Ignorant Literacy!

"Aahara nidraa bhaya maidhunam cha
Samanameth pasubhir naranam
Jnanam naranamadhiko visesho
Jnanena heena pasubhissamana" - Devi Maahatmyam

Food, Sleep, Fear and Sex are common to Men and Animals. What distinguishes Men from Animals is his 'Jnanam' (Knowledge). A man without knowledge can be equated with an animal.

Hence the emphasis on Knowledge and need for developing a knowledge economy. Mere accumulation of Degrees and Diplomas are insufficient. One has to have in depth knowledge about his area of core competency. A person with Certificates but without possessing the knowledge that go with it, is equal to an illeterate. But our education system and the student focuses less on knowledge, and more on Degrees leading to the creation of a paradox named 'Ignorant Literate Generation'

Birds of a feather.................................

Rahul Gandhi's personal choice of two candidates for contesting in Lok Sabha polls from Punjab has put Congress workers in a fix.

"Bittu and Danny, the two young Lok Sabha candidates handpicked by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to contest the forthcoming elections, have become an embarrassment to the party in Punjab. Twenty-nine-year-old Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and the party's candidate in the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, has never been to college. Bittu is facing the Akali Dal's Diljeet Singh Cheema, who has an MBBS degree and has been a practising doctor for more than 10 years. A political novice, Bittu's only qualification is his proximity to Rahul Gandhi, and this does not seem to be helping him. Though his candidature was preferred over many senior Congress leaders, he has become an embarrassment to the party as the Akalis, as part of their election ploy, have decided to "start a literacy movement in the constituency". Cheema said the movement, called 'Jago Bittu school chalo', would target school dropouts. He said his party proposed to make his Congress rival a model for the movement, adding that it was surprising that Rahul Gandhi had picked a school dropout as the new youth icon in the constituency. He said he would appeal to his voters to tell Bittu to first "complete his school and college education, instead of going to Parliament". The second Congress candidate handpicked by Rahul is Sukhvinder Singh Danny, who is contesting from the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat. The son of a former Punjab cabinet minister Sardool Singh, Danny is making things awkward for party workers after his selection on compassionate grounds as a police inspector was cancelled for producing the "wrong certificate". Danny faces Akali Dal nominee Paramjit Kaur Gulshan, who earlier represented the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat. In her campaign, she has often highlighted how her rival earlier "chose to join the police through fraudulent means". She said it was surprising that the Congress was trying to send "such elements to Parliament"." - www.dnaindia.com

Now, now. This is not surprising at all. Everyone knows that Sonia Gandhi has not even graduated but claimed in official bio-data submitted to the Parliament, Election Commission that She was an Oxford Graduate, but had actually done an English language course in one of the Private Institutes in the city of Oxford. Ditto for son Rahul Gandhi. He claims that he is doing M Phil, whereas no records of his enrolment is available anywhere in the world.

"Birds of a feather................................................................"

Funds for increasing educational outlay 330 times is lying in Swiss Banks

The Total Budget allocated for Expenditure in the 2008-2009 Indian Budget was Rs 7,50,884 Crores.

The black money stashed in Swiss Accounts by tax evading Indians amount to approximately 10 times of the Expenditure of the country in one year.

Which in effect means, we have ready cash available to fund Indian Governments expenditure for the next 10 years at current levels without collecting Re.1 as tax in any form.

Considering that the outlay for Education in the Budget is a measly 3% (even that is not spent), recovering the money from the Swiss Accounts will increase the level of Educational infrastructure in the country 330 times.

Imagine the difference it will make to our life!

But who will bell the cat? Who will lift even a small finger to get Re 1 out of this amount from Swiss Banks.

No one.

Therein lies the tragedy

Great Nations are built brick by brick

It is said that the person who thinks about today is a Manager, one who thinks about tomorrow is a Leader and the one who thinks about the next generation is a Statesman.

Ditto for countries.

Most of the Countries concentrate all their efforts on managing today's problems, and in a lot of cases, they manage yesterdays problems. They do not have the time or the inclination to look into the future and give the proper strategic thrust so needed to build a great nation.

I am not a great admirer of China. There is far too wrong with the Country and its ruling elite. A Country that is built on suppressing the peoples natural desires, comes low on my prefered choice of countries.

Whatever else one can accuse China of, one needs to understand and accept their long range planning. They want to become a real economic superpower that is based on their manufacturing ability. Towards this, they need Energy, Raw Materials and Labour. The last they have in plenty indigenously, but they are short on the first two.

During the past decade, China has been pursuing a path of aggessive strategy to tie up long term deals on the energy front. They have invested heavily in the African subcontinent for both Energy and for mineral ore. They have even gone as far as remote South America to meet their raw material requirements. Chinese have signed long term agreements with the Government of Chile for the right to mine Copper ore and transport them back to their country. Likewise if one were to travel across African and South America, both mineral rich, one can see heavy Chinese presence.

All these while, we Indians have been sleeping. We are sitting on top of unutilized $ 250 billion of Foreign Exchange and have virtually neglected our long term needs.

Great Nations dont sprout up, they are constructed brick by brick.

Do we deserve our political parties?

First it was the Left front led by CPI(M) who cried foul with Congress and UPA over the nuclear deal and quit the UPA. This was about 8 months ago.

Then it was Mulayam and Samajvadi Party, followed by Lalu and Paswan. They conveniently distanced themselves from Congress just when the elections are announced. Now they have formed a joint front. That Lalu and Paswan continues to be ministers is another matter.

Then it was the turn of the PMK who today joined the AIADMK front in Tamil Nadu and its ministers made the 'Sacrifice' of quitting ministerial posts with elections less than a month away.

At the outset it will appear that UPA has been weakened considerably. Nothing like that. These are mere posturings. It suits all these parties to scream against Congress in the election meetings and claim that all the misdeeds of this Government were not the responsibility of these parties who ruled with Congress for 5 years and were more often than not mischief makers in the Cabinet. Anbumoni Ramadoss did everything he can to destroy the health sector in India. Lalu, despite his claims to the contrary, has not done Railways a great favour. Though his tenure has seen profitability grow in the short term, this is at the expense of long term rolling stock develpment and passenger safety. Less said about Paswan , the veto excercised by SP and CPM on issues small and big, the better.

Congress do not have any presence in any of the States where these parties hold sway. It is virtually defunct in UP and Bihar, and is a non entity in West Bengal. Kerala, anyway, it is in the opposite Camp to CPM. Only in Tamil Nadu it has a presence and there its major partner is DMK. It can live without PMK and they in turn can live with Congress.

Post election, all these parties who have fought on opposing camps will join hands together again to cobble up a makeshift coalition.

Let them and the NDA remember the old adage, 'You can fool some people all the time, all the people some time, but not all the people all the time'

We the fools will have to wait for a few more elections to get the parties that we really deserve.

The more things change..............................

I would like to answer Subramanyams comments in yesterdays post as a blog entry.


Even if US prints the money, ulitmately it is reflected in its budget as a liability which means it is tax payers money. Tax payers will have to pay by way of higher taxes, higher interest rates, higher inflation in the long run. Thus it definitely affects the tax payer and comes out of his pocket one way or other.



No I do not think any structural changes will be done in the US Economy. They are far too arrogant, and lacks humility to admit they goofed up. The same US, and its cronies World Bank and IMF used to give unsolicited advice as to how to cut subsidy, reduce deficit, open up economy etc to third world countries faced with similar problems not long ago. Now there is no peep from IMF or WB or US. The vested interests in this system have deep roots and they wont allow any changes barring cosmetic ones.

The more things change, the more they remain the same

Where have the ethics gone in Corporate Life?

A Company posts a $ 61.5 billion loss in an year. They rush to the Government for a $ 170 billion bail out package, which is essentially tax payers money. Then they promptly pay their top executives $ 165 million as 'Performance Bonus' - No, we are not living in a Tughlak Raj. This is US of A and the Company is AIG. Fortunately there is huge public outcry against those ethic less top executives who had the gall to accept the bonus after they have brought the whole world on the brink of an economic disaster. AIG top bosses have agreed to pay back $ 50 million which they have received as bonus, but that still leaves another $ 115 million that is lying in the banks of these non performers. This one incident more than anything symbolizes the rotten side of Capitalism, lack of morality, ethics, principles and value system amongst Corporate honchos. And we thought our salvation lies in them and their ilk!

Mind is blank

Mind is blank. Nothing interesting happening that is worth blogging. See you tomorrow

Kshatriya Traits for a CEO

Continuing from my blog of yesterday on the topic, let us look at the traits required for a CEO.

“Heroism, majesty, firmness, skill, not fleeing in battle, generosity, and lordly spirit are the duties of the kshatriyas, born of their nature.”–Bhagavad Gita 18:43

These are traits needed by a CEO,

§ Sauryam (Heroism, valor, and strength)
§ Tejas (Tadiance and brilliance of mind and spirit)
§ Dhriti (Be steadfast, constant, firm, patient, and endurant. It also means one possessed of the ability to engage in sustained effort)
§ Dakshyam (Skill, virtuosity, and dexterity. One who is daksha is expert, intelligent, wise, and able)
§ Apalayanam (Not fleeing battle or trying to avoid conflict)
§ Danam (Generosity, charity, and a giving disposition, as well as self-sacrifice)

Did Congress bit off more than it can chew on the IPL front?

So IPL has moved out of India, at least for this season and who knows, maybe permanently. It is just possible that the Congress Government had bit off more than it can chew. Congress has always mouthed platitude about private enterpreneurship, but has taken pains to put stumbling blocks into any such succesful venture. They cannot get over the feeling of power that they used to excercise over all aspects of business during the License Raj.

I had written before in this blog how Congress took on IPL with a vendetta, after IPL put a spoke on Congress's plan to have a Rs 500 million advertisement campaign during the IPL that coincides with the election campaign period. The idea was that Congress will be able to influence the youth through TV and In Stadia Advertisements during IPL. When IPL wisely refused political advertisements, the Party leadership swung into action and gave orders to not clear IPL come what may. It is sad that two people who claim to be liberals, Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram, allowed this to happen without even a token protest. The security issue was a fig leaf to pull the wool over the publics eye.

Lalith Modi (I have no love lost for the brash Lalith Modi but he has proved himself to be a top businessman who made a big success with a new product), and IPL were so flexible that they were even prepared to play in Dharmashala. The schedule was reworked almost every day, but the Government ingeniously came out with one objection after another. With no other option, IPL and BCCI decided to take it out of the country. The losers is the poor public, who enjoyed IPL last year and thronged to the Stadium. Now this edition will be basically a TV affair played in front of empty stands. And it will be a pity. IPL and 20/20 had started to bring back ordinary people, especially the younger generation, back to the Stadium.

In a Country where logic is at a premium, IPL may have the last laugh. Its TV revenues wont be hit and Congress may have to face the wrath of a huge chunk of youth voters, its specific target market. Already in the doldrums because its allies like Mulayam, Laloo, Ramdas quitting the front and going it alone, IPL backlash may be the last straw that may tilt the elections slightly away from Congress. No politician has taken on the Cricket crowd during the past 6 decades. We will know what happens this time around. I wouldnt bet on Congress, if I were you.

Brahmin Traits for a Board Director

It is often said that one has to be a Brahmin to become a Director of a Company and it is desirable to have a Kshatriya as the Chief Executive Officer.

No. I am not being casteist. It is one thing to be a Brahmin by Birth and quite another thing to be a Brahmin by Karma. A Brahmin is one striving for Brahmajnana and he should have certain qualities. Let us see whether these qualities are relevant to a Board Director,

§ Kshama (Calmness)
§ Dama (Self-control and restraint)
§ Tapasya ( Self discipline and single mindedness)
§ Shaucha (Mental purity)
§ Kshama (Forgiveness, patience, and forbearance)
§ Arjava (Sstraight forwardness, honesty, and rectitude)
§ Jnana (Knowledge about Business and its philosophy)
§ Vijnana (Higher knowledge, beyond mere theoretical knowledge. Understanding the true meaning of doing the Business and the responsibility that goes with it)

“Tranquility, restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness, and uprightness, knowledge, wisdom, and faith in God are the duties of the brahmins, born of their innate nature.”–Bhagavad Gita 18:42

Off blog till Sunday

Blog will be back on Sunday Afternoon

Roots of a Palghat Brahmin Boy

Hugely impressed by ROOTS, Alex Haley's landmark book in 1977, that traced the ancestry of an Afro American to Africa that spanned over 3 centuries, me and my father set out to trace our roots.

 

Since hardly any written material existed, we had to depend on the memory of some of the old timers in the family. My own grandfather lived upto 93 and then there were couple of his distant cousins who lived more than him. It took us about a year and a half to find out our lineage on the paternal side.

The lineage goes something like this

Rajan -->Venkateswaran 1 (father) --> Krishnan 1 (grandfather) --> Venkateswaran 2(fathers grandfather) --> Krishnan 2 (grandfathers grandfather) --> Venkateswaran 3 ( grandfathers great grandfather)

That is 6 Generations. You would have noticed that the sons take after the grandfathers name, except in my case. But that is because I am not the eldest in the family. I do have a brother who is 8 years older to me, Krishnan, who is a Senior Executive with Indian Overseas Bank.

We are tamil speaking Palghat Brahmins, though I consider myself to be more of a malayali than tamilian. Most of the Palghat Brahmins had migrated from the Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu, about 350 kilometers away generations ago. They settled in droves, replicated the agraharams of Thanjavur District, and brought with them the rich tamil culture based on piety, knowledge and festivities. One of the most adaptable of the communities, they took to Palghat like a duck would to water and to a large extend enriched the local culture while imbibing all the good qualities of the equally rich malayali culture. That way people like me are blessed to be the beneficiaries of both the cultures. Over the last two generations, the tamil brahmin community of palghat has migrated first to Bombay and from there to mainly US. Today you can see more Palghat Brahmins in Chembur, Mattunga, Dadar in Mumbai and in the various cities of United States of America than in Palghat.

Coming back to my family history, Venkateswaran 3 found the going tough in Mayiladuthurai (Mayavaram) in the erstwhile Thanjavur District on the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu. He came by road in mid 1800's (our estimate is that it should have been around 1850) with his family and settled on the banks of the Gayathri river in Kollengode , 20 kms from Palghat town. He was an expert in making Bricks (see picture). For setting up a Brick Kiln, you need the right soil, lots of water and wood. All the three were available in Kollengode, which is on the banks of Gayathri river, fertile soil and close to the mountains that provided the wood. In fact he took a house in Pudugramam (New Village).

 

That is where his son Krishnan 2 also stayed. Since he lacked his father skills in making bricks, he bought arable land and started cultivating paddy. He led an uneventful life.

 



Krishnan Kadavu today - River is Dry Except during Monsoon

The only exciting thing to happen to him was he tripping over what apparently was a stone on the banks of river Gayathri just beneath the Pudugramam while going for a bath. When he tried to find out what caused him to trip, he found out that it was a Ganapathy idol in stone. He took the initiative to install the diety on the river bank itself and later a small temple was built. The temple still exists and is patronized by many who come to take bath in the river. The place where people take bath near the temple is still called Krishnan Kadavu, after him.

The Pillayar Kovil as it is now

 

His son Venkateswaran 2 (Venkateswaran Paatta) was an agriculturalist after his father. But for some reason, he moved his family away from Pudugramam, purchased a house in Perumal Kovil Gramam (PK Village), about 4 kilometers away. The significance of this move was that the family moved away from the Banks of the river.

 

Venkateswaran Paatta (Paatta means grand father)died young, he was about 50 years old when he died of an incurable disease. There are rumours that he was afflicted with a version of leprosy, but there is a black veil over his disease, which is understandable. This, however, could not be verified.



Perumal Kovil Temple as it is today

His dying at an early age put all the burden of the family on my Grandfather, Krishnan 1 or Krishna Iyer. He was very young and immature to take up the responsibility of a large family that included him and his 3 sisters. A very carefree character, he was good at networking and was the livewire in the village. Not very devout, he was the quintessential organizer. He was also renowned for his selfless service to the Village members and extremely honest. Struggling to make both ends meet, he survived on a small job he held in the Co-operative store as a Clerk (he was knows as Store Krishna Iyer), augmented by the income he got from the agricultural land in the base of the mountains 7 kms away. The land was leased out as 'paattam' to the 'kudiyan', who ultimately took advantage of the Land Reforms Act and got complete possession of it. After 1970s, he lived on the meagre income he got as lease from the tiller, and the money sent by my father. He also maintained 2-3 cows, whose milk Grandmother sold to the nearby houses. He immersed himself in temple acitivities, essentially as an organizer. By 1980s most of the youngsters from the village had migrated, but they trusted my Grandfather. During the Car Festival in the temple, they will send donations only to him and no one else. He used to duly prepare receipts, ensure that the poojas they required was done on the due date and post the prasadams diligently. My enduring image is of him sitting on the verandah writing post cards in his lovely handwriting to the migrant birds from the village living in Mumbai or Chennai.

 

My grandfather Krishna Iyer had one son, my father Venkateswaran, and one daughter. He had the forethought to see that the next generation cannot survive without Education. He put all his hopes on his son, borrowed money and educated my father, who was brilliant in his studies. The house in PK Village did not have electricity till my father graduated and got married in 1954. My father completed his school in Rajah High School, Kollengode. Those days, the entire Malabar (from Palghat to Mangalore) had one seat as Quota for Intermediate (11th and 12th) in Loyola College, Madras. Father was hopeful of getting that seat. He also got admission card from Victoria College, Palghat for PUC. On the date of Admission in Victoria, father took a rickety bus to Palghat and was standing in the long queue to pay the admission fee of Rs 5 (A huge amount those days. Even that was borrowed money). His heart was heavy as he had set his mind on studying in Madras. The queue moved. There were two students in front of him, when he heard a shout 'Mani (his nickname), dont pay, dont pay'. It was Grandfather running towards him, wearing just a Dhothi (in his rush he had forgotten to wear a shirt) and waving a piece of paper. Panting, he came near my father and told him that the Admission Card from Loyola had just come in by post after my father had left. If my father had paid Rs 5, then my grandfather couldnt even think of raising another Rs 5 for his fee in Madras. Father went on to shine academically. He finished his Intermediate with flying colours, got admission in Guindy Engineering College, Madras, studied there for one year and then transfered to Govt. College of Technology, Coimbatore. He passed out in 1952. By then the family was in deep debt. He first worked in All India Radio, Delhi for a year and then got an employment with the then Madras State Electricity Board in 1954. He started his career with Electicity Board in Radhapuram, Tirunelveli District. When Kerala State was formed in 1956, he opted to join the Kerala State Electricity Board, where he continued till his retirement in 1985. His job took him to various parts of Kerala - Many places in Idukki District like Moozhiyar, Peerumedu, Vaikkom, Vadakara, Palghat and Chittur. Once he was employed, he moved away from the Village, to come back only once in a while. My brother stayed with my grandfather for his high schooling for 3 years, but me and my sister were only occassional visitors to the house in the Village (It is claimed that no one death took place within the walls of the house for 150 years. Those who died, died elsewhere including my grandfather). Father had no interest in the house, though he invested in it to make it comfortable for my grandparents. Grandfather died in 1998 and the house was kept locked. Father followed him in 2004. In 2007, my aunt took the initiative to sell the house. I wanted to buy it, but did not have the money at that time. It fetched us Rs 12 lakhs, to be shared by Aunt, me and my 2 siblings. Though I was the guy who never stayed much in that house, unlike my Aunt, her children or even my brother, I had a lump on my throat when the house was sold. It was as if the last link with my ancestors was being cut. Father built a house in Palghat and lived there for 13 years. The house is being rented out.

 

I moved on and am in Kuwait now. From the obscurity of poverty in a small village in Eastern Tamil Nadu to Kollengode to various parts of Kerala to Kuwait, from being Brick makers to farmers to Blue Collared workers to a Senior Engineer in Government to Assistant Vice President in an Oilfield Services Company (and also a Management Teacher), from the Kaveri Basin to the Bharathapuzha Basin (Gayathri river is a tributery) to the waterless deserts of Kuwait, the Venkateswaran-Krishnan family has come a long way and has evolved over the intervening decades.



Sometimes I feel I am a driftwood. Where o where have all the cultural moorings gone?

State power for partisan ends

There is something fishy about this whole IPL rescheduling business in view of elections on security grounds. On the face of it, it has been made out to be a patriotic issue - Which is more important to the Country Elections or IPL?

Before I proceed, I have to raise a strong objection to IPL, a private initiative, sponsored by a Non Profit (sic) organizationa like BCCI, that doesnt pay a Rupee as tax, being provided security at Taxpayers expense. This is ridiculous. IPL makes enough money and they should either have their own security or should me made to pay up a hefty sum to the state treasury for getting sufficient police force.

But that is a more philosophical issue that needs tackling at a different level. The real issue now is different. The current imbroglio is pure vendetta on the part of the Congress Government. Fine, elections mean deployment of security forces that really stretches the infrastructure of our police and para military. But we have not heard the Government object to any other sports events or any other public event to be held during election period because security is not available. Why pick IPL alone? And are we not going to have any events - sports, arts or even religious functions - for 45 days till the elections are over? This is ridiculous. By that same token, we should tell all the netas that no security cover will be provided to them since the personnel are required for election duty - Elections should defnitely come above personal security! ( Why we should have an election spread over 45 days when we are using electronic voting machines and why should the counting be done after all these days when it is so easy using EVM is a mystery. We used ot have one day elections in 1970s with primitive paper ballots and the results were announced withing 48 hours. Now it takes 45 days!! )

I am digressing. The whole saga of government targetting IPL has its root in Lalit Modi, the IPL Chairman, being close to the ex BJP Chief Minister of Rajastan, Vasundare Raje Sindhya. When Congress came to power, they started targeting Lalit Modi, who is no saint himself. Then Congress hit upon the idea of advertising heavily on TV during IPL and going in for in stadia advertisements as a marketing strategy - they had devised a plan and allocated Rs 500 million budget for this. Modi, not wanting to antagonize any political party, took the stand that IPL cannot be used for any political advertisements, which put Congress in a bit of a spot.

And there are no parties that carry a vendetta more than Congress. They are more like a wolf in a sheeps clothing. First P Chidambaram sounded the bugle and said IPL has to be post poned as Home Ministry cannot give security in view of elections (does it mean that there wont be any traffic policemen in junctions too?). But he reckoned without Lalit Modi, who whatever his fault may be, can think quick on his feet. He showed dextirity by rescheduling IPL matches. Now Home Ministry was in a soup. But since they are obeying orders from the top, they had no choice other than to go through the charade of blocking IPL come what may. They called for feedbacks from all State Governments. Congress ensured that wherever it is ruling, the concerned Government wont give the green signal. So Rajastan, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh all said No. Lalit Modi said fine, but I will go to those States who are ready to accept IPL. And there it stands.

This is a classic case of how State power is being misused for partisan ends.

Pay for using the Loo in an Aircraft

Marketing has been a boon to consumers. It has given them more choices, better quality at lesser prices. However, with hardly any real new products coming up, most of the innovations have been not at the Core Product level, but at the Augmented Product level. Add ons are made to the existing product which gives additional features to the customers. For example, the mobile phone started as a way to make a voice call while on the move. As the product evolved, companies started augmenting the product by adding functional capabilities - SMS, MMS, Camera, Video Camera, Blue Tooth, Touch Screen, Organizer ........................ the list is endless.

The is fine. But the trouble is each value addition adds to the ultimate cost. The customer in the end pays much more than what he wants to pay. Most of the customers dont use majority of the add on functions, but have to pay for it neverthless. A basic phone costs KD 10 but an augmented phone costs KD 150. In effect customers pay KD 140 for features they dont use.

Ditto with Airlines. They have made so much value additions that the airfares have become exhorbitant. The core product is still flying people from one airport to another. Now you have as add ons - 'Free' Airport pick up and drop, Executive lounges, 45 kg baggage, 4 star food (most airlines compete with each other to find out how they can make the food lousier), in flight entertainment, pretty (and not so pretty) air hostesses and stewards (who rarely comes to your aid when you need them, and whose only job appears to be checking whether you have worn the seat belt).........................................................

Same is the story with 5 star hotels, high end restaurants, motor cars, computers, televisions (why the hell do we need Picture in Picture TVs is something I cannot understand) and so on.

This has resulted in many products being priced out of the market, leading to smart companies reverting back to the core product at must lesser prices to attract the customers. Thus we have the return of the Budget hotels, stripped down version of the cars, ASUS EEE PC and of course the low cost Airline.

I was watching an interview with the maverick CEO of Ryan Air, Michael O'Leary yesterday on BBC TV. He was looking at the Global Financial Crisis as an opportunity for his Airline to beat the high priced conventional Airlines like BA, Lufthansa and Air France. He feels people have become cost conscious, wants to reduce waste (meaning they dont want to pay for things that they dont use anyway) and would hence prefer good low cost carriers over expensive ones. Ryan Air is going great guns. Michael was telling that as a rule passengers should have the option of choosing what additonal service they want and then pay for it. Hence in his ideal world, no check in counters, no seat choices, no food, no check in baggage, no air hostesses and no loo. The aircraft will have a loo but you have to pay 1 pound to use it every single time. Though this sounded strange to me, I was taken in by his logic that we anyway have use and pay toilets all over the world, then why not in Aircraft too. This way, customers can choose and pay for the services they want. Makes sense.

You can watch his interview in this link provided you have a reasonably high speed connection
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7914193.stm

Bear with me

Nothing interesting to post today. bear with me

Product Disasters

Even great Companies, despite their marketing savyy and research capabilities make himalayan blunders,

Coca Cola came up with New Coke. The idea was to position it as a replacement for what they called the 'old coke' that was in existence for decades. Coca Cola launched it as only they could but had to beat a hasty retreat when its loyal customers revolted and virtually demanded the old product back. Having lost millions, with tail firmly tucked between their legs, Coca Cola bit the bullet, withdrew New Coke and continued with Old Coke. The moral of the story is that 'Dont tinker with a hugely successful product if you can help it'.

The product that is synonumous with marketing failure is the Edsel Car from Ford. Launched in 1958, the Car bombed in the market as none before and none after. Reasons are aplenty. Poor designing, poor branding, poor quality, wrong product at the wrong time, poor styling, misreading the market sentiments - you name the problem and you can stick it to Edsel. How an automobile giant like Ford ever conceived a marketing disaster like Edsel is a mystery still. If you want to learn by looking at how things should not be done, then read the Case history of Ford Edsel.

Every marketer tries to differentiate. But too much of differentiation can lead you into trouble. Polaroid Instant Camera and Instant film is a case in point. Created as a highly differentiated product as compared to comparative film based camera that needs a visit to the studio to get the print, Polaroid came up with the instant film that just needs exposure to sunlight for the picture to be clear. The problem was 1) the Camera was very bulky 2) There was no consistency in the quality of the picture 3) the Picture clarity was hopess and 4) The exposed films deteriorated in quality over a period of time. Of course, there was this small issue of not being able to make multiple prints. The whole package was NOT what the consumer wanted. Anyway technological advances in the Digital photography field killed it once for all.

Failed ideas resurrected

It is amazing how ideas that have been tried and found to be disastrous keep bouncing back again and again.

Take the case of composite dialogue for confidence building with Pakistan. Every three years or so both the countries go through this charade, only for some disaster to happen and backtrack. The usual talk about India and Pakistan being culturally one, the need for more cooperation bla bla bla ......... are parroted. Policy makers just dont realize that India and Pakistan have drifted so far away over these past six decades that it is better for both the countries to be closed systems with respect to each other till such time there is a sea change in the political system of both the countries. There is far too much of postering, distrust and meddling in each others affairs for any co operation to ever work.

Using bits and pieces players in one day cricket is another failed idea. England has been following this ridiculous strategy since the 80's. These bits and pieces players are those who can bat a bit and bowl a bit, but cant walk into even a first class team purely on the basis of being a batsman or bowler. The Mark Elhams, Yousuf Pathans, Ravo Boparas, Dmitri Mascaranhes, Albie Morkels dont win you great many matches. It is one of the reasons why England is languishing at the bottom of the table. If you look at the three teams that have done well over the past couple of decades West Indies (till 1990), Australia (Post 1995) and India, you will see that they have relied on pure batsmen and pure bowlers to get things done. And they have become world beaters. The great WI team had superb batsmen in Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Lloyd, Gomes, Dujon (though a wicket keeper, he first got into the team as a batsman) and four fabulous bowlers in Roberts, Holding, Croft, Garner and later Marshall. Ditto for Australia Taylor, Marsh, Waughs, and the bowlers Mgarth, Warne, Gillespie. India had during this period a superb batting line up in Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid, Lakshman, Yuvraj, Sehwag and a decent bowling line up in Zaheer, Kumble and Harbhajan. Now you see why England or South Africa never one a World Cup.

On the political front, the Third Front concept of Non BJP , Non Congress parties coming together before every election is another such idea doomed to be a disaster. It didnt work in 1989, didnt work in 1996 and it is not going to work this time too. The only thing holding these parties together is their antipathy to the Congress and BJP. They have no common policies. The Left has vehemently opposed Biju Janata Dal in Orissa, TDP in Andhra all these years. Deve Gowda is hated by everyone and no one can stand the arrogance of Mayawati or Jayalalitha. It is not even the antipathy to Congress and BJP, but the naked Prime Ministerial ambition of some of its leaders that forces them to join the third front. I had once been a sympathizer of CPI(M) while in College. At least there was some good in its leaders like EMS, KR Gowri (before she left CPI(M) and even E K Nayanar. Most of them were personally not corrupt and even the local leaders genuinely cared for the under privileged. But all that has changed. Today CPI(M) has lost its identity under, first Harkishen Singh Surjit and the later Prakash Karat-Sitaram Yechury team. They have become ideologically barren, intellectually dishonest, power hungry and money/land obsessed. What a fall!

Friends, Indians, Countrymen, Idiots, lend me your ears

With Elections fast approaching, our politicians approached William Shakespere to write a great speech, a la Mark Antony in Julius Caeser. With time, Shakespere also has adapted. He copied his famous Friends, Romans, Countrymen speech, pasted and edited to suit our netas. Here it goes,


"Friends, Indians, Countrymen, Idiots, lend me your ears:
I come to beg for votes, not to make your life better.
The evil that politicians do lives in the form of statues after them;
The good is conspicuous by its absence;
So let it be with me. The noble voters of my constituency
Hath told you that I am a scoundrel:
If it were so, it was a golden truth,
And rightly hath you uttered it.
(Here, under leave of you and the rest of the voters –
For you are a worth less person;
So are they all, your fellow voters, all worth less men )–
Come I to speak in Election Rally.
I have not come here to my constituency once in the last 5 years
But you voters say I am a scoundrel;
And you voters are worth less men.
I have brought many Hectares of land for myself,
Whose money do you think my Swiss Bank Account is made of?
Does this make me a scoundrel?
When you poor starved, I hath feasted.
My skin is made of thicker stuff:
Yet you voters say I am a scoundrel;
And you voters are worth less men.
You all did see that during the last three ministry formation
I thrice fought for and got ministerial posts,
Which I exploited to make money: was this lack of selfishness?
Yet you voters say I am selfish;
And, sure, I am selfish, which politician is not.
I speak not to convince you as to why you should vote for me,
But here I am to threaten you what will happen if you don’t.
You all hated me once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to vote for me?
O judgment! Thou art fled to voter idiots,
And politicians have lost their elections! Bear with me;
My heart is in Delhi there with Soniyaji, Laloo, Advani etc.
And I take leave till next election comes."

New Definitions of Common Financial Terms

Here are some new definitions of traditional financial terms, post Global Financial Crisis (copyright Rajan Venkateswaran)




Financial Market Stability:- SNAFU (Situation Normal All F**cked Up)



Government Bailout Package:- Source of non returnable funds for paying Executive Bonuses



Debt :- Money borrowed without any intention of repaying



Hedge Funds :- Black Hole



Interest Rates :- Something the Central Banks slash regularly when they dont know what else to do



Auditors :- Partners in Crime (No wonder all audit firms are Partnership firms and have Partners)

Stock Market :- A facility that is used to measure the ability of the common man to absorb various degrees of Shock

CEO :- Chief Executioner Officer


Assets :- Tangible things supposedly owned by the Company that is inflated in value by nx times


Old Formula :- Assets = Liabilities


New Formula :- Liabilities + Losses + Executive Bonuses = Government Bailout Package


Downsizing (ditto Re organizing) :- Sacking of junior staff


Cost Cutting:- Reducing the salary of Junior Staff


Invest Money :- Money in Vest ( of course, in the Vest of the banker, idiot)


Board of Directors :- The proverbial three monkeys - See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil

Chalta hai

Have you noticed how efficiently the Central Government and Andhra Pradesh State Government covered up the Ramalingam Raju financial bungling. No meaningful investigation was done. Raju gets VIP treatment in the Jail. What happened to the SEBI investigation, god only knows? Central Financial Ministry was quick to bail out Satyam but did next to nothing to find out where the all the crores had vanished. No one talks about the missing 5000 crores. Everyone is happy. Only the poor investor lost his shirt. But who cares for him anyway?

Mumbai 26/11 attack. Again nothing has happened. No arrests made. Everyone is happy blaming Pakistan. The attention neatly diverted from our local security failings and local support infrastructure to Pakistan. Lot of noises made. Indignation, finger wagging, couple of inconsquential heads rolling. In the end? Nothing happened. We are still unsafe as we were and no one bothers till the next attack. Then the whole drama is reenacted.

It is Election time once again. The pre poll haggling and posturing by various parties have revealed only one thing. That with every passing year, we are taking a few steps back on political maturity. In the din of controversies over seat sharing, have you noticed one thing? No political party has come out with any blue print for the next five years for the nations development. Of course, there will be some hash of a election manifesto that doesnt mean anything. I really wish someone will take the election manifesto or Common Minimum Program of UPA and do an analysis. I have the CMP, maybe I will do an analysis one of these days. None of our political parties have any ideology, any policy, any ethics, any responsibility, any strategy nor do they care about nation building. We might be the largest democracy in the World, but we are politically immature and ideologically bankrupt. We just elect tweedle dees or tweedle dums put up as puppets by a handful of corrupt leaders. How else can you explain the candidature of Pappu yadav, zillions of criminals, stupid film actors, even those who are convicted like Sanjay Dutt, scoundrels like Shibu Soren, Jagdish Tytler, a discredited cricketer like Azhahruddin, various leaders sons and daughters, false declaration of assets............. the list is endless. Even the PM Manmohan Singh who is yet to be elected to the Lok Sabha is planning not to contest in the Lok Sabha elections but to continue with his Rajya Sabha seat.

India will become a great country only if we shake of our diffidence and the 'chalta hai' attitude

Sick

Down with a severe attack of viral fever. Persistant cough and chest infection has added to the discomfort. On heavy antibiotics. Mind is not clear. Hence blogging will be sporadic for the next couple of days.

Shall try and post something interesting later in the day, if I can

Positive fallout of Global Financial Crisis

Everyone, but everyone, looks at the gloomier, seedier side of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Let us look at what the GFC has done actually or is likely to lead to in the near future,

GFC has really rekindled the trust people have in one anothers spoken word. It has revived the art of marketing using WOM ( Word of Mouth , if you dont know. Learn some Management jargons. You never know when they might be of use). Everyone whom I meet has told me that hoardes of people have been sacked in Kuwait. When queried by me as to how many they know have been sacked, they squirm, "Er! well no one in fact. But Michael told me that Amar told him that Malathy told him that Sunil told her that Ajays third cousins second uncles fifth son lost the job". See how the WOM network is active. Long live the WOM. Is it not a great thing that people who were suspicious of the other even if they just tell their name, have 100% trust in their words these days? No mean achievement. Thank you GFC.

Ever since Internet became a popular media, one got sick of ABCD's and DBIA's (American Born Desi Indians and Desi Born American Indians) sitting all those light years away giving arm chair solutions to India's problem and telling us how great the US of A was. The sactimonius advices were too much to bear. Now, being fired from jobs left right and centre, no more wanted in USA, they have their tails tucked firmly between their legs, tongue firmly in cheek, started the process of reverse migration to India. Now, WE can tell them to put their words into practice.

There were two useless Global Financial Institutions, controlled by USA, the World Bank and the IMF. They, like the ABCD's, were dictating to the smaller nations how to run their country to ruins. Not even a single developing country in the World had benefitted from WB and IMF policies. I just wish that this crisis and the resultant end of Globalization will see the demise of WB and IMF. The world will be none the poorer for it.

Kerala's export will be greatly hit. No, no! I dont mean the spices or tea. I meant the export of South Kerala Nurses to US of A. With Obama hell bent on developing local nursing talent, it is by bye US dream for our Florence Nightingales. I hear a sigh of relief from the long suffering NHI's (Dont worry, it is not a typo. NHIs are Nurse Husband Indians - a much persecuted lot).

Finally, the GFC will help all of us to live within our means, not to splurge, develop our own core competencies, realize that the grass is not greener on the other side, take one step at a time instead of running after unrealistic profits, and be realistic as to our expectations in the future. GFC also means the end of Capitalism. With Communism already dead, a new economic model will come up. And if that were to concentrate on the lowest common denominator - the poor man- it would mean something good has really come out of this whole sordid mess.

Ramassery Iddly - ultimate in product differentiation

Marketing concept talks about identifying consumer needs and then coming out with a product offering to satisfy the needs. Most of the successful companies follow this principle. But there are exceptions. If you have an exceptional product, then people will go to any extend to own or consume the product.


My native place, Palghat, is a sleepy town. It is like a Shanngri la. Nothing much has changed in Palghat, despite it being a rice bowl of Kerala and a District head quarters. The town has been unspoit by the the shopping malls that has sprouted up in other parts of Kerala. The shops that were part of my life while I was studying more than a quarter century back are still there. The Cinema theatres are still Aroma, Priya Darshini, New Theatre (name has changed), Priya, etc. TNVR, Ashok Bhavan, Hariharaputra Vilas, Nalanda - the old eating joints are still flourishing, with the same fare. Only the Indian Coffee House is missing. Model Sports Club, Basheers book shop, the various soda sherbeth shops, the numerous vegetable shops - all remain exactly as they were a few decades back. Half the town still has tiled roof buildings. Curious to say, it is the new shops that has come up since my leaving the town in mid 80s, that have withered away. It is as if time and progress has passed Palghat by.


And personally speaking Palghat is none the worse for it. People are never in a rush, they have time for socializing and are still not ambitious. They are content.



But this blog post is not about Palghat. It is about a small tea shop, Sree Saraswathy Tea Stall, about 15 kms from Palghat, 5-6 kilometers off the NH 47 , in the middle of paddy fields, called Ramassery. It is worthwhile to travel to this place, which is connected by a bus which comes once in an hour, just to eat the delicacy that it is famous for - Ramassery Iddly.
These iddly's as you can see from the picture on the right are special. They look more like small dosas than iddlys. Only three families in Ramassery have the knowhow. These families had originally come down from Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu. They have a speciall process. The rice used for the iddly dough is carefully cultivated and the combination is known only to these three families. The iddlies are made in wooden stoves and in pots made of Clay. They are extremely tasty. The best part of the iddly is that you can keep it in room temparature for 4-5 days and it wont get spoiled. The tea shop just has a couple of benches and tables made of wood. The iddlys are served in plantain leaves with the iddly chilly powder and chutney. You can easily eat 8 -10 iddlys. Each iddly costs a measly Rs 3 and these iddlys are not available anywhere else. As per the traditions in rural Kerala, you have to remove the plantain leaves yourself once you have eaten.

The tea shop gets bulk orders for iddly for feast associated with marriages in Palghat. To serve Ramassery iddly as breakfast in a marriage means that you are in the top of the list socially and statuswise.


Take my advice. Next time around if you are driving past Palghat in the early hours, take a detour at Kanjikode towards Ramassery, a small winding rural road, and enjoy this delicacy. For once you have eaten Ramassery iddly, you will not like to eat any other iddly in your life.

If you have a great product, customer will come in search of it. Ramassery iddly is the ultimate in product differentiation.

We do not have pride in our glorious past

For a country that boasts of a 5000 year old civilization, we have a shocking sense of history. We allow our heritage to rot through sheer negligence, we do not educate the citizens what our ancestors stood for and we are the worst when it comes to preserving historical items and monuments.

Politicians are shameless when it comes to cornering credit is something we all know. But even by the very low standards of political morality, the false claim by Culture Minister Ambika Soni that Government asked Vijay Mallya to bid for Gandhijis items in US shocking. It is bad enough that the Government hardly did anything to pre empt the auction or to use the diplomatic channel to get back Gandhijis personal articles in the hands of a private collector. Having failed to do so, and after having allowed the incident to become a national embarassment (the seller went to the extend of asking the Indian Government to reduce defense spending and increase healthcare spending in lieu of the exchanging the items) the Indian Government shamelessly tried to take the credit for Vijay Mallya buying the items at the auction for Rs 9 crores. “The Indian government procured the five personal articles of Mahatma Gandhi at a New York auction through the services of industrialist Vijay Mallya as it could not bid directly because of a stay order of the Delhi High Court,” culture minister Ambika Soni said on Friday. She added, “We were working on several options to get the items back. This is a victory for the UPA government.”


The Government would have got away with this with anyone else. But Mallya is a fighter if not anything else. He refuted Ambika Soni immediately, "I bid independently... I wanted to get back the items to the country... I am not sure if anyone was aware that I was bidding,” chairman of the United Breweries Group said. “Nobody from the government advised me on the bid... Our national treasure was up for grabs, for me it was emotional,“ he said.

In any other country, the concerned minister would have been hauled up and asked to resign for stating a falsehood of this proportion publicaly.

But Indian politicians are made of sterner stuff. For them, nothing other than clinging to the power matters. Ethics, morality and righteousness be damned. What else can we expect from Ambika Soni whose boss Sonia Gandhi shamelessly declared that she was Oxford educated when all she did was an English language course in a private institue in Oxford, the same Sonia Gandhi who had again falsely stated that she was an Indian citizen since 1970s when records show that she got the citizenship only post 1984 and who has still not given up her Italian citizenship, or the honourable President, whose husband is a suspected murderer and she herself is a swindler, the nominated Chief Election Commissioner, Navin Chawla, who has been indicted by a judicial commission way back for Emergency excesses and whose Trust has received millions from Congress party, the spokesman Abhishek Singhvi who wanted to confer Bharat Ratna on George Bush, and various Chief Ministers who do everything under the sun to prop up their position.

And typically, many Indians have, instead of applauding Vijay Mallya for beating other bidders fair and square to get the Father of Nations possessions back, have started a slander campaign on the propriety of a liquor baron buying the Gandhi legacy.

We, Indian's, have a Dog in the Manger attitude. Neither will we do anything, nor will we appreciate someone else doing it. We are quick to criticize Richard Attenboroughs Gandhi, but 25 years on, no Indian had come forward to make an Indian Version of Gandhi for our younger generation. The current generation of youngsters know only the Ben Kingsley Gandhi. (By the way, it was a superbly made movie. I still remember many scenes vividly after all these years).

No wonder, in my 8 years of teaching no Indian student has been able to recall the names of All the Presidents and All the Prime Ministers of India.

We just do not have any pride in our glorious past. It is why we will end up being a Great nation but not the Greatest Nation in this world, which we are capable of

End of Globalizaiton 1

One of the fall outs of the current Global Financial Crisis will be the end of Globalization as it is being propounded by the Western Countries today. The concept of Globalization was born more out of a necessity for both the developed and developing countries.

The developed countries started losing their core competencies over a period of last two decades. Their agriculture is highly subsidized and hence very inefficient. The industrial wages had risen to such an extent that it just does not make business sense to produce in developed countries for the costs will be extremely high. What they were ahead at were in the services sector, with their better infrastructure, education level and connectivity. But this is something that is easily duplicable and others caught up with it very fast. The only that save the developed economies from collapsing, especially USA, was that they were huge consuming economies. The market for value added goods was enormous. Though the developing economies has a bigger population, majority of them were on basic level of sustenance. As any decent marketing man knows, the profit is in value added goods and not on basic goods.

On the other hand, the developing and under developed countries lacked in infrastructure, investment capability, a market with purchasing power and required education level. They had to look westward for the first three. These countries have been smarter. Over the past twenty years, they have steadily overcome these weaknesses and today they are in a much better position by way of self sufficiency.

To be continued tomorrow.............................

Do what you preach, and preach what you do

“Whatever the excellent and best ones do, the commoners follow,” says Sri Krishnan in the Gita.




The visionary leader must be a missionary, extremely practical, intensively dynamic and capable of translating dreams into reality. This dynamism and strength of a true leader flows from an inspired and spontaneous motivation to help others.




A leader/manager should lead by example in every single area, ranging from punctuality to taking responsibility to being accountable. If he doesnt do so, then he forfeits the moral right to demand his followers to do as he desires.



This is the guiding principle of leadership. Set an example. Do what you preach and preach what you do.

Srilankan Cricketers attacked by Gunmen in Lahore

Six members of Sri Lanka's national cricket team have been wounded after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in Lahore, Pakistan. Sri Lankan team manager, Brendon Kruppu, confirmed the incident and said the team's players, Kumar Sangakkara and Ajantha Mendis, are among the injured.

This was a disaster waiting to happen in the sub continent. To believe that terrorist wont target a high profile Cricket match in either India, Pakistan or Srilanka was being naive, to put it mildly.

All our stadiums are death traps with no provision to handle an emergency evacuation. The relief operations, comprising of Police, Paramilitary and the Healthcare professionals is a joke and non existant.

We have all turned a nelson eye to terrorism for far too long. The primary duty of any government is to protect its citizens from internal and external threats. When they fail to do that, then they cease to have the moral right to rule.

Pakistan is a failed state. So is Srilanka and unfortunately, so is India. Earlier we have a Zero tolerence policy towards terrorism, the better. Other than Kasab, has this Government arrested a single person in the Mumbai attack so far? What prevented us from doing a quick trial of Kasab, and giving him the death penalty within 2 months of the attack. Why should the tax payers money be spent on a terrorist, for his stay in the Jail and his legal defence? We deserve more.

It is a relief that the Srilankan players escaped with minor injuries. But now the reason is all the more strong for the world to isolate Pakistan and as Bush said once, 'Bomb it to the medieval age'.

Extraordinary situation calls for extraordinary responses. I hope our idiotic government wont take the stand that Pakistan is equally affected like India by terrorists, but showcase the latest incident to bring the worlds focus back on Pakistans dangerous dallience with terror.

Isolate Pakistan. Bring an economic and political bloackade. Show them we mean business.

Dull day

Dull day. nothing interesting on the horizon to write a blog entry. Kindly bear with me.

The effect of Maya

"On the basis of the misconception which ties together the hearts of the male and female, one becomes attracted to his body, home, property, children, relatives and wealth. In this way one increases life's illusions and thinks in terms of 'I and mine." - Bhagavat Purana 5.5.8



Under the influence of the three gunas, the soul is first misled by matter, and subsequently entangled and entrapped. This tendency is termed MAYA(illusion).




Maya literally means "that which is not." In the twilight, one may easily mistake a rope for a snake. In so doing, we feel fear. Hence fear and other emotions may often be based on illusion, an incorrect perception of reality.




Under maya's influence, the soul (Atma) mistakenly identifies with the body. A person under the influence of Maya accepts such thoughts that discriminates him from others like caster, creed, rich, poor, my nation, my house, my religion etc. Thus the Maya affected soul identifies with the temporary body and everything connected to it, such as race, gender, family, nation, bank balance, and sectarian religion. Under this sense of false-ego (false-identity) the soul aspires to control and enjoy matter. However, in so doing the man continuously possess lust, greed, and anger. In frustration he often redoubles his efforts and, compounding mistake upon mistake, only falls deeper into illusion.



In ignorance (tamas), he is fully convinced that right is wrong and wrong is right. In passion he is unsure, hesitant, sometimes enjoying and at others times repenting. Only in Goodness does the soul begin to develop wisdom – to see things in the real light.



Thus enlightenment means moving away from tamas towards sattva. By so doing, the soul gradually escapes the clutches of maya and moves towards liberation.