Month: February 2020

Change.

When I read this Rumi quote on a WhatsApp message, I knew immediately that this would be my suggestion for a Friday Three on One blog post and I duly recommended it to my fellow bloggers Padmum and Shackman who readily agreed. Please do go over to Padmum’s blog and Shackman’s blog to see what each has to say on the same topic. Thank you.

True, I have not been able to change the world.  I have however either changed myself many times or change has been thrust on me, whether I liked it or not.

Neither of my parents were fortunate enough to see two centuries.  My siblings and I were from the twentieth to the twenty first.  And what a change that has been!

My life, bar the last thirty years, has been one of change of residence for either moving due to my father’s transfers or my own besides my having been a bit of a rootless guy for a few years during my early twenties. I have lived in Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkatta, Koratti in Kerala, Assam, Hyderabad, Tirupur in Tamil Nadu and finally in Pune now for the past thirty years.

The result of all these changes of residences has been that I am proficient in five languages and can manage quite comfortably in three others. Though I can read only three scripts, I am now flooded with local language messages written in the Roman script from different parts of my glorious country which boasts of 122 major languages and 1599 other languages which of course included many dialects!

I have seen carefree bachelor status, married man status and for the last ten years, widower status.

I have seen my career going through public sector, multinationals, private sector and family / owner run organisations and have also worked in an NGO non profit organisation in a voluntary position.

I have changed from being a hard drinking meat eating executive into to teetotaller, vegetarian spiritual person over the last twenty two years.

I have also changed from being a very indifferent person where religion is concerned into a deeply involved in it person over the last 22 years.

Other significant changes that have taken place in my life can be called physical due to the inevitable changes due to ageing and also my issues with COPD and replaced and revised hip joints. From a very active person, I have now become more or less a couch potato though, thankfully not yet wheel chair bound. I however dread a fall somewhere, which can have serious repercussions and put me into one for the rest of my life.
I am not the wisest and I flatter myself that I am not the stupidest of men either.  I accept that change will happen.  I am sure to see more before I fade away into the sunset.

What Is Your Kryptonite?

I had never heard of the word Kryptonite till Shackman came up with this topic for this week’s Friday Two On One blog post. Well, you live and learn and I have indeed learned something new.


To answer the specific question that Shackman has asked, for me, it is no brainer that it is my COPD.

I can go on and on about the condition and how I am coping with it but, will spare my readers the agony with just these words. It is a difficult condition to live with but, I manage quite cheerfully and have accepted the limitations that it imposes on my life style.

The other kryptonite most people seem to talk about in their lives are people and I am very glad to say that I do not have any in my life who can be thus classified. Such people do come into my life but, I don’t let them stay in my life. I am quite comfortable without them thank you.

I am sure that Shackman has much more to say about this topic, and I request you to go over to his blog to read that. Thank you.

Singing.

A friend sent this clip to me with much enthusiasm hoping that this advice will keep me amongst his gang for some more time,

I responded to him with “The problem is that I can’t sing anymore. I croak like a frog.”

In his inevitable style he came back with “24/7 News Channel Reports Breaking News. There are many formats of singing like Qawwwalis, Classical, Jazz, Pop etc. Mr. RR has now introduced Croak Singing which is getting to be very popular in Western India.”

Unemployed.

I received this image as a forward in WhatsApp from a friend who felt that I should get some printed like this for myself.

I did not think that this would serve any purpose for me but, on seeing it as a forward from me, another friend who has the necessary infrastructure of an office with staff suggested that he order for a hundred cards with my name and with some modifications.

I agreed and when it gets printed, I shall write another blog post on it.

In the meanwhile, the “Unemployed” description on the card took me to one of my favourite exchange of letters in The Economist between a reader and The Undercover Economist.

The Letter.

AUGUST 6, 2005

Dear Economist,

My son-in-law has been unemployed for a couple of months now. As far as I can make out, he’s enjoying a PlayStation lifestyle while being supported by the state and by my daughter, who has had to find a temporary job. What concerns me is that he’ll get used to this. Should I tell my daughter to apply pressure by quitting her job?

Yours sincerely,

Godfrey Pickens, via email

The Response.

Dear Mr. Pickens,

The issue here is whether your son-in-law’s preferences will change over time—will he “get used” to a life of leisure, and so be less likely to work?

There are two competing views here. One is that he will become hooked on leisure (the welfare trap hypothesis) and will work less in the future, even if his wife quits her job. The other, equally plausible in theory, is that he will become addicted to the extra income provided by his wife’s new job, and if she quits, he will go on to work harder than before.

Such competing hypotheses have been hard to test in the past. But economist John Kagel has succeeded in running a series of experiments that shed light on the matter.

Kagel first forces his subjects to work for their income. Then, for a while, he provides them a substantial unearned income—a kind of welfare, if you will. Unsurprisingly, they slack off at once. Later, he withdraws the welfare and observes whether they work more or less than before welfare had ever been paid. The answer: the interlude on welfare makes very little difference.

This implies that your daughter should keep working for a while and see what happens. No harm will result. The only question for you is whether Kagel’s findings apply to your son-in-law.

Kagel’s subjects were rats. Do you think the parallel with your
son-in-law is close enough?

Yours experimentally,

The Undercover Economist

Arguments.

discussion
/dɪˈskʌʃ(ə)n/

noun
the action or process of talking about something in order to reach a decision or to exchange ideas.
“the committee acts as a forum for discussion”
a conversation or debate about a specific topic.
plural noun: discussions
“discussions about environmental improvement”

debate
/dɪˈbeɪt/

noun
a formal discussion on a particular matter in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward and which usually ends with a vote.
“last night’s debate on the Education Bill”

conversation
/kɒnvəˈseɪʃ(ə)n/

noun
a talk, especially an informal one, between two or more people, in which news and ideas are exchanged.
“she picked up the phone and held a conversation in French”

argument
/ˈɑːɡjʊm(ə)nt/

1.
an exchange of diverging or opposite views, typically a heated or angry one.
“I’ve had an argument with my father”

2.
a reason or set of reasons given in support of an idea, action or theory.
“there is a strong argument for submitting a formal appeal”

I would rather have one of the first three than the last. By nature I have been made like that and I have always been like that.  Now that I am a Senior Citizen, I am forgiven for being like that.

I came up with this topic for this week’s Two On One Friday blog post where Shackman and I post on the same topic. Please do go over to Shackman’s blog to see what he has to say on the topic.