All about routines

I want to share 2 of the routine, which is essential but I delayed them. Not sure whether it is the immigrant feeling that I delayed it. But they say ‘Better late than never’ Overcame the fear and accomplished them.

I was pampered and spoilt not only by my parents but also by my loving husband.  Yes, you will be surprisingly shocked if I share the details.

1. Driving a car in the US

2. Travelling officially

Most of you would have started driving at the age of 18 or even less - which would have been the first step towards independence when you were a teenager. Very happy for you. I took my son to the DMV office on his 18th birthday. But I started to drive when I was almost 36+, more than double the legal age. Pathetic.

While in India, had drivers for our cars. When I went to work in India, I was chauffeured whenever I had to commute. Never had the intention of learning to drive on my own. Luckily my husband knew driving when we came to the US. Yes, and the comfort continued, husband did all the driving in the initial years here… I learned driving only after 4 yrs in the US. Learned it in a do-or-die situation. Yes, until life pushes you, some of these skills, we do not venture, even though it is a mandatory skill. But once on the wheels, it did not stop….

When we had only 1 car, I had to drop my husband at the train station when he worked in Philadelphia. Had to drop my son at school and then I go to work. Evening picks them up in reverse order. 2 hours of driving every day… All these were on the local roads only. 

One more hurdle to cross… Had the fear of driving on highways/freeway, as the speed was more. As it is a life and death matter, my husband also did not encourage me and helped me with freeway driving, whenever needed… Although I worked from home, if I had to travel to my Teaneck office - less than 100 miles from home, it would be a picnic taking the entire family.  😂

I wanted to do the freeway driving for 2 reasons

1. Wanted to do it before my son does it.
2. If my son goes to college and my husband who is a mortgage officer, is busy at work on weekends too, refuses to take me to meet my boy, what will I do

 These thoughts came up…The fear of the highway was overcome by my mother’s love. I wanted to learn freeway driving at any cost.

So had another driving lesson for Freeway only - went to Atlantic City twice. But still deep down the fear was there. After a couple of weeks, 2 of our family friends helped me. Went to Longwood Garden with Sudhakar and family. With vested interest volunteered to drive both ways with Sudhakar on the side. He is very calm, less complaining. The drive was OK, but at one junction, I had to cross four-lane in less than 3 minutes. I was sweating, but he was so cool, made me feel the same, and overcame the fear. Also, another family friend Kamal helped me… He too was very encouraging - we went up to Bordertown and came home.  

Let me talk about my maiden freeway drive… you must be thinking I went to some temple… I don’t remember the date but I drove to my Cognizant headquarters office Teaneck, not for any meeting. Just a drive on Saturday morning. Yes, had the adrenaline rush very frequently, but it was more at the George Washington bridge. Parked my car at the office parking lot had a couple of tangerines and quenched my thirst and got ready for the trip downwards. Thanking both Sudhakar and Kamal as I was taking the exit ramp on NJ 295 South.

Driving itself was delayed for a long time, traveling alone was overdue.  

Although in the US for the past 15+ years and working in IT, people think I do travel very frequently. Even though my work did not ask for it, I was also not comfortable traveling on my own. Mainly because of coming from an old-fashioned conservative family.  

I overcame this fear in 2017 December. It was just an annual meeting at the same Teaneck office. But as the weather was icy, we had the flexibility for an overnight stay. So booked a hotel room at Marriott near the office. Packed my stuff needed meticulously. Even when I was about to leave, my affectionate husband, offered to drop me off at the hotel and pick me up the next day at my Cognizant office. Yes, they are bent on spoiling us with their coddle. Yes, this overprotection only loots us from our independence. I was quite inflexible and wanted to drive and stay all by myself and drive back the next day. Pls, give us a break….

Finally, bid goodbye to the family and started to drive. Did not want to stop anywhere for dinner too. Decided to buy my dinner here in Voorhees. Drove for less than 2 hours and reached my destination. Slight snow was there… Checked in, reported home, and then had my dinner Chipotle bowl.  

As I was tired fell asleep but got up early. It had snowed heavily. So wanted to clean up the car before getting dressed. Had my breakfast, cleaned the car and checked out the hotel, and went to the meeting well before the scheduled time. It was a successful one not only at the meeting but also being on my own. Had the opportunity to repeat more travel by taking the flight to Dallas and Tampa being on my own, away from family, for more than 3 or 4 days too. Just waiting for life to return back to normal, post covid so I can explore more. 

 Although it might sound trivial, it is a great feeling of happiness and satisfaction, when we achieve these. Also thrilled, to set a good example for my daughter by breaking the barriers.  😎

 Let me end this with a quote -  'A Ship in the harbor is safe, but  that's not what ships are built for' 

 

My First Super Hero

 Who was your first superhero?  Take a few mins – neither spiderman nor superman or any other. For each one of us, it is their dad.  For me even now, I consider my dad as a hero and compare him with Rajini in Kabali, which my hubby will not agree with.😉

Looking back a few decades, my dad Vivekanandan (VV) named after the great Indian monk, although born in a big family with 3 brothers and 2 sisters, lost his father when he was just 2 years old.  He was fostered by his maternal uncle and aunt. As they did not have a child, he was the world for them. Yes, he repaid that, by taking care of them till their end.

He was very studious when compared to his siblings, not sure whether it was his uncle’s (Muthu Thatha) influence. He graduated in Mathematics and Law.    Although he did not practice law, he always talks or contends like an attorney only. Since 1964 worked and retired from the public sector bank SBI.

He is very passionate about photography - I would say passion is a less intense word when I see the fire in him regarding Photography. With his first income he got a camera and his interest in this field got so aggressive, he had set up a dark room where he would develop the negative and positive at home itself - old photography techniques, pre-digital world. Although now he is in his late 70’s, he hoards equipment that can set up at least 2 to 3 photo studios. With his extreme knowledge in this field, he shares and enlightens young amateur / professional photographers in various workshops. For these workshops, he travels across the country too. Probably through this, he made many young photographers build their careers. He hardly stays at home. Only this pandemic is tying him to stay home. He is always seen with his digital camera clicking away pictures and uploading them on various internet sites.  He also participates in online competitions. He is very tech-savvy.

Yes, his first wife was not my mom Shyamala but photography.   He got married at 25 while working at the bank and studying law at an evening college. He was so fortunate that he had his in-laws attend his graduation ceremony when he completed studying law. 

My childhood memory about my appa - Since he was a handsome young man, the neighbors called him “Kamal Hassan”.  He was also a very happy-go-lucky guy. Although he had a 9 to 5 job, he mostly returned home late after 9 pm since he attended meetings in various photographic associations. After the meetings, he would come home with late-night snacks which I would always enjoy. For example, Jack fruit, varieties of bananas, deep-fried Indian snacks from ‘Iyer Kadai’ or some freshly baked biscuits from the bakery ‘Bhai Kadai’.   He rarely stays home on weekends. Even on weekends, he was busy going out early in the morning to take a picture of the sun rising, with his friends or fellow photographers. Sometimes on the weekend afternoons, he will set up a record player with a couple of loudspeakers, and we will enjoy the loud music – by bands like Osibisa / Bonny M.  Also, he helped with the school projects, which my teachers give only to me, as he would draw like an artist.

Appa is a walking encyclopedia, who can talk about anything. He has a long-sighted vision always.  Truly based on his advice only, I blindly selected ‘Computer programming’ and graduated which I am ever so grateful for. He had visited us thrice here in the US.  Because of the technology we have, I enjoy talking to him almost every day which has brought us closer.

Appa is a big foodie.  He knows most of the restaurants in and around the city – What is best in each one of them.   When he visited us here in the US, he would give me some tips and tricks which enhance the flavors and at the same time be prudent too. Also, homemade food when he mixes with his hands - no one can get that proportion, yummy!

He is the Jibba man. Being a south Indian, brought in the culture of wearing Jibba (North Indian dress) in our circle. Spend his time with his grandsons and granddaughter now in Chennai.

Wishing him Happy Father’s day Appa!

He starts and ends the conversation like a pastor, hence ending this with a 'God Bless You'.

Vaccine 2nd Shot

Are you fully vaccinated? 

In the fourth week of March, my husband and son were fully vaccinated, but I was not lucky enough to get picked by the algorithm or logic defined by our state. So my loving husband - very concerned, spoke to some of his friends and found a vaccination center, where we need to drive for 50 miles (one way). As all of you know the first shot was a breeze and there was no / very less impact.

But as I heard stories of the second shot I wanted to be more prepared. Planning for the second shot started, as we were driving for my first shot on Sunday 3/28. Knowing the impact I decided to get the second shot on a Friday – April 23rd, so I could recover over the weekend, with less impairment to my family and to the new project (office work) which I decided to start on Apr 5^th.

But God had a different rather better plan for me. Soon after the first shot in the observation area, there was a big electronic board flashing 2nd appointment from April 18th to April 22. My plan was for April 23rd Friday…. I did not want to interrupt my husband’s work on a weekday and decided to take the shot on Sunday, April 18th… prepared to face the consequences, with little planning ahead. 

What are the things you would plan for, to have fewer unexpected things to happen?

1.    Smooth running of home/family activities - Being a mom and the only cook in the family needs to be prepared with food for at least 3 days.

2.    To complete the official work which is due….

Food: This is very important for all of us…. Especially with remote working and virtual schooling, I believe we end up eating more junk food, in case we did not plan.  Luckily changed our routine a little in this pandemic situation we are in, yes healthy, but at the same time little less time in the kitchen. Instead of 3 complete meals in the day, made the lunch a little lighter version with more Salad / Fruit medley with yogurt or some hearty soup. Normally I try to plan and do the prep work, one of the weekends - so do not waste my time planning/thinking during the weekdays. The plan is only a skeleton of course with a lot of flexibility inbuilt. For me being a pure Vegetarian (do not eat eggs too), my husband being a selective non-vegetarian, avoids meat and eggs on Tuesdays/ Thursday/ Saturday. Now started a new pattern based on the phases of the moon…. Yes as he grows ---, getting more complex and complicates us too. But both our kids enjoy meat all the days.

With all these permutation and combination, it was not hard on the planning, as I am used to it.  Also implementing I was there 100% around to juggle food from the fridge and stovetop/microwave and finally to the dining table. Now the twist is all these things should happen in my absence, just in case. Yes, prepared food for 3 days, which needs less involvement from us, and kept them ready in the fridge. 

Some of you might think, why not I take out the food instead of doing all this. In our family made it a practice to enjoy outside food on Friday or weekends…. On weekdays we are almost in rush to complete so many things at work/school, the food on these days is just a ritual. Hope you can understand and agree with this.

Work: Officially I had a deliverable for the weekend of April 18th, but managed to complete all the analysis the weekend before Apr 11th- remember I joined this project Apr 5th, stretched that weekend. This helped me to some extent.

Luckily with all these preparations, I was ok with a little body pain but on a long sleeping spell. I normally sleep for 6 to 7 hours a day…. But this 2nd shot made me sleep for 15 /16 hours continuously for 2 days. Only pressure of my work – new project kissed me, to remove the spell and not the prince charming from sleeping beauty.

How can there be a project or a plot without a climax? Yes, my inimitable husband brought in the climax. He was debating on switching jobs and he pulled the trigger during this time. Already I started my new project on April 5th. He switches the company. On the second day of my shot, it was his joining day. He was under severe pressure - working on setting up his new laptop/orientation call/demo on all the applications, while I was happily dreaming in my sleep.

In this tough situation, my 13-year-old daughter learned to make a perfect Indian pancake - dosa.  She was excited and happy to be of great help to the family when it was most needed. Also, it was a test for my Fitbit to record 16 hours of my sleeping.

In any project planning, risks are inevitable, hence have the mitigation strategies or Plan B, handy to complete the project execution. Also document the learnings for future reference.

I take this opportunity to request you all above the age of 16 to get vaccinated soon and stay safe.

 

Train & Hire

When a corporate needs associates for their junior-level associates, everyone knows the solution is campus hiring. Campus hiring is a big process and precise planning is requisite. If you miss the timing, all our efforts go in vain.  If you missed the bus, what other ways are there? Yes, we in the IT sector recently started two other channels to get junior-level associates from the market.

 

 1) Hire and Train (which is commonly used for blue-collared jobs)

 2) Train and Hire

 

Both, almost sound the same but there is a huge difference in cost and profit margin. 

 

For all channels, demand study and Curriculum are important. 

 

Demand Study:

1.    Based on demands in the business unit you handle, we need to check with our clients where we can place trained associates in a billable role.

2.    Gather the details Skillset, domain, location, client, count, work authorization….. etc

 

Curriculum:

1.    As we work on a generic curriculum across the practice, we identify the lead /sponsor for the initiative to take charge from end to end. 

2.    Work with various SMEs and ensure the curriculum is validated and approved by the Lead. 

3.    Also, ensure training, can be completed within 6 to  8  weeks

 

Train and Hire

 

As the model suggests, first we need to train the junior-level associates and then hire them. We need to work with the dept which deals with pre-employment firms. 

 

 Pre-Employment Dept: Most of the IT companies nowadays have a full-fledged Pre-employment Department, which works closely with various training Partners. They take care - 

 

 1) Based on the training needs as per the curriculum given by the business, check for trainers, candidates, and the availability of other training needs like training material, use cases, and the required software.

2) Sometimes IT Company is involved in the recruiting of trainees for their training program too, like doing the skip level evaluation and recommending the associates for their Training.  

3) Finalize the Training partners based on various criteria. 

1.    Rate of the Trainees per hour

2.    Minimum Count commitment  

3.    Qualified Trainers /Lab Availability 

4.    Sharing weekly assessment scores

5.    Training period/availability of Trainees. 

6.    Liquidation damages 

7.    Trainees should be certified, by the end of the training. 

 

An SOW is signed for each batch/cohort with the training partner. 

 

Trainees 

1.    Pre-qualification needed for the training – defined by you as per the Skillset 

2.    Expect a minimum of 6 months to 12 months of work experience in IT. 

3.    Any work authorization needed (VISA processing) post-hiring - we can set the expectation based on your company’s global mobility policy / sometimes the client wants to.

4.    Trainees are flexible to relocate to the location of the demand, post-training - once when the Travel ban is lifted and clients insist our employees at the client site /office. 

5.    Set the joining date based on the training aftermath and your demand start date.

 

3 Connects with the Trainees - prior onboarding. 

 

1.    Meet & Greet 

2.    Demo Day 

3.    Final Evaluation 

 

Meet & Greet:

 

1.   At this event, we get to schmooze with the trainees.
2.   It is a lively and friendly event, where we socialize with them. 
3.  Get to share, each other’s background
4.  Talk about how a day is at the client’s place using the tool/skillset they are learning. 
5.  Client’s expectation
6.   Onboarding formalities / Career path.

 

Demo Day: It is a time when there is close interaction between the trainees and the mentors / Panel. 

1)   We divide the batch /cohort into 4 to 5 groups/projects.

2)   Identify a Vertical champion for this skillset and have him/her ready with an additional 2 or 3 Panel members. 

3)   Each group or project is aligned to 1 or 2 vertical

4)   On Demo Day, the trainees showcase their project /use case and talk about it. The project is designed - so it covers the entire Curriculum. 

5)   The training instructor can explain to them ‘WHAT & HOW’ needs to be done. However, these mentors help with ‘WHEN’, ‘WHY’ - during the group discussion /Demo day. 

6)   This helps the trainees with an organizational touch and keeps them more engaged. They feel more connected.

7)   It also helps in building up the aspiration within them and it kindles the self-learning fire in them

8)   The mentor and instructor/trainer handshakes and takes the entire cohort moving forward.

9)   At the end of the Demo Day, the mentors/Panel would have completed the pre-screening and able to rank their trainees. 

 

Final evaluation: 

 

1.    The same set of mentors get to evaluate the trainees on a one-on-one basis.  

2.    Can be planned for 30 mins.

3.    Prepare the IOS during this and decide whether the candidate is Selected/Rejected/ Retrained. 

4.    For Retraining the Panel can mark which are the modules the trainees are not scaling up. 

5.    He/She will be trained on the modules where it is marked as “below average”

6.    Retraining will be done for 2 weeks by the Training Partner.  

7.    The trainee will be re-evaluated on all modules again at the end. 

 

Onboarding

 

1)   The confirmed associates are onboarded as  Contractors

2)   They can be converted to  FTE after 1 yr.

 

Marketing Profiles:

 

1)   Vertical Champion works closely with the BizOps and Engagement partners.

2)   Based on the demand study done initially, they market these trainees’ profiles with the business and fill them for the billable demands that they have.

3)   With the Pandemic situation, we are in, it is difficult for these trainees to learn on the job in a virtual model. Hence they are available with 2 months Cost Holiday.

4)   They try to push into projects where they have a team and these associates are not individual contributors and have less interaction with the client. 

5)   This will help the associate to gain knowledge and confidence from the other associates on the ground and learn on the job and deliver. 

 

Weekly connect:

 From Operation, also have a weekly 30 minutes connect with the Vertical champion and trainees to address

1.    Any needs they might have - extra mentoring post-training 

2.    How to handle internal hiring managers, in case they approach them. We get the details of the Hiring manager and do help in following up

3.    Also, ask them to take up additional external certifications, which will add value to their profile.  

 

Recently we did a cohort of AWS Data engineer and the top 80% was selected and in the process of getting placed for billable roles….

 

It is such a soul-satisfying feeling to see our trainees getting into the billable role and starting their career… It is a win-win situation, for both them and the company.

 

                              Thank You!    

                    

                          

My Thatha (Grandpa)

We all have our favorite childhood memories and favorite people too… Just think who are the lucky few, who come top in your list…. Yes my THATHA (Grandpa) is the first on the list always… Kind of a tribute/homage to that great SOUL. My Grandpa was popularly known in our circle as ‘Cashier Mama’ our Muthu thatha…. Yes, his name was K P Muthukumaraswami…. Muthu in Tamil means pearl….

He was neither my father’s dad nor my mother’s dad. He was a maternal uncle of my Dad. He did not have any kids, so my dad was fostered by him. 

He was a gold melodist in Math in the early 1900. He served the British when they were ruling India, then. He had a good command of the English language and always had worthy proverbs/phrases and idioms in his speech. He always narrated small stories with morals in them. Also had good knowledge of Tamil literature. I believe he pushed the same in my father and me.

Every summer vacation, he used to take only me to the ‘Moore market’ (Permanent Garage /Yard Sale or Flea market kind of place) to get used storybooks – new storybooks were expensive then too…. He pressed hard in me to read the works of Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Jane Austin, and many other works…. Not the original, all abridged versions ONLY. Not sure, how my brothers were left out in this game…. This word ‘abridged’ I carry from him, so you can reflect how many storybooks I read out of pressure initially - which changed into pleasure. This exercise I passed /pressed on my son here, made him read a lot of storybooks from the library. 

Thatha made me read both the Indian epics Ramayanam and Mahabaratham in Tamil. As you all know Ramayana is an epic that demands us to be good. But Mahabaratham is an epic that warns us, telling us what will happen if we are not good. He also made me read ‘Kural Oviyam’ by Kalaignar Karunanidhi. 

Not only English /Tamil, but he is the one who wanted me to learn 3rd language Hindi national language of India, and made me take the exams through ‘Hindi Prachar Sabha’. To learn the language faster and retain it, made it point to watch only Hindi movies on TV, Doordarshan then. Also, this culture caught up to see all the Sharukh Khan movies, until my marriage. After marriage, I had to translate, hence stopped it. 😀 This Hindi helped us when we went to Shirdi and Mumbai recently.

Here in the USA we get a summer workbook grade-wise, which we buy for our kids. During my school days, we never had such books. Yes, my thatha took me to his favorite place ‘Moore Market’ to get Math books from various publishers. During summer vacation, his favorite activity was to take me to the temple in the afternoon after lunch, we sit and practice math problems together. If I were to do this at home, he knew I will be distracted by my brothers and others. In the afternoon the temple is locked, he had special permission to be there inside the temple and the guards knew us very well. We used to practice the math sums/problems on a slate (small handheld blackboard) and chalk - validate the answers. Never waste paper too - eco-friendly then, more old-school. 

 My thatha gave much importance to education. Below is a poem which he always says in Tamil

 வெள்ளத்தாற் போகாது, வெந்தழலால் வேகாது, வேந்தரால் கொள்ளத்தான் முடியாது, கொடுத்தாலும் நிறைவொழியக் குறைபடாது கள்ளர்க்கோ மிகவரிது, காவலோ மிகவெளிது, கல்வியென்னும் உள்ளத்தே பொருளிருக்க, உலகெல்லாம் பொருள்தேடி உழல்வதேனோ!

This means education is something that cannot be

• Washed by flood 
• Burnt in Fire
• Seized by a king/dictator
• Reduced when shared
• Stolen by bandits 
• And there is not much security.

 Once you get the wealth called education, you need not go around the world searching for other wealth. 

He loves to drink coffee with milk and sugar, any number of times in a day. I still remember that night, he said he was sick and wanted only coffee. He was so weak, he could not drink by himself, asked me to feed him little by little, as he was lying on his bed. Although in my teens, I took it as fun and fed him, not knowing that was his last coffee. He was 84 when he left us. 

 Last but not least advice is not to change one’s personality. An old monk was near a lake, found a scorpion in the water. Out of compassion, wanted to help the scorpion. Spontaneously jumped in to save and try to remove it, but scorpion not realizing stings the monk. He drops the scorpion into the water again. Again tries to help, the scorpion again stings the monk. As the scorpion continues to sting the monk, but he kept helping the scorpion, each of them did not want to change their personality - like even a burnt shell, maintains its whiteness - சங்கு சுட்டாலும் வெண்மை தரும்.

 Without kerfuffle I believe, with only my thatha’s blessings, I was able to write and post this.

                                                             Thank you.

Silver Jubilee !

February a month is not only for celebrating Valentine's Day, I celebrate my work anniversary. This year I embark on my Silver jubilee year at my workplace completed 24 yrs, I like to give credit to my near and dear ones and disclose my mantra for so far I have been. 

I am glad to mention my mother – Amma. She was very happy when I got into my dream company in 1997. I see her acknowledging and blessing me every day. She happily smiles, in one of the picture frames in my office room. 

 

The second one is my hubby. How can I forget him? Without his nudge, we would not have traveled the onsite US. He was so flexible in the first few years of my stay here in the US. Not that he is not flexible NOW J Every 5 to 6 months, my job assignments changed. Within less than 3 yrs we moved to 5 different states - CO, UT, WA, MI, and NJ. Although he came on a dependent VISA, he was authorized to work when we were in WA. So he had to quit his job, whenever we relocated. Finally, we settled down in NJ. 

 

Last my kids…. The amount of sacrifice they made - I owe a lot to them. Even though I work from home for the past 14+ years…. Mornings were not an issue, was able to comfortably take care of their breakfast and bid them goodbye in their school bus. But most of the time, when they return from school, I will be in crazy calls with a lot of cacophony going through XLS meticulously with the team. Cannot even hug them when they return from school - just only mime to have their snack and relax. Kudos to them…. Now too, they truly boost me up. My son as he is a junior in college, gives me encouraging official tips with his internship experience and my daughter asks me to indulge in my other desires like music…. 

 

My mantra for where I am today is a PEG. Cheers!

 

Are you excited about hearing PEG? It is not the intoxicating shot that you are thinking. 

 

PEG = Passion + Empathy + Good. 

 

Passion: what do you mean by this word….. Ardent affection, deep interest, strong liking /desire.

Eg of Passion -   

 

1. For some of us, cars are a passion…. 

2. For some of us, keeping our body fit is a passion...

3. For some of us, our day-to-day work is a passion - LUCKY!

 

Want to apply all of their skills and all of their energy into their passion. 

People who have seen/worked with me or know me very well might graciously acknowledge this characteristic. 

 

The best feeling in the world is getting paid to do, what you love….  

 

 Manage to make your job a passion….. or find one...

 

Skills are cheap, but Passion is PRICELESS. 

 

Empathy: meaning the ability to understand and share the feeling of another. This needs to be developed as we grow. But in the modern world, we have workshops to kindle, teach/preach this. Put yourself in the other person’s shoe. Human beings are less expressive, especially when they need help, their self-respect makes them express only hardly one-third of their problem or even less. So it is up to us to understand their situation and provide all possible aid within our limit. 

As we do our job every day we become more process-oriented than people-oriented. We need to change that aspect. 

 

Good: What is the definition for good… yes it means ‘Morally right’. We are all mature enough to know what is good and not. Yes, Good should be confessed by your heart and not by your brain. If the good comes from your brain, it is either manipulated or an adjusted one…. 

Do anything and everything without vested interest. Everything good that you do will have a happy ending. 

 

Let me complete this note with a small imaginary story narrated by my grandpa – Muthu thatha. Have you ever felt sometimes, in your official world, the work that you do/contribute, you are not getting the credit and it is taken by your manager or someone else? 

 

When constructing a new building/house in India, we use “Pine Tree – Savvukku Maram” to create props to build, plaster, and paint. Nowadays they use iron rods/pillars. As they complete the job they remove the props. On completion, these pine tree support, lie in the backyard. 

For the house warming/inauguration ceremony, we bring in a new banana tree for ornamentation to enhance the entrance of the new construct. All of us witnessing the great event see only the banana tree that just came in a day back, but everyone will miss /ignore the pine tree, which helped primarily in the construction. The banana tree after the inauguration gets shattered and fed to cattle but the pine tree is ready to get shifted to the next new place of construction. 

 

I know it is painful, but do NOT lose heart…. You are like a pine tree STRONG – get ready for the next new, adventurous assignment.

 

                                                             Good Luck!