D is for Dedication!

The other day I ran into our favourite insecticide man. He looked chirpy and as always looked like a man on a mission. For over forty years he has been making our drains safer and free from pesky pests. His trademark tank on his back he went to work with gusto after a customary greeting.

My thoughts went to the day I first saw him some forty summers ago. He looked the same as now with may be a few facial lines and grey strands of hair missing. He was as taciturn and purposeful as he was today. I was just a few years old and still was not wiser to the ways of the world. I remember asking my dad what he was doing.  He replied in his customary nonchalance that it was a very important job and he was going after the especially bad insects that cause headache in our lives. I briefly felt sorry for the critters but very soon realized it was them or us. This was my first lesson on the theory of 'survival of the fittest'. I am still searching for a theorem of nature that is fair to all creatures but haven't found one yet!

My thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the man who announced proudly that the job was done. He looked like a war hero to me landing back home after a successful job on enemy territory. He gladly accepted the payment for his services politely refusing additional tips saying he will be back next quarter for the regular check-up. My heart felt overwhelmed with joy seeing the simple philosophy of the man who puts dedication to his profession above all else.

I was interrupted from my reverie once again by the man saying goodbyes to us all. As silently as he had arrived the man disappeared into his unseen, private world of intrigue, feeling proud that one more household was made safer for living. If one word can describe his philosophy towards life its Dedication. In his book D probably stands for Dedication!

Kites of character

The other day I was driving home after visiting my parents. It was a clear and pleasant day with no cloud in sight. At the traffic light, I casually looked up and saw several colourful kites undulating in the blue sky above. I was instantly transported to an earlier time, when I was a child who knew how to build and fly these creatures of play.

It was a time of my life when playtime was a serious affair and involved humans and toys, unlike present time when TV characters and cartoons have grabbed the share.  There was a season tied to every kind of sport and playing a sport in the wrong season was a taboo. Kite flowing was no different; it was played in the windy seasons of "Ashada" a month in the Hindu calendar when the kite flying sport reached a crescendo. Kites of every colour and shape dotted the skies, each sporting a personality of its own.

The kites in my childhood were small medium or large in size and were available in myriad of colours. They were usually square or diamond in shape. There were some that were irregular in shape and resembled faces of animals, but they were rare. Most of them had tails made of paper or thin cloth which was suppose to add stability to the kites and make them easily controllable. If you were adventurous you could fly them without the tail but involved more skill controlling them.

Kites were usually made from paper such as the gift wrappers and were made robust by sticking bamboo sticks at strategic points on the paper. Finally a string or thread called "Sutra" was tied to the bamboo sticks to provide liftoff. This was easily said than done; it required engineering skills to get it right and many an aspiring flier has been grounded by wrongful application of the "Sutra". Finally you needed yards and yards of thread wound on a bobbin to fly the kite. The thread from the bobbin was tied to the "Sutra" and the beast was ready to fly. This is the time you offered prayer to the Wind God to send that friendly gust of wind in your direction to take the kite along.

Kites in the sky are a fun to watch and they exhibit a character of their own, as if they have inherited the personality of the flyer. For a kite fan, they are almost alive and seem to communicate by their mannerisms. All kites announce their existence by undulating constantly in the sky. I have seen kites that do flip flops. Some even draw figures such as circles and ellipses.

Kites also take part in the battle for supremacy of the skies! There are some who impart chemical treatment on their strings and employ their kites in warfare where kites go after each other abandoning camaraderie. The objective is to sever the string of your opponent kite and if you succeed you win. The kites usually take the game seriously as well and look menacing themselves.

My thoughts once again turn towards the present and I contemplate how to thank my friend, the Kite who has given me all those wonderful moments of childhood fun. I decide to write this little ode, a small tribute to the undulating friend of my past. I hope you bring as much joy to the generations that follow as you entertained my generation and the generations of the past.

Here’s the little ode,

Kite o kite my lovely kite, fly far, fly high,

Where no kite has flown before, you boldly go,

You have shown me a world, brighter and more beautiful,

A world I want to share with one and all,

Carry my message of peace and love,

For the denizens of this mystical world,

I thank thee for all the joys you brought me time and again.

The true meaning of Globalization

Globalization is a concept, that means different things to different people. My father who is a retired engineer, thinks that we are finally going to attain global standardization, such as choosing the Metric system worldwide. My mother who likes traveling, dreams of a new day when we can say goodbye to Passports and Visas. My wife who likes to drive, proposes a day in the not too distant future, when every human being on the earth drives on the left side of the road. My uncle wonders, if all the earthlings can elect a single Government, that oversees the welfare of every man on the planet. My aunt worries about that election day, and the management nightmare it might throw on a global scale. If my grand-mother were alive today, she would probably call globalization "a lot of hogwash with very little substance", in her typical nonchalant attitude. My friend who spends a substantial amount of time haggling with custom officials, hopes to see a day when he can say goodbye to export and import fees. So what does globalization really mean for you and me?

The question appears to be simple but can human beings reach a consensus on anything? If you don't believe me, how about pondering on these complexities? How many national borders are there? How many dialects? How many nations are at war at the moment? How many legal currencies are there in the world? How many research labs are engaged in weapons research? If we get rid of national borders what happens to the future of Olympics? How are we going to tackle the complexities of multiple religions? What do we do about the developing nations? Will they get to ride the Globalization bandwagon? So much for the cons of Globalization.

So are there any bright sides to Globalization? How about these? If all national airlines are merged and operated as one carrier, which airline would the terrorists target?  Wouldn't it be a great day when we can say goodbye to frisking by security personnel? What good would the nuclear stockpile do for the human race? Are we going point them at the Martians? Will Gross Domestic Product (GDP) be history? We don't have to explain the concept of inflation to our children? We are finally going to see the end of Secret Service Agents and Intelligence Police? Who will our global leaders point fingers at when their popularity indexes plummet?

Who are the inventors of this concept? Theodore Levitt, a former professor at the Harvard Business School credited with coining the term "globalization" and with championing the undervalued role of marketing in defining what businesses should make and sell according to New York Times. What about the etymology of the word? According to Oxford English Dictionary, the word is defined as "The process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale". When did it make its first public appearance? According to Wikipedia, Economist Theodore Levitt is widely credited with coining the term in an article entitled "Globalization of Markets", which appeared in the May–June 1983 issue of Harvard Business Review. However, the term 'globalization' was in use well before (at least as early as 1944) and had been used by other scholars as early as 1981. However, Levitt can be credited with popularizing the term and bringing it into the mainstream business audience in the later half of the 1980.

So how far can we push the globalization envelope? Does its sphere of influence transcend beyond the domains of Business and Economics, for which the word appears to be coined originally? Can it make a successful foray into our mainstream existence and influence us to think and act globally beyond the narrow confines of business and commerce? How about we start to globalize on other important matters of life such as Culture, Arts, Environment, Science, Technology, Manufacturing, Health and Spirituality to name a few. Only when we apply the concept of globalization to these higher echelons of life, can we achieve true globalization. Let us not fall short of this ideal and disappoint our ancestors, who have probably waited long enough, to see the true spirit of globalization spring and blossom.

A brief history of Currency

The recent spurt of attention given to Bitcoin in the media, sent me on an exploration of the subject of currency. What follows is a short story of currency as I see it.

In the beginning there was just Barter. When an individual A got interested in a thing X owned by individual B who in turn was interested in Y owned by A. It was just a simple matter of exchanging stuff X and Y to complete the business transaction. Barter has another variant where m times X of things are transferred for n time Y things in return. With the passage of time Barter fell out of vogue. The Barter system is inherently simple but the transaction can be cumbersome if the parties involved are not able to reach agreement.

What followed next was the use of precious metal such as Gold, Silver and Copper in fixing up the value of the sale item. Precious metal such as gold bars were increasingly used in all transactions. This practice made the business transactions more palatable and common place. With the passing of time, metal bars made way for metal coins which were officially released by the nations involved giving rise to the term legal tender. Two important characteristics were embossed on the coins namely the authority (a nation) releasing it and the value associated with the coin. The practice of using coins caught on and the impact it had on business transactions can only be imagined. Suffice to say that the common people were increasingly involved in the business transactions. The reign of metal coins in the field of business is rather long.

Eons later the metal coins were found to be bulky and there was a shortage of metal supply. Both these factors led to the appearance of paper currency. Paper currency backed up by metal was increasingly used in business transactions. People were happy since paper currency was easy to handle and large values could be easily assigned to these as opposed to coins. Paper currency has enjoyed a long career as legal tender because of these advantages. However with the progression of time, the following two disadvantages were noticed; paper currencies easily wear out and they can be counterfeited or duplicated (not endorsed by authority). The currency eras from Barter to Coins to Paper can be viewed as the Classic age of currency. Here the domain of currency is confined to national borders. Financial institutions such as banks sprung up which are involved in the day to day running of business transactions.Paper currency is commonly referred to as Cash.

The disadvantages associated with the paper currency led to the development of plastic money namely the Debit cards and Credit cards. These are issued by financial institutions such as banks and the transfer or exchange of money happens behind the scene. At the time of writing cards are extremely popular. This era can be referred to as the modern age of currency where the computers are increasingly used in the day to day running of business transactions.

There are also other forms of currency such as Promissory notes and Coupons which have been used sporadically especially in financially troubled times.The currencies discussed so far can be classified as Mainstream currencies.

There is another large group of currencies that fall under the category of Alternate currencies which don't enjoy the backing of nations or international financial institutions. Usually a group of individuals get together and run these exchanges. Legal tender flows in and out of these exchanges. Trading within the confines of alternate currency does not involve conversions to legal currency. Digital currencies such as Bitcoin fall under this category. The list of currencies falling under the alternate category is just infinite and endless. Brownie points, IPCoin and LETS are just a few examples of this kind of currency.

So what exactly is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is a software-based online payment system introduced as open-source software. Payments are recorded in a public ledger. Payments work peer-to-peer without a central repository. Also goes by the name of virtual currency, cryptocurrency or digital currency.

What kind of future do alternate currencies have? Hard to tell. But without getting into the taxonomy of currencies, one can say that the field of currencies definitely needs a boost. Methods which are time tested are followed by financial institutions who are normally reluctant or hesitant towards change.

As we ride into the next millenium let us also take the currency on the ride. I feel computers can do a lot more in modernizing currency than just supporting the practices of the past. A solution that is built on Smart Cards and uses secure practices at the core of every transaction is definitely needed. Let us all embrace technology and say a happy goodbye to the business practices of the past which have not kept up with the times.

I was recently shopping for a laptop, the mini variety which was also popular as net-book the last time I took a stroll looking for one. For folks who are new to the domain, these are small laptops with screen sizes of 10 to 11 inches. Most of them came with colorful and artful tops. I find them handy for browsing and creation of documents. Carrying them around is such a pleasure when compared to normal laptops. I was surprised when I did not find them on the shelves.I did a 360 degree search of stores and came up empty. Their space was now taken over by tabs and ultra desktops with touch screens. They all carry high price tags minus the artful decor.

May be I am old fashioned but I feel that the net-books deserved their rightful place under the Sun. Computer makers could have extended their lives by a few more years. After a lot of useless leg work looking for one I felt let down by all the computer makers. Touch screens are fine for certain trivial tasks and pursuits but we hardhats require the power of a laptop to get our day to day chores completed. Net-books filled a niche for most of us with out the bulk of their 15 inch cousins. I hope I am not singular in wishing for a grand revival of the mini. So I say to computer makers, "Bring back the Mini"! Let the art rule once again.