Sunday, January 17, 2021

LICENSED TO KILL

What you see below is a photo that appeared on the front page of ‘The Hindu’ today. It is on ‘Jallikattu’, a seasonal animal sport in Tamilnadu, When Gujjus fly kites, the Tamils engage with bulls during Sankrati/Pongal. While in Gujrat people fall off the roof and die, in TN they die, gored by the bull.

Jallikattu is one of the cruelest of sports in India. (It is probably the only commanality between a Tamil & a Spanish!) It is all about specially bred bulls let free and chased by people and in the the melee, many getting killed, gored to death by the animal. What a licensed way to die? The news in the photo said, the bull killed two people; one, a bystander. 

Jallikattu was banned by the Supreme Court in 2014, on the appeal of Animal Welfare Board & PETA. But will the pride of Tamilnadu allow such a ban? It was a game in existence for more than 1500 years, people claim. They protested against the ban and a million people assembled in Marina beach Chennai, in 2017, to show the solidarity, resulting in T.Nadu government releasing an ordinance to reinstate this cruel game. Now the state has even annual Jallikattu league matches to boast! 

This year’s highlight, Rahul Gandhi arriving to witness Jallikattu! What a pity? What for? 

Vote bank, of course!



Monday, January 4, 2021

SOME LEARNINGS IN 2020

1. Nothings is in nobody’s control, whether rich, powerful or poor

The people who thought that they had everything in control, had a major shock, given by the Novel Corona Virus which is not even an organism! We took pride in our engineering, medical and space program capabilities. Some of the world leadership did not take Corona seriously and look at the impact it had on the mighty powerful USA and the  European nations. The hubris shown by the rich and powerful got tossed out and man knelt down in front of Covid. For almost an year,  Corona took control of the planet, how is that for a change? 

2. Whatever happens, Life goes on

Businesses collapsed, economy went south, unemployment quadrupled and close to 2 million people died of Corona. People got locked in their homes for months together and doom sayers predicted huge repercussions. However, life went on, with its own ups and downs , and as predicted, about 140 million births did happen in 2020 too.  

3. What you want to achieve in 10 years could be had in 10 months with technology, assisted by a grave calamity

Corona virus brought in plenty of new normals, many of which will stay continued even after containing the disease. Technology, particularly AI, Robotics, Genomics, Drug/Vaccine discovery etc., leapfrogged. What would have taken long to become reality,  became necessity as a result of the calamity - the pandemic and mankind did not hesitate to changeover instantly, swallowing the humble pie! 

4. Learning is never continuous, happens in spurts

Yes, learning is life long. The survival of the fittest demands the ability to unlearn and relearn. The frequency of learning also got shortened. However learning do not go like a smooth flowing sinusoidal wave. It is more similar to a centripetal wave with its own fits and starts. 

5. Do not imagine drastic things, it might happen

While Corona was in its full fury, people dug out those movies and scientific predictions made years back, of the virus going to impact mankind in these times. What does it prove!  Don’t use your imagination go wild  to arrive at calamitous predictions, surely it could come true. That doesn’t give a sense of comfort to our living, don’t you think? 

6. The more you defy, the more you will get hit

Like Newton’s third law, every action will have an equal and opposite reaction. So with the false pride, the moment one attempts to tie something down in a jiffy, with a greater force it will unravel before him. The proverbial patience and perseverance still continue as true virtues for mankind to manage impactful events. 

7. Do not imitate, be yourself, better that way 

What will make you face high impacting changes is your ability to manage  them. With what quality will you face any situation? To begin with you just understand your strengths and weaknesses, your plusses and minuses so that you will know what to use when while facing situations. This calls for developing and enhancing your intra personal intelligence. Successful people  are blessed with this intelligence in plenty and they will never be pretenders, but originals! 

8. Don’t be strategic, be tactical in tough times

Times of calamity is never meant for long term strategic planning, for you will never know what will happen externally when. In a pandemic time as this there is no point to doing business planning for longterm. You must  be tactical in your thinking do things with short windows. Look at survival as the norm, during tough times. 

9. Only you can love yourself, rest is all show off

In times of calamity, you can save someone only when you are in a safe zone to do so. When you are sinking, if you attempt to save another from drowning, chances area that both will sink to death. So look after yourself first, steady you first, before you you attempt to save another. Accept this global truth and do not try to show off otherwise. Likewise, others will come forward to be of assistance to you only after they feel they are secure. 

10. Keep moving and doing, even within your own space, it is called progress now, and if you don’t, you are dead!

The worst of times give us lesser mobility because we may be entangled in many challenges together, thus, restricting smooth strides. That doesn’t mean that you do nothing to stave it off and sit tight. In your own fulcrum, you should attempt to be mobile, even if that amounts to rotating. You may not have progressed further but as the right time comes, your momentum will enable you to jumpstart in life. 

The only advice is to be ready to face the unexpected. The above learnings will come handy as you come face to face with grave calamities. 

Here is wishing you a meaningful year ahead.

Saturday, January 2, 2021

FARMERS’ AGITATION ENTERS 2021

It doesn’t augur well for any country when its farmers start agitating & it goes on for 37 days without reaching a resolve. 

It is farming that started civilisation lest the the ‘out of Africa’ journey of Homo Sapiens would have gone on for ever. The worlds’ economic movement started with farming. On the top of agricultural economy sit mfg. & service. 

Indian farmers independently do not own huge land & there exists less than 5% among farmers who owns agricultural land of more than 10 hectors. So, it isn’t right to call the farmers’ protest as instigated by the rich farmers and the middlemen of the mandi. 

While initiating major reforms in agriculture, the govt. did not take the farmers into confidence. The way in which these acts had come into being, have been very dubious. Autocratic decision making in which interest of the real stakeholder is jeopardised for the benefit of crony corporates, is a dangerous step. 

Tens of thousands of farmers are on the road for more than a month, braving severe weather conditions (with people dying while agitating) should have been seen by the country’s leadership with concern & empathy. Defying the  genuine request of the country’s food providers could only boomerang!

Hope, better sense would prevail

MY LEARNINGS IN THE YEAR 2020


1. Nothings is in nobody’s control, whether rich, powerful or poor

2. Whatever happens, life goes on

3. What you want to achieve in 10 years could be had in 10 months with technology, assisted by a grave calamity

4. Learning is never continuous, happens in spurts. 

5. Do not imagine drastic things, it may happen! 

6. The more you defy, the more you will get hit

7. Do not imitate, be yourself, better that way 

8. Don’t be strategic, be tactical in tough times

9. Only you can love yourself, rest is all show off

10. Keep moving and doing, even within your own space, it is called progress now, and if you don’t, you are dead!

Whatever you wish, may you get it! However, be ready to face the unexpected.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021!