8 weekend LIFE

SUNDAY

THE FREE PRESSJOURNAL

APRIL 10, 2016

In order to survive a
economic slump, one needs
to make smart investments
and be calm in such trying
times, says TENSING
RODRIGUES.
Right now we are told that the corporate
assets are severely stressed; what it means
is that many of those who had borrowed
may not be able to repay; many may suffer
catastrophic losses; many may go bankrupt,
dragging along many others in a domino
effect. Kingfisher has gone flat; banks are
crying wolf.
Depositors are worried; stock markets are
in a panic. JSPL has confessed to a
short/medium term cash flow mismatches
leading to a CRISIL downgrade; but the
company hopes to bring the business on
track with assets sales and strategic collaborations through JVs.
The Non-Performing Assets of the Public
Sector Banks in the country as a whole have
crossed Rs. 4 lakh crores, or one-and-half
times their market capitalisation; in other
words, a shareholder of these banks carries
a burden of Rs. 150 for every Rs. 100 invested in their shares. And so on; the sorry story
goes on
So what do we do? Just give up and say all
is lost? As one stock trader did in Chennai
some weeks back? That is the point about
the floods and the green fields. On that

Keeping Cool

s I was entering Chennai last week, I

was pleased to see green fields all
along the tracks. That usually has not
been the scene, particularly at this time of
the year, over last two years that I have been
shuttling in and out of the southern metropolis.
I remember leaving the city towards the
end of last December; wide swathes of land
all along were under water, with tops of the
trees and roofs of the huts poking through.
That brings back the scary memories of that
fateful night of December 1, when I found
myself fighting a losing battle to touch the
base camp.
Why am telling you about the flood and
the green fields? Because that is the difficult
to accept rhythm of nature; the floods seem
catastrophic; but then the silt and the water
they bring in rejuvenates the land for the
next few years. Therefore Shivas tandava
nrutya has to go on. As in nature, so in economic affairs.

PIC: EXPERTBEACON.COM

TIDES IN

ECONOMIC
AFFAIRS
night of December 1, I headed into the
darkness of despair as my auto rickshaw
sputtered and stopped and re-started
through foot deep water never seeming to
reach its destination. But a few months later
I was enjoying the green fields.
The economy has to necessarily go
through these phases of stress to weed out
the inefficient; when profits come easy, the
efficient, the not so efficient and the inefficient make hay. But when the supernormal

profits vanish and covering costs becomes a

Herculean task, only those with very sound
business models, very lean cost structures
and very deep pockets, survive. The rest die,
decay and are washed away, becoming fodder for new comers, and letting the economy begin on a new slate.
The process is painful, no doubt; we cannot say how long it will last; we cannot say
for whom the bell will toll. Obviously, and in
the same manner, these difficult times take

toll of the investors as well. Only those with

sound investment models, risk proof investment strategies and sufficient capacity to
remain invested, survive. This is the time to
realise that investment is not magic that can
be learned by watching CNBC TV18 or some
pulp guide to stock market.
It is nave to believe that some one-off
events trigger such downturns. China crash
may not happen again. But it was not the
first. Just some years back we had the US
crash and after that the EU crash. The economic history of the world is punctuated
with times of agony and ecstasy.
If one takes a distant perspective, one can
see the pattern, the rhythm of ebbs and
tides. Whatever may be the events that trigger the events, those are only the symptoms.
Underlying them are the basic forces that
make and break the economies. Post-industrial revolution period saw Europe rising to
the fore; WWII took away the economic
power from Europe and passed it on to US.
The end of the cold war saw the decline of

RIGHT NOW WE ARE TOLD THAT THE

CORPORATE ASSETS ARE SEVERELY
STRESSED; WHAT IT MEANS IS
THAT MANY OF THOSE WHO HAD
BORROWED MAY NOT BE ABLE TO
REPAY; MANY MAY SUFFER CATASTROPHIC LOSSES; MANY MAY GO
BANKRUPT, DRAGGING ALONG MANY
OTHERS IN A DOMINO EFFECT.
US and the rise of Asia, first Japan, then the
Asian Tigers and finally the mighty China.
These tectonic shifts in the economic landscape leave the smaller economies scampering for shelter. But they also create the
opportunities to snatch the baton.
Investors need to be on their guard
always; more so just before, during and
immediately after these seismic movements
to drop the hot potatoes and grab the burgers. The upheavals will leave the financials
of many companies dented; the investors
need to discern the lines of distress and exit
those companies.
They will reveal some windfall opportunities; the investors need the courage to
plunge and swim. Check the performance of
TVS Motor Company Ltd, for instance. It is
easy to make mistakes; but it is also natural;
mistakes, as they say, is the stuff success is
made of. Attachments of all sorts, to companies, to industries, to countries, to ideas,
can be the stumbling blocks; time does not
forgive those who refuse to move with it.
Perhaps the good old model of business
cycles explains very candidly the dynamics
of the process. Pioneers discover a profitable idea. First mover advantage gives
them abundant profits. That draws bees to
the nectar. But too many of them destroy
the flower. Some newcomers find it too hot
and quit. Some veterans who do not have
the heart to face the competition also quit.
The fittest survive, to make a new beginning. A new cycle starts. Or, it starts out of
nowhere. The story repeats. The investor, as
I said before, needs to be alert to pick the
gains, notwithstanding the risks.
If the horizon looks gloomy, do not
despair. Be alert, be smart, be dispassionate
act. Do not aim for windfall gains; the
losses may be just round the kerb. Aim for
decent profits; be ready for a cloud break.
The Arduino which is like
a miniature-computer,
where the code is written
and which manages the
instructions to all the
other parts.
An Ultrasonic Distance
Sensor for sensing the distance between the piled
up waste and the top of
the trash can.
Both Kunaal and Aman
learnt programming and
robotics at ASB as a part of
the schools Intersessions
Program and were supported by their school teachers
on constructing the Smart
Can. They intend to take the
product to the BMC authorities in Mumbai and also
approach manufacturers for
producing the Smart Can for
a cleaner and healthier India.
Speaking to FPJ, Kunal and
Aman said that they are
grateful to ASB for giving
them the kind of education
that has helped them to
design this innovative product. They were particularly
grateful to the man behind
the entire course design and
implementation Craig Johnson the superintendent of
ASB who is truly passionate
about the kind of education
and the way it is delivered to
the students.
The whole environment in
ASB is conducive of
enhanced learning which is
scientifically designed to
stimulate both sides of the
human brain.
Says Johnson, Gone are
the days when knowledge
was power, today the power
is how you leverage the
knowledge to your advantage, and at ASB the focus is
on relevance of education
being imparted to the students. ASB asks two questions for every educational
program Is it relevant today
and will it be relevant tomorrow? This thought process
dynamically changes everything and combined with the
state of art facilities a smart
learning framework is created where students stay
engaged, enjoy their studies
and do exceedingly well.
Johnson is a passionate
advocate for Innovation and
Relevancy Education. In
response to much of his
work and the reputation of
ASB, this year Johnson was
awarded the prestigious
Innovation in Leadership
award from the Association
for the Advancement of
International Education, the
premier global association
for International Schools.

Physical

Strength
Besides a regulated lifestyle and food habits, yogasanas
and physical exercises are the best sources to increase
physical strength.

(body mass index) is normal and

balanced, one who is physically
strong and does work efficiently is
considered to have a strong, powerfully build and a healthy body.
This is the best kind of body to
have, with superior or high
strength. A heavy body which is
not as capable as the previous one
is of average type and so its
strength is medium or average,
while a body that is not wellformed and lacks balance between
its various components is an inferior body with low strength. On the
contrary, a person who lacks mental strength (faints on seeing
blood, death, accidents and other
traumatic events or suffers from
mental illnesses) and who
easily contracts disease and
becomes seriously ill, is not considered to be a strong person.
Such persons are considered
weak both physically and mentally,
in spite of strong and healthy
looks.
Infirmities

Rtu satmaya (compatibility as

per the season):
Some substances are beneficial
in a particular season. Oily, hot
substances are suitable in early
winter. Pungent, bitter and dry
substances are favorable in late
winter. Cold and sweet substances
are useful in summer.
Roga satmaya (compatibility
according to the disease):
A certain diet may be compatible
or wholesome for a particular disease. For example, gruel is useful
in fever, fomentation therapy is
favorable in emesis and vomiting,
and errhine and medicated smoking is beneficial in chronic cold.
Along with the above-said factors,
dose of a drug, nature of a drug,
effect of a drag, time, constitution,
location and stages of the diseasecycle are also important factors for
a physician to choose the appropriate drug or line of treatment.
Characteristics of an
energetic and strong person
One who is actually free from disease or ailments; displays mini-

mum or no signs of aging; completes all tasks efficiently; enjoys

the work; who has gained both
material and spiritual knowledge;
has a well-built, powerful and sturdy body is strong, energetic and
healthy.
Now the question arises, what is
a well-formed and strong body? Is
it a fatty body or one that looks
healthy and strong? Is it a lean
body that looks relatively healthy,
yet is not strong? There are several
such questions to which Ayurveda
replies that a person with a wellconstructed body structure, whose
bones are in good shape, at the
right place and distributed evenly,
whose joints are well-formed and
stable, having uniform distribution
of muscular tissues, whose BMI

related to
physical strength
Heaviness or laxity in the body,
lack of energy, numbness, sleepiness, fatigue, lethargy, lack of efficiency, bloating, lack of muscular
tissues in the body, syncope, selfpity, complexes, depression, stubbornness - all these are the signs of
a decrease in physical power and
energy.
A physician must go through the
nature of the vitiated dosa, before
deciding a treatment for infirmities related to strength or to
increase the physical strength of a
person. Thereafter, treatment
should be selected keeping in
mind the patient's body strength.
For immediate results, a patient
must be guarded against mental
infirmities such as greed, fear,
anger, envy, depression, self-pity
and so on, too strong physical
exercises, over exertion and sexual
activity. Such a patient should not
indulge in activities that require
the display of physical strength.
Therapies, medicines, treatments,
food and lifestyle habits that work
in the case of tuberculosis and
chronic fever are also recommended for these patients. Rejuvenation
therapy and the use of aphrodisiacs for virilization (increasing
semen) must be undertaken
along with the use of Vata-reducing oils. Besides a regulated
lifestyle and food habits,
yogasanas and physical exercises
are the best sources to increase
physical strength.
(Excerpted from the book
A Practical Approach To The Science Of Ayurveda: A Comprehensive
Guide For Healthy Living authored
by Acharya Balkrishna)

w w w. f r e e p r e s s j o u r n a l . i n

Craig Johnson
with school kids

Students of ASB
innovate smart
garbage cans
The innovation adds
intelligence to garbage
collection by leveraging the latest technologies like IOT, GPS,
mobile communication
and robotics, says
LALIT WADHWANI.

hen Kunaal and

Aman - both students of American
School of Bombay (ASB)
were given an assignment by
the school, they thought of
something quite unusual.
They undertook to devise an
intelligent garbage bin that
leverages technologies like
IOT (Internet of Things) GPS,
mobile and robotics. They
came up with the concept of
building an Intelligent Trash
Can called the Smart Can.
They were inspired by Prime
Minster Narendra Modi
when they saw him take up
the broom and sweep the
street as part of his Swachh
Bharat program.
This project was designed
and conceived of by Kunaal
Bhargava and Aman Bajaj,
11th Grade students at the
American School of Bombay
(ASB) in Mumbai. Both
Kunaal and Aman decided to
do their bit for the Swachch
Bharat program and they

Kunaal Bhargava
decided to focus on the
malaise of both building and
government authorities not
emptying out garbage from
trash cans in their communities in Mumbai.
They decided to use their
knowledge and expertise
which they had acquired
during the course module of
programming and robotics
at ASB and they decided to
create a technology-driven
Smart Can to improve waste
collection and enhance
hygienic conditions in their
neighbourhoods and the rest
of Mumbai and India.
The Smart Can is designed
to shut itself when almost
full and send a text message
saying Can is full come
and collect to the smart
phone of a waste management person or entity associated with a neighbourhood.
In this case it will be the

Aman Bajaj
BMC officer or cleaner in
Mumbai. It is built using:
An Ultrasonic Distance
Sensor for sensing the distance between the piled
up waste and the top of
the trash can.
An electronic light sensor
sensing amount of light in
the can, based on how
many objects are filling in
the space.
A GSM or a Global System
of Mobile Communications (like a cheap mobile
phone) for sending and
receiving text messages by
using a SIM Card.
A Servo Motor, which
drives a clamp that closes
the trash can when the
Distance Sensor communicates that it is full and
can open on the instructions from a cleaner who
can send a text message
back to the GSM.

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