The Thumb Rule

In  my earlier blog titled “ Me – A Selfie “ ( 6^th October 2014),  I wrote about the nose as a unique human organ performing the life sustaining function of breathing in and out and yet   differing in shape, size and style from individual to individual. 

In this piece, I take the human Thumb – an organ our evolutionary ancestors, the chimpanzees had but not used for functions of the hand like throwing and clubbing. Our grip of objects would have been weak were it not for the thumb. Some infants are given to sucking the thumb and in some cases this habit grows even into their childhood. 

The Thumb comes as a single organ, one in each palm. It juts out from other fingers perhaps to show its indispensability and versatility in most functions of the hand. Even so sometimes we refer to an uncomfortable situation as like a sore thumb. Very rarely an extra thumb is seen in some persons, providing a matter of curiosity for the rest of us but not of any bother to the person.

 Palmistry attaches a lot of importance to the length, contour and the lines of the thumb as revealing the characteristics of the person like stubbornness, pliability etc.  A  palmist , after examining the shape and  stiffness  of my thumb  prophesised that I would be an unyielding husband which was totally disproved after my wedding  

 Even today after dramatic increase in literacy, there are persons who use the thumb impression as substitute for their signatures in all papers including legal documents.

The Aadhaar card scheme owes a great deal to the thumb as a biometric input.

   In the past when typewriters were in use, the thumb had no role in composing texts as the key board was operated with the four fingers of each hand. However in   modern times, the thumb has become indispensable in composing text messages in mobile / smart phones. The modern youth, male and female, have become equidexterous using both the right and left thumbs to write messages on their mobile phones.  I tried writing texts on my phone but my thumb being short and fat proved a handicap.

 Its functional use apart, the thumb has given rise to some meaningful literary expressions.

 Thumbs Up was a brand of cola in India introduced in 1977 to offset the withdrawal of Coca Cola. It then was bought by Coca Cola and relaunched to compete against Pepsi. The Thumbs Up sign is indication of “ All Clear “ “ OK Go Ahead “ and “ I agree/ endorse “ etc.

The Thumb Rule is an expression for easily learned and easily applied procedure or standard based on practical experience rather than theory. In some families this is used  for enforcing some family practices like” Early to bed and early to rise” as promoting discipline among children.

Another expression is the Thumbnail Sketch which is quick abbreviated drawings, usually done very rapidly and with no corrections.  The famous cartoonist R.K Laxman was a past master in this art form with his eponymous Common Man.

Readers are welcome to give the Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down grading for this blog.

[Bhaaten Bahraini

In the last two decades, I have visited Manama (Bahrain) thrice and I wish to share some of my impressions about the city and its people I met

First and foremost, I found that despite being the capital of an Islamic monarchy, there was good amount of tolerance of the faith and practice of other religious groups. Temples and churches function as normally as in other secular democracies. Second, institutions of governance comprising legislative houses, bureaucracy and judiciary are in place.  Third, my visit to the Grand Mosque in Juffair, when it opened its doors to visitors of all faiths and beliefs as part of Eid celebrations,   impressed me because of the smooth and systematic conduct of the tour with presentations on the history and teachings of Islam 

Let me also mention some other features I noticed.  The state of the highways and main roads in Manama   is indeed admirable. The roads are built to high standards of specifications, wide enough to take heavy traffic of thousands of vehicles and an efficient traffic control system with flyovers, multi lanes and   signaling. This facilitates free and speedy movement of a large number of motor cars and other heavy vehicles, what perhaps is available only in National Highways in India.

My acquaintance with persons in Manama was with a few middle-aged, white collar, professionally qualified South Indians and their families who have lived here/ Gulf region for about 15 to 20 years. The men are mostly employed in Banks and other financial companies in senior/middle level positions. With no income tax to pay and cheap fuel, they have prudently managed their finances to afford to live in large and well- furnished modern villas and flats with all amenities like air-conditioning, car park, garden sp ace, mini swimming pools, gym and owning high end automobiles.  They visit India almost every year during the oppressive Gulf summer season to meet their near and dear and carrying  the inevitable Bahraini goodies like almonds, dates and Arabian halwa as gifts,   They also go on holiday tours with family to many exotic destinations around the world in Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, Russia, China, Africa and the Far East.

In my conversations I found them well informed about the current situation in India in all aspects like governance, economy, social dynamics and culture. However they seem to prefer to send their wards, after schooling locally, to western universities for higher education.  A possible reason for this, as I gathered in informal discussions, is the affirmative policy of caste based reservation at every level of education and employment and the frequent changes in the syllabi and examination systems in India.

About their social life. they represent a socially well knit community with smaller groups formed on the basis of mutual affinity. These groups meet often on the drop of a hat over sumptuous lunch/dinner regaled with funny anecdotes, Rajni jokes and Carnatic music. Besides, there are also get-togethers during Navratri, Deepavali, Pongal, wedding anniversaries, music recitals etc. Visits of parents and other senior relations from India are also utilized for organizing get togethers like the half a dozen invitations for lunch/dinner extended to my wife and myself.  Their affection, respect for the elders and the excellent fare they served on these occasions will be cherished by us for a long time.

On the eve of our departure from Bahrain, we wish them all a bright, healthy, happy and peaceful life.

---

 [r1]

The Unborn Genius

The Unborn Genius

There was once a king who commissioned some of his noblemen to identify the geniuses in the kingdom. The noblemen went around the kingdom and soon produced a list of a few such geniuses in the field of learning, art etc. Surprisingly, the list included the kingdom's richest merchant's yet to be born child. When asked about it, the noblemen said that  the child woud have to be a genius since the highly credible and influential rich merchant was fathering it.

The Lexicon Divide

Nearing 80, I am hard pressed to learn the new lexicon to converse with the younger generation,   Gen X and Millennials (Google it out to find their difference, if you wish!)

 A formal greeting like “How are you”, is replied with” I am good”, which is like the person giving him/herself a character certificate!  I would have expected the simple “Thank you, I am well. How are you”?

 

That we are not in sync with each other is now expressed by the phrase “we are not on the same page”. I ask, Are we as if reading a book together? Like what we used to call, Combined Study (a euphemism for jolly good time spent with a friend) during our school days?

Then there is this word “space” which I have understood   mainly in the context of interplanetary or galaxy. Today it is used in several other contexts like culture, heritage and even diplomacy. I would prefer the simple and elegant “place”, but then there is no place (or is it space) for the good old King’s /Queen’s English anymore!

The word “shut’ has almost replaced the word “close”. We used the word Shut only and very exclusively to stop a person from crapping, and said   Shut Up. Not close up perhaps to escape from his bad breath!  In our days markets and schools were closed rather than shut on holidays.

Your stand on an issue is now what your “Call” is and therefore when one says he will take a Call, don’t be confused thinking he is answering a phone call.

Now a days many youngsters work” out of” their homes, meaning their offices are their homes. The phrase “out of “if followed by a noun has different meanings. For instance, when you say out of place, you mean incongruence / non- conformity or like out of stock means unavailability.

 Offices are now “work stations” and one’s department there is a “vertical”. “Analytics” is the bug word for the good old data analysis.

There must be a lot more of such words/expressions used by the youngsters which I can learn if I talk with them.  But then many of them avoid meeting and talking with me as my conversational language is not on their page.

Wait and Watch

In the past few years , there often was the criticism that the RBI was not reducing the the primary lending rate due to which the cost of borrowing was high for the industries. The government too wanted the interest rate to go down citing the need for faster industrial growth to generate employment. The RBI was more sinned against than sinning in this regard  maitaining that its main responsibility was to control inflation.

The mega bank scams involving big and mighty industrialists have proved that high borrowing rate should not be an issue since  there is no intent to repay the loans !

According to a news item in The Economic Times today,the collateral damage across markets and the banking industry arising out of the mega PNB scam  is around Rs 70000 crore in market value for the PSU banks and about Rs 40000 crore for the government. Can this loss  be written off as mere valuation loss ? There is also in addition the loss of Rs 11,300 crore for the PNB and other lenders plus about Rs, 3000 -40000 crore loss from the Rotomac fraud case.


 Extradition of the big cats who have fled the country  are not going to easy and quick. Imposing travel restrictions on promoters of defaulting companies is stated to another option. Even these  measures are considered by some as harsh enough take a toll on credit disbursal.

In the mean time,  people whose  money has beenn swidled can do nothing but wait and watch.

Where are we heading ?

Another default of bank loan to the tune of some  4000 crore rupees has been reported by another nationalised bank  involving a  Kanpur industrialist . He is said to have been sanctioned the loan as export financing but utilised the loan for other purposes.

This case too will follow the same ineffective process of raids, investigation, filing of FIR, arrest of some persons and their immediate bail, court proceedings etc over long periods of time. In the after math, there will also be the usual blame game by political parties.

Where are we heading ?

Unscrupulous elements in the path to becoming a strong global power

In Novemeber 2014, I wrote a blog  following up  the then Governor RBI's  comments on some Indian businessmen's propensity to cheat the banks from whom they have taken loans giving rise to stressed assets , popularly called Non Performing Assets(NPAs)

The new dispensation in the governance of the country since 2014 has attributed the  NPAs of nationalised  banks  (estimated around Rs. 6,41,057 crores in 2017 or Gross NPA ratio of 12.47 of  total assets),  mainly to the lapses of the banks' management in not enforcing the recovery of loans sanctioned to  big business houses allegedly on the directions of the previous governments, even as   some major defaulters of bank loans have  fled the country after 2014 !.

The latest is the fraud on  Punjab National Bank to the tune of about  Rs.11,300  crore by a big business house in the diamond trade, whose kingpin too has bolted away. These cases perhaps demonstrate how it is easy  to commit  fraud in India, as much easy as it is for doing business in India !

Spokespersons and analysts say that the fraud on  PNB  is due to systemic failure.Any  system,  however perfectly designed,  will ultimately involve human interaction in operating it and that in the case of a massive financial fraud like this, it can not be just a single individual within or outside the organisation.

Our methods of investigation and legal action to book the culprits  are prone to long  delays and appeals, whereas in cases like financial frauds the conviction has to be quick and salutary.

To solve the NPA problem the present government is proposing to enact the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill to enable the recapitalisation of banks to mitigate the NPAs. However, some provisions of this Bill are said to  compromise the interests of the depositors and give the government absolute power in deciding the the fate of the banks if they go under.

The path to becoming a strong global  economic power is not going to be easy with unscrupulous elements