Reading fever

I have always been a lover of good books. There have been times in my life when reading hits a fleeting feverish pitch and the last weekend was one such. I was a big fan of Ruskin Bond during my school/early college days and had spent several weekends devouring Ruskin's works. It's been quite a while now since I lost myself if the mountains among the characters from his stories. I have quoted Ruskin a couple of times in this blog. I share the love for mountains and a "longing after things past".

 The pure, the bright, the beautiful,
 That stirred our hearts in youth;
 The impulse to a wordless prayer,
 The dreams of love and truth;
 The longings after something lost;
 The spirit's yearning cry;
 The striving after better hopes;
 These things can never die,
 These things can never die.

                                   - Charles Dickens

I have lined up a bunch of Ruskin's works to revisit/relive over the next few weekends - A flight of Pigeons, The night train at Deoli, Rain in the mountains, and A face in the dark.

Would you curse a blind man ?

Consider these scenarios:

1. A disabled man in a wheel chair boards a bus and while trying to move to a corner, he inadvertently runs a wheel over your foot. Would you blow your top and ask him to watch where he is going ?

 

2. A blind man runs into you in a crowded street. Would you curse him for not being careful enough ?

 

3. A man hit by a vehicle, bleeding badly, writhing in pain, and lying by the roadside shouts and hurls abuses at you while you try to move his broken limb and help him. Would you dump him on the roadside and walk away ?

 

The conflicts that we witness or are part of in our lives aren't born in isolation. They have their roots that tap into events and experiences in lives of the people involved in the conflict. The conflict gets its nourishment from the stress, pain, guilt, and anguish of these past events. In the events I have described above the disabilities and pain are apparent and forces us to be more forgiving if not empathetic. The problem is that pain isn't always apparent even when it is excruciating.

 

Conflicts may arise out of simple disagreements or more serious matters but are fuelled by a suite of negative emotions that spring from past experiences. The angry words, contemptuous remarks, or threats flung at each other are nourished by stress, fear, shame, guilt or other such negative emotions that have found their ways into people's minds.

 

There are at least two ways in which a keen awareness of these "causes and effects"  can help one manage conflicts better.

 

In both personal and professional relationships, it can help one become more forgiving and empathizing. An angry response from a friend or a colleague has the potential to invoke an urge to retaliate in kind. But awareness of the widespread root system of experiences and the knowledge that wounds and scars aren't always visible can help one from being sucked into any sort of emotional turbulence.

 

It is easy to say this, but extremely hard to practice. And yes, repeated practice is what is needed. I believe this is a skill worth learning and perfecting. If one can condition oneself to filter out the negative emotions and be keenly aware of that fact that there is a huge root system that nourishes conflict, it then opens the door to a large number of potential solutions. The end goal is not to become like Jesus or Buddha exemplifying mercifulness but to stay unaffected by the various stresses and disappointments that may visit us and to find peace and happiness in daily life.

 

Try this out next time when someone blows their top at you - think of that blind man who just ran into you in a crowded street. Is the blindness/disability/hurt apparent here ? Would you curse a blind man ?

Arjun's quote for the day

"I think we are wasting a lot of energy when we go outside and use these elevators and escalators. May be I should stop going to school and stay at home."

Arjun's quote for the day

Arjun's quote for the day:
"...Why do army men march ? Why can't they walk like normal people ? ..."

Arjun's recent quotable quotes

Arjun: Can you tell me something ?
Me: Sure, what is it ?
Arjun: November has 30 days but December has 31. Why ?
Me: ...ah....bbb....I mean.....ahh...

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Arjun: Do you know why the sky is blue?
Me: No, tell me
Arjun: It is the color of Earth's skin. Go back home and take a look at the globe.

Arjun's quote for the day

" I am going to dial 999 and call some thieves"

Arjun's quote for the day :

Arjun's quote for the day :
Me: What number comes before zero ?
Arjun : BLAST OFF !!
Me : What ??? 
Arjun: 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, BLAST OFF !!

Two good books

I recently read two well written books - one exposing the complex personality of an iconic figure - Steve Jobs and the other unraveling the complexities and contradictions of a nation - India.

Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs tells the life story of the man who revolutionized several industries through powerful technology. Edward Luce's book "In spite of the Gods" tells the tale of India, the veritable "land of stark contradictions."

Live blogging from my classroom -Global Management of Asian Firms

Live blogging from my class..please excuse grammatical & spelling errors and the lack of formatting.
Today we have a guest speaker in our "Global Management of Asian Firms" class - Kevin Tay, Chief Investment Officer, UBS - Southern APAC.

These are my random notes from his talk:

1. Eurozone exports as a % of GDP: India (1.9%), China (4.0%), Singapore (11.8%)
2. China's Eurozone exports are mostly Labor intensive. Hence Euro crisis could lead to high unemployment in China.
3. The deep structural problems that Euro zone has will take decades to solve.
4. Monetary policy is effective in normal business cycle while fiscal policy is effective in structural deleveraging.
5. During deflationary phase, bank savings go up and spending drops.
6. Democratic govt's will not be effective during structural deleveraging as they will focus on short term goals and take measures that could be counter productive.
7. Thailand paid back IMF in 6 years. Asia does not have trade unions, maximum work hours, social welfare etc...currency was devalued and Asia exported their way out.
8. Europe has strong trade unions, firing is very difficult.
9. Balance sheet recession : Save 100 out of 1000 every month. People borrow that money and invest ->generate 10% growth. Right now...lending is on very high interest
rates and hence very few borrow. Private sector does not spend and bank savings rise.
10. Credit crunch has started in Eastern Europe, this will now spread.
11. Banks don't want to issue bonds to share up their balance sheet because of very high interest rates.
12. This could all lead to contraction in economies.
13. The way Govts are try to get out of this mess is by spending. The problem is the the troubled govts can borrow only at very high rate.
14. Countries like Philippines, Indonesia have a obligation to help as they received help during the Asian financial crisis.
15. Chinese incentive is that if Eurozone improves, their exports could improve.
16. China wants leadership of IMF and wants Yuan included in SDR- special depository receipts which currently contains Dollar, Euro, Yen, and Sterling.
17. Greeks don't have an effective tax collection system.
18. Italian govts are taking desperate measures to collect taxes.
19. Consolidated claims on Asian banks: European Banks claims/ Total foreign claims : China (40.5%), India (46.8%)...about half of lending in Asia is coming from European banks. Will this lead to credit crunch in Asia. Kevin thinks no...as Asian banks are well capitalized.
20. If Greece exits Euro, several European banks could enforce capital controls and that will send inter bank rates through the roof.

Now it is Q&A. I have one on the potential of Asian Agro businesses. Kevin is positive "Go be farmers" :-)

Arjun's quote for the day

When I grow "100 years tall", I am going to paint the sky brown. :-)