and
HYAENAS
080324
updated 080324
Why are you growing a beard? That was the first question fielded by me when i appeared for the interview for the selection of physiology lecturers before the kerala public service commission way back in 1980- 81 or so. i fumbled a bit and started "Sir, i am not doing any thing . . . . " i was trying to put up an excuse of sorts that i was not holding any office or attending any school or anything and as such . . . But before i could complete the sentence, the gentleman took over "yes, i know. you are not doing any thing; it is growing on its own."
other interview board members enjoyed the joke; but i was a bit embarassed for what the gentleman said was my standard answer to any one who asked me why i was keeping a beard in those days. yes; people, at least some people, did talk to me in those days! Some of them were amused and one of them commented to his comrade in a rather loud aside "eee vattanmarute ideakal okke original aayirikkum, ille?". This chap was rather suspecious of my "credentials" and i remember him telling me once "thante pottan kalli kure kootutal aavunnundu" well, "pottan kalli" infact was an integral part of the survival techniques. the gentleman who questioned me about my beard was the specialist member of the interview board, a sort of father figure of medical physiology in kerala. he asked me only questions i could answer and gave me a good rank that ensured that even after the rotation and revolution i was still in orbit. The interview board gives the ranking on merit but the appointment follows a complicated procedure which will push fellows like me further and further out in the orbit and one may get lost into outer space and might never get an appointment in spite of the rank the interview board has given you! That aspect has also been taken care of and i got a job within no time. I would say that it was magnaminous of him.
This gentleman was aware of my history and my plight; in fact my certificates and all carry his signature as the then principal - he writes a beautiful hand. those days i was hanging about in and around the college; and for quite some time i was an illegal immigrant, i mean resident, of the post graduate hostel - A real philanthropist who was then a post graduate student had taken a room in the hostel just to help me out. He was a day scholar and never needed a room and had never stayed there. But i had a comfortable place to stay for just rs.25/- per month. My sole income then was from free lancing - that again thanks to people like dr. boyd and co. i must say, i owe these characters a lot!
Later i joined a post graduate course - the attraction was the stipend of Rs.400/- per month (no more wanderings in the wilderness) and of course a room in the pg hostel; and in the bargain i could have got a diploma which incidentally has all the three letters PHD in it, but in a slightly different order! Few months more and another group of philanthropists - the indian army - took me away. The rest is history.
Coming back to the physiolgoy interview, if the gentleman wanted he could have put some funny questions to me and made me look a bloody fool in front of the other members of the board who had nothing to do with the subject; but he never did it. obviously he did not mind giving me a job in his own parent department. He was a well known figure not only in physiology but in the wider intellectual circles as well and did not have to show off by battering me and prove himself to anybody.
Then why was it that other puny piddly characters wanted to smoke me out of that job? The reason is simple - because they were puny piddly characters. and they had a complex! The fact of the matter is that in these areas people mostly join a medical school dreaming of a roaring practice and an ensuing huge bank balance and the resultant dachas and limousines. And those who end up in purely teaching non-clinical departments like physiology are many a time the left overs who could not make it in to a clinical discipline. it is a real pity; all the more so for being a teaching job it creates a very vicious circle.
Such disgruntled people would want to take it out on somebody or the other. They will never dare make a kill on their own for they know that they dont have the stuff in them. they mostly subsist on carrion, except perphaps when a wounded animal or an animal that has strayed from the flock comes up. Then they will give vent to their pent up frustrations and laugh out loud!
080324
updated 080324
* * *
| home |
|---|
MY CHOICE
| word |
|---|
| audio |
| video |
pic of the week
| two of a kind |
|---|
OTHER LINKS
| online diary |
|---|
| embedded movies |
| photo albums |
| movies |
| latest |
| message |
| quotable quotes |
