Dabbling in Commerce in my old age

Many years ago, 45 to be precise, my mother and I climbed up the stairs to the hallowed precincts of the Directorate of Technical Education of our State, a stately Victorian edifice standing in great eminence, next to some other similarly blessed buildings in South Mumbai. I had just finished high school, and would be starting college, and everyone in those days did not think beyond Arts/Sciences,Engineering/Medicine, and what is still called "Commerce".

They (the DTE), offered a vocational aptitude test, my folks thought someone needed to check my real aptitude, as I had too many clashing interests, and so I did the test the same day, those being happier days without waiting lists, and with officials who had all the time in the world for you. I was called the next day, my results analysed, and was told that I could probably handle Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Arts was a remote possibility, but Commerce was a complete disaster as far as I was concerned.

It so happened that I chose Science in College. Then IT when I worked. Retirement threw me into the Humanities/Arts as blogging happened. Medicine has always lurked in the background as my blog readers suspect.

And so, I was amazed when I suddenly got an email from Harish of Blogadda saying that a blogpost of mine was selected to appear in "Kaizen", the annual magazine of the Commerce Society of the Hindu College, of Delhi University. And they wanted my permission to use a specific post.

("I am pleased to inform you that your post http://kaimhanta.blogspot.com/2011/02/work-and-life-in-21st-century.html is among the 5 posts we have selected for HIndu College - Department of Commerce, yearly magazine. Your name and your blog URL will be mentioned along with the article. We need your permission before we send in your entry latest by 5 pm. Do let me know ASAP. )


Two days ago, a courier fellow suddenly landed up with a certificate and two copies of , Juvenilia , the Hindu College Commerce Society magazine.

I've just looked through it, and am delighted to see my stuff in a Commerce College magazine.

They also sent me a certificate , just in case all those guys who predicted disaster for me 45 years ago , in Commerce , were still around.


Today, the distinctions between fields have blurred. Scientists are getting arty, Artistic folks are getting geeky, Geeky folks are getting poetic, and so on. Today's children have more choices in college, and in subjects for graduation.

I've tried dabbling in most other subjects, sometimes even surreptitiously, under pseudonyms.

Thanks to Blogadda, (and I haven't the foggiest idea on why my post was chosen to appear in a commerce college magazine), my education is now well rounded once again .

(I can see some secretly guffawing and saying it's me , and not my education that's well rounded).

Never mind.