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In the 1970s, I got a free ticket for the movie Follow Me! on one of those IIT KGP Hall Days I never attended when I was a bachelor. But I was told to watch the movie in the Netaji Auditorium because that was the cheapest way to see the sights of London.
So I went and saw the Hyde Park and many other London landmarks free.
But I couldn't follow the dialogues because of Netaji's hi-fi sound system of tweeeets and grummmmbles. I too am at fault since I still don't follow the English spoken by Englishmen and, worse, Americans. And if there are subtitles, it is worse...I read the subtitles and don't have the time to watch the pictures.
Last night I watched the movie on my laptop...the sound was good and the subtitles were in charming Chinese.
Now that I follow the plot and dialogues a bit, I am amused. The picture itself is a marvel of acting and direction and cinematography and what not....but the story is silly and childishly romantic. But that was the way life was in the 1960s and 70s...Beatles, Mahesh Yogi, Flower Power, Love, Sacrifice...all offspring of the Cold War and the not-so-cold Vietnam War.
Talking of Followers, I am always struck by the power of their Leaders. What makes a leader is a big topic in sociology, marketing, management, and history, I believe.
I think the moment produces the man....like the gunpowder is all there dry like a tinder waiting for someone to ignite the fuse...
The most unlikely Leader who had millions of unlikely followers was Hitler. The chap was a nobody in the First World War...but within a decade he amassed a huge following that eventually rocked humanity. His power was in his hysteric lungs. And his cunning eloquence...mostly of hatred. But the Great German Nation was ready for anyone that could redeem their shame...and the moment produced the man:
http://www.alef.net/ALEFPeople/ALEFPeople.Asp?People=Adolph%20Hitler
On the Peace Front, Jesus comes up with his Sermon on the Mount as perhaps the greatest abiding leader of mankind:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sermon_on_the_Mount
And the whimsical but endearing Gandhi leading a swelling crowd to Dandi just to make a gesture that rocked the mighty British Empire into submission by and by:
http://www.sumit4all.com/society/what-is-dandi-march-2
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Coming to my own small KGP-World, all the leading and following we did was from the Department to the Cooperative Canteen.
There were singletons going their own way to the Canteen all by themselves shunning humanity. The prime example was Professor C. L. Roy of whom I wrote a small Reminiscence Piece that became popular:
http://gpsastry.blogspot.in/2008/08/professor-c-l-roya-mosaic-of-memories.html
During my thirty five years with him, I never saw him going to the Canteen with anyone else...and he did go to the Canteen half a dozen times a day...always alone with a thoughtful cigarette.
The twenty years I shared room with DB, he and I were always a twosome in our Canteen Pilgrimages.
But the most curious case was Professor K. V. Rao of our Dept. He never went to Canteen alone or in twos and threes...always leading a swelling crowd of half a dozen freeloaders...KVR never allowed anyone else pay the bill...he would be angry and feel insulted.
I was sharing the Fourth Year Lab with him for a couple of years, with Prof. V. V. Rao as an add-on...I guess he made this arrangement with the Time-Table Maker. And, after an hour in the Lab, he would ask me and VVR to accompany him to the Canteen. And I used to feel awkward...it is never safe to leave the student-labs on auto-pilot...at least one teacher should be there for emergencies and otherwise. But he would take my hand and pull me and drag me making cute remarks about my pusillanimity. But I never relented and he got angry and fed up and left me alone after a few trials.
And THEN he became HoD for 3 years...and the day he took charge he issued a memo that student-labs should never be left unattended by teachers and Canteen-going should be by rotation and for not more than 15 minutes each!!! And he used to visit all the labs on surprise checks and make a lot of fuss...
And then there was another KVR-clone in the ME always leading his group of Research Scholars and younger teachers to the Canteen. It was a long walk and the procession was colorfully vibrant...for, the discussions were all academic-like, as if it were a continuation of their Group Discussions with a change of venue. The group was elite and Jesus-like...there were a few awe-struck watchers trying vainly to join the Twelve...
The weirdest procession I ever watched used to be what was officially called:
"Academic Procession"
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/june_questions_omnibus_1
This used to take place during our Annual Convocations. The willing Senators would follow the Registrar from the Raman Auditorium to the Netaji Auditorium, a few steps away, all in proper solemnity and dignity. I used to avoid it as I used to avoid anything to do with the Senate...sometimes under veiled threats from enthusiastic Chairmen.
Towards the end of my stay there in the early years of the new millennium, the IIT-Website was launched with fanfare and Convocation Photos were uploaded and I was watching them curiously. And found a colorful photo subtitled:
"Academic Procession, with the Senators laid by the Registrar"
And then I recalled the Parkerism:
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In the 1970s, I got a free ticket for the movie Follow Me! on one of those IIT KGP Hall Days I never attended when I was a bachelor. But I was told to watch the movie in the Netaji Auditorium because that was the cheapest way to see the sights of London.
So I went and saw the Hyde Park and many other London landmarks free.
But I couldn't follow the dialogues because of Netaji's hi-fi sound system of tweeeets and grummmmbles. I too am at fault since I still don't follow the English spoken by Englishmen and, worse, Americans. And if there are subtitles, it is worse...I read the subtitles and don't have the time to watch the pictures.
Last night I watched the movie on my laptop...the sound was good and the subtitles were in charming Chinese.
Now that I follow the plot and dialogues a bit, I am amused. The picture itself is a marvel of acting and direction and cinematography and what not....but the story is silly and childishly romantic. But that was the way life was in the 1960s and 70s...Beatles, Mahesh Yogi, Flower Power, Love, Sacrifice...all offspring of the Cold War and the not-so-cold Vietnam War.
Talking of Followers, I am always struck by the power of their Leaders. What makes a leader is a big topic in sociology, marketing, management, and history, I believe.
I think the moment produces the man....like the gunpowder is all there dry like a tinder waiting for someone to ignite the fuse...
The most unlikely Leader who had millions of unlikely followers was Hitler. The chap was a nobody in the First World War...but within a decade he amassed a huge following that eventually rocked humanity. His power was in his hysteric lungs. And his cunning eloquence...mostly of hatred. But the Great German Nation was ready for anyone that could redeem their shame...and the moment produced the man:
http://www.alef.net/ALEFPeople/ALEFPeople.Asp?People=Adolph%20Hitler
On the Peace Front, Jesus comes up with his Sermon on the Mount as perhaps the greatest abiding leader of mankind:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sermon_on_the_Mount
And the whimsical but endearing Gandhi leading a swelling crowd to Dandi just to make a gesture that rocked the mighty British Empire into submission by and by:
http://www.sumit4all.com/society/what-is-dandi-march-2
*****************************************************************************************************
Coming to my own small KGP-World, all the leading and following we did was from the Department to the Cooperative Canteen.
There were singletons going their own way to the Canteen all by themselves shunning humanity. The prime example was Professor C. L. Roy of whom I wrote a small Reminiscence Piece that became popular:
http://gpsastry.blogspot.in/2008/08/professor-c-l-roya-mosaic-of-memories.html
During my thirty five years with him, I never saw him going to the Canteen with anyone else...and he did go to the Canteen half a dozen times a day...always alone with a thoughtful cigarette.
The twenty years I shared room with DB, he and I were always a twosome in our Canteen Pilgrimages.
But the most curious case was Professor K. V. Rao of our Dept. He never went to Canteen alone or in twos and threes...always leading a swelling crowd of half a dozen freeloaders...KVR never allowed anyone else pay the bill...he would be angry and feel insulted.
I was sharing the Fourth Year Lab with him for a couple of years, with Prof. V. V. Rao as an add-on...I guess he made this arrangement with the Time-Table Maker. And, after an hour in the Lab, he would ask me and VVR to accompany him to the Canteen. And I used to feel awkward...it is never safe to leave the student-labs on auto-pilot...at least one teacher should be there for emergencies and otherwise. But he would take my hand and pull me and drag me making cute remarks about my pusillanimity. But I never relented and he got angry and fed up and left me alone after a few trials.
And THEN he became HoD for 3 years...and the day he took charge he issued a memo that student-labs should never be left unattended by teachers and Canteen-going should be by rotation and for not more than 15 minutes each!!! And he used to visit all the labs on surprise checks and make a lot of fuss...
And then there was another KVR-clone in the ME always leading his group of Research Scholars and younger teachers to the Canteen. It was a long walk and the procession was colorfully vibrant...for, the discussions were all academic-like, as if it were a continuation of their Group Discussions with a change of venue. The group was elite and Jesus-like...there were a few awe-struck watchers trying vainly to join the Twelve...
The weirdest procession I ever watched used to be what was officially called:
"Academic Procession"
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/june_questions_omnibus_1
This used to take place during our Annual Convocations. The willing Senators would follow the Registrar from the Raman Auditorium to the Netaji Auditorium, a few steps away, all in proper solemnity and dignity. I used to avoid it as I used to avoid anything to do with the Senate...sometimes under veiled threats from enthusiastic Chairmen.
Towards the end of my stay there in the early years of the new millennium, the IIT-Website was launched with fanfare and Convocation Photos were uploaded and I was watching them curiously. And found a colorful photo subtitled:
"Academic Procession, with the Senators laid by the Registrar"
And then I recalled the Parkerism:
“If all the girls attending [the Yale prom] were laid end to end, I wouldn't be at all surprised.”
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