Tranquility of Mind

" Tranquility of Mind "

Peace of Mind, freedom from disturbance, ease of mind or conscience are terms more often uttered than understood or practised. Meditation is one of the means to set the mind at ease like truce, being declared, while the war takes place.

Peace of mind is a state composed in itself and that is devoid of oscillations. The mind's oscillations begin only when it relates itself to mundane things or possessions. The more one starts to lean on , the more one gets biased. Peace of mind loses its composed grip to a wandering state. Atma when it remains in its own state of quietness, enjoys peace.

The mind can acquire great abilities which may look like beyond reach for normal human beings. The power of mind will touch higher levels and can appease " Ghandharvas ' , "Pithrus", and ' Devas '. We, onearth, can make them 'happy' by the devine will that prevails inside us. The chapter "Aanandavalli " in ' Taithreeya Upanishad ' explains the nature of "Bliss" that we can create for them.

Can a bull understand the taste that a man enjoys while listening to a good music or drinking a rich coffee ?. Similarly man does not understand the world of happiness that has been described in "Aanandavalli Upanishad".

The BLISS is the culmination of Happiness which defines "ATMANANDAM".

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Identity:-

The other day when I stepped into SVC Bank in Malleswaram, I saw a notice about RBI guide lines which stipulate that Photo ID and proof of address ID are required in respect of account holders. When we introspect about ‘borne identity’, we run into some thoughts. I am trying to sketch them thru’ this leaf:--

Identity of a person is his individuality. Identity relating to items or things is a state of being the same. In mathematics it is an equation which is true for all variables or symbols involved. In music, the ragas, talas are identified with the 'krithis' or songs, by the ' varying pitches ' of Aarohana and Aavarohana. Is it not true that from the ' layam' and ' manobhavam ' and especially from the tone of the song, we can identify it that of M.S.

Identity cards are used and employees punch the cards to mark their attendance and the computerised records of attendance is taken as reference for computing the monthly wages. But it becomes difficult when it comes to identifying twins or distinguishing between two identical actions carried by different persons. Students of Chemistry carry out tests in labs to identify the constituting elements of substances.

Online identity refers to the use of digital identity by users of network. People affliate themselves to some culural groups like 'learning Veda or French or Arts and so on' and they regard them as a cultural identity. All of us are aware about the gender identity when Santhi, the 800 metres silver medalist in the recently concluded Asian games, failed a gender veification test. Corporate Identity lies in focusing the speciality of their brands or products or simply their Logo. A pair of folded palms ,when we see, we remember LIC and the logo of Air India is prominantly seen in the exhibit in Marine Drive in Mumbai. "Eat Healthy Think Better" is the slogan which identifies Britannia Industries or for that matter which organization's slogan is "Yogakshemam vaham yaham",is well known.

There is another way to discuss the subject. When you come to a table with four others , you are an assortment. But if you could make sure to take to the table your speciality, and not become simply a part of that assortment, it means , you have established your identity or special marks. That is how the bright student excells in the class or for that matter a good humorist make every other laugh in a group.

What is opposite of Identity ?. In my mind what comes readily is ' Maya' or something which is ' Amrphous '. We live in a world of ' Maya ' or that which is deceptive. We are carried away by the gimmicks , buzz, gazy of rainbow of colours and so on. This lead to a sort of identity crisis which is opposite of Identity.

The Identity Crisis is portrayed in the film (in 2002), " The Bourne Identity " based on Robert Ludlum's novel. It is the story of a man whose wounded body is discovered by fisherman who nurse him back to health. He can remember nothing and begins to try to rebuild his memory based on clues such as the Swiss bank account, the number of which, is implanted in his hip. He soon realizes that he is being hunted and takes off with Marie on a search to find out who he is and why he is being hunted.

Let's go back to the beginning where I started. I gave a copy of my PAN card and also the ID issued by election Comission of India to SVC Bank inorder to establish my identity and the manager of the Branch recived the same with a large smile in his face.

The story of Britannia - Eat Healthy, Think Better

" Eat Healthy , Think Better "

The story of one of India's biggest brands "Britannia Biscuits " reads almost like a fairy tale.

A biscuit manufacturing company launched its business with a marginal capital of Rs295 in 1892 in a non descript house in Calcutta. What can one do with Rs.295.00 in today's world ?

There was no electricity, the burning wood was used as the main fuel. But the taste of the biscuit manufactured was the most influencing factor to the general public. Gupta brothers acquired the factory and ran it in the name of V.S.Brothers.
1910 was the year when electricity was ushered in and there was a great deal of activities accompanied in the manufacturing of Biscuits. An English man by name Homes joined as a partner in the year 1918. The company acquired the name "Britannia Biscuit Company ". The infra-structure facilities , machineries, gas ovens were imported from Britain in two years time. Britannia got the name and became famous for using gas for the first time in Asia in manufacturing Biscuits.

Britannia inculcated the culture of eating biscuits in the minds of Indian people in a big way with the slogan "Eat Healthy, Think Better " . A production centre was established in Mumbai also. Perceiving the opportunities for a rapid growth, Peek Bern in U.K. made a substantial investment in Britannia.

During the second world war , Biscuits were specially manufactured for the British Govt. which were deported for these of soldiers engaged in the war. In the period 1945- '50, after the world war II, Britannia saw its capital to grow to a sprawling Rs.128 lakhs, which meant to them 8 folds the capital they had in 1940. Britannia shifted its gear in the marketing of Biscuits from Parry & Co to themselves from 1975 onwards. The company took a new birth in the name "BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LIMITED " The sales touched a peak of Rs.100 Crores in 1983.

Britannia celebrated its Platinum Jubilee in the year 1992. It is now in the hands of well known Wadia Group jointly with the world wide Groupe DANONE. " GOOD FOR HEALTH; GOOD FOR TASTE; FINEST IN BRAND; AFFLUENT IN PRICE"
ARE THE STRATEGIES employed by Britannia for its towering stature today.

Marketing Strategies :-
Milk-Biskies are made specially for children. Britannia TIGER Biscuits are made for boys and girls in the age group of 7to14. Britannia is quick to realize the wants of Teenagers, it brought a special brand for this group in the name "Little Hearts" which became super hit in no time. Britannia's next strategy was to introduce a new brand with a question tag " Sweet or Hot " biscuit. It was branded as "50-50-Biscuit". When the decision is referred to the 3rd umpire in cricket, we all see "50-50" blinking in the screen, it is also a way to impress the biscuit brand's name in the minds of cricketing world. Marrie Gold is an universal brand introduced by Britannia which is sought after in tea time and when travelling, thus making the demand for this brand as the highest which is also due to an affluent price.

Promotional Strategies:-
"Eat Britannia, Go for World Cup" was the theme adopted in 1999 .People bought the biscuit packs and searched for the lucky scratch for flying to England to see world Cup Cricket match.The sales bounced 37% high on account of this strategy.The scheme came alive again during the world Cup Match in 2002-2003 in South Africa. " Lagan - the super hit movie " brought fame to Britannia Biscuits also as 40000 buyers of Britannia Biscuit packs were invited to see and a small lucky group to play the game with the movie Stars of Lagan. What a novel way to promote a product - a perception in correct proportion indeed !!

Summary:-
* Britannia Industries have a base of 23000 share holders with a paid up capital of 23890163 shares of Rs10/each today.

* Largest company in India in food processing industries where product range also includes Breads and Cakes.

* Manufacturing and sourcing locations spread across the length and breath of the country.

* Tens of Thousands of outlets having one of the largest distribution net work in the country.

* Britannia Biscuits enjoy a brand loyalty in Export Houses also.

* When it TIGER brand was introduced in the market , Britannia supplied Note Books, Scales, Pencils to Children in the name of its new brand free of cost.

* Britannia now owns an ultra modern manufacturing facility. It has built up a big consultancy centre also.

* Biscuits sold in a year when kept in pile formation one above the ones may scale 10 times higher than the Everest Peak.

" Eat Healthy, Eat Britannia " !!!!!!

The Story of Dhirubhai Ambani

Perceptions and Proportions

Perceiving the market opportunities with a sense of proportion and embarking into appropriate diversification plans go a long way in the growth of a business enterprise. The case study of Reliance Enterprise is presented here. The students of Management Schools may like to draw lessons and find it to be a source of inspiration for the niche strategies adopted by the business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani from rags to riches.



From rags to riches:

Dhirubhai Ambani was born on 28 Dec. 1932 as the third son to a school teacher in Gujarat with moderate means. Ambani moved to Aden, Yemen when he was 16 for a livelihood. He started his career as a dispatch clerk before becoming the distributor for Shell Products. He was later promoted as a manager in an oil filling station at the port of Aden.

The Yemeni Rial Coin had high content of pure silver in those days. Young Dhirubhai perceived high demand for ‘rial’ in London Stock Exchange and purchased them in bulk and melted the coins in silver and sold it to bullion traders in London. Though it was stopped in 3 months, D.A. made a few lakhs of Rupees in this transaction.



D.A. returned to India after 10 years and found Reliance Commercial Company with a capital of Rs.15000/= in Masjid Bunder in Mumbai in a 350 Sq.ft. space with one telephone, one table, three chairs and with a business mission of importing polyester yarn and exporting spices.. He went on to establish Reliance Textiles in 1964 under the brand name “Vimal” and the World Bank applauded the brand as the best Polyester Cloth. Perceiving success, Dhirubhai established Reliance IndustriesLtd in 1970s..


Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with starting the equity cult in India. More than 58,000 investors from various parts of India subscribed to Reliance's IPO in 1977. Dhirubhai was able to convince people of rural Gujarat that being shareholders of his company will only bring returns to their investment.

RIL holds the distinction that it is the only Public Limited Company whose several Annual General Meetings were held in stadiums.In 1986, The Annual General Meeting of Reliance Industries was held in Cross Maidan, Mumbai, was attended by more than 30,000 shareholders.

Dhirubhai Ambani's takes control of the Mumbai Stock exchange : In 1982, RIL was coming out with a rights issue of partly convertible debenture and it was rumored that the objective was not to get the then existing stock price to slide by an inch. A group of stock brokers in Calcutta joined together as a Bear Cartel. Taking this as an opportunity they started to short sell RIL scrips. Friends of RIL counteracted this move and the Bulls started buying the scrips on Bombay Stock Exchange.The bulls kept on buying and a price of Rs. 152 per share was maintained till the day of settlement. The Bear Cartel believed that the Bulls would accept settlement under the then prevalent " Badla " system. On the day of settlement the Bear Cartel was taken a back when the Bulls demanded physical delivery of shares.To complete the transaction the much needed cash was provided to the stock brokers who had brought shares of Reliance by none other than Dhirubhai Ambani. In case of non-settlement the Bulls demanded an 'Unbadala' (penalty sum) of Rs.35 per share. With this the demand increased and the shares of Reliance shot above 180 rupees in minutes. The settlement caused enormous uproar in the market and Dhirubhai Ambani was the unquestioned king of the stock markets.

The situation was completely out of control. Authorities of Bombay Stock exchange intervened in the matter and brought down the "Unbadla" rate to Rs. 2 with a stipulation that the Bear Cartel has to give the delivery of shares within few days. The Bear Cartel brought shares of Reliance from the market at higher price levels and it was also realized that Dhirubhai Ambani himself supplied those shares to the Bear Cartel and earned a healthy profit out of The Bear Cartel's adventure .

After this incident many questions were raised by his detractors and the press. Not many people were able to understand as to how a yarn trader till a few years ago was able to get in so much of cash flow during the crisis. RBI was called upon to investigate into the matter . It was clarified by RBI that the money flow into RIL was due to Rs.220 million investment made by NRIs thru' various Companies like ' crocodile's etc., and that there was nothing unethical nor illegal in the whole matter.

A film inspired by the life of Dhirubhai is set to release in January 2007. The Hindi Film Guru, directed by ManiRathnam and music by Rahman will show the struggle of a man who strives to make his mark in life. The movie stars Abhishek Bachan and AishwaryaRai in leading roles.

Highlights of Dhirubhai's venture :-

* What the Corporate Houses of Tatas, Birlas and Dalmiahs achieved and dominated over a period of a century, Dhirubhai Ambani could achieve within a short period with a razor like sharpness and business acumen.

* Dhirubhai Ambani proved to be a king in his diversification plans into Petro Chemicals, Energy, Power, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Capital Markets, Retails and so on.

* RIL is now India's largest Private Sector with turnover over US$19.976 billion backed by a profit over US$2.03 billion.

* 25% of share holders in India own a RIL Scrip.

* Fortune Global 500 featured RIL in 342nd rank in 2006. Forbes Global featured RIL at 295 spot in 2000.

*Chemtech and Chemical Engg.World gave the" Man of the Century " award in Nov 2000 to Dhirubhai Ambani.

* Dhirubhai won the " Dean's Medal " of Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in June 1998 for " Outstanding Leadership "

* FICCI conferred the title " Man of 20th century " on D.A.in 2000.

* Times Of India in 2000 voted Dhirubhai Ambani as the greatest creator of wealth in the country.

The man from rags to riches, Dhirubhai Ambani breathed his last on July 6, 2002 but his glow would continue to inspire the whole generations of nations.

Perceptions

" Perceptions "

As children advance in age, their perceptions about their Mom alter from plus 5 to minus 5 and as children themselves start growing old their opinion swift from negative to more and more positive. This message was the centre theme brought - in , in my last mail.

What is this perception all about?

Perception is not just the sensation. Perception is sensation plus interpretation. The interpretation is done in the brain. Information is sensed by the person. Perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting and organizing sensory information.

" per " in Latin means completely and " capere " means to take and these two Latin words take the form ' perception ' in English.

The 'color' - perception play some dominant role and you may recall one of my recent mails forwarded in this connection. That was a poem written by an African child of 4 years old titled 'what is in the color "? which won the best poem prize . A 'red' apple does not emit red light. Rather it absorbs all frequencies of light shining on it except that frequency what we call as 'red'.

To distinguish the color, the three things required are (1) the object, (2)a light source (3) a deductor (eye).

We come across , ' ambiguity ' in many situations, though we see them as ambiguity, the interpretations vary from people to people. Is the glass " half full " or " half empty " ? The interpretation vividly explains the positive or negative attitude of the perceiver.

" kanalneer " in Tamil pictures an ambiguous situation. Another example is that of peacock butterflies. They bear " eye markings ' in their wings. The birds fear seeing them as ' predator ' and fly for safety zones.

The confusing ambiguity of perception is exploited in human technologies as ' CAMOUFLAGE ' and also in biology as "MIMICRY ".

Ambiguity is a stimuli and needs to be perceived either by bottom up processing or top down processing. In the former, it involves one's interference from parts of situations that are available. in the later, it involves one's ideas or conception on to the situation. For example one can conceive a group of trees as a forest which come from imposing one's conception of forest in a given situation.

This is all for the present.

pn

Images of Mom by children as age growing

What children say at...

4 YEARS OF AGE Y My Mommy can do anything!
8 YEARS OF AGE Y My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!
12 YEARS OF AGE Y My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.
14 YEARS OF AGE Y Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either!
16 YEARS OF AGE Y Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.
18 YEARS OF AGE Y That old woman? She's way out of date!
25 YEARS OF AGE Y Well, she might know a little bit about it.
35 YEARS OF AGE Y Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.
45 YEARS OF AGE Y Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?
65 YEARS OF GE Y Wish I could talk it over with Mom. . .



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