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TOLERANCE
An
ever vibrant and effective administration does not believe in exercising
control everywhere.
It
will never be restrictive, but it will be responsive.
It
does not enter into all domains.
It
limits itself to its assigned role and encourages the people to evolve
themselves
It
ensures there is compliance with the statutes
The
administration’s strength lies in its humility
Bleak
future is in store when the administration swerves from zero tolerance to sloth
An author had gifted me her creation a couple of months back. It had the author's email id and phone number.
As I had enough on hand it took some time for me to go through it.
It was amazing.
I posted the following in the id.
"Good Evening Ma'm
This is ..., ........
.........'s ......
Hope you'd recognise
I have just been through the book you had gifted.
MEENACHIL RIVER OF WESTERN GHATS
Congratulations for bringing out such a wonderful creation.
It speaks vehemently on the plight of the Meenachil River and the efforts for its restoration.
It taught me Ramsar is an Iranian city and is the yardstick for the preservation of wetlands.
The information on Flora and Fauna is excellent.
The narrative details the origin of the river and what it means to the people who reside on its shores. It tells the name is drawn from the Madura Meenakshi temple - something I and probably many never knew.
The language is superb, flawless. The pictures are a treat. Repetition, a curse in many presentations, is just not visible here. And it is devoid of glorification of the self.
Yes, it is comprehensive. It is a call to humanity to preserve nature.
The tables and the technical terms were Greek to me as I had never been initiated in biology.
The Preface and the Acknowledgement exemplify the humility of the author.
It's indeed a great effort.
Altogether, a must read."
There was no reply for two days. Then I thought I must check if the message had reached the destination.
I phoned one day in the morning. It was not answered. I left it there presuming the author must be engaged at the workplace gasping for breath.
In the evening I tried the number once again. The phone was picked up.
I introduced myself telling I was ...'s ......... The writer is closely related to the person. She asked whether I was .........'s ......... I said yes. She said she was busy with her job and whether I would mind if she called me later. I said, please.
I am still waiting for that elusive call.
I was sharing the experience with ..... just now with the comment, "I don't think the effort in reviewing the book was a wasted one as it had enabled me to refine my capability a little more."
CSI has enough brilliant minds.
It doesn't need any more
of the crooked.
CSI needs burning hearts....
TRAVANCORE FRESH SUPERMARKET
We
were very happy for Ashwin when he completed his MBA with a First Class. However, it was the time
when jobs were difficult to come by. Ashwin went out in search of a position. The
hunt went on. Fortunately he found a job in a Company at the Technopark. Like
all the Techies at that time, who were jumping from one to another, he switched
from his job to a placement in an export firm. A couple of months later he left that
job with an idea to go into the retail business. Marketing and Finance were his
topics for MBA.
Travancore
Fresh.Supermarket, a start up was thus born in the year 2019. The going was
tough initially. It still is, though it’s six years now.
Theory
and practice are a world apart. Before going into the retail venture, he had
worked for Reliance Retail for a few months.
But working for a retail behemoth and struggling with a start up are not
alike.
He
had to find a suitable and affordable place. He scouted several areas for
almost two years. He travelled to several shops on his bike. Standing outside
the shops he counted the foot falls. In between he would enter the shops, spend
some time there and buy something and get off. Once he was in the shop, he
observed the arrangements in it, the customer service and the customer
preferences.
He
zeroed in on a building at Vandithadom, near Pachalloor and Tiruvallom and 2 kms
to Kovalam and Vizhinjam. Vandithadaom is 10kms away from the heart of
Thiruvananthapuram. It’s basically a residential locality with not much industrial
activity.
Travancore
Fresh.Supermarket was established in the building he located. For competition,
it had four or five similar shops in the neighbourhood. After he had opened the
shop, a few more such shops had come up in the proximity. The more the merrier,
he maintains.
The
shop was built from scratch. It now functions on two floors. It is well
stocked.
When
it had opened, the customer inflow was limited. It is gradually.growing.
Covid
19 was the big challenge. There was sanction for the functioning of the shop.
However the restrictions had impeded its working. For many days he had to manage
everything himself. Fear drove the staff away.
As
Covid 19 wore off the functioning of the shop was back to normal.
It
is open from 9 AM to 9 PM. The customers call it “Margin Free.’ Wherever he
could, he charges less. The customers flock in.
Yes, Ashwin believes volume drives business.
Lila recently told me she had been invited by her friends to their periodic rendezvous.
I said she could go ahead. There was no need to ask me.
She responded she'd prepare the food for us and proceed.
No need for that I said and added:
I am castigating you.
While I admire your concern for all of us at home, the unfettered love and affection you shower upon us, I know very well whatever we give back will be no match for your sacrifice over the years since we came together.
For one day I want you to go back and be the girl you were from 1969 to 1976. Relive those days of boundless energy and the carefree life.
Enjoy.
It's great that despite the travails of life that puts roadblocks at all junctures, you along with your bosom friends assemble at intervals and immerse yourselves in the friendship you have assiduously cultivated over the years.
Forget everything else and light up the moment.
Grab the opportunities that come your way.
Never discard them.
The young Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Fayel said,
"I don’t want my photographs in your offices
because I am neither a god nor an icon—
I am a servant of the nation.
Instead, hang pictures of your children and look at them
whenever you need to make a decision.
And if the temptation to steal ever arises,
take a good look at your family’s picture
and ask yourself if they deserve
to be the family of a thief
who has betrayed the nation."
We belong to the CSI. The Church of South India.
The Church we attend has a large membership.
The authorities of the Church recently came up with
several projects that called for substantial investments.
While we have nothing against the authorities and the projects
they have presented for approval
we called for a few clarifications.
We wrote to them:
(Placing it here because these are valid points wherever personal or public finances are involved)
Go for simple answers.
1. How do you manage your own finances?
2. Especially on the home front.
3. Do you buy a Rolls Royce when your savings is low or is non existent?
4. They say ' A bird in hand is worth two in the bush'
5. Do you plan for the two in the bush?
6. Then you are nowhere.
7. You are bound to fail.
8. Here, grandiose schemes are envisaged.
9. You embark on your fancy ideas without funds in the kitty
10. 'God will provide' is what you make out.
11. Here the members have to shell out
12. What happens if they don't?
13. You end up the loser.
14. Do you go for a due diligence, before you begin?
15. Do you conduct a SWOT analysis?
16. When you go for a high investment project do you evaluate the ROI - return on investment plus the time span?
17. And cost escalation?
18. How do you project the probable income.?
19. Is it on 100% or 50% occupancy?
20. Are you aware 50% occupancy is the norm?
21. Do you introspect and assess if the project is absolutely essential?
22. Is your procurement on commission basis?
23. Who are the beneficiaries?
24. How can you pay more than Rs.10000 in cash to a single person on a single day?
25. Are you making payment through Account payee cheques?
26. If not, if you cross the threshold of 20 lakhs are you aware, you are bound to pay cash transaction charges?
27. Why do you keep very large balances in SB accounts?
28. Can't you reduce it to 1lakh and transfer the rest to term deposits in multiples of 1 lakh each? Do you know you can go for premature closure when in need?
29. In a church like ours we can happily put a total of 1lakh per month in three or four recurring deposits for a period of one year through SI - standing instruction. Do we do that in order to enable us - at the end of the period of one year - have access to 12lakhs that could fulfil our divergent needs?
30. Why can't we emulate the St Thomas Educational Society who have built everything from scratch?
31. While the mission of CSI is mission do we indulge in that mission for the members of our own congregation?
32. If we go on with the notion we would spend when we have money in our kitty, do we ever perceive it may dry up?
33. Have you ever thought building rooms for renting out - if perceived - is a crazy idea as the implications are manifold?
34. Money is scarce. When the tussle is between lower and higher outgo what will you do if it is your own finances?
35. Why do we have large advances?
36. Are you aware no one has the power to dole out such advances at will and if you do that elsewhere you face prospects of summary dismissal and possible terms in the prison if there is violation of any kind?
37. Do you know misutilization of public funds is a crime?
38. When the policies of the banks render chargeable, more than three remittances into the SB ac in a month, what prevents us from opening one or two more SB acs to offset such charges?
39. How can we hide behind the term GRACE when we err?
40. Why did we bring back the current CA? What was wrong with the previous CA?
41. Once we received an interesting answer from a former Treasurer for the large balances in SB ac and the large cash balance held by the Treasurer throughout the year. He said the Church had various construction projects where cash had to be disbursed. I didn't ask, but were all the projects approved at the appropriate level ?
42. Is it happening here - When someone approaches somebody in the Church for a personal loan from that person, is that request placed before the Church knowing very well it would have to be written off if it is given out from own sources?
43. Do we make sure our grants and financial assistances on applications received are properly deployed?
44. Finally, the Church is nothing but its own constituents. The Church belongs to God. It should not be run or managed on the whims and fancies of a few. Do we deviate?
