Redefining Horizons

  Men From Skies The whole world watched in horror, live on TV, the crowd either ignorant of the consequences or hopelessly desperate to find space inside or outside, running along the huge military aircraft taxiing out for takeoff. Few smuggled themselves into the undercarriage space that offered safety till the retracting landing gear claimed its space and spill out human remains before landing. Many clambered onto the wings and held on to each other and whatever else they could hold. Hopes seldom secure one against airstream of a plane in flight. Sooner than they thought, they gained height, only to fall from the sky. Men rained down from the skies above!  Those who managed space within the aircraft escaped, at least for now. The human tragedy that unfolded itself in Afghanistan in the month of Aug 2021 will haunt humanity for long. The photograph of Major General Chris Donahue, Commander U.S. Army 82 nd Airborne Division, walking back, consumed in the ‘night vision de...

  INDIVIDUAL - CURRENCY AND PARITY VALUE The Currency Independent currency is a powerful symbol of sovereignty. It comes in different denominations, each different in looks, dimensions and security features. Differences aside, each one carries a statement of promise lending it credibility and making it legal tender, an instrument for value transfer and a medium of exchange. But there is a catch about the value “assured” to be transferred. Face Value Each note carries a promise that assures value at par with the printed face value. The value, said to be guaranteed with commensurate gold reserves, keeps fluctuating based on supply and demand, interest rates, inflation, public debt, and other macro and micro factors. Socio - political environment, itself speculative and make believe nowadays, influences currency value. Experienced as, purchasing power parity and expressed as exchange rates, a strong currency may equal many of a weaker currency. Transaction an Imperative Infla...

Caveat If the story narrated resembles any award function, it’s NOT intended! Advice To enjoy and get the best out of this article, as you read, try visualising being there watching it all. Lessons, you can draw thereafter. Visuals The dancers vanished from the stage after the scintillating sequence and the applause soon waned. The master of ceremonies took the stage wielding her mike like a sword. She surveyed the audience attempting to dramatise the occasion and even more dramatically announced “ It is time now for the final award ”. Silence consumed the crowd. Stars, mega, super, budding, fading, fallen and even self-assumed shuffled in their seats. The churn within notwithstanding, actors all, they put on their most detached looks as cameras panned. Fans waited to cheer. They create and nourish stars and celebrate anyway, even as the stars they created were kept safe, from them and their miserable existence, by bouncers. The fans crowded a real-life planet and nourish...

Phenomenal Growth Rs 5,124 crores in 2013. Rs 8,864 crores in 2016. Rs 11,300 crores in 2020. And if the Indian government’s statement to the parliament is to be believed, Rs 24,356 crores as on 31 Mar 2021. What a phenomenal growth! No. It is not the statement of the country’s achievements. It is the about the unclaimed money lying in 8.1 crore bank accounts. Each branch of every bank might have orphaned and unclaimed accounts. If the insurance sector is also considered, the orphaned assets could be anywhere near 50,000 crores. The figures do not include assets lying forgotten in vaults and lockers of banks and financial institutions.  The story of orphaned assets is incomplete! There is no organised and definite valuation, of real estate across the country lying uncared for and deteriorating due to ownership disputes or ignorance of inheritance. If assessed it will easily put the unclaimed accounts to shame. Who perpetrates such a colossal waste of resources? Who ...

Contranym Oversight is an interesting contranym! Too many incidents of oversight prove absence of oversight! Contranym? A contranym is a word with the same spelling but the opposite meaning. In other words, it’s a homonym that’s an antonym. A homonym is a word spelled like another with a different meaning while an antonym is a word with the opposite meaning, context in which it is used deciding the meaning. Oversight, in the context of ‘overseeing’, is about supervision but in its contranym context, it’s about errors unintentional or otherwise. Frequent incidents of oversight indicate systemic rot in the system due to ineffective oversight; disastrous and fatal for organisations. I can't help but narrate  such a story  I witnessed being scripted!  Sun Like Nowhere Else The story unfolds in the most unbelievably beautiful settings of the backwaters in God’s Own country. To believe, one has to experience the morning sun, reflecting itself in grandeur over th...

Destroying Models Opinion and truth, make a strange couple. Opinions, are created. It can even destroy truth.  Loud anchors and doctored visuals dish out facts distorted beyond recognition, tell-tale marks intact, persuading us to believe. As truth lie buried deep, opinions cloud our thoughts and dictate our actions. Welcome to the world of prime-time TV discussions! The prime-time discussion one day was dedicated to the figures of seroprevalence in the country. Results of the fourth round of national sero-survey conducted by the ICMR had just become 'known'. Some participants seemed genuinely concerned. One, visibly upset, was breathing fire.   “ Look at the s erosurveillance figures! Kerala is the lowest in the country! Their immunity is the lowest. One of the smallest states, the biggest contributor to covid cases in the country, more than half the country’s cases from there. ” In another outburst on a regional channel a self-depreciating participant lamented, “ T...