The Barefoot Brigade - we too share a dream by Trinadh naga Burra (an ode to Indian Villages)

Home to one of the World's oldest civilizations as well as several religions, faith, cultures and traditions, home to the biggest domicile where almost all races and ethnic groups of  the world met and mixed.

     Starting with the pure Mongolian races in the North East, Australoids, and Munda aborigins in the Centre and East, Mediterranean, Arabian in the North and West, Central Asians, Turk Mongols from the North, this place has also hosted, Burmese, Cambodian, Viet, Thai, Malaya and Javanese racial groups. There are also Greek, Armenian, Turk Slovak, Russians, Georgian and even Mediterranean Semitic, Phoenicians, Berbers and Migri elements here. In the past thousand or so years, almost all racial and ethnic groups have passed by this place, as this was the primary Market of the World. 

THIS PLACE WAS ALSO THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD TRADE AND COMMERCE INCLUDING THE SILK ROUTE WHICH ENDED HERE.

INDIA has been changing, re-shaping and reinventing itself as long as anywhere on the Planet, forever producing new forms of culture and absorbing new influences from all directions. The people here are diverse, they have acquired a common stamp. Beneath the manifold diversity of physical and social type, language, customs and religion, which strikes the observer, there lies the  unique underlying uniformity of life from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari. These commonalities have outlived the dynastic evolutions, foreign invasions, religious impositions, conflicts and multitudes of disasters.

THIS UNDYING, COMPASSIONATE AND REVERBERATING SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE IS THE SPIRIT OF THE COUNTRY WHICH ONLY GETS STRONGER WITH TIME.

Our greatness and richness can never be blemished  by innumerable racial divisions, manmade caste system, artificial flimsy belief system, blind faith and sort of manipulations as well as twisting of facts, INDIA has survived and will survive.

Our INDIA rests in 600,000 odd Villages that keep alive the generations of skills that has evolved into the fine tapestry of drapery with vivid colours and designs, the culinary delights, the artisan and the architectural wonders encapsulated in the Shrines, the folklore, the music, the language, the customs and the way of living that is interspersed with abundant Vedic Knowledge in simplistic daily chores and puranic versions. INDIA is home to Ayurveda and the well meted out history of medical practice with the basic knowledge of herbal medicine grown in our backyards.

Entrepreneurship Development by T Nagalakshmi et al,

What is Innovation?

An invention is creating something new that the market has not seen before. But, an INNOVATION is taking an existing concept of idea and improving it, typically using a step-wise process of development stages leading to c0mmercially viable product.

Challenges

• Getting into the correct mindset
• Working with the right people
• Identifying and securing the best financial resources
• Managing your cash flow
• Understanding your market place
• Seeing your idea through prototyping
• Seeing the cost and value of the products correctly
• Recognising the opportunities available

Entrepreneurial competencies

1. Integrity: The entrepreneur has a clear sense of values and beliefs that underpin the creative and business decisions that they make, and that influence the actions they take, particularly when in difficult or challenging circumstances
2. Conceptual thinking: The entrepreneur is prepared to use fresh approaches, comes up with crazy ideas that may just work, leading to radical change or significant improvements and take time to listen to new ideas without pre-judgement
3. Risk-taking: The entrepreneur understands the risk taking means trying something new and possibly better, in the sense of stretching beyond what has been done in the past, and that the constant challenge is to learn how to assess choices responsibly, weighing the possible outcomes against his/her values and responsibilities.
4. Networking: The entrepreneur understands that networking is a key business activity which can provide access to information, expertise, collaboration and sales, and that carefully planning and preparation helps achieve desired results.
5. Strategic Thinking: The entrepreneur understands and values the planning process, thinking and planning over a significant timescale, recognises external trends and opportunities, and is able to think through any complex implications for the business.
6. Commercial Aptitude: The entrepreneur keeps upto date the developments in the sector, seeks out best practices and identifies and seizes opportunities thar are not obvious to others.
7. Decisiveness: The entrepreneur resolves issues as they arise, does not get bogged down in analysis during decision making, and responds flexibly to deal with changing priorities.
8. Optimism: The entrepreneur persists in pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks.operates from hope of success rather than fear of failure and sees setbacks as manageable circumstances rather than as personal flaw.
9. Customer Sensitivity: The entrepreneur builds trust and long standing relationship with customers, generates and expectation of high level of customer service and regularly exceeds customer expectations,
10. People focus: The entrepreneur values the people in the organisation, walks the talk, sees the capability and builds team synergies with inclusiveness in planning and execution of project and ensures deliveriesde

Sri Aurobindo: Life and Thought by Susmit Pani

"Mine is not Byron's lightning spear;
Nor Wordsworth's lucid strain
Nor Shelly's lyric pain
Nor Keats, the poet without peer
I by the Indian Waters vast
Did glimpse the magic of the past,
And on the oaten-pipe I play
Wrapped echoes of an earlier day"

If we look at the beginning of Indian Society, the far off Vedic Age which we no longer understand, for we have lost that meaning, we see that everything is symbolic

     But symbolic of what? He explains, The symbol there is of something which man feels to be present behind himself and his life and his activities. The Divine, the Gods, the vast and deep unnameable, a hidden living and mysterious nature of things. All his religious and social institutions, all the moments and phases of his life are to him symbols. In which he seeks to express what he knows or guesses of the mystic influences that are behind his life, and shape, and govern, or at least intervene in its movements  

Etymologically,Veda is derived from the root "VID" which implies to know. The Veda means the source of knowledge, or knowledge infinite and eternal. Thus. the Vedas are not just the collection of hymns for rituals or in the praise of Gods, they are the embodiment of eternal knowledge. The Vedic rishis are not their composers, they are the seers and the mantras are the embodiment of their visions. Vedas are impersonal and handed over down the ages in the form of "Sruti" or the word form to interpret the Infinite and the  Supreme,.

In modern times, Vedas are taken as a source of reconstructing the history of the Vedic times. 

     The philologist looks into it for scooping out like and unlike words  

     The historian reconstructs the origin of the aryans

     The anthropologist reads into it, the earliest forms of Nature worship

     The philosopher finds solace in the highest spiritual and mystic expressions

     The logician tries to reduce it into a set of formulae

     The literary critic looks at it as one of the earliest literary work known to us

i.e., Vedas are considered a magnum opus for many disciplines and each reads into it, it's own angularities

"Ir is irrelevant to me what Max Muller thinks of the Veda or what Sayana thinks of the Veda. I would prefer to know what Veda says for itself, and if there is any light there on the unknown, or on the infinite, to follow the ray until I come face to face with that which it illuminates"

     Opinions are not knowledge, but only the spotlights on knowledge. The Veda is primarily intended to serve for spiritual enlightenment and self-culture. It is therefore, this sense, which has first to be restored.

Vedas  are therefore, revelatory knowledge, and talks of battles and victories of the Human spirit as it climbs higher and higher planes of thought thus help bringing you closer to the the God within (Pure Consciousness) and to destroy the devourer, the expresser of evil (Material Pursuits and Emotional agony)

Diaspora Literature - In Search of a Room of One's Own

The Home as a Seat of Longing and Desire in Diaspora

What is a Home? On the one hand 'home' is a mythic place of desire in the diasporic imagination. In this sense it is a place of return, even if it is possible to visit the geographical territory that is seen as a place of 'origin'. On the other hand home is also a lived experience of a locality.Its sounds and smells,its heat and dust, balmy summer evenings, sombre grey skies in the middle of the day.... all this as mediated by the historically specific of every day social relations. In other words, the varying experience of pains and pleasures, the terrors and contentment or the higher and humdrums of everyday lived cultures that mark the how, "there is no place like home"

"Sometimes the house of the future is better built, lighter and larger than all the homes of the past, so that the image of the dream home is opposed to that of the childhood home... Maybe it is a good thing for us to keep a few dreams of the dream home  that we shall live in... later, always later,... so much later in fact, that we shall not have time to achieve it. For a home that was final, one that stood in symmetrical relation to the home we were born in would lead to thoughts _ serious sad thoughts_ and not in dreams. It is better to live in a state of impermanence than in one of finality.

"Within the frame of contemporary diaspora the notion of 'home' and when a location becomes home are therefore linked when the issues related to inclusion or exclusion which tend to be subjectively experienced depending on circumstances. When does a location become home? How can one distinguish between "feeling at home" and taking a claim to a place as one's own?

The notion of the home is therefore very complex and is related to the subjective emotion of nostalgia The concept of home in the diaspora is intricate, complex and multifaceted characterising plurality of homes and plurality of belongings. The notion of diaspora can represent multiple, plurilocal thus avoiding the  ideas of fixity, boundedness and nostalgic exclusivity traditionally implied with the term 'home' i.e, a constant apprehension arises between where you are from and where you are at which leads the diasporic subjects to form their own space.

Sandhya Raga | Kannadathi Thaye Baa song

Competitive Intelligence

Competitive Intelligence – ‘Millennium Intelligence for Winning Businesses’

A Book from Himalaya Publishing House

 ISBN 978-93-5202-987-7      PCG 665

Author(s) : Amit Johri    Akshai Aggarwal

Why Engage in Intelligence?

‘Every morning, a Gazelle awakens in Africa.

She knows she will have to run faster than the fastest Lion that day

Or she will die.

Every morning, the Lion awakens

He knows he will have to catch the slowest Gazelle

Or he will die of hunger.

It does not matter if you are the Gazelle or the Lion

When the Sun rises, you should start running’.

                                      (Muhammad Ibn Raschid Al Maktum)

A company’s environment is no longer what it used to be. It is deeply affected by a much higher flow of information and a fast pace of technological change. Also the pressure to innovate and to innovate fast is higher than ever before.

Increasing globalization of markets makes monitoring and analysis of the competitive landscape important. No company, regardless of size, can afford not be informed about its market environment, competitor’s products, prices, sales channels, and communication activities.

Competitive pressure is on the rise because of new market entrants, technological progress, and increasing globalization.

Governments are also getting more involved in business affairs, showing clear signs of protectionism and preferential treatment towards state-owned companies.

The reaction of competitors to a company’s strategy and the recognition of early warning signs in the market needs to be incorporated into an evolving corporate strategy. Without actual (market) information, product development, product adjustment, market development are based on mere assumptions and is similar to driving a car in fog.

Intelligence is therefore of utmost strategic importance for every company.

Even the German Gods Engaged in Intelligence      

German God Odin had two agents called Hugin (Thought) and Munin (Memory). Disguised as ravens, they both flew out in the world each day to gather information for Odin. Nothing could hide from their discerning gaze, and when they returned to Odin, they would land on his shoulder and whisper their thoughts and memories into his ear.

Intelligence is a systematic management method.

Competitive Intelligence is an approach to study and monitor the competitors and market environment in a continuous, systematic and a thorough manner whilst transforming this information into useful decision support to achieve strategic competitive advantage.

Tactical/Strategic Intelligence Instruments and Methods

‘If you know yourself and you know your enemy, you will win each battle

If you know yourself but not know your enemy, you will lose one battle for each battle you win

But if you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you are a fool and you will lose every battle’

                                                                                                          (Sun Tzu, Art of War)

Intelligence deals with a long-term strategic method as well as a short-term tactical instrument. Ideally, Intelligence deals with both.

The Value

Intelligence is of strategic importance for every company. In addition, by providing relevant past, present and future information of the competitive landscape, intelligence serves not only strategic but also operational and tactical decision-making and helps to identify emerging opportunities and risks early on. In practice, Intelligence and reaching the related goals and targets give companies a diverse range of benefits.

Competing for Business

To know your enemy, you must become your enemy said Sun Tzu in The Art of War. Sometimes competing for business can seem like a battle, where the odds are stacked against you and the odds of success are insurmountable.

All is not lost however Competitive Intelligence is the key weapon in leveling the battlefield and allowing you to compete with the advantage of knowledge on your side.

Competitive Intelligence is the ethical gathering and analysis of competitor, customer and market information from open sources. This analysis is used by organizations to make better strategic decisions. It is the difference between Competing and Winning.

Embedding Competitive Intelligence as a core management process is increasingly essential towards survival and growth in the 21^st century.

Best Practices for Managing Competitive Intelligence: Qualify Your Tenders

Tendering is expensive; Compete only where it makes good sense; Learn as much from loosing as from winning.

Each time you participate in the tendering process, you learn a little more about what it takes to win. As Sun Tzu noted ‘Opportunities multiply as they are seized’.

Competitive Intelligence   What you don’t know Will Hurt You

In today’s complex and fast-moving world, what we need even more than foresight and hindsight is insight – Napoleon Bonaparte

Start with the Customers Not the Competitors

Management Guru Peter Drucker said “the purpose of business is to create and keep a customer”. Obviously, right? Companies that provide prospects with what they want are rewarded with sales, customers and market share. Simple!

How Industry forces Influence Profitability?

In “Business @ the Speed of Thought : Using a Digital Nervous System”, Bill Gates wrote : “The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competition, the best way to put distance between you and the crowd, is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage and use information will determine whether you win or lose”.

Staying Hyper Competitive

There is a Chinese saying:

Know thy-self, know thy competition, and get it right almost every time.

Know thy-self, not know thy competition, and get it right about half the time.

Not know thy self, not know thy competition, and get it wrong almost every time.

We live in a world driven by hyper competition. The knowledge base for managing in this hyper competitive environment is called Competitive Intelligence.

“Strategy without Tactics is the slowest route to Victory. Tactics without Strategy is the noise before the defeat”. Sun Tzu “The Art of War”

Commitment of Teachers towards Effective Education by Dr. Saramma Chandy

1.Contextual Competencies: Teachers need to acquire a near total understanding  of the socio-economic, cultural, linguistic and religious contexts of the specific family milieu and the community profile. They have to understand the heterogenities and diversities of the society while working out unifying factors for building a cohesive society that believes in national integration and provides every citizen a sense of belonging to the nation with dignity and equality

2. Conceptual Competancies: The educational implication of mental, social and cultural needs are to be ascertained to the different age groups and slowly integrate them to the understanding of Universal enrolment, Universal retention and Universal quality education with specific reference to the minimal levels of learning approach translated into competency based teaching-learning process.

3. Content Competancies: Distinct structure of concepts further inter-related to rules, principles or laws. To comprehend relationships between facts and concepts, principles and theories and identify new developments in the subject to classify them into the structure of the subject in terms of improving competency.

4.Transactional Competencies: To engage the pupil in group learning, peer learning and individual learning and monitor the progress of children towards mastery through continuous evaluation, provide assistance to overcome hurdles and provide challenging  practices and achieve competencies among individuals in  a group.

5. Co-curricular Activities: Extra-curricular activities such as school assembly, school magazine, picnic, excursion etc, are essential to the development of desirable behavious, values and attitudes among students and brings out the talent edge in the various kinds of competitions viz., games, sports, group activities, drama, music, cultural and social activities.

6. Teaching Aids/ Learning Materials: As and when possible, self made learning materials that are easily available and use of natural resources and encouraging student groups to build models that help in their studies will enable better understanding and build competencies.

7. Evaluation Competencies: The knowledge of various kinds of tests that help evaluate the content and memory. Evaluation should be periodic, continuous and assess competencies based on content, context and behavioural aspects,

8. Management Competencies: To increase their abiliy to assume responsibility of self-management as an individual and as group members, Management cabpabilities of the teacher within the classroom, the institution, the resources management, personnel management, time management will all help build competencies.

9. Working with Parents: Help parents to organize supervised study lessons, remedial teaching, counselling sessions, etc, Proper coordination with parents will help solving classroom problems and better all round development of the child.

10. Working with Community and other Agencies: The school should have a wholesome rapport with the community and other Agencies. Organizing of exhibitions with student activities involving traffic control, Community Health, Cleaner environment, Civic Sense, etc. will help build competencies in the society.