Warrier's Collage March 9, 2022
Welcome To
Warrier's COLLAGE
On Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Thirike
https://youtu.be/H-kXOk_ZtT4
(Trailer of a Malayalam Movie)
Good Morning
M G Warrier
M
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Messages
1) Interaction
March 8, 2022
Jayakumar RBI : Good morning
I thought next issue of Collage would be on 10th March
MG Warrier : I said "next regular issue" or something like that. Anyway, only you have noticed.
Jayakumar : Because I was planning to write something on "being in the company", but not being connected recently, exchanged between Badri and Gauria about inactive members!
Warrier : 🙏
2) Uzhuthra Warrier Kharghar
Vazhakkula by Changampuzha depicted the plight of the Pulaya community, agicultural labourers who were destined to do hard labour in the field and live in hutments amongst the paddy fields under chill penury. They laboured throughout but the fruits of their labour were expropriated by the landlords leaving hardly anything for the rainy days. Negroes were slaves. But they were engaged as domestic servants. But not Pulayas. Even Mahatma Gandhi objected to their obligatory employment as domestic servants of members of the uppercaste Hindus.
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Current Affairs
1) World War 4 : Chilled Reality
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/time-and-progress-dna/the-russian-snowballing-effect-world-war-4-o-41663/
Some comment or brush aside that Russia is just a 1.7 trillion economy and Ukraine about 195 billion economy and both combine not exceeding four percent of the world economy and possibly have less effect on the world. On the contrary integrated Earth in the phase of industry 4.O (same holds good for societal change) gets into a big snowballing effect as we just witness it. We can theoretically see that earth enters world war 4.O skipping the traditional world war 3!
(True. We brushed aside World War 3 fought in Vietnam, Iraq and several other countries during the decades that followed World War 2, which orphaned more children than all the previous wars together did. We thought we were insulated from the vagaries of war.🙏-Warrier)
2) Media Response
March 8, 2022
Facing The Future-Indian Pension System
This refers to your editorial "Future imperfect" (March 8). It's impossible to deny any of the facts averred here, but there are unsaid glaring truths which are more bitter, if one is to view the present status of the Indian Pension System dispassionately.
The book on my table is "Facing The Future : Indian Pension Systems" published in 2007 by McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi.
The content of the book was the outcome of a joint effort between Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and ING. The book claimed to analyse the results of extensive market surveys, drawing from the experience of industry experts and study the different pension systems around the world. I quote from the introduction of the book :
"The book encourages thinking on the pension issues which will lead to viable solution to India's problems"
The need of the hour ia a thorough overhaul of the Indian Pension System. The ultimate solution may not be going back to the pre-2004 government pension system or going ahead with the hurriedly introduced NPS, but something in between.
Instead of leaving decisions to political manipulations, government need to start thinking professionally on such issues which have long term social and economic implications. Easiest option would be to start from the findings of the above 2007 study.
M G Warrier
Thiruvananthapuram
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Nostalgia : Indian Railways
The following are Excerpts from S Nallasivan's mail received in Ex-RBI Group :
The good old Indian Railways has been changing its face what with the semi fast Speed, Vanthe
Express Rail with 200 Km speed getting increased from just 2 to 75 and the prestigious Bullet
Train with a Speed of 300 Kms per hour is on the anvil, the Railways too for the first time took
heart to change their operations with a Toilet Facility as early as 1909 by a simple but anguish
expressed one Rail passenger.
The Railway Museum still have this letter prominently displayed.
Indian Railways History – Interesting Story about Okhil Chandra Sen letter
Indian Railways has a very interesting story on how the toilets came into existence in 1909. If not for this man, not sure when would it have seen light of the day.
The introduction of toilets in Indian trains is an interesting tale for Indian railway history. The story is so amusing that Mr. English Grammar went on leave for a few moments.
Imagine if your “belly is too much swelling”, will you bother about “shockings”. ��
Indian railway history
Indian railway history is more than 170 years old – the first passenger train in India became operational in 1853. For more than 50 years of operations of the Indian Railways, there were no toilets in trains.
On July 2, 1909, Okhil Chandra Sen, an Indian railway passenger, wrote a letter to Sahibganj Divisional office West Bengal in 1909 requesting to set up toilets in Indian Railways.
Okhil Chandra sen letter to railway authorities was written in anguish, which only Okhil babu could have felt.
Though the letter certainly lacked basic English grammar it became an important document in the history of Indian railways. This letter has been hand-painted and it is currently on display in the Rail Museum in New Delhi.
Dear Sir,
I am arrive by passenger train at Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance the guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lota (water pot) in one hand and dhoti (clothes) in the next. When I am fall over and expose all my shockings to man and woman on platform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station.
This too much bad, if passengers go to make dung, the damn guard not wait train five minutes for him? I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake otherwise I am making big report to papers.
Yours faithfull servant
Okhil Chandra Sen
After this letter from an aggrieved Okhil Chandra Sen, the railway authorities had no other option but to introduce toilets in all lower-class carriages in trains running more than 50 miles at that time.
Somebody famous has said – Words are not important when you recognize intentions. During the time, India was still under British rule, hence most likely an Englishmen would have read it, and he would have definitely recognized Okhil babu intention.
Next time, if you don’t find a toilet somewhere, you can try this letter. ��
D
Spirituality/Faith
charan singh (@CharanSingh60) Tweeted:
Unity in Diversity - 184
उपजै गिआनु दुरमति छीजै
अम्रित रसि गगनंतरि भीजै
एसु कला जो जाणै भेउ
भेटै तासु परम गुरदेउ
Spiritual wisdom in, evil out
Ambrosial Nectar drenching mind
One who understands this
Meets Almighty: Supreme Guru
Beni, Rag Ramkali, 974, SGGS https://twitter.com/CharanSingh60/status/1500949251727433732?s=20&t=uEBUX2H_t0VDlDL0dSEj_Q
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International Women's Day : Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai
You can do almost anything you put your mind to ...
You can swim the deepest ocean and climb the highest peak ...
Be a doctor or fly a plane
You can face adversity and still walk tall.
You are strong, beautiful, compassionate and much more than words could ever say!
Today is yours, and so is ever other day...
Happy Women's Day!
The willingness to learn
the patience to understand,
the strength to support,
the heart to care & just to be there....
that is the beauty of a lady!
Happy Women's Day!
These are some of the encomia showered on women in this part of the year.
Indeed the next International Women's Day has come. Does it indicate women's unity, power, courage, strength, focus, joy or progress?
One wishes it means at least some of the above...
There is indeed an awakening- women walking through life boldly, shoulder-to -shoulder with man- corporate high-fliers, pilots, sportswomen, the police, army personnel, self-employed businesswomen, engineers, doctors, lawyers, judges, pedagogues, mountaineers, pastors...
But how much of the world population of women is in those happy places? How many are forbidden from normal lives, how many barred from entering temples, clubs, how many thrown out of homes for giving birth to female babies, how many cut and tortured, their female foetuses removed and killed, how many raped, paraded on roads , and killed, how many not allowed schooling and education, how many thrashed (in India) for not bringing enough dowries, how many (in certain countries) treated as nothing more than mere sex objects ?
Does the International Women's Day do anything for them?
These are the thoughts that dash against our minds.
March 8th! Yet another day -once again a rush of journalists, critics, theorists, channeliers, society'cleaners', omnipresent politicians heap word upon word, image upon image of women, the 'great' creation of God, her patience, courage, tolerance bla bla,not to talk of whatsapp messages, FB, Twitter etc etc.
Yet as women scream in pain while bringing another daughter to life, she awaits justice at the doors of men and law of the land, only to be kicked, pinched, poked and ashamed again and again-cases are in the increase. What do these International Women's Days do to these women? Has she to be satisfied with grand words and phrases spoken on March 8th? How do the dissertations, encomia and stereotyped schemes promised and forgotten help her even when she is forced to kill female foetus,
beaten, harassed and killed for not bringing sufficient dowry?
Of course slowly awareness is springing up. Educated boys have started respecting girls. Today's mothers have started laying emphasis on their sons to bestow kindness and respect on girls. But the deep rooted patriarchal feelings do not leave so easily. Compared to the goal to be reached we are far far below the mark.
Until every woman is given joy to be a woman, mate, lover, wife or friend or professional; until all women are allowed to mother girls without any hesitation of fear or insults; until every woman is given her own time, space, freedom, until every girl is made to realise the real meaning of shared pleasure and pain; until she herself feels that she is a pillar of strength; until she is made aware of her own decisions, mind and might; until she is given the right to be tender, soft or hard; above all until every woman is freed from her own patriarchal set up which she has also nurtured and nourished equally along with men--are these gala celebrations of International Women's Day meaningful?
Vathsala Jayaraman
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Women's Day Special
Mathrupanchakam by Shankaracharya*
Let us think of mothers on this International Women's Day.
Given below is the lyrics and meaning of Matru Panchakam. by Adi Shankara, his tribute to 'mother'
Our eyes get moist on reading this Maatru Panchakam ,by a Sanyasi.
aasthaam tavaddeyam prasoothi samaye durvara soola vyadha,
nairuchyam thanu soshanam malamayee sayya cha samvatsaree,
ekasyapi na garbha bara bharana klesasya yasya kshmo dhathum,
nishkruthi munnathopi thanaya tasya janyai nama.
Oh mother mine,
With clenched teeth bore thou the excruciating pain,
When I was born to you,
Shared thou the bed made dirty by me for an year,
And thine body became thin and painful,
During those nine months that you bore me,
For all these in return,
Oh mother dearest,
I can never compensate,
Even by my becoming great.
gurukulamupasruthya swapnakaale thu drushtwa,
yathi samuchitha vesham praarudho maam twamuchai
gurukulamadha sarva prarudathe samaksham
sapadhi charanayosthe mathurasthu pranaama.
Clad in a dress of a sanyasin,
You saw me in my teacher’s school,
In your dream and wept,
And rushed thither,
Smothered, embraced and fondled me, Oh mother mine,
And all the teachers and students wept with you dear,
What could I do,
Except falling at your feet,
And offering my salutations.
ambethi thathethi shivethi tasmin,
prasoothikale yadavocha uchai,
krishnethi govinda hare mukunde tyaho,
janye rachito ayamanjali.
Oh mother mine,
Crying thou shouted in pain,
During thine hard labour,
“Oh mother, Oh father,
Oh God Shiva,
Oh Lord Krishna,
Oh Lord of all, Govinda,
Oh Hari and Oh God Mukunda,”
But in return,
Oh my mother dearest.
I can give you but humble prostrations.
na dattam athasthe marana samaye thoyamapi vaa,
swadhaa vaa no dheyaa maranadivase sraadha vidhina
na japtho mathasthe marana samaye tharaka manu,
akale samprapthe mayi kuru dhayaam matharathulaam.
Neither did I give you water at thine time of death,
Neither did I offer oblations to thee to help thine journey of death,
And neither did I chant the name of Rama in thine ear,
Oh Mother supreme, pardon me for these lapses with compassion,
For I have arrived here late to attend to those.
mukthaa manisthvam, nayanam mamethi,
rajethi jeevethi chiram sthutha thwam,
ithyuktha vathya vaachi mathaa,
dadamyaham thandulamesh shulkam.
Long live,
Oh, pearl mine,
Oh jewel mine,
Oh my dearest eyes,
Oh mine prince dearest,
And oh my soul of soul,
Sang thou to me,
But in return of that all,
Oh my mother dearest.
I give you but dry rice in your mouth
When I was born, a WOMAN was there to hold me-MY MOTHER
As I grew up as child, a WOMAN was there to care and play with me -MY SISTER
I went to school, a WOMAN was there to help me learn-MY TEACHER
I needed compatibility, company and love, a WOMAN was there for me-MY WIFE
I became tough, a WOMAN was there to melt me-MY DAUGHTER
When I will die, a WOMAN will be there to absorb me in -MOTHERLAND
*Received from Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai
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Collage Essay : Tight Spot : Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai
The joy of living dangerously!
I believe firmly in the axiom that getting into a tight spot
or, if you prefer, a tight corner from time to time brings
out the best in us. Compare a man who has never got into a tight spot in his whole life with someone who is never
out of it. You will find the former invariably a docile, dull-witted person looking as though he has just had a ten-course lunch besides having missed his sleep for forty eight hours. The latter will have that perpetual lean and hungry look and will be as sharp as the edge of a razor and thoroughly proactive.
We have a friend by name Rajoo, whom I know for the past 60 years.
Even as a five year old boy, that was when I met him first, Rajoo had shown exceptional flair for getting into inescapable muddles. As years rolled by, the soups that he got himself into became deeper and deeper.
These days they are virtually bottomless pits but, he always comes out of them unscathed. If you ask him about it, he'll say,“If I wake up in the morning, I must have a problem to solve. If I ever run out of problems, I'd rather not wake up at all .”
Rajoo has some good reasons for allowing things to get out of hand every time. According to him, crisis managers are the most sought after in the world today. Red Adair, the world famous fire-fighter who specialises in fighting huge fires in oil wells, is his role model.
According to Rajoo, Red Adair would just be another Fire Fighter in the street corner waiting for a phone call to put out some
inconsequential cracker fire if the company had not encountered bigger avenues of fire-fighting. According to him, if a good Manager ensures that the work gets done without encountering any problem, he hardly gets noticed but if some problem reaches a critical stage,
the chap who manages it well at that point gets applauded!
Rajoo, therefore, never attends to anything until it reaches a crisis level.
The people that Rajoo hates most are those who book their train tickets 60 days in advance and arrive at the Station two hours before the ETA of the train!He says that the sense of achievement after securing a berth is unparalleled and he enjoys the envious look of the fellow RAC passengers!
If you are a follower of cricket, particularly of the Indian variety, you
would have observed that the batsmen who do not play by the copy book are a treat to watch. For example, if the top order batsmen
who have a sound technique make a heavy weather of opposition
bowling and fall like the proverbial nine pins, the‘living dangerously’
tail enders, who care a damn for the technique, come on to the field and make a mincemeat of the dreaded opposition bowling.
It is their way of responding to the muddle created by their top order batsmen. They lift the game to such ethereal levels that
you really end up thanking the top order batsmen for having
put the tail-enders in a jam.
This probably describes 2 sects of personalities. One
where caution is of the essence and another where caution and and wisdom are thrown to the wind.
Here experience will be the decider. If someone were to live life as Rajoo, he might be alone and not have the responsibilities of a house holder. Rajoo was able to accomplish his aim
of not being bored by living on the edge but is that the way?
Crisis management is an art by itself and one has to enjoy, the state on pins and needles all the time - far from easy.
But many of us are pushed into problems at inappropriate times without longing for the same., sometimes due to the inefficiency or indecisiveness of
others. But our sense of responsibility does
not allow us to shirk and pass on the buck.
This may make us being pushed from all corners and forced to take decisions which normally the
seniors are to do..
Adversity is our best friend at times. My cousin once lived in Scandinavia - an absolute heaven in terms of social welfare.
But it made him such a log of wood.
He realised that when
people have everything guaranteed from cradle to the grave-
they lose out on the edge, the urge to live.
There are no tight spots, there are
even no traffic jams.
A simple issue like a water pipe bursting
in winter will have the locals hyperventilating.
Whereas, we would just jaunt outside, fill some snow in a trough and get our water. They say that an Indian
encounters more excitement in one day, than a Swede does in a lifetime.
Apparently, the great trading communities of India the Gujjus and the Marwaris have a simple rule when they
find a groom for their daughters. They don't necessarily look for a guy who has succeeded in business, though
that will do. If a guy has invested in business,
lost everything and then bounced back into the trade-
they prefer him to one who has never failed.
Failures, tightspots, pitfalls- they make us what we are.
Above all, they make us human.
Everybody loves to be under busy schedule. If a person keeps himself busy and gets indulged in various activities planned slot by slot he is free from worries.
A life with out commitment and binding is a food
with out taste. But Rajoo falls under the other extreme.
Imagine a life always under risks. Is it acceptable?
Crisis takes it shape only if it has a value. Crisis management is very important. We can only discover crisis but not invent it. We can plan a task which is crisis free which is also in turn can be named as crisis management. Why complicate a task
which can approached normally.
Don't book the ticket
before two months. Atleast book before ten days.
"Neither ride the vehicle too fast nor too slow".
My son worked a few years back in a Company that
had crisis after crisis for many years. Suddenly, things settled down and the CEO was happy. He thought the business as usual is easy to handle. He noticed that
normal business issues which the senior executives
managed easily through delegation,
became major issues.
The CEO organized an emergency meeting and addressed the Executives and his first statement was :
"You guys have become wonderful crisis managers
in the last few years because we were hit with most unexpected business circumstances. Now, you guys have become such a wonderful crisis managers, you are converting normal business situations into crisis, so that you can better manage it."
Vathsala Jayaraman
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