Tushar Mangl Media

When the government of India's ill planned move of demonetization of higher currency notes back-fired,  the propaganda machine of the govt. came up with a fresh idea. A less cash society. Surely if there is no cash, people could be forced (read motivated) to opt for less-cash measures. What they forget to conveniently state that illiteracy is so high in India that many people still use thumb impressions instead of signatures. A large part of our country is still uncovered by the internet making cash the best option instead of digital transactions. It certainly surprises me that the government would spend tons of taxpayer money for such a phony campaign that it sounds ridiculous and repulsive at the same time. Consider this for example. Fuel pumps account for one of the largest cash transactions every day. If you use your card for payment, you would be penalized by these state-run pumps. You pay a debit card or a credit card surcharge but if you pay in cash, all is oka...

Yet another year passes by so much fulfilled, yet so much remains Books to be read, Dreams to be dreamt Novels to be written Friendships to be created Relationships to be buried Promises to be broken Assurances to be given Have a great 2017 folks !

If I had to pick one good thing happened to me this year, I would say it was my reading list which made me happy. I was lucky enough to read several authors writing in different genres who inspired me to write and read more.  The year started with a reading challenge sent via Whatsapp by an acquaintance who I knew would never serious about a reading challenge unless it was a fad propagated by popular culture. I promptly dumped that one.   The reading challenge that I follow rigorously is the one I set up for myself at Goodreads. Last year I had taken the challenge to read 90 books and easily surpassed the number (I closed 2015 with 93 books). So this year I decided to go for 120 books, averaging 10 books per month. As of writing this blog, I have already achieved my target and read 128 books. Hopefully I should be able to reach the 130 mark. No idea yet, what my goals would be for 2017, but then, the year has not even started yet.  Another reading chall...

This is Vadhan's second book I believe but the first that I have read. The story has a mystic and rustic touch to it. It has been some time since this book has been on my to-read list. Just when the book arrived in the mail, I was already starting with Ye Honey Bunch my new novel. Now that Ye Honey Bunch is almost done, I got the book out again and was certainly hooked to this one. It's an enjoyable read, especially if you like Dan Browns or  Ashwin Sanghi kind of books. It is not exactly a sci-fi or mythological fiction, but quite close to fantasy fiction. The cover design by Graficus is simply amazing. The story goes something like this. (I am trying to be as vague as possible to avoid spoilers). There is a dark energy hidden in a village. A tantrik knows plenty about this and ties up with a power hungry politician to take advantage of the fact. Opposing them is Raghuram Surya a  lawyer under whose property this evil is lurking. He joins forces with a parano...

From the huge mess of demonetization, the first question that comes up is whether the Prime Minister is losing his grip on governance and politics. The demonetization drive has exposed several gaps in the government's planning, vision as well as execution. The idea was not at all planned well. The execution was dismal and the way it is now being repaired by the propaganda of less cash society only shows that political ego has once again trumped economics and welfare. It also reflects how good governance, once a promised gesture was a distant and faraway fantasy for the common folk of India. And it is not just demonetization. Look at the leadership of the ruling party. There is a dearth of talent within the Bhartiya Janta Party. Check any state ruled by the BJP, you will see disappointing, lackluster leadership, except maybe in Chattisgarh, M.P., and Rajasthan, the CMs of which were chosen in a pre-Modi era. Post Modi you don't see any significant leaders be...

The bitter fight between Cyrus Mistry and Ratan Tata seems to be getting worse by the day. Mistry refuses to back down and massive egos are at stake. Held hostage in all this drama are millions of stakeholders; shareholders, vendors, employees, investors who don't have much idea about the cost of this ego battle. Even though various people line up to one camp or another in hopes of scoring brownie points there is no clear end to this fight. Charitable trusts as such should not have any business to poke into business worlds. On the other hand, you cannot just wish away a major shareholder in a billion dollar enterprise.  In this scenario, the best bet would be to make Noel Tata, currently chief of Trent Ltd, the fashion retail arm of the Tata Group to be next chairman. Half brother of Ratan Tata, Noel is as private as Mistry or Tata. He has done well at Trent, where he has done well and not used the Tata brand to boost his business. The stores which Trent runs are named West...

The much talked about the decision by Prime Minister Modi to demonetize most of our currency will turn out to be dud as it has drastically failed on its key objective. The goal The major goal as announced to invalidate the 1000 and 500 currency was to weed out black money and corruption. A minor aim was to work ahead with the noble idea of the Prime Minister to push for a less cash/ cashless society.  A major failure However, the idea failed big time. You go to any bank in India today, ask people who are in the know of things and they will tell you the exact commission being charged by bank staff to convert your cash into a new currency. The commission ranges from 25-35% . If you had 50 lakhs under your mattress, you will still have most of it, before November ends and can shove it back under the mattress.  But this simple idea came later. First came the usual plain boring ideas. Put money in gold. Clear your past dues in old cash. Pay...

Indian banking system is a sad story. We have one of the largest concentrations of government dominated banks around the world. India has also a rigid and strict regulatory system for banks. Such is the inscrutably of the regulators that they encourage cheap and bulk loans to large corporates but should such big people try to own banks, it is frowned upon. Customer service is an alien concept to Indian banks, public or private. Convenience to the public is least of their worries as the penetration of formal lending is quite less giving them a God like status. It is no wonder though that a parallel economy exists in India right under the nose of well-heeled bankers and regulators. They act as enablers to this system, fostering an economic activity that forms most of the financial transactions in the country. Indeed, India being a cash-oriented economy is largely due to indifference and lack sided attitude of banks. People prefer to keep cash at home than banks ev...

So our Prime Minister told us all on Tuesday who the real boss in the country was. Let the UP wallahs and Tata walas debate on their own bosses. The country knows clearly who its boss is. The extreme reaction to his announcement is bewildering. You had shops opening way past midnight even of those branded companies whose CEOs tell you how concerned they are for the economy and bullshit. They opened over night to facilitate currency conversion to gold and other expensive items. And then there was the mad rush to ATMs. Within hours every ATM in the country was bled dry of its hundred rupees notes and other currency. As the PM announced that old currency will still work at Petrol Pumps, each pump was made bone dry as if cars were lurking around thirsty without petrol nd diesel. This coming from people who want their politics clean and neat. Who rant about at every forum how their government does nothing for them. I feel that the way situation was handled by the government was super...

It is a decade now since I started my first blog, My Musings in October of 2006. Over the years, it has transformed into different avatars, some successful some not, but my effort to blog has remained as eager as ever. In ten years, the blog not only changed names or URLs at times but also its themes and genres. It became the launch pad for my first story The Thakur Boy which I wrote in 2007.  The Avenging Act also became possible due to this blog. Whenever I am about to do something new, I like to come back here, the comfort place for all things creative for me. So many people ask me, how did you manage so far. Several bloggers drop down after some time of beginning to blog. In my case, blogging gave me a life I had never known. I never knew I could write stories. I still can't believe I could even attempt to pen poetry (hence I named my poetry collection as The Reluctant Scribbler). There have been a variety of lows, including declining readership with advent of microb...

Nearly four years ago when Cyrus Mistry became chairman of the Tata Sons Board, one of India's largest conglomerate, he inherited a huge mess left over by his predecessor. Nearly any company your pick from the Tata stable, mismanagement from the top is clearly written over them. Like a sarkari company, they all are moving along in a zombie kind of way, knowing that their name would survive them. Indeed, Ratan Tata started off his own stint at Tata started in the 70s with big duds like NELCO and Empress Mills that failed badly. In recent years, his Nano project was by and large a media hype and nothing else. You declare a car for 1 lakh, sell it for more than that, and then the cars keep burning on roads. They are not sold properly, they have quality issues. Again, the name kept him going. In another company, in another country, perhaps the chairman would have been asked questions. Here, things were coated in PR about affordable cars which no one wanted. Look at the Indian Ho...