GOOGLE PAY

 

Google pay

The tubeless tyre on the rear left of our Maruti Swift was showing a disturbing picture.  Against the mandated tyre pressure of 33 PSI, the reading was 16 PSI around three weeks ago. The front tyres read 35 PSI against the mandated 36 PSI. And the rear right was 31 PSI.

Nitrogen was filled to the indicated levels. A week ago when I  checked the left rear tyre it had  read 24 PSI whereas the rest had the mandated values. . I took the car to the workshop two days ago.  There was no loss of nitrogen  except in the rear left that read 30 PSI. The tyre technician told me it seemed  there was nothing wrong

But I insisted that the tyre was taken off for inspection. The technician complied. I saw him inspecting the tyre. Initially he said there was no puncture. But he continued with the inspection. Then he said there was a leak  at the  valve stem or tire valve. 

I enquired whether he had the spare. He said yes. The valve stem was replaced. The tyre technician refitted the wheel. Nitrogen was filled in all the tyres.

I asked how much I should pay. He said Three hundred Rupees. I took out a Rs. 500 currency note. He said he had no change. He advised me to pay through G pay. He said it is what everyone did. It preempted the need  for the counting of cash and keeping physical cash balance. I took out my phone. The amount was paid. 

The tyre technician said GPay was convenient as all his payments were through the innovative medium.

I enquired whether he was able to save some funds this way. He said nothing. At the end of the day he was observing that  whatever had come in was vanishing as fast as it appeared in the bank account. 

I replied he had to tweak his cash management.  I advised him to open four Recurring Deposit accounts with his bank for a period of one year. He could submit standing instructions to the bank to transfer Rs.1000.00 every week to  the designated Recurring deposit accounts. It meant a monthly savings of Rs.4000.00 and an annual availability of Rs.48000.00 that could take care of his larger needs. I added if he felt Rs.4000.00 would be  difficult, he could limit it to Rs.1000.00 per month. 

The tyre technician said he was unaware of the potential as no one had oriented him like this way,  beforehand. 

I said no one could survive without saving in trickles.

When I reached home I narrated the incident to Lila. She said this was exactly why she had been clamouring we should have UPI payment facility. Earlier, she had been blaming me for not joining the GPay band wagon when it dawned in India. According to her we had been losing out on  opportunities because of my adamance. She explained that the major chunk of Ashwin's business was through UPI that had been adopted by the commonest of common people as well as the well off.

I told her I had refrained because we could manage without the UPI facility. Further it was flattening out the savings of the people. However, I had shifted from my views on her suggestion and had jumped into the UPI like everyone else.

But it wasn't that simple.  We had to apply for  debit card first. Once we had it we were able to key into the GPay segment.

Armed with the GPay, Lila went to purchase some fruits. But the GPay did not work. The shopkeeper told her to take the fruits home and make her payment from home. At home she paid the bill through GPay.

But she was shocked when the shopkeeper rang her up at 11.30pm after two days and scolded her for not making the payment through GPay as she had been advised. The call didnot inconveninence her as she was a late sleeper. 

Lila is always game.  She retorted like the  smilling assassin. She told the shopkeeper to look at his bank statement and revert.

The shopkeeper didnot call her again.

But Lila said she had enough of GPay and she was scared to employ GPay anymore.

We assured her it was a one off failure and that such issues would never visit her again.

 

EVANA PICTURISES HER FRIEND

                                                       EVANA PICTURISES HER FRIEND

                                                           

 

WHO HAS THE FINAL WORD

 

2033 years ago, a man named Jesus, claimed the Jerusalem Temple for God.  The Temple was a large space with a central sanctuary and ancillary buildings. Pilgrims gathered there.

Jesus made a point when he acted against the business in sacrificial animals and against levying of a fee for supplications or prayers.

The Temple was the power base of Jerusalem's top priestly families. To them Jesus was a dangerous irritant. They considered him a loose cannon. An unstable maverick, they did not want him on their turf. They hated him for drawing crowds and disrupting the trade at the Temple. They were furious towards Jesus for the disturbance he caused in their  sedentary lives.

They acted with all their might against Jesus. And we have the blessed  Easter that succeeds the cruelties and sufferings of   the Good Friday.

The Jerusalem Temple is in our midst.

The posers are, "Where is the Church headed for, today?"

"And who has the final word here, the power brokers or the affluent  or Jesus?"

VINOD THE ELECTRICIAN

 

Vinod lay there in the general ward of the General Hospital, Trivandrum looking up at the ceiling. He pondered how he ended up on a hospital bed. He could see his Amma with tears flowing down her cheeks beside the bed. He asked her which day it was.  She replied it was Wednesday. Vinod said he thought it was Monday. 

Amma said it was on Monday he had fallen  off the ladder.  He remembered. He was fixing up the electrical wiring for a house under construction at Mangattukonam.  As he was nailing the cable, he had slipped. He didn't know what happened afterwards. Amma told him it was a fall from a height of eight feet. Fortunately he didn't break his bones. But there was concussion as he had landed head first. He was unconscious. The contractor from Pothencode had arranged his transfer to the General Hospital at once. That single act had saved Vinod's life. He had been in the ICU for two days. He was transferred to the general ward after he became conscious.

Vinod felt pain all over the body. The Sister who came to administer an injection told him it was to mitigate the pain. The doctor on the rounds told him he would have to take complete rest for two months after discharge from the hospital. He was told he would have to remain in the hospital for three more days.

In the evening that day the contractor, Ramesh visited him. Ramesh was happy Vinod had regained consciousness and that there had been no debilitating injuries. Ramesh quietly slipped Two thousand Rupees under the pillow and left, promising Vinod he would visit him the next day. But Ramesh never set foot in the hospital again. 

True to their word, the doctors discharged Vinod on the fourth day after he regained consciousness.

At home it was a slow grind. The pain was excruciating. Vinod's aged mother looked after him as best as she could. 

Though doctors had told him, he could go back to his work after two months, he had to stay off from work altogether for six months. Of course there was no money left. Vinod had to borrow heavily to make both ends meet.

As he had been quite good at his work, his clients had waited patiently for his return. 

There was no dearth of work when he resumed his duty.

Two years on, he managed to save some funds after paying off all the debts.

It was at this time, Vinod had taken a rush job in a two storied building. As he had always been a loner, there were no supporting electricians. But there was a timeline to beat. 

After the completion of wiring in the ground floor, Vinod went after the first floor. Here, he had to fix the concealed wiring on the exterior. It was a sight to watch. He stood at the highest step on the long ladder. Ever since his accident Vinod had always been careful. He would wear the Helmet. He would tie himself to the window bars with the other end tied around his waist. It was the  standard precaution all electricians had been taught to take though flouting it had been the standard norm. Since Vinod had learned his lesson the hard way he never dared to violate the norm.

As he had felt safe with the contraptions in place,and since it was very hot he had put away the Helmet for once.

Alas, as he stood on the top of the ladder with full concentration on the work, he didn't notice the climate cooling off. Suddenly, there was a heavy down pour. Any normal human being would climb down from that elevation as best as he could. But Vinod just couldn't do that. The knot that had secured him to the window bar was so tight he was unable to untie himself. from one  end or the other. Poor man, he had to stand their clinging on to the window bar for almost an hour, taking in the onslaught of the heavy downpour on himself. 

When the rain receded, Vinod managed to climb down after untying the knot. It was a lengthy process.  He could have cut it off if he had the knife with him. But he had only the screwdriver,the  nails  and the hammer with him.

Back at home he began  shivering in the night. He had a high fever. The next morning, he had to visit the hospital. He was admitted there at once as the fever didnot subside. It took a week for him to get well and get himself discharged.

As he had been laid up for more than a month, Vinod had to resort to heavy borrowing again to pay off the hospital bill and meet the expenses for the convalescence.

When he became well he resumed his work. But a bad cough was irritatiting him. The doctors on examination diagnosed it as an infection that could be  arrested with medicines. But they didnot bar him from carrying on with his work.

But Vinod told me as an abundant precaution, he was avoiding taking up work at houses that had little children to save them from catching any illness from him

What astounded me was the manner in which Vinod had related the turmoil he had been through on the two occasions. He was laughing it off. He did not curse his fate. 

Even I couldn't contain my laughter as he drew the picture of himself hanging on to dear life in that heavy downpour. It made me admire him for his courage.

He maintained that turbulence was part of life and he had to accept whtever good and bad that came his way.

According to him  the inner peace he has is helping him  tackle the unexpected throughout his life.

Vinod. What a gem of a man!

Bunch of white roses at varied hours

 

                                             Bunch of white roses at varied hours - 

                                     morning at 9.15 am when the sun rays fell direct 

                                      and at 2.05 pm when the shadows lengthened

                                                                     

 

                                                                                   

                                                                                 

                                                                                 

                                                                                 

HDFC BANK

 

The Colonel, normally reticent, was in a conversational mood. We were going up on the lift at Aryanivas for breakfast. He volunteered the information that the shares of HDFC Bank were taking a sharp hit. We shrugged our shoulders. It was news to us. However it was explicit, the people of the country were alert.

The sudden exit of Atanu Chakraborty as non-executive chairman and independent director of HDFC Bank left the common man perplexed. The reasons adduced were not the polite euphimism, 'personal reasons or other commitments', but "certain happenings and practices within the bank over the past two years that are not in congruence with my personal values and ethics." 

Here, a few pertinent questions  are relevant. Why did the chairman wait for two years to act? What did he do when he found 'certain happenings and  practices within the bank not in congruence with his personal values and ethics,'  as he observed them in the first place? Did he bring them before the board? And if he did not trust the board, why were  the issues not placed before the regulator, RBI? It is an evident fact that the chairman was well versed in administration. The important positions  he had held earlier in the Government of India were all in the public domain

I feel this was unkind. If his concerns had warranted resignation they did warrant clarity. Ambiguity at the highest level erodes trust. By neither fully disclosing the issue nor remaining silent, the resignation risks the worst of both the worlds, reputational damage without accountability. Stepping down from the board of an important institution is not a decision to be taken lightly. One can easily exit a promoter led enterprise on personal disagreements. But here. the stakes were far higher.

The response  from RBI was swift. It sought to calm the markets. It was assured that there were no material concerns regarding the bank's governance and that its financial position was sound. But regulatory reassurance is not a substitute for transparency. 

It is obvious the chairman had erred in timing his resignation as well as walking off from  his job  making transparency the prime casualty  over the whole  sordid drama and ambiguity his trump card.

HDFC Bank is not merely India's largest private sector bank. It has been the gold standard of governance, prudence and execution. It commands a valuation built not just on performance, but on credibility.

HDFC Bank is among the three major banks identified by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs), often called "too big to fail" institutions --State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank. These institutions are considered vital to the Indian economy due to their size, cross-jurisdictional activities, and interconnectedness. 

Perception is a reality in institutions of systemic importance. But markets are driven as much  by perception as by fact. And perception is shaped by what is said and what is left unsaid. 

When the non executive chairman of the institution flags ethical concerns, it touches confidence in India's financial architecture. 

The role of the independent director is not merely to dissent, but to ensure that dissent is recorded, debated and when necessary escalated. Resignation should be the last resort, not the first visible action.

Boardrooms are meant to be more contested, more accountable and ultimately more transparent. Governance is not just about compliance. It is about culture. If a chairman resigns on ethical grounds, it has to be delineated or substantiated.

Perhaps if the chairman had been from the banking sector itself, the situation would have been better managed

A formal review is essential to restore the credibility of the bank that has taken an unfortunate hit over the imbroglio.
........................................

Sourced in part from an article in Sunday Times of India of 22nd March 2026 by Lloyd Mathias.

EXQUISITE FLOWER FROM BEENA'S GARDEN AT THALAVADY

 

                               EXQUISITE FLOWER  FROM BEENA'S GARDEN AT THALAVADY

                                                                    

Lila brought the seeds from Thalavady. The seeds were sowed here. The seedling was transplanted. Lila looked after it tenderly.9

She was very happy when it blossomed into an exquisite flower.