Nothing to Envy - Barbara Demick

Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans who defect to South Korea beginning in the late 1990s over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the unchallenged rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and the devastation of a far-ranging famine that killed one-fifth of the population.

Taking us into a landscape most of us have never before seen, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today—an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, in which radio and television dials are welded to the one government station, and where displays of affection are punished; a police state where informants are rewarded and where an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life.

Demick takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors. Through meticulous and sensitive reporting, we see her six subjects—average North Korean citizens—fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we experience the moments when they realize that their government has betrayed them.

Nothing to Envy is a groundbreaking addition to the literature of totalitarianism and an eye-opening look at a closed world that is of increasing global importance.

Common Challenges for New Managers

Managing new leaders comes with a unique set of challenges. Even the most outstanding individual contributor can struggle as they unpack their new role and tackle their increased responsibilities. Leadership expert Sara Canaday shows how to identify the unique perspectives and challenges of your new managers, set the expectations for their transition, provide coaching and support, and cultivate the right conditions to help them succeed.

• 1. Know Who You Are Managing

Common challenges for new managers


1) they often struggle to balance and prioritize their workloads. They're tempted to do everything they did before they were new leaders, plus their new management duties. They are reluctant to delegate, they want everything to be right, so they try to do it all. That is a fast way for them to become frustrated, overworked, and exhausted.
2) new leaders may find it tough to set boundaries. This is an issue for managers because they're often subject-matter experts, but as a new leader, they cannot continue to be the go-to person for all problems that need troubleshooting. If they make themselves constantly available to answer every functional question, they can't focus on the leadership aspects of their new role. Boundary-setting may also be tough for new leaders who are friends with former peers, who are now direct reports. Pulling back to keep to keep those relationships at a more professional level can seem awkward, but it's important to maintain the objectivity of the position.
3) new leaders may not know how to shift from being a top performer to being able to inspire and motivate top performing teams. Getting results individually is one thing. Getting results with and through other people is a whole different skill set. New leaders may not realize the full importance of coaching and cultivating talent.

They might show signs of behavioral blind spots, areas where their intent doesn't match their impact. For instance, the leaders might think they're being decisive, but their team members might think they're being abrupt, or lets say they go out of their way to be seen as fair, but they end up looking wishy-washy

Take the personalized approach, and your new leaders will quickly become more self-sufficient as managers.


• 2. Set the Expectations

Transition strategy

Five topics you can use as part of your strategy discussions with your new leaders.

1) set the expectations for performance. They'll need to have a solid grasp of the key deliverables and metrics expected from their new teams, the ins and outs of the operations, and the issues surrounding talent management. This is particularly important if new leaders have been promoted from within their teams. They might be used to viewing all those factors from an individual standpoint, but they'll need to step outside of that silo. You'll also want to share with them a clear picture of their targeted goals, how they and their teams will be evaluated.
2) make sure they understand the broader business perspective. Give your new leaders the context to mentally link their team's goals with the overall objectives of the department or the company. They might have a history of being high performers, but they may not immediately see the bigger picture, like how the organization fits into the industry relative to its competitors, or why changing customer demand suddenly requires a new direction. If you can help them to view their leadership roles with a wide-angled lens, they will be more flexible and better prepared to deal with whatever comes their way.
3) ask them to define an action plan for the next three to six months. Talk about their specific plans moving forward to accomplish their goals. These include not only steps to produce actual deliverables, but also ways to advance their leadership skills. Push them to be ambitious, but make sure they're realistic. This would be a great opportunity to show them the value of delegating
4) discuss the best ways for them to prioritize their time. New leaders are probably skilled at completing their own daily assignments, but leadership throws much more complexity into the mix. They need to make sure that they schedule time to accomplish their expanded role within the organization. Their immediate duties have shifted to include more strategic priorities, like building strong relationships and trust with team members, coaching and counseling their direct reports, communicating with peers across lines of business, and thinking more broadly rather than just putting out daily fires.
5) ask the new leaders what they need to make their transitions easier. It's also important to make sure they have resources they can tap into other than you.

Communication guidelines

Need consistent communication. Needs to have the right information at the right time.

First, develop guidelines for their communication with you. What information do you want them to report back to you? Whatever it is, be clear about which updates you want and how often and in what format.
Second, establish expectations for how new leaders will communicate with their own team.
Third, clarify the tone new leaders should use for communication. As they jump into manage their teams they'll probably feel a bit of presser to drive performance, make the quotas, exceed projections.

You're goal is to convey the long-term value in developing real connections with the people that report to them. When they know them and inspire them they can directly influence team performance and building up the bottom line.

• 3. Provide the Appropriate Support

Coaching and development
Be respectful. Coach rather than criticize. Influence rather than inform. Develop rather than direct.
First, observe their leadership skills in action.
Second, schedule periodic one-on-one meetings to discuss their roles. Focus on transition, provide feedback on transition, discuss challenges they might have
Finally, provide them with the tools they need to succeed.

Modeling behavior
Lead by example
Learn much more from seeing how you handle those kinds of situations. Managers who fail to recognize the impact of their own behaviors and the implications of their daily decisions could be creating a problem. Indirect coaching – incredibly powerful
• Do you treat others with respect regardless of their roles or experience level?
• Do you seek out others' feedback and perspective?
• How do you handle difficult conversations and conflicts?
• Do you share credit with others after a team success?

Aligns with your words and your behaviors.
- Do you project confidence in how you speak, dress, and engage with others?
- Do you remain calm and composed in a crisis or when challenged?
- Are you patient and understanding when things don't go as planned?
- Are you perceived by others as influential, as a thought leader?
- Finally, analyze the actual impact of your leadership. Are you having the intended affect on the people you lead? That's the ultimate test.

Your new leaders will be able to read your results a mile away.
* Do the people on your team feel inspired, encouraged, and motivated?
* Do they feel comfortable approaching you?
* Do they feel empowered and valued?
* Do your employees trust and respect you?

Make it a priority to really get to know your new leaders. Building those relationships is the key. That's how you can determine the best way to leverage their strengths and provide targeted development.

The Old Man and The Sea - Ernest Hemingway & Amaram

A couple of years before my sister gifted me this book on my Birthday. Read it, unmoved, in one sitting - as it was a slim novella of 127 pages. But, yes, did wonder - what was in it for being cited by the Nobel Committee as contributing to their awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Ernest Hemingway in 1954 and for being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, in 1953?

At this juncture, cannot get this book out of my head. Simple yet profound. At the outset it is a tale of an old Cuban fisherman Santigao who catches an enormous fish, only to lose it. Hemingway's novella shows how death can invigorate life, how killing and death can bring a man to an understanding of his own mortality -- and his own power to overcome it. The old man dreams his usual dream of lions at play on the beaches of Africa.

Some thoughts:

“But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have.
Think of what you can do with that there is”

"And what beat you, the thought"

With 84 days of no success finally Santiago catches a big fist who carries him into the sea. As Santiago sails on with the fish, the marlin’s blood leaves a trail in the water and attracts sharks. Santiago’s continued fight against the scavengers is useless. They devour the marlin’s precious meat, leaving only skeleton, head, and tail. Santiago chastises himself for going “out too far,” and for sacrificing his great and worthy opponent. He arrives home before daybreak, stumbles back to his shack, and sleeps very deeply.

This thought, did not before - but today takes me to the move Amaram. Which is also a story of a fisherman Achootty - but has another story line underneath, which was sentimental and makes you cry. With big dreams and big sacrifice for daughter, who marries a local fisherman, Achooty is misunderstood and doubted to have killed his son-in-law. He brings his SIL back and Achootty takes his boat and ventures into the sea, saying that is the only thing which has loved him unconditionally.

Space To Achieve Endless Possibilites

Space is beautiful! Space is Needed! Space is Possibilities! Space is Powerful! Space is meaningful!

Space is for everyone! Space is to be given! Space is to be respected! Space is your friend!

It's there.

The possibilities are endless.

There are times when an abundance of space is by accident or unintentional or done for convenience or done for money or time constraints.

But that doesn't mean that it is wasted space. An abundance of empty space can be used to create a sense of calm, peace, inaction, or stillness. It can be cold like snow or marble, or creamy like milk. An abundance of empty space can also imply wealth or luxury. Space can also be clean, sacred, or infinite.

And on the other hand, too much space can be lonely or imply poverty, theft, or someone or something lost or missing. There is a lot of meanings that space can take on.

There are different kinds of space, most namely, passive and active space.

A simple example - how comfortable would you be riding or driving, when there is someone sticking onto you?

Nostalgic Memories - Children's day & Handwriting

This Children's day - we get back to the memory lane - at a point when CBSE has removed the Father of nation reference about Gandhiji from text books in schools, and Sixty BJP MPs have requested PM Narendra Modi to designate December 26th as Children's day - Instead of Nov. 14th being Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's birthday. God Bless India.
The story dates back to one VM Kulkarni who was a United Nations Social Welfare Fellow who was carrying out a study on the rehabilitation of children who had been victims of crimes in the UK. He realised that the republic of India(India) has no such mechanism to take of underprivileged children. He got inspired by a fact that in England, June 19, Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday, is observed as Flag Day to raise money for Save the Child Fund and suggested that Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday too, be observed as Flag Day to raise money. An international fair was organised by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) in 1951 and it was in 1951 that the day started being observed as Children’s Day. So not only the first Children’s Day was celebrated on 14th November when Pandit Nehru was alive, it was celebrated after he agreed to the idea.

Nostalgic Memories:

Annual vacations travelling in train with family, friends and cousins, Independence day for mother and fun to be with father – getting in and out at every station. Window view worth fighting for though we preferred upper berth, counting the compartments in the running train, checking weight at railway platform to read the details behind the measurement ticket with all cousins in grandparents’ house, swimming, swinging, plucking mangoes and jackfruits, playing cricket and pranks in ponds and paddy fields, how I wish I have those days again. We would put arms in our shirt and tell people we lost our arms, we swallowed a fruit seed and would be scared to death if a tree would grow in tummy and come out of our mouth, we tried to balance the switch between on and off, we would try to mix coins in carom board, chess, snake and ladder, luddo and cards, when we knew we were going to lose and start again, licking the icecream lid and wishing it never got over and snatching from others, trying to run faster than the moon or our own shadow, going round and round singing: “Ring-a-ring-a-rosies, A pocket full of posies, A tissue, a tissue, We all fall down”

Enjoyed going to 'Thabela' (Dairy farm) and seeing lines of buffalos, and bringing home fresh milk daily. Writing letters on postcards, inlands were interesting. There were phones only in one house somewhere around the corner, and we used to go to somebody's house and watch Chitrahar or P.T. Usha running for Olympics. In case there was something urgent - we used to send telegram. At times there were movies shown in a big white screen or by taking VCR/VCP on rent. We used to divide and share the cost of watching movie.

Ah! Those where the days when for life's simple choices we would just toss a coin and decide with heads/tails and for most complex choices had the simple solutions of Akkad Bakkad Bambey Bo, Asee nabe pure sau, Sau se nikla raja chor pakadke bhaga!

Other Competitions were:

Handwriting Olympiad
Here’s your chance to go back to the memory lane-Back to school. Write the below story (The Thirsty Crow) in a paper with pencil and share a picture with us. The best handwriting gets the reward.

Amazing Calligraphy by Mili - It was both interesting and challenging to write with pencil.





Back to School:

To get dressed in school uniform, with special award to the class (team) picture.

Retail Industry - The Changing Phases

Not long ago, Malls were the modern temples, on the verge of replacing the unorganized retail sectors like the 'kirana' stores, door to door sellers and general stores but also the organised retailers like the hypermarkets, supermarkets and specialty stores. Today, the tug of war is in between both the organised and unorganized put together called the offline market and the online market place that is ready & already have penetrated. We not only have the big sellers like Amazon and Flip-kart, but also many householders turning online marketers, with various modes of sales, including whatsapp.

Like the Telecom sector, Predatory pricing and Deep Discounting has been a norm in FMCG sectors in the past few years. Idea Cellular completed its merger with Vodafone India on 31 August 2018 and thereby became largest telecom company in terms of subscribers and revenue, surpassing Airtel, competing with Jio. The once market leader BSNL has almost become extinct. Business models both in Telecom and FMCG is such that competition is being eliminated. In May 2018, Walmart's largest investment in history was announced with Flipkart in India. Soon after Amazon-Samara Capital had a joint bid to acquire Aditya Birla Retail Ltd that owned 'More' super market' that was ventured in 2007 with the acquisition of Trinethra Super Retail. There were violations to the revised FDI policies, finally Competition Commission of India approved the bid; indicating another mockery of a policy in day light. One interesting point that fascinated me, was both sectors had key industrial player the Birla's and the Ambani's.

Hope our Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal's partnership and working with Current United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Robert Lighthizer bring positive results, given the rift and conflicts today, inspite of the assurance of running e-commerce as an agnostic marketplace, wherein all suppliers get equal opportunity to offer their products and buyers have a choice to buy certain or any products on that marketplace.
There were some complaints about circumvention of the e-commerce policy and multi-brand retail laws, as the Offline market is trying to survive by approaching the customers, brands & the Government through various legitimate forms of protests with the help of associations, meetings. Malls, the modern temples are loosing prominence. Though we do find crowd there, fifty percent of them are window shopping, avoiding the hassles of transportation.

India one of the top three markets in the world has 1.3 billion people and an economy approaching $3 trillion, yet it's eCommerce business is less than 3%. It’s evident that data science and artificial intelligence are the key for the e-commerce industry. Amazon launched robots developed by a US firm known as Kiva Systems, in its warehouses 5 years back in 2014 and later on funded and acquired this company. They further named it as Amazon Robotics. These robots do most of the tasks, from sorting to picking and stacking. Amazon’s drone delivery program, would be delivering packages to customers. For now, India has a huge demand, for people delivering goods, but this should enter India too soon. Flipkart employed little orange cuboids as robots and call them bots or perhaps automated guided vehicles (AGVs), those transfer products within a fenced location bereft of humans. These robots are carrying anything with them, from publications to appliances to mobile phones. Indian e-commerce majors are engrossing the benefits of AI right from customer segregation, sales, and delivery to after-sales and further recommending products to the customers.


This is a period of critical change, the pace and magnitude of our changes are critical to the future as we adapt to an environment that is changing more quickly all the time. As we change, the way we buy, how we work and what we do, it is critical and the need of the hour is to ensure that the automation and ease of operation is spread across all the sectors, and everyone reap the benefit of mechanization. To be precise, it is saddening to see laborer’s still carrying heavy loads for mere wages in construction, farming and some mechanical industries. Hope this sales war boost the economy - and the offline marketers and even other sectors are able to cope up by undoing and redoing to cope up with time.

Eden Walk - Paul Salopek - As I miss our walk

Like others with Paul Salopek's Eden Walk I am pleased to be "reminded that as human beings our journey on Earth is a migration we begin in birth and end in death. The path we take toward our end is one that seems to pull us back to where we started. Along the way, what we learn, what we experience, and what we accomplish all bring us to that place deep inside where we connect with each other. Most of the time I have avoided connecting—fear and other insecurities have been huge obstacles. I am still learning to relish and rely upon that connection."

Every hundred miles Paul Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. It's so wonderful to read someone who is on a storytelling odyssey across the world in the footsteps of our human forebears. You can read him at nationalgeographic.org - https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/out-of-eden-walk/#section-0
And a brief summary is https://www.newyorker.com/news/out-of-eden/a-twenty-four-thousand-mile-walk-across-human-history

He writes: "Six years into trek, two broad impressions have emerged, at boot level, of this vast world.

First: We’re living in a golden age of human migration.

The second change I sense underfoot.

It is like a tectonic shift—a new geological weight over the horizon that tilts the surface of the planet east.

This is when we have Walks inspiring many to keep on ‘stepping’, as well as to continue to look after physical and mental wellbeing.- interesting ones in office as well - 31 days, 111 teams, 112 million steps, 50,000 miles! and I had some crazy thoughts; running in my head - I got to read about Paul Salopek - Thanks to Sony George for introducing Paul to me. During the walk here an individual who had the highest individual score walked over a phenomenal 1.8 million steps!

The book "Around the world in 80 days" read during school days, made me think it was possible to travel around the world, and was fascinated to learn about day light saving, and how it would work with different timings and climate around. But Walking around the world, and writing it, with such simple words, is really encouraging and enriching.

Hats off to you Paul Salopek...May your tribe increase. Best wishes!

Ente Keralam - Ethra Manoharam

Winston Churchill once said, "The further back you can look, the further forward you are likely to see." Churchill, a student of history, understood that studying the past allows one an educated glimpse into the uncertain future. Celebrating the Kerala Piravi was a time to cogitate if the land of Malabar arose, as a result of Parashuram throwing his axe, why and how did Onam celebration start? On Onam day, we welcome Mahabhali; who was a contemporary ruler during the time of Vamana born before Parashuram in the 8th Canto of Srimad Bhagvatam; and from Dhasavatharam. Possible there could be two theories, first Vamana submerged the land with Mahabali and Parasurama reclaimed the land, second Vamana / Mahabali event occurred near Narmada river, the descendants of Parasurama when they migrated carried the story over to new land reclaimed. According to this version, Thrikkakara temple was consecrated, after a bird sang the story of Mahabali/ Vamana. Kerala was, is and will continue to be an ecologically sensitive area, along with being the doorway to India for varied cultures and races embracing one and all.

It is believed that on the destruction of the First Temple in the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE, some Jewish exiles came to India, they were from King Soloman's time, even before Christ was born. Thomas the Apostle is believed to have brought Christianity to India, in 52 AD; some believe it to be 6th century AD even. Kodungaloor houses the first Muslim mosque in India believed to be build around 629 AD by Cheraman Perumaal, a Hindu king who accepted Islam. Adi Shankaracharya who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta is from Kalady in Kerala, the earlier kingdom of Cochin was the only kingdom in South Asia to be a protectorate of China. Buddhists, Arabs, Romans, Portuguese, Dutch and even the British have walked through Muziris, who has stood witness to varied civilisations and wars by being ancient world's greatest trading centre in the East. Trading in everything from spices to precious stones with the Greeks, Romans and the rest of the world. At the time of Independence of India, Maharaja Chithirai Thirunal of Travancore and his Dewan C. P. Ramaswami Iyer toyed with the idea of Travancore as an ­independent nation. on July 25, someone had assaulted Iyer with a knife, and on July 30 the Maharaja informed Mountbatten, the last British viceroy, that he would sign the instrument of accession to India. Kerala Varma Thampuran popularly known as Aikya Keralam Thampuran mooted the idea of a unified Kerala state in India for the Malayalam speaking population and stood for the merging of British Malabar, Cochin and Travancore. Fukyali Kerala (meaning united Kerala), was a popular movement, for the formation of the State of Kerala. On 1 July 1949, Travancore and Cochin merged, Travancore-Cochin State came into existence and Darsanakalanidhi Parikshith Thampuran was the last official ruler of the Cochin princely state. Malabar derived from the Malayalam word "Mala-Baram" (hill-slop or side of hill), earlier refeed to India's Southwest cost from Goa to Kanyakumari; but British Malabar was confined to the present North of Kerala, with minor differences. On 1st Nov. 1956, Kerala Varma Thampuran's dream was fulfilled, these three states were unified and finally the present day Kerala was formed.

Kerala has been, and will be always unique, showing this uniqueness in all spheres, whether it be in politics, culture, social achievements, quality of living, tourism, religious harmony, electoral franchise so on, and so forth. People here wish to be away from main stream pandemonium and wish to be cocooned in their south west India coastal comfy zone, flashy homes earned by sheer individual hard work at home or outside Kerala. Sipping a peg in evening and indulging in conversations, looking mainly on local visual media evening debates and aggressively posting all sorts of comments in social media as well! The greatest ever uniqueness was in 1959, when Kerala elected a communist government through ballotbox, and elsewhere communists came to power through gun barrel. It is fascinating to see Malayalees from rest of India visiting Kerala, more frequently these days, to taste good beef to their fill which makes Kerala the state still enjoying the freedom to eat. How can democracy be justified, when there is a restriction on what one should eat, press has been made parochial. The election results, made us wonder if South will always remain a separate kingdom. When rest of India voted for and arrived at a singularly contentious political party, here it was different; to the extend that the attitude towards the winning party was of anger, sometimes violent dissensus.

Most of food common in rest of India is not popular here especially those made of wheat, festivals like Holi and Diwali are not enthusiastically celebrated in this part of globe though at Trivandrum and Palakkad there is a bit part of national festivity due to the presence of Tamil community. Kerala has her Onam which is celebrated by all irrespective of caste, creed or religion, wherein is her beauty. She has her Kathakali a 400 year old, classical dance form combining facets of ballet, opera, mosque and pantomime explicating events and stories from the Indian epics and puranas, with an unparalled array of colour, music, drama and dance. It is accompanied by facial expressions and sophisticated sign languages, and Mohiniyattam literally interpreted as the dance of Mohini, the celestial enchantress of Hindu mythology noted for its graceful and sensuous movements with no tense footwork, reminds one of the gentle swaying of the green paddy fields and coconut fronds that dot the length and breadth of Kerala. There are many other unique and special art forms too. She has her unique place in sports as well. A race, which teaches a valid management lesson, loved by all is the boat race of Vellam Kalli - filled with songs, rhythm and energy. She would have given maximum number of nurses to the world; for fun, it is said, even if you go to moon, you will find 'Nair's' (The term Nayar is believed to be derived from the word ‘Nayak’ which means a leader of people and is, therefore, allied to the Dravidians term Naicker of Naidu. Some say the word is derived from the term Naga, as the worship of snake has been a characteristic of the community.) tea shop. One of my friends said, if a dog is born, it should be in US, for they are loved so much. So are elephant's in Kerala.



It is the state animal of Kerala and is featured on the emblem of the Government of Kerala. Thrissur being the cultural capital of India, Thrissur Pooram, is an especial events full of elephants. There are very few places in the world as beautiful as Alappuzha, the Venice of the East. Every district here has something special, few being Kottayam the land of 3L's - Latex, Letters and Lakes; wandering through Idukky and Wayanad gives you a feeling of eternal bliss, mesmerizing mother nature, hill stations without railways.

She lets you be you, let us allow her to be her. Let us not destroy the symbolic Chinese fishing nets, her natural beauty, or make Hadiya's out of Akhila's ; let us stop her people including couple and children joining Islamic State, Keep her clean with proper waste management system, complete her development projects on time rather than taking ages and becoming outdated, above all have worthy roads and not repair them when someone meets with an accident. Unfortunately what we have is a vision-less leadership, toothless-law and senseless-people who show no prick of conscience in dumping waste at public places and destroying public property..!! At times wonder where God's own country is heading to?


Being one of her, there is so much more that could be written on Kerala, there would be many with different views, but for me, God's own country,' Ente Keralam' is always 'Manoharam'. My enchanting Kerala, Thank you for all that you have given me.