‘Finding the Oasis’ by Sandeep Mall

 

 

Most people are more concerned about personal wellness today than ever before, but a large majority have no clue how to go about achieving and maintaining it. ‘Finding the Oasis’ by Sandeep Mall broadens one’s perspective on the subject by espousing the cause of deep-health. 

Not leaving deep-health at a concept level, Sandeep goes on to break it into multiple elements, then demystify the knowledge related to each element using simple language (one good example is the breaking down of carbohydrates, proteins and fat). 

Taking topics like anger, mid-life crisis, discord, and even death head-on, and suggesting how to deal with them using real-life examples is the real value of this book. That many of those examples are from Sandeep’s own personal experience, adds authenticity to the advice.

The practical inputs in each section translate all this knowledge into an operating manual, while the ‘pause & reflect’ questions personalise the knowledge. This feature elevates the book from being merely informative to an actively transformative resource.

In a world inundated with 11,000 new books every day, ‘Finding the Oasis’ is a worthy addition - indeed an oasis, living up to its name. 

You can order the book on Amazon at 

https://amzn.eu/d/7aK6aBv

కవి ‘వాక్కేళి’ “వాక్కేళి” కవితా సంకలనం

చదవండి చదివించండి

ఎవడి మాతృ భాష వాడికి గొప్ప. కదా?! కానీ “దేశ భాషలందు తెలుగు లెస్స“ అన్నారు. కదా?! అలాంటి తెలుగుభాషలోని గొప్పతనాన్ని, గొప్ప గొప్ప పదాల్ని, తన నైపుణ్యంతో మన తెలుగువాళ్ళ ఆనందం కోసం ఒక ఆట ఆడిస్తూ, కవి‘వాక్కేళి’ చేసిన ప్రయోగమే ఈ “వాక్కేళి” కవితా సంకలనం!

మచ్చుకి ఓ నాలుగు విన్యాసాలు:

“సుబ్బలక్ష్మిగారికేమొ సుప్రభాత డ్యూటి  

అబ్బో ఓ కప్పు కాఫి బాలమురళి తోటి 

అబ్బురంగ టిఫిను పెడుతు ఘంటసాల భేటి

సుబ్బరంగ చెవికి విందు ఈ ముగ్గురి పార్టీ!”

అంటూ ప్రతి తెలుగు ఇంట్లో ప్రతి ఉదయం ఉట్టి పడే తెలుగుతనం గురించి...

“ఫటఫటఫటఫట తెగవా నరాలు 

భగభగమండవ ఊపిరితిత్తులు 

సలసలసలసల మరగద నెత్తురు 

కుతకుత ఉడకవ జలసత్తువలు”

అంటూ మనం రోజూ మాట్లాడుకునే తెలుగు పదాలనే ఓ ప్రాసలో కూర్చి ఆ ధ్వనితోనే జల్లికట్టుని కళ్ళకి చూపించారు...

“పటికబెల్లమా? అన్నమయ్య కీర్తనా?

పచ్చ కర్పూరమా? కొండ గాలా?

చిక్కటి నెయ్యా? భక్తుల నమ్మికా?

తిరుపతి లడ్డుకి ఈ రుచేడిదయ్యా?”

అన్న ప్రశ్నలు మరే భాషలో వేసినా, లడ్డు సంగతేమో గానీ, అలాంటి ఆలోచనలే ఇంత తియ్యగా కమ్మగా ఉంటాయాఅనిపిస్తుంది? 

“తెలివిలేదంటాది సదువు రాదంటాది

కల్లల్లొ సూత్తాది గుట్టు బైటెడతాది

పుడమి తిప్పేత్తాది చదలు సూపెడతాది

నాయమ్మి గడుసైంది గుడిసె బడి సేసింది”

అని అంటూ తెలుగు భాషలోని వయ్యారాలన్నీ పెంకిపిల్ల ఎంకి రూపంలో ఒలకబోస్తారు మరోచోట!

ఇంకా ఆలీసమెందుకు కొనండి చదవండి. ఆల్రెడీ చదివేసారా, ఇంకో రెండు కొని పక్కోడికిచ్చి పండగ చేసుకోమనండి 🤷‍♂️

Two Books on Social Enterprises

Towards the end of 2019, almost around the same time, two books were published on one subject - Social Enterprises. Together, they make a great read. 

Thanks to the authors, I had an opportunity to read the manuscripts and offer my comments, which were incorporated as “advance praise” in these books. Am reproducing them below, as part of Shiv’s Reading Recos:

Farming Futures: Emerging Social Enterprises in India 

by Ajit Kanitkar and C. Shambu Prasad 

I would like to compliment the editors and the authors for three distinct contributions to advance the knowledge and practice in the social enterprise space. Firstly, for picking up as diverse a set of cases as possible, from every conceivable angle. Then for writing the cases as “organisations in making”, piecing the trials, tribulations and triumphs of the social enterprises as they evolved. Finally, for pulling out insights and helping us imagine an ecosystem in which social enterprises can thrive.

The editors aptly explain that the social enterprises are trying to occupy a space that is left by the government, the NGO sector and or the market actors, and thus are based on the foundation of values but practising the principles of business and profitability. However, most social entrepreneurs, with the exception of a few, end up subordinating the enterprise aspects to the social cause. To my mind, this is abdicating the responsibility to craft a business model that can

deliver both. I am not taking away the challenge in this task, because I know the enormous friction

in the encounters of these entrepreneurs with the larger ecosystem.

Innovation in this space is required to harness the power of “and”, i.e., leverage the capacity of

an enterprise to solve social problems, thereby enabling scale, and not succumb to the tyranny of

choosing between social purpose “or” enterprise objectives, after having started off on the social

enterprise path.

Given the difficulty of the challenge to innovate for this “and” paradigm, and the time it takes to

test & improvise the workability, and to prove scalability of the social business models, there is clearly a role for hybrid organisations and blended financing models. The two organisations must work parallelly, yet in a synchronised manner. Even the Impact Venture Capital Funds may like to evolve new integrated metrics for the performance of social enterprises, rather than looking at both the dimensions separately. Similarly, the incubators and accelerators helping the social enterprises too.

Social Entrepreneurship in India : Quarter Idealism and a Pound of Pragmatism

by Madhukar Shukla

Social enterprises do not succeed or scale easily, given the challenge they grapple with, while trying to fuse social causes with profitable business models. Passionate social Entrepreneurs craft them with considerable artistry through a lot of idealism and some trial & error. Often, even with the benefit of hindsight, some of them can’t explain why they succeeded. Certainly not to the extent another entrepreneur can replicate the “model”.

In this backdrop, Madhukar’s book is a boon to this domain. He analyses how the “markets of the

poor” are different, where the “opportunity structures” exist, describes the various “entrepreneurial models that enable the poor to access markets, and places the different “archetypes of social entrepreneurship” in that context.

The book is a must read for both the “been there, done that” social entrepreneurs intending to scale, and the “wannabe” entrepreneurs looking at social problems to engage with; or for that matter even for the Social Impact Funds trying to make sense of the “mad” proposals they receive all the time.

Dynamics of Crop Diversification

One routinely hears recommendations for crop diversification, saying that B crop is more profitable than A crop. The dynamics of crop diversification are more complex than that. In my experience, every farmer evaluates the B vs A trade-off, using a five-dimensional model, often intuitively. And, each of the dimensions have further nuances too.

1. For sure, net profit from one crop vs the other, is the most important variable. But, such profit will be seen from a twelve-month cycle perspective. At times, the chosen crop, depending on its duration from land preparation to harvest, limits the choice of next crop (or prior crop) that can be planted. Hence the twelve month cycle. I am keeping the cases of even longer term options like trees, out of the argument when I said twelve months. Profitability trade-off, often, also involves assigning value to the crop byproducts consumed off-farm for livestock or at home.

2. Another important factor is the effort involved in growing one crop vs the other. Some require more tender care or frequent monitoring vs the other. Or more physical drudgery. One crop may need more farm labour for an operation. Trade-off decisions then involve whether sufficient number of people are available within the family or one needs to hire. Then there are nuances, like labour barter – “I work on your farm and you work on mine”, if the window of that activity has flexibility of time.

3. Going beyond labour, the next factor involves access to resources, such as farm inputs, or credit to buy the inputs. Some of the resources place constraints on which crop can be grown; water for example, be it ground water, or canal water with the attendant restrictions, if any, on the release quantum and timings. Soil and climatic conditions, of course, are the more fundamental factors that limit choices of crops.

4. The fourth dimension is knowledge required to grow different crops. At a basic level, certain generic good practices on growing a crop like land preparation, planting density, irrigation and fertigation cycles, crop protection should the need arise, post-harvest activities etc. Then, every farmer requires certain contextualized knowledge on managing the crop as the growing conditions evolve, in terms of temperatures and humidity, besides any implications of the crop planted in the previous season, or limitations on the resources required etc.

5. Finally, probably most importantly, the risks involved in growing one crop vs the other. There are risks first in the production stage and then in marketing the crop produced. Some crops are more vulnerable to weather variations than the others. This is more important today, when the extreme variations have become the order of the day. Market risks include the extent of price volatility and liquidity of demand for a crop.

The market conditions will throw up a natural bias for one or the other crop in a given region for a profile of the farmer each season. If the Government or any other agency (say, a food processing company) would like to promote a particular crop or variety, first step is to make an assessment if the wind is hitting the tail or the head along all these dimensions and take advantage or neutralize respectively, so that the proposed crop is in the best all-round interest of the farmer.

Post-Googlism and Other Short Stories

This is the foreword I wrote for RC Natarajan’s “Post-Googlism and Other Short Stories”. The book  is now published and is available to buy at:

Amazon ~ https://www.amazon.in/Post-Googlism-other-short-stories/dp/938833700X/

Flipkart ~ https://dl.flipkart.com/dl/post-googlism-other-short-stories/p/itmff6e2pxeg9h7q?pid=9789388337007

Refreshing stories with a twist in the tale and humour sprinkled all over. That’s what Natarajan pulled off, with his very likeable work of fiction, otherwise known for his academic publications!

Forewords for fiction books are unusual, so when Natarajan called to request me to write the foreword for his book of short stories, my only reason to accept immediately without asking “why”, was an opportunity to read the stories a few weeks before you all do. I was keen because I tasted a sample when he WhatsApped a couple of them last month. 

That word “WhatsApped” would have meant nothing a few years ago. But, now we are in a “Post-Googlers” era, and you know what it is, whether you are a Digital Native in this era or a Digital Immigrant like me. 

With a title like “Post-Googlism etc…”, together with the format and lingo this generation is used to, IHND that these short stories will be enjoyed by them (IHND means “I Have No Doubt”, just in case you haven’t deciphered ;-) Having read all the stories, now I can also vouch that my generation, born in the 60s – same as Natarajan’s – or, in the late fifties and early seventies, will relate to the characters even better! So, if you are born any time between 1955 and 2005, you will love reading these stories.

While Natarajan says that all the stories are his “own imagination and do not represent any real persons or events”, you will encounter someone you know in a familiar setting in almost every story. Not just familiar with someone, actually, often you relate with one of the characters in the stories and emote so well with them that you forget you are reading a story. That’s not your fault, Natarajan’s characters and settings are so real.

Other than just a couple of stories that are melancholic, almost all of the stories have an element of humour, if not entirely humorous. And humour, across such a wide-ranging settings! From a hilarious exchange between a husband and wife in ‘Two Idlies’ to an all-too-familiar Likes & Comments routine on a Facebook page in ‘BMW’.

And the twist, every story has built one in. At the end. Whether it’s a one-page micro-short-story or a ten-page longish-short-story. Much like my favourite O’Henry used to do. In some of the stories, you can guess the twist early on, no surprises there because you are a smart reader, otherwise why would you be reading this book in the first instance.

Btw, I finished the book in one sitting. Very likely, you too will. It’s a page turner. 

In the end, I won’t be lying, if I say “I am already looking for the next set of short stories by Natarajan”. Share your WhatsApp number, I am sure he will send some your way too well before the next book is published…

My Top Ten Books

This list was prepared as part of the viral tagging going around on facebook J On popular demand, I’ve now described each book in hundred words.

e=mc² by David Bodanis: Every one of you would know this equation. Bodanis offers the simplest of explanations I have ever heard of the relationship between mass and energy! “Mass is simply the ultimate type of condensed energy” and “energy is what billows out as an alternate form of mass under the right circumstances”. The biography of this famous equation is a fascinating read… If you’ve read my Blog on ‘Physics and ITC e-Choupal’, you will know why this book figures at the very top of my list.

The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone: Seeing the Sistine Ceiling in Vatican became one of my dreams, ever since I read this book in 1976. So powerful was Stone’s portrayal of Michelangelo! “He was determined to get a teeming humanity up on the ceiling, as well as God Almighty who created it; He must project a throbbing, meaningful vitality that would invert the universe; the vault would become the reality, the world of those looking at it would become illusion.” I eventually saw it some thirty years later J

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand: This is one book in my list, I am sure, the majority of you would’ve read. And most people would’ve read it before they were twenty J Then you turn a Rand worshipper or a Rand hater; or turn from one to the other over time! One way or the other, the book is a great read as it lays out the scenarios for you if ever you were to turn against the world and its ways. Just yourself, all alone…

The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski: An outstanding investigation and narration of the very civilisation as it evolved. It’s so absorbing to read how the man has become preeminent among all the animals. There is an interesting story about the genetic accident when wild wheat crossed with a natural goat grass to form a fertile hybrid; a subject of great interest now J This is how text books must be written for children; no reason why anyone wouldn’t stay curious for the rest of their lives.

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely: We think we're all rational. “Are we?” questions Ariely, and sets up illuminating experiments to prove that we are not only not rational, but are also predictably so! He explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities, and goes on to suggest how we could break through them to make better decisions. Besides being a great read on behavioural economics, this book can also be used as a handy guide on designing experiments J   

The Wheels of Commerce by Fernand Braudel: Living as we do in today’s world, we take shops and banks for granted. But, did you ever imagine how such institutions and mechanisms of exchange developed in the pre-industrial stages of capitalism? That’s the history this book series traces. The commodity trader in me found the origins and intricacies of the working relationships between European financiers and global traders’ networks intriguing. Period paintings and maps add immense value to these books.

Presenting to Win by Jerry Weismann: ‘Pitching’ something to someone is what we do all the time, whether through a formal presentation or an informal conversation. This book provides you with the most exhaustive, yet very practical, framework to prepare and deliver effective presentations. Whether you are a novice or an expert, you will find tips that work! The most important advice is the most obvious yet often ignored one – staying focussed on what the audience wants, not what you have or what you know!      

A Theory of Justice by John Rawls: This book is an essential read on moral philosophy, if you can deal with a very high level of abstraction. Rawls’ theory of justice has two principles, (1) each person to have rights equal to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others, (2) social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are to be of the greatest benefit to the least-advantaged members of society, while offices and positions must be open to everyone under conditions of fair equality of opportunity.

Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman by Richard Feynman: The book is a series of autobiographical stories of Feynman, a winner of Nobel in Physics. Someone aptly said that Feynman’s life is a combustible mixture of extraordinary intelligence, limitless curiosity, and raging impudence! You will feel all that as you read these stories. If you get hold of an audio-book, it’s an even more exhilarating experience. If you want to think along the lines Feynman did, start with "How does that work?" or "Why is that the way it is?" or "Is there another way to do that?"

The Opposable Mind by Roger Martin: This book finds a place in my top list because Martin’s prescription resonates with my belief on the ‘power of and’ versus the ‘tyranny of or’.  The book gives a working definition of integrative thinking as “the ability to face constructively the tension of opposing ideas and, instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new idea that contains elements of the opposing ideas but is superior to each”. This definition is also my formula for innovation!

So, how many of these have you read? And, how many did you get interested in from among those you haven’t read?

Happy Reading J

Don't Flirt with Rural Marketing

Mr RV Rajan has condensed his forty years of rich experience in rural marketing into a four-hour reading capsule. So much is packed in so few pages! Just hundred pages, if you want to know what "few" means :)

If you have anything to do with rural marketing, it is very likely that you already know Mr Rajan. To others, let me introduce him as the Founder of Anugrah Marketing and then Anugrah Madison Advertising. Before that he worked with Clarion and Grant Kenyon & Eckhardt.

As many as a dozen detailed case studies and scores of anecdotes, spread over fourteen chapters, make "Don't Flirt" very reader-friendly. From the travels & travails of Shaw Wallace AV Van in interior Tamilnadu in the 1970s, to the more recent success of LG Electronics across India, you will hear about all of them here. 

Almost every chapter has some relevant lists, such as the coordinates of rural research organisations, rural marketing agencies, event management companies, secondary data sources on rural markets, dates of haats & melas in different states etc. Needless to say, such lists are a treasure, because a 'google search' doesn't produce these results!

Then there are tricks of the trade in the form of Do's & Don'ts for all conceivable rural marketing activities that make "Don't Flirt" an invaluable handbook for practitioners.

The real icing on the cake are a large number of insights sprinkled throughout the book, that only a seasoned rural marketer as Mr Rajan could draw out. For example, 

• distribution isn't as much a nightmare as it is made out to be, 
• importance of reliable local associates in designing & executing any programmes, 
• complementary role of BTL activities when the TVCs and other ATL communication made for urban audience are used in rural, 
• that solution to spurious products is not litigation or consumer education but efforts to raise incomes, 
• and so on...

The only addition I would've liked to see in the book is a chapter or a table on "Then & Now". Although one can get an idea about the transformation that took place in rural markets over these forty years from the book, a chapter explicitly highlighting Mr Rajan's own assessment of what has changed, what stayed the same in these forty years would have been wonderful. Also, such a chapter would naturally set the reader thinking of the likely scenarios in the next seven to ten years - the future of rural marketing, in this age or rurbanisation.

I enjoyed reading the book. Very likely you too will...

You can buy "Don't Flirt" from Amazon as well as Flipkart, or you can write to Mr Rajan at rvrajan42@gmail.com

PS: The "Don't Flirt" advise in the title is because many marketers are not walking the talk when it comes to rural marketing in terms of a comprehensive engagement, unlike in urban marketing.