If I was an auto driver

People living in Chennai and Kolkatta should be familiar with the concept of share autos. The auto drivers have fixed rates. If you get down anywhere in a stretch of five kilometres, you have to pay four rupees, after 9 P.M. at night the fare is five rupees. This fare system works on the Udhayam theatre to Guindy route. One day as I travel by these share autos, I thought of the life these auto drivers lead.

A look at their life:

One should have finished tenth standard and started driving an auto. Just think after taking a look at these calculations. For an average student who does not study engineering, law or medicine, but some arts, science or commerce course, the fees from nursery to college graduation would range between 7 and 12 lakhs depending on the city and the institution that the student studied in, if its engineering, well then add another 3 or 4 lakhs to that number.

Suppose you own a share auto, assuming that you have taken a loan from a bank to buy the auto, then this is how the balance sheet will appear:

Monthly payment to bank-Rs 4000 (for 3 years).
Monthly petrol expenses-Rs 4000 to Rs 5000.
Monthly maintenance expenses-Rs 1000.
Monthly mamool(bribe) to the traffic police-Rs 1000 to Rs 2000.

Assuming that you ply the share auto on the Guindy to Udhayam route from morning 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. at night seven days a week, you should be able to make thirty to forty trips a day. On each trip (one way) on an average at least 15 people travel by the auto. So 15 multiplied by 4 equals to 60 rupees for one trip, a two way trip gets Rs 120. So, forty trips a day gets Rs 4800 a day.I will keep the figure to Rs 4000 for easy calculation. So at the end of a month the auto driver earns Rs 4000 multiplied by 30, that equals to Rs 120000.

If I assume that all the auto-related expenses cost Rs 15000 a month, even then he earns about a lakh of rupees every month. Much more than many IT engineers and seasoned BPO executives. Assuming that he drives a hired vehicle and pay Rs 1000 to 1500 as daily rent, then it comes around Rs 50000 to Rs 60000 a month.

There is also an added advantage of being an auto driver. Great heroes like Rajini and Vijay have acted as auto drivers. Then I could have worn khaki shirts and moved about in Rajini style singing "Auto kaaran, auto kaaran, naan naalu terinja rouute kaaran."

That is life I guess having all the adventures on the road!!!!

South India's Gift to the World

South India has produced some of the finest luminaries in the fields of arts, science, literature, theatre, etc... As far as I am concerned the simple 'idly' is the biggest contribution of South Indian culture to the world.

Just think of the soft steaming white idlies with piping hot onion, ladies finger, pumpkin, and tomato sambar, accompanied with tender white coconut chutney, and crispy golden vadas, all washed down with a cup of Madras filter coffee. A heavenly experience, nothing can beat the taste of idly with sambar and chutney.

No one knows when they were prepared for the first time. References to the idly are made in works that are more than a thousand years old. Nowadays one can find different varieties of idlies - rava idly, mixed vegetable idly, mini idly(14 small idlies floating in a bowl of steaming hot sambar), chili idly, fried idly, idly uppuma, the list is endless as one can substitute ingredients to satisfy one's taste and palate.

Happy eating...

The Toastmasters Club

Last Sunday, I had a chance to go to the Toastmasters club. The meeting was about two hours from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm. I truly enjoyed being a part of the club as it gave me an opportunity to meet people from various walks of life who meet every weekend to learn to communicate effectively. I attended the meeting as a guest for which I had to pay 100 Rs.

What is a Toastmasters club?

Toastmasters is a great organization to get lots of speaking practice and increase your confidence. Toastmasters has been in service for more than 85 years, offering enjoyable way to practice and hone communication and leadership skills.

And by becoming a member, you will:

1.     Improve your presentation skills.

2.     Increase your leadership potential.

3.     Increase your self confidence.

4.     Get rid of your fear factor.

5.     Improve your public speaking skills.

6.     Get a better command over the language.

People who are moderately/ highly fluent in English can attend the meeting. Committed individuals with high aspirations and interest in learning are most welcome to the club. For more details on Toastmasters, log on to: www.Toastmasters.org.

The Role of a Technical Writer

Technical writing can be said as writing technical information in an easy-to-understandable manner for a specific set of readers.

Many would wonder why hire a technical writer, whats their role in a Porduct company. Well ..

Why do you hire a technical writer?

·         Having an on-staff technical writer, whose only job is to create properly written, prepared, and presented documents, shows customers that you endeavor to provide a quality product.

·         A skilled technical writer researches the document's target audience, determines the information required, and delivers it in a format that fits the need.

·         Technical writers design, write, edit, and manage a variety of documents.

As technology inserts itself into every aspect of daily life, there is an increasing need for clear, concise, accurate documents to explain that technology. If developers, engineers, or other high-level staff are writing the documents, you are taking time away from the staff's development, engineering, or other important tasks. Technical people typically write technical content which is very vague for other readers.

An excellent technical writer

1.     organize information so that main points are easy to find and ideas are easy to follow.

2.     adhere to conventional rules of grammar and punctuation.

3.     communicate visually as well as verbally.

Happy blogging!!!!

Cheers to Life

Raise your hand if you are happy today. Raise your hand if you were happy yesterday. But how many of you ARE GOING TO BE happy tomorrow.  We never know that because happiness had always depended upon something or somebody.

When I was 5 years old, I was happy whenever I saw my mom waiting at my school gate to pick me up. When I was 10 years old, I was happy whenever my Maths teacher was on leave.

In my teenage, I was happy whenever my crush smiled at me.

Wow!!! Cheers to Life!!!

Don’t you all think I am really blessed? Let me narrate my story to you.

When I was 24 years old, I got happily married. On November 14, 2011, we were blessed with a cute little angel. When we thought we are the happiest couple, our excitement got shattered. Our little daughter Sahana was admitted in the ICU due to serious breathing complications. The doctors spoke of medical terms we could least understand. They never gave any positive hope.

Days passed. She was not discharged from the ICU. We started to get nervous. I insisted in seeing her. Nobody has ever seen the child after her birth. After much persuasion, the hospital allowed me to see her. When I went inside the ICU, I saw her lying in the ventilator machine.

My daughter was surrounded with tubes and ventilation support. The motherliness in me wanted to lift her, kiss her and feel her soft skin. But the nurse prohibited me from even touching the child.

I kept looking at her and how much I wished I was holding her in my arms with my husband by my side arguing on whom she resembled much. The situation forbid me from having the little pleasures of life.

When I came out of the ICU, I hugged my husband and said “Honey, she is looking exactly like you”. I was happy that I was the first one to see the child.

Wow!! Cheers to Life!!! Every day I was allowed into the ICU to just have a look at her for 2 minutes. Each day, I was eagerly waiting for THAT 2 minutes. Whenever I went inside, I whispered in her ears, “Dear, Come to us. We are waiting”. She never blinked or moved. She lay there idle.

After a week, she was discharged from the hospital they telling us about the complications of grooming the child.

They said “You have to be a little careful with her, she will not be like the normal children. She requires extra care and attention”.

I turned nocturnal carrying her in my arms throughout the night. It was my mom who carried her in the day time. Though some of my days were 20 hours long, I was happy to be holding her in my arms ………for 20 hours. There were not much progress, so after six months, the doctors advised us to take Sahana to occupational therapy.  From 20 hours in a day to 2 years……

OH MY!!!! Those two years were tough. Was it was a real struggle???? Believe me, it was worth it. My daughter Sahana beat all the milestones the doctors laid for her. She did crawl, she did stand, she did walk and she did talk… The struggle and pain of the 2 intense years vanished when she uttered the word…………. “Amma”… …….’’ Amma’ …..…… A fabulous moment, a fabulous feeling.

WOW – Cheers to life.

Life deals you with a pack of cards, how you choose to take it is in your hands.

When I tonsured my hair as an offering for Sahana‘s good health, my entire family was crying. But I was happy that I had the perfect hair style for summer.

Life, Perhaps, dealt me this - The struggling, the difficult, the sad face

But I chose this, the optimistic, the brighter and happy face.

Though I have a strict mother-in-law, I am happy that I atleast have a mother-in-law to complain about. What is there in life without a little spice.

Is your happiness meter scoring low? Learn to appreciate the little good things around you. We have a lot of things to be happy about.

Cheers to Life!!!