Books I read : The Rozabal Line

First and foremost, the flow of the book disrupts you. It moves across ages. It moves across continents. But, except for that, it makes up with a lot of facts and mythology and stories.

The simple story is that Hinduism and Christianity and Islam are all the same religions and are the different facets of the same fundamental belief system. Christ had not died on the cross - he had married, he came to india and probably died in India.

Add to the story the possiblities of past life regression and voila, you have a powerful and gripping story.

Decent read. I will give this 3 stars out of 5 stars.

The Vanishing Professions:

Today's Hindu carries an article on the vanishing profession of "Post Man". That is right. One does not get to see the venerable post men anymore these days. I remember my college days at TNAU Coimbatore, in the period 1988 - 92. I used to get at least a couple of letters everyday, from my family and friends. I used to wait eagerly to go through all of them. I used to spend at least half an hour every day drafting replies to those letters.

Now, I think I write even more, but those are typically one liners. On the computer. Mailed and they reach instantly the other party. Somehow, the old charm of letters are lost.

The onward march of technology! How many professions have gone under it!

I remember seeing a number of horse driven carriages in the stretch of Pazhavanthaangal railway station to Madippakkam. I used to come to chennai for my annual holidays to visit my uncle, who used to live in madippakkam - who still lives there. One did not have so many busses. And, for a child, the horse rides from the station to home were absolutely thrilling.

But, now, one does not see those horse driven carriages anymore.

What else will go down under?

1) Teachers : With the technology of the net coming in, with 3G and 4G etc, it becomes possible to learn at one's own pace. There are lessons available, which can be paced at the speed to suit the child's requirements. Also, the pay that the teachers - at any level - get is peanuts. So, slowly, slowly, one may see this most wonderful of the professions, going down under. It will get replaced by instructors - who introduce the computer based lessons and do nothing more than that. And, even they as a breed would vanish over a period of time.

2) Electricity consumption level readers : One sees these people at home. Every month or every other month, they come home, check the meter, write down on that piece of paper where the meter measurements are written and go to the next home. Now, with technology, the meters would start becoming more and more inteligent. One need not 'write down' the meter reading. It would record the month end level reading on a pre defined date and time all by itself.

3) Umpires in cricket : It has all started with the UDRS - Umpire Decision Review System. Even with India opposing it, even with a couple of decisions not going well, I think the technology is here to stay. The only area of dispute is going to be the LBW decision. But, I think we will find a way out of that too. Then, slowly, the umpires will become coat stands for the bolwers, they will become people who ensure the conduct of the match rather than giving out decisions for and against the batsmen.

4) Housewife : I think the terminology will vanish in the next 20 years. With almost all the people wanting to get educated, wanting to work rather than stay home and cook, one may not have housewives any more.


There could be other professions as well which might vanish. Please do let me know, in your opinion, which of the professions which we see today, may not be around in the next decade or two!

Dose of inspiration : Randy Pausch Last Lecture

I am sure you have heard of this one. The famous last lecture. That of Randy Pausch. The man who knew that he had a mere 6 months or so to live.

I watched and watched and re-watched the lecture. What a lecture it is!

He talks about "How to Realise Your Childhood Dreams". He talks about being specific while dreaming. He talks about having big dreams. Dreams which you are really passionate about. He talks about keeping that childlike wonder in you. That curiosity in you. Going with the flow and doing what you love to do.

And, all of this from a man who knew that he had very little time to live. He did not talk philosophy. He did not talk about his great achievements. He talked about his childhood dreams. Of defying gravity and living in zero gravity. Of being captain kirk. Of becoming an imagineer with Disney. And, how he went onto do all of these in his life.

He talked about living his life while he had a lot of it and planning to live it now that he has very little left of it.

Check here for that famous last lecture in the youtube :

Check here for his complete life story and to know who this man is : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch

Well. I was wondering for a brief while what my last lecture would have been.

First of all, let me be frank : it is difficult for me to imagine giving a last lecture. It immediately implies that I may not be around too long in the future post giving it. The very thought of it is somewhat unsettling. But, once I get used to that strange thought, what would I have talked about?

I think I would have done a quick review of my life. It is not an extraordinary life by any means. On the contrary, it has been quite ordinary and absolutely normal. But, I guess there have been those relative high points that I am happy about.

I think I would have reviewed today's situation, especially today's India. There are lots of things which are wrong. Yes. There is corruption of unimaginable magnitude. I cannot even begin to count the number of zeros in that number that CAG came up with on the spectrum scandal.

I cannot even begin to understand how a person with the stature of Ratan Tata came to be besmirched in this whole thing.

I don't understand how the onions and other vegetables can command such a high price and yet how come the farmers still don't have an improved lifestyle.

But I guess, there are those which are the right things. India, with all these things, is still shining. Inflation or not, it is still growing. Raising onion prices or not, we are one of the best young population that is available for the whole world. There is the moral outcry that is reverberating around the country.

The supreme court is acting as the conscience keeper and asks the government very uncomfortable questions. The corporates are waking up to the moral issues.

I see young people, very young people going on their own and becoming entrepreneurs. I have the pleasure of meeting them, talking to them and listening to them in the course of some of the work that I do.

On the whole, I think I will lean on to the positive side and say with conviction that we are indeed poised for much much better things to come.

I think I would also have told people things which are very similar to what Randy said. I would have advised people to enjoy their work. Or, find what they enjoy doing and just keep on doing it for the rest of their life. I would have told them to have a habit of meeting children on a regular basis. For me, my kids and my kids' friends are a constant source of inspiration. The stories that they come up with, the sheer curiosity that they have, rubs off on me and keeps me off the pressures that I have in my day to day life. I would have told them to look at things in a light hearted fashion. I would have advised them to watch a lot of comedy even if the comedy was sometimes downright silly. It is still worth it if it can make you laugh!

In all, I guess I would have left a message of living in this moment. For, the next moment is not guranteed. For any of us. It is only this particular one single moment that I have. I have already last the past. I have no idea whether the future would even arrive for me. I have only the present.


As I have read somewhere, that is probably why it is called as "the present".

How to Become a Consultant : A crash course (In a lighter vein!)

Becoming a consultant is actually easier than you think it to be. I have watched many consultants over a period of time and watched them very closely. Now, I think I have all the tools of the trade clearly fleshed out. I will share those secrets with you.

 1. Shut up and listen (or at least pretend to - but please keep mum through out..)

We are all trained to offer an opinion as soon as we see something. If we see an ad, we tell whether it is good or bad in our opinion. If we listen to a strategy presentation, we would jump before even 3 lines are completed in the presentationas to whether the strategy is good or bad. But, the key to winning as a consultant is to keep your mouth shut and listen. Let everyone speak up. You just take notes. You don't even have to know the subject really. But, by the end of meeting everyone in the room and everyone who matters in the company, you would probably end up knowing a lot more than all of them individually know. There are two questions here : one : why would they all speak to you  and two : how can one be so sure that you will end up knowing a lot more than all of them individually?


This is where the reality of organisation as a species comes in. Any organisation is typically ineffective. Just look at countries. All the individuals know a lot. Collectively, they know a hell of a lot. But, the problem is that they don't know that they know a lot. That is the problem. Most organizations are not very different from this. Each individual may know a lot. But, most organizations lack systems and processes to synthesise those learnings. So, in effect, the organizational learning is not very much. This is where you, as a consultant come and play a role. If you start putting together all the knowledge that you can gleam from the indiviaul meetings with people, you end up learning a lot and suddenly, you know a lot more than the organization does! And, why woudl they spend time with you? The reasons are simple. One, any consultant, coming from outside, evokes respect and fear. If that person comes with a top management mandate, all the more so. And, in most organizations, people love to gossip. It is actually sad to see. But, the fact is, most people feel that they are not listent to by others. That means, whoever comes in specifically to listen gets all the juicy details.


So, let me repeat the lesson number one : shut up and listen.


2. Ask all the simple and stupid questions that you have always wanted to ask!

This step is in fact easier than remaining silent but not many people practise it. This is how it works. Let us say the marketing manager of the company that you have been hired to consult is telling you in glorious terms about his new product to hit the market. Practise the 1st step - listen patiently. Don't interrupt. Note down all the points. Even when the manager is expecting you to stop him and add your point, resist the temptation and just smile encouragingly. After you are doubly sure that the manager has run his course, ask questions. I have even a question list which can help you:

Q1. So...???


This is so very powerful. Simply stating this word, "so" seems to catch most people unaware. They initially look at you as if you are a moron. But, then they start getting self doubts. If, after all this explanation, you , the consultant, who is supposed to be bright and brilliant and all that has not understood the importance of this new product or the impact of this strategy, how will the poor consumer, who is supposedly not as bright as you, is expected to understand this? Then they start adding lots of defences about their idea. Then they start talking openly about their fears about this idea. This is when you really start understanding the idea.


Q2. So what? 


This is a modified version of the Q1 but even more powerful than the first one. The results are typically even better here.


Q3. Will you buy this product / service / new idea with your money? 


This brings the best of the creatrive juices in the person. Shut up and listen. Ask the Q1 and then Q2. With a smile.


Q4. Will you put your own personal money in this idea? 


This makes the jaw drop. Most of the people wouldn't and they know it even before you ask them. Asking them just makes them uncomfortable. They would not tell you the answer straight because they cannot. If the idea is so very powerful, they would resign and probably start all by themselves with some seed money. The very fact that they are not doing so speaks volumes about the ideas.


Now, the above are slanted towards new ideas and marketing but the questions work across the functions and also with the top management.


3. Summarise and rephrase the learnings back to them. 

This means that you basically list down all the points and summarise - to each individual - what you have listened so far. It works better if you rephrase the whole thing instead of using the individual's own words. This makes them feel much better. They go away thinking that you have heard them out and now they have taught you all you have to know to do your job.


4. Connect the dots and put together the group learnings together. 

Usually, the solutions to the problems that the group is facing lies within the group. It is just that usually nobody bothers to bring it out. By talking to all the key people and summarising and rephrasing, you would have brought out all the solutions the group has.


5. Bring out your best powerpoint skills!

This is important. Very important. The slides should look great. Use a good, simple template. Use the basic presentation techniques : don't put too many words into a slide; don't put too much of emphazise on the facts and figures - they are boring and nobody bothers about them anyway. Use interesting sayings and jokes in between to pep up the ppt. End the presentation with a take away and action point chart which will give roles and responsibilities to each of the departments and people in the organization. They all feel good about seeing such a slide. Such a slide also means that they can do something about all the things that they talked to you and that also means that all the time spent talking to you is not going to go waste.

There are several fantastic things about this whole exercise : 

1) The beauty is that you don't have to do any of those implementation steps yourself. The organization will do it. And, what more, they will thank you for setting up such a wonderful set of action points
2) You don't have to be an expert in anything. In fact, the less you know about the industry, the better because then you have the freedom to ask all the 'silly' questions that normally nobody asks!
3) All you have to do is to keep mum; keep your silence; let the others fill the void with their ideas and words.

But, remember, it is not easy to be a good consultant because it is difficult to be a listener. Even more than that, it is very very difficult not to offer any opinion upfront. As long as you are ready to work on that skill and hone it, you are on your way to become a top notch consultant!

Well - I know and interact with really top notch consultants - and so please take the blog post in a lighter vein only!!!

Dose of Inspiration : 

Giving food; taking care

We get inspired by something or by someone. Usually, we get inspired by somebody who is worse off than us, doing things which we had not even tried doing! Though there are other ways and means of getting inspiration, this is one way of really and surely, getting inspired.

I have added a few doses of inspiration - found from Facebook and other sites here.

1. N.Krishnan (Madurai): 

He gives food to destitutes. This Catering graduate, who was working with the Taj group, gave up his cushy job to feed the really poor and destitute people. He goes out in search of them right in the morning. He starts his day at 4.00 in his kitchen. Food is prepared and he is doing it himself. He goes out and finds the mentally retarded, poor, destitute people who are out there in the streets of Madurai. He feeds them. He does nothing else. He is running a trust called "Akshaya Trust".  He is the CNN top 10 heroes of the year. There is a lot already written about him so I am not eloborating in this post. But, to me, he is my top hero. He is my top inspiration for the day.

Check out the stories here:

http://socyberty.com/psychology/this-cnn-hero-nominee-feeds-and-brings-dignity-to-mentally-ill-destitutes-in-madurai-india/

http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2010/07/and-he-did-it-n-krishnan-a-true-youth-icon/


http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/society/article857017.ece

http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/archive10/naryanan.krishnan.html

http://www.dinamalar.com/News_Detail.asp?Id=115084

http://www.akshayatrust.org/

This is a stunning example of how one can care. Yes - this sounds very extreme. But, I believe that only because such individuals are out there, the life still goes on as normal for everybody else.

What an inspiration he is for everyone!

The tamil poet Bharati sang :

" வயிற்றிற்கு சோறிட வேண்டும், இங்கு
  வாழும் உயிர்களுக்கெல்லாம்.."   (We have to give food to all the living beings here...)

This person is an apt example for that. Let us not turn away beggars. We also beg God for so many things. I am not talking about encouraging people to beg - but not turning them down...let us give food. Let us do that one basic act that people are expected to do : feeding whenever we take food. Let us feed others. Let us feed to the extent we can. This is so very important in the times that we live : especially in the context of raising food prices...

Book Review: Don't Sweat The Small Stuff at Work

by : Richard Carlson

Recommended reading for all the guys who get stressed out.

He has some great - absolutely common sensical advice for all of us.

The ones which I really loved were these :

* Don't dramatize the deadlines
* Have some 'no phone' time at work
* Make the best of the corporate travel
* Remember to acknowledge
* Make a list of your personal priorities


There are obviously many more here. Very well written. Very meaningful.

Blogs I love : Third Umpire on Cricket 

by Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO, Brand-Comm


This is a beautifully written blog. The only problem with this blog is that Sridhar is not writing frequently. There is one post on November 10th, another on October 22nd  and before that in March 12th of 2009!! That is too infrequent for such delightful writing.

Take the latest post on "Thank you Steve Davies". It raises questions on why India is so bull headed in not accepting the UDRS. And, I have felt much the same. The argument that the technology is not perfect does not wash. The umpires are far from it. So, why not go with an improved version even if it might still have some flaws?

I completely agree Mr.Sridhar. He thanks the umpire Steve Davies who blundered through the series and  who could have cost India the series against Australia but for some luck going India's way finally.

Take a look at the other post talking about whether BCCI is up to it. Very good post.

So, my dear sir, why don't you write more often? Please do!!

The Language of Cricket

I love cricket. I am in love with the language of cricket even more than the game itself.

When I was a kid, my father used to tell me about the field placements. Though I did not understand a word of it, I liked the sound of all those field placements. I liked 'slip', 'gully', 'point', 'midon', 'midoff' and so on.

As I grew, I fell in love with the game and at the same time, I continuously used to translate these words into my native language - tamil - and fell in love with these words even more!!

See, for example, 'slip' - if you translate it in any language - means that you fall!  Add the interesting twists of 'first-slip,'second-slip, 'third slip' and so on, translate and visualize so many people falling down on top of each other, I am sure you get the feeling! And then that other word : point. Again, in any language, the meaning is the same : it is a singular thing which can be made with a pen or pencil. Then you try translating the other placements such as 'cover', 'extra cover', I can never quite stop laughing!

I have never quite understood why you should have a field placement called thirdman but a reserve called the
twelfth man? On top of it, the bowler can bowl a chinaman. The one who is batting is called the 'batsman' and not just a 'batter'. What is this fascination with 'man' in cricket? I have not really understood this.

It is called a run and yet, the bastsman, for all we know, can walk. Nowadays, even that walk is called 'doing a ranatunga', after the great Srilankan Captain, who used to 'walk' his runs. If you walk, but not run, should it be still called a run? But it is still called one.

Even more bizarre thing is this : it is counted as a 'run' even when somebody else is doing the running. It happens often enough when one batsman is injured and yet is batting on.

The 'wicket keeper' actually does not keep any wickets.

He is in fact, as far away from the wickets as possible. Especially when a fast bowler is bowling. He in fact tries to break down the wicket as he tries to run out the batsman or tries to stump him. Since he is the only person with the gloves on in the fielding team, shouldn't he be called a 'glover'?

Bowling comes first. Catching comes later. And yet, when the bowler catches off his own bowling and the batsman gets out, it is said 'caught and bowled'. Shouldn't it have been 'bowled and caught'?

The bowler bowls the ball and the ball is actually there. And yet, magically, sometimes it becoms a 'no ball'. 

The sign language cricket has is also fascinating. The finger goes up when the wicket goes down and yet the real wicket - the stumps, need not go down.

In recent times, the finger which goes up can even be crooked and it still is out...

Both the hands go up, it is a six.

So, one hand should go up when it is three? But, no, actually, hands don't really go up when somebody scores three. Funnily, just one hand goes up it is called 'bye'. The umpire is not bidding bye here. The captain is sure to bid bye to the wicket keeper if it continues...

It is a 'good bye' for the batting team and not so a good bye for the fielding team.

The 'wide' is something even the lay man can understand from what the umpires shows. He actually extends both hands in their respective directions and you can understand that it is a reasonably logical one and not really a wilde one.

For a long time, I thought that for somebody to get out 'Leg Before the Wicket', the basic requisite is that the ball has to hit the leg first. However, it is not so. Even if the ball hits the helmet of the batsman, as a Sachin Tendulkar would tell you, he can get out 'LBW'.

As if all these crazy languages of cricket is not enough, nowadays you also have this 'Duckworth and Lewis'. The D/L system, as it is called, came into sharp focus in a world cup match when just before the rains the South African team was cruising to a win and suddenly, after the showers, the "best runs scored" system told them that they needed to get a 21 run of one ball. Just before that stoppage, they required 22 off 13 balls. There was plenty of artificial light. There was plenty of time. It was a crucial match. The spectators who had paid for the match were willing to see it through.If the D/L system was there, it would have set a target of four runs to tie the match! But, the D/L is not without its critics and controversies!! Is it applicable for a shorter version as the T20? Is it applicable if we were to have a 25 over a side but two innings one day match? (It would still be only a one day match!!). There are questions.

Well. You can expect nothing less from a game which has taken the name of an insect to start with.

It is full of fun, full of surprises and full of funny language which just adds to the fun quotient!

என் கவிதைகள்  (My Poems)

This is a blog about my poems. I apologise for those who don't know tamil....

என்னுடைய பழைய நோட்டுப் புத்தகங்களை எல்லாம் புரட்டிக் கொண்டு இருந்தேன். ஸ்கூல், மற்றும் காலேஜ் சமயத்தில் எழுதிய சில கவிதைகள் கண்ணில் பட்டன.

யாம் பெற்ற துன்பம் பெருக இவ்வையகம்!! உங்களுடன் 'ஷேர்' செய்யத் துணிந்து விட்டேன்:

கவிதை 1 : 10th படிக்கும்போது எழுதியது. 'அறுவை போட்டி' ஒன்று நடைபெற்றது. அதில் கலந்து கொண்டு, சில 'கடி' ஜோக்ஸ் சொன்னது மட்டுமில்லாது, இந்தக் கவிதையும் சொன்னது ஞாபகம் வருகிறது. பரிசு எதுவும் கிடைக்கவில்லை. அடியும், எதுவும் கிடைக்கவில்லை:

"அறுத்தலும் குழப்பலும், அறுத்துப் பின் குழப்பலும்,

 அறுப்பாரையும்  அறுத்து, அவரையே குழப்பலும், 

 அறுத்து, அறுத்து,  அறு சுவை காணலும், 

 அறுப்பார் அவர்க்கே அழகு"

மற்ற கவிதைகள் பின்னர்!

Book Review : Echo Burning by Lee Child

I have come to like Lee Child's character, 'Reacher'. The lonely guy who wants to be alone is interesting. Somehow he lands into trouble. Somehow he rescues people. He stands upright. He fights crime. He is very passionate about justice...

This story is not different. It is all of that. Jack Reacher gets a lift just when he was looking for one. And, from smebody he would have least expected it. The woman, who gives him a lift expects him to kill her husband. Reacher investigates and lands up in the middle of loads of trouble. And, the husband gets killed. Apparently by the wife herself. Why is the question. Then the story unfolds itself. 

The first half moves very slowly - unlike the other stories I have read before of Lee child's Reacher stories. But, the second half makes up for it. There are some holes in the logic. For example, why should the Walker guy try to cover up the killing? Why kill only the husband? Why not the wife also and make it look like a scuffle? Who is going to suspect him of all people?

But, with all the holes, it makes up for a good night's read. With diverse characters such as Carmen Greer whom you don't know whether to trust or not, the lady attorney who is a gay, the grandmother Rusty, who hates mexicans and rascist to the hilt, the horses and the ranch, it is rich in detail.

My Take (in a lighter vein) on Management

1. Matrix Management Approach

When I first joined the MBA, I had not fully realized it. But, over the years one tends to become a little wiser. Now I know for sure. All that one has to do really well in MBA and in any kind of presentation, however high one goes up in the organization, is to show a 2 X 2 matrix.

If one wanted to come across somebody who is 'cool' and who is somebody intellectually above all others, all one has to do is to show some 2 X 2 matrix with interesting labels stuck in them.

How does one do it? I will teach you:

Step 1 : Take up a 2 X 2 matrix.
Step 2 : Put a variable on the  x axis and another variable on the y axis.
Step 3 : Now, you have got a box of 4 sections. (this is actually not a step...)
Step 4 : You have to ensure that you have a low vs high on the axis from one side to the other.This has to be done on both the axes.
Step 5 : One should label the boxes. But, if you find it very difficult to do,one can actually leave the labelling of the different boxes to the audience.They will toil hard, label it and think that you are a genius!

Let me take a few 2 X 2 matrices and explain the funda to you:

Example one :

Work	High	Desired by company	Ideal condition
	Low	Current condition	Desired by employee
		Low	High
		Wages

Example 2 : Let us take some other words and see whether we can make some meaning out of them :

Let us take Man & Woman. Can you come up with a matrix here? And explain it away? Try it!! My try is given below!


My attempt:

Man	High	Masculine	Human
	Low	Animal	Feminine
		Low	High
		Woman

See? With more and more practice, it takes almost no effort.

You can come up with a 2 by 2 for almost any 2 variables!

I don't mean to be mean to the management Gurus but I have almost always been fascinated by their ability to come up with a limitless supply of the 2 by 2s as much as their ability to think through complex issues. I have also marveled at the ability of people to make this thing even more complicated by adding a twist and making it a 3 by 3 matrix.

For example, we had that simple BCG matrix - which looked at the business growth rate and one's relative position in the market. We had a simple and peaceful 2 X 2 matrix.

Then came the GE matrix with the same kind of axis (though with slightly different terminologies) but with a twist : now you had to navigate through a 3 X 3 matrix and 9 cells instead of a benign 4!!

I have always marveled at this!!

And then I read Covey. What a way to steal the world with a simple urgent vs important matrix!!

Well. I am truly in love with this matrix approach to management. It looks simple. Whether I am able to understand what I am articulating or not, those who listen to me go with a feeling that I am intelligent and that I know!!

What more do you want?!

You should really try this. When you are in the office and when a power point ppt with some 117 slides are being shown by someone out to impress his hard work, and when you are really unable to stifle your yawns, you should take a notebook and doodle and see which are all the words which you can connect as above in a 2 X 2 matrix.

Try it out and let me know!!

Trend Spotting : 2

India is supposed to be a young nation. more than 50% of the population is below 25 years. It is the youngest nation and it is going to stay that for quite some time. In this being young, we can very conveniently ignore the old. The number of people who are old is not small.

The estimates are like this : in the next 10 years, that is by the year 2020, we will be a 133 crore population country. To my mind, this itself is a lower estimate. However, even if we take this estimate, about 7.6 crores of these people are going to be 65+ years. 37 crores are going to be under 15 years old. 88 crores are going to be in the age group 15 to 64 years. By 2050, about 25% of the population will be 60+ years.

Now, let us focus on the 7.6 crore people who are going to be 65+ All of them are currently 55+ years old. A lot of them are looking at retiring in the next 5 years. A lot of them are already bewildered at the rate of change. A lot of these people are clueless about social networking. Though some of them are savvy, a vast majority of these people don't know what facebook is all about. A vast majority of these have not operated internet. For a vast majority of these, even mobile phones are alien.

All of them are going to be 65+ and are going to be very very lonely.

Just look at the number of news items showing dissent of the young people with their parents.

In TN, there is an actress, (Saranya), who goes missing and her mother files a complaint with police. The actor daughter surfaces and clarifies saying that her mother is torturing her.

Another actor's daughter (Vanitha Vijayakumar) accuses her parents of threatening her with life for the past 15 years.

There is enough and more news in the papers of sons and daughters chasing their parents away.

The number of old age homes is increasing.  

What was a 700 odd number in 1998, by now, must have reached 2000+ mark. In the net, no clear stats are available on the status of number of old age homes in the country.

Another reason why these old age homes are flourishing is very interesting. In the previous generations, people used to have 5 to 6 children at least. In their old age, even if they were not happy with one son and the respective daughter in law, they will move to another son. Even if they were happy somewhere, they still kept on moving around.

I remember my grandma, living with us for a few months and then moving onto living with my uncles for a spell of a few months each. This used to happen in almost every family across India. One lived with the eldest son for a couple of months, then with the next son and then a few days with a daughter and then back with the next son for a few months and so on.

This had the effect of lowering the 'burden' on each of the wards and also ensuring that the old people had someplace to go even if at one place they were not entirely happy or some quarrels happened.

This simply does not happen anymore. Already, the current crop of grandparents are having lesser number of children than their previous generations. The current crop of parents have one or at best 2 children only. Which means that the kind of safety valve which was there earlier is not available anymore.

Suddenly, the grandparents become a burden on their sons and daughters. And, worse, they have nowhere else to go.


The old people end up feeling increasingly lonely, bewildered and lack companionship. Increasingly, the computer at home means that even the children, who would otherwise have given them company, don't anymore.

Even the grand children, who, in the previous generation would have listened to stories from their grandparents, now, play video games or are already on facebook with their friends.

It is going to be frightening to be old in this country. The country, where elders were respected and extended family was the norm, is fast becoming full of nuclear families where the old have no place.

So, it is very simple to see the next trend : No place to be old in India...

It is sad...but that seems to be the situation. If you are wealthy old man, you can at least get into a decent old age home. If you are not so wealthy and cannot afford a good old age home, well then...God help you...

Let us see what this means for different set of stakeholders in India. For entrepreneurs and marketers, it means huge opportunity. They can and I am sure will make a difference in this also. There will be corporate sponsored old age homes soon. There will be pension funds which will enable one to get into a decent old age home in his choice of geography. There will be insurance companies which will help people to settle down with endowments for their old age. There will be home and realty builders who will take your house back on lease back arrangements to enable you to live peacefully in your old age. There will be a host of appliances which will target the old people to live by themselves without any help from anyone during this period of loneliness. There will be laws ensuring specific comfort levels for the older people when they travel, when they commute from one place to another and so on.

There may even be awards for youngsters who regularly go and visit their parents or grandparents in the old age homes...sounds cruel but that would be better than such a thing not happening at all...

Trends we can see : 1

This is going to be one audacious try. But, I guess that is fine. It is going to be lots of fun writing this and watching whether my feel is coming out right or not. OK. What is this about? I am going to try and figure out the underlying trends based on what I am reading / seeing in news / magazines / TV and so on and so forth.

I am not going to pretend these are "Mega trends"

My takes for the first trend spotting are as follows:

1. I was reading the sex survey 2010 in The India Today. More and more boldness is what we see. We also see that women are ready to come more and more out of their marriages. You also see the second and third marriages happening more often.

Sunandha Pushkar marries for the third time and is happy about it.

Shashi Tharoor, on his part, also gets into his third with Sunanda and is also happy and open about it.

Vanita Vijaykumar, the daughter of tamil actor Vijaykumar, has 2 sons from her first marriage and one from her second. While the second and third marriages are seemingly on the raise, there are single mothers who taut their wards.


Sushmita sen has two children and is not even married once. Both are adopted children. The 1994 Miss Universe is quite happy about it.

You look at the other side of this spectrum, you get to see that gays and lesbians are scoring important legal victories.

You also see lots of couples living in and absolutely happy about it.

You see Kareena and Saif living together.

And, so do Bipasha and John Abraham.

So, a very simple first trend : Marriage as an age old institution is in trouble. Deep trouble.

When time is scarce, when you don't know whether you can commit, when you don't know how much you would love a person, when your career is important and is more important to you than anything else, and when the woman is as free as the man in terms of both economic and how open she can be to the world, it seems as if there is no need for marriage. So, will the number of marriages come down? I think it will. Would living in go up? Yes. It will. So, what happens to children? I think they will learn to cope up with the uncertainty of living with a stranger who is the current 'father'. What will this trend lead to? What are the opportunities it will bring to marketing people and the cinema dudes? What problems will it bring to those and all of us? How, as a parent, I would take it? These are questions which require some deliberations, debates and discussions.

Movies I enjoyed : Mouna Raagam

Mouna Raagam (Tamil: மௌன ராகம்; English: can be roughly translated as "Silent Symphony") is a 1986 Tamil film. It was directed by filmmaker Mani Ratnam. To my mind, it is the best film by the director - though a lot of people think "Nayakan" is his best film.

The score and soundtrack are composed by Ilayaraja, and the film's cinematography is by P. C. Sriram.It got nominated for the best film award.

The story is simple : the heroine is a playfull girl. She falls in love with a boy who is as mischevious and playful as she is. The lovely boy confronts and robs from a police officer so that the patient that offier assaulted can be treated. The girl understands the reason behind this 'bad' act and this is the reason why she falls in love. As they are about to be married, the police comes in and apprehends the lover boy. He tries to escape and in the ensuing melee, gets shot at and dies. The girl goes into a deep trauma.

But, the parents look for another boy. There is a "pen parkkum padalam" and a genteleman comes- sees the girl. Falls in love with her and consents to marry her. The girl does not want to be a burden for their parents any more. So, she marries him.

But, the marriage is only in the name. She avoids any physical contact by her husband. So, what does the husband do? She tells him the story so far and why she is avoiding him. And, on top of it, she wants a divorce!

The genteleman goes about absorbing all of this quietly. He understands the trauma and accepts her as she is. He is willing to give her the divorce and the freedom that she wants. But, slowly and steadily, the girl starts falling in love with her husband!

That is the story. How, patience, understanding and acceptance of the other half improves the relationship, how it heals the wounds and gives it the time it requires is beautifully shown. Revathy and Mohan do well in acting. Karthik did a quick, witty, beautiful role.

The dialogues were simply superb.

I watched this movie when I was quite young - when I was in my college. I remember thinking : if I ever get into this kind of a situation, how I would handle it and whether I can be as sensitive and understanding as this film's hero.

To my mind, it was a landmark movie in Tamil films.

Movies I enjoyed  : The Terminal

I Watched this movie recently when I was travelling. Absolutely brilliantly portrayed by Tom hanks. The story is quite simple. The comedy - drama focuses on a person trapped in the airport - neither able to move into the country he has chosen to come to nor being able to go back to his country - because that country has been 'derecognised' by the country he has walked into. A 2004 movie, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones, it shows the story of a man trapped. in a terminal at JFK International Airport when he is denied entry into the United States and at the same time cannot return to his native country, the fictitious Krakozhia, due to a revolution. This is supposedly inspired by the 18 year stay of the Iranian refugee, Mr. Mehran Karimi Nasseri in the Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Terminal I, Paris, France from 1988 to 2006.

Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski in this film, a man who comes from an Eastern European country to New York. However after he left his country war broke out. This means that Navorski is now a man without a country since US does not recognize his country any more. Hence, he is denied entrance into US. But, since he has arrived legally, he cannot also be deported back.

He cannot speak English well. But he starts to learn and adapt and understand others. This makes the security manager, who wants to expel him, extremely unhappy.

Why Navorski came there, what are his drives, why is he prepared to wait for 9 months in the airport, what does he do to live out there form the rest of the story.

I would say that it is a fantastic story. A story which brings out the idiocy of policies of countries and how they are at cross purposes with human life. How simple rules can become asses quickly. How human will triumps over everything.

Vavorski simply says "I wait". It melts even the toughest of the hearts.

How to take life simply. How to treat everyone - including the one who means harm to you with passion. How to take simple joys in life even though your life itself is not great. All these are lessons from the movie. I enjoyed watching every bit of it. Lovely movie. Worth watching.

Blog Review : Vaaram oru Alayam

It takes stupendous effort to put up a blog like this one. Going to temples; collecting information about the deity, the goddess, the temple tree and so on and giving a commentary also.

This is fantastic. It tells you how to reach out to a particular temple. It tells you when the pooja happens in that temple. Very very good blog for all the religious people and those who love to go to a temple. Serves as a quick compendium for all of those who love to go to temples.

Very good effort. Please keep it up.

Blog Review : Khana Peena

For a guy like me who has interests in restaurants, this is a delicious blog. It reviews all kinds of restaurants across the country though I think I saw a lot more from Mumbai. Photographs of those dishes, what was good and what was bad : all that is put in there. Serves as a good starting point for the foodies!

Very interesting blog.

Blog Review : Think Loud : Carnatic Music Raagas

Another master piece of a blog. He has taken different Raagas and provided film songs and a lot of typical carnitic songs in that raaga. He has given the lakshna of the Raaga also - the aarohan and avarohan of the Raaga also are given.

Simply outstanding. It is a joy to read the blog.

The icing on the cake is the number of song - links that are provided. All the links are from Mediafire so that it is very easy to keep downloading all the songs. It took me a very long time to down load a lot of the songs that I loved.

Keep the good work Sir!!

Blog Review : Raagas in Film Music

I enjoyed this blog. Very informative. Collecting so many songs, categorizing them under the different raagas..it takes fantastic effort. Not just in one language. There are songs from Tamil Films. From Telugu films. From Hindi films. Means that the author is good in these languages and also in spotting the Raagas.


And the collection is also very good.


Recommended for anyone who is interested in Raagas, listening to songs based on raagas and especially old songs!!

The Youtube links makes it even more interesting since we can actually "see" the song!!

Good effort!!

Keep it up!

Engey Brahmanan by : Cho. Ramaswamy

An engaging story by Cho. With lots of questions and answers from Hindu scriptures it explains - or at least tries to explain who is supposed to be a 'brahmin'. The one who lives his life only by taking 'biksha' - that is  by begging for food; the one who does not save anything for tomorrow; the one who studies vedas and scriptures, the one who does homams and yagas, the one who prays for everybody's benefit everytime he prays, the one whose only work is to teach others, who does not expect any material benefit for his teaching, the one who treats all his students equally, the one who imparts all his knowledge to his students - he is the one who can be called as 'brahmin'.

Cho goes onto show that nowhere in vedas or in bagwat gita, it is said that the 4 castes are based on birth.

It is pretty clear that there is none called as a brahmin these days in the true sense of the word!!