#866 Pre-Independence born and ex IISc graduate turns 80 !!
In era where upgrading skill is core aspect of career and life , my dad has done it all. A man who was born in pre independence era , having heart of 60s and 70s but mind is as active as new GenAI era. He was rank holder in BSc Maths and completed engineering in IIsc via scholarship. He started his career in electrical later moved to marketing. He retired as AGM in SAIL.
We celebrated his 80th birthday in style which he loves. A banana leaf meal with family. 90% of food is home cooked with contributions from all. A day to cherish for him and us as well.
Time for some flashback now. A few memories of dad which has and will stay with us forever.
Till 1992, we always thought that Radhakrishna Rao ( my dad) was born on 25-Dec-1943. Even dad had the feeling that this was his birth date as it was in all his records. My grandfather had a family book where DOB of all Boloorians were kept as record. We all of a sudden realized in 1992 that he was born on 29-Oct-1943. He was a Scorpion like mom. Mom was born on 31-Oct-1950. We saw it as 2 days difference between their birthdays. Dad had another jovial angle to describe it. He used to say mom was born 2 years after independence. He had a wicked sense of humor sometimes!!
Today that great man is turning 80 !! Time has flown too fast for this Bsc Maths rank holder, engineering student in prestigious IIsc , retired AGM of VISL (a subsidiary of SAIL) , stocks champion, “Can talk on any topic !!“ master, a thorough gentlemen , a self-proclaimed YOGA guru and sweet-loving guy. By sweet loving, I really meant sweets. He can’t live a day without eating a sweet which he totally adores !!. He might still manage to live without sweets but don’t think he can without yoga and stocks study. He has been investing in stocks since 1981 (if I am not wrong !! ) . He never shows his excitement or anger when stocks jump or dips !!. Probably his body language gives an indication. Just for the love of stocks, he learnt to use Microsoft XLS at the age of 60, tablet at the age of 72 , laptop at the age of 74 and even boasts a google finance account which he monitors through his mobile (bought a smart phone just for this !!). His past time always goes in calculating capital gains and analyzing what stocks or MF to buy !! . I am completely opposite to him. I do like finance but not to the extent this freak does !! (I do call him freak sometimes). Once newspaper comes in the morning, he detaches the sports edition and hands over to me. He calls me an Urdu sports freak sometimes!!! In all newspaper, sports edition is there in last few pages. I always read the newspaper from last page to first. So the name Urdu Sports freak !!
It’s impossible to list down moments with dad which I cherished as there are so many. One of the most memorable one was the day Seema won 2nd prize in Hindi debate (2nd in entire Karnataka) . He was so happy that day that his eyes was glowing. He was immensely proud. Each time Seema would win a competition ( I felt she was born talented. She would win most competitions, was a charm in plays and was always topper in studies. It was a deadly combo and I always felt she was a magician), dad looked very happy proud. Her multi talent is evident in her career too. She was a BSC Zoology student, worked in IMRB for IA Flying returns and now running a host of sessions on story telling very successfully. That’s as varied set of talent a human can get. Seema was always dad’s pet due to this rare talent. He would proudly tell about her deeds to his friends. I was a kid who was born other side of planet probably. I hardly won any events, was an above average student (thanks to mom for that!! ) and was a sports fanatic. I owe my passion for sports partly to dad’s interests as well. 2 instances was the real trigger for that.
1982 Asian games and 1983 world cup were 2 key calendar years for India. Dad had literally got TV imported from north India just to watch these events (at least I always felt that he bought TV for these events !! ). It looked like a magic box for me. None of our neighbors had TV . Even our rich landlord was watching our TV. How cool was that !! 1982 Asian games was held in India for the first time. It was a grand spectacle. Best was 1983 world cup which India won as underdogs. Host of dad’s cousins had come from native to watch the finals. Our house was small . TV was kept in hall. There was a huge window which was opened to allow neighbors to watch TV. Atleast 30-40 people watched the finals. Snacks would come from all the houses. I just can’t imagine watching a match like that in current generation. Crackers was burst across Bangalore when India won the finals. I was all but 6 by then. That day was the first instance which triggered the sports madness in me. Post that I got bat and ball from dad.
2nd instance which triggered another nerve of sports madness in me was when I first watched tennis. It was era of Martina and Mconroe. I hardly knew a thing about tennis. It was dad who taught me on how points worked in tennis. In mid 80s, only Wimbledon was telecasted in DD post SF matches. We used to wait for that weekend with eagerness. The first finals which I saw was Martina vs Evert. Martina won the match after losing her first set. It was her 6th Wimbledon title and 12th slam overall. In men’s tennis, a new 17 year old kid had made great stride to reach finals where he faced Kevin Curren. It was a tight 4 setter but Becker won in 4 sets. It was amazing to see him serve with so much power, dive around the net with ease and play with such soft and silk touch around the nets. He was named BOOM BOOM Becker after this win !! He was in all sports headlines that week.
If people blame me for being crazy for sports, dad had a great hand in that!! In mid 90s, when I started watching golf, he started staring me with a look “ Its game for retired people!!..Why are you watching it?? “ . Moving on, other than sports he has inspired me in a lot of other things. Money management, time management and health focus being key of them. I can’t recall a phase in his career when he had a tummy which is crazy. Half my life, I have stared at my tummy when I bend my head down !!! He never visited a gym but ensured he walks, jogs or does yoga throughout his life. He had slip disc when he was in mid-40s but that didn’t stop him from exercising. He couldn’t jog anymore. So he did loads of walking and yoga. He was so addicted to walking that he once walked at 330 AM in the morning thinking it is 530 AM. His alarm had rung 2 hours early. He reached home asking why sun was not rising !!. Mom gave him a stare and told that it was not even 430 AM !!
In Pre TV era, all he made us do was walking which we sorely miss in today’s life. After dinner, we would walk for 30 min , chat all along and then come back home and sleep. Gone are those days !! My son Shreyas can’t believe we lived such a life !! Another thing which I owe to dad is love for food. Irrespective of how the situation of his purse was, he ensured that he took us out for dinner in regular intervals. In mid 80s, when we were in Bhadravathi, a new restaurant had started which served North Indian food. It was first of its kind in the small town of Bhadravathi. We made regular visit there. Eating Manchurians, naan and various sabji was just a treat to my tummy. I have always been a fast eater. It helped me immensely when I visited hotel with my parents. Once I finished my share of food, dad and mom would some share of theirs too to my plate !!. The era of fast-eating-by-Mr-Sandeep has not stopped since then. I enjoy eating fast now and just can’t eat or drink anything slowly !! The secret behind that is revealed now !!.
Dad’s work ethics is 2nd to none. Since he has got retired, he virtually plans what work he needs to do each day. His usual work starts with a watch of NASDAQ stock numbers before 8 AM. That gives an idea of how Indian markets would fare. He would then walk along to Geojit office to get some analysis of some stocks. He does further study of that stocks fare over a period of time. Based on the analysis, he does day trading of few stocks here and there. It is not the amount of stocks sold or bought that counts but the process. One can do for 1 day or at the max for 50 days. But has done this for 90% of the days since 2001 (when he moved to Bangalore post retirement). That’s some discipline. If I am able to achieve even 50% of the discipline which he has, I would pat my back.
Even 8 years is not enough to write about “Man of Steel “ Dad. For now, I need to logically end this blog which is a tribute for his 80th birthday. Hope this blog bring him an inch of happiness which would make my day. Having said that, mom is turning 74 two days later as well. A year later, another blog would be presented.
Entire boloor clan wishes him a grand a fabulous 80th birthday. Just like his kids and grand kids say , 80 is just a number. Cheers !!
