tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5508783052756603282024-03-06T13:33:48.567+05:30The Intelligent Woman's ToyboyThe musings of an eccentric but not particularly intelligent wannabe intellectual, taking potshots from the outside and exploring the boundaries of credibility on matters that are of no concern to him. Read it anyway!!Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-77382508446999767952024-01-08T08:58:00.000+05:302024-01-08T08:58:22.596+05:30The Liminal State<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Liminal State<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
2-pager by Ajit Chaudhuri – January 2024<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I retired in September 2023! ‘What are you going to do?’
is a common question.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Views on how to spend one’s golden years (i.e., 60 years
plus and more likely to be in the market for Viagra than for adult diapers) vary.
Traditionalists think of it as the third stage of life, and suggested pathways
for this stage range from the grasshopper mode of traveling around, enjoying
oneself and blowing one’s nest egg to the ant mode of continuing to work, maximizing
revenues and leaving a stash for the next generation to blow. Modernists
suggest that it is a time to find oneself, learn new things, do woke stuff like
reduce carbon footprint, et al, and treat it like one would have a male
menopause, with or without a high-end motorcycle and a pneumatic popsy on one’s
arm.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I am yet to find my groove within this spectrum. I am
not, to my knowledge, in a state of penury and, with the spouse employed and
the children off the payroll, I’m damned if I’m going back to work as I knew it.
And, anyway, what would I do in the post-truth world of the future where ‘influencer’
(wtf do they actually do?) and ‘fluffer’ (if you don’t know what they do, I
recommend a detour into dictionary.com) are considered occupations. And the
thought of more travel after a career spent on the road, and paying from one’s
pocket for the pleasure, does not excite. Sitting at home and minding my own
business would be nice but for the reality that it translates into constantly
answering doorbells and dealing with an assortment of cooks, maids, workmen and
delivery boys, and one has no defense against invitations to social occasions (try
‘shove off, I’m working’ vs. ‘shove off, I’m reading a Millsie’ or ‘shove off, Man
U is playing’, and see the difference).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Today, in early January 2024, I find that I am in a
‘liminal state’, defined by anthropologists as the time when one must navigate
between a past that is clearly over and a future that is still uncertain. How
do I deal with this? Where do I begin?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A recently read article entitled ‘Why Career Transition
Is So Hard’<a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2029-12-23/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Liminal%20State.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
was instructive. It suggests that, today, people are asking profound questions
about the work they do, how much of it they want to do, and the place it
occupies in their lives, and are alternating between changing jobs and careers,
pursuing opportunities for education, and making time for periods of rest and
recreation – this is because the accelerated pace of change is reshaping jobs
and organizations in ways that call for constant career re-invention. And,
while there is a lot that is beneficial about changing careers, chances are
that it is an emotionally fraught process that can be both exhilarating and
terrifying.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Why is the change so hard? The author describes two
challenges in career transition today. The first is that, with the rise of
non-linear career paths, many of the transitions we make have no immutable
series of steps for the change to be made and no telling how long it will take,
especially given that the direction of travel is often from large organizations
to smaller players and entrepreneurial opportunities, and from full-time to
fluid, individualized portfolios of gigs and part-time roles. And second, that
transition periods are now considerably longer, with vetting and interviewing
processes being more complex (with personality tests and skills assessments and
whatnot), leading to more time for feelings of loss, anxiety, irrelevance,
insecurity, et al, to set in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The author suggests that the earlier methods of managing
transition are no longer tenable. Career change is now an iterative process, we
can’t wait to line up our ducks in advance, we have to figure things out over
time and make adjustments as we go. The transition period is a time to hustle,
to follow our noses, to activate our networks, and to try different things
simultaneously without settling for one. It is a liminal state.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">How do you maximize the utility of the liminal state? The
best way is to treat it as an ‘identity time-out’, where you let go of your
commitment to who you used to be and focus creatively on who you might become. To
do this, you need to ‘diverge and delay’ – recognize that traditional
plan-implement thinking only gets you more of the same, and experiment with
divergent possibilities while delaying commitment to any one of them. You need
to ‘exploit and explore’ – leverage old skills and pivot to new things
simultaneously. And you need to ‘bridge and bond’ – create or reactivate
relationships beyond current social circles while also deepening ties and
finding community within close circles of kindred spirits, including others in
transition and one’s own spouse.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I am more confident now – looking at retirement through
the lens of a career transition makes obvious its advantages in managing the
liminal state. With no financial goals to be met, no school fees to be paid,
and no loans on my head, my worst-case situation of spending my days alone with
an acoustic guitar, a collection of books, and Netflix for company, and of
waking up in the morning with nothing to do, nowhere to go, and no one to meet,
is not unattractive. And avoiding being tied down professionally or
geographically certainly resounds, as does converting my various interests into
semi-paid and lightly committed work. And yes, it may not lead to resolution in
the form of a worthy occupation in the near future that will make me rich and keep
me fulfilled, but so what – I can handle being a bum until things work out. So,
ladies in need of a sober escort to social occasions, blues singers looking for
an accompanying guitarist, football managers in need of a turn-around
strategist, and so on – I’m the man (for now).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2029-12-23/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Liminal%20State.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Ibarra, Herminia; Why Career Transition Is So Hard; Harvard Business Review of November-December
2023<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-66037712901829443472022-12-29T21:07:00.006+05:302022-12-29T21:11:09.199+05:30My Life in Failures<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">My Life
in Failures<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">“We
are kept from our goals not by obstacles but by clear paths to lesser goals!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I was invited, some months ago, to submit a
biopic to my alma mater – apparently I had been selected as a distinguished
alumnus of the institution. I was surprised – while I was aware that the alumni
association had low standards (it tried to cheat the caterer at an alumni
dinner on one occasion by asking groups of us to eat from the same plates),
there were depths to which I had always assumed that even they would hesitate
to plunge. It was therefore reassuring to subsequently be informed that the
invitation was merely a ruse to drive up participation at some CEO/COO conference
they were organizing, withdrawn the moment I declined the opportunity to occupy
a seat, clap at the right moments, and reassure a bunch of middle-aged men
(yes, all men!) about the size of their you-know-what’s. Ah, I remember
thinking, my reputation as a horrible warning rather than a good example
remains intact, and I can continue looking into a mirror with admiration and delight
rather than awe.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But it did get me thinking – what would a
biopic on Ajit Chaudhuri read like? And I decided – my professional journey is
best described through my failures.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span
lang=EN-IN style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>My
Favourite Office Bad Habits<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst style='margin-left:.25in;mso-add-space:
auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
lang=EN-IN style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>1.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span
lang=EN-IN style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I
begin every workday with 30 minutes devoted to soccernet.com (45 minutes on
Champion’s League weeks).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle style='margin-left:.25in;mso-add-space:
auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
lang=EN-IN style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>2.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span
lang=EN-IN style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I
see organizational rules, (other than those related to finance) as benevolent
advice or guidelines rather than anything mandatory.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle style='margin-left:.25in;mso-add-space:
auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
lang=EN-IN style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>3.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span
lang=EN-IN style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>My
sick leave usage pattern bears a strong correlation with sports events on
TV.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle style='margin-left:.25in;mso-add-space:
auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
lang=EN-IN style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>4.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span
lang=EN-IN style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>When
I am with my team in a public place, no outsider is able to discern hierarchy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpLast style='margin-left:.25in;mso-add-space:
auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span
lang=EN-IN style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:Arial'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>5.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span
lang=EN-IN style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I
disappear for a Himalayan trek once a year, where the main criteria for
choice of destination is no cell phone coverage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">My first was during
the placement season at my management course, back in 1989. All I wanted was to
go to a place as far away as possible, and work with communities as difficult as
possible. However, the NGOs who worked in such places did not consider me
worthy (too English-speaking, too urbane, blah, blah, blah!), and I ended up at
a packaging plant outside Baroda. I would like to think that they (i.e., the
NGOs) were stupid and had made a mistake – but the people they did recruit (my
batchmates Narendra, Rupa, Damu, Mathew, Balu, Som, et al) are all development sector
doyens today, so maybe they saw something that I lacked.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In 1991 I decided, ‘NGO or nothing’, and travelled
to western Rajasthan to meet a local NGO boss, mentally prepared to sell
myself, fall at his feet, and do whatever else necessary to get a job. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sanjoy Ghose hired me within a minute of
meeting me (at Phalodi bus station, district Jodhpur) and sent me off to the
Urmul Trust’s most remote location, Bajju (district Bikaner), to work with its
most difficult community, refugees from Tharparkar district of Sind (Pakistan).
And I spent the next year hanging around in villages such as Sheruvala Basti,
Bandhli, Bijeri, Dandkala, et al, most of them more than 10 km from a road, in
the middle of the Thar Desert, oblivious to the fact that I was in my late
twenties and in the bottom percentile of my batch earnings-wise.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This year was the most important year of my
life professionally, and I still live off it. It distinguishes me from those
who speak ‘empowerment’<a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2026-12-22/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Life%20Journey%20-%20Ajit%20Chaudhuri.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
and ‘participation’<a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2026-12-22/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Life%20Journey%20-%20Ajit%20Chaudhuri.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
without ever having faced a community; I know, from personal experience and
mistakes made, that the community is not one homogenous mass, that poor women-headed
households have a different set of interests to those of <i>thakur saheb</i>, and
that the location of a water outlet or community centre will decide how it will
be used; and I can separate substance from fluff in the long-winded jargon-spewing
monologues that I am subjected to. I recommend that those looking for a career
in development do not by-pass this phase – one of the greatest learning and also
the most fun.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I stayed on with Sanjoy Ghose in different
ways – through a move to Delhi and work with a funding agency as its
representative for western Rajasthan, and then work involving extensive travel
in the Northeast – until his murder in 1997. I subsequently led a research team
in the Changthang area of Ladakh<a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2026-12-22/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Life%20Journey%20-%20Ajit%20Chaudhuri.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
did a long consulting assignment in Tripura<a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2026-12-22/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Life%20Journey%20-%20Ajit%20Chaudhuri.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> –
always broke, always hungry, always moving, until 1999 when I got two part-time
but regular jobs – as a representative in India for the UK charity Paul Hamlyn
Foundation (PHF), and as the Director of Care Today Fund, set up by the India
Today group to administer support to battle casualties from the Kargil war. The
former slowly grew from a small operation to a significant all-India set-up,
and the scope of work at the latter expanded to disaster response with the
Odisha super-cyclone, the Kutch earthquake and the tsunami hitting India one
after the other. Importantly, for the first time, I was successfully straddling
the contrasts and contradictions of my professional objectives of being financially
stable, of reaching the most excluded communities, and of having fun.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The responsibilities gradually became
unmanageable for one person, and I moved to PHF full-time as Director – India
in 2008. And after three more good years there, I faced the typical male menopause
problem – I was in my mid-40s and had reached where I was going to reach, did I
want to do the same thing for another 15 or so years, or did I want to
challenge myself? And that’s how I ended up, in 2011, bag and guitar in hand, trying
to acquire doctoral education in the field of public policy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Needless to add, there were several ‘what the
hell am I doing?’ moments in the process. One was while filling the admission
form, at the question ‘Name and contact details of Guardian’, with no option to
answer, ‘I’m 47 years old, what’s a guardian?’ (I ducked that one by nominating
my wife). Another was at the beginning of every quarter, when the children’s
school fees came up for payment, when I realized that a full-time mid-career PhD
is a race between completing and going broke.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">So, another failure, in my case ‘going broke’
won and, after 3 wonderful years shuttling between classroom, library and
football ground, with many new friends from a generation that has never heard
Dylan sing or seen Maradona play, it was back to the salt mines. I was lucky that
Tata Sons, the holding company of a reputable Indian conglomerate, were looking
for someone with a combination of qualities not abundantly available and were
(therefore) willing to overlook attributes that did not portend well for a
natural fit including that I did not understand how companies run (I must
confess that I did not make the same mistake for the many recruitments into
Tata that I subsequently oversaw, and made sure that significant time working in
a company was a prerequisite). And so, I began my corporate career at age 51.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The corporate sector is different, and I had
to adjust. The first was to the sheer intelligence of those around me; in the development
sector I was one of the bright bulbs but here, I was just average, and realizing
this was a humbling experience. At the same time, managers here have a linear
approach to problems and solutions, and don’t appreciate the ‘wicked problem’
nature of issues in the public domain. Hierarchies too took time to appreciate
– I may have been a world expert in my field but, ultimately, had to do what the
boss decided. Also, I was used to systems in which, if something needed to be
done, one just did them – here, one set up forums and processes so that someone
else did them. It also has to be said that some things were the same, the
meetings just as long, boring and inefficient as in NGOs and my survival skill
of being able to snooze with my eyes open just as relevant.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">My adjustment was aided by two factors. The
first was my initial boss, who knew me from before (and was behind my
recruitment), and who ensured a supportive and cooperative work environment.
And the second was that on day one I was bunged off to Kashmir to manage the Tata
group’s response to floods in the valley – I had managed Care Today’s response
to the 2005 earthquake here, was familiar with the place, and all the old
relationships developed from that time took off from where they had left off. I
spent about two months in Kashmir and when I returned to Mumbai I had accumulated
the necessary street cred within the system to survive.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I thrived, took on more responsibility, got
promoted, the works – and then, another failure – I decided that life was too
comfortable, that I could do my work in my sleep and still exceed expectations,
and that I had less than 2 years left of my career that would be wasted if I
didn’t challenge myself. Again, I was lucky – Tata Steel said, join us, shift
to our HQ in Jamshedpur, and work on how we can inform stakeholders of the
efficacy of our social responsibility programmes. And so, here I am, facing
communities once again, familiarizing myself with a new place (the eastern ghats
of Jharkhand and Odisha), learning a new language (Santhali), and acquiring new
skills (I have just met the requirements for a grassroots football coaching
license).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">What does the future hold? Retirement in
2023, and then, hopefully, a move back to Delhi where my wife is (she refused
to join me in Jamshedpur) and a life living off her. I will combine being a
‘kept man’ with indulging in yet another failure, as a novelist – two books and
a collection of short stories already out (with sales struggling to reach
double figures), another book and some short stories brewing in my head, I think
I have enough <i>masala</i> to keep myself occupied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Should a life be judged by its failures, as I
have attempted? And here, I am not referring to the Silicon Valley type of
failure, where the concept is co-opted into some happy tale of ultimate
progress along with exhortations to fail better, blah, blah, blah. I am
referring to the real thing, when you face up to the fact that you cannot go
further along a chosen path, and when you realize that you are a loser, a person
who is unable to measure up to the standards of the world. There is some
support for this viewpoint in the musings of the philosopher Costica Bradatan who
suggests that, by obsessing over achievement and striving to succeed, we avoid
reckoning with mortality and hence are kept from living a more meaningful life
(see the book ‘In Praise of Failure - Four Lessons in Humility’). Or, to quote
Bob Dylan, ‘there’s no success like failure, and failure’s no success at all’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2026-12-22/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Life%20Journey%20-%20Ajit%20Chaudhuri.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-IN"> My thoughts on this are written in a paper entitled ‘Understanding
Empowerment’, see https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2455133315612298.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2026-12-22/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Life%20Journey%20-%20Ajit%20Chaudhuri.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-IN"> My thoughts on this are written in a paper entitled ‘A Treatise on
Participation’, see https://www.epw.in/journal/2013/40/perspectives/treatise-participation.html<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2026-12-22/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Life%20Journey%20-%20Ajit%20Chaudhuri.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-IN"> An output is the paper ‘Change in the Changthang: To Stay or To
Leave’ published in the Economic and Political Weekly of Jan 8-14, 2000,
available at <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4408800">https://www.jstor.org/stable/4408800</a>.
Another is the 2018 novel “Pax Feminica”, available at <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Pax-Feminica-Ajit-Chaudhuri/dp/1543702937">https://www.amazon.in/Pax-Feminica-Ajit-Chaudhuri/dp/1543702937</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2026-12-22/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Life%20Journey%20-%20Ajit%20Chaudhuri.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-IN"> An output from that time is the 2022 novel “A Walk Through the Wild
Side”, available at <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Walk-Through-Wild-Side/dp/1543708560">https://www.amazon.in/Walk-Through-Wild-Side/dp/1543708560</a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-3703047840002453762022-07-04T21:59:00.000+05:302022-07-04T21:59:07.582+05:3025 Years<p> I wrote this in July 2007 </p><p><br /></p><p>
</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p>Sanjoy Ghose - 10 Years After </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">By
Ajit Chaudhuri<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyGtVFJuAH99lq0Rx45EDNqRUAT6Pnn8LPQEdT3C6sOh9pcs6jSqObADCROZK04hdIysWTCfaJ8h0s5luOv7ocNuOR3FX2SlFkrB451s6icdhYhGzg4vp5AqzFwL6JunN1W9sf8K6RCNUIWY6ga-rxzNBJYn9ucrIeDwtkqaGKz7GT2qwZF3kFSpYXzg/s1024/Sanjoy%20Ghose.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyGtVFJuAH99lq0Rx45EDNqRUAT6Pnn8LPQEdT3C6sOh9pcs6jSqObADCROZK04hdIysWTCfaJ8h0s5luOv7ocNuOR3FX2SlFkrB451s6icdhYhGzg4vp5AqzFwL6JunN1W9sf8K6RCNUIWY6ga-rxzNBJYn9ucrIeDwtkqaGKz7GT2qwZF3kFSpYXzg/s320/Sanjoy%20Ghose.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do not stand at my grave and
weep,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m not there. I do not
sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am a thousand winds that
blow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am the diamond glints on
snow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am the sunshine on ripened
grain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am the gentle August rain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And when you awaken to that
morning hush<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am that swift,
enlightening rush<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of quiet birds in circled
flight.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am the soft stars that
shine at night.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do not stand at my grave and
cry.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m not there. I did not
die.<a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2028-05-22/Writings/Sanjoy%20Ghose%20-%2010%20Years%20After.doc#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">It was a long time ago! Memories have
faded, and many reading this would be too young to know him as more than just
one of the ‘names’ the IRMA community throw around to motivate people towards a
certain career path. So let me begin with a short biography.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">A Short Biography:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Sanjoy came from a privileged background – the Cathedral School and
then Sydenham College in Mumbai, a family full of judges and civil servants,
the works. He joined IRMA as part of its first batch (deciding against IIM-A to
come here, I read later, though he never spoke about that), and then took up a
job with the Tribhuvandas Foundation in Anand. The URMUL Dairy wanted to
replicate TF in Bikaner district in Rajasthan and recruited Sanjoy to set up
the URMUL Trust in 1986. I joined the URMUL Trust in 1991, by which time it was
headquartered in Lunkaransar, with fledgling operations in Phalodi and Bajju,
and was financially independent of the Dairy. Along the way, Sanjoy married his
classmate from Sydenham, Sumita, they had two children (Joyita – now a final
year sociology student at LSR in Delhi, and Anindo – studying in Mumbai and a
budding investment banker, his mother tells me), and he had stints of further
education in Oxford in the UK and John Hopkins in the USA.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Sanjoy began to make noises about ‘going
somewhere his work was really needed’ in the early nineties. He worked on this
with his typical rigour and single-mindedness; ensuring that URMUL Trust would
continue without him (which it has), identifying a place (finally the
North-East, with a base in Jorhat in Assam, field operations in Majuli Island,
and networking and advocacy across the region), a mode of operation (he joined
AVARD as its General Secretary and set up a branch, AVARD-NE, to work through)
and preparing his family and colleagues for the move. He moved to Jorhat in
1996. He was picked up by ULFA in July 1997 and murdered. No body has been
found till date.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Why is he a ‘name’?</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Sanjoy was not like you and me. He was brilliant, extremely
hardworking, and ruthless – the alpha plus combination that gets you to the top
in whichever field you choose. He combined this with deep commitment, a love
for the nitty-gritty, genuine charm and a sense of humour, a magnetic
personality, and fearlessness. In the six years that we worked together, I have
seen all these facets of his personality (and have been at the receiving end,
not always in a nice way, of them as well) and can confidently say that he was
a one-off. He was as comfortable in plush multi-lateral offices in Delhi
discussing policy with the wonks as he was on the floor of a poor household in
a remote village discussing basic health. The other ‘names’ don’t compare –
Sanjoy would never have allowed himself to get comfortable, would never have
lived off past achievements, would always have put the needs of the worst-off
as central to what he did.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">What if?</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> In
that one year in the North-East, he had a dormant NGO sector churning across
the seven states. There was a genuine non-governmental space being developed
between the religious charities and the insurgents that would have been a force
to reckon with today had it not died a premature death with him. There would
have been a genuine role model for individuals within the Indian development
sector, critical today when the sector is competing for talent in a playing field
that is not level. And there would have been a role model for NGOs as well, and
a better quality of debate on the space for peaceful non-governmental action in
a polarising economic environment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-GB">To conclude:</span></b><span lang="EN-GB">
I am now going to indulge in a little sentimentality! For some years after his
death, I would be sort of expecting him to burst into the room any time and
fill it up with his presence – it is only recently that this feeling has
abated. I still try to avoid getting into discussions about him, unless it is
with close colleagues from those days like Madhavan and Sunil Kaul. What stays
on with me along with his commitment and his passion is his sense of fun and
his habit of eating only once a day. He livened up what would have been a
boring few days in Aizawl by discovering the ‘Mizo Flick’ – an adjustment Mizo
women did to their clothes while walking that provided a fleeting glimpse of
undergarments. He could ferret out food from the unlikeliest of places at the
unlikeliest of times – I remember us arriving in Pasighat some late evening,
hungry and tired and with everything closed, and he managed to charm some
shopkeeper into preparing hot food by speaking Marwari and enquiring into his
lineage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Today, ten years later, one feels a certain
sense of déjà vu with the news from Assam of Mr. Ram of the FCI, the
is-he-dead-is-he-not, the playing with the sentiments of a family in deep
distress. I quote Sumita Ghose in a recent article in The Telegraph – that ULFA
are ‘a bunch of ageing dickheads (this word is mine – she uses ‘men’, but being
a member of the tribe I revolt at the association) who still believe that lies,
guns, extortion, force, and other such cowardly means will bring about a
positive and lasting change.’ She exhorts Mr. Ram’s family against believing a
word ULFA says. I second that!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///D:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Documents%2028-05-22/Writings/Sanjoy%20Ghose%20-%2010%20Years%20After.doc#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> A poem by Mary Frye that has me thinking of Sanjoy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-64676465065323831812022-05-24T17:41:00.000+05:302022-05-24T17:41:18.339+05:30A Life in Libraries<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A Life in Libraries<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ajit Chaudhuri – May 2022</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“It’s only words, and words are all I have, to take
your heart away!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I love libraries!! They are great
places to mis-spend life in; offering solitude and quiet in a world in which
these are increasingly becoming luxuries, and enabling the possibility of
whiling away significant swathes of time in peace without the threat of
eviction if you haven’t bought coffee or whatever. And (and this is a closely
held secret), a fair sprinkling of the women you find within can be classified
as glamorous (often in an understated way), and most of this number are
intelligent, and that’s a heady combination even though, it has to be said,
such women by definition have better things to do than reciprocate the interests
of the likes of me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The first library I remember was
at my boarding school – a refuge in the otherwise cold and miserable place with
a culture of bullying into which a small and meek kid could lose himself in a
world of books. We had two library classes a week and could also borrow books
and read them after dinner, and I devoured as many as I could in the 5 years I
was there, coming away with one of two things that I am grateful to the school
for – a need to have something to read with me, irrespective of genre, title, author
and others’ opinions. Many journeys into unremarkable places in a life spent wandering
around were survived thanks to the bag full of books I always carried. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">College life was different – the
action would migrate from the canteen to the library around end-January every
year (exams were in April), with all us lechers and loafers following suit. It
was the first time in the academic year that we would notice the studious
girls, referred to as <i>behanjis</i>, and assess their potential. On one
occasion, a girl got up from her table to drink water or whatever and we put a
note in the next page of the open book that she was studying that read ‘if you
want to you-know-what, raise your left hand; if you don’t, raise your right
hand’. She came back, studied the page she was on, turned the page, read the
note, and then did a glaring 360-degree look-around. None of us had the guts to
raise our eyes from our books for the next ten minutes. On another, a friend of
mine (now a respectably retired banker) procured truck-<i>wallah</i>-type <i>kachha</i>
underpants for himself and someone bet him five bucks to do a tour of the
library in them. Such was the value of money at the time that we both went to
see a film on the proceeds, to-and-fro bus fares included.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I don’t remember my management institute’s
library very well as a Masters’ student in the late 1980s, except for a
basement that housed a computer (a VAX-VMS, for the pros among you, which was
state of the art at the time) that I was among the few who could program. When
I returned to the institute in 2011 for doctoral studies, I used the library extensively
for hanging around, research and writing, and several academic papers emanate
from that time. I also dealt with knowing that I would not complete my PhD – I
was stone broke, and a forced return to the salt mines was imminent – by
putting my research into a fictional setting; three months of writing sans
distraction for ten hours a day, resulting in my first novel, “Pax Feminica”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Another library that I remember
well was the one at the LSE, where I underwent a mid-career course in leadership
in 2001 – a large, glitzy place with a humongous collection of reading material;
you just went to the librarian with what you wanted, and you were pointed
towards it (and if it wasn’t available, the library was committed to obtaining
it for you within 3 days). It even had a copy of the cult classic “Nomads and
the Outside World”, Khazanov’s ethnographic description of pastoral nomadism in
Soviet central Asia, that I had been looking for for years. It was only later, during
a visit to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, that I questioned the value of such
an approach – the Bodleian, believing that ‘what you want is likely to be
somewhere near what you are looking for’, encouraged you to hang around and browse.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The last library on my list did
not belong to a fancy institution, was not housed in a gigantic building, and
did not have library staff – it was discovered while visiting a friend’s
ancestral home in a village in coastal Karnataka (specifically Kukkila, South
Canara district, near the town of Vittla) in 1991. The red-tiled bungalow in
the middle of a mid-sized cashew plantation had a set of stairs leading
somewhere, and I was informed upon enquiry that there was an attic upstairs that
housed a library. Wow! I spent the remainder of my stay ensconced within, emerging
only at mealtimes to sample his mother’s wonderful Canarese cooking when its
whiff drifted upwards. ‘That’s what I want in life,’ I remember thinking at the
time, ‘in addition to owning a football club that plays in the Champions League
and to be an object of desire for an entire Miss World competition’s contingent
– to have a dedicated space in my house for books, which I could retreat into for
a little peace and quiet when I required it.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">My thinking on the professed
ambitions has changed a bit in the thirty plus years that have passed, well, at
least on the last one. I now want it to be something for myself and for local
children from disadvantaged backgrounds – a safe and quiet space with lots of
books, magazines and periodicals for them to read, where they can also do their
homework and generally pass time. It was therefore with some distress that I gave
away a significant proportion of my book collection while shifting home earlier
this year, a collection dedicatedly developed via purchases, gifts and, last
but not least, a policy of borrowing and not returning. Despite this, my
library continues to be the only one of my professed ambitions with a realistic
chance of being realized.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-79643770593442243132022-02-06T12:16:00.000+05:302022-02-06T12:16:31.598+05:30What is 'Tata-ness'?<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What is ‘Tata-ness’?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">By Ajit Chaudhuri – 1<sup>st</sup> July 2021<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Some years ago, I was
in a discussion with a senior leader at Tata on the subject of ‘social capital’
when he described a phenomenon that had no obvious explanation – that most Tata
companies are among the top three players in any business, industry or sector
they are in despite pay being at the 60 to 70 percentile within that business,
industry or sector. He used the word ‘Tata-ness’ as a possible cause, along
with the observation that good people prefer a professional environment that
does not grate with their value systems.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I have since come
across this term occasionally, usually as an explanation for phenomena such as
the above, and also as a slur (the worst pejorative within the group is an
observation that a particular person or company lacks Tata-ness) and as a
powerful argument to or not to follow a particular course of action.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Coming into the Tata
group from academia, my curiosity was piqued. Here was a term that obviously
had deep meaning to most of the group’s employees, and yet was not subject to
definition or description to any degree of consistency. I remember asking my
boss’s boss, a Tata insider who had spent many years as an EA to a
longstanding Tata Chairman and who could expound with detail and enlightened insight on a
multitude of subjects, on what ‘Tata-ness’ actually meant, and he hemmed and hawed
before changing the subject on to supposedly more pressing matters.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Two factors helped
sharpen my understanding. The first was the fact that I have since spent more time
within the group (and, ahem, moved up the food chain), and the second was changes
in the group’s senior leadership with some personnel being drafted in from
outside the group and requiring articulation of reasons for following
particular courses of action that had earlier been obvious to all (and therefore left unsaid).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So, what is ‘Tata-ness’?
To me, it is the combination of three sets of things: behavioral norms, values,
and guiding principles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Behavioral Norms:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One doesn’t
talk, and if one must talk one does so only after the work being talked about
has been completed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One
plays oneself, and one’s organization down. Others should find out about you
from your work and what others say about you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One
encourages realistic assessments from peers and subordinates and is not susceptible
to flattery and/or the echo chamber syndrome.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One
does not look to thrive in loopholes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Values:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Hard
work<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Honesty<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Punctuality<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Order
(as in the opposite of ‘chaos’)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Fulfillment
of obligations<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Guiding Principles:
</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Adherence
to the Tata Code of Conduct in letter and spirit<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">‘The
Right Thing to Do’<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A little more about
this last – in Tata, an important factor in decisions regarding possible courses
of action is that ‘this is the right thing to do’. Like ‘Tata-ness’, this means
something to most Tata employees and, as a principle, is deeply ingrained
within our DNA. But what does it actually mean?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There is light on this
in Kant’s expositions on moral philosophy and his concept of a ‘categorical imperative’
or a rule of conduct that is unconditional and not dependent upon any desire or
end (in Kant’s ‘Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals’, 1785).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Right Thing to Do
meets three conditions –<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
reasons for doing it are unconnected to benefits for the do-er (and the doing
company) or the decision maker – if anything, the course of action creates
greater responsibilities, burdens, and tribulations for them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It benefits people who do not have the ability
to influence the do-er.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The world would be a better place if more (all?)
people/companies took this path or adopted this method.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-39703477305067749932022-01-07T12:13:00.000+05:302022-01-07T12:13:05.521+05:30The Case for Retreat as DRR<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">THE CASE FOR RETREAT AS A FORM OF DISASTER
RISK REDUCTION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ajit Chaudhuri – 9<sup>th</sup> October 2019<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Retreat, Hell! We just got here!”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/TSG%20-%2019-12-17/Sustainability/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20Sustainability/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The term ‘retreat’
originates from military strategy and has negative connotations (as can be discerned
from the quote above) – it is usually a prelude to defeat and a likely subsequent
massacre. However, when undertaken in a strategic or planned manner, retreat
can be used to serve positive objectives as well. Records suggest that retreat
was first used as an offensive strategy by the Mongol armies of the 13<sup>th</sup>
century (who were masters at feigning disarray and inviting cavalry charges
that drew enemies into locations of their, i.e. the Mongols’, choice), and most
famously by the Tsarist army during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in 1812
(letting the French reach the outskirts of Moscow before pouncing – of the
500,000 strong invading force that crossed into Russia in June, only 27,000
crossed back in December).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Thinking on disaster
risk reduction (DRR), too, has a negative lens on retreat (or the resettlement
of communities to pre-identified locations); it is seen as a last resort, as a
one-time emergency action, and/or as a failure to adapt – often undertaken in
an abrupt, ad hoc and inequitable manner that involves some level of human
rights abuse and is unfair to renters and low-income house owners. DRR prefers
to focus upon building resilience of vulnerable communities where they already
are, so that they have the ability to withstand the hazards that come their
way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And yet, retreat has
always been an adaptation option – there is little point in building resilience
of communities in areas that are prone to avalanches or landslides, for example,
because no amount of resilience is sufficient protection in the face of certain
hazards. And people in hazard prone areas usually look to move themselves and
their assets out of harm’s way, more so nowadays with global warming, rising
sea levels, and climate related extremes. Those with fewer resources have fewer
options to address such risks; they are unable to return, or to rebuild more
resiliently; some may feel forced into retreating; conversely, some may be
unable to afford to move, and feel therefore trapped in a hazardous location.
People staying in contexts of informal settings or insecure land tenures can be
particularly affected.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Due to some of these
reasons, retreat is often undertaken after an unfortunate event, and usually in
some distress. The author happened to pass Malpa in 2014 (a Himalayan village
along the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra that lost 221 people and its entire housing
stock in a landslide in 1998), an eerie ghost village whose surviving residents
had resettled in safer locations. While hindsight is always 20/20, the case for
retreat was blindingly obvious given the steep, almost vertical, slopes of rock
above the location, the proximity of the rock mass to major (and unstable)
tectonic plates, and the heavy rainfall that ensured water seepage into the
porous rock. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Retreat as a form of
adaptation has attracted little research, and there is therefore limited guidance
for administrators and DRR practitioners on using it for more than the physical
removal of people and infrastructure. There is also limited focus on the social,
cultural, psychological and long-term economic consequences for those
retreating, those remaining, and those receiving the retreating communities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is therefore
refreshing to find a recent academic paper<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/TSG%20-%2019-12-17/Sustainability/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20Sustainability/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> that reconceptualizes retreat
as a positive DRR option enabling achievement of societal goals and letting communities
choose actions most likely to help them thrive. It recognizes that retreat is
hard to do (and even harder to do well) due to issues such as place attachment,
a preference for status quo, imperfect risk perceptions, inter alia, and
suggests that a strategic, managed retreat could be an efficient and equitable
adaptation option.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On the strategic front,
the paper suggests that a retreat should not be a goal but a means of
contributing to a societal goal (such as economic development, environmental conservation,
etc.), and should be larger than a group of individual households relocating
for their own benefit in that it is coordinated across jurisdictions, involves
multiple stakeholders, addresses multiple hazards and risks at both origin and
destination sites, and integrates into planning for economic, social and
environmental goals. It should also be forward looking and responsive to
economic opportunities, market forces and demographic changes. Policy makers
need to identify why a retreat should occur and influence the ‘when’ and
‘where’ of it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Management of a retreat
addresses how it is executed. To enable it to be equitable and efficient, there
is a need to a) understand and address barriers – especially those in the form
of institutional silos within government agencies and financial constraints, b)
develop tools to identify residents who want to retreat and require assistance,
and c) have communication strategies that engage reluctant residents.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There are several
issues that complicate retreat and incentivize living in risky locales –
fishing communities on India’s eastern coast, for example, are constantly
battered by cyclones, but any attempt to move them to safer locales inland has
to counter the suspicion that the administration is acting at the behest of the
tourism and prawn cultivation lobbies that are always looking to occupy sea
front areas. There is therefore a need to develop and disseminate high quality
hazard maps that enable market prices to capture risk and help communities make
informed choices.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There is much to be
done before retreat is repositioned as a positive DRR option, despite the limitations
of ‘build back better’ and other strategies that look to win against nature<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/TSG%20-%2019-12-17/Sustainability/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20Sustainability/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>. Evaluation of retreat
outcomes, and recommendations for suitable and context specific policies and
practices, are scarce. Key research gaps need to be addressed, and deployments
in practice require testing and refinement. But first steps have been taken,
and there is growing recognition that sometimes retreating from nature instead
of fighting it can open new opportunities for communities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/TSG%20-%2019-12-17/Sustainability/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20Sustainability/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Exclaimed by a US Marine during
World War I when advised to withdraw from his position.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/TSG%20-%2019-12-17/Sustainability/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20Sustainability/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Siders AR, Hino M and Mach KJ; ‘The
Case of Strategic and Managed Climate Retreat’; Science Vol. 365 Issue 6455 pp
761-763; 23 August 2019<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/TSG%20-%2019-12-17/Sustainability/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20Sustainability/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Pierre-Louis, K; “How to Rebound
After a Disaster: Move, Don’t Rebuild, Research Suggests”; NYT issue of 22
August 2019; accessed on 23 August 2019.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-12746981116864761962021-11-11T08:29:00.000+05:302021-11-11T08:29:43.423+05:30On Sabbaticals!<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">ON SABBATICALS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A 2-Pager by Ajit Chaudhuri – November 2021<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I recently concluded a
3-month break from work, my third of this century!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
first was in October to December 2001, when I absconded to the UK (and, for
short stints, to Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and
Norway) on a British government scholarship to study leadership at the LSE. It
was a great time to travel – nobody else was doing so in the immediate
aftermath of 9/11, and most airlines had a ‘get bums on seats at any cost’
policy that enabled great deals for the remotely intrepid. I took my family on
a cruise (Newcastle to Amsterdam and back on ‘The Prince of Scandinavia’), I
walked through the glens outside Edinburgh, I even took a journey across the
Arctic Circle to Troms, all on my scholarship money. In fact, I remember only
one weekend spent in London, the highlight of which was a visit to Loftus Road
to watch a third division game between Queens Park Rangers and Oldham – football
tickets were way more expensive than travel in those days, with GBP 30 getting
you from London to Lisbon and back on British Airways but not a seat at an EPL
game in London, not even those in the outer stratospheres of stadiums from
where the players looked like ants.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
second was in November and December 2006 and January 2007, when I moved to
Gujarat for a Visiting Fellow post at IRMA. The highlight of this was the
kindling of a love affair with knowledge – it led onwards to several academic
papers in different fields (power, participation, autonomy, aid effectiveness,
democratic decentralization, et al) and an attempt at full-time doctoral
education (I flunked out after three wonderful years alternating between the
library and the football ground).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
third, August to October 2021, had no such structure or noble intent – I simply
needed a break (pretending to work without having anything to really do takes
its toll), I wanted to write a book (whose storyline has been churning inside
my head for years), and I wanted to take my annual trek, an activity that, for
me, makes life in a city livable (and I hadn’t done one since 2019, so this too
was bursting inside me).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I
also wanted time to think through my impending retirement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So,
a quick report!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I
did two treks! The first was to <b>Patalwan Lake</b> in the <b>Gurez Valley</b>
in Kashmir, 5 days from roadhead to roadhead, reaching an altitude of 4,000
meters! This was a beautiful, easy-paced trek through empty alpine meadows
(and, I should mention, some less pleasant time spent clambering over rocks),
culminating at a stunning and large high-altitude lake. Gurez has been
described as the most beautiful part of Kashmir, but also not a good place to
visit because of its proximity to the LOC and its convenience as a place for
unwelcome foreign guests to cross over into India. My wife and elder child were
among the 25-person group that did the trek, and we also enjoyed the excellent
food (three hot meals a day, and <i>wazwaan</i>-style cooking when our camp cook
was in the mood), the interactions with an army patrol that was in our vicinity
through the trek, and the friendships we developed with our trek-mates and our
trek leaders (both really cool recently-retired military personnel).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We
returned to Srinagar and then decided on the spur of the moment to take an
additional week to explore Ladakh (the wife and child had never been). For me,
the highlight of this week was the Srinagar-Leh highway (I had travelled on
this road many times in the late 1990s – some things had changed, and some had
not) and the time spent in the Nubra Valley (my first time in the areas north
of the Indus and along the beautiful Shyok and Nubra rivers). The lows were
seeing the damage that </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">a
successful film can do (in this case, ‘3 Idiots’ to Pangong Tso lake) and the
resemblance between Khardung La Pass and Lajpat Nagar market.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The second trek was to the <b>Everest Base Camp</b>
in <b>Nepal</b> – it was long (12 days from Kathmandu to Kathmandu), high (reaching
5,600 meters at Mt. Kalapathar for those such as me who chose to make an extra
effort for a wonderful view of Mt. Everest), and with long ups and downs, scary
bridges, and some stretches of rocky terrain. But, beautiful scenery, few
people (and, therefore, Indians welcome – thank you, pandemic), and mostly decent
places to stay in with good food, electricity, and a selection of books to borrow.
And, last but not least, this trek has serious show-off value upon return,
especially in difficult forums such as one’s weekend football team. In case you
are wondering, if an obese 58-year-old can do it, so can you (evidence is
appended in the form of a photograph taken on 4<sup>th</sup> October 2021)!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Oa8N-UroNEtaIyfTIoW05lhD-HP56cWelsXqNQ3eZiv_bpUF5rdhM4dhXOaANf42jJRvBkQyC35Ok2HYdAPoLBAlN3k__qoNBp4Au9VryKIW_ZKYWX3VSF52hc-nunL0jPAmlsgZ2YQw/s1280/PHOTO-2021-10-04-17-21-30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Oa8N-UroNEtaIyfTIoW05lhD-HP56cWelsXqNQ3eZiv_bpUF5rdhM4dhXOaANf42jJRvBkQyC35Ok2HYdAPoLBAlN3k__qoNBp4Au9VryKIW_ZKYWX3VSF52hc-nunL0jPAmlsgZ2YQw/w315-h240/PHOTO-2021-10-04-17-21-30.jpg" title="Ajit on Everest Base Camp - 4th Oct 2021" width="315" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijFjWu1iqmjwalPJTLxR2g8bnSt04Fy1KrJzM2KXDR3UKX9kp3qduTNDQCzHBXrRdLJR5VRXrfjZ6u5_jQ6F21tF5fiPw3LX0zLeKyo564zwALLzRW2EER4uuljy4hi5o7-BeDmMPsBODx/s1563/Taglang+La+Top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="1563" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijFjWu1iqmjwalPJTLxR2g8bnSt04Fy1KrJzM2KXDR3UKX9kp3qduTNDQCzHBXrRdLJR5VRXrfjZ6u5_jQ6F21tF5fiPw3LX0zLeKyo564zwALLzRW2EER4uuljy4hi5o7-BeDmMPsBODx/s320/Taglang+La+Top.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The second photograph
was taken on top of the Taklang La pass on the Leh-Manali road (altitude 5,327
meters) in August 1995, and is included as evidence that wisdom does not, as is
commonly believed, increase with age. Same dumbass, 26 years, some inches and
many kilograms apart! Pathetic!!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I also managed to complete a first draft of my
next novel, “A Walk Through the Wild Side”, which explores issues of ethnicity,
identity and insurgency in the North East of India around the late 1990s – and
expect sales to creep into double figures this time. Watch this space!!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">What I did not do was think through retirement;
what will I do, where will I go, should I slow down or continue to work
somewhere, etc., at a time when my wife is working (the ‘kept man’ option is
particularly attractive), my children are out of the house (though not yet off
the payroll), and I like to think that I have almost enough money (nobody has quite
enough). The default option, of disappearing into my wife’s cottage outside
Dehradun and waking up every morning with nothing to do, no one to meet, and
nowhere to go, is an attractive one (but is it too early for that?). Should I
write for a living (as opposed to writing because I have something to say), and
how would a true Bong manage the business end that is necessary for a modicum
of success? Does somebody who is not ‘communications friendly’ (i.e., doesn’t
speak much, is not on social media, likes being in the background, and is
averse to networking) have something to offer in today’s, and tomorrow’s, post-truth
world?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Matters have been somewhat expedited by my
return to work, my welcome being akin to that of a refugee on the
Polish-Belarussian border (not a great surprise – the corporate sector has a
different attitude to 3-months-out compared with the media and development
sectors that I had been part of earlier), and I have committed to GTFO by early
2022. Don’t feel too bad for me – I had done everything that I had joined up to
do more than two years ago, and will not miss a job that I can do in my sleep,
an ‘all-fart-no-shit’ department, and a retromingent hierarchy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So, suggestions on retirement options are
welcome!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Returning to sabbaticals – my experience with them
has been excellent, and I strongly recommend these as a means of taking oneself
away, recharging one’s batteries, and rethinking the fundamentals of one’s existence.
They work well if there is a structure or else a set of pre-set goals for the
time away, and a schedule for meeting these that keeps one genuinely busy. They
don’t if they are mistaken for holidays (or, alternatively, if work keeps
encroaching upon the time away), if they enable sleep in the daytime (or other
activities that are not normally done during office hours), or if one ends up
hanging around the house and getting in the way of its daily schedule. Getting
one’s family on board is a good idea. And, like with children, spacing them out
is advisable. Finally, a sabbatical should serve as a means to an end, one
whose value in bringing about change in the quality and direction of one’s life
is discernible only in hindsight, and not as an end in itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">During my recent sabbatical, and as an antidote
to that feeling of sloth that develops whenever things can be postponed to
another day, I had the appended words greeting me at the dawn of every new day.
And that’s another thing that hasn’t changed with time (along with my great
wisdom, as described in the photographs above, and my love for football), they reminded
me back in my college days to focus on the road ahead, and they continue to do
so today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">‘T<i>he woods are lovely, dark and deep; but I
have promises to keep; and miles to go before I sleep; and miles to go before I
sleep.</i>’ Robert Frost<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-38594234356838609512021-07-22T17:58:00.001+05:302021-07-22T17:58:52.249+05:30It's Coming Home<p style="text-align: center;"> <b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It’s
Coming Home!</span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ajit
Chaudhuri – Reflections from Euro 2020 – July 2021<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I always thought there are some things that, by definition,
one can’t have too much of – things like sex, money and football. I’m not so
sure now, in the aftermath of three weeks of the Copa Americana and the Euros
being played simultaneously, climaxing into ‘the most important weekend of
football’, Argentina v Brazil (can Messi win a trophy for country?) and England
v Italy (is it coming home or going to Rome?). The harsh light of the following
Monday morning brought questions – were the sleepless nights in front of the TV
(followed by the sleepy days pretending to work) worth it? What did I learn? Am
I a role model to my family, colleagues and friends, especially the young and
impressionable among them, or a horrible warning? And, last but not least, am I
willing to do this again in 2022?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">What follows is a list of my observations from the Euros in
no particular order.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
near-death experience works out well<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Let me begin with something that happened early in the
tournament, Danish playmaker <b>Eriksen</b>’s on-field heart attack. Much
touchy-feely stuff was subsequently said along the lines of some things being
more important than football, the sensitivity of his teammates in providing a
protective shield around him while he was being treated and the team captain in
comforting his spouse, and the sense of shock among players, spectators and
audiences as this played out on live TV.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">My own take is – one, that nobody gave a crap three days
later, and that the old adage ‘<i>football is not a matter of life and death,
it’s much more important than that</i>’ continues to be valid. Two, this worked
out well for Denmark – an ordinary team went on to its second-best ever
performance in a major tournament (it has to be said that the luck of the draw
played some part, including the Czechs beating the strong but testicle-less
Dutch, their expected quarter-final opponent, the round before), reaching the
semi-finals and going down courtesy a contentious extra-time penalty. Eriksen’s
direct replacement, a kid called <b>Darmsgaard,</b> ended up as the find of the
tournament, and other unknowns (such as <b>Dolberg</b> and <b>Maehle</b>) stood
up to be counted. And three, nothing would get a player in a John Terry-led
team off his deathbed faster than a whisper that the captain was comforting his
spouse.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tactical
trends on display<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The most visible was the return of the pure goalscoring
centre-forward (or the No. 9), or at least the need for one. It has become
fashionable to play without one (Spain’s last tournament win, the Euro 2012,
began the trend towards a ‘false 9’), and several top clubs such as the current
English champions use this tactic. In this edition of the Euros, many top teams
suffered from not having one (Spain most of all, but also Germany, Croatia,
Netherlands and Portugal), and the likes of <b>Schik</b>, <b>Lukaku</b> and<b>
Benzema</b> (back in Le Blue after 5 years) showed them what they were missing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The second was on the use of substitutes – 5 are allowed in
a game (up from 3), a consequence of the pandemic. Coaches have yet to adjust,
most obviously in the final when England introducing two young and lightning
quick players in the 119<sup>th</sup> minute merely for the purpose of taking
penalties (both missed) instead of giving them time to run at an aged (and
tiring) Italian defence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The third was the double defensive shield, or having two
midfielders primarily tasked with protecting the defence in a tactic that
Germany used effectively while winning the 2014 World Cup (WC – remember <b>Khedira</b>/<b>Schweinsteiger</b>!).
<b>Rice</b>/ <b>Phillips</b> and <b>Jorginho</b>/<b>Locatelli</b> were
outstanding for England and Italy respectively, as were <b>Xhaka</b>/<b>Freuler</b>
for Switzerland in its win over France, and <b>Schlager</b>/<b>Laimer</b> for
Austria when they gave the subsequent champions one hell of a scare.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The fourth, of wing backs bombing forward in a manner
reminiscent of <b>Roberto Carlos</b> and <b>Cafu</b> and thereby bringing
sudden and dangerous width into offensive transformation play, was made
possible by the third. <b>Walker</b>/<b>Shaw</b> for England, <b>Dumfries</b>/<b>Van
Aanholt</b> for the Netherlands, and <b>Spinazzola</b>/<b>Berardi</b> for Italy
were particularly outstanding in this aspect of play.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Diving,
cheating, badgering, harassing<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is worrying when there is a significant disconnect
between football as played at its lowest levels (such as my weekend kickaround
with fellow middle-aged fatsos) and at its highest. One has been caused by the technological
innovations of the past 5 years such as VAR – but given the stakes and the way
refereeing mistakes often benefit bigger clubs, football fans are OK with the
emphasis on correct decisions. Another is the on-field behaviour of the players
– some teams play as if there is a sniper in the audience, diving to the ground
like dying ducks in their efforts to fool the referee, and then gathering
around to badger and harass him. <b>This is cheating!!</b> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We who play football do not play it like this – we love
that it is a contact sport, and we use the game also as a way to build strength
and character and not to teach how to be an asshole and a fraud. Italy, Spain
and Portugal were especially unwatchable for this aspect of their game (the
sight of <b>Ronaldo</b> being touched on the side and going down clutching his
head was particularly off-putting), and other teams also used this shit to
their benefit (<b>Sterling</b>’s dive for England against Denmark, for
example). FIFA, please crack down! While we understand the need to protect
flair players, and to ensure that what used to happen to <b>Maradona</b> day-in
and day-out does not happen today, this nonsense has got completely out of
hand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Players
who made an impression<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is difficult to follow football and not know <b>Donnarumma</b>,
but this was the first time many actually saw him play – his club AC Milan has
not played in Europe for years, and Italy did not qualify for the 2018 WC. And
he was even better than his reputation – big, technically correct, and
confident both in the air and at stopping shots. What a goalie! For once, I concur
with the pundit’s choice of ‘player of the tournament’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There were two lost-wonderkids who re-enforced their
potential at the Euros – Schick and Renato <b>Sanchez</b> (a rare Portuguese
who tries to stay on his feet).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The geriatrics did not shame their generation on the
performance front – <b>Pandev</b>, the Italian central defence with <b>Bonucci</b>
even scoring in the final (and Italy winning its quarterfinal against Belgium
in the battle between grandparental defenders), and Ronaldo winning the tournament’s
‘golden boot’. The same could not be said about their behaviour, with <b>Pepe</b>’s
being particularly egregious. <b>Mohamed Ali</b> famously said that ‘<i>if you
are the same person at 50 that you were at 20, you have wasted 30 years of your
life</i>’. Sadly, some players have not changed with age.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The debutants had players who will surely move to bigger
clubs – <b>Arajuuri</b> and <b>O’Shaughnessy</b> for Finland and <b>Bardhi</b>
and <b>Elmas</b> for North Macedonia.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And one now realizes why some small clubs are able to punch
above their weight in their respective leagues – because they have fantastic players,
who also shined for their countries at these Euros. Atalanta’s Freuler, <b>Goosens</b>,
Maehle and <b>Pessina</b>; West Ham’s <b>Coufal</b>, Rice and <b>Soucek</b>,
Leeds’ <b>Aliosky</b>, <b>Klich</b> and Phillips, et al. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
biggest disappointments<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Easily Turkey and Russia, but also good to see these
wannabe dictatorships’ hot air balloons pricked in full public glare – most
especially in Turkey’s 0-2 loss to Wales in Baku with its strongman primping in
the audience. Pre-tournament favourites France and Portugal as well for going
out so early – France catching Switzerland on a day in which every Swiss player
had the game of his life (Arsenal fans were pinching themselves to recognize their
on-again-off-again captain, and <b>Shaquiri</b> reminded fans why he was once a
highly regarded offensive pivot), and Portugal mistaking theatre for football
in a game against Belgium’s golden generation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What’s
with the hairstyles?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ten years ago, football was aptly described as ‘<i>22
fellows in perms running after a ball, and Spain always wins!</i>’ Today,
younger players seem to prefer tattoo parlours over salons – the only one who’s
mane would have required skills of a level beyond those of a barber under a
tree was <b>M’babu</b> (no, he’s not the outcome of a liaison between Kylian M’bappe
and an Indian bureaucrat). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And most
older ones who sported long tresses in their younger days have transitioned
from looking like they would give pleasure in a men’s jail to looking like they
would take it (such as <b>Kjaer</b> and the absent <b>Ramos</b>). It was left
to <b>Hamsik</b>, still sporting the mohawk that he wore while captaining Slovakia
at the 2010 WC, to carry the card for hairdressers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The players looked alright despite this. A consequence of
the economic downturn was less advertisements in the run up to kick-offs, and
audiences thereby got to see the teams lining up (we were also treated to Wembley’s
booing of the German, Danish and Italian anthems in turn, followed by a sharp
downswing in the betting odds for England hosting the 2030 WC). The Danes
looked the nicest, the Turks (with the exception of Mr. Perfect Jawline <b>Soyuncu</b>)
the most thuggish, but nothing quite matched the 1990 WC where the Italian
line-up outdid any male catwalk (<b>Giannini</b>, <b>Maldini</b>, <b>Zenga</b>)
and the Dutch (<b>Koeman</b>, <b>Rijkaard</b>, <b>Wouters</b>) looked like
Uderzo’s inspiration for Asterix’s pirates preparing to board a ship.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-75439597850786033672020-10-18T17:20:00.000+05:302020-10-18T17:20:08.343+05:30Goodbye 19-20, Hello 20-21<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">GOODBYE 19-20, HELLO 20-21!!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">‘And the seasons, they go round and round; and the
painted ponies go up and down; captive in a carousel of time; can’t return, we
can only look behind from where we came; and go round and round and round in a
circle game!’</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> – Joni Mitchell,
“Circle Game”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When does the year
begin? Is it 1<sup>st</sup> January, as per the calendar? Or 1<sup>st</sup>
April, as office budgets, performance appraisals and, last but not least,
income tax <i>wallahs</i> decree? Or is it a function of one’s religion or
community (as those of us who scour for those that fall on Fridays or Mondays
for inclusion into the official holiday list can attest to – I remember
celebrating Tibetan New Year once under this pretext)?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As a football lover, I
have a clear answer! It is mid-August, when the English Premier League (EPL)
begins – when the sun finally rises after a long and lonely off-season of weekend
socializing, when we can bunker down in front of our TVs on Sat/Sun evenings,
and when our internet chat-rooms and WhatsApp groups burst into life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s later this year for
pandemic-related reasons, and we also have to get used to empty stadiums, no
pre-game handshakes, subdued goal celebrations and other assorted crap, but hey
– it’s back!! What do we have to look forward to this season? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Here’s my list!!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Watching a Bielsa team play, week in and week out!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">While many claim to
eat, sleep, breathe and dream football, there is one person to whom this
actually applies – the coach <b>Marcelo Bielsa</b>. He was not a significant
player, has never managed a big club, and has never won anything significant, but
his coaching philosophy is as influential as that of the legendary Johann
Cruyff. “El Loco” or “The Madman”, as he is called (for good reason), prefers
to work with small teams and unknown players, mold them to his ways, and then
make something of the team and the players before moving on. He began working
with Leeds United (a large but traumatized club mired in mid-table mediocrity
in England’s second division) in 2018 and led them to promotion into the EPL this
year. Three games in, and watching Leeds is like watching basketball; end to
end action, calamitous defending, goals galore; its match against Man City was
the first time I have seen a Pep Guardiola team concede possession to an opponent.
I can’t wait for more!</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Seeing
the ‘superstar freshers’ settle!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Three big guns have arrived; <b>James Rodrigues, Thiago
Alcantara, Gareth Bale</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">James</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">, the Golden Boot winner of
the 2014 World Cup who Everton bought from Real Madrid, is already setting the
league alight with his silky left foot. His new teammates are responding by
lifting their own standards, making for an Everton team that looks like it will
do serious damage to the ‘Big Six’ this year. As an aside, Everton has other
assets as well – a coach with serious pedigree, two other new signings (<b>Allan</b>
and <b>Doucoure</b>) who provide the steel in midfield to complement James’
creativity, a young centre forward who is looking to make his name, et al.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Thiago</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> is the son of WC winner
Mazinho (of the baby goal celebration with Bebeto and Romario in USA 1994) and
a key member of an all-conquering Bayern Munich team (his purchase by Bayern was
a condition for Guardiola to move there himself). He comes to Liverpool, itself
an all-conquering team, and the little that he has played thus far showcases
what Liverpool have missed – a midfield creative genius. His no-look assist for
Sadio Mane’s goal against Everton (ruled out by VAR for a hairline offside) is
a harbinger of things to come. Can Liverpool get even better this time?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is difficult to term <b>Bale</b> a fresher – he spent 6
years with Spurs before moving to Real Madrid and winning everything there is
to win at club level (including 4 Champions Trophy winner medals and 2 La Liga
titles) – and his presence in the EPL is more a <i>ghar wapisi</i>. Despite all
the achievement, he has much to prove!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Wondering
whether the ‘old boy’ coaches will last the distance!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In the recent past, three big clubs have torn up their strategies
and called up fan-favourite ex-players to coach; <b>Ole Solskjaer</b>
(Manchester United), <b>Frank Lampard</b> (Chelsea) and <b>Mikael Arteta</b>
(Arsenal). History is mixed on this – some ‘old boys’ have flourished (Zidane,
Guardiola) and some have been misdirected short-term fixes to long-term
problems (Daglish’s second spell as Liverpool’s manager). This season will be a
time of reckoning for Ole, Frank and Mikael, when social capital will not be
sufficient cover for lack of performance. <b>Ole</b> is already odds-on favourite
in the ‘sack race’ (the betting on which manager gets sacked first), and <b>Frank</b>
is getting there (Chelsea’s recent purchase spree may prove a mixed blessing
for him on this).<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Correlating
big coaches and boredom!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This is the first time that <b>Pep Guardiola</b> will spend
a 5<sup>th</sup> season at a club – does he have it in him to rebuild a team
(as he will need to do with Manchester City) and also go for the elusive Champion’s
Trophy? <b>Jurgen Klopp</b> has had three extraordinary seasons at Liverpool
(he begins his sixth season here) – can he coax one more out of the crop of
players at his disposal, or will he discover that winning the EPL is one thing
and retaining it is quite another? Will <b>Jose Mourinho</b> rediscover his
mojo at Tottenham Hotspurs, or is he ‘yesterday’s one’? Will the big-name
coaches perform?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Continuing
the ‘The man is the club’ syndrome!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Some players embody their club! Well known examples include
Messi – Barcelona and Totti – Roma! I can think of three such in the EPL this
season, <b>Jamie Vardy</b> (Leicester City); <b>Wilfried Zaha</b> (Crystal
Palace) and <b>Jack Grealish</b> (Aston Villa). All neutrals love Leicester
City for what they did in 2015-16 (win the EPL at 5,000 to 1 odds) and <b>Vardy</b>,
a critical component of that fairy tale, continues to bang them in (he won the
Golden Boot in 2019-20 for the most goals scored). <b>Zaha</b> continues to
terrorize defences, particularly those of big teams, and contribute to the
Eagles’ unpredictably – when they play well, they don’t just win – they blow
you away. And <b>Grealish</b>, an Englishman with the ball-playing abilities of
a Spaniard, was the main reason for the Villans escaping relegation last season.
How will they fare this time?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">My predictions for the year are in the appended table!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-table-layout-alt: fixed; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td colspan="3" style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 450.8pt;" valign="top" width="601">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Predictions – EPL 2020-2021<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 169.85pt;" valign="top" width="226">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Champions League Qualification<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 155.95pt;" valign="top" width="208">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Europa League Qualification<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 125.0pt;" valign="top" width="167">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Relegation<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td colspan="3" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 450.8pt;" valign="top" width="601">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What I Would Like to Happen<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 169.85pt;" valign="top" width="226">
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Leeds United<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Everton<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Leicester City<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Liverpool<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 155.95pt;" valign="top" width="208">
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Wolverhampton Wanderers<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Brighton and Hove Albion<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 125.0pt;" valign="top" width="167">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">18. ??</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">19. Chelsea</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">20. Manchester United<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td colspan="3" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 450.8pt;" valign="top" width="601">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What I Think Will Actually Happen<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
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<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 169.85pt;" valign="top" width="226">
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Liverpool<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Manchester City<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chelsea<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Tottenham Hotspurs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 155.95pt;" valign="top" width="208">
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Everton<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 18.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Leeds United<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 125.0pt;" valign="top" width="167">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">18. West Bromwich Albion<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">19. Fulham<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">20. Sheffield United<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
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<td colspan="3" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 450.8pt;" valign="top" width="601">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">5 Best Signings: Timo Werner</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> (Chelsea), <b>Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg</b> (Tottenham Hotspurs), <b>Ferran
Torres</b> (Manchester City), <b>Cengiz Under</b> (Leicester City), <b>Alphonse
Areola</b> (Fulham)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td colspan="3" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 450.8pt;" valign="top" width="601">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3 Bad Signings: Edinson Cavani</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> (Manchester United), <b>Thiago Silva</b> (Chelsea), <b>Willan</b>
(Arsenal)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td colspan="3" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 450.8pt;" valign="top" width="601">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3 Players Who Will Achieve Their Potential: Dominic Calvert-Lewin</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> (Everton), <b>Kalvin Philips</b> (Leeds United), <b>Bukayo Saka</b>
(Arsenal)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 9; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td colspan="3" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 450.8pt;" valign="top" width="601">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3 Unknowns Who Will Become Known:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <b>Tariq Lamptey</b> (Brighton and Hove Albion), <b>Timothy Castagne</b>
(Leicester City), <b>Patrick Bamford</b> (Leeds United)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-38235190416134496902020-08-19T14:34:00.000+05:302020-08-19T14:34:20.944+05:30A Tribute to Oliver Williamson (1932-2020)<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
SHORT TRIBUTE TO OLIVER WILLIAMSON (1932-2020)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ajit
Chaudhuri – August 2020<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘<i>Economics
went astray because economists mistook beauty, clad in mathematics, for truth’<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Oliver%20Williamson.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is a birthday month (I turn 57) and therefore time for
some reflection. When, in the course of a career, do you do your most important
work? Is it in the early years, when brain power is at its peak and a spouse,
if one exists, is less demanding? Or later, when you have figured out the ways
of the world and made the mistakes that enable learning? Or even later, when you’re
the boss and can get things done? Or maybe towards the end, when you have reached
where you are going to reach, have nothing to prove, don’t need to kiss ass,
and can focus upon what you want to do?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This note is not an attempt at an answer! However, I do remember
a discussion with a professor in the mid-2000s in which he mentioned an
encounter with <b>Ronald Coase</b>, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Economics in 1991. Coase was waiting at the lift of a hotel at a conference he
was attending, as was another economist and his son. The latter economist
recognized Coase and introduced himself, they made some polite chit-chat, and
Coase then asked his son what he was doing. The young man was studying
economics, so they talked about what he (the son) was working on. As Coase got
off the lift, he told the young man ‘you know, when I was your age I had already
written the paper that won me the Nobel.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The paper in question, ‘The Nature of the Firm’<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Oliver%20Williamson.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> was written in 1932 and
then languished for five years until it was finally published. It then
languished further, until the 1960s – the period in economics when the ‘efficient
markets’ school of thought was at its peak; when neo-classical economists saw
their chief function as one of understanding how pricing coordinates an
economy, when organizations were a mere black box or a production function that
converted inputs into outputs through a price structure, when humans were the rational
and selfish <i>homo economicus</i>, and when complexities were simplified with the
extensive use of abstract mathematics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Coase’s thinking was brought in from the cold by a group of
scholars who challenged the domination of ‘efficient markets’ and asked the
questions – if markets are so good at directing resources, why do companies
exist? Why are some activities directed by market forces and others by firms? Why
is there such a plurality of organization forms; family firms, franchises,
alliances, big corporations, natural monopolies, inter alia; and how do these
structures impact the economy? They were led by <b>Oliver Williamson</b>, who
developed Coase’s ideas and used them to understand realities through a field
of study entitled ‘New Institutional Economics’, thereby making economics more
tangible and accessible<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Oliver%20Williamson.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> to generalists like me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">According to Coase, the firm is a response to the high cost
of using markets – it is cheaper to direct tasks by fiat (i.e. via orders to
employees within a hierarchical organization) than to negotiate and enforce
separate contracts for every economic transaction because of what he called
‘transaction costs’. Coase was the first to spot an enduring truth, that
successful economies combine the benign dictatorship of the firm with the
invisible hand of the market. His ideas raised the counter question – if firms
exist to reduce transaction costs, then why have market transactions at all?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It was Williamson who delved into the ‘make or buy?’
question. When should a firm buy something, rather than make it in-house? He
identified three inter-related factors that governed such a decision;
specificity of asset, openness of contract, and scope for opportunism. He
defined an asset as specific to a transaction if its value is lower outside of
a transaction than within it, and said that vertical integration (i.e. bringing
it in-house) is better than going to the market when the asset is specific to
the transaction. Similarly, he distinguished between spot transactions
(purchasing a product once, upon immediate payment) and long-term contracts
(committing to purchase a product at different times in the future at an agreed
quantity and price) and said that the latter are necessarily incomplete,
slightly open-ended, and sustained largely by trust – a contract stays in force
primarily because its breakdown would hurt both parties. If market forces change
the relative bargaining power of the parties in the future, there is scope for one
party to exercise rational opportunism and break the contract. Such
transactions would be better managed within an alternative form of governance,
the firm. Complicated? I will try to simplify below!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Take for example the case of car manufacturer Company X and
car body maker Company Y, wherein X has the option of buying car bodies from Y
or the option of purchasing Y outright and bringing it within X’s operations.
In the former option, i.e. X buys car bodies from Y, if Y has to purchase an
expensive manufacturing die that is specific to X’s car design, it needs
assurance of future purchases – if X declines to purchase car bodies in future,
the expensive asset (the die) has little value and Y is screwed. Alternatively,
if demand for the produced car skyrockets, Y can hold X to ransom by pushing up
its price. Due to the likelihood of such opportunism in the future, it is
better for X to exercise the latter option and purchase Y.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It always felt that, deserving as he was, Williamson would
never be a Nobel Laureate because of Coase being awarded the Nobel Prize in
1991. The 2009 Nobel Committee’s announcement of the Nobel for Economics was
therefore a wonderful surprise – Williamson had won it jointly with another
giant, <b>Elinor Ostrom</b>, whose work on the role of institutions in natural
resources management helped puncture the ‘tragedy of the commons’ doctrine that
assumed humans as selfish and calculating<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Oliver%20Williamson.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Oliver Williamson’s passing on 21<sup>st</sup> May 2020 did
not hit the headlines in these pandemic-affected times. But his work affected
many fields, and helped make policies and form regulations on the relative
roles of the state, the market and institutions. This note is a short tribute
to a man who ‘switched on the light where the keys were, rather than searching
for keys where the light was’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Oliver%20Williamson.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Krugman, Paul; The New York Times; 2009<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Oliver%20Williamson.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Coase, Ronald; “The Nature of the Firm”; Economica 4(16) pp 386-405; 1937<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Oliver%20Williamson.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Ghosh, Ranjan and Goyal, Yugank; “Oliver Williamson: The Man Who Reduced the
Transaction Cost of Economics”; The Economic and Political Weekly 55(28-29), 11<sup>th</sup>
July 2020.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Oliver%20Williamson.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Two more Coase acolytes have since
won the Economics Nobel – <b>Oliver Hart</b> and <b>Bengt Holmstrom</b> in 2016
for their work on the theory of incomplete contracts that helped understand
which government services can benefit from being privatized, and which are
better off under government control.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-43125829981695205892020-07-17T10:51:00.003+05:302020-07-17T10:51:50.950+05:30The Chinese are Coming!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">THE CHINESE ARE COMING! THE CHINESE ARE COMING!!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ajit Chaudhuri – July 2020<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I write this note about
a game that I have loved without ever having played – badminton! It is a love
affair that began in the mid-1970s, when the game was ruled by Indonesians (<b>Rudy
Hartono</b> and an up and coming <b>Liem Swie King</b>) and Danes (<b>Fleming
Delfs</b> and <b>Svend Pri</b>), when China was not represented (Chinese Taipei
was China in all sports bodies), and when the annual All-England tournament was
the de facto world championship (a formal world championship began in 1980, and
the game was introduced in the Olympics in 1988). And I write this as a tribute
to my all-time favourite badminton player, who announced his retirement earlier
this month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But more about that
later! At this time, I would like to take the reader back to 1978, when there
was palpable excitement among badminton lovers – we were going to get our first
sight of the Chinese– its top players were coming to the Asian Games. How would
they fare against the Indonesians? Would it change the world order?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The generation that
brought China in from the cold were its top 3; <b>Han Jian</b>, <b>Chen
Changjie</b> and <b>Luan Jin</b>. Han Jian went on to lose the gold medal match
to Liem Swie King (the order was reversed in New Delhi in 1982) and then won
the world championship in 1985 as the Chinese began to make their space in the
game. The early 80s were incredible times, with an established order jostling
with upcoming players (<b>Prakash Padukone</b>, <b>Icuk Sugiarto</b> and <b>Morten
Frost Hansen</b>) for supremacy. And slowly ceding it, with Hansen ruling until
another generation of Chinese players (the left-handers <b>Zhao Jian Hua</b>
and <b>Yang Yang</b>, and <b>Xiang Guobao</b>) took control. And China has been
a part of badminton’s elite ever since.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In the women’s game,
the Chinese came in with two players – <b>Han Aiping</b> and <b>Li Lingwei</b> – who went on to</span><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75"
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> win everything between them, starting a Chinese
domination that began to be challenged only in the mid-2010s. They played
against each other ferociously in most finals, and then teamed up to play
doubles together as the best of friends. I must confess to spending a fair bit
of time watching them because of their looks (Aah! Aiping’s legs marking time
as she waited for the high shuttle to drop – the memory stays on 40 years
later). For some inexplicable reason, badminton is the best sports eye-exercise
after women’s volleyball and the Chinese fared superbly on this front – subsequent
world no. 1’s who would have set a catwalk alight include <b>Xie Xingfang</b>
and <b>Gong Ruina</b>. Other honourable mentions would include <b>Lene Koppen</b>
of Denmark and <b>Susi Susanti</b> of Indonesia. Unfortunately, most beautiful
women players end up marrying male counterparts in this deeply incestuous sport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">My favourite player of
that time was Sugiarto! You may wonder why, considering the only big tournament
he won was the 1983 world championship (defeated Liem Swie King in a slugfest
of a final – the best match I have ever seen). It was because; he was the only
defensive player of those times, he had the best back-hand in the game (the
only player who did not go around high tosses to play them on the forehand),
and his main attacking weapon was a jumping back-hand smash that he could
execute with power and precision from the baseline (again unique in those
times).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And my other favourite,
Prakash, with the sex god looks and the probing half-smash that invariably won
him the point two rallies later. He came into the limelight with a win at the
Commonwealth Games in 1978, from where we went on to win the 1980 All-England
defeating Liem Swie King in the final (King returned the favour in 1981).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And then, there was the
men’s doubles – possibly the fastest and most ferocious non-contact sport –
where power and placement had to be combined with teamwork and stamina. The 70s
had two great Indonesian teams ruling the roost; <b>Tjun Tjun</b>/<b>Wahjudi</b>
and <b>Christian</b>/<b>Ade Chandra</b>. Later years saw the South Korean pair <b>Joo
Bong Pak</b>/<b>Moon Soo Kim</b> and another set of Indonesians <b>Rexy</b>/<b>Ricky</b>.
And the Sidek brothers of Malaysia, <b>Razif</b>/<b>Jalani</b>, who figured out
how to serve so that the shuttle reached the opponents feathers-first (the
service was subsequently banned).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Now – to my tribute!
Badminton lovers would have got the news, earlier this month, that <b>Lin Dan</b>
is finally retiring<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Sports/CHINESE%20ARE%20COMING.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
I feel a sense of loss – I have followed him from when he burst into the
international limelight as a cocky kid, tearing through a star-studded line-up
to win the 2004 All-England. He has since won everything there is in the game;
5 world championships (between 2006 and 2013, and was a losing finalist in 2005
and 2017), 2 Olympic golds (2008 and 2012), 6 All-England’s (between 2004 and
2016, and was a runner-up there as recently as 2018) and 2 Asian Games golds
(2010 and 2014). I was in the stadium when he came to Delhi for the 2010 Asian
Championships, when he was at the peak of his powers. And while reams have been
written about him, nothing can quite describe the aura he brought on to a
court. He had shortish hair that stuck out, and when he faced you and the
shuttlecock was in the opponent’s court he looked like a tiger on the prowl;
the hair straight up, the eyes fixed on the opponent’s movement, and the racket
like a short-sword in his left hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is difficult to write about Lin Dan without a
mention of his wife, the glamorous Xie Xingfang – she was two years older than him and was his girlfriend from
when he was 14. And his rivalry with <b>Lee Chong Wei</b> of Malaysia, a
perennial world No. 1 without winning a major tournament (they were good
friends off the court).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I will miss you,
Super-Dan!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Sports/CHINESE%20ARE%20COMING.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For those of my readers who do not
know Lin Dan, a short detour is recommended into </span><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/badminton/legendary-shuttler-lin-dan-retire-6490468/">https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/badminton/legendary-shuttler-lin-dan-retire-6490468/</a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-56172737900888277392020-06-26T14:36:00.003+05:302020-06-26T14:36:54.770+05:30Volunteering, Lockdown and ZZZ<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">VOLUNTEERING, LOCKDOWN AND ZZZ<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ajit Chaudhuri – June 2020<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">According to The
Economist<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Volunteering%20and%20ZZZ.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>, the COVID-induced
lockdown has divided the world into three Zs. There are those working from home
on full pay using internet-based communication, the Zoomers, who have to deal
with the trials and tribulations of boredom. Those with zero-hour contracts as
small businessmen, labourers, and informally employed service providers are the
Zeros and in deep shit. And then there is Gen Z, with tanked higher education
and employment prospects, also in deep shit. My own situation (thus far) as per
this categorization is thankfully the first, and I decided to alleviate the boredom
by stepping out and doing some voluntary work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I got an opportunity
with a citizen-organized food delivery initiative called ‘Khaana Chahiye’,
which prepared hot meals and provided them a) at stations to migrants leaving
the city by train, b) at slums to those living without work and c) on the road
to pavement dwellers and itinerants. I came to know of the initiative through a
colleague and spent an evening at a railway station as an observer before
applying to be a volunteer on its website. By the time I came on board
(mid-May) it was very well organized (having begun in March), so I just needed
to slot in and get to work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So, what did I do?</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> I spent two weeks going to a restaurant in Bandra,
loading 3,200 hot meals on to a BEST bus designated for this purpose, picking
up my supervisor at Vile Parle, and then heading onwards to Dahisar via points
in Jogeshwari, Borivli, Malwani, Malad, etc. handing over a specified number of
meals to contact persons at pre-arranged locations. We took the occasional
detour; once we had some crates of <i>gulab jamuns</i> that we delivered to
orphanages in and around Andheri after our regular route, another when we
stopped to take a COVID test (more about this later).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Should I have done
so?</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Well, maybe not, for
various reasons! One, I am on a ‘work-from-home’ because it is unsafe to be
out. Two, I was out for most of the working day (when I was supposed to be at home
working). And three, I am at a vulnerable age, and I had my Mother-in-law at
home those days (I lied about both in my selection interview). But, it took me
out after two months stuck in a closed space with wife and Ma-in-law. And, my
own city was (is) facing its biggest crisis in living memory, and I was not
going to respond to the question ‘what did you do during the lockdown?’ with an
‘I was a good boy! I stayed at home and did my work.’ No way!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">How was it?</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> On the good side, pretty good fun! My key learnings
were –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One – I finally got to
see Mumbai’s suburbs! There was an old joke at the time of India’s moon
mission, in which the Mumbaikar issues ISRO a challenge – let’s see who reaches
first, you to the moon or me to Andheri East. With no traffic, I discovered
that Bandra was 15 minutes away and getting to Andheri East was merely another 30.
To my shock, the burbs were both civilized and worth seeing. I am no longer
intimidated by the prospect of stepping beyond my corner of the city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Two – I managed to
suppress some ideological issues! First, I am not a believer in providing food
to people-in-need. My own experience suggests a) that food is akin to opium in
creating dependency, b) that it delays recovery and c) that it diverts policy
makers from the need to sort out the public distribution system (wherein basic
services such as food are provided as a right rather than a handout). And here
I was, in a system with clear demarcation between ‘givers’ and ‘receivers’. I
consoled myself by staying at the back of the bus and managing inventory, and
by knowing that the receivers themselves had the impression that this was
partially a municipal programme rather than a pure charity because of the BEST
bus that we travelled in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And second, while the
initiative itself was non-political, my supervisor was a BJP member and I think
also RSS (i.e. the opposite end of the political and ideological spectrum from
me). He was in his late thirties, had been on my route from when it began in
March, and he was brilliant. He knew every location and every contact
personally on this complicated and diverse route that touched many difficult areas,
he was kind and patient in his dealings with everybody, and he was trusted
implicitly all along the route. He would speak Marathi with the Marathis,
Gujarati with the Gujaratis, Hindi with migrants from the north, and Urdu in
the minority dominated areas. At no time were his ideological or political
leanings on display – on the contrary, he was free in his abuse of the
government and the effects of its COVID policies on his ice-cream business. His
only discernable bias was his refusal to give food to drunkards – one drop-off
point was near a liquor shop and we were often approached by people in the
booze-line. Needless to add, we became good friends!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Three – I saw the
limits to technology! The organizers had initially planned to send the food out
with a driver armed with the location of the drop-off points on Google Maps and
the phone numbers of the respective point-of-contacts. The ensuing chaos resulted
in a steep learning curve, with things changing to ensure that there was a
volunteer on every bus who was responsible for delivery, was a face of the
initiative to the beneficiary, and was available for feedback and requisitions
on future needs and requirements. We got to know the importance of the bananas
and biscuits we provided in addition to the meals (they were kept by children
for next morning’s breakfast), or that the Don Bosco orphanage could absorb any
amount of meals (it had young boys for whom no quantity of food was sufficient
– so we made it our last stop in which its own quota and any additional stuff
could be offloaded) by virtue of our presence at transactions and our
conversations with the beneficiaries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Four – life was good at
the bottom of the chain! I had the luxury of being a grunt – I merely had to
land up, hang around, load, unload, and shift meals from one sack to another,
etc., some of it on a moving bus, and then go home. No stress about whether the
food or the bus would arrive, or any other coordination/management related
matter – others did all that. In the process, I got time to look around and
absorb things. Like the efficiency of operations (hot food moving from being a
set of ingredients to filling a hungry person’s stomach, every day, in numbers,
changing for the requirement of the day, all the work done by volunteers!). Or
the happiness with which my bus driver drove on the city’s empty roads – he had
spent 45 days in lockdown before being called up and was thrilled to be out. Or
the integrity with which the recipients reduced their requirements as time
passed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And five, I met new and
inspiring people! Mumbai to migrants like me is a strange place – Mumbaikars
are pleasant and orderly but also highly transactional in their interactions (and
I sorely miss Delhi’s large-heartedness). It was good to know that there are people
in this city who put self-interest on low priority during a crisis and refuse
to let lockdown restrictions and health risks get in the way of doing things
that need to be done. The initiative was organized by a group of restauranteurs
without restaurants (due to the lockdown) – they saw that people needed food
and opened their kitchens to make it available. My co-volunteers were mostly people
who had been upended by the pandemic; my supervisor ran four ice-cream
parlours, another guy owned an event management agency, a lady had just
finished her teaching contract with an NGO and her plans for higher education
were on hold, etc. People who were screwed, and who stepped out to do something
for others rather than hide in their homes and wallow in misery. It was an
honour to meet every one of them!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Not everything was
great, though! The law of averages duly applied and a co-volunteer, who had
spent a day on the bus with me, tested positive for COVID. I did ten days in self-quarantine,
worried sick that if I had something my Ma-in-law would get it as well. I
didn’t, she didn’t and my marriage, I think (and hope), survives!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I came back to my
food-route after quarantine and found that things had changed for the better. Traffic
was out on the roads again, that ghost-town feeling was gone, and the need for
cooked food had reduced considerably with people getting back on their feet.
Within a few days, ‘Khaana Chahiye’ correctly decided to close the route, and I
got back to doing what I was supposed to – working from home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I would like to
conclude with the saying ‘if you can’t be a good example, you should at least be
a horrible warning!’ I’m not sure where I stand in this spectrum!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%207-6-20/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Volunteering%20and%20ZZZ.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">‘Zoomers, Zeros and Gen Z’; The
Economist issue of 23 May 2020<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-81620525068785756622020-05-17T12:30:00.000+05:302020-05-18T11:47:55.210+05:30The Future of Leching<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Chaudhuri – May 2020<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">These are hard times, the world is going to change blah,
blah, blah, and we are all concerned about the COVID-battered economy, the creaking
public health system, the government’s encroachment into our lives, our uncertain
livelihoods and likely-to-rapidly-dwindle savings, whether Liverpool will be
appointed EPL champs, and the future of things such as education, travel, fine
dining, work spaces, et al (I could go on and on). This note is about something
much more serious – the survival of the lecher in a future of universal full-face
respirators and contour-disguising PPE kits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Leching – defined for the purpose of this note as ‘the act
of hanging around in public places looking at girls’ – is the world’s second
oldest time-pass for single men. It cuts across culture, class, religion, and region,
and was indulged in by Mesopotamians, ancient Greeks and your Dad. It has many
names – ‘checking out the babes’, ‘sampling the eye candy’, et al (my
generation would remember the scene in the film ‘On Golden Pond’ that
introduced us to the term ‘cruising chicks’<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%206-8-19/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Future%20of%20Leching.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>). And while mostly
undertaken in market places (GK-1’s M block market was the gold standard for
Delhi-wallahs in the early 1980s), at beaches, swimming pools and marriages,
the serious lecher could convert any occasion into an opportunity; funerals, <i>teerth
yatras</i> (pilgrimages), parents-teachers day at one’s children’s school, village
self-help group meetings, academic conferences, and congregations to celebrate
women’s day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The term has a negative connotation, and the act itself faces
opposition from parents (who hate time wastage), feminists (who hate men) and
religious fundamentalists (who hate fun). It faces competition from the
Internet (with the widespread availability of free porn and ‘hook-up’ sites)
and women’s sports on TV – 40 years back the participants mostly looked like
prison guards in drag, now they look like (and many are) models, including
chess players and shot putters. And yet, it thrives – reminding one of Md.
Iqbal’s lines ‘<i>kuch baath hai; ki hasthi mit-thi nahin hamari; sadiyon rahan
hai dushman, daurein zamaa hamara</i>’ (there’s something about us; our
footprints don’t die out; our enemies have been around forever; and yet we
flourish).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But the COVID outbreak is an enemy like no other! How does
one lech when the objects of one’s attentions are in facemasks? And if one does
so, how can one avoid the cardinal sin of wasting time and effort on homely girls?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The latter statement requires explanation! Why should
lechers be choosy – I mean, here are a bunch of idle good-for-nothing losers,
what do they have to be picky about? This requires some understanding of
leching’s logic of operation. Any act that crosses the threshold of merely
hanging around and looking, such as approaching the girl, making conversation,
taking her out, getting to first base, etc., is a function of something called
‘<i>aukaad</i>’ – a combination of factors that include the subject’s looks,
courage, ambition, wealth, and prospects in life. Setting ambitions within the
boundaries of one’s <i>aukaad</i> is rational strategy. The critical constraints
in leching, conversely, are time and presence – for the lecher, the beauties
are just as available and accessible as the others and, if one has 30 minutes,
for example, to hang around, it would be a cardinal sin to expend them
exercising one’s eyes on the latter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And therefore, for leching to survive COVID, lechers will
need to imbibe new skills to separate the lech-able from the others. Mere
visual signals will be insufficient, and one will have to learn to recognize
alternative cues. Luckily, a body of knowledge on this matter already exists,
and I am qualified to expound on it based on observations from evenings
mis-spent in the <i>bazaars</i> of small towns while criss-crossing Afghanistan
and the years lived in the <i>ghunghat</i>-ridden areas of western Rajasthan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This body of knowledge has two underpinning ontological
assumptions about basic human behaviour. The first is that a beautiful woman
will find ways of informing you (yes, even you) that she is beautiful, no
matter what the circumstances. In the small towns of northern Afghanistan, it
was in the way she swished her <i>burkha</i> as she passed you, the fleeting glimpse
she afforded of her high heeled shoes, or the whiff of perfume that hung
tantalizingly in the air after she went by. And the transmission of a message –
‘I am stunningly beautiful, and you are damn lucky to be in my vicinity’ via demeanour,
aura, and other non-verbal and non-visual means.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The second is that beautiful women expect to be recognized
when they meet someone they know, no matter what the circumstances. I was
forming women’s groups in refugee villages in western Rajasthan in the early
1990s – this was a particularly conservative community that did not let
non-resident men into the village (even visiting sons-in-laws had to stay
outside in a designated hut that was called an ‘<i>uttaara</i>’), and the women
had to have veils on in the presence of any man. In time, me and my team were
allowed into these villages and to hold women’s meetings without the women needing
to be veiled up (the first line at such meetings, after hi-hello, was to tell
the men hanging around to get lost so that we could talk in peace).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘How the hell did you expect me to recognize you?’ I asked
one of them when I was at the receiving end of a firing for having behaved
formally when I had met her earlier at a local market, ‘you had your <i>ghunghat</i>
on full.’ I was duly informed that she didn’t give a shit, that friends should know
each other when they meet, and that I would have to figure it out. And, as time
passed, I did! And I discovered that beauty is visible in obvious parameters
such as height, figure and carriage, and also in non-obvious ones such as hands
(and the way she wears her bangles), ears (and the way her veil sits on them),
and feet (the shape and cut, and also the second toe sticking out more than the
big toe is an indicator that she is ‘bossy’).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And therein lies the future of leching – in recognizing cues
that are not centred around fairness of face. For it to continue to be a worthy
pastime, some re-calibration of skills and abilities on the part of the lecher may
be required (and the element of speculation may even enhance its appeal). This
brings me to the question that you would no doubt have on your minds – can the homelies use these cues to divert or misguide the lecher? Certainly! But, so what? For if
she has you thinking ‘Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air, clad in the beauty
of a thousand stars’ (to quote Christopher Marlowe), then no matter, to you she
is Helen of Troy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
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<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Desktop/Ajit%20Document%206-8-19/Writings/Academic/Thinktank/Future%20of%20Leching.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">If you haven’t seen this Henry
Fonda, Katherine Hepburn and a smoking hot Jane Fonda classic, you have missed
something in life. The scene being referred to is seeable at </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eQBa4JQzDI&list=PLRscOIr5vFO1phloMb-JU9Vyp2uiX7CC7&index=172">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eQBa4JQzDI&list=PLRscOIr5vFO1phloMb-JU9Vyp2uiX7CC7&index=172</a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<br /></div>
Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-23905474358995487752020-04-18T16:46:00.001+05:302020-04-18T16:46:51.355+05:30Ladies Who Don't Need to Sing in Undergarments<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">LADIES
WHO DON’T NEED TO SING IN UNDERGARMENTS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ajit
Chaudhuri – April 2020<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but many women singers
sing in clothes resembling undergarments. And I see why – because the likes of
me would not otherwise notice them. And so, I have made a list of songs (all in
English, and all sung by women) that have zapped me, songs that I would not
give a crap what the singer is wearing and how she is gyrating. Along with the
list is a short note on why I liked each one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Afficionados, please note – the criteria for selection is
a) has to have zapped me, b) woman singing it, and c) in English. I have
whittled the list down to 20, which means that some beautiful voices have not
made it (Joan Baez, Sinead O’Connor, Shirley Bassey and Stevie Nicks come to
mind). And the English criteria has meant that some that have zapped me are
negated (such as Agnetha Faltskog’s ‘Vart Ska Min Karlek Fora’, Nazia Hassan’s
‘Aap Jaisa Koi’ and Miriam Makeba’s ‘Malaika’).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So, here’s the list! The one’s in italics are where the
singer has also written the song!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
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<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Singer<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Song<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Group<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Year<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Adele<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Make
You Feel My Love<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2008<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Asha
Bhonsle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Bow
Down Mister<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">With
Boy George and the Culture Club<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Late
1980s<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Deborah
Harry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sunday
Girl<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1978<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Diana
Ross<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">When We
Grow Up<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
Supremes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1973<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Janice
Joplin<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Mercedes
Benz<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1970<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Jessi
Colter<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">I’m
Not Lisa<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1975<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Joan
Armatrading<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
Weakness in Me<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1981<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Joan
Jett<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Bad
Reputation<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1980<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Joni
Mitchell<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Circle
Game<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1966<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 10;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kim
Carnes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Bette
Davis Eyes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1981<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 11;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Linda
Perry<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">What’s
Up<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">4
Non-Blondes<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1992<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 12;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Lulu<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">To Sir
With Love<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">In ‘To
Sir With Love’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1967<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 13;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Miley Cyrus<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Every
Rose Has Its Thorn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2010<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 14;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Natalie
Maines<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Travelling
Soldier<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dixie
Chicks<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2002<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 15;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Norah
Jones<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Here We
Go Again<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">With
Ray Charles<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2004<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 16;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Petula
Clark<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Downtown<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1964<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 17;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sandy
Denny<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Who
Knows Where the Time Goes<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Fairport
Convention<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1969<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 18;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Shania Twain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Blue
Eyes Crying in the Rain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">With
Willie Nelson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2003<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 19;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Tracy
Chapman<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Fast
Car<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1988<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 20; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 99.0pt;" valign="top" width="132">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Yvonne
Elliman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 177.2pt;" valign="top" width="236">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">I Don’t
Know How to Love Him<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.6pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">In
‘Jesus Christ Superstar’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.45pt;" valign="top" width="51">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1970<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p><b>The Cross Generation Numbers</b></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">I.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Miley Cyrus</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <b>– ‘Every Rose Has
Its Thorn’:</b> I couldn’t stand this woman – she was among a select group of
people who had me reaching for the remote to change the channel whenever she appeared
on TV (along with Will Smith, Jim Carrey and a certain Indian Prime Minister
who I don’t have the courage to name). The thought of her singing this hardcore
and very male 1988 metal number written and made famous by the group ‘Poison’
had me in a quandary between laughing and vomiting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was wrong on this! She does it brilliantly (and looks
damn good while doing it)! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Norah Jones – ‘Here We Go Again’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> I
love Ms. Jones – that smoky voice, the lack of any frills, and the fact that
she doesn’t use her father’s fame (unlike her half-sister). But still – going
one-on-one with the great Ray Charles on this one?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">She not only holds her own; she gives this old number a
completely new flavour!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Shania Twain – ‘Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> The
song is like a low-end prostitute; it’s been done by almost everybody. What
made this version special was the singer – she did it live, with Willie Nelson
accompanying her on the guitar and back-up vocals. We all know that she can
sing, but this was something else!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>The cute numbers</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Deborah Harry – ‘Sunday Girl’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> I remember
this number from the days when I infested dance floors as a young man and, when
I heard it again more recently, I remembered why. There was something about
Blondie, a certain girlie meanness behind the cute look, the bad hair, the sweet
voice and the unremarkable lyrics that was accentuated by the punk rock
guitaring of Chris Stein who accompanied her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Diana Ross – ‘When We Grow Up’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> The
execrable film ‘Young Adult’ had exactly one redeeming feature – a background song
that caught my ear for its lilting beauty and simplicity. The lyrics went, ‘I
don’t care if I’m pretty at all; and I don’t care if you’ll ever be tall; I
like what I look like, and you’re nice small; we don’t have to change at all’. It
turned out to be a 1970s number by the one-and-only Ms. Diana Ross.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lulu – ‘To Sir with Love’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> I
heard this first as a teenager while seeing the eponymous film. The film (about
a dedicated teacher and a school in a tough London neighbourhood) was
brilliant, as was its theme song – sung at the school’s graduation party, with
lyrics about the transformation of their lives (‘those school girl days; of
telling tales and biting nails are gone’) and gratitude to the teacher (‘how do
you thank someone; who has taken you; from crayons to perfume’). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The songs that strike<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Janice Joplin – ‘Mercedes Benz’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> The
version I first heard had no accompanying musical instruments and no background
vocalists, and I don’t know what zapped me more – the lyrics, or Joplin’s
voice. It says a lot about what has changed in 50 years, that a song of protest
about consumerism has been converted into an ad for a high-end brand. It also
says something about what has not, that hers was a unique voice (like she had
broken glass down her throat) and she continues to be inimitable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Joan Armatrading – ‘The Weakness in Me’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> I
knew of the singer, but the first time I actually heard her was while watching
the chick-flick ’10 Things I Hate About You’ – one of the background numbers
(i.e. this one) had the lyrics ‘why do you come here, and pretend to be just
passing by’ sung in a voice that had all the pain of forbidden love. I was
floored to the extent that I immediately looked up the lyrics and chords and
tried to belt it out with my guitar. And better singers than me have tried to
do so (such as Melissa Etheridge), but this one is among those best heard in
the original.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Joan Jett – ‘Bad Reputation’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Named
in 2009 as the 29<sup>th</sup> best hard rock song ever (and highest-ranked by
a woman) – I love everything about it; the tune, the lyrics, the music video of
it (this is seriously funny – it parodies many of the music labels that kicked
her out for not being able to sing), and the fact that it is used by a top
woman wrestler (Ronda Rousey aka Rowdy) as accompaniment to enter the ring. A
credible imitation is by the singer Avril Lavigne, who shed her ‘sweet goody
two shoes’ image to redo this number more than 30 years later – she sounds
almost the same as Jett.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Joni Mitchell – ‘Circle Game’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> This
brilliant singer and song-writer was on my long list for three songs – I am
going with this particular number because it zapped me the most when I first
heard it (in the last scene of some film in the mid-1990s; I stayed to watch
the post-movie credits so that I could hear it to the end).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Linda Perry – ‘What’s Up’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> This
is a song about the frustration involved in adjusting to one’s place in the
universe, and people either love it (‘a massive neo-hippie anthem’, according
to one review) or hate it (The Huffington Post described it as, without
question, the worst song of the 1990s). I love it! The lyrics are simple and
catchy, the tune takes you from high-range to gravelly in a single passage, and
the chords are playable by amateurs such as yours truly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yvonne Elliman – ‘I Don’t Know How to Love
Him’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> My sisters loved this song, so I was forced to listen to
it a lot while growing up, and it is among those that we belt out together
every time we meet up and are a few drinks down. The tune is memorable, and the
lyrics encapsulate how a man would describe the confusion of love from a
woman’s point of view. I like it to the extent that I still try to do it every
now and then with my guitar, and have everyone wonder about my sexuality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The pure voices<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Adele – ‘Make You Feel My Love’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> I
knew the name, but nothing that she sang, until I stumbled upon this one. The
lyrics are disconcerting in their old-fashioned anti-feminist description of
unrequited love, but they fit brilliantly with the singer’s unique voice. I was
unsurprised to subsequently learn that it was written and originally performed by
Bob Dylan. Adele’s version is a huge upgrade (and I love Dylan)!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Asha Bhonsle – ‘Bow Down Mister’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> This
Boy George number meanders along until, somewhere towards the end, a not-unknown
back-up vocalist magically transforms it into something special with the beauty
and purity of her voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sandy Denny – ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> I had
never heard of either the singer or the song until it popped up on some
playlist recently but, once I did, life has not been the same. The voice haunts
me, and the lyrics buzz in my ears. It was difficult for me to believe that Ms.
Denny wrote this song while still a teenager.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tracy Chapman – ‘Fast Car’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> I
heard this one when it first came out, in the days when stuff like ‘Papa Don’t
Preach’ and ‘Like a Virgin’ were dominating the airwaves, and I remember that
it was like breathing fresh air. A beautiful voice, a melodious tune, instruments
that weren’t overpowering, and lyrics that meant something! Wow!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The others<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jessi Colter – ‘I’m Not Lisa’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> I
heard it recently on some playlist, and went back and played it three more
times. The tune is unexceptional, but the lyrics are about something rarely
described – a man’s love for his ex-spouse from the perspective of his current
spouse – ‘I’m not Lisa; my name is Julie; Lisa left you; years ago;’, etc. You
would not have heard of singer or song, and I recommend a try.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kim Carnes – ‘Bette Davis Eyes’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> I
thought it was Rod Stewart when I first heard this number, and was surprised to
subsequently learn that the singer is a woman and a cute blonde at that. The
song did so well that Bette Davis herself came out and endorsed it, saying that
it made her look cool to her grandchildren.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Natalie Maines – ‘Travelling Soldier’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> There
is nothing exceptional about either singer or song, and I don’t know why it
zapped me – but it did, and so it is here!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Petula Clark – ‘Downtown’:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> The
song writer for this one, Tony Hatch, claims that ‘it never occurred to me that
a white woman could even sing it’ until Petula Clark expressed interest and
made it into a smash it. I loved it from when I first heard it, in my early
20s, and it has accompanied me on many drinking sessions since then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-1743509828939242292019-10-29T19:37:00.000+05:302019-10-29T19:37:15.707+05:30On Giving Up Smoking<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">ON GIVING UP SMOKING<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ajit Chaudhuri – October 2019<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I am trying to give up
smoking. Informing people about this often leads to unsolicited advice such as
‘it is only a matter of will power overcoming Wills power’ or gratuitous
comments like ‘it is easy – I have done it many times’. Some ask why is it so hard
and, when I think about it, for me it is a combination of three reasons. One, I
respect time! Two, I like it! And three, because of the law of perverse incentives!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Allow me to expound!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On one – a downside of always
being on time in a society that is never on time is the time on my hands before
every appointment, meeting, and occasion. The best way to pass this time?
Catching up on Youtube videos? Speaking with assorted acquaintances on the
phone? Checking email? No thanks – I prefer a smoke!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On two – there is a
couplet that goes ‘<i>mandir masjid dono mein sir jhuka ke jata hoon, insaan se
khuda na banoo isliye thoda sa paap bhi karta hoon</i>’ (I bow my head in both
temples and mosques but, just so that I don’t turn from person into God, I sin
a little as well). A full and balanced life requires at least one vice and, if
you have to have one, smoking is a good vice to have. It harms only the smoker,
unlike alcohol and hard drugs which takes the user’s family down as well (and
destroys society too, if large numbers are indulging). This is corroborated in
a 2010 survey in Britain called the Drug Harm Score (described in the article
‘A Sober Brawl’ in The Economist issue of 19<sup>th</sup> October 2019) that
suggests that, on a score of 1 to 100 combining harm to users with harm to
others, tobacco stands at 27, well below alcohol (70 plus) and heroin (55)
though above ecstasy (9 – but I am beyond frequenting rave parties) and
cannabis (20 – but smells like a Turkish brothel).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And finally, on three –
a perverse incentive by definition is one that has a result that is contrary to
the intentions of its designers, a form of negative unintended consequence. What
does this have to do with giving up smoking? Well, the genius administrators at
my office purport to discourage smoking by disallowing it within the premises
except for one dark corner of the roof. And, most pretty young women at office
smoke. Smoking thereby gives me a reason to escape from my desk and meet them,
away from prying eyes and running mouths, in a non-hierarchical and non-judgmental
space where closed cliques are formed that cut across departmental silos. We
discuss friendship, love life, et al, and all of this during work hours. And
the envious looks I get from my male colleagues when I am with them in the
office corridor or at the coffee machine, and I wave at (and get a smile from)
a passing female smoking acquaintance, are to die for. What’s the incentive to
stop?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-19644401511323589192019-10-29T19:31:00.002+05:302019-10-29T19:31:58.959+05:30The Case for Strategic Retreat<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">THE CASE FOR RETREAT AS A FORM OF DISASTER
RISK REDUCTION<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ajit Chaudhuri – 9</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> October 2019</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Retreat, Hell! We just got here!”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Downloads/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title="">[1]</a></span></b></span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Downloads/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftn1" title=""><!--[endif]--></a></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The term ‘retreat’
originates from military strategy and has negative connotations (as can be
discerned from the quote above) – it is usually a prelude to defeat and a likely
subsequent massacre. However, when undertaken in a strategic or planned manner,
retreat can be used to serve positive objectives as well. Records suggest that
retreat was first used as an offensive strategy by the Mongol armies of the 13<sup>th</sup>
century (who were masters at feigning disarray and inviting cavalry charges
that drew enemies into locations of their, i.e. the Mongols’, choice), and most
famously by the Tsarist army during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in 1812
(letting the French reach the outskirts of Moscow before pouncing – of the
500,000 strong invading force that crossed into Russia in June, only 27,000
crossed back in December).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Thinking on disaster
risk reduction (DRR), too, has a negative lens on retreat (or the resettlement
of communities to pre-identified locations); it is seen as a last resort, as a
one-time emergency action, and/or as a failure to adapt – often undertaken in
an abrupt, ad hoc and inequitable manner that involves some level of human
rights abuse and is unfair to renters and low-income house owners. DRR prefers
to focus upon building resilience of vulnerable communities where they already
are, so that they have the ability to withstand the hazards that come their
way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And yet, retreat has
always been an adaptation option – there is little point in building resilience
of communities in areas that are prone to avalanches or landslides, for example,
because no amount of resilience is sufficient protection in the face of certain
hazards. And people in hazard prone areas usually look to move themselves and
their assets out of harm’s way, more so nowadays with global warming, rising
sea levels, and climate related extremes. Those with fewer resources have fewer
options to address such risks; they are unable to return, or to rebuild more
resiliently; some may feel forced into retreating; conversely, some may be
unable to afford to move, and feel therefore trapped in a hazardous location.
People staying in contexts of informal settings or insecure land tenures can be
particularly affected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Due to some of these
reasons, retreat is often undertaken after an unfortunate event, and usually in
some distress. The author happened to pass Malpa in 2014 (a Himalayan village
along the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra that lost 221 people and its entire housing
stock in a landslide in 1998), an eerie ghost village whose surviving residents
had resettled in safer locations. While hindsight is always 20/20, the case for
retreat was blindingly obvious given the steep, almost vertical, slopes of rock
above the location, the proximity of the rock mass to major (and unstable)
tectonic plates, and the heavy rainfall that ensured water seepage into the
porous rock. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Retreat as a form of
adaptation has attracted little research, and there is therefore limited guidance
for administrators and DRR practitioners on using it for more than the physical
removal of people and infrastructure. There is also limited focus on the social,
cultural, psychological and long-term economic consequences for those
retreating, those remaining, and those receiving the retreating communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It is therefore
refreshing to find a recent academic paper<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Downloads/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> that re-conceptualizes retreat
as a positive DRR option enabling achievement of societal goals and letting communities
choose actions most likely to help them thrive. It recognizes that retreat is
hard to do (and even harder to do well) due to issues such as place attachment,
a preference for status quo, imperfect risk perceptions, inter alia, and
suggests that a strategic, managed retreat could be an efficient and equitable
adaptation option.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On the strategic front,
the paper suggests that a retreat should not be a goal but a means of
contributing to a societal goal (such as economic development, environmental conservation,
etc.), and should be larger than a group of individual households relocating
for their own benefit in that it is coordinated across jurisdictions, involves
multiple stakeholders, addresses multiple hazards and risks at both origin and
destination sites, and integrates into planning for economic, social and
environmental goals. It should also be forward looking and responsive to
economic opportunities, market forces and demographic changes. Policy makers
need to identify why a retreat should occur and influence the ‘when’ and
‘where’ of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Management of a retreat
addresses how it is executed. To enable it to be equitable and efficient, there
is a need to a) understand and address barriers – especially those in the form
of institutional silos within government agencies and financial constraints, b)
develop tools to identify residents who want to retreat and require assistance,
and c) have communication strategies that engage reluctant residents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There are several
issues that complicate retreat and incentivize living in risky locales –
fishing communities on India’s eastern coast, for example, are constantly
battered by cyclones, but any attempt to move them to safer locales inland has
to counter the suspicion that the administration is acting at the behest of the
tourism and prawn cultivation lobbies that are always looking to occupy sea
front areas. There is therefore a need to develop and disseminate high quality
hazard maps that enable market prices to capture risk and help communities make
informed choices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There is much to be
done before retreat is re-positioned as a positive DRR option, despite the limitations
of ‘build back better’ and other strategies that look to win against nature<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Downloads/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>. Evaluation of retreat
outcomes, and recommendations for suitable and context specific policies and
practices, are scarce. Key research gaps need to be addressed, and deployments
in practice require testing and refinement. But first steps have been taken,
and there is growing recognition that sometimes retreating from nature instead
of fighting it can open new opportunities for communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Downloads/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Exclaimed by a US Marine during
World War I when advised to withdraw from his position.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Downloads/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Siders AR, Hino M and Mach KJ; ‘The
Case of Strategic and Managed Climate Retreat’; Science Vol. 365 Issue 6455 pp
761-763; 23 August 2019<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit/Downloads/CASE%20FOR%20STRATEGIC%20RETREAT%20-%20AC02%20-%20221019.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-IN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Pierre-Louis, K; “How to Rebound
After a Disaster: Move, Don’t Rebuild, Research Suggests”; NYT issue of 22
August 2019; accessed on 23 August 2019.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<br /></div>
Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-54421430496192232832019-10-29T19:28:00.001+05:302019-10-29T19:28:32.227+05:30What Now??<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">WHAT NOW??<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ajit Chaudhuri – June 2019<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">An election has happened, the people have
spoken, and a government is in place. Notwithstanding the doubts about the
partisan role of the Election Commission, the abnormally large margins of
victory and the manipulability of electronic voting machines, this is a
government that has widespread acceptance and I think we all hope that it
buckles down to address the many problems facing us today. The right initial
noises are being made about being a government for all Indians, but there is
also disquiet about its majoritarian agenda, the nutcase fringes that provide
its foot soldiers, from where people are fast-tracked into leadership, and its
disrespect for the checks and balances of democracy. I don’t like these people,
and I don’t trust them! And the feeling is mutual – secular minded English-speaking
liberals are the new anti-nationals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So where does this leave the likes of me? I can
–<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lament, like the old man in
the cult film ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron’ who throws his hands up in the air and says
‘yeh kya ho rahaan hai (what’s going on)’, and leave it at that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Run, like Kashmiri Pandits in
the 1990s – but where to in these Trumpian times?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Get out of the way! I’m at the
fag end of my career, a peaceful (I hope) retirement involving gardening, watching
TV, and playing the guitar at some seedy bar beckons – why bother myself with
grandiose matters such as the direction of the country?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Hold my nose and join them –
and hope to influence from within. Many likeminded people have changed colours recently
– why not me? But – can I live with looking into a mirror and seeing a rat?
And, what use would they have for the likes of me?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Oppose, by working with
political parties that profess to share my values – but which ones? Family
businesses masquerading as political parties are repugnant to me, and the
extreme left indistinguishable in practice from their counterparts on the
right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In deciding, I would like to believe that –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The country needs the likes of
me – somewhat educated, liberal, with no allegiance to any caste, religion,
community language or region – who only has a country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The country needs an
opposition – the current political situation is not healthy for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The country needs a political
party occupying the center-left, which speaks for the poor and marginalized,
for whom the development discourse is more about basic education, basic health,
minimum wages, and basic infrastructure, and less about the stock market,
interest rates, and rupee value of the dollar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The country needs people who
speak for its constitution and underpinning values.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Is there an option to oppose merely by being an
unorganized voice for a better India; progressive, just, peaceful, celebrating
its social, ethnic, religious and cultural diversity, balancing its multiple
needs in a fair and humane way, a force for good in world affairs, etc.? </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
would like to explore this path. What would this take, and what are the costs?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /></div>
Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-65883692501880540482019-10-27T16:20:00.002+05:302019-10-27T16:20:52.470+05:30(Another) Book of Lists<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">LISTING – RECENTLY READ BOOKS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ajit Chaudhuri – October 2019<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I had, in August 2012,
come out with a listing of the best books I have read; 42 in all, along with
when I had read it and why I had liked it (for those interested, it is at </span><a href="http://theintelligentwomanstoyboy.blogspot.com/2012/08/book-of-lists.html">http://theintelligentwomanstoyboy.blogspot.com/2012/08/book-of-lists.html</a>).<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> What
have I read since, in the seven years that have passed? Well, I confess that
the vicissitudes of life in the form of demands on my time from work, Netflix
and football (not always in that order) have affected my reading habit, as has
the rapidly diminishing pool of people whose recommendations I trust. And yet,
I have managed to go through a few in the recent past. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The good ones? Here goes
(in alphabetic order)!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A Man Called Ove</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> –
Fredrik Backman – published in 2014<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Birds Without Wings</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> –
Louis de Bernieres – published in 2004<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kafka on the Shore</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> –
Haruki Murakami – published in 2002<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Pachinko</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> – Min Jin Lee – published in 2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Pax Feminica</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> – Ajit Chaudhuri – published
in 2018<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the
Window and Disappeared</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> – </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jonas Jonasson – published in 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Shadow of the
Wind</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> – Carlos Ruiz Zafon – published
in 2001<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Wonder</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> – RJ Palacio – published in 2012<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-32916643801079942192019-09-07T18:43:00.000+05:302019-09-07T18:43:28.467+05:30Great Expectations!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">GREAT EXPECTATIONS</span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Ajit Chaudhuri – September 2019</span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I joined the private
sector in 2014! Or rather, re-joined after a 30-year hiatus – I began my career
the day after my BA Final exams as a salesman for a Delhi-based computer
company, and lasted less than a year. I didn’t expect to be back; a life misspent
down the salt mines of the development sector does not qualify one for
management positions in institutions purposed to ‘maximize shareholder value’,
and I was surprised to be at the receiving end of an offer of employment from a
large and reasonably respected conglomerate. The role sounded good, the pay
almost enough (no one’s pay is quite enough), and so I accepted and buckled
down to work.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It will be 5 years this
month! This note reflects on some matters relating to life here in the private
sector that took me by surprise – both pleasant and unpleasant.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A visit to
Mongolia:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Not many can out-boast
me in ‘been-there-done-that’ conversations on visiting remote, difficult and
beautiful places (on the occasions that I choose to compete) – a pleasant
consequence of a life basically spent roaming around. And yet, some places were
always beyond the scope of my imagination! Mongolia was one such; the largest
expanse of land without a fence, the coldest capital city in the world (with a
year-round average temperature of 1 degree centigrade), the lowest population
density in the world, the longest distance from a sea – absolutely the middle
of nowhere, and the last entry in a list of places one expects to travel to. I
was therefore shocked to get, in 2018, an opportunity to spend time in Ulaan
Bataar on work, i.e. not only was I to go there but my organization was paying
me to do so, and my boss was shocked at the extent to which I was willing to
kiss his backside to make this happen (he was used to the US and western Europe
visits incentivizing this sort of behavior). The visit was awesome – highlights
included going into the countryside and seeing Mongolian dancing, falconry,
wrestling and horsemanship in the backdrop of the steppes; eating horse’s
tongue; hearing a public concert in Ulaanbataar’s town center, which included the
dual tone singing that is traditional to the country and a brilliant rendition
of ‘Amazing Grace’ on a <i>morin khuur</i> (or horse-headed fiddle); and
dancing the evening away to pop music at Beatles Square in the heart of the
city. I also zapped others by being able to read all the local signboards –
they did not know that I am familiar with the Cyrillic script that is similar
to Mongolian. I doubt that lightning will strike twice and I will get another
opportunity to go there, but if it happens that I do I will jump at it.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Feet of Clay:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> I went into the job holding some myths about
corporate leaders, that here were India’s elite – the brightest, best educated
and most capable people in the country, and I expected to be in awe of them.
Five years and four bosses later I find that, with some exceptions, I have yet
to be seriously impressed. It was Norman Schwarzkopf who said that ‘<i>leadership
is a potent combination of strategy and character, but if you must be without
one, be without strategy</i>’. A distinctive feature of a regime change that we
underwent some years back was the loud sucking sounds discernable across the
so-called corridors of power. The middle management, who are either younger or not
from elite education institutions, are far more impressive.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Gender Guru-dom:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Gender experts tend to be soft-spoken but terrifying
harridans in whose company the likes of me transform temporarily into sensitive
metrosexuals, and I had requested one to hold a ‘gender workshop’ at a
conference I was organizing. She backed out at the last minute, I couldn’t find
a replacement, and I decided to do it myself rather than cancel. I survived!
The 40-odd participants overcame their shock at a man facilitating such a
topic, refrained from throwing eggs and tomatoes (both verbally and literally)
at me, and were kind in their feedback. They also lapped up my quiz on ‘the
differences between sex and gender’ and explanations on ‘strategic’ and
‘practical’ needs of women, both interspersed with examples from my days
forming women self-help groups in western Rajasthan. It was my wife who put
matters into perspective, saying that ‘if a fraud like you is giving <i>gyan</i>
(knowledge) on gender, the private sector must be really desperate’.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Afternoon Tea with
the Hizb:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> My first
responsibility upon joining my job was to organize a humanitarian response to
floods in J&K, and I was promptly bunged off sans induction and other such
niceties to the K valley for the next two months. The visit was memorable for
many reasons; a week spent sleeping on the floor of a local NGO’s office at a
time when all hotels were under water, the rekindling of many old friendships
from my time here after the 2005 earthquake, and re-acquaintance with the
wonderful <i>wazwaan</i> style of local cooking. And for an entire afternoon
spent in the attic of a house in a village near Bijbehara (similar to where
they held Arvind Swamy in the 1992 film ‘Roja’), where a colleague and I explained
our intentions to a group of bearded men over multiple cups of <i>kahwa</i>.
They turned out to be from an overground institution of the Hizb-ul-mujahedin
(not that we asked)! A consequence was that, while there were the usual
problems of resistance to our relief efforts from local politicians,
administrators and community power brokers, we did not face a single barrier
from the militancy (and yes, we did work without security arrangements in areas
that feature prominently in news channels for not-very-nice reasons).</span><br />
<br />
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">A Musical Evening
on the Roof of a Kathmandu Hotel:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
Movies such as “The Wolf of Wall Street” provide a distorted picture of parties
in the private sector – in reality, they are civilized affairs in which embellishments
such as cocaine, underage prostitutes, etc., are conspicuous by their absence
and one doesn’t get up to anything that would shock one’s wife or mother. And
yet, very occasionally, they can be fun! One such occasion was in the midst of
death and destruction in the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, when I was
part of a relief distribution team that on top of everything else was dealing
with about four aftershocks a day, and we decided one evening to de-stress by
having some impromptu fun. I managed to procure a guitar, a colleague some
wine, and a few of us absconded to the terrace of our hotel one evening and
spent it singing Kristofferson, Nelson, Dylan, et al. A strong-ish aftershock
happened during this event, the building swayed (and the terrace swayed more), but
we were so high that this was one that we enjoyed rather than endured.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To conclude, if you are
planning to relocate to the private sector you may be surprised on some matters!
Don’t expect to merely go to office in the morning, put your neck into the
grinder for 10 plus hours, return home in the evening, and wait for your
retirement benefits to kick in. You might be in for a little more than that!</span><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-10594370162904818982019-07-17T11:08:00.000+05:302019-07-17T11:08:52.508+05:30A Life Less Ordinary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?rinli=1&pli=1&blogID=550878305275660328" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?rinli=1&pli=1&blogID=550878305275660328" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?rinli=1&pli=1&blogID=550878305275660328" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?rinli=1&pli=1&blogID=550878305275660328" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;">A LIFE LESS ORDINARY<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;">Ajit Chaudhuri – July 2019<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;">I don’t often speak about my family, and I have my reasons for this. There are, however, a selected few worth speaking about and one such is my mother’s brother Aku Roy. I remember Akumamu very well as a small child – he was a naval pilot with a larger-than-life persona and always had sweets hidden on him when he visited (my sisters and I would clamber all over him to find them before even saying hello). I remember visiting the INS Vikrant when he was serving on it, and being taken out for joy rides in a red Standard Herald that was the love of his life. I was 8 years old at the time of the 1971 war, in which he was (and still is) deemed missing in action (MIA) after an operation in the Arabian Sea. I also remember my maternal grandparents’ distress in dealing with this – my grandfather was a tough guy, a General in the Army’s Medical Corps who had fought the Japanese in WW2, and it was strange for me to see him so distraught at the time. Life went on, as it always does, and Akumamu slowly became a forgotten figure – appearing only in occasional listings of MIAs as a cryptic ‘Lt. Cdr AK Roy, VrC’ and of Vir Chakra awardees, again with minimal details of who he was and what he did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;">It is only now that I have some idea of events leading up to the 1971 war and his role in them. The Pakistani Army was given carte blanche to curtail a freedom movement in what was then the Pakistani province of East Pakistan, resulting in large numbers of refugees flowing into India from late-1970 and in the formation of the Mukti Bahini (MB), a guerilla force of Bangladeshis who were tasked with fighting back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;">My Akumamu was pulled out of normal duties (he was posted in Bombay at the time), sent to Tripura, and tasked with selecting young men from among the refugees and training them to be naval commandos who could disrupt shipping along East Pakistan’s waterways (which was the main mode of transportation in the province). He himself went into East Pakistan for missions with his trainees, particularly brave for a fair, ‘Pathan-like’ six-footer who was easily identifiable by authorities in a group of Bengalis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;">One such was the bombing of Chittagong Harbour in August 1971, which announced the MB as a serious fighting force and highlighted the issue of Bangladeshi independence to the world. He and his men returned into Tripura by intermingling with refugees, where he was caught by an Indian Army unit at the border on the suspicion of being a Pakistani spy trying to infiltrate into India. He was tied up, beaten and abused until he asked to speak in private to the commanding officer of the unit, wherein he exposed himself to prove he wasn’t Muslim and identified himself as an officer of the Indian Navy. A hair-raising description of this encounter by the army officer concerned, Maj. C. Singh, is available in this link - </span><a href="https://salute.co.in/a-surgical-strike-at-sea-in-1971/" style="color: #954f72;">https://salute.co.in/a-surgical-strike-at-sea-in-1971/</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;">Aku Mamu returned from the eastern front and rejoined his naval base in the west before hostilities between India and Pakistan formally began. He was shot down during an operation over the Arabian Sea during the war, disappearing and never to be seen again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;">All this was almost 50 years ago. A recent book, “Operation X: The Untold Story of India’s Covert Naval War in East Pakistan 1971” by Captain Samant (who oversaw the navy’s involvement with the MB) and my journalist colleague in India Today Sandeep Unnithan, tells the story of some of India’s forgotten servants, among them my Uncle. I am grateful because, in bringing this man to life, it has provided subsequent generations of my family with a role model who did a little more than live well and make money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-56381218532517958912019-05-25T08:37:00.000+05:302019-05-25T08:37:54.780+05:30Societal Problems and Corporations: Should Business Do More?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">SOCIETAL
PROBLEMS AND CORPORATIONS: Should Business Do More?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ajit
Chaudhuri – April 2019<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">I.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; text-indent: -48px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Background</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The world is in deep trouble, according to many analyses.
People are frustrated for various reasons; stagnant wages, increasing
inequality, the effect of technology on jobs, uncertainty regarding the future,
inter alia – in turn leading to anger, nationalism and xenophobia. Leading
democracies have descended into dysfunction, exacerbating public frustration.
Society is unnerved by fundamental economic changes and with the failure of the
state to provide lasting solutions, and trust in multilateralism and official
institutions is crumbling. These make for a fragile global landscape that is
susceptible to short-term behavior by corporations and governments, in turn
leading to market uncertainty, decreasing confidence, and an increased risk of
a cyclical downturn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">II.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>Should the Corporate Sector Do Something?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Some suggest that it should! The UN system, for example,
has designed the Sustainable Development Goals with the participation and
involvement of the corporate sector in mind (their precursor, the Millennium
Development Goals, required only the state, the UN system and NGOs to be on
board), recognizing that business brings in critical elements – systems and
processes, innovation, technology, capital, focus on results – for targets to have
a realistic chance of being met. Most multilateral institutions and NGOs now
have departments that seek partnership with the corporate sector to further
their agendas, though in many cases the terms ‘partnership’ and ‘cheque
signing’ are synonyms in these times of decimated budgets. Countries too expect
businesses operating within to do so keeping social responsibilities in mind,
with India going to the extent of mandating a minimum expenditure for companies
on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) related activities. Academia is in a
race to identify a new type of capitalism that does not bring to mind
connections with robber barons, unrestrained markets and inequitable growth,
with terms such as ‘compassionate capitalism’ (which does not externalize
environmental and ecological damages, lessens the gap between executive and
rank-and-file pay, and is transparent in its dealings with regulators and other
stakeholders) and ‘progressive capitalism’ (which seeks a new social contract
between voters and elected officials, workers and corporations, rich and poor,
and those with jobs and those un or under employed<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit%20Chaudhuri/Desktop/TSG/Corporate%20CSR/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20CSR/Societal%20Problems%20and%20CSR.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>) vying for prominence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Others are not so certain! Public trust in the corporate
sector is low, and to many the thought of its involvement in addressing
societal problems, or in fact in anything more than providing goods and
services of adequate quality and employing people on fair terms, would be tantamount
to the state abdicating its responsibilities, to backdoor privatization of
public service provision, and generally to ‘a fox repairing a henhouse’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Corporate leaders’ own views on whether the sector should
address societal issues differ according to the type of business they are in (also
including its profitability, size, type of ownership, and the globality of its operations)
and the personal predilections of the leaders. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The views themselves usually
fall within four broad categories<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit%20Chaudhuri/Desktop/TSG/Corporate%20CSR/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20CSR/Societal%20Problems%20and%20CSR.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The first are adherents to the traditional viewpoint that
‘the business of business is business’ and that ‘corporate social
responsibility is to maximize profit’. They recognize that producing the goods
and services that people demand, employing them on fair terms, observing the
law and paying taxes is difficult enough (and requires all one’s energies), and
anything more transgresses into the realm of the state.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The second are a variant of the first in that they subscribe
to the traditional viewpoint but, for different reasons, do not want to be seen
as such and therefore direct their corporate communications and PR departments
to project a progressive image with liberal usage of terms such as ‘triple
bottom line’ and ‘social license to operate’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The third are those who recognize that, to prosper over
time, companies need to deliver financial performance and show that they make a
positive contribution to society. They look within the companies they lead to
enable this by creating a sense of purpose without which the company would
sacrifice investments in capital, innovation and employee development and
provide sub-par returns to investors<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit%20Chaudhuri/Desktop/TSG/Corporate%20CSR/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20CSR/Societal%20Problems%20and%20CSR.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>. Such companies are close to
the communities they serve and have a strong CSR culture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The fourth are those who believe that ‘there is a special
place in hell for those who possess power without compassion, might without
morality, and strength without sight’<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit%20Chaudhuri/Desktop/TSG/Corporate%20CSR/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20CSR/Societal%20Problems%20and%20CSR.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> and want to advocate for
change towards addressing pressing socio-economic issues. They look to set
their own companies right (as above) and to engage with external stakeholders
(the state, the political space, other corporates, and NGOs) for this. They may
also run businesses with products/services that directly address societal
problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">III.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>Conclusion</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There are varying opinions on the corporate sector doing more
about the societal problems described in section I. At one extreme, there is a
view that business should stick to what it knows, which is producing goods and
services while simultaneously employing people, observing laws and paying
taxes. Others suggest to differing degrees that business is a force for good,
it has advantages in the form of bright people, strong systems and processes,
capital, and the ability to innovate and use technology, and these should be
harnessed to address intractable societal problems. Whether the corporate
sector can do so and, if so, what it should do is entirely another matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit%20Chaudhuri/Desktop/TSG/Corporate%20CSR/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20CSR/Societal%20Problems%20and%20CSR.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Stiglitz, Joseph E, ‘Progressive
Capital is not an Oxymoron’, Opinion piece in NY Times issue of 19 April 2019<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit%20Chaudhuri/Desktop/TSG/Corporate%20CSR/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20CSR/Societal%20Problems%20and%20CSR.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">There is a zero-eth category of leaders
who see opportunities in lax regulation, poor enforcement and vague
accountability to maximize profits at the cost of societal wellbeing, and they
are not included in the analysis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit%20Chaudhuri/Desktop/TSG/Corporate%20CSR/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20CSR/Societal%20Problems%20and%20CSR.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Larry Fink’s (of Blackrock) annual
letters since 2012 provide a perspective on the need for responsible business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Ajit%20Chaudhuri/Desktop/TSG/Corporate%20CSR/Ajit%20Writing%20-%20CSR/Societal%20Problems%20and%20CSR.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-IN;">Paraphrased from the Martin Luther
King Jr. speech ‘Beyond Vietnam – A Time to Break Silence’, Riverside Church,
NY City, 4<sup>th</sup> April 1967.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-2883306944366749212018-12-16T20:01:00.003+05:302018-12-16T20:02:20.474+05:30The Loneliness of the Drag Flicker<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">THE
LONELINESS OF THE DRAG FLICKER<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ajit
Chaudhuri – December 2018<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If you are among those who’s illnesses coincide with sports
events, then you, like me, will have depleted your sick leave by this point in
the year – what with the Football World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Asian
Games, the Indian cricket team’s tour of England, et al. I was therefore
worried about missing the Hockey World Cup (currently being played in India)
until I discovered that the games are on in the evening and watching them merely
involves sliming out of office a little early on some pretext.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I have followed hockey from 1973 despite India doing zilch
to earn my support after 1975 (when my namesake <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ajitpal Singh</b> lifted the World Cup), an Olympic title in a
depleted, boycott-ridden field in 1980 notwithstanding. Why do I still support
it? What do I like about it? This note attempts to make the case for you to
support hockey as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So – here goes! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Hockey (outside south Asia) is an elite game. The players are
somewhat educated (mostly in medicine and law), cut their hair, show respect to
each other, listen to the umpires, don’t try to cheat, waste time and feign
injury, and generally behave well (as does the audience – no hooligans, louts
and ultras, and one can bring one’s family to a game). The Bengali term ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bhadralok</i>’, roughly translating to
‘genteel’, describes the atmosphere around hockey. The only black guy I have
seen in a top team was a scruffy looking fellow in the early 1990s who turned
out to be a medical student – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dr.
Michael Green</b> went on to captain Germany and win the world player of the
year award in 2002. British, Canadian and Kiwi teams usually have a sprinkling
of south Asian immigrants who share the characteristics of gentility and
education with their teammates. In other words, hockey is everything that
football isn’t – while sharing the characteristic of being a fast-paced contact
sport that requires immense skill, speed, strength and stamina.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Hockey is also technologically ahead of its time. The
decision to introduce VAR (for the non-sports-lovers – this stands for video
assistant referee and is the system for the on-field ref to refer a decision to
the cameras) at the football world cup earlier this year was based on it being standard
fare in hockey. The concept of a ‘challenge’ (a team having the right to
challenge an umpire’s decision and losing it if it makes a wrong one) has come into
cricket from hockey. Hockey umpires also have mikes that make their words
audible to the audience, and we get some gems such as the occasion this WC when
a Canadian player was contemplating doing some drama and the umpire told him
not to be an idiot, there were 11 cameras pointed at him at that very moment.
The player shut up quickly (one of the most effective bits of conflict
resolution I have seen on the field).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There is a theory around India’s decline that the game has
changed away from India’s traditional advantage in dribbling and towards speed
and strength. I find this a lazy argument! Anyone who watched <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Roderik Bowman</b> (Netherlands), <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Peter Hazelhurst</b> (Australia) or <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stefan Blocher</b> (West Germany) in the
1980s would know that their stickwork was as good as the best south Asians, and
that the top teams of the time combined dribbling skills with teamwork, tactics
and penalty corner expertise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Which brings me (finally) to the subject of my note – the
kind of hush that sets in during a hockey match every time the umpire brings
both hands forward to announce a penalty corner (PC), and all focus shifts to
one person – the penalty corner expert, now called the ‘drag flicker’. The
importance of this person set in during the 1980 Olympic final, when an
ordinary Spanish team ran India close because one person just kept banging PCs
in. I followed the game on radio, and I still remember his name – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Juan Amat</b> – as well as my heightened
nervousness every time the commentator announced a PC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In those days, PC conversion required one to hit the ball
from just inside the D-line, along the ground and through onrushing defenders
and a goalkeeper into the goal, and the likes of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Paul Litjens</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Surjit
Singh</b> were the experts. In the 1990s, better padding allowed goalkeepers to
respond by merely lying down in front of the goal and blocking the ball –
resulting in a rule change that allowed pushing the ball high as well. PCs
today are complex – the drag flicker has the option of hitting, pushing or
dummying – and the best of them use a sling-like action that sends the ball at
over 80 mph into the roof of the net. The drag flicker thus has to be an expert
at this, while also being good enough at other aspects of hockey to retain a
place in the team.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The best that I have seen are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Floris Bovelander</b> (there was a sense of fear every time the
Netherlands were awarded a PC while he was on the field that was in indirect proportion
to his first name), <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sohail Abbas</b>
(the one reason, in my opinion, that the decline of hockey was slower in
Pakistan than here in India), and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gonzalo
Peillat</b> (who symbolizes the rise of Argentina, the current Olympic
champions, in the game).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PC conversion has been an issue at this WC (thus far),
leading to talk about the decline of the drag flicker. I don’t agree! The two
lowest ranked teams at the WC punched well above their weight thanks to
brilliant drag flicking – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Du Talake</b>
enabling debutants China to make a big impression, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Victor Charlet</b> (another doctor) leading France into the
quarter-finals. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And, let’s not forget the goal that took India out of the
competition, a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mink van der Weerden</b> (the
Netherlands) drag flick that led to tears around the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Following Indian hockey is not pleasant! Politics,
regionalism (especially the Sikh – Kodava divide) and corruption are rampant,
and educated players do not survive to improve the system (as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jagbir Singh</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Viren Rasquinha</b> had tried to do). Efforts to acquaint coaches with
the modern game are lost on a bunch of computer-illiterate bumpkins whose
skills lie in intermittently saying ‘come on boys’, in negotiating the
political arena, and in blame shifting – as displayed by the Indian coach’s attempt
to divert fault to the umpires after a deserved quarter-final loss a few days
back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And yet, there is something about the current Indian team –
they are young, good, and competitive, and there are two adequate drag flickers
within. A little support, and a coach who is versed in modern tactics and
techniques, might just get us back up there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-37358935903217891422018-07-23T07:31:00.000+05:302018-07-23T07:31:23.546+05:30Boring and Sagacious<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">BORING AND SAGACIOUS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By Ajit Chaudhuri</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I turn 55 next month! I’m not certain of the significance
of this – has the decline officially begun, or am I entering the prime of life?
The evidence is ambivalent; on one side, I am reduced to goalkeeping at my
weekend kickaround, I clutch railings while taking stairs, and my memory has
become akin to that of a blind prostitute’s. On the other, impressing the
ladies is a vastly reduced priority, bringing about freedom from making witty
conversation and displaying wide-ranging knowledge. And my habit of enquiring
into the quality of the menu and the beauty of fellow-guests of the opposite
gender (along with checking for clashes with my football timetable) before
accepting social invitations has changed from ‘rude’ to ‘eccentric’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">55 is also when one officially acquires the
right to bore others with lectures on the vicissitudes of life, which brings me
to the purpose of this note. I propose to jot down some selected pearls of
wisdom from my own misspent life, and thereby hopefully enable a younger
generation to avoid learning lessons the hard way. Paradoxically, one of these
is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">‘make your own mistakes, and learn
your own lessons, because s/he who follows another’s footsteps leaves no
footprints’</b>. So, here goes!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Eat
what you kill!’</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Living on one’s own earnings enables an
independent foreign policy! One can choose who to be friends with (and who not
to) without regard to the family’s ‘position’ on the persons in question, one
can ensure family representation at weddings that have a family <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fatwah</i> against attendance, one can poke
pins into the pompous hot-air balloons that invariably infest family
get-togethers, and there’s not a crap anyone can do – because you are not
financially dependent upon them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Make
friends for life!’:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> When I look around at the
people I consider family, I see many people I am not related to – they are
friends of long standing, some of whom I have inherited from earlier generations.
So, distinguish between friends and acquaintances and remember, your friends
are for the long term. Recognize them early, maintain relationships, and look
beyond minor irritations! Your children and grandchildren should benefit from
your friendships, well after you have gone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Don’t
sub-contract out your thinking!’:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Education is the one
asset you have that will stay with you through your life – unlike money, cars,
houses, etc. that are here today and can be gone tomorrow – so give your
education the focus it deserves. And, along with your education, acquire the
ability to think for yourself and thereby identify your own interests, conduct
your own analyses, and have your own view on things. Don’t let the news anchor
on TV, political parties, members of high society, and other assorted
scoundrels do your thinking for you. You are just a mug to them!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Pick
your fights!’:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Not every fight is worth fighting, so
recognize the ones that are not and sidestep them. And when you do fight, your
opponents should be spitting out blood with their teeth when you finish with
them, literally if not figuratively.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘When
reason comes against force, force always wins!’:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> This
is a sad fact of life!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Somebody
else should not tuck your children into bed at night, and be the person they
clutch when they have a bad dream!</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> My family boasts a
proud tradition – we marry multiple times (there are a few pathetic
exceptions). Walking into family get-togethers with the same significant other
on your arm year-on-year leads to raised eyebrows among the relatives, and
speculation on the possibility of babies being mixed up at the nursing home where
you were born. So be it on that front – changing the spouse has become common
in society. Shit happens! Having said this, please ensure that your duties as a
parent are done to the full. At the minimum, your children should not have a lower
standard of living than your own. And only dickheads have children who think of
somebody else as ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Enjoy
the friendship of women!’:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> For the males among you, one
of life’s best-kept secrets is that women make fantastic friends for men. There
is a caveat, however; this applies only when there is zero attraction on both
sides. If an attraction is one-sided, the one attracted invariably turns a
little pathetic. When it is both ways, there is always a danger of crossing a
line that can never be crossed back. The lyrics of an old song went ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">they say when you become a lover, you begin
to lose a friend; it’s the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the end</i>.’
And, unless it culminates in marriage, what you lose is usually more than what
you gain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Don’t
take important decisions when you are angry or sleep deprived!’<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Indulge
your passions!’:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> A good life involves a healthy balance
between your professional, family and personal lives and, by implication, a
distinction between your family life and your personal life. Do you love sports,
or theatre, or music? Don’t give it up because work has become demanding, or
family life time-consuming. You need that little something that is your own,
out of these spheres, to maintain sanity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Stay
away from assholes!’:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Some people constantly
belittle others around them, and consistently make you feel bad about yourself.
They create a toxic and vitiated environment, one in which others are forced to
emulate their behaviour to survive. Recognize them, stay away from them, don’t
become like them. They aren’t worth it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Understate
(and let people discover upwards) rather than overstate (and let people
discover downwards!’:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> This is assiduous advice from
the late Rakesh Kaushik, a veterinarian friend who never used the prefix ‘Dr.’ on
his business card. He said that people who matter will find out anyway, and
think the better of you for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Do
not mistake tailoring and table manners for intelligence and integrity!’:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
Never underestimate the proclivity of ‘people like us’ to indulge in egregious
behaviour – it is not the preserve of the lower classes. The reverse also
applies!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Finish
what’s on your plate!’:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Applies both at the dining
table and in life!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘You
can’t maximize all your value preferences!’:</span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> In
college, I faced a trilemma between the need to do well academically, play a
lot of football, and have a vibrant social life. I subsequently learned that I
could pick any two – the third would be left to forces beyond my control (and my
second division is a tribute to my choices).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And finally, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">‘look into a mirror and like what you see!’:</b> Go figure yourselves,
folks!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /></div>
Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-39799265796865433922018-02-25T20:21:00.000+05:302018-02-25T20:21:19.624+05:30The No Asshole Rule<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div align="center" style="background: white; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">THE
NO ASSHOLE RULE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" style="background: white; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div align="center" style="background: white; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Ajit
Chaudhuri – February 2018<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Some things are best experienced in the original, and there have
been times in the just-short-of-fifteen years that I have been writing these
notes when I have resisted the urge to convey my own ‘take’ on a paper or note
and have just ‘put it out there’ instead. This is one of those times! Robert
Sutton is a Professor of Management Science at the Stanford Engineering School,
he has a PhD in Organizational Psychology, and he describes a reality that many
of us face in our working lives. I append two short essays; the first entitled
‘More Trouble Than They Are Worth’ from the Harvard Business Review (HBR) issue
of February 2004 (no. 7 in the collection ‘Breakthrough Ideas for 2004’), and
the second on why he converted the thoughts into a book in HBR 2007. Here goes!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7. MORE
TROUBLE THAN THEY’RE WORTH – </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Robert
Sutton, HBR 2004<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Guardian, serif; font-size: 12pt;">There’s a simple practice
that can make an organization better, but while many managers talk about it,
few write it down. They enforce “no asshole” rules. I apologize for the
crudeness of the term—you might prefer to call them tyrants, bullies, boors,
cruel bastards, or destructive narcissists, and so do I, at times. Some
behavioral scientists refer to them in terms of psychological abuse, which they
define as “the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviors,
excluding physical contact.” But all that cold precision masks the fear and
loathing these jerks leave in their wake. Somehow, when I see a mean-spirited
person damaging others, no other term seems quite right.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I first encountered an
explicit rule against them about 15 years ago. It was during a faculty meeting
of my academic department, and our chairman was leading a discussion about
which candidate we should hire. A faculty member proposed that we hire a
renowned researcher from another school, a suggestion that prompted another to
remark, “I don’t care if he won the Nobel Prize, I don’t want any assholes
ruining our group.” From that moment on, it was completely legitimate for any
of us to question a hiring decision on those grounds. And it made the
department a better place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since then, I’ve heard of
many organizations that use this rule. McDermott, Will & Emery, an
international law firm with headquarters in Chicago, is (or at least was) known
as a better place to work than other firms, and it has been quite profitable in
recent years. A survey from Vault, a Web-based provider of career information,
reports that McDermott has a time-honored no asshole rule, which holds that
“you’re not allowed to yell at your secretary or yell at each other”—although
the survey also reports that the firm has been growing so fast lately that the
rule is starting to fall by the wayside. Similarly, a Phoenix-based law firm
provides this written guideline to summer associates: “At Snell & Wilmer,
we also have a ‘no jerk rule,’ which means that your ability to get along with
the other summer associates and our attorneys and staff factors into our
ultimate assessment.” And the president of a software firm told me a couple of
months back, “I keep reminding everyone, ‘Make sure we don’t hire any assholes,
we don’t want to ruin the company.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All this might lead you
to believe that this rule bears mainly on employee selection. It doesn’t. It’s
a deeper statement about an organization’s culture and what kind of person
survives and thrives in it. All of us, including me, have that inner asshole
waiting to get out. The difference is that some organizations allow people
(especially “stars”) to get away with abusing one person after another and even
reward them for it. Others simply won’t tolerate such behavior, no matter how
powerful or profitable the jerk happens to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I acknowledge that there
is a subjective element to this rule. Certainly, a person can look like, or
even be, a sinner to one person and a saint to another. But I’ve found two
useful tests. The first is: After talking to the alleged asshole, do people
consistently feel oppressed and belittled by the person, and, especially, do
they feel dramatically worse about themselves? The second is: Does the person
consistently direct his or her venom at people seen as powerless and rarely, if
ever, at people who are powerful? Indeed, the difference between the ways a
person treats the powerless and the powerful is as good a measure of human
character as I know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">I’ll close with an odd twist: It might be even better if a
company could implement a “one asshole” rule. Research on both deviance and
norm violations shows that if one example of misbehavior is kept on display—and
is seen to be rejected, shunned, and punished—everyone else is more
conscientious about adhering to written and unwritten rules. I’ve never heard
of a company that tried to hire a token asshole. But I’ve worked with a few
organizations that accidentally hired and even promoted one or two, who then
unwittingly showed everyone else what <i>not</i> to do. The problem
is that people can hide their dark sides until they are hired, or even are
promoted to partner or tenured professor. So, by aiming to hire no assholes at
all, you just might get the one or two you need.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">WHY I WROTE THE
NO ASSHOLE RULE – </span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">Robert Sutton – HBR 2007<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Guardian, serif;">I just published a new book with a mildly obscene title: </span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: Guardian, serif;">The
No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t</i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Guardian, serif;">.
The first question that EVERYONE seems to ask me is why – given I am an
apparently a respectable tenured professor – I use such a bold (and to some,
offensive) title.</span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">Here are my top seven reasons:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">1. My father always told me to avoid assholes at all costs, no
matter how rich or powerful they might be, because I would catch their
nastiness and impose it on others. I learned, as an organizational
psychologist, that his advice is supported by research on “emotional
contagion:” if you work for a jerk, odds are you will become one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">2. I worked in an academic department at Stanford where we
openly talked about the no asshole rule and used it in hiring decisions. It
made the old Department of Industrial Engineering & Engineering Management
a better place to work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">3. In 2004, I wrote an essay for the <i>Harvard Business
Review</i> called “More Trouble Than They’re Worth,” which talked about
the no asshole rule. I had published other articles in <em><span style="font-family: "Guardian",serif;">HBR</span></em>, longer and more
well-researched ones, but nothing had provoked such a strong response. I’ve
since received more than 1,000 emails on assholes. Some are troubling, like the
fellow going through chemotherapy whose boss “told me I was ‘a wimp and a
pussy.'” Other stories are funny (like the woman whose boss kept stealing food
from her desk, so she made candies out of Ex-Lax, which he promptly stole and
ate) and still others are encouraging (including notes from CEOs who actively
screen out and fire demeaning people). The first example was the most common,
and it reflected the pain that people feel when they are treated terribly,
whether they are models, engineers, or CEOs who feel abused by their boards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">4. I was determined to use the word asshole in the title
because, to me, other words like “jerk,” “bully,” “tyrant,” “despot,” and so on
are just euphemisms for what people really call those creeps. And when I have
done such damage to people (indeed, all of us are capable of being assholes
some of the time), that is what I call myself. I know the term offends some people,
but nothing else captures the emotional wallop. Not everyone agrees with me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">5. I have uncovered quite a few companies that screen out and
don’t tolerate “workplace jerks.” Many </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: Guardian, serif;">of these places – law firm Perkins Coie,
the research department at Lehman Brothers under Jack Rivkin, and software firm
SuccessFactors – that have (or had) such rules may call them “no jerk rules”
for public consumption. But when you talk to them, they talk about screening
out assholes, not jerks. For example, Harvard Business School Assistant
Professor </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://pine.hbs.edu/external/facPersonalShow.do?pid=10650"><span style="color: #0787b1; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">Boris Groysberg</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: Guardian, serif;"> wrote me
that they called it the no asshole rule at Lehman, but he had to write it as
the no jerk rule in his teaching cases.</span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">6. There are things that people out there who are victims of
bullies can do to fight back and the word needs to get out. Consider this
(edited) email that a government worker sent me about how she and her
co-workers convinced management to deal with a nasty and demeaning co-worker:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">“I have worked [at a government agency] for four years and
encountered the asshole of all assholes very early on. After months of being
tormented by her and comforting other tearful victims, I decided to document
her behavior. I kept a little notebook in my pocket and wrote down her
behaviors that were racist, slanderous, threatening, etc. I documented the many
harmful things she did with dates and times. I encouraged her other victims to
do so too and these written and signed statements were presented to our
supervisor. Our supervisors knew this worker was an asshole but didn’t do
anything to stop her harmful behaviors until they received these statements.
The asshole went on a mysterious leave that no supervisor was permitted to
discuss and she never returned.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">7. <b>The most important reason that I wrote this book</b> is
that demeaning people do terrible damage to others and to their companies. And
even though there are occasions when being an asshole helps people and
companies “win,” my view is that if you are a winner and an asshole, you are
still an asshole and I don’t want to be around you!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #222222; font-family: "Guardian",serif;">You’re out there in the trenches. I bet some of these bosses
seem familiar. Some of us may see a bit of ourselves in there, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /></div>
Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-550878305275660328.post-21131203250110234672018-02-25T20:17:00.002+05:302018-02-25T20:17:43.006+05:30Guide to Women's Sports Teams<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
LECHER’S GUIDE TO WOMEN’S SPORTS TEAMS<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ajit
Chaudhuri – February 2018<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Like most sports addict, I watch women’s sports on TV for
the sports and not the women, and am therefore largely indifferent to whether
the players resemble models on a catwalk or prison guards in drag. It is,
however, difficult to escape the observation that women’s sports are becoming
increasingly pleasing to the eye for non-sports reasons. Frumpiness is out, and
decked up players in designer ware are in; today, watching even women’s shot
put and discus throw (difficult to watch in earlier times without questioning
the validity of gender testing) has one alternating between the ‘sports’ and
‘women’ sections of the brain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This note is to remember those occasions when I went
‘wow!!!’ and thanked God for the gift of eyesight, when a medal podium
resembled a Miss Universe line-up, and when even a sports fanatic like me was
distracted. I am going to list out the best-looking women sports teams I have
seen across a life misspent in front of the sports channels on TV. And I am
going to restrict myself to teams (and not individual sportswomen) that have some
serious sporting achievement and are therefore much more than cosmetic eye
candy. Here goes, in reverse chronological order –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Russian
Chess team that took gold at the 2012 Chess Olympiad in Istanbul (Turkey)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<img height="277" src="http://www.chessdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/russia-3.jpg" width="320" /><br />
<br />
Left to right are Ms. N. Kosintseva, Ms. Pogonina, Trainer Rublevsky, Ms. Kosteniuk, Ms. Gunina and Ms. T. Kosintseva<br />
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.25pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Name<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2.0cm;" valign="top" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Board<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 3.0cm;" valign="top" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Home Town<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.25pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Tatiana
Kosintseva<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2.0cm;" valign="top" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">First<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 3.0cm;" valign="top" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Arkhangelsk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.25pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Valentina
Gunina<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2.0cm;" valign="top" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Second<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 3.0cm;" valign="top" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Murmansk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.25pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Nadezhda
Kosintseva<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2.0cm;" valign="top" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Third<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 3.0cm;" valign="top" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Arkhangelsk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.25pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Alexandra
Kosteniuk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2.0cm;" valign="top" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Fourth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 3.0cm;" valign="top" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Perm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.25pt;" valign="top" width="160"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Natalia
Pogonina<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2.0cm;" valign="top" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Reserve<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 3.0cm;" valign="top" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Vladivostok<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Whoever said that ‘brains multiplied by beauty is equal to
a constant’ would eat his words at the sight of this team; beauty, achievement,
and something more – something that points to the vastness and diversity of
their country, which is why I have included their respective hometowns. Anyone
familiar with Russia would know that the places cut a swathe from its
north-western to its south-eastern corners; from the Arctic Ocean and the
Barents Sea via the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, from the Norwegian to
the Korean borders, with a seven-hour time difference between the eastern and
western most locations.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Turkish Volleyball team that took bronze at the 2011 European Championships in
Italy and Serbia<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This team consisted of a golden generation of volleyball
players who were hugely popular in their home country (they were dubbed the
‘Sultanas of the Net’) and burst onto my sensitivities with a victory over the
home team (Italy) in the quarter-finals of the 2011 Euros before losing to
eventual champions Serbia in the semis and defeating Germany for the bronze
medal. I am going to stop at naming only those that particularly caught my eye
for a combination of sporting and non-sporting reasons. Among them, Ms. Toksoy
won the prize for the best server of the competition, and Ms. Demir for the
best scorer.</span><br />
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<img alt="Image result for turkey volleyball women 2011" height="195" src="http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Women+Volleyball+European+Championship+Turkey+MfjZ7kMRZKDl.jpg" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;" width="320" /><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>
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<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 91.9pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Name<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Position<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 63.8pt;" valign="top" width="85"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Height<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">No. in Photo<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Bahar
Toksoy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 3.0cm;" valign="top" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Middle
Blocker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 63.8pt;" valign="top" width="85"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.90 m<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">5 (I think)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 91.9pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Neriman
Ozsoy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Outside
Spiker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 63.8pt;" valign="top" width="85"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.88 m<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">13<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Gizem
Guresen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 3.0cm;" valign="top" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Libero<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 63.8pt;" valign="top" width="85"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.76 m<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 91.9pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Neslihan
Demir<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 3.0cm;" valign="top" width="113"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Outside
Spiker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 63.8pt;" valign="top" width="85"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.87 m<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There are history lessons here – Ms. Ozsoy (if there was a
prize for the woman I would most like to enter a room on my arm with when my
football team and assorted male peers are waiting inside, she would be among
those seriously considered) is from Razgrad in Bulgaria, which would have been
part of the Ottoman Empire a little more than a century ago and wherein still
reside a large Turkish minority.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Dutch 4x100 Freestyle Relay swimming team that took bronze at the 2004 Athens
Olympics<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"></span><br />
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<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_Hlk507246252"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Name<o:p></o:p></span></b></a></div>
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<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Leg<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Chantal Groot<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">First<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Inge Dekker<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Second<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Merleen Veldhuis<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Third<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Inge de Bruijn<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk507246252;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Fourth<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This team is a little lopsided in ability, achievement and,
to a lesser extent, in looks; Ms. De Bruijn first caught my eye for purely
aesthetic reasons as a young also-ran in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and then
I saw her again in Sydney 2000 taking gold in both sprints and the 100 fly (and
setting world records in all three). She became the oldest ever Olympic
individual swimming champion when she took gold in the 50 free in Athens, a few
days after the race that is featured on this list. The other three hold their
own in the looks category, and this was one medal handover ceremony that was
worth a watch even if one missed the race itself. The photo has, from left, Ms. Groot, Ms. de Bruijn, Ms. Dekker and Ms. Veldhuis.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><img alt="Image result for de bruijn groot dekker veldhuis" src="http://members.chello.nl/w.mastop/zwemmen/afbeeldingen/debruijn6.jpg" /></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Brazilian Volleyball team that took bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Until the 1996 Olympics, for me, sports were sports and
women were women and ‘ne’er the twain did meet’. It was the women’s volleyball
that had me crossing lines – the quality of volleyball was fantastic, and the
players were stunning. Brazil in particular took my breath away, and no
non-Brazilian was sadder when they lost a close semi-final to Cuba. The bronze medal
match against Russia, also stacked with beauties and a very animated coach
called Karpov (I continue to think of him when I see someone going ballistic during
time-outs) was a feast for the eyes. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Name<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.3pt;" valign="top" width="142"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Position<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2.0cm;" valign="top" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Height<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Ida
Alvares<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.3pt;" valign="top" width="142"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Setter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2.0cm;" valign="top" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.78 m<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Fernanda
Venturini<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.3pt;" valign="top" width="142"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Middle
Blocker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2.0cm;" valign="top" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.80 m<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Leila
Barros<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.3pt;" valign="top" width="142"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Opposite
Spiker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2.0cm;" valign="top" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.79 m<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Ana
Moser<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.3pt;" valign="top" width="142"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Outside
Spiker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 2.0cm;" valign="top" width="76"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.85 m<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 18.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Indian 4x400 Relay team in the athletics at the 1984 LA Olympics<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They came in 7<sup>th</sup> and more than 14 seconds behind
the gold medallists, but an Indian women’s team in an Olympic relay final was
one hell of an achievement – never before, never again (the current crop spend
more time running away from dope testers than running on the track). They did
not shame in the looks department either, with Ms. Rao and Ms. Abraham, who
ended up marrying an Indian swimming champion (I wonder what their children are
doing), having the ability to set any catwalk afire. Ms. Usha had also finished
fourth (missing a bronze by 0.01 second) in the 400 Hurdles at the same games,
and whenever I need a reminder on the value of time I think of her. I had the
pleasure of traveling on the same flight as her once, in the 1990s, and I
shamelessly went up and asked her for an autograph – something I would never
consider doing for any film star, cricketer or assorted celebrity.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Name<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Leg<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">MD
Valsamma<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">First<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Vandana
Rao<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Second<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Shiny
Abraham<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Third<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 106.1pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">PT Usha<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 70.85pt;" valign="top" width="94"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Fourth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
The picture has, from left, Ms. Rao, Ms. Usha, Ms. Abraham and Ms. Valsamma.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWT2ZlsQwMUoakqkd-uD9hqHLEMPJcvV-Mrc7Pa8mQJHF7apwq8EAiUDec3FT-UZfh-oK6K1UnJzopNccrM-XoqX9CnKeovbdxsmbuSfl0YCm1dvpcpRYr1EpxBxeVGxTYy6cWGMu5tHE1/s1600/India+4x400+1984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="129" data-original-width="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWT2ZlsQwMUoakqkd-uD9hqHLEMPJcvV-Mrc7Pa8mQJHF7apwq8EAiUDec3FT-UZfh-oK6K1UnJzopNccrM-XoqX9CnKeovbdxsmbuSfl0YCm1dvpcpRYr1EpxBxeVGxTYy6cWGMu5tHE1/s1600/India+4x400+1984.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
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Ajit Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02375314355362644733noreply@blogger.com7