tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32961440756058389672024-03-06T16:31:08.516-07:00Jammi Rao's BlogFinancial Risk Manager; Occasional Writer; Husband; Father & Concerned World Citizen Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-43171284337870830412024-03-06T16:30:00.000-07:002024-03-06T16:30:29.640-07:00What will the world be like in 2050! <p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Predicting the future, especially 26 years ahead, is inherently uncertain. However, based on current trends and ongoing developments, here are some possible scenarios of what the world might be like in 2050:</span></p><p data-sourcepos="3:1-3:31" style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1rem 0px; white-space-collapse: preserve; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Technological advancements:</span></p><ul data-sourcepos="5:1-8:0" style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 4px 0px; padding-inline-start: 1.125rem;"><li data-sourcepos="5:1-5:224" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI):</span> AI could significantly impact various sectors, like healthcare, transportation, and manufacturing, potentially automating many tasks and changing the nature of work.</li><li data-sourcepos="6:1-6:221" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Advancements in fields like robotics, nanotechnology, and quantum computing:</span> These could lead to breakthroughs in medicine, materials science, and information processing, bringing new solutions to global challenges.</li><li data-sourcepos="7:1-8:0" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Increased integration of the digital and physical world:</span> Through technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality, the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds could blur, creating new forms of communication, entertainment, and work.</li></ul><p data-sourcepos="9:1-9:37" style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1rem 0px; white-space-collapse: preserve; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Geopolitical and economic shifts:</span></p><ul data-sourcepos="11:1-14:0" style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 4px 0px; padding-inline-start: 1.125rem;"><li data-sourcepos="11:1-11:185" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Shifting global power dynamics:</span> Emerging economies, particularly in Asia and Africa, could continue their growth, potentially altering the global economic and political landscape.</li><li data-sourcepos="12:1-12:231" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Increased focus on sustainability and climate change:</span> Addressing climate change and transitioning to renewable energy sources will likely be high on the global agenda, impacting economies, policies, and individual lifestyles.</li><li data-sourcepos="13:1-14:0" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Potential for increased social and economic disparity:</span> The uneven distribution of the benefits of technological advancements and globalization could exacerbate existing inequalities within and between countries.</li></ul><p data-sourcepos="15:1-15:35" style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1rem 0px; white-space-collapse: preserve; word-break: break-word;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Social and demographic changes:</span></p><ul data-sourcepos="17:1-20:0" style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 4px 0px; padding-inline-start: 1.125rem;"><li data-sourcepos="17:1-17:222" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">An aging global population:</span> With increasing life expectancy and declining birth rates, the world is expected to have a larger elderly population, placing pressure on healthcare systems and social security structures.</li><li data-sourcepos="18:1-18:160" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Urbanization:</span> The trend of people moving to cities is expected to continue, posing challenges related to infrastructure, housing, and resource management.</li><li data-sourcepos="19:1-20:0" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Growing global interconnectedness:</span> Technological advancements and globalization are likely to continue fostering deeper social and cultural connections across borders.</li></ul><p data-sourcepos="21:1-21:317" style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Google Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1rem 0px; white-space-collapse: preserve; word-break: break-word;">It's important to remember that these are just potential scenarios, and the actual future will depend on various complex and interconnected factors. Some of the challenges mentioned above, like climate change and inequality, will require collective global action to ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for all.</p>Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-16524675365055612222021-03-14T19:14:00.003-06:002021-03-15T15:34:48.624-06:00Reflections on the Pandemic of 2020-21<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><i>Last week (March 11) the World observed the one year
anniversary of this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. and later this week (15-19
March) most of us will mark another milestone – a year of working from home! <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><i>So if you are one of those who like me are observing both or
either of these milestones- consider yourself lucky! At last count there are
2.5 million people known to have succumbed to COVID!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there are countless millions who either
did not have the luxury of working from home or worse still no longer have a
job! Spare a thought for those people and their families!<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><i>As the world reflects on what this pandemic has meant for us
as individuals and as humanity here are some personal reflections: <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><i>The pandemic has brought to the fore the level of inequality
that exists in the world. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nay, it has
actually exacerbated those inequalities whether by wealth (the rich have become
richer while the poor have become poorer!) or by gender (woman have been disproportionately
impacted). Race has been another factor but it has not been a universal factor
across countries. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><i>The end of the pandemic is nowhere in sight- and some
scientists say COVID-19 will be with us for a long time –diminishing to the
level of the flu that we have all learnt to live with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing is certain –COVID -19 will change
our lives forever in some shape or another! We have already witnessed the rise
of ‘Vaccine Nationalism’, ‘Vaccine-Elitism’ and the consequential reversal of years
of progress towards globalization! <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><i>People talk of ‘one day returning to a ‘normal pre-pandemic
world’! I wonder if that is a good thing! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the pre-pandemic world we were racing <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>towards environmental catastrophe caused by
all the climate change actions that mankind was engaging in. It was also a very
unequal world between countries, between genders and between races to name only
a few! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that the kind of ‘pre-pandemic
world’ that we wish to return to? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so
it will be a sad day for mankind as it will display that we have let this
crisis go to waste and learnt no lessons! <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><i>Many years from now as I dangle my grandkids on my knee (or
at least have zoom calls with them) and tell them stories of my life, I’ll
probably reminisce about our experiences today! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much like my own grandfather told me stories
about World War II. At least, my grandfather could hold his head high and talk
about how his generation learnt some lessons and ushered in an era of global
growth and increasing prosperity! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
wonder if I will be able to say the same thing. <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">L</span></span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><i>These are my thoughts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are yours?</i></span><o:p></o:p></p>Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-17367908956463316412018-01-24T17:52:00.001-07:002018-01-24T17:52:37.382-07:00Central Banks and Markets - a case of blind leading blind?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10pt;">The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) – the home of the Basel accords on banking supervision – have today put out an interesting paper that examines the relationship between monetary policy and market prices through the lens of central bank communication. In brief:<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<u></u><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><u></u><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10pt;">Central bankers use forward guidance to steer market expectations of future monetary policy moves.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="m_-8066808532371255251MsoListParagraph" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
<u></u><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><u></u><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10pt;">At the same time, they rely on market prices to gauge the likely path of the economy and the appropriate stance of monetary policy.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="m_-8066808532371255251MsoListParagraph" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
<u></u><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><u></u><span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10pt;">This two-way flow between market prices and forward guidance can create a circularity, and raises questions on how best to read market signals without distorting those same prices.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10pt;">The findings are surprisingly not too different from this old story about native Indians and their supposed ability predict the weather using ancient secrets!<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10pt;">Read on….<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10pt;">It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets.<br /><br />When he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect firewood to be prepared.<br /><br />Also, being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"<br /><br />"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.<br /><br />A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"<br /><br />"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's definitely going to be a very cold winter."<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10pt;">The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.<br /><br /><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1878975536" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Two weeks later</span></span>, he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"<br /><br />"Absolutely," the man replied. "It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever."<br /><br />"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.<br /><br />The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy."<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10pt;">===<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: 10pt;">You can read the full paper here: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.bis.org/publ/work692.htm&source=gmail&ust=1516927403719000&usg=AFQjCNECOQrK48SS-r4ExbeGw71vVQTr_g" href="https://www.bis.org/publ/work692.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.bis.org/publ/<wbr></wbr>work692.htm</a></span></div>
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Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-43236915350432770722017-12-30T21:04:00.000-07:002017-12-30T21:04:22.424-07:00BlockChain Demystified: The Transformational Technology underlying Bitcoin!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #4a4848;">There is a lot of media attention to the ‘bubble’
in cryptocurrencies – mainly Bitcoin- these days. As usual the popular media is
sensationalizing the issue and picking up the ‘sexy’ side of the story (about
overnight millionaires etc!).</span></div>
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<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; padding: 0in;">As a financial regulator in Canada, I have
been following this whole story for some time now. On a personal level my son
and I also mined some cryptocurrency (Ether or ETH) for a while. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; padding: 0in;">It pains me when I read all the media hype
that the media is not covering the transformational – and I mean truly
transformational – technology that underlies Bitcoin and the like. This is the
BlockChain technology. I therefore thought of wiring up a blog post and also
sharing the same with my groups on WA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 1; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; padding: 0in;">While I was writing up an introduction to
the Blockchain technology, I came across a link to an excellent article. I cannot express it better and don’t want to
provide second hand information. So go to this link and read the article:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 1; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; padding: 0in;"><a href="https://www.cryptosource.ca/single-post/2017/10/11/Introduction-to-Blockchain">https://www.cryptosource.ca/single-post/2017/10/11/Introduction-to-Blockchain</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; padding: 0in;">For those who prefer audio-visual
education, here are links to a couple of great videos explaining the same
thing:</span></div>
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Blockchain
Expert Explains One Concept in 5 Levels of Difficulty : <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYip_Vuv8J0" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYip_Vuv8J0</a></li>
</ol>
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<h1 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;">Ever wonder how Bitcoin (and other
cryptocurrencies) actually work? </span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4&t=230s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4&t=230s</a></span><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;"> </span></h1>
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<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;">As I said earlier, Blockchain,
is ground breaking technology. It is already transforming traditional processes
like inter-bank funds transfers and securities transactions. Major banks
worldwide are investing resources into this technology. Now some companies are
experimenting with Smart Contracts using Blockchain technology. <o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;"> </span></h1>
<h1 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;">Bitcoin or other
Cryptocurrencies –there are over a 100 of them- are only the glamorous / sexy/
controversial by products of this technology.<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;"> </span></h1>
<h1 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4a4848; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;">Hope this helps.</span></h1>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-20863139863182507802016-11-12T21:54:00.003-07:002016-11-12T21:56:33.965-07:00India Demonetizes Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 Currency Notes- My Take<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>My take on the demonetization story: </i></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>If there is one lesson from Trump's upset (?) victory last week, it is that the media and thinking (?) liberals who sit in their ivory towers and comment on social media about what should and should not be considered good or bad, appeared to the silent majority to be talking down to them. To a slightly lesser degree this is also true of the Brexit vote. </i></span><br />
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>The silent majority are the ones who are directly affected. Imagine this analogy from a car. The silent majority are the rubber particles on the tire which grind against the road, they are the particles in the mechanical parts of the engine that do all the grinding and feel the heat. Imagine the particles of the steering wheel ( which is sitting in the cool comfort of an air conditioned cabin) talking among themselves and say in social media about how fantastic modern tech is, how much society has progressed and occassionally paying lip service to the hard working particles out there! And all the while, the particles on the steering wheel are suffering from delusions of grandeur that they are the ones because of whom the car is going where it was supposed to go! </i></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Once you give every particle one vote and there comes around someone telling them that they are getting ripped out by the 'ruling elite' or the 'liberal media' , even if that someone is a real estate salesman who will lie through his teeth to get a sale, the message strikes home. And come election time these downtrodden particles will vote for their smooth talking perceived champion as among other things it signifies poking a finger in the eye of the high and mighty talking down to them. This is what most pollsters missed. While the liberal media, the ruling elite (including Mr and Mrs Obama) and twitterati were busy labeling Trump a bigot, racist, xenophobic person who is 'unfit' to be President, all the silent majority were thinking was "look who is talking! The very same guys who Mr Trump has opened our eyes to! and they are telling us how we should think when we have lost our jobs, we are hurting due to high Obamacare premiums or getting shot on the streets!!! ".</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I am seeing a parallel, in the situation vis-a-vis the Rs 1000 and Rs 500 demonetization. Shr Modi - whatever his 'ulterior' motives - was hard pressed to come up with something resembling a 'war' on black money. I don't think he called it a 'surgical strike'. The media gave it that label. For him this was just another move in the fight to make India a better place to be. No one disagrees that corruption and its grease black money are like a cancer that is eating at India's vitals. And if it needed some chemo therapy he was prepared to take it on and administer that dreaded treatment. As we all know unfortunately chemo therapy does not discriminate and kills some good cells with the bad cells. In all my readings and private chats with friends in India, I have gathered that the man on the street has generally bought and believed Shri Modi's good intentions. Even the rural villagers who are sick and tired of being exploited by the local ruling elite are probably thinking that they will accept a little personal pain if only it helps to ruin the local village kingpin! People are comparing the bankers who are braving the brunt of this to our army men and singing praises for their efforts! </i></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>And what do the liberal media, the opposition, some parts of the twitterati, even some IIM profs do? They are busy questioning the motives or saying that this is not a 'surgical strike' or that it is hurting the poor man on the street. They are even showing pictures of long queues in some places. But friends and relatives who have had personal experience tell me that the exchange of notes at their bank was a pretty smooth affair. he government has made it amply clear that other than the inconvenience of exchanging the demonetized notes, the law abiding common man need not worry. Sure there will be collateral damage. All policy will be paralyzed if avoidance of collateral damage is one of the conditions to be met. What can be aimed for and achieved is minimizing collateral damage. And I believe the various mitigating steps that have been announced were aimed at just that objective.</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>I don't know what other steps the Government plans. I don't know how successful this will be. Corruption is a hydra-headed monster. Who knows what kind of backlash this will create. Time only will tell. But for now I am giving Shri Modi an A-plus for effort and trying-- something that I cannot imagine any other political leader even dreaming about. So let us do away with the negativity and put our faith in India's leader! If he succeeds, India succeeds!</i></span></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-65938196571162334002016-10-09T18:40:00.000-06:002016-10-09T23:20:42.288-06:00A research paper from years ago<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sharing a research paper <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">"<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7g0QGQtV6eDUTd1R1g2TDFVamc" target="_blank">RAROC-A Performance Measurement Tool</a>". I w</span>rote it in 2001 with a colleague from my team, when we worked together in ICICI Bank.<br />
<br />
The paper is of great interest to anyone dealing with Risk Based Performance Management for Banks and has been well referenced in many more publications.<br />
<br />
The paper was originally published in http://www.<wbr></wbr>iciciresearchcentre.org, but that site is now no longer valid and to ensure that this publication lives on, I am posting a link to it here in this blog.<br />
<br /></div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-20212177955506525842015-10-25T07:16:00.000-06:002015-10-25T07:16:38.628-06:00Ethics and the Medical Profession in the Indian Context<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background: white; line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #2e75b6;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The following is a response that I wrote on my high school Whatsapp
group in response to some heated debate about the Medical Profession and
stories about their sub-standard ethics.
Blogging it for others.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #2e75b6;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All professions providing some form of service have a lot of
regulations around ‘ethicality’ and ‘morality’. This applies to financial
professionals – people who give investment advice to their clients as well as the
medical profession. I have worked in the finance profession all my life and
have now moved into a regulator role. And I am applying some of the principles
that we adopt for the financial advisory profession in this discussion. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #2e75b6;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No one will grudge a super-specialty doctor charging high fees
because he has spent years and money in acquiring his skill and he does deliver
results! They have spent lakhs and crores on that costly private medical
education or on equipment and therefore they must now recover their cost. It is
called ‘Return on Investment’. Yes I get that! But this argument immediately
throws the ‘Hippocratic Oath’ out of the window and brings the doctor down from
the heights of being in a ‘noble profession’ to being just another businessman.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #2e75b6;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the tests of ethicality is ‘Conflict of Interest’. In any doctor-patient relationship, whose
side is the doctor on? Is the doctor looking out for the best interest of the
patient or is he/she acting in self-interest? This I where all the talk of the ‘cut’
business comes into play. If as a financial advisor, I get a cut for every mutual
fund I recommend and get the customer to invest in, then there are no marks for
guessing that my interest would be to recommend the mutual fund which gives me
the highest commission rather than the one that is best for the customer. I have immediately compromised the financial
health of the customer. Translate this to the medical profession and you have a
large number of stories of over-prescribing, over-testing, and even advising
surgery when not warranted. There is both anecdotal evidence of this as well as
established case law. Just do a google
search. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #2e75b6;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How often do doctors sit with a patient and their relatives and go
through the case, discuss the pros and cons of various optional routes of
treatment and explain the doctor’s reasoning for the line of treatment that is
being recommended? If the medical profession is prepared to be called just
another business then business ethics demands that they be transparent. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #2e75b6;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my google search I came across a book authored by
Pune-based Dr Abhay Shukla and Dr Arun Gadre. It is an English translation of
the Marathi one — Kaifiyat pramanik doctoranchi (reflections by sincere
doctors). It contains interviews of 78 practicing doctors from Mumbai, Pune,
Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai. “These whistleblower doctors have
mustered the ethical courage to expose facts for the first time on such a
scale,” Dr Arun Gadre says. Several doctors spoke up including Dr Vijay
Ajgaonkar, senior diabetologist from Mumbai, who says, “Now our greed has
increased to the extent that when a patient of one consultant goes to another
consultant, the second one prescribes the same medicine, but merely changes the
brand to show that he is doing something different. And it is true that this
profession has now become completely commercial.” The book describes every
unethical practice from the horse’s mouth: cuts or referral fees for
diagnostics as well as medical procedures; ‘Study tours’, also known as foreign
trips funded by big labs and pharma companies for doctors; hospitals employing
people who will rush to an accident scene and act as social workers to get the
injured to the hospital that employs them. Etc. Etc.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #2e75b6;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is one bold argument that is commonly made- that C is for
choice. Whenever I hear this I am reminded of the time when my late father died
way back in 1994. My brothers and I were doing the rituals of the kriya karma
and were in a grieving state . The ‘priest’ (who smelled money as my brother
was working in the UK and I came from Japan) would recommend to us one ritual
after another emphasizing how not doing it would bring some pain or harm to our
dad’s soul. He would always end his dire warnings with the words “it is your
choice” Similarly, when relatives are worried about the health of their loved
one, the doctor is in a position of trust. And at that time if he/she is going
to be conflicted and concerned about making a commission then how different is
he/she from this unethical priest? <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #2e75b6;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Long story short, the medical profession surely needs some soul
searching as to where it all went south. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 21.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #2e75b6;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And finally there are some good apples and some bad apples in every
basket. The problem is that the bad
apples give the whole basket a bad name.</span></span><span style="color: #2e75b6; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-74598504380670078382015-09-11T09:07:00.001-06:002015-09-11T09:07:31.764-06:00On Acquiring Canadian Citizenship<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Today (11<sup>th</sup> Sept-2015) marks the
final step in a 10-year journey for my family, as we complete our quest for
acquiring Canadian Citizenship- a process we started in Sep-2005<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I write this with mixed feelings. When I
woke up today I was an Indian citizen and by the time the sun sets today I will
have become a Canadian Citizen having taken the oath of citizenship at a
Citizenship ceremony in the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton after which I will
receive the certificate of citizenship<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The citizenship ceremony involves affirming
to be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the
Second, Queen of Canada (the symbol of the government in Canada) and to
faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian
Citizen. (Note: The Queen personifies the state and is the personal symbol of
allegiance, unity and authority for all Canadians).</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #6f6d6d; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span lang="EN-US">My wife, Anita and
Rohan will be by my side as we together embrace a new identity as citizens of
the first world. (Note: My daughter,
Ankita acquired Canadian Citizenship earlier this year).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Today will also commence a process of
renouncing Indian Citizenship, surrendering our passport and (optionally)
acquiring Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status and documentation. India does
not recognize dual citizenship, hence they have devised this OCI status which
equates us with NRIs in terms of financial transactions, property ownership and
visa-free entry into India.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">From a legal standpoint, this milestone for
us means that henceforth we will travel on a Canadian passport and be eligible
to vote in Canadian elections while losing the right to vote in Indian
elections. The Canadian passport is decidedly more respected and accepted as it
enables visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to over 177 countries. Other than
that very little changes. Canada encourages landed immigrants to bring with
them their cultural heritage and value systems from their land of birth and
upbringing. Canadians are rightfully proud of the multiculturalism that is visible
everywhere you look. So we will continue to be Indian at heart while also being
Canadian in our outlook and worldview. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As the saying goes, you can take a person
out of India but you cannot take India out of a person!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-86875147276116222882015-05-11T17:22:00.001-06:002015-05-11T17:22:22.220-06:00Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">There is a biblical story that goes like this. When an adulteress was brought to the village
square and was about to be meted out the traditional punishment of death by
stoning, all the villagers gathered and took up a stone each. When the family
of the woman appealed to Jesus who was in the village, he apparently said words
to the effect that: “This woman must be punished. But Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">I am reminded of
this story when I read all the posts in various whatsapp groups about recent cases wherein famous Politicians and Actors in India are able to hire top-notch
lawyers or pay their way out of tough criminal cases and avoid going to jail.
The common refrain is that the law should be applicable to everyone and just
because someone has money-power he/she should not be spared. I wonder how many
of us have always strictly adhered to various laws? <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">We need to do some
soul searching and ask ourselves how many times we have paid a bribe – to the
traffic cop after jumping a red light; to the TTE for a berth when there were
others ahead of us in the waitlist; to the government clerk or ‘karmchaari’ for
speeding up our case; to the IT officer to be lenient etc. etc. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">My point is about
the principle not the magnitude of the crime or the amount of the bribe. If we value our work to be done and don’t
mind paying a 1000 Rupees to escape the law we too will probably pay up. If our child was involved – even unwittingly-
in a crime, would we actually tell the cops, “he is a criminal, take him and
punish him/her to the full extent of the law”? No. My bet is that our first
thought will be to spend whatever it takes to ensure our child goes scot free. We will
probably consider a few thousand bucks well spent if our kid can avoid a night
in jail. In Sallu’s case a few lakhs/crores
is the same as a few thousand bucks is to us. The amount is relative. What is
not relative and common is that we all are willing to pay something and escape
facing the law. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">I am sharing this
thought for us to reflect and self-introspect.</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-76906408708328944742015-01-23T09:22:00.002-07:002015-01-23T09:22:25.616-07:00Canada's Health Care System: A personal story<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">Feeling confident (though still slightly
apprehensive) before surgery for a total thyroidectomy on Monday Jan 26. This
post is not about the 'why' and 'what for?' about my surgery. This is aimed at
being a feel good story about the care and human elements in the health care
delivery process in Canada!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">Two months ago when the biopsy results came in,
the surgeon’s office called me. The surgeon spent a good 30-minutes explaining
to me the results, what they meant, the likely paths (with probabilities) that
the cysts on my thyroid might take and my treatment options. This was indeed an
illustrative talk with him drawing out the diagrams on his iPad! Given the odds
and the prognosis I took his advice to go for a total thyroidectomy in one go,
and was lucky to get a date within two months. (Alberta’s, like most of Canada,
public health system is totally free for residents but is notorious for longish
wait times for elective non-life threatening conditions!).<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">A week before the surgery, I was pleasantly
surprised to receive a call from the hospital (</span><span style="color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><a href="https://www.covenanthealth.ca/hospitals-care-centres/misericordia-community-hospital" style="cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: #2e75b6; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">https://www.covenanthealth.ca/…/misericordia-community-hosp…</span></a></span><span style="background: white; color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">) inviting me to
attend a pre-surgical assessment clinic. During the more than 2 hour session I
was seen by three different nurses and an anaesthetist, to assess my readiness,
offer counselling and answer any questions that I may have. I was ushered into a
regular examination room offered a seat at the table and a glass of
water/coffee etc. After the routine physical check-up the 2nd nurse took an ECG
and then the third nurse walked me through the entire process right from
preparation at home and diet restrictions from the night before surgery,
through to what the admission process will look like, time expected in the
operating room followed by time in the recovery room, before I would be taken
back to my room for an overnight stay. She concluded with the discharge and
post-operative care that will normally be required. She told me that precise
instructions for my condition would be given at time of discharge. This was not
just her talking and my taking notes furiously. She told me to put away my
note-pad and instead wrote the pertinent details in a pre-printed prepared
booklet for me to carry back and not worry about missing some detail. By the
end of her talk, my expectations were set and most of my routine questions –
e.g.: what to wear, what to (and not to) eat and what to do with my glasses
etc., were taken care of. Despite all the details that she provided, she
assured me that on the day of surgery, the surgeon himself will be ready and
willing to answer any further questions that I may have. The one thing that
stuck with me long after the meeting was her mentioning not to get worried when
I hear the surgical team talking at the time of surgery and asking me or each
other what might look like routine questions. She assured me that this was
because they are required to follow the WHO recommended ‘Safe Surgery Check
List’ to ensure the best and safest possible outcome from the surgery. Part of
this is to encourage me – and members of my family - to ask as many questions
as I have and to keep talking to the surgical team. The time in the operating
room is estimated at 1-hr & 40 minutes.</span><span style="color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">I was next seen by the Anaesthetist who put me
completely at ease explaining how the General Anaesthesia will be administered,
how the attending anaesthetist will be constantly monitoring me and how they
will slowly revive me from deep slumber and ensure my condition is stable
before moving me to the recovery room where another set of nurses will take
over. She told me that I will probably need to be in the recovery room for an
estimated 1-hour after which I will be moved to my room where I will be under
observation overnight before being discharged the next day. The pre-assessment
clinic then ended with a visit to the pathology lab within the hospital itself
for getting a detailed blood analysis report. (More paper for my already thick
binder!).</span><span style="color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">Sharing the story
in some detail, as it made me realize the true meaning of what being a resident
of a first world country meant. The medical profession at all levels is totally
committed not just to treating me (admit – do procedure- discharge) but
treating me like a human being all through the process, recognizing that (my
family and) I would have emotional worries and taking the pains to address our
concerns. And all this for an ordinary person. I am no VIP!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">I recognize that
while free at a transactional level, this is truly my tax dollars at work. But
I would gladly pay any amount of tax so long as I have the assurance that those
tax dollars will work for me, if and when I, or my family, need it.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background: white; color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">Blessed to be living (and paying taxes) in Canada!</span><span style="color: #2e75b6; font-family: "Lucida Calligraphy"; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #2E75B6; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent1; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-35814401936820640562013-12-10T12:50:00.001-07:002013-12-10T12:50:38.679-07:00Why do family and friends interfere in our marriages in India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The question of why friends and family interfere so much in our
marriages, in the Indian context, has been vexing me for some time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And I believe, I've finally cracked it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The answer is simple.
It is because we invite them into our marriages. Let me explain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take a random Indian wedding invitation. Yes I am talking
about both the printed variety as well as the ones that are nowadays ubiquitous
on social media (mainly Facebook & Twitter). Up front and centre the invitation reads: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Smt. and Shri (or the more modern Mrs. and Mr) So and So,
Cordially invite you with family and friends…… “</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Ahaa! The first mistake! You might as well invite the whole town. We
are all one big family and where the bloodline breaks, we have so many friends!
Of the social media (Facebook) variety!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But the problem does not stop there! The next words are in
my opinion the root cause of the whole problem. </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Continuing with our example:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> “Smt. and Shri (or
the more modern Mrs. and Mr) So and So, Cordially invite you with family and
friends to the <b>marriage </b>of their
daughter (or son) XYZ with ABC
etc etc…… “ . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Note that I have highlighted the word ‘marriage’. Now that
means the whole period from the time the young couple tie the knot till ‘Death
doth do them apart’! That’s what is
commonly meant by the term marriage. e.g., “my marriage is successful”, “She is
in her third marriage”, or that famous line from Princess Diana, “I often felt
there were three of us in this marriage”.
So if you invite someone (and worse still with their family and friends) to the <b>“marriage”</b>, you have invited
them for a long, long time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now I don’t believe in just diagnosing the problem and not
giving a remedy. The first simple remedy is to put the names of the persons you
are inviting on the top of the invite and cut out the ‘with family and friends’ part.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But this is not so effective until you follow the second
corrective step. Replace the word <b>‘marriage’</b>
with <b>‘wedding’</b> or <b>‘wedding
ceremony’</b>. This way you are sure that you are inviting certain specified
individuals (& not their whole brood consisting of extended family &
friends) to a certain specified ceremony/function called– yes you guessed it –
the ‘wedding’. This is the brief 2-3 hours that it takes for the bride and the groom
to exchange vows, accept the gifts from invitees and for all to enjoy the good
food, music and dance <b>and then depart</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So if you want peace and quiet from interfering friends and
relatives in any marriage, amend your invitation to read: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Smt. and Shri (or the more modern Mrs. and Mr) So and So, cordially
invite you to the <b>wedding ceremony </b>of
their daughter (or son) XYZ with ABC
etc etc…… “.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Problem solved!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-18505574718713671792013-11-18T20:42:00.000-07:002013-11-18T20:42:12.852-07:00Now, Earn that Bharat Ratna, Sachin!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dear
Sachin,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There has been
considerable hoopla about your retirement from test cricket. Your fans and the
media have been involved in a keen tussle to out-awe each other with their
praises for you, their wailing about what will happen to Indian Cricket and
all the talk about this being the end of an era! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do not
share any of their angst – after all an era is longer than 24 years! Nor do I
share Shashi Tharoor’s worries about how India will cope without you wielding
the willow in Test Cricket. I think India has bigger problems than your
retirement. There’s the poverty, the
hunger, the illiteracy not to speak of the communal hatred being spread by self
seeking politicians. But that should not bother you!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What should
bother you is: “What now?”If I were you, I would sit down in front of a mirror
and look myself in the eye and ask myself, what it means to be the nation’s 43<sup>rd</sup>
Bharat Ratna. Who are the other 42? What is/was their claim to fame? For the most part they were either Freedom
activists or self- seeking politicians (people who you co-awardee Dr Rao
referred to as ‘idiots’)! There are of course some who excelled in the fields
of Music/ Entertainment, the Sciences, Educationists, and even a couple of
non-citizens (Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Nelson Mandela). I would then wonder, what it is that made the
powers that be think that I deserved this award. Is it just a political stunt
on the part of the ruling party to cash in on my popularity and keep my myriad
fans happy just when the elections are around the corner? Or is there finally recognition
of the image building value that 'Brand Sachin Tendulkar' brings to India?
Whatever, the reasoning, I would probably conclude that it is what it is; I
might as well bask in the glory. This could probably explain your magnanimous
gesture in dedicating your award to all mothers in India. What does this ‘dedicating’
mean? Will it mean that you will take up
the causes of mothers, instead of the inane ad promotions for various material
goods that you get paid so fabulously for? Or maybe you will use some of the wealth that
fame has bestowed you with, to set up hospitals in remote locations with only
one mission: “No more mothers dying
during child-birth!” Or maybe it is just a cliché and I am digressing in
delusion!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, back
to the “What now?” question. How can you silence all those critics who think
that awarding you the Bharat Ratna was misplaced? Here are just a couple of humble suggestions
to actually ‘earn’ that Bharat Ratna:</span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">You could set up a 'Sachin Tendulkar
Foundation' that will spot talent and train deserving children in every Olympic sport, setting
your administrators and coaches the goal of 20 Gold Medals in the 2020 (Tokyo).
That is 7-years from now! And Tokyo has just started building the facilities. So
if they can plan and deliver the Olympics in 7-years, I guess you can plan and get to the target of producing seven Gold medal winning athletes. Money should not be a problem for you. And judging by the harsh life
that most children in rural India live neither should physical grit, endurance
and will-power. What is needed is good
coaching, motivation, proper equipment and the right nutrition! This way you can be the catalyst
for spawning many more Bharat Ratnas from the field of sports! When you are 70, would you prefer to be known
for all your cricketing records (some of which might be bettered by then) or
would you want to be known for your service to Indian sport in all its
shapes and forms. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">You could use Brand Sachin for
promoting India as a tourism destination.
God knows we have more natural beauty that any other place in the world.
And we need that foreign exchange to save the Rupee.</span></li>
</ol>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So go for it Sachin. You described your cricketing life as between
24 years and 22 yards. But come on,
Sachin! Life is more than years and yards.
It is also about how many lives one has tangibly touched and improved.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eagerly
looking forward to your second innings,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jammi</span></span></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-45665624900667604042013-09-20T10:07:00.002-06:002013-09-20T10:07:20.730-06:00Seven reasons to love living in Canada,<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Seven reasons to love living in Canada,</span> based on a just released</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OECD
report:</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 12pt 27pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Income:</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
The average household earns US$28,194 each year after taxes. That’s more than
US$5,000 above the OECD average. There is disparity at both ends of the
earnings spectrum though, not surprisingly. The top 20% takes home US$55,718,
while the bottom 20% earns US$10,526. We ranked seventh on household wealth and
ninth on income.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Community: </span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Canadians
spend two minutes a day volunteering; that’s about half the OECD average. On
the other hand, 64% said they’d helped a stranger in the last month. (The OECD
average is 48%.) And 94% know someone they could count on if needed. We ranked
seventh on support network.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 12pt 27pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="color: blue;">
</span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Housing:</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
Nine in 10 Canadians are satisfied with their housing. The average home in this
country provides 2.6 rooms per occupant, more than any other country. And 99.8%
of Canadians live in a home with a private washroom that has an indoor,
flushing toilet. (The OECD average is 97.8%.) We ranked 24</span><span style="font-size: small;"><sup><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">th</span></sup><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> on
the ratio of housing costs to income, eighth on basic facilities and first on
number of rooms per person.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 12pt 27pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Environment:</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
We’re better than average on both air pollution and water quality measures. We
ranked 14</span><span style="font-size: small;"><sup><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">th</span></sup><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> on
pollution and 12</span><sup><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">th</span></sup><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> on
water quality.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Health:</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
Our life expectancy at birth is 81, a full year above the OECD average. And 88%
of Canadians say they are in good health. Health spending in this country makes
up 11.4% of gross domestic product. (The OECD average is 9.5% of gross domestic
product.) We ranked third in health and 17</span><span style="font-size: small;"><sup><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">th</span></sup><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> in
life expectancy.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Safety:</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
Just 1.3% of Canadians said they were assaulted over the one-year period
leading up to the survey. That’s well below the OECD average of 4%. Our
homicide rate is less impressive. It’s 1.6%, only marginally below the average
rate of 2.2%. We ranked first on assault rate and 23</span><span style="font-size: small;"><sup><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">rd</span></sup><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> on
homicide rate.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Work-life balance</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: black; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">:
Canadians work an average 1,702 hours per year. That’s 74 hours below the OECD
average. When asked if they work more than 50 hours a week, 4% said yes. (The
OECD average is 9%.) We ranked ninth on working long hours.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-70336990556697938142013-09-19T09:43:00.004-06:002013-09-19T09:43:38.706-06:00The US FED just gave the junkies more Opium!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Imagine your son or favorite nephew (or any one you love a
lot and are in charge of caring for) is hooked on drugs! Doctors have told you
that if he continues with this habit, his end is near. There are two ways to
cure him of his addiction. One is by taking away his stash of drugs -which will
in the short run aggravate his condition and make him more violent and increase
your task of caring for him. You may have to probably give up your day job to
care for him. A painful process for both. The other way is to say, ”YOLO -You
only live once!” and let him continue on his drug habit- in fact supplying him
more, to ensure that he is apparently happy, while you can go about your daily
business! What would you do? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now, replace the addict with the “Markets” and yourself with
the “US Federal Reserve”. Yesterday the FED decided to keep the taps flowing. What’s
flowing out of the tap was once antibiotics for the market (QE). It has now
become pure opium! And the markets are cheering that the taps will continue to
flow! Come on you faceless Market! The US Fed just said that they are not sure
of growth prospects for the world’s largest economy. In fact they trimmed the
growth forecast. So what the hell are you cheering about? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-83234490718002198182013-08-25T23:12:00.000-06:002013-08-25T23:30:14.661-06:00Another Gang Rape! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">One more
gang-rape – this time in Mumbai! It once again brought back memories of the
horrific Delhi incident of December last year! The whole country – physically and
in the social media- is going atwitter with laments of the state of affairs and
calls for stricter punishment, some going to extremes to say we should
introduce ‘Shariaa’ laws in India! But, stepping back from the immediacy of
this case, it seems strange to me that all this outpouring of disgust and
revulsion seems to be reserved for cases emanating from India’s Metros, where
the victim is an educated and or upwardly mobile, hard working young woman. While
deplorable, these are only two cases out of hundreds in the past 8-months. There
have been umpteen cases, before and after the Delhi case. And these are happening
all over the country. The people who are taking to the streets and the social
media clearly identify with these victims as one of their own. And it is
admirable that the spotlight that is cast on these cases, is causing the law
enforcement agencies to up their act and be seen to be taking action. But what
about those hundreds of rapes and gang-rapes – some where the victims are as
young as 4-yrs old? Who is shedding a tear for them or pushing the administration
to bring the culprits to justice?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">That apart,
are stricter laws (death penalty or ‘castration’ as the reference to Shariaa
law seems to suggest) the solution? What about the efficacy with which the law
enforcement machinery is able to bring a case to court, try the accused and
prove them guilty beyond reasonable doubt and mete out the appropriate punishment?
What eventually is a good deterrent? A strict law or stricter enforcement? We
have the death penalty for murder –in extreme, ‘rarest of the rare’ cases! But
has that meant that we have no murders? What is the conviction rate? What is
the speed with which successful convictions happen? It’s been 8-months since
the Delhi gang-rape. And the case is being tried in a ‘Fast Track court’. Under
what definition is ‘8-months and counting’ Fast? Why is about 40% of the police
force engaged in protecting VIPs? What if India were to have a full blown
economic crisis like the one in Punjab, where the State Government is
apparently unable to pay salaries of policemen among other government employees?
These are disturbing questions for which I don’t have the answers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I noticed
that some of the comments on Facebook and other social media ask the question: “What
makes men turn into such devils?” or “our culture is all about respect for
women- they are symbolized by our mother or sisters Why then do some men treat
women with such contempt and violate their inner persona”. These are definitely
good questions for psychologists to attempt to answer. But I have a theory and
it has to do with the way societal morals have changed over time. Our cinema,
like all of show biz, now promotes promiscuity like never before! Senseless
Item numbers like ‘Sheela Ki Jawaani” and “Munni Badnaam Hui” only glamorize
the vamp. Most of us watch such movies for three hours, get back to our lives
and think nothing more about it. But there must be a lumpen element out there
who possibly are not able to distinguish between the make-believe world of cinema
and the real world. These are the people who actually believe that Shah Rukh
Khan / Rajnikant can single-handedly smash 20 sword wielding guys to pulp! For
these people such item numbers only help to reinforce years of cultural power
stereo type of male supremacy and convey the message: “It is okay to look upon women as objects!” From there it is a downhill slope – beginning with
staring at women, passing lewd comments, grabbing various parts of the anatomy
of women in crowded places and in some cases, rape. I am not saying that cinema is the main
factor in the ‘objectification’ of women. I use it as an example for one of the players along
with other elements like the fashion world, the ad-world ( the way products for
‘fair skin’ are pushed) and also factors like illiteracy and unemployment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Any comments
are welcome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-19525162199265890172013-08-06T19:57:00.000-06:002013-08-06T19:57:17.911-06:00Tussle between India's Politicos and Administrators!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My thoughts on the spate of news items on politicians targeting ('punishing') IAS officers-junior as in UP (Ms Durga) as well as senior ones (Ms Sonali Kumar) as in J&K :<br />
<br />
1. It is nothing new. Politicians have always wanted the babus to kow-tow to them;<br />
Some have been nice and sweet about this expectation and mesmerized the bureaucrats into licking their boots (like JN) and some have done this in a crass manner (Laalu reportedly, in his hey days used to refer to the state Police head as "Darogaaji" and his chief secretary as "Badaa Babu"). Akhilesh in his brash young style is only the latest to join this club of arrogant politicians. Keeping the IAS officers on a leash without them realizing it or even penalizing them for angering the master, is an art. By the sheer fact that it has been in power for so long, the Congress has perfected this into a fine art. (which is why little is heard about the way the IAS officer one Mr Khemka, who took on 'Raabert' and his land deals!), The others are still learning this art and Ms Durga is only one of the victims of that learning process.<br />
<br />
2. Apart from a handful of honest officers - and I don't know all the facts or other incidents in her life to say with 100% certainty that Ms Durga is one of this rare breed --the majority of civil servants are happy to be cozy with the politicos and live in an exclusive "Club of Mutual Back Scratchers!" ( This term CMBS :Copyright JRR-2013).<br />
<br />
3. Taking a 20,000 foot view of the whole system, I look upon this as just one part of the food chain making a huge song and dance about what is essentially an aberratiion. The Civil Servants themselves are known to lord it over their lesser cousins and definitely ride rough over the masses of people in their care. I have been BM of an SBI Branch in a District HQ town (20 yrs ago) and know first-hand how exclusive these guys are. They pull no punches in pulling up people lower down the food chain for say not meeting soft loan targets. When professional bankers have found certain loans non-viable and refuse to make the loans in order to protect their depositors' interests, these ladies and gentlemen - probably misguided by fear or greed about their next promotion - arm twisted the bankers into making the loans as if it was their 'baap ka paisa'! As a common man, even getting into the SDM or DMs office is an achievement- leave alone getting one's grievance heard or attended to.<br />
<br />
4. The media is as usual having a ball in the whole drama. When has the media run a sustained campaign backing the rare honest IAS officer? They cover whatever is topical and trending and as soon as the next not potato comes along they abandon any issue.<br />
<br />
Disclaimer: This is only a frustrated view of the dismal state of affairs! In no way am I suggesting that what happened to Ms Durga is right. I am only saying that it is part of a larger malaise in the system. There are two reasons I did not join the IAS. Firstly I did not want to kow-tow to a 4th class pass minister. Secondly, I did not make the grade in the second stage of the Main Exam. Thank God for that! </div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-69952027102651424302013-06-25T19:32:00.000-06:002013-06-25T19:32:53.432-06:00Model RIsk- Humor<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>In the
financial world, Model Risk is a type of risk that occurs when a financial
model used for any financial decision, does not perform as designed due to
various reasons, the major one being the reality being a far cry from the underlying
assumptions of the model. Model risk is a subset of operational risk, as it is
usually a failure of either the systems or the people running the systems,
might not completely understand its assumptions and limitations.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Increasing
models are now being used in a wide variety of fields, other than finance. <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.05pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 4.8pt;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>The following anecdote is a classic case
of Model Risk. In plain layman terms it exemplifies Blind leading Blind!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">It was autumn, and the American Indians on the remote
reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild.
Since he was a new Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught
the old secrets, and when he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the
weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to
his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of
the village should collect wood to be prepared. But also being a practical
leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called
the National Weather Service and asked,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">"Is the coming
winter going to be cold?"<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"It looks like
this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the
weather service responded.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">So the Chief went
back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be
prepared. A week later he called the National Weather Service again.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"Is it g<span class="textexposedshow">oing to be a very cold winter?"<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"Yes," the man at National Weather
Service again replied, "it's going to be a very cold winter."</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The Chief again went back to his people and ordered
them to collect every scrap of wood they could find. Two weeks later he called
the National Weather Service again.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"Are you absolutely sure that the winter is
going to be very cold?"</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"Absolutely," the man replied. "It's
going to be one of the coldest winters ever."</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">"How can you be so sure?" the Chief
asked.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">The weatherman replied, "Well our weather prediction
model considers a lot of factors, but over the years, due to back-testing and
fine tuning we have given a 75% weight to the actions of the Indians, who know
better than us. And this year although the other weather indicators are pointing
to a very mild winter, the Indians are collecting wood like crazy!"</span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-62834063361830223852013-05-11T21:34:00.003-06:002013-05-11T21:53:50.475-06:00How close are we to replacing God?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">My 20-something daughter woke up this morning with a severe
headache, decidedly a bad way to start one’s weekend. She told me this as she joined
me in the kitchen for our morning coffee. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But she did not just say, “Dad, I am having a severe headache”.
No, that would be a very simple way of conveying information. What she said was:
“Dad why did I have to get the ‘migraine’ gene from you?” Pretty dramatic eh! It
sure got my attention and sympathy if that is what she was looking out for. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The initial repartee that came to my mind was, “Well you were
conceived in the bedroom and not in a Petri-dish in some laboratory”. But I am
a prude who was born in the 1960’s and brought up in conservative India. We don’t talk about the science behind
procreation with our children, even grown up ones. Left to ourselves we would
like to let them believe that children just happened once a man and woman got
married. So I held my tongue and responded with something like, “you get your
genes as a package deal and cannot pick and choose”. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But later I was thinking about my
initial repartee. Would it be possible to genetically engineer (the petri-dish
way) a child today? What is the present state of scientific research on this?
Are we anywhere close to allowing man to play God to be able to pick and choose
the genetic traits of our offspring? And even if scientifically feasible, what
are the practical and ethical challenges that lie ahead of us?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Having nothing better to do on a Saturday morning, I decided to
devote about 30 minutes to surfing the web to see what I could find. This blog
is a summary of my 30-minute Saturday morning surfing. It is not the last word
on this topic nor do I claim that Google search came-up the most insightful
articles. But for whatever it is worth
here is what I found from the first page of results:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The first link that I hit on took me to <span style="color: #002060;">www.naturalnews.com</span>
and their series on the top ten technologies. They put Genetic Engineering at #7
and the author of this piece</span>, <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/001337_genetic_engineering_WHO_civilization.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Mike Adams</span></a> discusses the moral and ethical
issues of genetic engineering and concludes that:<br />
<div style="background: white; margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">“We
currently have neither the understanding of how DNA actually controls human
behavior, nor the technology to selectively replace undesirable behaviors with
ones we would prefer. There is no "violence" gene, for example, that
could be reconfigured into a "peace" gene. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">So we are
nowhere close to being able to accomplish meaningful genetic engineering of
humans even if we wanted, and that's a blessing, since we aren't mature enough
as a civilization to deal with its implications”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">When I hit the second link on the Google search results page, I
landed on a blog posting by <a href="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/01/are-we-close-to.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Rebecca Sato</span> </a>on <span style="color: #002060;">http://www.dailygalaxy.com</span>.
This is a 2009 article and in sharp contrast to the earlier article, Rebecca
Sato maintains that:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Nearly
every day we are inundated with new genetic discoveries. Scientists can now
pinpoint many specific genes including being lean, living a long life, improved
self-healing, thrill seeking behavior, and having an improved memory among many
other incredible traits. Many believe that these genes can be manipulated in
ordinary humans, in effect creating Super-Mutants”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">She goes on a flight
of fantasy thinking about the limitless possibilities that genetic engineering
throws up, but concludes that “Ethics, not scientific limitations, is the real
brick wall”. An interesting article indeed!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I will conclude this blog post with the reference to the third
link that I hit on. This seemed a more holistic and balanced article which
acknowledged both the technological as well as ethical barriers to Human
Genetic Engineering (HGE). In this essay, <span style="color: red;"><a href="http://www.hgalert.org/topics/hge/threat.htm" target="_blank">David King</a></span> takes the reader through a fascinating journey touching on the
various aspects of this hot topic of the day. He discusses the distinction
between current knowledge (</span><span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Currently, genetic engineering is only applied to
non-reproductive cells -known as 'gene therapy'. in order to treat diseases in
a single patient, rather than in all their descendants) and wholesale genetic
engineering of the type that my daughter would have wished for (eliminate the ‘migraine
gene’). He then goes on to discuss in some detail the various arguments for and
against HGE, concluding with a discussion on the possible consequences if HGE
became as ubiquitous as Facebook!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #002060; font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Happy Reading!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-48765996342812885252013-03-20T18:24:00.000-06:002013-03-20T18:24:02.669-06:00Can anyone run a lottery? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">About 10 year’s ago, I
received and re-circulated an emailed joke about a scam that ran as follows: (<b>Disclaimer:
</b>I am not that organized so have not retrieved this story from my
archives. I ‘googled’ it and got this version): </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">====</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A city boy moved to the
country and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to
deliver the mule the next day.<br />
The next day, the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some
bad news. The donkey died."<br />
"Well then, just give me my money back."<br />
"Can't do that. I went and spent it already."<br />
"Okay then. Just unload the donkey."<br />
"What Ya gonna do with him?"<br />
"I'm going to raffle him off."<br />
"You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"<br />
"Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."<br />
A month later the farmer met up with the city boy and asked, "Whatever
happened with that dead donkey?"<br />
"I raffled him off. I sold 500 hundred tickets at two dollars apiece and
made a profit of $898."<br />
"Didn't anyone complain?"<br />
"Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back."<br />
=====
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was reminded about
this joke when I read a story on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/">www.cbc.ca</a> .
But this time the couple who are doing something similar are apparently
backed by sound legal advice. The main
difference though is that they are doing this with full disclosure. Their story
briefly is as under:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The couple are running
a creative contest hoping that it will help them to sell their home in Ontario
province at the market appraised price; </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They
are asking people to write a story or essay on how winning the couple's home
would benefit them Contestants also pay a $100 entry fee for consideration of
their essay, and the couple will judge the entries and pick a winner after the
contest closes on Aug. 31, 2013.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
couple assures the idea is perfectly legal. I think mainly because they are not
hiding anything in what they are doing.
It is similar to buying a lottery ticket for $100 with the prize being a
$300,000 house. Of course the essay part makes it look like a game of skill
rather than pure chance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All
entries are being accepted by a third party, who will log them numerically,
remove all identifying characteristics and friends and family aren't eligible.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They
have covered themselves pretty well in the disclosures:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">They are</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">hoping
for 3,000 essays, which equates to $300,000 — which is the value of the home;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">If they
get less than 3,000 essays, </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">the whole
thing will be called off and the entry fee will be returned to all contestants </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">minus a processing fee of a money order and a
stamp -- so they may lose approximately $7;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">If they get more than 3,000 entries, anything
over the appraised value of their home will go to a charity they run that
supports families in Haiti.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 6pt 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Isn’t that creative?</span></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-68129842001516536822013-02-10T16:14:00.000-07:002013-02-10T16:14:03.133-07:00Living Happily, Living Long – 10 Inspiring Thoughts From Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Doctor Shigeaki Hinohara of Japan,</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> who turned 100 on 4th October 2011, is world’s longest serving physician. Starting from 1941, his service has entered the eighth decade. His power of healing and giving mankind a better life is extra-ordinary. His career marked by kindness, perseverance, and a positive vision dedicated to make people’s life happy and healthy. His life and work is an inspiration and a lesson in living well.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here are ten inspiring lessons from the life and experiences shared by Doctor Hinohara to live with renewed vigor and spirit as you usher in the New Year 2012.<var></var><u></u><u></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<strong>Living happily, living long – 10 inspiring thoughts from Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara :<u></u><u></u></strong></div>
<ol style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 24px;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><strong>Feeling good is most important</strong>As compared to eating well or sleeping enough, it is most important to feel good. Just as children do not remember to eat or sleep when they are playing, if we as adults can rekindle the same spiritedness we would feel the energy inside us.<u></u><u></u></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><strong>Manage your weight</strong>Your body cannot carry on for long if it has to carry the extra kilos. Eat light and healthy meals. Never burden your stomach. It causes slumber and sluggishness. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><u></u> <u></u></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><strong>Have a plan to look forward to</strong>To sustain the vigor of the mind and soul, there has to be a consistent flow of positive, creative and enjoyable activities. The more things you have to look forward to, the more upbeat and interested you would be.<u></u><u></u></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><strong>Enjoy what you do, and then there would be no need to retire</strong>People who are living and loving every moment of their work have the energy that is unparalleled. It keeps them charged up and going. They naturally have a desire and drive to live longer so that they can do more of what they already like. Till the age of sixty, people are concerned about providing for the family. Thereafter, the purpose of work could be much larger – for society and mankind. Those who think beyond there immediate duties and attachments realize that the amount of work is immense and they have no thought of retiring once they set themselves on that path.<u></u><u></u></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><strong>Reach out and share what you have learnt</strong>Learned people are everywhere, but it is rare to find those who make active effort to share what they know. There must be an inner realization of giving back, so that others can benefit. Try to find ways to share your knowledge and wisdom you have gathered through your experience. It enriches your own life too.<u></u><u></u></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><strong>Give nature a chance</strong>Every ailment has a scientific cure. But science has its limitations because sometimes illness in the mind and worse still, in the heart. For true healing there is greater power in the beauty and abundance of nature. Be it in the form of a garden, or a pet or simply the songs of birds, what the soul needs cannot be prescribed by a doctor nor can it be provided by the chemist. Indulge in art, music and the beauty of nature, because we too are a part of it.<u></u><u></u></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><strong>Climb the stairs</strong>Easy ways to keep your muscles healthy and going strong is to never miss an opportunity to use them. Resist taking the lift or escalator. Take the stairs instead. The benefit add up in the long run.<u></u><u></u></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><strong>Be moderate about money and material</strong>After all the things that bring us deepest and lasting joy are those which cannot be bought by money. Spending the greatest part of your life acquiring wealth is hardly the best use of your life. Money is important, but contentment, even more.<u></u><u></u></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><strong>Expect some unexpected incidents</strong>Life is unpredictable, so naturally a lot of times unexpected things will happen. Some pleasant and some not quite. Take things in your stride. Man is engineered to be able to thrive and not merely survive. Make the most of every situation, there is always something to learn from each experience.<u></u><u></u></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><strong>Find a role model</strong>Set yourself a target higher than ordinary or normal. You would be surprised at the ability of a goal to propel you to higher levels. Have a role model, in fact have as many people who can inspire you to do your best. Examine your challenges using their perspective. It would unleash your inner potential, what you may not have even known.</li>
</ol>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-61759679256382568212013-01-26T20:04:00.000-07:002013-01-26T20:04:30.921-07:00Musings On A Broken Arm<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Exactly a
week ago, I slipped on an icy road, fell on my back and broke the radial bone
on my right elbow. 6-hours later, accompanied by my daughter Ankita, who
endured the long wait for a doctor to see me, I walked out of the ER with my
right arm in a cast and a sling. It is immobilized for about 3-weeks until I go
back for a review. But that is not the point of this blog-post.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now that I can
move my fingers, which are sticking out of the cast, with minimal pain and am
able to type, I want to record some of my experiences during this past week. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have
learnt a lot about society in general and acquaintances in particular during
this week. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Learning #1: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">The conversations which I have with people follow a pattern:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Person X: <i>“Hey,
What happened to your arm?”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me: <i>“Oh!
I slipped on ice and fell.” </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Person X: <i>“How
did this happen?” OR “When and where?”<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me: <i>“I
was coming out of ABC store with a bag of heavy grocery and stepped off the
curb and hidden beneath the fresh snow was solid frozen ice. And Swwooosh…..! I
landed on my back. My entire right arm numb with pain. Luckily my elbow took
the knock and possibly saved my head from hitting the curb behind.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Person X: <i>“Oh
My God! Yes last Saturday was particularly bad because of the freezing rain the
night before. You just can’t be careful enough!”<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Me: <i>“Yeah! I’ve slipped and fallen quite a few
times but every time I’ve managed to get up and walked away. This time the law
of averages clearly caught up with me, eh!”</i> I chuckle.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Roughly at
this point <b><u>every</u></b> person I
have met immediately starts narrating a personal story about a time (1, 2 5, 10
or whatever) years ago when (s)he slipped on icy road/ pavement and had a
serious injury. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This I
guess is supposed to cheer me up and aimed at making me feel that it is alright
to slip and fall on ice. It happens to all of us all the time. This is Canada,
what do you expect? And yes it does help. Suddenly this person and I are part
of a common club – call it ‘Slippers Anonymous’. And we are trying to get over
the common feeling of pain that slipping causes!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(<b>Disclosure: </b>This experiment in societal interaction involved upwards of 50 interactions with colleagues, acquaintances and random people on the street.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Learning #2: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">Recently there were a quite a few posts on
Facebook which read: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">
<i><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">This is a short
experiment to see who reads posts and who just scrolls. So, if you read this,
leave one word on how we met. Only one word, then copy this to your wall so I
can leave a word for you. Please don't add your word and then not bother to
copy. It should be an interesting exercise.</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Such posts
have received an average of 5 likes and 3 shares. Is it then that people don’t
read posts? Is FB that over-hyped? Or is
it that people don’t like to be treated like (free) guinea pigs in someone’s
social experiment? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">My own recent
experience suggests it could be the latter. My post about my injury elicited
almost instantaneous responses (many while I was still in the ER) and I
continue to get comments wishing me a speedy recovery. My friends care enough
to be concerned about me, take the time to offer me advice and also offer
prayers and best wishes for a quick recovery. What more can one ask for? These
friends are like stars in the universe. We may not always see them, but we can
be damned sure they are there! Thanks everyone for your messages, calls and
good wishes. As I mentioned in one of my responses to all the messages: <i>For the pain and inflammation, there's
acetaminophen + ibuprofen. And for the spirit, I am blessed to have so many
caring friends. Your thoughts, wishes and calls have lifted my spirits
immensely.</i></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And Facebook
is a fantastic social medium. It builds on the ubiquitous nature of the Internet
to bind our own social eco-system together, regardless of time and distance
separating each of us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Learning #3: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">We live and are part of a big network, taking
what we need and giving what we can. Case in point: I am not the only one who
feels the effect of the loss of use of my right hand. My family too has been
feeling that loss. My wife, daughter and son have had to step up to the plate
and take over some of the tasks that I was doing at home. Additionally they had
to take care of me and my needs. My
colleagues at work have been very understanding too. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Learning #4:</span></b><span lang="EN-US"> A lot
of colleagues now routinely step up to open doors for me – even though only my
right arm is in a cast & sling and my left hand and two feet are perfectly
capable of doing the needful. I am still trying to figure out what inner
emotional need motivates such behavior? Is it out of a sense of chivalry or
charity? I have always felt that people generally feel charitable towards the visibly
disabled but I am now confused. I must read up some more and address this issue
in a future blog if I can sort this out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Learning #5: </span></b><span lang="EN-US">We have to be grateful for small mercies. During
the 6-hour long wait at the ER of one of Edmonton’s best hospitals my daughter
and I were exchanging our grumblings with other patients about the slowness of
the supposedly world class publicly funded and totally free health care system.
But when I finally saw a doctor and later the cast-room assistant, I realized in
conversations with them that they were having a terrible day attending to
people with hip bone, thigh bone, back and head fractures! I was low priority. All
I needed on an urgent basis was an ice-pack to control the swelling and pain which
they repeatedly provided me. And I am grateful for that! The Canadian health care system is in my eyes
still the best in the world. If you are involved in a serious accident and are
in imminent danger of dying you can be sure they will spare no effort or
expense to reach you –whether by road or air-ambulance- to a medical facility. That
is how much a human life is valued!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-82937356527523127372013-01-14T22:08:00.001-07:002013-01-14T22:08:37.727-07:00Secrets- a Rejoinder by Gopalan Parthasarathy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The following is the thought provoking and interesting rejoinder (to my post on "The Emotional (& Physical) Burdent of Keeping Secrets) </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">that I received in the mail from my dear friend Gopalan Parthasarathy. We were colleagues in State Bank of India and many years later again in Kuwait International Bank. Gopalan is a prolific and gifted poet who contributes regularly to the facebook groups: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/rkauffman/">Beacon Literary Group International</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/251461388202843/">Helping Hands</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/219064394777264/">Green Life</a>. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">He felt that the word limit in the comments section was curtailing his creativity and hence sent me the following by email. I am reproducing his submission verbatim: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">===</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Secrets
are relevant in the context of objectives they are supposed to serve. For
children they are just fun. For adults they tend to get serious.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Often
the person sharing secrets may share the same with more than one person for the
objectives of healing a hurt, sharing an excitement or consulting the other
person(s)for overcoming a dilemma and making choices. There could be other
objectives as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Often
the objectives may not be shared objectives between the people "holding a
secret". This is so because, the process is not focused on objectives the
originator had in mind. The originator has an objective and lets the trusted
person another. If the latter's objective is the request by the originator to
maintain secrecy, it may not be a strong enough objective. The latter is
insulated from sensitivity to consequences of not keeping it a secret. In other
words, keeping the secret is not worth the burden. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Thus,
if the persons concerned share an objective which they value, it is possible
they may hold "the burden" long enough. When the objectives are not
set, the "secret" loses some of its longevity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Secondly,
the number of secrets one can hold is limited - this is also for the reason of
objectives. If the objectives come in conflict or some objectives are not worth
the trouble, the mortality rate of secrets, if you may, will go up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Thirdly,
some "secrets" lead to additional requirements of having to keep
fabricating stories and lies - here the weight of "secrets" as a
burden keeps increasing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Fourthly,
ill kept secrets de motivate the person with whom they were shared in
confidence.The person feels stupid for having guarded a secret which was nearly
in the domain of so many persons around. In other words, it is hard to keep the
credibility of the whole exercise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Fifthly
and not really lastly, over time the objectives set are outlived and the person
who shared a secret is unlikely to go back to the trusted friend and say now
the secret need not be kept any more. Obviously this is the ugly side. No one
can expect the trusted person to become a warehouse of secrets with date of
expiry of the secret kept as infinite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The topic sets me thinking about "secrets" nations
keep in the matter of defence or for that matter "secrets" about
product formulae or Research and Development. The longer is the life of
secrets, more are chances of an enemy of secrets emerging on the horizon. It is
hard to say whether nations spend more for preserving secrets or for spying
secrets kept by their rivals and perhaps even allies. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Now coming to lies, do perhaps serve objectives of secrets?
Possible. A secret cannot be preserved in a vacuum. It may be better preserved
in the august company of lies. The human appetite for information is enormous.
It is unwise, so to say, to keep humanity starved of information in the name of
keeping secrets. It is wise to feed them with "lies", "half
truths" and "fiction". Look at the appetite among readers and
viewers for fiction and non fiction. The appetite for fiction is almost
unlimited. While we all start our lives learning to be true to our parents and
family, we end up learning to be "not so true" to others - to the
exception of a few more friends and relatives. Why is it so? Why are we
insecure with truth? Why are we afraid the truth we know can be exploited by
the other person? Sometimes our compassion, a noble truth about ourselves, has
to be hid when we start fearing it is leading to a loose habit of borrowing (of
course with little plans for repayment) by a friend or someone who is depending
on us for financial emergencies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Lies are self seeking. They seek to multiply themselves
continuously. One lie to be well kept needs almost a continuous fabrication of
so many others; otherwise somewhere the lies would get exposed - the tragedy of
lies and the liar is that the liar has to keep an eye on all of them and ensure
none of them gets exposed. And they grow monstrously trapping the liar into an
endless, meaningless, unsustainable cycle of fabrication. It is vicious. The
end is tragic - the liar has to come clean and embrace truth. That is the only
way forward. So many scandals in the lives of celebrities are an easy evidence.
The harder evidence may be hidden in any one and everyone's life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Going to a different plane, sometimes one is forced to or one
tends to keep one's good qualities a secret. For example, how long can we keep
our compassion, a secret? Behind secrets and lies, there is somewhere, a fear
or sense of security, a perceived outcome not preferred and not prepared for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Sooner than later, time tells us the fears were unfounded.
Time tells us truth cannot be played around and it is not worth it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">If we keep revisiting our situations when we thought of
keeping a secret (and often failed to keep a secret) we may laugh at ourselves.
But still we may not change our intuitive resort to "secrets" and
"collateral lies" that go with "secrets". That is integral
to our survival instinct. That is the void within our personality. That is the
darkness we carry with ourselves, no matter how well we get lit in truth. Most
of the biographies are written, as it were, to get rid of this darkness of
secrets, lies, half truths and their after effects on us (this is the
counterproductive side of the objectives, fulfilled or failed) in later years
of one's life as it takes time to mature and graduate out of the process. A
most important thing about secrets, lies and half truths is they are like junk
food. They keep demanding you to have more of them. It is difficult to live on
junk food. It is not advisable to have it at all. But still, the truth is we
all end up consuming the junk food. We only vary in how much and how long. As
the adage goes, truth alone triumphs but it lets a lot of half truth and lies
to hang around and is indifferent to their growing population. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">An ideal "sweet spot" in all our lives may be a
spot where we do not get the appetite for a secret, a lie or a half truth or a
perception that is as consequential as any of these, embracing the truth and
the one truth that is supreme to all. That is the spot where one is free from
survival. Free from objectives that drove one's life into trivial and sensitive
secrets, lies, half truths and perceptions. Free to be real, once and for all.
While one can aim to be in a direction to such a spiritual sweet spot, one is
never sure when they can reach there and be there. There is a lot of secrets,
lies, half truths and perceptions to go through before embracing truth in its
purest form. And life as a journey is exciting, if it is, it is so not without
these excitements, trivial or otherwise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Thanks, Jammi. As
usual, you have provoked me to think. My day is somewhat made. (Truly and it is
no secret!)</div>
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===</div>
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Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-40796735189572944152013-01-12T18:27:00.001-07:002013-01-12T18:27:10.309-07:00The Emotional ( & Physical) Burden of Keeping Secrets<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Many years ago I
was in a discussion about a personal problem with a colleague, I’ll call him G,
and I was pouring my heart out to him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At one point I said,
“Hey G, I want to tell you something. However, you must promise to keep it a secret
and not tell it to anyone else, even your wife.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He replied, “Jammi,
you know the funny thing about secrets? Person A thinks he needs to lighten his
burden by sharing his ‘burdensome’ secret to one (and only one) friend, let’s
call him B. He binds him to a promise not to tell anyone else. But if A could make that concession for
something that is HIS secret, what about B, for whom it is not even his secret?
So sooner or later B will probably feel the urge or give up his self control by
telling A’s secret to just one (& possibly another) close friend. Of course he will dutifully bind them to a similar promise
of secrecy. This cycle of ‘kiss and tell’ now propagates in geometric
progression, as the distance from the subject of the secret (A) increases. So
if you really want something to remain a secret don’t even tell me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">His response left a
lasting impression on my mind and I have been thinking and reading up on this
issue since then. This is also one of the ideas for the book that I intend to
write once I retire! (I would of course need another lifetime to market the
book!). But, I offer some thoughts of what I gathered from the analysis: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A secret (whether ours or another’s) is a burden we
carry.</span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This has been
proved by scientific experimentation. A research article in the <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/?&fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/a0027598">Journal
of Experimental Psychology</a>, describes an experiment in which participants were
divided into two groups. One group was asked to write details of a serious
secret, e.g., cheating on their spouse or similar. The control group on other
hand wrote details of a trivial secret, like when they lied on their tax
return. They were then asked to look at a hill in the distance and estimate the
steepness of the hill. The participants with the serious secret perceived the
hill as significantly steeper than those from the control group. In prior
research psychologists have proved that people with physical burdens also
perceive distant hills as steeper than the control group which was not
similarly burdened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Keeping a secret requires lying. </span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A lie is generally
defined as conveying something which is not truthful. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie">Wikipedia entry</a> for lie reads: “To lie is to intentionally
deliver a false statement to another person which the speaking person knows is
not the whole truth.” So the moment we hide something, our words, even
if factually correct, become a lie. Let me illustrate this with what to me is the
most famous lie from Hindu scriptures - the lie uttered by Yudhishthira during
the Mahabharata war. When </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Drona, the commander of the
Kauravas was wreaking havoc on the Pandava army, Krishna realised that the only
way to get him down was to make him lose the will to live. He came up with a
plan to achieve this conveying to him the news of the killing of his son
Ashwathama. As per the plan, Bhima killed
an elephant named Ashwathama and the whole Pandava army proclaimed loudly, <i>"Ashwathama
is dead! Ashwathama is dead!". </i> When Drona heard this he sought out
Yudhisthira and, believing that Yudhisthira would never lie, asked him if his son Ashwathama was indeed
dead. Prompted by Krishna, Yudhisthira
said "Ashwathama is dead" (in sanskit<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span xml:lang="sa"><span lang="SA" style="font-family: Mangal, serif; font-size: 11pt;">अश्वत्थामा</span><span lang="SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span lang="SA" style="font-family: Mangal, serif; font-size: 11pt;">हतः</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">). Stung by a pang of conscience he immediately muttered inaudibly,
</span><span lang="SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">naro
vā kuñjaro vā, </span><span lang="SA" style="font-family: Mangal, serif; font-size: 11pt;">नरो</span><span lang="SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span lang="SA" style="font-family: Mangal, serif; font-size: 11pt;">वा</span><span lang="SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">, </span><span lang="SA" style="font-family: Mangal, serif; font-size: 11pt;">कुञ्जरो</span><span lang="SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span lang="SA" style="font-family: Mangal, serif; font-size: 11pt;">वा</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> (not the man but
the elephant). But in the din of battle Drona did not hear the second sentence,
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">laid down his arms and sat in meditation. Dhristadyumna took
this opportunity, and beheaded him. (It is said that because of this deception
Yudhisthira’s chariot, which always levitated 4 cm above the ground, immediately
touched the ground).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When we keep a
secret we have to resort to subterfuge and use various deceptive techniques
like, economising with the truth, bluffing, lying by omission etc. In
Yudhishtira’s case he sought to clarify the truth <i>sotto voce.</i> However we do it, in our heart of hearts we probably
know that we are lying and therefore carry an emotional burden. Some people have a weaker moral standard which
enables them to withstand such emotional burdens better than others, but sooner
or later it gets to us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We all have the
urge to tell secrets to others:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Maybe not our own,
but generally other’s. The moment we hear a secret about someone else we want
to share that with some others in our circle. Usually the juicier the secret, the
bigger the temptation. Maybe the motivation is something as harmless
as the need to show off that ‘we know’. Or the motivation could be a malicious intent
to hurt the subject of the secret. Sometimes it is not even the temptation to
tell, but just that we feel over-burdened by carrying the secret in our hearts.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">All Secret Services
and the Mafia understand this human tendency. In addition they have the fear
that any enemy can torture the secret out of people. They therefore have
policies in place that information is to be shared only on a ‘Need to know’ basis.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Moral of the story:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Know the
seriousness of <b>your</b> secrets before
sharing. If it is something that will blow away after a month or a year, it’s
not bad. You could share it with a ‘close friend’. But share it with the sure
knowledge that he/she would one day pass it on. If, however, it is something
that you would not want to be known even after you are long dead and gone (like
a marital infidelity), then zip your lips.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 12.65pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As for a <b>friend’s
</b>secret, if she/he comes up to you and wants to tell you a secret provided you promise
not to tell anyone else, tell them that you are human and cannot make that
promise. We don’t need a group of psychologists to tell us that losing a friend
puts an unimaginable emotional burden on us – more than the burden of keeping a
secret! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-79899182635874123952013-01-06T16:44:00.001-07:002013-01-06T17:08:53.142-07:00Societal Attitudes need to change.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3 weeks have passed
since the gruesome and barbarous attack on a defenseless young girl and her
male companion on a bus in Delhi. After
a brave fight, she finally succumbed to her injuries and died of multiple organ
failure, just 3-days after being flown to Singapore to be treated in a
multi-specialty hospital. She has been aptly named ‘Nirbhaya’ by the Indian
media in deference to Indian laws prohibiting the naming of a rape victim (more
about this later).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since the day the
incident came to light (Dec 17, 2012) there has been non-stop local and
international media coverage of her case and its aftermath. Youngsters, who
have the highest stake in the country’s future, have taken to the streets to ensure
that a slumbering government hears their plea for a safer environment for women.
There is no doubt that the situation is pretty grim. Practically, every woman
interviewed on various local and international channels, have mentioned that
they have experienced some kind of sexual harassment- whether it is groping in
crowded buses and trains or the discomfiture caused by the way men look at
women. A telling comment that I heard was on an NDTV talk show where one agitated
young lady from the audience put it bluntly: “men usually talk to our chest not to our face”.
Every well known personality from across
the spectrum of political parties to the film world and various religious
leaders including the Dalai Lama have weighed in with their comments. Almost
all (or at least 99%) of the comments fall under one of the following categories:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt;">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Comment on the sad state of Law and Order;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The utter failure of the Government;</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'foot in the mouth' comments from worthless politicians. </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In all the heat and
dust generated by the spontaneous public anger and non-stop media coverage of
the on-going protests, the whole incident is risking losing its potential to be a game-changer for Indian society and becoming just one more, albeit a well publicized
one, crime with the usual players: perpetrators, victims, the police and prosecutors
and the judicial system. Are we losing the momentum, to carry this fight to a logical conclusion of bringing about a radical change in our society?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This thought came
to me when I read two interviews that have been published within the past two
days. These are interview given to the media by two people directly involved in
the incident. One is Nirbhaya’s father and
the other is her male companion who was with her during the incident and is
possibly the only witness alive to the happenings inside that bus on that
fateful night of Dec 16. What struck me, when I read these interviews, was that
despite their personal anguish at the loss of someone close to them, they seem
to have risen above it all and are able to see the bigger picture. Something
that all of us who are protesting in the streets, blaming the government for
inaction or just observing or writing about the case, do not seem to be seeing.
Let me elaborate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 5.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The girl’s father, during his interview to London’s Mirror which features
the interview in their Sunday People newspaper says, “I want the world to know
my daughter's name is < her real name></span><her name="name" real="real" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">” (The paper published
her real name with the father’s consent.) In the interview he goes on to
explain his hope that “revealing her name will give courage to other women who
have survived such attacks” (to come forward). He further says, in an apparent
reference to the sense of shame and guilt attached to rape victims in India, “My
daughter didn’t do anything wrong, she died while protecting herself. I am
proud of her”.</her></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the spirit that we need in India. We need the awareness to recognize that a raped
woman is the victim and not a criminal who needs to hide herself! It is
something bad that happened to her, against her will and therefore there is
nothing to be ashamed of! My point being that while rapist(s) may have raped
the woman for 5 (or 30) minutes, society continues to add insult to injury by
ostracizing such unfortunate victims for their entire life. To the point that most families would prefer
anonymity and to push things under the carpet rather than fight the case and
help to bring the culprits to justice. Underlying this fear of society is a
tacit admission that in some ways (dress, behavior, being out late etc) it is
the woman’s, or her family’s, fault. As a society, we need to recognize that regardless
of dress, behavior or when and with whom she goes out, a woman has a fundamental
right to her dignity which must be respected and protected at all costs. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now for the lessons
to be learnt from the second interview. Nirbhaya’s companion that night, a
software engineer who was also badly beaten, stripped and thrown off the bus along
with Nirbhaya . In his interview he brought out a very sad reminder of societal
apathy towards others. I am quoting from the account of his interview given to
Zee News as reported in the Mirror of London:</span></span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">“Before
throwing us off the bus, they tore off our clothes in order to destroy any
evidence of the crime.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">“We
were without clothes. We tried to stop people passing by but no one stopped for
about 25 minutes. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">“People
were probably afraid they would become a witness to the crime.”</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">His words say it
all – people are afraid of becoming a witness to a crime! Where are people’s
hearts and souls these days! A huge negative mark for society!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But when I read the
full transcript of this interview in other Indian Media he pointed out another
weak point in our after-care for victims of crime. When the police did finally
arrive, they were apparently bickering for 30-40 minutes as to which
jurisdiction the case should fall under! And all the time, the Nirbhaya was
bleeding! Maybe, just maybe, had those 30-40 minutes not been lost, she could
have been saved! And when the ambulance did arrive, the cops were apparently reluctant
to spoil their clothes and he had to carry his friend into the ambulance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ultimately the men
who committed the heinous crime will be tried and punished as per the law. But
what do we do about the apathy and insensitivity of society? That thought makes
me despair. And hang my head in shame.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296144075605838967.post-21632951366031499122012-12-29T14:29:00.000-07:002012-12-29T14:29:41.802-07:00India -brutalized!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Feeling sad
and depressed! The shame of India is once again coming to the fore. The media
and politicians once again behaving like ‘Rudaali’s’ (hired mourners), beating
their chests in fake righteousness and mouthing meaningless platitudes! And somehow the discussion has narrowed down
from a failure of civil society at large to a lynch mob mentality. And this has
helped the political class to redefine the goal-posts. Their pitch will now be:
Make the law for crimes against women more stringent (provide for death
penalty) and fast track this case and hang the b**ta**s!.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While
wholly desirable, this will only be begging the larger question: will it make
women any safer? With all due respect for those demanding the capital
punishment, I really cannot imagine a potential rapist about to commit the act
stopping himself, with the thought: “hey wait a minute! The law has recently
been changed! Instead of rotting in jail for my lifetime, I can now be hanged
for what I was about to do!”. No, this guy probably knows that life
imprisonment is bad enough. What could
potentially deter him is the belief that he will surely be caught and brought
to justice and will have to face the music pretty soon- something that he
likely sees as having a probability of 0.0001, in today’s India. Laws are only
dried ink on the law books until they are <b>ACTIONED</b>, i.e., proper investigative
work, a watertight prosecution case; a fair judicial system (which does not permit
‘smart lawyer gimmicks’) and speedy justice. My point being that making the law
stricter is only a dramatic act that the political class will get away with. It
will not solve the problem unless the government machinery is galvanized into
taking action under existing laws, rather than having more stringent laws. (Of
course, <u>in addition </u>to the above, I would prefer a more stringent law). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And this is
not only about the law for crimes against women. It applies to all criminal
activity. The culture of civil society
is not defined or tarnished by just one kind of crime like crimes against
women. It is tarnished more by a general lack of faith in the law and order
machinery (which encompasses the cops, the judicial system and lawmakers). And
when we have a system wherein every political party has amongst its list of MPs
or MLAs a representation of all kinds of criminals or people charged with one
or more crimes (including rape/molestation), what kind of change can we
credibly expect? It would be a great thing if some ruling party somewhere
(Centre or a State) asks all its MLAs with any criminal case pending against
them to resign! I must be dreaming! And I am not even going to worry about the
lack of action that political parties take against their MPs/MLAs who mouth
comments that show a very low respect for women.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So while we
pray for peace to the soul of the departed victim of the brutal crime on Dec
16, 2012, and for her family to have the mental courage to bear the loss, we
must not forget the bigger legacy that she left for us: Strive to make our
society more respectful of women. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Jammi Rao FRMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13246242198457391847noreply@blogger.com2