Warrier's Collage on Sunday May 14, 2023

Welcome To Warrier's Collage On Sunday May 14, 2023 Friends Today is Mothers' Day. Happy Mothers'Day. If mothers are happy families are happy. If families are happy, society is happy 🙏 Happy Birthday to all readers having Birthday during the week ending on Saturday May 20, 2023. Ayurarogyasaukhyam and Best Wishes 🙏 to all. Nice Day M G Warrier A Messages and Responses 1 E X Joseph See F1 My dear Warrier, You are always in my thoughts. We both have been reading your Collage We also know that you had to stop it. You both must be in TVM and Reshmy must be in Mumbai. Thank you very much for remembering and sharing in Whatsapp I am thrilled to see the living words. Thank you again. Perfect on Mother's day. ..though everyday is a Mother's day, 💐 please convey our wishes to Mrs. Warrier & Reshmy. You are an embodiment of spirituality. All the words I wrote for you are deep in my heart forever. Love and best wishes to all of you. 1 M G Warrier New friends P K Nambiar and Vora Nambiar (90 plus) and Vora (80 plus) are my new friends in our colony. Both came to Dreams Complex recently. Nambiar Sir was with Indian Railways and retired during 1990's. When Nambiars left our house one evening last week, Sudha said, "feeling like having spent an evening with some elderly members of our own family" 2 C V Subbaraman See B Mother! It is an incomparable character. In the entire creation of the world, there is no creation as noble, as worthy of adoration, and as sacred as a Mother. There is no great or smal man without a Mother. Even the God (cf. Vaamana or a Parasuraama or Rama or Krishna) had all mothers! In this context the superb song in Tamil, "Enna Thavam Seythanai, Yasodaa...." comes to the mind. (Should it not have been Devaki too?). It is such a meaningful song. This shows the important and unparalleled place every mother occupies in the world. Only mother is associated with Motherland. Lord Rama said, "जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी " Mother and motherland are more valuable than even heaven. What an exalted place, indeed! Father, wife, daughters, sons all may give one their love, affection, attention, care, whatnot. But the love of mother does not have any parallel. There are some mother animals which die immediately after giving birth to their young ones. Can there be a greater sacrifice? Subbaraman 3 S Nallasivan Hearty Congratulations, best wishes and our blessing in abundance to Govind (Jr ) Kiran. Now Govind is not only a Major, has gained the pride Status of a Voter. Congratulations to Dr(Ms) S Keerthy for her feat of getting a Doctorate from the prestigious and World renowned Institution, SCTIMST, Trivandrum. Whether she is Doctor in Medicine or Technology, she has made her parents proud. We share your grief on the passing away of your niece and childhood friend Balamani and pray for the departed soul rest in peace. S Nallasivan 4 TNC Rangarajan Shared a link : Back in Mathematics Class : https://youtu.be/r0_mi8ngNnM 5 V R Chittanandam Shri B S Raghavan, 96 years old former IAS Officer, who held various high positions in Union and State Governments and United Nations had a minor setback in his health recently. All his friends and admirers wished him well. He is now ok and sent a message thanking all. This contains quotes from two English writers. It is admirable that even at this advanced age he is able to quote offhand what he read in his school/college days. I forward his mail to you to appreciate the quotes. Chittanandam B S Raghavan's message : I thank from my heart all my friends who have made kind enquiries about my health. Being 96, setbacks are inevitable. In my case, it was a drop in SPO2 oxygen level ....it has been restored by being connected to Oxygen concentrator. I have a day and night time attendant besides my son-in-law, Prof Gopinath who is here from the USA. Hospital people have loaded me with tablets which have their own side effects. Plus the heat wave. There are plenty of good and kind-hearted people and doctors whose help is invaluable. With all this I remember Thomas Gray's lines : "The boasts of heraldry, the pomp of power and all that beauty, all that wealth ever gave await alike the inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave." Another By James Shirley : The glories of our blood and state Are shadows, not substantial things; There is no armour against Fate; Death lays his icy hand on kings : Sceptre and Crown Must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade....... Kabirdas : Those who came MUST go....whether they be princes, paupers or fakirs. B S Raghavan Prayers 🙏 for your health and happiness, Sir -Warrier B Collage Cover Story : Mothers' Day* Mothers' Day : Vathsala Jayaraman Another year has passed. May 14th is Mothers' Day. I am a mother, mother-in-law and grandmother, aged 81 receiving lots of greetings, bouquets and cards on every Mothers' Day in May. Many cards contain selected quotes from Abraham Lincoln "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother” or that of Kipling : "God could not be everywhere and therefore created mothers". Of course, very nice to hear. True, the incomparable joy on seeing her little darling, the baby's kicks with its tender legs, the joy of holding the soft little fingers, its great touch on cheeks, the giggling secret that is intelligible only to mother, the sleeping beauty on her cosy lap, and even the cries convey some interesting information. Continued at H *Mothers' Day 2023 is on May 14, 2023 : https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/mothers-day-2023-date-history-significance-and-importance-8575610/ https://currentaffairs.adda247.com/mothers-day-2023/ C Media Responses 1 Mainstream media priorities May 10, 2023 Mainstream media's priorities This refers to the report "Cochin International Airport raises Rs478 crore through rights issue" (The Hindu Business Line, May 10). Out of the additional capital raised Rs178.09 crore was contributed by Kerala Government, the largest shareholder in CIAL raising the state government shareholding to 33.38 percent. The fund now raised will augment the resources for timely completion of 5 major projects including the expansion of international terminal T-3. Highlighted the above here as the mainstream media in Kerala has no appetite for development news. News of this category do not get included even in the daily "Hundred News" dished out by major news channels. One is tempted to wish the mainstream media reviews its priorities and change the composition of content to include development and positive ingredients in its daily menu. M G Warrier Mumbai 2 Government as a borrower May 11, 2023 Government as a borrower* This refers to the article "WMA : Fixing a tool that has gone haywire" (The Hindu Business Line, May 11). There may not be any difference of views on the need for the central bank to fulfill its role as banker to the government. The problem of transparency in the terms of lending arises when the borrower decides or perhaps, dictates the terms. Long back, S S Tarapore had famously asked : "Ever heard of the borrower deciding the terms of lending?" A fast reading of the article gives an impression that gradually GOI is taking the central bank for granted and consultations are becoming a formality. Such a situation doesn't auger well in a situation where fiscal policies are more and more getting influenced by political expediency. M G Warrier Mumbai *Published on May 12, 2023 D Collage Essay : M G Warrier Case for a globally acceptable domestic rating agency in India M G Warrier The article "Rating agencies unfair to India" by Madan Sabnavis should be an eye opener for all stakeholders. The consistent negative attitude to India on the part of western influenced global rating agencies has been brought out in the article convincingly. One recalls an old incident : The rating agency Moody’s raised India’s outlook to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ without altering the country’s investment grade, which remained at the last rung at Baa3. The rating agency said that, “India has grown faster than similarly rated peers over the last decade due to favourable demographics, economic diversity, as well as high savings and investment rates. Moody’s expects these structural advantages, supported by relatively benign global commodity prices and liquidity conditions, will keep India’s growth higher than that of its peers over the rating horizon”. This gave comfort to India’s Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian who said ‘the upgrade validated the direction of Centre’s (Indian government’s) reform programme’ and expressed hope for a bump up in India’s rating. According to him, it confirmed something that India had been saying for some time now that the growth prospects and the macro-economic prospects for the economy were improving. India is a victim of foreign domination even today when it comes to assessment of the country’s self-esteem. Our credit-worthiness, poverty level, comparative position in several other human development indicators and ability to protect against environmental hazards are all decided by outside agencies, which have no independent means to judge us other than data fed by our own agencies within the country. A change in approach in Delhi through various initiatives including the effort to promote slogans like ‘Make in India’, acceptance of the need for infusing professionalism in governance and better financial sector management have started yielding results. Successive governors at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have expressed their concern about reliable current data to base their policy decisions. These are areas where perceptible improvements can be made without ‘huge’ financial investment. Now that National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has relatively less responsibilities, it could be entrusted with the task of making existing organisations responsible for compilation of statistics and rating the country in relation to other countries with reference to different parameters factoring in purchase power parity and aggregate resources availability and institutions like banks using internationally acceptable standards. If existing organisations are irreparably incompetent, new ones should replace them fast. Global rating agencies have a habit of running with the hare and chasing with the hound! In this context, I am tempted to recall the following stanza from Gita: “Uddharedaatmanaatmanam Naatmanamavasaadayet Aatmaiva hyatmano Bandhuraatmaiva Ripuraatmanah” (One should lift oneself by one’s own efforts and should not degrade oneself; for one’s own self is one’s friend, and one’s own self is one’s enemy.) Aid and poverty alleviation Misleading comparisons are not a unique feature of releases from rating agencies. Data usually is doctored, edited, or misquoted while presenting poverty figures or while preparing documents to make presentations on social responsibility initiatives. India (a country with a population of over 140 crore of which 20 to 25% still remain below the poverty line, depending on the poverty line you opt), NITI Aayog had, sometime back, taken a stand not to estimate its own poverty line. Still, poverty elimination (as has been achieved only in Singapore with a population of 56 lakhs on this part of the globe) there is a need to have a nationally accepted method to arrive at poverty line- even if the line for different geographical regions within India may vary- and that method should be one acceptable to NITI Aayog and GOI. This is because several government s chemes for poverty alleviation (now poverty elimination) relate the eligibility criteria to poverty line. International comparisons, fear of loss of image, if the number of those below poverty line goes up during a particular period, total disconnect of poverty line or comparable indicator for different countries with purchasing power parity and several other constraints make poverty estimation highly subjective and sometimes prejudiced in India. Economists and consultants help policy makers in such situations by creating confusion with figures. There cannot be a better method than the one based on spending capacity and purchasing power of the rupee. Presently, in India, the poverty line lies at Rs 1286 per month for urban areas and Rs1059.42 for rural areas. For the purpose of extending benefits under central schemes, and perhaps for helping in planning and taxation policy formulation, NITI Ayog may consider entrusting some professional agency the task of estimating and publishing information about Indians living below poverty line and proportion of the population with (a) capacity to spend double the expenditure ceiling for poverty line (b) capacity to spend four times the ceiling (c) capacity to spend eight times the ceiling and (d) others. Such estimation will help policy makers to revisit some of the concepts on which poverty alleviation and financial inclusion efforts and taxation and pricing policies can be revisited. Role of NITI Ayog Now that NITI Aayog has relatively less responsibilities, this body could be entrusted with the task of making existing organisations responsible for compilation of statistics and rating the country in relation to other countries with reference to different parameters factoring in purchase power parity and aggregate resources availability and institutions like banks using internationally acceptable standards. If existing organisations are irreparably incompetent, new ones should replace them fast. All the above strengthen the case for having a reliable database and establishing a globally acceptable domestic rating agency in India. ****. ****. **** (M G Warrier is a former central banker and author of the 2020 book "Restoring Trust in Governance") E Collage Malayalam Page Link shared by E Madhavan Thrissur https://youtu.be/dSvb9CVzN18 വൈലോപ്പിളളി സ്മാരക സമിതിയുടെ ആഭിമുഖ്യത്തിൽ സാഹിത്യ അക്കാദമിയിൽ നടന്ന വൈലോപ്പിള്ളിജയന്തി ആഘോഷത്തിൽ "വൈലോപ്പിള്ളി : വ്യക്തിയും കവിയും" എന്ന വിഷയം ആധാരമാക്കി ബാലചന്ദ്രൻ ചുള്ളിക്കാട് സംസാരിക്കുന്നു https://youtu.be/dSvb9CVzN18 A talk on Poet Vyloppilli by Balachandran Chullikkad. I've been following Balachandran Chullikkad off and on since 1970's when he published his first collection of 18 poems (പതിനെട്ട് കവിതകൾ). The book was priced Rs1.50 (Rupee one and fifty paise). F Collage Books 1 Book on my table : "Songs of Love" By E X Joseph While gifting his book "Songs of Love" E X Joseph wrote these affectionate words* in the opening page in 1999. We were in touch till last year when he used to respond to Collage from the US. After some gap, owing to the break in bringing out Collage, the message received from Joseph today was a pleasant surprise (See A1) *Joseph wrote : "To My dearest Govinda Warrier whose friendship, love and affection have always inspired me and who is an embodiment of spirituality and the quest for enlightenment and Mrs Sudha Warrier, the perfect wife and mother and Kiran n Smita and Reshmy the talented young generation With profound love n regards & Best Wishes E X Joseph " 2 Books by M G Warrier Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/stores/M-G-Warrier/author/B079ZC3JKX?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true Restoring Trust in Governance : India's 2020's Challenge https://amzn.eu/d/29jYbh7 G Nostalgia My ancestral home got demolished circa 1964. Few years ago I wrote about the childhood experiences during the mango season : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/warriersviews/mango-season-9044/ Those trees were in the ancestral house compound till 1950's. H Cover Story continued... Continued from B This enjoyment which initially grows in an increasing speed starts diminishing as the child grows and fades into oblivion. The same mother who was a little short of being worshipped, starts looking like a villain when she tries to bring in discipline, one word that is hated by all kids. Traditional mothering of 1950's is gone forever. Earlier days, mothers and grandmas had a more relaxed attitude and many scholars and Nobel Laureates are the prestigious products of their innocent upbringing. But today, high education and enviable employment have elevated her from a state of dependence to self reliance. With one/two child norm having come to stay, the lioness in women has sprung into action. Modern mothers take too much initiatives from nutrition to exercise, academics to extra curriculars of their children. They do extensive research on all and sundry topics, thanks to the silent guide, the internet and sign up for as many classes as possible. Parenting is no longer a pleasure, but a challenging task. Modern mothers set very high expectations on their children. They demand nothing short of perfection, an obsession of the highest order. Nothing below A+ in every subject, excellence in music, dance, karate and Yoga for a 7 year old kid who only longs to sleep on mother's lap! Mothers suffer much agony when the child misses a single mark. She is in tears when the child is dropped out in a TV show. When are the mothers going to learn that each child is different and best in his/her own way ? Don't the professional mothers know that disappointment and failure are parts of life and victory is a slow and steady process? Employed mothers who have a great deal of expectation in their career face a high level of stress and pass it on to children. With good intention but bad interaction, they do more harm to children, the real assets of the nation while trying to fit them up in the mould of their own. This perhaps is one of the main reasons for suicides among students in high ranking institutions! Motherhood setting up a death trap! What a pity! Eagle has become their guru. The mother eagle which protects the young in a cosy nest, fills the nest with thorns and make it uncomfortable for the baby to stay. The mother keeps her baby on her wing, flies for some distance and simply tosses it off in the air. The baby tumbles, mother catches the young. After some rest, the process gets repeated hundreds of times until the the baby is fit enough to fly. Perhaps mothers want to justify the pressures they mount on kids. It is strange that educated mothers don't realize that this type of ruthless training can never work in human beings. In Indian context, only the mother of a son is entitled for the title ‘Mother-in–Law’ The present day mothers-in-law, monarchs once, have been reduced to the status of 108-Ambulance ready to pack and go whenever their services are required by daughters/daughters-in-law unmindful of age related problems. On one hand, there is a mother-in-law, a personification of terror and torture. On the other hand, is the most versatile mother-in-law who suffers in silence, being the mere spectator of events under the shield of strict privacy. Mothers' Day is just a theme for celebration. Let us not get elated by the exaggerated encomia showered on us. Let us unfold self criticism, not perfunctory, but an earnest self assessment resulting in rectification and emergence of ideal motherhood. When mothers put an end to fixing unrealistic targets on kids; when they realize the difference being supportive and domineering; when parenting is no longer a competition to win; when people realize that female foeticides and infanticides are no way different from annihilation of motherhood; when mother-in-law/daughter-in-law conflicts vanish totally : Then and only then the mother's day would assume real significance. "A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary”-Dorothy C Fisher . Vathsala Jayaraman,