DK Kapila The Oracle

  My Own Faith – How do we actually build up its essence and the faith.                                                    By Dinesh K Kapila   Mine is an age old religion (Sanatan Dharm / Hinduism), which has survived and largely retained its adherents through a long period of history. Evolving from the dawn of civilisation and surviving invasions, slavery, prejudices, it has stayed true to its core and philosophy. However, we seem to have lost our way. Is the core philosophy understood by the general adherents which follows the Sanatan Dharm or have they simply turned it into some rituals to be performed at a few specific times a year – festivals, death, birth, marriage, cursory random visits to temples etc. Maybe the odd p...

  Be Comfortable with Yourself Dinesh Kumar Kapila This is most important. As an individual, employee, Businessman, entrepreneur or as an organisation. Be comfortable means you know who you are, you know where you stand, you have an absolute clarity about your goals and plans, you know when to stay calm and ride out the tough times, you have the self confidence and maturity to accept yourself and then work on where you want to be. You can lie low when you need to refresh and recharge and rethink and then move on again. Maybe even to accept things as they are at times. This however eludes many. Thus come the grievances, blame games and even a victim hood syndrome in some. We have to assess ourselves and our goals and achievements and where we want to be. Nobody can do this for us. But escapism by way of not acknowledging your own centrality in the process is a path to waiting it out on the sidelines. This impacts organisations too, some just stagnate or struggle along. Blaming the o...

  Covid has been harsh on small business DK Kapila Today I got talking to the owner of a small busy operating out of a small shop. Highly successful with his multiple lines of small businesses- stationery, copy machine, printing, assignments etc. He has risen in life the hard way- building upon a ladder of small businesses on the outskirts before reaching Chandigarh and striking real success. The rent Rs 40000/- per month of the shop, two young employees Rs 17000/- a month plus his son chipping in. I discussed the current scenario. He said it was still to normalise as students on work from hone had limited needs. But it was improving. However the past eighteen months had been tough and he was constrained to sell off a floor on his small three story house. He planned to sell out completely now as he needed his own space. He said cash flows were nearly nil while rent electricity and credit terms within the trade remained what they were. He had to pay part salary to his employees too...

Horticulture -  Just sharing a personal experience Yesterday I was buying fruits. From my favourite vendor. I saw pears there which I knew from their shape size and skin colour to be sourced from the lower hills of HP and nearby districts in Punjab. These are not the Premium variety but taste quite nice. The cost - plus Rs 110/- a Kg. We discussed. The farmers were getting Rs 20/- to Rs 23/- per kg. Maximum. As per the vendor. Now in 70 kms to 80 kms the price went up a little over four times. He stated 28 % to 30 % was the margin of the Commission Agent / Arhtiya. He stated his margin was 10 % to 15%. Then add mandi fees, wastage / transportation and storage costs had to be factored in but I know for sure the storage is limited as it’s distributed immediately. The vendor stated the maximum margins were of the commission agents and they lived with this reality. Twenty odd years ago I was posted in the Districts. That time Pears were retailed under a tree at Balachaur - 60 or so kms...