THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BASE CAMP

 



“When you keep people waiting,

they begin to think of all your flaws.”

Kevin Kelly

 

Many years ago, just on the eve of one of my birthdays, a few of my die-hard well-wishers (all of them my ex-students) formed a WhatsApp group to send me birthday wishes. Expectedly, they baptized the group with the name – ‘HBD Gerry Sir’. The group has lived close to a dozen birthdays of mine, since then...

One of the recent developments, as an offshoot of these group discussions, was a (turn-by-turn) get-to-gather at each group member’s place,  It started, some time back, with Shankar inviting us for a South Indian lunch at his beautiful complex. The next one was scheduled at Sudha’s Karjat holiday home. The dates somehow clashed and it got postponed. Meanwhile, Kiran and Ravi  invited all of us, along with our spouses and offsprings, to the North Indian (predominantly Delhi) delicacies at the popular restaurant at Andheri West – ‘Delhi Se’.

‘Delhi Se’ was born in our neghbouhood here at Chembur... Chembur Camp, to be precise - the generations-old Sindhi/Punjabi ‘khau galli’. Kiran’s younger brother, Mahinder, started it just a few years ago... and, then, with his hard work, passion and commitment, he began to scale it up, and scale it up fast... Soon, ‘Delhi Se’ came up in Mulund and Andheri. One is soon, going to come up at Vashi...

Mahinder Singh Khalsa is popularly known by his earlier- avatar name ‘MSK’. In the earlier avatar, Mahinder was a passionate DJ... from the local gallies during Ganpati and birthday parties to massive events for corporates and award nights – he had done it all...

I was fortunate to be their family teacher. I had taught Darshan (their older cousin), Kiran, Mahinder and even their children. They, therefore, have a special place for their teacher in their hearts – and, it has run deep into decades, now.

The Andheri ‘Delhi Se’ is huge... and vibrant. We were to meet there at 12.30 for the lunch and decided to be there in time. Shankar was coming alone from his place. From our place, my wife, son and I were to join. Shankar had booked an Uber and planned to pick the three of us up at our complex at 11.15... He was here on the dot...

“Never-to-be late was a priceless lesson we learnt from Gerry Sir when we were young,” said Shankar to my wife and son, “This lesson has stood by us all through our life journey.”




MSK (in green T-shirt) flanked by us




We were all there in time at  ‘Delhi Se’, Andheri. We were highly impressed with everything – the warmth, ambience, décor, authentic delicacies, and above all MSK – the young dreamer behind the dream...

As we were basking in the amazing hospitality, my mind went on a flashback mode...

It was the second Sunday of June, 2008. The certification day of our summer programme. Mahinder, who assisted one of the established DJs, was still a novice in DJ circuit. But, he wanted to start it on his own. As his well-wisher, I decided to give him a break by hiring him as the DJ for our certification function, But, I, being me, insisted, that he needed to set up everything – equipment, lights, sound system, everything – much before the audience turned up. But, Mahinder, who hadn’t become MSK yet, turned up late with his men and equipment... Here, guests had already arrived and I was on the gas stove. Thus, steam was out the moment my boy arrived. “Remember my boy, you need to respect time before earning respect,” I blasted.

Last noon, I wondered, if MSK was saying the same thing about respecting time as Shankar did...

“Some Things in Life Don’t Move – The Book About Values"... this was the title of the book we had published two summers ago.

Yes, my boy, some things in life will never move – I will keep shouting it from every mountain top, no matter how many mountains we scale in life. Kevin Kelly’s words make deep sense:

“When you keep people waiting,

they begin to think of all your flaws.”

 

Hope you remember this as you scale newer and greater heights...

Love and blessings, always – dil se.





 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: 1. www.dreamstime.com  2. Umang Pawa  3. MSK

Video: YRF

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BUT, NOT INTO EACH OTHER'S KEEPING...

Image
"If you can not love yourself, You can not love another.” I meet many young college students who are head-over-heals in relationship. They call it ‘Love’. One of the most difficult things to deal with in such relationship, for most of them, is: the desperate clinging of the other partner. “Why didn’t you call? Why didn’t you meet? Where did you go? What did you do? Who was there with you? Why can’t we go out? Why did you wear this? Why did you go there? Why? What? When? Who? Where? Whose?... Yes, all the possible ‘W’s’ in the world. Yes, in the world of our ‘Love Birds’. What starts as some romantic sweet-nothings, now is marred with endless probing, judging, accusing, blaming, sulking, fighting and pain. Most of them are unprepared to deal with this volatile shift… They end up hurting each other; more importantly, they end up hurting themselves. They begin to wonder: Where has all the sweetness gone? Why am I feeling so lonely now? Why is this suffocation? This fear? T...
Read more

THE SPANISH DANCE

Image
I remember reading this little story, many years ago. It was in Shiv Khera’s famous book: ‘YOU CAN WIN’. A man had a dog with an unusually special gift: he could run over water! Now, what a special gift that was, in deed! This man, obviously, felt proud about his gifted dog… and many, many people complimented him on it. He, undoubtedly, felt good about it. Then, one day, this man happened to meet an old, dear friend. He wanted to show this friend the special talent of his dog and took him along for hunting. They went to the countryside. There, he proudly demonstrated to his friend the unique talent of his dog. Every time he shot down a bird from the sky, the gifted dog, like a missile, would speed over the water, and fetch back the bird to his master. It happened repeatedly. “Did you see, my friend?” the man asked with immense pride. “Yes, I did?” replied the friend. “What did you see?” the man wanted to be reassured. “That, your dog can not swim!” Last night, I proudly ...
Read more

THEY NEED SUN, NOT TOO MUCH SHADE

Image
      “And stand together yet not too near together: For, the pillars of the temple stand apart And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s company.” Kahlil Gibran in ‘The Prophet’ I n his remarkable book, ‘The Prophet’, Kahlil Gibran’s famous lines might have been in response to the request – “Master, say something about Marriage”… Yes, it might have been used to emphasize on the need for ‘space’ in marital relationships… yet, in a larger context, ‘space’ is a universal thirst in every kind of relationship… You see, humans cannot grow in shade… They get suffocated, and die! In our summer programme on Personality Development, we, always, hold the Workshop on ‘Self-esteem’ first. The reason: a healthy self-esteem is the foundation for the healthy development of one’s personality… During the Workshop on ‘Self-esteem’, the facilitator (Swami Brahmavidananda Saraswati) helps the participants to reflect on the major parental messages that impact s...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...