Warrier's Collage on Sunday December 21, 2025

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Sunday December 21, 2025 Collage Editorial Collage took a short holiday. When I was listening to Sri Sri Ravishankar speaking at UN on the World Meditation Day [Please see the link below] once again remembered the Art of Living programme I had attended and a question from the Program Moderator in the concluding session : "What way you think people will remember you, when you are out of sight?" My answer : "From whatever impression I'm able to leave in their minds or later, from whatever they come to know of the work I may continue to do" Last week one day Dr D Ajit and I talked for 19 minutes over the phone. We were colleagues in RBI and stayed in the Gokuldham RBI Quarters during late 1980's. Lost contact with him sometime by the end of last Century and we were getting reconnected after a gap of 3 decades. Ajit was occasionally following my FB posts and had a fair idea about my pursuits. Though I am on the FB and am active there, in the sense I post some updates, my presence in the Social Media is not at all organized. Frankly, I rarely follow my contacts/friends @FB. More later M G Warrier World Meditation Day 2025 @ UN https://www.youtube.com/live/tFYaoeQlGSw?si=KTnkXcGQdmF7-H45 A Cover Story Direct Benefits Transfer : Hard Realities When We Leave Everything To Software Please read the Moneylife story quoting a recent report in The Times of India on a speech by CAG. Then, if you are free, read on. http://ppl.moneylife.in/lists/lt.php?tid=cEpTVVsJAVUGBkhWUA8FH1YJX1xMClVdDkxVAFJQXVNeAVdWDV1FUQRUXQUBC1AfW10KW0wGUF0GTFoJV1UUUw8FW1dcCQ4DVgEESFUNBFAGDg0MTAFZV1RMVlUDURRbXgJRTwhdXF4AVVBQUQgBAw B Remembering a 20th Century Jewellery Auction in Malabar https://www.warriersblog.com/2016/02/the-new-indian-express-of-auction.html Excerpts : "On the auction day, several rich individuals from the then states of Madras and Mysore (Karnataka) as also a couple of landlords from within Kerala arrived much before the appointed time for auction. Local people including members of the royal family who could put together a few hundreds or a couple of thousands of rupees also were allowed to participate in the auction. There was a big crowd eager to have a glance of the glittering ornaments owned by the royal family which they had only heard of. The advocate receiver himself was conducting the auction of each small item of jewellery separately, one by one. He started with items of small value which attracted local participants and the entire money mobilised by them got committed in the initial stages of auction. The interest shown by bidders in competing with their neighbours must have pleased the advocate receiver." C Reconnecting with friends https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/warriersviews/reconnecting-with-friends-26375/ Last week one day Dr D Ajit and I talked for 19 minutes over the phone. We were colleagues in RBI and stayed in the Gokuldham RBI Quarters during late 1980's. Please see Collage Editorial. D Current Affairs Revisit IndiGo Flight disruptions The whole episode of the recent IndiGo flight disruptions is being viewed, analysed and interpreted from different angles by different experts depending on individual constituency interests. Initial response from IndiGo was an innocent reaction with an averment that "Disruptions were Not Deliberate" (December 11). We travelled by Mumbai-bound IndiGo flight from Calicut on Saturday, December 6. Except for a 3 hours delay due to logistics or technical issues, our journey was normal. While waiting in the airport, because the flight was delayed, IndiGo served us refreshments. But from the moment I reserved the air ticket to the time of landing in Mumbai, my relatives and friends were keeping a track of our well-being and making frequent enquiries as if a patient is in the ICU. Brushing aside a cause for chaos in air travel across the world for several days as not deliberate doesn't make any sense for the real victim, the stranded ticket holder. Someone has to accept responsibility. The current enquiry, hopefully will throw some light on possible measures to avoid repeating a similar situation again. Some questions remain unanswered. Like : 1) It's clear that there has been unmanageable disruption in the IndiGo schedules for a long time now. Why there was no transparent revelation of factual situation to stakeholders? If the changes in crew rostering rules were introduced without the necessary time lag for readjustments, why that aspect is not revealed? 2) Exploiting the situation, some Airlines(not IndiGo) made some quick money by hiking ticket charges exorbitantly. Is there no monitoring and regulatory safeguards for such exploitation? 3) If the system temporarily failed, is there no way out now by forcing wrong-doers to refund the exhorted ticket charges to the customers quickly? If there are grey areas in regulations, the concerned authorities should review the position fast and take quick action to provide relief to the affected air passengers. Perhaps, DGCA can learn a lesson or two from RBI. When drastic changes in the ground rules in the financial sector are thought of, RBI shares draft proposals with stakeholders and while finalising instructions the views of the stakeholders are taken into account. This is a right case where the example of 5 blind men interpreting the elephant by touching and feeling as a pillar, broom and so on. Today someone has come out with a criticism that regulating air fares tantamount to clipping the wings of air travel facilities. Though the observation is in the context of the inquiry into IndiGo failure, the astronomical fair hike was by other operators taking undue advantage of a firefighting situation. Media, political groups, Airlines managements, consumers all took divergent positions without any moderator for the debates that ensured. The primary responsibility should be owned by DGCA as the whole chaos resulted from the mismanagement of issues relating to skilled personnel operating flights. To understand the real reasons one may have to dwell deeper into the HR issues creating stress across government, public sector and corporate institutions including DGCA and all Airlines. The problems did not crop up in a day or a month or few years. The problems originated with organisations starting to depend on outsourced staff, trying to minimise regular employment on own pay rolls. ***. ***. *** E Leisure Uddhanda Sastri and Kaakasseri* Uudhanda Sastri had a broad image about himself and boasted of having no rival. Kaakasseri was a small boy ready to contest with Sastri. Uddanda Sastri said: "Look here, boy. I have put six questions in three lines. The fourth line should be framed in such a manner that it should provide right answer to all the six questions. I showed this to so many in and outside Kerala, but none could satisfactorily fill the fourth line. Will you try?" "Let me hear the lines", said the boy. These were the lines: Ka khe charathi? kaa rammyaa ? (What travels in the sky? Who is the most pleasing?) Kim japyam? Kimnubhooshanam? (What to chant? What ornament to wear?) Ko vandya? Kee drisee Lanka? (Whom to revere? How Lanka looked like?) With ease the boy supplied the fourth line : "Veera markada kampithaha" It was an extremely clever thing to do. Answers were in the order of the questions: 1. "Vee (birds), 2.Rama(Vishnu's consort), 3. Rk (Rig Veda Mantra), 4.Kadakam (ornament on the feet), 5.Pita (father) 6.and the whole line indicating the condition of Lanka after Hanuman had shaken it hard. (It seems easier to believe that the questions were framed on the basis of the answer.) The extraordinary intellectual brilliance of the boy showed promises of a second Shankara, but that was not to be. Except a book 'Vasumatee Manavikramam' (most likely a eulogy on the king), Kakkasseri's literary efforts did not amount to much. *Story shared by Vathsala Jayaraman, ExRBI, Chennai