The Old Man and the GK

For Delhites GK is the abbreviation of Greater Kailash. This blog however talks of another GK . Most Delhi University graduates of my age have either made it , or failed to make it like me ,to the IAS, which if nothig else, made us great in GK, i.e., General Knowledge. GK was a compulsory paper in the wrtten exams and a favourite mind- teaser with the interview panelists. The Manorama Year Book was one of the the main sources and approaches to gain the bookish GK . Many bits and facts inputs were required to be learnt as GK . Examples: Babylonian civilization, marvels of scientific inventions and discoveries including Wagner's theory of the continental shift, milestones in world history, Hindu and Greek mythology, politics, plant , animal and sea life, evolution of the State from Plato to Marx and last but not the least current affairs. Famous authors and their works are another an important part of GK, like Kautilya's Arthshastra, Kalidasa's Shakuntalam, Milton's Paradise Lost, Gibbon's The Rise and Fall of The Roman Empire and so on which none of us have even heard about much less read. Perhaps this type GK was designed to make the IAS personnel know everything except Indian Adminisration which they would in any case learn later in their career from the political masters. Talking of books, Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and The Sea which has inspired me to title this blog after it with Gk in place of Sea though I have not read it. In one of his recent pieces , Jug Saraya , the columnist for The Times of India, divides the modern age into BC standing for Before Covid and AD for After the Disease . My piece here is about both these divisions in my life . My recent BC years were marked by personal mobility at my will and pleasure for shopping, haircut, attending concerts, evening meetings in our Society senior citizens group, taking morning/evening strolls in and around our residential campus, visiting bank ATMs and temples . Iwas particular about my attire choosing the right combination of shirts, short/long sleeved, and trousers. In the mild winetr months of Mumbai, I showed off with my wardrobe of blazers, scarves, shawls and sweaters. There was also the undisclosed agenda to present myself with charm and elan to the ladies of the Campus. Occasional academic tasks took me to a couple of local management institutions for delivering lectures, attending college development committee meetings etc, where I exhibited my extensive GK acquired for IAS exam to audiences sitting dazed at my wisdom. My questions at faculty selection or students admission meetings were not so much on the subjects like finance or HRD but based on the ever green GK gained years earlier for IAS. Except Current Affairs , most other GK has remained the same over the years. My current AD life is marked by more or less solitary confinement in our home with strict Covid compliant prtocol behaviour enforced by the family. New skills have been learnt like washing the hands frequently with soap and sanitizers, wearing a mask all the time and speaking clearly for others to understand and keeping social distance. The last requirement was not new to us as my wife and I have always maintained cosiderable distance of body and mind between ourselves. Not only our Society was declared as local containment zone, we too have our inhouse cotainment zones with me sitting in the hall watching the TV and lazing while my wife is locked in another room talking endlessly on phone with her daughetr, sister living abroad and brothers and cousins and local acquinatances . The Mask has given rise to one more Murphy's law i.e the itch in the nose occurs more often when one wears a mask than when not masked.Other noticeable changes in my persona are overdue hair cut , a lackadaisical approach to dress and apperance and opinionated or polarised views. It is said that the endemic will usher in new normals in every aspect of our familial, social, occupationalrelationships , behaviour and lifestyles.. Hope my accumulated GK would survive.