DK Kapila The Oracle

  Life Lessons Learnt from my Father Dinesh K Kapila A friend messaged me that a son’s relationship with his father passes through the following stages, idolising, discord, evolving, acceptance and legacy. I would modify it to say this could be a pathway or rather one of the pathways certainly or more important, the degree of each phase could vary. We as human beings undergo varied emotions and environments in our formative years and each individual could look at it differently within the normal bonds of this relationship. My father has been a major inspiration in my life, he has instilled in me the need to be committed, virtuous, the importance of character, the need to bond with and build the family and the love of India. A soldier, leader, writer, scholar, committed social worker, professor, advisor to the government, I have seen him go through all these roles of life with positivity, motivation, commitment and happiness. Major General Rajendra Nath, PVSM (Retd), as he is ...

  Thrift and Triple R  Dinesh K Kapila We are a nation of thrift across income and social classes. Stories abound of our love for thrift, squeezing the last bit out of toothpaste tubes to reusing old undergarments to clean cars and old shirts as dusters are there across WhatsApp University. Then gifting and regifting is also an art, you receive the exotic chocolates wrapped in a beautiful box and well why gain weight, there is still a box in the refrigerator, pass it on graciously to the next housewarming party or a get together! Sometimes in some upper class households it’s a game of constantly passing on after discreetly after assessing its cost and quality and the contents. It keeps them suitably engaged to and encourages the Triple R concept of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Though I doubt the votaries of the Triple R concept will agree !   but yes, I have found the visiting card placed inside the box to be different from the person who gifted it. The passing on perso...

  SPEECH ON BIODIVERSITY – SENIOR CITIZENS CLUB RWA SECTOR 46 – JUNE 2023 DINESH K KAPILA Good evening from my side. Firstly, I would like to express my thanks for the kind invitation and then for the lovely evening. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable evening for me. With all the light peppy romantic numbers, I would like to thank the counselor who's present here, Mr. Gurpreet Singh and Dr. SS Grewal , in particular for the warmth and the hospitality and for the pleasant enjoyable evening. The nicely maintained community center at which we have had this gathering and the songs created a wonderful ambience. I would say after this lovely evening of beautiful songs, romantic songs, I wonder if whether after all this, well discussions on biodiversity are really in order, but since I've been invited for the purpose,   let me just take it on. But before I start on that note, I would like to compliment the singers, the orchestra, and the sound mixer, all of them put together ha...

  Rentals and Rents and Matrimony and what not. Dinesh K Kapila Well, what on earth would I be blogging about now, matrimony and rentals and rents ! Well, I do have a reason and its all connected, not always but at times, you just have to connect the dots as they say. Or at times the penny drops late, then you draw a lesson and move on and may be blog about it years later.   Chandigarh and its sister cities, Panchkula and Mohali, commonly now called the tri-city, have similar designs and markets. We have showrooms and booths, the showrooms are larger, triple storeyed and house restaurants and offices and what not. The booths are much smaller and are used by traders to sell rations, medicines, small hair salons, fast food outlets etc. Well, in our sector the rents of booths have escalated sharply, so sharply that traders in neighbouring sectors (localities) have started complaining and inquiring as t what could be the viability of a booth after paying Rs 70000/- to Rs 900...

 Four Points - At Random - Think it over Dinesh Kumar Kapila Just four points. From here and there. We can think about them and their implications. Point One - Don’t give advise unless asked for - A school teacher asked his young students to carry out one noble task each and tell him about it the next day. Well, the next day one student immediately raised his hand and said he wanted to relate his noble task, undertaken yesterday. Surprised at this volunteering, the teacher nodded and the young student said he saw an old lady standing by a busy road and helped her cross it. Immediately a second student informed he too had helped an old lady cross a busy road. This student had just completed his story when a third student informed that he too had helped an old lady cross the road. The teacher said he was deeply moved with their sincerity but was puzzled how each one of them had helped old ladies to cross busy roads. The class monitor, a bright young girl, said quietly, I was watching...

 Agriculture / Rural Sector -Credit Flow - Where are we headed in the next twenty five years. Dinesh K Kapila, Chief General Manager (Retd), NABARD.  The perspective for the next twenty five years for any State in India presents a major challenge as the scenario which would evolve in terms of technology, economic changes, demographic profile, changing consumer trends and the consequent impact on production, changes in the financial eco system and climate change are imponderables. For example a scenario could evolve that in a hill state short term credit could be more in demand By FPOs and other such aggregators rather than limited to individual farmers for crop loans. Fintech evolving in rural areas are also a gray area in terms of evolution, growth and credit planning. However a vision has to be evolved and a broad array of goals drawn up. Then we can disaggregate and draw up a plan for the next five years and thereafter project in terms of the two decades to follow.  Th...

  Tales Cafes just don’t tell you ! Dinesh K Kapila Chandigarh has a vibrant café culture. In fact the tri city has evolved on this, even if the cafes are rather overpriced at times. They are reasonably full, packed on weekends and give off a strong vibrant feel. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee entices most people in any case as you walk by. Youngsters working away on their laptops oblivious to the world around them is a common sight as are pretty young things whiling away time. You want a dose of energy, walk into a café, specially which is more frequented. I personally like the cafes where you get the aroma of a strongly brewed really hot cup of coffee. Not being adventurous, I stick to the lattes and cappuccinos, Starbucks does a decent version of the really hot coffee with its flat white version. I mean just what is the aim of a coffee if it runs out of that hot strong flavour in a couple of minutes. But these cafes hide many a tale. And we really don’t get to know t...