If only I had become a doctor

When young, I was fascinated by the aeroplane. Our house was not too far from the airport and some of our neighbors who stayed in our area worked in the airlines. I would see them go for duty in their company buses and longed to be like them. I did choose the aircraft industry but as luck would have it, I went into the aircraft-manufacturing stream. I was in my early 20s, got an appointment in Kanpur and from there moved to Nashik. I have been in Nashik for more than half a century and my son chose to join the IT industry. Today, I sigh and wonder if only I had become a doctor, my life might have been different. This is because today I realize that the medical profession is loaded with money. I hope my friends who are in this profession would agree with me.

Medical profession is a noble one because it is all about healing people and saving lives. Sanjay Dutt proved it in the 2003 Bollywood movie Munnabhai MBBS. It was a blockbuster and one cannot forget the message of Dr. Asthana (Boman Irani). It was that personal feelings should not influence the decisions of the Doctor. However, in the scenario of 2022, one observes that specialization has played havoc with this noble profession. I read somewhere that there are dentists who specialize in the upper set of teeth leaving the lower set for others. A time could come when there could be separate opticians for the right eye and the left or the right arm and the left or the right leg and the left. If only I had opted for this profession in my youth, today I might have been rolling in money. All I would require would be a degree, a suitable location to set up my clinic and contacts among other doctors. That way I could refer my patients to others more knowledgeable than me.

Bengal’s solution to tackle air pollution (satire)

#airpollution The airport of Kolkata had to be shut down for eight hours because of fog – fog is not unnatural during winter. It slows down traffic on the roads, trains get delayed and there are accidents due to poor visibility. But, the problem is that such a condition has been blamed on air pollution. And – that is what has kept Didi awake night after night. She wanted to rid the menace of air pollution once and for all and, suddenly, an idea came to her early in the morning.
‘Abhi,’ she rang up Abhi Shake, ‘I want you in my office immediately. With all the others – this is a serious matter.’
Abhi Shake hated to leave the warmth of the blanket but, Didi’s order is an order. Therefore, he contacted Moo Cool, Patro Chatto, Omit Misra, and Dee Wreck and arrived on the trot. Didi does not like to be kept waiting.
Of course they knew that there would be gallons of hot tea and heaps of delicious jilebis and kachuris to help ease tensions. Didi never forgot these little things to keep her flock intact – the local tea and snack shop was also happy to be of service to Didi.
‘How many bullock carts do we have?’ she asked nobody in particular.
‘Why?’ Moo Cool asked.

‘I have a solution to tackle pollution,’ she smiled. ‘Delhi is going for odd-even formula. I want to go for a more down to earth formula. I want to ban all petrol and diesel run vehicles from our roads. They are the main culprits.’
‘I see,’ Moo Cool said.
‘So – how many bullock carts do we have in our state?’
‘We have not taken stock – but, on a rough estimate, there could be ten thousand.’
‘OK – I want ten times that,’ Didi said. ‘They must be equipped with cushioned seats and must have stocks of newspapers and magazines. There must also be steps for people to board and alight. The wheels must be rubber protected.’
‘Good idea,’ Omit Misra agreed. ‘Normally people waste time while going to office and while returning due to traffic jams. With bullock carts, there will not be any traffic jam and, of course, the travel time could increase.’
‘They must pay that much price to breathe fresh and unpolluted air,’ Didi said. ‘Omit-babu – contact the industrialists and ask them to go ahead with bullock carts. These factories will not need too much land and our land banks will be sufficient. Moreover, it will generate direct and indirect employment. And – those veterinary doctors and blacksmiths would get job opportunities.’
‘Didi,’ Dee Wreck grinned. ‘You are a genius. Your solution to pollution is a fantastic one. You only can deliver the goods. I will post it on Facebook.’ (to be continued ..)

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Saraswati and Lakshmi and their girlish talks (satire)


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The Founder’s Day celebrations in ATTI

It took us another day to get a couple of more ads and, since the payments had been made by checks, we deposited those with our office and got separate checks issued to pay the printers. Simultaneously I had to generate enough reading material to cover 16 pages – for this I requested our teachers and instructors to write some articles and I myself compiled a few interesting aviation news from magazines.
On the appointed day, I was ready with my bunch of souvenirs – it was a novelty for the guests who began to arrive as evening fell. I was worried because Clive House was an old dilapidated building of the17th century and the wooden floorboards on the staircase reverberated as the guests climbed to the first floor.
They were important people attached to the aviation industry in Kolkata and were employed in the Indian Airlines or the Kolkata Airport or the other small airlines – they came because of the influence that our Principal wielded in the close knit community. As usual, there were a couple of speeches and the unveiling of the souvenir. Then followed a break for tea and snacks and the last item on the program was a movie. In between I took some photographs in my box camera using flash bulbs of the guests enjoying the snacks. The movie was an English movie of 1958 titled ‘I accuse’.
In the course of the program, I tried to impress a couple of the guests and exploit the opportunity that presented itself to my advantage but I was no match in front of my Delhi friend. He had a way with people, thanks to his upbringing in a metro like Delhi where even the girls were known to take the initiative. (to be continued …)

We play a game of cricket on a Sunday

It was a spontaneous decision to play cricket. One of my class mates who hailed from the city proper was a regular player in one of the cricket cubs and, hence, was knowledgeable. Another classmate was Reddy from Hyderabad – he also played cricket. These two were the ones who suggested that we play cricket on a Sunday in the grounds of the Kolkata airport. They roped in a couple of our instructors who knew the people who agave permission to use the grounds and even made available a sort of cricket kit that consisted on a worn out bat and used balls.
Anyway, on the appointed Sunday, a couple of bats and nearly new ball appeared along with a pair of wicket keepers gloves and pads.
I was not much of a player but knew a few basics of cricket – hence, I remained a spectator. As I saw the game progress, I remembered the famous saying of George Bernard Shaw – cricket is a game of fools played by 22 and watched by 22,000. Of course, the viewership today could be 22-million, thanks to the spread of the shorter version of the game via satellite channels. The ODIs have made cricketing terms a part of everyday dialogues even between housewives. It is to listen to them arguing over the dismissal of a player – they would speak as it they were experts. Obviously, they also sit glued to the TV sets when a game is on and base their remarks on the observation of commentators.
A regards the game we were playing in the airport club, the interest fizzled out by lunch time because, even though it was winter and cricket used to be a game played during winter, the energy level was missing. So we called it a day and dispersed to watch a movie. (to be continued …)

Depression grips me because my future appeared bleak

Within a few days of joining ATTI and starting to go to Moitra & Co at the airport for practical classes, I began to suffer from depression. The future began to look bleak because the number of opportunities for regular employment in the profession was very restricted. From discussions it became clear that unless one had suitable contacts, one could not aspire to become a ground engineer in any major airline. The discouragement came from old hands at the game who we would meet in a makeshift tea shop outside the airport boundary. They worked in Indian Airlines and were elderly persons who still struggled to acquire an AME license. They made fun of us and explained how each of them were frustrated persons.
Looking at their plight, I began to wonder whether I had made the right choice or had made a big blunder in opting for this institute but, then, I gathered confidence when I met another gentleman who stayed in my neighborhood. He was a ground engineer in Indian Airlines and every morning the car would come to pick him up. He had worked his way up.
He and the men I met in the tea shop were two sides of the same coin.
Anyway, to boost my morale, after classes I would walk down the tarmac, peeping into the hangars where people were at work and go into the lounge of Kolkata Airport. I could see the huge aircraft of international airlines like BOAC, Lufthansa, Japan Air Lines, and KLM lined up at the far end of the runway. Most of them were Boeing-707 which had at that time been inducted into service.
After spending some time in the lounge browsing through magazines and, once in a while, purchasing a copy of some magazine, I would take a bus to Shyambazar to take in a Bengali movie just to get my mind away from unwanted thoughts. (to be continued …)