Tuesday 28 August 2018

"Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief that she's beautiful"


Very rarely you see an advertisement weaving a beautiful poem and manages to present an impact message.

I don't think Bhima Jewelers have placed this advertisement in Television for full 6 minutes, as it will be very costly for them

I am reminded of Bill Bernbach (Advertising Icon) quotes:

“Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make.”

“Rules are what the artist breaks; the memorable never emerged from a formula”

“In advertising, not to be different is virtually suicidal”

Bhima Jewelers Advertisement have managed to convey message from the above quotes spectacularly.

The tag line used by Bhima Jewelers was brilliant:

"Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief that she's beautiful."

The video is worth watching for its ability to convey message why Woman Represents Beauty.


 Aliveni Yentu Cheyvu is a poem written by Swati Thirunal. The poem is shared below:

Pallavi
aLivENi enthu chey_vu
hantha njaanini maanini

Anupallavi
naLinamizhi Sree padmanaabhan iha vanneelallO


Charanam 1
induyuthayaam niSayum indindiraadiravavum
mandamaaruthanum chaaru malayajaalEpanavum
kundajaathi sumangaLum kOmaLaanggi sakhi
sundaran varaanjaal, lOkasundaran….,
thrilOkasundaran…, varaanjaalayE
cholka kim mE prayOjanam


Charanam 2
paariTaththil ahO bahu
bhaagyavathi aakumEvaL
saarasaakshanOTu kooTi
saamOdam ramichcheeTunnu
neerilthaar Sara sadr~San
nithyam ingu varum maarggam
paaram nOkkuvathinnayi
baashpam innu vairiyaayi

Translation of the above in English is presented below:
Oh ALIVENI!- tresses having the hue of black bee! Alas! What shall I do now? Oh MANINI- the respectable lady! Lotus-eyed SRI PADMANAHA has not come yet! What shall I do?

Oh KOMALANGI- having a charming form! Tell me, what is the use of all these? The humming of the bees, the gentle breeze, sandal paste and the fragrant flowers like jasmine etc., if my beloved does not turn up?


I do not know who is the blessed damsel on this earth, enjoying the company of SARASAKSHA, the one who resembles Cupid! I keep looking out for Him to come by the usual path. I cannot see, as my eyes are brimming with tears.


Has my darling forgotten all the sweet words he uttered when we were together? Oh KAMBUKANTHI -one with a neck like a conch! Don't delay anymore. Please tell Him my miserable state and bring Him at once to me.”

Friday 24 August 2018

Nullified Work of Life


AM Naik (76 years – Birth : 9 June 1942) , longtime head of Larsen & Toubro in its 73rd Annual General Meeting asked marshals to throw out a shareholder for asking inconvenient questions.

The question specially pertained to construction of a Cancer Hospital in memory of his Grand Daughter Nirali at Powai Campus (Mumbai).

In short, personal dream over a Listed Companies property.

Why blame owners of company when they start foundations and name it over their family members.

What is unique, in this case, AM Naik started as an employee , rose up and remained an employee. He was not founder of Larsen & Toubro.

The question is will SEBI (The Securities and Exchange Board of India) take action on AM Naik?

I know we Indians are very emotional and even though top management keeps chanting separate emotions while taking decisions, they end up doing so themselves.

There is no doubt AM Naik is highly philanthropic individual. The cause is very noble and beneficial to poor people.

But there are some unanswered questions:
  • Did board members object use of Company land for personal philanthropic activity?
  • Why AM Naik did not think of buying a plot elsewhere and construct a hospital over there?
  • Why Powai and not Hazira, Ranoli, Coimbatore or Talegaon? Considering the land price in Powai and number of hospitals in Mumbai?
  • Did the Shareholder asked personal questions or it was within his rights to pursue it?
  • Was there one member (including Board Members, Proxy firms, Private Equity, Mutual Fund investors) who stood up and objected to Mr. Naik when marshals were instructed to evict a shareholder?

Questions by shareholder were very much valid:

"The land belongs to the collector who has given the licence to the company for manufacturing till 2019. How can you demolish it? We are not fools. How can the structure be demolished before 2019 and build a hospital and residential units? Let shareholders know,"

Second question was a very apt one:

Another shareholder wondered why Naik, who retired last September should continue to call the shots. "At 75, tell me Mr Naik, why can't you sit at home and play with the kids."

Answer from Subramanyan SN (Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director) was very weird:

"Naik has been with this company from nowhere to whatever he is today. And I hope all of you benefited during his tenure including four bonus issues and now a buyback and dividend. Now at 75, he has retired and is only a non- executive chairman."

Managing Director has directly nullified all the other employees’ contribution by making above statement. It seems the bonus issues, buyback and dividend was paid from Mr Naik’s personal wealth. Mr.Subramanyam has forgotten that Mr. Naik was well paid as an employee with Larsen and Toubro. I think he should check how much bonus issues were given at Wipro (11 bonus issues since 1981).

When Managing Director makes above statement I think we all can believe who runs the board and the control wielded by AM Naik at Larsen & Toubro.

Now why I think AM Naik is not the role model:
  • He said that besides his father, grandfather, Mr. Baker and Mr. Pherwani “He is a self made man”. I believe "Self Made" is to be described by others not by self.
  • He stated “Zero time to my wife and no time to my children”. He regrets for not giving time to family. He worked for 18 hours a day.
  • For the first 21 years of his career he had not taken any leave / weekly off.

Some quotes to remember (Good To Great book):

“Bad decisions made with good intentions, are still bad decisions.”

“Consider the idea that charisma can be as much a liability as an asset. Your strength of personality can sow the seeds of problems.”

“For no matter what we achieve, if we don’t spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect, we cannot possibly have a great life. But if we spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect – people we really enjoy being on the bus with and who will never disappoint us – then we will almost certainly have a great life, no matter where the bus goes. The people we interviewed from the good-to-great companies clearly loved what they did, largely because they loved who they did it with.”

“Leadership is not personality.”

“The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes. They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons. They were seemingly ordinary people quietly producing extraordinary results.” 

References:

Wednesday 22 August 2018

Credit disaster - Thank Flipkart

India will have a credit disaster.

Thanks to Flipkart.

There was a truth called debit card when it was believed that debit card is cash and not credit.

Through it's latest advertisement "EMI's on debit card", definition of debit card underwent a change.

Debit Card according to Investopedia:

"A debit card is a payment card that deducts money directly from a consumer’s checking account to pay for a purchase. Debit cards eliminate the need to carry cash or physical checks to make purchases. In addition, debit cards, also called check cards, offer the convenience of credit cards and many of the same consumer protections when issued by major payment processors like Visa or MasterCard.

Unlike credit cards, they do not allow the user to go into debt, except perhaps for small negative balances that might be incurred if the account holder has signed up for overdraft protection. However, debit cards usually have daily purchase limits, meaning it may not be possible to make an especially large purchase with a debit card."

Hope Reserve Bank of India stops Flipkart from airing such advertisements.



References:

Thursday 16 August 2018

What is nation?


Thanks to Indian Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi for invoking Sri Aurobrindo, in his Independence Day speech (15th August 2018). I will reproduce it over here:

“Today, we celebrate the birth anniversary of Shri Aurobindo. He said something very pertinent – What is Nation? What is our Motherland? It is not a mere piece of land, not just an identity, nor is it a figment of imagination. The Nation is a repository of a great force manifested through many organized units to give it a concrete shape. It is this thought of Sri Aurobindo which is uniting the country and taking it ahead.”

Thanks to Gautam Chikermane (@gchikermane). He shared the pamphlet in which the “What is Nation?” was mentioned.

I read the pamphlet and was highly inspired by the thoughts of Sri Aurobindo.  This was part of the political writings carried out during the period 1890 to May 1908.

I will share some sections of the pamphlet titled Bhawani Mandir.

Please remember the writings was during 1890 to 1908. This is very much applicable today also.

On what is lacking

“We have all things else, but we are empty of strength, void of energy. We have abandoned Shakti and are therefore abandoned by Shakti. The Mother is not in our hearts, in our brains, in our arms.

“How many attempts have been made, how many movements have been begun, in religion, in society, in politics! But the same fate has overtaken or is preparing to overtake them all. They flourish for a moment, then the impulse wanes, the fire dies out, and if they endure, it is only as empty shells, forms from which the Brahma has gone or in which it lies overpowered with Tamas and inert. Our beginnings are mighty, but they have neither sequel nor fruit.

On Knowledge

“Is it knowledge that is wanting? We Indians, born and bred in a country where Jnana has been stored and accumulated since the race began, bear about in us the inherited gains of many thousands of years. Great giants of knowledge rise among us even today to add to the store. Our capacity has not shrunk, the edge of our intellect has not been dulled or blunted, its receptivity and flexibility are as varied as of old. But it is a dead knowledge, a burden under which we are bowed, a poison which is corroding us, rather than as it should be a staff to support our feet and a weapon in our hands; for this is the nature of all great things that when they are not used or are ill used, they turn upon the bearer and destroy him.

Our knowledge then, weighed down with a heavy load of Tamas, lies under the curse of impotence and inertia. We choose to fancy indeed, nowadays, that if we acquire Science, all will be well. Let us first ask ourselves what we have done with the knowledge we already possess, or what have those who have already acquired Science been able to do for India. Imitative and incapable of initiative, we have striven to copy the methods of England, and we had not the strength; we would now copy the methods of the Japanese, a still more energetic people; are we likely to succeed any better? The mighty force of knowledge which European Science bestows is a weapon for the hands of a giant, it is the mace of Bheemsen; what can a weakling do with it but crush himself in the attempt to wield it?”

On what India needs

“The deeper we look, the more we shall be convinced that the one thing wanting, which we must strive to acquire before all others, is strength – strength physical, strength mental, strength moral, but above all strength spiritual which is the one inexhaustible and imperishable source of all the others. If we have strength everything else will be added to us easily and naturally. In the absence of strength we are like men in a dream who have hands but cannot seize or strike, who have feet but cannot run.

On will

“We often see in the cases of old men full of years and experience that the very excess of knowledge seems to have frozen their powers of action and their powers of will.”

"Our race has grown just such an old man with stores of knowledge , with inability to feel and desire , but paralysed by senile sluggishness, senile timidity, senile feebleness. If India is to survive , she must be made young again" 

On Choice

“It rests with us what we shall create; for we are not, unless we choose, puppets dominated by Fate and Maya; we are facets and manifestations of Almighty Power.”

On acquiring strength

“This is no fantastic idea, no superstition but the ordinary law of the universe. The gods cannot, if they would, give themselves unasked. Even the Eternal comes not unawares upon men. Every devotee knows by experience that we must turn to Him and desire and adore Him before the Divine Spirit pours in its ineffable beauty and ecstasy upon the soul.

On searching true source for strength

"There are the fathomless fountain-heads, the deep and inexhaustible sources, The shallow surface springs are easier to reach , but they soon run dry. Why not then go deep instead of scratching the surface ? The result will repay the labour."

On concentration

“….entire concentration is necessary; the mind must be devoted entirely to its aim as a spear is hurled to its mark; if other cares and longings distract the mind, the spear will be carried out from its straight course and miss the target.”

References:

Monday 13 August 2018

Use of Knowing True North?

Movie: Lincoln

“Abraham Lincoln: A compass, I learnt when I was surveying, it'll... it'll point you True North from where you're standing, but it's got no advice about the swamps and dessert and chasm that you'll encounter along the way. If in pursuit of your destination, you plunge ahead, heedless of obstacles, and achieve nothing more than to sink in a swamp... What's the use of knowing True North?


Source:

Friday 10 August 2018

Pandit Kumar Gandharva

Bhajans captivate the soul and transforms human to divine experience. Accidentally heard "Ud Jayega Hans Akela" (Poem by Sant Kabir) sung by Pandit Kumar Gandharva.

The bhajan explains basic functioning of life in very simple words.

Pandit Kumar Gandharva is the voice, the poem was waiting for all these decades.

Bhajan is worth listening, it transfixes us to the divine.



Lyrics:

Ud Jayega Huns Akela,
Jug Darshan Ka Mela 
Jaise Paat Gire Taruvar Se,
Milna Bahut Duhela 
Naa Jane Kidhar Girega,
Lageya Pawan Ka Rela 
Jub Howe Umur Puri,
Jab Chute Ga Hukum Huzuri
Jum Ke Doot Bade Mazboot,
Jum Se Pada Jhamela 
Das Kabir Har Ke Gun Gawe,
Wah Har Ko Paran Pawe 
Guru Ki Karni Guru Jayega,
Chele Ki Karni Chela 

Translation 

The Swan Will Fly Away All Alone,
Spectacle of the World Will Be a Mere Fair
As the Leaf Falls from the Tree
Is Difficult to Find
Who Knows Where it Will Fall
Once it is Struck with a Gust Of Wind
When Life Span is Complete
Then Listening to Orders, Following Others, Will Be Over
The Messengers of Yama are Very Strong
It's an Entanglement with the Yama
Servant Kabir Praises the Attributes of the Lord
He Finds the Lord Soon
Guru Will Go According to His Doings
The Disciple According to His

By Sant Kabir

References:

Thursday 9 August 2018

We are not Angry, Rather worried.

The above statement was made by The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on NCLAT Mumbai. This was in the contest of an Interim order issued towards Cyrus Mistry Vs Tata Sons.

The NCLAT were worried about the flowery language used by NCLAT Mumbai.

The order was issued by Honorable Mr. B.S.V. Prakash Kumar and Honorable Mr. Nallasenapathy.

I managed to read sections of the order and we can virtually know about the history of Tatas and their goodness to society. In other words the NCLAT Mumbai bench appeared to be very much impressed by the work of Tata Group over the decades.

I came to know that famous English poet William blake had high regards for Tata:

"Jamsetji was a century ahead of his times ensuring the welfare of his workforce".

I can understand the worry expressed by NCLAT which is very justifiable.

To read the flowery language of the order please visit:


References: