Please take off your shoes

Please take off your shoes...

Doorways throughout the world, especially those with religious significance, have a special meaning inasmuch as they signify the movement from one level of consciousness or existence to the other. Often these are decorated with different symbolic motifs which have their own tale to tell. The door is usually two jambed exhibiting an element of duality, and one is often led to the unity or centrality of the destination (often the garbhagriha or the sanctum sanctorum).

The movement through the door also represents passage from one mental status to another, even as a snake casts off its skin to renew its life. The symbolism in Hindu marriages of the newly wedded bride either happily carried by the groom or kicking the cereals contained in a sacred urn into the house represents entry into a paradise in which they will happily ever after, and any stumble may spell impending trouble.

Taking off of the shoes has a larger meaning. The humble shoe, the protector of the foot, accumulates dirt and dust on the roads and humbly stays back as the master moves into a new world-whether it be a house, a temple or any other sacred place. The home is considered as a mini shrine, a place where God or goodness lives or the owner aspires that divinity should reside in.


This act also symbolizes seeking permission to enter the hallowed precincts. The door not only 'allows in' but also 'shuts out' the unwanted or the undeserving. The door jamb is literally a line dividing the past from the present, the good from the bad, the moist from the dry. The doors are usually guarded so that the undeserving and the unwanted are kept off or deterred from entry, whether it is by lions or guardian angels, the mountain sheep or the cherubim, the dvarapalas or even the evil eye. Even some libraries and historical monuments are flanked by lions as if guarding wisdom or intellectual or temporal power.

All sacred enclosures are places for divinity to dwell or make its home. The centrum or the core can be the Cross, the idol or some object of centrality, divine or otherwise, the sacred well or desired locus; which itself is a Door to the other world, wisdom, shift of attention, presence of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. The Vastu Shastra also recognises that the centre of any building or structure is the Brahmasthana which should not be loaded with any column or beam.

The one who has conquered his vices and aspires for reason, wisdom and virtues eminently qualifies to enter the Gate. The passage through the door is a middle way which bridges the past and the present, virtue and vice, yin and yang, day and night and various other contraries, and the person who passes the door is a Hero who is in the process of conquering the banality for the beatitude, shaking off his vices and his little ego. Christ said He was the door through which we have to pass. The contradiction between day and night can be well understood if night is taken to symbolise the body and the day the soul, and the human being lives in the dawn yearning for wisdom, cleansing of the soul, surrendering the spirit to God.

View on Pension Reforms

 

                                         Pension Reforms in India

                                           (article written in 2003)

Broadly pension reform proposals in India aim at creation of an independent pension regulatory authority to control the pension system, making it mandatory beyond a level of employment, limiting withdrawal option before retirement, facilitating increase in rate of return on funds contributed by liberalising investment rules for such funds, and professionalising pension funds management.  In short, there is a proposed shift from defined benefit system to defined contribution system as well as a choice of three different investment patterns: growth, balanced income and safe income.  It is assumed that with higher levels of corpus and with better financial management, higher income replacement levels at the time of retirement can be anticipated.  The focus of the reforms at present seems to encourage the working population to take more interest in their post retirement income levels.

           There is a general perception that in a society faced with demographic features like an ageing society and higher pensionary outflows on a retiring work force and delicate state of public finances, a switch from public unfunded pensions to private funded pension systems will increase growth through savings, especially the flow of savings to capital markets and augment the overall well being of the pensioners by giving them the responsibility of managing their pensionary finances.

            Can funded pension system face the challenges of demographic transition? Demographic transition is indicated by an ageing population and higher healthcare costs associated with it.  There is also the question of declining proportion of working population and higher dependency levels on earning members.

            The most compelling reason for pension reforms seems to be the increasing pension burden in the future.  One of the key aspects of such reforms is seen to be the replacement of Pay As You Go (PAYG) system with funded pension systems.  Funding is seen as a solution for two basic reasons: a) funded systems will increase levels of savings and investment and thus income b) funding is expected to lead to faster economic growth and generally enable coping with demographic challenges.  Both these can however, be challenged.  Assuming that funded systems lead to accumulation of financial assets such as equity and debt, enhanced role for capital markets is envisaged and increased savings can be expected to flow through capital markets.  The logic largely follows the Feldstein theory that PAYG pension system curbs national savings and a switch to funded systems will increase savings and investment.  This can however be subject to critical analysis.  Savings largely depend on life cycle considerations, with society’s age structure determining the level and time profile of savings.  If that be so, savings should be unaffected by how the society takes care of the elderly.  There are several reasons why savings of the society are expected to remain unchanged.  In a transitional phase, Governments would still need to fund existing pension liabilities.  This can be done by borrowing, raising taxes or cutting (non-pension) expenditure.  Raising taxes does not effect savings as it directly affects social security contributions, leaving workers’ disposable income and saving unchanged.  Government borrowing is usually in the form of issue of bonds to finance pension  obligations, and in fact Government borrowing can be seen as dissaving.  By cutting manpower expenditure, Government saving is not effected and in fact may adversely impact economic activity.  If Governments can cut expenditure, they would do so irrespective of the pension system prevalent.  In sum, the hope of a higher level of savings may not be well founded.

           

            In an assumption of a complete switchover from PAYG to funded pension system, it appears as if more forced contributions would lead to greater savings.  Having the possibility of savings does not mean savings will take place.  Even if these are made mandatory, it has to be remembered that higher savings by workers may not imply higher national savings as pensioners may be forced to dissave by selling other financial assets.

            Often it is argued that privately funded pension systems would ensure that demographic challenges are met more effectively.  The demographic challenges are often meant to denote a declining proportion of workforce and an ageing population.  It is also assumed that pensioners have no saving capability and consume whatever output they are used to in their active years.  Furthermore, they have no wage or other income and claim today’s goods and services based on their past contributions.

            Under Indian conditions many of these assumptions can be put to test.  While the demographic challenge for mature countries like those in Europe is understood, Indian working population is set to increase in the years to come.  Furthermore, any growth in public or private sector is expected to create employment opportunities leading to more than proportionate growth of workers vis a vis non workers or pensioners.  It may be added that the present pension system has not fully saturated the working population for various reasons.  Only about 23% in the Government sector are beneficiaries of defined benefit pension system and only about 49% employed in the private sector are covered by mandatory Employee Provident Fund.  Many organisations blatantly violate labour laws and try to avoid any type of benefit to their employees including pensionary benefits or provident fund. 

The present pension scheme assures a transfer payment from Government in a fixed proportion to their present wage level and even this is indexed broadly to cost of living.    Under funded pension systems, workers accumulate no assurances of income replacement but financial assets.  Inflation is a cruel reality that bites into financial assets even as they are being built up.  Even if investments are made in bonds, equities and real estate, their value is likely to depreciate as in an ageing society, there may be few takers for these assets and hence lower realisation or even a capital loss.

            Two other compelling arguments for funded pension systems are often cited: growth and globalisation.   But as shown earlier, higher savings may only be misnomer and may not translate into growth.  Growth can however result from more efficient mobilisation and allocation of savings.  Under funded pension systems, funds may flow more through capital markets than through banks.  The hidden assumption however is that market based financial systems are more efficient than bank based financial systems, or score in allocational efficiency.  However, one cannot at the present juncture compare the two as banks have been overregulated and our capital markets are yet to inspire confidence, after repeated scams have scarred investors’ memories.  Growth in a reforming economy like ours presumes that expanding investment opportunities would be available for private sector and high levels will be sustained.

            The other argument—globalisation—presumes that free flows of capital or financial assets are possible; in other words, financial assets can acquire claims on output of other countries, and pension funds can be invested in foreign countries freely without any let or restriction.  This is helpful if marginal returns on capital in other countries are expected to be more than realisable domestically.  The investments have to be moreover, in countries with a different demographic profile and faster growth prospects, and those capable of exporting goods and non factor services when the investing countries is ready to sell its assets.  Last of all, the credit worthiness issue is paramount in international investments and debt repayment of external finance depends equally on willingness and capacity to repay.  Moral hazard argument has often been used while discussing reverse financial flows.  This logic would however hold goods in both pension systems.

            The question of overall welfare of the pensioners still remains.  The power to select the fund manager according to the risk profile of the employee remains with the employee instead of depending on a designated public fund manager.  But with it also shifts the responsibility of taking the risks associated with the investment pattern.  There is also the uncertainty that extraneous factors such as inflation, depreciation of currency,  the state of the stock markets as well as international monetary flows might put paid to the value of realisation of the financial assets which are being created.  The emerging demographic profile will also have a great bearing on the value of capital assets created.

            It can be therefore concluded that there are no strong reasons to believe that a shift in pension systems would impact growth of economies substantially and that the blow on pensioners would be softened compared to the present levels.  However, with the good intentions and objectives such as risk sharing, corpus creation, and passing on part of decision making to the working population, the new scheme deserves to be given a chance and modifications if any can be considered looking to the lessons learnt in implementation of the same.

Kolavari Di Lyric

Lyric of the hit song Why this Kolavari Di?
Artist : Dhanush
Music By : Anirudh
Lyrics :
yo boys i am singing song
soup song flop song
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
rhythm correct why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
maintain this
why this kolaveri..di
distance la moon-u moon-u moon-u color-u white-u white background night-u nigth-u night-u color-u black-u
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
white skin-u girl-u girl-u girl-u heart-u black-u  
eyes-u eyes-u meet-u meet-u my future dark  
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di  
maama notes eduthuko apdiye kaila sax eduthuko
pa pa paan pa pa paan pa pa paa pa pa paan
sariya vaasi
super maama ready ready
1 2 3 4
whaa wat a change over maama ok maama
now tune change-u
kaila glass only english.. hand la glass glass la scotch eyes-u full-aa tear-u empty life-u girl-u come-u life reverse gear-u
lovvu lovvu oh my lovvu you showed me bouv-u cow-u cow-u holi cow-u
i want u hear now-u god i m dying now-u she is happy how-u
this song for soup boys-u
we dont have choice-u
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
flop song

Why this Kolavari Di-A Commentary

Why this Kolavari Di?

Even as the scion of a movie czar croons an onomatopoeic word salad, apparently in a creative moment, it is clear that the viral spread of the kolaveri owes a lot to the social media and the emergence of the new youth power.

Kolaveri Di strikes one as a spontaneous burst of ethereal sound on the musical landscape with a dreamy composition, often cited as an example of Tanglish, but apparently more English than Tamil, with 38 of around 900 words. In this linguistic hybridism, it carries on the tradition of ‘hello mister how do you do’, Muquabala and the other current Bollywood staples. The language of the song is not that of the hi-brow urbane, but the colloque of the street, being easily understood by the masses. Its international appeal lies in the fact that it is almost English, barring the kolaveri word, which begs instant attention with its apparent nonsense entry, but imbued with the lyricist’s sentiments of a love-lorn.

The burgeoning and aspiring youth of today, especially in India, find a quick appeal in the song, as it portrays a casual urban youth, in a noveau career, mouthing a melange of sounds bordering on language loaded with apparently meaningless and murderously repetitive scat, as if taking on the rubric of Frank Sinatra’s Dooby Dooby Do, Lou Reed’s doo da-Doo or Goldfrappe’s Ooh la la, and wordlessly slipping across the musical frontiers beyond eras. The setting itself appears to have a lowly lit, dim studio capable of psychedelic echoes of one, two , three and demonstrating an attempt of a group of youngsters pecking at instant stardom. The calibrated casualness is punctuated with due importance to settings, language, tune changes with the élan of a perfectionist.

The youthful and dreamy escape is aimed at transporting the youth away from the problems of perceived inequality, injustice, hunger, drudgery into a reverie. On the other hand, the theme suggests a jilted lover, who has taken for granted the comforts of as a booming economy, high social mobility, social choice, and enough cash to splurge on scotch and ice. Social constraints popping up as holy cows in an era of renewed honour killings notwithstanding, the rebel in the youth would plod on to complain of the urge to murder. The protagonist portrays himself as a kolapo with a clutch of kolarovs ready to take on the kolaveri of a di.

In an era of short attention spans, the video is about four minutes, ideal for viral transmission across the u-tubes and facebooks of the world. The attention deficit is visible in the mindless esperanto centred around on focal theme and a lot of context building, a la dinka chika and chammak challo.

Whether the song would be a trendsetter of a new genre of Tanglish, or a link in a chain of mc-melodies in the pot au feu of nonsense lyrics would be of interest to watch.

Happy borrowing!

How to close your bank loan account

Most of the time anxious and relieved borrowers forget how to close their bank loan accounts once all payments are made. Frequently forgotten important aspects:

1 Get back all the documents from the bank which had been submitted at the time of sanction of the loan, such as loan papers, title, insurance, statement, documents and documents of owner’s coverage.
2 No dues certificate or settlement statement ( a certificate from the lender stating that no more loan dues are outstanding).
3 At the last minute banks state that some of the bounced cheques are outstanding and start collecting hefty charges as penalty etc.
4 Often the registration documents are old fashioned and not computerised as now. The bank has to follow up with the Registrar’s office and get the updated records.
5 Without the title of deed, you cannot sell or mortgage the property again and it must be obtained, that too in original. If the lender has not kept the documents safe, that adds to the complications.
6 If these documents are not obtained in time (say two weeks), the bank may start saying that it is too delayed and has to be obtained from the central records and it adds to delay.
7 A little bit of carelessness in closing the loan formalities can land you in hefty charges, unnecessary complicated formalities, or forgoing the rights of the property itself.

Wanna own a car

How costly is running a car?

The cost of running a car is often taken as the petrol/diesel consumed. The car makers also capitalise on this psychology of the consumer. But in reality, it may be cheaper to take a taxi than to own a car. Think how?

Besides, the so called 'average' kilometerage , the following costs are incurred:

1 lubricants, engine and gear oils 15 paise
2 tyres 25 paise
3 others 15 paise
4 labour charges 50 paise
5 perfume etc 10 paise
6 parking charges 10 paise
7 cleaning/maintenance 10 paise
8 breakages 20 paise
9 police challan etc 10 paise
10 depreciation, interest, insurance 600 paise or more
11 puncture/occasional repairs 70 paise
12 Driver 500 paise or more

So the actual cost of running a car works out to more than Rs. 16 to 17 per kilometer while the taxi charges per km might be less.

MORE ON SMS LANGUAGE

Few more SMS Terms:

AFAIK -- As Far As I Know
AFK -- Away from keyboard
Alwz -- Always
ASL -- Age, sex, location
ASAP -- As soon as possible
ATB -- All the best
ATK -- At the keyboard
ATM -- At the moment
A3 -- Anytime, Anywhere, Anyplace
BeB4 -- Before
B4N -- Bye for now
BCNU -- Be seeing you
BAK -- Back at keyboard
BBL -- Be back later
BCNU -- Be seeing you
BBS -- Be back soon
BF -- Boyfriend
BFN/B4N -- Bye for now
BFz4evr -- Best friends forever
BHL8 -- Be home late
BIL -- Boss is listening
BN -- BeenBOL - Best of luck
BRB -- Be right back
BRBGP -- Be right back gotta pee
BRT -- Be right there
BTW -- By the way
B4N -- Bye for now
C -- See
CU -- See you
CUB L8R -- Call you back later
CU@ -- See you at
CUL -- See you later
CYA -- See you around, See ya
CMi -- Call me
CMON -- Come On
CUB L8R -- Call you back later
CUL8R -- See you later
CYR BOS -- Call Your Boss
CYR BRO -- Call your brother
CYR H -- Call your husband
CYR MA -- Call your mother
CYR OFIS -- Call your office
CYR PA -- Call your father
CYR SIS -- Call your sister
CYR WF -- Call your wife

Dk -- Don't know
DNR - Dinner
doN -- Doing
Dur? -- Do you remember
E2eg -- Ear to ear grin
EOD -- End of discussion
EOL -- End of lecture
EVRY1 -- Everyone
EZY -- Easy
EZ - Easy
FAQ -- Frequently asked questions
FC -- Fingers crossed
F2F -- Face to face
F2T -- Free to talk
F? -- Friends?
FITB -- Fill in the blank
FOMCL -- Fell out of my chair laughing
FYEO -- For your eyes only
FYA -- For your amusement
FYI - For your information
F2F -- Face to face
F2T -- Free to talk
GAL -- Get a life
GF -- Girlfirend
GG -- Good game
GMeSumLuvin -- Give me some lovin’!
GMTA -- Great minds think alike
GR8 -- Great!
GSOH -- Good salary, own home
GTSY -- Glad to see you
GUDLUK -- Good luck
G9 -- Genius
h2cus -- Hope to see you soon
H8 -- Hate
HAGN -- Have a good night
HAND -- Have a nice day
HldMeCls -- Hold me close
HRU -- How are you
Ht4U -- Hot for you
HTH - Hope that helps
H&K -- Hugs and kisses
IAC -- In any case
IAD8 -- It's a date
IC -- I See
ICQ -- I seek you
IDK -- I don't know I
GotUBabe-- I've got you babe
IIRC -- If I recall correctly
ILU -- I love you
ILU2 -- I love you too
ILUA -- I love you alot
ILuvU Alwz&4evr -- I love you always and forever
IMO -- In my opinion
IMHO -- In my honest (or humble) opinion
IMBLuv -- It must be love
IMI -- I mean it
IMO -- In my opinion
IMTNG -- I am in a meeting
IM 4 U -- I am for you
Im :) 2hv Mt U -- I'm happy to have met you
IOU -- I owe you
IOW -- In other words
IRL -- In real life
Its F8 -- It's fate
IUSS -- If you say so
IYD -- In your dreams
IYKWIM - If you know what I mean
J4F -- Just for fun
JFK -- Just for kicks
JK - Just kidding
JHB -- Johannesburg
JstCllMe -- Just call me
KC -- Keep cool
KHUF -- Know how you feel
KISS -- Keep it simple, Stupid
KIT -- Keep in touch
KOTC -- Kiss on the cheek
KOTL -- Kiss on the lips
L&N -- Landing
LDR -- Long distance relationship
LMAO -- Laugh my ass off
LOL -- Laughing out loud
LDN -- London
LSKOL - Long slow kiss on the lips
LTNS - Long time no see
LTNS -- Long time no see
LTNC -- Long time no see
LUV -- Love
LtsGt2gthr -- Lets get together
lyN -- Lying
L8 -- Late
L8r -- Later
MTE -- My thoughts exactly
M$ULkeCrZ -- Miss you like crazy!
MC -- Merry Christmas
MGB -- May god bless
Mob -- Mobile
MU - Miss you
MUSM - Miss you so much
MTE - My thoughts exactly
MYOB -- Mind your own businessM8 -- Mate

NRN -- No reply necessary
NA -- No access
NC -- No comment
NE -- Any
NE1 -- Anyone
NITING -- Anything
No1 -- No one
NP - No problemnufN -- NothingNWO -- No way out
OIC -- Oh, I seeOTOH -- On the other hand O4U -- Only for you

PITA -- Pain In The A**
PCM -- Please call me
PCME -- Please call me
PITA -- Pain in the a**
pl& -- Planned
PLS - Please
PLZ 4GV ME - Please forgive me
PML -- Piss Myself Laughing
po$bl -- Possible
PRT -- Party
PRW -- Parents are watching
PTB -- Please Text Back
PUKS -- Pick Up Kids
QPSA? -- Que pasa? (what's happening?)
QT -- Cutie

R -- Are
RGDS -- Regards
RINGL8 -- Running Late
RLR -- Earlier
RMB -- Ring my bell
ROFL -- Rolling on the floor laughing
ROFLOL -- Rolling on the floor laughing out loud
ROTFLMAO -- Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off
ROTG -- Rolling on the ground
ROTGLMAO -- Rolling on the ground laughing my ass off
RTFM -- Read the flaming manual
RU -- Are you
RU? -- Are you?
RU CMNG -- Are You coming
RUOK -- Are You OK?
SC -- Stay cool
SETE -- Smiling ear to ear
SHLM -- Shalom
shopN -- Shopping
SK8 -- Skate
SO -- Significant other
SOL -- Sooner or later
SOL -- Sh_t out of luck
SME1 -- Someone
SPK -- Speak
SPK 2 U L8R -- Speak to you later
SRY -- Sorry
STATS -- Your sex and age
SWALK -- Sent with a loving kiss
SWATK - Sent/Sealed with a tender kiss
SWG -- Scientific wild guess
T+ -- Think positive
TDTU -- Totally devoted to you
Thx -- Thanks
TIC -- Tongue in Cheek
Tks -- Thanks
TMIY -- Take me I'm yours
THNQ -- Thank you
TIA -- Thanks in advance
TLA -- Three letter acronym
TTFN -- Ta ta for now.
TTYL -- Talk to you later
TUL -- Tell you later
T2Go -- Time to go
T2ul -- Talk to you later
U -- You
U2 -- You too
UI! -- You Idiot!
UR -- You are
uvbnsmuchd -- You've been smooched
URT1 -- You are the one
UR TH WKEST LNK GDBY -- You are the weakest link goodbye
UR4Me - You are for me
U4E - Yours forever
VRI -- Very
W@ -- What
W8N -- waiting
WAN2 -- Want to
Wan2 C a moV? -- Want to see a movie?
WAN2 :-* -- Want to kiss?
WB -- Welcome Back
WLUMRy -- will you marry me?
WOT -- What
WRT -- With respect to
WRU -- Where are you?
WTF -- What the heck?
WTH -- What The Hell
WTG -- Way To Go!
WTMPI -- Way Too Much Personal Information
WUF -- Where Are You From?
WUWH -- Wish you were here
W4u -- Waiting for you
W8 -- Wait
W84M -- Wait for me
X! -- Typical woman
X -- Kiss
XO -- Kiss and a hug
XclusvlyUrs -- Exclusively yours
XLNT -- Excellent

Y -- Why?
Y! -- Typical Man
YBS -- You’ll be Sorry
YGM-- You got mail
YR – Your

Z -- the (affected, as in "what's zee time?")
ZZZZZ – Sleeping

10Q -- Thank You
1DAY -- One day
1ON1 -- One on one
1NC -- Once

2 -- To/Two/Too
2DAY -- Today
2bctnd -- To be continued.
2d4 -- To die for
2g4u -- To good for you
2Ht2Hndl-- Too hot to handle.
2l8 -- Too late
2MORO -- Tomorrow
2NITE -- Tonight2
WIMC -- To whom it may concern

3sum -- Threesome
3 8 1 -- Three words, eight letters, one meaning (I Love You)

4 -- For4e -- Forever
4gv -- Forgive
4gvn -- Forgiven
4yeo -- For your eyes only

7K - Sick

8 - Ate
8ball - Eightball

911 -- Emergency, call me