The Triumph Of Good Over Evil

The Triumph Of Good Over Evil

 

For me the long wait has finally ended. I was eagerly waiting for the third book of Siva Trilogy series ever since i read the earlier parts. After reading the book. I felt it was worth waiting.

The third book started on a good note. The second book left the readers with a suspense and hence there has been amazing curiosity  about how the story would proceed. The third one-"The oath of  The Vayaputras"  has a beautiful plot and it unfolded the mystery uniquely.The story takes us through a series of wars ending in massive blood shed. War strategies and the technology used at that time was elegantly narrated. The plots and the graduation culmination of numerous characters was  good. Part 1&2 deals greatly with the Meluhans and the Nagas the role of the Vayaputras  is highlighted in this part.

 

The central theme of the Siva Trilogy is about Good Vs Evil. I could find a high level of maturity in writing in the last book. It beautifully explained how over exploitation of any good technology would lead to evil effects. All the Mythological characters associated with The Story of the Siva were emphatically designed and towards the end of the story we could actually identify the characters by their strong personalities. Like Lord Ganesha , Lord Kartik who share a deep brotherly affections, especially the war tactics, courage displayed, maturity shown. I really marvel the creativity of the author, articulation of various characters at the right time. His writing marked commencement of a  new era in  Indian fiction writing.  

Some of the lines in the book like "We become gods when we realise that a part of universal divinity  lies in us" simply speak about his philosophical mindset. Just like most of our Mythological stories, these books has conveyed clear message – like association with evil would definitely lead to a sure disaster. True happiness always lies in upholding dharma and contributing yourself for a good cause . A simile of Banyan tree has been used to describe the character of Daksha who couldn’t completely evolve under the tutelage of his dominating father. His  feeble decisions boomeranged and ultimately his foolish love for his daughter resulted in annihilation of a mighty empire.

Lord Siva, The Neelkanth, the saviour was shown as a man with strong character who would vouch for truth and follow dharma. He was a true leader as he could bring people of different tribes under one flag and drawn battle lines to lead the country towards ultimate good. Lord Siva who is known for his deepest love for his consort Sati Devi was exquisitely depicted. Amish is undoubtedly on his way to becoming the Paul Coelho of the east.

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Atypical Voyage To Mars

Atypical Voyage To Mars 

 

I was thrilled when I heard the news about the ambitious plans of a private company  in U.S to explore planet Mars pioneered by a millionaire Dennis Tito. What caught my attention during their announcement is "The inspiration" Mars foundation plans to send a tested old couple on a human space flight to Mars for one and half years (501days).

 

 Scientists  in general are known for their shrewdness and professional commitment. A justification by them to send an old couple on a mission to Mars vouches for their deep seated approval on consolidated human relationships. Their endorsement of a good personal relations as a key for keeping the spirit of adventure and morale high among individuals is a note worthy observation. Nowadays most of us are undermining the importance of good family support for accomplishing great feats in life. This kind of announcement made by the scientists is highly valuable.

 

The foundation is actively searching for a old couple who have been married and  had children too. As the amount of radiation they might be exposed during the course of their voyage might lead to infertility. Earlier space flights made by younger couple for few months have yielded good results, in terms of their psychological health. Under the current project, individuals on board have to lead a life of confinement for one and half years.  Funders of the project opined that couple who are old enough and having an endearing relationship would be an ideal choice. Having lived together for years each of them would have mutual trust, respect and affections towards each other. This is essential for staying balanced and thus they will be ready to  face any adversities during their adventurous journey. 

 

Mars -500 project plans to send the space vehicle to Mars by the year 2018 as Mars would align closer to earth, which would otherwise take 2-3 years.  Usually space flights are undertaken by professionally trained and accomplished astronauts. But their decision to send a couple has send a different kind of message to the world. They wanted the couple to represent humanity and wanted them to be role models for young girls and boys. Perhaps, it is an attempt to emphasise the importance of human relationships, the warmth and the affection in the sacred institution of marriage. A strong personal relation could withstand stress and resilient people can confront adversity.

 

Inspiration- Space Craft to The Mars

 When the intellectual chunk of the society realises the importance of relationships and family support, future generation is safe as they would grow up in society which is safe and caring. This attitude will have desirable impact on the society as a whole.  We are living at cross roads. Youth started believing that entering into personal relationships like marriage is going to be a great hindrance to their careers. With the result there have been a sudden spurt in different tribe who prefer staying single (either as bachelors/spinsters). Extreme stress and cut throat competitiveness  experienced,  by youngsters, who haven't received enough parental support are finding solace in abusive habits. Indian society is considered to be highly traditional and widely acclaimed for their culture,  of living in families. Our ancestors having realised the strength of kinship formatted the  present society. The idea of sending a couple shows the inclination of west towards a family oriented society.

 

Where is our present generation actually heading?  Are they trying to be pseudo-west, who wish to  embrace the mirth of happy family lives. It is time to understand the vivacity of  forging life long relationships that help to tide adversities and stress experienced by the majority.

 

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Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings

Whenever we encounter any problem the very first question that strikes our mind is why me? But during the moments of happiness we never even bother to ask the same question.

Just a clear understanding about life and our expectations about it can set right things. In this context it is important to define what constitutes a problem?  Most often, problems  are the most difficult decisions we need to make in life. These are also matters involving doubt, uncertainty and difficulty. If we consider any hiccups in life to be greatest problem, no matter how richly you are endowed with resources of happiness , life seems to be doomed. Objectively, there is not a single living being without a problem. It is very important not be intimidated by slightest disturbances.  When we face a problem, it is always best to accept and own them. Instead of blaming somebody else for it. It is important to realise that we control our own destiny.

On a lighter note, I feel I am fortunate when compared to millions of people  to have luxury of  good education, which enlightened my intellect to  put forth my ideas on a public platform. Most of us fail to recognise our true potentialities , inner strengths  and tend to give up our resolve during crucial times. It is time to muster courage and boost confidence. May be it is time to count on our blessings instead of lamenting about the problems which we encounter in life. A little change in the attitude might bring a new light and brightness into our lives.

 



 

"All the problems in the world could be settled easily if men are willing to think. The trouble is men very often resort to all sort of devices in order not to think, because thinking is such a hard work".

 –Thomas J Watson

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Ramifications of Outsourcing And Offshoring: An Indian Perspective

Ramifications of outsourcing and off shoring: An Indian Perspective

Past two decades have witnessed a great change in the Indian social and economic scenario. A move towards globalisation has opened up the economy for the new trends- off shoring and outsourcing. Two major industries: IT and BPO have generated employment to millions of Indians. There has been substantial increase in the foreign exchange cash flows through a steady increase in IT & ITES  industries.

Just as everything comes with a price. Outsourcing comes with its share of burdens and implications on the economy.  India  must understand the long standing repercussions. IT companies and BPO's  are now slowly experiencing the tremors. BPOs  are  already experiencing saturation and there seems to be hardly any more growth and bleak chances of further employment generation in this front. IT companies are now bored of doing same kind of repetitive work as the most advanced and technologically challenging work is never outsourced. This kind of trade is not going to be beneficial for a developing country like India on a long run.

 

Though outsourcing  has given a good boost up for the economy. It has generated a hype and adoration for western kind of life style in the newly evolving breed of tech-savvy people. Further, concentration of the IT hubs in cities eventually lead to mushrooming of satellite towns around the major cities. The existing fragile network of the cities is further weakened by   mass migration from villages, thus exerting a great pressure on scarce resources of the cities. IT boom has created great rift in society due to huge difference in income levels of the techies and the rest which might lead to a growing resentment and frustration among the poor.

 

Under the garb of development and growth country is at tremendous risk of putting the meagre natural resources under pressure.  Several farm lands around cities are cleared for constructing big infrastructures to house the IT centres.  This is massive blow to the delicate environmental balance of urban ecosystems.  Several  smart and educated graduates employed for a fraction of wages are grossly unaware of  exploitation. Every new technology they developed or every  new program worked out generates intellectual property.  By potentially surrendering their rights over this property they are empowering the multinationals with the ownership of several patents. Intellectual Property rights would eventually be claimed by the multinationals and our future generations would end up paying huge amount of royalties for availing the same technologies. 

Developing country like India with an overwhelming population of 1.2 billion and meagre energy resources should have a strategic planning.  Huge population has been both a boon and  bane. But for a stable economy the prerogative should be a sustainable growth with long term planning. Still majority of the population are deprived of the basic amenities like- food, shelter, health care, sanitation and primary education. Development should bring change in standard of living of the masses.

 

Future economic policies must concentrate on development and regulated use of the available natural resources. Government must identify core areas of development and should strive to attain a holistic growth. First and foremost priority should be to have renewable power with low polluting energy resources, water purification & conservation and reliable health care. Energy independent country can boost growth of industrial and manufacturing sector which provides gainful employment. Major thrust should be on Biotechnology and pharmaceuticals industry  to produce vaccines, life saving drugs and contraceptives for effective population control. Concerted efforts should be made to  build good infrastructure, transport facilities and supply chains that can transform the economy.

A global economy needs to have a hawk-eye in protecting the intellectual property rights.  So far, outsourcing had a significant impact on the urban economy but the rural economy is largely untouched. Any industry must be capable of bringing about noticeable change in wider sections of the country. The impact of this new trend has been confined to few sectors. Thus  a lopsided development might be dangerous as it might increase existing disparities.

 

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Outsourcing And Offshoring

Outsourcing and off shoring

 

Most people conflate these two terms, Outsourcing and Off shoring. Outsourcing is contracting out a part of the business process to a third party / organisation. Whereas off shoring is relocating a part of the business process or the business unit to a different country. Off shoring results in creation of jobs in a different country, i.e offshore. This eventually results in sending off jobs to offshore country. These two issues have been the bone of contention in recently held U.S. Presidential Elections. These terms have changed the facade of Indian Economy to a considerable extent with IT exports of more than $10 billion annually. The effects have been imminent. It has paved way for the creation of vibrant middle class, which is more empowered and started dreaming of a bright and unbridled world.

 

Companies like GE have flagged their presence in India by setting up their first off-shore fully equipped private office in Gurgaon in 1997. Slowly several IT companies from west started percolating Indian markets by establishing state-of-art centres at various locations in India. During 1990’s rapidly developing west has found developing countries to be a lucrative places for setting up their offshore offices. Adequate availability of skills and lower labour costs have been the rationale behind setting up their fleet. Productivity was high as people were willing to work in night shifts. This has increased their profit margins. Further, governments of putative off shore counties stretched out themselves by providing subsidies and tax holidays to promote their investments.

 

Countries like China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand have been favoured for setting up bigger manufacturing units. India has lagged behind in wooing manufacturing industries owing to poor infrastructure and lack of supply network chains. But India has been a hot favourite for business services, especially IT owing to availability of good number of graduates/Engineers every year. Good English speaking and communication abilities has given India an edge over other east Asian countries. Philippines has been another contender with India for business services owing to their closeness to the American connections and English accent of majority of the people was good.

 

China prevailed as the most preferred off-shore destination country for three decades. Consistent financial growth over past one decade has changed the face of the Chinese economy. There has been rapid increase in the labour wages. Labour unions became stronger entities. Strikes have become a common event drastically effecting the productivity. Slowly, it moved away from the status of "sought after off-shore" to that of a "lucrative market". This has changed the dynamics of the off shoring and outsourcing marketing strategies of Western countries. Big companies are no longer able to maintain their profit margins due to costly labour. Added to this increase in transport, freight charges and the exercise duties had a dampening effect. Transportation of goods to the potential markets was taking weeks. Business become counter-productive. As a result, companies are making a big U-turn and slowly shifting the manufacturing units nearer to R&D so that innovation doesn’t lack behind. Some of them are venturing into far east Asian countries like Thailand, Indonesia where labour wages are nominal.

 

The financial crisis in 2008 world has hard hit the world economy, leading to major revamp of business strategies by major companies. With mounting political pressures in home countries, due to rise in the unemployment, companies are forced to "re-shore". Owing to threat of job displacement, semi-skilled workers are willing to work for optimum wages. This sudden change in the attitude of the workers has started turning tables in favour of parent companies. Re shoring business can cut down transport charges and delivery of goods to markets will be faster. R&D can also make quick advances this would result in better innovations. Already companies like GE, GM are seriously contemplating on re-shoring businesses. If this trend continues, off shoring will be completely withdrawn by 2025 (The Economist). Optimal profit calculations indicate, if labour cost makes upto 15% or less of their product costs, it is advisable to re shore.

 

America and Britain are two major giants that has off shored most of their business activities. Economic scenario in Europe is little different. It has large number of family owned business and those companies tend to be loyal to the countries of origin. In Europe, labour markets are relatively inflexible and costly. Due to restrictive rules in firing employees it is difficult and expensive to shut down capacity. Most firms are held back by political and social pressures especially in Italy and Spain. But some of them are contemplating the idea of “near-shoring”like sending of their workto eastern European countries where wages are little lower and this also avoids some of the transport costs and cultural differences of sending back the product to their home countries.

 

In spite of serious thoughts of re shoring, Western countries have major set backs. Poor out turn of graduates and high school drop out is major hindrance for obtaining personnel. If they plan to re shore, majority of the processes will be highly automated hence the manpower requirement will be less. World class skills and training, along with flexibility and motivation of workers, extensive cluster of supplies and sensible regulation will still thrust areas.

 

Outsourcing and off shoring had a great impact on the economies of developing countries. If major stake holders wish to pull back their investments, nations would experience severe monetary losses in terms of exports of services. They would be immediately burdened with the arduous task of providing employment to the educated youth. Though it might have great impact initially, nations would be forced to rethink about alternative strategies to better their individual economies.

 

 

 

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Appraising Child's Skills

Appraising Child's Skill

Now a days one of the biggest problems faced by parents in nuclear families is rising a child. Parents are really preplexed about the future of their children. The biggest question before them always see to be : "how will my child succeed’’? .  The answer is : there is no quick-fix solution.  But most of them seem to be obssessed with the idea of dumping the younger minds with tonnes of information  from a very early age.  Most of them think that equipping the child with all the known information might keep in good stead and thus would help him in long run. This idea needs to be totally revamped and should altogether be abandoned. Just making them as walking encyclopeadias would be counter productive. Due to this irrational thinking, most of the kids are forced to endure ruthless schooling.

I guess it is the time to change, reinvent the our education system which is onerous and robbing the kid of their beautiful childhood. Lets take a look at the subject from a scientific angle. Each individual is endowed with two kinds of skills-cognitive and non-cognitive skills. It is very important in this context to realise that each child is endowed with unique skill set.

Cognitive skills  refers to ' cognition'  and mainly refers to things like memory, ability to learn new information, speech, understanding of written material. These are mostly  brain-based/mental skills. Brain is capable of learning all these skills from a very younger age. With age these skills diminish. But, cognitive abilities can be improved at any age. These are the skills which can be objectively assessed and all our kids undergo different tests in schools. These are the tests we totally really on to count on the intelligence of the child. These skills can be enhanced by rote learning.  This is just the academic intelligence and we often believe that individuals who excel in these cognitive skills are brainy and smart. A good grade in these skills naturally ensures a good graduation percentage. But this alone is not enough for a successful career.

Non-cognitive skills on the other hand, are inter-personal skills and cann’t be objectively measure. Persistance, self-control, curiosity, consientiousness, grit and self-confidence- termed as soft skills or meta-cognitive learning skills.  Not mind –based skills.  Emotional maturity, verbal and non-verbal communication, empathy are all traits of this skill set.  Special curriculum, in schools are not yet developed improve these skills. Parents are the people who can impart them. Sometimes they are innate, sometimes family intervention, help in improving these skills. Can be developed through deliberate learning, practice or experience. Better non-cognitive skills can help in improving cognitive skills but unfortunately, vice-versa is not true. Non-cognitive skills-sets of behaviour, skills, attitudes and strategies  are crucial to academic performance.

Since the system of education and organisations are entirely dedicated to the cognitive hypothesis. This is taken as standard measure for testing the intelligence of the child. Strong parent-child interactions in the early stages helps child’s mind and body to cope up with the future stress. Real problem is parenting, we find most of them are not parenting. During adoloscent stage it becomes very important to teach certain skills in person. There is no computer assisted learning program to teach some qualities like grit, perseverance, patience. Ultimately the character of a person is the one which helps him to succeed in life.  Character of the person includes both the skill sets. Truly leadership, which is key to the success is determined by skills like- self-awareness, high emotional intelligence quotient, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Traditionally, success is  associated qualities like determination, intelligence, vision, toughness  but they are insufficient.

Other things which play a crucial role include- goal-setting, time management and self-regulated learning. Social and emotional develoment of children is very important for over all development of a child. Efforts should me made to inculcate a positive attitude/ positive environment in learning places. Increasing emphasis on development of cognitive skills at a very early age may not be helpful on a long run. Tools for developing the emotional intelligence of the child may be a path for greater student success.

 Studies show  that children who are subjected to traumatic , stressful, disadvantaged  environment during early childhood are not likely to succeed. As these intimidating circumstances  have a profound  effect on skill development.

 

A detailed analysis shows that  good parenting alone can ensure success in children's life. A good parent-child interaction is crucial for development of child's personality. Instead of hankering for admitting in expensive schools and forcing  them go through hours of study parents should spend their valuable time with their children to safeguard child's future.

 

 

 

 

 

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Pain Is The Window To The World

Pain is the window to the world

Any person who hasn’t ever experienced any pain would never understand  the essence of life. Though  it is foolishness to anticipate pain but  in reality it is frightening  to live through it. Pain is not just living out of comfortable zone. It is such an excruciating feeling that each and every cell of the body would experience it.  It would leave a deep impression in the mind. A life without any hardships can never know the real picture of the world.

Pain altogether changes the total personality and fine tunes the attitude and transforms a person.  The change would be to the core. A change which would stay with them till to the death and lessons learnt after experiencing pain would stay forever.

But the most difficult part of course has always been the courage to undergo the writhing pain. Pain can tear the chambers of mind, heart and soul. In the process it cleanses the whole system and person himself would be totally appalled by the new out look he has gained.

The hardships, disappointments, humiliations, defeats faced during a life time would definitely leave their trail. A person of wisdom and character would make pain as stepping stone for climbing up the ladder in the right royal way. The heart that feels and the mind that deals with the utter despair will  find expression in various forms. Behind every beautiful thing lies pain. All the master pieces in different fields-like music, dance, art, painting, sculpture, sciences, literature  in most of the cases are brain child of pent up anger and pain experienced by people. People who could successfully channelise their energies after undergoing greatest suffering have made miraculous contributions to the world.

People who can endure pain and go through it will rise as champions in life. Most people lack the guts to endure the pain. The moment we master it, a path breaking success will lie ahead in life. For without pain there can be no pleasure. Without sadness there can be no happiness, without misery no beauty. Without all these, life is endless, hopeless and doomed. The world with all its beauties lying around would never seem to be so wonderful and the nature around us would never be alluring. Had people not experienced misery.

 

" Tragedy can be successfully utilised as a source of strength. No matter what sort of difficulties , how painful the experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our disaster"-  Dalai Lama XIV

 

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