Divine Grace 4: A Chance Meeting Proves to be a Divine Design! - 2

                     'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days
                               Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:
                               Hither and thither moves, and mates,  ..............
                               .......................................................................  
                                        --Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:  
                                          Fitzgerald  Translation

When one leaves home and familiar surroundings and goes to another city, state or country in search of job or education, one goes through an initial period of depression.  Anybody who went away from home would have gone through this.   The same is true of the young bride starting her married life with her husband's family.  I remember actually praying to God that I be not selected for admission to post-graduate course (Soil Mechanics) in IIT-Khraghpur.  I had travelled one day and two nights by train from Madras to Kharaghpur, bag and baggage, in response to a telegram from IIT.  But it was so threatening and disappointing that I wished I do not get selected - and it happened!  I returned by the next train and surprised my father.  I did not have enough  sense or mental maturity to understand the financial strain I put on him by this wasted train trip!

That happened in 1960.  Now fast forward to 1990.  

These were times when it was rare to see people from India come to the US with a visa and a job - either on contract or through the parent company in India.  Most of us came here for higher studies with the condition that we return home.  Invariably, we end up finding a job here (and losing the job back home if there was one!) and get settled here. 

I know many  cases of people returning back within days of arriving - especially if they had the financial backing and family support.  Here is one such case where this young man had just come leaving his mother, young wife and a baby girl in India.  He was so upset with what he saw against what he had in his mind that he was ready to return the third day of his arrival.

My daughter was doing her undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin.  She and some of her friends whose parents were like us - first generation immigrants from India - set up a voluntary group to help new arrivals of students from India.  They put together a welcome pacckage and sent it to prospective students from India.  It was so thorough and professional that many later told me that they really thought that the welcome package was sent by the University staff!

Venkatesh of Coimbatore - a total stranger to us - came to Austin as a student of the Business School.  At that time he was working in India, married and had a little baby girl.  He had to leave them and his mother in Coimbatore.

Upon arrival at Austin airport, to his dismay, he found that the friend of his who was expected to receive him at the airport and help him was not there.  He was not available over the phone either.  Venkatesh had the letter sent by our daughter's volunatry setup and called the phone number listed on it.  It was our home phone number.  It was late night.  My daughter went to the airport to pick him up and brought him to our home.  I was already asleep after the days strenuous work and was woke up by the loud phone talk of Venkatesh to somebody from our phone.

Next morning I took him out to help find an apartment and also to set up a bank account.

On the third day I got a call from him.

"Sir, I want to have your advice.  May I come to your house and talk with you?"

I said OK and went to his place and brought him to my home.

"What is the matter?"

"Sir, I am very disappointed.  I am seriously thinking of returning home"

"Are you sure?  Do you realize the consequences?  You have borrowed heavily to pay for your flight out from India.  Now, if you want to return that is again a big expenditure."

"Sir, I have thought about all that.  It is a big task to pay off the loan.  However, I have some savings and I can continue to save and pay off the loan.  I will be able to start work in the same company."

"Venkatesh!  What is the need to return now?  You have just come.  You wait through one semester and see how it goes and then you can decide."

"Apart from the living conditions, the curriculum also is not as I thought.  I feel I will be wasting my time here."

"See, you have just arrived.  The strain of long air travel, added to the fact that you are missing your mother, wife and child is making you mentally and physically fatigued. Any decision you make now is not going to be proper.  I would say you just wait for a semester.  If you come back to me and tell me you are returning when you are in a happy frame of mind, then I would agree."

He seemed to be convinced and I took him back to his apartment.

He telephoned me after the semester to thank me and to say how he is happy now to have talked with me instead of going ahead with his decision to return home immediately.  Shortly afterwards he brought his mother, wife and child to Austin.  He even took active interest in the newly formed Ausitn Tamil Sangam activities.

He completed his studies and has since been working as a Professor in a University in Pennsylvania.

He perhaps would have done well back in Coimbatore had he returned soon after reaching here, without completing his studies.  But the financial strain and the reaction of others about his returning would have definitely had a big negative impact.  

I cannot help feeling that it was Divine design to have caused us to meeting each other leading to his staying here and seeing it through to finish his studies as planned.

Divine Grace 3: A Chance Meeting Proves to be a Divine Design! - 1

                                                    
                               'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days
                               Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:
                               Hither and thither moves, and mates,  ..............
                               .......................................................................  
                                                          --Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:  Fitzgerald  Translation

Just as Divine Grace helps us through another person, we also are used as the instrument to save another person from trouble.  Here is one such event.

Chattahoochee river runs through the city of Roswell where I live.  There is a River Walk developed and maintained by the city to facilitate residents to go for a walk.  I and my wife go for evening walk in different places and the River Walk is one of them.  On one such evening in 2010 November we noticed an elderly lady sitting alone in one of the benches.  From her saree and other features, it was evident that she was also from India.  We went and sat beside her and my wife picked up conversation as is our practice when we see somebody from that part of the world.  We have made quite a few friends this way!

As we were talking, her husband, son and daughter-in-law came.  They had gone for a walk while the lady was resting as she was too sick to go with them.  On seeing me, the gentleman sat to introduce himself and chat with us while the youngsters wanted to go for another round of walking.  They were from Bengal.  The son, B. Banerjee was employed here in the US.  He was newly married and the parents had come to help him and the young wife set up their household.  As usual we exchanged our telephone numbers.

After a few weeks, a yoga instructor belonging to Maharishi Vethathiri's Ashram was visiting Atlanta as a part of his tour of the US.  We wanted to arrange for interested people to meet the instructor and get the benefit of getting initiated into the Simplified Kundalini Yoga of Maharishi Vethathiri.  We were able to find about ten persons interested.  We arranged to have these meetings at our house. 

The elder Banerjee was interested.  His wife could not attend as she was suffering from cancer and was too frail to sit for long. His son could not attend as his work schedule did not allow him to do so.   The young daughter-in-law was also interested.  I went to their house every evening to bring them for the class and the son will come after work to pick them up from our house.   The course was conducted during a week and they (the father-in-law and the daughter-in-law) came for all the days except the last one due to bad weather and treacherous road conditions.

After a few days, the Banerjees invited me and my wife for dinner one evening in January 2011 as the elder Banerjees were returning to Calcutta later that month.  We had a pleasant evening at their house, chatted with them and thus got to know them a little bit more.

The elder Banerjees returned to India.  My wife was so carried away by the newly married wife of B., especially as she was so young and pleasant looking.  So, due to her friendly nature my wife wanted to call and say Hello to the young girl and see if she needs any help.

We had the shock of our life!

The call went to the elder Banerjee in India.  He broke the news that the sweet, pleasant looking newly married daughter-in-law of his had made a big scene accusing her husband B. of abusing her and had gotten police restraint for him from entering their apartment.  He could not enter his apartment when he returned from the airport after his send off to his parents!

The mother, who was very frail and was suffering, had died of the shock.  The young girl had filed for divorce and had, with the help of a neighbor Bengali and a non profit organization, filed a case against B. Baanerjee.

We got a call from B. Banerjee in July 2012.  He had lost his job in Atlanta and had moved to Florida with a new job.  He had come to Atlanta to defend himself.

His wife had complained that, among other abuses, she was never allowed to get out of the apartment, she was not allowed to use the phone, etc.  She had complaints against her mother-in-law as well.  B. Banerjee asked me if we can come and tell the court what we know.

As a witness I was asked if I have known B. and his ex-wife, and how I knew them.  I told them I have seen them first in the Riverside Park and later at our house during the yoga classes, and again when we went to their house for an evening dinner.

After a few weeks, B.  called to thank me.  My witness had helped him to be exonerated of all the 19 abuse complaints (false) thrown on him. He and his attorney thanked me and said my witness was very strong in helping in this case.

What is interesting is that the other friends of us who also attended the yoga classes and had seen the elder Banerjee and the young daughter-in-law were not available to come and give their witness as they were out of town the day of the case hearing. 

Looking back, it appears that we met the Banerjees in the park just to be the instrument in the hands of God to help save B.  from his trouble months later!

Divine Grace 2: Fianancial Aid in the Last Minute

The desire - almost an obsession - to go abroad got into me.  In that process the actions I undertook  - sound really foolhardy when I look back - and how I got saved from financial ruin in the last minute is an important and unforgettable event in my life. 

The seed for this obsession got implanted in me surprisingly by the casual remark made by a watchman!  I was in my school final class (High School Senior).  My father was building our new house at Jagathambal Colony, Chennai.  I along with my younger  brother used to visit the construction site to watch the activities and have fun.  On one of those evenings I overheard the watchman say "Junior will do well to go abroad and return."

College of Engineering, Guindy

Then several years later, as the third year student in Guindy Engineering College, I came to know about two of our seniors who went to Australia for Summer work.  It was fairly easy those days to go to Australia and get employed.  So, I started gathering information and working towards this.  Our class mate S. Venkatesan joined me and we were making plans to go to Australia by ship.  In the meanwhile I got a job with the Directorate of Town Planning, Chennai, and was sent for higher studies in IIT, Kharagpur. Upon successful completion of my M. Tech and return, got deputed as the Head of Post Licentiate Department of Town and Country Planning at the Central Polytechnic, got married, and fairly well settled. The idea of going abroad was forgotten.  Venkatesan went a different route in his career.  My obsession stayed buried only to come to surface with much greater force when I was an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture and Planning, Madras University.

It dawned on me that there was no scope for me to advance at the School of Architecture and Planning (SOAP). I was overlooked time and again and persons younger and less experienced got promoted above me. Besides that,  there was no job satisfaction at SOAP.  My obsession got rekindled and surfaced with much greater force.  I applied and got my passport, cleared GRE and TOEFL and started sending applications to several universities in the US.

Technological Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

I got admission from the Northwestern University (NU), Evanston, Illinois.  It was at this juncture I took what is really foolhardy.  I used my Life Insurance and our house as collateral to get loan from the Indian Bank and booked for my flight to Chicago.  I was under the wrong impression that it is easy and certain to get financial support/part-time work soon after landing in the University.

Thank God!

By God's grace, just 2 days before leaving for the States, I got a total surprise in the form of a cable from the Chairman, Civil Engineering Department, NU.  I was given $350 for 20 hours a week work as Research Assistant, besides tuition waiver.

It was as if the Divine Power said "Your attempts at going abroad failed time and time again by way of warning you.  What audacity you have to be so adamant on going abroad forgetting your wife, two young children, a sister yet to be married, a brother yet to finish his education, parents in village after your father retired from service, accepting 6-months leave with half pay (Rs. 450), just $80 cash in hand?  You fool, take this $350 monthly assistant-ship and make good use of it"

To Reflect Upon:

At one time or another the tide of fortune rises for every one.  All that one ought to do is to discharge one's duty as best as one can.  It is like taking the boat up the river, overcoming the downward flow of water.  While steadfastly and devotedly doing his duty, a favorable time comes to bless the man with all prosperity"  - Swami Chidbhavananda:  The Bagavad Gita; Commentary on ch2: verse 32

Divine Grace 1: Got Employed after 2 Years of Unemployment!

It was one night in 1988 December.  I have been out of job since 1986 August.  

I was given pink slip under the pretext of not having funds to support me as a Research Engineer in the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas at Austin.  My children were in High School.  I had to work as a part time teacher at Austin Community College and also part time research assistant in the Business School.  With my wife’s help I was able to get going with about a fourth of the salary I was getting as the Research Engineer.  Our savings were getting depleted including the retirement fund I had from earlier jobs.   My wife started accepting babies to care at our home and children started working part time in whatever job they could find.  A few more months and we would have had insurmountable problem surviving in the USA.

On that December night, I and my wife went to a grocery store to buy some groceries.  As my wife was picking the items, I was roaming the aisles pensively.  

There was Prof. Dr. Clyde Lee of the University of Texas.  

“Good evening Dr.Lee”. 

 “Hi there!  How are you doing?”  

“I am still available!”  

Then he went his way and we went our way.

Next morning, at the Business School I got a call from the Dr. Joe W. Neal, President (1985- 1996) Texas International Consortium (http://www.tiec.org/about_index.html).  

“Dr. Lee suggested your name.  We need somebody to teach undergraduate engineering students in Malaysia.  Would you be interested?” 

 “May I have some details?”

“We are having an orientation to a group of faculty members getting ready to go.  Can you make it at 10 am this morning?”

I went to the orientation.  It was to work as an Assistant Professor  teaching basic engineering courses to Malaysian students in Shah Alam, Malaysia.  These were Malay students (as distinct from the malaysians of Chinese or Indian origin - known as Bhumiputras), who have been admitted to a Texas University. The salary was matched to what I was making as a Research Engineer plus many other perquisites.  I was in Shah Alam within a week!  The offer was for one semester but it got extended to the end of 1988.  I was able to take my wife for the second half, and my children visited us during their summer break.

In August 1986, I could not have taken such an assignment because my children were just not old enough.  My daughter had started driving while my son had not.  In 1988 however they were just enough grown up to give me and my wife confidence for me to leave them to take care of themselves while I was in Malaysia.

Thus, I feel this was perfect timing and it was divine plan for me to go to Safeway store that late night and meet Dr. Lee!

Foreword

Foreword:        

Reading the book, God Revealed: Revisit Your Past to Enrich Your Future (Morgan James Faith) Paperback – February 2, 2014  by Fred Sievert (Author), kindled my thoughts and triggered the idea to document instances in my life where there was a divine guidance and sometimes intervention resulting in good for me and my family.

When I look back our path in our life from early childhood, schooling, career and married life I can see several instances where I have been guided by Divine Energy or Divine Power. At the time these events happened though, I did not feel or recognize the significance of the turns and did not relate them to Divine Intervention.

By documenting such events I expect to be of help and service to others who read these and revisit their life to recognize such divine guidance in their own life.  Also, it may help them to be on the watch for such guidance when it happens in the future and be thankful to the Divine Power.

I will write the events as they come to my mind, starting from what I feel is the most significant and Divine Guidance.  Later, if and when I bring it out as a book, I may reconsider this order.

I intend to document these events first in English and then in Tamil.  I intend to start with Google documents and sending to my close relatives, friends, and associates with a request to give feedback, questions, and comments to help me refine my writing and make it more meaningful and purposeful for the general public.  God willing, I intend to publish it as a book.