A 'Serif' existence!

It all started in a bank I visited long time back, when I was a student. I had to get some papers signed by the bank officials, was moving from one desk to another, trying to finish off the work. The movement of my file suddenly stopped at one desk. After waiting for half an hour, I asked the officer what was the next step. He gave me a dirty look and said that the clerk on the next table has to sign and put the rubber stamp on the papers. Surprsingly, the clerk who is going to give the ‘finishing touches’ to my papers was sitting in his place. Then what are we waiting for?, I asked. The officer told me that the peon has gone to get tea for the office. The peon has to take my papers from one table to the other which was about three meters away! If the peon is on leave, then I have to go back the next day! That seems to be the problem with our administrators. We are waiting for the peon to come and take our files from table to table, even if we can stretch our hands and pass ...

Bottoms up: Malayala Manorama, 6 th July, 2008. A very interesting news item with a title “Hartalinu Ernakulam kudichuteerthathu 3 kodi”. This roughly translates to “Ernakulam drank up 3 crores on Hartal day”. Ernakulam district ‘celebrated’ a hartal day recently by consuming alcohol worth Rs 3 Crores! There was a 30 to 40% increase in the alcohol sales on the eve of the hartal day. Which means all “Bevadas” in Ernakulam decided to stock up their favourite brands to celebrate the hartal day! Beverages Corporation, which has 46 outlets selling alcohol, recorded a rise of more than 50% increase in sales. Another interesting development was the price of chicken. From Rs 50.00 per kilo, the price rose to Rs 62 for the hartal rush and all sellers enjoyed a two fold increase in sales volume. A few days before the hartal, the market was facing a shortage due to a truckers’ strike, but the hartal rush solved all the problems of the chicken market.! So many people are happy! All wi...

Pranam. Prof. R.K. Joshi at the IDC-ICOGRADA design event, Feb 2007. Prof. R.K. Joshi at the IDC-ICOGRADA design event, Feb 2007. Prof. R.K. Joshi at the IDC-ICOGRADA design event, Feb 2007. Prof. R.K. Joshi during his Calligraphy Workshop at IDC. September, 2005. Prof. R.K. Joshi during his Calligraphy Workshop at IDC. September, 2005. Prof. R.K. Joshi during his Calligraphy Workshop at IDC. September, 2005. A Calligraphic expression by Prof. R.K. Joshi. Image courtesy: Biju Neyyan, Sr VC student, IDC. Image courtesy: Anand Bhandarkar, VC 1990-92 batch. My adaptation of Anand Bhandarkar's work. Image courtesy: Rajeev Prakash, VC 1988-1990 batch, IDC. Image courtesy: Mr. Pankaj Sapkal (1990-92 PD batch) Feb 14th, 2008. Prof. R.K. Joshi's last rites were performed at the Sion crematorium, Bombay. RK, as we called him, left this world on Feb 4th when he had gone to San Fransico for a seminar. RK was a Guru in every sense of the word. A great calligrapher, typographer, poet, teach...