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Aging gracefully

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:27:57 GMT

Aging gracefully

By Dr. Kanayalal Raina

A community is known by the way it treats its vulnerable sections of the society such as the Elders. Traditionally, in India, it has been a part of our culture, for society and family to take care of older persons. Senior citizens are held in high esteem and are given priority and respect in all matters.
A demographic revolution is under way throughout the world. Today world wide there are about 600-million aged persons above 60-years and over. This figure is going to double by 2025 and will reach virtually 2-billions; vast majority of them in developing countries.
Today, rapid urbanization and compulsions of modern working conditions have lead to a breakdown of the traditional joint family system resulting in the growth of nuclear families. Better medical facilities have lead to increase in longevity. Like over all population of the country, the population of the Senior Citizens (SC) is also growing at a fast rate. As on today, we the senior citizens constitute about 9% of the total population i.e. over 10-crores. In percentage terms their population is projected to rise to about 12.4% by 2026 i.e. 176.1 millions.
What exactly is the situation in our state of J&K we do not know for sure? Majority of the elders are in the rural areas where the government agencies under the Social Welfare deptt have made no effort to improve their lot although, there are several schemes available for taking care of medical and socio-economic condition under various schemes both with the GOI and the state Social Welfare deptt. Well, that is what we do expect from the Govt. agencies, for at least, those of our members who are financially week and cannot manage their daily living both within or out side their family circle.
Anyway, for those of us who have no financial constraints and are victims of several old age problems of health, loneliness, domestic unrest/mal-adjustment and look for help of any kind from some out-side agencies, being alone to manage their affairs here are some tips that can be recommended for them to make them feel an important member of the society even at this advanced age.
* Join Social Organizations and give them a helping hand to improve the existing system.
* Share your positive experience with other people.
* Since you have time, devote some time to improve surroundings of the area your live in and use your clout for benefit of the people around you in improving the govt. services like lanes, drains, water and electricity supply health care etc.
* Make your presence felt where ever you goby active participation in the social functions, seminars, and other activities.
* Those of us who are mentally alive and have taste for writing may contribute their constructive views in the news papers and magazines, may be in the shape of 'letters to the editor' on different public problems.
* If you are a professional keep your interest alive in your profession and keep yourself abreast with latest information /development in your profession and use it for benefit of the society. Do not feel shy of interacting with those who are in-charge of things now, may be they were once your juniors or subordinate.
* Do nurse feelings that as long as you live you owe something to the society you live in.
* Within your family while conversing/discussing matters with your children place yourself in their age-group and at their level to see and analyze the problem/subject under discussion (each one of us passed through that stage of life) and then decide and advice. The result would be positive.
* Do have a positive feeling of being young, healthy and energetic.
* Last but not the least, try to maintain a healthy, cheerful look and appearance. Dress in the colours you like and love. Mere colours combination of your dress can change mood and spirit. (a comment, 'you look smart and young' would make your day.
These are some suggestions which would add spice to your life and you will surely feel 'there is lot of interest in life' even now. Not only members of your own family, even people around you will certainly respect you. And that is precisely what one is looking for at this stage of life.

Indian IT companies turn job creators in overseas markets

Wed, 30 May 2012 18:18:00 GMT

Indian IT companies turn job creators in overseas markets

S. Ronendra Singh

May 30, 2012

Far from being accused of taking away jobs from countries such as the US, Indian information technology firms are now beginning to create jobs in these countries.

Companies such as HCL Technologies have plans to create 10,000 jobs by 2015 in the US and European markets and others like WNS Holdings Ltd has announced to set up an office in Columbia, South Carolina from July.

Others such as Tech Mahindra, NIIT Technologies and Cigniti also said would continue hiring that have centres in the US, Europe and Africa.

CHEAPER WORKFORCE

While issues around visa for offsite employees are still a problem, the real driver for local hiring is access to cheaper workforce. Also, servicing clients on their time zone is assuming importance.

“Our office in the US has 50 per cent local staff. We would continue hiring more in such on-shore or near-shore locations globally. Establishing such facilities is to address the local clients and helps in providing lower cost services to these nations,” Mr Arvind Thakur, Chief Executive Officer, NIIT Technologies, told Business Line.

He said providing services through local people is cheaper and also serves customers at same time zone. The company has 647 employees in the US and 739 in Europe, Middle East, Africa region. NIIT Technologies' 95 per cent of employees in Continental Europe are locals, Mr Thakur said.

Looking at such benefits, WNS is setting up its first local office in North America and would start operation with at least 100 people. The company plans to ramp this up to around 800 in next few years.

“The ‘new normal' has brought in a new set of challenges that is changing the market dynamics in unprecedented ways,” Mr Naveen Narayanan – Head Talent Acquisition, HCL Technologies, said.

He said the economic slowdown across the world, especially in developed economies such as US and Europe, is putting pressure on social and community systems.

Job loss numbers keep increasing creating serious unemployment challenge and, therefore, HCL Technologies is pulling its resources to increase job creation in local communities of operations, he said.

Infosys, which has 6.46 per cent of its total workforce of international origin, said it intends to take it to 15 per cent. “At any point 30 per cent of the total workforce will be onsite,” an Infosys spokesperson said.

Infosys' Chief Executive Officer, Mr S.D. Shibulal, during the fourth quarter results had said that the company plans to hire 1,200 employees in the US.

Similarly, Wipro Technologies has 675 employees in its Atlanta development centre and 80 per cent of them are locals.

SMALL FIRMS

It is not just big firms that have set their eyes on the local talent. Small firms too are taking this route to avoid pressures in getting H1 visas and spending premium on such employees.

Cigniti, an IT solutions firm that has recently turned its focus only on testing tools, is planning to 50 testing experts in the US this year. It would focus on optimising and rationalising testing tools practice on the client locations.

The company with about 500 employees has already recruited 200 for its US operations. “Majority of them would be locals as hiring them would be easier,” Mr Sriram Rajaram, President, Cigniti, said.

Other than the US and Europe, companies are hiring locals. Tech Mahindra's BPO (which is called Business Services Group) has hired 1,100 in the Philippines for its centre there.

“We have set up the centre for a non-BT telecom player there last year. Over 99 per cent of the people we hired there are locals,” Mr Rajeev Narang, Vice-President (Human Resources) of Tech Mahindra, said. In Africa, Tech Mahindra has about 2,000 employees in seven countries to serve Airtel. Majority of them too are hired from the local pool.

Similarly, Mahindra Satyam, which opened aerospace and defence delivery centre at Toulouse in France, said it would hire 80 people locally for the centre in the areas of engineering, IT and communication domains, Mr C.P. Gurnani, Chief Executive Officer of Mahindra Satyam said.

Newton puzzle

Sun, 27 May 2012 18:09:00 GMT

City boy in Germany solves ‘Newton puzzle’

May 27, 2012

A 16-year-old schoolboy who had moved from Calcutta to Germany four years ago has earned himself the title of “Young Scientist” after solving a problem said to have been posed by Isaac Newton over 300 years ago, German media has reported.

Shouryya Ray, a resident of Dresden, has solved a differential equation that addresses a fundamental problem in particle dynamics and may be used to predict the flight path of a ball bouncing off a wall, the German paper Die Welt said.

The report said Shouryya had developed an analytical solution for a particle dynamics problem that had until now been addressed through numerical solutions using computers that yielded results based on approximations.

“The report suggests that this is a mathematical achievement — an analytical solution is a complete solution in contrast to an approximation,” said Velayudhan A. Raghunathan, a physicist at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, who is not familiar with Shouryya’s work.

Some physicists are still unclear about Ray’s achievement.

“The flight of a ball is classical Newtonian dynamics —all we need (to describe the motion) is the angle at which the ball is projected and the coefficient of elasticity which describes the interaction of the ball with the wall,” said K. Subbaramaiah, an executive member of the Indian Association of Physics Teachers.

Shouryya’s feat, the paper said, has helped him win a competition in German’s Saxony province where senior schoolchildren presented myriad projects — from the effects of breakfast on the ability to concentrate, to the cloning of a gene, to a solar car.

Shouryya has just taken the Abitur, the equivalent of the Class 12 exam, at the Martin Andersen Nexo High School in Dresden. He attributes his interest in science to his father, Subhashis Ray, an engineer who works as a research assistant at the Technical University of Freiburg, saying he instilled in him a “hunger for mathematics” by teaching him calculus at the age of six.

Subhashis said he was no longer able to keep up with his son’s mathematical prowess. “He never discussed his project with me before it was finished and the mathematics he used are far beyond my reach,” The Times, London, quoted him as saying.

Shouryya encountered the problem during a visit to the Technical University in Dresden with fellow students, when he was provided the raw data to evaluate a numerical simulation that can be used to describe the flight path of a ball thrown at a wall.

When he realised that the current approximation method could not yield an exact result, Shouryya decided to take the problem on.

“I asked myself, ‘Why can’t it work?’” Shouryya was quoted by Die Welt as saying.

Shouryya, the paper said, doesn’t think he’s a genius. He was weak in graph theory and had trouble even with problems for beginners. It said he’s “even worse” in the social sciences, and quoted him as saying: “In football, I would be bad even in India.”

But he worked for several months on the differential equation and came up with the solution after “many blind alleys”, the paper said. It added that Shouryya was still unclear whether to major in physics or in mathematics.

Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:23:00 GMT

Exhibition of Paintings by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore

at McMichael Canadian Art Collection

May 24 to July 15, 2012

To commemorate the 150^th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection will host the exclusive Canadian display of the exhibition “The Last Harvest: Paintings by Rabindranath Tagore” from May 24 to July 15, 2012 at McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 10365, Islington Avenue, Kleinburg, Ontarion L0J 1C0.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is lauded around the world as a poet, playwright, musician, and philosopher. He was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, yet few outside India know that he was also a highly regarded visual artist. The Last Harvest: Paintings By Rabindranath Tagore comprises more than sixty works on paper created by this versatile and prolific visionary, drawn from three collections in India. The McMichael Canadian Art Collection will host the only showing of this exhibition in Canada.

The Last Harvest is divided into four thematic sections: The Discovery of Rhythm; Images of Nature; Theatre of Gestures; and Faces, Masks and Portraits. Through his paintings, like in his poems, songs, and literature, Tagore searched for a unifying theme or universal truth that ran as a common thread through all of his creations. The constant working of Tagore’s mind may be seen in the unfettered flow of lines, free choice of colors, and moods that are at times whimsical and at others pensive.

The exhibition is curated by Professor Raman Siva Kumar of Visva-Bharati University and has previously been presented in New York’s Asia Society Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago. Other versions are being exhibited in Paris, Rome, London, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Berlin. It is particularly noteworthy that the only Canadian presentation of the exhibition will take place here, at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection—Tagore was an important influence on members of the Group of Seven and during his visit to Canada in 1929, he met with Fred Varley and Lawren S. Harris.

The Last Harvest: Paintings by Rabindranath Tagore is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, edited by Professor Raman Siva Kumar and featuring essays by leading scholars on Tagore’s writing, philosophy, and artistic practice.

The Last Harvest: Paintings By Rabindranath Tagore is organized by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and the National Gallery of Modern Art as part of the commemoration of 150^th Year Celebration of Rabindranath Tagore.

The Canadian exhibition at the McMichael is presented in collaboration with Panorama India and the Tagore Anniversary Celebrations Committee, Toronto (TACCT)

Identify all your requirements and create a schedule

Wed, 02 May 2012 16:14:00 GMT

Identify all your requirements and create a schedule

1. Identify all required activities.

2. Break down activities into sufficient detail. For example, instead of including a single activity named “determine requirements for new product” in your schedule, break it down further into “review correspondence,” “interview salespeople,” “conduct focus groups,” and “prepare a report of the requirements for the new product.”

3. Always consider both duration (the number of work periods required to perform an activity) and interdependencies (the order in which activities are performed) as you develop your project schedule.

4. Identify your strategy for performing each activity before you estimate its duration.

5. Factor in the availability of resources (such as the number of hours each day in May that the manufacturing engineer will be able to work on your project).

6. Recognize and write down all assumptions related to your project and its schedule. For example, if you don’t yet know what your project budget is, write down that you’ll assume your budget will be $100,000 until you find out otherwise.

7. Identify and plan for all significant project schedule risks (such as whether the redesign of the company financial system will cause your project to be delayed).

8. Reexamine and revise, if necessary, your original schedule after your project is approved and before you start work on it.

9. Involve your project drivers (people for whom you perform the project) and supporters (people who help perform your project) in developing the schedule.

1. Identify all required activities.

4. Identify your strategy for performing each activity before you estimate its duration.

5. Factor in the availability of resources (such as the number of hours each day in May that the manufacturing engineer will be able to work on your project).

7. Identify and plan for all significant project schedule risks (such as whether the redesign of the company financial system will cause your project to be delayed).

8. Reexamine and revise, if necessary, your original schedule after your project is approved and before you start work on it.

9. Involve your project drivers (people for whom you perform the project) and supporters (people who help perform your project) in developing the schedule.

TV in your room

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:13:00 GMT

By Dr Kanayalal Raina

What is the usual scene in most of our homes in the evening? The majority of family members sit around television watching one family soap opera after the other. We tend to go along with the emotions of tear, joy, anger and anxiety as if in real life. Have we ever paused for a while to consider its total effect on our lifestyle? Don't we feel that we have allowed ourselves to be virtually paralysed? We end up wasting a lot of our time which we could have fruitfully used for adding to our knowledge through books or inquiring about each other's welfare for our collective benefit. An American science fiction writer is possibly close to echoing our feelings: "The television, that insidious beast, that Medusa which freezes a billion people to stone every night, staring fixedly, that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little" (Medusa is a Greek mythological character grazing directly upon whom would turn onlookers to stone. Siren too is from Greek mythology whose enchanting music and voices lured sailors only to hit their ships against rocks). Of course, TV's ill-effects on children have for long been a matter of intense debate. Many share the view that TV has changed a child from an irresistible force to an immovable object. It affects their upbringing. They don't like to watch the same show that their old relatives enjoy. Several elderly persons share their trauma over finding their favourite programmes being suddenly changed in the midst of serious watching. This can be very hurting. Does anyone care? Does this not amount to the triumph of machine over people? The story can be the same whether a house has just one TV or two or more. Experts have drawn certain conclusions which we feel should be shared with larger audience. Sitting in front of TV for long hours can lead to (a) obesity; (b) decrease in the quality of food; (c) increase in consumption of cigarettes and liquor; (d) craving for a make-believe world far from the ground realities; (e) withdrawal from social life; (f) consequently, increasing isolation; and , (g) aggression that is often misplaced. American comedian Groucho Marx has his tongue firmly in his cheek: "I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." In sharp contrast there are quite a few among us who think that life will be boring without television. It can enable old people to joyfully pass their time watching the programme they like. Indeed, there are families which have separate TV set for each elderly member.

Why can't they talk instead about their life-long experiences? Why can't they take up any other pastime like playing cards? The question, they say, is irrelevant in this instance. Is television more interesting than the people? TV informs if we care to watch the news channels. It keeps us up-to-date with the latest developments across the globe. Sheer repetition and multiplication of the same event does strain our nerves but that is a different story. In addition, we have TV spreading spiritual aroma and education even while being swayed by movies and stars --- perhaps much more than by any other segment of the population. The moral of the tale is that it is for us to gainfully use the media. We should not only spend less time on the TV gazing but also divide it with care to watch as many programmes as possible instead of being swayed by their just one variety.

Taking care of your skin

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:29:00 GMT

Taking care of your skin

By Dr. Kanayalal Raina

I have always maintained that internal health and external beauty are two sides of the same coin. The skin is called the mirror of the body and rightly so. No other organ reflects the state of internal health as faithfully as the skin. An unhealthy lifestyle, lack of sleep and exercise, stress, nutritional deficiencies all reflect on the skin, in terms of dull lifeless skin. Indeed, good health and physical fitness are imperative for radiant skin. It is also directly related to the kind of nutrition the body receives. Include a variety of natural foods, like fresh fruits, raw salads, sprouts, yogurt, fresh fruit juices, leafy green vegetables, "dalia", oats, green tea, in your diet. Avoid refined grains, like "maida." Fresh fruit juices should be diluted with water. Drink plenty of water. Foods like these remove toxins and cleanse the system, adding a glow to the skin.

We all know that daily exercise is necessary for fitness, a slim and supple figure, good posture and grace. It also adds a healthy glow to the skin by improving blood circulation to the skin surface. Every tissue of the body needs oxygen, so begin your exercises by doing deep breathing in front of an open window. You should check with your doctor before beginning a regular exercise routine. Walking is good physical activity, as it exercises all the muscle groups. Adequate sleep is also essential. Sleep is a way of restoring energy to the body and is nature's best cure. It is a beauty treatment in itself. Habitual lack of sleep not only makes you lethargic and robs you of vitality, but also reflects on the skin, in terms of lack of vitality and radiance.
External care also helps to keep the skin in good condition. So, here are some tips that will help to put the glow back on the skin. You need not look far. Right there, on your kitchen shelf, are ingredients that can easily be used to add radiance to the skin.
Tone the skin daily with rose water. Toning stimulates blood circulation to the skin surface and adds a glow. Keep rose water in a bowl in the fridge and soak cotton wool pads in it. Use them to wipe the skin. Then, stroke the skin with them. On the cheeks, use outward and upward movements, ending each stroke at the temples and applying gentle pressure. On the forehead, start from the centre and go outwards on each side, again ending at the temples. For the chin, use circular movements. Then, pat the skin briskly with the rosewater-soaked cotton wool pads.
Exfoliate the skin once or twice a week. It can work wonders, helping to remove dead skin cells and brightening the skin. It also improves skin texture and produces an even colour tone. Exfoliation, which is done with scrubs, is a powerful cleansing procedure too, leaving the skin renewed, refreshed and glowing. For a scrub, mix ground almonds (badaam) with yogurt. Dried and powdered lemon and orange peels can also be added. Dry and powdered mint (pudina) leaves also help to add a glow. Apply it on the face and leave on for a few minutes. Then, rub gently, with small circular movements, washing off with water. A facial scrub can also be made with walnut powder. Add honey and lemon juice.
Mix honey and lemon juice in equal quantities and apply daily on the face. Wash it off after 20 minutes. It leaves the skin very soft and glowing. Egg white can also be added to this mixture.
Use a face mask twice a week. Mix half a cup of ripe papaya pulp with 2 teaspoons each choker and ground almonds, and one teaspoon each honey and curd. It should be a thick paste that does not drip. Apply it on the face, avoiding the lips and area around eyes. Wash it off after 20 to 30 minutes.
Dried and powdered curry leaves (kari patta) can also be added to face packs, as it is said to add a glow to the skin. It can be mixed with Fullers Earth (multani mitti) and rose water into a paste. Apply on the face and wash it off when it is dry. Multani mitti also clarifies the skin and is particularly useful for oily skin.
The pollutants and grime in urban air also make the skin very dull. That is why night time cleansing is of utmost importance. Cleanse the skin daily at night, according to skin type and rinse well with plenty of plain water. Wipe off creams with moist cotton wool before going to sleep. The repair and renewal of skin cells takes place when we sleep. So, leave the pores unclogged and free to "breathe" during the night. If the skin is very dry, apply a light moisturizing lotion at night.
All said and done, I wish to reiterate what I said right in the beginning….. a beautiful skin has a radiance and vitality that come from sheer good health and physical fitness.

India's ethics-based society today far from its moorings

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:39:20 GMT

India's ethics-based society today far from its moorings
Wednesday April 13 2011

By DR. KANAYALAL RAINA

India, once known as a country with high moral and ethical standards, seems to be sinking to the depths of ignominy because of rampant corruption. It is a painful scenario that we are enlisted among the corrupt countries of the world.

This generation has brought disrepute to our great sages and savants, thinkers and preceptors who had assiduously and over centuries built a formidable structure of Indian society based on high standard of morality and ethical code. It is surprising how quickly we have fallen victim to the depths of ill repute.

While talking of corruption in public conduct, we invariably hold political leaders and activists responsible for moral turpitude and depravity. But this generalization is unjustified and unacceptable. Essentially, it is attributable to the under-developed personality that allows political leaders to exploit the situation. A nation with strong and independent personality does not succumb to moral turpitude that easy. When corruption becomes a social phenomenon, it is a signal that civil society is diseased. High standards of morality are not enforced through legislation or prerogatives; it is the gift of advanced culture and philosophy.

Abandoning traditional learning that infused austerity and contentment as virtues composing wholesome living is a big loss we inflicted on ourselves after the attainment of independence. It is sensible to separate religion from politics if we want good governance, but ethics as an integral component of faith cannot be separated from good governance. In that sense religion does have a place in functional politics.

Traditional learning of scriptures and theological fund forms the basis of standard ethical code, which in turn churns up the philosophy of good governance. Unfortunately we discarded that healthy part of our tradition under the mad rush for modern civilization. In the process, we lost our ethical and moral moorings.

How can we expect an ethics- based society to come up when the very roots of ethics, meaning religion, remain eroded? It is this scenario that has given rise to double-edged corruption - double-edged because the indicted person first denies being corrupt, and then castigates the social system for indicting him.

The range of corruption is vast, from bribery to forgery, from embezzlement to misuse of power, from narcotics trade to gun-running and what not. Hardly any sector of social and public service is left out of corruption. The contagion has spread from top to bottom. Apart from the reason of lack of a sense of social responsibility and awareness of moral and ethnical bindings, total laxity in accountability has immensely contributed to the spread of corruption.

This brings us to a debate on the question of shortening the circle of legal protection to a corrupt person. A legal fight over a corruption case is usually protracted and time consuming. Whether the indicted person is punished or not is a different matter. Prolonging the accountability to indefinite period considerably dilutes public interest and trust in the judicial process.

In all western democracies, cases of corruption are dealt with in accordance with the law of the land most expeditiously, so that a wrong signal of authorities conniving at corruption is not spread. In India we find the reverse of it, and we take shelter behind the outdated and redundant juridical intervention. Why not reform the system to meet new requirements of present-day society. Reforming the educational system by introducing tradition-based study of ethical code, simultaneously with adopting strict norms of accountability, should be the two-pronged strategy for eradicating corruption in the entire administrative and governance structure of the country.

Time and tide wait for no one. Keeping a tryst with corruption is keeping a tryst with disaster.

- Dr. Kanayalal Raina is a Brampton-based engineer by training, project consultant by profession and freelance writer by passion. At present he heads Dr Kanayalal Raina Inc. website: www.businessplans4all.com

The implications of globalization

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:37:38 GMT

The implications of globalization
Wednesday January 5 2011

By DR KANAYALAL RAINA

The world economy is showing some signs of revival. The US Government made a huge $700 billion stimulus package to bailout US banks from the present crisis. The US Government has indirectly bought these loans from crisis-ridden banks. This package was successful in lessening the immediate pain but it will wholly fail in solving the long term crisis.

The stimulus package had has the consequence of artificially maintaining high wages in the United States. The cost of production for American companies continues to be more than that of Chinese companies. US companies will therefore not be able to compete with India and China, and the resulting downward pressure on wages of American workers will persist.

Globalization has encouraged the developed countries to transfer their advanced technologies to the developing countries. They no longer have absolute control of these technologies. As a result, their erstwhile monopoly on advanced goods like computer servers, rockets, nuclear reactors, etc has evaporated into the air. They are getting some royalty payments from the export of these technologies. But these decline with time. It is necessary to continuously generate new technologies to maintain the stream of income from royalty payments. This does not seem to be happening.

In the 50-odd years since World War II, many decisive technologies were developed. These included rockets, jet airplanes, computers, nuclear reactors, etc. However, there has been no such development since the internet in the 'nineties. Thus they are now receiving fewer royalty payments - but they have to compete with hi-tech goods produced in India and China.

The low cost of labour provides a deep advantage to these developing countries. Developed countries will not be able to compete with hi-tech India. As a result the problems of the developed countries will only get worse.

This is inherent in the model of free trade on which the present model of globalization is built.

Globalization has actually made things difficult for the developed countries. It has encouraged them to transfer advanced technologies to the developing countries. For example, American and French companies are excited about transferring advanced nuclear power reactors to India upon the successful culmination of the nuclear agreement. But what are the implications? It isn't rocket science. Say the cost of producing nuclear power is Rs2 ($0.05) per unit against Rs4 ($.10) per unit for thermal power. The cost of nuclear energy in the US will be Rs2 ($0.05). On the other hand India will have to produce thermal power at Rs4 ($.10) per unit, if the US does not export the technology of nuclear reactors. Consequently the cost of production of goods in India will be more, and the US can pay higher wages to its workers to that extent. But companies producing nuclear reactors will then be deprived of profits from the export of their reactors.

Corporations have an inherent tendency to make profits. They do not examine the long-term consequences of their actions. But the cheaper production in India will make it impossible for the US companies to pay higher wages to their workers.

Free trade has added to the woes of developed countries in another way. The daily wage of an unskilled worker in India is about Rs200 ($4.55) against Rs5,000 ($114) in the US. It has become profitable for US companies to produce in India and export the manufactured goods to their home economy. Wal-Mart is procuring about 80 per cent of its goods from China. The production of garments, toys and footwear has practically come to an end in the US. This has happened because China and India have got the winning combination of advanced technologies and cheap labour.

The solution for developed countries can possibly come from imposing high import tariffs. Such import taxes, when imposed on garments, for example, will lead to high cost of garments in the US and, accordingly, it will become possible for US companies to pay higher wages to the extent of the import taxes. They will also put the brakes on the penchant for exporting advanced technologies - presently American companies are transferring advanced technologies, in part, because they want to import the goods produced. Higher import duties will lead to lesser imports and correspondingly lesser incentive for the export of advanced technologies.

It is clear that present model of globalization has reached its end because there is no solace here for workers of the developed countries - particularly when the assumption that new technologies will continue to appear and provide a continuous stream of incomes to the developed countries has failed.

- Dr. Kanayalal Raina is a Brampton-based engineer by training, project consultant by profession and freelance writer by passion.

A special moment in history for Indian Muslims

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:36:25 GMT

A special moment in history for Indian Muslims
Wednesday June 1 2011

By DR. KANAYALAL RAINA

The day after Pakistan's only Christian minister was shot dead I talked to an Indian Muslim of relatively conservative disposition. He prays five times a day, fasts every day in the month of Ramadan, believes that the Prophet of Islam brought the last message from God and has lived for most of his life struggling to be a poet and writer in Urdu. Pakistan owned Urdu, and my Muslim friend did not understand what was happening till it was too late to choose another career. Often in his days of struggle he has been approached by people in Pakistan who have urged him to cross the border and try his luck in Pakistan where Urdu is not just alive but thriving. He never went, however, and the day after Shehzad Bhatti was gunned down by Taliban terrorists he said, "I thank God that neither I nor a single member of my family has ever seriously considered emigrating to that country. When I see what is happening there I can hardly believe that they are doing this in the name of Islam."

My friend is not alone in voicing these sentiments. In recent months, as Pakistan has plunged inexorably into religious violence, I have met many Muslims who have expressed similar sentiments. Till not very long ago their feelings about what was happening in Pakistan were mixed. They believed, like most Pakistanis still do, that it was entirely the fault of American foreign policy, that a wave of Islamist violence was sweeping across Pakistan. They cited the same reasons that Pakistanis do. It was American money that was poured into the jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. When the war ended and the Soviet Union disintegrated the Americans simply lost interest in the cause and left the suddenly unemployed mujahideen to fend for themselves as best they could. It was from their ranks that Osama bin Laden recruited his terrorist army.

This is only half the story of what has gone wrong in Pakistan but there were many Indian Muslims who shared this view. But now, recently, I detect signs of a change.

It is as if Indian Muslims have suddenly discovered there is much more wrong with Pakistan than they had realized, and that the things that have gone wrong cannot be blamed entirely on American foreign policy. This change is very recent and can be attributed as much to the violence in Pakistan as to the winds of change blowing across the rest of the Islamic world. Indian Muslims appear to have noticed that the rebels who have brought about regime change in Tunisia and Egypt and inspired rebellions in nearly every other Middle Eastern country are fighting for rights that they already have in India.

Indian Muslims appear also to have noticed that the fanatical, violent Islam that is sweeping across Pakistan has very little to do with the religion that has existed in India for nearly as long as it has in the Middle East. In India, Islam synthesized into a more refined version of the religion that came to us from the deserts of Arabia; and although there have always existed Wahabi type preachers who want women to be veiled and Shariat laws to be imposed, they have been ignored for most of the centuries that Islam has been in India.

After 9/11, when it seemed for a while as if Islam itself was under attack all over the world, we saw a resurgence of a more rigid Islam. It was promoted by Saudi money that poured into mosques and madrassas, and a new generation of younger Indian Muslims seemed for a while seduced by the allure of fundamental Islam. This could be changing now.

This is a special moment in history for Indian Muslims. They have a choice, between choosing what's happening in the Middle East, or in Pakistan.

- Dr. Kanayalal Raina is a Brampton-based engineer by training, project consultant by profession and freelance writer by passion.

Time Mangement

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:20:00 GMT

Social Responsibility- Time Management

TIME MANAGEMENT
There is close affinity between man and nature. We look at phenomena of nature and shape our life accordingly. The natural phenomena - the daily cycle, the seasonal cycle, air and water - all flow in a punctual manner with complete perfection of time management. There is absolute conformity to punctuality to the laws of nature which is essential and integral part of life on this Mother Earth. If we learn the lessons of punctuality and time management from the natural phenomena, we can expect an upward graph of competence and performance.

We often hear in certain circles that the professionals say "I already know how can I perform better than I am performing right now, but I have no time." This clearly indicates that we are professionals and we do accept ignorance which is silently creeping in. Time and tide never wait for any one. Time keeping does not mean looking at our watch and keep time. It means several things:

Have you taken appointment if you wish to meet someone for business purpose?
"Do you inform that meeting is likely to be of certain duration?
" Do you inform that meeting is likely to be on certain points to be discussed?
"Do you limit your meeting to specific points?
" Do you intervene and hijack the talk?
"Do you keep people waiting if someone has come to see you?
" Are you punctual to your appointments?

The simple answers to these posed questions specifically talk of time management which is an essential and integral feature of a gentle and perfect business tycoon. The way we use one hundred and sixty eight hours a week, tells others about our personality like our clothing, personal hygiene and personal habits do.

One such fallacy about time management
The busier I am, the better I am using my time.
We may keep our self-busy endlessly under the above impression and it does not imply that we are using our time effectively. We may be busy in doings things which we can do best and ignoring other things. Urgency of a thing may not imply the higher level of importance of it, which must seek our attention and time. It may be easily delegate-able task.

Factors affecting effective utilization of time - Awareness about time robbers
Internal Factors External Factors
Procrastination Telephone Interruptions
Failure to delegate Infrastructure Problems
Obscure Objectives Ad-hoc Meetings
Failure to set priorities Socializing
Poor scheduling Sudden drop-in visitors
Lack of self discipline Lack of information
Lack of relevant skills Excessive paper work
Attempting to do too much at once Communication breakdown
Failure to plan Lack of competent personnel
Guidelines for effective time management

Guidelines suggested here are neither exclusive nor exhaustive due to ever changing nature of circumstance, individual's effectiveness and business environment. So these may be amended by the user by making required inclusions and exclusion as per personal his/her discretion.

Personal Time Management - Setting priorities, analysis of time utilised, categorization of tasks into Important, urgent, routine, delegate-able and non-delegate-able. I am to ask myself as to "How can I do this task effectively next time?".
Time Management - Subordinate Group: setting up priorities for them, discussion of these priorities with the group, and getting their acceptance, Monitoring performance against priorities, analysis of variations with respect to time utilised and its impact on overall performance.

Time Management- Controlling time spent with other groups: Setting a fixed time block for them, Filtering all visitors of this category deliberately with the help of PA or immediate subordinate.
Techniques to Manage Time
" Know what is important
" Consciously plan your time-schedule 10 minutes to do nothing.
" Choose how you communicate
" Tackle tough jobs first
" Quit doing petty tasks
" Remember Pareto's 80/20 Rule
" Delegate and develop other's delegation
" Break the "Do It Yourself" habit
" Clear your desk as early as possible it leads to crystal clear thinking
" Reduce frequent meetings and meeting time periods
" Make a To Do List at the beginning of the day in office
" Discreetly set cut off time-period at the start of the day so that you can concentrate on the most important aspects of the tasks needing immediate attention.

Comments from people who have visited the site

Truly v interesting and a service that's badly needed in this market.

Sunil Rao
Editor - South Asian Focus

I visited your website. thanks. It is indeed very very impressive.But of little use to me as never in my life (I am 75 plus)) I had had anything to do with anything even remotely connected with business. I shall of course keep it in my mind for reference to anyone who may be able to make use of it. Needless to say, I am really impressed with the vast horizon of your knowledge and activities. Wish you best of luck.

Ranvir Chawla,

ranvirc@hotmail.com

The World All Over is Mukier Than Before

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:05:00 GMT

News-and-Society

The World All Over is Mukier Than Before

By Dr Kanayalal Raina

Should we be taken aback by a recent report about a father-in-law murdering his daughter-in-law in Canada? Or earlier a father killing the daughter. Should we be surprised by another such event with the difference that a young person killed a girl who resisted his advances? This is not the first time that we have come across these occurrences. There is no dearth of spoilt young men either. Not too long ago, five armed men barged into the house of 22-week pregnant Sunitaand her lover Jasbir Singh, strangling them to death. Moments later, the couple's half-stripped bodies stood displayed at the entrance to Sunita's paternal home in Karnal (India), her father winning applause from the community for having restored the family's honour. The day was May 16, 2008. Recently a swami from south India was caught on camera in what the media calls a 'compromising position' with a couple of women. There was a public uproar and he has since been arrested. The swami, in his early thirties, would have gotten away with what is perhaps the result of a hormonal surge had he not vowed to be, well, a swami. Literally, a swami is someone who is a 'master of his senses'. Popular culture tends to look up to a saint or swami as some kind of divine entity. What does cause distress is that these incidents have taken place in the world over and developed nations that have been known for a healthy social fabric in the past. Something has gone tragically wrong in recent decades.

The world all over is murkier than before. We have been exposed to instances of patricide not very long ago. At times it appears as if nobody is safe in his or her surroundings. Girls especially are the victims of lust and passion of the lecherous. In our churches there have been cases even young children of their being trapped by preachers, of all persons.
Society is made of relationships, which are maintained through the application of ethical and moral codes. Often, we hear an outcry for enforcing "moral order" or for returning to "old-fashioned values''. Such talks of morality are essentially driven from one or the other institutionalised religious teaching. For example, one may come across an impassioned plea to stress on the moral values based on Christian belief. But then, is morality of Christians different from that of theHindus, Muslims and Buddhists? If yes, then there can never be peace in the world.
Sexual trafficking of women, girls and children is a key area of concern in particular. The UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) has estimated that 1000 to 1500 Guatemalan (belonging to Guatemala, a country in North America) are trafficked each year for adoption by couples in North America and Europe; girls as young as 13 (mainly from Asia and Eastern Europe) are trafficked as "mail-order brides" (women who publish their intent to marry someone from another, usually more financially developed, country); large numbers of children are being trafficked in West and Central Africa, mainly for domestic work but also for sexual exploitation and to work in shops or on farms --- nearly 90 per cent of these trafficked domestic workers are girls; children from Togo, Mali, Burkina Fasoand Ghana are trafficked to Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Gabon --- they are trafficked both in and out of Benin and Nigeria (some of them are sent as far away as the Middle East and Europe).
Don't we feel sick after learning all this? It is an exploitative social order. Our society is suffering from other ills too. Generally there is lack of trust. The majority of us mean no even when we say yes. White-collar criminals (cheats living behind an aura of respectability and high social status) thrive. "You scratch my back and I will scratch yours" is the order of the day. So is the motto of the survival of the fittest. One who is equipped with money regardless of its source is considered the "fittest." It does not matter whether he is downright corrupt and deceitful.
In the world of Buddha and Gandhi all this should sound amazing. Morality is an illusion in present age. Politics is bereft of ideologies. It has become an instrument of grabbing and staying in power. We fiddle with the public money as we tend to think that it does not appear to belong to anybody. Corporate wars are ruthless more focussed on profitability than on improving products and services. The films like Corporate, Sarkar, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Fashion, among others, bring into sharp focus the direction in which we are heading. Everything comes with a price. Everyone wants to swim with the current. A few who dare go against the flow are dubbed as cynics. Why should we blame individuals alone? Even the nations have been caught selling not only narcotics but also nuclear technologies. Will this ever change for the better? Definitely it will, if all of us stand up and say enough is enough.

Marketing Tips

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:47:00 GMT

Marketing Tips

Marketing your small business should not cost a fortune. Contrary to the popular belief "you've got to spend it to make it," there are ways to boost your sales, promote your brand, and create a buzz without spending any money at all.

When people hear the word "marketing" they often think about advertising. Technically, marketing is really an umbrella term that covers many different methods to reach your customers beyond paid advertising; including publicity, research, promotion, selling, customer service, and distribution.

Advertising is the most expensive type of marketing because it involves paying media suppliers to present your message to their audience. As such, advertising is not included in the list of free marketing tools set out below.

While it's almost impossible—and dangerous—to spend absolutely nothing on marketing, you may enjoy saving some money with these no-cost marketing tactics.

Free media publicity. Every small business has a story. What's yours? Perhaps your business recently expanded into a new location or hired more employees. Maybe you won a prestigious industry award for your innovative product or process. Did you just land a major new client or start to develop business in a foreign country? You might possess unique expertise on a certain topic or trend. Or, perhaps your business is changing the world by helping people or protecting the environment.

Your personal career path is also a potential media story. Did you scrape, struggle, and sacrifice to get your business where it is today? Your story may appeal to media as a human interest piece or a business lesson.

You've got plenty of things to say to media. Select an angle each month that's unique to you or your business and write up a media release. Go online to find samples of one-page media releases to learn proper tone and format. Send your media releases to the same radio stations, television channels and newspapers you know your customers listen, watch and read.

Cross-promotion. Team up with a local business owner who sells something different from you. For example, a muffler shop might cross-promote a car wash. Or, a movie theatre with a restaurant. Strike an agreement to distribute each other's promotional materials, exchange website links, or create a special "buy here, save there" offer.

Customer referrals. Word of mouth is a highly effective marketing tactic, but is often under utilized by small businesses because most don't know how to get customers talking about them. Like most things in life, if you don't ask you won't get referrals. Pick up the phone and ask your best customers if they know anyone who might benefit from your products or services. Ask for an introduction by email and simply follow up.

Resist the temptation to turn your customers into "salespeople" by dangling a commission—they won't like it. Instead, send a thank you note or a small gift when their referral becomes your customer.

Newsletters. Give some valuable advice to your prospects and customers by sending an informative monthly newsletter. Write about topics relevant to your business: for example, a computer repair shop might offer tips on how to safeguard data. To avoid being seen as spam, email only to customers who have opted-in to receive your communications. Keep the promotional messages to a minimum.

How-to seminars. Similar to a newsletter, consider offering free "how-to" seminars for your customers. A yarn shop could host knitting lessons. A financial planner might teach customers how to reduce taxes. Create one-hour topics, find a free meeting room (your store, if applicable) and send out invitations.

Sales calls. Picking up the phone and calling a prospective customer is perhaps the best form of no-cost marketing. It's nice to think marketing will drop customers on your doorstep, but it's never that easy. Identify prospects, prepare your sales approach, and go get them.

Surveys or focus groups. Research activities will help you to better understand your customers and pre-dispose them to buy from you, simply because you asked for their input. Issue regular surveys or host focus groups to ask your customers questions about their recent purchase, about your competition, and about your customer service. Collect their suggestions on how to improve your business? and act on them.

Sampling. Like the cereal manufacturer dispensing a small taste at a kiosk in your neighbourhood grocery store, let your prospects sample your wares. Generously offer to let people try your delivery service for free, taste your restaurant menu, or snuggle up in that leather sofa for sale. For example, a stereo store could let customers take home speakers for the weekend to hear how they sound.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO). There's no point to having a website unless people visit it. SEO helps make your website easier for search engines such as Google or Yahoo to find it, using well-selected keywords, expressions, and phrases. Bring in a placement student from your local university with such online expertise. Or, swap services with a local website marketing consultant.

Spoiling customers. Get people talking about your business by simply "surprising and delighting" them. Do things your competition does not, such as thanking customers in person, offering no-strings-attached returns, or around the clock technical support. Like the mint on your hotel room pillow, it's the little things customers remember. Small business owners must remember it's always less expensive to keep an existing customer happy than it is to get a new one.

Marketing your small business should be fun. It's your chance to be creative, work with other business owners and connect with your customers. And, the more you work at marketing your business, the easier it will become

How to Finance your business

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:16:00 GMT

Financing a Project

Project Financing discipline includes understanding the rationale for project financing, how to prepare the financial plan, assess the risks, design the financing mix, and raise the funds. In addition, one must understand the cogent analyses of why some project financing plans have succeeded while others have failed. A knowledge-base is required regarding the design of contractual arrangements to support project financing; issues for the host government legislative provisions, public/private infrastructure partnerships, public/private financing structures; credit requirements of lenders, and how to determine the project's borrowing capacity; how to prepare cash flow projections and use them to measure expected rates of return; tax and accounting considerations; and analytical techniques to validate the project's feasibility.

Project finance is finance for a particular project, which is repaid from the cash-flow of that project. Project finance is different from traditional forms of finance because the financier principally looks to the assets and revenue of the project in order to secure and service the loan. In contrast to an ordinary borrowing situation, in a project financing the financier usually has little or no recourse to the non-project assets of the borrower or the sponsors of the project. In this situation, the credit risk associated with the borrower is not as important as in an ordinary loan transaction; what is most important is the identification, analysis, allocation and management of every risk associated with the project.

In a no recourse or limited recourse project financing, the risks for a financier are great. Since the loan can only be repaid when the project is operational, if a major part of the project fails, the financiers are likely to lose a substantial amount of money. The assets that remain are usually highly specialised and possibly some time in a remote location. If saleable, they may have little value outside the project. Therefore, it is not surprising that financiers, and their advisers, go to substantial efforts to ensure that the risks associated with the project are reduced or eliminated as far as possible. It is also not surprising that because of the risks involved, the cost of such finance is generally higher and it is more time consuming for such finance to be provided.

Risk minimisation process
Financiers are concerned with minimising the dangers of any events which could have a negative impact on the financial performance of the project, in particular, events which could result in:

(1) the project not being completed on time, on budget, or at all;

(2) the project not operating at its full capacity;

(3) the project failing to generate sufficient revenue to service the debt; or

(4) the project prematurely coming to an end.

The minimisation of such risks involves a three step process. The first step requires the identification and analysis of all the risks that may bear upon the project. The second step is the allocation of those risks among the parties. The last step involves the creation of mechanisms to manage the risks.

If a risk to the financiers cannot be minimised, the financiers will need to build it into the interest rate margin for the loan.

STEP 1 - Risk identification and analysis
The project sponsors will usually prepare a feasibility study, a business plan and a market research. The financiers will carefully review the study and may engage independent expert consultants to supplement it. The matters of particular focus will be whether the costs of the project have been properly assessed and whether the cash-flow streams from the project are properly calculated. Some risks are analysed using financial models to determine the project's cash-flow and hence the ability of the project to meet repayment schedules. Different scenarios will be examined by adjusting economic variables such as inflation, interest rates, exchange rates and prices for the inputs and output of the project. Various classes of risk that may be identified in a project financing will be discussed below.

STEP 2 - Risk allocation
Once the risks are identified and analysed, they are allocated by the parties through negotiation of the contractual framework. Ideally a risk should be allocated to the party who is the most appropriate to bear it (i.e. who is in the best position to manage, control and insure against it) and who has the financial capacity to bear it. It has been observed that financiers attempt to allocate uncontrollable risks widely and to ensure that each party has an interest in fixing such risks. Generally, commercial risks are sought to be allocated to the private sector and political risks to the state sector.

STEP 3 - Risk management
Risks must be also managed in order to minimise the possibility of the risk event occurring and to minimise its consequences if it does occur. Financiers need to ensure that the greater the risks that they bear, the more informed they are and the greater their control over the project. Since they take security over the entire project and must be prepared to step in and take it over if the borrower defaults. This requires the financiers to be involved in and monitor the project closely. Such risk management is facilitated by imposing reporting obligations on the borrower and controls over project accounts. Such measures may lead to tension between the flexibility desired by borrower and risk management mechanisms required by the financier.

Types of risks
Of course, every project is different and it is not possible to compile an exhaustive list of risks or to rank them in order of priority. What is a major risk for one project may be quite minor for another. In a vacuum, one can just discuss the risks that are common to most projects and possible avenues for minimising them. However, it is helpful to categorise the risks according to the phases of the project within which they may arise:

(1) the design and construction phase;

(2) the operation phase; or

(3) either phase.

It is useful to divide the project in this way when looking at risks because the nature and the allocation of risks usually change between the concept and the operation phase.

Retrun on Investmnet

The topic of return on investment (ROI) analyses inspires fear and loathing on the part of project professionals. Management requires them before funding projects or purchases, but few people are sure how to do them, or know where to get the "right" numbers. Many benefits are difficult to quantify in dollars, and it is often tough to meet the payback hurdles set by company policy. Besides, who really trusts an ROI analysis anyway? If the analysis comes from an outside party, it always seems to justify the product or service they are trying to sell, and if it is internally created, it just matches its author’s foregone conclusion. Many people have a way of making projects they don’t want to do fail any payback test, while personal favorites seem to generate enormous productivity returns. No wonder no one really believes ROI analyses.

But beneath these difficulties lies an extremely valuable management tool. And if properly produced, ROI actually accomplishes its intended purpose — directing a company’s investment dollars to the places they will do the most good. Creating a useful and believable ROI analysis starts with an open mind and requires accurate numbers and reasonable assumptions. The goal is to use the ROI as a major input in the investment decision-making process, not as an after-the-fact justification for an already made (or desired) decision.

While they take effort to perform, ROI analyses are not as difficult and frustrating to produce as they first seem. I recently spent a number of weeks training several hundred people at a large telecom company on how to do ROI analyses. We used a case study approach that required participants to develop their own set of costs, benefits and performance assumptions to generate proposals backed by ROI analyses. The class’s biggest challenge was to translate theoretical ROI concepts into the real world where numbers are not handed out on silver platters and the details don’t lend themselves to simple, cookie-cutter templates. Observing their efforts was enlightening on multiple levels and it pointed out misconceptions, areas of difficulty and common pitfalls.

This article takes advantage of these observations to offer five pragmatic rules for creating believable ROI analyses in the real world. But before exploring how to do an ROI properly, it is important to learn how not to do an ROI.

How Not to Do ROI

Part of the reason ROI analyses have a bad reputation is the prevalence of low value ROI templates. These templates commonly appear in the white papers handed out by vendors to support their product and service pitches. Even when not used directly by buyers, these assumptions and calculations often find their way into internally generated analyses. The most attractive feature of these analyses is that they are easy to do. However, they have little practical value and their believability quotient is very low. Why? First, the source of the analysis has an obvious bias about the outcome (buy the product!).

Next, the analysis focuses on reaching break even, not on the level of benefit my company should really get from the solution. How much productivity should I really expect? If it is only five minutes, why bother? What can I do with those five minutes? Will my employees take the time to make telephone calls or play one more round of solitaire or can they use the time to make and sell more widgets and thereby increase my revenues and profitability (the real benefit I care about)? The final issue is the credibility of the numbers. How were the estimates done? Are the costs real and complete? Can I explain and defend them and their supporting calculations to my boss? Do they reflect my company’s assumptions and experience? Do I really believe we will get that productivity? If the vendor backs up its assertions with "industry studies," how do I know that those numbers are valid and will apply to my situation?

Few of us would want to defend this type of ROI in front of our CFO or the company’s board of directors. While superficially interesting, it actually conveys very little information other than giving us an inkling that the solution may pay back provided we have some belief in the productivity assumptions. It doesn’t really explain costs and it certainly doesn’t cover benefits.

Five Rules for Creating Believable ROIs

The objective of most ROI analyses is to apply actual numbers to back up the "gut feeling" that a particular project or investment will really pay off. Most often companies conduct ROI analyses reactively for solutions that have already been selected. However, the best way to really drive high payback results for your company is to reverse the order and start evaluating ROI as part of opportunity identification well before solution selection. Seeking issues and opportunities that have the potential to generate significant value for your company if addressed, targets solution evaluation efforts to where they will do the most good and makes justification easy when the right solution is found. Understanding the value of the opportunity up front sets the parameters for what the company is willing to spend on the solution and prioritizes it against other opportunities

Of course, even when using a proactive approach to ROI, reactive situations will still arise. When analyzing the ROI of an already selected solution, honesty is critical. Remember, just like the stock market, all investment opportunities are not the same and some projects are not worth doing. An ROI must truthfully include all relevant costs and consider only benefits that are likely to be attained. Resist the temptation to drop costs or doctor benefits to make a proposed solution viable. Some projects/investment opportunities do, and should, fail ROI tests if you perform those tests honestly.

With these fundamentals in place, we can address how to create ROI analyses that are both useful and believable. The following five rules will help you reduce unnecessary effort and avoid the most common errors and pitfalls that sink typical ROIs.

Rule 1: You get only what you put in

ROI analyses run the gamut from simple vendor provided "fill in the blanks" forms to highly complex linked spreadsheets with hundreds of calculations. Determining how much detail is required depends on the audience for the ROI, the size of the investment and the complexity of the solution. However, in all cases, avoid the temptation to cut corners or oversimplify especially in the early stages of set up. Time saved is quickly lost (along with your credibility) when your numbers and calculations are challenged and you are forced to strengthen your analysis later. The general guidance is to ensure that your ROI model is sufficiently detailed to handle likely questions on how costs were captured and benefits were calculated. Obviously, this level of detail is quite different for a $10,000 hardware purchase than a multi-billion dollar ten-year outsourcing agreement.

Likewise, an ROI analysis is only as accurate as the data used to create it. Suspect numbers lead to suspect results. Focus foremost on identifying and accurately calculating business benefits (rule 2 expands on this topic). These benefits are the real value of the solution and their accuracy is a major driver of believability. When capturing costs, try to anticipate every possible cost in both the implementation and operation of the solution as well as possible side-effects — for example, short-term productivity loss while workers transition to the new solution. Include too many costs rather than too few to maximize believability. If actual costs prove less than your estimates, the final return on investment only gets better. If the extra costs sink the project, the solution was probably marginal anyway.

Use real numbers rather than estimates or assumptions wherever possible. For example, if available, use your company’s historical software defect rate rather than industry average defect rates as the basis for computing the value of a proposed testing solution. Industry studies, quotes, and numbers from analysts can be used judiciously, provided that the source is credible, the numbers are believable and they directly address the project at hand.

When assumptions are needed to create the ROI, their source makes a big difference to their credibility. Do not make assumptions on someone else’s behalf! Get the individuals responsible for meeting the number to provide it. If someone will be held accountable for training 100 sales people on the use of the solution, ask that person to supply the costs for that effort. Likewise, if the new solution is expected to improve assembly line production, do not use the vendor’s "industry" estimate of 10 percent, but instead get the anticipated level of improvement from the foreperson and line workers. Gathering assumptions from the responsible individuals gains buy-in and commitments to achieve those results when the solution is implemented.

Pilot projects are another good source of real numbers and a recommended place to test the accuracy of assumptions. Determine the most valuable measurements before starting the pilot and set up the pilot to collect those numbers as a by-product. Pilot numbers are especially believable as they result from company personnel actually using the proposed solution.

Rule 2: Benefits are more than just finding cost reductions

One of the biggest complaints about performing ROI analyses is the difficulty of finding and quantifying benefits. Benefits like improved morale and enhanced customer satisfaction sound great, but are in most cases impossible to quantify in financial terms. By far the simplest benefits to quantify are cost savings and many ROIs fall into the trap of relying entirely on this category of benefits to achieve their returns. While cost savings are a perfectly valid and valuable benefit, over-reliance on them misses other larger and potentially more valuable benefits and may focus solution efforts on solving the wrong problem.

For example, imagine a company with ten sales representatives, each averaging $100,000 per year in salary, commission and support expenses for a total annual cost of $1 million. The reps bring in an average $1 million in sales to generate overall annual revenues of $10 million (Gross Business Benefit), or $9 million of cash for company operations and profits after sales expenses are subtracted (Net Business Benefit). If we find a magic sales tool that increases productivity by a little better than 10 percent, we have two choices: use the improvements to reduce costs (doing more for less) or apply the productivity towards increasing sales. If we cut back to 9 sales people, we save $100,000 per year and still receive our $10 million in revenue, improving Net Business Benefit to $9.1 million. Conversely, we can retain the 10 sales people and use the added productivity to effectively create a new "virtual" sales person. Salary costs remain flat at $1 million with this option, but we increase revenues to $11 million per year and increase our net business value to $10 million. Clearly, the second choice is the better one for the company.

Our simplistic example shows the importance of taking a big picture view of benefits rather than pursuing the easy option of cost reductions. Ultimately, all financial benefits come from either lowering costs or increasing revenues, but six broad categories to explore for finding quantifiable benefits are: increasing sales (revenues), increasing productivity (revenue, cost savings), reducing operational costs (cost savings), improving customer satisfaction (revenue, possible cost savings), improving safety (cost savings), and enhancing competitiveness (revenue). Many potential investments will contain a mixture of these benefits in varying proportions. To evaluate which benefits to rely upon for your ROI, consider the following attributes.

Substance — Is the benefit tangible and quantifiable? For example, increasing revenue by 10 percent is a tangible benefit. In contrast, improving employee satisfaction, while likely to be beneficial in the long run, is intangible as it is hard to measure and even harder to tie to bottom-line dollars.
Potential — How large is the benefit if fully received? In our example, the cost savings potential is $100,000 while the revenue potential is $1million.
Certainty — How likely is the company to receive the benefit? Replacing a telephone service plan that costs $200K/year with an equivalent one at half the cost generates $100,000 of highly certain benefits. Improving sales productivity by 10 percent should increase gross revenues by 10 percent, but there are no guarantees, therefore lowering the benefits certainty.
Beneficiary — Who gets the value of the benefit? Is it the executive sponsor? Is it the company’s customers? A benefit may look very different depending on the role of its recipient. A good ROI analysis concentrates on the benefits that are important to its sponsors for the financial analysis, but collects additional benefits to "pay off" other project constituents. For example, the sponsor in our example, the VP of sales, will want the 10 percent increase in sales. The sale people will give their support because our magic solution reduces undesirable paperwork and helps them earn more commissions. And the sales support staff buys in because it simplifies some of their administrative tasks. Ensuring that each constituent gets identifiable benefits is an important way to build support for a project. Use the most tangible benefits for the financial calculations of the ROI, but include the less tangible ones for the non-sponsor constituents.

Rule 3: Good data is important, but don’t shortchange analysis

If you have good data, much of the battle has already been won. Don’t lose it by shortchanging the analysis. A good set of analyses translates data into the concise information needed by executives to make informed investment decisions. Unfortunately, math phobia and/or lack of knowledge in statistics or the use of spreadsheets drives people to avoid important analyses or rely on overly simplistic vendor templates. There is no way to avoid math when producing ROI analyses, but using a spreadsheet tool such as Microsoft Excel eliminates most of the tedious work and handles the complexities of the calculations. If your company does not already have an ROI template (check with your finance department), there are many examples in textbooks and on the Internet that can serve as the foundation for creating a template of your own. Don’t expect to create a template that works on a simple "fill in the numbers" approach for every investment opportunity — each case is different — but much timesaving commonality applies.

All ROI analyses start with costs and benefits, which are combined and presented through a series of calculations and tables. They are typically calculated for a 3 to 5 year time period. Executives and finance professionals have their own favorite analyses, but the following list covers most needs.

· Income statement — Presents the benefits as financial income and costs as expenses with a bottom-line profit or loss. Capital expenses are depreciated.

· Cash flow statement — Similar in format to the income statement, it shows expenses as cash outflows (not depreciated) to illustrate an investment’s impact on cash on hand. It also is the basis for the next three calculations.

· Payback period — Calculates the elapsed time before the initial investment is recouped. Companies often have a threshold time period during which an investment must pay back in order to be considered.

· Net present value — Calculates the value generated by the investment in discounted dollars. It assumes a dollar today is worth more than the same dollar tomorrow and is used to compare the long-term impact of an investment.

· ROI — Calculates the rate of return on the money invested. It is used to compare the returns of the proposed project/purchase against other investment options.

Rule 4: Tell the story

A good ROI is much more than a set of analysis spreadsheets filled with numbers. While those numbers address the financial go/no go aspects of an investment decision, they are not sufficient to cover the human aspects of that decision. Unless they are brought on board and satisfied, peripheral players can sink an otherwise good ROI. The best way to "sell" a positive ROI is to build a story around the investment and its benefits. Write a justification report to introduce the investment and create a vision of the solution in operation along with the specific tangible and intangible benefits that will accrue to as many of the project’s constituents as possible. Think visually and create a presentation that shows the solution in action, and especially how its actions create specific benefits for project constituents. If the solution simplifies the sales administrator’s job, briefly show how it does so. This illustration will make its point more persuasively than the dry productivity calculation in the Benefits section of your spreadsheet. Use this approach to tie each piece of the cost/benefit analysis to a tangible aspect of the solution. Once the picture is firmly in the minds of the ROI evaluators, review the assumptions (and their sources) used during ROI calculations. Since these assumptions play a crucial role in arriving at the ROI’s recommendations, it is important to ensure that your audience is fully aligned and accepting of them. Finally, present the ROI analyses as financial proof points for the story’s recommendations. Conclude the presentation with your recommendations and proposed next steps.

When presenting an ROI to an audience, I like to link the live Excel spreadsheet into the presentation slides. If an assumption is challenged or changed, I can adjust it "on the fly" to show the audience how it impacts the calculations. If you have gathered your assumptions from the participants, they will assist you in defending them. As a first spreadsheet for displaying the financial aspects of the project, I recommend using the Cash Flow worksheet. It has the advantage of showing real cash impacts (the true amount of the investment) alongside the projected benefits. Seeing large benefits at the same time as the costs, lessens the level of objections that occur when cost is presented alone. On its own, a $100,000 investment may seem large to an executive, but if it returns $200,000/year in benefits over 5 years in a Cash Flow statement, that same investment looks more than reasonable.

Objections are part of an ROI presentation, but careful preparations will reduce their numbers and simplify the response to those that do arise. Typically, objections relate to the following areas: credibility of numbers ("who gave you the training costs?"), skepticism of benefits ("how do you arrive at a 10 percent increase in productivity?"), and completeness of analysis ("did you consider the productivity impact of taking the sales people out of the field during training?"). If you’ve cut corners during your analysis, you will pay the price here. But if you’ve followed the recommendations in this article, you will be prepared to handle any objection that comes your way.

Rule 5: Verify results

The final step in the ROI process, verifying the results, is often forgotten or skipped out of fear of its outcome. Its goal is to validate that the ROI’s cost assumptions were accurate and inclusive, and ascertain whether the expected benefits were actually achieved. Ideally, a good ROI will be based on a series of objective metrics and assumptions that can be captured and assessed as a project is implemented. For example, we could easily measure if our sales people in were able to apply their extra productivity to increase revenues by 10 percent.

Verifying the results of an ROI after the investment has been made is valuable for many reasons. First, it provides an opportunity to learn and continuously improve the ROI process. Capturing unexpected costs and benefits gathers data to fine-tune subsequent cost/benefit exercises and understanding the cause of inaccuracies provides the knowledge to avoid them in the future. Second, it can improve overall ROI by identifying and correcting problems. For example, if the anticipated benefits are falling short, was the solution implemented properly? Perhaps a simple tweak such as increasing user training could get the project back on track. Finally, it increases the credibility of your ROI approach. If your last five ROI analyses proved to be accurate upon project completion, wouldn’t your management be more likely to believe analysis No. 6? Even if the outcome of the current ROI proves to be wildly off in practice, understanding why and applying that knowledge to the next ROI analysis increases it credibility.

The pros and cons of ending lease

Jun 16, 2010

Mark Toljagic

Special to the Star

Bert DeSouza enjoyed driving his 2006 Subaru Legacy GT wagon until a job change that allowed him to work at home meant his expensive Subie would languish in the garage.

It was time to part company — a formidable challenge when you’re leasing.

“I had 11 months left on the lease at $606 per month. Returning it early would have required paying a penalty in the thousands,” says DeSouza.

Like a growing number of Canadians, DeSouza advertised his car and his lease on a lease-takeover “remarketing” website and found a willing second lessee.

To help grease the transaction, he offered the new lessee $1,250 cash and paid the transfer fee (about $400); in return, DeSouza was released from his contractual obligations.

“For the original lessee, it represents an alternative to the tyranny involved with early lease termination where it sometimes feels like the dealer and automaker want a pound of flesh,” says George Iny, president of the Automobile Protection Association.

“Typical cost for an early lease return runs in the $2,500 to $5,000 range — with $10,000 not unheard of for a prestige vehicle or for someone ending a lease in the first year.”

At the same time, used-car shoppers are turning to lease-takeover services to find late-model used cars and trucks as an alternative to scanning the classifieds and looking online for used vehicles to buy.

“Savvy people are using the site,” says DeSouza. It’s especially useful if you’re looking for luxury vehicles or hard-to-find specialty models, he notes.

Mississauga-based Leasebusters.com pioneered the lease takeover concept in 1990 and dominates the market today, but there’s no shortage of competition. Rivals include Easyrelease.ca, Leaseexperts.ca, LeaseTakeOvers.ca and Ontarioleasing.com, among others.

All the sites function the same way: vehicles and leases are advertised to draw present and future lessees together; all that seems to differ is the service fee. Leasebusters charges $295, while newer firms tend to undercut that price to build traffic.

In reality, anyone can advertise their lease in any classified listings, such as Craigslist and Kijiji, often at no cost.

It’s no secret leasing will get you into a new automobile at a relatively low monthly payment, since you’re essentially renting the car. A lease takeover is attractive because the original lessee may offer a cash incentive — it’s cheaper than paying the penalty to the dealer — that effectively reduces the monthly payment for the takeover party.

And because the new lessee is taking over an existing contract mid-term, there’s no down payment and the financial commitment is shorter.

“If you like to change models often or are interested in an impractical vehicle like a Mini or convertible, this is a great way to get the bug out of your system,” Iny suggests.

“There’s rarely any upfront fees, so if you have a job but no cash, this can be a good way to acquire some wheels without the upfront money associated with leasing. We have seen savings of $100 per month or more compared to leasing the same vehicle from new.”

“Some lease takeovers can be quite attractive with either lots of kilometres available for the remaining term, or cash incentives to take over the remaining payments,” points out automobile broker Mark Derry.

Canadians who lamented the loss of lease programs by Chrysler and General Motors turned to Leasebusters to find their next contract, albeit for a late-model car or truck rather than a new one, says Leasebusters spokesperson Tom Liebman.

“Up until a couple of years ago, the proportion of new vehicles leased in Canada was close to 50 per cent,” says Liebman. The number has since plunged to around 14 per cent, according to Maritz Research — a sum that suggests there are plenty of consumers who are suffering lease-withdrawal symptoms.

Extended-term purchase financing is supposed to be the leasing alternative — thanks to “car mortgage” terms of 84 and even 96 months (eight years!) — but growing traffic on sites like Leasebusters is evidence there’s still lots of interest in leasing.

“I’m getting a lot of calls about lease-takeovers, but I always tell people to do their homework,” says Mohamed Bouchama, executive director of CarHelpCanada.com and host of CP24’s AutoShop.

The pitfalls are numerous.

Not only do consumers have to scrutinize the used car they’re contemplating, but they also have to dissect the contract they’re assuming. A lease written in 2007 will have some distinct advantages and disadvantages compared to one minted today.

“Consumers think they’re getting a great deal when they see the incentives people are offering, but sometimes they’re not so great,” says Bouchama. “The lease rate was 4.9 per cent a few years ago; now it’s as low as 0.9 per cent.”

“The main factors that influence a lease payment are price, interest rate and residual value. All three of these have been fluctuating greatly over the past few years,” warns Derry.

“For example, residuals are 5 to 10 per cent lower on many new cars right now versus a couple of years back. But interest rates and some prices are lower now.”

Lower residuals (the vehicle’s market value at the end of the lease) means lessees have a higher monthly payment to cover steeper depreciation costs — but that’s mitigated by lower lease rates today.

Automobile leases also have a mileage limit that, once reached, introduces an expensive surcharge, typically 10 cents per kilometre. Consumers need to know how soon the punishing surcharge kicks in.

“I think one of the best times to look at a lease takeover is in extreme mileage situations. If you are a high-mileage driver that drives 35,000 km or more per year and you can find someone that may have lots of kilometres left on their last year or two of a lease, it can be a very attractive opportunity,” says Derry.

By definition, a lease takeover is a late-model, one-owner vehicle — but it still warrants close inspection like any used car. In fact, more so.

“Get the car checked out and okayed by the lessor, as per an end-of-lease inspection, to ensure you are not going to be penalized for pre-existing damage,” advises Iny.

The original dealer can help out in this regard. DeSouza says his Subaru dealer was extremely accommodating by doing the mechanical inspection, arranging plates and bringing the two lessees together.

There’s good reason for all that goodwill: Subaru gains a new client mid-lease, and the old client may be talked into a new one.

In fact, automakers and dealers have come to embrace the lease-takeover business model; industry giant GMAC even inked a strategic alliance with Leasebusters in 2006.

For used-car shoppers, the prospect of taking over a lease and then financing the vehicle at term end seems like a convoluted way to acquire a set of wheels. Our experts agree it takes a lot of number crunching to determine if the takeover route will yield a late-model car cheaper than simply finding it on a used-car lot or for sale privately.

“Typically, if the car/lease is less than two years old, it is often better to just look for a used car to finance. If it has depreciated more — it’s further into its lease and there is a decent cash incentive — then it could be an attractive option,” says Derry.

DeSouza’s experience was so positive he’s now considering taking over the lease of a Ford Flex to replace his family’s other Subaru.

“It’s cheaper than financing a new or used one,” he asserts.

Our experts suggest there are so many variables involved, each takeover lease is as unique as a snowflake — which makes comparing the potential savings a complex puzzler worthy of a Cray supercomputer.

“In the end, you are basically buying a used car with more paperwork that you have to be careful about,” concludes Derry.

Itching to try a lease takeover?

Our experts have some advice

• Ensure the lease is close-ended, whereby the leasing company is guaranteeing the buyback price. Otherwise, you could be required to pay the difference between the residual price and the vehicle’s market value at lease end.

• When you are transferring your lease to a second lessee, make sure the leasing company absolves you of all obligations (get it in writing). Until recently, some companies tried to keep the first lessee on the hook for any costs should the second lessee default, but that stipulation has largely disappeared today.

• If you’re shopping for a lease takeover, try asking for a bigger cash incentive. About 80 per cent of listings are resolved in 60 days, but many lessees are keen to close the deal quicker out of need.

• Many luxury and specialty models are leased rather than purchased, and they will often show up on lease exchange sites before they’ll show up on used-car lots.

Business financing

Business Financing

Personal investment
An investment of your own personal funds proves to a banker that you have a long-term commitment to your business venture.

Love money

This is money that is loaned from family members and close friends. This type of investment is also called “patient capital,” which is money that will be repaid later when the business it profitable. When engaging in this type of investment, the business owner should be aware of the following:

Family and friends rarely have significant capital funds
Family and friends may request a stake of equity in the business
Any form of business relationship between family and friends should NOT be taken lightly!

Venture Capital

Although it is a popular choice among entrepreneurs, this is not necessarily the appropriate choice for all. Entrepreneurs should be aware that venture capitalists are looking for technology-driven businesses and companies with high-growth potential in sectors such as information technology, communications, and biotechnology. Also be aware that venture capitalists WILL take an equity position in the company to help it carry out a promising but higher risk project. This involves giving up some ownership or equity in the business to an external party. Venture capitalists also expect a healthy return on their investment, often generated when the business starts selling shares to the public. Be sure to look for investors who bring relevant experience and knowledge to your business.

Angels

“Angels” are generally wealthy individuals or retired company executives who invest directly in small firms owned by others. They are often leaders in their own field who not only contribute their experience and network of contacts but also their technical and/or management knowledge. In Canada, angels have financed approximately twice as many firms as have institutional venture capitalists. Angels tend to finance the early stages of the business with investments in the order of $25,000 to $100,000. In turn for risking their money, “Angels” reserve the right to supervise the company's management practices. In concrete terms, this often involves a seat on the board of directors and an assurance of transparency. “Angels” tend to keep a low profile. To meet them, you have to contact specialized associations or search Web sites on angels.

Business Incubators

Business incubators (focus on the high-tech sector by providing support for new businesses in various stages of development. However, there are also local economic development incubators, which are focused on areas such as job creation, revitalization and hosting and sharing services. Commonly, incubators will invite future businesses and other fledgling companies to share their premises, as well as their administrative, logistical, and technical resources. Generally, the incubation phase can last up to two years. Once the product is ready, the business usually leaves the incubator's premises to enter its industrial production phase and is on its own. Businesses that receive this kind of support often operate within state-of-the-art sectors such as biotechnology, information technology, multimedia, or industrial technology. Businesses that were supported by an incubator have a better success rate over 5 years.

Grants & Subsidies

It is not always easy to bring innovations to light so government agencies provide aid to companies. You may have access to this funding to help cover expenses, such as research and development, marketing, salaries, equipment and productivity improvement. A grant is a sum of money conditionally given to your business that you don't have to repay. However, you're bound legally to use it under the terms of the grant, or otherwise you may be asked to repay it. As well, once you are granted money from one government source, it is not uncommon to receive further funding from the source if you meet program requirements.

Bank loans

Bank loans are the most commonly used source of funding for small and medium sized businesses. Consider the fact that all banks offer different advantages, whether it's personalized service or customized repayment. It's a good idea to shop around and find the bank that meets your specific needs, such as offering value-added consulting services. In general, you should know bankers are looking for companies with a sound track record and that have excellent credit. A good idea is not enough; it has to be backed up with a solid business plan.

Funding Tips

Business funding is an extremely difficult task as there may be strong competition and the criteria for awards are often stringent. Generally, most funding applications require the business owner to match the funds allotted.

Generally, a business owner needs to provide:

A detailed project description (including: location, key personnel, capital requirements)

An explanation of the benefits of the project

A detailedwork plan outlining all associated costs and expenses

Personal resumes of relevant experience and background on key personnel

Excellent personal credit / Solid BECON score

Industry experience

Board of Directors / Board of Advisors

Personal equity/investment

Clear exit strategy / contingency plan

Tested business model with multiple revenue streams

Most funding reviewers will assess the proposal based on the following criteria:

Significance

Approach

Innovation

Assessment of expertise

Need and purpose for the grant

The identified problem areas where candidates fail include:

The research for the given business venture is not relevant or out of date

Ineligible geographic location

Failure to communicate how ideas will be addressed

No clear direction in the proposal

No clear focus for research moving forward

There is an unrealistic amount of work

Funds are not matched by the business owner

Anger Management

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 13:56:48 GMT

Anger Management

Swami Vivekananda has rightly said that we waste much of our energy in useless emotions such as anger and if that energy is constructively used one would achieve all his dreams and projects in life.

Anger is a basic human emotion. It serves as an important function by communicating to ourselves and to others that something is wrong. We are aware that anger hurts us and the people around us. When left to escalate, anger of an individual or a community can cause family break-ups, war and even fatalities.

The Holy Bhagavad Gita also says that anger leads to clouded thinking and finally to destruction. Even in our own lives, we find many occasions when anger has caused us trouble.

Anger may be defined as an emotion or a feeling. Anger can result as a result of-conflict between man and nature, between man and other living beings, and within one's own mind.

Whatever the source, the effects of anger can be very negative and destructive. It is a sheer wastage of energy. It can cause or exacerbate heart burns, ulcers, blood pressure and heart trouble.

How we express anger is something we learn. As children we may have learned from one or both parents that anger can be used to get attention or to get one's way. Or we may have that we should show the good emotions-love and happiness, for instance-and keep bad emotions like anger inside.

Following are the ways to manage the anger-

Admitting your anger-
The time you feel anger, admit it to yourself. Do not deny feeling angry and cover it up. Identify your anger. What happens when you get angry? Does your heart race? Does your face flush? Do you feel a surge of energy? Many of us have been taught to push out anger down as soon as it surfaces, sometimes before we can recognize it. If you have been denying anger for a long time, It may take some practice to recognize it when it surfaces. But if you attune yourself to what triggers anger, you will find many things bring out angry feelings.

Exploring your anger-
When you have identified what made you angry, stop and think about it. Then explore why you are angry-get to the source of emotion. If it is something someone said to you, ask yourself why it made you angry. Give yourself a little time to think and you may put the situation to another perspective. Anger in itself is not wrong but reacting rashly or impulsively to anger can ruin relationships or lead to violence. Count to 10 or start reverse counting, or breathe deeply slowly in and out will calm you and give you time to assess the situation more objectively. It is best to think before you act.

Expression of anger-
Expressing your anger is the next step. Once you have admitted your anger whatever the reason, express it appropriately to the right person and constructively(to solve the problem that caused the anger rather using personal attack as an expression of anger which may explode the situation. Remember that feeling of anger is not a problem. What u do with that feeling can be a problem-or the beginning of a solution. Anger can be a good guide, but try to use feelings of anger to point out problems, not to create new ones.

Dropping it-
Final and most difficult is to drop it once you have addressed the source and expressed your anger in a health way.

Take a time out
Sometimes flight is better than fight. A change in the environment can change your outlook, bringing in its wake some amount of calmness. You should not stay in the situation that makes you angry. The situation may be beyond control bur your response is completely within your control. A time out should not be used to avoid the situation altogether. Return when you feel calm enough to express yourself appropriately.

Reduce your Ego-
We labour under the misconception that world is designed to suit our purposes and that we are very important. When we find things going against our wishes, we get annoyed. If we reduce our ego and realize that world waits for none, our demands and expectations will also reduce and we shall be less irritated by adverse events

Practice Concentration when you are angry-
Anger melts away if you can distance it from the object of anger. The trick is to separate the object and the feelings for that object.

Stop pre-supposing about the person you are cross with-
Suppose you are angry with a person you start guessing and imagining various things about that person. Try to Counter anger by forcibly bringing in thoughts of love, the help you received from him and anger will subside, This is called 'Pratipaksha bhavana' in yoga scriptures.

Identifying trigger factors for anger-
Knowing specifically what makes you angry is a first step in controlling your response.
Managing one's anger helps in preserving one's energy, remain more focused on work and thereby success, Power and happiness in life.

DR. Kanayalal Raina

Blog

www.businessplnas4all.com

Brave Lady Benazir Bhutto

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 13:46:05 GMT

I want to express my sincere condolences to the families of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, especially to her young three children, who have lost their mother, as well as to those other innocent victim’s families who got killed in the bomb attack, and to the people of Pakistan. This was an abhorrent act of terror.

Minutes before she was assassinated, Benazir Bhutto told a rally in Rawalpindi: “I put my life in danger and came here because I feel this country is in danger.”

Indeed she was a charismatic but controversial political leader, whose life was marked by family tragedies, political triumphs, and defeats. She was thrown out of power twice on corruption charges, yet tens of millions of Pakistanis— illiterate and impoverished— looked to her with hope, faith and love.

It’s not clear who killed Bhutto, although hers was a chronicle of a death foretold. She herself knew it coming, but being a brave lady went ahead with her agenda to give freedom to her people in Pakistan.

Whatever the criticisms, it is worth remembering this: Benazir Bhutto seemed indestructible. She survived the execution of her father, endured imprisonment, outlived exile, saw off a string of corruption cases, survived previous attempts on her life… and came out stronger.

People from her party were worried about her safety, but she was fighting to give democracy to her people in Pakistan. When news of her shocking assassination hit the world, a mere two weeks away from national elections, Pakistan’s only hope of ever becoming a truly democratic nation was murdered.

No surprise
For those Pakistan watchers who are familiar with the tragic history of their country, this latest brutal crackdown on democracy and freedom the country’s dictatorship has imposed on its citizens for most of its 60 years of existence comes as no surprise.

Unfortunately Bhutto herself was instrumental in sponsoring jihad, openly inciting militants to intensify terrorism in India. I find it very difficult to discover a single element with her relationship to India that is positive, and for the betterment of her country or the region.

We do remember how she was shouting her slogans earlier, of azaadi (freedom) for Kashmiris, and exhorting the people of Kashmir to cut Jagmohan, the then governor of Jammu and Kashmir, into pieces, as in “jag-jag, mo-mo, han-han”. She would say this while making chopping motions with her right hand as it moved from her left wrist to the elbow, leaving nobody in any doubt as to what she meant.

Under Bhutto, anti-Indian terrorism in the Kashmir region was fostered and increased. When she was Prime Minster of Pakistan, Benazir was also directly responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir. Most people in India, especially Kashmiri Pandits, would never forgive or forget her shrieking screams about “azaadi, azaadi, azaadi” which were repeatedly broadcast over Pakistan TV in 1989, even as she pledged support to Islamic terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

She took a tough line on Kashmir during the July 1989 visit to Islamabad of the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. That visit, intended to mark a new beginning, did not achieve the intended result.

Poor track record
Pakistan basically is a political construct in which several diverse ethnic groups were arbitrarily forced together into what was supposed to become an Islamic melting pot. It’s track record speaks for itself.

Pakistan has been the home of banks that wired money for the 9/11 plot, been the chief source of illicit nuclear proliferation, offered a tribal-area haven for planners of worldwide terrorism, abetted the reconstitution of the Taliban, and educated many a suicide bomber in Islamic religious schools. Al Qaida, led by Osama bin Laden, marked the beginning of the era of regional— and global— terrorism, of which India has been a victim for more than two decades.

Pakistan-sponsored terrorists butchered more than 2,000 innocent lives of Kashmiri Pandits, and over 170,000 Hindus were bundled out of Kashmir. And it was Benazir Bhutto, who was ruling over Pakistan in 1989, when the impact of terrorism on Kashmir reached its peak. Kashmiri Pandits were fleeing the valley out of fear and frustration, even as Benazir was stoking the flames of secessionism and encouraging Kashmir-based terrorist groups to seize the valley.

Roots of the problem
The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir is divided into two major regions: Kashmir, which is populated mainly by Muslims, and Jammu, which is mainly Hindu. The overall population of the state is 67 per cent Muslim and 29 per cent Hindu, with small Buddhist, Sikh and Christian populations.

Jammu and Kashmir joined the Union of India in 1947 under the Independence of India Act. The decision to join India was made by the late Hari Singh, the then ruler of the state, but Pakistan was against this accession on the grounds that Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region.

Shortly before the accession, Pakistan-backed tribal’s invaded the state. The Indian Army successfully beat back the invaders from most parts of Kashmir, but before the area could be fully cleared the Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru referred the matter to the UN. The UN treated both parties as equally aggrieved (rather than acknowledging the aggression by Pakistan), and passed a resolution calling for Pakistan to vacate from the remaining areas.

Although many questions and controversies have been raised from time to time about the legality of the accession, the fact remains that the Instrument of Accession is a legal document duly endorsed by the Governor General of India, the late Lord Mountbatten, the very next day. On October 27, 1947, the constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir also endorsed the accession. The constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, while ratifying the accession, declared it was final and irrevocable.

Meanwhile, Pakistan never vacated the areas of the state that it controls, which was agreed as a pre-condition for the plebiscite to take place. Islamabad has also always claimed the terrorists there are ‘freedom fighters’ fighting Indian rule, and that it only provides moral support. However, considerable evidence shows the support has extended to financial, military and logistical support, and that the terrorists are not just Kashmiri, but from countries such as Afghanistan, Libya, Algeria, Morocco and even the UK.

Part of the terrorist campaign was to kill and frighten Hindus out of Kashmir, so that if a self-determination vote ever took place, it is less likely to go India’s way. The second stage consisted of imposing strict Islamic rule on the people of Kashmir. Militants have closed down beauty parlours and cinemas, and women were told they must cover their faces or face punishment.

Alas! The wheel of destiny has turned full circle for Benazir, as she has fallen victim to the very violence of the people whom she once encouraged so vehemently.

— Brampton-based Kanayalal Raina is a Kashmiri Pandit, and spokesperson of the Canada Heritage Hindu Centre

Yoga

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:27:57 GMT

Albert Einstein was neither an atheist nor a believer. Yet he found Nature overwhelming

“Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we, with our modest powers, must feel humble”.

Cosmic awareness subtly pervades the universe as butter is latent in milk. In particle physics, an analysis of organic and cosmic evolutions points towards an upcoming cognisance that our future is ‘kicking in the golden womb of the cosmos’ as expressed in the Hiranyagarbha of the Upanishads.

The cosmic journey of the universe, in many ways, impacts all that is in it including our karma, their fruition, free will, destiny, purpose, consciousness, and known as well as yet unknown natural forces. All phenomena are embedded in the wheel of futurity or the kaal chakra, and they are both future tools that shape our present as wells as an intrinsic part of the present.

In the early phases of atmospheric evolution, the ratio of various gases appears to have been determined by futuristic design so that life could originate and survive on earth. For example, oxygen constitutes 21 per cent of all gases; if increased or decreased even a bit, a high oxidation and spontaneous fire, or a reduction of metabolism would have destroyed the earliest pulsating single-celled life. So is the case of critical balance in cell-content in plants as well as animals, their acidity and alkalinity, chemistry of living and non-living material, temperature, humidity, ratio of matter and antimatter, equilibrium in the pull-and-push between stars, and the dance of atoms and their constituents. |All this is being played out in energy, concealed or otherwise. A slight change at any stage might not have made the universe as we know it today.

And the show goes on...

Currently atomic physicists are looking for those fundamental particles which dispersed through the then newly-created space, immediately after the Big Bang, the point of origin of the universe. The expensive experiment, the Large Hadron Collider, is being carried out inside a colossal tunnel near Geneva (CERN). In this huge underground passage, protons of atoms will smash together. Scientists expect that a virtual yet mathematically proved Higgs-Boson particle will be produced by such a collision; this particle is supposed to be a mother unit of all ‘matter’ that makes our world. However, several physicists are sceptical about such a venture, and apprehend that this could create a black-hole which may suck and digest our solar system, including earth.

Nonetheless, other high-energy physicists are of the opinion that the particles thus produced at CERN will be so abhorrent to nature that their creation in the tunnel will never be allowed to happen by the positive forces of Nature. That could mean Nature will stop the collider before it can make one Higgs-Boson particle. It is interesting to note here that the collider has already faced such a breakdown -- scientists Holger B Nielsen and Masao Ninomiya say that Nature seems to be halting the project.

Skepticism and concerns apart, we need to be conscious of the probability that the future may well determine our present in a curious twist of evolution. This is being borne out by the way biological, cosmic and material evolutions along the path of existence are playing out in the present, with future scenarios playing catalyst for current realities

Buying Peace in Afganistan

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Buying peace in Afghanistan

The London Conference of January 28 went along with the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s proposal to set up a $ 500 million trust fund to buy “peace and integration” with the fighters who are engaged in violence for economic rather than ideological reasons. The intention is to reintegrate “low and medium level” Taliban fighters through offer of jobs for defectors and the promise of protection of American-led special forces. However, British Prime Minister warned that for those insurgents who refuse to accept the conditions for reintegration “we have no choice but to pursue them militarily”. This springs from a realisation that the hard core elements, who matter in so far as insurgency is concerned, will not accept the amnesty offer.

The latest Western move in Afghanistan, born out of the desire to start pulling out troops from mid-2011, is based on an erroneous assumption that a resurgent Taliban will fall for allurement and abandon their goal of re-taking the country, which they think is achievable. The disarray in the camp of the United States and its allies and US President Barack Obama’s reluctant decision on a short-term surge of some 40,000 more soldiers, is far too evident to be missed by Taliban in the battlefield and their patron, Pakistan, which has flatly refused to evict Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents from its tribal areas after a show of military action in Swat and south Waziristan that led to the insurgents moving to safer areas without losing many fighters.

President Hamid karzai, sullen and soured with the US that understandably wants to get rid of him, is in no position to resist the new strategy but insists that only those Taliban will be pardoned who do not belong to Al Qaeda, join the mainstream and work within the democratic Afghan constitution. He is being repeatedly insulted by parliament, which has so far refused to approve the full complement of his Cabinet ministers, forcing him to administer oaths in instalments -- there still being a dozen vacancies to be filled.
A hasty US withdrawal will spell disaster for war-ravaged Afghanistan and pose a grave threat to regional security and stability. India, which is fully involved in Afghanistan’s reconstruction -- which is disliked by Taliban and openly objected to by Pakistan -- will face increased terrorist threat once Taliban and Al Qaeda somehow manage to take control of the country.

US special representative Richard Holbrooke argued the new reconciliation policy is solely guided by the consideration to prevent further American and other casualties. An opportunity was being offered to get the shooters off the field so that they do not kill soldiers and civilians. Last year was the worst so far for the foreign soldiers and Afghan civilians -- with the highest casualties so far. US officials believe that the majority of Taliban forces do not back Al Qaeda or embrace extremist goals, nor are they ideological supporters of Mulla Omar or Osama Bin Laden. At least 70 per cent of them are not fighting for any of the causes and majority of the people blame Taliban, and not the US forces, for their misery.

Yet, there are “red lines” that could not be crossed during negotiations with Taliban fighters and those who back Al Qaeda or support the group’s harsh treatment of women, would not be recommended. By making them stop fighting future casualties would be prevented. There still is no clearly defined plan on reconciliation and reintegration of the Taliban within the establishment. In a sign of how serious the West has become, the United Nations removed five top Taliban commanders from its sanctions list to facilitate reconciliation.

These include former foreign minister Abdul Wakil Muttawakil, former deputy Foreign Minister Faiz Mohammed Faizan, an official under the Taliban Shams-us-Safa and Mohammad Musa. They were under travel ban and assets freeze. In the initial stages of the war, the US and Pakistan had tried to utilise the services of Muttawakil to argue with the Taliban leadership to halt all military action and agree to reconciliation. But his efforts did not bear fruit and the Taliban leadership refused to negotiate with the US and its allies. Mulla Omar has repeatedly said that attempts to divide the Taliban would not succeed and that peace was possible on the condition that all foreign forces are withdrawn from Afghanistan and the people allowed to choose for themselves the form of government they wanted, without any outside interference. There are no indications so far that Omar and his associates have changed their stand.

In the changed policy of the US, Pakistan sees an opportunity -- to reassert its influence in shaping the future set up in Afghanistan after foreign forces have withdrawn in a couple of years. Islamabad supports a differentiation between Taliban segments, including being soft towards the Afghan Taliban, which was sponsored by Pakistan Army’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

A-vast majority of the Afghan do not want the Taliban back and their country being pushed again into the dark ages. But little security is available to them. The risk of Taliban retribution is so great that few are prepared actively to resist the insurgents. Hence the need to deal with hardcore Taliban militarily and defeat them, while simultaneously building effective governance, providing security to the people, intensifying reconstruction and strengthening secular and democratic institutions. There is also need for a regional agreement to ensure peace and neutrality in Afghanistan after foreign forces have left.

Another Swadeshi

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Another Swadeshi! Why not?

My six-year-old daughter wanted a pichkaari and water-balloons for Holi. So, I took her to a neighbourhood kiryana shop, where Holi-special playthings like gulal, pichkaari and water-balloons were displayed.

As I picked up a pack of water-balloons, the words “Made in China” on it caught my eye. I enquired the shopkeeper about it, and pat came the reply: “Sirji, aajkal sab China ka chalta hai”.

Though we have become pretty used to seeing (and using) Chinese CFLs, toys, showpieces, decorative lights, utensils and other such knick-knacks, I guess the China-made water-balloons proved to be the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back.

Questions like “When we have natural resources and manpower in abundance, why can’t we get indigenous quality products at reasonable rates?” kept on drumming in my mind, but who to put these to was the biggest question.

Eventually, I found myself face-to-face with the person who was most likely to have the answers to my questions.

The Mahatma - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - was working on his charkha and humming “Vaishnav Jan to Teine Kahiye…” when I approached him.

Hearing my footsteps, he looked up and said “Aao, beta”, a wry smile playing on his face. I just bowed my head and stood there with folded hands.

He offered me a seat and I settled down, still not knowing what to say and how to begin. The Father of the Nation came to my rescue as he asked: “What brings you here, son?”

Er…Bapu…you know…things in India today are not as what you had dreamt…” I mumbled.

“I know…this is not the India of our dreams…but in our times, who could have imagined things would turn out this way?” he observed.

Encouraged by his assent, I went ahead: “Thanks to our government’s liberal policies, multi-national companies are dominating our markets…It’s so ironical that country’s own artisans are workless while the government is encouraging global trade…”

The Mahatma was nodding his head, and so I continued: “The fad for anything western - or foreign - is on the rise in our youth. While the affluent society is smitten by the American-European bug, the cattle class — this is what they call the lower and middle class these days - is being targeted by Chinese manufacturers…”

The Mahatma interrupted “That’s sad, but true; what exactly do you want to do?”

At this, I came to the point: “Bapu, can’t we have another Swadeshi movement?”

His eyes lit up. “Why not, son? Go ahead, and the Almighty will help you…”

“But, Bapu, who would lead the movement?” This infuriated him. “Why do you always want to be led? Why don’t you take the initiative yourself?”

“But…I mean…how can I…”

“If I could do it, why can’t you? Today’s youth needs to understand this. I, too, didn’t have any supernatural powers. I just followed my conscience, started alone and grew from strength to strength. What is needed to be done today is to rekindle the flame of Swadeshi in the hearts of our countrymen.”

I don’t know whether it was a dream or I was daydreaming, but to quote a Chinese proverb, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - which would be towards Swadeshi, right?

Can India be world's next industrial hub

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Appreciable economic growth
Can India be the world’s next industrial hub?

A Chinese scholar recently asked me how long it would take for India to reach China’s level of manufacturing. Indeed, India leapfrogged a revolution in manufacturing to become a service industry leader in the world with its rapid progress in ITC (information technology and communications). India’s service sector contributes 53 per cent to the GDP while Chinese service sector’s share is 40 per cent.

India’s manufacturing industry has, however, lagged behind and contributes only 16 per cent to the GDP while China’s manufacturing contributes 33 per cent. China is a world leader in manufacturing, which is not surprising considering that until the nineteenth century it had been a leading manufacturing nation for over a millennium. Since India’s manufacturing sector has not flourished as compared to China’s, it has not been able to absorb the growing number of people migrating from villages to towns in search of jobs.

The growth of IT in India has brought Indian technical personnel into the global arena, but entry into this sector has been restricted as it requires knowledge of English and secondary education. Only the manufacturing sector can absorb the bulk of migrants.

Recently India’s industrial growth rose to 11.7 per cent, signifying a resurgence and revival of manufacturing because this sector has the biggest weight in the index of industrial production.

Manufacturing growth suffered a lot after the global financial crisis and recession in 2008 and 2009, as it hit the exports. But China has come out of the recession more quickly than India and though it has faced a severe problem of exports decline and a consequent increase in unemployment, the sustained growth in manufacturing has created fresh demand for migrant labour. In fact, there has been a shortage of migrant labour in China recently. The jobless have also found employment in infrastructure projects because in its huge fiscal package comprising 14 per cent of the GDP, the Chinese government went for the construction of capital-intensive projects, which proved to be very labour intensive.

Recently, China’s GDP registered a high growth rate of 10.7 per cent. It has been aided by high manufacturing growth, which was at its highest in five years in December 2009. Manufacturing activity has been aided by high labour productivity, government subsidies to buy appliances like refrigerators, huge investments in infrastructure and the availability of disciplined and skilled labour force. The supervision of manufacturing activities at the shop floor level is also meticulous and the Chinese are able to produce almost zero-defect products valued by quality brand name importers like Ralph Lauren.

The value addition in Chinese manufacturing in 2000-2007 was $751 billion whereas it was only $34 billion in India. Obviously, the Chinese work on low-cost raw materials and through their expertise in manufacturing transform them into high-value products. No wonder, the Chinese demand for raw materials has helped to push up commodity prices the world over.

India’s manufacturing industry suffers not only from the problems of inadequate infrastructure but also owing to the bureaucracy’s style of functioning and red tape. For example, the subsidies that the government gives to exporters take a long time to reach them. On the infrastructure side, the main lacuna is power. India will be short of 50,000 MW of power in the next two years. Captive power plants are keeping the private sector factory units going but they are expensive to run. Shortage of water also is increasingly surfacing as a major problem for industry. The main problem in the future will be how to increase the supply of clean energy to industry as India has committed itself to reducing green house gas emissions by 20 to 25 per cent by 2020.

Despite so many problems, India is striding ahead in manufacturing as can be seen in the case of automobiles --- earlier it had specialised only in auto parts. India has age-old skills and traditions in gem cutting, jewellery and textiles. Yet China is able to capture the mass market because it can deliver huge orders on time.

The factory sector in India contributes 65 per cent to the industrial output and the rest comes from the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). They are not capable of handling huge orders and they are usually cash-strapped and lack the latest technical knowhow and have poor access to markets. Only 15 per cent of the factories use high-tech and have a low expenditure on R&D as compared to China. The textile mills in China are highly computerised and production is uniform, defect-free and cheaper.

The privately owned SMEs have grown faster than state-owned industrial units in China throughout the economic downturn because they had the advantage of more flexibility in response to the crisis. They were also able to get finance through the banking system due to new policy initiatives. The stimulus package of 4 trillion yuan on the whole has sustained manufacturing growth. The pace of manufacturing growth, however, would ultimately depend on strong income growth and consumption growth, which depends on the recovery of the world economy.

Around 50 per cent of the SMEs in India have been adversely affected by the global recession. Apart from power and infrastructure, the availability of easy credit is a major constraint. Land acquisition for setting up clusters of small and medium enterprises and SEZs has been a problem in India as compared to China. In an authoritarian regime, it is easier to acquire land for industrial use than in India where problems of resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced persons take time.

The availability of foreign exchange, knowhow and technology through foreign direct investment is also important in making China the industrial hub of the world. As compared to India, China has been receiving more than four times foreign capital than India. (Between 2000 and 2007, India received $17.1 billion as compared to $78.1 billion by China). Only recently, India started receiving more FDI than before but the global crisis has led to a slowdown.

Yet India does have the potential of becoming a manufacturing hub of South Asia (if not the world) and more and more MNCs are coming to set bases in India for export to third countries.

India has a skilled labour force and a large pool of scientists and engineers (it possesses the second largest pool of such professionals in the world). But in the case of business climate, it is far behind China, especially in investor-friendly policies. Naturally, businesses coming from industrial countries find it easier to open their branches in China than in India.

A recent survey has ranked India 124th in terms of “economic freedom”, which includes freedom from corruption, business freedom and monetary freedom. Obviously, there is a lot of catching up to do.

Beware Wives

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Beware wives!

One day Buddha visited the home of famous gahapati of Shravasti. There was noise in the home created by his unruly daughter-in-law, Sujata. The gahapati requested Buddha to counsel her who told her about the seven kinds of wives.

First is the vadhak (slayer) who always quarrels and kills all joys of the home by total neglect. The Bible also names such wife as “a dripping tap on a rainy day”.

Buddha moved to the other categories as “the chorsama (thief-like) who spends extravagantly without caring for the hard ways of earning and thus impoverishes the household; the ayyasama (mistress-like) is lazy, loves gossips, wastes time and money, talks in loud tones; the matusama (mother-like) takes good care of the entire family as a mother takes care of her children; the bhaginisama (sister-like) gives respects to each member of the family as a sister to her elder brother; the mitrasama (companion-like) is faithful, happy with and helpful to the members of the family; the dasisama (slave-like) is calm, patient and obedient.

Buddha concluded that the first three types go to hell when they die and the rest go to heaven. The liberated woman, today, disregards six of these seven categories and wants to be “mitrasama” provided the entire household is also “mitrasama” to her but my fear is if that comes true then path to heaven would be too congested.

I am ignorant of the texts classifying husbands but Lyndon B. Johnson, the former US President, giving advice to the male spouses had said, “I have learned that only two things are necessary to keep one’s wife happy. First, let her think she’s having her way. And second, let her have it.”

I do not know where the late Claudia Alta “Lady Bird’ Taylor Johnson is but with caprice, greed and adultery on the increase among wives, if the TV serials are to be believed, then I am relieved that with Lyndon’s advice my earlier fear is unfounded and I foresee a crowded hell — but that is hell.

What type of wife, of the seven categories, would you like to have? The “Sunday People” of England conducted a survey and most people ignoring the Buddha’s ways wanted a wife to be “a cook in the kitchen and whore in bed”. And woe fell on those whose wives were whores in the kitchen and cooks in the bed!

I am willing to tolerate the ire of women by not asking from them the type of husband they would like to have because I know that they want one who plays a lead role on the wedding day and supporting role for rest of the wedded life. A bureaucrat friend tired of playing a supporting role got a chance of going to Paris on an official tour. I asked him why he was not taking Bhabhiji along, he replied, “You do not take paranthas to Governor’s dinner, do you?” Beware wives!