CONNECTING THE DOTS & TRYING TO MAKE SENSE FROM IT

Let us start with science, about the creation and existence of our universe. 

The Big Bang theory explains how the universe got created from a single point by high density and temperature. The whole thing is believed to have exploded from the single point and thereafter it started expanding ever since. The expansion continues, still. 

NASA describes black hole as a space with such intense gravity that it even it pulls in the light into it. In the black hole, everything is squeezed into such a tiny space, into a single dot. 

The quantum Physics hypothesizes that ALL elementary particles of matter are closed loops of waveform, with intense energy residing in it. By this hypothesis, matter & energy are identified to be two forms of one itself. This is now getting promulgated as ‘unified theory’. The latest experiments on this at CERN & other labs had generated excitement to all science lovers, world over. 

Let us now dwell a while on the Indian spiritual explanation of the situation before the creation: 

Nasadiya Sukta explains the origin of universe (verse 19:129 of Rig Ved). It says;

“There was neither non-existence nor existence then. Neither the realm of space nor the sky beyond. There was neither death nor immortality, neither night nor day, none breathed, for it was windless, and there was absolutely nothing beyond. In to the void, the force of heat came into being”

It then asks, “what stirred, where, in whose protection?”

It doesn’t ascribe the stirring to the Gods, as it says elsewhere that even Gods came after the creation. 

The puranic Hindu cosmology view asserts that the universe is created, destroyed, and re-created in an eternally repetitive series of cycles.

The repeated (cyclic) creation, destruction & re-creation of universes is not asserted by science, yet. How do we explain the big bang theory and the black hole in the context of Hindu cosmology view? Or is it all an illusion (maya) of the mind and the sense organs? 

Isn’t creation, destruction & re-creation similar to birth, death and re-birth?  

Does it help connecting the dots? Aren’t we also part of the cycle? 

Does it confuse us? Or, does it endorses Heinrich Heins, when he says, “sleep is good, death is better of course, the best thing would have been never born at all?

YEAR END MUSING

The year 2023 is about to close. In many ways, it had been a critical year of the century for the Planet so far. 

By late 2019, Wuhan reported an extraordinary respiratory illness akin to SARS and China went about on a war footing to address it but without telling the world.  Spread it did, and took every nation unaware, as we watched how the governments combated it. It came to be legally known as Covid 19 (short form of Corona Virus Disease 2019) & the pandemic did have ‘thandav’ across the planet.  

As per World Health Organisation (WHO), as of date, globally, there have been 77,28,38,745 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 69,88,679 deaths. As I write this,  a total of 13,59,57,21,080 vaccine doses have been administered on the people. This had been one hell of an anti-pandemic endeavour for the world. The way vaccines got formulated underwent sea change, to the extent that the scientists who developed the Covid vaccine unconventionally, are declared as the Nobel Prize winners for the year 2023. 

As I write this, in this part of the world, another variant of Covid, JN.1, is now playing tricks. How far & how destructive this be, will be known only by the beginning quarter of the new year. 

Yes, the year 2020 & 2021 fully belonged to the Pandemic. The year 2022 went this way, that way and only by 2023 that the world relaxed. The new normals of life slowly started receding back but with abundant caution, and now, hybrid life is a gift of Covid 19 to mankind.

Personally, the year 2023 was a year of transition for me. It is when I decided to end my deep association with the  professional and social bodies that I was actively part of. Thus, my TiE Kerala, KMA & Rotary activities fully came to a standstill. What is now left is ISTD where again, my intense involvement had well reduced. Being in the thick of it all for more than a quarter century, I was afraid that I would display ‘withdrawal’ tendencies but the impact wasn’t as heavy and today one is very comfortable with the current state of affairs. My routine acts like teaching at CUSAT, keynote deliveries, mentoring, blogging etc. continued without any hitch in 2023. 

I may want to concentrate on two main things for me for the future; travel and writing. In the year 2023, my reading got doubled and so did my travelling; Hong Kong, Andamans Island, Kolkotta, Jaipur travels figured in the year. The disappointment was not visiting Chola/Pandya edifices in Tamil Nadu, though it was very well in the plans for 2023. One hopes, it should fructify in the year 2024.  

I am also hopeful to finish 2 books during the coming year, first one in English is 99 percent ready and the other already well formed in the mind. Procrastination being what it is, still keeping the fingers crossed 😌

I would like to hear from you about the year that was for you and your plans for the year in the anvil. 

Here is wishing you the very best of the season! You take care.

VRISCHIKOLSAVAM @ POORNATHRAYEESA TEMPLE, TRIPUNITHURA, COCHIN

By late November, each year, festival in temples of Kerala begins, mostly with the Guruvayur temple Ekadashi fest. And for close to 4 months thereafter, thousands of Hindu temples across in the state of Kerala will celebrate the festivities independently.

Tripunuthura Poornathrayeesa temple fest falls in December month of each year. This year, it began on the 9th of December and it will go on till 16th December, for 8 long days. Poornathrayeesa temple festival is one of major temple festivals in Kerala, something which goes on from the morning to the wee hours of the night every day.

On each day, by morning, evening and night; plethora of art, dance and musicals are performed here, Ottan Thullal, Kathakali, Dance, Musical concerts and of course, the Melams. Different types of Melams are performed for long hours within the temple precincts, Panchari melam, Thayamabaka, Nadaswaram and the like.

Poornathrayeesa temple’s main deity is Maha Vishnu, in the form of ‘Santana Gopala Murthy’ and it is one of the patron Gods of the erstwhile Kochi kings. Monarchy is long gone but the reverence and enthusiasm with which people of Tripunuthura conducts the festivities of this temple, even to this day, is something very noteworthy. Tens of thousands of people throng to the temple each day and they stay on the premises for long duration, enjoying firstly the melam, and then, the other art forms performed around.

On the first day itself, my wife and I made our visit to the temple to enjoy the morning ‘Panchari melam’. It was played by the renowned Artist, Padmasri Peruvanam Kuttan Marar and his team. It started at 7.30 hours and went on till noon, such a nonstop performance! All this happens in front of 10 plus caparisoned elephants. It was an enchanting visual. It was reverberating and overwhelming.

We are living in the Internet era with technology playing a huge role on the life of people. It has shrunk the time on planet and its beings. However, the how people had preserved their culture and carry it on, could be well experienced from festivals such as this

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ENTREPRENEURS

On 27/10/2013, I had an opportunity to moderate a conversation with Prof. Stephen Zhang, professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategy of Adelaide Business School, Australia, involving invited local entrepreneurs at Xavier Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship (XIME), Kalamassery, Kochi.

Prof. Zhang, an electronic engineer and a doctorate in management, is a simple human being, otherwise a brilliant thought leader, who has been adjudged as the top Research Professor of the year by his University for consecutive terms, in addition to being chosen among the top 2% Scientist of the world by Stanford University. He had done deep research in the psychology of entrepreneurs, uncertainty in entrepreneurship, psycho physics and gender balance in entrepreneurship

Speaking about the psychology of entrepreneurs, he said that research had proven that entrepreneurs have more self efficacy to transform increasing perception of uncertainty into exploration & opportunity identification.

He terms psycho physics as an area of significance future research to study the entrepreneurial bias and distortion of perception such as underestimating high probables end overestimating low probables.

In a significant study, his team’s research could identify that gender inclusivity is not just an equity issue but a business case. The finding is that a gender balanced team has much more chances of entrepreneurial success. It is not that one gender scores over the the other but gender balance definitely delivers better entrepreneurial outcomes.

The conversation took place in the presence of invited entrepreneurs from different fields such as technology, skill development, alternate learning, medical devices, forex etc. The audience also included the senior professors of XIME as well as student members of XIME Entrepreneurship club. The entrepreneurs had exchanged their views and shared their experiences with the professor some of which did coincide with the professor’s research findings.

It was a forenoon well spent, high in intellectual content, going deeper into understanding of the entrepreneurial psyche, all that happened in the calm and amiable institutional surrounding of XIME.

POLITICAL LEADERS BLOWING THE TRUMPET

Very often we see full page advertisements published by governments of States in newspapers across the nation, including even the vernacular dailies. The States of Delhi, Rajasthan, UP, Telangana & Punjab are most prominent among them. Staying in Kerala, one doesn’t know if our government publish such ads in newspapers outside Kerala?

It is a clear fact that a genuine reader hates advertisements in the newspaper. In fact he looks at it negatively. At worst, he would give it just a cursory glance, period. Even if some readers have a look at it, she wouldn’t bother. And it is also a fact is that no one reads the advertisement. Surely, an average newspaper reader is not bothered about the tall claims advertised by a State in the country with which he is simply not having any connection with.

All in all, the purpose of the advertisement is never served. Knowing this fully, the States waste so much of money on huge periodic advertisements on newspapers of other States whose readers never find a relevance in it.

The money saved by not blowing the trumpet in other State’s print media could be better utilised for the real welfare of the people of the State. For example, it could have saved a patient from death, it could have helped a family marry off its daughter, it would have helped build a home for homeless, it could have helped fill the empty stomach of the poverty-ridden, it could have helped many geriatrics to live better in old age homes……..

Who is bothered here? Remember, each of these States is spending additionally huge money (and machinery) in a big way in social media campaigns too. What do these political leaders of the State want? Sheer PUBLICITY, nothing else.

And most of the claims in the advertisement would have been just pronouncements with no further actions taken on it. Claims having no substance in it is being advertised by fame seeking political leaders in this ‘post truth’ world. The world had changed a lot, isn’t it ?

Other than helping the news baron’s financial status, these ads do not help any purpose.

10 COMMANDMENTS ON CREATING AN ECOSYSTEM TO CLOSE DEALS FAST & EFFICIENTLY

1. Train the sales team on attitude, responses, telephone / email / messaging etiquette and customer centricity

2. Slowly, steadily and continually indoctrinate a *winners mindset* in them

3. Create high learning quotient in your agents. Conduct product quiz regularly & incentivise product learning.

4. Automating your sales processes (CRM, SFA, Call centre software, Customer care solution etc) is a must BUT please do not complicate it for sales guys while entering it. Sales people enjoy winning cases than documenting them.

5. When an executive joins, she must be properly oriented through her JD, KRA and KPIs. W.r.t. KPIs, encourage her to do self reviews.

6. Do not fill up you customer / prospect database with incoherent, unintelligent data. Data must be accurate, continually updated and relevant, so that your agents are able to touch base the right contact at the right time.

7. Clean your customer data from time to time (people leave companies often) and add current data (name & coordinates of contacts) so that it is fresh and accurate

8. Feed the agent with appropriate domain based case studies and customer endorsements / references to help her close the deals.

9. Get your HR manager to come up with programs that create curiosity, excitement and positivity in your agents. Create a calendar of activities in advance for training & fun sessions. Have monthly colourful award / reward function for them.

10. The reviewing mentors & superiors must have continuous ‘one on one’ session with the agents periodically. Do reviews decently and positively. Keep negativity and criticisms out. Never hurt the self esteem of executives. Objective of the mentors must be to create a winner’s mindset in them.

KALPATHY RATHOLSAVAM 2023

All these years, one was only hearing and reading about Kalpathy Chariot Festival (Ratholsavam) but the urge to see it and experience it finally materialised this year. So, my wife & I, off we went to Kalpathy on the 16th November which was the crescendo day of the festivities. A good friend, Prof. (Dr) Rajeswari who is a resident of Kalpathy ‘Agraharam’ (the Tamil name of a traditional Brahmin village) played the role of a perfect host,

The Ratholsavam is similar to the famous Rathayatra, the annual chariot festival carrying the ‘vigraha’ of Lord Jagannath of Puri, Odisha (which gave rise to the English word, “Juggernaut”, meaning an overwhelming force). This is a unique festival, conducted in pure Vedic tradition by the migrant Tamil Brahmins (locally called, Bhattar / Pattar - പട്ടർ) who settled on the banks of Kalpathy river, a tributary of the river Nila or Bharathapuzha, during 14th century CE. The temple of Lord Shiva with consort Parvathy (addressed here as Viswanatha & Visalakshi) was consecrated sometime during 1425 CE. The progenies of migrant Brahmins from Thanjavur, Kumbakonam & Madurai, settled in 4 adjoining villages of Chathapuram, Govindarajapuram, Kalpathy & New Kalpathy; all come together in these days, carrying the Gods of their own village along with them, in hugely decorated wooden chariots. Thus the Lords; Siva with consort Parvathy, Ganesha, Vishnu & Subramanya move around Kalpathy and finally have their confluence in front of the Viswanatha temple on the last day. This, we experienced in its awesome beauty, milling with huge crowd (it is said that over a 100,000 people visit here on the last day)

It is a real sight watching the devotees pull the HUGE chariots. Men, women, children, old & young; all partake in it, singing devotional songs. The force required to pull the chariot is tremendous and while on move, the stability of the chariot needs to be keep, which can be managed only by experienced hands. All these happening with hundreds of thousand people moving around, with no untoward mishap all through these days, is a humongous task by itself.

Festivals like Kalpathy Ratholsavam manifests the legacy of the rich tradition and culture of the country and the state. Something that started 7 centuries ago, is still enacted in its pristine glory by the descendants who had significantly partaken in the progress of the country! Being there at the historic Ratholsavam, observing it with the underlying knowledge of our glorious past, was an experience in itself

A DAY @ STATE BANK INSTITUTE OF LEADERSHIP (SBIL), KOLKOTA.

Based on the invitation of the Dean of SBIL, Prof. Dr. N. Krishna Kumar to deliver a session on “Higher Leadership for Organisational Excellence” at this institute on the forenoon of 4th December, 2023 and also to partake in the Panel discussion with Dr Anil K Khandelwal, former CMD of Bank of Baroda & Shri. Arun K Jain, Sr. Vice President of SBI Capital, moderated by Dr KK by the same evening on the theme, ‘Leading in the age of disruption & transformation’.

The institute is located in the Fintech Zone of fast developing Newtown of Kolkata. In style, substance and size, SBIL is a huge edifice having all modern infrastructure to conduct multiple concurrent residential leadership programs not only for the senior managers of State Bank of India (SBI) but also for senior officers of other banks within and outside India.

The one that I lectured was an International Leadership Development Program for senior managers of multiple banks located in 5 different nations (Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Indonesia & India), a cohort of 30 officers attending it for a week. In fact the program started with my session. I had enjoyed delivering it and I hope the participants have had some good take-aways.

The panel discussion had a larger audience, in addition to the above cohorts, it was also physically attended by the close to 70 Dy. General Managers of SBI who were undergoing training here, plus close to 200 alumnus of SBIL attending in online mode from different parts of the world. The panel discussion was truly enriching with Dr Khandelwal leading it in his inimical style.

Having lectured in many similar institutions in the past, I observed SBIL to be far ahead of others, in terms of both content and delivery. Its top class infrastructure surely aids the knowledge dissemination in a big way. For me too, it was a new but pleasant experience.

Learning and development must be the key to growth and sustenance of any corporate. While this is a global understanding, it is not the way Indian corporates look at L&D. We see regular cuts being effected on L&D budgets of many companies. It is indeed heartening to see SBI standing as an exception to this.

I am very impressed by the care given to us by the multitasking Dean, Prof. N Krishna Kumar and the efficient, unassuming Director of the Institute, Shri. K.V Bangarraju, who is also a General Manager of SBI. With such committed professionals in the top, it is no wonder that SBIL is delivering world-class L&D programs to its stakeholders.

NAVARA RICE - A SUCCESS STORY

Narayanan Unny hails from a traditional farming family in Chittoor, Palakkad District of Kerala.

I had known him since mid-80’s, that was when he approached me seeking business partnership from Hindustan Computers Limited that I headed in Kerala at that time, which he set up at Calicut & Palakkad and ran fairly well for many years.

His father’s death was a turning point in his life.  He decided to go back to rice farming that his dad was following. For more than 150 years, the family owned 15+ acre paddy field. Rather than being a  ‘Palakkadan Matta Rice’ cultivator, he thought radically to revive the Navara rice cultivation, that was endemic to the place, but has been practically extinct.

Navara rice has this enormous medicinal properties and traditional Ayurveda greatly depends on it for the treatment of cervical spondylosis, low backache, paralysis, rheumatoid arthritis & neuromuscular disorders.

The book, ‘Navara Rice - A success Story’ published by ‘Trust for Advancement in Agricultural Science’, New Delhi headed by Dr. RS Paroda, briefs his struggle and endeavour of more than 2 decades. While a normal farmer would have given up, Unny, with great efforts and with the goodwill and assistance from family, friends, scientists, policy makers and industry bodies; revived Navara rice and established its supply chain as a true organic food.

Unny & I have always been in touch and are good family friends. Though fully aware of his acts, I had not considered the true value of Unny’s endeavor until I read this book and then for the next half an hour I let my mind go through his trials to establish Navara Eco Farm. It was indeed a committed but tough act.

Narayanan Unny, the one man army’s determination, patience, perseverance and toil to revive a practically extinct rice variety and the successful outcome of establishing the most valued Navara rice back in to the shelves, for people & ayurvedics to use it,  for deriving immense health benefits from it; is an epic story by itself.  

There is a Tamil novel by Jayakanthan, titled, ‘Sila nerangalil sila manithargal’. Loosely translated, it says, ‘some persona in some moments’. To me, Narayanan Unny is the really the man of the moment.

May the planet beget more Narayan Unny’s!

TRICKS PLAYED BY THE E - COMMERCE SITES ON THE ONLINE CUSTOMERS

 In order to entice/retain customers (even if they are a dissatisfied lot), and continue to increase the yield per client, ecommerce companies resort to many tactics that many a time, are identified as unethical (at times, illegal). Some of them are: 

1. Subscription Trap 

When you want to unsubscribe, the site will redirect you through a series of pages, thereby tiring you and making it technically impossible for you to unsubscribe 

2. False Urgency 

Creating, of course falsely, a sense of the urgency in your mind. E.g: while booking hotel room, message popping out saying, “ only 1 room left”

3. Basket Sneaking 

While checking out, including additional items in your shopping cart without you knowing and/or without your consent  

4. Confirm Shaming

Using an audio or video response to create a sense of shame / fear / guilt in the buyer. For e.g: when you drop a product from the cart, a video response coming from the screen making you feel cringe feeling guilty or shame 

5. Forced Action 

Forcing the user to buy additional items. For e.g: auto check mark for flight insurance while booking an online air ticket. 

6. Privacy Zuckering 

When ticking ‘terms & conditions’ during an online purchase, the same term sheet would have included a line taking your your consent for sharing your data, without your realising it. Many terms & conditions are laborious and come in fine print and buyers don’t actually read while buying online ! 

7. Interface Interference 

The design of the site that manipulates user interface, depending on the system’s buyer knowledge E.g: a) highlights certain specific information; and (b) obscures other relevant information 

8. Bait & Switch 

Advertising a particular outcome based on user’s action such as luring customers into using a product under attractive terms, then change the conditions once engaged, forcing them to accept the outcome, usually a paid service. 

9. Drip Pricing

The pricing elements are not revealed upfront. Minimal pricing information is available but when you click to buy, other pricing elements are loaded to it. 

10. Disguised Advertisement

Hiding additional inputs from buyers until they are committed to making a purchase. E.g: disguised advt. on the software download page to boost ad revenue, such as, displaying advertisements with a prominent download button that closely resembles the actual download button for the desired software.

These are called dark patterns, and these tactics are employed  by e-commerce sites when you reach out to it for buying. Many Governments, now also India, are enacting regulations against it including punitive measures. 

NARCISSISTIC GASLIGHTERS

Long ago, while employed, a colleague of mine in product marketing used to mock at me regularly, telling me that many sales managers with whom I am communicating, feel that I am not in touch with reality, whenever I send them new campaign directions. Funnily, I never heard this from any sales personnel directly within the company. 

A Marwari entrepreneur friend in the same business vertical as I was, whenever we used to meet, told me me that he genuinely feel for me and my company but my way of handing a particular principal vendor was incorrect. (It was another thing that he also had this vendor as his supplier)

A young and enthusiastic auditor friend with a good background, an associate in the movement that we are part of, used to shower me all the respect on one-on-one basis, whenever got an opportunity in a crowd with me, cut jokes at my expenses

An advocate member of the club that I had chartered, used to listen to my speeches in the club intently but once it is over, will publicly remark in the end, “what else is expected of you, as usual, you did that long winding speech”

In my professional, personal and social life, I had come across enough of such associates/friends (?) trying to upset me or ridicule me with such comments, assessing me incorrectly, trying to manipulate the reality around me, I used to wonder, ‘why they do so’? 

Upon my reading and research over the period, I had realised that these are the envious narcissistic gaslighters, doing it to upset my self esteem, thus trying to off balance me, making me think that something is wrong with me. 

Gaslighting is defined as a manipulative tactic employed by someone to gain power & control over the other, planting seeds of uncertainty thus affecting other’s self esteem through the process of self-doubt. When it is done to you by egoistic people who are jealous of your abilities, they turn out to be Narcissistic Gaslighters. 

Through outright lying, manipulating reality, scapegoating and coercion, the gaslighter tries to intentionally distort your reality, making you feel that what you are  seeing or feeling isn't real. This could even affect your mental wellness. 

The gaslighters try to show that they love / respect you but their intent is to serve themselves, whether it is to gain more power or control or to feel that they are better than others.

How do you handle the envious, narcissistic, gaslighter? 

When you recognise one, as much as possible, be away from him. You consciously stand firm in your truth even if he is trying to use communication to make you self doubt. Do not indulge him or try to outsmart him, that is what he is waiting to pile on you further. By increasing the support system around you and sharing the truth with them you can help yourself retain sanity.

Beware of the gaslighters, they are toxic!

EXCUSE PLEASE, WE ARE INDIANS

In every domestic travel (be it bus, train or plane) that I do, I get deeply perturbed by the haste, hurry and disorderliness displayed by the passengers. They hurry into the vehicle as if others are going to take away their reserved seats. Even before the end of the journey, and before the vehicle comes to halt, they jump up, pick up their luggage and stand, showing big urgency in getting out! 

The domestic transports are always noisy with people talking to each other in high decibels, passengers listening to loud music/video in their mobile phones without earphones and the like. One aways notice lack of calmness & patience and the body language, that of perpetual restlessness! 

Even outside, in driving, in the usage of public facilities &  conveniences, the lack of civility is tremendously visible. The hustle and din prevails completely on the Indian in whatever he does. We behave as if the world is going to end imminently before which we must complete the act! 

In many parts of the developed world that I had travelled, I always found a sense of orderliness in the behaviour of its citizens, be it travelling in public transports, driving vehicles, shopping, eating in restaurants, walking & crossing roads  etc. They strictly adhere to the system, rules and the policy framework. All these are built with very high level of precautions that give assurance to the denizens of highest levels of safety & security to their life and properties. And they calmly go about with their life in orderliness. 

I used to wonder, why we are built the way we are. A majority of Indians live in misery and the demography is so huge for a country of India’s size. It is like too little for too many people wanting things, and that insecurity creeps into all our acts which results in all these wanton behaviour. Though large percentage of population had progressed out of poverty, the ‘poverty in the mind’ continues to haunt everyone.

And the irritation grows more when we hear the myopic leaders tell us how good we are, what ‘sanskriti’ we had and why we should not ape the developed world. Mired in superstitions and pseudoscience, they tell us how we ‘contributed’ to the progress of the world. They intricately mix up religion & caste with the polity, to keep us tied in as parochial clans, despising others. 

It is clear that unless we free our mind, consciously get out the sense of misery and allowing to see others with empathy & positivity, we shall  continue with our clannish hooligan behaviour.

REMEMBERING GORDON MOORE

“The number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years” - Gordon Moore, 1965

Gordon E Moore was one of those few technocrats who shaped the modern world. His company, Intel Inc, which he set up with former colleague Robert Noyce in the year 1968, had played a major role in the growth of the semiconductor technology, the real heart of computing and ICT.

The prediction that he made in 1965, now called Moore’s Law, an observational hypothesis, is holding good even today (though they say now about it giving way to Neven’s law of quantum computing). Today a 15 core Intel Xeon Server chip holds about 4.3 billion transistors inside it and anyone could guess the processing power the computer that holds it.

Gordon Moore is an alumnus of San Jose University, University of California & Caltech where he completed his PhD. He then joined Nobel laureate William Shockley in Shockley Semiconductor division of Beckman Instruments to build semiconductors. Later, he became part of the ‘traitorous eight’, 8 senior engineers leaving Shockley Semiconductor to start Fairchild Semiconductor.

In the year 1968, along with one of the ‘traitorous eight’, Robert Noyce; Moore set up Intel Inc. While the company had its ups and downs, with the joining of Andre Grove & Craig Barrette, Intel never looked back and became the de-facto CPU of personal computers. By holding close to 90 % monopoly in CPU business of PCs, intel grew ever so fast in the past 5 decades, and is still at the centre of computing inspite of many pretenders, copycats and alternative technology co’s such as Google.

About Moore’s law he said, “Rather than becoming something that chronicled the progress of industry, it became something that drove it”. The law of the founder motivated the company to stay in course with initially the X86 series of microprocessors and then Pentium, Pentium Quadcore, Pentium i3 and now huge Xeon server processors!

Personally I had some experience with Intel Pentium processors as the product manager of HCL Hewlett Packard in the early 1990s. I remember our team being presented by the architect of the processor, Mr Vinod Dham at our labs at NOIDA. Also had the opportunity to work with the Intel India team in releasing our ‘Infiniti’ PCs based on Pentium processor for the India market. And I proudly wore the Intel Pentium T shirt that they gifted to me, with the successful bywords in it, “Intel Inside”!

About the growth of microprocessors Moore said this, “this powerful technology has allowed us to make more and more complex high performance circuits. They are the basis of everything electronics we have, unprecedented in human history”!

This self made billionaire (net worth of 7 billion USD as on Feb. 2023), passed away peacefully on March 24, 2023, at the age of 94 years, surrounded by family at his home in Hawaii.

The colossus of modern technology has called it a day. May his Soul rest in eternal peace!

Adios Gordon Moore

END OF THE DUTCH SUPREMACY IN INDIA.

By 17th century, the Dutch (Holland) had taken over the control of the sea trade with India. This they achieved through Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) or simply, the Dutch East India Company. In fact the Company, established in 1602, was the first multinational corporation of the Planet.

Well funded & militarily mighty, VOC held monopoly of the global spice trade in most of the 17 & 18th century. For 2 centuries, it paid avg. 20% dividend to its share holders. Adjusted to inflation, in today’s money, it had a market capitalisation of USD 7 Trillion!

By the early 18th century, the Dutch economic and political power in southern India was at its peak. It threw the Portuguese out, defeated Zamorin of Calicut and even converted the kingdom of Kochi into a vassal state.

In spite of its might, the Dutch Company was brought down to its knees, thanks to the valour of the Travancore King of that time.

in 1739, the Dutch Governor Gustaaf Van Imhoff, during negotiations with Marthanda Varma, the ruler of Travancore, on the Dutch interests in Malabar, threatened the king that if he doesn’t heed, Dutch forces would destroy Travancore.

In his reply, the king quipped: "With all due respect to you sir, in that case, I will certainly invade Holland".

Miffed, the Governor walked off, determined to teach the king of a small kingdom, a lesson. Soon, a large contingent of Dutch forces landed in Colachel port (15 KM away from Padmanabhapuram, the then capital of Travancore) led by Captain Eustachius De Lannoy with intention to make a quick dash & capture the capital.

When the armies met, (‘Battle of Colachel’), the Dutch could not match the fighting spirit of the bare bodied Travancore army & suffered crushing defeat. Lannoy & his deputy got captured. The King forced the Dutch to sign a peace treaty, taking over most of the Dutch assets & spice trade .

Varma made Lannoy a trainer of his forces, to modernise the Army, which went on to be part of ‘Madras Regiment’ of Independent India.

Marthanda Varma indeed had his life moment in world history. But the latter day colonial & Indian historians didn’t think of his feat important enough to give a mention in the country’s history books.

It is often said that history is the biography of the victors. In the case of Marthana Varma, it wasn’t so. In fact same was the case of the Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas, Cheras, Chalukyas, Rastrakutas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagara & similar South Indian Kingdoms of yore. How many of you know that by 11th century CE, the Cholas were world’s first & largest thalassocracy (marine empire), expanding deep into far east?

The Indian history books have a definite north Indian taste. In my Social studies classes, I could only learn about the Maurya’s, Gupta’s, Khushana’s, the Turkish rulers (Lodhi etc.) & the Mughals.

What do you call it - conditioned learning?

THE CONTRIBUTION OF A VILLAGE SCHOOL’S ALUMNI

My very first alma matter is Lower Primary School in my village, where I studied from 1st to 5th. Located in Trivandrum district, the school locally is called Ottivilakom school, by the place it stood. 4 of us brothers studied here. It was close to our home that is no more, after the demise of our parents, as we were settled far & wide, it was sold.

The thirst for knowledge started here. The teachers were good. Everybody knew everybody & it was carefree learning from 10 am to 4 pm. In those times (1960’s), in the impoverished state of Kerala, all government schools were under the ‘CARE’ (charity) program of US government that ensured that the needy students got uppuma & milk during lunch break.

The original school building got replaced into a concrete structure later. The school was losing students steadily on account of the craze of parents to send their children to English medium CBSE schools which had come up aplenty all around, in private sector.

Late last year I got a call from my Trivandrum city based brother about the school. A new headmistress who had taken charge there, came up with a vision to improve the school and the teaching standards. She contacted and got together the locally available alumni & put before them problems of the school. Those attended the meeting, contacted those located outside and formed a WA group.

The parents, mostly from lower socio-economic strata, were not sending wards to the school, as the school did not have an infrastructure that was student friendly. Though it has a school van, there wasn’t any guarantee that it worked, thus conveyance was always a challenge for the students. She, ably supported by the Panchayat vice president, also an ex student, requested the alumni’s help to improve the facilities. The alumni formed a committee & made a budget for it which came to INR 20 lakhs.

The alumni then came up with individual contributions that came to INR 2 lakhs which took care the school van repairs. That was when my brother called me to come down at my convenience which I did. We looked for other sources of fund. We could contact an alumnus in Dubai and he assured to give a CSR fund of INR 5 Lakhs & work started at the right earnest.

A good connect with the Director of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) fructified in getting a grant of INR 10 Lakhs. Lo & behold, we could do all that we had planned for the school. Class room came into life with creative art work inside. The small playground was improved. Teaching equipments were bought. The staff room got new furniture. The enthusiasm of the teachers to transform the school was very evident.

On Sunday the 30th April, the headmistress and teachers came to the school to receive some of us who chanced to be there. They took us around the school with pride. We felt truly elated to see their happiness,

The alumni could give back something to our alma matter where we learnt to write the very first letter.

THE HOT PLANET

When we read the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) history (also called, Harappan), what comes out clearly is that for about 1500 years in BCE, it prospered as a model urban centre and then it disintegrated.

The reason for the degeneration of IVC is not recorded as a major war that it had with any incoming army but climate change. Once a fertile land near Indus River, supplemented by the mythical Saraswati river (Gaggar-Hakra , a river emanating from Shivalik region of Himalayas) that had gone fully dry, the rise in temperature of Indus Valley region made it unliveable a place and the people moved away into other parts of the subcontinent.

I think, we are in for something similar to happen in the coming decade and thereafter, the pace of degeneration of the place we live will be much faster. Many regions of our country could be part of history in another 50-100 years.

I am no soothsayer but going by the scientific reports presented by World Metrological Orgn.(WMO), the prediction is that the annual mean global temperature is expected to rise by 1.5 to 2 degree celsius between 2023 & 2027 as compared to between 2918-2022.

What are going to be the after effects of this for us Indians ?

1. The oceans will go on fire and the resultant El-Nino effect will create a hot and dry global south (India inclusive) and a wet and cold global north

2. Monsoon will bring less than normal rainfall to India

3. Indian agriculture that is greatly dependant on the Monsoon, will suffer hugely on the cultivation output.

4. Heavy usage of temperature reducing mechanisms (air conditioners, chillers, freezers etc.) will emit much more carbon and that in turn will make the weather more hotter.

5. Indian coastline will be tested and it would become unsafe for those who live & work there

6. The ocean fisheries output will be reduced

7. The change in ocean temperature and the resultant speed & strength of ocean current will lead to huge cyclone / tsunami falls across the subcontinent

(Just read about the devastation caused by the recent cyclone Mocha in Myanmar & Bangladesh to understand the impact)

8. The overall resultant effect on Indian economy could be disastrous.

This is an area where governments of the countries should combine to resist anything that is worsening the global weather any further. Other than ‘lip service’, there isn’t anything happening in this front, though huge conferences are happening all over the planet.

Knowingly, we are inviting the monsters to come in, to destroy humanity.

EUSTACHIUS BENEDICTUS DE LANNOY

E.B. De Lannoy was the commander of the Dutch East India company Navy that fought King Marthanda Varma in 1741 at Colechel beach, now in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, earlier part of the Travancore Kingdom.

The Dutch Governor Imhoff, not happy with King for not protecting the Dutch interests, wanted to defeat him and the job landed on Commander De Lannoy. In spite of having superior fire power, his forces went down to the King’s army of native men (called ‘Nair Pattalam’) who were ably assisted by the local fishermen whose guerrilla tactics against Dutch navy on the sea was instrumental in the defeat.

De Lannoy and his deputy were caught & imprisoned in Udayagiri Fort of the King. Slowly De Lannoy could move into the good books of Marthanda Varma who asked him to train and modernise his Nair Pattalam. Having done a great work, the King‘s confidence in De Lannoy increased tremendously so did the loyalty of De Lannoy to the King, to the extent that De Lannoy went on to become The King’s army chief with a title of ‘Valiya Capithan’

In the later expeditions of the King across Kerala, which resulted in Travancore expanding into a huge state almost upto Trissur and also in fighting the army of Tipu Sultan; the valour and war intellect of De Lannoy was evident. The Nedumkotta (rampart) that he asked the army to build from Pallipuram (Vypin) upto Western Ghat, of more than 40 KMs in length was the product of De Lannoy’s military genius, that became Tipu’s Waterloo in Kerala.

It was a very strange case of an adopted foreigner completely becoming loyal to the King. The King’s attitude and behaviour to him also added to consolidate the relationship. De Lannoy served both Marthanda Varma and his successor, Rama Varma valiantly. He settled in Udayagiri (very close to the Padmanabhapuram palace of the Kings) and passed away there itself. Out of sheer respect, the King built the church and the burial place for De Lannoy at Udayagiri fort (see photos below). Time had dilapidated the edifices, of course.

Let us also know two additional curious inputs about De Lannoy.

1. De Lannoy was able to instil the faith of Jesus in Neelakantan, a court officer of the palace and converted him to a Christian. Neelakantan became Devasahayam and a martyr later and is now adorned as a Saint by Pope Francis.

2. E B De Lannoy was part of the Delano family (De Lannoy family) and is an ancestor of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Read the English translation of what is written on his tomb in Udayagiri.

“Stand Traveller! Here lies the Eustachius Benedictus De Lannoy, who was commander of the general Travancore army and for nearly 37 years with greatest faithfulness served the King, who by strength and fear of his armies, subjugated all kingdoms from kayankulam to Cochin. He lived 62 years and died first day of June 1777. May he rest in peace!”

Later, his wife and son were also interred on both sides of him.

VASCO DE GAMA - THE MAN WHO STARTED EUROPEAN COLONIALISM IN INDIA

For eons, Europeans have been getting the supply of black pepper, cinnamon & spices from India via Arab traders. They were looking for a sea route to India so that they could directly do profitable business with it, avoiding the middlemen. In those times, the GDP of india exceeded 30% of the global figure. No wonder the European were desperate to reach it.

Many of the European nations, mostly Spain, Portuguese, France, Dutch and British were making attempts to reach India by sea and we had known the attempt of Columbus of Spain! It was at the same time that Vasco da Gama of Portugal sailed to the tip of Africa and went round of Cape of Good Hope to take up north easterly sea route to the coast of Malabar on May 1498 CE.

Opening up of direct sea route with India improved Portugal’s economy tremendously. Gama took 3 voyage courses to India, beginning in 1497, 1502 and 1524. On his last voyage, he fell ill and died in Cochin. Landing of Gama in Kappad, Kozhikode at the end of 15th century CE was the beginning of European colonialism in India. The violence and hostage-taking methods employed by Gama and his successors on India's indigenous kingdoms were truly brutal, that set the pattern for European colonialism in india.

From the Portuguese the control of the sea route and trade power shifted to the Dutch by 17th century and later permanently to the British with some feeble attempts by the French too, in between.

Considering his contribution to the country’s economy, by 1524, Vasco da Gama was anointed as Viceroy of Portugal to India by the Portugal Monarch. After he passed away in December 1524, he was interred inside the St. Francis Church at Fort Kochi which is the very first European church in India, consecrated in 1503 CE. From his tomb here the remains were taken and buried at the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, later

The photos below show the Church which though started as a Catholic Church, is now occupied by the Church of South India which follows the Protestant Christian system. Prayers happen in the church even today. The Portuguese occupied the church between 1503 & 1663 CE. The Dutch took It over from them in 1664 and used it for their prayers upto 1804 CE. From the Dutch the British took control of it and after India’s independence, it was handed over to the Church of South India.

Fort Kochi is declared by the government as as heritage locale and many of the old infrastructure is maintained in its original form. It attracts tourists from across the world. While the European tourists visit all those edifices with utter reverence due to its global historical importance, many of locals do not give it a damn.

The fact is, history sleeps in the church. In this very first European church of India, the man who converted India into a European colony for close to 400+ years; lived, prayed and rested. His tomb stone  is still here.

ETHICS IN A TECHNOCENTRIC WORLD

Ethics deals with moral principles of of right & wrong. Ethics is more concerned with what we ought to do than what we do. Ethical philosophy is exhaustive, encompassing tens of thousands of years of human thought.

As described, ethics is the innate knowledge of right & wrong, as accepted by societies. Morality is living by the principles of right & wrong. It expects sacrificing individual interest for the benefit of the society.

Law translates morality into explicit social guidelines and practices, it stipulates punishments for offenses. It is the job of the authorities

The exponential growth of technology, be it Information & Communication Technology (ICT) or Biotechnology; has created in ethical conundrum in societies, nations and the planet. These technologies & its algorithms are self-regulatory by nature. Corporates and/or individuals, being both the creator and the regulator, it is giving nightmares to societies and governments. The challenge is that algorithms think differently than human beings. Things such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, genomics etc. have not been fully understood by authorities to prepare regulations upon that. Yuval Noah Harari, the famous thought leader and author says that writing code (algorithm) is equal to writing human societies. And, these algorithm makers have no training or knowledge on ethics that stayed in the realms of philosophers whose understanding of technologies are indeed poor.

As in the case of physicians and lawyers, who have to undergo some learning in ethics as part of their studies, no computer technologist, no engineer, no programmer ever undergoes any training in ethics. These professionals who move technology at God’s speed, are neither aware nor sensitised on the application of technology on human beings. The effects of the good and bad part of technology do not bother them much as they code new disruptive technologies with adrenalin pumping excitement and applies it randomly and at times, arbitrarily. The same applies mostly on management professionals too, whose main intent are to proliferate such technologies among masses, in order to monetise it at huge profits.

Most of high-technologies invades into the human privacy. Huge databases of users, that include their specific profiles, created and owned by Social Media platforms, are indeed a threat to the people as these platforms are much more aware of the person’s movement, behaviour, relationship and living habits better than the person himself. And today, technologically, it is also possible to continuously monitor all the people, all the time. Thus human privacy is totally lost, not only that, he had become manoeuvrable by the technology platforms. An example is the experimentation of the tech consulting company, Cambridge Analytica, on the electorate in specific parts of the country during the US election that was won by Donald Trump.

So if a person’s movement and behaviour is monitored and he is mentally made amenable, what would be the effect if a bio hacking happens on him where his body insides also undergo surveillance? It is where computer science combines with biological sciences to totally map out a person’s inside, outside, movement and behaviour. Imagine, what privacy is left of him, then? The beginning of such a biometric surveillance happened during Covid, in offices, airports, rail stations and meeting places, and all of you had undergone this surveillance, be it your temperature mapping or measuring the your breath for microbes and virus, all without you really knowing…….

Just look at this scenario. You are listening to a speech of an activist on your mobile device and he speaks with full anger against the authorities and you are listening to him. As he gets angry, you too are getting angry. And a software that is hacked into your device without your knowledge sends your present state of mind to the security agencies of the authoritarian government that rules your nation. What will happen of you thereafter? Heard of a surveillance software called Pegasus?

So, with the “big brother”, be it your establishment or authorities or government, who is monitoring your inside and outside on 24/7 basis, is there any privacy left out for you to protect? Isn’t it an existential question for you?  And, what if your information is sold for commercial purposes or used against you to implicate and incarcerate you?

Thus we come back to companies that code such disruptive algorithms. In a capital economy based system, such companies, come what may, would be tempted to monetise the innovation as have been the case ever since technology exploded into our lives. However we see some changes happening in the ecosystem with NGOs & some leading entrepreneurs combinedly have asked for a pause of such technologies, allowing governments and ecosystem players (industry bodies) to come out with laws and appropriate ethical code of conduct to regulate them. For example, we hear that Microsoft, one of the world’s leading tech giants, is implementing 6 ethical codes of conduct for its employees viz. 1. Protection of privacy, 2. Transparency, 3. Inclusivity, 4. Fairness - avoiding all sorts of biases. 5. Safety and Security & 6. Accountability of actions.  Microsoft leadership promises that every engineer/technologist in their system will undergo training on these codes of conduct and infringing the same will have severe punishment.

It is also important to increase the citizen / civil society activism on these matters where they involve with corporates and organisations who are making & using such technologies, in order to sensitise them and prevent dastardly acts using them. From a philosophical level, the ethics and governance should flow down to practical technology level.  Authorities and governments also must work on such ethical issues on a priority basis so that laws, conventions, practices, code of conduct etc. could be made and put in place benefitting nations and trade blocks. On such matters, the involvement of European Union on tech companies indulging in pushing products that harm / affect human beings, imposing huge penalties and blacklisting etc.,is appreciable, even if it is only addressing the tip of the iceberg.

A more enlightened approach is required of governments, corporates & citizenry to curb such ethical issues. Collective wisdom, avoiding parochial nationalism, continuous learning & powerful laws are the key to make the world a better place to live.