Warrier's COLLAGE July 15, 2021

Welcome to Warrier's COLLAGE On Thursday July 15, 2021 Spy Hummingbird https://youtu.be/Hq3X60H7aBo (Link Courtesy : T J Kurup Thiruvanantapuram) Good Morning Nice Day M G Warrier A Select Responses 1) S Nallasivan Hyderabad "The Long & Short of Collage" If We are to relate Collage, first we easily recall, the once the most popular mail Vitalinfo of Mangesh Tarambale. But the same scrupulously confined to matters relating to RBI, Banking in general, at the best Economy and Finance. Some may relate it to the other popular monthly publication, the Reader's Digest that carried posts on every subject under the Sun and contributions generally borrowed from around the world. It has even brief synopsis of Books and unfailingly, humour, under different fields. But to ease your mind they have not yet come with inks to the internet goading members to strain to seek out posts of interest. Let me stop here as Warrier desires to put an end to the guessing game of what constitutes Warrier's COLLAGE. The day's (July 14, 2021) edition that hit your mail box when you had your morning Coffee and crave to lay your hands on the warm, just out of the press, sweet smelling with print ink, News Paper at 6.30 sharp, possibly earlier but never late. The contents certainly comprise that interest Warrier personally, heard, recalled from the past read recently and also suggested to, by his immediate family. But he has one weakness to borrow posts from both the Retirees Groups and there again from friends short listed and suitable for publication in the Collage. Hence those who have become addicted to his Collage be beware not to take liberties with him and never ever venture to recommend or suggest on the size and contents of the Collage. It is a good thing that Vihaan has reminded that it is time for Celebrations as the Collage is close to completing one year that has a reach even beyond the shores and to the pride of the man behind it, have rave reviews and all good things to say. I don't think that a Special Edition is warranted as the daily edition looks an annual issue thanks to its rich contents, colourful presentation and if I may say so, unwieldy size. Generally Special annual issues carry the opinions views of the Readers. Here again Warrier posts such mails then and there not waiting for a Special Annual Issue. While going through the Collage some have or placed in a situation like the diabetic man of Shri A P Ramadurai who craved to taste and eat plates of every single Sweet they had in stock. I am afraid our Collage admirers should not end like the man in the story demanding only half a spoon of sugar for his carrying a sense that he had eaten too much. Did not Francis Bacon famously say that some books are tasted, others swallowed and only a few to be chewed and digested. Now back to Young Vihaan's suggestion on Celebrations of the birthday of the Collage, Warrier can reach out to those who crave to make it to the Collage but preempted by only Star contributions S Nallasivan (Thanks Nallasivan. "Long enough to cover essential content and short enough to keep curiosity live." Now, there's no need for "Anniversary Issue". Regards-Warrier) 2) V N Kelkar July 13 Collage UGLINESS After reading the responses by Shri Subbaraman Sir and Madam Jayaraman, I was reminded of the famous fairy tale of 'The Ugly Duckling' by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Anderson (1805-1875). In reviewing Hans Christian Anderson, British journalist Anne Chisholm writes "Anderson himself was a tall ugly boy with a big nose and big feet and when he grew up with beautiful singing voice and a passion for the theatre he was cruelly teased and mocked by other children ". The ugly duckling is the child of a swan whose egg accidentally rolled into a duck's nest. Speculation suggests that Anderson was the illegitimate son of Prince Christian Frederik (later king Christian VIII of Denmark) and when found this out sometime before he wrote the book and then that being a swan in the story was a metaphor not just for inner beauty and talent but also for secret royal lineage. VNKelkar 3) V Babusenan Thiruvananthapuram Principia Mathematica I was pleasantly surprised to see a write-up on 'Principia Mathematica' the outcome of a joint effort by Bertrand Russell and his Cambridge Guru A N Whitehead to prove that mathematics is actually an offshoot of logic. They succeeded in their Herculean venture. The book also helped to raise the status of logic, especially in America. The book was a combination of mathematics and philosophy. The mathematical part was dealt with by the Guru and the philosophical part by the Sishya (they, in fact, had a friendly relationship) As Whitehead was busy with the teaching job, the entire drafting was done by Russell-6000 pages of final draft! When the draft was ready, the question arose : Who will publish it? Luckily the Cambridge University Press agreed to undertake the gigantic task on condition that the authors pay 200 pounds each to compensate the estimated loss of 600 pounds. The press agreed to bear the remainder of the loss. According to Russell the only author who had a similar fate earlier was Milton for publishing 'Paradise Lost.' Another formidable problem was the non-availability of compositors to typeset the intricate symbols correctly. (the book was full of these) The entire proof-reading was done by Russell himself. Raving reviews appeared when the first volume came out. Russell remarked in his characteristic manner that only a handful of persons* fully read and understood 'Principia' of whom three, being Jews, were slaughtered by Hitler! (*This view is endorsed by Stephen Wolfram : "I do not know if Russell and Whitehead intended Principia Mathematica to be readable by humans—but in the end Russell estimated, years later, that only perhaps 6 people had ever read the whole thing. To modern eyes, the use of Peano’s dot notation instead of parentheses is particularly difficult. And then there is the matter of definitions." -Warrier) B Current Affairs : Banking Sector Overview https://www.ibef.org/industry/banking-india.aspx The Indian banking system consists of 12 public sector banks, 22 private sector banks, 46 foreign banks, 56 regional rural banks, 1485 urban cooperative banks and 96,000 rural cooperative banks in addition to cooperative credit institutions As of November 2020, the total number of ATMs in India increased to 209,282. Asset of public sector banks stood at Rs. 107.83 lakh crore (US$ 1.52 trillion) in FY20. During FY16-FY20, bank credit grew at a CAGR of 3.57%. As of FY20, total credit extended surged to US$ 1,698.97 billion. During FY16-FY20, deposits grew at a CAGR of 13.93% and reached US$ 1.93 trillion by FY20. According to the RBI, bank credit and deposits stood at Rs. 108.6 trillion (US$ 1.48 trillion) and Rs. 151.34 trillion (US$ 2.06 trillion), respectively, as of April 23, 2021. Credit to non-food industries stood at Rs. 108.02 trillion (US$ 1.47 trillion), as of April 23, 2021. Non-food industries grew at 5.7% in January 2021 as against an increase of 8.5% in January 2020 C Nostalgia Illustrated Weekly of India https://theprint.in/features/brandma/phantom-comics-to-political-exposes-how-illustrated-weekly-became-a-must-read/224448/ The magazine had a somewhat soft character and a lot of literary and religious stuff used to get featured, but from the ‘70s, its character changed. It became racy and topical; the focus was primarily on in-house writing and it stood out for picking up controversial issues besides, of course, issues relating to human interest,” Coomy Capoor observed in 2019. D a) Books by Khushwant Singh https://m.timesofindia.com/life-style/books/photo-stories/khushwant-singhs-10-most-talked-about-books/photostory/32358783.cms Internationally renowned author and journalist Khushwant Singh passed away on March 20, 2014, at the age of 99. A Padma Vibhushan recipient, Khushwant Singh authored several books and collection of short stories. We take a look at some of his memorable books from among his extensive body of literary works. b) Book Review : The Good, The Bad and The Ridiculous By Khushwant Singh https://www.freepressjournal.in/book-reviews/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ridiculous Whatever one might think of Khushwant Singh as a person or a writer, one thought about him cannot be ignored. His writing is catchy – catchy, provo¬cative and informative as well as revealing. He has written several books of repute and part reminiscence. This, the latest retains his reputation as an entertainer. Because of his social standing in Delhi and Punjab he has had access to notables of all sorts. This book conveys his impressions based on personal contacts with thirty six of them from various walks of life and they include, to mention a few, Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Lord Mountbatten, V.K. Krishna Menon, M.S. Golwalkar, Mother Teresa, V.S. Naipaul, L.K. Advani, Mulk Raj Anand and George Fernandes, but not in order of their national or international importance but strictly in alphabetical order, no doubt to avoid a controvert. So the list begins Sardar Jafri and ends with Zakarias and Ziaur Rahman. Khushwant Singh is not accustomed to be a flatterer. Anything but. He says he has never been a very thoughtful person and has never been discreet either. He claims honestly to be a“voyeur and a gossip". He has no fear of people being nasty to him and claims that nothing that he has written“is a lie". Fair enough. E Readers' Contribution 1) Vathsala Jayaraman Handling Failure The experience of Ocean Vuong as a writer (Excerpts* in Collage on July 14) takes us a long way. It makes us contemplate. Failure is everybody's beginning as a writer. It can be brutal, humiliating, and demoralizing. From the giddy heights of your initial creative rush, the long hours wrestling to keep your labor of love alive, to landing smack on your face on releasing it into a world that, frankly, doesn't give a damn. However, if you study successful writers, like Ocean Vuong, you will discover that one of their most defining characteristics is that they have all failed, sometimes multiple times: failed to get their works published. Those writers who succeed understand that to stop feeling like a failure and dare again, we need to re-examine our idea of what failure as a writer actually is and what it means to us. So stop taking failure as a personal attack on you and your writing goals. Instead, embrace failure as a friend, as an honest, if brutal, editor. Failure shows you where you need to improve your characterization or plot or strike out on a different approach. Or may be abandon an idea altogether and start afresh. Take every setback as valuable, constructive, and well-meaning feedback. Describing yourself by derogatory, disdainful, or disparaging terms will sabotage your every creative effort. Realize that failure is an event, not a person. Every failure brings the opportunity for you to decide that the act of failing won't define who you are. Not getting it right the first, fifth, or fiftieth time is not a case of weakness. Pianists play scales over and over for years, artists experiment with brush lines over thousands of canvases, and writers write…and re-write…and…you get the picture. Failure only has one cast-iron ally — the act of giving up. Finding excuses to cut and run is always easier than sticking with whatever the road to success throws your way. The most successful writers are those who refuse to quit, no matter how many times they've failed in the past. We would all love success to drop into our laps, but wait. Read a lot. Write a lot. Your road will be clear. Vathsala Jayaraman (*From the article by Ocean Vuong captioned "The Ten Books I Needed to Write My Novel.") 2) Kalidasa* WHO ARE YOU? During one of his travels, Kalidasa felt very thirsty and looked around for water. He saw a woman drawing water from a well. He went up to her and asked her for water. She agreed to give him water, but asked him,“Who are you? Introduce yourself.” Now Kalidasa thought that an ordinary village woman was not worthy of knowing who Kalidasa was. So he said, “I am a traveller.” But his lady replied, “In this world there are only 2 travellers– the Sun and the Moon. Both Rise and Set every day and keep travelling perpetually.” Then Kalidasa said, “Alright then, I am a guest.” The lady promptly replied, “In this world there are only 2 guests – Youth and Wealth… both are temporary and hence can only be called as guests.” Intrigued Kalidasa said, “I am a Tolerant person (sahansheel vyakti).” Now the lady replied, “In this world only 2 truly know the meaning of Tolerance – Bhoomi (Earth) and Tree. How much ever you stamp the earth or throw stones at the tree (for the fruits), both continue to nurture us.” Now Kalidasa was completely perplexed. He said, “Fine. I am a stubborn person (hatavaadi)." The lady smiled and said, “There are only *2 truly stubborn personalities – our nails and our hair. We keep cutting them non-stop, but they continue to grow.” Kalidasa had been patient so far, but now in anger he said, “I am a fool". Now the lady gave a wide smile and said, “There are only 2 kinds of fools in this world – a King who rules without having any capability or knowledge & a Minister who is a sycophant to such a King and lavishes praises on such a useless king.” Kalidasa realised that he had been outsmarted . He fell at the feet of the lady and when he touched her feet and then got up, whom did he see? Mata Saraswati – the Goddess of Learning and Wisdom. She said, “Kalidasa, you are wise. But only if you know yourself do you become a Manushya(human being). A person without any awareness of self has not reached the pinnacle of being a Human. Note: The Guru who recounted this story in His Pravachan said, “Children should become a Manushya & know themselves. More than teaching them how to earn more money and become rich, parents should teach them to become aware of themselves and become better Human beings. 3) Bonus* : This is so so good ... I had never known these profound distinctions between Intelligence and Wisdom Worth reading on ... 1. Intelligence leads to arguments. Wisdom leads to settlements. 2. Intelligence is power of will. Wisdom is power OVER will. 3. Intelligence is heat, it burns. Wisdom is warmth, it comforts. 4. Intelligence is pursuit of knowledge, it tires the seeker. Wisdom is pursuit of truth, it inspires the seeker. 5. Intelligence is holding on. Wisdom is letting go. 6. Intelligence leads you. Wisdom guides you. 7. An intelligent man thinks he knows everything. A wise man knows that there is always something more to learn. 8. An intelligent man always tries to prove his point. A wise man knows there really is no point. 9. An intelligent man freely gives unsolicited advice. A wise man keeps his counsel until all options are considered. 10. An intelligent man understands what is being said. A wise man understands what is left unsaid. 11. An intelligent man speaks when he has to say something. A wise man speaks when he has something to say. 12. An intelligent man sees everything as relative. A wise man sees everything as related. 13. An intelligent man tries to control the mass flow. A wise man navigates the mass flow. 14. An intelligent man preaches. A wise man reaches. Intelligence is good but wisdom always achieves better results. *Received from Dr T V Surendran Mananthavady 4) More about R Janakiraman : C V Subbaraman Shri Janakiraman was fairminded, soft and considerate. He had an encouraging word for those who felt either diffident or in difficulty. I was officer in charge of Bhubaneswar Office, which was in those days classified as "difficult centre". Within six months of my taking over charge of that office, we had reduced the overtime bill of the office by about 40 per cent; this was possible by plugging the bottlenecks at some points and re-arranging the flow of workpapers in some departments like DAD and PAD. This was also rendered possible because having worked in DAD and PAD as a clerk, I knew the possible areas of bottleneck/delays. This was an achievement and we reported the matter to the Department of Financial Planning and Budgetary Control, Central Office. Instead of receiving a letter of commendation or appreciation, we received a letter from Central Office stating inter alia "this only shows that there is scope for further reduction in Overtime"! Instead of getting disappointed, I got furious. I found that Shri Janakiraman, DG., was in charge of that concerned Central Office department. I telephoned to him and informed him that we had reduced the overtime bill by 40 per cent within six months of my taking over the charge of the Office. He expressed great appreciation of this. "I am grateful to you for this recognition", I said. He said, "The facts are there to recognize" he added. Then I told him the contents of the letter from the Central Office Department and expressed my disappointment/anger at this. He told me that having brought this to his notice, I should allow the matter to rest. But I told him that I would like to put in writing my reaction. He knew my nature and told me: "Subbaraman, OK you write to me and make it mild!" In another case, in the same office, I had put a stop to the practice going on in the office, of some local daadaas/netaas holding late evening parties in the lawns of the Office building and leaving the remnants uncleared. The reaction of the concerned leaders was of course on the expected lines, "protest"! They also issued a circular accusing the Officer in charge of behaving like Ayatollah Khomeini. Next day a report within a box was published in the local edition of a prominent National Newspaper commending the step taken by the Manager of the RBI and adding that it was too much for the local leaders to accuse the Manager as Ayatollah and that if the editor were in the position of the Manager he would have acted in exactly same manner! I read out the report to Shri Janakiraman over phone. He had a hearty laugh and said, "this is a feather in your cap". He also advised me to forward the report to him officially! I doubt whether any other DG would have done so. Subbaraman C V F Leisure Light Reading* Note the words below. Initially, you will have difficulty reading them. However, gradually your brain will interpret the words correctly. Please give a chance for these words to speak to your brain. Here we go! 7H15 M3554G3 53RV35 7O PR0V3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5! 1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5! 1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG 17 WA5 H4RD BU7 N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3 Y0UR M1ND 1S R34D1NG 17 4U70M471C4LLY W17H0U7 3V3N 7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17, B3 PROUD! 0NLY C3R741N P30PL3 C4N R3AD 7H15! PL3453 F0RW4RD 1F U C4N R34D 7H15 This is a very good example of a Brain Study: If you can read this, your mind is still young and has no Parkinson Congrats! From Dr Justin Jones in Melbourne: This is a REAL Neurological screening Test *Received from Babu, Sastamangalam G Quotes on Nostalgia https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/nostalgia-quotes "Looking back is a way to sharpen the focus on the things you want to change in your life. I think there's something about nostalgia that really puts a fine point on the here-and-now, and that can be incredibly fascinating and interesting and engaging for the mind. --Sarah Paulson (Sarah Catharine Paulson is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 2017, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in the artists category)