Into the Wild

They are husky. They are forceful. They are tough. They are the Rhinos. When they charge, humans discharge; otherwise we are dead meat. But hey, we are clever; just take a gun and shoot them.

Yesterday there was a report that a Rhino was shot for its horn in Kaziranga National Park in Assam. I thought, ‘’Poor animals, they pay the prize for living in unison with nature.’’ With a lot of issues being debated among the public, I was wondering, if this lone illegal act was going to draw any attention at all.

Today the sequencing report came with a headline, ‘CBI probe ordered into Rhino attacks; Centre takes serious view of the situation’. And I thought, ‘’Okay, the government is better than what I had anticipated’’. May be I should have grasped the plural form of attack. When I read the full report, my babyish happiness was poached away. Two other Rhinos had been shot the very next day, leaving one dead and the other in a critical state.

The National Park which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has already lost quite a few animals due to the recent floods in Assam and this triple attack in two days irked the social activists into taking up a protest rally. The government has also ordered to deploy more frontline guards. Any debate on the government’s lack of immediate action could be futile, as history says humans are good in reacting, and not so efficient in pro acting.

It is true that laws on animal cruelty have been made strict over the years. In spite of the awareness created by numerous campaigns about saving wildlife, poaching is not on the decline. I don’t want to make this a normal news report by pointing out the statistics. The fact is, endangered animals are dwindling in number and they are dwindling fast.

It is evident from the current scenario that, the awareness spread is yet to reach the poachers and other wildlife smugglers. May be they are ignorant. May be they don’t understand the effect an extinction of species, has on the ecological balance. May be they think that chicken alone is sufficient and it can be grown in poultry farms. But what about the buyers of these poached animal products?

Poaching of a particular animal part indicates that there is a high demand for that particular part in the black market. Only the wealthy can afford to buy these and they must have been educated. There is every chance that those people understand what an ecological balance is. Are they willing to erode the ecological assets in order to have a prepossessing item in their showcase? If so, then doom is inevitable. Whatever the law might be, people will find a way to break it.

The government has said that the probe will be completed in a week and the perpetrators will be brought to justice. Unerringly, one can say that it’s going to be more than a week. In this case, the length of the tunnel matters less. But, is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Swasthika Sang

Freeze Indian Retailers!!! It’s the FDI

There has been a lot of ambiguity and distress among the people and various political parties over the government’s Foreign Direct Investment policies. In spite of widespread agitation the government has made bold decisions which would allow foreign retailer giants such as Wal-Mart, Tesco, Best Buy, Home Depot, Staples, set foot into the Indian retailer market.

There is always going to be mixed opinions about this. To get a clearer picture let’s look from three different perspectives.

Government

Despite the decisions that seem bold, the government is cautious in its approach. They came out with a similar policy last year but had to roll it back due to heavy criticism coming from the coalition parties. This time with economy going down in various sectors and with food inflation rising, they had act. With countries like China, Brazil and other growing economies allowing 100% FDI, our government decision is a sensible one at the least and will enable us to look at the progress of things under the new policies.

Within the policy itself there are certain highs. Some of them are; 50% of the investment should be in villages, 30% of source goods should come from small scale sector, retail stores to be set up only in cities with population higher than 10 lakhs, decision of implementation of these policies is left to the state governments.

For these reasons the government is a real winner. Only 10% to 14% of the retail price is going to the producers; and the retail prices are high due to the higher number of middle men involved. The producers and manufacturers are going to welcome this as there is a promise of higher value for their goods.

Also, setting up of the foreign retailers here, means development of infrastructure which is an important criteria for a country’s growth.

Indian Retailers

For those retailers who can compete with the incoming foreign brands, it’s going to be an interesting bout with potential self growth. They are going to learn and implement new strategies as only when there is competition one performs well.

For the small scale retailers, middle men and for those who don’t have the financial power to compete, it’s going to be a real doom. The middle men will be affected first. With the large retailers directly buying from the producers the small scale retailers will also buy directly to sell at the market rates and this removes the middle men. Now, the giant organisations have the small scale retailers at their mercy, and can even force them out of the market. How exactly? Reduce the market price which will force the small scale retailer to follow suit. Initially the small scale retailers may be able to bear the burden by taking in the losses, but on the longer run it only means ‘’shutter down’’ for them. But the bigger organisations with huge financial power can take in the losses until the others are wiped out and later increase the market rate and even make up for their losses with no one to compete.

Consumers

Consumers are an unique breed. They love to be spoilt for choices and that is what going to happen when the foreign retailers land here. Over the years retail buying for the middle class and above has changed. Once it was waiting in a crowded retail shop, raising your voice highest to get the attention of the shopper, list out your things and finally bill it up and return. Nowadays, it’s more like a leisure activity and they don’t mind paying a few extra rupees for that. People go to the supermarket at the weekends, get their trolleys, place their kids on it and go for a fun ride around the supermarket. They have no problem with the higher end retailers coming in. Their experience is only going to get better.

So, the FDI policy is good for the customers, better for the government, even though bad, considering the walk out of certain allies, and not good for the small retailers. But with rampant globalisation occurring in various fields and already existing Indian retailer chains such as Reliance Fresh, Star Bazaar and many other growing in number every other day, its only inevitable that when it hits the retail business, the small retailers are going to take a hit. This policy may fasten it up, but, withholding it, is never going to save the small retailers on the longer run anyway.

So, welcome FDI. It’s global growth that is inevitable.

Swasthika Sang

Mourning Morning

Early mornings have been described a lot; its peace and serenity unmatched by any and yet, unfelt by many. You can hear the birds chirping, beam at the dew drops on leaves, gaze at the orange glow of the rising sun, savor the unpolluted air, feel the gentle coolness on your skin, and then; when you are just about to attain peace and reach the inner sanctum,  DRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. The fragile senses are blown away by water pumps pumping from the bore wells.

Living in a sub-urban area and loving nature simply don’t go hand in hand. I have been living in this place for over thirteen years. Back then, there were a lot less buildings. I used to wake up early in the mornings, and be able to hear the sound of train through tracks from the station which was almost 4kms away. Now I can’t hear them. Buildings have become dense and air has got polluted. All I hear now, is the sound of devotional songs from less distant temples. Though I can’t get the lyrics I make out the tune. This is one thing that I have observed and loved about early mornings. These sounds remind me that I am not alone, and it does that, without disturbing the tranquility of the mornings.

Right from my childhood I have always wanted to make the most of the time when am awake. During pre-school my routine was wake up, explore, eat, explore, eat, explore, eat, sleep and then wake up to follow it again. What did I explore? I was in a village until nine. So I never had the trouble of constrained space, and always had new things to find out.

Here it’s different. Here exploring has got another name - Trespassing.

Being around the city, yes, I have acquired many new things, got to know what it is like to be in a modern society, learnt how to use the technology available as I am doing now. But getting more and more away from our natural characteristics is something that I am wary of. We are slowly reversing the cycle. We are becoming nocturnal vermins dwelling late into the nights. Trust me when I say, ‘’Early morning’’ is one of the words that today’s generation detest to the core. There is no breakfast, it is becoming brunch nowadays. When people head south, few return without visiting Kanyakumari, without seeing the sunrise. Yes, the spectacle is spectacular, but how many of us have seen sunrise from our own houses?

I am not sure how tomorrow is going to be like. Doomed like they show in the futuristic movies or a sustaining planet? For good’s sake I don’t want to know. I am content with what I have now, and always will be. I like to do things in the natural way and will continue to treasure my early mornings. Fortuitously, the ideas in this article occurred in an early morning.

Swasthika Sang

A pleasant number by the Music Maestro Ilaiyaraaja with breathtaking visuals that captures the unparalleled beauty of an Early Morning. A perk for my readers. :)

Sound N Loud

The time may not be far away when pens become obsolete. They have served writing for a long long time. Howbeit, writing has prevailed through the ages in one form or another. It shall be a fitting tribute to say that the art of writing is the most substantial invention of man. The growth we have had over many centuries in terms of culture and science would not have been possible without knowledge being passed on from one generation to another. Writing and recording one’s learning and findings made sure the growth curve was continuous.

The freedom of expression which we enjoy, and at certain times, misuse, was not given to those who lived when science was just a toddler. Thought provoking ideas, questions against the existing beliefs, comedies targetted at myths and a few more; works on these were lost or intentionally destroyed by the more conservative sections. Wonder if we could have reached today a few years earlier had those works been available then.

Now, those problems are just history read in books and seen in movies. Now, writing means sitting in front of a screen and playing your fingers over something called as the keyboard. Now, whoever says whatever, everything gets piled in the vast libraries of hard disks and the internet. This is something that we should utilise for our own good and for the good of the community that might stumble upon our works.

People write for a lot of reasons - To market themselves, for their own journals, to get in touch with like-minded people, to satisfy their creative side and many more. I am not sure about myself. We all have our moments of brilliance in our fields of work. In the same way, some flashes of ideas and dazzling lines occur in my bizarre mind. I feel that those ideas would get lost if I didn’t catalogue them; or I might do it simply for personal glory.

People evolve through the years; and with them their activities. Writing being one of them it sure does oblige to this fact. Taking a look at the first story I wrote years back describes the journey I have made. Ideas are meant to start silly. We might find it hard to arrive to the point and the myth called writer’s block or muse threats. We must believe that with time we will attain our purpose and the block is just our laziness projected in a different form.

When our writing has the ability to reach others, we must take responsibility for it’s content. We must bear in mind that we are serving the community with our ideas. ‘’The best writing we do is that that lies closest to what we must not do’’, said Stephen Corey, the editor of The Georgia Review, a literary journal. Going by his lines, one must be mindful of the accessing community.

Writing is an exquisite art through which we can open ourselves to the world. Adore and appreciate it. Salutation to centuries of writing.

Swasthika Sang

Edited by

Janani Hariharan

PlaceMeant

PlaceMent!!! A Place you are  Meant to be in???

Dress professionally, be pleasant, speak a few polished words and there; you will get yourself a placement in an IT firm. The IT industry generates the bulk of the employment opportunities in the country and it looks as though it is carrying the burden of improving the economy, but, one must be a tad naive to accept it. For the testing and developing process of programm-ing, one need not be a rocket scientist. Anyone with basic programming knowledge can be trained for the job. The ambitious and intellectual lot of the student folk are in the top tier institutions namely, the IITs and other reputed government institutions. A little remnant of that group finds itself in self- financing institutions. These graduates either continue their pursuit of the elusive all-pervasive (?) knowledge or get themselves premium jobs with their current knowledge.

What becomes of the second tier students? They form the group of vulnerable apprentices. Exploring if it is wrong on their part for being in the second tier or if it was wrong on the part of those who influenced them into engineering can lead to an entirely different case and let’s keep the chargesheet focussed on software companies alone for now. The second tier people have dug deep into their pockets and are looking for a reasonable return and this provides the perfect opportunity for the software companies to lay the trap. With core jobs providing only half the salary, the software jobs are a serious lure. The college placement officer’s statement, ‘’Get a job offer from the first two companies and repay the faith your parents have shown in you’’ doesn’t help either. He will add to the non IT students that they can always go finding core jobs after securing a first placement. That sounds safe and sensible initially but  deeper thought reveals the opposite. The intensity and effort expended towards finding a job by a person with an existing offer and one with no offer is not the same. The latter, being more driven and a touch desperate, often comes up with a better performance as fear makes one go the extra mile. Another thing that is small, yet has the capacity to top all these factors - Our ego. With all those around us getting offers, the mere expression of fleeting joy in their faces will exponentially impel us to get ourselves an offer too.

Now, the students have become employees, and they begin their career with a lot of anticipation and excitement, only to find that those two emotions are short lived. A sizeable chunk of the people joining software companies start hating their jobs within the first few months. A few even dare to drop out of their jobs. Ever changing technologies and the services that come with them require one to be constantly updated with skills. If not, one becomes irrelevant in that field and is ready to be replaced by younger and cheaper employees. This takes a toll even on a person from a computer background. Factors such as low performing employees’ lay-offs during an economic slowdown make conditions wretched for this group. Our ex second tier students feel the heat much more strongly, and factors like depression, work related stress and frequent overtimes make them mere money making machines, with their personal lives meaning nothing.

I believe money is the most overrated thing, but unfortunately, it is arguably a crucial decisive factor in many things. We have been made to believe that success is directly related to the amount of material wealth that we make. Think again, because come the twilight of our lives, it’s the things we missed to do that will haunt us more than those we did. Apart from all the myths and parables, all we’ve got is one life and what is the use of it if we can’t find peace and tranquillity and do the things we like? So, it will be wise to find the place where we are meant to be in, some place where we will be ourselves.

Swasthika Sang

Edited by

Janani Hariharan