Observations, Thoughts and Stories as they form in the mind! Book Reviews, Art, Travelogue, Economy and Society
If you ask me what sort of music I like? I really don’t know. I just seem to follow the tastes of the people closest to me at that point in time. In my school-going days I listened to the radio, mainly Vividh Bharati Service of All India Radio, as my father listed to the news and old Hindi film songs. I reflect on my experience with listening to music and moving on with the changing ways!
Baking and sewing in our new Aashiyana means we are back in business, the business of enjoying ourselves! We picked up on entertaining close friends within a week of arrival at our Aashiyana, that's fast you would think!
During Work from Home (WFH) time, approximately a year and a half, I made friends with cats, dogs and peacocks on the campus (see here) where I lived and worked. Back in the office in the University I never thought I would see winged friends at such close quarters again. Or that I would make friends and empathise with them.
An Ode to Dr. Verghese Kurien, The Milkman on India, on his 100th Birth Anniversary. Reposting.
Verghese Kurien (1921-2012) is considered the Father of the White Revolution in India. He is also known as the ‘Milkman of India’. He was responsible for moving India from a milk powder importing country to becoming self-sufficient in milk and milk products. He is credited with creating a series of institutions in Anand, a small town in the Western state of Gujarat, the AMUL Brand of milk products and its cooperative milk federation (GCMMF), the National Dairy Development Board to name a few. The Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) was one of the last institutions he built.
I joined IRMA in 2009 as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Chair Professor in Economics and became the Director of IRMA in 2011 for a full term till 2016. I met Dr. Verghese Kurien a couple of times during…
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Skeletons and Careers in the 'Cupboard'! Recently when my husband was clearing his desktop of old files he came across a few files of our daughter's Eleventh Grade school Science project. It was literally like finding skeletons in the cupboard! Skeletons in her career cupboard?
I reflect on one of the markers of race, ethnicity, country of origin, culture and much else that became obvious in the 2000s and after, Dress or Clothes. Did it ever strike you that the clothes you wear could convey something?
In anticipation of the publication of our book ‘Women Entrepreneurs in the Indian Middle Class: Interdisciplicary Perspectives’ @OrientBlackSwan, I reblog a talk on innovation and entrepreneurship. According to Schumpeter, only innovation entrepreneurs are real entrepreneurs as they create a disequilibrium force. We argue in our book that there could be other reasons for entrepreneurship, especially among women. The economist’s definition of an entrepreneur as risk-taking, innovators looking for an opportunity, or that of the psychologist as high achievers may not suit most of these entrepreneurs. A key take away from the book was that “entrepreneurship can result from necessity as well as opportunity and women entrepreneurs pursue goals beyond economic gains”. Women’s decision to become an entrepreneur can be precipitated by both push and pull factors. It is not just ‘profit’ and attaining ‘scale’ that motivates a woman entrepreneur.
India currently faces a massive challenge of slowdown in growth and high levels of unemployment among youth, especially among the educated urban population. The formal labour market in India is saturated, unable to absorb the ever-increasing number of the labour force. Therefore, the role of small-medium enterprises in creating employment opportunities is vital for economic prosperity and social stability. Entrepreneurship is a crucial mode for utilizing youth power and generating employment that will in turn contribute to the economy’s growth and development, especially for those who aspire to be owners and employers rather than employees. Understanding the motivation and constraints faced by entrepreneurs is critical for designing and formulating appropriate policy initiatives. Encouragement of the ‘enterprise spirit’ or ‘animal spirit’ among young people is a precondition for success in employment, growth, competitiveness and innovation.
I base this brief talk[1] on our book…
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The world has moved from ‘using one’s head’ to the ‘internet of thing’ (IOT). Children today wonder what their parents did without all these devices. Well, you ‘used your head’!
Educated women of the upper middle class, who have made it to the higher echelons of their profession, live in a bubble. They believe that most women who make the right choices at the right time, with a little luck can make it too. After all, men require education, good choices and luck too. But women who behave in an authoritative way are seen as insufferable prima donnas. This assertive, aggressive, ‘insufferable’ woman was what Shakespeare termed the ‘Shrew’ and made famous in his play ‘Taming of the Shrew’.
Happy Yoga Day! Dear Friends: Enjoy this wonderful day with the art of relaxation! June 21, 2021.
It has been some time since I wrote a post on yoga and other forms of meditation. See here. While meditation is hard enough, relaxing is an art and a difficult one too! Yoga asanas (poses) and pranayama (breathing exercises) presumably help you to relax.
Yoga is what I really enjoy, even when the classes are held online as it is now due to the pandemic. People tell me that since I have been doing yoga for decades I can just do it by myself and do not need to attend classes. Theoretically, yes I can. But practically, it never happens. Even if it does, my mind will trick me into doing a quick 10-15 minute fixed set of yoga exercises and convince me that I have done enough for the day! Our teacher is a young, dynamic, friendly and always has a smile on her face while she coaxes…
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I am an Economist and I teach in a Management School. I have many colleagues in the discipline of marketing and a number of our students are placed in companies with roles in marketing. So I am well aware of the term Brand. In simple terms a 'Brand' is a type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name. A relatively new term, popular in the past decade, is 'Brand Ambassador'. A Brand Ambassador is defined as 'a person, especially a celebrity, who is paid to endorse or promote a particular company's products or services'. The key words are celebrity and paid. We normally think of popular movie stars like Shah Rukh Khan, brand ambassador for Byjus learning app, or Aishwarya Rai for beauty products. And they are paid in millions I believe. A new career is that of being an 'Influencer', person with more than 10,000 followers on social media! Influencers also become Brand Ambassadors. Being neither a celebrity nor an Influencer, imagine my shock when I received an offer from a pet store to be their Brand Ambassador!
Unni-Verse 