It’s rather ironical that all the important incidents and developments are not analysed from the perspective of their impact on the interests of our country, if any, but are viewed with a myopic lens. Let me cite three current events that are catching all the headlines.

Unprecedented crisis being faced by our neighbour- crisis of food, energy and likely default of international payment obligations- is a matter that’s strictly internal to that nation. If more than 250 of their rupees are required to buy 1 USD, obviously it needs a serious introspection by its economic think tank. India has had no role – neither in the current crisis being faced by that country or the efforts required by them to come out of this quagmire. It should only be treated as an eye opener for all of us, especially for an increasing  propensity on part of a few of us to dole out freebies! 

Hindenburg report on Adani group needs to be taken cognisance of by the bankers, regulator and the government and if certain course correction needs to be carried out, the same should be done promptly. By creating sensation and scare, no purpose will be achieved other than a temporary setback to India juggernaut that’s rolling fast post Covid recovery. In one of my earlier posts, I had suggested that such big conglomerates with borrowings in billions and trillions should be treated as systematically important borrowers on the lines of systematically important banks that are too large to be allowed to fail. These groups should necessarily follow certain more stringent debt equity, liquidity and asset cover ratios and there ought to be a stricter oversight on them collectively by the financing banks, regulator and other statutory authorities so that external reports like the one received on Adani group do not create any surprise or panic.

SRK’s Pathaan seems to be breaking box office records everywhere and the movie reaffirms SRK’s position as undisputed King of Bollywood. I think movies serve a limited purpose of entertaining us and this new trend of riling the image of the stars and building up frenzy on social media for their boycott is quite unnecessary and not in line with our spirit of accommodation and open mindedness. People should have choice as to what to wear, eat or watch and those having a different view can present their perspective sans any bulldozing. 

While we all lament about the need for more balanced reporting and discussions on the issues that could be of general interest, I think we can stop lamenting and instead suitably moderate our reaction to such events. On the issue of national security and interest, we should all be together without exception. This will be a very proper celebration of the spirit of our Republic Day.

Saw an interesting post on social media, which I have tried to convert into a narrative that clearly brings out twist in the tale. The narrative reads as below:

A widower with a grown up son, and in need of company, starts dating a young girl, whom he had met through his son only. The old man had become fascinated by the young lass and he could charm his way into the young girl’s heart! As a matter of sheer coincidence, the young son of the old widower also takes fancy to an elderly woman, a recently widowed lady, who happens to be the mother of the girl, seeing his father. Of course, the two affairs move in parallel without the knowledge of each of the parties involved therein. And on the D day, a rude shock is in store for not only four individuals but their friends, relatives and acquaintances as well. However, matters by then have gone too far for anyone to be backing out!

In due course, both the ladies get pregnant and give birth to a girl ( father + young lass) and a male (young boy+ mother of the lass) respectively! Now let’s look at the complexity of relationships arising out of the above liaisons:

The old widower is grandfather to the male child and the young lass is his grandmother. The young lass is also the the young boy’s step mother! The young boy is actually a step brother to the girl child, though his wife is her grandmother, apart from being her sister-in-law too!

It gives one shivers to merely think what if tomorrow the newly borns fall for each other and marry! 

We all know that an optimist sees half a glass of water as half filled, while a pessimist sees it as half empty. This is an age old take on optimism and pessimism. However, when such concepts are redefined citing newer analogies, the impression is more profound. And if something like what’s stated below is come across just when we are at the beginning of a new year, the impact is most powerful. It reads:

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”

Like the example of glass, where both see the same, albeit with a different perspective, in the second example, both stay awake till midnight, albeit with different objectives.

To sum up, our actions and reactions are common- we see the same things and similarly stay awake for the same period – it’s how we perceive or respond to them is more important.

We are already past the first fortnight of the year 2023 and the euphoria of celebrating new year and making resolutions would have subsided by now. So, it’s time to review the pluses and minuses, which may set the path for the rest of the year.

I welcomed the new year like everyone else, but for a change abstained from making any resolutions. For one, as it is, post my superannuation, I am leading a life of a recluse doing nothing much. So, howsoever hard I tried, I couldn’t really think of anything beyond my personal well-being, health wise. My creaking knees that I have been ignoring for long, received my attention and I joined a therapy based on certain pressure points. I was advised to go for at least 10 sessions before I could feel any discernible effect, post which, I could review the need for further sessions. This week I will be completing 10 sessions and I must admit that the things have really not shown any improvement and the time, effort and money are seemingly gone down the drain. But I am happy that an issue on which I have been procrastinating since long, has ultimately received my attention and notwithstanding the outcome, I have at least acknowledged the problem rather than sweeping it under the carpet.

And my learning from the above incident can be extrapolated to any situation or problem. Important thing is to identify, acknowledge and act irrespective of the outcome, because trying is everything – success and failure are outcomes that are, strictly speaking, not always under our control.

My resolution for 2023, therefore, is to identify, acknowledge and act – the matter may be grave or trivial ! 

After nearly 28 years of working in Axis Bank, I superannuated in May 2022, but Axis is very much part of my persona. Therefore, meeting old friends and colleagues, especially if it’s a nicely and thoughtfully organised get together in one of the most happening places of the city, the pleasure increases manifold. And when your old associates give a hint of your presence in the office being missed, the feeling is euphoric, in a way reaffirmation of you having demitted office on a rather happy note.

Thanks to all my friends and colleagues who organised yesterday’s get together, took time out of their busy routines and chose to invite ex colleagues like me to join their celebrations. It was a memorable evening comprising some great food , drinks and discussion on the past anecdotes and memories that had a tinge of nostalgia around them. I am not going to forget the occasion in a hurry.

Professional journey can be long and arduous,

And you meet thousands before you lay down the office;

When old colleagues celebrate the past association,

It gladdens your heart no end and fills you with a feeling so inclusive!

Why do we welcome a new year with all this enthusiasm?

An infant gets an year closer to childhood; a child to teenage; a teenager to youth; a young person to adulthood; an adult to middle age; a middle ager to the age of superannuation; a superannuated to old age; and ultimately an old person to the only truth in this world! indisputably, each next stage of life brings an additional bit of tension and responsibility from the gay abundance of infancy and childhood to the heavy baggage of the old age!

From the above, a person essentially should be circumspect about a passing year and welcoming a new year as in a way, he’s moving towards the eventual reality. I think we welcome a new year because for once, we cannot control or stop time from elapsing and secondly, we don’t want the unsavoury experiences of the year going/ gone by to be replicated in the new year! So a new year is all about new hope and new achievements and unbridled happiness that might have eluded us in the past!

On the above note, let me wish all my friends and readers a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year 2023. To end this on a poetic note:

2022 was welcomed with gaiety and enthusiasm

Without realising we’d witness wars, Covid and tragedies galore

While we wished things to improve for better

The things only got worse and our woes from less to more!

Losing the nightingale and thespian were big tragedies,

But they had at least lived their age;

Loss of so many others under different circumstances,

Caused deep misery and a feeling difficult to salvage!

Hope the new year 2023 is better

With more happiness, prosperity, success, achievements for one and all

While some of the things will be inevitable as before

Let each one of us take one baby step to better the things overall!

2022 for me was the landmark year

To retire at 60 and live life without fear

Now that 2022 is about to go into oblivion

I have the same old feeling of haze and confusion

New resolutions and goals will be listed

But the earlier ones are pending to be dusted

And what’s going to be new about the new year

Will all the problems evaporate and disappear?

Will the world become a better place to live?

With no war, no hatred but only love to give

But each New Year’s Eve kindles such hope

But as the year progresses these all elope

The same age old problems continue to haunt

And year end leaves nothing to flaunt

Bur mere wishing and hoping will change nothing

Unless all of us join hands and do something

As we hold each other’s hand and form a human chain

The problems will start vanishing not to appear again

As we bid adieu to 2022 let’s pray to almighty

In 2023 we shall unite and become mighty

And when common man rises and makes himself heard

Devils on this hearth have no choice but to get conquered!

Yes, I admit unabashedly that I am old fashioned and from the old school, as evident from the following:

(1) Every morning, I eagerly await newspapers and spend hours, reading news, comic strips, editorials and solving crosswords, sudoku and word jumbles;

(2) I need my parantha in breakfast and roti and rice as part of lunch and dinner;

(3) Instead of going to gym and doing weight training, I do some free hand exercises at home every morning along with a few simple asanas;

(4) As part of my reading, I am currently finishing compendium of 12 James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, written in 50s and 60s. I follow book read with the movie based therein starring the likes of Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig- all legends;

(5) I address elderly and seniors, not only in designation but also in age as sir and madam unless someone insists on being called by his or her first name.

(6) All my savings are in banks, Mutual funds and insurance.

(7) My favourite cuisines are Indian ( more specifically South Indian), though occasional indulgence in Chinese or Pizza is not considered a taboo.

(8) I love Indian classical movies and Bollywood music up to 80s.

I used the word unabashedly for being from old school, because I am so by choice and not out of ignorance as evident from the following:

(1) I have tried all kinds of healthy seeds, salads, nutrients, supplements and found their qualities unproven;

(2) Throughout my professional life my focus was on self help and improvement books, inspirational biographies and other such world of non fiction and I find at least a few of them overrated. There is hardly any substitute for dirtying one’s hands in actual action and gaining real life on the job experience.

(3) Addressing seniors, elderly, mentors with respect is needlessly considered old fashioned and too much weightage given to informal atmosphere created by calling everyone on first name basis. My take here is that to each, his own and categorising employees based on this is more of a jargon and vogue rather than of real merit.

(4) I have seen a few of my colleagues suffering loss of their lifetime savings by investing in modern day instruments such as crypto, options, futures, overseas bonds and properties.

(5) News on media are loud, biased ( not that newspapers are very neutral, but at least they cover all the aspects), and short updates on mobile leave one yearning for more.

I have similar justifications for the other points but would end now for the sake of brevity.

Happy new year in advance. Live life fully!

In my previous blog, I wrote about the chips being down due to all the unpleasant things happening around us. To add to our woes, Covid menace has brought back the horror of previous waves when the entire mankind suffered.

However, with Christmas round the corner, there’s magic in the air. Santas with their sacks full of goodies for the expectant children, markets lit up brightly and homes decorated with Christmas stars and Christmas trees – all these around us, for a moment, divert our minds and attention from unpleasant things and saturate us in the spirit of Christmas. That’s the magic of Christmas.

As this another difficult year is shortly about to come to its end, let’s celebrate the festivities of Christmas and new year and pray for-

(1) Complete eradication of Covid from our planet;

(2) End of Ukraine-Russia war that’s causing the lasting damage to the entire world;

(3) Peace on India’s borders with prevalence of good sense on India’s aggressive neighbours in the West and North East;

(4) Last, but not the least, a complete unity amongst various communities in India based on mutual respect for each other’s religious freedom, food habits, territorial integrity, language and gender.

When the chips are down

And conditions are overcast

No news can be better than Christmas

To lift the spirits and happiness that lasts!

Let Santa empty his bag of happiness

Containing love, respect, peace and prosperity

And take in the same bag with him

Hatred, aversion, mistrust and enmity!

Merry Christmas to all of you! May this Christmas bring unbounded joy and happiness for all of you.

As my readers know, I closely follow Urdu press and this includes publications originating from our neighbouring country too that’s currently facing political turmoil.

Yesterday I read two interesting things in Urdu press that very pointedly highlighted that problems of politics are not necessarily what bother ordinary citizens and as usual both the pieces are full of irony and bitter truth. The first one a couplet read:

समझते हैं कहाँ बारीक चालें

हमें आतीं हैं बातें मोटी मोटी

सियासी चक्करों में क्या पड़े हम

हमारा मसला है दाल रोटी!

The above is loosely translatable as:

We don’t understand finer nuances

We only see the big picture

Why waste time political bickering

Our issue is simple hunger!

The other is a piece by Sadat Hasan Manto that also needs to be first quoted ad verbatim and then translated. It says:

दुनिया में जितनाी लानतें हैं, भूख उनकी माँ है – भूख गदागरी सिखाती है। भूख जरायम की तरगीब देती है । भूख अस्मत फरोशी पर मजबूर करती है । भूख इंतहापसंदी का सबक़ देती है । इसका हमला बहुत शदीद, वार बहुत भरपूर और ज़ख़्म बहुत गहरा होता है । भूख दीवाने पैदा करती – दीवानगी भूख पैदा नहीं करती!

Hunger is the worst of all the evils – it teaches begging. It tilts one towards crimes. It forces one to sell his/her honour. It gives lessons in extremism. It’s attack is most severe, onslaught most powerful and wound extremely deep. Hunger leads to obsession – obsession doesn’t lead to hunger!

Isn’t the message loud and clear. Satisfaction of hunger is the key to socio economic problems and the issues that make the headlines in media are tertiary – not even secondary. Along with hunger, I will add education also. If we can satisfy hunger and educate our masses, lots of problems that repeatedly stare us in the face can be addressed.