Pearls Of Wisdom: Day 3

1. Going North or South ?
Which way is the economy headed ?  Naina Kidwai, P Chidambaram and  YV Reddy

Indicators of Economy
1. Gross Fixed Capital Production (GFCP)
2. Private Sector Investment
3. Credit Growth (Small/Medium)
4. Jobs (Macro/Anecdotal)

GFCP: Demonetisation has affected SME
Private Sector Investment: Downsized.
Credit Growth: Vibrant Banking Sector (Private)
Jobs: Labour Ministry created 20 lakh jobs. It has been the lowest in 20 years.

Joblessness is a measure of the economy. Job Growth is an indicator of the economy. Bank Credit Growth is the driver of Economic Growth.

Growth rate: 2002-2003: 8 %
                     2003-2008: 9 %
                     2015: 7 %

Government regulation should be consistent for the long term. For the time being future is uncertain.

2. Muhammad Yunus: A world of three zeroes. Fixing the blue dot Jairam Ramesh. 

Current problem in today's word are identified.

The problems identified are the worlds unfortunate reality and is here to stay.

Global Warming: Ecosystem is not able to accommodate the  current trend.

There is no 1 silver bullet to solve the problem. All should get together and collaborate before the world runs out of time. Given the right incentives one can deal with existential crisis. Neo Classical Economics needs to be debunked with the right approach. The solutions should be focused on addressing the issues of Neo Classical Economics.

Issues of Neo Classical Economics: Wealth Concentration (Absurd Dimension) and Poverty (System imposed design to leave people behind)

It is time to address the issue of Economic Growth VS Ecological Growth. One has to realize that ecological problems are global and it has no boundaries.

3. Stories about food, Mark Kurlansky

Food is a way to a mans heart. Al tough it is a woman again who got the mans heart when it comes  to food.

4. Crossing the line (Writing to offend) Allan Sealy, Gary Shteyngart and Jeet Thayil

Art is like a lamppost trying to shed light on the side walk. The dog that pees on it is the critique. 

Taking offense has now become a full time job for like minded people interested in making money. Humor is the coping mechanism to subvert the traditional narrative. 

5. Schooling Not School, Filling the education gap. James Tooley, Kiran Karnik and TM Krishna

Educating the mind and ruling out the heart is not educating at all. 

Critical Thinking: Learning how to learn. 

Ideas of innovation and creativity should be addressed sooner than later. 

Critical thinking puts emphasis on rationality. 

6. Kommune@LitLive

God dwells in you. There is somebody in me to make the power come true. 

Life is not meant to be easy but one can take it as a challenge and overcome it.

Ignore  1st world problems and think of the real problems plaguing the world. 

More than meets the eye has been and will be the norm and one walks straight right into the trap laid out for you.

7. The Big Fellow, Ireland freedom fighter Michael Collins. 

Dead Michael Collins back from the grave narrates his own story and sheds light on the Irish War of Independence. 

Pearls Of Wisdom: Day 2

1. Boom Country: The new wave of Indian entrepreneurs
Alan Rosling, Mukund Rajan and Thomas Friedman 

India as a boom country is thriving on the basis of its cost advantage. One cannot rely on cost as a competitive advantage. Culturally one has always looked up to Innovation which India lacks.

Willingness and capabilities to take risk is failing. In order to avoid such inclinations the country has to celebrate its success (Role Models). It has focus on the dimension of emulation rather than compulsion. The Government of India cannot solve India's problems.

Thomas Friedman:

The rapidly growing disease in America as per US Surgeon General is Isolation. New Business Platforms are launched in the US after knowing the current trend of isolation. One has to tap into the trend/mood of the country. Connecting heart to heart is the fastest growing business. This model has proven to be successful by Airbnb. Airbnb has set a trend of selling experiences. People are monetizing passion and interest by selling experiences. The most important thing to be successful in such ventures is to have a Trust Platform. Trust is a legal performance enhancing drug. Trust can take people so far so fast.

The current trend that makes the cut is CQ+PQ > IQ 
Curiosity Quotient+Passion Quotient>Intellectual Quotient 
Trust+Educate+Innovate. 


2. The History Of Paper: Mark Kurlansky

History has no beginning and a end. The chronicles of history are documented on paper.

Paper was originally invented in Cairo. 3 inventions that came out from China and changed the world were gun powder, paper and printing. The tremendous need of the written word led them to the discovery of Paper. The words of Confucius needs to be written (Philosophy/Religion). In a way necessity is the mother of all inventions. Paper from China went to Korea Japan and India. Chinese used paper before any civilization.

Europeans initially were not interested in paper. They relied on parchment (Animal skin) as it lasted forever. 60-80 animals are needed to make a book in parchment. Only as they got interested in sciences they started making power.

Reason is the law of the world. Things have come out of rationality. Protestant Reformation is bed rock of  printing press. Gutenberg invented the Printing Press in 15 th century. Protestant Reformation was built on printed material. Most paper used today is made up of wood pulp.

Technology creates alternatives. Alternatives have not replaced existing technology. Vinyl records are becoming popular. Parchment is still used today for every British law. 

3. Poet Laureate: Keki Daruwala 

The world has not turned strange.
You are the strange.
The world will still be there the same way when you leave the world.
Perception about truth is equally important.
Atonement through blood should be made at center of earth in volcanic rock.
Al tough change is the way of life. Life has many dimensions.

4. Thank you for being late: Thomas Friedman 

1. New stories are meant to inform.

2. Column is meant to provoke. Illumination, values (gears and pulleys) make the heat and light of the column.

3. One should take the permission from himself to press pause on the human being it is. One has to reflect and rethink on how the whole machine in the world we live in works .

4. The world machine works on Politics, Geopolitics, Workplace, Ethics and Community.

5. Interaction of Markets, Mother Nature and Moores Law is reshaping the world we live in.

6. More Moores Law More Globalisation.

7. 2007 is the year that translates Moores law in reality. 2007 is the year of the apple iphone, facebook, twitter, youtube, android, kindle, airbnb, vmware, flipkart and cyberwar between Russia and Estonia.

8. Technology is accelerating above a human beings significant ability to act. In todays one needs to be a lifelong learner to meet interesting standards. Gone are the day that one can float with a 4 yr college degree. One should have a agile learning mindset to dodge the bullet.

9. God manifest in us in how we behave.

5. Seventy and to hell with it: Shobha De  

Air pollution can be controlled. Intellectual pollution is far more dangerous. One needs to train themself to withdraw.

Every choice in life is a political act. Any act done by a human being in life is not blind. Human actions are instinctive. Man instincts are deep rooted in being a political animal.

Circumstances make you the person you become. One needs to be reflective and dismiss the prejudice of society that impacts you.

6. A Life in Poetry: Javed Akhtar

Life is a war and play. We are the same person but we have new audiences. Art is a collective dream of the society. Dreams compel you to do something new.

7. X AND Y

A play about eyes cannot see what your mind  does not know.

Pearls Of Wisdom - Day 1

1. Simple way to understand people is to listen to their stories. 
2. A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. 
3. All views on any subject should carry reason and logic. Dissenting and Contrary views are the essence of democracy.
4. Provoking ideas/Flights of Imagination/Appreciation of Life are the parts of a colorful canvas. 
5. Only Literature will encompass our senses by emerging new ideas.

1. You gave us Cricket We gave you curry Who got the better deal: Shashi Tharror and Peter Frankopan 

Multiple narratives of colonial history are seen through the historians lens. Many of them are brushed under the carpet.

The British Empire have left behind a lot of things. Indians cannot disavow a lot of legacy left behind by the British Empire. Whatever left behind was never intended and meant to benefit the Indians. One can take Tea given by the British to India as a example. The British used to import tea from China. With increasing demand of tea in Britain it decided to start the Opium wars with China. In the course of Opium wars Britain sent spies to China to get a hold of tea bushes. They got few and started cultivating tea in India to meet their supplies. Economic recession hit England later and the demand for tea spiraled. There was more than enough produce of tea lying in Indian storage sites. In order to make use of the existing supplies Britain decided to give Tea to India.

Hence one can safely say

Empires imply their views as a way of life. 

Empires loot, conquer, pillage and rule for themselves. 

Empires crush the opposition and dont give them any space.

On the other hand Britain got Curry (Chicken Tikka Masala) from India is wrong. Interestingly Chicken Tikka Masala has got nothing to do with India. British Football Hooligans are behind the Discovery of Chicken Tikka Masala. Chicken Tikka is a dry dish that comes from India. Only when asked for the sauce that the chef decided to open up a can of Campbell Tomato Puree that led to the discovery of Chicken Tikka Masala. Since then there is no looking back and Curry is now the national dish of Britain. 

Needless to say the Empire got the better deal with brains and talent. Idiots cannot make things work.

Indians showed the British brutalization in their own light by shaming them. Eventually they got rid of the Empire from striking back.

Whenever the whole plot sounds like a STAR WARS (Empire  Strikes Back) movie the Empire always wins. 

2. 1984 by George Orwell (Allan Sealy, Jeet Thayil, Margaret Drabble)

It deals with the scrutiny of human actions by ever watchful Big Brother. This dystopian Blade Runner novel was well ahead of its time. It talks about the fantasy of control and paranoid which paints a grey future. Interesting many of the books prediction have come true in this modern day world we live in. The book was actually intended to warn the public about Government Control. In todays world one can relate George Orwell to Edward Snowden. 

History is changed, distorted and manipulated with Big Brother in all of our lives. 

Truth is no longer valued. Real truth is substituted with alternative facts (Post Truth). 

3. The Silk Route, Peter Frankopan 

One needs to see the Big Picture in this interconnected worlds we live in. The common ground (Silk Route) is where connections have been and will be made. Silk Route is where global exchange of high value goods take place. Sense of the world has been made aware by the Silk Route. Even today a dent in one emerging market can be felt at other markets. One can get a receptive sense of the world with Silk Route in their lives.

Persia used to be the cradle of civilization in 300-400 that dominated the globe. 

4. Fiction as a fact. Living in the post truth world  (AC Grayling, Thomas Friedman and Uday Singh Mehta)

Post truth: An attempt to express ones opinion and persuade it to promote their own agenda.

One has to spot the difference between free speech and cheap speech to avoid getting entangled in modern day worlds Post Truth Crisis. 

To avoid getting post truth one has too review multiple sources (how and by whom truth is established). One has to also check the Public perception of truth (majority). Only after following the bias protocol should one believe in facts presented by sources. In short one needs critical analysis to check verify and get the facts. 

The world which we live in is made up of Alternative Facts. Cheap speech threatens free speech. People make money by making stuff up. Post truth has transformed political environment globally. Post truth is a conversation with no defined boundaries. With post truth we then decide what we want to believe.

Lie is a deliberate act to misdirect people. 

Post Truth: Person believes in the lie himself.

Lie VS Post Truth (Spot the Odd Man out)

5.  Debate: We Are Living In A Nanny State 

For the motion: Makarand Paranjpe and Shashi Tharoor 

Against the motion: Chandan Mitra and Sunil Alagh 

Chair: Vir Sanghvi 

The term Nanny State was coined by Ian Mcleod . Nanny state is a state that interferes with peoples personal choices and  lives. 

For the motion: Makarand Paranjpe and Shashi Tharoor 

BJP and its allies won the right to form the largest majority government on 14 th May 2014. 

The newly elected government won the general elections with the promise to transform India with Minimum Government and Maximum Governance. 

The newly elected Government failed to deliver it promises with growing controversy day in and day out since coming in power. 

Policies implemented by the newly elected Government:

1. Ban on Beef. Attempt by the Government to dictate peoples food habits. 

2. Demonetization/GST 

3. 3 taxes implemented

4. Censorship (Withdrawal of 2 films in IFFI)

5. Homophobic Laws (Existing)

6. Anti Romeo Squad 

By implementing such archaic laws (ban on beef) one knows what is best for the country. We here are babies and the government our nannies by telling us what needs to be done. 

Ones kitchen, bedroom and personal life is not the problem of the state. 

The state should focus its attention on public policy, welfare measures and safe borders. 

Against the motion: Chandan Mitra and Sunil Alagh 

India is not a disciplinarian state. Indian Government can be called as a benevolent nanny. Benevolent nanny have a motherly side to her. It is not a government that rules with a iron fist unlike other middle eastern counties.  Triple Talaq laws in India are changed.

The current government has come in power by nudging the society. They have nudged the society by pushing their home agenda. The current government believes in no policy without politics unlike the Congress government which nudges itself on the basis of policy without politics. 

Policies implemented in other countries.

Singapore (Restricted to eat chewing gums)

China (1 child policy)

Middle Eastern Countries (No secular laws)

US (Harsh Nanny is out there)

Healthy conflicts should have a conversation which the current Government stands up to.

We dont have a Nanny state as long as we live in a Democracy. 

Winner: For the motion: Makarand Paranjpe and Shashi Tharoor 

Point Of View

Two people don't 'see' things in the exact same way ever. The art of seeing is also selective and subjective

History often deceives and lies, distorts and exaggerates. Just like movies none judge history. History has many versions depending on who witnessed what and which person faithfully chronicled those events.

The many rich and varied histories of the world are still being written and challenged. This is done with evidence based on folklore, myths and popular legends.

With evidence one has to stand up to cultural bullies and do it as one. Hurt sentiments which one talks about are made up on irrational beliefs.

Vote

Daddy

It

Shady

Evanescence

Evanescence in Life 

Story Of Mankind: Canard

If it is really out there it will always be out there in us. 

All we have done is forgotten about it.