Croisé dans le métro

 

I can’t quite remember where I first came across it — perhaps while aimlessly browsing one quiet evening — but it struck me as something unconventionally romantic. It was a website, now sadly inactive, called Croisé dans le métro — “crossed in the metro.” The idea was simple, yet deeply human. Strangers who met eyes, smiled briefly, exchanged glances, or shared a few silent moments on the Paris Metro could later leave a message online — a note of recognition, curiosity, or affection, perhaps even an invitation to connect — for the person they couldn’t gather the courage to speak to.

It took me back to my own youth, to my days in Delhi, commuting as a student and later to work. Back then, the city didn’t have a metro, but the public transport — the chartered buses — carried a world within them: students, clerks, dreamers, and strangers from every corner of India. Some faces became familiar over time — the girl who always sat near the window, the lady who read a novel, the man lost in his magazine, the group of friends laughing too loud. Occasionally, glances lingered longer than usual, and a small story began — not in words, but in imagination.

These people were real, flesh-and-blood fellow travellers, but their connections remained suspended somewhere between reality and reverie — imagined, fragile, and transient. Perhaps it was shyness, upbringing, or the quiet reserve of the city itself that kept those stories unspoken. They existed only in the mind, as possibilities that never took shape.

Paris, the city of romance, had found a way to preserve such moments — to give them wings, a second life through words on a billboard. Delhi, and perhaps most other cities, let them dissolve quietly into memory.

In today’s world of smartphones, endless chats, and swipes, I wonder how much has really changed for those shy, introverted souls. Do they ever look up from their screens to notice who’s around them? Do the eyes still meet, until they no longer remain strangers?

Maybe the tools have changed, but not the heart. There will always be that spark — a stranger’s smile, a passing glance, a story that might have been. Whether on a Paris Metro or a Delhi bus, something in us still pauses, still imagines.

Somewhere, in some form, Croisé dans le métro continues — not as a website, but as a quiet, persistent longing that technology can’t quite erase.

Croisé dans le métro

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A Nostalgic Journey: My Brush with Reader's Digest Fame

Growing up in a small town in 1970s India, I, like many other boys, harbored dreams of a bit of fame. Not excelling in studies, sports, or the arts meant the odds were heavily stacked against me. If I were to hear my name on the radio, it would likely be through a "request-a-song" program. As for seeing my name in print, it would only happen if an editor appreciated my contributions.

Reader's Digest was our popular window to the outside world. Each edition brought us inspirational stories of perseverance, fascinating information, and humor from the Western Hemisphere. It introduced us to the world of subtle humor. I remember one particular story where someone was advised to apply grease on his car bonnet when their town faced a sudden onslaught of flies. The next time he took the car for service, the mechanic asked if he had a tight garage. This type of humor was fresh and delightful to us.

We were particularly captivated by the letters from readers, sharing life experiences or humor, which the editor chose to publish. We thought, "If only one of our letters could be selected," it would be like hitting the jackpot.

Although my letters never made it into Reader's Digest, I did have my wish fulfilled elsewhere. Recently, I picked up the latest issue at the airport, and those old aspirations resurfaced. So, here I am, writing to you once again, hoping to check off this item on my bucket list.

Why Reader's Digest?

Reader's Digest has long been a staple in households worldwide, known for its engaging and diverse content. For many, it was more than just a magazine—it was a portal to stories that inspired, informed, and entertained. Its ability to connect with readers through real-life experiences and humor made it a beloved publication.

The Impact of Reader's Digest

For my friends and me, Reader's Digest wasn't just about reading; it was about dreaming. Each story we read added a little more to our understanding of the world beyond our small town. The humor, often subtle and witty, provided a refreshing break from our daily routines.

My Personal Connection

The aspiration to have a letter published in Reader's Digest may seem small, but for us, it was monumental. It represented recognition and a connection to a larger world. The memory of those days and the joy of reading each issue still linger.

A New Attempt

As I picked up that recent issue at the airport, the old dream came alive again. Writing this blog post feels like a step towards fulfilling that long-held wish. Whether or not this gets published, the journey of recalling and sharing these memories is satisfying in itself.

Conclusion

Reader's Digest played a significant role in my childhood, shaping my aspirations and providing countless hours of joy and inspiration. Here's to hoping that this post finds its way to an appreciative editor and that the dream of seeing my words in print, just like those many years ago, finally comes true.

Ruminating

 

There is one thing in common among young hostel boarders and particularly those from engineering colleges. All have spent hours debating, arguing and fighting on topics ranging from anything to everything on their tryst to establish a point or two. Walls of our hostel rooms have been exposed to countless ideas, arguments and logical interpretations fueled by gallons of coloured liquids be it tea, coffee or any other fermented variety. There were some who built their arguments on a solid foundation of references and statistics while others relied on the strength of their vocal cords. 

My way of life was more like Winnie, finding more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?” ( A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh).

One live issue had been India’s post independence growth and development alibi our successive government’s inability to alleviate the conditions of the poor. My point of view has always been that it is not so much the politicians who failed us as much  our bureaucrats and technocrats did. 

Country’s fascination with engineering or medical professionals has deprived us of the much needed social thinkers and planners. This resulted in partial if not complete failure in achieving what we ought to have achieved through our five year plans. I acknowledge that we needed to achieve a lot and had to reach out to all corners of this vast country. Retrospectively we ought to have asked ourselves “how do you eat an elephant?” No offence meant to the elephant and planned accordingly.

We have miserably failed  to connect our villages to the cities, creating opportunities for those  middlemen who take advantage of the producers. When we build highways, we let our government run public works departments to design, build and maintain them, leading to another round of corruption for lack of appropriate checks and balances. A prudent way could have been to let the private entities build and maintain our highways while PWD monitors those, thus having two parties accountable for this rather than none. 

Unfortunately 77  years down the road, we still struggle to connect our people and bypass the unscrupulous brokers.

It’s not all that will agree with my opinion, they never did and some might ask me to shut up but I will end this by reminding what a young girl had once said. “People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but that doesn't stop you from having your own opinion.”
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

There I am...

Today we were strolling on a park as the Sun was leaving for the day. My wife's phone camera came handy to capture this magic moment as I left mine inside the car. There I am ready to feed my Instagram account after a very long gap.

I thought it is a good idea to introduce myself through my various social media existence. My Instagram account is sumandebray and I post photos taken  exclusively with my phone's camera. It will be a pleasure if friends from my blogsphere  comes along and joins me, I shall be a follower too. I am not particularly interested in individuals who have thousands of followers while they follow a handful....in other words, I stay away from the celebrities.

My Twitter handle is @Sumandr and I am already connected to some of you.

Then there is the professional social media that I am part of as well. This is the linkedIn and you may find me here. You are invited to come and be part of my network.

A few screenshots from Instagram page.

Do You Still Put Ink On Paper?

I believe we need to put the ink on the paper to cement new knowledge in minds. Being from an earlier generation, I follow the analog process …. Like those good old days. 

Whenever possible, I try to write, scribble or doodle on my journal like notebooks as I get along a presentation, webinar or the process of reading a book or website. While the main purpose of taking notes may be to implant the material in the mind, it serves a secondary purpose as we grow older.

These notes turns into our Visual Aids every once in a while as we refer back. Being grown-ups, we can follow the subject, its logic, and sequence with relative ease but when it comes to holding it back in the memory, we are hopeless.

Once a notebook runs out of space, I digitize it for convenience but it makes a difference to see my handwritten notes as compared to my MS Word typed notes on the screen.  More often than not, I can relate the time-space aspects of a handwritten note, which brings in another desirable dimension to the whole process.  I do use programs like “evernote” to organize materials gathered through web research but wouldn’t prefer to record the audio from a webinar. 

Please leave your thoughts on your viewpoint on this matter and how do you prefer to take notes.

The following is one of the pages from a webinar explaining how International Standard Organization (ISO) adopts new terms and definitions.

It is good to remember that a vehicle with two wheels, a handle bar, a seat and driven by a pedal wouldn’t qualify as a bicycle if the chain is replaced with a shaft. This is how critically a definition is attached to a term.

Who Kills Our Creativity?

I wish I could use the tag line …”choose your school teacher with caution”. The reality is that we rarely get an option to select our school, let alone who would teach us.

A student has to write the answer exactly as teacher did or follow the steps of mathematics with precision to avoid deduction of marks. In such a system, a teacher has very little to contribute as the requirement is to repeat the same stuff year after year to a new set of students. This most certainly deters the bright minds from joining the profession. The personality traits of the teachers leaves a lasting impression on the student's life but the teaching hardly does. To inspire brighter individuals into the teaching profession, the profession itself has to be more innovative rejecting the “one size fit all” approach. We shall then have teachers who are loyal to what they do rather than how to make money. One who never dreams of teaching while growing up will rarely find the situation motivating and look up to monetizing for motivation. This is obviously, not applicable to the thousands of teacher who toil constantly to illuminate the life of their pupil. 

Mass education system is akin to factories processing a large population that can be operated by algorithms. Obedient, punctual, trained to receive instructions, harmless followers and most importantly doesn’t deviate from the set course through innovative ideas. A mass that could be easily manipulated by religious or political leaders will vested interests is another unfortunate byproduct.

The present schooling system worked well for centuries since its inception during early 18^th century. Fruits of this system contributed heavily to the industrial revolution under the British and went on to change India from an underdeveloped nation to today’s position of power. It also produced a large middle class, maybe the largest consumer base that any nation possess but with a disproportionately low number of industry leaders or innovators.

The writing on the wall is clear; our education system is not only flawed, its obsolete.

Today, we envision that the world will require less and less of such organised workforce. Businesses have drastically changed during the past decades and giant corporations have gone out of business without a trace. Organizations that employed people to carry out tasks with predictable outcome have either replaced their employees with less expensive ones or computers. This has already created unemployment and redundancies across the country and imagine the time when AI backed by machine learning completely takes over. Eventually all these tasks will be written with algorithms and operated by machines.

We need to change our system to nurture the child’s innovation, leadership and creativity traits. Our teachers shall teach them to research their own answers and guide them to look at things from a different perspective and not from a set perspective. We want our children to understand more and learn less. We can unlearn what we once learnt but having understood, one can never UN-understand! We want to prepare them to be adaptable to the changing needs of the world as no one knows what skill-sets will be necessary 20 years from now. But when today's child arrives at the job market, we want her to be creative, confident & ready.

Once in junior school, my daughter saw things differently. While the obvious description was a circus, she saw teamwork but unfortunately she was corrected. This is how children are conditioned not see or think outside the box and imagination is strangled. 

Once we succeed in changing the system, we shall witness more teachers making teaching their career choice and that too for their sheer passion for teaching. After all there ain't a profession nobler that teaching! The incentive /remuneration should be adequate but as the teachers knows better, money is not the key to happiness or fulfillment although a necessity!

The excerpt from her paper says it all.

This post is written as part of #IndiSpire269.

How Many Words Is a Video Worth!

Video blogging or Vlogging is a new trend and quite rightly everyone is joining the band wagon. I am in no mood to delve into argument if video will one day force written journalism to extinction. Today, I would rather contemplate how much worth would a video be if a picture is worth a thousand words. I would imagine it would be a few millions at the least!

A picture leaves a lot for the viewer to analyze and infer but a personal video usually drives the message straight home. For a fashion blogger, a Vlog would also demonstrate how one could carry the designed dress. That's quite a few steps ahead of just a pretty photograph.

I am neither a popular blogger nor do I have a successful Vlog. But that doesn’t deter me from contributing my 2 cents about excelling in Video blogging.

So this is top list of important (in no particular order) to do aspects for good video blog:

1. Contents - preferably should be scripted and practiced well in advance before delivering. Unless it's an impromptu event.

2. Videography - camera should be in the hands of another person. Alternatively one should use  a selfie stick or a tripod. Facing the camera at the correct angle is desirable.

3. Post Production - The raw video should not be uploaded in any case. Editing to remove noise and blanks are crucial. Another vital advantage of editing are the credits and notes. Remember words will add another 1000.

4. YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion are probably the most popular hosting sites.

My tween-aged daughter has her YouTube Channel. I try to help her with that with setting up the camera and post production. You can check that out here. She loves to unbox various stuff and also introduce places. The one below though is a song she sang.

My Song

Happy Friendship Day

Someone might ask what's special about today! Isn't it just a date in the calendar and another ploy by the capitalistic world to sell products or services?  I find this as an opportunity to reach out to all my friends. The ones always in my thoughts, the ones I meet regularly, the ones I would like to meet in the future and the ones I know I will never meet in this world.Today as the line between virtual and real is getting increasingly blurred, I also reach out to my friends in the cyber world ... my blogger friends, my social media friends and corporate friends...

Happy Friendship Day 2018!

A tribute on Father's Day

When we were small we believed that our father will protect us whenever we though we will fall. For us he was not only our superman but a super human. Its only after one becomes a father himself, that he understand a father's true vulnerability, weakness and his limitations. You realize the sacrifices he had to make while walking a tight rope as he struggled to maintain the balance between relationship, finances, priorities of life, time management et al.

I remember the look my then infant daughter gave me when she was vaccinated for the first time. As if her eyes were questioning me, how could you ever let them hurt me!

When I look back at those wonder years, I understand my dad a bit more each time. But its too late as he left us for the heavenly abode as soon as I graduated and started with my job denying me the opportunity to give back anything. I wish he was still there and I could treat him, take care of him and hug him!

Happy Father's Day wishes to one and all.

Quick Facts: Father's day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June every year while Mother's day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of May.