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.