Warrier's Collage on Friday April 19, 2024

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Friday, April 19, 2024 Rama Navami was celebrated on April 17, 2024 : https://youtu.be/ZHzwBCjQbq0?feature=shared Happy Rama Navami Good Mornig Happy Birthday to all readers having Birthday during this month. Ayurarogyasaukhyam and Best Wishes. Collage Calling https://m.economictimes.com/opinion/speaking-tree/work-or-calling/articleshow/109411101.cms Approach to work : A job, career or a calling? Nice Day M G Warrier Thrissur Pooram Today, April 19, 2024 https://www.youtube.com/live/0gk0R38BFVA?feature=shared A Thought of the week Economic Development and poverty of ideas Revisiting Angus Deaton https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2024/03/Symposium-Rethinking-Economics-Angus-Deaton A different view on economic development. Those students of economics who have 5 minutes to spare can glance through. The purpose of sharing the link is to bring home the point that while quoting celebrities, we often forget that in the context we quote them, they themselves may have a different view. B Books & Blogs : M G Warrier I Blogs 1) Since 2012 www.warriersblog.com 2) Since 2019 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/warriersviews/ II Books By M G Warrier Open Book of Happy Memories : ( and Other Stories ) https://amzn.in/d/dmW5Fsd C Current Affairs Gold Management 1) RBI's Gold holdings https://www.financialexpress.com/business/banking-finance-rbis-gold-purchase-highest-in-almost-two-years-3425809/ 2) Gold management needs a makeover : A 2012 article by M G Warrier Gold management needs a makeover - https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/gold-management-needs-a-makeover/article20449587.ece1, For the best experience read this on BusinessLine App. https://thbl.news/mobileapp D Media Response Letters April 18, 2024 Expanding horizons of CSR Apropos the article "CSR is carving out an impact" (The Hindu Business Line, April 18), it has to be conceded that the experiment has been a success in India and in the coming years the numbers will be more impressive, as the economy grows. One notes with gratitude that corporate groups like Tatas go much beyond statutory stipulations and assume the responsibility of ensuring protection of environment and participating in the overall economic development of the "command areas" of the industrial units they set up. Perhaps, creating awareness about the responsibility of investors and entrepreneurs in the overall wellbeing of their own employees and the population around their workplaces and factories may result in voluntary participation in and contribution to the development activities in the respective command areas. M G Warrier Mumbai Bonus Speaking Tree🌲🌳 Articles https://m.economictimes.com/opinion/speaking-tree/dealing-with-dke/articleshow/109226916.cms Speaking Tree published by Times Group is an interesting weekly magazine. Select Speaking Tree 🌲 articles are published in Economic Times and Times of India also. E Speeches https://m.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_SpeechesView.aspx?Id=1430 Evolution of financial markets in India : Charting the Future (Keynote Address by Shri Shaktikanta Das, Governor, Reserve Bank of India - April 8, 2024 - at the FIMMDA-PDAI Annual Conference, Barcelona) Excerpts : The Reserve Bank's efforts in recent years has been to develop the financial markets in a manner that can continue to meet the needs of a growing and globally connected economy while fostering trust, stability and innovation. Trust in financial markets has been sought to be promoted through market reforms which have focused on ensuring fair market conduct by preventing market abuse; fair customer conduct through robust market-marking regulations and ensuring price transparency; and enhanced disclosures by market participants. Stability in financial markets has been made possible by ensuring orderly functioning of the financial markets and financial market infrastructure. Innovation has been sought to be promoted through a move towards principle-based regulation, widening of the participant base, introduction of new products and platforms as well as enabling access to offshore markets. The achievement of desired outcomes will be contingent on financial institutions and market participants taking forward the reform agenda so that we have vibrant and internationally competitive financial markets. Market participants and their associations including FIMMDA and PDAI will have to play a critical role in this. As we look forward to the next decade coinciding with RBI@100, we have to work together and usher in the next generation reforms to place India at a position it rightly deserves. F Leisure India's Statue Man* 54-year-old Abdul Aziz has a very peculiar job. He has been working as a living statue for over thee decades, standing perfectly still for six hours a day and resisting people's attempts to make him move, smile or pretty much flinch a muscle, anything that proves he is a living person. Nobody has ever been able to do it. Aziz, fondly known as “India's Statue Man”, has been performing his daily routine ever since 1985, soon after getting a job as a security guard at the VGP Golden Beach Resort in Chennai, India. His boss had recently traveled to the UK, where he was so impressed by the statue-like members of the Royal Guard outside Buckingham Palace that he wanted to do something similar back home. So he had his security guards undergo three months of training, where they would sit perfectly still for around four hours. They weren't allowed to talk or smile, eat, drink, or even shoo away a fly if it sat on their faces. In the end, Abdul proved the best of the group, so he got the strange job. “Initially, I didn't like the idea, but I didn't have the courage to say no to my employer as I didn't want to be without a job,” the Statue Man told Friday Magazine. So he agreed to work as a living statue for six hours a day, resisting the resort visitors’ attempts to make him smile or move. And he's been doing it for 32 years now, with great success. Abdul Aziz isn't the only person in the world posing as a living statue, but what makes him special is the fact that he can do it for as long as six hours without even blinking an eyelid, despite people's constant attempts to make him reveal his humanity. They make faces in front of him, tell all kinds of jokes or try to scare him to get the smallest reaction, but so far no one has been able to do it. At one point, the VGP Golden Beach Resort became so confident in Abdul's ability to pose as a living statue that they put up a 10,000 rupee ($155) prize for anyone who can make him move a muscle. That made his job a lot more difficult, as to some Indians $155 is a monthly salary, but try as they might, no one has ever succeeded in getting the smallest reaction from the Statue Man. Some kids will sometimes try to poke and prod him to make him move, but, luckily, he has security guards nearby who come to his aid. “Standing like a statue for hours might look easy, but it is a very difficult and demanding job,” Abdul says. “When I started the job, I was full of vigour and energy. But, now over the years, I have come to know the stress involved, which is affecting my health. Standing still for hours has started to affect my blood circulation.” Even the famous Royal Guards at Buckingham Palace change shifts every two hours, but he spends six hour every day sitting perfectly still, so he has to compensate somehow. He tries to move about as much as he can in his spare time, and only eats healthy home-cooked food, to keep his body in shape. But he claims yoga has been the biggest help, both as a physical exercise and as a way of maintaining his focus when he goes into statue mode. In the 32 years since he became Statue Man, Abdul Aziz has become a celebrity of sorts, not only in India, but also in other Asian countries like Singapore or Malaysia. Many Bollywood celebrities have come to Chennai to witness his routine firsthand and try to finally make him move, but none have succeeded. So how does posing as a statue pay? Not very well, it turns out. Aziz earns about 10,000 rupees a month, which is enough to support his family, but definitely not enough to encourage his children to follow in his footsteps. It's just too stressful and taxing on the body. The 54-year-old is thinking of retiring soon, and he has already started training someone to take his place. Out of 5 candidates, only one has proven to have what it takes to succeed the world's best living statue, and he is now learning the nuances of the job. “Despite all the hardship and health problems, I love my job and I am thankful to people for the love and respect they have showered on me,” the Statue Man says. “When the time comes, I want to die playing a statue.” *Write-up shared by Vathsala Jayaraman G Visit to Kerala One more visit to Kerala is something I always look forward to whenever I return from Kerala. Post-Pandemic, luck is favouring me. Once or twice a year, we are in Kerala for one or two weeks. This time for 10 days from April 20. Occasion? : A marriage on April 21 and a visit to my ancestral Deity* on April 29. In between? : Visit elders in the family and senior friends *Know More : https://www.warriersblog.com/2020/04/divine-power-of-family-deity.html