Warrier's Collage on Sunday February 25, 2024

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Sunday, February 25, 2024 Good Morning As I mentioned recently, Collage is not following any format. I'm sharing a small portion of what I am reading/listening. Happy Birthday to all having Birthday during the current week. Ayurarogyasaukhyam and Best Wishes for all. Nice Day M G Warrier A Obituary* F S Nariman https://mainstreamweekly.net/article14349.html The passing away of Fali S. Nariman is an irreparable loss to legal fraternity, nay liberal voices all over the world. He has been a voice of conscience for Indian Judiciary. He was liberal lion and lived by the principle, and never compromised with it. *Mainstream Weekly. Tribute By Vijaya Kumar, Senior Advocate Supreme Court of India & author of of the book 'The Theory of Basic Structure : Saviour of The Constitution and Democracy’ 🙏 Vishnu Sahasranamam https://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/vishnu-sahasranama-stotra Bhisma Uvaca: Jagat-Prabhum Deva-Devam-Anantam Purushottamam Stuvan-Nama-Sahasrena Purushah Satatotthitah Bhisma says: The Lord of the World, the God of Gods, the Infinite, the Supreme Person, By praising Him constantly by means of His thousand names, a person is always uplifted. **** He is the End of Sorrow Anadi-Nidhanam Vishnum Sarva-Loka-Maheshvaram Loka-Dhyaksham Stuvan-Nityam Sarva-Duhkhatigo Bhavet Having neither beginning nor end, Vishnu, the great Lord of all the worlds, the witness of the world. By constantly praising Him, one can pass beyond all sorrows. B Reserve Bank of India Governor's Speech Fundamental Shifts in the Global Economy : New Complexities, Challenges and Policy Options (Keynote Address by Shri Shaktikanta Das, Governor, Reserve Bank of India - February 15, 2024 - Delivered at the 59th SEACEN Governors' Conference in Mumbai) https://rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_SpeechesView.aspx?Id=1419 Excerpts : "The global economy stands at crossroads. Challenges remain in plenty, but new opportunities are also knocking at the door. Together, the course we take from here will decide our destiny in times to come. We need policies that are attuned to the new realities of the global economy. In an uncertain world, central banks need to be proactive to better serve the objectives of price and financial stability. In this environment, collaboration is not an option but a necessity. We need greater resolve and coordination to make significant progress in dealing with global challenges. SEACEN, as a platform for central banks of the region, serves as a valuable forum for sharing insights and fostering cooperation in several areas for enhanced progress and prosperity. The cooperation among countries should give due consideration to the principles of comparative advantage and resource endowments so that each one of us benefits. Let us take our deliberations to the next level to achieve well-being of our people and our economies." Source : RBI C Travel Collage Travelogue By Shori Arora I am 80 and my wife is 76. Recently in November 2023 we went to Kanyakumari from Jaipur in a self driven car and returned to Jaipur covering more than 7000 kms. We visited as many as 31 places enroute our onward drive and return drive. We availed HHs and VOFs facilities at Ujjain, Indore, Shirdi, Igatpuri, Belapur, Pune, Ganapatipule, Goa, Medikerri, Kochi, Kanyakumari, Rameshwaram, Puducherry, Hyderabad and Bhopal. This was our second long drive. The first one was eight years ago when we travelled in self driven car for more than 8500 Kms. During our return journey I suffered from detachment of eye retina and got my eye examined at Bhopal. Urgent surgery was advised. As it involved complete rest for a fortnight after surgery, the doctor knowing that Bhopal is not a comfortable place for us, he advised that it can wait two three days. I rushed to Jaipur driving with detached retina eye. Got operated on 14th. January 24 and the last procedure of the first phase was done on 14th February. The progress in encouraging. Second surgery will be done in June 2024. S L Arora R C Gupta responded : Dear Shri Arora ji, Wonderful. Congratulations on your great achievement. Covering 7000 km in a self driven car and visiting 31 places enroute at this age is not an easy task. We are proud of you. Please send it to Without Reserve also. I wish you speedy recovery. Please take care of your health. Regards R.C.Gupta Excerpts from an article shared by TNC Rangarajan : “Lifetime track” is a term zoologists use to describe the entire sum of an animal’s movements from birth to death. Research shows that people move around 6 times on average over a span of 20 years. One writer found that his great-grandfather's entire life took place “in a square of only 40 kilometers." His grandfather’s lifetime track was about 400 square kilometers; his father’s was about 4000 square kilometers, and his own extended all over the world for a 40,000-kilometer square.“ Thus, in four generations, the range of linear travel has increased by a factor of 1000. When people move, their families may come with them, but they leave their friends behind." Journey continues... D Media Response February 24, 2024 Retirement challenge This refers to the article "The great Indian retirement challenge" (The Hindu Business Line, February 24). True, the beneficiaries of institutionalised pension systems in India form a miniscule percentage of the workforce. Even the conventional pension scheme for government employees in existence till the end of 2003 has been dismantled and the replacements are unreliable and inadequate. The responsibility therefore shifts to the wage-earner. As individuals or as part of the organisation, every worker should know that the wage he earns includes a retirement benefits component. Just as he budgets monthly income for expenses, investment and savings, he should plan and save for his retired life. Government on their part should institutionalise pension funds in public and private sector, providing appropriate incentives. M G Warrier Mumbai Bonus : Malayalam Page A poem by N K Desam : https://fb.watch/qmuHEY8rP3/?mibextid=CDWPTG Singer is Jayaraj Warrier's daughter Indulekha E Journalism : "The Hindu" Tradition* Founded in 1878, the Hindu had been consistently anti- Imperialistic in a Gandhian way. It was founded to protest the outcry against appointment of Muthuswamy Iyer as the Judge. So it started as a crusader against inequality / injustice. That was before 1947. After Independence, it continued with its crusader spirit, not pro establishment and rarely anti establishment too, in a matured and civilized manner. That is Hindu ethos. When Indira clamped Emergency, it didn't rise up to the occasion. Which lapse on its part was duly corrected when Bofors issue came up.. During 2001-06, 2011-16 it was critical of the authoritarian/anti democratic ways of Jayalalitha's govt and had to pass through critical times including the arrest of its Editor N Ram. Ideological right wing sarcastically used to refer to the paper as anti Hindu. And ridiculed it pseudo secular. The paper passed through uncharitable remarks under the stewardship of Ram as it took a left turn. Of course, it never failed to maintain its editorial standards. The paper at present is 140 years old. No wonder it underwent ups and downs. For a family owned/ controlled institution it's inevitable and natural. The paper passed through pulls and counter pulls, by its family members due to their different viewpoints political ,economic , social or otherwise. It's true that the paper suffers its popularity because of its pro left editorial view points as the same is anathema to the traditional readership with its conservative mindset. For them the paper has been straying beyond the boundaries of family ethos. The Newspaper business as such depends upon not only the support base of the traditional customers alone. Mostly it thrives on the revenue generated by government advertisements and corporate clout. Added to that is the present rise of the tech giant, the internet. The revenue relevance threatened by governments but also by the corporate houses. The family members with rightist / centrist bent of mind are opposed to Ram's dynamic editorial / organisational views which paved way for investigative / assertive journalism. Ram introduced modern approaches in editorial management. He favours 'editorship outside the family' which is not relished by the influential other side. Since the appointment of Siddharth Varadarajan as editor, Ram faced the opposition within the Hindu family. The other side won, Malini Parthasarathy was appointed editor. However, Hindu remains the same Hindu once it was, always had been, with its intrinsic qualities intact. Right or left, the paper is always straight and polite. R Parthasarathy *A September 2022 article shared in our Group recently. F Books By M G Warrier https://notionpress.com/author/m_g_warrier M G Warrier is a retired central banker who worked as a general manager in the Reserve Bank of India office in Mumbai. Post-retirement, he has been regularly writing articles for The Global ANALYST, a monthly business and finance magazine. In 2014, he published his first book, Banking, Reforms & Corruption: Development Issues in 21st Century India*. Before joining RBI, Warrier worked in the Employees Provident Fund Organization in Kerala. *This book is now available as "Chasing Inclusive Growth" in eBook format G Collage Cover Story By Vathsala Jayaraman Sunday Musings "Aesop considers snail as a very clever thing. In one of his fables, he tells us how clever a snail is. This is the tale in it's essence. A Snail pointed out to a Rose that the only thing that destroyed her beauty were the thorns. The Rose got rid of the thorns. The Snail then had a hearty meal of roses!" Read on to know more : I am sitting in the balcony after a brisk but short morning walk. My doctor has advised me to walk till a few drops of sweat appear on my forehead. I look for those elusive drops of sweat on my forehead but cannot find them. I tell myself that it is still cold outside and sweats avoid cold weather. I switch on my audio system and select my favourite Bengali flutist Madhusudan. An ardent Bengali fan of his makes the following comment on the piece of music I am hearing : “Beautiful! My morning starts with this as I sit in my balcony with my morning cup of tea, the smell of incense sticks. It reminds me our house near the Ganges in Calcutta. My mother after taking her shower, used to water the tulsi plant in our aangan, light diya and agarbatti. The towel still tied in het hair. The smell of the clay oven in the morning and our cook is busy making tea and loochi torkari for breakfast. I used to sit with my grandma by the side of the river and watch the boat slowly sail by. All these memories rush into my mind as I sit in my balcony in Vancouver and listen to raag bhairavi..as I quietly sip my tea away.” I am totally in tune with this lovely response to a piece of enchanting music. I don't claim any in depth knowledge of any form of music but I have a great ear for anything that has an element of music in it. I recall Robert Browning's immortal lines from Pippa Passes: “The year's at the spring And day's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hill-side's dew-pearled; The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn: God's in his heaven— All's right with the world” Who will not notice and admire all these unless he has no eye for beauty? Have you ever had time to notice a snail on the thorn? In our rush through the pursuit of meaningless life, we have lost the ability to appreciate the kaleidoscopic images of the world around us. Coming to the snail, we all may think how foolish it is to live on the thorns. But Aesop considers snail as a very clever thing. In one of his fables, he tells us how clever a snail is. This is the tale in it’s essence. A Snail pointed out to a Rose that the only thing that destroyed her beauty were the thorns. The Rose got rid of the thorns. The Snail then had a hearty meal of roses! Coming to the Bengali man,I had to look up what is loochi torkari! It is Poori! It brought great memories of my son as a young boy ordering an entire Thali in Restaurants and eat only pooris and vegetables and nothing else! Once a waiter refused to charge for the Thali he ordered because he finished only Poori and vegetables and nothing else. You know that some Restaurants take a lot of pride in serving so many dishes. I was wondering why the Snails like to live in the thorn! Perhaps, they are more philosophical than the human beings understanding that the life that faces challenges are the ones that ripe the right fruit. Remaining in the thorn of Roses helps the snail not only to have a wonderful smell but also get a sumptuous meal eventually. Vathsala Jayaraman