My Mother's Prayer

Rajaram, you have to improve so much!!!!

This is the advice I hear everyday, from almost everyone I encounter, whether it is family members or relatives or friends or even my little nephews.

Mama, you look good, but your tummy, and your shape..........YUK!!!. You have to reduce your tummy to improve your shape, my elder nephew used to say.

Did you call your Driving Instructor............ Asked my Brother In Law.

NO!!!!

You have to get rid of procrastination to have any improvement in life!!!!! My BIL advices

You have to hold your pen little tightly, and give little more pressure towards the paper to improve your handwriting. Your pen will not get hurt if you hold it tightly!!!! My teachers and Big Brother used to say.

Yes I know I can’t even read later, whatever I wrote previously.

Improvement!!                           Improvement!!                              Improvement

Why I am not improving?

There is a reason!

 It is due to Mother's Prayer!!!!!!!

All of you may wonder, whether any mother would pray to god to abstain her Son from "Improvement"

Yes, my Mom did this!!!

Are you interested to know the reason?

I will tell you the incident......The flashback will take you to the year 1992-1994

That was the time when I had written my 10th Standard Exam and awaiting results and my past time hobbies were Cricket and Only Cricket and occasionally visit relatives in the same village.

I was not a studious Student and I was always scoring  poor marks in Science and Mathematics.

When I hear, Trigonometry, or Newton's Law or H₂SO₄, I feel less appetite and migraine.

I am having a cousin named Babu, in my neighborhood, who was perusing his Electrical Engineering Studies then.

He used to repair old radios for the villagers and assemble new ones up on demand

He used to make other electronic articles like Digital Clocks, walkmans etc and I used to be with him watching, how he plugged in his Soldering iron? How he solder Resistors, Diodes, Capacitors to the Printed Circuit Board. (The Circuit Boards were also made by him by mixing some chemicals)

I even like the smell when he touches the hot Soldering iron to the soldering Flux which is meant to clean the Surface before soldering.

I used to watch him carefully, how he used his Multi meter and one day he allowed me to touch it to my joy knows no bounds.

I also wished and wanted to make a Radio and to make my parents and brothers wonder about my ability.

I hesitantly told this to my cousin. He advised there are "Radio Kits" available in the city with instructions on it and if I simply follow the instructions, I can also be a proud owner of self made Radio.

He also suggested that, the most user-friendly and famous brand is "Jetking".

I requested my dad to buy me a radio kit. But the city is 60 Kilometers away from our village.

There was a person called Ravi Warrier in our village who goes everyday to the city as he employed there in an Ayurvedic Hospital.

Fed up with my constant requests, my dad asked him to buy a Jetking Radio kit and handed over the cash.

When the petrol price was only Rs. 17, the Sugar costs only Rs 7 per Kg and Lifebuoy Soap costs only Rs. 3, my dad spend Rs. 300 to my childhood fancy.

I was daydreaming that, immediately after getting the Kit, I would Start the work and complete my radio with in a day. So I kept my Soldering Iron, lead and flux ready on a table which was near the plug point.

Even though I know, Mr Ravi would come at 8:30 PM, in the last bus, whenever I hear the noise of a bus, I ran towards our gate to see whether he is coming with my kit.

At last he came with my kit at 8:30 PM and to my horror, Electricity had gone as it was our scheduled time of power cut.

I thought, by the time the electricity comes, which is usually half an hour later, I would read the manual, so that I can start my work immediately.

At 9.00 O Clock all expected that the electricity would be back but it didn’t.

Up on enquiry we understood that, electricity can not be expected that night as some tree had fallen to the 11 KV line near by and the repairing was going on.

In the candle light, I completed reading the Manual once and re read it 2 times after that.

The next day, when the electricity was restored, I started my work.

I plugged in my soldering iron and kept all the components of the kit in order along with the instruction Manual.

I took the Printed Circuit Board and started soldering the components one by one. There were many components; the Resistors, Capacitors, Transistors, and Diodes and so on.

By this I was slowly learning the basics of electronics.

Now I know a transistor has 3 lead named Emitter, Base, and Collector and a diode has 2 leads named Cathode and anode.

 I felt very happy as I was progressing in my work..

All at home and some of my friend looked at me surprisingly and my dad even told me that I look professional.

That night, once the last resistors and Volume control are fitted on the board, the Battery compartments connection had been given and I was very eager to test it.

I made it sure that, no one is around as I was afraid that, if something goes wrong and if nothing is heard from the radio.

I prayed to god and slowly switched on the Radio!!!!!!!!!

Instead of hearing a song I heard a sound  TUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With Smoke!!!!!!!!

Without telling anything to anyone at home I took my radio to my cousin and showed and he found out that, I had interchanged the leads of a Diode while soldering.

Fortunately, he was having the component and he replaced it and did some checking with his multi-meter and at last he switched on.

As he tunes the radio on, to my surprise, my radio captured signal from Akashavani Trichur Station.

I thanked him and took my radio to my home and I called everyone to my "Experiment Area" and shown to them that the radio is working.

My parents were very happy and they sincerely thought that an Engineer is born!!!!!

My fate / Destiny were written on that day!

We should get him First Group to his Pre-degree; I heard my Mom telling my dad; See his taste in Engineering!!!!! See how he repairs things!!!!!

 At last the results were out for my 10^th Standard and some how my parents managed to get First group for my pre degree and the subjects comprises of Science / Mathematics and English.

The First day itself... I understood that and I do not understand anything taught in the class that too in a different medium, English, which was not at all familiar to me.

At that time I was not aware any English sentence other than " What is your name?",and I found it very difficult to concentrate in the class and obviously all my concentration was on the Cricket ground outside.

My College was situated on the top of a Small hill. The main office and buildings were on the top of the hill, the Entrance and the Physical Education department on the valley. The cricket Ground was on the mid of the hill.

Everyday I reach my college by 8 o Clock and stand in front of the Physical Education department waiting for others, mostly senior cricketers to come. Since there was not a proper cricket pitch in the ground, we have to take the Coir Carpet from the dept to the ground which was too heavy.

The seniors made us to do that. We juniors form a group of 6 people and keep the Carpet on the top of three stumps and lift the stumps side by side and  walk to the ground which is around 100 Meters away from the Ground level.

Even then we juniors did all the sacrifices we hardy get an over to bowl and batting was not allowed at all.

Despite of that,  I was on good spirit as I see a future Kris Srikkanth on me who was also an Engineer.

My first year in college just went like that and the college was closed for Study leave for a month.

The first 15 days went just like that.

The 16th day I opened my Physics Text which looked like Brand New as I was opening it for the first time.

I realised that  I don’t know anything in Physics.

I thought, Lets start with Chemistry.. Physics I will do later......

There also the same!!! I don’t know anything!

At last the exam dates came near........ And I wrote the exams............

I was afraid and Sure that I am not going to pass!!!

On the eve of my first year exam results my mother read out the Sadness on of my face.......

Why are you so sad and why you are not eating properly? She asked

I told her the truth!! Mom I am afraid of my result!!! I am not sure that I will pass!!!!

Calmly my mother asked........ What will happen if you fail?

Do you have to sit in the same class again?

No...... I said........ I can sit in the second year class. And there is scheme by the University called "Improvement", So that I can re write my first year exams.

“Improvement" What does that means, my mother asked.

A candidate who fails in the first year exams my re appear for his failed subjects along with second year Exams or even if a candidate passes the exams with low marks may reappear the exams to have improved marks and the highest mark out of both the exams will be taken in the mark list. I answered.

For you not to get any "Improvement", you have to pass the exams in the first chance, right? My mother reconfirmed.

Yes....... I Answered.

That evening my mother went to our village temple and prayed

 ദൈവമേ, എന്റെ മകന് ഒരിക്കലും Improvement കൊടുക്കല്ലേ !!!!!!!!

கடவுளே, என் புல்லையக்கு ஒரு நாளும் Improvement  குடுக்கதும்கோ

 Oh God, Never Ever give my son any “Improvement"

When the results were out next day, to my wonder I had passed for all papers with stagnant (Opposite of Flying colours) colours.

But whether god took my Mothers prayer wrongly as if the prayer of Kumbhakarna was answered by Goddess Saraswathi

I was escaped from my "Improvement Exams", but in life, am I improved?????

Even if you say NO........ I won’t agree.

Except my Hand writing and Tummy........Everything has improved!!!!

If I have not Improved, I wouldn’t have written this story.

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