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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?
We are in business.
It's retail.
Very small in size.
Before we began we went to a friend for advice.
He had been in such a business, for years together.
He encouraged us to go ahead.
The sole caution he advocated was,
'never stock too high'
What we didn't realise was,
it was Product Market Fit,
he had advised.
But we religiously followed him.
And we have survived.
Uri Levine is the master
on PMF.
He elaborates.
When you start with the solution,
you might be building something no one cares about.
It is frustrating when you have invested so much effort, time and money.
When you focus on the solution rather than the problem,
you fail because you are unable to figure out PMF - Product Market Fit - correctly.
When you start with the problem, you create value.
Your story will be much simpler and engaging.
People connect to that understanding the frustration.
Ask yourselves everyday, ' Am I making progress towards eliminating this problem?'
URI LEVINE
Fall in love with the problem, not the solution
BREAST CANCER / DENSE BREASTS
It
had been an annual routine. Papa used to take the whole family to Kunthirical,
Thalavady to spend some time with his parents. One day I heard Papa admonishing
Mummy for visiting an ailing lady in the neighbourhood who had been on her
final days tormented by terminal cancer.. That was the first time in my life, I
learned there existed an illness known as cancer. Papa in his ignorance had
thought that cancer was infectious.
But
cancer caught us unawares. In the year 1977, Mummy had a severe headache. She
had till then been toiling in the kitchen happily for the entire family. The
headache morphed into paralysis. We were all poorly oriented. We took her to Ayurveda
and Allopathy doctors. They were of the opinion it was nothing but paralysis
that required time for cure. But when a close relative castigated us for not
taking Mummy to Super Speciality Doctors, we took her at once to the Kottayam
Medical College Hospital.
She
was examined there by a Neuro Physician who put three questions to us.
Didn’t you take her to doctors
earlier?
We replied, ‘Yes’.
Didn’t they have a look at her eyes
with a pen torch?
We said, ‘Yes’.
What did they see there?
We answered, ‘We have no idea ’.
The
Professor was emphatic. He said the patient was afflicted with Brain Tumour and CMC Vellore was the
only place that could take care of her.
At
CMC Vellore, it was diagonised that she had Glioblastoma, a highly aggressive
and malignant form of Glioma.
There
was Surgery followed by Chemotherapy, Radiation, Physiotherapy and a host of
medicines. The treatment enabled her to get up and gradually move around.
However following a relapse, she breathed her last nine months after the
splitting headache had surfaced.
More
was in the pipeline. This time it was breast cancer that caught my sister in law at the beginning of the century. The
malignancy was Stage 2. But Mastectomy
coupled with Chemotherapy, Radiation and medicines along with close monitoring
cured her of the ailment. She lived on for two decades. However a cardiac
indisposition took her away.
Whenever
we hear of brain tumour and breast cancer we are on an alert.
Recently, we came across an article in the Times of India of 20th June 2025 by Lata Mishra.
“The hidden breast
cancer risk all Indian women should know about.”
I
am not from the medical field. My awareness on that domain is not even
skeletal.
I
present what I have learned from the article.
Unlike in US, women in India are not
told if they have dense breasts. This could mean a missed cancer diagnosis. In
dense breasts additional screening is crucial as mammograms may miss early
tumours. Dense breasts are biologically more active and harder to image. Dense
breasts are breasts that have a higher
proportion of fibrous and glandular tissue compared to fatty tissue. Fibrous
tissue in the breast is a normal component of breast tissue and a natural part
of breast structure providing support and structure. Glandular tissue in the
breast is responsible for milk production and is a key component of breast
tissue. Fatty tissue in the breast is a normal and natural component of breast
structure, composed of fat cells.
Women with extremely dense breasts
have a 1.5 to 2 times risk of breast cancer than those with fatty breasts – a
composition where the majority of the tissue is fat, with relatively little
fibrous or glandular tissue. (Breast tisuue is made up of three main
components: fatty tissue, fibrous tissue and glandular tissue. Fibrous and
glandular tissues are collectively referred to as fibroglandular tissues).
Fatty breasts are associated with a lower risk of breast cancer compared to
breasts with higher density as it’s easier to detect abnormalities on a
mammogram.
Breast size doesnot determine breast density. Younger women tend to have dense breasts, but not always.
Over 50% of Indian breast cancer cases come to light at Stage III or Stage IV due to late detection.
Dense breasts are not related to breast size or firmness.
You can’t tell if you have dense breasts based on how your breasts look or on their firmness.
Do you reach for a nasal spray when you catch a cold?
If you are doing that several times a day for weeks and the congestion keeps coming back, often worse than before, there is a good chance you are addicted to the spray.
The overuse leads to a vicious cycle of relief and rebound congestion.
Rebound congestion is a direct fall out of nasal spray addiction.
Though nasal decongestants like oxymetazoline marketed under brand names such as Otrivin and Nasivion are safe and effective for short term use as directed by the physician, prolonged, unsupervised use beyond the recommended duration leads to people getting hooked.
Our nose has mass-like structures called turbinates that regulate airflow. The turbinates become swollen or enlarged ( known as turbinate hypertrophy) in those who suffer from allergies, sinus infections or chronic colds.
Nasal sprays shrink these turbinates.
A turbinate measuring 10mm may shrink to 5mm after using the decongestant nasal drop, offering temporary relief. But once the effect wears off, typically after eight hours, the turbinate doesn't return tp its original size. It often swells to 11mm. This is known as rebound congestion.
With every subsequent use of the nasal drop, the turbinate enlarge further, worsening the blockage and deepening the dependency.
The overuse of nasal sprays is not good for heart health as it can get into the blood stream. It may worsen hypertension as the sprays constrict blood vessels.
The condition, rhinitis, may induce anosmia (complete loss of smell), chronic nasal obstruction and psychological dependence on the nasal sprays.
Strong willpower is needed to break the cycle. Some manage it. Many find it incredibly difficult necessitating surgical intervention. The procedure, turbinoplasty(turbinate reduction surgery) done under local anesthesia, reduces the size of the turbinates.
Nasal sprays can safely be used sticking to two doses a day and not more than five days at a stretch.
Saline sprays without chemicals are also safe.
Sprays that contain oxymetazoline and phenylephrine cause addiction on overuse.
VITILIGO
New hope, new treatments for those who are fighting skin patch stigma
Vitiligo is an autoimmune disorder. It is characterised by the loss of normal pigment from skin in localised areas. It is due to an abnormality in the melanocytes - cells that produce melanin, a pigment that gives us our skin, hair and eye colour - in these areas that makes the body's own immune response destroy them.
Sometimes, external chemicals induce vertigo like depigmentation. But very often there is no external cause.
Vitiligo is not contagious.
It is not related to diet though it does have sense triggers
There is no cure for vitiligo, but it can be managed with light therapy, oral medication and in some cases skin grafting.
Anybody with any skin colour or skin type can get vitiligo. It usually begins in childhood or early adulthood but can occur at any age.
Vitiligo may impact mental health. Here the patient's attention must be routed away from the patches and they must be encouraged to focus on other areas of life.
Vitiligo has treatment options that could mellow it down.
Shraddha Jain or Aiyyo Shraddha made many raise their eyebrows when she switched from an IT job to stand - up - comedy.
She says:
" I asked myself, does this job bring me joy - and importantly, does it help me to bring joy to others?
It didn't. It was then that I found radio - and it was wonderful. This joy - this feeling of 'I want to make people laugh' fuelled something in me"
She adds:
"I am colourblind to discrimination"
According to her, gender has never posed an obstacle in her life as a comedian in the largely male dominant field.
One day, a freshly appointed teacher had come to me
and said he felt his performance had not been up to the desired level.
I wrote to the teacher:
Each day you go to the school,
please pray to God to help you do well that day.
Each time you leave the staff room for the class room
please pray to God to help you teach well
Each time you arrive at the classroom,
please pray to God the children grasp
what you teach.
Let me quote what your Principal told me one day.
"Sir, God gives us an opportunity only once.
If we let that slip or if we don't make use of it,
the opportunity will not be there a second time.
It's upto us to grab gleefully the opportunities
that come our way.
If we don't someone else will seize it
and prosper to our consternation."
GRAB YOUR CHANCE WHENEVER IT COMES.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO CREATE
SUCCESS IN YOUR LIFE
Actor Chitrangda Singh
I should have done more work.
When I see some of my old films,
I feel I could have done much better.
I feel I just threw away the opportunity
when I could have pulled it off
in a much better way.
Arun Vaiga
Writer - Director
United Kingdom of Kerala UKOK
The film talks of a young man who wishes to make his life in Kerala when there is mass emigration from Kerala among the youth during the past couple of years. Statistics reveal 2.3 lakhs had migrated in 2023.
The young man, when he tries to start a business, learns some bitter truths, like how the system can make even the simplest thing difficult.
Arun continues, "Our kids today donot know the people or things around them. Instead they see things on social media and go after those. Instead of using their talents and skills on the opportunities we have here, they go abroad and some face a tough time."
FROM MY OWN LIFE
In my office we had numerous in service training sessions.
We always loved it because it meant we could be away from the tough life in the offices. It had always been a hard grind there where it began the moment you stepped in. It often went on to late in the night. - 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm, 12pm and even 1am.
Somehow you get back home, hit the bed, wake up at 4am, 5am and run to catch the 5am, 6am train. The routine never wavered. You can imagine what my wife had been through. And she had a four dimensional profile. Daughter, mother, children, cooking, not forgetting the roles of the responsible job she was in, driver and that of a loving wife. Then it was nine dimensional if you had a look at her involvement in my family and my Papa’s welfare.
Well, she was game.
Now on the training:
One instructor had drilled into our mind something we could never forget or afford to forget:
"See when you are posted at an office, you have no options to fire the one who works under you. You will not have the power to appoint anyone of your liking. You will never get a positive response from your superiors on your pleadings.”
“YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND ONE THING.
YOUR PROBLEMS ARE YOUR OWN.
IT IS FOR YOU TO SOLVE THEM OR RESOLVE THEM.
YOU HAVE TO DO IT YOURSELF.
AND PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT NO ONE WOULD LIFT EVEN THEIR LITTLE FINGER TO LEND YOU A HELPING HAND."
I never forgot this.
But as a true Christian, not the vocal one, I believed in the power of prayer. I prayed. I visit the Edathua, Parumala and Vettucaud Churches whenever I have an opportunity knowing very well, my own Church never encourages it.
But I go there. Quite unlike our Churches they are always open. I sit there. Meditate. Pray silently to the one and only God I believe in.
I can honestly say the prayers have been answered.
I never meant you have to take a leaf and do likewise.
You are the final arbiter on how your life should be.
Visakh, son of my good
friend Manikantan recently met me. He had joined a Startup after his studies.
He told me he was unable to cope with the demands on his job. He requested me
to delve into the issues and help him overcome the challenges that threatened
to crush him.
I said I was
not good at such things
StilI, I wrote to him:
Dear Visakh,
I have a blog.
childisprecious.blogspot.com
In the usual run I request people to look it up if they have the time and
interest.
No one bothers.
I don't mind.
But in your instance, I insist.
There are 403 posts.
Many of them are motivational. They can elevate.
Take your time. Go through them.
I can't say it would be good for you. But it may be.
Please revert if you gain.
Please revert if you find them worthless.
It refines him.
Fight baba. Fight to succced.
Hardwork alone matters.
It has no substitutes
Only thing is ask questions.
Questions on every moment of your own interactions with others and your own
performance.
There could always be indicators.
Reengineer the self.
Regards
Abraham
I am reading an article in Times of India 20June2025
by Chetan Bhagat
The Cost of Indians Being Too Crazy About Cricket
with a subtitle
"Young people's obsession with the sport makes them waste critical years of their life. They must understand they are just anonymous cogs in a marketing machine."
It concludes with:
" Don't waste your life watching other people achieve excellence, get inspired by them and achieve it yourself."
What else we need to begin our day with!!
The Mundakathil Family.
Their Valiappachan had begged shamelessly to all and sundry to help his grandchildren find jobs abroad.
Reji went first.
Now three grandsons are abroad. Two are citizens of the countries they stay. Reji has built a good house. He has transformed the flood prone shops - the family enterprise - to flood resistant shops and has named the building after his Valiappachan.
Saji had built a modern house that was soon flooded.He had promptly renovated it to keep it flood safe.
Now we see him fulfilling the desire of his Valiappachan buying the property in front of his house. It must have cost him a hefty sum. And he has his own house in Australia. His children are not going to come back to India. He is a retired employee in Australia drawing decent pension benefits. He is very active in his Church.
If he had been prudent like many people like his peers he wouldn't have invested anything at Kodupunna.
But he differs.
Perhaps he is led by his ancestor's soul. Doubtless God is with him. God is guiding him.
God is leading him
Anoop, Reshma and Aaron reached Beijing from Singapore at 4pm Chinese time. 16May2025. They had flown to Singapore from Trivandrum via Chennai.
According to Anoop the airport was heavily crowded. Like a busy market.He had the impression at least 5000 people were there to go through customs and immigration. It was very slow. At the immigration they were questioned threadbare why they were visiting China. Why they were going to Macau. And why to HongKong. He says it was a very tough questioning. The grilling over they stepped out to claim their baggage. But the baggage claim area was very far. They had to catch a train to reach there. The queue for boarding the train was very long. They could get into it at the third trip only.
Once they were there, their luggage was not in sight. The conveyor belt kept on revolving. Then they checked at the unclaimed baggage counter. When they showed their baggage card issued from Singapore at the counter their baggage was fished out. Obviously when the baggage was going round and round unclaimed it must have ended up at the unclaimed baggage counter.
When they had the baggage they couldn't locate their driver at the exit. Fortunately they had his number. But they didn't know each other. Wisdom dawned. They exchanged their photos and with that they managed to locate each other. On the road as they seemed tired, the driver helped them get something to drink and afterwards took them to their Hotel, Holiday Inn. However the traffic was dense in spite of the 10 lane road. Vehicles were literally crawling. It was 7pm when they finally reached the hotel. They were allotted a double room with an additional bed.
They took some rest and were going out to find food as the food at the Hotel was very expensive.
They said they'd go out and check out street food since they had seen such shops on their way to the Hotel.
Anoop says this is the only way to learn to move around.
Later Anoop spoke to us about their driver at Macau. They had taken the Bullet Train to Shanghai after they had visited the historical landmarks at Beijing. It was from Shanghai they flew into Macau. There was some hiccup in locating the driver. The moment they could meet him the driver began abusing them for the mix up. They didn't reciprocate. But once they reached the hotel, they contacted their travel agents and and sought a replacement of the driver. It was at once done.
Once Macau was explored, they travelled in a taxi to HongKong taking the 45km sea bridge, an engineering marvel. They were stopped at the gateway to HongKong. The grilling was severe. Though Reshma and Aaron were cleared, Anoop was made to wait for 45 minutes before he was cleared after a barrage of questions.
After HongKong, they returned to Trivandrum via Singapore and Chennai.
Choker is the unkindest of labels in sport. It means you have the talent, but not the temperament to win, especially when it matters most. It means your defeats are caused as much by your opponents as by the demons in your head. It is a terrible cross to bear.
Perhaps you may find you are up against opponents who relish the big stage and seldom concede an inch.
But if you have the fire in you, if you have the patience and the discipline, you can successfully rewrite the script and bury the tag of 'Choker' forever.
You need inspirational leadership for that. To stay there you will have to fight on even if you are plagued by discomforts and disabilities.
Finally you will have to believe you are going to turn the tables in your favour.
Major source:
The Editorial
Times of India
16thJune2025
