Work-Life balance

I came to know today that when IT officials serve commissions to aapno distributors, they are ready to get bought-off in FMCG currency, at least in part. Dove, Ponds and Lakme - the missus beams as well, and after some regular usage, hopefully glows too.

Talking of distributors, the face of retail in India is going to be immensely different in a few years. While I may have read this before, I have come abreast of live examples only recently. Imagine a Metro Cash n Carry – the wholesaler takes home 15-16 percent margins. He is happy but somewhere the local distributor is tossing and turning in his bed. The same phenomenon – deep pockets, corporate-backing and economies of scale which translates into might, is threatening the kiranas and family grocers - in the guise of Modern Trade. They are concerned. They are caught in the maelstrom of change.

Going by some of my latest posts, one may get the impression that I think of nothing but work. True to a large extent, but not entirely. Sometime back I read that Salman Rushdie’s ‘Midnight’s Children’ is slated to win the ‘Best of the Booker’ award. I love the book and worship his writing. Am reading ‘Shalimar the Clown’ right now and it is rich. More than the content, I like the literary devices he makes use of. I remember being blown away by MC. Indian Mujahideen or whosoever you are – rot in hell.

As an aside – a thought, albeit borrowed - An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. Nice. Although, intellectuals may not really be the full-house they are trumped-up to be. Ask the self-taught ‘software-engineer’ who wrote the ERP being used by stockists all over Gujarat; you won’t catch him mouthing N=1 and R=G, but his nose for dhanda can tame the highest-flying Pinocchio.