

Eclipses are astronomical events of greatest significance to all those who are interested in science and astrology, but somehow these events never evoked any sort of interest in me for long time....Events such as this has only irritated me more simply because my normal routine got disturbed....Needless to say it wasnt eclipse effect but the rules I had to follow during such days....Food only after bathing, no eating during eclipse hours, no outdoor playing meant I had to starve unnecessarily for long duration and my freedom curtailed for sometime.... Certainly my genius brain was not meant to be this way....

Just like most inquisitive science students I also wondered why these eclipses happen??? but then the reasons for my query were:

• most of the times it happened in non working hours or school never gave us holiday...
• these events never changed my fortunes anyway except that the teachers drilled us with more questions on eclipse and learnt from us..
• the eating/bathing had to be altered so badly that I never wanted any change in my routine...
• why cant these events be treated just like any other normal day....

I vaguely remember a complete solar eclipse that happened in 1995 and some partial eclipse in 1999... On both the occasions it wasnt visible in nilgiris but still the eclipse rules were followed...This latest eclipse too wasnt visible here and am glad I didnt waste my time trying to find it in the sky.....

January 8th - A flashback...

A lot of people have asked me how I manage to remember dates so accurately but to me it just happens and I neither make any special efforts for nor write any diaries.. Many of you who know that I have this habit of remembering dates might think January 8th is just another such day, but to me its a very very special date.....For all those who have more than one degree behind their name might not remember their convocation dates... Well even those with single degree, how many of u remember ur convocation dates???? Doesn't ur convocation date deserve to feature in one of ur memorable days?? Of course it deserves to be one for me....8th January 2005...

I had purchased a new set of dress ( a baby pink shirt based on my cousin Jayendran's suggestion - I still treasure this shirt) and a pair of shoes, borrowed his 'Tie' as well. It was only the first time I wore a tie after DEM school days (class 5), but it didnt look odd as my friends were also dressed similar to the occasion... Our personality loading - we call took so much time that we ended up just on time and as usual were unhappy about the colour of the robe!!!(yellow - yuks....!!!), but had no choice...

On 8th January 2005 my convocation took place in the 3rd floor auditorium at the Madras Medical Mission, Chennai. This was the same place where I wrote my written entrance est and passed!!!!!!! The same Titanic music was there again....(nostalgic!!!!!!!!!!!).. But this time no worried faces and instead many smiling faces were seen...For the first time I missed my family members... Later many days after the function did i realize that someone had come for everyone except mine.... It was a small regret then as I had decided I wouldnt give myself another opportunity for another convocation....But then I was very excited about getting my degree (I at times wonder why I was so excited)..

Its five years with today since i received my degree from Dr. Paul Wilson, a Pediatric Cardiologist from the UK. Receiving the degree from someone who was involved in pediatric work made me happier. Dr. Robert Coelho who was more of a mentor than a boss always lead by example and Dr. Rajesh sharma, my boss then and now who amazed me with his extra ordinary sixth sense were the two 'magical' people I had known then were present - thanks to the Pediatric congress held there that day....The presence of these two people who inspired me was icing on the cake and I will cherish that moment for long long time...

2009 - A review

Here I am back with to my latest interest after a break, of course it was intentional.. 2009 ended in a pretty busy manner and that meant very little time for blogging. this particular blog wd have been fitting had it been written 5 days earlier and its not to late either.. From magazines to newspapers to tabloids to news channels its all review of previous year and I too felt its appropriate to review 2009 here, a pretty good year to me... I have always had the habit of reviewing and discussing with people, a way I found to waste valuable time...

I was on night duty on 31st Dec 2008 which meant my new year was inside my unit, it was easily the most loved place to me in Delhi. At the stroke of midnight when wishes and greetings were being exchanged one of the sick kids decided to wish in his own way by attempting to die.... We successfully got the kid back and I felt that the year would bring more positive things.. At around 9 AM on 01.01.2009 one another kid who was operated the previous evening died inspite of the best of our efforts... Not an ideal way to begin the year i thought...Considering the way 2009 began (with above two incidents) it had been a pretty decent year till the last couple of months(at work)...

I could not travel as much as I wished to unlike 2008 yet managed to see few places...The year gave me a few "firsts" - first flight by AIRBUS A321, first travel by Rajdhani/ Shatabdhi trains/LHB coaches, first trip to the Konkan coast, Shirdi, Amritsar, Hyderabad and Ayodya, bought my first AC and last but not the least had the first chicken pox........

A literally absent winter meant little excitement in January which was a flight trip by Air India's newly acquired Airbus A321 and the craft landed in the newly inaugurated runway at the IGI ariport, Delhi. My first travel experience in a Rajdhani express happened in February when i took the Trivandrum Rajdhani to Panvel... It was only the first time i travelled in a train that consistently hit 130kmph and it was truely amazing to have covered close to 1550 km in less than 18 hrs and just 3 stoppages!!!! My first visit to Shirdi too happened in the same week and the journey was just awesome through the Thul ghats and the NH3...

March was probably the least exciting month of 2009 with just a adventurous trip by Shalimar express to Saharanpur (I had slept and missed the earlier train and just boarded this on time).. Few more trips by Rajdhanis (LHB rakes) and dad s retirement happened in April along with an midnight flight to Delhi (an adventure according to me).I avoided adventures in May due to scorching summer and ended up purchasing my first brand new AC......

June was probably the most eventful month of the year - my cousin's wedding took place, my first visit to Hyderabad (Only major bus travel this year) and I got my second successful ACLS certification... On June 18 after getting the ACLS certificate i was feeling pretty sick and attributed the sickness to excessive reading!!!!! A nap should have made me better but it didnt.... The tired and sick feeling never stopped me from chatting online with people...It was also a season when many of collegues were getting affected with chicken pox...If not for the word of caution and concern from my colleague Mrs.Annie I would have never noticed that I was affected by pox...And it took the expertise of colleague Dr. Manukumar to confirm the diagnosis and for once he made his decision fast......In less then 2 hours I was in airport ready to fly home....It was monsoon time in Mumbai but 2009 it had different ideas....June ended fittingly with a train trip to Pune on a rainy day and return on the most scenic PUNE - MUMBAI EXPRESSWAY..

July was pretty much uneventful and the summer continued to irritate me as ever before. August was time for a "family reunion". We made our first family tour since 2003 and the destination was the Konkan coast... No sight is prettier than the Konkan region during the monsoon....A dream I cherished for long time came true - travel by konkan railway..I wish I could do another trip sometime in future....So much travelling included a journey by shatabdhi express, a very turbulent journey by Jet airways (one of the worst flight experiences I have ever had) and adventurous journey by private buses on the konkan region with a unforgettable half hour "Anbe Sivam" kind trip to Murudeshwar as well.....

Ever since September life got too busy but still I visited Amritsar, another place I dreamt ever since I have heard of golden temple... Amritsar trip is something I have reserved to write in future and probably lot of people would love reading it....The busy work schedule continued and I spent more time in hospital all through October, November and December... Thanks to extremely generous and kind colleagues and superiors I was still able to make a trip to Ayodya, another good experience I would cherish for my life....

I wish I could write more about 2010 and hoping that this year challenges me more than the previous years and more impotantly I wish atleast this year I get some genuine followers for all the crap I write......Its high time that all of u willingly or unwillingly start writing comments to encourage me to write more......