Introduction; Blogging course; Assignment #1

I am Davendra K Gupta, now a retired person live in Canada since 2000.
I was born in a small town , JHALU (Bijnor), Uttar Pradesh, India in 1938. My town is a kind of village with a population of about 8,000 then in 1930s with meager facilities of basic things like education, health , transport and infrastructure.Had a junior High School with Hindi and Urdu Language mediums only ; no health facility of any kind; no good roads in the town and connecting town with other towns and hence no road or rail transport facilities for traveling; no electricity.
It was really hard to live and get education or to do anything meaningful over there. From this town to another town ...., I have been going to various places for my education without any guidance and mentoring as what to do in life. I was not alone in this situation , this was the fate of all the children born in this town; almost no education for the girls except for a few up to primary school only. Any how I completed my education from the most prestigious University in India , Banaras Hindu University in 1961; I got my M.Sc, Degree in a very special subject in those days- GEOPHYSICS;
I started my career as a teacher of a secondary school, then as a Chemist , later as Geophysicist and Documentalist with ONGC ;  , finally I retired as a Professor teaching Library and Information Science  courses at various levels in Nigeria (West Africa) University of Ibadan , Ethiopia ( East Africa ), Addis Ababa University,
Married in 1961 and I always moved with my family ( my wife, son and daughter ) to all the places of my working; I got vast and varied experience of living and working in various places, situations and communities in India and in Africa, Later , after my retirement, living in USA and Canada.
I got opportunity to interact with different people all over.
Traveled to Singapore, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Lesotho, France, UK, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, and USA ,  
During all these years of my life, I have gathered very rich experience from various communities, cultures, places and situations. I wish to share this with my friends, relatives and others who may benefit from it.They may learn from my mistakes and from experience and knowledge , can easily apply in their practical life.
I especially want to cover topics on Social Capital and Spirituality and Destiny etc. I have already written some of my blogs on these topics and got good feedback. I hope that people will certainly benefit from the writings in my blogs.
I look forward to write more and more and expect good feedback from my readers and followers.

year after my B.Sc; 1958-59

Though academically the year after my graduation in July 1958 was lost but I got very rich experience of my life during this year. I was aware that I was not good at Maths and Physics , so I did not try my admission for post graduate studies in these subjects. I was reluctant even to go for Geology. However at the last moment, I tried my admission for Geology and even for LLB . Prof Raj Nath could not admit me in BHU and Prof Ganju in Aligarh ; Prof Gyan Swarup,( from my Home town Jhalu, a cousin of our family friend, Shri Om Prakash Sharma)  being the Dean of the Law School at Lucknow University could not help my admission . So I accepted all this as programmed by my destiny and watch as what is going to be the next.
To keep myself engaged, I tried to get some thing to do : Tried to seek some work as a volunteer at my Alma Matter , Hindu Inter College , Chandpur, no luck; tried here and there but no luck any where. Finally in December, I got an opportunity to work with S J Inter Collge, Gajraula. Read in detail about this experience at; . htmlhttp://shubhkamnadavendra.blogspot.ca/2010/07/my-first-job.html
Fortunately , I got a job of Chemist with Dyers Stone Lime Company at Katni. This provided me very rich experience of life to deal with varied situations. A detailed description about it is given here:  http://shubhkamna-davendra.blogspot.ca/2010/07/my-job-as-chemist.html.

If I look back at this, it reveals to me to be an act of destiny; not getting admission to any academic programme; not getting a proper job even as a volunteer; getting a job as a Chemist - a profession I never planned or thought of, rather I never liked the subject of Chemistry. Why should I apply for such a job for which I never thought or planned? But I was quite successful in this job to the extent that my employer was ready to hire me on my terms. This also added to my experience to seek my admission in Geophysics- a subject with only a few seats at post graduate level and with wide open opportunities for jobs and career; . Admission with a scholarship of Rs.150/- PM  - almost equivalent the salary of an Asstt. Professor. A reward in disguise.
At the end I do not feel that I wasted my year; It was all planned and designed by my destiny to be like that and I was only  guided to act   in certain manner.