MAJOR DISEASES LOSING THEIR PREEMINENCE

BusinessLine of July 28  2020. Highlights, "Several major diseases have lost their pre-eminent position in the fear of this pandemic(COVID 19)" 

CATCH  22. 

Either one or the other will get you. 

The mortality rate among members of our Church - CSI Christ Church Trivandrum is galloping. The Pastor is kept busy through out these days of agony, anguish, desperation and the finality of the inevitable, the indefinite and the unknown.

While this is the micro the  macro must be  unfolding itself with a severity locking us up in a vicious and  stragulating hold. Redemption or salvation  are beautiful words, but they  seem so near yet far away. 

QUARANTINE

‘Quarantine’ is defined a strict isolation imposed to prevent the spread of disease. It is a state, period or place of isolation in which people or animals that have arrived from elsewhere or been exposed to infectious or contagious disease are placed.

The first time I had heard the word was at an impressionable age when I was young and growing up. I heard it from my father. We were in Munnar. I was in the Lower Primary School where the medium of instruction was Malayalam. I am speaking of a Munnar still ruled by the English even after the independence where no one could ever dream of an education in the English Medium.

Papa had served the British at Singapore. He went there in search of a job. The foray preceded the Second World War. He was happy when he was selected for a job at the Naval Base. Soon the War began. The Japanese took over the Naval Base. It was forced labour under the Japanese. There was no escape. Somehow he survived the hardships and when the War ended he managed to reach India. He was forced by his parents to stay back. He was dissuaded from a  return to Singapore for employment. Sentiments ruled over reality. I believe he rued it till he passed away in 2008.

Papa relished recalling stories of his life at Singapore. The stories gave us a much bigger and more than life size image of him. In one of his stories, he exposed us to ‘Quarantine’ and what it meant. It was harsh.

With the relentless onslaught of Covid -19 ‘Quarantine’ has surfaced once again. It is ‘Quarantine’ anywhere and everywhere. The initiated and the uninitiated into the English Language, the language of our much hated oppressors of the past, have learned the hard lesson what ‘Quarantine’ is in the hardest way.

Well, today I am afraid to reveal if I suffer from even a cold. I am afraid to sneeze or cough. I could be quarantined. That too for a lengthy fourteen days coupled with an extension of yet another fourteen days. It is all for the good of humanity and for my own safety, I am told. I am already under reverse quarantine. I understand I would come off it once Herd Immunity is developed. When it would be, no one knows. People like me aged over 65 and children below 10 are locked in. My fundamental rights remain suspended on that count.

Posters proscribing the entry of the reverse quarantined into shops and public spaces are displayed prominently. The guard at the entrance closely scrutinizes all who attempt to enter and forbids the reverse quarantined.

When the Lockdown was initially implemented in March 2020 we were discussing what we would do in case someone at home fell ill and had to seek medical intervention. We learned many Hospitals were literally dissuading patients from approaching them unless it was an emergency. The pandemic had ensured the closure of some hospitals with limited manpower.  

Life went on smoothly till the 8^th of June. It was a tornado that had hit us on that day. Our Mother, 95 years and 96 to be in August suddenly developed breathlessness. She was in good health till then. We had ensured that she had periodic medical attention. She had been on drugs advised by the doctors.

As her condition worsened we took her at once to a private hospital.  They looked after her well. Little did we know that it would be three admissions to the hospital for her in as many weeks. There were complications. She was finally discharged on 3^rd July on abatement of the original disorder but with a severe disability. She was totally bedridden. She still is.  The Doctor assured us that the disability would wear off as time progressed.  He said it occurred since she had been totally confined to the bed for a fortnight. With the knowledgeable, one cannot cavil nor lampoon.

While we stayed in the Hospital attending to the patient we could hear persistent alerts on the P A System on Novel Corona Virus. They left no stone unturned in the combat. No one was allowed to enter the Hospital without approaching the Corona desk where the Receptionists were at once aggressive and invasive to prise out information or recent history of the entrants.

The strong arm measures enlightened us Corona is a vicious adversary. Fatality becomes a distinct possibility if it is ignored. We did some research on the pandemic and the cost of treatment. We found to our dismay the cost was prohibitive and unaffordable to the average Indian.   If the three or four members of a family are unfortunately struck by the virus it would cast a very heavy economic burden on the family no matter if they survive or succumb. They would lose everything they have.

Here is an insight into the pricing of the medicines to counter Covid-19. Hetero has priced Remdesivir at Rs.5400.00 for a 100mg injection vial and Cipla at Rs.4000 per vial. A five day treatment with Remdesivir would work out to Rs 24000-32000 per patient. Glenmark has priced Favipiravir 200mg tablet at Rs.103.00 with a course of treatment costing Rs.12566.00 per person. Treatment with Itolizumah, basically a drug for psoriasis that reportedly shows therapeutic effects in severe Covid-19 infections progressing to acute respiratory syndrome costs Rs.32000.00 per patient.(The Hindu, July 22, 2020 - Why are re-purposed medicines expensive? The burden of a pandemic will have to be borne by Governments and pharmaceutical companies alike)

Let us return to our mother admitted in the hospital for severe breathlessness. As she developed complications   she had been referred to a host of specialists. They were all considerate. The Cardiologist discovered a Cardiac issue. The Gastroenterologist found that she had Clostridium Difficile an infection promoted by the high potency antibiotics administered to resolve breathlessness. The Orthopedic Surgeon discovered a slightly dislocated shoulder. The Neuro Physician said she suffered from Senile Chorea. Both the super specialists opined she would be better off without medicines from them at the advanced age. A senior doctor from the Department of Medicine too had a look at her. There were regular blood checks, Xrays, ECGs , Echo Tests and an  Ultra Sound Scan. Then it was the turn of the Physiotherapist. He visited her for two days at the fag end of her stay in the hospital.  Though I have no experience in the medical field I personally feel Physiotherapy could have been initiated a little earlier as our Ammachi (Mother) retains the invalid status even after three weeks from the discharge.

The discharge summary mentioned 19 tablets per day for the patient. One of our relatives is a Neuro Physician in the USA. He had a look at the list of medicines. He enquired whether the list was consolidated by a GP. He said it was the system there. He said it limits the number of medicines.

As the practice in India widely differs from the practice in the USA it is apparent Covid-19 patients would be prescribed quite a large number of medicines in India. I am not blaming our medical fraternity. It is the protocol.  However the escalation in the cost for Covid-19 treatment makes it prohibitive for the common man.

Though it is apparent Quarantine is inevitable for survival the confinement within four walls too is equally hazardous. It would invite Vitamin D deficiency. Calcium deficiency may cause deterioration in bone density. One may even go into depression.  Devoid of exercise and physical activity you could attract severe health issues that could be lethal. Children would grow up deprived of social skills.

It’s a Catch 22 situation. To put it satirically either you hang or you would be hanged. You have no way out nor salvation.

(Catch 22 is a novel by Joseph Heller)

THREE MEN IN A BOAT - ENTRANCING HUMOUR

The book published  in 1889 is a masterpiece resplendent in the  quaint, cold and yet lively Britsh  humour. The beauty is, it retains its relevance and significance even after almost one and a half centuries.

Elevated and entranced by it's quality and appeal I  recently wrote to the appropiate official of an organisation.

1. Have a copy in the library, if it is not available there.

2. Bulk purchase it and let everyone have a copy where they have to meet the cost.

3. Nothing comes free in the world. Nothing should be free. Else it becomes a gift                      valueless, meant to be discarded.

4. Once you pay and buy, you'd certainly read it because you have paid for it.

5.Humour is an absolute necessity in life. Today, it's not in evidence anywhere. You find           grim  or glum faces wherever you put your eyes on. It's essential people  are exhorted to       bask in  humour too. (My view. You don't have to concur))      

LOCKDOWN EFFECT

We have been in an incessant Lockdown since the middle of March 2020. Corona is all over the country with  vehemence. The Governments are doing their utmost to combat the deadly virus. No one can accuse them of lethargy, inertia or inactivity. They are focused. They are determined to see the pandemic through.  When a sworn enemy or a known enemy strikes everyone knows what or where to look for or how to encounter the intruder. The word ‘encounter’ however has by now acquired a number of connotations though. What baffles the whole world is that this is an invisible invader who strikes at will with no discrimination for caste, creed, colour, place,  the rich or the impoverished. Though man has carved   the earth into hegemonic segments holding suzerainty within their borders and at times even across the world, the virus has the world with seamless borders at its command. The tiny adversary has brought mankind to its knees. It seems the monster is monstering or bamboozling, laughing all along with the decimation of the successors of the Neanderthals from the face the earth its sole objective.

While obliteration of the virus is critical for the survival of people the administrators have resorted to very strong and innovative measures.  It necessitates suspension of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution for a brief interregnum. There is no alternative and people have to willingly or reluctantly subscribe to the law in place for their own good. Here is the catch. Who implements the law? Obviously, it is the law enforcers. Everything goes haywire at this end. It is perplexing how innocents are subjugated into submission by the enforcement of brutal force.

 ‘The Hindu’ has the status of a national newspaper in India. The language is terrific. It has a distinct style. It presents unbiased news. It relies on truth.  I am relying on the issue of July 18, 2020 for substantiation.

1.    The editorial says, “Deaths remain low, but India must fight the virus, not manage data.”It continues, “With a 9.1% test positivity rate, Gujarat has made no attempts to greatly increase daily tests but instead appears to be disingenuously limiting the number of daily tests to keep fresh cases per day under check. Telangana too, with a test positivity rate of 18.4%, has made no great effort to increase daily tests. Telangana defies the trend of rising cases during the pandemic, raising serious concern about its numbers.”

2.     The article, “Telangana’s COVID trials and tribulations” is interesting. It begins with the story of a 34 year old techie with complaints of nine days of fever and shortness of breath who had to wait outside a hospital from 8 a.m to 10 p.m on June 27, 2020 for admission there. Still more interesting is the first case of Covid in Telangana. The State Ministry of Health announced on March 2,   that a techie from Telangana with travel history to Dubai had tested positive for Covid- 19. The Chief Minister spoke of the techie in the State Assembly on March 7 and tried to allay fears. Quoting some of the doctors, he said a paracetamol tablet was sufficient to fight Covid -19. He called the techie a “sannasi daridrudu (unfortunate nincompoop).”

3.  The report zooms in on Police highhandedness when Lockdown was imposed in Telangana from March 23. Police personnel chased people on the roads and beat them up mercilessly. The IT Minister intervened and directed the District Superintendent of Police to personally meet and  apologise to a 12 year old for the assault on his father in front of the child. On the first day of the lockdown several journalists were roughed up by the Police despite showing their identity papers. In Khammam, a woman doctor who was on her way to the hospital was abused and assaulted by an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

4.     Police officers told ‘The Hindu’ that they had received instructions from their seniors to use force and create an atmosphere of fear.”Our men were told to any situation using batons. We were very confused. Our men used batons to keep people inside. Many were injured in the process.”

5.   In a recent counter affidavit filed in the Telangana High Court on allegations that the Falaknuma police personnel had damaged vehicles parked outside homes in a residential area, the Hyderabad Police Commissioner submitted, “ The police had checked the vehicles using police lathis in order to see whether corona virus was present or not.”

Telangana is not unique or isolated. Excesses by the law enforcers meant to protect the citizens never differ in the wide spectrum  all over the country. It is nothing but, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Stepping off from 'The Hindu' the experience in Kerala is no different. Here are some incidents.

1.    The pickup auto of a supplier of eggs to retail outlets with full load was confiscated and kept in the open at a Police Station for two days. The SHO had told him people do not need eggs for survival. The poor man went round and round and when the vehicle was finally released the eggs were all spoilt.  

2.  The fish vendors who tried to sell fish in the open – the markets were all closed – were beaten up and driven away.  They too were told man does not need fish for survival.

3.     The SHO singled out a perfect gentleman who got down from his two wheeler to purchase fish. He was abused with choicest expletives in front of all the people in the vicinity. The poor man couldn’t sleep for a month.

4.   A shop keeper driving to open his shop supplying essential articles – a permitted activity – was roughly poked on the face with a baton by the sentinel on the road and was questioned why he was travelling.

5.     Another shop keeper had to proceed to the wholesaler to draw supplies. As the roads were all blocked supplies to the retailers had become a thing of the past. A sentinel stopped him. He showed his papers, including the affidavit mandated by the authorities. Sentinels are sentinels. The shop keeper was told he could proceed only if the affidavit was approved by the local Police station. 

Imagine the plight of a small time wholesaler. His delivery truck was seiized when it was returning to the store. The driver was admonished  for driving an empty vehicle.  The vehicle was released  several days later. Of course the owner had run helter skelter for the favour.
II    
  .    It was midday. A Police vehicle with headlights switched on and the horn blaring  crawled at a snail’s pace. It stopped abruptly. An Officer jumped out. There was a loud smack. It was the  thud of the lathi landing on a  poor man. The Officer shouted at the people around. “If anyone has no mask, go home and put it on.” People surmised that the capital crime committed by the poor man was that he was mask less.

7.    An SHO was the happiest when he could raid shops and abuse people if the shutters were not downed  at the appointed hour itself even though business had been closed for the day. and the gates were locked to prevent the entry of people. In God's own country the law was supreme and the  law did not provide any additional moments for closure of the accounts for the day. was the  perception of the exalted official.

   The common bond that binds Telangana and Kerala is the articulation of might by our  saviours. As in Hyderabad. they strike at the vehicles at will with the lathis.to keep Corona away. They believe in the affordability of the poor vehicle owners to level the dent and immerse the vehicles with a fresh coat of costly metallic paint or the less costly ordinary paint. 

Well, Corona is here for a long innings. Corona is not an excuse to beat people up. Corona is not a justifiable cause for misbehavior. Putting fear in the minds of law abiding citizens is not the key. Lockdown is to keep Corona away. Lockdown cannot drive Corona off.  The long and relentless stretch of confinement may finally end up in driving people crazy. Guess what will happen to the country in that event.

SHE ALONE CAN PLAY HER GAME

I am saddling you with a real story.

One evening two years ago at around 6 pm the Principal of KUTSeminary, Kannammoola, Trivandrum Rev.MPJoseph had given me a call. He said the CSI Synod Treasurer Adv.Bruce is visiting the Seminary for ascertaining the issues that had been plaguing KUTS for quite sometime. Problems always arise in a dynamic environment.. As I was the Honorary Treasurer of the KUTS the Principal wanted me there since according to his perception I had been well conversant in the subject.

I said yes and reached the Seminary at once.

Adv. Bruce arrived without delay. He reviewed the performance of the Seminary. We presented the events and matters objectively.

Once the meeting was over Adv. Bruce sought the intervention of the Principal for securing an admission for a girl at the St.Thomas Residential School Trivandrum CBSE 11th Standard. I kept quiet. But Achen wouldn't let go. He requested me to intercede. I had a relative at the School. Though my disposition is never to interfere in the official matters of my relatives, something made me say yes.

The girl was the daughter of Mr. J Kanakaraj of Nagercoil. His wife was a teacher in a School there. The grandfather of the girl was a close associate of Adv.Bruce in politics.

When I contacted my relative, he said that with due respect to the system of education prevalent in Tamil Nadu the general policy of the School was not to admit students from the state as the students  there were being showered with elevated percentage of marks.  However their performance at the School was consistently on the flip side. They encountered stress  in coping with the method of teaching at the School. He said it was a general observation. However there were exceptions. The School never hesitated in admitting students from Tamil Nadu who were prepared to work hard.

However my gentle persuasions succeeded. The girl was admitted. The parents had told me that the girl had found out about the school herself.

The girl proved to be a liability in the hostel. She was the worst performer in the class. The parents finally decided to shift her back to Tamil Nadu. But her mother was resilient. She took the initiative in renting a flat very close to the school. She said it was the first time she was leaving the comfort of her home and making it out alone in the world. She stayed with the girl, looked after her very well. Slowly, the girl picked up the broken pieces. She began to do well in studies.

The mother's sacrifice was spectacular.

She brought a scooter to the flat. She kept a scooter at the the Eraniel Railway station. Everyday she rode from Mukkola, took the train and took the Scooter at Eraniel to reach her school. She'd return in the evening. Initially she didn't know the roads in Trivandrum. Many times she lost her way. A fantastic mother who refused to consign her daughter to or in the wilderness.

Her father rang me up yesterday. He was brimming with joy. He conveyed that the girl has passed CBSE 12 with 92%. I was happy. He thanked me profusely.

He added that she could have done still better if she had made an effort.

That kindled something somewhere within me.

I posted him a message this morning.

I am posting it here. I went for the story because the message alone does not make sense.

"Don't know what I had conveyed yesterday had made any sense.

One thing I would like to stress. Your daughter, the name is not coming alive - please tell me again - is a very very smart girl. She has her own space in the world. I reiterate, her own space. The parental function is not to push her into a space that would be ideal for her in their perception, but to assist her discover her own space.

Don't worry if academic pursuits do not reach a high level. Don't worry if she does not land a high profile job. Be happy she is what she is.

I can assure that she'd reach somewhere much to your delight.

Children are never born incapable. They are never born fools. They fall on the way injuring themselves. The grief of the parents on that would seem insurmountable. Be stoic. Bear the unending set backs with stoicism.

Everything is cyclic in the world. Nothing lasts forever. Happiness and sorrows or disappointments are two sides of the same coin. Human beings are open to both.

It's all philosophy, you may percieve. But I have been through all this. I am still doing that. I speak from the wealth of experience accrued or picked up over the years.

Leave the girl alone. But  watch closely from the sidelines. She alone can play her game."

RELIANCE - How Reliance has transformed India's business landscape - from Businessline 7 July 2020

How Reliance has transformed India's business landscape

G Ramachandran  | Updated on July 07, 2020  Published on July 06, 2020

From textiles to telecom, Reliance has transformed many sectors. Much of the credit for this goes to its founder’s spirit

Growth is life. Life is growth. Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani — also known as Dhirubhai — died on July 6, 2002. India has grown since then; so has Reliance Industries. The story of Dhirubhai and Reliance are tightly woven together by the same yarn. New strands are being added rapidly.

Reliance has come a long way since its past. It began as fibre. It is now growing itself into fiber — Jio Fiber. Some parts of the fibre in its digital network are not visible. But the wireless fiber is present inside the fabric or the network that Dhirubhai’s son, Mukesh Ambani, is weaving.

Unusual beginning

Dhirubhai began with yarn and then fabric. It was Reliance’s “Only Vimal” that grabbed the nation’s attention. Dhirubhai understood what India needed; and what Reliance needed. He took off on a backward integration adventure, blitz and binge. His yarn needed fibre.

Natural fibre needs organic chemicals, soil, water and manure. Dhirubhai knew cotton’s yield limitations. Cotton is an expensive fibre in the task of providing adequate lengths of fabric to clothe the millions. India needed inexpensive fabric. Dhirubhai chose inorganic chemicals and synthetic fabrics.

India needed style, too. Reliance understood style. It had to flourish as a customer-facing business-to-consumer (B2C) business. There is a big management lesson here for storytellers and strategy experts.

India had won the Prudential Cricket World Cup in 1983. The first three editions were held in England in 1975, 1979 and 1983. All three were sponsored by Prudential, a British global insurance group born in 1848.

Dhirubhai seized the moment and won the right to sponsor the 1987 Cricket World Cup in India, for the country and for the world. Reliance’s route to substance and style in its massive B2C entrepreneurial effort was cricket. The 1987 Championship was played in India and Pakistan. The final was played at the magnificent Eden Garden in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on November 8, 1987.

Dhirubhai handed the Reliance Cricket World Cup to Allan Border, the captain of the winning Australian team. Border batted extremely well and got two wickets. The first one remains unforgettable — he got the wicket of Mike Gatting, the captain of the losing team from England. Gotcha!

It is not a coincidence that Reliance’s door to a borderless world was opened by Allan Border. The 1987 Reliance World Cup was the last cup that could be sponsored. Reliance had arrived as a B2C company.

Growth of the business

Now, it is on to bigger adventures. Reliance Jio and Jio Fiber are the latest and the biggest. Perhaps, they are equal; so let’s unify them. Reliance Jio Fiber is the latest and the biggest.

Hence, fibre and fiber are the same as well. Yarn, thread, fibre, fabric, fiber and network are all the same, depending on how you see them. Fibre to fiber is the manifestation that determines what we see. Fibre to fiber is the determination of what the manifestation is.

Dhirubhai and Reliance make up a fine yarn, a story, an elaborate narration of a real adventure. A yarn becomes an epic when the hero goes the long distance. When Dhirubhai passed away in 2002, Reliance had entered the communications and information business. Refining was in its backyard.

It had taken deep a backward integration, as far back as possible. It became the world’s largest refiner of crude oil. That deep backward integration then pushed it into deep forward integration. Reliance is now in the big business of fuels.

A yarn becomes an epic. Then an epic becomes a saga. Reliance has become a master of deep backward integration and deep forward integration. Reliance owns the fabric and the network — end-to-end. There are no loose ends.

Reliance is B2C on the outside, but B2B (business-to-business) on the inside. Its managerial activities and the accomplishments through cost centres, revenue centres and profit centres are breath-taking, buzzing and borderless.

ESPN Cricinfo says that Allan Border is the epitome of the fighting Australian. Dhirubhai was the epitome of the fighting capitalist. Reliance is the epitome of the efforts of capitalism.

There is the extraordinary past. There is the gargantuan present. There is an exciting future. We can make whatever yarn we wish to make of these. All three are about the flow of time in its long journey. It is as if time wraps itself along the Reliance warp.

The warp in a fabric is the yarn that goes the distance. It goes metres and metres to make up the tale and the bale. The weft is the yarn that defines the moment.

Rise and rise

Let us imagine Dhirubhai walking along with us in this moment. He would be very happy. Reliance is now in three game-changing industries: fuels and feedstock; mobile telephony and broadband; and retail. Reliance has served India by bringing optimism and opportunities in gigantic barrels. It has served the citizens of India. It has over 2,00,000 employees and supports the enterprises of over 20 million self-employed Indians.

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) has grown six times since 2002, or from $0.5 trillion to $3.2 trillion in 2020. Reliance earns $18 billion in revenues. Its revenues have risen 12-fold since 2002. Its market capitalisation has grown at least ten times in the same period.

Reliance exports petroleum products. Its Jamnagar refinery has a capacity of 1.24 million barrels per stream day. Reliance Retail is set to become the biggest retailer in India. It has over 3,800 retail outlets.

Reliance owns a clutch of powerful brands — Reliance Fresh, Reliance Smart, Reliance Digital, Reliance Trends, Ajio and Jio Mart. Reliance has disrupted many businesses with Jio Platforms. In merely four years, Jio has added 387.5 million subscribers and has over 34 per cent of the market. Jio earns $2.4 billion in revenue.

Reliance is a celebration of the owner-driven public company. The Ambani family owns more than 45 per cent of the shareholding. This extraordinarily big inside holding is the perfect antidote to ‘agency costs’. The other shareholders of Reliance admired Dhirubhai. He belonged to them. They belonged to him. They were cut from the same cloth. They wore the same clothes.

Reliance has combined enterprise, leadership, ownership and management. Its ownership and management practices have for long been the envy of many European and American corporations. Reliance’s corporate ownership and management practices have been discussed since the time it chose to issue its global depository receipts in May 1992. The world’s most demanding shareholders — the institutional shareholders, in particular — knew of Reliance’s strengths since 1993. Twenty-seven years later, more and more of them are rushing to invest in Reliance.

The writer is founder of CreaSakti

CAN DO WILL DO MUST DO

CAN DO

WILL DO 

MUST DO

An exhortation I found somewhere way back in 1996. It got stuck in my being since then, for ever. 

I look at it this way.

CAN DO

It  means I can do it. But I may not do it. Means nothing is ever going to happen.

Accomplishment would be level zero.

WILL DO IT

It means I'll say I will do  it. But I may or may not do it. Perhaps I'll never do it. 

The status quo remains. I'd never move or budge even an inch. I remain doing nothing.

Accomplishment, level zero.

MUST DO

I reach a state where I'd never let go without doing it. I'd tell myself I must do it. I'd keep at it till I accomplish,attain or  achieve. 

Accomplishment, level 100 percent. Even much higher. 

It is upto each individual to make a choice 

where he's/she's going  to be, where you'd like to be. 

Your choice makes you or mars you.

You may not become the number one in the world or in your field. But you'd leave a rich legacy behind because of your unparalleled achievements.

Good luck