children becoming nocturnal animals!!

Fifty years before during school days we had a different perception of life perhaps no perception of life at all!.Our main motto was to find more time for plays on the grounds or on the courtyards to take a variety of foods,fruits,and to vile away time chatting with friends.we loved saturdays and sundays very much and used to dream of accidental holidays even on death of some VIPs.What we used to hate maximum was schools and studies.Studies were the last priority in our life.We used to hate special tuitions also.But some parents were smart enough to arrange unemployed youngsters on evenings.our main concern during his class was to despise of him as quickly as possible.

During those days most of us believed that studies meant reading.Some parents used to proudly say that their children are reading for MA ,BA etc.So we used to read aloud our favourite subjects malayalam or social studies that can be reasonably understood by parents and used to frequently look up the wall clock to reach 8 o clock for the supper !

Unlike the present day parents,those days parents believed that the ultimate motto in life is to prepare food day in and day out and to find everyone including guests at home.they used to get up at 4'o clock in the morning take bath in cold water and begin their routine job of cooking of a different variety of dishes.Many times  the smoke of firewood and smell of dishes used to deviate our concentration and we used to evade studies ( reading ) during the only period of studies ,ie,from 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm.It is a routine that we go to bed at 9 pm and sleep like rocks till we are woken up by somebody in the morning.

during high school days things went worse.daily 4'o clock we had to get up in the morning  mostly to sleep at the study table! if parents alert us in between ,we read again with reasonable intensity in the beginning  that leads to minimum in few minutes.parents used to feed proud that their children take a lot of interest in studies and one day they would become big bosses!

during college days,they never used to interfere in our studies as we had created an impression that we were engaged in a very serious method of studies and parents should not control us.they used to give their children rich and fatty foods and viewed that the fattiest person was the most healthy one! anybody with a fat tummy was given due respect those days.

Like in every field transformation took place in the field of rearing of children and in their behaviour. now in the morning  at around 8'o clock we have top wake up our children by shaking their body to and fro two to three times! Before that we must ensure that the big head set is removed from his/her ears! he will get ready in half an hour n you should go and take the tiffin carrier or water bottles from the school or college bag.1 tea snacks etc should be kept ready well in advance so that he will have a look at them and will declare that there is no time for taking them !parents  should remember not to argue with or advise him at this moment so that he is not disturbed on the incoming/outgoing calls on mobile.
The boy reaches house at 7 pm after tuition throwing the 'weight' on his back somewhere and straightaway rushes to the computer..! any tea/ snacks on the computer table remains cold for hours-very carefully he moves the mouse in between them till 9'o clock and will go to sleep till 10.30.parents should wait and invite him for the dinner.mostly two to three times it is to be heated before he takes the supper and his studies start at 11 pm and ends at 2.30 am or 3.30 am next day and he falls asleep with lights on ,headset on ears and in his college /school uniform! He sleeps on almost everything including laptops.chargers,bed sheets blankets,books ,bags..!!

If u get some time for discussing with them,they will advise you that people of older generation have a false notion that one should have a routine in their life and they should be systematic in their approach.They believe that it is a waste of time in arranging books on table and segregating the washed up dress from the rest !they will establish that the world is functioning well with all disorders and one should learn to live up among disorders.Taking food especially fruits and vegetables etc is of no use and for health only chicken and mutton is useful.Only unintelligent people spend time in daily shave and monthly haircut.as per them one should learn everything through internet and keep interacting with society only through facebook and mobile phone and every student should learn life through this media and not through the advice of parents or books!They also insist that when internet is there ,we should not spend money for newspapers ,magazines etc.most of the youngsters value friendship more and are trying self reliance at an early stage.

The world of competition and the zest for independence cause stress in their minds.Lack of better planning of activities and uncertainties in the field of work and anxiety about future are the main road blocks for the development of congenial,smooth and healthy attitudes among the young generation!

HIGHWAYS

The pedestrians always a sidelined lot
Destined for a slow pace in all
Struggling to reach stretches so long
Fall behind motors so fast
Pedestrians watch a world so real
But blueeyed sleep well in cars
Reluctant to see the world so near
Seeing the world through tinted glass
Looks so colourful to the eyes so high
The rich has always an unwritten right
To breech a signal so near and red
To knock out a pedestrian crossing his way
And making an abrupt end to his path
Not knowing where his journey ends
Still speeding away at this endless roads...

ENGINEERING COLLEGES SIMILAR TO COCONUT TREES.

Once upon a time the coconut trees were treated as useful trees to its full and only big farmers had coconut farms . A few years before, government had liberalized cultivation of coconut trees by giving aids like subsidized electricity charges, manure etc. Similarly Engineering colleges are also given enough support for growth.. Previously every farmer was getting very good yield at the harvesting season but now the yield of coconut trees is less as every semester the pass out percentage is meagre .Coconut trees were grown generally near the coastal areas but now even in forest areas like the newly built up engineering colleges. The products from remote areas are of no size and quality since the soil is not suitable for their growth. Farmers somehow want to make money by cultivating them at any undesirable locations. Nowadays no proper plucking is done on time as there is shortage for such manpower. Many times coconuts fall on ground after a long period and getting it dried. Similarly on many occasions some of the engineering students from hundreds of engineering colleges seen in every nook and corner of the country, take so many years to complete their course. Previously coconuts after plucking can be sold immediately to buyers who are searching for them .Now most of the buyers find the coconuts with Mundary disease and they take them only after removal of husk. The husk itself looks deranged and shapeless and it is difficult to remove them even for the experienced workers. Similarly you can see strict recruitment process for engineers for a good placement now. During the plucking itself sometimes they pluck the unripened coconuts also. It may look attractive and is devoid of Mundary and may be of big size and shape. But the inexperienced buyers may get duped. The same is true if they recruit immature candidates who do not have enough substance with them .

The govt have introduced so many remedies for mundary. But once one coconut tree is infested with mundary, it may spread throughout the region. Hence before planting the seedlings, we have to ensure whether the soil is good, climate is good and utilize the govt. measures. Similarly before giving admissions to engineering, we should also ensure their aptitude and interest for the engineering profession. Well ripened coconuts can be processed for a veriety of things especially for making coconut oil .But if sufficient kernel is not there, the whole effort will become futile and better to use these coconuts for curry. A lot of companies are recruiting engineers for temporary jobs in private sector just for meagre salary.

Once Kerala was known for its coconut resources and its good quality .Now all other states grow coconuts widely .Most of them give very less yield which are of no taste at all. Only a handsome tree is grown .The representation of Kerala in higher level posts has come down drastically and other states have marched far ahead. Many of the engineers recruited recruited recently for public sectors in Central govt (eg Airports Authority of India) do not have sufficient communication skill. Neither do they know even to write a small letter properly in English. These products are said to be the best among their renowned college. It is not their fault but it is due the system. No weightage is given to the skills in language throughout their curriculum.

The experts in the field of education and technology could not imagine that each industry needs its people to have a good knowledge of English to read, understand and apply the concepts underlined in the relevant documents during their work situation. During training many engineers could not pass theory papers even after few years and a few could not be put on actual job situations even after more than required practical situations. Here not only intelligence and brilliance, but the capacity to understand various documents mainly of international standards also counts .If the policy of education does not foresee this aspect, our performance will be below standard and there is no point in finding fault with the new products like the coconuts with mundary. I have the opportunity of undergoing training many times with the candidates from all over India. Experience reveals that those from kerala can never be inferior to anybody from other states if taught and trained well. If so a complete rationalization of professional education is required for an effective performance by students from Kerala.

At this juncture it is to be remembered that a significant number of students coming out from selected colleges are of very good standard and quality. About 40 percentage of engineers in NASA are from India Through a rationalization of professional education in India at least in kerala, we will be able to dominate the world after a few years of time and can have major representation in higher level positions in various Indian departments and organization of repute. If we do not develop suitable strategy in the policy of education, we will never be to reach the forefront either in India or abroad..

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The same old smile

It was a morning in the spring 2006. I was wading through the people coming out of a hospital. While crossing the stairs a familiar face flashed across my mind. An old friend? I called out 'Hi Jacob.. '. He stopped for a while and could not recognize me instantly. There is absolutely no change in him, the long hairs and pleasing smile. I could see the spool of memories unwinding in his eyes. I waited smiling. His lips moved to call me 'Zak'. His wife could not believe that he had a schoolmate so intimate that he recognized him at a glance after 32 years!!

NIGHT DUTIES OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER

No ATC officer can avoid night duties as the duty of the ATCO is to to provide air traffic control day in day out. At most of the airports night duty starts at 7 pm till 7am next day. However each ATCO we’ll be allowed to have a rest of 3 to 4 hrs in between. For this purpose normally the duty will be categorized as first half or second half. All will work upto 10 pm together. First half group will work from 10 pm to 2.30 am while second will work from 2.30am till 7am. But the lucky one will be given the Royal half. These people can sleep from 12 pm till 5am next day.

In each night duty the half allocation and the selection of duty channels depends on the shift in-charge and it may be based on his ego, his mentality to teach a lesson to a few who do not have a matching frequency with him or it may due to other official requirements.

The ATCO before taking over channel gets a briefing from the previous controller what actions are pending to be completed in the short run. In international airports the controllers will be fully concentrating on their work, watching the movements of aircraft on radar, calculating the time of descend, crossing, reaching the assigned level(altitude of the aircraft),rate of descend ,rate of climb, converging points , vertical difference at converging points, speed reduction, increasing of speed removing the aircraft from the present track to avoid a collision, developing lateral spacing for 2 aircraft closely moving, expediting climb or expediting descend to avoid collisions, facilitating aircraft to avoid dangerous clouds, to bring back the aircraft to normal route, and give a direct routing to a far away point are some of the main concerns of an ATCO..

While doing so, his eyes should watch closely the movements of aircraft in radar, his left ear should monitor the aircraft transmission, right ear to the intercom from the transmissions from adjacent units.(Head –set has the facility to segregate this). His hands will be always busy with mouse and occasionally he has to monitor the nearby monitors also. His left hand will be busy with microphone operation ( some airports use leg switch also).An ATCO is required to reciprocate to the pilots transmission within 3 seconds. Most of the time 20 to 30 aircraft will be in constant contact with the controller who is monitoring their movements in such a way that all aircraft are flying safely and with optimum flying standards. Normally one ATCO can work continuously upto one or one and a half hour maximum at a stretch due stress and he gets a break for half an hour.

There are facilities for small snacks or tea or coffee etc. in shifts. Those who take food at home may find it advantageous to have some biscuits or other snacks in between. If he takes any snack while on duty, the pilot may find it difficult to understand the language he speaks because of the strange accent due to food materials in his mouth. The team of controllers is a combination of young and old with sugar problems cholesterol and high b.p. But the most of the food items with oil ghee and sugar will be their favourites and occasionally you can hear the munching noise they create!

Though he is given rest for 3 to 4 hrs during night duty, practically he can not have a proper sleep due to various reasons and some of the interesting scenes are noted below. The rest is taken in rest rooms. In my airport there are about 50 controllers doing night duty. There are a few rest rooms for Gents and few for ladies also. It is a common sight for us to see that in some night duties ladies used to go helter skelter in search of rest room keys. The ladies on previous night after getting up from the rest room lock the rooms as if there is some treasure inside and get away with the keys due to night effect!! They will be able to open the rest room only after waking up the peon who has to go and collect the keys from those absent minded lady ATCO. By the time the key is brought back their rest time will be almost over!!

The half allocation for the night duty will be decided during the previous day itself .In the rest room there are 15 to 20 beds arranged serially just like that in hospitals. When I came for my first night duty, I was asked by the fellow ATCOs to book the bed. Booking the bed is simple. It is just like keeping your hand bag or bed sheet in a bed.(just like some passengers booking their seat before boarding the bus). An ATCO should have some experience in the art of taking rest during night duties.-A quality towards adjusting to various kinds of sounds. Over the years the noise of aircraft taking off and landing has become a lullaby and many times without such noise in the background nobody gets sleep. The rest room is filled up with young and old together. Different people snore differently .Some with uniform rhythm of high pitch and low pitch with uniform time period. Some begins slowly and picks up gradually and ends in some EXPLOSIONS!! And many others lose their sleep at this juncture. Angry comments are common at this time. There are “DEAD BODIES” also. At 2.30 night ,they lose life and get it back at 7.30 am!. There are some other categories who cant wake up until 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock unless the attendants enter the room for cleaning. Then there are the STATUES also.They sit and sleep just like a rock.!

The second half duty people after booking their beds go to bed from 10pm onwards extending it upto 11.30 pm disturbing those already on bed. For a few of them, it is time for using mobile phones for long conversations with their near and dear ones. At 12 pm sharp the ROYAL PEOPLE (mentioned before) enter the room and switch on all the lights to locate their bed and half of the people just started sleep will wake up and again will be trying to sleep upto 2.30 am. At 2.20 am itself the first half people start reaching there to book their bed, sometimes even asking those poor fellows to get up! Getting up from the sleep at 2.30 one will understand what is the meaning of sleep in one’s life!!

Even if we reach the rest room at 2.30,we may get sleep at 3 am or later. But there are people who start getting up at 5 am onwards with loud mobile alarms and discussions. We may feel that age, maturity, education and experience in life do not have any impact on such people!

Most of the airports night traffic will be very heavy and there are chances for humans to make mistakes! But in ATC the accuracy is 100 percent and one should be very careful in doing air-traffic control. If u feel uncomfortable, You have to immediately hand over the charge to an authorized ATCO .Many times ATCOs during night have to continue duty without proper rest and it creates too much stress for them. You may remember that ILO has categorized the duty of an ATCO as one of the most stressful jobs.

The shift duties shatter the order in one’s routine. Most of the time he is unable to remember the day, date and holidays like Sundays! When everybody else is at home, he goes for duty and he is at home everybody goes for duty!. While at home he is unable to sleep during night due to the night duty effect and he may feel sleepy during day time and a stage will come he doesn’t bother to take food on time as in shift duties one has to take food at different times on different days of shift duty.

The rest pattern and food habits of ATCOs play a vital role in their health and their performance in the workplace. Hence we should re-look at the current system of deployment of ATCOs of Different skills and health levels as the profession demands...

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LEARNING

The term learning is as old as humanity.people have been learning for themselves and for the society,all through the years..In human resource development learning is referred to as a process of behavioural change.It is not ascribed to physical behaviour but a psychological behaviour. Learning brings about acquiring a knowledge,understanding it and involves a transfer to your brain for storage.

Learning was perceived differently by people of different times .for the uneducated learning is reading aloud by the children.But children in middle schools perceive this as a process of remembrance of what they read.Here the objective of the student is to secure marks in exams.at higher levels students perceive learning as an understanding of concepts and application of knowledge acquired.at this stage students observe there is a mismatch between what is learnt and what is to be applied at various situations.again the learning has faced turbulent situations.in practical fields like in factories or industries where even if you know the concepts and applications,you are found ineffective.at this juncture,it is understood that for effective learning,there is a necessity of skill development.Finally there was again dissatisfaction about learning in it's role of evaluation of system performance.Then learning has approached research and development.Thus management of various organisations started training and development for the benefit of employees and research and development for the better performance of industries.

In the school level when the teacher teaches a language,concept,the teacher himself should know what exactly he wants to communicate,transfer,convince and reinforce the same in students brain.The retension in your brain has two phases -short term and long term.So remember to lock the knowledge in your brain,otherwise it will escape when you are away from it.In between go back,open your brain, confirm whether it is intact .If not again strenghthen and lock it.

In the process of learning student should be fully free ,not to believe the teacher as such till he is convinced..Student should use all his physical senses to analyse,co-relate,critically examine and confirm it before accepting and transfer it to your brain.

To be an effective learner you should have a better communication skill and a command over the language.similarly the development of skill depends o the amount of yoour practice and initiative.Learning depends on many factors including physical stamina,quality of food,rest,sleep and mental peace.

Knowledge acquired also depreciates over a period of time.to overcome this you should acquire knowledge through all other possible sources by your own initiative.

Learning will be most effective and fruitful only when it is done with a passion.and all successful personalities in the world have proved it and they made learning as a LEARNER ORIENTED ACTIVITY than a TEACHER ORIENTED EFFORT

CONFIDENTIAL MEMO

It was June 1992.I was working as Asst.Aerodrome Officer in Calicut,Kerala,South India.,which is located in a hill top in a remote village far away from the city.Since the airport commissioned a few years before,no proper public transport and accommodation facility/hotels etc.. were available nearby.Ofcourse now it has become an International Airport with all facilities.

I was picked up by the airport director for a new assignment-For the post of Airport Terminal Manager.I was responsible for passenger welfare,VVIP handling and co-ordination with other agencies working in airport.

One day the political parties declared a "Bharat Bandh".This means a total paralysis of the administration system,all shops closed,no vehicles will run and practically a Blackout day.
So many passengers came to airport the previous day.Some spent their time in the passenger lounge.I had the toughest times in making arrangements for them..A few were accommodated with friends , A few were accommodated in nearby towns taking the risk of using friends' vehicle.

At last one lady and her daughter came from Germany.How to accommodate them?There was no way out.I said I would do something,without having a planWhere shall this lady and her young daughter stay during night in such a situation.?!No space anywhere.This situation can happen to everybody ;to ur own sister or daughter without the supportof a man.Finally after my office hours ,I told the caretaker to bring one cot and bed from any source and put it in my office.Food for them also made ready before i went home.Bathrooms were nearby.

Next day morning when i came to my office I could find them happy and ready for departure.They thanked me many times and tried to offer me some gifts.I flatly refused saying that whatever little things i did for them was my duty only.
After a month i received a letter from her husband in Germany that it was a great thing i did for his family at that critical time.

After two more months,I was informed by the officer-in-chief that I have a" confidential Memo" from headquarters.My hands were shivering.I thought-To my knowledge,i never did a mistake,never misbehaved with passengers and always dealt with VVIPs,Ministers,Members of Parliament,senoir judges etc..nicely only.The only thing i did without permission from the office was accommodating the those lady passengers in my office.Somebody might have informed the higher-ups.

If the CHQ is unhappy with the explanation to my memo,they may chare sheet me and initiate a punishment.I prayed to God and with all my strength opened the memo.Tears rolled out of my eyes.I could not believe my eyes.It was an appreciation letter from the chairman (CEO) that what i did for the German Ladies that night was a step that has held high the image of our organisation in the international stage and only a few do such things in critical stages.I heaved a sigh of relief and felt happy with my new assignment of Airport Terminal Manager.

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