Sai Pallavi

 I had draft ready of a sensitive topic for my next blog but seeing Amaran today I wanted to pen my thoughts on Sai Pallavi first. Before coming to Amaran a quick word about Meiazhagan ....When I saw the movie I loved and also posted a blog on the movie ..Till then movie got very less attention and only very few appreciated the movie as much as I did and once it was released in Netflix last week tamil people all across the globe just loved the movie and read so many lovely reviews on the movie...I just love reading long articles about a movie and thoroughly relished reading those articles/blogs on some of the experiences people felt after watching the movie. I am happy good movies will always have a place for a movie buff. 

Now coming to Amaran ....there are already outpouring number of reviews about the movie on the social media so I am going to focus on the movie's lead actress Sai Pallavi. SivaKarthikeyan's ticket to big league is underlined with Amaran's success as the movie is having unprecedented craze amongst audience. I have absolutely no doubt that movie will be one of biggest blockbusters for 2024 as most of the screens in TN are playing Amaran. I saw SK during FETNA convention more than a decade back and his growth has been very organic. Amaran extracted best out of him and all his looks in the movie were very apt. With due respects to SK I could imagine Surya/Karthik/Vishal/Arjun doing the same role and bringing justice to the role as the character was powerful. But when it comes to Sai Pallavi there is no one in this world that would have done her role - she just lived the character and gave so much of life to Indhu Rebecca Varghese. Hats off to director for the characterization and it pains my heart when I see talented actress like Manju warrier wasted for her role in Vettaiyan. 

My all time favorite actress will always be none other than Revathy as there are so many movies and scenes from her movies which I love so much and Mouvna Raagam being my all time favorite tamil movie. Revathy was one actress who never believed on skin show and always chose her characters carefully bringing in life to the character. Nadhiya I would say is my other favorite actress whom I like for the same reasons and hats off to her for signing off from movies and settling down in London when she was at her all time peak. Other actresses come and go but no one was actually consistently choosing good roles. Now I am happy Sai Pallavi will be my favorite actress after Amaran. Best thing about Sai Pallavi is she likes to be herself and not fall prey to commercial formats in the name of masala movies. She always has pimples and curly hair and she is very natural and doesn't feel that will bring down her confidence. I was shocked when Mani Ratnam said he is fan of her and wanted to cast her in one of his movies - you don't get to hear this from man of few words. 

Some of my favorite scenes from Amaran movie where Sai Pallavi just rocked are as follows:

(a) When she throws a paper with her phone number to SK and hides her face behind the wall - childishness in her face was beautifully captured !!

(b) Her agony of neither able to convince her parents to marry an army officer nor making SK understand on the ground reality was pure class ...close up shot her crying not knowing what to do was brilliantly written and conceived by Sai Pallavi

(c) Her Happiness after seeing SK in terrace with her daughter and running all the way to the terrace not being able to control the surprise was lovely 

(d) Anxiety of waiting on the phone call not knowing what those bomb shots did to her man and finally her relief when SK said he is doing fine .....Her facial expressions were simply outstanding and gives intensity for the audience sitting in the theatre ....

(e) Her compassion of reducing the financial burden for SK through a phone call was very natural 

(f) When she was informed SK is no more through her brother the way she broke ....Hats off to GV for no BGM here ...This is how background score unlike some loud music in the name of BGM score ..

(g) After SK's demise the way she carried herself (no tears on request of his better half); Gloomy face with so much of pain is classic example of how one should act. 

These are some of the scenes I liked and there are lot many. Director has taken the plot and did lot of research and then came up with a screenplay leveraging his R&D efforts. All of us knew the climax but still what makes the movie a good one is because of its making. Taare Zameen par released in the year 2007 and I remember shedding tears before I exited the theatre hall and I am happy today after 17 years Amaran made me shed some tears. Cast and crew has to be appreciated for making a wonderful movie and will not be surprised of Sai Pallavi wins National award for her character because according to me National award is honored by getting into the hands of Sai Pallavi. 

Meiyazhagan - Poetry in big screen !!

 '96 is one of my all time favorite Tamil movie and would be in my list of top ten tamil movies. In fact movie got released on 4th october 2018 and my second son was born on 23rd october 2018 and I still remember keeping my mobile on my left hand so that if my wife calls for any labor pain I can just go quickly as the theatre was half a kilometre away from my home. I just loved the movie like everyone did and director took six solid years before coming up with his second flick. No matter what anyone say if I decide to watch a movie I will watch it in big screen and always prefer watching it in first weekend when the occupancy is maximum if not 100% full. So here comes Meiyazhagan and I watched it opening weekend night show and perplexed to see 50% of the audience was Thaikulam and kids - power of Karthik & Arvind swamy; 

I thought movie was very practical and not preachy where people start boasting village life thereby ditching city life. If you want to appreciate something it should not be at the cost of bringing something else down. People migrate to city life for a good reason and we should appreciate and give respect to each one's decision. But living in places like Tanjore, Kumbakonam, Pudhukottai, Trichy, Mayiladuthurai, Thirunelveli, Salem, Namakkal you are sandwiched between city life and village life as these are tier 2 cities. You will get to see the mundane IT culture on one end as well as get to enjoy drive on a scenic paddy field having tender coconut and ice apple on your drive. Karthik gives flying kisses to a snake thereby emphasizing the fact this land belongs to both flora and fauna apart from human beings. In city we immediately call fire service to grab the snake and we want to be selfish by grabbing any piece of land for investment. The parrot scene once again portrays a lovely gesture human beings can actually learn to be if they try to respect birds. Love for bicycle is portrayed so beautiful since bicycle has become a mere tool for weight loss in cities. Bicycle is part and parcel of one's life in villages and people have fond memories about bicycles. 

Delta Kalyanam: Marriages were carried out multiple days in the past not for boasting one's wealth rather ancestors want family reunions to happen often thereby opening avenues for match making, job creation and helping one another. In my caste Marriages have become an occasion to show to the world that I have got a leading cook, leading photographer and lavish decorations all on boarded to show that one is wealthy. If you look at the delta kalyanam the venue is moderate and there is a huge dining with multiple dishes on the plantain leaf. Arvind swamy's old lover regrets not marrying him thereby citing her troubled marriage but no pathos ..she was still smiling and that's the best thing. Arvind swamy's gesture to wear everything for the bride was so lovely because we are always used to see the attendees present to the couple and leave the stage. The groom just enjoys the mutual affection between each other which was once again beautifully portrayed. 

Conversations: This movie is purely conversational one and conversations between Arvind swamy and Karthik was so heart warming and I acknowledge not everyone will like this. If you take life and in 8/10 occasions a dispute can be resolved if you can straight away "Talk" to the other person; This rule is applicable at home, office, non profit organizations etc., but unfortunately ego stops us from doing so since we ask ourselves "Why should I make an effort talking and why not him". Just spitting everything out at times can do wonders if you can handle your ego. I thought the main strength of the movie was due to the conversations back and forth - I completely agree that "Jallikattu" and "Thoothukudi incident" was not necessary and it was just like when you enjoy the biriyani so much and suddenly you see a full size yellakai stuck between two of your teeth thereby spoiling the entire taste of biriyani. Talking about their lost property, how cycle was used to carry sarees and how they had plans to name their child all were so beautiful. I think these dialogues echo where we come from, it talks about our culture and heritage. Do you think having a VJ at an event makes it fun? I was smiling when arvind swamy wants to buy flower and was confused not knowing Karthik's real name. The flower vendor taught compassion and that was like rubbing salt in the wound for the guilt driven Arvind swamy. 

Once Arvind swamy returns to Chennai his facial reactions were brilliant and his family was able to guess so. Director without taking a dig at urban life has questioned each and everyone of us for forgetting our past relations, memories and the rich heritage and culture. In this era I see replica of 'Thiruvizha' everywhere but no one actually comes for an actual Thiruvizha. This movie is an honest assessment of how we lived in the past and how we are living right now. For those of you who believe this movie is boring and very conversational kindly try to answer the following questions.

1) Are you an Extrovert by nature ?

2) Do you have fond memories with your relatives in the past ?

3) Does Life's commitments and way of living made you to interact very less with your relatives ?

If you have answered 'Yes' to the three questions time to realign your life's goals, make room for bonding and thereby make life more meaningful. 

Some movies are beyond Box office and with no pistols, guns, blood and loud BGM this movie was a refreshing tale of two cousins bromancing each other with so much of love and affection in the air. 

Nava Tirupathy trip

 As we move along with Life religious trips add so much meaning and inner satisfaction to oneself and in the year 2022 decided to visit Nava Tirupathi temples in the outskirts of Thirunelveli. Detaching yourself from materialistic world and giving yourself some private space brings answers to many questions in life and when I see pictures of Thalaivar on his himalayas trip I feel more rejoiced than seeing his new look in Vettaiyan or Coolie. That just explains hair is getting white and in my case hair is falling down much faster than 5G network. 

Nava Tirupathy is nothing but nine Perumal temples (nine Divya desams) in the outskirts of Thirunelveli. Each Perumal temple represents a planet and there is a particular sequence that one has to follow in visiting these temples. But as time went by there are practical difficulties in following that sequence hence devotees visit temples per their convenience. Temple timings differs from temple to temple hence choice is upto the devotees in what sequence they want to visit these temples. In the year 2022 I found an auto driver called Mr.Rengan and he was the one who took me to all those nine temples. I repeated the same exercise in the year 2023 and availed Mr.Rengan's service too ....Now in 2024 I booked my trip to Thirunelveli in the first week of July. This time perumal decided to test me ...I had a severe eye infection throughout July where I had to apply drops once every three hours hence I had to cancel my trip. Eye infection got worse and it took almost six weeks for me to be back to normal and then I booked my Train ticket to Thirunelveli. 

  Since Railway corridor from Tambaram is being worked out most of the trains are either running late or getting rescheduled. My train which was supposed to start at 12.50 am from Trichy got delayed by 5 hours and it started around 5.45 am from Trichy. Once I realized train is delayed by 5 hours I came back home and had a short sleep and went to station early in the morning to catch the train. I got into the train and around 10.30 am I reached Tirunelveli. Normally I start visiting temples around 7.30 am and finish all nine by noon and this time I had to shuffle my plans. I decided to visit the famous Nellaiyappar temple in the morning as that temple was close to the train junction. It was such a beautiful temple and a big one too; Permal wanted me to visit Sivan too this time and after my darshan I went to Sri Vaikundam. As per Rengan I went to a particular shop to have lunch. Hoteliers greeted me and for some reason looking at me they felt rice may not be enough which made me wonder I should exercise regularly. I have this uncanny habit of throwing a bombshell where people melt like icecream ....Here I go "I have been here last year and your food was delicious so without any hesitation came here this year too" ..Suddenly they changed their mind and they called a nearby hotel where they can borrow some cooked rice. I sat for a while and then came rice and I had four rounds of rice - sambar, vathal kulambu, rasam and curd. The joy of eating a meal on a plantain leaf when you are hungry after a long travel is something I cannot express in words. I appreciated for their gesture and then my auto. 

Mr.Rengan came along with his cousin brother and informed me that he had underwent a surgery recently and he is not supposed to move around for some time. Still he felt like coming for me as my plan shouldn't get messed up because of the train delay. He tweaked the schedule according to temple timings and I visited all the nine temple right on time. I said I am very thankful to him and cannot appreciate more for his gesture ...we have mutual respect between each other and he ensures that I get into the correct bus to reach Bus station. Perumal tested me enough and I am thankful for my visit to Nava Tirupathy this year even more so because I was able to see Sivan temple too. So some things happen for a reason .....some religious trips gets delayed or preponed and may frustrate you ...remember my blog and be happy that things happen for a reason and you will be rewarded for your patience. 

Adventurous ride in Trichy with my family

 It was one Saturday late evening and decided to show IT park in Trichy to my family ..Well Trichy Boys are very patriotic to their city ...No matter who says what a hardcore Trichy guy will never ever stop boasting on what the city offers (even if it offers nothing); Just like how Maduraikaaran loves Madurai and Kongu guy like Coimbatore, Trichy guy's love for Trichy will never fade. Trichy is known for Steel and Bananas and one of the unique aspect of Trichy is it is centrally located and shares as many as ten borders with neighboring districts. Trichy has got some world famous temples ...BHEL and OFT are big public sector companies in their respective fields. Trichy has got army of educational institutions especially on the Arts category and according to the latest research a leading agro based corporate wanted to store its seeds in Trichy area by that way when they want to send the seeds to be planted they can send to anywhere in Tamil nadu within 6-7 hours from Trichy. See that's what I said ...you talk to Trichy guy and they will start portraying Trichy as one of its kind place on earth.

  My wife has heard enough of Trichy through me and agreed to join the ride to see the IT park ....we started from home around 8.30 pm and never did I realize the way to IT park would be pitch dark ...but what to do I have to keep up the spirits because all the three in the car came with great expectations ...best part was we were standing next to IT park and still searching the buildings ....just like how Sachin looks to Chris Gayle with his head held straight all of us were looking for sky scraper and finally we realized we all were standing right next to IT park and the building just appeared to be like a shopping complex. My wife and my son started to make fun of me and especially "Trichy" since I was singing hymns on the city ....I was embarrassed and worse thing was I didn't want to accept that so I had to convince my family IT is mainly for Chennai and Coimbatore people and Trichy is famous for Industries. I decided to show them OFT (Ordnance factory) in the weirdest of times ...It was Saturday 9.15 pm ....Ordnance factory is very famous public sector company where they manufacture rifles and stuff related to military. We entered the compound and it was strictly monitored in all directions and every nook and corner there was security gate which we had to cross. We kind of got lost since the campus was around 160 acres and we were right into the middle of the campus not knowing which direction to go ..Google maps wasn't really helpful since it looks like Google is yet to visit OFT. Elder son wanted water and younger son says "Appa enaku ucha varudhu" ....Wife was mad at me for taking around the pitch dark campus of OFT on a saturday night ....I had no clue what am I supposed to do ..

Time was ticking and finally after coming out of OFT I got into BHEL ...Trust me no kidding the place I got into BHEL was very unfamiliar spot and BHEL is 3000 acres campus ....That was like asking to watch Sura and Puli back to back ....When it rains it pours and worst thing was my petrol indicator blinked with 'E' meaning I was about to be empty tank. There are three kinds of people - fill petrol every now and then, fill petrol when it reaches 1/4 tank and third category fill petrol when it is almost about to be empty. Unfortunately I belong to the third category and this time I was afraid because people in the car were mad at me for all the reasons in the world ....Trust me my prayers were as similar as when I gave my +2 exams. My wife said never ever in your life boast about Trichy and my facial expression was similar to how Bhagyaraj looks in front of a choreographer. If Indicator 'E' gets you 15 kilometres of mileage I would have definitely driven 14.5 kilometres...Finally after the hustle and bustle we spotted BP petrol bunk and I was as happy as we would be when we have rasam rice without spilling from plantian leaf. 

Our adventurous ride in 2023 to see IT park, OFT and accidentally BHEL may not have come true but it was one memory I will not forget in my life. 

Narendra Modi 3.0

 Well we are at the eve of vote counting for a country which happens to be the biggest democratic country in the world. It's an open secret that who is going to win as I have pointed out earlier and the only question is what is the margin in which Narendra Modi is gonna win. I would call this as his "Sign off" term from mainstream politics as he is already 78+ and the next five years is very crucial for India to emerge as one of the major superpowers in the world. For me the best part is when Narendra Modi said it pains his heart not to see a good opposition and also when he said stock programmers will have a tiring day on June 04 seeing the rally. This for me is ATTITUDE and just loved it when it came from your Prime Minister. I would like to talk about quite a lot of things in this blog as I just don't want to reiterate what's already been told in media. 

We all know USA, European Union and China are considered to be super powers in the world. India which is one of the fastest growing economies is emerging as a superpower due to its economic growth, demographic population and rapidly expanding military activities. India's GDP currently is around 4.150 trillion dollars better than UK (3.5$ trillion) and France (3.1$ trillion). When Modi took over as PM, India was at 10th spot from Economy perspective but today at 2024 India is at 5th position thereby pushing Canada, Russia, Italy, France and Britain. By 2027 at this pace India may overtake Japan and Germany and become the 3rd largest economy in the world. SENSEX was at 25000 when Modi took over in 2014 and now SENSEX is at 75000. Indian stock market overtook Hong kong to become fourth largest exchange in the world. India had 3 crore Retail DEMAT accounts in 2013 but now in 2024 count went upto 15.1 crore DEMAT accounts which clearly shows people are willing to invest in Indian companies. India's average GDP growth rate is 6.5 to 7% and inflation is kept under control. 

Due to its population India has a big advantage as far as demographic population is concerned. More than 50% of India's population is below the age of 25 and 60% of its population below the age of 35 which gives itself a huge advantage to tap into the enormous potential of Youth force. As far as Infrastructure improvements are concerened India has taken a giant leap on the roads, Railways, ports and airports. India's real estate has grown leaps and bounds and India's under construction projects outnumbers any other's country. Some of the mega Infrastructure projects in the pipeline are Delhi-Mumbai Industrial corridor, Bharatmala project (140 billion dollars), Delhi-Mumbai expressway (cost 100 billion), Narmada valley development project, Defence corridor project, Ganga Expressway, Sagarmala (130 billion dollars) to improve port connectivity and thereby improve maritime trade, Mumbai coastal road, 100 smart cities at 100 billion dollars. India's military expenditure is fouth largest in the world and is rapidly expanding on Nuclear force. India is also rapidly Industrializing by becoming a Manufacturing hub. After China, India is the second favorite destination for the world as far as Manufacturing is concerned due to its skilled labor force. King maker Modi has promoted Industrialization by introducing many scehemes, attracting foreign investors and fully supporting manufacturing activities. India is the best in the world when it comes to startup ecosystem as in 2014 we had only 400 startups but now at 2024 we have around 90000+ startups purely because of the push from Central government. 

Now let me stop talking on numbers and let's get into basics ....As a Consultant I have been to almost 30 airports across length and breadth of US and have been to quite a few airports now in India too and I see Indian airports are on par with US airports. To get my son's passport through expedited manner I had to wait for 10 days and also spend 150$ in USA but here in India I get passport in 48 hours (Thanks to TCS for handling the entire Passport services). Had you invested a piece of land in India way back in 2000's then that must have grown 10X (10 times atleast); One share of Dr.Reddy's in the year 2000 was around 300 rupees and now its around 6000 rupees. Connectivity of roads, Railway trips and coming up of new Airports has changed drastically over the past decade. 

2024 to 2029 is vital as India is marching towards bigger goals. We need a leader ..India needs a visionary ..India needs a human being who can walk the talk ..We need Narendra Modi ....The number of Interviews he has given to media in the last few months is unbelievable and would challenge SRK for his movie promotions. In Dindigul there is a famous biriyani place called Venu and Viswas but unfortunately both the shops didn't brand themselves but whereas Thalapakatty has branded as a Biriyani restaurant and whole world knows Thalapakatty now. Similarly Modi is a marketing legend and a big brand ...He has definitely gone out of the way campaigning for his party - unbelievable 206 rallies and 80 interviews to Media across the country. Remember he doesn't have a child nor a family and though people criticize that he is enacting a drahma all I would ask the critics is "why can't other people enact drahma like him"? Rahul Gandhi gave one interview so far and where was Sonia Gandhi before elections ? By the way did Congress inform their PM candidate ? Do they have one ? 

Its pathetic that Tamil Nadu once again will come under the control of dravidian party - this is similar to a snake without teeth. The same old governor issue, centre-state rift will continue which will be advantage to neighboring states like Karnataka and Andhra. I hope BJP secures atleast three seats if not five in Tamil Nadu. Just beccause I support Modi it doesn't mean I want BJP to win 400 seats, for democracy to prevail we need good opposition and for good opposition there has to be good number of MP seats for opposition parties too. This will enable a level headed ground for the house to perform debates rather than being one sided affair. 

Tomorrow my personal checklist is as follows:

1) BJP's vote percentage in Tamil Nadu - is it 20% or more

2) K.Annamalai & Tejasvi Surya - how did it go for these young guns in BJP

3) Exit poll predictions for West Bengal is pretty close contest ....Didi vs NaMo? 

Stage is all set for India to be saffronized ......Narendra Modi 3.0 in few hours from now ....

R&D - Research and Development !!

 R&D plays a vital role in shaping an Organization's future prospects. Every company invests lots of their funds on R&D activities as they want to tap the potential market on their respective fields. In this blog I want to list few examples on how R&D played a role in understanding customer requirements. 

Example 1: Ather is one of the top brands in E-vehicle category for two-wheelers. They need atleast one month time to deliver the vehicle since booking is huge for Ather vehicles. Ather is based out of Hosur as they have a manufacturing plant in Hosur. Such was the demand that Ather decided to open second plant to Hosur to fulfill orders. Since they were closer to Karnataka and ladies sitting in the backside often prefer to sit with leg on both the sides hence they skipped the side step. This was all fine in Karnataka but when they reached Tamil Nadu market they saw ladies sitting on the back seat one-sided hence they badly wanted a side step to balance their legs. Ather realized this was a miss and they introduced Side step as an accessory later after they rolled out to many cities. See how R&D played a role in a very simple accessory which had huge impact on two-wheeler audiences. 

Example 2: Mail In Rebate program is a famous program deployed by many US companies to woo customers. Basically a company may ask you to buy a product for XYZ amount and promise they will refund you portion of the money upon you sending list of items they request you to send. Let us say you buy a TV monitor for 1000$ and company promises to return 100$ back to you upon you sending bill, serial number and form filled in. R&D says on an average 40 to 60% of the US people don't end up redeeming the funds for reasons unknown. Had the same Mail-in rebate program deployed by Indian Companies then people would just receive the parcel and right away photocopy the bill, tear the serial number, fill in the form and post it right away. Redeem percentage would have been 80 to 90% and that is why such programs are not deployed by Indian companies. 

Example 3: Ramraj Veshti is very popular brand and big thanks to the "Velcro" method of wearing the veshti. Such a simple idea which made the brand what it is today. R&D realized one of the main reasons people are not wearing a dhoti is because wearing a dhoti often loosens out thereby leading you to tie up again and again. With Velcro right from a toddler to old age people everyone is able to wear dhoti at ease. 

Example 4: Kurl-on is a famous mattress brand and they did extensive research on coming up with a mattress for patients with back pain. Kurl-on introduced something called as STR8 technology where mattress bends it remains straight and does not sag. Kurl-on has tested for people who weigh even 120 kilos; Basically they want to attain firmness as well as softness through STR8 technology. R&D team constantly works with Orthopaedic specialists to deploy new innovations in their field. 

Example 5: If you think of a brand in Sesame oil then no.1 brand comes to you is 'Idhayam"; Idhyam brand is a global brand used wide across the Indian people living in different parts of the world. Idhayam introduced 'Oil Pulling' way back in 90's. They gave a small sachet and upon opening it you need to goggle 10ml of the oil in empty stomach. You need to swish and swirl the oil (like how mother in laws used to do their daughter in laws) for 10 minutes and then expel the oil and rinse with water. This went viral and soon their brand got attention everywhere. Their think tank through their R&D worked very cleverly to reach a common citizen living in a remote village to a millionaire living on a posh Bangalow thereby establishing their brand to people from all walks of life. 

As you can see these are just some of the examples I listed out where R&D played a major role which paid rich dividends in return to the company.  

Black Pepper

 Before August 2022 Black pepper was a mere spice product I used occasionally on Food but once I got into Spices wholesale business Black pepper has become integral part of my daily routine. Black pepper is a wonderful spice used for many dishes across the globe. In my community pepper is given more importance and spice level on chettinad dishes depends on Black pepper and not chilly powder. Let us do a deep dive into this amazing spice item - first and foremost spicyness of Black pepper depends on 'Piperine' level; Piperine is the technical ingredient in Black pepper and piperine level and spice level are directly proportional to each other - meaning if more piperine level then spice level is good and if piperine level is low then spice level is also low. Black pepper is harvested roughly around November to February timeframe and they are creepers and they crawl through big oak trees. Entire Kerala, Kumuli, Yercaud, Kollimalai, Sirumalai, Coorg and Chigmangalur are some of the places where Black pepper is found in adundance. Most of the places where Coffee is grown you can find black pepper since Coffee and Black pepper are like Sachin-Sehwag partnership. 

   How is Black pepper Graded? Mostly Black pepper falls into '8 mm', 9 mm' or '10 mm' grades with 8mm being the small one and 10 mm being the big one (Super market category); Price increases with size and the most common one is '9mm'; Actually smaller ones are more spicier than the big ones but if you want your Vada or Pongal to have Black pepper pop out then chefs prefer big ones like 9mm. If you are going to crush it and use it as powder 8 mm is more than enough. None of the governments has regularized the norms for Grading hence Estate owners give it as a whole package containing all sizes. This is called Ungarbled pepper since sorting/grading did not happen. If growers sort pepper according to the sizes then that falls under garbled category and price is more since there was effort involved in sorting. 

The most common and simple test to check whether Black pepper is adulterated is the water test - if you soak black pepper in water and if it settles down at the bottom then that is unadulterated black pepper whereas if black pepper floats in water then that is papaya seeds. There is a twist to this test now for two reasons

[1] Thanks to Dengue, papaya seeds are in huge demand now since papaya seeds gets exported too. Hence mixing of papaya seeds has reduced quite a bit these days. 

[2] Due to Labor issues in Estates, Black pepper is harvested at one shot - meaning even the small ones that is in growth stage is plucked along with the big ones. One labor approximately does 4 trees per day and it makes more economic sense to pluck everything at one shot rather than doing it in two instances. Since everything is plucked (small, medium and large ones) in one shot it is also dried uniformly. Now the small ones (7 mm ) actually do float in water. This may give an impression that these are papaya seeds but if you taste you will realize it is pepper. 

I see following two major issues for Black pepper 

(a) Black pepper tends to lose weight upon time due to its moisture content. A 30 kgs sac can become 29.800 kgs under indirect light (near a window) within a month. Loss of 200 grams in monetary terms can be huge if you are dealing with bulk purchases. Most of the Estate owners take certain percentage to themselves (say 20%) and leave the remaining to Lease folks (80% of the yield); The guy who took the lease pays to estate owner based on the terms and conditions mutually agreed between them. Now lease folks play dirty tricks - just like how Shares gain upon holding for long term they tend to keep stock for longer term expecting a huge demand. Meanwhile time passes and pepper slowly loses weight and these folks spray rice bran oil on the pepper by that way weight is retained. Pepper where rice bran oil is sprayed tends to be less spicier. Even 2-3 years old stock is released by rice bran oil sprayed on them. Though rice bran oil is not harmful to health it overall brings out the flavor of this wonderful spice item. 

(b) Except Chigmnagalur I have dealt with pepper from many parts of India and found that traders deploy unethical ways in handling black pepper. In some parts pepper is boiled and vapour is captured through techniques thereby extracting the juice out of the pepper (spicyness of the pepper). This is sold to pharma companies, MNCs and exported to countries thereby leaving mere skeleton (sakkai) of black pepper for public. This practice is followed in Kollimalai and hence I stopped sourcing from there. 

Here are my suggestions on how to use Black pepper 

1. Consume Black pepper along with salt chunks in beetel leaves for immunity 
2. For crushing go for smaller size (8mm)
3. For Vada or Pongal go for bigger ones (9 or 10 mm)
4. If you hold black pepper in your hand - you should see black ones, sembattai ones, slight purple ones, small and big ones and you can confirm this is natural just like how bunch of people stand for a group picture (there will be people with both fair and black complexion, small and big individuals). If the color is uniform then you can assume artificial methods has been adopted for the uniform nature. 
5. Last but not the lease never expose Black pepper even in indirect sunlight as it tends to lose weight. 

Mr.Manavalan Pillai - Founder of Sarathas

 People who know trichy will definitely be aware of Sarathas and Mangal & Mangal; Both these shops are pioneers in their field and add pride to Trichy. In this blog I am going to talk about Mr.Manavalan Pillai, founder of Sarathas who passed away on April 30th due to age factor. 

Sarathas is one of India's largest textile showroom started in the year 1969 by Mr.Manavalan. Due to his business acumen he grew the business to great heights thereby making it a one stop shop for all clothing needs. Company has over 1500 employees at NSB road in Trichy (similar to renganathar street in Chennai) which is a very happening place. Dhirubhai Ambani has visited the store in 1980 while he was also into Textile business during that time. Mr.Manavalan who doesn't hold any fancy degree just applied basic ground rules on top of executing some strategies very cleverly which I would like to list one by one. 

Strategy 1:  Mr.Manavalan knew his targeted audience - "Village people"; This is the most common thing in Business which people often overlook. As Kollywood producers often say if movie runs in city it will fetch them profits only to some extent whereas if a movie runs well in B and C centers then that will fetch them more moolah. Trichy is the only place in Tamil nadu where it shares borders with as many as 10 districts ..Thanks to its geographic location. It is bounded in the north by Salem district, Northwest by Namakkal district, in the Northeast by Perambalur District, East by Ariyalur district and Thanjavur District, in the southeast by Pudukkottai district and Sivagangai district, in the south by Madurai district, in the southwest by Dindigul district and, in the west by Karur district. There are countless number of villages in the sub urbs of Trichy and Mr.Manavalan knows what festival goes in what village, what time harvest happens, what time thiruvizha happens and what time people look out to buy new clothes etc., He has this information as knowledge database and makes appropriate moves by advertising at crucial times and pulls the crowd to Sarathas. He will do whatever it takes for village people to come and visit Sarathas. 

Strategy 2: Advertisement is crucial irrespective of times - now its social media, previously it used to be print or through Televisions. One thing people have to keep in mind is cost effectiveness - no point in spending too much money convincing oneself that advertisement will do it for you. Mr.Manavalan never opted advertisement through Televisions (one has to adapt according to changing times but advertising through televisions used to be expensive deal back in 80's and 90's). He always relied on huge paintings in walls with biggest of font sizes. If you enter trichy or exit trichy you will come across many places where you will see "S-A-R-A-T-H-A-S" written both in english and tamil. He will engage local painters and always looks out for walls on appropriate junctions. Mr.Manavalan also picks corner houses in suburbs and convinces house owners to whitewash their wall and have wordings of Sarathas written over it in turn he offers freebies for their clothing needs. This not only makes them come all the way to Sarathas but they also end up buying more clothing seeing hospitality from the owner of the store. By building a goodwill with customers they start to spread the word to their neighbors and fellow village people who in turn start visiting his store regularly. 

Strategy 3: Providing food is one thing which has huge impact which people don't realize. Look at Mr.Vijayakanth - everyone talks about he offering food to people from various walks of life. Similarly Mr.Manavalan used to offer meals to all his employees thereby creating a bond and bringing the attrition rate of the employees. When I took a tour of Google office in California I came to know about the meal offerings to employees and this is a clever ploy from companies to bring employees on time, create a bond among fellow employees thereby improving productivity. Mr.Manavalan offered food to painters and his employees and made sure he retained employees as much as possible. 

Strategy 4: If you visit Surat, Ichalkaranji or any textile corridor in India everyone will recognize Mr.Manavalan and Sarathas - such was his clout amongst Textile sector. He was one person who used to buy in big lots negotiating to maximum extent because he had the ability to sell. As a trader you need to have guts to buy in bulk and that will happen only when you have confidence to sell. "Aadi sales" is a famous season for discounted sales and Sarathas is one shop which benefits maximum from this season and they provided "Katta pai" even in those days thereby making it comfortable for people to buy in bulk. 

Young Entrepreneurs has to learn from people like Mr.Manavalan who created a textile empire after migrating from Sri Lanka. People often think being a manufacturer is more creative than being a trader but being a Merchant Trader can be very interesting on how you engage your  Business model. Mr.Manvalan's contributions to Samayapuram temple is HUGE and he has helped as many as 100 +  temples in and around Trichy area on renovating. His philantrophy activities is also huge and overall he is a big inspiration to young entrepreneurs like me in Trichy and his legacy will continue to shine. 

Election to World's biggest Democracy

 April 19 marks election [Phase 1] for 21 states which constitutes 102 seats for the biggest democratic country in the world - India; Entire nation knows who is going to win the election but the question is how many seats would BJP secure ? 350 or 400 ? Overall there are 543 seats and for BJP to show its majority has to win 272 seats which BJP will easily secure. If BJP gets 350 or 400 seats then one can expect ground breaking laws/amendments/Acts taking place over the next five years. Mr.Modi is 73+ and his third term should be 73-78 and most probably he may take honorary roles beyond third term like BJP president or become President for the nation. BJP's bold moves like implementation of CAA (Citizenship amendment Act), Ram Mandir opening, revoking for Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir are all big moves which many governments in the past dared to do. 

  One thing for sure - People now realize that their day to day life very much depends on the governance so voting is taken seriously. Eight out of 10 offices were closed, banks were declared holiday, roads were deserted and all polling booths had good crowd. In places like Trichy Rapido which provides two wheeler pickup and drop service offered free rides to commuters to and from the polling station and home. I hear in some places employers will deduct money from employee in the event employee doesn't end up voting. Some restaurants offered free food if people can prove they exercised the democratic right. Cash distribution was minimal this time as there was strict inspections happening at many intersections. 

Tamil Nadu Politics is becoming more of a DMK vs BJP clash versus DMK vs ADMK; Rajini's political journey didn't take off, Demise of Vijayakanth doesn't give DMDK an edge, ADMK split into two parties, Kamal haasan has become like a dog which cannot bark anymore (Success of Vikram making him to sign line of movies like Indian 2, Thug life, Vikram 2 etc.,), Vijay's party not contesting in Lok sabha election etc., All this gives more advantage to  DMK and BJP as they can make more inroads in winning votes. BJP very well knows it will be able to win very few seats (2-5) but BJP is one party which believes in long term vision. They see a huge potential in improving vote percentage - in 2019 BJP secured 3.66% of the votes which was very poor but now they see an opening and aiming for 20% of the vote share. 

Now coming to Mr.Narendra Modi - This man is unbelievable; He has truly put India on the global map and made every Indian proud. I have spent 12 solid years in USA and the type of growth India has seen over the last couple of decades is U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E; Being the growing economy and more focus on Macro economics, Women empowerment, Manufacturing hub, Infrastructure development Modi's government has pretty much made other nations envy India's potential. India's main indices SENSEX and NIFTY is doing pretty well and big thanks to FII (Foreign Institutional Investors) who are pumping in more and more money into India seeing its potential. People make fun of Modi ji that he flies often but look at the reception he gets wherever he goes. His schemes like 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', 'Viksit Bharat', 'Start-up India', 'Stand-up India', 'Skill India', 'New India', 'Make in India', 'Made in India', 'Invest India', 'Fame India', 'Digital India etc., all have provided unprecedented economic opportunities. One of the best things that happened in Modi's regime was that Inflation rate is kept under control unlike other nations where it went up like anything. Modi always used Foreign policy very cleverly thereby making India's presence felt rather than being a silent spectator. On January 22,2024 he made headlines throughout the globe by inaugrating Ram Mandir. Many say this is enacted drahma and Mr.Modi timed it in such a way that it will have influience on lok sabha elections. My question is "Let this be drahma", why didn't others enact the same drahma ? Just to let you know Congress has not let people know who is their PM candidate; 

What Mr.Modi did days before Ram mandir opening was inspiring ...He underwent fasting and as per instructions visited important temples like Sri Rangam and Rameshwaram before the opening. If a PM does this then that is motivation to citizens, kids and student community. Rather than preaching he showed people how tradition and culture play a backbone to ourselves. 

Cannot wait for June 4 for the news to flash "Modi will be sworn in as PM for 3rd term" ...Tamil people loves dravidian parties ...but I am hoping BJP will get 15-20% vote share and win 3 seats if not five. Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat in particular has simply transformed into Economic powerhouse under Mr.Modi. With the sort of human capital Tamil Nadu possess the state can easily grow leaps and bounds under Mr.Modi but hoping 2024 be the year BJP's lotus starts blossoming in Tamil Nadu. 

Breast Cancer !!

 If you are a Female and reached 50 years of age or about to reach that milestone then this blog is for you. I want to talk about "Breast Cancer" in this blog since I see lots of campaigns in the month of October for Breast Cancer all over the globe. In the name of "Pinkathon" every year in the month of October several Non profit organizations conduct Walks, Marathon events, seminars, campaigns emphasizing how we can detect and treat Breast Cancer at the early stage. 

Before getting into the actual topic let me pull out two examples from our Indian Kitchen. 

Turmeric Powder: It is a widely used powder in most of the Indian Kitchens due to its antioxidant properties. Apart from boosting your immune system it relieves joint pains and fights inflammation. 'Curcumin' is the active ingredient in Turmeric powder and higher the curcumin better it is. Erode is famous for Turmeric in Tamil Nadu and Curcumin levels range from 2 to 4 in Erode Turmeric. If you can find a Turmeric with Curcumin level as 4 then that is a top notch quality. In India Shillong (Meghalaya) produces best Turmeric where Curcumin levels goes upto 11 which is considered nothing short of extra ordinary. Farmers in order to protect turmeric bulbs keep chemical tablets inside the soil in order to protect turmeric from pests. They keep these tablets at regular intervals inside the soil next to turmeric bulbs. These so called chemical tablets if you keep them in your armpit for 30 minutes they have the power to suck all of your blood and you can be declared dead in few minutes. Farmers when they harvest Turmeric they wash the mud and in order to reduce the harm the chemical tablets did to the bulbs they use chemical sprays which brings down the efficacy of the tablets to some extent. This is like in order to stop smoking you started drinking. To bring down efficacy of chemical tablets you use chemical sprays which once again doesn't serve the purpose. Two of the biggest masala companies in Tamil Nadu extract Curcumin from turmeric and export the ingredient for fancy prices thereby giving you a yellow color powder where curcumin levels are as low as 1.5 to 2; People use the so called turmeric powder in milk and are under the assumption they are following healthy practices. Now either Curcumin levels are very low which discounts the consumption of Turmeric powder or we have a good powder but fully prone to chemicals thereby negating all the benefits turmeric has to provide. 

Chilly powder: If a family consumes 200 grams of Turmeric powder per month then we can easily say they may consume 500 grams of Chilly powder per month. Some of the best known Chillies are Sannam (long one from Virudhu nagar), Gundu (as the name suggests it is short and fat and also very cute from Ramnad district), Teja chilly (as the name suggests it is from Guntur district) and also the famous Byadagi type (from Karnataka). The spiceness of the chillies depends on the seeds and the red body gives color to the powder. Karnataka's Byadagi is very famous for its color and is very much in demand. We have Traders all round the country and some influential people trade from every place. In fact Kashmiri chilly is most sought after but not everyone can afford it as it is very expensive due to the logictics involved in sourcing it from Kasmir. This is where Traders press the wrong button by introducing artificial dyes in Chilly powder to get that color. Rhodamine B is a famous chemical mixed in Chilly powder and it is nothing but a textile dye. Now you know what risks we are having by consuming this on daily basis. 

Well my two examples is just to show how in the world Cancer kicks into our body in the first place. It is very important ladies who hit 50 get screened for Mammogram every year. You have to be disciplined to first take this simple test. This is the very first step you take and depending on the results Doctor can advise you on the next steps like Biospy etc., Mamograms uses an X ray machine that's designed to only look at breast tissue. 

Radiologists and Health care providers use a standard system in reporting in order to describe screening and diagnostic mamogram findings. It is categorized from 0 to 6 as follows:

0[Incomplete]: Radiologist needs more images to find like ultrasound in order to evaluate further. 

1[Negative]: Radiologist didn't find a significany abnormality (meaning no masses or distorted structures)

2[Benign]: Radiologist found a nancancerous structure such as lymph nodes but you are all good

3[Proabably Benign]: Radiologist found there is > 98% chance of Non cancerous but not 100% so you may need to come for a mamaogram again in few months time. 

4[Suspicious abnormality]: Radiologist suspects unusual growth and sends you for a Biospy

5[Highly suggestive of Malignant]: Radiologist finds cancerous sells and send you for a Biospy test and there is 95% chance that it could be cancerous. 

6[Known Biospy proven Malignant]: Radiologist suggests this only for patients who is already been diagnosed as cancer and they monitor the patients to see how well cancer is responding to treatment. 

Last but not the least if one is diagnosed with Cancer that's not the end of the road and we have one great example - Yuvraj singh who is a cancer survivor. It is very natural for one to panic but keeping you cool and surrounding yourself with good company can help you fight this disease. Medications do work wonders but trust me only when you are mentally strong efficacy of the medication actually kick in. 

Next Blog: Man of Humility