Pilferage

 'Small waters make mighty oceans' is a very famous proverb and am going to illustrate how 'Pilferage' is carried out in today's world in various Businesses. I have picked handful of Business typically my community chooses and highlight the challenges faced in today's world. My community is a very conservative one and are good traders but off late since second generation is not coming into the family run Business it is all advantage for other groups and especially for the employees in the respective firms. I truly believe challenges are more of internal in nature (mainly due to employees) and not because of Modi ji, GST or economic climate. Our community chooses Businesses very wisely and below list are five common fields we are currently associated with: 

Example 1 - Medical wholesale Business: Medical field is one of the fantastic field to be associated with and Corona has just explicitly highlighted the same to the whole world. Whether you are into Medical practice, own a wholesale/retail, run a hospital/pharmacy, own a Lab (scanning services) or into Surgical trading or run a C&F everyone in the supply chain is a beneficiary of the prevailing life style and food habits of fellow citizens. Since we are into medical wholesale business below are some of the ways pilferage happens:

(a) If a Customer is known for his poor finances then best thing to do is to stop business with him. But people voluntarily places orders to this customer. Let us assume this bad customer has this habit of paying back only after 90 days (90 days credit is slowly becoming common) then our staff hands over the money only after 120 days. So thirty days staff uses money for his own personal expenses and returns 30 days late ...Imagine number of customers our staff deals ?? 

(b) If company requests stockists to provide offer then we are obliged to do; Imagine company XYZ asks us to provide '10+2' offer for a new product launched meaning for every 10 numbers we sell then we are requested to provide 2 numbers free of cost; Our staff uses this formula and rather than providing two strips free of cost to customer they sell two strips to the shops they know and collect cash. Many retail pharmacies will know the formula but some shops due to poor manpower they don't know current offers, and these are the shops people take advantage. 

Example 2 - Paper Industry: Just like how medicines get consumed paper is one commodity which we keep using every single day. Paper manufacturers are facing slew of challenges like raw materials shortage, costly coal and Russia-Ukraine standoff. Wastepaper is one of the raw materials for paper mills and since wastepaper is of much demand staffs inside the mill trade wastepaper with other mills in order to fetch money. Also, rough formula is one ton of coal is required to produce one ton of paper. Since coal is most sought after for electricity needs, coal is again being traded to thermal plants for higher costs by the very own employees. 

Example 3 - Transport Business: Just like how medicine and paper are consumer products transport is one industry which public uses every day since common public with 8000 rupees salary package cannot own a Bike/car especially with the sort of petrol price in the market. Private Bus owners give incentive to bus operators based on the 'collection' and this is primarily done to increase footage on a particular route. So rather than carrying 55 guests if bus carries 70 passengers, then bus operator gets incentive for the extra 15 passengers, so he is encouraged to accommodate more and more people (now you know why private buses are crowded). Now let us assume one passenger regularly takes one route daily and becomes close buddy of the bus operator then bus operator rather than giving ticket to him gets cash. Ticket price may be 20 rupees but passenger offers 10 rupees and both bus operator as well as passengers gets mutually benefitted through this deal at the cost of the owner who looks into the bigger picture of 'collection' in a day and not collection for a single trip. 

Example 4 - Estate Business: Estates and nagarathars go a long way since cultivation of crops and being in harmony with nature always suits well with my community. With 100 or 200 acres in their kitty it is not an easy job to be on top of things. Most of the people appoint managers and handle the overall operations of the business but may not be hands on with day to day operations. 'Yield' is a very important term in Estate business and in order to fetch weight tamarind seeds are added as part of coffee seeds and papaya seeds are added as part of black pepper. If you are handling 100 tons of merchandise how in the world will you find out these ? These are planned at the field level and either adulteration is done at the estate or during transportation. But end of the day in the name of food adulteration people make money and its a network of people who gets associated. 

These are just some of the examples of how pilferage happens in some common businesses. Older generation since they have gone past years of hard work they overlook these just to keep them going. With proper technology in place and suitable business process at every step and more importantly second generation getting into the groove can only curb these and put an end to the pilferage activities carried out by the own staff. 

Next Blog: Ponniyin Selvan

NAP

 Not everyone is blessed to fall asleep as soon as they lie down in the bed ....Sleep is a blessing and those who don't get to sleep peacefully at night know the pain of what it takes to do your daily chores. The fact is pharma companies are selling sleeping tablets more and more and am afraid sleeping tablets are becoming as common as Iyengar bakery puffs. So why is sleep becoming a problem ? Answer is 'Stress' ..Stress is playing a predominant role these days in everyone's life ...I can bring some examples why people are stressed so much these days :

1) Co-sister's blouse is more grand than mine and tailor messed up mine hence stress level shoots up 

2) Branch of our mango tree full of mangoes falls into our neighbor's whereas neighbor's thengai mattai keeps falling in our house hence stress level shoots up 

3) Scoring less marks on midterm tests shoots up stress levels for parents

4) When you have rasam rice in plantain leaf and realize rasam runs in all four directions, you shout at the person for pouring more rasam 

These are some of the basic silly reasons why people get stressed out which in turn disturbs your sleeping pattern. 

Recently I plotted an analysis where I figured out those who take a nap in the afternoon are much more productive at their work than people who don't take a nap. In IT world you don't get the luxury to take a nap in the afternoon but for people who run their own business they have the option to take a nap and extend their office hours in the evening. Taking a nap in the afternoon gives you that extra strength for your mind which in turn results in a productive evening. I believe in Japan young children are allowed to take a nap in order to increase attention spans. Because one is deprived of sleep it takes extra time for brain to translate visual input into conscious thought. It is even said with good nap it removes toxic waste from brain. There is a theory that napping improves creativity as right side of the brain remain active during napping and is associated with creativity. 

Staff at NASA, Google and Samsung have one thing in common that of taking a quick nap during your work hours; I have been to Google office in California and amazed to see the specially designed sleep pods called 'Metronaps' where you get into the machine and outside world is shut by a large visor playing soothing music before it gently wakes up its occupant by switching on light patterns. 

One of the biggest factors people are afraid of taking a nap is that they are afraid they will put on weight by doing so. People spell out fancy terms like 'Carbs', 'Calories', 'Diet' but they seldom realize how do temple priest live with Pongal, sambar rice, lemon rice, tamarind rice but still maintain their fitness. How many priest had heart problems ? They are constantly on the move running in and around the temple and many tend to take a nap in the afternoon. Many senior doctors in India take a good nap in the afternoon for a productive evening session; 

So what are you waiting for ? Go take a 30 minutes Nap every afternoon !! 

Next Blog: Pilferage 

My adventure

 As far as my memory goes, I have never been part of any adventurous stuff except the fact that I have been to some thrilling rides in theme parks. I have never been part of serious trekking, scuba diving or sky diving. Only thing I can remember being adventurous to some extent is while being part of some white water rafting and ice skating. December 31,2021 had different plans for me and by far this was the most adventurous ride I have experienced and going to share what happened that evening. 

There is this train called 'Lokmanya express' which stops at Thiruchirapalli junction and goes to Kanchipuram directly so my Mother in law had this train reservation on a Friday evening. Train leaves trichy 6 pm + so we left home around 5.30; It was cloudy and was thinking whether kids should come but since it didn't rain all four of us decided to go to the train station. We went all the way to the platform for the train to arrive and my son was like "Appa enaku ucha varudhu" ..I took him all the way to the main entrance and realized landscape of Trichy junction is very badly planned. So we are standing at the platform for the train to arrive and train arrived few minutes late. All four of us went inside the train and as soon as we spotted the seat we were searching for plug point to charge her phone. Suddenly we realized train started to move ..man I came running to the door and train already picked up speed. If it was just me I could have jumped but since I had kids with me I was wary of the consequences. I just had to be wise and realized train may stop at Sri rangam; and could always take a taxi and come back to junction. I was shocked to know this is an express train and does not have frequent stops. Not even lalgudi or Perambalur and next stop is all the way to Vridachalam. I have no clue where Vridachalam is and how far it is from Trichy. I realized Vridachalam is 120 kilometres away from Trichy and easily couple of hours away. 

Inside the train ...

So we four of us were stuck inside the train without knowing what to do ...TTR came to me and I pleaded to him that he has to take our case as emergency and drop us at some station. I said I was ready to pay fine as much as 5000 and expressed my willingness to pull the emergency chain ...He pleaded or I should say begged asking me not to do so as that will put both himself and me under police case. It will also make his job into trouble as there are legal ramifications for allowing passenger to pull the chain. He sat next to me and made me understand "Emergency" is defined when person is suffering from chest pain, stroke etc., and me stranded with kids will not fall under emergency and this is example of carelessness. Well I think he has a point but somehow I was not convinced. Blame game started between me and my wife and we both realized we need to get back home safely.

7.55 pm Vridachalam Junction ...

Here comes Vridachalam junction and we got down from the train and went into reservation counter to see whether there are trains going back to Trichy ....December 2021 was the timeframe third wave was picking up and IRCTC closed unreservation tickets as they don't want people to be crowded in one compartment. I was looking for plain seating, 3AC, 2AC or even Tatkal bookings and nothing was available as it was new year's eve and all the train where booked pretty much in full. So train option was ruled out. 

8.15 pm 

Next option was to take a taxi ..I was trying to approach taxi drivers and each of them were like Telugu cinema villains getting down from Tata sumo not having time to shave for the last six months. One gentleman advised me to go to Vridachalam bus stand which is few kilometres away and can get reputed taxi from there. So we got onto to Auto and went to Vridachalam Bus stand. 

8.30 pm 

I was trying to look out for taxis like Ola or Uber by that way I can keep accountable of the whole trip. Since it was new year's eve we don't want to get into some unknown taxis which is unreputed because there is a good chance drivers could have been drunk. There was one medical shop next to bus stand whom we supply medicines but the staff was like the person whom Kajol gets to meet before marriage in Minsara kanavu ...for anything and everything "owner a kekanum" ....time was running and we are getting into the night ...With Train, taxi ruled out only option was to take a Bus. I spotted a Trichy Bus and when I was trying to catch I realized my fitness is at a very bad shape. Finally I got hold of a bus and reserved seats through the popular method of placing a cloth in the seat and in this instance my hand ker chief. My wife and kids got into the bus and all three of them went to sleep as soon as the bus started. With so many windows and natural air flowing in it was a new experience for my boys to rejoice the bus travel. Half way through the journey my MIL landed in Kanchipuram when we were returning to Trichy. Around 11.35 pm we got down at Chatram Bus stand and got hold of an Auto and came home around 11.55 pm to light the lamp in time and offer prayers just before the year turned to 2022. 

Last six hours of 2021 was definitely adventurous and it was an experience. In life some things are planned but many things are destined to happen and this one incident makes me nervous these days to get inside a train in order to send off people. 

Next Blog: Nap

Vanjaram Fish - Shocking Truths !!

  Food adulteration is an old topic but when you get to see it through your own eyes then you are in for a shock. Sunday afternoon is not complete without a Non vegetarian dish in India and when lockdown was imposed on Sundays in India you should see the crowd in front of poultry and fish markets on Saturdays for you to believe whether corona really existed. Often our class teachers used to comment "Why do this class behave like a Fish market?" Fish market is a happening place and I love shopping in these markets because I missed this for over a decade. I usually visit Puthur Fish maket in Trichy and since the place is about to be renovated, I switched to Woraiyur market. My first choice would always be Vanjaram and there is big, medium and small categories; You have to go pretty early like 5.30 am to get Big Vanjarams as the restaurant business and Catering chefs come early and pick all the big ones. I usually go in at 7 to 8 am and I get to see only medium and small ones. Vanjarams are fleshy and ideal for both frying and Fish Kolambu and the best part is it has got little thorns. Suddenly one fine day I see the newspaper with an article that in Woraiyur Fish market, FSSAI authorities has seized 650 kgs of fish since fish was laced with Formalin. 

  Everything is sensitized in India for unknown reasons so I did my exploration to know what the inside story of this episode is. First and foremost, Vanjaram belong to "Sea food" meaning it can be found only in oceans. So, for places like Trichy, Madurai, Tanjore, Coimbatore and basically Noncoastal areas it has to be transported to local markets. Assume fish is caught on Wednesday in places like Rameswaram or Kadalore and it is consolidated on wednesday and by Thursday it leaves the source. On Friday it reaches destination to the big wholesale merchants who control the local market. Bidding happens on Friday and local retailers buy from wholesale merchants based on their level of Business. On Saturday and Sunday local merchants have all the fish they need. Now if you note the fish that was caught on Wednesday is what you buy on Sunday. Tamil Nadu is hot at least eight out of twelve months and for the fish not to decay for four days there is whole lot of things that happen. Western countries are able to retain the shelf life through Cold storage and other latest technology available at their disposal but over here 'Cost' plays the role in how food storage is handled. 'Ice', 'Ammonia' and 'Formalin' are three methods adopted by merchants to retain shelf life of the fish. When I say 'Ice', merchants usually have a thermocol box and have loads of ice on all sides of the fish to make sure fish does not get spoilt. But do you think mineral water was used to make Ice? Ice is usually bought from ice factories and on many occasions ice is prepared from unhygienic condition. Other method merchants deploy is ammonia is mixed with water and the water is freezed  to preserve the fish which is again dangerous. 

  Now coming to 'Formalin' - it is a cancer inducing chemical used illegally to preserve fish. Formalin may be injected deep into the fish so unless you cut deep into the flesh you will not know the smell of the chemical. In many cases on Government hospitals Formalin is used to preserve human bodies in mortuaries. Regular intake of formalin even in small proportions just increases the chances of Cancer. There are plenty of articles in the internet which helps us to detect presence of Formalin in the fish but I don't want to do fire fighting with the merchants rather I want to go back and choose wisely on what fish to buy. It has been almost a year now and I stopped buying Vanjarams (though I consume in events and Restaurants since it is beyond my control). I am buying local varieties now and these are caught locally and sold the same day. Blood splashes when they cut it in front of my eyes. On the down side it takes ever to take away the thorns from the fish and if you have toddlers then you are running a bigger risk of burning your Sunday afternoon doing nothing but removing thorns. 

So it is simple, ask yourself "Is point of sale far away from place of catch"; If answer is Yes stop buying Vanjarams rather buy local available fish. In other words make a switch from the modern classic to local Dappan kuthu !! 

Next Blog: My Adventure

Religious beliefs & Marriage !!

 My blogs on religious topics have always been well received in the past and realized it has been some time now since I wrote one on religious topic. I am going to go over Marriage and religious beliefs in Hindu religion. Marriage is a very important step in one's life and there is a famous tamil proverb which describes marriage as "Aayiram kaalathu payir" meaning as we see yield of crops in a particular season, marriage is similar to a crop where it has to overcome all seasonal challenges and come out strong spanning generations and give us plenty of yield. My community is one of the most conservative community and it is absolutely painful to see marriage failures and parents bearing the stress in their old age. Just like Covid has introduced the term 'New normal', 'Divorce' has become a very common term people are coping with in modern world. There is always prescriptions to anything and everything and Hindu religion has given a way to lead life no matter what your life situation is. There are so many rituals and temples which helps bride/groom to enter wedlock upon worship in their respective shrine. I am going to list out the ones which are not that common (since people may already know the common ones). 

1)Nandhi Kalyanam: There is a saying "nandhi kalyanam mundhi kalyanam" meaning one who witness nandhi kalyanam will get married soon. 

When: Panguni month, Punar poosam nakshatra day 

Where: Vaidyanatha Swamy koil, Thirumazhapadi 

Belief: Marriage happens between Nandeeswarar and goddess Swayambikai and it starts in the evening and festivities go till late in the evening. If groom or bride witness this marriage it is said their marriage will happen soon. 

2)Thadikombu - Soundararaja Perumal temple

When: Five consecutive Thursdays 

Where: Soundararaja perumal temple, Thadikombu

Belief: Performing poojas to the deities Rathi and manmadhan on five consecutive thursdays will help unmarried people enter wedlock sooner. 

How exactly it works ? Men need to pray and put garland for Rathi and women need to pray and put garland for manmadhan. This has to be followed for five Thursdays. Once you get married you have to come as a couple to offer thanksgiving. If you call priest he will explain you very clearly on the options you have. For some practically coming five Thursdays may not be possible and priest is the best person to advice you on the options. My intention is just to let you know that there is one such belief exists and worked wonders for many. 

3) Thiruvidanthai Nithya Kalyana Perumal temple:

Where: Chennai East Coast road, 24 kms from Chennai

Belief: Those who are yet to enter wedlock will soon get married

How exactly it works? Unmarried Boy/girl has to take a holy dip in the kalyana theertham, take cocunuts, fruits, beetel leaves and garland and offer prayers to lakshmi varahar by doing archanai. Priest will give one garland which you have to wear around your neck and basically do nine rounds around temple premises. Once you get married come as a couple and bring the garland and do an archanai and offer prayers for varahar. Before the garland get dry there is a belief one will enter wedlock. Once again call temple priest for up to date details. 

4) Thirupainjeeli Shivan temple

Where: Close to Manachanallur in Trichy 

How exactly it works? Doing archanai for both lord Gneelivaneswarar and goddess (Note: there are two goddess shrines in the temple) and offering prayers will help groom/bride to enter into wedlock sooner. 

5) Vedhapuriswarar temple, Thiruvayaru 

Where: Near Thiruvaiyaru

How exactly it works? This sthalam is one of the dosha nivarthi sthalam for marriage; People who need to enter wedlock can come and offer their prayers by singing devaram songs. Once they get married they can come as a couple and offer their thanksgiving. Saint Sampanthar mentions lord's mercy on all those aspiring for most auspicious wedding 

Literal meaning of the lines are "The whole hearted wishes of boys and girls are most auspiciously fulfilled. 

I just want to reiterate the fact that some of the things I mentioned above can be outdated so please kindly contact priest of the respective temples and get to know the complete details and see whether it aligns with your schedule. My intention is to just highlight the temples which helps people on marriage aspects. 

Rain as a Character - Mani Ratnam style !!

 Bharathi raja starts the film with two hands folded saying "En Eniya Tamil Makkalae"; Balachander gives his directorial touch by witty one liners; Bhalu mahendra movies move at lethargic pace with natural photography and my all time favorite director Mani Ratnam uses both 'Rain' and 'Train' quite a bit in his movies and would say he has gone to an extent where rain has played a character role adding more substance to the emotional quotient of the scene. 

Rain as introductory song for actress: I can't help but bringing Mouvna Raagam again to the equation where Revathi as Divya played her role to perfection. When the whole house is waiting for her arrival from college she goes with her friends dancing in the rain thereby showcasing her attitude. But Director has already given a prelude of Divya's tom boyish character by splashing tub of water to interrupt her brother and sis-in-law's stolen moment of intimacy. If you look into couple of lines in the song "Oho Megam Vandhadho" those describe Divya's take on arranged marriage 

"Naan pennanadhu kalyanam thedava  

Oh kannaalan vandhu poomaalai podavaa

Yaen ammaadiyo pen paarkum naadagam

Yaar vandhaalumenna

Thirumbaadhu nyabagam

Poovilangu thevaiyillaiyae"

She questions on arranged marriage and says why all this drahma ? She doesn't want to be handcuffed even if that is made of flowers ? Interesting thing during the song is at one point few men circle the girls and leave and director indirectly says that she is ready to take on boys .....Whole song was more beautiful because of Rain ....If you take rain out of this song then this would have been one of the many songs and wouldn't have made any impression. 

One other song 'Barso re' from Guru where Aishwarya Rai is introduced to audience through the song and once again rain was used in the background and it revealed the innocent childish nature of the actress dancing carefree in the rain. 

Thalapathy and Rain 

Rajini's intro happens in heavy rain and there is a big fight sequence where he takes goons; Rajini's first confrontation scene with Mamooty happens in rain and Mani Ratnam proved he can use Rain for conflict and fury. Mani Ratnam has taught us one thing - shooting in switzerland alone does not bring the beauty in the frame rather to shoot magical scenes you should know your frames well and should use it well to narrate your story. 

Alaipayuthey and Rain 

This movie has a special place for many especially if you happen to be in college during its release ....Mani Ratnam used Rain as a character to interact with its protagonists ...Evano Oruvan song is a classic song set in a dull tone starting with dark clouds, thunder storms, wind and then suddenly outpouring rain happens thereby indicating tension brewing up between shakthi and Karthik like the dark rain clouds and finally outpouring rain signifies couple want to love each other as intense as the rain. 

Arvind Swamy proposes to Manisha Koirala in Bombay and we see rain in the background; SRK's opening scenes with Manisha at Railway station where he says 'Duniya ki sabse chhoti prem kahani' where once again there was heavy downpour elevating the mood of the narration; In Kannathil Muthamittal cinematographer has used lighting to good effect when the marration shows family life and contrastingly uses rain, heavy clouds in latter part of the movie when the country is attacked by political chaos; Velu nayakkar dances in rain on colorful Holi to show that he is fond of his neighborhood in Nayakkan; Vikram proposes to Aishwarya rai in Raavanan and once again rain in the background. 

In a world where people use Rain merely to bring out the glamour quotient of heroines to cater front benchers here is India's top notch director who uses rain as a medium to narrate his storytelling in a poetic way. 

Who is a visionary ?

  After a brief hiatus I am back to Blogging which I just love doing. I have prepared a big list of topics which I want to pen my thoughts and topic for this blog is Visionary. Change is inevitable and things keep changing over the period. One who adapts change and works to his advantage clearly holds the upper edge from the person who see change as bad omen. If you are running a Business right from competition, laws and regulations, policy changes, Government tax structure etc., everything play a role in how successful you are. I am going to list few examples which were truly revolutionary and only from visionary people we get to see ground breaking ideas coming to life. 

Example 1 - Idhayam Gingelly Oil: People talk about "Cold pressed oil", "Branding" and all the BUZZ words used in Business language but here is an Entrepreneur from Virudhunagar one of the remote places in Tamil Nadu who established a world known brand in Consumer goods. Idhayam Gingelly oil is much more than a brand and it occupies integral part of one's kitchen especially amongst Tamil population across the world. Whether USA or New Zealand, Idhayam oil has cemented its place in FMCG market. Not to forget V.R Muthu is the second generation in the family and the brand was already founded by Mr.Rajendran. If we are talking about scalability and zest to grow then we have to invest in technology and appropriate process and that is what V.R Muthu did by automating the manufacturing and packaging process which led to phenomenal domestic and international sales. Idhayam oil exports close to 50 countries and has got 90% of share in seasame oil business and 70% market share in groundnut oil business. Also I cannot forget the Ad where Jothika bathes Idly with oil and that was when she was at her peak form and it had lot of reach amongst the public. Idhayam brand was the one which introduced concept of 'Oil pulling' (concept of swishing oil in your mouth for few minutes which helps to eradicate bacteria on top of moisturizing gums and increase saliva production) to nook and norner of Tamil Nadu or I should say created awareness about the concept. This translated to huge sales for Idhayam brand on top of becoming a household brand. 

Example 2 - Privatization of Television Channels through SUN TV: Maran is a powerful name in Tamil Nadu as Mr.Murasoli Maran is considered to be the Brain of DMK party; Serving M.P for more than three decades Maran senior was instrumental in negotiating Trade deals for India in Global forums and made significant policy changes to drive India's export potential. Now if you take rags to riches stories it would be very inspirational but if you take individuals who represent second generation coming from affluent families everyone would curiously watch what they are upto; Kalanidhi Maran son of Maran senior is a media baron and founder of SUN group. He owns television channels, radio stations, newspapers, weeklies, DTH services, cricket team and a movie production house. April 14, 1992 was a D day in Tamil Nadu's television chapter as it opened doors for private sector. Sun network was the first to procure license for satellite broadcasting and they had to start it as three hours program. Many make fun of mega serials in SUN TV but the hard reality is there is viewership for emotional quotient in TN (In this era movies like Kadaikutty singam and Namma veetu pillai were huge box office hits primarily because women loved the emotional quotient). Also in mid 90's anywhere you go in TN around 9.30 pm you would see people seeing 'Chithi' serial ....Raadhika and Maran on many occasions had to lock horns on political upfront but Maran junior has never mixed professional life hinder his personal life and has always supported Radaan media on her serials and she has provided very good serials for SUN TV. Also Maran junior had the vision of diversifying his portfolio by not restricting him in Televisions alone; If you look at movies produced or distributed by Maran junior he cleverly chooses low budget, medium budget and then a high budget movie. Maran's formula is like you invest X amount for movies like Kanchana 3 and take 3X benefit whereas in movies like Annathae he invests X amount and just takes 1.5X; End of the day his ROI on movies like Kanchana 3 and Namma veetu pillai is much more than movies like Beast or Annathae but movies like Beast and Annathae is more of Brand building. One other character I love about Maran sir is he maintains such low profile, in a world where people boast on getting more views in their respective Youtube channels here is a man who has revolutionized the whole TV industry but still avoids shutterbugs. 

Example 3 - Latest Kamal's flick VIKRAM: Kamal's latest flick Vikram is one cracker of a movie though there is excessive and unrealistic action sequences. I would say director Lokesh Kanagaraj is a great visionary for excellent execution on quite a lot of factors. First Kamal is having a release after 4 years and he is considered to be one of the senior actors in the country but the very decision to show him with such miniscule screen space in the first half would be baffling. But this is where Lokesh won lot of brownie points as he established the story and the characters quite nicely until interval thus giving massive scope for Kamal to start his fireworks in second half. If the writing is not strong whole thing would have fallen flat. Secondly we don't get to see quite a lot of multi starrers because one actor dominates other which discourages actors to act in a multi starrer movie. But here we have Fahad, VJS and Kamal who have got meaty roles and it justifies their presence in the story telling. Once again had the writing been one sided we would have seen one characterization being stronger than others which would have ultimately lead to less curiosity and overall would have dampen the mood of the audience and made them feel its a 180 minutes movie. Last but not the least I don't think any director in the recent past has connected the dots more convincingly than Lokesh on Kaithi 2, Vikram 2 and connection with 1986 Vikram movie. 

Example 4 - iD Idly batter: At IBCN event in 2019, I happen to listen to PC Mustafa owner of iD Fresh foods and was blown away by his approach towards running Business. One of the audience asked is Idly batter a viable business in the future with so many brands coming up and with so many food choices people have in today's world. Mustafa quickly explained some numbers which was so convincing for the audience to realize Idly batter is here to stay. Forget about his hardships and the challenges he had to face to climb up the ladder but just imagine his vision to sell idly batter and then grow a business to clock nearly 300 crores in turnover - absolutely amazing; I have seen people when they pick menu items in Pot luck they tend to skip taking Vada because making vada can be challenging. You take Aavin milk cover and then have the vada batter and then have a hole in the centre and then gently slide it in the cooking pan; It may sound lot easier but reality is different; iD fresh foods invented "Squeeze and fry vada batter" where all you need to do is squeeze the batter and then vada's shape is automatically created and more importantly shape of all vadas are equal. Housewives just love this especially girls who have just entered their wedlock. Mustafa eliminated shape of the vada can no longer be a reason to get into an argument for a Daughter in law and Mother in law. 

Just wanted to list these examples so I see these people like V.R Muthu, Kalanidhi Maran, Lokesh Kanagaraj and Mustafa to be visionaries in their respective industries. 

Next topic: Rain 

Perspective

 Perspective is a very interesting subject and the topic embodies phycological behavior of a particular individual.  What is right for ABC may be wrong for XYZ; It has been more than a decade but I still remember this joke way back in 2008-09 period ..I was working at Home depot HQ in Atlanta and since TCS had its huge presence there I had to work with quite a lot of TCS folks both from north and south of India. One guy called Nikhil Trivedi a hard core Gujarati always praises his state and was very proud of his state achievements and he said Gujarat is a state where at 12 or 1 am a girl can walk safely on streets. He had great admiration of his home state and always had good things to say ....I took the same wordings and shared with another guy called Tushar Vyas that of a girl walking safely at midnight in Gujarat ..He asked me "Hey Sundar ...what is the need of a girl walking at 12 or 1 am on the streets" ..I laughed out loud ..two people two different perspective ....Let me get into some practical incidents ..

Bursting Crackers:

Let us assume you have bought 10000 wala cracker and very excited to burst them during Diwali; You are pumped up and on Diwali day you rollout out the 10000 wala in the street with so much pride as if you have been selected for admission at prestigious Standford University; Now you light up the long agarpathi and approach near the cracker and light up the cracker .....once you realize fire has caught the cracker you run like PT Usha to a safe spot just to witness the sight of the cracker you burnt .....Imagine a young guy who is economically backward and cannot afford to buy any sort of cracker ...He may witness sight of the cracker bursting with all the joy and excitement too ...Now what makes you more happier ? You bursting the cracker or letting another kid enjoy the sight through you ??

Ringtone :

After a movie release some BGMs become massive hit ...for instance after watching Maanadu I updated my ringtone to SJ Suryah's intro BGM in my phone ...The reason was I liked the bgm so much hence wanted to keep that as my ringtone so that I will get to listen often. This is ideally anyone would do but there is another section of people who will just do the opposite .....In case they like something like a song or BGM they will just listen and not keep that as BGM because they are afraid they will get boredom if they get used to it often ...Once again two people and two different perspective .....

Abhishekham Sponsorship:

It is your birthday or wedding anniversary and you have decided to sponsor for an abhishekham for your ishta devadha at your local temple ...Based on the size of the deity abhishekham sponsorship may differ from temple to temple and on an average it costs anywhere around 1000 to 3000 rupees ....Since you are the sponsors priest make you and your family sit right in front so that you can catch glimpse of the entire abhishekham. Now imagine there are so many people who watch the abhishekham since they happen to be at the temple at the same time. Few people who couldn't afford to sponsor treat this as a blessing to watch the abhishekham ....Now you can either watch for a while and leave room for others or pretty much occupy the spot throughout the process. It is your own wish ....Almighty knows you very well and your intentions .....By leaving room for other he may be even more pleased to see your magnanimity ....But two people and two different perspective .....

Perspective is a fascinating subject ...nothing is right ..nothing is wrong ..it just depends on how you see things .....On a lighter note when you think of "Perspective" think about "Parotta" .....State of Kerala has banned Maida (main ingredient of Parotta) whereas if any such thing happens in Tamil Nadu whole state (including me) will go for protests on road as Parotta and chicken/mutton gravy is considered heaven on earth combination. 

Next Blog: Who is a Visionary ?

Naveena Chanakyan

 My favorite topics include 'Food', 'Cinema' and 'Religious aspects' and 2021 is the year where 'Politics' and 'Economics' have joined my list of favorites. I have written quite a lot of blogs on Politics and still yet to make my debut on Economics. Reason why I started liking these two topics would mainly attribute to two personalities - Prashanth Kishore and P.T.R Palanivel Rajan respectively. I have simply admired both of them and they have kindled my interest to great extent on these topics. When I saw RJ Balaji's L.K.G there was a character who act as a political strategist and make individuals win polls and at that time I hardly knew who Prashanth Kishore was but then after knowing about him and his organization I am completely flabbergasted on the talent he brings onto the table. 

Now before getting into Mr.Prashanth Kishore let us understand on the Indian political climate; BJP is literally going from strength to strength and its opposition Congress party is becoming like a villain in recent Thalaivar movies; As such India is going through a massive transformation in terms of Industrialization, Governance, Infrastructure and Corporate affairs and if results are to be believed India will soon become third biggest economy in the world. I would say two things are playing a crucial role in India's glorious run - (a) Stable government which is into its 7th year @ Centre (b) Revenue generation through GST. Stability plays a major role on governance and with BJP government on its seventh year is going from strength to strength and Mr.Modi has created something like 'Brand India'; GST is another factor which is generating huge amounts of money for both central and state governments and this is getting translated to lot of infrastructure changes across the country. Now that I gave a brief overview about Indian political scenario let me jump into Mr.Prashanth Kishore. 

Who is Mr.Prashanth Kishore? What role did he play in Indian politics? What contributions did he make ? Prashanth Kishore is an Indian political strategist and tactician. He has been trained in political strategy and has eight years of experience in United Nations working as Political strategist for various international politicians. Prashanth initially created CAG (Citizens for accountable governance) and then later regrouped as I-PAC (Indian political action committee). Basically Prashanth wants to create a platform for youngsters to participate and make meaningful contribution in political affairs and governance of the country without necessarily being part of the political party. Prashanth wants to make sure there is a citizen-centric agenda and partners with politicians to conceptualize and implement the most effective methods of taking it to the public. Let me list out some of his contributions :

1) Success in helping BJP win 2012 Gujarat legislative assembly election

2) Success in helping BJP win 2014 Indian general election 

3) Success in helping JD(U) win 2015 Bihar legislative assembly election

4) Success in helping INC win 2017 Punjab legislative assembly election

5) Success in helping YSRCP win 2019 Andhra pradesh legislative assembly election

2) Success in helping AAP win 2020 Delhi legislative assembly election

3) Success in helping DMK win 2021 Tamil Nadu legislative assembly election

4) Success in helping TMC win 2021 West Bengal legislative assembly election

That's just WOW ......It is incredible because he was a driving force in how political parties carried out campaigns, what electoral promises to make, how to address challenges, how to tackle opposition etc., If you look into some of the directors of I-PAC they are from premium educational institutions like IIT and what they are good is getting as much DATA as possible and mining information from the data retrieved. You need to understand the constitution, rules of the land, laws and regulations and then devise your strategies. Prashanth just marshalls his resources to come up with a perfect strategy for each individual and the results are for everyone to see but there is plenty of information being carried out in the background. DATA plays a super duper role and prashanth collects as much data as possible before getting his hands dirty. I am going to walk you through some of the fascinating tactics Prashanth deployed during political campaigns which brought him so much of laurels

[1] 'Manthan' initiative: Prashanth realized out of 130 crore indian population 62 crores + of voters were under the age of 25 and realized a huge potential for indian youth to engage in political affairs and wanted to come up with a nation wide movement to bring the youth together and that is how 'Manthan' was born - he came up with a nation wide contest for resolving top 14 issues of the nation. This initiative saw 5 lakh youth participating and presenting their idea on the roadmap of India to a spectrum of leaders across party lines. Guess what the impact was so huge that some of the things like 12 special courts for fast track delivery of cases against politicians, 1.53 trillion rupees worth of loan released for small businesses under MUDRA yojana scheme, 17000 crore budget for seperate skill development ministry were made by Prime Minister to the nation and the idea was from Manthan initiative

[2] 'Captain's Nau Nukte' initiative in Punjab: Prashanth and his team devised a campaign called 'Captain's Nau Nukte' which focuses on nine point agenda bringing back the lost glory of Punjab and he executed the campaign through a large door to door campaign led by 1500 volunteers and reaching 1.2 crore people. This initiative had huge impact in the state of Punjab as it brought 35% women reservation in government jobs, 1500 crore debt waiver to 5.6 lakh farmers and special task force to control smuggling, peddling and consumption of drugs. 

[3] NAVARATNALU initiative in Andhra pradesh: AP was going through a bad phase with corruption charges and bad governance and YSR Jagan mohan reddy teamed up with Prashanth and released nine promises to people of AP. Following footsteps of his dad in 341 days, he walked more than 3648 kilometres meeting citizens directly in person to get an understanding of their problem and what would it take for his new government to resolve the problems. With over 5 lakh party workers, 90k volunteers, 70k influencers, 600 professionals getting connected through 35 online and offline campaigns, people of AP gave YSRCP a landslide victory. YSR acted swiftly on his electoral promises and NAVARATNALU was soon a reality with 55 lakh loan waiver promised to farmers, 15000 annually for every school going kid, 1.5 lakhs students promised reimbursement for accommodation etc., 

[4] KEJRIWAL KI 10 Guarantee in Delhi: Prashanth devised a strategy which consist of an extensive exercise to collect feedback on government's performance in the last 5 years through a door to door campaign reaching 35 lakh households in Delhi. Across Delhi, People were invited to townhalls with the CM and they became part of the discourse for coming up with the agenda for the next 5 years. People's voice, suggestions and feedback culminated into a 10 point agenda and once Kejriwal came to office some of the agenda items were executed like - Revolutionary education reform, Healthcare for all scheme by ensuring network oh Mohalla clinics and advanced government hospitals, 24/7 clean drinking water available to public, 7 million women has access to no cost transport etc., 

[5] DIDI 'R 10 ONGIKAR, BANGLAR GORBO MAMATA: With Congress in no form and J Jayalalitha no more BJP realized their only threat in the nation was Mamata Banerjee so they went all guns blazing and made elections in phased out approach and pulled lot of ministers from TMC to BJP. Prashanth and his team really had to work very hard to get things right as they faced stiff competition from BJP. Once again Prashanth introduced flagship campaigns to reaffirm faith in didi's leadership. Multiple citizen participatory campaigns were designed and individual concerns were addressed. Once Didi came to power 'Universal income support' that of offering 500 and 1000 per month to female heads of SC/ST community, student credit cards for limit upto 10 lakhs for all eligible students, free doorstep delivery of ration goods for 1.5 crore households, 10000/acre for 68 lakh small and medium farmers were introduced

[6] STALININ 7 URUDHIMOLIGAL: Tamil Nadu was merely remote controlled by centre and with stalwarts like Karuna and JJ out of picture state was going through a bad phase with lot of misgovernance. Upon working closely with Prashanth and his team Stalin came up with a '10 year vision document' which focused on revamping areas in seven sectors such as Agriculture, Water management, Health Urban  development, Education, Rural infrastructure, Social injustice, Economy etc., Stalin also had over 500 election promises which was made fun by the entire state but close to 50% of the promises were fulfilled is the reality. Finance minister selection raised eyebrows and for the first time we saw an well educated smart youngster given Finance portfolio, opposition party were treated with dignity, Tea party was hosted by CM which were attended by politicians across party lines. With just over six months DMK has literally had a glorious run and overall functioning of the state, handling of pandemic, governance has simply been outstanding and brought heaps of praise and appreciation from all over the country. 

I have just pointed out some of the things Mr.Prashanth did and he did a whole lot of things which is opening a new chapter in Indian politics. If you take a closer look almost all of his initiatives involved interacting with people to know and understand their problems from grassroot level since Prashanth believes only when you understand from close quarters you can come up with a solution. Modi's ever famous 'Chai par charcha' campaign where he had a chai and interacted with public and Stalin's Grama sabbhas before TN election to sit with people and talk to them all not just won praises but also respective elections for BJP and DMK respectively. If you look at BJP it has taken some of the boldest decisions in Citizens amendment act, decision to revoke Article 370, law related to Triple talaq, decision to make Jammu, kashmir and ladakh union territories etc., When a dynamic, young and revolutionary architect in the form of Prashanth Kishor come to the equation it augurs good for Indian Politics as it changes the grammar of how a political party should be run.

Next topic: Perspective

P.S: I wish all my readers a very happy and prosperous new year; Readership for my blog has gone ten times more and thank all of you for your time and thanks for sending me your feedback and healthy debates over Whatsapp. 

How Drahma Unfolds !!

 Staging a drama doesn't happen just on stage instead it happens in different contexts on various matters in India. I am going to list some of those based on my experience in the past. There is always a motive for people to stage a drama - sometimes it could be for monetary reasons whereas sometimes it could be to win over people, some occasions to gain sympathy, so on and so forth etc., 

[1] Drahma at Road side: If mass shootings is a concern in US then road accidents is a concern in India and sometimes road accidents are enacted through a drama too. Along with my family I was on my way to Vaitheeswaran Temple and of course this happened before Corona made its debut, once you cross Kumbakonam roads are narrow and it gets congested as population is dense in those areas. I was comfortable driving but I had to be very watchful since I could see bicycles, cows, dogs, suddenly making its appearance just like how elakai makes its presence when we enjoy the yummy biriyani. But I was moving along and at one spot and couldn't recollect the exact location I heard a big noise back of my car and I was very confident me and my car had nothing to do with the collision that happened for a two wheeler against one of the moving vehicles on the road. I looked into the mirror and saw people gathering in big numbers and since I had nothing to do with the accident I moved along. One person from the spot rushed towards me and parked his bike in front of my car and asked me to get down from the car. I obliged and got down and he said I was the one responsible for the accident and had to come to the spot immediately .....I said this is absolutely false and I cannot take responsibility for accidents taking place on road ...he was adamant that I had to come to the spot so I had no other choice but to rush towards the spot. First and foremost I am going to visit a temple so if I commit a mistake and then offer my prayers I am aware almighty is not going to listen to my prayers so I was confident lord will take care and gathered courage to face the crowd. People were furious at me and some even pointed fingers that I was responsible for the lady who fell down from the two wheeler; Guy who drove the two wheeler said I dashed him which made him and the lady fall ....I said to the crowd ...first let us all try to understand what happened .....I asked the guy to explain in detail ...I questioned him just like how Surya did in Jai Bhim ....Right from the direction he came, side of my car which seem to hit him etc., I also asked the crowd to look into my car whether it had any scratches or paint removal like how the guy explained ...I also spotted a Security Camera in one of the shops nearby but unfortunately shop was closed but I asked the crowd let us call the show owner and get footage of what happened ....Crowd listened to me ..they looked into my car which had my entire family waiting in patience. At this point of time crowd was convinced this guy is enacting a drama and was confident on the way I carried myself ....I even asked the crowd if I am proven wrong I can take care of any medical treatment and any expense that incurs for the boy but I cannot be fooled around. I gave all of my identity proofs in case they want to contact me further. I am pretty sure this guy basically wanted to enact a drama and get cash from me and he gathered sympathy by pulling the crowd and the lady and ambulance are all character roles in his play. God knows the truth but I realized once you are confident and truthful you need to FACE the challenge by yourself and my attitude was the saving grace on the incident and I thank lord Vaitheeswaran for giving me the strength to face the situation. 

[2] Third person make merry: When two people have misunderstandings the worst thing that happen is third person take advantage of the situation. In any Business when two generations work together it is super natural to have difference of opinion of various day to day operations. Best thing to do is for the two to iron out the differences and settle things amicably but at this juncture third party and in this case the employees in the same organization take advantage of the situation. Since older generation is lenient on lot of things they tend to get arguments with the new generation person and employees slowly but surely make more inroads on the rift between older and new generation. This is sort of a drama people undertake in every organization and I would strongly say reasons for family feuds are more of internal in nature rather than from external forces. This can be frustrating but one day truth will triumph. 

[3] Video leak: This one is not my personal experience but just my observation. High profile movie shooting may be in progress and all of a sudden some video footage may be leaked from the film's shooting. News spread all over the state and fans start to rejoice the content and start sharing virally on social media. Some people just want to get a glimpse of the video due to curiosity factor ...Overall this has been a paisa vasool marketing for the movie. If you take a deep look this whole thing could be a drahma ....when you release a video as a teaser it may generate 1 million views whereas you term it has 'leak' it may generate 2 million views ...This is like stolen mangoes are more tastier than mangoes bought. 

I have just listed few but there are whole lot more which I could keep writing; I feel there is always a motto behind every drama that has been enacted. People choose the characters, script and stage for the drama but whatever drama one does end of the day people are responsible for their own wrongdoings through the Paavam-Punya Kanaku just like Credit and debit entries in Journal Book. 

Next Blog:  Naveena Chanakyan