The Bully Learned a Lesson, albeit Painfully

These are difficult times. Pakistan sponsored terror attack on CRPF, and India's strong retaliation on JeM camps in Pakistan, has escalated the tension. It would not be wise on my part to add to the boiling cauldron. We let Modi, his team and the Armed Forces to do what is appropriate.

I am no war monger. But have been critical of India's wimpish response every time we have been attacked by Pakistan sponsored, trained terrorists. 

I am reminded of an incident about a decade ago, when I was teaching Executive MBA students in Kuwait. One of my student, unfortunately from my home state of Kerala, was in his early 30s,  a bit arrogant and a bully to boot.

Kuwait is a dry country. But illegal liquor was available. I have smelt liquor fumes in this student many a time, and asked him not to drive while returning home, under the influence of alcohol. He pooh-poohed my advisory, saying at best he will get a fine, which he will get erased from the system by paying someone bribe.

One night, he was driving home with another student of mine , when he was stopped by the Traffic Police. He was asked to take a breath analyzer test, which he failed. On being challenged ,he arrogantly told the Policeman to write a fine, as per the law. 

The Policeman looked at him calmly, and didn't like what he saw.

He said, "Oh no sir! I am not going to write a fine. This requires something else"

Saying that he opened his palm and slapped my student hard on his left cheek. The student staggered back a few steps from the impact of the slap.

The Policeman politely asked my other student in the passenger seat whether he is under the influence of alcohol. One getting a negative reply, he asked him to take over the wheel, and ensured they reached home safely.

The student who got the slap had a swollen face and impressions of 3-4 fingers on his cheek for 2-3 days. 

But more importantly, he never ever touched alcohol in Kuwait after that.

The Bully learned a Lesson, albeit painfully.

Modi and Shah turned things around quickly in a Month

A month is a long time in Politics.

The media, which is biased against Modi, was going ga-ga over Mahagadbandhan, Rahul Gandhis new found charisma, Priyanka Vadras 'political entry', SP-BSP Alliance in UP, BJPs lack of allies,  all backed by rigged opinion polls showing Modis declining popularity, and BJP unable to reach 250 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Congress tried its best to prop up Gadkari as an acceptable alternative to Modi.

Since I am from Kerala, everyone in my circles, were happy with Modi losing, and were cock-a-hoop.

I just told them "Just wait till Modi and Amit Shah get into the action"

They pooh-poohed me.

And then Modi and Shah really got into action.

First, they took the wind out of the opposition by introducing 10% reservation for the Economically backward, followed by raising IT limit to Rs 5 Lakhs. Then they announced support to farmers with low land holding with a  direct benefit of Rs 6000 per year. The media, which has no access to governmental decisions these days before they are announced (where has investigative journalism gone to?), and Opposition Parties were caught rocking on their heels. They just couldn't react against these moves, for fear of losing votes. Government did not just announce these schemes, but followed the announcement with speedy implementation, showing that these were planned well in advance but kept as a secret.

Opposition panicked and how.

To regain the space lost, Mamta went on a fast to prevent CBI from questioning the Calcutta City Commissioner of Police. Whatever little credibility she had, she lost by enacting this farce. The Opposition parties were forced to support her, and this made them a laughing stock. They were seen to be with the corrupt, and not with poor people who lost their all in the Chit Fund Scam.

With BSP and SP kicking out Congress in UP, the Mahagadbandhan became a stillborn baby. 

In the meanwhile, Amit Shah got to work.  He quietly finalized the Alliance with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. With JD(U) already an Alliance partner in Bihar, and Akali Dal in Punjab BJP are in a strong position. Add to this Jaganmohan Reddy in AP and Chandrasekara Rao in Telengana, assuring post poll support, BJP has all their bases covered. They are strong in North East in any case. The best thing that could have happened to Modi was BJP losing in MP, Rajasthan and Karnataka. In a few months, people saw the alternative to BJP and they are not amused. Kamal Nath, HD Kumaraswamy are unmitigated disasters, and Gehlot just marginally better. In Karnataka, Congress is discredited, having come out as poor alliance partners, who could not be trusted. Kamal Naths' arrival coincided with Urea shortage in MP and people are not amused. If BJP had won in these states, they would have had to handle the anti-incumbency. Now the ire is against the current governments. 

And add to oppositions miseries, Pakistani Terrorists attacked CRPF jawans and killed them. The nation was enraged. They just got behind Modi instantaneously, and gave him their full support. They wanted Kashmir cleaned up, and Pakistan taught a lesson. Modi is getting his act together in Kashmir, and Army, any day will teach Pakistan a lesson. Another thing to be noted here is that Elections may be deferred in Kashmir, which means a reduction of 6 Loksabha seats. Modi will require only 537/2 = 268 MPs for a majority. Even the worst biased poll in December gave him 220-240. With the current developments, my take is that Modi will easily cross 320.

And that is good for India for the next decade. We will see the development works speeding up, as the economic correction needed has been done, and the Government is flush with funds. The foundation was laid during the past five years, and a re-elected Modi will be bolder and stronger.

Of Jobs, Skills et al.

To undermine the economic success of India under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the opposition has been working overtime, with their cronies in the media and the left economic circles, to create a narrative that this growth is essentially one where job creation is minimal. Nothing creates an anti government feeling than joblessness. And the discredited opposition know that.

I would not like to go by the Statistical Figures. The Government's measurement of many parameters is as archaic as ever. The guys in charge, and the opposition, think that only jobs created in the Government sector counts. This is not true. The EPF registrations have grown, showing either an increase in jobs created in the Private Sector, or alternatively more compliance on the part of Company owners, who were abusing the system pre-demonitization. And the number of entrepreneurs have grown by leaps and bounds, which is also another way of creating employment. Since EPF registration is not mandatory if the number of employees is less than 15 in an Organization, there is hardly any data available from the MSME Sector regarding job creation, and MSME sector, in any Country, is the biggest employment generator.

The ground reality is different. I undertook some random surveys with young Engineering Graduates who passed out during 2015, 2016 and 2017. Almost all the Graduates have found a job somewhere, not necessarily the jobs of their choice, but a job none the less. And they confirmed their classmates, those who are not pursuing higher studies apart, are all employed. It is interesting to note that Girls are more gainfully employed than Boys. It may have something to do with Girls willing to take up any job on offer, and Boys feeling some jobs are beneath their dignity.

This is not conclusive proof but an indicator neverthless.

One area of concern is the Private Sector abusing these young graduates by taking them as apprentices and paying them not even the minimum wages. I know of many Engineering Graduates earning less than Rs 10,000 per month, and employed for a period of exactly one year, after which they are again out searching for jobs. 

While admittedly, this one year period ensures skill development, and gives them valuable experience, it can be improved. Companies have decided to tackle trade unionism by replacing workers with these Engineering/ Diploma Graduates, who being apprentices, have hardly any rights. This also affects non Engineering/ Diploma Graduates who would have otherwise landed up doing these Production Line jobs.

The Non Engineering/ Diploma holders are further affected due to the mechanization in our factories, which have almost but replaced manual labour with automation, and dependency on skilled labour.

A conscious effort has to be made to revive our Diploma Programs. The Junior Technical Schools and Polytechnics have been pushed to the background, as Engineering seats have become accessible to students with low marks. It is another matter that the quality of these Engineering Graduates are bad. The JTS and Polytechnics served a great purpose in developing the skill sets of many an youngster in the past. The success of migration of Keralites to Gulf in 1980s and 90s is mainly due to their higher level of skill sets obtained from JTS and Polytechnics.

The need of the hour is to upgrade the syllabus in both the JTS and Polytechnic, and definitely the Engieering Programs. 

Youngsters and parents seek advise from me as to the prospects of higher studies on their completion of Graduation, Engineering or otherwise. I always tell the youngsters to go out and work for a couple of years before they pursue higher studies, as a couple of years of further irrelevant book oriented studies is not likely to serve any purpose. And those who took my advise seriously have come back and validated my theory by admitting how couple of years of working have changed them as a person, improved their skill sets and made them better persons.

Government can make it a point to convert the last year of the Graduation/ Polytechnic Program to one of compulsory apprenticeship. The Companies can be encouraged to take in these graduates by giving them a tax incentive provided 'X%' of Graduates are taken in every year. Government should also ensure at least minimum wages are paid to these apprentices. This will also ensure the student understanding the dignity of labour and not living in ivory towers expecting an AC cabin, a car and a secretary in their first job.

This way, the development of hard and soft skills of the students are ensured, giving them more self confidence, and ensuring the Organizations have a ready workforce to be tapped into, who are skilled and has Work Sense.

Some Cricketing Thoughts

DRS - I saw lot of criticism of the supposed 'howler' made by the Third Umpire Shaun Baig upholding the On Field Umpires LBW decision against Daryl Mitchell. Hotspot indicated an edge, while the Snicko was flat. As per ICC protocol, Audio Based Snicko takes precedence over Thermal Based Hotspot in the event of a Conflict, and as such the Third Umpire was quire correct in upholding the decision based on 'no spike' in Snicko (Ultra Edge). Since the whole review was being shown on the Big Screen in the Stadium, the batsman was convinced he was hard done by, and one can't blame him too for being astonished and aggrieved. A bit of a mess, but not one that should lead to condemnation of DRS, which has really improved the quality of decision making, and has given the teams a chance to review an apparently bad decision.

Cricketing System: A decade ago, everyone was gushing about the Australian System of Cricket, and there was a beeline for imitating their system. Suddenly, Australian Coaches were much sought after, and we had absolute disasters like Greg Chappel ( a great Cricketer, a good coach but a poor Man-Manager), John Buchanen et al. Australia dominated only because they had a blend of extremely talented cricketers playing together. If the Australian system was so good then, why are they struggling now? By the same token, India is the Powerhouse today. The Indian team creates the same awe as the West Indies of 1980s or the Australians of 2000's. IPL was supposed to be the death knell of Indian Cricket, but IPL brought in riches for the poorly paid domestic cricketers, directly and indirectly. This has led to more youngsters taking up cricket as a profession, as it even rewarded players like, say Basil Thampi, with enough money to be secure for life. The moot question is why is no country trying to emulate the Indian System or go for Indian Coaches? White Man's bias? Perhaps. Talking about Cricketing Systems, England is in doldrums because their Country Cricket is not throwing up talent. Once Anderson and Broad hangs up their boots, England will be worse than the current Australian team. India is on the up and up because they have found a bunch of top quality Medium Fast bowlers in Bumrah, Bhuvi, Shami, Ishant, Umesh Yadav. If one were to look at the domineering teams of the past, they always had match winning bowlers - the fast bowlers of West Indies of 1980's, Shane Warne and McGarth of Australia, Muthiah Muraleedharan from Srilanka, Imran, Sarfraz, Qadir of Pakistan. For India add Ashwin, Kuldeep in the Tests, and Kuldeep and Chahal in ODI/T20 and we suddenly have a combination capable of bowling opposition out in any format at any venue.

MS Dhoni: I have never been a great fan of Dhohi, despite his achievements and have always believed that he should have hung up his boots long time ago. But watching him in Australia and New Zealand, I am convinced he should play for a year more. His glove work is still superb (though he still wont go for catches beyond his reach), is fit, bats well but more importantly his leadership qualities and mentoring skills adds immense value to the team

Budhi Rakshasan is back on Prowl

With election around the corner, my friend Budhi Rakshasan (BR) is busy with his bundle of inside information from the political circles in Delhi.

BR: Hello Swamy! Long time!

Me: Hi. What is new BR?

BR: Despite all the Luteyans Media and the Opposition Crooks ganging up, Modi is looking comfortable, especially after him taking the wind out of the opposition with the 10% reservation for the Economically Backward, the IT exemption up to Rs 5 Lakhs, Basic Income Support for Farmers and the Interim Budget

Me: I thought Modi lost it a bit during the past one year. Especially him not taking too much interest in pursuing the corrupt opposition leaders

BR: I too felt the same way. Modi and Shah are street smart. They kept politics away till recently. Any action taken earlier would have been forgotten by the people by the election date, as voters have short memories. Ditto for IT Waiver. I am sure there will be two more major announcements this month, before the Code of Conduct kicks in.

Me: Ram Mandir?

BR: Most probably yes. It is an emotional issue. Elections are won on Emotional issues in India, and not on Developments done by the Government. Optics are important. It is why Vadra being questioned by ED, Mallya being extradited, Chidambaram Family and Sonia Gandhi Family running from Court to Court, or Mamata having to protect her Confidante Cop from CBI. Modi and Shah are slowly building momentum, and is likely to peak by the election day. Meanwhile, the opposition has already peaked, and is on a downward spiral

Me: Hmmm. You have a point. I was worried when BJP lost MP, Rajasthan.

BR: In hindsight, this is the best that could have happened to BJP. MP was a narrow loss and BJP did better than expected in Rajasthan. You need to add Karnataka too. But people already has seen the horror of a coalition government in Karnataka, the broken promises in Rajasthan and MP and are disenchanted already with Congress. The repercussion will be felt in the Loksabha elections in May 2019.

Me: How about Priyanka entry?

BR: Congress made a big mistake in exposing Priyanka. She carries the burden of Robert Vadra around her neck, and that cannot be shaken off. Also, Rahul was gaining some steam on his own at last, but now the focus is on Priyanka. The USP of Priyanka is that she looks like Indira Gandhi! And Indira died in 1984. Voters who are 35 years and below, who constitute more than 50%, have no memories of Indira, and has no connect with her. Voters 35-50 have only bad memories of Indira, and hates her. If Congress thinks that Priyanka, just because she resembles Indira, will win them seats, then they must be cuckoo. But....

Me: But.....?

BR: I am hesitant to state this. But I am afraid there could be an attempt on the life of someone from the Congress first family prior to the election. And that will be orchestrated internally. Something tells me Priyankas entry points to this. I hope not.

Me: So summing up NAMO again?

BR: Definitely NAMO again.

Revisiting Childhood - Vadakara 1968-1972

As one gets older there is an inclination to revisit the childhood. It is not conscious. Why do I remember certain things, I don't know. Here are some Vadakara memories (1968-1972 when I was 4 to 8 years old)

• Earliest memory of school is my walk holding on to an Aluminium School Box when I was in 1-2 Standard from my home in Paravanthala to School in Vadakara. I had two bags. One Khakhi coloured, to be worn in the shoulder and then the Aluminium box. It was a pretty good walk to the school, climbing a flight of steps, hearing the steady sound of the handlooms in the houses nearby, and splashing water that flows down the steps during rainy season. Being the son of the Assistant Executive Engineer of KSEB, I got a bit of VIP treatment in the school. This was the time I got two prizes - one a mirror with a stand, and other a Soap Box. I remember the mirror was a prize in a singing competition, and always believed, considering my singing skills, the Soap Box was given as an encouragement to me for not singing again.
• Vadakara used to host a National Level Volley Ball Tournament every year. Once, my father was the Chief Guest for the Final, and obviously he took his youngest son, who was 7 years old with him. There were huge temporary stands that allowed more than 5000 people to watch, and the atmosphere was electric. I can recall the ferocious spiking of Balwant Singh of BSF. Every time Balwant Singh jumped, the crowd roared. 
• The songs that drift in the air through loud speaker from the various local functions and payattu was my first introduction to music, which stayed with me for a long time. I also fondly remember my sisters friend, a dark lean girl, who had a melodious voice and once sang 'Thamara kumbilallo mama hridayarm..................' while on a visit to our house.
• I lived in Vadakara till I was 8. There was a boy who came mid way through the 3rd standard. His father was a Judge. The Boys name was Balasubramanyam, and was very street smart. When we asked him his name, he retorted ' Perakkai'. This was a shock to most us, as we were  always told to be polite to others in a rural place like Vadakara. He had lived in big towns, and this was perhaps my first exposure to someone from the City. We became friends later.
• Another friend was Rakesh. After I left Vadakara for Palghat in 1972, I got a black and white picture with about Rs 2 in a postal cover from him. He owed my money for something and returned it. The honesty of the rural people
•  Being very frail, my father thought it fit to send me to the RSS Shakha in the Paravanthala Subramanya Swamy Temple premises. Owning and wearing the Khakhi trouser, sleeveless white banyan, belt was a dream come true for a child, who used to watch RSS guys having their disciplined games and shakha practices every day.
• It was during this period that father bought me my first cricket bat from Thalassery - it cost him all of Rs 6. He bought a HMT watch for my elder brother when he cleared his SSLC with good marks. He wore that watch for a decade, and then it was passed on to me.
• Twice father took me to Thalassery to watch Ranji Trophy matches. Kerala vs Hyderabad, and Kerala vs Tamil Nadu. I was fortunate to see Abbas Ali Baig, Pataudi, M L Jaisimha, S Venkataraghavan, etc which encouraged me to take up the sport seriously. The matches were played on matting wickets, and Kerala was a very weak team then. There were not tickets, and we just sat on the ground in the boundary and watched the whole day.
• I remember Sarojini, our maid, who was very fond of me.
• Then there was our neighbour, Raman, and his family. His mother used to call me out whenever their cow was milched, and gave me a very small glass of raw milk, straight from the cow's teat,literally.
• The owl, that lived on the roof, was benignant and stared back dolefully whenever I looked up at him.
• Our family doctor used to move around Vadakara in his lemon green Volkswagon Beetle. As a child, I used to watch the car with wonder. In 1972, he brought a new Volkswagon Beetle, and my father moved in quickly to buy the old one. It cost a princely Rs 17,000 in 1972 and ate up all the savings of my father. For a 8 year old child, this was the pinnacle of his childhood and something beyond even dreams. Soon, father was transfered, and we all drove down in the Beetle to Palghat.

I never had a chance to visit Vadakara again.