BookMarks #77: The Leader In You

Title: The Leader In You: How to Win Friends, Influence People and Succeed in a Changing World 

Author: Dale Carnegie & Associates 

Genre: Non-fiction, Self-help 

Published: 1993 

BookMarks 

A self-help book, a category which I generally try to avoid reading. But this one turned out to be interesting. The key reason being the real-life success stories built in the narrative. These are not the big, famous names who have reached stratospheric heights. Rather these are normal, everyday people who you can see around and probably model your behaviour upon. There is no overnight success formula, but behaviours which can be imbibed so it becomes part of your nature. 

Best way to remember anything is to note it down. After all, what is not written fades away. So here are my short pointers from this book. 

• Keep your mind open to change all the time. It is only by examining and reexamining your opinions and ideas that you can progress. 
• “Never stop being yourself.” The leadership techniques that will work best for you are the ones you nurture inside. Hence the question “What personal qualities do I possess that can be turned into the qualities of leadership?” 
• Leaders need to have a keen ability to anticipate change. 
• Make communication a top priority by being open to other people and creating a receptive environment for communication. Communication is built on trusting relationships. “We are interested in others when they are interested in us” 
• The only way to get anybody to do anything is by making the other person want to do it. Make people feel respected and important. 
• Show a genuine interest in people and find out what's important to others 
• Listening to others is the single best way to learn and people respond to those who will listen to them. 
• Treat individuals as individuals. 
• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Respect dignity for others. Acknowledge that they're human beings who exist outside the work environment. 
• People work for money but look for recognition. Share Glory but not blame. Be quick to admit mistakes but slow to criticize. 
• Goals keep efforts focused. Goals must be challenging but also realistic and measurable. Work one day at a time. Try to set daily target for yourself. 
• Keep time for leisure - balance from work. life doesn't need to be dull or uninteresting. We all need goals and experiences worth looking forward to. 
• Our life is what our thoughts make it. You are what you think. What matters is how you react to external influences 
• Don't waste time and energy worrying about the things you cannot control. No problem is worth all the worry in the world. 
• Genuine enthusiasm is contagious 

These are all little pointers which can be easily implemented. No big trainings/workshops required here. Just constant reinforcement. 

Previously on BookMarks: The Unusual Billionaires 

Goodbye 2020

2020 - what a year it was! With apologies to Dickens, it was the worst of times but (in some respects) it was the best of times as well. 

Cooped up at home, being paranoid about the spreading virus, cut off from social circles, entertainment means restricted, swamped with housework with no domestic help, while simultaneously trying to “work from home”. It was exhausting and difficult but more than compensated by the joy of being there for every new activity of the little one and getting to spend full time with my little family and of course no commute. 

There was a paranoia like never seen before about cleaning and sanitization, lest the virus sneak into our homes and lives. Many other habits changed e.g. the morning newspaper has all but disappeared; Haircuts can be done yourself! It was also the year in which the very concept of work-life balance went for a toss as the transition time (commute) between the two disappeared and they were present simultaneously throughout! 

The year was bookended with some travel. And a seemingly endless quarantine. Have to say, being locked in a room watching waves in the sea does give a totally different perspective of the passage of time. The city of Visakhapatnam got added into the travel map. But did it really? given that the entire stay was inside a hotel room. 

2020 had an extra day. Very important. And thankfully it came before the lockdowns struck! 

There was also a bump in the screen time qwith quite sometime spent on Chu Chu TV, Cocomelon, Dave & Eva et al. We also did our bit in making Baby Shark the most viewed YouTube video ever.

That was 2020 - the year in which we lived through history. Covid struck and world hit a collective pause button. While we mourned our losses, we also caught a glimpse of what nature would be if left undisturbed by humans. The eerie silence broken only by chirping of birds, the clear blue skies, more animals and birds visiting us. It was quite an utopian setting in a most dystopian circumstance! 

Hello 2021! Let's see what you have in store. 

Wishing all a very Happy & Normal (hopefully) New Year 202

2020 - TYIL

TYIL – This Year I Learnt 

2020 AD – certainly one of the weirdest years in history since the World Wars with restrictions in place almost across the globe. But that also meant more time locked up trawling the interwebs. Which in turn provided an opportunity to capture and store the occasional bit of trivia which came up in covid-filled minefield that the web had become. So here goes, my sampling of the interesting (at least for me) learnings from 2020 

1. Swami Vivekananda had a 7-wicket haul in Eden Gardens (New Indian Express)
2. Gini Index - is a measure of inequality of wealth distribution in a country (Wikipedia)
3. 8,549,176,320 – the only number with all ten digits arranged in alphabetical order (Braingle)
4. Kuuki o yomu – Japanese for the art of “reading the air” – knowing the unspoken societal rules with comprehensive understanding of the environment including non-verbal communication. Should be more interesting in these masked times. (BBC) 
5. Larry Tessler – the inventor of cut, copy, paste commands. The key reason why the volume of material on the internet keeps growing! (BBC) 
6. Pitt-Hanks Continuum – describing the likelihood of an actor winning the Academy Award based on how much their performance is like Brad Pitt or Tom Hanks in the roles they play. The more like Pitt an actor’s style and roles are, the less likely he is to win. Although now that Brad Pitt has won an Acting Oscar, maybe something to be relooked at! (Vanity Fair) 
7. Pheme (or Ossa) – Greek Goddess of Gossip – they have one for everything! (Theoi)
8. Nintendo started as manufacturer of playing cards in 1889 in Kyoto. They still are in business of creating fun for people. (BBC)
9. Shireen Kiash represented India in Cricket, Hockey and Basketball – a triple international. (Parsi Khabar). Learnt this from the Book "The Fire Burns Blue"
10. Leavism – Trend of working on holidays. Need a new adaptation for 2020, where the very concept of a leave has gone for a toss. (The Guardian) 
11. Herfindahl Index - measure of market concentration (calculated by squaring the market share of each of the companies in the industry and then summing the resulting numbers) (Wikipedia)
12. Exter’s Pyramid – for visualizing organization of asset classes in terms of risk and size. (Miles Franklin) 
13. Fernweh – German word for an “ache for travel” – especially relevant for all those afflicted by #wanderlust in the times of coronavirus. (BBC) 
14. Hunter’s Moon – A phenomenon creating another object bright as the Sun in the sky (Universe Today)
15. Letteral Words – A word which can be pronounced using a few letters (e.g. Queue has same pronunciation as Q) (Link)
16. In the 1970s there was a bus service between London & Sydney and London & Calcutta! (Indiatimes) 
17. Margherita pizza is named in honour of Queen Margherita’s visit to Naples in 1889. Also, pizza is a corruption of the word pita (the bread) (BBC)
18. India Syndrome - described as the delusional behaviour which “hits people from developed Western countries who are looking for a cultural space that is pure and exotic, where real values have been preserved” (Firstpost)
19. Veblean Good – Luxury goods whose demand increases as its price increases. (Investopedia)
20. Hybris – Greek for outrageous arrogance that makes for abuse of power, which leads to the imposition of your will at all costs. (Wikipedia)
21. Pointillism – creating an image from dots (Britannica)
22. Hing – India is the largest consumer & yet is not grown in India at all (till now) (BBC)
23. Aan (1952)- first Indian movie to get a global release. Thanks to Ruskin Bond’s “Journey Down the Years”  (MovieMahal) 
24. King of Hearts is the only King in a standard suit of cards without a mustache (Technology)
25. Daddles is the name of the cricketing duck created by Channel 9. All these years of seeing it didn't realise it had a name (Wikipedia

So this was the random trivia list for 2020. Lets see what 2021 has in store. 

P.S. Here is the list for 2019 

Corona Chronicles: The Word List

The year 2020 A.D. was to put it mildly a bit different! And that difference, among other things, introduced more than a few words into the everyday lexicon. So, in keeping with the theme of the year, presenting my word list for 2020! 

1. Virus – after years the biological virus once again became a primary global threat regaining its crown from the digital version. (Also, Covid & Corona) 
2. Pandemic – the virus went global truly establishing how the world has shrunk and turned into a global village! 
3. Lockdown – to keep the virus in check, governments across the world, imposed lockdowns of varying severity & duration and yielding mixed results. There was a major dispute between the economists & medical professionals on who suffered more – the economy or the health! The dispute remains unresolved in this race to bottom 
4. WFH – Many worked from home or anywhere (WFA). Some took workcations. Whatever the form the way we work has changed. Work is anywhere you place your laptop and have an internet connection! 
5. Zoom – Connecting the working world virtually (alongwith its siblings MS Teams, Webex, JioMeet, Google Meet etc). Also bringing office into home & vice versa! And on a related topic lead to “Zoom Fatigue” setting in as well from being in and out of meetings/calls throughout the day. 
6. Unmute – It’s a meeting, you raise your point and realise that no one is noticing you. Mostly because you had kept yourself on Mute and forgot to “unmute” yourself. 
7. Social distancing – To maintain lockdowns governments asked us to practice social distancing. Shouldn’t they have rather termed it physical distancing! 
8. Bubble – Sports figured a way to get back in action. It was replicated by other agencies as well. Just put the required people in a bubble life with breaches being severely dealt with. But only after making them spend considerable time in Quarantine (been through one – not particularly a fan) 
9. Superspreaders & Hotspots – the anti-bubble, places with multiple cases and causing exponential growth in the infected. (Also, Contact Tracing) 
10. Covidiot – Individuals who don’t bother following simple guidelines – no Masks or necessary PPE using non-essential services! Making themselves a easy prey for the virus as well as potentially becoming a spreader while making contact tracing difficult.
11. Pandemic fatigue – And to round up this word list – pandemic fatigue, from being locked down, attempting to balance household work with office work, sanitizing everything, no general entertainment avenues and the prevailing news environment. The fatigue had to set in! And there were many more variants of above!

Word List as per WHO

Corona Chronicles – The DJ Playlist

So here I am quarantining prior to making an entry into the bubble life. The pandemic and consequent precautions have killed the to & fro day trips. Now any work visit is strictly monitored and becomes a month-long exercise starting with tests and quarantine. But that is not something worth blogging about (or maybe it is, after all, there suddenly seems a bit more time to do nothing). 

So there I am minding my business when from across the safety of the window I hear the sounds of some function going on nearby, probably a reception. Which for some reason also had a DJ, who was trying desperately to throw some life into the small gathering (another collateral impact of the virus, no big, fat public functions anymore). 

Well, lets just say, the playlist was quite an interesting mix. And me, utilizing the solitude, diligently noted down the entire playlist as the songs came on. There were a few repeats as well. I guess some sort of musical chairs was also on, where the participation seemed, to put it gently, less than enthusiastic! But I digress, so coming back here is the playlist. 

Presenting the 2020 Corona Chronicles DJ mix 

1. We will rock you – Queen (YouTube) Great song but for opening the reception party? 
2. Sapne me milti hai – Satya (YouTube) Much better. 
3. Bala bala – Housefull 4 (YouTube)  I don’t like the song
4. Gangnam style – PSY (YouTube)  Why why why? 
5. Aankh Maare - Simbaa (YouTube) Anything to embarrass the couple on stage! I liked the older version though
6. Bolo tara ra ra – Daler Mehndi (YouTube) They are getting into the groove now
7. Khaike paan banaraswala - Don (YouTube) Where did this come from? 
8. Zingaat – Sairat (YouTube) I liked this one 
9. Kajra re – Bunty Aur Babli (YouTube) Heard this one after ages! 
10. Dil chori sada ho gaya – Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (YouTube) Another appropriate one 
11. Ishq tera tadpave – Sukhbir (YouTube) The Grand Finale - had to end with this one. After all which party in India doesn’t play this one & which DJ does not mute the oh ho ho bit.

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara could have done with this cultural mix - songs in English, Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi and Korean! A proper pot pourri of songs. But who am I to judge, it certainly kept yours truly engrossed for a while (and more).

BookMarks #76: The Unusual Billionaires

Title: The Unusual Billionaires 

Author: Saurabh Mukherjea 

Genre: Non-fiction, Business 

Published: 2016 

BookMarks 

The book’s key message is how to build the best performing long term portfolio. To drive home its message, the book uses the example of eight of India’s best performing companies. Alongside the author brings out his own stock-picking methods following the principles of Coffee Can investing and John Kay’s IBAS framework. 

The book has a selection of stories of India’s leading corporates and how they came out to be such. These are 

1. Asian Paints – focused on identifying gaps and how to fill them. Continuity in ownership. Building high entry barriers to competition. 
2. Berger Paints – steadily grown to be #2 in India, despite constantly changing ownership. Steady management provides the right guidance. Having paint industry experience is the key factor. 
3. Marico – took on the might of HUL and ended up buying their competitor product which had been launched to once buy-out Marico’s flagship products. Right innovations and timely product diversifications while holding on to their core strengths has been the key to success. 
4. Page Industries – Bringing an international brand to India and capturing the market share. 
5. Axis Bank – overcoming debacles to become a trusted name in Banking sector 
6. HDFC Bank – rising to the top of banking sector 
7. Astral Polyteknik – creating a new market space & constant innovation & scaling in the same. 
8. ITC – distribution network & diversifications.

The author has also presented John Kay’s IBAS framework, namely innovation, brands and reputation, architecture, and strategic assets and how this framework has been applied by these companies. Timely IT systems upgrade, investments in people, a truly independent Board with people having relevant experience have been the key for success. 

As per the author – “An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative”. With this objective the author has given three broad themes on picking the companies. 

Theme A: Focus on the long term (more than ten years) without being distracted by short term gambles; 

Theme B: Constantly deepen the moat around the core franchise using the IBAS framework and 

Theme C: Sensibly allocate capital whilst studiously avoiding betting the balance sheet on expensive and unrelated forays. 

Additionally, the following checklist for evaluating businesses is provided 

1. Industry Attractiveness 
• Dependency on government regulation 
• Competition – number of competitors & intensity of competition 
• Overall industry size & growth potential 
• Proportion of value addition in the industry 
• Capital intensity & efficiency – lower capital intensity generally generates higher returns 
• Dependency on country’s broad economic cycle 
• Generates excess returns for shareholders (cost of capital >15%) 
2. Management Quality 
• Track record of good governance and clean accounting 
• Political connections 
• Track record of efficient capital allocation 
• Track record of focussing on core operations 
3. Competitive Advantage 
• Brand & Reputation 
• Company’s architecture strength 
• Ownership of strategic assets 
• ROCEs higher than industry average 

Overall, an interesting book which has tried to send the message of investing for the long run with the aid of narratives from some of India’s most successful companies. 

Previously on BookMarks: The Tales Next Door

Maradona – the Hand of God with a touch of the devil

Diego Armando Maradona - a once in a century player, he was a maverick, a genius, a maestro with the ball guiding a football with his left foot, drugs. Taking mediocre teams to glory not seen before or since (Argentina & Napoli). Worshipped as a deity by not just his countrymen but fans all over the world (there is even a Church of Maradona). And yet also embroiled in all sorts of controversies – drugs issues, tax problems, violent behavior, health issues, the company of not so good men! 

And yet all through this time he remained someone who continued being loved and adored by fans across the world. Probably because he was more open about his flaws than many famous ones. 

The bare stats first – he has trophies at the biggest stages - World Cup, Youth World Cup, World Cup Golden Ball, La Liga, Copa del Rey, Serie A (twice), UEFA Cup, Argentine Primera Division and many others. However, even this list glittering doesn’t some close to describe what a phenomenon he was. After all, not many players transcended the game the way he did and managed to enhance the beauty of the beautiful game! 

That game against England (World Cup 86) put on display the contradictions of this maverick. On one side there was the stealth of the “Hand of God” punching in the ball over the keeper and just four minutes later, single-footedly leaving the entire England defense stupefied. The ball dancing along with his foot is one of the most mesmerizing pieces of wizardry seen on a football field. Did he have a wand with him? Not for nothing is it the Goal of the Century! Have read so much of this event in the past few days that I don’t even have to see the footage anymore of this goal! 

Just how big an influence was he on a tiny me? For all my pretense to be a big sports fan, the only sports shirt I own is a replica “La Albiceleste” shirt! Italia 90 was the event which introduced the biggest single sport tournament to me. And he was the God there, even though his powers had started waning. Somehow dragged Argentina into the final where they lost to West Germany and haven’t won since. But that hasn’t stopped me supporting Argentina ever! Now this is the impact on someone who did not see him play at his peak. No wonder why the whole world paused to grieve his passing away. 

Finally, no Maradona tribute can be complete without a video displaying his almost non-human skills. So here is my favorite bit – not of him in action but just warming up! And hope that Asif Kapadia documentary comes soon! 

Farewell Diego Armando Maradona! You have gone to a better place. 

P.S. The best article I read on Maradona - From The Guardian

BookMarks #75: The Tales Next Door

Title: The Tales Next Door: A Collection of Short Stories 

Author: Ranjana Joshi 

Genre: Fiction, Anthology 

Published: 2020 

BookMarks 

A collection of ten short stories covering a variety of themes. Most cover the common, everyday life. Quite a few of these have a twist in the tail. Even when you can see the twist coming, it still provides an engaging read. And I liked the fact that most of the stories do not have a finality but leave on a note pregnant with possibility of developing into a bigger story by itself. 

My favorite of the ten stories is the last one “The Station Artist” which depicts the full circle of life! 

Overall, quite an engaging read. 

Previously on BookMarks: Journey Down the Years

BookMarks #74: Journey Down the Years

Title: Journey Down the Years 

Author: Ruskin Bond 

Genre: Non-fiction, Memoirs 

Published: 2017 

Summary 

A collection of 25 “tales” by the maestro Mr. Bond (as I like to read his name) 

BookMarks 

It is always a pleasure going back to the writings of Ruskin Bond. The stories are simplistic and yet fill with an unadulterated joy. While the book’s title suggests that it is Mr. Bond’s autobiography and thats how the initial stories start off but then the book takes its own course into nature. A constant theme of the stories is the lament of nature losing its battle against human development but everywhere hope springs up. This is a tale of the adventurous wind which the writer first encountered in his childhood and which has taken him places. 

Mr. Bond (I like saying the name) says that it is easier to write without being constrained by a subject. And that is how the book flows flitting from one subject to another - a collection of tales traversed by that adventurous wind. Some on his own life, some his observations. Sometimes the writer is the hero of his tale and sometimes he is just a commentator providing us the "aankhon dekha haal". 

Its the same adventurous wind which brings in that restlessness in the humans so that they are not satisfied with what they have. Rural folk want the hustle bustle of the city life and the urban folks crave  the tranquil of the hills. People come to see the Taj while a young fellow who has lived there ignores the monument and sees the people. 

Yes, the Taj Mahal. As the author writes - it doesn’t change. Therein lies its beauty. For the effect on the traveller is the same today as it was three hundred years ago when the Frenchman, Bernier, wrote: ‘Nothing offends the eye….… No part can be found that is not skillfully wrought, or that has not its peculiar beauty.’ Oh, and I haven't seen it yet! 

The book is filled with tales from the nature - the peacocks of Mathura, the crows who follow humans everywhere, the bat with a misguided radar, a spring making its way into a river. The garden lizard’s story has all the thrills of an Animal Planet documentary with a narration at par with Attenborough. 

A couple of interesting lines about boredom and loneliness that I cherish - ‘Lonely! Why should I feel lonely? Is not our planet in the Milky Way?’ and 'Find a book to read & you will never be bored!' Both lines hold a profound meaning in these weird times. And the book has given me two tasks – Read Kipling’s Kim and re-read Jerome K Jerome’s “Three Men in a Boat”. 

Finally, there was a passage quoted from Farmer's Glory by AG Street which is quite relevant in the covid-19 times 

It is perhaps nothing to boast about, but there is little doubt that the present prosperity of British farming is mainly due to one man, who is now dead. His name was Adolf Hitler. There is no disputing that it was the fear of famine during the early 1940s which taught the British nation that despite all man’s cleverness and inventions, when real danger comes an island people must turn for succour to the only permanent asset they possess, the land of their own country. It has never, and will never, let them down; always provided they realize and obey this eternal truth—that to make the land serve man, man must first be content to serve the land. 

A better analogy of self-sufficiency (or becoming aatm-nirbhar) can’t be provided. 

Overall, a truly wonderful read! 

Previously on BookMarks: My India

Other works of Ruskin Bond on BookMarks 

#59 - The Perfect Murder – An anthology compiled by Mr. Bond.  

#53 - A Gathering of Friends - A collection of short stories.

T20 cricket as seen by a 20-month old

It was the IPL 2020 season, thus presenting an apt time to introduce the gentleman’s game, albeit in its shortest official format to the kiddo. 

But how do you explain the rules and nuances of this most complex game to a toddler. I mean how does one even start. But turns out it is not required. The game gets to you as you watch. So here is how the play goes as per the little one. 

One "uncle" has the ball, does “run run run”. Another "uncle" has bat. The ball moves all over the place making everyone go “run run run”. Sometime ball is “catch”. And many a times somebody or the other goes "gir gaya". 

Overall, resulting in a completely entertaining spectacle at par with "Baby Shark". 

And it's not just uncles, aunty and didi also play on some evenings.

Meanwhile, the little one has also attempted to delay sleep time by asking Papa to watch some cricket! Not for nothing is T20 complete family entertainment!