Factory of The Mind

We were returning from a meeting with the treasury. I was accompanying our Group Business Head, the boss of my boss. He made a casual comment, then, almost 10 years back, the crux of which, I remember quite clearly. He had said referring to someone in treasury that they are grossly overpaid. Their bonuses come from profits they make on dealing in securities, but the profits come from market movements, rather than their decisions. They manage a large portfolio of investments. A small fraction of a percent gain results in huge bonuses. Losses can often be attributed to the market.  He also, perhaps, mentioned that it was unfair – unfair to those in other parts of the bank, who struggle harder, take real decisions, and face sterner consequences. That guy in treasury is representative of many others in the corporate world, whose salaries and growth aspirations have to be met out of interests of customers, other employees, shareholders and even the larger society. These sharks are...

For thinkers like me,..........................What? Why the smirk? You think I’m flattering myself by calling myself a thinker, huh? I don’t have to be a Gandhi, Tolstoy or Vivekanand to be a thinker. Anyway greatness does not have much co-relation with popularity. Anyone who spends considerable time thinking is a thinker. Since I don’t have much to do, I think...anyway, let me not get distracted. For thinkers like me, majority of emotional upheavals (meaning a drop or surge in the emotional quotient like in case of anger, ecstasy, fear, jealousy, etc.) are caused by thinking of what my wife does, does not do, did, did not do, should do, should not do, should have done shouldn’t have done, says, does not say, said, did not say......I hope you get the drift. But it is not about my wife alone. There ought to be a comma after wife. After the comma, other entities like children, mother, father, siblings, neighbour, the mayor of my town, my subordinate, my boss, the managing director...

It’s the title of a Hindi movie. I quite liked the plot, the performances and the presentation of this rather off-beat story. I don’t care if it was lifted or inspired by another movie. I don’t know if the psychological disorder shown in the movie exists to that extent or leads to such actions, but the existence and dominance of negative emotions cannot be denied. I found myself empathysing with a brutal murderer. This guy is representative of contemporary criminals like the perverse rapists or fraudsters, who commit heinous crimes in complete consciousness. It may be an exaggerated narration, but I will not be really surprised to know that such persons exist. If one cares to give it thought, it is quite miraculous how we’re able to live with so much negativity around and about us. In the last decade or so, we’re able to communicate much better. But what is it that is getting communicated? All that newspapers and news channels talk about and highlight are a variety of crimes ...

“You’re lucky to have a spouse, whose thinking is aligned with yours”, we’re often told. Indeed. We’re lucky to have each other as companions. For both of us, it is difficult to imagine what life would have been if there was someone else. But I do not agree that many of those who say so are unlucky in this regard. In fact, in very few cases, I sense that one is held back because of his/her spouse. What is lacking is either clarity in thought, honesty of effort or endurance to stay put. A friend of mine, Sanjay has also been a colleague. We come from quite similar family backgrounds and academic paths. While in office, we spent a lot of time discussing life, gossiping of the irony of people, sharing practices for good health. Career-wise, both of us were quite un-ambitious. We often spoke of our exit from job and life thereafter. Then I quit job to move to a farm life and Sanjay thought that soon he too will move out. We did not have exactly the same vision of an ideal life, ...

A theory of a ‘Fair Marketplace’ or a ‘Fair Price’ may be a good starting point for the creation of a Fair Marketplace. But is it a necessary condition? Let’s explore. Let us consider the starting point as the presence of connected market participants (providers and consumers of goods and services) who are willing to act in this direction and who don’t distrust each other. There may or may not be a reason to trust, but it is sufficient if there is no reason to distrust. Let us see if these ingredients are sufficient to get started. There may not be a shared theory, philosophy, or ideology. You may not understand economics at all. You may not know or agree that the prevailing market practices are exploitative and unfair. If you say, “I am committing to participate in a marketplace, which is based on fair (non-exploitative) prices, not co-related with or based on the prices determined by the existing market forces.”, we’re on. The first step is to create a laundry list of peopl...

Problem Statement: Coconut prices dipped sharply sometime last month owing, perhaps to over supply or lack of demand. Farmers suffered because they could not recover the costs.  Understanding, Analysing and Solving the Problem:   The proceeds from coconut sales were supposed to be sufficient to meet the livelihood expenses of the farmer in addition to covering the direct and indirect costs of growing the coconuts. At this stage, let us assume that the price paid for growing the coconuts (labour, etc) are fair.  Let us focus on two assumptions of the problem. First, that the buyer is unwilling to pay a price higher than the one determined by the market. Second, that the seller has an understanding of what is fair price. Let us begin with the second assumption. Is the seller equipped to determine the fair price, without reference to the previous market price? If we assume that there is a buyer who is willing to pay a price, which is fair, will he be able to calcula...

Price (of goods or service) is determined at the point where the demand curve meets the supply curve .  This was one of the first lesson of economics taught to us in junior college. They’d still be doing the same, I guess. A separate note may be required to illustrate that this method of price determination has resulted in certain goods and services being priced obnoxiously high or obnoxiously low. It may also be argued that because of this, the social inequalities have widened further. Also, economic sustainability of certain professions has come under serious threat, irrespective of the fact that the services are life essentials. The income potential of many service providers, in absolute terms is  so low that it questions the sustainability a society where price is determined by this mechanism. But this is a separate subject in itself. We’re assuming its understanding for the purpose of this note. Academically, it may be argued that these anomalies will get correc...

We don’t fit into any ready mould. Neither in the mainstream nor in the alternate sphere. This makes me feel lonely, but also relieved. Relieved, because I’ve come to terms with this fact. Relieved, also because I’m not obliged to adhere to any religion – Environmentalism, Nationalism, Humanism, Consumerism, Capitalism, or any other religion or belief system with regard to farming, education or social order. This may come as a surpris for a few of you reading. You may have thought that I’ve a strong sense of ideology, but fact is that I have no sense of identity in the belief systems of anti-capitalism, anti-consumerism, anti-modernity and the like. I have no grudge against the mainstream anymore. I’m unable to connect with any group, but I feel very much connected with every individual. I’ve discovered that all individuals are like that. When I converse with one person, whether about economics of different farming approaches or about education of children or about managing perso...

Money has such a pivotal role. Almost no one can be indifferent to it. However, very few, a miniscule minority really understand it and can take balanced decisions about it. While it is a rational subject, emotions drive decision making. A person in his forties, earning Rs. 5mn pa, but is absolutely unhappy with his job, is asked, “How much more money do you want to earn, before you feel secure enough to retire?” He says, “I would like to quit, but I can’t arrive at a figure, the more, the better.” Now, this can be interpreted in two ways. One, that his cribs about his jobs are nothing more than an engaggement in self-pity. He needs someone to agree with him that he’s going through troubles and that factors outside are responsible for his misery. The second interpretation is that he truly wants to free himself out of his misery, but is not feeling financially secure to quit his job. Which of the interpretations is correct can be easily gauged by asking simple questions like, ...

Generic, casual but serious discussions, particularly those pertaining to corruption, politics, education, depeleting value systems, ecological consciousness, healthy food and habits, organic farming, etc have a typical tendency. Within no time, the discussion enters the area of ‘shortcomings and defficiencies of the existing system’. The unanimous culprits are greed of capitalists, ignorance & indifference of consumers and inefficiency of governments. Every participant bashes the three entities as if he belongs to no group. Reality, however, is that he belongs to all of them.  Till this point, the discussion is in the arena of entertainment and/or social interaction. As a natural fallout, a few people feel initiated enough to take charge of the situation and act responsibly. Their conviction and action begin with an assumption that the system needs correction and it can happen through an awareness about what is wrong with the existing system. At this point, let me el...

There has been a strange feeling inside, which is tightening its grip off late. It’s a sinking kind of feeling. I’m finding it quite difficult to articulate, but I guess I must do so. Let me trace the various strands, which may be the causes. There is a substantial lack of enthusiasm. Not about anything in particular, but generally a lack of enthusiasm. This state seems to be similar to the time, when after about a decade of working and being ‘successful’, there wasn’t much to look forward to. Linear progress on professional and personal fronts wasn’t exciting. Most reasons, for which we happened to walk a path less trodden, seem almost irrelevant. There is no flaw in the thought process for eg. good food, good habits, lead to good health, stress-free state of mind, which further leads to a great environment for children to grow up in. There is no denying these facts. But these reasons are not complete. Perhaps there is an agenda, which is yet to be realized. At least, it appe...