Warrier's COLLAGE July 16, 2021

Welcome to Warrier's COLLAGE On Friday July 16, 2021 Rugmini Swayamvaram Kathakali https://youtu.be/8TI-z_eu9d0 (A little dragging... But Kathakali is like this) One Plus One Equals One https://thedailyguardian.com/one-plus-one-equals-one-in-spirituality/amp/ Good Morning Nice Day M G Warrier A Select Responses 1) M G Warrier Mumbai Shri S Nallasivan's write up on Collage was insightful and inspiring. His power of observation, memory and wit and wisdom are unparalleled. Yes, this observation is based more on personal experience. He knows more about me and my near and dear ones, than me! And believe me, we (Nallasivan and me) are yet to meet. Group interactions brought us together. Last one year, Collage has helped many to remember their old colleagues and contacts. Personally, I benefited more. Let me disclose how. Yesterday I got a call from K N Ganapathy Sir's nephew Suryan from Coimbatore. KNG had told me about Suryan. True Caller identified the caller's name. When I responded "Yes Suryan, I was expecting your call..." the response from the other end was the beginning of another longstanding relationship. For Nallasivan's information, Suryan's son is a CA doing MBA in Hyderabad. As regards Nallasivan's observation, "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." let me clarify : I'm sharing Collage with both the groups, by email with some readers outside the groups and by WhatsApp with several Personal Contacts. The content is posted at my Blog and FB Page. There are several readèrs outside RBI Family. It's in this context some cross-sharing is happening. My own perception is that contributors whose write-ups or forwards I re-use are, by and large, happy... 2) V N Kelkar Mumbai E Readers' Contributions a) Handling Failure 'Read a lot and write a lot. Your road will be clear' Good. Madam has practiced it all along and therefore her contributions are well received. b) Kalidasa - Who are you ? Guru who recounted this story (the conversation between Kalidasa and माता सरस्वती) said children should become मनुष्य (माणूस) and know themselves. Apt advice in this materialistic world. Incidentally, the 'pravachankar' Guru seems to be from Maharashtra as few words in brackets (sahansheel vyakti - सहनशील व्यक्ति = tolerant), (हटवादी - stubborn) are Marathi words. c) More about Janakiraman: Thanks to Shri Subbaraman Sir for sharing his experiences as in charge of Bhuvaneswar Office and the appreciation received by him from DG (R) for handling difficult situations. d) Light reading. I passed the test. VNKelkar B RBI Governor explains rationale behind policy stances 1) Business Standard Interview (July 8, 2021) : https://m.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_SpeechesView.aspx?Id=1109 Excerpts : "Why have you accumulated so much reserves? Is it to address volatility, or are you building a sort of permanent reserve for other purposes as well? Internationally, capital flows involve a lot of volatility. Especially, in the current context when all the advanced economies have adopted ultra-accommodative monetary policies, there is naturally a lot of liquidity floating around. But capital flows are also very volatile. The emerging market economies, in this kind of a scenario, have to build their own buffers, their own safety nets. A strong foreign exchange reserve is the best safety net against global spillovers. Also, it renders a considerable amount of stability to the exchange rate. It also eliminates doubts in the market about a country’s capacity to deal with a situation of outflows. Today, India is much better placed at $609 billion forex reserves. It covers about 15 months of projected imports for 2021-22. It covers more than our overall external debt. Are you taking private help for managing reserves? These are all options. There is no plan to outsource the forex reserve management functions of RBI. The reserve management will be done by RBI, and while doing so, we are always considering various options of how to improve our internal skills by harnessing external expertise. The reserve management works on three principles — safety, liquidity and return — in that order. RBI is not chasing any return as such, it is our last priority. So, utilisation of external expertise would augment our own capabilities. Can the reserve be used for other purposes as well? The reserves are not our own money. It is not that we have built it up by way of trade surplus. If we have reserves, we also have liabilities against them. Capital flows are a strong contributor to our reserves. We have to be watchful. Our current level of reserves gives us confidence, but we cannot be complacent." 2) Direct Financing Government https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/banking-finance/creating-new-money-has-downsides-rbi-governor-shaktikanta-das/2290409/lite/ Experts* have said RBI may want to print money in order to monetise the fiscal deficit instead, since given the huge revenue shortfalls, even a far-larger-than-usual borrowing programme of the government isn't producing any meaningful fiscal stimulus. Das said: “This (creating new money to finance deficit) was done away with as part of the economic reforms … and it was further repudiated when the FRBM Act was enacted.” (*"Some of these experts when they were in responsible positions were partly responsible for the present non-pandemic problems before GOI/RBI. Luckily present Governor is aware of the role assigned to RBI by statutes."-- My personal view-Warrier) C Collage Profile : Martin Seligman https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/martin-seligman-psychology/ Excerpts : "The Pleasant Life is realised if we learn to savour and appreciate such basic pleasures as companionship, the natural environment and our bodily needs. We can remain pleasantly stuck at this stage or we can go on to experience the Good Life, which is achieved through discovering our unique virtues and strengths, and employing them creatively to enhance our lives. According to modern theories of self-esteem life is only genuinely satisfying if we discover value within ourselves. Yet one of the best ways of discovering this value is by nourishing our unique strengths in contributing to the happiness of our fellow humans. Consequently the final stage is the Meaningful Life, in which we find a deep sense of fulfilment by employing our unique strengths for a purpose greater than ourselves. The genius of Seligman's theory is that it reconciles two conflicting views of human happiness, the individualistic approach, which emphasises that we should take care of ourselves and nurture our own strengths, and the altruistic approach, which tends to downplay individuality and emphasizes sacrifice for the greater purpose." D Books 1) Frontline Book Review https://frontline.thehindu.com/books/book-review-journey-of-a-civilization-by-r-balakrishnan-seeks-to-establish-common-ground-between-indus-valley-and-old-tamil-traditions/article33765436.ece?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_campaign=FacebookFrontlineArticle&tpcc=FLFB Two monumental works, Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From (2018) by Tony Joseph and Journey of a Civilization: Indus to Vaigai (2019) by R. Balakrishnan, hit the stands within the span of a month. The former uses genetic studies to base its arguments on migrations and how they created the culture of the subcontinent. Balakrishnan’s book opens a treasure trove of surprises relating to the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) and Tamil literature. Journey of a Civilization seeks to establish common ground and connect the threads that link the riddles of Indology, namely authorship and language of the IVC and the origins of the Dravidian language speaking people in general and Old Tamil traditions in particular. Balakrishnan seeks to answer two major riddles in Indian history: where did the people of the IVC move during its decline?; what is the origin of Sangam literature and the people who wrote it? Sangam literature talks about strong copper-like forts, a rich and diverse landscape, and has carried forward memories of directional winds, the Himalaya, a bone-eating camel, a lion fighting an elephant, and so on. The author supplements this with numerous pieces of evidence such as place names, visual motifs, DNA analysis, prominent patterns of locations and structure of cities. The book is organised into 17 chapters under three major categories, namely, fundamentals of DNA, migrations, place name theories and Dravidian hypothesis. The second establishes the Dravidian proof through the pot route, literature connections and current geographical information, and the third one is through case studies. The author brilliantly uses information from the documentation of the Nagarathar and Kongu Vellalar communities. Sangam literature is more than just love and war poems. It is an encyclopaedia and a fountainhead of knowledge depicting both the material and the philosophical dimensions of Tamil culture. The Tamil language and the lexical encoding of words and their meaning seemingly offer extensive scope to understand the civilisational growth Sangam literature has attained. Balakrishnan juxtaposes these encodings with place names, the ideas expressed in Sangam literature with archaeological finds. The archaeological excavation at Keeladi on the banks of the Vaigai and the Adhichannallur excavation on the banks of the Tamiraparani are pregnant with stories that will unravel in the days to come. Balakrishnan excavates literature to find parallels between the cultures described in them and the IVC. E Blogs & Links 1) Bye & Goodbye https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/pen-with-tanmaya/bye-and-goodbye-34890/ "The goodbyes were a welcome to the chaotic lifestyle again. They put a pause to the endless inside jokes, peals of laughter, and happily sleepless nights, only to resume with people aged by an annum. They became the reassurances to feel alive from simply existing too long. Now that we all are better cooks, homemakers, and multitaskers, I feel that most of us share the common emotion- detoxing digitally. In the yearning to escape zoom call frames- from survival to fulfillment! “Some smiles yet to be smiled, Some tears still to be shed, Many selves yet to be discovered, Many suitcases waiting to be packed…” 2) Food 4 Thought* https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/warriersviews/lucky-with-food-and-blessings-30705/ The experience of enjoying the food served with affection by hosts cannot be explained by words. From small kids to nonagenarians, find it easy to express their love, affection and concern for you by sharing food. Perhaps, this thought is behind offering different varieties of food as “Naivedyam” for Gods and Goddesses and accepting a portion from the same offering as “Prasadam”. Food shared while travelling has a different kind of story to tell. Beyond taste. Once, while travelling by train in first class towards Chennai, in the four-seater enclosure, the great musician Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and I were the only passengers. When someone came to take orders for dinner, and I was about to place an order and pay, Swami (Semmangudi) intervened and prevented, saying: “I’ve brought nice “Dosas” for you. Don’t take outside food!” *This is a repeat for those who have read earlier. 3) Social Media & FOMO https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/mindfulnessblog/social-media-low-self-esteem-and-fomo-35218/ Posted online comments : ' a thoughtful piece on different dimensions of social media use/abuse. perhaps majority of social media users may not agree on the \"fear of missing out\" angle. but the proportion of facts and fiction in messages rolled out in the social media and the language used for the purpose reflect the low self-esteem of those manufacturing stories for sharing in the social media.' F SMILE* Day of the doctors 1) A patient goes to a specialist. The latter has a good look at the patient and asks-“Good God, what were you doing all this time?” Patient replies-I consulted G.P Dr XYZ The specialist has a grudge against Dr.XYZ and says- “That abysmal ignoramus! I don't know how he got a medical degree? What did that fool say?” “Asked me to see you” 2) From Dr Stephen Leacock (he had a doctorate in political science and political economy) one of the great humour writers). I had immense enjoying in my cruise. Ensconced in a comfortable couch in the deck promenade, reading a book. Suddenly a commotion a few feet away- a loud shout-“Young miss injured in thumb. Is there a doctor around?” I rose up to rush to the scene. No, I was not lucky. A Doctor of Divinity beat me to it. *Received from A P Ramadurai Cheñnai 3) Ninth October* When I reached office, I got a call from my wife..."what is the date today?" .. I was wondering..then told her 9th October. Call disconnected... I was wondering ( rather FRIGHTENED) Her birthday?... No Mine... No Anniversary... no Son's birthday ... no in laws' bday/anniversary.... no gas booking........ done utility payments........done her uncle who arrives when we want to go out, and kill us and our time.....his birthday... ...no Then?! Why date??? Lunch and evening tea went with spinning questions... reached home... Junior was playing in car park... Asked him.... how is the weather in kitchen? Tornado... tsunami??? Boy told " all normal. Why?" " your mom asked me..what is the date today in the morning?" Boy smiled and told me... "I tore some sheets from calendar in the morning... she was confused.." Being husband is a tough job. Dedicated to all husbands in the world!! *Forward received from R Jayakumar Mumbai 4) The Perfect Husband* The Perfect Husband Several men are in the locker room of a golf club. A cellular phone on a bench rings and a man engages the hands-free speaker function and begins to talk. Everyone else in the room stops to listen. MAN: "Hello" WOMAN: "Hi Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?" MAN: "Yes." WOMAN: "I'm at the shops now and found this beautiful leather coat. It's only $2,000. Is it OK if I buy it?" MAN: "Sure, go ahead if you like it that much." WOMAN: "I also stopped by the Lexus dealership and saw the new models. I saw one I really liked." MAN: "How much?" WOMAN: "$90,000." MAN: "OK, but for that price I want it with all the options." WOMAN: "Great! Oh, and one more thing. I was just talking to Janie and found out that the house I wanted last year is back on the market. They're asking $980,000 for it." MAN: "Well, then go ahead and make an offer of $900,000. They'll probably take it. If not, we can go the extra eighty-thousand if it's what you really want." WOMAN: "OK. I'll see you later! I love you so much!" MAN: "Bye! I love you, too." The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are staring at him in astonishment, mouths wide open. He turns and asks, "Anyone know whose cell phone this is?" *Received from V R Chittanandam Cheñnai G Quotes from Positive Psychology https://positivepsychology.com/positive-psychology-quotes/ Like : https://positivepsychology.com/wp-content/uploads/martin-seligman.jpg