DK Kapila The Oracle

A friend just related to me her tale of woe. Her younger sister was married to a guy from an apparently well placed family from Delhi but there were marital issues now. The usual aspects in an arranged marriage were all studied by formal and informal means known to all Indians prior to the marriage, the groom (profession, height, weight, qualifications, salary, company, horoscope, complexion, the way he smiled, features and such important traits), the family (community, religion, region of origin, relatives in various positions, age profile, number of brothers and sisters, father & mother dead or alive), culture (Indian Punjabi with a mix of Metro / liberal outlook), wealth (jewellery worn by the ladies, also known by deliberate references to gold and diamonds in conversations / discussions), residential property (the house they lived in plus gossip gathered or hinted at purposefully about other property), the number of cars, the servants serving tea etc. The marriage was reasona...

Chandigarh, the city now offers diverse eating options and it can be pretty bewildering, plus you never know how genuine or representative of a region the food paced before you actually is. Me, I prefer the indianised food or rather the indianised version of the food dished out but love to be comfortable and in a happy frame of mind when watching the diners and eating. Plus at times all you want is a coffee or a light snack, the cafes or their larger versions often do just fine. I avoid cafes patronised by white bearded gentlemen, cribbing with their wives about property disputes or daughters in law ! I like now a days what appears to be a largish version of a café, The ‘Girl In the Café’, in the shopping district, Sector 17, located on the second floor next to Sindhis Sweets and Canara Bank. The place has spaced out seating and comfortable sofa type chairs, so while comfort is assured, you cannot eavesdrop, now that’s a negative!. Its trendy, they have seating in the balcony, for th...

Erik wrote that Obama is going all out for the economy, or atleast thats what I thought. Now the moot point is does the USA have a segment of population which may be deprived comparatively but willing to work on building infrastructure - plumbers / masons / carpenters etc, in the numbers required and with the requisite skills. The industrial sector generated jobs with stability as did the mining sector; the environmental lobby and the changing mores of society caused this sector to lose importance and consequently jobs. The retail sector and the financial sector specially is not the real economy and can never replace the stability of the manufacturing industry. Also you cannot sustain an economy by an industry based on cutting edge technology alone as the USA had planned and outsource smokestacks to developing countries. This is the main issue. Even in rare earth minerals, the USA closed its mines and is now dependent on China. The Chinese can always dictate terms on such strategic i...

A CIVILIANS TRIBUTE. By DINESH K KAPILA. Mom dear, My units on the move, We are of to Doda, to fight the militants there. Son, son, don’t go, Your mom’s afraid, Let me warn you, this country’s not worth dying for. Mom, its my men, My units ‘izzat’ Our country’s honour, I shall fight for it all. Son, son, don’t go, Your mom’s fearful, Let me entreat you, This country’s not worth dying for. Mom dear, do understand, This ancient land, our people, We fight for them. Come on, just Bless me. Son, son, don’t go, Nobody is bothered, Except this old woman, This country’s not worth dying for. Mom, you will be so proud, Dense jungles, nightfall, snowfall, Marches, ambushes and firing, Not a man did I lose. Confusion, conflicting orders, men sweated but stood firm, we fought and killed, proud at a job well done. Son son, Listen you will not, Be cautious, be afraid, Here a man’s worth is his money. The streets of...

I wonder should I invest or stay away, The markets do seem to have bottomed out, But then some said it could be a double dip, And my heart just skips another beat. I have this huge urge to invest, To average my losses at the least, The markets are now so confusing me, My heart keeps going one long way But the brain says its now or never. The losses do compound day by day, The long term loses definition day by day, From a trader an investor I have become, The profits still don’t seem to come by. A love I had for over 12 % compounded annual returns, So why trade in bonds or NCDs or ULIPs, Equities give best returns said the market gurus’ But my portfolio just suggests otherwise. Diversified mutual funds are in free fall, The Indian growth story goes one way, The markets and NAVs just go another way, I the investor am still confused as ever. I now sit on the sidelines, Flipping business channels and surfing guruspeak, Excitement eludes my shrunken portfolio, A bor...

The Park is Romantic in the Hot Afternoons . I am normally a late evening walker, walking for an hour or so in the Fragrance Garden of Sector 36 Chandigarh on weekends or when on leave. Now a days the heat and humidity result in all walkers looking alike, whether old, young, male or female, heavy set or thin. The common look is sweaty, reddish faces, handkerchiefs in hand, shirts drenched in sweat, faces grim and eyes focused on getting the walk done with. Not a pleasant spectacle, this is for sure. Last weekend, guests phoned that they would be coming over in the evening. Scared of my doctor and his advise to control my weight and blood pressure, I wondered about the fate of my walk, specially as I knew I would not be able to resist the eats. The better half was sure to be grim faced about the lack of exercise on my part while I enjoyed the snacks. So on a sudden thought while driving by the park during noon, I decided to...

Working as a DDM (District Development Manager) of NABARD in districts Ropar and Nawanshahr of Punjab from 2002 to 2009, I noticed a tremendous hunger for credit and access to entrepreneurial opportunities amongst women in rural areas. The main barriers were the gender insensitivity of a deeply feudalistic society, lack of collateral, low levels of knowledge / literacy, lack of avenues of marketing and at times limited communication skills leading to low confidence. A pilot project was introduced at that time by NABARD wherein groups of women, preferably from Self Help Groups would be encouraged to set up retail outlets with limited financial support from NABARD (for rent, financial support to organize the outlet and limited salary for running it) . The only condition was the women had to have a product / products to sell it, should have undergone some training in a skill (say food processing -pickles, papads, clothing design / tailoring etc) by an agency; could be sponsored by NABA...

A Perspective on the Need for Change in Organisations “It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things”. Machiavelli in The Prince . The compulsions for change are manifold in today’s world; these could be external or internal to an organization. The main external factors are the impact of liberalization, increasing global / national competition; changing customer needs, diversification of the core businesses, amalgamations / mergers etc. The main internal factors driving change are mostly a lack of role clarity within organizations, poor employee morale and brand equity of the organization, inter divisional frictions, an excessive internal focus of an organization, prolonged losses, inability to sell the existing products optimally, not aligning the organization structure with the evolving market conditions etc. The main drivers for initiating the change pr...